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Every now and again, there’s a moment in a job where the obvious path is clearly expected from your target. Raid the battleship, storm the castle, find the whatever that’ll open a path through whatever. There’s a plethora of enemies, tricks, and traps waiting in your way, stuff that would bring you to the brink of your skills and test every strategy you had up your sleeve. Sometimes, there really was no choice, and you have to break your back to finish the contract. Such is life, and more often than not you came through those ordeals with more experience under your belt and a reasonably renewed respect for the hardships of your profession.

Other times, though? “You still got any C4 on you?”

You get to cheat. “Yes, why?”

And that can just be plain fun. “Because actually, I was thinking about just dropping the whole place on top of him and picking through the rubble.”

“Pardon?!” Yeah, especially with explosives.

Welcome back to Magical Girl for Hire!

Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Magical%20Girl%20For%20Hire%20Quest
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>>
>>3499038
“Honestly, we’ve been at this for a while now,” you mention as you rifle through your things, allowing your mana stones to perk you up a bit. “And I’m thinking that that’s probably the cleanest solution to all of this. We’ve got a near-direct line to his place, so we can just blow him up and call it a day.”

“Do you really think it’ll be so easy, even with our technological advantages?” Izumi asks. “Old magicians like this can be quite stubborn.”

“It’ll at least piss him off and wipe out any reinforcements he might have inside,” you note, and she can’t rebut that. “So, then…ready to go?”

She sighs a bit, wearing a small smirk that shows her acquisience. “Sure. Let’s hope for the best.”

It’s no time at all to take off, but you know you’ll have to be quick, as the Prince’ll be kinda peeved once he realizes you’re gone. “...Is it me or is that portal...smaller?” Izumi asks, and you have to admit, it kinda does…

“Well, no time for second guessing, then!” And so the two of you immediately rush for it- there’s no stopping, no last looks, just a dive in, and a sudden, freezing cold feeling that bites at your skin, although it only lasts for a stark moment.

And then you’re on the other side, and in the middle of what seems to be a courtyard...one lined with circles, and you both immediately realize you’re in the middle of a massive ritual circle in someone’s backyard. And judging by the fifty foot (or is that a bit bigger than fifty feet…? Maybe around eighty) tower not far in front of you, surrounded by wicked looking vines and cawing crows, you have a pretty good guess whom it belongs to.

“Gyahahahah! Sooo, someone decided to take the bait!” Hm? That’s a new voice. Girly, too. Who- ah. One of the windows; a younger girl- probably around...teenaged years, and wow does she look stereotypical goth. Split black/white hairdo, pale, and some kind of black leather getup you can’t quite see from here, as she’s a few stories up, it seems. “Didn’t think anyone would really come in here by themselves. A couple of ‘heroes’, are you? Pfah! What makes you think you can defeat the great Lord Kolm?”

> Say nothing. She’ll find out in a few minutes.
> “Mostly this.” Surprise Magiblast!
> “Experience.”
> Other
>>
>>3499039
>Mana tether her, then drag her towards us
>> “Experience.”
>>
>>3499039
> Say nothing. She’ll find out in a few minutes.
Good afternoon, boss.
>>
>>3499039
>Say nothing. She’ll find out in a few minutes.
>Mana tether her out of her spot
>>
>>3499039
> Say nothing. She’ll find out in a few minutes.
>>
So, grab her, pull her out, walk away?

M'kay. Gonna need a roll. 1d20, best of three.
>>
Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>3499109
Welp.
>>
Rolled 11 (1d20)

>>3499109
>>
Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>3499109
>>
...I actually ended up a bit busy. Writing, though!
>>
>>3499109
You’re not going to say anything to her. She’s not worth the time when her entire reason for being is quite literally about to come crumbling down. Although first…

Well, she seems to take your silence as answer enough. “Nothing to say, huh? Just hopes and dreams? Well, I’d wish you good luck in getting to the top, but I’d be ly- huh?!” Like a bolt you point your finger at her, and a thin strand of stick mana shoots out; she flinches instinctively, and before she realizes it, it smacks against her shoulder, still partway out of the window. You can hear a small gasp of surprise from Izumi before you pull, and with a shrill bleating of a yell, she topples three full stories, her body twisting and flailing before hitting the ground with a resounding -thud- amidst tall grass. Not quite a splat, no, but you suspect more than a few bones broken.

“...No, really, why’d you have to go and do that?” Izumi asks, face flat. “I mean, that struck me as just insulting.”

“Kind of the point,” you mutter as you take tentative steps towards her. Although, the moaning and twitching tells you that she’s not moving anywhere soon. Honestly, from the looks of things...no, yeah, human legs don’t normally bend that way, and there’s some blood there, definitely. But she’s still in the land of the living for now, and perhaps for the immediate future, at least. “Yeah, she’s out of it for now. C’mon, let’s get the stuff set up. We only need to cover one side, gravity will do the rest.”

She nods, but you don’t miss the pitying and concerned look she gives the girl before she follows.

The base of the tower is reasonably wide, which is why you opted to just lumberjack it instead of trying to clear the entire base. Going in shouldn’t even be necessary if the explosion is directed properly. “Remember, thin sheets.” Still, you’ve got more than a few pounds here per brick. Should work fine.

“Of course.” Right, Izumi probably knows as much if not more about this than you do.

It’s several minutes of molding the explosive sets, and priming the whole setup...although oddly enough, there aren’t any shadow monsters nearby, no strange beasts or guard dogs. No sound at all, really. Just the wind and your breathing. Weird, but welcome.

Before long, you’re all set. A baker’s dozen of explosive charges, all strung together, making a lovely little smile over the back half of his oh-so-wicked tower. As you prep the detonator, you’re surprised to see Izumi bound off for a moment- but before you can wonder or ask where she’s going, she’s back...with the girl in tow, unsurprisingly. “I felt it...wrong, to not have her face justice properly. She’s not our primary target. He is.” She’s probably that girl that helps him with rituals, though. Not that you’re bothering to remember her name right now. Shrugging, you and her quickly get far away as possible- this thing’s gonna make a lot of noise and throw up a lot of debris.

Alright… “Ready?” She nods once. “Fire in the hole!”

(cont)
>>
>>3499266
*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* And on and on the sounds of destruction that, for a few brief moments, rock the entire plain.

The explosion chain is incredible, and already bits and pieces of stone and granite are thrown up; even some foliage and dirt, and it’s almost immediately you can hear the cracks, feel the rumbling as stones shift under weight they can’t hold, tottering to one side as the collapse begins.
Almost like a localized earthquake, the whole thing comes tumbling, tumbling down; something that no doubt its owner thought either impenetrable or devouring from the inside- it was pretty obvious that whatever was inside was likely some strange set of tricks and traps to get the better of whoever dared.

That’s gone now. Whatever was in there was either very VERY well protected, or just so much junk now. You can’t see anyone or anything at the moment, but you have to be careful…

“Alright, now let’s see what the good Lord Kolm has to...hm?” Odd. You can scent SOMETHING nearby...something a bit smelly, even.

Problem being, that scent isn’t near the demolition area. It IS nearby, though, and unmoving.

>Get Izumi to hold things down here, see what’s up yourself.
>Ask Izumi to check it out while you secure the area and see if anything or anyone survived it.
>Note it, but ignore it for now- you both need to be paying attention in case any surprises show up.
>Other
>>
>>3499300
>Get Izumi to hold things down here, see what’s up yourself.
>>
>>3499300
>Other
Ping Izumi, leave it up to her whether she wants to stay behind or back you up. Check the presence out.
>>
>>3499300
>>Get Izumi to hold things down here, see what’s up yourself.
"If you're going to heal her up, save your mana and use the potion we got from the Lizards. We might have company..."
>>
>>3499300
>Get Izumi to hold things down here, see what’s up yourself
>Other: if she wants to heal up the girl, use the local consumables first.
>>
>>3499307
>>3499300
In addition
>Give Izumi the gauntlets
>>
>>3499300
>>Get Izumi to hold things down here, see what’s up yourself.
>>
>>3499350
Why the gauntlets? We've got healing potions that'll go bad if we don't use them and won't use mana.
>>
>>3499350
she can heal way better(and arguably) and with less mana drain than us, we should keep the gauntlets.

>>3499300
>Get Izumi to hold things down here, see what’s up yourself.
>>
>>3499358
I'm not sure that potion can unbend her broken legs or heal ruptured intestines in case they've turned into mush.
>>
>>3499366
I should've made this clearer - I meant 'lend', not 'gift'. As for her own healing, for some reason I thought that her healing aura would cost much more than using the gauntlets, but healing Carrang was the only time when their manacost was ever shown - there were no numbers for Veilspeaker resurrection attempt.
>>
Ugh, kinda tired. Run proper tomorrow!
>>
>>3499383
>I meant 'lend', not 'gift'.
I understood that, but her whole shtick is to protect and defend the innocents. It stands to reason that she is way better at healing that us.
>>
>>3499389
>we should keep the gauntlets
I interpreted this as you thinking that I intend to gift them away.

>Heavenly Aura:
>By entering a meditative trance, Izumi can exude a wide aura that speeds up the natural healing process and bestows feelings of good health and energy. More efficient than Miranda's own healing.
Maybe I misunderstood Izumi's healing technique description, but 'natural healing process' could be less effective that gauntlet's restoration in current case.
Besides, we're probably better off using weapons with bigger range at this moment, so temporarily parting with gauntlets is not a big deal and this gesture would be far nicer than offhandedly suggesting to use a potion.
>>
>>3499410
Maybe, but I'm coming at this wondering about how effective the potions are. Whenever we get a consumable healing item, we tend to put it in our back pocket and use our healing spells. Meanwhile, the potion just sits in our inventory, forgotten, until it expires. I figure if we use the potions first, we can get an idea of how effective they are, and possibly look into getting some alchemy books from here, if we get a chance.
>>
Why do we never use the gauntlets to attack they are supposedly better at it than healing and we are better at hand to hand than swords and stuff?
>>
>>3499423
Funnily enough, aqualungs potion was forgotten about by everyone literally two threads later. As for consumable healing items I only remember healing potions from the first mission, and they were properly used whenever the possibility presented itself. Maybe you're mixing them up with invisibility potions.

>>3499429
Because of their inferior range, plus practicing our weapons proficiency. Magic technique is not the only thing we can improve.
>>
>>3499434
Here, check out the unofficial inventory list. There's the mystery potion Mono found on the mission where she got a couple of cool swords and a burstfire capable crossbow, and the potions in the Healthy Heart Elixir pack we got for the Artificer crossover.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z3xqyWOe5upXuYIUsBSV4pWkC1sG0mnYzn_lJyRJZiI/edit
>>
>>3499434
But getting inside opponents effective range is good and once your there they are at a disadvantage and we have blasts to make openings while we are at a range disadvantage maranda has been doing this for decades if hand to hands up close style was so ineffective that a less skilled opponent was able to dumpster her she wouldn't be as good at it as she is because she would have given it up as a bad job ages ago.
>>
>>3499448
Because some people like having a variety of weaponry in their melee combat. It drives me up a wall when we're in a setting with cool fantasy or sci-fi melee options, and we just stick with hand-to-hand.

That, and the gauntlet's time powers only work in reverse, and for a limited point in time. So, it's good for removing recent wounds from patients and fixing recently broken structures, but they can't really inflict magical damage or age foes up to where they turn to dust.
>>
>>3499448
The deal is that we were fighting against armed formations, so by closing our range there would be even more opponents that could reach us in theirs. That's one of the reasons why we prefered to use halberd over swords and gauntlets.
>>
>>3499460
That's totally valid and I agree but saying hand to hand is less effective is a bit much. As for the gauntlets I didn't read any crunch on them but when the druid bears gave em to us they said it's easier to destroy than create so I assumed they had a good damage enchant or something
>>
>>3499461
Ah yeah true didn't think about that actually maranda is a monster if she gets a hand on her opponent but Mook waves are a very effective counter heh
>>
>>3499445
>Mysterious Potion
Yeaaaah, but it's a 'cat in the bag' item and we had very few opportunities to test it out since character switches are rare.

>Healthy Heart Elixir Pack
I don't remember us ever purchasing this pack and it was never mentioned during the crossover. It's marked red until Handler confirms it.
>>
>>3499470
>That's totally valid and I agree
Cool beans
>but saying hand to hand is less effective is a bit much.
...I didn’t say hand-to-hand was less effective. It’s our best combat skill, I admit. I just like using every cool new melee weapon we find at least once.
>>
>>3499482
Ah yeah I might have been reading into stuff that wasn't there sorry bout that.

Have we actually hit anything with our new gloves yet tho? I'm not saying we should now or even this mission but it's something to keep in mind.
>>
>>3499488
>Have we actually hit anything with our new gloves yet tho?
We've punched some shadow demons while helping elite lizardkin warriors on our way to their capital. That's it.
>>
>>3499488
Yeah, I think we pulled them out in Thread #67, when we were headed into the Lizard Kingdom right before we met the elite warriors.
>>
>>3499495
Ah so it's just punch a little better and no flashy power huh.
>>
>>3499323
Last minute add in for this.
“I’d have thought you’d be more unsympathetic, considering her mentor might have been teaching her how to summon those shadow things, and how close to demons they are.”

>>3499495
Yup. I would like to see if we can enchant it further so we could age things up and de-age them quickly. Might be able to figure out something in the Intersection...
>>
>>3499498
Second paragraph meant for >>3499498.
>>
>>3499500
That's a good idea like we are actually confused when it's good to be sympathetic and when not to. God poor Randa is so fucked up
>>
>>3499502
>Fucks up linking the correct post.
>...again
...I’m just gonna go to bed.
>>
>>3499300
>>3499307
>>3499323
>>3499341
>>3499355
>>3499366
“That’s interesting,” you say evenly, motioning vaguely off in the direction where the scent came from. “The tower didn’t collapse quite right.” Don’t want to tip them off too much, if they’re listening.

“Ah. Thing something fell from it?” Thank goodness for Izumi’s quick understanding.

“Yeah. You stay here and make sure things are workable. I’ll make sure nothing fell too far.” If someone was spying on you both, or hiding otherwise, you’re not going to just let it go.

“Right, then.” ...Oh, and she’d no doubt do something towards that idiot girl in the meantime. “Here’s a potion I had lying around. Just in case.” She takes it wordlessly, and you start walking.

You can see that the tower’s rubble really DID kind of go far- there seemed to be a lot of loose objects in that place- and when you pass by on a roundabout path to the smell, there’s a few flesh and blood...things, laying dead amidst the stone. You’re not sure if they’re natural, but judging by the fur, they’re definitely not human, at least.

It’s a large circle that you have to make, but the smell has shifted a bit away from you, and in fact it’s...waned a bit. Or sweetened, rather. Both, actually.

...Good. That means they’re dying, whoever they are. Bleeding out.

Your steps are more sure, your pace more direct now as you home in on the source. You’re starting to have an inkling, but just to be certain…

“Aha.” And it’s hardly a minute more of tracking in the grass and ruins and rocks and trees that you see the source of it: an old man in thick black robes, bloody and crawling. A long, thin grey beard adornes a sharp, yet wrinkled face topped with an odd, circular hat. You quickly nudge him over with your foot, and a pair of wizened, slate grey eyes stare back at you.

There’s a moment of silence as you look him over, and he glares at you with naked hatred- irises or no, there’s no mistaking the malice he holds for you. And then he speaks; his voice crackled and deep, yet weakening bit by bit. “Whyyyy...so close…? The shadows...betrayed…”

Betrayed? Well, obvious who this is. Lord Kolm himself.

>He’s got a bit of life left in him. See if he won’t spend it talking, just in case.
>Welp, he’ll never know. Sucks sometimes. Glad his head seems mostly in one piece. You need that.
>Other
>>
>>3501538
>"Die wondering, Kolm."
>Welp, he’ll never know. Sucks sometimes. Glad his head seems mostly in one piece. You need that.
>Grab that hat, too. And whatever else he's got in his robes.

No need to feel sorry, he brought this situation on himself.
>>
>>3501538
Holy damn, we just skipped the final boss by blowing up his lair instead. I wish we had more reasonable choices like this in most games.
Or we can blame the goth girl instead, since not everyday we get a portal to where precisely we need to be to make it happen.
>Welp, he’ll never know. Sucks sometimes. Glad his head seems mostly in one piece. You need that.
Would love to make some chit chat myself, but Miranda's more efficient.
>>
>>3501538
>Welp, he’ll never know. Sucks sometimes. Glad his head seems mostly in one piece. You need that.
>>
>>3501605
Heh, now take a minute and think about how much time Handler spent on coming up with various ideas for traps and encounters for this tower.
>>
I'm not even joking, you guys skipped three combat encounters and Kolm's power boosted boss fight.

I'm not mad, but I'm laughing to stop from sighing. I signed myself up for this.
>>
>>3501640
Well, maybe you could make yourself feel better by telling us all the loot we missed!

Or maybe just depress us so we can feel what your feeling.
>>
>>3501640
Welp, at least we have the loot to go through. And Zatzil's hoard.
I love it when things go smooth.
Hooray for sticky mana!
>>
The age old solution to bring down a powerful magi as Kiritsugu tried and tested. Glad I voted for bring the whole tower down.
>>
>>3501640
Honestly? Pic related.
>>
>>3501538
>Other
"Outside context problems are a bitch, aren't they? You got anywhere to be? Or someone to go to?"
Don't want any loose ends, after all. We're a professional.
>>
Yeah, you can’t say you give a damn. “Die wondering.” You need his head, after all.

He manages a shocked gasp before you slice his head off with a magi-wave. And almost immediately, there’s a loud, SHRILL wail of wind as, to your surprised, a massive torrent of darkness and show comes pooling out of his body, vicious and swirling, nearly tearing up the remains of his body out into the air- and fading into a silvery-bluish color after flowing high in the air, eventually dissipating into the sky after a few minutes.

Finally. Fucking FINALLY. You quickly grab his head and open your murmur stone. “You see that!?”

“I did!” comes the excited voice of Izumi. “That was him?”

“I think he tried to teleport or had some kind of escape plan that didn’t quite take,” you surmise. “Doesn’t matter- I have the fucker’s head now. We’re officially done here aside from the bonus pay.”

“Thank goodness,” she admits. “This took quite some time-”

“NOOOOOOOOOO!” ah, that’s probably the girl. Well, whatever. She’s of no concern to you.

After fishing through the tower’s remains, which reveal nothing that’s actually still in one piece. Even with your gauntlets, only so much could be done, it seems, when the various parts of what were made are still in existence. A pair of worthless circlets for your head, and some sort of crafted totem clearly missing a chunk. If there was anything else in there, it’s dust, or gone period.

Nearby, the girl is near catatonic, and Izumi is serenely calm. “I think we need to find our way back as soon as possible.”

“Agreed. Probably going to get a chewing out from Prince.” But, frankly, you don’t care.

When you do, after a bit of determination of direction, you’re met by a frantic and frustrated Thorumin and Prince and- well. Everyone, really. Although…you can’t help but notice something harrowing. Namely, that the place looks like it’d been through the beginnings of a massive battle.

“My word, what on earth did you do!?” Prince asks heatedly. “Not to mention, why just go off like that?!”

“We grew rather worried,” Braun notes, “When the hordes showed up and you were nowhere to be seen. And then they...vanished.”

“Sure did,” you agree. “Probably because of this.” And you hold his head in your hands easily, the lot of the leaders gaping at your prize. “There you go.”

Za-Leil is the first to speak. “...Incredible. The loud sounds were your doing, then. Destroyed indeed.”

“Quite so,” Thorumin agrees in a soft voice. “To think it’s over, and so quickly…”

“We utilized all the tools and skills at our disposal,” Izumi says diplomatically. “I for one, amd happy to say that your struggles with the darkness are, as of this moment, over.”

And now?

PAYMENT. Although, speaking of that...you have a spider or two to see.

(cont)
>>
>>3501854
“My oh my oh my!” Zatzil wears a look of pleasant surprise, Lispa is shocked, and Malis is...well, also shocked, but in the sense of absolutely flabbergasted. “So that’s that, is it? Ohohohohoh!”

“I can’t believe this…” Malis says, quietly. “When the clan at large hears of this, there will be...far more trickery in the tunnels. Revolts even. No one will want to be seen supporting Mistress Zai in this situation. Especially if what you said about the Alliance’s demands are true…” And suddenly, Malis looks exceedingly concerned about her immediate future.

“Well, considering my EXCELLENT connections to the Alliance and the contributes I’ve made to them, I may be considerate enough to use my connections to see to your continued protection, provided you support me…” Zatzil preens.

“...I’m listening, Mistress Ascendant,” Malis mutters, with Lipsa nodding as well.

What connections is SHE talking about? Gah, whatever. The rest is up to her on that front, really. She knows what might happen.

As for you, you stay around long enough to hear the announcement, the cheers; there’ll be some cleanup as they go around finding the pockets of resistance or arresting the more mortal members of Kolm’s group, and of course finding the Ratkin and wherever the hell THEY bugged off to. The Prince quickly implores you to bring the head to his father, where he’d be more than willing to pay the price. But you and Izumi, on the other hand? After receiving assurance of the location, you’d…

>Finished some last things before heading to Zatzil’s treasure trove. (What?)
>Headed straight off to plunder. She’d hardly need it in the days to come after all.
>>
>>3501934
>Headed straight off to plunder. She’d hardly need it in the days to come after all.
>>
>>3501934
>Finished some last things before heading to Zatzil’s treasure trove.
>Norima promised a reward for 'saving' her friend
>Give Carrang's note to the Prince
>>
>>3501934
>Finished some last things before heading to Zatzil’s treasure trove.

>Tell me what type of security you put in the place, traps, magical or not. Rituals of protectiin and give me the word and ways to deactivate everything


Oh god i just realize the rats might be trying to steal everything they can grab!!! BLOODY LOOTERS!!
>>
>>3501934
>>Finished some last things before heading to Zatzil’s treasure trove. (What?)
Tie up Canaa (Kolm's goth acolyte) to get her bounty, give the Veilspeakers a Sal Token in case Zatzil fucks up, offer Lispa a job (if Izumi approves), and stop by the new inn those former Blackweb foot soldiers started on the way back from getting the loot.
>By the way, Izumi, why were you interested in keeping Canaa alive? I’d have thought you’d be more unsympathetic, considering her mentor might have been teaching her how to summon those shadow things, and how close to demons they are."
>>
>>3501934
Supporting any of this
>>3501958
>>3501976

I'm curious about what Sal has for us when we're back.
>>
Getting what is owed.
>>
>>3501982
I wonder what is the next job desu.
>>
>>3501982
I'm more curious if the girls would become folklore characters or not.
>>
>>3501934
>Finished some last things before heading to Zatzil’s treasure trove. (What?)
Curious what the crazy elf? lady we punched into submission is all about
>>3501982
Hopefully it's promotions. Promotions are nice.
>>
>>3502053
We're finally taking the robos on their official shakedown mission, though we don't know any details yet.
>>3502071
>Hopefully it's promotions. Promotions are nice.
Promotions mean more paperwork and responsibilities. Not so nice.
>>
>>3501640
To be fair, we probably destroyed a tower's worth of loot&salvage for this. But I'd take that if it means a safer resolution to this mission. Not like it was guranteed that the big bad wizard would be damaged from the explosion. Thank goodness it did.
>>
Say, boss? Could we say we scanned the weapons Miranda and Izumi picked up along the way to Zatzil's treasure? Save some time with us trying to figure them out.
>>
>>3501640
It's fine Handler, just recycle the ideas for the next missions so they won't go to waste.
>>
>>3501934
>>3501958
>>3501962
>>3501976
>>3501982
There were a few things you wanted to wrap up- quite literally, in one girl’s case. She DID have a bounty on her, after all…

“Alright, here,” you say as you hand Prince Carrange’s note. “Keep an eye out, and be careful, since we’ll be off from here on.” Carrang was...distraught to see you go, but she’d accepted it after about ten solid minutes of complaining and wheedling as you prepared some provisions, just in case.

Norima nearby nods at the both of you in thanks. “You both have our gratitude. You will serve as a constant reminder that the future, even to those who can speak to the Veil, is never truly knowable, and can always be influenced. My mother will be pleased to hear of this.”

“Good to hear,” you allow. “Oh, and don’t worry; if Zatzil screws up, the Prince knows how to contact us.”

“Oh, have a LITTLE faith in me, would you?” Zatzil says airily. “I grant you access to my store of riches and I get all this lip. How sad…”

Blah. She can just go somewhere with all that. "If you have any nasty surprised, then I'll be mad."

"Oh, please," she waves off. "I considered the difficulty in getting to it trial enough. Besides, I didn't want to bother with all of that."

"Right." You're skeptical, but here's hoping anyway. Turning to Norima, you continue your conversation. “Anyway, you DID mention a reward, I think…”

Norima blinks, mind going back. “Ah. So I did. Follow me, then.” The two of you are brought to the area where the Veilspeakers normally camp out, and she walks over to a large set of chests, ostensibly for storage. It takes some time, but she fishes out a rather small, yet wide bottom piece of clothing that looks like a dress coat. “This piece of clothing was made from Dawnspinner silk, before the war started. It was also enchanted to assist in seeing the surface thoughts of the Veil by our trainees. I don’t know how much use it will be to you, but hopefully it will.” Oh. Interesting. If nothing else, might get some money for it.

“Thanks.” You offer. You were kind of hoping for money or a bit more than that, but...eh, it’ll do. You guess.

“We wish you safe journey,” she says, and after saying goodbyes to everyone, you’re both off. Honestly, you FINALLY get to travel at full speed, which means the both of you should be there in a few hours.

>Roll 1d13, best of 5. Poke Hand Rules in effect.
>>
Rolled 5 (1d13)

>>3502342
>>
Rolled 3 (1d13)

>>3502342
>>
Rolled 4 (1d13)

>>3502342
>>
Rolled 2 (1d13)

>>3502342
>>
>>3502348
>>3502355
>>3502361
>>3502377
I’m terrible at card games, but should this count for something?
>>
>>3502385
That looks like a straight/straight flush I think, but we're missing a 1.
>>
>>3502385
If someone rolls 1 or 6 we'd get a 'straight'.
>>
Rolled 8 (1d13)

>>3502342
>>
>>3502387
How are we supposed to get a flush? By having same ID colours?
>>
>>3502400
...damn.
>>
>>3502400
Drats! So close too.
Maybe Handler can throw us a bone?
>>
...Wait, shit.

I meant 5d13, sorry. Wasn't thinking.
>>
Rolled 8, 9, 3, 8, 9 = 37 (5d13)

>>3502404
Oh, okay. Individual rolls, poker rules per post, right?
>>
Rolled 13, 4, 2, 1, 2 = 22 (5d13)

>>3502404
right then, second go around. Let's see if we can get something better than High Card this time.
>>
Rolled 8, 3, 11, 5, 8 = 35 (5d13)

>>3502404
It's k, we don't have to pay motes per post.
>>
>>3502404
So, five rolls of 5d13, then?
>>
Rolled 9, 9, 12, 3, 1 = 34 (5d13)

>>3502404
>>
>>3502348
>>3502355
>>3502361
>>3502377
>>3502400

Sorry about that!

>>3502405
>>3502408

Yes. For example, >>3502405 has two pair. 8's and 9's, but it's something.
>>
Rolled 13, 2, 5, 1, 6 = 27 (5d13)

>>3502404
>>
>>3502405
Hey, someone actually got something this time! Good job anon!


>>3502385
I also suck at poker, but I found this helpful here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_poker_hands#Hand-ranking_categories
>>
righto. Lesse what that's supposed to get you... Writing!

The hand name is a hint in this case.
>>
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>>3502415
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>>3502404
“Alright, careful now…” The trip wasn’t too bad...but geez, finding the crevasse was annoying, despite her instructions and supposed landmark- she apparently hadn’t wagered on the rock having collapsed for whatever reason since she was last there. Currently, you’re being lowered in by Izumi, holding a rope. “See anything?”

You do. “It’s pretty much like she said. Opens up a few yards down. A lot of water, a lot of rock, and a cavern to the east. I can see why she didn’t bother with traps. This fall would kill any normal human, or anyone without rope or web.” It was otherwise rather empty; no indicators of what lay down here or anything. “I’ll drop first, you secure the line just in case, and I’ll see you down here.”

“Right.” With that, you let go, and the wind whistles in your ears for a few moments before you impact on the ground. Man, that’s RIGHT on top of solid rock, too. Not even above the water.

Although really, you probably didn’t NEED to drop. The rope’s pretty long…

Nonetheless, Izumi joins you before long, the rope apparently having been weighed and secured down. Now, let’s see…

-----------

Wow. She wasn’t kidding when she said she had a trove. It’s not palatial, but it’s a pretty decent amount of artifacts and goods. You’d gotten the feeling that they weren’t really all that big on currency, but they DID use it.

And boy, there was a pretty decent amount of it here. Far more than you’d seen being used on your trip. Not to mention a few objects that were clearly artifacts of some sort. Scanning it all with the FutureSight, and all the estimates came out to:

> 12.55 Large Motes

Which, frankly, you could deal with. That was half the base pay right there! Not to mention there were also two strange weapons. Izumi had taken to testing both of them- turns out they were enchanted. One was a stark grey and gold-colored bow, and when an arrow, normal by all respects, was notched to it, the arrow seemed to glow a strange light...light arrows? When fired, they made a rather nice (and bright) explosion on the far wall. Neat.

The other, a dark purple and black katar, caused a strange, oily substance to secrete out of the edges, and when it struck something, the substance seemed to coalesce in on itself as it was flung from the weapon, seemingly winding through the air like a snake at speed before it splattered into the wall. Weird.

>Obtained Thunderlight Bow!
>Obtained Blightsnake Katar!
>>
>>3502490
Nonetheless, you’d decided to take everything you could, and absconded ASAP. You had a head to present, and a long way to go to get there.

It’d been evening before you’d managed to make it back to the non-Kolm held lands, especially after stopping by the Prince and offering a writ of notification for Canaa’s bounty, and honestly, the area was already looking tons better. But sadly, you wouldn’t be able to make it by night. Hell, you might have to take most of the rest of the day tomorrow just traveling if you wanted to make it by NEXT night. You needed a place to stay…

Actually, on that front. “Hey, wanna go check in on those two Weavers?”

She blinks, looking at you in surprise. “I didn’t think you’d remember. Why not?”

It’s another hour or two of travel before you arrive at the small village; there’s still a few people out and about, but many are heading inwards, it seems. Packing up for the night. “Honestly, I think it’s good that we came,” Izumi mentions. “We’ll be the first to break the news!”

“Yeah, I’ll leave that to you,” you mention as you both set in. You can only guess that everyone present is still here for now; if only because you can see some tents in the distance, and what looks to be the beginning of some building going up.

“Very well, then! ATTENTION, ALL!” Wait, damnit, you didn’t mean right this second!

Nonetheless, you let her have her fun. To be honest, seeing the gaping maws, gasps and raucous cheers go up when you silently presented his head to everyone was kinda funny.

Of course, they’d offered hearth and home quickly; you’d just mentioned you were passing by and needed wherever to sleep. You’d accepted one person’s- an older man who’d had nothing much left to him and a bit of space to spare.

Right before, though, you’d looked around to find the duo of Weavers; you’d eventually been told that they were nearby; they’d taken to essentially squatting in an area just outside, where the ruins of an old building were. “So...you did it, huh?” Thyra seems vaguely unbelieving, even when the proof is right there. “That’s...hoo.”

“Zai will be on the back foot for some time because of this,” Yulieve mentions. “Possibly have to fend off more than one assassination attempt...unless…”

She looks to you, but you quickly wave her off. “Wasn’t paid for it. But I wouldn’t be surprised if she doesn’t make it to winter. Expect a change in leadership soon. I’d suggest looking further into that inn thing. Get yourself in the Alliance’s good graces real fast that way.”

Thyra gapes. “What inn thi- YULIEVE, YOU TOLD THEM?!” Yulieve just shrugs.

The night, otherwise, passes peacefully.

(CONT.)
>>
>>3502525
-----------

“Oh...oh...I dared to hope, but in truth…” the old king sighs in relief as he hears of your deed. “I was uncertain. To think that this nightmare as it was is over…”

“Really, it was nothing,” Izumi says, and you have to restrain everything to give her a LOOK. “We were happy to do it. Now, with the cooperation of the races, you can perhaps look to a new future, with even the Blackweb less vindictive and duplicitous.”

He nods slowly, a gentle smile crossing his face. “That would be nice...ah, but I believe you are owed proper payment for such an accomplishment. A fine use of my coffers, I would say. Steward!” The man nods, and after some waiting, your payment- a hand carted wagon with many chests full- is pulled into the throne room. “Please, feel free to check…”

“It’s all there, it seems,” you say after you do just that, thanks to a bit of help from Sal. Even had a bit extra for the bounty bonus. Closing the last trunk with a resounding thud, you sigh in relief, Izumi smiling along with you.

You have quite the story when you get back. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

And that is the end of that.

JOB COMPLETE!

-PRIMARY SERVICE RENDERED- PRIMARY PAY DELIVERED IN FULL

-SUBTOTAL PAYMENT= 24 LARGE MOTES

-SECONDARY SERVICE RENDERED IN FULL- PAY DELIVERED IN FULL

-SECONDARY SERVICE PAY- 12.55 LARGE MOTES

-TERTIARY SERVICE RENDERED IN FULL- PAY DELIVERED IN FULL

-TERTIARY SERVICE PAY- 6 LARGE MOTES


TOTAL PAYMENT= 42.55 LARGE MOTES

(Finally. Stopping for tonight, but will try for a long run tomorrow.)
>>
>>3502526
Good run Handler!
Damn what a haul. Got a ton of new sidearms too.
>>
>>3502526
Nice job, boss! Good night!
>>
>>3502526
Night, boss!
>>
(Okay, maybe not IMMEDIATELY stopping...)

>AS FOR WHAT HAPPENED AFTER...

>Prince Fallon Emeral, of the Royal House of Emeral

>Prince returned home to jubilation and much acclaim. Though he didn't mask the efforts the two known as Yvrace and Hylinde went to to assist, he was given a great deal of credit, and soon became known as 'The Spring Prince' due to his powers with the Wild. He soon became King after his father's passing, and although his troubles were far from over, his alliance with most of the kinfolk races served him well, allowing for a great deal of stability for his time- save for the Ratkin Riots that erupted in the aftermath, resulting in the split of the Ratkin from the Alliance despite his best efforts.

>Braun of the Circle

>Braun and his daughter, who both survived, went back home and rebuilt. He had little to say about the whole situation, which is about what everyone expected. He DID, however, strike up an odd friendship with the Lizardkin, which led to increased trade...of a sort. Only the hardiest bears could withstand the smell and difficulty of traveling to Lizardkin lands. It thus became something of a rite of passage for the hardier Bearkin (or at least those that claimed as such).

>Za-Leil, Captain of the House

>Za-Leil was largely silent; as he felt he and his supported the cause well, but otherwise felt no need to share in glory. He returned to his position and protected the Royal House as before, in mostly silence and contentment. The little princess' interest in the combat arts, interestingly enough, did NOT wane with age, and in time he came to tutor her properly, later admitting that 'she is a good student. Eager, but good.'

>Thorumin Lux

>The victory over Lord Kolm was quickly found out by the Rabbitkin Council. Felgrund lost a great deal of political clout due to this, and Benediel Lux used the opportunity to stage a political coup of his own; inviting his father back to his rightful position. Thorumin refused, however, deciding that his son would be fine...although a bit of advising wouldn't go wrong. Odyssia Lux, for her part, had set out on what would ultimately prove to be a fool's errand; attempting her own campaign on Blackweb and shadow controlled lands further to the north. Her stunt forced her father to deny her a seat on the reformed council, for both his and her own protection. Stricken by this perceived betrayal, she and her retinue have since vanished, and both Father and his Veilspeaker searching with fevor whenever able.

cont.
>>
>>3502566
>Norima, Watcher in the Dark

>Norima and her group returned home as well, much to her parents' delight. They'd gotten many reports in the time being, and were quick to agree that perhaps the future was not so readily divined, even by their foremost Speakers. The Veilspeakers came out of hiding, apologizing for their recalcitrance, and vowed to be more active in the new Alliance. Norima in particular, organizing search parties to aid in the Rabbitkin's recent issues, in which they can only see well one thing- that if she is not found before a certain time, either brother or sister will earn the title...of Kinslayer.

>Zatzil
>After Kolm's defeat, the murder of two of her top Ladies, and the betrayal of a third, Mistress Zai was indeed in hot water in terms of public opinion of the Blackweb, and Zatzil used that to full effect. Though she managed to retain power for six turbulent months, she was eventually struck down during an attempt to flee her estate- though she indeed took a great many Blackweb with her. Zatzil came into power as planned, though it was not without a great deal of suspicion, and she had to avoid several attempted daggers in the back herself. With the aid of Lipsa and Malis's support, however, she managed to solidify her hold on power, and mindful of the possibility of what might yet happen to her, she formally entered into a peace agreement with the Alliance. Zatzil's rule proved particularly lax yet paradigm shifting, exhorting the Blackweb to focus on putting their tendencies towards more mercantile and social pursuits than worrying about constant betrayal, and convinced a great number of the Blackweb to consider 'social conquering' and longer lasting and more thorough win over sheer martial might. This eventually led to the Blackweb becoming, if kept at arms length and constantly suspected, well-known in Alliance lands as some of the toughest and trickiest negotiators and business moguls to ever walk the kingdom. Zatzil personally fell into a life of relatively passive decadence, preferring to wile away the hours being tended to by good looking males to mate with and feasting on sweet meats when not having to deal with or implement policies 'suggested' to her by the Prince in formal 'conferences'.

>Thyra and Yulieve

>As suggested and desired, they were some of the first to seek asylum in Alliance lands, and eventually managed to, with the Prince's help, start up an inn in Dulwark. It eventually became something of a landmark, and well known for its 'sugar and spice' owner Thyra, who could be jovial and agreeable one second, and loud and belligerent the next, which brought no end of amusement to the patrons, at the expense of whatever poor sod managed to flip her switch. Yulieve assisted in managing the finances, and procuring many material deals for her friend. The two were recognized eventually as pioneers and examples of Blackweb industriousness in the face of adversity.
>>
>>3502579

>Topi and Bechel

>Essentially missing all of the war, Topi and Bechel continued to hunt for The Destroyer, long after the war was over, convinced that it had simply taken to roost. How they managed to survive for close to a year, no one knows. Eventually, however, they came to the conclusion that The Destroyer was no more a threat, and soon after learned of the changes the Blackweb had gone through. Never one to fret too much, the two decided that the world was changing a great deal, and elected to see as much of it as they could, deciding that the adventuring life was indeed for them. While they'd never become world renowned, they eventually smartened up...a bit. Now they actually can escape perilous situations with more than just the clothes on their backs!

>Carrang

>Pardoned by the Prince, she was left adrift for some time after the vanishing of Yvrace and Hylinde, she remembered what they did more thoroughly than anyone else save the Prince, and was quick to tell anyone who'd listen. This eventually started to spiral out of control- her exhortations, combined with her visions, were eventually compiled into stories, and in years to come she would be considered the creator of what would be called the 'Hyvracian' legend; where a being of dark power and of great mercy split into two to end the great war. This further inspired what became known as 'Hiy-Yiv', a semi-religious philosophy that emphasized a dual nature in everyone: destructive passion and constructive passion, and that the best way to control oneself is to recognize and accept those passions and when to best put them both to use in day to day life. Astonishingly, this ended up helping a great deal of Shaded, allowing a decent number of them to function as semi-normal (if seen as incredibly emotionally volatile).

(Okay, I think that's it.)
>>
>>3502593
What about goth girl and lizardkin kids from the ruined village?
>>
>>3502593
Oh wow, a lot of things happened cause of this huh.
>>
>tfw you accidently start a religion


Okay...
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>>3502738
Well, it was a 'save the world' type of job. And the girls spent almost two months there - definitely a new record.
>>
>>3502526
>-PRIMARY SERVICE RENDERED- PRIMARY PAY DELIVERED IN FULL
>-SECONDARY SERVICE RENDERED IN FULL- PAY DELIVERED IN FULL
>-TERTIARY SERVICE RENDERED IN FULL- PAY DELIVERED IN FULL
It brings a tear to my eye to see. We finally completed a secondary mission. And a tertiary as well.
>>
>>3502768
>spent almost two months there
Shit, two months already? Time flies huh. No wonder sal got something for us during that amount of time
>>
>>3502754
I wouldn't be surprised if this is but one of many we've left in our wake over the years.

>>3502832
remember time isn't 1:1 with the intersection. who know how long it's been over there.
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>>3502754
>mfw some legends/myths/religious stories in other worlds could have been outgoer shenanigans
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>>3502593
Just wanna say I really like these little "results of your actions" posts. It's always interesting to see what our actions have caused, intended or not.
>>
>>3502593
I really like these. It reminds me of the Fallout endings, letting us see the consequences of our choices.
>>
>>3502995
>>3503153
Personally, I’d prefer the epilogue to be told through in-character dialogue, like with the Shining Hearts. Still, it’s a nice read, and it makes me hope we’ll be able to come back, especially if we can mess with Zatzil again.
>>
“Welcome back, welcome baaaaaaack! Been waiting for you twoooooo!” Sal croons as soon as you flash back into HQ. “Seems like there’s biiiiiiig news all around, hmm?” You turn to see the entirety of SES gathered behind you two- Lorelei, Owlia, Cylica, Mono, Prima, and Jago- and all of them look confused. You can’t even get a word in edgewise before he starts talking. “Sooooo, first off! Congratulaaaaations, Miranda, Izumi, and Lorelei, for being such good workers and pillars of Silver Eye Soluuuutions!” He even claps primly, although you think it might actually be sincere praise. “Between your overall impressive job completion rates, the team’s expansion into multiple sources of iiiiiincome, and general outreach towards the public, my bosses have been quiiiiite pleased. In faaaaact- they want to talk to you personallyyyyyy.”

At THAT, you freeze, and you can’t stop your jaw from gaping a bit. You’ve never...EVER seen Sal’s bosses, SES’s owners. Not in all your years of being here. The newer folk don’t look as shocked, but Izumi and Lorelei clearly recognize the importance.

Sal either doesn’t notice the looks, or doesn’t care- likely the latter. “Soooooo, I want you all to warmly welcome my glorious superiors, the owners of Silver Eye Solutions...Ballicini, aaaaaand Nasfradeus!”

There’s a bright light, and for a brief, fleeting second, you feel like everything inside you is BOILING- as though every strand of hair, every synapse, every CELL is on fire, bubbling, about to slough off and strip you to nothing and it won’t ever stop ever ever stop PLEASE STOP ANYTHING PLEASE-

The only noise you can make is a tiny gasp when the light fades, as does the pain entirely, as quickly as it came, and...suddenly you can’t remember what you were just thinking for the past moment. Well, whatever. Not important.

But what is is the two liquid individuals in front of you. One of them looks like a small, squat...rat? No, more a possum? Something with a long, thin tail and slightly rattish, at least. About your height, He’s got squinted eyes, a cigar in his mouth, and he looks every inch the stereotypical mobster or business magnate. Hell, he even has one of those funny hats.

The other one is taller, probably intentionally. He...she...it...looks more like a statue come to life- you can’t tell ANYTHING specific about it, aside from the fact that it’s taller than Sal at rest, coming from its head is a number of tendrils to clearly serve as ‘hair’, and its eyes; a sharp, piercing yellow-on-black that nonetheless fortunately seems to be crinkled in good cheer.

There’s a brief silence before you remember who they are, and proceed to clap very quickly.

Fortunately, the others are quick to follow your lead.

(cont.)
>>
The duo look to each other, chuckling, briefly, before the short one waves you off with a grin. “Nah, nah, cut it out, cut out youse mugs!” Wow, he’s even doing the accent. The clapping dies down as he continues speaking. “This ‘ere ain’t about us, it’s about youse! So feel good about yaselves, ya dig? Yooou been makin’ moves, good ones. Moves that’ve been makin’ motes, see? That’s good business. Real good business.” And here he starts pacing as he gesticulates. “Summa yas are new ta this burg, but yer real go-gettas. And that’s what we’s need in Silver Eye Solutions. Now look here. You’s should know- Ballicini believes in treatin’ earners right, nyeah? So here’s what we’s gonna do ya for. First off! ‘Zumi, Lori, dolls, get ovah here!”

The two quickly look at each other then scuttle over, both of them standing straight and even saluting- which frankly looked weird on Lorelei. “Now listen ‘ere. Sides Miss Mean Mug ovah here-” Hey… “-yous two been with us da longest. And while yous lot ‘ave had an issue here an’ there, you’ve cleaned it up real nice as of late. So we’s gonna give ya a lil’ incentive ta KEEP it that way, kay?” He then holds up an arm- and them stabs it into his own permeable gut, as though rooting around inside for something. “Now lesse here...aha! Here ya go, dolls, you best not break ‘em, yeah?” In his palm are two shiny, brand new FutureSights. “Got all the latest trimmins. Personalized dimensional camo, live updates for tech-head worlds, active GPS, picotechnology and, th’ works. Feel proud, ladies.”

The two take the tools with reverence and glee, in Lorelei’s case. “Eeeeee! Yeeees, finally! Can I hug you?!”

Ballicini snorts. “Like I’d say no ta a beautiful dame!” She actually glomps him for a second, his figure jiggling around for a moment as he pats her on the back before letting her go. “Now, now, this ain’t all, doll! We’s gots more ta say!”

“And I believe I’ll take it from here for a moment, if you don’t mind?” the other one asks. He’s more refined, much more ‘upper crust’. Ballicini merely responds with a casual wave and a puff from his cigar. “Excellent. Now then!"

(cont again- I prewrote this waaaaaay back so bear with me)
>>
>>3503553
We’ve acquired a few...interesting contracts, and we’ve worked out a deal or two with some of the other businesses in The Intersection. They’ve agreed to providing resources, and possible new facilities for our burgeoning headquarters in exchange for certain tasks done for them. I cannot say what these tasks are, but I’ve been assured that they’ll never be particularly long; no more than a day’s effort at the worst. You are free to take them at your leisure, although should you wait TOO long to do any in particular, we will be...displeased.” You have to resist a shudder at that. “Of course, I have every confidence you’ll find the rewards worth the effort invested. As for the next topic of business- to touch on something my erstwhile associate mentioned...you two- the droids.”

“Yeh?” Jago, at least, seems not so intimidated. Prima just looks curious.

“You two have been idling about for a bit, although your...efforts at interaction have afforded some possibilities for us, for which you have my gratitude. Therefore, the next job Miranda goes on, I will have to insist on your presence.” Heeeey… “Normally I would not be so commanding, but I must admit curiosity as to your viability.”

“Wait, can anyone else go with ‘em?” Lorelei asks. Mono seems interested in the answer as well.

To that, Nasfredeus simply shrugs. “No concern of mine there. So long as they’re present. Any other questions?”

>Anything you dare to ask Ballicini and Nasfredeus?
>>
>>3503557
>So, from what I’ve assumed about you, Silver Eye Solutions isn’t your primary business focus. Could you tell me a bit about what other industries you two are invested in?
>Actually, could you tell me how you two got into business with each other, and how SES was formed?
>>
>>3503557
Can't think of anything, so I'll go with >>3503566
>>
>>3503557
>I have a question...i heard... rumours. About a selectiin to be made should we worry about that? Also i'm fairly certain another dealmaker tried to coax a job out of me for a...should i say for a accident during my timely hours? If one dealmaker would be interested in dealling or offering jobs should i piont then to Sal or to you two?
>>
>>3503566
An addition:
>So, how did Sal come into the picture?

>>3503593
This too.
>>
Well, they're here, might as well pick their brains (or whatever they have in place of brains) a bit. Writing.
>>
You guys think we should could ask him about the pulling rank bit to do investigation on the robots that try to charge or do barely legal stuff? Would that be something we should get involved or if he would rather we stayed down low and avoided trouble. Specialy since there will be a new selection fir a new dealmaker. Some people might try to cheat their way. Or other might just try to gather motes and hope that if they have enough quantities if motes they will mark then for selection.
>>
Getting to see the owners was a nice surprise.
I didn't expect this at all, I thought Sal wanted us to hurry back just so he could throw us straight into another job.
>>
>>3503557
this: >>3503566
>>
>>3503611
Technicnacly this is another job. A job that the HIGHER UPS picked themselfs for US or at least the top three to get into solving as fast as we can. This is basicaly the upper managerment telling us to take care of the clients they got themselfs that is pretty big deal if you ask me.
>>
>we’ve worked out a deal or two with some of the other businesses in The Intersection.

So who was the anon that was asking for more things to do on the intersection?
>>
>>3503615
>Technicnacly this is another job
I don't mind that part. The quest is almost all about following Miranda as she goes on jobs to various worlds. What I expected was that Sal had found some random time-limited job that was about to expire and for some reason wanted us to complete.
>>
>>3503609
So long as they can get the parts and maintaince without undue difficulty or cost, we don't need to go picking fights. And if we wanted to put a bug in someone's ear to get them investigated, Sal would be a better choice anyway.
>>
>>3503557
>Are there any projections or overall business strategy that we're to follow?
>Any changes or adjustments to company policy, or new directions that employees should be encouraged to go in? Such as finding additional revenue streams while on a job?
>>
>>3503557
>>3503566
>>3503582
>>3503593
>>3503598
>>3503612
No one else seems to have anything, so you end up clearing your throat- they don’t seem too surprised, looking at you evenly. “Well, if you don’t mind answering... from what I’ve assumed about you, Silver Eye Solutions isn’t your primary business focus, is it?”

Ballicini chortles a bit at that. “Naw, we gots a couple-a...guess youze could call ‘em fingers in different pies, see? We’s got influence over a couplea places. This joint, an eatin’ place- good seafood, actually, called Ilyyeria’s. S’on the east of the Eatery District, you should check it out!”

Wait. “Do we get a discount?”

Shrug. “Iunno, do ya? Go an’ see! Anyway, that, a couple party joints, a lil’ construction setup... Nassy ‘ere convinced me ta throw in wit’ sum kinda recreational art gallery deal- think that one’s on the list a things ta do, you’ll see.” But yeah, we’s diversified, y’know?”

“Oooh, cool!” Lorelei looks intrigued. Izumi simply nods as she takes it all in.

“Huh. Good to know,” you offer. “Gotta imagine you’ve been at this a while, right? How’d this all happen?”

Again, he laughs, jiggling in a way that makes you crosseyed if you focus on it too long. “Aha! Now that there’s a story what would take a minute. Suffice ta say that we figured might be betta what with our other little ventures ta get some good clout an’ income in. First couplea attempts didn’t go great, cause the peeps was putzes, but we eventually figured it out. Sal ‘ere was a late arrival, but you’ve earned yer keep so far, aintcha?”

“Ohoho, well, I’d like to think so!” Huh. No word stretching.

“Thatcha do! Now, afore we head off, gots a bit of a head up for ya. Nas?” He turns to his partner, who nods.

“Just a bit of a word of caution.” His voice is steel, if not quite intimidating. “There have been...rumors going about, tales that there’s a possibility of a...selection to be made. Very rare. We insist you not worry about it; and that’s for your own good. There may be some...clever actions being taken by rival institutions to vy for power and influence. You need not worry about that; that is our purview. Simply keep making motes, and things will work themselves out. Also, should anyone attempt to request your official services- for ANYTHING public facing- please make certain to include Sal in your negotiations. Understand? Miss Mono, Miss Prima, this will include any future...events that you’ll appear at.” the wolfgirl frowns at that, but snorts and nods. “I assure you, this really IS for your own protection. The whole thing should eventually die down, but for now, we feel this is just good business protection.”

(cont.)
>>
>>3503667
“Now, beggin’ yer pardon, but we’s got places ta be! See ya in the funnies!” And with that, they all, Sal included, vanish, your head suddenly feeling like it was filled with water before and only now is draining- and as you glance around at the rest of the gathered, it seems like you aren’t the only one.

“Well...not what I was expecting on our return,” Izumi gripes. “Perhaps I’ll take a few days to recover…”

“Wait wait wait!” Owlia says quickly. “Before you do that, lemme mention something! I got things for you now!”

“Wait, things?” You blink. “What kinda things?”

“Inventions! And Sigils and stuff! Some of them are still a bit...experimental, but that’s where I’m hoping you guys come in!” Huh. Interesting. “So, I’ve got a couple rules, though, if you guys don’t mind…”

>Owlia’s R&B (Rentals and Borrows) is now available! Post incoming.
>>
>>3503667
>We insist you not worry about it; and that’s for your own good. There may be some...clever actions being taken by rival institutions to vy for power and influence. You need not worry about that; that is our purview. Simply keep making motes, and things will work themselves out. Also, should anyone attempt to request your official services- for ANYTHING public facing- please make certain to include Sal in your negotiations.
This is good to hear, glad we sorted that out. I'm even more glad now that we didn't take that shady deal to get out of paying that other dealmaker.

What interesting characters...
>>
Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!!
>>
>>3503682
https://pastebin.com/Bg4jJzXr

(Wanted to post this in proper threads, but I figured it was a long enough post string as it was.)

"Well...that's good to know," you offer. Seems like Owlia finally figured some things out, and a few of those items WERE interesting looking, experimental or not.

“Yeah, no kiddin’,” Mono admits. “Didn’t think it’d be so set out like that.”

“Aha, preeeetty slick,” Lorelei preens. “Anyway, I’m thinking we pamper ourselves a bit, y'know? I got some stories to tell, and I'm sure you two do, too! Heck, let's make it an SES spa day!”

“Well, I must admit I would relish some time in a spa…” Izumi decides. Before you can voice your opinion, you notice something off to the side- a new digital screen on the wall near the break room. Huh. Stepping up to it, you notice that it has the names of a few companies or businesses around The Intersection, along with some tasks next to it. These must be those business deals... a moving job, that’s fine. A firearm exhibition show? Okay. An ACTING part in a MOVIE? Egh, maybe Lorelei or Mono could have that one… There’s a decent number of these.

>HQ Tasks are also available now! You can gain particular unique accoutrements for your HQ in exchange for doing these tasks, and depending on how well, or in some cases, the style in which you handle the request, you’ll get varying types of results.

“Interesting.” For now, though, you wanted to go home and sleep in a real goddamn bed. It’s been...hm. “How long have I been gone, again?”

Mono shrugs. “Like five days...I think.”

...yeah, you’re gonna go sleep.

...at least, you want to before your phone buzzes. Taking it out, you sigh.

‘Your charges from the Care House have been informed as to your return and will be turned over to you in one (1) cycle from now! We can’t wait to hear how their time with you goes!’

Oh yeah. Them.

>...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.
>I’m going to pass out for a while, so...rain check on that.
>Honestly, I want some real food. I’m going to head to that restaurant and see if we have a discount.
>Other
>>
>>3503711
>...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.
>>
>>3503711
>>...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.
>>
>>3503711
>Honestly, I want some real food. I’m going to head to that restaurant and see if we have a discount.
>>
>If you take an item labeled (Experimental), then PLEASE use it extensively
>Also it might explode if you overuse it, so yeah.
So Owlia has evolved from blowing herself up to making Miranda blow herself up on a mission. Progress!

And we should at least take the multiversal comms thing with us. We can just fiddle with it on downtime during the mission to provide Owlia some data to help her research.

>>3503711
>I’m going to pass out for a while, so...rain check on that.
>>
>>3503711
>...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.

Whoever is going out next is definitely taking the experimental comms system.
>>
>>3503711
>>...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.

The Multiversal Comms seems like a good experimental project to take along and test in missions. It doesn't need to be used in combat, so it's much safer to use with somewhat bulky Data Recorder whenever there's a chance to stop and talk. Although, I'd have to wonder how does it account for the difference in time flow rate when talking across different dimensions? I'd think messaging would work better.
>>
>>3503711
>>...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.

>https://pastebin.com/Bg4jJzXr
Interesting. I really like the sound of the mana extractor. Hopefully with some work, we can keep the mana we extract. The healer, once refined, would be great for an escort or VIP protection job.
One thing that's a little unclear though. I looks like some of these run on their own power, and some on our mana?

>>HQ Tasks are also available now! You can gain particular unique accoutrements for your HQ in exchange for doing these tasks
Hey cool. It'll be nice to get a little more customization to the HQ. The major upgrades are so expensive, and don't add much personality, so this is great.
>>
>>3503711
>..y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice
>>3503730
>Honestly, I want some real food. I’m going to head to that restaurant and see if we have a discount.
Bring everybody, we need a relaxing celebration.


Also, I really want to test the Multiversal Comms and operation Z1(will definitely be unstable as fuck) ASAP.
>>
>>3503711
>Honestly, I want some real food. I’m going to head to that restaurant and see if we have a discount.
And right, those HQ Tasks.
Remember that they do have to get done, or Sal's bosses won't be happy.
>>
>>3503762
The comms sound easy to test, but I'm not sure how much good talking to someone other than Sal on mission is. A text-based system would be a lot easier to get the timing for though, good idea.
>>
We gon' spa it up!

Writing.
>>
>>3503711
>>...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.

For the robo shakedown, I think it should just be 'randa and them. They need to be able to show off what they can do on their own.
>>
>>3503711
>>3503715
>>3503718
>>3503761
>>3503762
>>3503764
>>3503766
>>3503780
The kids are nice enough, but dealing with them right after that long mission? Maybe a nap alone wouldn’t do it… “...y’know what, I’ll hop along with you guys. Spa sounds nice.”

“WOO! Spa day for the SES! Let’s go! I got just the place!” Before you realize it, everyone, bots included, are off to relax...in the Festival District.

It’s, blessedly, a good time; although you don’t normally do spas or this kind of luxuriating, you really kinda needed all this. The bots actually got services as well, even, the place Lorelei had in mind having a ‘mechanical needs’ area as well. While Cylica seems to be taking it all as ‘just another day’, Owlia seems pretty giddy, and Mono seems a bit embarrassed to all of this pampering.

Fortunately, there’s not a ton of shenanigans that take place- there’s some gossip, Lorelei insisting that at some point they go to a movie, and Mono inquiring about possible festivals to go to. For the most part, though, a massage, a soak, even a bit of haircare was provided, and all of it was highly welcomed.

You didn’t really care about the mani-pedi, but Lorelei insisted and you saw no reason to refuse.

Although the bill was… well, it wasn’t too much, at least. 2 Large Motes. Not much compared to your recent haul.

>Current Funds: 92.55 Large Motes

“Hoo...that was pretty damn nice,” Mono admits, shaking herself loose as you all walk out.

“It’s always good to take some you time,” Lorelei says sagely. “Refreshing yourself is important!”

“My joints have been lubricated to optimal levels, and I must admit, I enjoy the shine!” Prima jumps in.

“Gotta admit, was a nice toime,” Jago agrees. “Feelin’ nice an’ fresh!”

“So, I dunno about you all, but I’m gonna let this last for a bit. Maybe see if there’s anything neat going on around now,” Lorelei surmises. “What about you all?”

"I was considering checking in at the library, actually," Izumi says idly. "I know Delilah might be wondering where I've been."

"Owlia and I were considering taking in a show, actually," Cylica mentions. "There's a rather interesting movie play that's running called Serenity and Noise that she's been interested in."

Mono shrugs. "I was mebbe gonna go shoppin'. I need more clothes."

Prima seems to take a moment. "I was considering perhaps putting the spa's efforts to use. If we are to travel with you next assignment, Miss Miranda, then it would be prudent to improve my offensive measures. I was actually considering asking Mister Jago to accompany me in that respect."

"Ha, you wanna throw down with me? Sheila, wouldn't be happening to look fer some inspiration now, yeah?" If he could smile, you'd wager he'd have a smug grin on his face right now.

"I said 'considering', to be fair," she counters.

Well, for you…

>Anything to do before tomorrow?
>Join one of the others?
>"Nothing particular, just enjoy a bit of a ride around before heading home." (Move on to tomorrow.)
>>
>>3503928
>Anything to do before tomorrow?
Donate Lizardkin books to the library
Show Cylica and Owlia 'Spirit Orb', manastone weapons and elemental stones
Suggest team training schedule for newbies
>Join one of the others?
See to bots' training
>>
>>3503943
Pretty much this, minus the books instantly being given over to the library. First, we need to copy the pages for our own use. Can the FutureSight be used like a Kindle?
>>
Gonna take a breather for a while. I'll try to update at least once later.
>>
We can look up some ideas from Q&A thread in the meantime.
>>
>>3503966
Like creating a community chest/armory with same rules as Rental&Borrows and getting the actual official item list.
>>
>>3503928
First...
>Join one of the others?
Train with Prima and Jago, look into rounding out their equipment afterwards. Then...
>Anything to do before tomorrow?
Hire someone to fix the helmet we got off of Ferrah, figure out who to see to make an enchanted hooded cloak from the drider-silk we got from the Veilspinners, and test out that Shu-Rith thing.
>>
Actually, since we still have the cash, should we look into getting a bigger apartment? One large enough for the kids to get a room to themselves?
>>
Seems like training with the bots is the most agreed upon thing. Then maybe stop by the nerds and drop the books off at the library.
>>
>>3504117
We could, though even if we find and rent one now it won't be ready for tomorrow's visit. But I am curious what's on the offer.
>>
>>3504117
We've talked about this. There isn't really a point to getting a larger apartment. It would cost more rent, we aren't home enough for it to matter, and we don't need the space. If we do decide to have the kids over, they can spread out in the avaliable space.
>>
>>3504240
Yep. I'd rather spend the cash on some higher end mission gear. Plus we need to replace the C4 we used. It was well spent, but it sounds like we cleaned ourselves out.
>>
>>3503943
>>3503956
>>3504036
“I’ve got a couple errands I eventually need to run, but if you two are going to train, then it’s probably a good idea for me to be there with you,” you decide. If nothing else, it’ll let you get a feel for what would be better for the both of them in terms of job style. “You’re off now?”

“Well, shortly, yes,” Prima confirms. “Our own base of operations is...not quite suitable yet, though I understand that can change with sufficient funding. So we must utilize the Outgoer Training Clinic.”

“Makes sense enough,” you decide. “Lead the way.”

After arriving, something comes to you... considering that they’re SUPPOSED to be fightbots, from what you’ve been told, and Lorelei is supposed to be particularly support-focused, maybe it’d be a better idea to direct this training session to be something a bit more specific with the virtual training rooms...

> ...on second thought, general combat is fine. They need to be certain of how to handle themselves, after all. You might even go a bit with them, although you’ll be keeping it light.
>They seem like they’d be good at smash and grabs and certain types of infiltration like that. Maybe have them work at that.
>Prima’s supposed to be good with observation and data gathering and whatnot, right? Maybe something more tech-heavy. A package that needs to be retrieved or the sort.
>Other
>>
>>3504288
>Prima’s supposed to be good with observation and data gathering and whatnot, right? Maybe something more tech-heavy. A package that needs to be retrieved or the sort.
>>
>>3504288
>>Prima’s supposed to be good with observation and data gathering and whatnot, right? Maybe something more tech-heavy. A package that needs to be retrieved or the sort.
I don't think infiltration is really where they'll shine. They are both /fighting/ bots, after all. But they're not really setup for long term straight fighting either. In time, as they gain experience (and upgrades) they could transition to more of a slugging setup.
>>
>>3504288
> ...on second thought, general combat is fine. They need to be certain of how to handle themselves, after all. You might even go a bit with them, although you’ll be keeping it light.
I think that combat experience is the thing that they're lacking the most. Also it would be good idea to show them what we ourselves can do before the job.
>>
>>3504288
>Prima’s supposed to be good with observation and data gathering and whatnot, right? Maybe something more tech-heavy. A package that needs to be retrieved or the sort.
I think we should go for min-maxing instead of being well-rounded.
>>
>>3504288
>> ...on second thought, general combat is fine. They need to be certain of how to handle themselves, after all. You might even go a bit with them, although you’ll be keeping it light.
Combat training is always useful, and it's what they were built for.
>>
>>3503943
Do we have copies of the books in some capacity? I'm not wanting to lose out on a resource.
>>3503956
I'm with this guy
>>
>>3504352
Go to get a drink and it's half an hour later all of a sudden. Maybe I should head to bed.
>>3504288
>Prima’s supposed to be good with observation and data gathering and whatnot, right? Maybe something more tech-heavy. A package that needs to be retrieved or the sort.
>>
>>3504315
>>3504320
>>3504328
>>3504363

Let's see how well they work with tactical insertions and target retrieval.

Roll 2d100, best of 3.
>>
Rolled 47, 100 = 147 (2d100)

>>3504364
>>
Rolled 47, 50 = 97 (2d100)

>>3504352
We're donating it to a public library, so I assumed that the books would be available later on for public use. Nothing wrong with making copies for ourselves though.

>>3504364
Uh, can this vote count since we're not on errands yet?
>>
>>3504368
Pardon? Which vote?

>>3504367
Impressive.
>>
>>3504389
*his vote >>3504352
>>
Rolled 17, 37 = 54 (2d100)

>>3504364
>>
Prima has to adjust a few things. Jago is primed and ready.
>>
>>3504389
The reason I'm asking is that during Q&A you said that scheduling group training would require more anons supporting this idea.
>>
>>3504444
I mean, that still applies, I was just making sure I knew what you were talking about outright.
>>
>>3504448
Yeah, sorry, my mistake. Couldn't delete and correct that post because of the roll.
>>
File: Styles - Incoming Impact.jpg (3.57 MB, 3840x2160)
3.57 MB
3.57 MB JPG
Have another, Handler.

How has the new place been treating you?
>>
>>3504288
>>3504315
>>3504320
>>3504328
>>3504363
“Before you two start, I was thinking we’d change things up a bit. Instead of just beating on each other, it might be a good idea to work to your strengths a bit more.” With them looking at you in curiosity, you beckon them forwards. “Follow me.”

You quickly explain to them the basics behind the chambers, to which they get the idea almost immediately, thank goodness. And then you tell them the gameplan. “I want to see what you both can do as a unit. So what’s going to happen here is that you’re going to take on an objective. There’s data of high importance you need to get out of this building. It’s on the seventh floor, and the place is highly guarded, with motion sensors, foot patrols, and various locked areas. It’ll be up to you to figure out how to get in, retrieve the data, and get out. Understand?”

“Of course!” Prima says quickly. “This is not unlike a task I was requested to perform when I first met Ms. Lorelei.”

Jago nods in agreement. “Yeh, we’ll be fine! Let’s have at it!”

“Right, then. Good luck in there. I’ll keep it basic for now.” So no reinforcements, nothing too harsh on them.

To your pleasant surprise, it goes...well enough. Prima seems to have some particular issues; she seems to take some time to decide on a course of action by herself, which leads to her nearly getting caught several times- certainly puts the place on guard and hunting, ratcheting up the difficulty. The other unfortunate issue is her general missteps- clearly she’s expecting some things to happen that don’t. Likely comparing past data and making an estimate that just isn’t viable, which causes the both of them to get turned around more than once, extending the time of the mission. She comes through in the clutch, shutting down the camera network and downloading the data with impressive speed, but otherwise her indecision and bad data cause a few hardships.

Fortunately for her, Jago must’ve been inwardly looking to prove himself, because he managed to drag them both out of every issue that she accidentally started; disabling and incapacitating guards (not killing them, you notice), securing a reasonable ingress point (that Prima did identify, to be fair) and defending the area while she downloaded the data, and was clearly the vanguard for their exfiltration attempt. He’d taken advantage of the blindness and led the defenders on a merry chase until it was far too late, and circled back around to finish the job- if by smashing through a number of walls until they were out of the building. A bit...high profile, but certainly workable.

(cont.)
>>
>>3504651
By the end of it, they had the data well in hand, and despite a few (virtual) bumps and bruises, they’d come out of it fairly well. You had to applaud that, even as you gave them the formal critique. Prima seemed a bit chagrined, but Jago, of course…

“See, lass? And yer always tearin’ at me! Well, lemme tell ya, Jago knows what’s what come game time, yeah? You stick with me, we’ll be apples, fer sure!” Well. Here’s hoping you don’t have to check his head part for any expansion any time soon. Prima seems...distraught. A bit angry. Maybe a bit impressed? You’re not great at reading lipless robot expressions- need to work on that.

“Well, perhaps I...may require some additional data to-to compare against past performances.” She only squeaks briefly when Jago wraps an arm around her shoulders.

“Don’tcha worry! I’ll tells ya everythin’ I know!” he says with a guffaw.

“Please do not,” she mutters. He eagerly ignores her.

(Done for tonight. Will try to update during the week.)

>>3504558
Pretty well, when it's quiet. Awesome stuff as usual!
>>
>>3504652
Thanks for running. Good to see Jago have a chance to shine.
>>
Compare the data on a computer and then go to a bar together
>>
>>3504651
> When the shadowrun goes loud
>>
>>3504652
I'm proud of Jago if for no other reason than his chosen exit strategy.
>>
File: 1551775641161.jpg (527 KB, 1080x1382)
527 KB
527 KB JPG
>>3504652
Fucking Jago, man, I swear.
>>
>>3504652
After some discussion on possible training times; namely, something along the lines of a general debrief wherein you could suggest possible new tactics or improvements, you eventually elect to move on- you’ve got a book or two you need to deposit. Although…

Could you keep the info in your FutureSight? Hmm...there’s a ‘scanning’ app here…just need to figure out how to use it…

After some walking and muttering to yourself (with the bots following and occasionally chiming in), you finally manage to figure out a ‘text scanning’ application. Huh. Can scan a book in an instant, apparently, provided it takes the measure of the book first. You decide to test it out on one- you have to line it up just right and...take a picture? Neat. Judging from the ‘in-progress’ diagrams, seems like it detects how thick the book is, the page material, and the actual text substance, and kinda makes judgements on how thick the book is, how many pages there are, and then just kinda separates the pages out by determining position? Complicated, but very neat. Likely extremely useful in the future, too.

The other two books are scanned shortly, and from there you make your way to the library. Although you’re not entirely certain who to talk to for this whole book bounty thing. The front desk has a ‘be back soon!’ note on it. Izumi’s probably around here somewhere, though...

It’s a few minutes of wandering later when you finally see someone you recognize around the border of the fiction section; Delilah’s busy stocking shelves, high up on a floating platform. Curiously, she seems to be stocking metallic cylinders of something as opposed to actual books, having their own massive section even- ‘Performances’. Careful to try to not startle her, you clear your throat. “Pardon me. Delilah, right?”

“Ah! Y-yes, just a moment!” She seems a bit busy; there’s a LOT of cylinders. “I’ll be right down!”

“No need- I’m just wondering what to do with these books I have- you said to bring any in if I found them, but…” You shrug even though she can’t see it.

“Oh, really? Thank you! I-I mean, it helps me AND you if you give them straight to me, since I get something out of it, too! Just, uh, let me finish sorting these…” Hm.

>You’ve got places to be; you’ll just leave them here.
>Ask about what those cylinders even ARE- you might’ve only been in here sparingly, but you haven’t seen those before.
>Might as well browse a bit while she does her job. Might be worth having some entertainment on longer missions…
>Other
>>
Evening, boss. How's life treating you?

I do have a question about Zatzil's weapons, namely who got them, Miranda or Izumi?

>>3512657
>>Might as well browse a bit while she does her job. Might be worth having some entertainment on longer missions…
Ask her if she has any downloadable books we could put on the FutureSight.
>>
>>3512657
>>Ask about what those cylinders even ARE- you might’ve only been in here sparingly, but you haven’t seen those before.
Some sorta digital media maybe?


Good to see you.
>>
>>3512657
>Ask about what those cylinders even ARE- you might’ve only been in here sparingly, but you haven’t seen those before.
Suppose we have some time to burn before the inevitable night out on the piss, and nothing glaring to take care of right now
>>
>>3512657
>Ask about what those cylinders even ARE- you might’ve only been in here sparingly, but you haven’t seen those before.

>>3512681
Personally, I'm fine with Izumi having these enchanted weapons - Miranda hoarded like ten or something melee weapons and some other goodies on that mission, while all that Izumi got were some hand-me-downs from Miranda.
>>
>>3512764
After what happened last time we got sloshed, I don't think we're in a hurry to try it again. Especially with Sal's bosses warning.
>>
>>3512808
Not to mention the pricey bill for damages. Maybe just a movie night would do?
>>
>>3512806
I'd kinda like Miranda to keep the Katar, seeing as she's more punch based, and I don't know how Izumi would feel about using something that can launch magical shadows. Maybe trade Winnower for it?

Also, speaking of trading stuff, we should give Lorelei Venom-Tongue as a souvenir. She needs to practice her melee skills a bit, and the weapon kind of fits her.

Also, boss, are you going to add in the new weapon descriptions to the pastebin?
>>
>>3512808
>HEY EVERYONE MIRANDA SAYS SHE CAN KICK YOUR BUTT

>Miranda: ...........

Everytime.....
>>
>>3512657
>Ask about what those cylinders even ARE- you might’ve only been in here sparingly, but you haven’t seen those before.


Also I have a list of things to do for Miranda and co:
>check on HQ tasks and maybe assign some to fellow co-workers
>Maybe upgrade HQ
>arrange a combat/outgoer training schedule in our HQ for newbies. i.e. Randa/Zumi lecture on weapons or physical stuff and thief/sneaky class with Lori.
>Get our weapon loot treated, don't want them to get absorbed into us.
>Search for a short d-rank mission for the robots
>>
>>3512681
Fine. Tired- it's jus the one tonight.

Miranda has them. Izumi could be given them, however.

>>3512851
So sure. Would have to be a formal vote, though. And yes- tomorrow. (This is a reminder.)
>>
>>3512882
Supporting the write-ins, plus we need to restock on Moleworm mines and C4 bricks. Though I think we can choose a job of higher rank, since the deal was that they are going on OUR mission, not us supervising/babysitting them.
>>
>>3512925
I know that this dsy is not over yet and we've got to look after the kids tomorrow, but it feels like we never make big plans on how to spend time in the Intersection, just waiting for Handler to offer the next 'what to do today' option. So I think it'd be better to lock this plan in now.
>>
>>3512657
>Ask about what those cylinders even ARE- you might’ve only been in here sparingly, but you haven’t seen those before.
>>
>>3512657
>Ask about what those cylinders even ARE- you might’ve only been in here sparingly, but you haven’t seen those before.
>>
>>3512897
What kind of job Sal offers now? I'm excited for the new job.
>>
>>3512657
>>3512711
>>3512764
>>3512806
>>3512882
>>3513114
>>3513120
Well, might as well sate your curiosity. “So, what are those you’re putting up? They look new.”

“Oh, well, uh, they’re, uh, kinda actually related to the book drive! See, see, what we’re doing is taking the descriptions of the books, and we’re recreating the events as best we can using a combination of technology and magic to allow for, well, portable recreations in minature!” Huh. She sounds excited, at least. “It’s really fascinating! I, uh, don’t really know the details for how it works, though…but all of these cylinders are supposed to be recreations of all the books’ history! Not all of them are going to get this treatment, though...”

“Oh, that’s rather fascinating!” Prima chimes in. “So there’s a more visual and tactile element to the records instead of just text now! It could help a number of different kinds of individuals, I imagine!”

“Sure, what she said.” Well, if you don’t have anything to contribute, Jago…

“I think it’s pretty neat!” She agrees. Before much longer, she’s finished, and quickly pilots her platform down. “Alright, just come with me!”

The process is quick enough once you get to the desk; the three books are each priced at 50 small motes (thank you, Friend and Family bonus), so, hey, 1.5 more is 1.5 more.

Honestly, you’re kinda flush for cash at the moment. Not that it’ll last forever, but...might be time to see what else you can do with it in that case. There’s a few things you can think of- just a matter of what takes priority.

>See about these ‘HQ Tasks’ first. They sound interesting, and useful.
>You might as well see about treating one or more of your weapons- you’re out here, so why not?
>Considering the kids are coming tomorrow, maybe you could pick up a couple of things for them? Besides weapons, that is.
>Other
>>
>>3514342
>See about these ‘HQ Tasks’ first. They sound interesting, and useful.
>>
>>3514342
>See about these ‘HQ Tasks’ first. They sound interesting, and useful.

On the next day:
>You might as well see about treating one or more of your weapons- you’re out here, so why not?
>Considering the kids are coming tomorrow, maybe you could pick up a couple of things for them? Besides weapons, that is.(more simulation training yey)
>>
>>3514342
>You might as well see about treating one or more of your weapons- you’re out here, so why not?

We can check HQ tasks after we're finished ensuring our new loot doesn't fade away on us, and we can teach the kids tomorrow about how equipment effects their appearance on a mission by taking them out to buy a piece or two for a lesson.

Evening, boss. You doing alright?
>>
>>3514342
>See about these ‘HQ Tasks’ first. They sound interesting, and useful.
>>
>>3514342
>>You might as well see about treating one or more of your weapons- you’re out here, so why not?
We're already out running errands..
>>
>>3514342
>See about these ‘HQ Tasks’ first. They sound interesting, and useful.
Sal's bosses said that they would be very unhappy if we didn't get all of these tasks done.
>>
>>3514380
>ensuring new loot doesn't fade away on us
Where is this coming from? And what weapons you had in mind for stats treatment?
>>
Looking into the HQ Tasks it is! Writing.
>>
>>3514408
I thought it was mentioned in #29, but that only mentions the place we went to. Anyway, from what I remember, our magic loot won't fade away for a while, and our mundane weapons are safe.

For treatment, I was thinking the Red Sun Gauntlets, the Blacksnake Katar, and while we were there, getting someone to fix up Ferrah's Helmet and Khaom's NotBusterSword, or commissioning someone to make a nice cloak from the Veilspinner's silk we got, or perhaps an armband utilizing the feather we got from Va-Shi.
>>
>>3514448
From what I remember the loot attunes to the Intersection and gains pemranence treatment by itself after a long period of time, and treatment services are used to get an instant result and there was some special case with high tech stuff.
I think it would be better to ask Handler to remind us how this actually works.
>>
>>3514455
When the loot attunes to the intersection it turns into motes I thought.
>>
>>3514455
You got it backwards. After some time the items we get from other worlds become like the clothing we have: they turn into a different similar object in whatever new universe we arrive on.

>>3514448
>For treatment, I was thinking....
Hold on right there. The treatment costs a decent ammount of Lotes and other than the gauntlets(maybe), we don't know if the weapons are worth it. We should give them a test run in our training room before we decide to treat them.
>>
>>3514342
>>3514354
>>3514365
>>3514383
>>3514402

Well, most of this can wait, since it’s on your own time, but those tasks had an undercurrent of...well, not ‘urgency’, but certainly ‘priority. Might as well take a look. Parting with Prima and Jago for now, you head back to HQ. You can hear the grunting of someone in the training area, but you’re focused on the obvious addition- the bright neon-blue holographic board. When you look at the newly-added board, the first thing you notice is that these tasks aren’t actually ‘paid’, perse. Rather, the rewards seem to ONLY be certain additions for your HQ. Well...guess that makes sense. Would’ve liked to be paid, though…

>Client: Spark North (Hardware and Software)
>Request Type: Labor
>Summary: These folks are movin’ locales, and we said that one or two-a you might be amendable ta helpin’ out! Now, this stuff is FRAGILE, so watch it! Anything breaks, it comes outta YOUR hide!
>Reward: Limited Server Database Access- (Physical Combat Training Area- AI Dummies Upgrade)

>Client: Redline (Vehicles and Accessories- Outgoer Focused)
>Request Type: Showcase
>Summary: Tankloud’s lookin’ for some folks ta show off their ride in a combat sim. Wanna prove that they’ve got good stuff. Means ya have to take some lumps, though, so hope you’re not afraid of a lil’ brusin an’ rough road.
>Reward: Reinforced armor plating on any vehicle of choice.

>Client: Everstyle Entertainment (Entertainment Media)
>Request Type: Exhibition
>Summary: So these guys are filmin’ a new ‘Nightmare Run’ flick- if ya never heard of it, it’s a horror series ‘bout a group of people what gotta take part in ‘death races’ across the galaxy. They’re lookin’ for extras to shoot a couplea scenes on, peeps with authentic fightin’ experience. I suggested that one-a you might be up to tha task. Just don’t try ta steal the spotlight- or maybe do! Ha!
>Reward: You Get To Be In A Major Intersection Motion Picture. Also a free upgrade to the Break Room

>Client: Minus-One (Firearms)
>Request Type: Showcase
>Summary: Minus One wants one of you to show up and help show off their latest suite of experimental superheated plasma weapons. Sounds simple, yeah? Just take their gear, coo over it a bit, then starting shooting things until they say stop. Easy. I think.
>Reward: Minus-One brand Weapons Storage System, Pick of Single Minus-One Brand Weapon.

>Client: Johnson and Nema Interactive Art Installations
>Request Type: Exhibition
>Summary: Yeeahhh...so, I’m not entirely certain. But they want help before openin’ their ‘Interactive Art House’ to make sure that everything’s...solvable? Whatever, just get ova there when ya can and jump through a few hoops for ‘em. They said they’d give your place a nice coat a’ paint and a bit more besides if ya do, so good luck.
>Reward: Custom (Minor) Room Installation

...Hm. At least there aren't a ton of them right now...
>>
>>3514477
>Client: Redline (Vehicles and Accessories- Outgoer Focused)
>Request Type: Showcase
One of the skylanders could go there

>Client: Minus-One (Firearms)
>Request Type: Showcase
That's a task for Izumi

Client: Johnson and Nema Interactive Art Installations
>Request Type: Exhibition
And this one is for Lori


So how does treatment work after all?
>>
>>3514455
I'm pretty sure the loot only attunes to us and gives bonuses or penalties to our unmodified Stats, but fades into nothing after that happens, but like you say, Handler's the best to ask.

It would be kind of cool to learn new spells or techniques by having them attune to us, though. We could learn how to fire off thunderbolts if we let the Thunderlight Bow stick around long enough...

>>3514477
>Client: Everstyle Entertainment (Entertainment Media)
We get to be in a Not!Italian Mad Max knock off movie? Fuck yes, going with this.

Also, see if we can get our own copy to watch for crappy movie night.
>>
>>3514492
...wait, how did I combine two different jobs into one?

Well, since we won't be the new Furiosa anytime soon...
>Client: Minus-One (Firearms)
>>
Attunement/Treatment is as >>3514472 said. You can use them as they are for a certain amount of time, but after said time they 'lose' their intrinsic properties and will go towards affecting your appearance and grant passives as opposed to having active abilities.

Just as a general example: Were the Bearkin Gauntlets allowed to Attune, they'd grant you a massive bonus to Intimidation, a minor one to Otherwordly, and would have a passive of 'Nature', which would influence your healing abilities and anything to do with nature magic or wilderness. You'd lose the restoration ability, however, and they wouldn't actually have any defensive properties anymore.

Treating them locks in their properties as is.
>>
>>3514508
Do you have a list of possible passive abilities and their effects on you? I need it for reasons...

Statting reasons...
>>
>>3514477
>Client: Spark North (Hardware and Software)
Miranda or Izumi. I wouldn't trust fragile things to Lori, Jago, or Prima.

>Client: Redline
Owlia

>Client: Everstyle Entertainment
Lorelei and Mono

>Client: Minus-One
I would actually say Mono, because she's actually really good with energy weapons, and can play to a crowd from her actress training.
Izumi would be a close second because of her vast weapon knowledge, so she could be the gun geek girl.

>Client: Johnson and Nema Interactive Art Installations
Prima, Owlia, Cylica.
>>
>>3514529
>actually really good with energy weapons
It was said that she's decent with them in comparison to handling other weapons, and I don't think she'd be able to properly advertise them.
>>
>>3514505
You guys don't have to assign them all out at once (or at all if you're feeling greedy/bold).

Focus on a task for Miranda for now.
>>
>>3514525
A couple, but I'll admit several are unique to the piece of clothing. Meaning I come up with it as I go.
>>
>>3514477
>Client: Everstyle Entertainment (Entertainment Media)
>Request Type: Exhibition
Who doesn't want to see an action movie with a magical girl stunt double doing corkscrew kicks through spaceship windows? Miranda could pull off some Bruce Lee shit ezpz
>>
>>3514477
>Client: Everstyle Entertainment (Entertainment Media)
>Request Type: Exhibition
Go with this one for Miranda.
>>
>>3514537
>Client: Spark North (Hardware and Software)
Then choosing this for Miranda.
>>
Movies aren't normally your bag, but...seems simple enough. Just punch people, right? You can do that.

Writing!
>>
>>3514477
>>3514550
>>3514551
Well...all things considered, the rest of them strike you more as things that the others would do better- guns, the driving bit, all that. Moving, maybe, but that’s just...dull. On the other hand...well, you’ve done faux fighting before. In front of a audience, even. This is just plus a camera. Hopefully.

Pressing the ‘accepted’ button just below it, you’re quickly given instructions on where to go- the studio’s in the Festival District, unsurprisingly. Not too hard to figure out. Hopefully, this will be a decent thing to end the day on if it drags on too long…

“Silver Eye? Ah, you must be our emergency stand-in!” The fairy (human-sized) at the counter is visibly relieved at your appearance, wings drooping in relaxation. “Not a problem, I’ll contact the director and get you back to wardrobe immediately! He’ll go over the specifics of the role with you then, okay?”

The direction himself is a creature that reminds you of a bipedal cheetah with spinal ridges. “Right, right, right, your name?”

Sounds in a heck of a hurry, too. “Miranda Styles.”

“Gotcha, follow me!” You do so, as he continues speaking as quickly as possible. “Okay so, you’re here because we need someone to take over for the instigator of the big bar brawl scene. You don’t got but five lines, so don’t worry about that much; what’s important is that you just need to hit your marks, alright? Your boss said you were good at fightin’ right?” You nod. “Great, then you better not be exaggerating, ‘cause we’re throwing you into the deep end, here. We’re gonna get you through the basics and then we’re rolling!”

Soon, you arrive at a holo/real prop studio floor, currently designed to look like the inside of a dingy, run down bar. It’s got a bit too much neon, but old-timey beer bottles, bigger glasses, metal chairs, pool tables, and a number of other accoutrements- one of the biggest you notice is the skull of some kinda animal that...what is that, a hammerhead shark thing? Whatever, it’s wide-headed, that’s all you can tell. But it’s real, and sitting right above a massive digital music setup. That, there’s a guitar, and-

“Okay, so!” He hands you a sheet- the script, from what you can tell. “These are your lines and your actions. We’ll give ya some time to go over ‘em while Lucretia here gets you dressed up.” You quickly look back up to see that you’re in a dressing up, with a massive, four-armed, blue alien with large lips (and hips), holding both a pair of clothes and some hair devices in her hand. She looks you over, giving a ‘hm’ of consideration. “Well, she has the general outfit asthetic already, so that’s a plus. She shouldn’t feel too odd in what we have in mind. Now, we’ll need to make some alterations, but I can work with this.”

As she approaches, you grit your teeth, already wondering if perhaps this wasn’t the best idea. “Please don’t cut my hair.”

“No promises, sorry!” Crap. Well, while she’s fussing about, might as well go over the script…
>>
>>3514737
>Remember, HQ Tasks are largely dependant on both substance AND style, with consideration to the task at hand. Accomplish something in a sufficiently stylish or attention-getting manner, and you might see a bit extra from them!

Hm. The lines are simple enough, ignoring any interspersed dialogue from other characters:

> “You the guy my boss sent? Thought you’d be taller. C’mon, follow me.”

> “You’re cheating, but I’ll let it slide.”

> “Because I win this hand anyway.”

> “Oh? Well maybe you should go cry to that little battish girl you keep eying in-”

And from there apparently you’re supposed to get punched, get up, and leap at him. The fight itself doesn’t center on you- from what you can tell, this guy named ‘Draken’ is the lead character (or at least he is for this scene) and most of the fight revolves around him. You DO get the honor of fighting off seven guys and one more line-

> “Think we got all of ‘em...”

-before you get promptly grabbed and tossed out of a window. It’s that kinda film, apparently.

“Alright, so, if you got any questions that can’t be answered by the set, now’s the time to ask ‘em! I ain’t got a lotta time!” he insists.

>Any questions?
>>
>>3514738
>"Can the reward include a copy of the movie?"
>>
Calling it done for tonight. 'Shooting' will happen tomorrow!
>>
>>3514738
Oh, yeah, also...
>"Is obvious magic allowed, or should I keep it purely physical?"
>"Would you prefer fisticuffs, or can I go buck wild with the props?"
>"Mind if I request a prop?" (prop switchblade, one that could withstand stabbing into the card table)
>>
>>3514738
>>3514750
Everything but the prop switchblade. I want to know if the chairs are the break-apart kind, or if the other actors are sturdy enough to just shrug off breaking a chair over their head. That kind of stuff.
>>
>>3514738
Don't know Intersection has a movie industry.
>>3514742
Supporting.
>>
>>3514738
I'm with this guy >>3514761
It would be a shame if our 'acting' would cause a need in more emergency stand-ins.
>>
>>3514742
>>3514750
Damn it, one more...
>”Who exactly is throwing me out the window? I need to coordinate with them on how we’ll pull it off.”
>>
>>3514787
This too actually.
>>
>>3514738
>?
Is the fighting choreographed or are we freestyling? How sturdy are the other actors? How sturdy are the props and the set? Anything you don't want me doing?
>>
>>3514738
Can i tall with the coreography director? I would hate to lose more of your time because i wasn't coordinated with the rest of the stunt actors
>>
>>3514738
>>3514750
>>3514761
>>3514786
>>3514787
>>3514818
>>3514827
>>3514929
Well, there’s a couple, just for safety’s sake. “We’re keeping this to physical only, no magic? Or am I allowed to use magic?”

“No magic,” he immediately responds. “At least, nothing obvious. You think you can save us motes with some high flying, by all means.”

“It won’t be THAT much,” you insist. “Can I use props?”

“Yeah, since we’re behind schedule, we’re letting you freestyle a bit. Don’t worry, all these guys are trained, you just have to make sure they land at their marks- we’ve designated them with yellow squares, can’t miss ‘em.” Ugh, she IS messing with your hair- damnit; you like your pigtails. She’s at least trying to not destroy the hair length, though…too much.

“So everything’s breakable?” You continue.

“Mostly. Only things that aren’t are the actual bar areas, but tables, chairs, all that? You’re not the only one who’s gonna be breakin’ a chair over someone’s head if you go for that.” Ah, good. “Speaking of, that reminds me; you check the latter half of the scene? There’s a part where we need you NOT in the shot. The stunt with the pool table.” Oh yeah, you noticed that, he breaks the table’s legs and pool balls go everywhere- hell, you don’t think you could imitate that. “We’ll give you a mark to hit.”

Fair enough. “Alright, then. Speaking of, when I get thrown, who’s doing that? Probably a good idea to coordinate with them a bit…”

He nods. “Right, that’s Letch, he’s our big villain of the piece. Nice guy, don’t worry. Big fella, you’ll be able to talk a bit before we start rollin’.” Ugh, wait, there goes your jacket and clothes. “You’re lucky we got stuff in your size. Put a lil’ more crease in her cheeks.” That last bit is at Lucretia, who dabs some...stuff...under your eyes and around your cheeks. “There we are, that’s our Silva!” When you look into the mirror given, you find a sharper-faced you staring back- there’s surprisingly little done else, aside from looking slightly older and your hair taken from its pigtails and (cut! argh…) put into something that seems ‘intentionally messy’ and rough. You’ve got a damn bang hanging over one eye. Hate that.

Not that the director seems to care. “Now, let’s get you into your new threads and get you out there!”

Yay.

(cont.)
>>
>>3515716
What you’re eventually put in is something that seems to be a cross between a formal three piece and a biker outfit, with a stiff leather jacket, vest, and shirt, along with thick boots and straightened pants. You’re given a gold watch as an accessory; you managed to beg off the earrings, though. Those just wouldn’t make sense. Fortunately, they gave in on that quickly enough, and you’re marched out to the set, where a number of the other actors are milling around. Most of them look big and rough, for certain. Should be able to take a few lumps. “Okay, folks! This is our stand-in for Jassi; her name’s Miranda Styles, treat ‘er well! She’s an Outgoer, which means she’s an old hand at fightin’, so congrats, everyone who’s in Jassi’s scenes, means you get to improv a bit. We ain’t got time to re-run through the choreography anyway, so just make sure you hit your marks!” Sure enough, you can see several yellow squares lit up on the floor, as well as green ones, apparently; maybe those are for someone else? “We’re gonna run through some last gear checks, so get ready!”

Right. So apparently, your starting place was near the door in the…? Ah, over there.

“Hey.” You quickly turn around to see a large, sharkfaced being with a black mask on. He’s dressed in similar leathers as you are, though he’s got some kind of symbol on his chest. “Said you were an Outgoer, right?” You nod. “Cool. I’m Mavara, I’m playin’ Letch, so I’m gonna be the guy who tosses ya in the aftermath. Glass is breakable, so don’t worry. I’ll be gentle. Break it beforehand, even. You okay with getting grabbed by the neck from behind, or how you wanna do this?”

> “That’s fine. Sounds reasonable enough.” (Standard)
> “I thought you were going to two-hand hurl me, honestly. Don’t worry about the glass.” (Brutal)
> “Well, if this is supposed to be your big moment, you could just ‘punch’ me out. (Finesse)
> “I was thinking…” (Other)

I didn't forget asking about the other reward.
>>
>>3515718
> “I thought you were going to two-hand hurl me, honestly. Don’t worry about the glass.” (Brutal)

Lewd..but in reality this si a bar fight they are never clean. So brutality will help sell the scene better. i bet Randa went into a couple of bar fights before. We also have healing.
>>
>>3515718
>“I thought you were going to two-hand hurl me, honestly. Don’t worry about the glass.” (Brutal)
>>
>>3515718
>> “I thought you were going to two-hand hurl me, honestly. Don’t worry about the glass.” (Brutal)


>and your hair taken from its pigtails and (cut! argh…)
Aw. hopefully it wasn't too much, and it'll regrow soon enough.
>>
>>3515718
>> “Well, if this is supposed to be your big moment, you could just ‘punch’ me out. (Finesse)
>>
"I'm the furthest thing from fine china. Just make it look impressive."

Writing!
>>
>>3515751
Surely there exists some sort of hair-in-a-can, r-right?
>>
>>3515785
If there was one thing i learned from watching The Raid was that the more realistic a fight scene looks the better it's for a movie. Specialy if it's a action movie.
>>
>>3515788
I can already hear Lorelai teasing Miranda about the hair.
>>
>>3515788
Heck, extensions are a thing IRL, and shouldn't be expensive relative to what we're usually spending. but as long as it wasn't really noticeable it should be fine to just let it regrow.
>>
You know, would throwing Miranda through the wall be too over the top, with the window slightly to the side of our exit point for comedic effect?
>>
>>3515797
Now that i think about it a easy way to solve that is by using our neat new gloves to reverse time. Then we will have our hair at the right size again. So no biggy.

>>3515799
i half thinking in doing a drunk fight stance. But this fight seems to be a serious one so i don't think comedy would fit into it.
>>
>>3515806
Well, Miranda gets yeeted after raising an obvious flag, so it is not that serious. Just thinking about 'style' points for this task.
>>
>>3515814
Just make it look real and gritty. Let the people really hit us, that way people watching will feel connected to our character (since most people don't know how to fight) and gives some ground for people to think that even if the character knows how to handle a fight she can also be hurt and so she becomes easier to connect with the audience who will be rooting for her.

And then once she is finished fighting six guys at a time being well beaten the big bad comes in and throws her out of the window.
>>
>>3515823
>Let the people really hit us,
We could totally do it, but I dunno if the actors will want to go with it.
>>
>>3515831
Oh yeah. But i dunno once the first guy notice we don't even flinch froma punch they might try?

Or we can just do some cool martial art move like use two broken pieces of a leg and hit people with it. Improvised weaponry is pretty neat in movies too.
>>
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>>3515718

You just shake your head. “Relax, I’m not new to taking hits.”

He nods. “I know, I’m just makin’ sure an’ all. Some folks ain’t comfortable with it.”

“Yeah, thanks. But really, I thought you were going to two-hand hurl me anyway, honestly. Don’t worry about the glass. Just make it look good for you.” Hell, you’ve been tossed through real walls. Fake glass isn’t gonna worry you much.

“Alright, if you say so. Honestly, glad they’re letting us improv a bit, though. Most of the guys here have been practicing a lot, but some of the stuff they were asking for was kinda weird.” Weird?

“Weird how?” you find yourself asking.

“Eh, just it seemed like the tone of the fight and the movie and what they wanted for Jassi- or Silva, I guess, seemed kinda...comic? Didn’t fit the tone, to me.” Huh. Yeah, that would be strange. “Since she’s out, though, maybe you can make it all look a bit more natural. They’re all good at fallin’ and floppin’, though, so yeah.”

“Good to know,” you agree. “So I just have to make sure they all hit their locations, right?”

“Yup,” he confirms. “Those yellow spots are fall points for your mooks, the red ones are fall points for Lodi- uh, Draken. So make sure you’re not aimed there. Boss likes authenticity, so keep that in mind. Most of the fight’ll be shot separately and then stitched together You’re just fightin’ off a bunch of ‘em at a time, if I remember right. Make sense? Oh, and don’t take too long to beat on ‘em. Should be an order to it, really.”

“I suppose so…” You agree. You just hope that they’ll know when to stay down. Probably when they land on the squares. There’s seven of them…

“Alright, people, places! First one’s a trial run, next is for real!” The Director yells, and you take a deep breath.

Here goes…REALLY glad your lines aren't complicated.

>Roll 3d20, best of 3.
>>
Rolled 19, 5, 12 = 36 (3d20)

>>3515899
>>
Rolled 4, 20, 18 = 42 (3d20)

>>3515899
>>
Rolled 2, 11, 18 = 31 (3d20)

>>3515899
>>
Seems like all the major players know their marks and are indeed consummate actors. That'll make things a lot easier. Writing!
>>
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>>3515905
>>3515917
>>3515921

>19,20,18
>>
>>3515905
>>3515917
>>3515921

I guess we managed to create our on stairway fight scene. Managed to do the hole thing in just one take.
>>
>>3515931
Well, fortunately, even though it was just a single run through, your position is easy enough that you can get the basics of it with no problems, and Draken, played by a lithe lycan-sort, seems to know his stuff in particular. You’re taken through the general idea of the fight scene, although you all make certain to keep things unbroken and light for now- just enough to make sure everyone knows where they’re going to fall and how you have an idea for fighting all of them. You did mention that you’re prone to improvisation, but they all agreed that the setup for both yourself and Draken is that when you knock them down they’ll stay down, just to prevent confusion. Another thing was that, in the interest of authenticity, you’d told them to not fret too much about throwing punches. Most seemed to balk at that, but at least understood the idea behind it.

You also realize that the bar is intended to be in a skyscraper, of all places...so in the movie itself it’ll appear as though you’re getting tossed from VERY high up.

As asked, you’re sticking to physical combat for this; a few chairs broken here, a bit of table smashing there...maybe. You’re still a bit undecided on exactly HOW they’ll go down, but you’ve a general idea of things.

“Okay, folks! Reset, and get ready! This is the real thing here!” The director seems...nervous. Although you suppose you can’t blame him.

The announcement. “Ready! Scene 22, Alpha, Take One, A Mark!”

The man, Draken, approaches- biker helmet and all. You size him up as you’re supposed to. “You the guy my boss sent?”

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

It goes well enough so far; you go through the motions, get to the table, ‘play’ poker...and here we go.

You stare down the guy with a smirk as you lean over the table in amusement. “Oh? Well maybe you should go cry to that little battish girl you keep eying in-”

On cue, he leaps from his chair, and ‘decks’ you in the face, yourself being pulled back and ‘crashing’ against the ground, next to the table behind you, causing their game to be ruined.

Now, just wait for it… “Maybe next time, you learn yer place, yea? Rico!”

And there’s your cue! You leap up, pounce, and number seven is slugged in the face, up and over the table, not to appear until the end of the fight. At this point, you leap over yourself, and the fight is on with Number 1 approaching from the right!

>Two shots to the gut, make him double over, haymaker to the face, and hurl him into the table to break it and drop him onto the point. (Brutal)
>Dodge him and make him slam into the wall to your left, smash him into it a bit further, and them a sweeping kick to drop him onto that point. (Finesse)
>Leap, and a massive kick to send him to send him sprawling into the table to your right, and a missile dropkick to throw him into the bar area. (Stylish)
>Other
>>
>>3515998
>>Two shots to the gut, make him double over, haymaker to the face, and hurl him into the table to break it and drop him onto the point. (Brutal)
Show off some of our practical skills.
>>
>>3515998
>>Leap, and a massive kick to send him to send him sprawling into the table to your right, and a missile dropkick to throw him into the bar area. (Stylish)
>>
>>3515998
>Leap, and a massive kick to send him to send him sprawling into the table to your right, and a missile dropkick to throw him into the bar area. (Stylish)
Gotta set ourselves apart from Letch, he’s the big brute, we’re the rouge.
>>
>>3515998
>Dodge him and make him slam into the wall to your left, smash him into it a bit further, and them a sweeping kick to drop him onto that point. (Finesse)
>>3516026
Wouldn't Finesse fit rogue better?
>>
>>3515998
>Dodge him and make him slam into the wall to your left, smash him into it a bit further, and them a sweeping kick to drop him onto that point. (Finesse)
>>
>>3515998
>Dodge him and make him slam into the wall to your left, smash him into it a bit further, and them a sweeping kick to drop him onto that point. (Finesse)

Changing vote.
>>
>>3515998
>Dodge him and make him slam into the wall to your left, smash him into it a bit further, and them a sweeping kick to drop him onto that point. (Finesse)
>>
>>3515998
>>Dodge him and make him slam into the wall to your left, smash him into it a bit further, and them a sweeping kick to drop him onto that point. (Finesse)
>>
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>>3515998
>>3516031
>>3516038
>>3516048
>>3516052
>>3516057
You dodge like a graceful sparrow, flittering to the right and letting him charge right forward, miming giving him a little push as planned to make it appear like he’s slammed into the wall at top speed from the right angle. Right on the rebound, you to bring your foot up to ‘press’ him into it further, and when he staggers back as intended, you sweep his foot- making sure to make plenty of noise by dragging your feet so he knows to fall back. That’s one down, and the light dims as the impact is registered.

The next individual comes from much the same direction; a smaller fellow, but dressed up to look fierce with tribal tattoos and screeching from his beak-like mouth. That’s right, he’s supposed to come up like he’s trying to slash you.

>Line drive rapid-fire shots up his spine, finishing with one right between his eyes, and a flying knee to the face to drop him into the fall point right behind him. (Finesse)
>Grab his claws, ‘headbutt’ to the face twice, force them under him, get him under your shoulder, and suplex him onto the table point behind you. (Brutal)
>Flip over him, with a hold on his shoulders, roll onto the back, and monkey flip toss clear into the distance and onto the pool table point right where he came from. (Stylish)
>Other
>>
>>3516076
>Line drive rapid-fire shots up his spine, finishing with one right between his eyes, and a flying knee to the face to drop him into the fall point right behind him. (Finesse)

We do the fancy stuff for the third guy.
>>
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Actually, this is a better image, so you know where you are in relation to everyone else.
>>
Forgot to crop it, but you get the idea.
>>
>>3516076
>>Grab his claws, ‘headbutt’ to the face twice, force them under him, get him under your shoulder, and suplex him onto the table point behind you. (Brutal)

Respect the suplex.
>>
>>3516076
>>Line drive rapid-fire shots up his spine, finishing with one right between his eyes, and a flying knee to the face to drop him into the fall point right behind him. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516076
>>Line drive rapid-fire shots up his spine, finishing with one right between his eyes, and a flying knee to the face to drop him into the fall point right behind him. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516076
>Grab his claws, ‘headbutt’ to the face twice, force them under him, get him under your shoulder, and suplex him onto the table point behind you. (Brutal)
>>
>>3516076
>Flip over him, with a hold on his shoulders, roll onto the back, and monkey flip toss clear into the distance and onto the pool table point right where he came from. (Stylish)
>>
>>3516076
>>Grab his claws, ‘headbutt’ to the face twice, force them under him, get him under your shoulder, and suplex him onto the table point behind you. (Brutal)
>>
>>3516076
>>Grab his claws, ‘headbutt’ to the face twice, force them under him, get him under your shoulder, and suplex him onto the table point behind you. (Brutal)
>>
>>3516076
>Line drive rapid-fire shots up his spine, finishing with one right between his eyes, and a flying knee to the face to drop him into the fall point right behind him. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516076
>Grab his claws, ‘headbutt’ to the face twice, force them under him, get him under your shoulder, and suplex him onto the table point behind you. (Brutal)
>>
>>3516076
>>Flip over him, with a hold on his shoulders, roll onto the back, and monkey flip toss clear into the distance and onto the pool table point right where he came from. (Stylish)
>>
Brutality takes it! Writing.
>>
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>>3516076
>>3516098
>>3516115
>>3516122
>>3516131
>>3516144
You’re quick to halt his arrest as you latch onto his arms- as expected, he puts on a worried face as your skull meets his once, twice, and you drag him back as you force his arms down and under him- he even does an excellent ‘nononono’ shake as you force him under you, and LIFT. He squawks shrilly as you take him up, and then down, the suplex demolishing the table and causing cards and glass to fly every which way in a shower of debris.

This has the added effect of startling your next opponent as you kip up to your feet, a big boar looking fellow at least a head and a half taller than you (and much wider, despite how he tries to hide it with his suit). He looks at you worriedly for a bit as you lock eyes with him, before he whips out a knife- blunt and plastic, obviously, but the threat is supposed to be there. Right- there’s supposed to be a moment of a stare down here before he swings…

>Ad-lib?

>Spin him around to dodge the knife, bottle him from the table to your side, and shot to the nethers to drop him one the point next to the next-in-line. (Brutal)
>Disarm him, knife to the gut, and that should do it as you shove him back. (Finesse)
>Use the table near number 4 to leap and get clear, and when he charges you, use the pool cue as a staff to pop him a few times. (Stylish)
>Other
>>
>>3516191
>Disarm him, knife to the gut, and that should do it as you shove him back. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516191
>>Use the table near number 4 to leap and get clear, and when he charges you, use the pool cue as a staff to pop him a few times. (Stylish)
>>
>>3516191
>Disarm him, knife to the gut, and that should do it as you shove him back. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516191
>Use the table near number 4 to leap and get clear, and when he charges you, use the pool cue as a staff to pop him a few times. (Stylish)
You know, if we do this good enough our character might turn into a Dark Horse in terms of popularity and we might go into a guy's Niche Waifu folder.
>>
>>3516191
>>Disarm him, knife to the gut, and that should do it as you shove him back. (Finesse)

I can't come up with a good quip
>>
That's ours now.

Writing!
>>
>>3516191
>Disarm him, knife to the gut, and that should do it as you shove him back. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516191
>>Disarm him, knife to the gut, and that should do it as you shove him back. (Finesse)

Took to long to think of somethig to say...
>>
>>3516191
>>3516194
>>3516219
>>3516223
>>3516227
>>3516229
As he yells, you just wait. Patience. When he swings, your arm reaches out to meet his, and twists as you force him to let go of the weapon. You catch it in your other arm while ducking a wild swing from him, and a forceful tug brings him towards you as you ‘gut’ him; the knife having a retractable ‘blade’. There’s a faux blood packet you make sure to pop to give a properly bloody illusion, before you piston kick and send him to the floor, skidding to his fall point. Now with weapon in hand, you’re supposed to get a bit aggressive- starting with the guy off to your left near the table.

He’s supposed to upend the table- as he does- to form something of a makeshift distraction and defense; it’s up to you to get past it and take him out.


> Punch the thing apart, and use the various pieces to bludgeon him a couple of times before the stab. (Brutal)
> Simple up and over to knife him in the shoulder; then use that leverage to grab, spin, and hurl him into the bar. (Finesse)
>Kick the table BACK upright, shove it hard enough to get it into his gut, and ‘pin’ his hand to the table before an axe kick to break the thing. (Stylish)
>Other
>>
>>3516288
>Kick the table BACK upright, shove it hard enough to get it into his gut, and ‘pin’ his hand to the table before an axe kick to break the thing. (Stylish)
>>
>>3516288
>> Punch the thing apart, and use the various pieces to bludgeon him a couple of times before the stab. (Brutal)
>>
>>3516288
>Kick the table BACK upright, shove it hard enough to get it into his gut, and ‘pin’ his hand to the table before an axe kick to break the thing. (Stylish)
>>
>>3516288
>>Kick the table BACK upright, shove it hard enough to get it into his gut, and ‘pin’ his hand to the table before an axe kick to break the thing. (Stylish)
I'm a sucker for flipping tables and chairs with feet.
>>
No, no, put it back.

Writing.
>>
>>3516288
>>3516294
>>3516298
>>3516320
You’re quick to pop the thing back up; a quick kick or two in the right place is plenty enough after a fun little mid-air flip, and as expected, he’s ‘caught off guard’ enough for you to slam the table into him, causing him to double over. The camera zooms in as you plant the knife in his hand, holding it there for dramatic effect as you do your best to ignore the filming. The quick follow up for that as the camera shifts to underneath the table again is an axe kick- leg high and vertical, and you bring it down just above his head- but the splintering is in the way enough that it doesn’t show...you hope.

Four down, three to go- and numbers 5 and g come charging at you from clear across the room, two thin yet toned humans, both of them looking like some sort of strange mix of gangsters and bikers.

>You’re right next to the pool table- and it’s got a pool stick just waiting for you. You can pop both of them over the heads with it; first to leave him on the pool table, second to toss him next to the bar. (Brutal)
>Now you’ve got to get in between them- they’ll swing, hit themselves a few times, and then you ring both of their bells, finishing off the both of them with a pair of kicks that send them sprawling. (Stylish)
>Go for number five, grab, and monkey flip so that he gets sent flying next to the bar, then when number six comes at you, trip him so he cracks himself on the pool table, and one last punch should do it. (Finesse)
>Other
>>
>>3516442
*Numbers 5 and 6.
>>
>>3516442
>Go for number five, grab, and monkey flip so that he gets sent flying next to the bar, then when number six comes at you, trip him so he cracks himself on the pool table, and one last punch should do it. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516442
>Now you’ve got to get in between them- they’ll swing, hit themselves a few times, and then you ring both of their bells, finishing off the both of them with a pair of kicks that send them sprawling. (Stylish)
Always love this move in older movies. They don't make them like they used to.
>>
>>3516442
>>Now you’ve got to get in between them- they’ll swing, hit themselves a few times, and then you ring both of their bells, finishing off the both of them with a pair of kicks that send them sprawling. (Stylish)
>>
>>3516442
>>Go for number five, grab, and monkey flip so that he gets sent flying next to the bar, then when number six comes at you, trip him so he cracks himself on the pool table, and one last punch should do it. (Finesse)
>>
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Oh, positions.
>>
>>3516442
>Go for number five, grab, and monkey flip so that he gets sent flying next to the bar, then when number six comes at you, trip him so he cracks himself on the pool table, and one last punch should do it. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516442
>>Now you’ve got to get in between them- they’ll swing, hit themselves a few times, and then you ring both of their bells, finishing off the both of them with a pair of kicks that send them sprawling. (Stylish)
Old school slapstick is great.
>>
Tie so far. Will go for an extra five minutes before I flip for it.
>>
>>3516476
Didn't they tell us to keep it more authentic?
>>
>>3516442
>>Now you’ve got to get in between them- they’ll swing, hit themselves a few times, and then you ring both of their bells, finishing off the both of them with a pair of kicks that send them sprawling. (Stylish)
>>
Stop hitting yourself.

Let me do it for you.

Writing.
>>
>>3516442
>>3516456
>>3516458
>>3516476
>>3516522

You quickly dart in between both of them- you’re a bit shorter than the both of them, but at the very least you’re not too short; what you decided on pulling wouldn’t look very good if you were particularly short.

Swing one is at your face, you shift your head so that it becomes a gut shot to his partner, groaning in frustration- and in retaliation they swing at you, which ends up aimed towards his ally, and then they both try to hit you -together- and they just hit each other. They both glare at each other for a moment- that’s your cue to grab the both of them and ‘slam’ their heads together. They stumble apart, and you use the opportunity to finish your scene- spin kicking so the one goes on the table, the other just popped across the jaw and slumps against the bar’s edge, out of it. Alright, now, just the one more...you’re supposed to wait here, look towards Draken…

“Look out!” That’s your cue. The first target from before yells, and…

>Grab, use his momentum, and HURL him clear across to the other pool table, as planned. (Brutal)
>Backflip above him, grab head while inverted, and STOMP. Elegant and simple. (Finesse)
>Throw the nearby chair under his feet to trip him up, and a casual stomp to finish it. (Stylish)
>Other
>>
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>>3516624
Image again.
>>
>>3516624
>Backflip above him, grab head while inverted, and STOMP. Elegant and simple. (Finesse)
Somehow I think this fits Stylish more, but eh.
>>
>>3516624
>Backflip above him, grab head while inverted, and STOMP. Elegant and simple. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516624
>Backflip above him, grab head while inverted, and STOMP. Elegant and simple. (Finesse)
>>
>>3516624
>>Grab, use his momentum, and HURL him clear across to the other pool table, as planned. (Brutal)
>>
>>3516624
>>Grab, use his momentum, and HURL him clear across to the other pool table, as planned. (Brutal)
>>
Aaaand sticking the landing.

...Okay that one wasn't great but you get the idea. Writing!
>>
>>3516624
>as planned.
Wait shoot are we going off script?
>>
>>3516723
Considering that most of our fight is improv and not a coreography things are already pretty out of the script
>>
>>3516624
>>3516631
>>3516640
>>3516645
You have to time it a bit, but fortunately, you get it- twisting in the air, you manage to see him properly as you put your hand on his head, and he obligingly tilts his head up. There’s a moment of pause for dramatic effect as you balance yourself...and then the drop.

Your momentum carries the rest of it as in one smooth motion he falls back, and you bend yourself so that your feet are right above him- at the right angle it’d be convincing as hell that you basically smashed his face in, but on impact you’re quick to hop off; ideally post-production will set things up so that the impact is felt much more viscerally. Not to mention you’re wearing cushioned shoes.

Although he’s not quite at the spot planned, though...no cut being called, at least, so that’s good. Noticing this as well, Draken continues his lines after the camera finishes its pan around at the ‘carnage’ - if nothing else, YOU’RE both in proper position. “Well...think our cover is blown?” He’s facing away, as scripted, which means…

“Think we got all of ‘em…” Aaaaannnd…

You’re suddenly lifted bodily into the air as you asked of him, to a shout from Draken. “Not quite...” Rasps ‘Letch’. “As for YOU, you little two-timer? I think if you hate the job that much, then we oughta...part ways!” And he’s about to haul you to the window as Draken runs to stop him; you ‘struggle’ all the way.

>Ad-lib?
>>
>>3516746

>"Let go of me you dam dirty shark!!!"

then he let's go by throwing us away.
>>
>>3516778
Maybe replace shark with tuna or some other kind of fish to make the violent throw more because we called him a lesser fish rather then a shark.
>>
>>3516746
>Add nothing, go with the script
>>
Rolled 1 (1d2)

Eh. Not much, but might as well see.
>>
>>3516746
>Don't say anything.
>put on a really angry expression instead
>>
>>3516796
To be honest, it's kind of hard to come up with a good one liner on demand. Especially when we're being thrown through a window by a Street Sharks knockoff.
>>
>>3516804
Remember that we also asked for a copy, I bet there won't be an end to teasing over our lines from our coworkers if they watch it.
>>
>>3516746
>>3516796
Well, you don’t know much about your character, but you have to imagine she’d say SOMETHING in this case. “Let go of me, you damn shark!”

You can’t see him grin from your angle, but it sounds like he did. “Oh, that so? Yeah, I can do that.” And then suddenly you’re hurled through the window, the glass shattering profusely as you yell on cue- you fall for a foot or two before landing in a massive, plush crash pad- and then you hear the buzzer.

“CUT! Okay, people, good take, good take!” Huh. A lot of the line folk are clapping. Now let’s clean it up and get ready for Scene Forty-Five! Lodi, excellent body language! Great stuff! You sold all that very well, loved the flop on table four. Styles, good work out there!” he says as you clamber off and brush off the detritus that had collected on you. “Very natural, loved the little bits of flash you did. Stylish yet collected, very optimal but personalized.”

You can’t help but snort a bit. Some of that was far from what you’d call ‘natural’. “Right. I’m getting a copy of this once it’s finished, right?”

“Of course! And the rest will be sent to your HQ as promised- but you’ll have to talk with the producers for anything else. We’ll be in touch, though! Go hit the showers, and you’ll get your gear back, then you can knock off.” Well...at least that’s over with.

“Nice stuff back there,” the clawed raptor-ish guy says. “Geez, you kinda hit hard, though. Not used to pulling punches?”

“Nah,” you admit. “Sorry if I hurt you.”

He shrugs. “Eh, nothin a long soak and some oils won’t cure. You take it easy out there, huh?”

“Same.” Although considering your lifestyle? Easy doesn’t come cheap.

As you gather your things, head back home, and dress for bed, you can’t help but wonder about the day’s events.

Namely, just HOW badly is Lorelei going to mess with you for your new hairdo? Damnit, you should’ve drawn the line there…oh, for the-what are the KIDS going to say?

(Will continue tomorrow.)

>Miranda was seen as a very interesting counterpart to Draken- a dichotomy of brutal energy and power from him as opposed to precision lethality with an assuredness of skill from her. Little editing was necessary, and the director and the producer enjoyed it. How it'll play out to audiences is a question for the future, however.

>Acquired Break Room- Lunch Nook! This addition to the break room turns it into a proper small kitchen, complete with oven, grill, and other facets for cooking on site. In short, it increases the general livability and holding capacity of the HQ.
>>
>>3516827
Thanks for running, boss.
>>
>>3516827
Night boss! Can't wait to show the kids their souvenirs tomorrow. Maybe we could give the circlets to Harpsi and Tami and the idol to Noran as well? Shame we didn't pick up Kolm's hat, though...
>>
>>3516832
Thanks for playing. Hopefully the HQ Event was fun or interesting enough. The idea for them was basically 'events that can be completed in a single run', and there's more that'll come from this than just the HQ upgrade, I can assure you of that.

Tomorrow, it's time for kid stuff!
>>
>>3516839
I thought these HQ events were intended to serve as testing runs for your new tools + proper introduction of Intersection's lifestyle, since anons' view of it varies from it being a big company town to mostly self-sufficient city-state.
>>
>>3516870
I mean, it does that, too. I was just talking about speed of execution in that case. They help flesh out the Intersection more as well.
>>
>>3516875
About the events that flesh out the Intersection, what is up with thread #7.5? It had the first glimpse at what Festival District had to offer and a few important things, how come it's not labeled as MGFH thread on suptg?
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/661650/
>>
>>3516923
It's likely mistagged and labeled. How did you even find it?
>>
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>... your hair taken from its pigtails and (cut! argh…) put into something that seems ‘intentionally messy’ and rough. You’ve got a damn bang hanging over one eye. Hate that.
>They touched the pigtails.
Oh no.
>>
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>>3516940
>>
>>3516934
Thread #7 ended and thread #8 started with a link to it.
>>
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>>3516942
>pic related

>>3516945
That would do it.
>>
>>3516923
>“Heeeeeeey, back on the grind, huh? I can see you’ve picked yourself out a fun one! Losing on purpose- are you trying to get into plays? Maybe star in a movie sometime?”
>SES trio backstory hints
Hah
I totally forgot about what happened in that thread.
>>
>>3516839
Yeah, this was a fun little distraction. I kinda want to show them what a real fight would look like. Even if they did mess with our hair.
>>
>>3517355
>Even if they did mess with our hair.
Maybe we should show them what a real fight looks like BECAUSE they messed with our hair
>>
>>3517355
>>3518031
Or we can just use our time gloves and reverse time until we have our hair back.
>>
>>3518063
>>3518031
I dunno, I think it looks pretty good. Just need to move the bangs out of Miranda’s eye...
>>
>>3518063
That should hopefully work, and it's a good chance to try using it on ourselves. But I assume we didn't bring the bag with us for this, so we'll still have to get back across town looking rather unusual.
>>
>>3518063
That's a nice idea. We should try it.
>>
>>3516827
When you wake in the morning, there’s a brief moment where you wonder if it was a delusion or a dream...but your bathroom mirror says otherwise. Your hair…

...Maybe you can bring it back somehow. Those gauntlets might be feasible…

Quickly fishing around in your bag for them, you slip them on, and hold the back of your remaining hair, and let your power run through it- weak though it might be, maybe it’ll be enough?

Your hair glows briefly, and there’s a brief tingling on your scalp...but sadly, nothing comes back to you that you can see outright. Even a closer in check doesn’t show anything...damn. You’re stuck like this until it grows back, then. At the very least, there’s artificial extensions...but it might be better to just ride this out, honestly. At least there’s enough that you can put it into a single ponytail. That’ll have to do, you suppose. That bang has to go, though, although the ‘messy’ look is hard to get rid of…well, whatever. Time to get the kids. Hopefully they won’t talk too much about it.

-------

They don’t, thank goodness, but you find yourself worried for a different reason- aside from getting them some gifts, you had no idea what you were going to do with them today. As they emerged from the elevators, they were quick and happy to greet you- even Harpsicorie seemed a bit more effervescent than when you last saw her. “So, what’ve you lot been up to?” You ask as you wrack your brain for things to do today.

“Weeeeell, we started going over th’ likes o’ value appraisal an’ whatnot a little ago,” Tami says through her puppet. “Thought it was nifty!”

“Hard, though,” Noran says, and you can see Mewla bob in what you guess is a nod. “There’s all sorts of junk I couldn’t figure out was valuable and what wasn’t. Most of it seemed like junk to me…”

“I-I thought mosssst of it wassss pretty,” Harpsicorie admits. “Essspecially the gemssss and ssstuff.”

“Mew over here seemed ta like dispute resolution, but I figured she’d get a kick outta that,” Noran says, thumbing over at the glowing pixie. She just flitters back and forth in...amusement? You hope that’s what that is.

But that aside, what are you going to do for these kids today? Might be best to just take it one step at a time...

>Maybe you could just go get your and their weapons treated? Maybe today could be a weapons day in general, and explaining the value of proper preparation for a job.
>Well, considering you’ve just come off an acting stint, maybe you could give them an idea of the importance of playing the role you’re given, and sticking to the contract.
>There might be something there about the whole conflict resolution thing. See what they know about it, and give them some tips of your own- along with perhaps a bit of a test example.
>Other
>>
>>3519303
>Well, considering you’ve just come off an acting stint, maybe you could give them an idea of the importance of playing the role you’re given, and sticking to the contract.
>>
>>3519303
>Well, considering you’ve just come off an acting stint, maybe you could give them an idea of the importance of playing the role you’re given, and sticking to the contract.
>>
>>3519303
>>Well, considering you’ve just come off an acting stint, maybe you could give them an idea of the importance of playing the role you’re given, and sticking to the contract.
>>
>>3519303
>Maybe you could just go get your and their weapons treated? Maybe today could be a weapons day in general, and explaining the value of proper preparation for a job.
Maybe we can give them combat basics and whatnot. Maybe this could inspire Miranda to do SES newbie training.
>>
>>3519303
>>Well, considering you’ve just come off an acting stint, maybe you could give them an idea of the importance of playing the role you’re given, and sticking to the contract.
Just to make sure, though, we're still giving them their gifts and fixing up the helmet and Khaom's sword later, right?
>>
>>3519328
Yes.
>>
The first rule of contract dispute resolution: Do not do anything on your end to necessitate a dispute resolution in the first place.

Writing.
>>
>>3519303
>>3519311
>>3519316
>>3519321
>>3519328
You DID just come off an acting role...maybe you could use that as inspiration for the day. As much as you didn’t like it sometimes, some contracts required you to play a role- and it’s always a good idea to stick to that. In fact, considering they’ve been talking about contracts, it’s probably a good idea to see what they know for now as you’re walking back. “So, you mentioned dispute resolution? What’d they tell you?”

Tami’s the first to speak up, this time in her natural voice. “Well, first, that no matter what, we should make sure that either we’re not in violation of the contract, and if we are, try to...uh... de-escalate-the-cause-of-ac-cus-a-tion first.” She moves her mouth very particularly, clearly trying to voice the words properly. “And if we can’t do that, try to offer something that’s of similar value to the issue being disputed.”

“Sounds about right,” you agree. “Those are the first two steps. But the first is the most important. ESPECIALLY when you’re an Outgoer. You want to make sure you stick to what the contract says, and make sure to not take any action without the client’s permission, or, in some cases, get out of character and betray the client’s expectations.”

Harp blinks twice, trying to figure on what you said. “Wait, sssoooo…what do you mean? The lassst bit, I mean. Don’t they know why we’d be there?”

“Yes,” you agree, “but sometimes you’re there to act out a specific role, or maybe the type of equipment you have is transmuted to something that’s a bit more fitting for the plane, and you have to stick to that, make it believable. Otherwise, the client could get suspicious, or worried, or any number of things and cause a lot more issues.”

“Oh. So like what?” Hm. Good question. How can you show this off?

>Hm. Maybe the OTC has something- some kind of recording or example they can look at. They could see an actual instance of it!
>You could just act it out yourself with them. It’ll be a bonding experience...you guess. You’d have to be careful how to handle it, though…
>Maybe ask Lorelei for a story or two. She’d probably get a kick out of telling them, and knowing her, she’d doll it up to hammer the point home.
>Other
>>
>>3519425
>Maybe ask Lorelei for a story or two. She’d probably get a kick out of telling them, and knowing her, she’d doll it up to hammer the point home.
>>
>>3519425
>You could just act it out yourself with them. It’ll be a bonding experience...you guess. You’d have to be careful how to handle it, though…

>Stop giggling Sal!!
>>
>>3519425
>You could just act it out yourself with them. It’ll be a bonding experience...you guess. You’d have to be careful how to handle it, though…
>>
I tried to stat out the new weapons we got in Zatzil's stash, as well as attempt to write in some lore that fits with the setting. Hope it fits with what you wrote of the weapons, boss.

Thunderlight Bow
Otherworldly +1, Plainness -1, Humor -1

A compound bow made from grey wood chased with silver and gold to give the illusion of stormclouds and lightning bolts, imbuing arrows with the strength of lightning. It was made for a heroic archer who fought against a group of Blackweb raiders and their Lady after they raided his village. Blessed by a bearkin druid with the power of storms, he and a group of like minded adventurers took on the raiders and and ended up victorious. He then went back home and started a family with the ritualist of the adventuring party, and bequeathed his bow to his eldest child. Unfortuately, his child wasn't as lucky, and was killed during a raid against a Blackweb encampment during the war against Lord Kolm, and the bow taken as a prize by Lady Zatzil.

Blightsnake Katar
Intimidation +1, Otherworldly +2

A large punching dagger forged with black metal purposely tainted from exposure to the Shadow Realm, where shadow demons exist in a constant cycle of vicious infighting. The black metal of the blade has a pearlecsent purple sheen to it. Created by a ritualist who had blundered into the Shadow Realm through a botched ritual, and had somehow survived long enough to be rescued physically, he had made it to emulate the powers of one of the shadowy creatures that exist there, the Umbral Blightsnake. It can be used to throw liquid shadow, a substance that harms victims both physically and magically, which seeps through tiny holes on the blade, and when stabbed into a foe inflicts terrible wounds that soon become necrotic and difficult to heal.
>>
>>3519425
>>Maybe ask Lorelei for a story or two. She’d probably get a kick out of telling them, and knowing her, she’d doll it up to hammer the point home.
It'll likely be somewhat of a vicious story, but it should drive the point home.
>>
Rolled 2 (1d2)

I'll flip for it.
1 for Lorelei, 2 for us.
>>
>>3519494
Oh boy this day is full of moments that our boss and co-workers will tease us forever.
>>
>>3519425
>>3519434
>>3519438
>>3519494
Well...the kids are your responsibility (that you ended up taking on yourself), probably wouldn’t do to pawn them off on someone else or just sit them in front of a screen. Besides, this way you can make sure to get the point across in your own way, as...awkward as things may end up. “To answer that, how about we do a bit of, well...roleplay?”

“Roleplay?! I can do that!” Tami, as expected, seems excited. The other two...nnot so much.

You can relate.

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

The settings are...not the best; what with it being the HQ (that they at least acknowledge looks better than it used to), and out in the back, near the aircraft. The new addition is being worked on at the moment, but you’re not really inclined to wait until they’re finished. Clients can summon you wherever, after all, and besides, they seemed to get a kick out of the fighter and carrier. “Alright, so, for this exercise, I’m going to be the client. You three are going to be the Outgoers. Now, in general, there’s a few major types of contract disputes you’re EVENTUALLY going to face as an Outgoer, and all of them revolve around payment refusal.” You start counting off the most important types; the situations that you and any Outgoer around absolutely loathe and work to avoid at all costs.

“So, the top three, no particular order. Number one: job dissatisfaction. For whatever reason, they don’t think you did your job right and refuse payment. Number two: job nullification. Meaning that whatever you were supposed to do, something happened that made the entire thing moot. Number three…” Hm...how do you phrase ‘being an thrifty asshole’ to kids? “...payment unavailability. Which means they CAN’T pay, for whatever reason. So, let’s see how you all do when you have to deal with a contract dispute. Tami? You’re up first. Let’s say that my dispute is…”

>Dissatisfaction.
>Nullification.
>Unavailability.
>>
>>3519597
>>Dissatisfaction.
>>
>>3519597
>Nullification
>>
>>3519597
>Dissatisfaction.
>>
We are not pleased. Writing.
>>
>>3519597
>>3519610
>>3519618
“...Dissatisfaction,” you decide. “Let’s say that your job was to sabotage someone, but you ended up sabotaging the wrong individual before getting the RIGHT one. You got him, but it ended up complicating matters. Understand?”

She nods. “Crystal!”

“Great. Now, give me a moment. Ahem…” Alright...acting and you STILL don’t really get along, but...damnit, you can at least try. When you open your mouth, what comes out is a raspy, and honestly kind of embarrassing attempt at an imperious old woman voice. “Now see here!” Crap, this wasn’t a good idea, you can already see Noran trying to hold back a giggle; even Harp is trying not to smile.

...fuck it, in for a penny. This is kind of the point, isn’t it? Yeah, sure, you can believe that. “From what I recall, our deal was that you sabotage that-that loathsome Markary Corporation!” (Came up with THAT right off the top of the head.) “I never said anything about causing trouble with the Kaitleth Industries! Now, due to your mistakes, I have to be even more careful about my plans! And it’s for that reason that I won’t be paying you!” If nothing else, credit to Tami for not laughing like her friends, but as for how she tries to resolve the issue…

>Roll 1d20+2, best of 3.
>>
Rolled 3 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3519692
rollin
>>
Rolled 13 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3519692
>>
Rolled 18 + 2 (1d20 + 2)

>>3519692
>>
The girl really does have a gift for gab, it seems. Writing!
>>
>>3518063
This seems like a gross misuse of resources... that said, the shame and jabs from Lori may be worse
>>
>>3519692
>>3519701
>>3519704
>>3519708
“Well, I have to admit I my intelligence was flawed,” she starts out; and her voice clears up a bit, curiously, and an air of confidence settles around her. “And I’ll accept any due recompense you might be will to negotiate with my handler, but I must insist on proper payment- after all, from what I was aware of there were no major clauses in the contract that prevented me from taking every measure necessary to accomplish my goal, as you yourself just admitted- you said nothing about causing trouble with them, either positively or negatively- and I think you’ll find that while your plans may be, in the short-term, a bit increased in difficulty, you’ll find that in the long-term, their reconstructive efforts will allow you to proceed with more freedom and less scrutiny than you had previously.”

Huh. That’s...actually an impressive defense. Naturally, the facts of the issue could and would be different and more detailed, but that’s not bad for coming up with on the spot. “I could see how that would be a possibility,” you continue, deciding to really press her, “But I still believe you could’ve executed it with far less trouble.”

“That’s understandable, and I apologise for the poorer showing.” She even bows. “As I said, you’re more than welcome to engage in renegotations if you like, but I must insist that the terms of the contract were completed.”

“Then I suppose we’ll have to put the issue on hold for now. Good day.” She bows again, and Harp and Noran (and Mewla you think) clap politely as she bows.

“So, whatcha think?” She asks eagerly.

“Pretty good,” you state. “Potentially justifiable reason for the mistake, you included your superior as an option from word go, which kept an alternative option in the back of their minds, while referring to the contract itself to show how it wasn’t broken in letter or really spirit. High marks.

She beams, and you can’t help but feel a touch proud.

“Awwww, lookitthat! She’ll be quiiiiite the gifted speaker when she gets older. Gooood thing she’s not taking lessons from you, hmmmm? Geheheheh!” Wha-

Damnit, Sal!

(Calling it for tonight.)
>>
>>3519769
Night, boss!

>Still haven't given the gifts yet...
>>
>>3519769
I feel like this will be what it's like if we ever have to take them out for a job. Getting upstaged by kids while everyone sniggers. We're going to have to stomp them in training sessions to regain or streetcred
Cheers fir the run boss!
>>
>>3519789
Well, then do what we did with the cult and Mono, offer the client a discount for having them hire inexperienced students, and have the kids do a portion of the footwork while we supervise and direct them.
>>
>>3519769
>Gooood thing she’s not taking lessons from you, hmmmm? Geheheheh!” Wha-
>Damnit, Sal!
heh.

>>3519820
Mono was a new recruit, not a kid though. She had useful skills and experience to work with. If we do end up taking them on a short job at some point, We'll be more of a demonstration than a leader. We can have them help with some parts, but we'll be doing the lion's share of the work.
>>
>>3519769
Sal's always got a quip when you least expect it.
Hey Handler, odd question. What's the farthest back Randa has even gone for a job, technologically? What's the farthest back we could potentially go? What limits the ability to make a contract? Paper? Currency? Bartering? Writing?
>>
>>3520003
>What limits the ability to make a contract? Paper? Currency? Bartering? Writing?
Sapience for one and as for the money... well, we have taken trinkets that by themselves are rather cheap, but they get an increased value in Lotes or Motes because the owner has feelings for it. So in theory somebody could pay us with one rock, and that rock will be worth a high amount of Lotes because our contractor appreciates it just enough. I think Handler explained that part in the first threads when we were dealing with the flower scouts(we should visit them again soon. i liked that they tried to "free" us from whatever evil master we were chained to).
>>
>>3520003
Generally Dark Ages- some level of civilization, understanding of what a 'contract' or even a 'deal' is, and most importantly, something of mass value. What's important is the desire and emotional desire of an object- the more people want it and the more INTENSELY people want it, the more valuable it is. Generally, currency is the easiest by far because a lot of people tend to WANT currency, and lots OF it. But if, say, millions of people wanted something like, a particular brand of gemstone or some other good considered extremely desirable and valuable (and not living) then it's fair game.
>>
>>3521570
Would that include artifacts, even if they don't have real magical powers? Like a Holy Grail, Imperial Regalia, or Imperial Seal?
>>
>>3521644
If it has widespread and intense value, it = good Motes. The way I always thought of describing it is, say, if 1,000 people wanted an artifact- let's use your Holy Grail as an example. That would hardly be worth a couple of small motes in translation, despite the cultural significance- because as much as those who are really into it want it, that's still not many in the long run of things, and few of those individuals heavily desire it- perhaps a 'would be interesting', but they aren't devoting their lives to it like people do to earn money. It's novelty, in short, despite the supposed legacy behind it.

But if for whatever reason millions of people wanted that Holy Grail, wanted it REALLY REALLY badly, and there was only the one, then that's an entirely different ballgame. You have to have the combination of quantity AND quality of desire.
>>
>>3521665
Could information count, such as secrets, schematics, forgotten history, etc? Either the knowledge itself, or say, a book containing the only copy of the knowledge?
>>
>>3521692
Theoretically, if they were in a book or some other tangible physical form, yes. The information itself, no. Again, though, it has to be known and wanted- as in a desire to possess it- by a LOT of people. By default, secrets, forgotten history, and the sort generally don't qualify for 'intensely desired by hundreds of thousands to millions or more of individuals daily.'
>>
>>3521707
Would clean water in a post-apocalyptic wasteland that has very limited water filtration tech surviving count?
Or even ration bars in a world facing starvation?
>>
>>3521707
So the knowledge has to be known (or thought) to exist and strongly desired, but is not known by the population at large. Not much would qualify in that case, not for very long at least.


>>3521717
That would fall under bartering, and could be considered a form of currency of sorts. Reminds me of the metro games, where bullets were literally currency. They should have value, same as any other bartered good.
>>
>>3521717
Seems more likely that some hero type would become an outgoer from one of these worlds, with the terms being some kind of teraforming. Now I'm imagining SES on Arakis, wrangling Worms and punching Paul in the nads.
>>
>>3521717
Even bottle caps would hold a significant value in a post apocalyptic nuclear wasteland.
>>
>>3514477
>Reward: Custom (Minor) Room Installation
Does 'custom reward' mean that we get a write-in option that we vote on, or would it depend on how we finish the task, like the Break Room upgrade?
>>
>>3519769
“Uhhh...Ms. Miranda?” Hm? Oh, right. “Who’s next?”

Good question. “Mmmm...Noran, Mewla, since you spoke up, come on. You two will be doing…

>Nullification
>Unavailability.

(Yeah, not much of an update, but I'll try and get another couple out tonight since they'll be shortish.)
>>
>>3523609
>>Nullification
Updates are updates. We'll take what we can.
>>
>>3523609
>>Unavailability.
Let's channel one of our previous clients for this one: Theodore Cain.
>>
>>3523609
>Unavailability
>>
>>3523609
>Unavailability.
>>
Unavailability it is! Writing.
>>
>>3523609
>>3523622
>>3523635
>>3523653

“Unavailability,” you decide. “This one’s common, but at the same time it can be a bit...hard to keep under control, depending.” Lacking funds was, to many Outgoers, the worst offense a client could make, and...well, better to not bias yourself too much right before they step up. “So, I’m going to be playing the role of a client who doesn’t have the money to pay you. You have to find a way to get it from me. Understand?”

“Uh, right!” He nods in assurance, as does Mewla.

“Alright...lesse…” Alright, how to go about this one...ah! Well, someone pops up in your mind- as good as anything else, you suppose. “Allll right now,” and from here your voice deepens into a southern drawl (and you can’t help but feel your cheeks burn a bit, geez this is SO BAD and they need to stop giggling) “I understand that you’ve accomplished my tasks, and quite well! Alas, I must request your understandin’ on the matter of payment- as I have come to understand I’m currently lacking the funds to pay your fee. Never fear, however; I am assured that such will be available in the timeframe of, say, a week?”

“Pftheheh…” Noran is struggling to keep a straight face, as is Tami and Harp, but credit to the boy trying mightly to get his situation under control.

You can’t hear Mewla, but judging by the way she’s bobbing deeply before flitting back up in rapid spurts- like she’s only remember to flap in bursts- you suspect she’s not exactly appreciative of your performance either.

>Roll 1d20+-3, best of 3.
>>
Rolled 11 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3523706
>>
Rolled 11 + 3 (1d20 + 3)

>>3523706
Bets on Sal recording all of this?
Also is that -3 or +3?
>>
Rolled 1 - 3 (1d20 - 3)

>>3523706
>>
>>3523710
That's minus 3. 4chan got stupid about addition and subtraction and I think that's how you make it do minus.
>>
>>3523713
As I understand the dice roller can only add numbers, but the numbers themselves don't have to be positive. Thus the silly-looking syntax.
>>
>>3523724
Ah. Well, seems like the chuckles got to him. Everyone else, too.

Well, he IS just a kid.
>>
>>3523706
“Aheh…well, uh, Miss? I guess, I, uh…” Hm. Already you can see he’s lacking a bit in sincere attitude- although that might just be due to your piss-poor impression of a southern belle. “Well, I don’t think I can wait all that long, really. We kinda need to get going, so I’m going to have to insist if you don’t mind?”

Well, you need to salvage SOMETHING from this. “I tell you, I don’t have it! Not unless you want to bankrupt me entirely!” You try to put as much indignation in your voice as you can- it doesn’t really seem to work, though, judging by the still-there grin.

“Uh, well it’s no problem, aheh...I mean, I guess I could maybe do a payment plan, or...uh...hm.” Ah, NOW he’s starting to actually put some thought into it. However, that’s not good that he’s just sitting there.

“Well, look, tell you what. You figure it out, and you take your time. I’ll be off presently and get back to you when I can.” With this, you fix him with a hard glare; hopefully he’ll understand that he might’ve done it a bit wrong. “I bid you good day.” A loud, single clap ends the exercise- and startles him back to focus. “Alright,” you say, your voice normal again (thank goodness). “Now, first- that stupid voice is never coming out of me again.” That gets a couple of giggles out of the trio, but you continue on. “Secondly, your client just walked away without paying. That’s bad.”

“Ah, yeah…” Noran says a bit ashamedly, and Mewla alights on his shoulder. “I couldn’t think of anything to get him to pay up right then and there.”

“Part of that might’ve been my fault,” you admit. “But there’s something you have to remember. Something very important.” You try to keep your voice as level and steely as possible without scaring them- you’ve got their attention, but you don’t want to frighten them. “They. Must. Pay. No matter WHAT, you need to get that payment out of them; regardless of who they are, what they’ve done for you, how they acted- if they’re not paying, they’re public enemy number one. You understand?”

“Uh, yes, Ms. Miranda,” Noran concedes, and you can see Tami and Harp nodding in the back, too. “Makes sense, I guess.”

“No ‘I guess’, it’s plain truth,” you insist. “If you can’t get them to hand it over, you have the right to take it from them in whatever way you see fit and for however much you need, with permission from your handler.”

“It’s always such a mess when a client proves less ameeeeeendable than I thought,” Sal laments to you.

“So, how do you get it if someone says no?” Noran asks. “I mean, what would you suggest?”

Huh. Interesting question. Generally, you just start wrecking shop and taking anything not nailed down, but you know that Lorelei for example prefers to just shakedown her clients via threats (usually planted explosive charges). You don’t think Izumi’s ever had a client try to reneg on her, but you do recall something about her appealing to their person, and it seems to work for her. What to suggest...?

> Write-in
>>
>>3523768
Hey boss, could you answer this >>3523192 in the meantime?
>>
>>3523768
>?
You've got some options. The payment plan is the most humane, but requires followup and makes sure they don't try to give you the slip. Threats are tougher to pull off; the client has to fear for what you're threatening, and that you will follow through. Taking what you want to easiest.

I'd suggest if you think they will follow through and they have an income, the payment plan is fine; encourage them to think out of the box for getting valuables, such as having the flower girls steal the villain's stuff. Otherwise, a mix of appropriation and threats to convince them you will take your due if they don't pay. If that doesn't sway them, go full appropriation.
>>
>>3523768
I have a couple of preferred methods. The first one involves holding the client down with one of my spells, then taking the most valuable objects in the room. This only works if your certain that you can take out any guards that he's employed. If you've been able to solve that problem, then either he'll start yelling and struggle while you're taking stock of his belongings, or he'll be reconsidering his options for payment. This also works if you're just breaking stuff, particualrly things that would help him with what he was originally hiring you for. You'll probably have a good idea what will be critical components of his plan, so wrecking them could help prove how reneging on your pay would be a terrible idea.

The rarest one is basically running off and working with your client's rivals or foes to bring him down. This is an extremely rare occurrence, and one that, for all the time I've been working this job, has happened to me only twice, usually because they assumed it would be cheaper to try to knock you off. It's rare because not only do you have to have your handler let you stay over for a longer period of time then scheduled, but you need to open up negotiations with the opposing forces, and since you've been fighting them, they won't be too keen on you just up and switching. However, of the few times it's happened flawlessly, I have to say it's one of the most satisfying ways to prove to a nonpaying client that they've made a terrible mistake.
>>
>>3523768
First, try to reason with your client, since not getting paid is equal to failing the job, which could result in you being fired from your outfit. Inform them that they can pay you off with other valueables or agree on payment plan. If that doesn't work you'll have to resort to threats, or even get violent, though you have to be careful not to get yourself done in by your client. You can also try to contact your handler and ask for advice and hope they are in the mood to give one, or to dial you to your senior/division leader.
>>
>>3523784
An addition:
Pay attention to the client’s business, and what it can produce. You might have an easier time negotiating for a smaller payment if you can convince them to part with some of their products. For example, a previous client I worked for had the means to produce weapons and ammunition. If they couldn’t make up the difference with cash, it would be easy to convince them to give me some of their products to make up the cost. Just make sure that what you’re taking would be worth bringing back to the Intersection. A pallet full of rifles can work; a pallet full of muzzle loading rifles? Less so.
>>
>>3523814
>A pallet full of rifles can work; a pallet full of muzzle loading rifles? Less so.
Not true. See
>>3521570
>>3521665
If muzzleloaders are modern tech to them, they're fair game. Unless an item has a special interest, they're being directly converted to Motes anyway; it doesn't matter if no one here would buy them.


Actually, that's worth mentioning to them, if they're not already aware of how that conversion works.
>>
>>3523768
It depends on the situation, but I find clients tend to have something to lose when they summon an outgoer, so the easiest way to incentivize them is threaten what they were so afraid to lose, or their person. You can be polite about or very thuggish so long as you get your seriousness across that you are not a charity.
>>
I remember on that first thread. Did the sunflower magical girls already paid up? I think they only paid half of their total payment. We should visit them sometimes and make them pay in full.
>>
>>3523912
We later visited them and got the payment iirc
>>
>>3523768
Payment plans are a thing, like you thought. I did one more recently. Keep in mind that they have to be someone you can TRUST to pay up.
Non-standard payment, weapons, artifacts, art, anything with value. You can lower your actual money gain for quality equipment, or dissolve the items into motes.
Final option, rip and tear. Take everything you are owed, if they try to stop you they die. This option comes up less often with heroic groups, but if you've been working with someone you REALLY HATE... Sometimes you just want to skip to this option.
>>3523924
Only part of it, we still need to go back.
>>
>>3523927
Owlia and Cylica are getting it in our stead.
>>
>>3523768
>Write-in
They don't need to pay the full price in money, items that can be turned into motes are accepted currency as well. Payment plans can work but you sometimes run into clients you just can't trust enough to allow them to postpone the payment. If you can't trust the client to stick to the payment plan threaten them by telling them how you're going to take the payment by force and if they still refuse to pay what they owe you, you start doing what you just threatened to do. The first thing you threaten to take or break should be something in the immediate vicinity to help the client understand you're being serious and to give them one last chance to reconsider their decision when you start taking the place apart.
>>
Eventually in this quest some bigwig CEO is going to make this mistake. That day will be FUN.
>>
>>3523928
Are they? I dont remember anythibg like that.
>>
>>3524935
I dunno if them doing that job in particular has been mentioned, but their official role is Courier, which is exactly this sort of work.
>>
>>3524935
#30
>Cylica keeps her smug look as she checks off something on her paper. “Well, I believe this should all cover your first payments. Do recall we’ll be back- and I’d suggest keeping in mind attempting to acquire something of your opponents that might be considered valuable.” Speaking for all the world like she’s an old hand at this, she marches back in front of you. “I believe that was all for this little excursion?”
>>
Anon's Random Footnote:

Miranda's Baseline Stats:
Intimidation: B
Humor: D-
Otherworldly: E
Hothead: C
Plainness: D

In order to turn Miranda into a scalie, her Otherworldly stat must be raised by 8 whooping points. It could be done with stuff that we own at the cost of lowering Hothead stat, failing requirments for that stat instead. We'll have to purchase new Items with flat stat boost to avoid overcompensating.
The loadout that fits the pic-related requirements would be:
Mastercrafted Divine Shoes - Otherworldly +1 Humor +2 Intimidation +1
Ribbon Wings - Otherworldly +2 Humor +1
Baron's Rapier - Otherworldly +1 Intimidation +1
Winged Helmet - Otherworldly +2 (Costs 2 Lotes)
Queen's Pin - Otherworldly +2 (Costs 2 Lotes)

Final Stats:
Intimidation: A-
Humor: C-
Otherworldly: B-
Hothead: C
Plainness: D
>>
>>3525134
I'm usually against clothing purchases, but if we can be a dragon for only 4 Lotes I'm all for it.
With those that's we'll have a hard time getting anyone to look at how awesome we are though.
>>
>>3524947
Fair enough.
>>3524978
yes, but we were present that time, and as far as i can remember, that was a "testing the waters" sort of job. The flower scouts still owe us and i want to see what crazy shenanigans they might have done(and i feel its a safe place to go with the kids).

>>3525134
But none of those items would let us be a "dragon". Probably an angel/Valkyrie or a bat, but the outfit in general lacks the "lizard/draconic" aspect.
>>
>>3525186
None of the sytuf we have would turn us into celestial alien bug, yet that's how we turned out to be on that MG crash course mission. I guess scales would come with high Otherworldly stat.
>>
>>3525186
>But none of those items would let us be a "dragon"
The winged and regal stuff could be interpreted as dragon-y. But the other part of it would be the world we're going to. The same clothing set on two different worlds would yield similar but distinct end results.
Otherworldly seems to give more flexibility on what's possible, and that build has a lot of very high stats, so who knows what we might get.
>>
>>3524978
Man I feel bad about the girls. I think we are going to pick something on that rich girls house again.
>>
>>3525196
>None of the sytuf we have would turn us into celestial alien bug, yet that's how we turned out to be on that MG crash course mission.
But it makes sense that we would turn into a celestial alien bug because of the otherworldy stat. A dragon isn't otherworldy but the alien bug is and to be fair, the items we had in that mission did make us look like a power rangers villian from the moment we wore them. I mean, using the third eye brooch is a dead giveaway that we will end up looking weird.
>>3525204
>The winged and regal stuff could be interpreted as dragon-y.
Yes, but you also have the divine shoes, those combined with the Queen's pin and the ribbon wings, it will give us an angelic/regal look. There is nothing there that would suggest a dragon o something not human, that is unless we pump up the otherworldiness stat so that we look like a winged wheel of eyes.
>>
>>3525227
Despite providing Otherworldly stat, it seems like the Glowing Headband keep turning into horns due to influence of either high Intimidation, low Plainness or medium Hothead stats, since all of them are taken in account of how would an Outgoer look in certain world.
>>
>>3525246
>>3525227
Uh, and by that I mean that it doesn't matter that much how does a certain Item looks, it is the stats that count.
>>
>>3525255
Ehh...I'd say its 50/50. The clothing sets the general idea of how we want to look while the stats set how extreme the transformation will be.
>>
>>3525362
You sure are picky, anon. Also it should be noted that, technically, Handler's answer didn't say that these stats would actually turn Miranda into a dragongirl, just a scaled humanoid.
If you're really set on dragon theme, then we could buy Dragonbane Vest (Intimidation +2 Otherworldly +1) for 3 Lotes to replace Baron's Rapier or Divine Shoes, and then add Prim Gloves or Clear Sunglasses to reduce Intimidation so we'd fit into requirements. This outfit would cost us 7 Lotes total - there aren't many Items that significantly reduce Intimidation, or fuck over Otherworldly/Hothead requirements.
>>
This took longer than I had hoped it would.
>>
>>3523843
>If muzzleloaders are modern tech to them, they're fair game
https://youtu.be/grWDi2vU-Mw?t=122
Probably something like this. The state-of-the-art weapon at the time.
>>
>>3525493
I'm seeing no walls there. What district is that?
>>
>>3525536
That's the Intersection at large, and there's walls, but the angle doesn't show them well. I still want to make it interactive, but I can really only do so much at a time because my laptop isn't the best, so some of the detail may be lost for scaling purposes.
>>
>>3525552
>>3525536

If you meant walls between districts, there aren't any.
>>
>>3525561
Noted. Although I distinctly remember that districts are divided into circles/rings with walls between them. I might be wrong however.
>>
>>3525561
Could you please tell us more about what would we get for completing Art Instalation task? A unique special room, its type depending on how we finish this task? Or would we get to write in anything we want?
>>
>>3525580
Oh, that?

It'd basically be a combination; you would have to choose from a set of predefined specifications for the baseline (to streamline things). So like:

-Plain
-Heavy Electronics
-Construction
-Etc.

And from there you'd be able to write in options like:

'Study/Practice Room for the Kids'
'Virtual Reality/Holodeck Room'
Etc.

At least, that's how I planned it. Make sense?
>>
>>3525602
Thanks for your answer, sorry for nagging you earlier. Damn, I just had something like that in mind.
If you'll bear with my terrible ESL:
>Media-Study Room
Minor Room Instalation inteded for recreation, studying and taking inspiration from various forms of information and media (music, books, audio- and visual records, etc.) available on the Intranet public access, items collected on missions or in personal posession of SES members. FutureSights recordings could be transfered to audiovisual equipment databanks. This Room could serve as an improvised Briefing Room where team members could briefly familiarize with local environment and tech level provided by FutureSight job info in order to lessen penalties of working in unfamiliar and alien settings for newbies. This room could also be used for hosting movie nights with your friends, tutoring Care House kids or as a guest room.
Could be upgraded by adding interactive holo-projector (like the one used in the Care House), Library's Story Recreation Drives (what are they actually called?) or Cylica's Special Project Crystals, all of which would greatly help with studying, recreating, taking inspiration, briefing/debriefing, and other activities.
>>
>>3525493
Oooh, awesome. Are you instancing the buildings? that might help with the performance of your laptop.
>>
>>3525493
>>3525552
So one day we will can all be the little magical girls we yearn to be? Neat.
>>
>>3525909
I'm not, probably a good idea.

>>3526679
Well, at least one.
>>
>>3523768
>>3523779
>>3523784
>>3523799
>>3523814
>>3523927
>>3523893
“Well,” you start, considering the question. “First of all, you have to make sure your client understands how serious you are about this. You can’t give them any ground to try and worm their way out of it, in any fashion. Now, as for methods...you weren’t completely off the mark. Payment plans are possible. I have one outstanding right now, actually. They’re easily the most gentle, although they run the risk of the client trying to give you the slip on any future installments. You can threaten them, but that involves being able to back up your threats- some folks can, some folks can’t. It varies, so you have to watch who you’re trying to strong arm. IF you have the opportunity, make sure you know what your client is doing themselves and what they are- if they’re a business person, or say, they have some kind of physical good or valuables? Then see if they can’t part with some of it. Make sense?” He nods, as do the other two. “Good. Generally? Clients tend to have something to lose when they summon an outgoer, so the easiest way to incentivize them if they’ve got nothing they want to let go, is to threaten what they were so afraid to lose- that or their person. You can be polite about it, or thuggish, really- doesn’t matter so long as you get your seriousness across that you AREN’T a charity.”

“So what if they jusssst...don’t?” Harp asks. “If- if they REALLY don’t want to pay you and-and aren’t scared of you?”

You sigh outwardly, but inwardly you’re impressed she was the one to bring it up. “Well, that’s when you just go into repossession. You start taking whatever YOU can figure is valuable. From them, mind you, not just from anywhere. Usually, the sorts that are willing to do this have valuables nearby you can appropriate. If they have a problem with it, tough. Just so long as you make sure your client can’t, y’know...take you down for it.”

“O-oh. That’s...not very nice.” She mutters.

“No, it’s not,” you agree. “But in this business, nice doesn’t pay dues.”

(Cont.)
>>
>>3530938
They can’t really say anything to that. “Harpsicorie? Your turn.”

“Ahh...r-right…” To be honest, you’re not expecting a ton from her, but she needs to at least TRY. “I-I guess I’m doing…”

“Nullification, yes,” you answer. “In short, although you’ve spent...let’s say a week on the job. Something’s happened and they’ve found that they no longer need your services as asked for. This one is unusual, so I’ll cheat a bit and say that, if your actions had nothing to do with that, generally what happens is we try to negotiate a partial payment for what we’ve done. If it’s proveable that we were responsible for it in the first place, then if it’s a positive outcome, they still owe a majority payment. If it’s a setback or negative outcome, we’ll try to negotiate some sort of apology deal. Make sense?”

She blinks. “Uhhh...kind of?”

You sigh. Honestly, they’re still young, so you kinda figured it wouldn’t quite click yet. “Well, don’t worry about it too much. This is mostly me just being curious. Try and convince me why I should still pay you, alright? I’ll keep it simple. Ahem...” Affecting a more prim attitude, you sit up. “Right, so it’s come to my attention that the object I contracted you to steal has been destroyed by a quirk of fate. This thusly means I’ll have no need for your services, I must say. I do apologize for your wasted time, but such things are unexpected, after all.” You fix her with a thin smile- nothing to actually intimidate her (hopefully), but rather show your intent to let her come to a conclusion herself…

>Roll 1d20+-5, best of 3.
>>
Rolled 16 - 5 (1d20 - 5)

>>3530940
>>
Rolled 2 - 5 (1d20 - 5)

>>3530940
>>
Rolled 7 - 5 (1d20 - 5)

>>3530940
let's see how she does
>>
11. Well, at least she's not ENTIRELY panicked, but she's...got work to do.
>>
>>3530940
>>3530949
>>3530951
>>3530984
“W-Well...I can underssstand that, I guessss…” you open your mouth, but she’s actually quicker to interject. “But! I-I really went through a lot of trouble to try and help you out, and, well, I’m sssorry about your thing being broken, but I-I still need some payment- I, uh, can’t quite leave with nothing, you ssseee...so I’m going to have to take ssssomething…” She’s really not great at the whole ‘keeping eye contact’ thing, or the ‘standing in place’ thing, either. She’s not quite shying away as you thought, but still…

But you’re not going to let it go that easily. “Pah. You can’t be serious. While I concede you did make efforts, I recall that the deal was regarding job completion as opposed to merely ‘trying’.”

“Y-yes, but that wasssn’t- I couldn’t do anything to ssstop it! I jussst couldn’t! P-please, I need ssssomething! Or- or elsssse I might have to do sssomething I might not want to...” She trails off, but you cock an eyebrow.

“Something? Is that a threat?” You’re surprised, although glad she took your advice into account. Best to try and accommodate that a bit.

“N-no, not really? Jussst...more of a warning, I sssuppose.” She tries to look you in the eye, succeeding for all of a few seconds before faltering. “I mean, if-if you don’t mind it, uh, losing some thingsss, then okay, but…”

“Ha! I’d love to see you try.” Honestly, that halfway came out unintentionally, but you’ll work with it. “By all means, do your worst.”

There’s a moment of silence where neither of you speak, before she clears her throat. “Uhh...is it over?”

You sigh. Again. “Yes, it’s over. Honestly, needs a lot of work, but...not bad for a first time.”

The other two clap politely, and her whole body seems to light up at that, and she smiles and nods. “Oh, uh, t-thank you!”

“We’ll discuss the intricacies of getting proper payment later. I WILL say, though, that you shouldn’t worry toooo much. There’s always the risk, but for the most part, the vast majority of your clients will pay up.” You’ve had a few more than your fair share of attempting skimping, but more often than not you were paid fairly. “For that matter, none of you should feel too bad about this whole thing. Like I said, it’s just curiosity and to see what you might or might not be good at.” And you’re getting a better idea of them all, bit by bit.

“Now, considering we’re here...follow me.” You lead them to the lockers, where you’ve stored your Bag of Holding. “So, last job I was on was a pretty long one. I’ll tell you about it, but first…I brought all of you a little something.”

“Oh, wow, presents?!” Tami seems excited enough to shake her fluff off- Harp and Noran seem pretty interested as well. “Whatcha get us!?”

“Well, let’s see…”

>Pick out ONE item to give to Tami, Harp, and Noran/Mewla each. (That is, one for the boy, one for the fairy.)

I know you all had ideas, but I've plum forgot.
>>
I don't remember what anons wanted to do and I don't want to be the first one to suggest anything. And judging by the lack of responses I guess every other anon has also forgotten.
>>
I'm surfing through archives. I just remember they wanted souvenirs.
>>
>>3531192
From what I read from this, Noran gets a mace, Harpsi gets a quarterstaff, Tami gets a war fan, and Mewla gets a bag of mushrooms.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z3xqyWOe5upXuYIUsBSV4pWkC1sG0mnYzn_lJyRJZiI/mobilebasic
>>
>>3531155
Thread 65
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive/3149224/
>>3168855

>The man gets maybe a syllable out before you pluck up a decently sized mace and drop it in. “He’ll like this, I think…” you mutter to yourself. Ah, that staff might be good for Harpsicorie, too. “This might work. And for the lamb…” Ah, heck, the war fan. She might dig it. “There. Done.”
>>
>>3531155
War Fan - Tami
Qarterstaff - Harpsicorie
Mace - Noran
Bag of mushrooms - Mewla
>>
>>3531203
Yes, yes! Itemlist used as it was intended!
>>
>>3531155
>>3531203
>>3531208
Supporting these
>>
>>3531203
Also, we should warn them that if they misuse their presents on any staff, students, or visitors, we’re going to have to take them away until we think they can handle them responsibly.
>>
>>3531207
>>3531208
>>3531219
>>3531232

Fantastic.

Writing.
>>
>>3531232
>>3531155
Since we're in the HQ, we should teach them a few basics in or CQC training room.
>>
>>3531248
Good idea as long as we don't let them fight each other. Letting them fight each other would just lead to somebody's day getting ruined by an accident
>>
>>3531248
Maybe for a bit, but we do have other things to do besides play with children.
>>
>>3531245
“Right, then...first, I have to warn you; I hear of any mess coming from me giving you these, I’m taking them right back, understand?” You don’t want to hear about any ‘accidents’ just because someone got angry.

Their response is a chorus of ‘yes ma’am!’ thank goodness, and with a small huff, you pull out the first. “Tami. This is a war fan. Be VERY careful with the edges, alright?” She gasps in surprise as she holds it at a distance, looking at it reverently. “Very useful as a surprise weapon. Izumi knows more about them than I do, though.” She nods quickly, and takes a step back, already making ‘woosh’ noises as she swings the fan around, still closed. “Alright, next, Harp?” You next pull out the quarterstaff, and her eyes go a bit wider. “Staff. You don’t have to worry about cutting yourself, but be careful where you swing this thing, alright? The tips are weighted.”

“Why?” she asks curiously as she seems to inspect the thing.

You tap the end closest to you in demonstration. “Better impact when it hits something. Alright, and finally Noran and your friend. Got you both some things.”

He actually smiles, and there’s a bit of a blush there, even. “Really? Aw, that’s sweet of you, ma’am!”

Right… “Well, for you, Noran, I trust you won’t abuse this, so…” You pull out the mace that you’d gotten- flanged, it was, and although a shorter one, it’s easily half his height. The boy is tall for his age, but even so he’ll be swinging it two handed for a while until he gets used to it, you suspect.

“Whoa!” he gawks at it, and even Mewla seems surprised, fluttering around the thing like a curious bee. “I, uh...y’think this is for me?”

“Struck me as something you might like. Was I wrong?” You purse your lips. You’re not a fan of the idea of having to scrounge for something else, but…

“No, no, I like it! Just kinda...surprised, I guess.” Ah. Fair enough.

(cont.)
>>
>>3531346
“Well, then, glad you do. Anyway, Mewla...I couldn’t find a weapon your size, so, I brought the next best thing...I think. Hope and going on blind experience, really, but…” you pull out the bag of mushrooms and almost immediately the glowing sprite rockets forward to dive in. “Whoa!” You have to admit you’re kinda surprised she seems to like them that much. “Well...glad you like them.”

“Are those mushrooms?” Noran asks, with a lopsided smile on his face. At your nod, he chuckles. “Makes sense, then. She’s, uh, real big on mushrooms.” Sure enough, as you peek in the bag, she seems to be...well. You can’t quite make out her body but she seems to be wiggling on one? Maybe eating it? Little bits are vanishing, so yeah.

“So does this mean we’re gonna start learning how to fight an’ stuff now?” Tami asks as she pretends to know anything about fan combat.

> “Honestly, I still don’t think you’re ready for that. I was thinking about maybe taking you all to the usual shops around town and showing what it’s like to prep for a job.
> “Well...might as well get started. But I think I’ll ask for some help- I’m guessing you’ll want to learn to fight with those, and I’m not the best teacher for that.
> “A bit, actually, yeah. I don’t want you going out and beating bullies or anything, but it’s probably good to start you on some basic exercises.
> Other
>>
>>3531349
> “A bit, actually, yeah. I don’t want you going out and beating bullies or anything, but it’s probably good to start you on some basic exercises.
Yeah, no. You don't buy your kid a bycicle and then ask your neighbor to teach them how to ride it.
>>
>>3531349
> “Honestly, I still don’t think you’re ready for that. I was thinking about maybe taking you all to the usual shops around town and showing what it’s like to prep for a job.
“Plus, we’ve got to size Mewla for a weapon, too.”
>>
>>3531349
>> “A bit, actually, yeah. I don’t want you going out and beating bullies or anything, but it’s probably good to start you on some basic exercises.
If we give the weapons and don't at least give them the basics, they're going to end up hurting themselves or someone else sooner or later.
>>
>>3531349
>> “A bit, actually, yeah. I don’t want you going out and beating bullies or anything, but it’s probably good to start you on some basic exercises.
>>
>>3531349
>“A bit, actually, yeah. I don’t want you going out and beating bullies or anything, but it’s probably good to start you on some basic exercises.
Some day we'll have to ask Izumi to help us teach them but today's not the day
>>
A bit of basic training it is.

Writing.
>>
>>3531397
>Some day we'll have to ask Izumi to help us teach them but today's not the day
Nah, we're doing a terrific job so far.
>>
>>3531543
We won't need to get Izumi's help anytime soon but some day the kids will be at a level where Miranda will mostly just serve as a sparring partner and the kids will have to turn to Izumi for actual advice. It'll be years into the future if it happens at all.
>>
>>3531349
>>3531362
>>3531382
>>3531385
>>3531397
Well...you could at least give them a run through of how to not hurt themselves accidentally. Besides, it’s always good to start young. “A bit, actually, yeah.” This is met with cheers from all three of them- even a tiny ‘yay’ from Harp, interestingly enough. “I don’t want you going out and beating bullies or anything, but it’s probably good to start you on some basic exercises.”

They don’t seem to mind for the time being as you lead them into the training area- it’s smaller than the OTC’s, sure, but it’ll more than suffice for getting them through basic forms and exercises…

Depending on how they do, you might even let them on the dummies for a bit…

>Roll 3d10, best of 3.

(Sorry, took a breather, thought I'd sent a message.)
>>
Rolled 4, 5, 3 = 12 (3d10)

>>3531798
Here goes...
>>
Rolled 1, 7, 10 = 18 (3d10)

>>3531798
>>
Rolled 3, 7, 1 = 11 (3d10)

>>3531798
>>
>>3531808
>>3531818
>>3531821
...so, are we rolling for how well we teach them, or how experienced they are with their new equipment?
>>
>>3531808
>>3531818
>>3531821


>Harp is actually pretty good with a staff.

i guess it's her snake like body?
>>
>>3531798
>>3531808
>>3531818
>>3531818
>>3531821
“Alright, so I’m going to run you through some basics- all of you have very different weapons, but the general idea is the same- hit your enemy, don’t get hit. Sounds simple, but there’s a few tricks that help regardless of what you’re holding…” It’s really more of a general informational training session than anything else, but they for the most part seem to understand when you inform them on the general target areas (sticking to humanoid targets for now) you’ll want to aim for; tactics to keep your guard up and keeping yourself moving as well. They seem to take to it easily enough, and after an hour or so you decide to try and do a bit of weapons specific training.

Tami is first...and honestly, part of that is simply because you kind of want to get her over with. You haven’t really fought with fans that much (again, more of an Izumi thing), and so your limited knowledge combined with her overeagerness results in a generally short lesson; you manage to get her focused on using the fan more as a club at the moment; it’s weighted and spiked for a reason, and that much, at least, you can help with if you pretend it’s a baton or the sort. You can clearly see she’s a bit disappointed, but it goes away once you point her towards the dummies to practice a bit...although you quickly see her slipping back into her fantasies about how she thinks it SHOULD work.

Noran is pretty capable with the mace, as you expected; or at least as a beginner goes he’s not tripping over himself or throwing his weight out of wack TOO much. His strikes are obviously slow, unsure, wobbly, and a whole host of other issues, but it’s not too harsh a start for him. You actually manage to get some better work done with him; telling him about the principles of momentum, concentrated force, and generally the most effective way to bash someone’s head in. Mewla seems happy about it enough, and to your surprise she seems to want to try to help as you have him swing at a few dummies: she actually puts herself right above the target area as something of a marker for him to follow easier. Interesting.

(cont)
>>
>>3532034
Harpsicorie, though...yet again she surprises you. After you’re fine with letting Noran practice a bit on his own, you turned to her- only to find her casually spinning the staff with a large smile on her face. It’s slow, leisurely, but it’s fluid and with form. She switches from one hand to another easily, even passes it behind her back a time or two. It’s only when you walk up to her that she realizes she has an audience and fumbles it, but you make no indication that you’ve seen it. “Impressive,” you allow. “Had any experience with these before?”

“N-no. Not really. I-I remember back...back then. I’ve seen people with them before, but…” she trails off, and you just nod. That’s reason enough for you, you figure. Still…

“You look like you might have a knack for it. Lemme see what you can do.” She beams, and she takes up position as you ready yourself.

As it turns out, she doesn’t know much- but she seems to have a natural idea of what to do with the thing, and her snake tail helps her put a lot more energy into thrusts and swings without losing her core balance. It’s basic, but you can see a flash of potential there in her. You’ll just need to be careful in nurturing it…

An hour and a half has everyone sweaty and tired barring you- the kids at one point requested sparring, but you quickly shut that idea down. They’re VERY not ready for that yet. Maaaaaybe if you update the dummies to have AI, but that’d be it for now.

“Where are the showers?” You point them in the direction, and they all scamper off, leaving their weapons on the ground for now, despite your grumbles.

That gives you time to figure out what next to do with them. They're probably hungry, but after that...?

>Maybe you could let them hang around, SUPERVISED, with Lorelei and Izumi.
>Take them around the city, you guess; maybe to Outgoer hotspots like the garage.
>Maybe let them help with some of the shopping you need to do...
>Other
>>
>>3532056
>Take them around the city, you guess; maybe to Outgoer hotspots like the garage.
We haven't talked with our mechanic in ages. It should be nice to catch up.
>>
>>3532056
>Maybe you could let them hang around, SUPERVISED, with Lorelei and Izumi.
Pick them up, we've gotta assign people on HQ tasks later today. In fact, we probably need a proper HQ meeting.
>>
>>3532056
>>Maybe let them help with some of the shopping you need to do...
Might as well see about getting them their first bits of equipment, and we got to find something for Mewla to wield, too. Plus, gotta fix Ferrah's Helmet and Kolm's Fuckhueg Sword thing.
>>
>>3532056
>Take them to a foodplace that isn't typically frequented by outgoers.

Lorelei is our friend and teases us about the kids, could you imagine public ridicule from say, Flashpoint?
Not that it'd be hard to turn around any harassment, but what if they call us old and lonely, the shame.
>>
>>3532071
You know, we never found out what happened to those fat siblings.
>>
>>3532073
Gonna change my vote to
>Take them around the city, you guess; maybe to Outgoer hotspots like the garage.
to make this go faster.

Plus, I am curious about how our mechanic and those kids are doing...
>>
Writing! Going traveling a bit...
>>
>>3532056
>>3532071
>>3532115
>>3532140
It doesn’t take them too long to shower (at least they don’t stink, so whatever), and as expected, they’re hungry enough after all that practice. You’re thinking pasta today, but the idea of that Ilyyeria’s place that your boss’s bosses mentioned sticks out at you.

...you do NOT want to miss out on another possible discount. You decide better to just shell out for a ride this time, though, after looking the place up. It’s a bit of a ride, but you keep the kids occupied, mostly by answering various questions they might have about your more casual hobbies (of which there aren’t many).

Ilyyeria’s, once you get there, is a decent-looking place, actually. Resplendent in whites and blues, it very much screams ‘seafood’. You suspect there’s more than just that, however, and looking at the menu confirms it. Although it is a bit pricey…

...that is, until you tell the waiter that you’re an Outgoer specifically with Silver Eye Solutions and you get 20% off your ticket.

Yeeeesss.

Fortunately, the food is good, too- you can see why the two went in on it, and you could see yourself returning, honestly. Good marks from the kids as well, save for Tami, who seems to consider it mostly ‘okay’. Can’t please everyone all the time, you suppose. After that...well, if they really want to be Outgoers, then it’s probably best to get them to know the district. And you know the best first place to stop…

“Pffft! Wow, really?” Mitzi’s got to bite her cheek to stop from laughing, and you just frown. “I mean...LAST thing I’d have expected seeing.”

“Hey to you, too,” you say deadpan. “Now if you don’t mind introducing yourself?”

“Right, right,” she waves off. “Hey kids! Name’s Mitzi, and I kinda do all the major repairs around here for personal vehicles- for Outgoers at least…” The talk between them is surprisingly long as she regales them with stories of her time fixing stranger vehicles and some funny anecdotes as well. One of them is actually pretty recent; apparently one of the folks from Flashpoint had a racer they’d managed to acquire and wanted her to fix it up- she’d managed it, but only via essentially going on a fetch quest of her own all around the city to find the parts required. “I swear, I never want to hear a ‘hummingbird gun’ again. Doesn’t even make any sense.” You have to agree.

(cont.)
>>
>>3532294
Near the end of it, as she’s showing off some current projects (with respect to relative safety, of course) you find yourself wondering what might be next on your own plate tomorrow as the day ticks on. You’ll have some more time with the kids, but aside from that...

>You don’t have to take it immediately, especially since you’ve got some required guests, but might as well take a look at what might be on tap, job-wise.
>You don’t have to be too fast about finding another job. Take a day to see just what might be happening around the city. There’s always SOMETHING going on.
>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.
>Other

(I'll wrap up for today and continue tomorrow. Likely with a new thread.)
>>
>>3532297
>>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.
>>
>>3532297
>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.
Gotta donate stuff to research, inform the rest of the newbies about Library donations and discuss their training.
>>
>>3532297
>You don’t have to be too fast about finding another job. Take a day to see just what might be happening around the city. There’s always SOMETHING going on.
We haven't gone exploring in a while.
>>
>>3532297
>>You don’t have to be too fast about finding another job. Take a day to see just what might be happening around the city. There’s always SOMETHING going on.
Might as well see about Prima's support group thing, and see about repairing the helmet we got.
>>
>>3532297
>>3532311
Oh, yeah, mention to Mitzi we've got that contract board thing at HQ, and that she can send the information the next time she has a job she can give us. She's done good work for us, and I'd bet she'd like to see our newest rides.
>>
>>3532297
>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.

No rest for the wicked.
>>
>>3532297
>You don’t have to be too fast about finding another job. Take a day to see just what might be happening around the city. There’s always SOMETHING going on.

We can even try some more self-improvement, Miranda has some serious mana capacity, if she can find a way to get more bang from her buck, imagine the chunni city sweepers she could fire off.
>>
>>3532297
>>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.
I hope we get to actually use the aircraft at some point, but they are going to be expensive to operate.
>>
>>3532297
>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.
>>
>>3532384
When Miranda goes on Ace Combat universe as a mysterious pilot from Belken Confederation.
>>
Anon's Random Footnote:

The first and only pre-mission use of HQ's training facilities had virtually no effect - there was not a single instance of manacost reduction being applied. It seems like this boon was so negligible that no one bothereed to remember or remind about it.
>>
>>3532297
>>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.
>>
>>3532297
>Tomorrow will be an organizational day for your HQ. Maybe getting a new room set up, seeing about those aircraft, that sorta thing.
Let's set a day to get a check up on the situation as a whole. Then squeeze in some rest between important stuff. Mostly just to catch up on the situation since we were away for some time.
>>
>>3532632
yesh... the bonus are weird. That's why it was proposed that they should be a passive bonus for the new XP system.
>>
New Thread
>>3534271



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