>>5113819
When he comes back, he seems…confused? At least, his body is almost a question mark in and of itself. “Honestly, it’s the darndest thing,” he says with honest curiosity. “There’s a…thing in there, I’m not so certain it can be called human. Rather ugly and bloated all in the arms and weak in the legs, if you ask me, and it’s…just laying there asleep as a babe but also…volatile. Face like a duck, it has. A rather demented one, too. Big bill.” He makes the shape as best he’s able…eugh. Yeah, that’s a VERY oversized duckbill, for sure. Wonder if it honks like a duck?

“Great,” Zipper says with some annoyance. “So. Dollars to donuts the thing’s an alarm system?”
“Possible,” you concede.

“You mean ‘absolutely,’ Zipper presses as she takes out a particular pistol with a suppressor on it. We need to pop it as quietly as possible.” You begin to turn to Gartoum

“A living alarm, hm?” the shadow muses. “That WOULD explain why it started to stir so much when I got close. Honestly, rather surprised it sensed me, hm?” Not that he seems perturbed or anything…but that’s not a good sign.

You’ll have to suggest making a move soon- else go with Zipper’s plan. Izumi doesn’t seem opposed to it, but something tells you that’s mostly because she can’t think of a better plan that doesn’t risk the formula barrel.

>Any ideas?
>No, just go with Zipper and hope for the best.
>Other

>>5113827
>Any ideas?
>Tell Izumi to put her Mana Dampener and Vanishing Sigil Plate on and take care of it quickly.
These guys are strangely tanky sometimes - like the one who was watching us with the brute.

>>5113827
>So, how does your Shadow-porting work again? You think you can send it to the attic of that plantation house?

See if we can teleport that duck away from the ambush point to someplace more advantageous, then cast megaphone on it and get it quackin' to create a counter-ambush.

If we can't, just pop it like >>5113834.

We should probably look into reversing our Megaphone spell into a silence spell when we can.

>>5113834
I mean, her pistol might not cut it and I don't want something bad happen to our driver. Our girls are the hired muscle here.

>>5113838
If it was an ambush then the duck-thing wouldn't be sleeping imo. So instead of megaphone we could use Tongue-Tie to prevent it from raising the alarm in the first place.
>>5113827
Did we teach Izumi Tongue-Tie with other Endomagic tricks during the group training?

>>5113841
I am 95% sure that was all a blanket training moment, yes.

>>5113827
If there's an alarm system then there should be a group nearby that has a need for such. Can normal bandits even have something this exotic?

Supporting this one >>5113834 and remind her to use Tongue-Tie.

>>5113841
>>5113845
I dunno, Tongue-Tie seems more useful as a way to interrupt somatic spellcasting and disrupting orders. I'd figure the duck just making a sound would be enough of an alarm to alert somebody.

>>5113827
So I just read the sheet. Scrambling words sounds close enough to silencing right? If so I vote for the winning option.
I still feel like we're missing something though.

>>5113851
We're missing the location of the supposed ambushers - that's why I'm hesitant about the counter-ambush option.

>>5113851
We've only checked the guard house, for one thing... Not the plantation house or anyplace else. We should probably take a look at where any possible ambushes may come from.

>>5113852
>>5113827
>>5113853
Then we should send Gartoum on the look out again?

>>5113853
>>5113856
This post only mentions blockade, guardhouse, plantation house and the trees >>5110473.

>>5113856
Yeah, might be a good idea. Should do a smell check first, though... Are we parked near a forested area? They might have gotten tricky and camp in the forest during the day and sleep in the buildings at night.

Or they're camping out in the woods and preparing to chase us into the buildings, assuming there might be something bad in there...

I feel like we're overthinking it and there's no ambush. Just a bunch of them idling in the plantation house.

>>5113866
Starting to think so too, but you can never be too careful.

>>5113845
In addition
>Have Miranda near the trees for overwatch.
>Have Gartoum scout out the plantation house.

>>5113866
Maybe. Could be interesting to find out that we're expecting a group of bandits, and all it is is a farming family and their prize winning duck monster, who didn't realize a tree fell onto the road last night. Still, better safe than sorry.

File: Notrom's Last Word.png (27 KB, 128x128)

27 KB PNG

>>5113838
>silence spell
That's such a common concept, yet I didn't think about it at all. Hell with Miranda's whole loadout she can carve herself a niche as a mage-killer (the robes, crossbow, Pecker, etc.).

With our Tongue-Tie and Megaphone experience, I believe we can create a Muffle spell with some effort (Lori would love this). Even better, one that mutes sound in an entire area. A "traditional" silence spell is already fulfilled by our Flux series.

>>5113910
>That's such a common concept, yet I didn't think about it at all.
To be fair, it didn't occur to me either during all of the times we were creating new spells.

>>5113874
>>5113868
Well, the one thing that we can do to be sure is to have Pecker fly straight up, above the trees and then spend our blood to see from his eyes via the Spymaster's Mirror... But I still feel like we're overthinking things and there should be no curveballs prepared for us this early in the mission.

quite late and a unrelated to the quest, but
>>5111271
could I bother you for the sauce, kind anon?

>>5115339
It's in the filename.
https://mangadex.org/title/5222f157-37a6-4fb7-8aab-e32cab2badc1/becoming-a-magical-girl

>>5115346
oh, I wasn't getting any results when I tried to search for it
thank you very much

I will be posting later tonight, but I will also be taking a break until Friday because I feel like trash.

So. If you didn't catch my Twitter. COVID sucks ass.

>>5113827
>>5116562

“Idea,” you come up with, as some inspiration flashes at you. “How possible would it be for Izumi to slap on a Dampener, use the Vanishing Sigil and just shank the thing?”

“Hmmmm…I COULD do that,” Izumi muses. “I don’t know how much noise it might make in its death throes, but even that could be mitigated…”

“Ah-ah-ah, that is IF you can reach it fast enough without it reacting,” Gartoum points out. “I was quite flat when creeping up to it and it STILL seemed to sense me.”

“That’s what the dampener’s for,” you point out. He doesn’t seem to have a rebuttal to that.

“...eh, I guess it’s a good play,” Zipper concedes. “Dunno what this Vanishing Sigil o’ yours is, but I can wager it’s easy enough to guess. If’n you think you can pull it off quick enough, go for it.”

“Great. I wonder if that Tongue-Tie spell I taught you might be worth it, too,” you add on. “If it has to actually say anything, it might be something to keep in mind, but if it’s just shouting…”

“Right, not much use if it’s only making noise,” Izumi agrees. “Well, alright, then. I’ll be off,” she says as she clips the Dampener to her hair and the Plate is dug out of her bag. “Let’s hope it’s not TOO perceptive…” And with that, she vanishes.

"We should keep an eye out, just in case," you mutter.

"Man, you're a worrywart, ain'tcha?" Zipper mutters back. You choose to not dignify that with a response.

>Roll 1d20, best of three.

Rolled 19 (1d20)

>>5121710
Get well soon, boss!

Rolled 14 (1d20)

>>5121710

Rolled 5 (1d20)

>>5121710
>COVID sucks ass.
That it does.

Hope you get better quickly, Handler!

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>5121711
>>5121710
Ace'd it!

Writing!

>>5123933
How you holding up, boss?

>>5123948
Better, but still recovering.

>>5123951
Good to hear it! Don't worry if you need to call cut early tonight, tho.

>>5121710
>>5121711
>>5121713
>>5121719
It’s almost too easy. You don’t hear much of anything before you hear a very, very slightly whistling coming from the booth- almost more like air escaping a balloon, really. Then a few soft wet sounds, and silence once again.

As far as you can tell, nothing seems to respond to the little noise that was made, which is pretty darn good for you. In a few more moments, a voice comes through your stone. “And that’s that. Nothing too troublesome. I noticed a lever here, but it’s rather…sticky and encumbered. I’m not sure it’ll not make a decent amount of noise heading through anyway.”

“That’s just the same friggen problem, then…” Zipper mutters. And that was a whole different issue by itself. It was a misshapen morass of metal, wires, and other pieces of construction that might’ve once been a wall or something akin to it, but it would be very loud to just blast through. Although something about it WAS bugging you. You’re just not sure what. “What do you think we should do-”

“Oh dear.” That didn’t come from you or Zipper. “Some goop fell loose now that the thing’s dead, and-”

To your surprise, the whole works that made up the wall seemed to split in half with only a bit of groaning. Somehow, the whole lot was fused together and didn’t seemed to make much noise. Both you and Zipper let out a silent breath of relief at that. “Well. That’s good.” Before much longer, Izumi reappears out of thin air, and hops back into the vehicle, looking rather proud of herself.

The three of you continue on past the barricade.

It’s not much longer before you get near the house itself- and you can see a number of Wracked nearby. Several of them looking like the remains of farmers and beasts, and more than a few look your way- though several of them seem to shy away as they and you make eye contact. Well, moreso they look at you.

Next to one of the fences, there’s a sign. ‘LAST FRESH WATER UNTIL FREMONT- 35 MILES!’

“Huh,” Zipper mutters. “That’s…not great. According to the map, Fremont has at least another village in front of it- Raylight. Was thinking we could fill up there.” She frowns. “The Doc didn’t say anything about Raylight being overrun or without water, so…that doesn’t sound good.”

“Perhaps we should at least see if there’s anything left in there,” Izumi opines. “It’s clear there’ll be some resistance, but better safe than sorry.”

>Agreed. Might as well take a looksee and be careful.
>Are you sure? Maybe we should just take our chances with the gameplan.
>Other

>>5124032
>Agree
If this doesn't deviate from our schedule too much.

>>5124032
>>Agreed. Might as well take a looksee and be careful.
>Grab the Morph-blade to raise our intimidation factor

>>5124032
>>5124048
Sure if that works.

>>5124032
>Agreed.
Does "in there" refer to the house or to Raylight? Either way, I'm game. Gives us a chance to try out our Everblade.

>>5124048
Don't forget the parrying weapon, anon.
Morphblade Hook-Sword form right, Hunting Revolver left.

>>5124060
the house.

>>5124032
>>5124045
>>5124048
>>5124058
>>5124060


“I don’t see why we shouldn’t at least take a look around,” you give. “It shouldn’t take too much time, right?”

“Exactly,” Izumi agrees. “We’ll look around, see if there’s some water to spare, and if not, we’ll be on our way quickly enough.”

Zipper seems less than enthused. “Wellll…I guess that makes sense enough. But you two are gonna be doing all the wandering. It’d be stupid to just leave the package by itself. I’m staying here, and if I need you out here I’m honking like a madwoman.”

“Fair enough,” you decide as you arm yourself with your Morph-Blade. You and Izumi dismount once you’re near the rather long driveway. “I’m staying right here,” Zipper announces. “Don’t take too long.”

“We won’t,” you assure as you and Izumi begin to look around. The house is rather large, with what looks like a full three stories, along with a wooden fence around a large backyard that you can’t see through. It’s clear that the three-story plantation house isn’t the only place on the property- there’s a barn proper, as well as several smaller buildings for other animals. “Shall we?” Izumi asks.

You nod, and you both make your way up to the building, sparing only a moment to make sure that you nor Zipper had any surprise followers. The Wracked are very shambling and shuffling, but fortunately it seems like there’s not that many around here- a handful that you’re confident Zipper could handle herself. The two of you open the door, and you’re greeted by a tattered and wrecked foyer.

“Alright…where to go first,” Izumi mutters. “Could just head straight through to the back…or maybe upstairs. A downstairs basement, if they have it. Where would they keep spare water, is the question…”

There’s a moaning that comes from up and a distance, and the stairway off to the left tells you how to get upstairs. No sign of a downstairs, though you wouldn’t be surprised if there was one. Still, you wonder just what kind of Wracked you’ll be facing depending on where you go. You know some of them just don’t care about your appearance, while others will back off.

>Try upstairs. Maybe someone was watching the water stash when they turned.
>Try to look for a downstairs. That’d be the most secure place for water if they had it.
>Try to head to the backyard. That’s the best place if they didn’t want too many people sniffing around.
>Other

>>5124161
>Try upstairs.
At the very least, to make sure that moaner doesn't summon more of the family and to loot any possible safes.

>>5124161
Alright so I know abusing the FutureSight too much isn't wise, but since it can detect mana and make maps and all that jazz it SHOULD be able to detect water right?

>>5124161
crap, should've left our turret with Zipper
>Try to head to the backyard. That’s the best place if they didn’t want too many people sniffing around.
>Send Gartoum to Zipper and have him set up the Clockwork turret
This makes the most sense for me - a bit of a bitch getting water from downstairs every time.

>>5124176
Zipper is the weakest link in the team and our precious cargo is also in the car.

>>5124161
>Try to head to the backyard. That’s the best place if they didn’t want too many people sniffing around.
>Other
Have Izumi go into the house and start scanning for signs of water with her FutureSight. The floors shouldn't be that thick.
>>5124176
Hunkering the turret down will just slow her if there's a horde closing into the car, not to mention the potential attraction coming from gun noises. She can just burn rubber if something threatening comes up.
Although I do want to lend her a Hootstone.

Next water station I vote that we should fill a bottomless bag full of it.

>>5124374
we could at least send Gartoum to watch over her

>>5124161
>>5124432
Oh. That we can.
Though that will get us another worrywart comment pff.

I'm feeling good today. Will run in maybe two hours after breakfast.

>>5124161
>>5124176
>>5124374
“Maybe the backyard, then?” you suggest. Izumi merely shrugs, and heads that way, as you follow up behind her.

Interestingly, it seems like having Izumi go first ends up causing a bit of an odd situation regarding yourself and the Wracked- she’s usually spotted first, causing several of them to charge (for lack of a better term), only to, mid-lunge, seem to realize your presence, upon which they seem to hesitate. Naturally, Izumi’s quick to take advantage of this opening to cut the unfortunates down in moments. This pattern is on repeat as you walk through the hallway, the kitchen, and through the back patio into the rather wide backyard.

The sight beyond causes Izumi to stop, and though you’re behind her, you can imagine the distressed look on her face. “...oh no.” Yeah, what you see here is…unfortunate, indeed. A setup that was clearly intended to be a young child’s birthday; old and tattered banners, streamers, and long deflated balloons litter the ground here. Rotten and molded cake, only a slice or two taken from it. A few tiny tricycles, and something resembling a bounce house for the kids. A desperate attempt at levity before it all came crashing down.

The handful of Wracked shambling around tells you what happened THERE easily enough. Especially the teenaged-looking ones. There’s no child-sized Wracked here, however, so either they escaped…or they’re just elsewhere in the building.

There’s a couple of small jugs of water, you notice, in the left corner nearest you. Only one of them is at all full, however, while a second is less than half so. Not the bounty you were hoping for, exactly…

Several moans ripple through the backyard without warning, however, and it seems like a couple more resonate through the house, too.

And then there’s a growling- not a moan, but something that hints at ferocity. It’s low, almost like a high performance car, but rumbling deeply nonetheless. Wonder what’s up there…?

>If you want to get anything worthwhile out of this detour, you’re probably going to find out. Keep searching.
>Might as well cut and run. This much should get you to Fremont, if nothing else.
>Other

(I didn't forget about Gartoum, if you choose to continue, you'll send him back. If not, well, no need.)

>>5124944
>>If you want to get anything worthwhile out of this detour, you’re probably going to find out. Keep searching.
The loot, it calls to me…
Well, that and I’m curious about where the kids might be, and how they’re doing…

>>5124964
Almost forgot, see if there's a name on the banners or cake, in case the this worlds grand prize winner of the Worst Birthday Ever is still inside the house.

>>5124944
>Might as well cut and run. This much should get you to Fremont, if nothing else.
We're done here, time to hit the road

>>5124944
>If you want to get anything worthwhile out of this detour, you’re probably going to find out. Keep searching.
It shouldn't be too long. If there are survivors they should be at the basement, we can do this quick if we split out.

>>5125116
Almost forgot, if there are survivors we're dropping them in Fremont. Don't exactly have the thinking space to handle another escort for the rest of the journey ya know?

>>5124944
>If you want to get anything worthwhile out of this detour, you’re probably going to find out. Keep searching.

>>5124964
>>5125116
>>5125351
You shake your head. “Something’s up there.”

Izumi looks up to follow your gaze, adjusting her glasses. “Then are we finding out what it is?”

“After you,” is the response, and you follow her back into the building. Carrying around those jugs wouldn’t exactly be comfortable, and you’re pretty positive you can get something a bit better out of this effort with a bit more searching.

The stale outdoors air gives way once again to outright squalid conditions as you make your way back in- and quickly there’s a few more beasts blocking your way. One of them is easily taken care of by Izumi’s sword, but the second- a squirming, pulsing, and importantly LEAPING slug thing has to be cleaved apart by you personally. “I was hoping these things would just keep away from me,” you admit as you step over its remains.

“Some creatures are too stupid to know fear at all,” Izumi opines. “We’ll have to keep our senses open.”

The both of you carefully climb up, not wanting to give too much notice to anything that might be waiting for you. As you reach the top, fortunately, nothing else leaps out, though two Wracked are on the top of the steps, slumped over in front of what you can guess is a bedroom, judging by the name ‘Jessie’ in crayon on a piece of paper on the door. There’s another door down the hall that’s partially open, and even so there’s about 6 doors on this landing, all no doubt leading to different rooms.

The growling resumes- and you’re positive that it’s upstairs, on the third floor. Meaning this second floor might be a bit safer to check out…

>Have a look around. Should be SOMETHING worthwhile here.
>Continue onto the third floor. You’ll take out whatever’s waiting up there first, so it don’t have a chance to surprise YOU instead.
>This doesn’t seem likely to have a storage of water, really. Better to try to see if there’s a basement or the sort.
>Other

>>5125379
>This doesn’t seem likely to have a storage of water, really. Better to try to see if there’s a basement or the sort.
>Don't forget to turn on our Hearing Boost, and listen for breathing.

>>5125351
>>5125392
This and start scanning with FutureSight too, for life signs and water. Have Izumi on overwatch.

I wonder. If magic hasn't been heard of in ages in this world then why does this job require magic detection?

>>5125379
>Activate Hearing Boost and Power Sense
>Continue onto the third floor. You’ll take out whatever’s waiting up there first, so it don’t have a chance to surprise YOU instead.
I want to go to the basement, but it probably has only one way in/out - meaning that whatever is up there might prepare an ambush with other Wracked while we're carrying water jugs

>>5125399
>>5125379
This one. But can't we just dump the water straight into our bags?

>>5125379
>>5125395
Changing to
>Split up
Izumi should take the basement in case there are survivors, while Miranda should take the upper floor.

>>5125379
>>5125399
>>5125406
changing to this, both of our girls have Hearing Boost and Power Sense

>>5125399
Shit, you're right about a possible ambush... And I am curious about the kid's room, too.

>>5125392
I'll switch over to >>5125406

>>5125406
Taking this instead then >>5125379

File: file.png (1.91 MB, 1150x1900)

1.91 MB PNG

Would be funny if instead of scared children we'd find an unassuming and non-hostile slug instead.

>>5125406
>>5125409
>>5125410
>>5125412


Splitting up, then? Alright, gonna need 2d100, best of three, individually.

Rolled 41, 60 = 101 (2d100)

>>5125450

Rolled 31, 87 = 118 (2d100)

>>5125450

Rolled 74, 47 = 121 (2d100)

>>5125450
Cmon' Randa roll over 50

74, 87.

Izumi comes across...some thing.

And Miranda finds what she was looking for. After a fashion.

Writing.

>>5125379
>>5125406
>>5125409
>>5125410
>>5125412
>>5125451
>>5125454
>>5125455

“...Perhaps we should split up, thinking about it,” you double back. “Whatever’s on the third floor is probably waiting for us. I’d rather kill it first, but I’d also rather be certain we have what we wanted out of here before we go fighting something.”

Izumi just raises an eyebrow at you. “You really think so? I would’ve thought you’d want us both to take out whatever’s up top then search peacefully.”

“Yeah, that makes sense, but you never know. If there’s survivors here, better sooner found than later,” you consider.

Izumi seems nearly surprised, judging by the expression on her face. “Hm. Didn’t think you’d…alright, then.” She hops down from the second floor, landing lightly, and looking back up at you. “I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting.” With that, she heads off, and you head UP.

It’s not much longer before you reach the third floor- and you can clearly hear the rumbling growling now. More importantly, it’s coming from a particular room- furthest to the left, and shut tight. However, you also notice something else- the room on the far right, which is partially open, with a trio of Wretches fallen over themselves in front of it. Of particular note is the sign, in big letters:

‘TAKE ONLY ONE PER FAMILY! VIOLATORS WILL BE PUNISHED!’

Hm. Well, that’s something. Alright, now you just need to step carefully… “Miranda?” Ah, there she is. “I’ve confirmed there’s a cellar here. As well as…something else.”

That makes you stop. “Something else? What do you mean, ‘something else’?” you whisper.

“I mean it’s a…honestly, I’m not certain. Survivor? It’s more like she’s…half turned, or not, or…I’m not sure, but it-she’s looking at me. And not trying to attack or anything. She looks harshly diseased, hives and almost slate grey skin, and- she looks more like a cancer patient than anything, really. But she’s not…crying, or saying anything, she’s just…staring at me. I- oh.” Hm? That was a sudden cut off. “...oh dear.”

“What? What’s the problem?” you hiss out.

“No, just…I think I found one of her parents. Or…the remains of such. It’s…it seems that whatever allowed this little one to survive, it didn’t quite take for the mother.”

That sounds like a lot of assumptions. “You sure she survived?” And oddly enough, you can hear the rumbling even more. It's growing. Growling. If you were paranoid you'd call it in anticipation. Which you are, so you will. But anticipating what?

“Well, I- hold on, she’s getting up. Not sure what- oh! Er, um. Yes. A ball.” Her voice sounds a bit more distant, talking to the…girl? Directly. “I, er…oh! Um…” There’s the sound of a rubber ball that comes across. “...yes, right. Ah, Miranda?”

Red flag. Reeeed flag. “...yeah?”

You can almost hear the embarrassed grin. “Well, you’re more keen on children these days, right?”

> No. No. No. No. Absolutely not. We can’t.
>...You’re serious. Really? Gah, fine.
>Other

>>5125529
>"Izumi, before anything ask yourself this. How can we make room for her without jeopardizing the job?"
>"... try to get her INTO your bottomless bag if you can."
No matter the answer we have to see the third floor first.

>>5125529
>...You’re serious. Really? Gah, fine.
> "Ask what her name is, I'll grab some toys and clothes from her room. And warn her about me so she doesn't panic."

I don't think the bag trick's gonna work this time. The fairy kid was a nihilist, and conditioned to stay in small, cell-like places.
I kinda want to see how she does with the kids.

>>5125529
>Sorry, but this is different. Taking care of kids on the job...it won't end well. Speaking from experience.
Still a bit salty we couldn't get the fairy boy to the Intersection. And we ended up leaving rat-kids as well.

>>5125529
>>5125540
>>5125544
We at least have to try the bag, because I sure as hell don't want to make this job harder. Something tells me she'll be the missing link to a true cure if things go predictably.
>>5125545
Third time's the charm!

>>5125549
>>5125529
Oh yeah since we're breaching the room, time to get the new shotgun out for the field-testing.

>>5125549
The fairy kid is the only one I personally was interested in. Also it baffles me that we had no chance to talk with him over the months of travel, especially during the week-long trip on the ship. And now we're going to keep around a catatonic zombie?

>>5125555
Personally, I don't care for it also; it's more for the sake of gaining Izumi points. Keeping her around can also lead to additional side objectives and rewards (a bit metagamey here).
We can scan her after clearing the house.
>>5125551
Sure get the revolver shotgun out.

>>5125558
>Izumi points
Sounds uber-meta-gamey. There'll be 'side-objectives' later on, it's only the first day. I don't think anyone would give a reward for this village kid, all here relatives are here.

>>5125562
Yeah, not saying that we have to make room in the car for her. That's why I suggested the bag, it's hassle-free. I'm also interested in a scan because I don't think we'll meet another half-turned for the rest of the job.

>>5125562
>>5125558
I mean, I like Izumi, she's the only truly reliable person in SES and is Miranda's peer in kill and power - but it doesn't mean we should bend over every time to get brownie points with her. She's still too different from 'Randa. I don't see how agreeing to this could end well.

>>5125572
Miranda is already earning these 'Izumi points' just by being here - she's on this mission because Izumi's investigation of her friend's competitor in the Eatery District led to some big shot in Flashpoint.
And these assumptions of reward or relation to cure are just that - assumptions. We're here just to deliver the cargo, doesn't matter if it actually able to cure people or not.

Writing in about 2 hours!

>>5125529
>>5125540
>>5125544
>>5125549
Of course. Of COURSE she’d do something like this. As soon as she mentioned a kid, you should’ve seen this coming. And the worst part?

You kinda get it. Still, jobs come first. "Izumi, before anything ask yourself this. How can we make room for her without jeopardizing the job? We’ve already got a packed backseat. How will she fit? What if she goes feral completely?" And speaking of feral…

Whatever’s in there, you’re not keen on meeting on an even playing field, so to speak. Fortunately, you’ve got something you need to try out anyway. That revolver shotgun oughta see some good usage here. It’s retrieved quietly, and you gently, carefully step towards the growling- although part of you wonders if it already knows you’re there. Scents, and all.

But then Izumi again. “Look, I’m sure we can make it work. And I don’t think she’s going to change any more than she has. All of these surroundings look…well, aged. What if she might be a possible source for a cure? I know we have one, but maybe we can get a blood sample from her or something, right?”

“Why not do that now?” you say as you pause.

“I…” silence. “Please, Miranda.”

Uggggggggggggggghhhh. “...You’re really serious. Really?” You have to bite back a sigh. “Gah, fine. Ask what her name is, and whether she responds or not, I'll grab some toys and clothes from this kid’s room, if that’s this ‘Jessie’ I see here. And warn her about me so she doesn't panic."

“Thank you,” she says softly. “Alright now, yes, little one. What’s your name? Can you speak?”

“I’m going quiet, got a beast to hunt,” you whisper, before turning off comms. Now, let’s see what’s behind door number 1…

>Roll for engagement, 1d20, best of three.

Rolled 16 (1d20)

>>5133066

Rolled 8 (1d20)

>>5133066
Eh. Hope she dosn't end up being a lure of some kind if we do end up taking her

Rolled 20 (1d20)

>>5133066
Welcome back.

...Bang.

Writing!

>...Bang.
I just realized something and I'm really mad about it. We were doing do well this time...

>>5133066
>>5133068
>>5133105
>>5133111
You’re not certain what you were expecting when you entered the room. Honestly, part of you was thinking some sort of massive wolf creature. What you ended up dodging and pour several square pounds of buckshot into as soon as you opened the door was NOT a wolf.

The room itself is massive for the house’s size; a large room clearly more for the entertainment of guests than anything else judging by the near ballroom-size it is. There’s broken statues and fallen bookshelves along the sides, and torn and rotted chairs and other various paraphernalia that only tells how far from luxury this place has fallen. And what had attempted- and failed- to strike you coming in was a…well, you aren’t sure, but it’s only vaguely humanoid- it’s neck is both bloated and fat with pus and sores, but yet elongated, almost like a snake or a weasel’s. The head atop it is humanoid only in the loosest sense as well; the eyes are pitch black, but clearly recognizant, and what was likely one a cute button nose and luscious black hair is now a busted cavity where a nose might’ve sloughed off, and reedy strands of the hair that used to remain. The body is male’s…you think, and only clad in tatters and dirty refuse that might’ve been a suit at one point- or maybe just cloth scraps. It’s bloated and brimming with pustules like everything else, though you notice a shimmer of purple running through obvious veins, with its feet now cloven and digitigrade, and its arms grotesquely mutated into enormous things with thick, black sludge constantly dripping from them. It must stand at least eleven feet tall at full, but it’s well doubled over thanks to the response of your shotgun after dodging an extended, slurping punch from its oversized meathook hands.

All this, really, to say: You've got not a single clue what this is, but it’s damn ugly, and you’ve got an opening. It’s not bleeding, as far as you can tell, but stunned is stunned.

>You’re not gonna risk anything. Keep shooting till it dies.
>Bullets might not be taking properly. Maybe try blasting it with some magiblasts.
>Fire might be the order of the day here. Tends to work on shit like this.
>Other

>>5133303
>Get the Rapier
>>Fire might be the order of the day here. Tends to work on shit like this.
Do we have slug rounds for our shotgun, or buckshot only? Is Gartoum with Zipper right now (>>5124944)? Do we have our Mana Condenser on?

>>5133329
Slug rounds, yes, and yes in that order.

>>5133354
Sweet.
Next time we decide to use the shotgun against something big and mean we've gotta use slugs, buckshot won't cut it - the thing isn't even bleeding!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj7Z5oMWuIU&ab_channel=NewYorkPost

>>5133303
>>5133329
Let's just do this and keep unloading the remaining rounds while we're throwing out the Sunscorch (we should be able to use the shotgun one-handed right?).

>>5133303
>>5133329
I'm game.
What room did we take for this job?

>>5133329
Writing, but this is putting away the shotgun, FYI. Got a bit confused with >>5133375.

>>5133303
>>5133329
>>5133375
>>5133413
Well, you have slugs, but that’d take a bit of time you’re not willing to spend on this thing. Time to go back to an old reliable- fire!

The shotgun is quickly pocketed, and you’re quick to bring out the rapier- you’ll want the boost for this one. The creature’s only just starting to catch its breath again, and you notice that it’s backing off…or at least, shuffling backwards, which allows you a good amount of time to aim yourself and fire your latest Sunscorch trick. You’re not planning on dragging this out at all.

Curiously, however the creature must’ve looked before, it’s outright afraid now as a gurgling scream comes up from…somewhere inside it- it doesn’t really have a mouth, perse, anymore. Whatever you look like, it doesn’t like it. Well, too bad.

The creature already seems to be trying to run, despite not having enough energy in what passes for its lungs, as your hand sparks up.

>Roll 1d300 for mana cost.

Rolled 69 (1d300)

>>5133500
"Behold! The unquenchable fire of the stars!"

Rolled 54 (1d300)

>>5133500
Lower is better right?

>>5133531
Aye.

Rolled 164 (1d300)

>>5133500

>>5133531
Well, unless this >>5133511 counts for a unique situation...

>>5133500
>>5133511
>>5133531
>>5133538
>Current Mana: 10,245

The flames streak out from your left hand like a jet, and the scream of fear turns to pain as its right side is entirely engulfed by the conflagration; it seems to panic and flail immediately as it swings wildly to try and put out its burning limbs to no use. You can definitely see how this would be useful in the future. “Hm. Behold! The unquenchable fire of the stars,” you quip to yoursel- wait shit no, that was out loud.

Well, you doubt Izumi heard that, at least. However, not like the beast itself cares- it’s too busy catching on fire.

The beast rampages without comprehensive, flailing and spitting black goo everywhere that you take pains to dodge- it doesn’t seem to corrode anything at first touch, but you don’t want to test that against yourself. What surprises you, though, is when the beast lets out a massive roar- one that seems to shake the foundations of the building itself!

Unsurprisingly, your comms light up. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” is the first thing you hear from Izumi.

“I lit it on fire! It doesn’t like that and it’s trying to drown the whole room in sludge!” you yell back as a jet of the stuff comes close to hitting your leg.

“Well can you not just kill it?!” she yells back. “Oh! Nonono, not you, I promise!” oh, right. That. “By the way, she can’t seem to speak. I hope that’s not a problem.”

“Slight difference in priority right now,” you mutter as the thing’s howls continue. Then- something bloats in it. Something not purple, but…orange?

>Roll 1d100, best of three.

>Action?

Rolled 21 (1d100)

>>5133713
>Mana Barrier, ASAP! Block off the side of the room it's on!

>>5133713
So, 11000 base manapool and + 1500 from Divine Shoes. This trick cost us 2255 mana - just for future reference.
>Action?
>Cast Barrier Armor so that whatever it's spewing won't damage us and try to cast One-Inch Shotgun Punch through the Rapier in order to rupture the bloaty from inside.

Rolled 29 (1d100)

>>5133713

>>5133713
Barrier. And start shooting.

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>5133713
>>5133736

>>5133740
That tickles, but at least it doesn't sting.

I was gonna suggest that we should evac instead, but then I remember there are still water in the building.

so we're just going to ignore the orange bloating thingie?

>>5133750
Well, we could do what we did with the drider-lady and use the barrier to squash the monster into a wall.

>>5133750
>>5133713
The barrier will take care of it like >>5133756
said , and I did vote to shoot.
Yeah let's just displace it with a barrier.

>>5133756
>>5133758
It's 11 feet tall. I think we should destroy it before it has the chance to spew it out.
Let's try Shotgun Punch at least once, we've never ever used it.

>>5133761
... but isn't that technique REALLY short-ranged? Are you sure trying to stop what looks like a death throw/boomer explosion by punching the core wise? That's with whatever it's spraying out too.

>>5133768
It won't get us with Barrier Armor on, and if we can cast it through our rapier then we can get a bit more range. Plus the One-Inch version can bypass some of its mass and piece the bloating part before it builds up. It might be charging an attack instead of self-destructing. If it was a suicide-bomber type of enemy it wouldn't be afraid of death like it is right now.

>>5133761
>Punching an enemy that's bloating up and changing color as it's dying

The videogame logic I've literally spent decades internalizing tells me that punching this guy right now is a really bad idea.

Barrier then. Writing!

>>5133801
>>5133768
Also if we can Shotgun Punch through it would 'shape' the explosion if it is actually detonating, so it won't be focused on us- GAH!

If it's going to explode - wouldn't it collapse the whole building, burying us, Izumi and the zombie-girl in debris?

>>5133713
>>5133724
>>5133733
>>5133736
>>5133740
You don’t KNOW what’s happening, and you don’t WANT to know what’s happening. You’re quick to throw up a barrier to sequester it and that side of the room from YOU-

And you’re glad you did, as not seconds later, the entirety of the creature EXPLODES, the sound deafening you momentarily as your sight blurs and your world becomes very orange colored for a brief period.

For several long seconds, the room shakes with the aftermath, and you can tell that that’s not going to be the end of it- not by the sudden groaning and hissing that’s coming from where it used to be. As your vision clears, you see an orange goop splattered all over your barrier, and all over the latter half of the room, to boot; what’s concerning, however, is how the goop seems to be causing rapid fire putrefaction, judging by how everything seems to be rotting and falling away- slowly, but considering that it can be measured in seconds now? That’s…incredibly worrying. And it’s spreading.

“Izumi!” You quickly call. “I don’t care any more, we’re getting out of here ASAP!”

“What about the water?” she quickly calls back. “How many do you think we can get?” Good damn question. Gonna have to rush and see. As you rush to the room with the warning, you practically tackle the door open- and are grateful to see at least a couple dozen gallon jugs; sealed tightly and stacked. Now it’s just a matter how how many you can get squared away before the whole place destabilizes…!

>Roll 1d24, best of three!

Rolled 11 (1d24)

>>5133946

Meant to say, half of that other side of the room is blown away, too. You can see outside.

Anywho, last one for tonight. >>5133835 was not incorrect.

...I'm done.

Rolled 3 (1d24)

>>5133946
Can't we jump pour them into our bag?

Rolled 4 (1d24)

>>5133946
How well do we have to roll for enough time to loot Jessie's room?

>>5133959
>>5133955
Guess we dodged a nuke there, by not trying to go melee.
Although I doubt we'll have time to check the kid's room, considering the below average roll.

>>5133959
Roll is for how many you get, so 11. A bit under half, but not horrible.

>>5133963
I mean, I was figuring after we could get as much as we could, we'd just book it into the room and toss her dresser or a toybox through the window and escape that way.

Actually, if we're wearing our Red Sun Gauntlets, would we have to be touching the part that's rotting for it to repair the house, or will just touching wherever and channeling mana work just as well?

Posting shortly. No real run, though, medical thing happened and the medicine I took is trying to knock me out.

...medicine did indeed knock me out.

>>5133946
>>5133951
>>5133958
>>5133959
You’re not one for wasting time- especially not when the situation is so dire. What ends up happening is that you ended up tossing the jugs as best you can into your bag as you feel the place start to shake much more relentlessly- something important in holding up at least SOME part of the house probably just went. As you hear Izumi yell into comms, you’re just finished with your 11th jug; there’s still just a bit over half, but that’ll do for now. When you peek back out the door, you’re honestly surprised to see the orange defection continuing down the hallway! No time to risk wasting, then. You barely have time to confirm them, before the orange creep starts to get much too close than you’d prefer. Deciding that that was enough, you decide NOW’S a good time to bail. In two leaps you’re out of the room and cleared the banister.

And in another second, you dart out of the house, seeing her and the child under her arm, throwing out magi-blasts as a horde of Wracked have started converging on the vehicle- Zipper is firing like a madwoman, her aim impeccable as she mows down a score of the beasts in moments.

No time for pleasantries as you leap into the passenger’s seat. “DRIVE!”

Wordlessly, she changes tactics to clear out the road of the simpler beasts, before she hits the gas, and you all tear off at top speed down the road.

For a brief period of time, everyone’s breathless. Then, finally, Zipper speaks. “The fuck were you DOING in there?”

“Well. I got eleven jugs of water, mostly. Killed a weird demonic goat person Wracked thing,” you add on.

“Oh…well, that’ll at least last us a while,” she mutters. “Gonna have to remember to refuel first- but that should get us to Fremont, easy.”

Well, that’s something. As for now, you look to your back left, to see the child Izumi was talking about.

Yeah, she wasn’t kidding about being pockmarked and slate grey. Little hair, but otherwise oddly healthy looking. At least her dress, simple and down to her ankles, looks like it’s well kept enough together, though you guess that the jean-like material speaks to that. The other thing is her eyes. They’re a rich, light purple, but there’s…a spark. That’s the only way you can describe it. There’s some sort of recognition there, but she just seems to play with a small carved horse in her hand wordlessly as she sits in Izumi’s lap, ignoring you. Her movements are…slow. Almost calculated, not the simple jittery, excited movements of children you know.

“So…this her?” you ask simply.

She nods. “She seems to not be a fan of loud noises. She was looking distraught earlier, but she’s calmed down now.”

Right…well, you’ve got a bit of breathing time now, at least.

>Any questions?
>Nope. Onwards to Fremont!
>Other

>>5135875
>Get Pecker out to play with her.
Kids love pets.
>Start scanning with the FutureSight.
I'm not sure what else there is, but we may ask Izumi what other things she discovered in that cellar.

>>5135875
>"Hey, is your name Jessie?"
>"Do you know how to write?"
>"Did you get anything she can use in the basement, or will we have to scavenge or barter for stuff?"
>Take a quick whiff of the kid's power level
>Plus >>5135884's suggestions.

So, I'm guessing one of the other influences is Left 4 Dead, then?

>>5135875
>>5135884
this and
>Power Sense her
>>5133811
>>5133835
ID changed, I was thinking that if we made a controlled, shaped explosion then the orange stuff would fly in the direction of the shotgun punch and would coat a much smaller area. The light barrier easily tanked the explosion, so barrier armor would've worked just as well.

>>5135875
>>5135884
>>5135893
These.
I wonder what weird remarks Miranda will get in Zipper's report.

>>5135875
so, twelve and a half jugs of water in total?
>>5124944
There’s a couple of small jugs of water, you notice, in the left corner nearest you. Only one of them is at all full, however, while a second is less than half so. Not the bounty you were hoping for, exactly…
>>5135875
>As you hear Izumi yell into comms, you’re just finished with your 11th jug;
Also what was Gartoum doing all this time?

>>5135898
Problem I'm seeing is, if we stop using the barrier armor, the gunk would get on our skin unless we washed it off the the barrier first, so we would have had to keep the barrier up until we took a bath. And even if we could manage to keep it up for a while, touching the car while gooped would be disastrous.

>>5135903
Helping defend the car.

I'm not in the best shape right now, I'll try to post tomorrow.

>>5135918
No problem, get some rest in, boss.

>>5135875
>>5135898
Oh, right. Our fancy expensive mask should be able to see her actual mood/aura.

>>5135875
>>5135884
>>5135893
>>5135898
>>5135901
As the road clears up- no people along the country highway, it seems- you have some time to see just who or what Izumi’s saddled you with. “So whatever she is, ain’t gonna infect us, right?” Zipper asks.

“Lemme check that right now,” you say, taking out your FutureSight. She doesn’t seem to actually notice you, as she continues to play with her horse. Even when Izumi strokes her hair, she doesn’t appear to have much in the way of reaction.

As you let the scan go, you look up at Izumi, who’s wearing a constant expression of concern. “So, couldn’t get a name out of her, right?”

Izumi shakes her head. “Nothing. Maybe a grunt, but I’m not certain that was a reaction to a question at all. It’s almost like she can’t really understand speech…she can hear, I know that much.” So she IS just ignoring you.

You take a quick smell of her- practically nothing. Not sweet or sour or nasty- well, beyond a very faint smell that you’re pretty confident is just BO. “Ah. Can she write, at least?”

“I…think, maybe?” Izumi seems conflicted. “There were definitely sheets of paper with childlike writing on them, as well as a child’s notebook, but I couldn’t be sure if they were written pre or post…this,” she says, motioning to the child again. “She didn’t write before we had to leave, so it’s something yet to be tested.”

You sigh. This was seeming like more and more trouble. “Did you get anything she might be able to play with out of there, or something she could use, or what?”

At this, at least, she nods, with a small smile. “There were a few things I threw in my bag; a small photo album, a tiny notebook, as I mentioned, a few blocks and dolls, and they even had a tiny wardrobe, and I got a couple of clothes from there…but not much else.”

You blink. “That’s a lot in a little time. You must’ve been moving quick, or-” Wait. “...did you bank on me saying ‘yes’ in advance?”

The sudden avoidance of eye contact gives you your answer there. Oy. You…really want to say something, but you don’t even know what. Sighing again, you consider the kid simply tapping away at her little horse. Thinking about it, you fish around- ah. There he is.

*Chirp* Little patient thing nowadays, isn't he? You nudge him towards the girl, and fortunately, Pecker doesn't react too quickly, beyond a small fluttering of wings. It takes a few moments, but she slowly looks up. You swear her eyes widen a bit, and slowly her hands reach out. They're slow, calm...and she takes Pecker in her hands softly. You're confident he can get out of her grasp, but he seems perfectly fine as she seems to pet him slowly, eyes a bit brighter than they had been before as Pecker twists a bit here and there to get comfortable. You can see Izumi's face soften at the sight of it, practically glowing.

Turning away from the scene, you turn your attention to the scan.

(cont.)

>>5138902
It takes a couple more minutes, but eventually it beeps and finishes.

>Organism Identified: Symbiotic Lifeform (Human/Other)
>Female, Estimated Age: 10 Years Standard (Human-based)
>Mana Traces Detected
>Low Blood Pressure
>Muscular Atrophy Detected (Age 10 Human Average)
>Notice: Mental Synaptic Response Lower Than Human Average (Age 10)
>Notice: Mana Circulation Low. Life-Sustaining Levels Only. Low-level Mana Infusion Suggested for circulatory improvement.
>Notice: Blood Pressure Low- Suggested Dietary Improvements
>Notice: Mana circulation currently sustaining musculature stability. Synthetic Muscle Surgery and/or Expert+ Level Physical Regeneration recommended to improve natural stability.

…Yikes. That’s a lot of problems. Nothing about a lack of vocal cords, at least, but…that’s hardly the worst issue. Nor the most interesting. “She’s got…issues.”

“Very much so,” comes a smooth voice over your shoulder- and you have to resist jumping. You nearly forgot Gartoum was there the whole time. “She’s rather the unfortunate soul. Still something in there, though. A spark that’s still sputtering. Quite the resilient one, if I may say.”

“The question is, how can we rekindle that spark?” Izumi asks, looking over as well. “There’s the note about mana infusion, but that’s imprecise and…well, it can be risky if she’s not used to it.” Yeah, you can attest to that. “Not to mention that the musculature thing is beyond my ability to heal…”

Probably yours, too. Even as what you can see, her emotions are...well, not a slate grey, as they were, but there's only the faintest tint of...pink? Orange? It's so faint you can barely sense it, but you get the feeling that she's at least the slightest bit happy, or entertained.

> “We’ll leave that whole problem for the techs later.”
> “We’re the only ones that know half of anything about mana. We might as well give it a shot.”
> Other.

>>5138906
> "Personally, I think a two pronged approach of magic and tech would be the best way to give her some of her previous Quality of Life. Like most things, attack the problem at either side, and it won't know which one to focus on first."

>>5138906
>> “We’re the only ones that know half of anything about mana. We might as well give it a shot.”
>Check if there's anything helpful in the Endomagic books we've scanned, Izumi should have copies on her Futuresight as well

>>5138906
Wait, hold on, I think I've misunderstood the choices. Ignore >>5138936 if I can't delete it.

> “We’re the only ones that know half of anything about mana. We might as well give it a shot.”
> "We should probably wait to try it someplace safe, though."

>>5138968
Oh, and ask Izumi if she keeps earplugs on her, or perhaps her gun range hearing protection for the kid, in case of any fights.

File: endomagic.jpg (115 KB, 1564x292)

115 KB JPG

>>5138906
>>5138968
Adding this
>Give the girl our Mana Condenser, it has better ambient mana absorption and capabilities than Izumi's and might help her mana circulation
>’Lorenzo’s Own’ Extreme Mana Condenser- 7 Motes (Large): Lorenzo’s done his best to develop a condenser that can take in even the smallest amounts of mana and compress and store it to reasonable levels. It's only decently fast, can’t store as much as a couple others, but it does something few others do- it can convert mana to a form similar to your own, allowing you to utilize it more naturally. Can store up to 1500 extra mana.
Even if there's nothing helpful in Endomagic books then at least we can at some new technique ideas with low manacost - this world's mana regen is pretty low

>>5138968
>>5139056
uhhh, meant to link my own post>>5138944

>>5138906
>>5139056
>>5138968
We're fast, aren't we? These one boss.

BUT give her Izumi's condenser instead I think. We just unloaded a bit and would like some mana aid. Izumi's still full.

>>5139100
Nah, we have mana crystals and Izumi could lend us hers as well. Plus there's seither crystals.

>>5139128
>>5138906
So should we use some right now? I remember that crystals take some time to "digest".

>>5139145
>>5138906
There's nothing urgent happening right now, so might as well use them now

>>5139056
*at least we can look at new technique ideas

>>5138906
Pop some crystals until we're full again.

Run starting in an hour.

>>5138906
>>5138968
>>5139056
>>5139100
You sigh. Sometimes, the things you did for this girl. Well, no, that was relatively recent. Bah, you’ll give it a bit more time before you start complaining. “We’re the only ones that know half of anything about mana. We might as well give it a shot.”

“Uhhh, not in my car you’re not!” Zipper quickly shoots back.

But fortunately, you had no intention of that. “Duh,” you snipe back. "We should probably wait to try it someplace safe. Or safe-ish, at the least. In the meantime, though…” You take out a quartet of crystals- that should help out a bit. “Izumi, mind letting her borrow your condenser? Might help out a bit. Help her feel a bit better, if nothing else.”

“Oh! Well, perhaps, yes…I don’t think it’s full quite yet,” she mutters as she gets it out. The child seems entirely enamored with Pecker, at least. “But it should help, regardless.”

“Yeah. I need to recharge a bit, too,” you admit. “Won’t be much else to do for a while, so might as well. Maybe look through Endomagic stuff, too. You still have the data around, right?” She nods. “Great. Well, let’s hope this all does something…”

“Just let me know before you start experimenting on a child in the backseat so I can kick you out, huh?” Zipper gripes as you continue on.

>Roll 3d100, best of three. Research, Kid, and Travel in that order.

Rolled 27, 67, 37 = 131 (3d100)

>>5142677
Here goes.

Rolled 20, 33, 44 = 97 (3d100)

>>5142677

Rolled 19, 80, 42 = 141 (3d100)

>>5142677
Please don't be mediocre.

>>5142690
What the hell.
Well at least it's not in a combat scenario.

Well.

Kid's happy enough at least.

Writing.

>>5142694
At least we can use the delay to talk to Zipper about Torbo Gran, after a bit of small talk and bandying about.

>>5142695
Those extra water should give us enough boost to get to the town right?

>>5142677
>>5142684
>>5142685
>>5142690
You’re honestly a bit frustrated. Not because of the results, perse, but just it feels like you’re spinning your wheels, metaphorically. The wheels on the car itself are just fine, and according to Zipper, things are looking good for until you all hit Fremont. You apparently can ride past Raylight entirely with this stockpile, which is great for your time frame. No, what you’re annoyed with it how the research is going. Namely, nothing that seems to be long terms is rearing its head.

Sure, there’s small things that could help with thought processes and whatnot- but the problem with that is that it’s both temporary, and the costs on the end of anything that could be used would likely pull her far too close to death proper to really be considered for use. It’s not something you’re too worried about right now, but it’s still something to consider, for Izumi’s sake if no one else’s.

Not that the kid herself seems like she’s concerned- in fact, she seems a bit more energetic than before; after an hour’s travel, though she was at first rather non-reactive to getting the condenser placed on her, she absolutely seems more energetic, actively moving her arms and chasing down a flittering Pecker (who occasionally squirms out of her grasp for whatever reason) with something almost resembling actual speed for a kid- though it seems to take her a moment or two to register that he landed and could be caught again.

It’s at least making Izumi smile in between flipping through FutureSight pages, here being an endless book of sorts. Maybe.

“Whoa! Heads up,” Zipper says suddenly. “We got folks on the street up ahead- and they don’t look friendly.”

“How unfriendly?” Izumi asks. Just then, you hear the familiar sounds of gunfire. You look out the windshield to see the town of Raylight in the distance, and before that, a group of about a dozen people- and a couple of old cars, seems like, opposite another group clearly surrounded. And with them…

“I’m seeing some rifles, shotties, pistols. Big guys with knives, pipes. Gang warfare, looks like!” she quips. “Of all the times…!”

Huh. Well, you could probably just blow through ‘em and be done with it, when-

*ping* “WHOA!” you all duck as stray bullets ping off the car. “Aw, FUCK! If any of those shots hits too deep we’re dead in the water!”

Fantastic, and you’re still on approach.

>Action!

>>5142809
We can use Demon's Roar to sweep this encounter (might be the first time we use this?)

Or do we try to be more diplomatic instead?

File: if you can't reach with words.jpg (239 KB, 844x840)

239 KB JPG

>>5142809
>Cast Light Barrier to protect the car and be ready to shoot fireworks if they decide to focus on us - Izumi will be the one returning fire.

>>5142809
Stop the car, set up a barrier and the turret, and figure out who looks like they started this clusterfuck and who shot at us.

>>5142828
>who shot at us
these are stray bullets, says so right in the post

You guys sure you don't wanna give the roar a go? It will stun/knock out the majority of them, as well as deflect any stray shots that may get close to us.
And c'mon, it doesn't even have mana cost specified because we've never used it before.

>>5142825
>>5142809
in case if it wasn't clear - I suggest we barrel through this. during the shadow war mission Miranda was able to manipulate two barriers to cover the Prince and the rabbitkin cannon during driders' night ambush.
actually, cast two barriers just like we did back then

>>5142832
>>5142832
Oh. Well, alright then.

Might as well add in spending a teensy bit of mana to use our gauntlets on the car, just to top off its health.

>>5142840
I'm not sure we're in range or if it will just switch all their aggro on us. Plus it could alert even more folks. Doesn't look like they've noticed us yet, we can bulldoze through them with barriers.

>>5142851
I dunno, we've already spent a chunk and now we have to pay 2000 more mana?

Will lock in 10 minutes.

>>5142855
>>5138906
we were supposed to refill our manapool with crystals, no?
>>5139352
>>5139145
>>5139168

>>5142855
Screw it, voting to use the roar thing. While the thugs are down we can just charge through, way cleaner than player defensive.

>>5142878
was suggesting to bulldoze through, there's no point in stopping the car

>>5142878
>>5142840
Wait, what about the kid and her noise sensitivity?

And whatever happened to giving her ear protection?

>>5142888
That'll be brought up in the next post. Don't worry, I didn't forget about it.

>>5142888
>>5142893
... we can stuff her head into the bag.
That works right? Since her ears will be in another dimension then.

>>5142840
>And c'mon, it doesn't even have mana cost specified because we've never used it before.
It was used during Izumi thread and no info about manacost was given back then either. Kind of annoying that we don't know the manacost of Izumi's techniques five years into the quest.

Writing, at any rate. Roar.

>>5142901
isn't it 50/50?

>>5142901
Uuuuh boss, I'm glad that my suggestion's winning but isn't this 50/50? Do you need to roll for this one?

Rolled 1 (1d2)

Oh, you're right. I misread one of the posts and thought they'd changed their mind, they didn't.

Right, then. Let's see.

I'll roll.

1- Barrier
2- Roaring.

>>5142904
>>5142903
It would be, but my idea for the barrier was to protect the car while we got out and fought the gang with the cars, while >>5142825 >>5142841 talks about using them while driving away. So roar wins anyways.

>>5142912
>>5142917
If you're still here.

By the way, I believe Izumi's mana costs in the sheet should be updated. It's past time for us to go over it again.

>>5142917
...why the fuck would we stop the car?

>>5142921
Looting the bodies. Not like it matters now.

>>5142919
Not incorrect. Let me finish this post and that'll happen.

>>5142923
maybe their cars could be looted but the gangsters themselves are not worth our time - the world had no magic for a long time and the world's tech level is centuries behind our stuff. loot shouldn't be of high priority in this mission.

>>5142929
I'm one of those guys who loves to read the item descriptions in Dark Souls games, and we're in a world that's probably full of unique trinkets, books, and weapons, given that it's a mix between that and Left 4 Dead. Again, it doesn't matter now, unless we get chased.

File: Al Fabet.png (1.46 MB, 1167x1279)

1.46 MB PNG

>>5142936
weird way to say 'I'm a loot goblin' but okay

>>5142965
I mean you're not wrong, but I'd like to pretend that I'm slightly better than a hoarder. Used to write item descriptions for possible loot rewards in Audit Quest, back when Larro was still running it.

>>5142809
>>5142912
>Curren Mana: 9,245 (Again)

You’re in no mind to slow down for this assholes, and you’re not looking to cause any more damage to this place. “Izumi! You got earplugs?” Fortunately, Izumi has something you haven’t seen in a while that oughta be just the ticket for a situation like this.

“Yes! Why?” She shouts, and you hear a whimper suddenly, and for a half-second you pause.

Damnit, the kid’s sensitive, right. “Kid won’t want to hear this!” Time for an audible, then. You’ve got a good enough idea for a plan B. Gonna be a lot more immediately bloody, though…

“What are we doing?!” Zipper says, head low but still managing to keep up high enough to see. You kinda wonder if she didn’t have a helmet or something…

“Go FASTER!” you say as you focus, and with a spread of your hands, a bright green barrier erupts in front of you.

“Oooooh!” You can HEAR the grin from the front seat as you double check that Izumi has the earplugs in- she does, and she’s hugging the kid close. Good.

Metal on metal tends to be loud and unpleasant if you’re not used to it.

It’s not much longer before the bullets start hitting harder and faster as both sides clearly realize that you’re barreling towards them and not stopping- the bright green wall headed towards them is probably a real quick indicator of what’s coming, too.

Only seconds more, before you can hear shouts, and moments after that is a blur of water, gas, oil, metal, and blood as you demolish the inadvertent road barrier in your way, metal and viscera and liquid splashing off the light barrier. There’s rumblings as you clear the immediate scene, and then, almost quicker than you happened upon it, silence, as the road is clear up ahead.

You let out a sigh, as does everyone else in the car- save for the kid, who lets out a small squeal. Whether it’s of concern, relief, worry, whatever, you can’t say for sure. But…well, it’s a sound, at least.

There’s a few moments of mental recuperation, before it’s realized; you’ll be approaching Raylight in minutes. “...right, then. Now that that’s been handled. Anyone need to make a pit stop? Raylight’s coming up, and while we ain’t gonna need fuel, thank goodness, if anyone needs anything else, now’s the time. I dunno if the place has been ruined or what, though, so we can just kinda run straight through. Up to you, I can still go for a while and we all still got rations, right?”

(cont.)

>>5142973
“I think we’re good,” Izumi says, looking at you. “Aren’t we?”

“Yeah, we’re good.” You agree.

Blessedly, Raylight is entirely boring, from what little you see. It’s a village with a few streets to it, you can see at least, but you never so much as leave the main street- though you see a number of Wracked, hear a few groans and yells of might-be-humans-might-not, and something that sounds like a VERY big bird cawing.

Fortunately, you don’t mess with it, moving on through. The kid doesn’t even bother lifting her head from Pecker and the horse, making small ‘Aaaa’ sounds as she seems to rediscover her voice a bit.

“Alllright- gonna be a bit of a trip before we hit Fremont. Lemme know if you need to get out to stretch or somethin’,” Zipper says idly.

You sigh. Road trips can be dull sometimes for exactly this reason. A lot of nothing happening.

>Anything to ask anyone?
>You’re just going to go back to seeing about the kid.
>Other

>>5142974
If we want to get some training rolls in, I believe now is the time.

>>5142974
>Anything to ask anyone?
Talk to Zipper, see if we can get her to spill a bit about Gran. After that and some training, (gonna suggest learning how to muffle noises again), check in with the kid.

>>5142974
>Ask to take a look at the map
>Talk Zipper, ask her what she can do aside from driving and shooting - she's gotta have something to brag about to be assigned to B-A rank mission despite being only a C rank courier
>Try to repair the damage on our car with our Gauntlets if possible
>>5142976
I had some training ideas...but all I can remember now is trying to figure out how to cast something like flashlight/floodlights - could be a useful cheap utility spell for both Izumi and Miranda. It wouldn't blind everyone around us like Sun's Flare.

>>5142974
>>5142985
>>5142992
Time for some girly gossiping.
I DON't think we need a muffle spell but unless anyone else has any better better ideas I'm voting for that. We're on low profile so no blasting spells.
And set up the turret + munch on crystals again. We're on day 1 and we've already pissed away 3000+ mana, yikes.

>>5142974
>>5143003
Alright, crystals and turret.

I think we've past the 10-minute mark by now, thus the Gauntlets are no longer effective.

>>5142974
>>5143003
>>5142992
>>5142976
Well, there's an Endomagic spell called Eel's Grace >>5139056 that the exotic dancers used back when we met a catgirl during the last mission. Could make people more flexible and let us get away with ridiculous dodges, but I'm not sure how helpful that would actually be. But I could switch my suggestion to that.

>>5142974
>>5142992
And yeah, munch on some crystals (Again)
>>5143008
Well, it doesn't explicitly say so - figure it's worth a try.

File: 1554097938279.gif (1014 KB, 500x375)

1014 KB GIF

>>5143009
https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/HtH_Evade
https://stygiansoftware.com/wiki/index.php?title=Uncanny_Dodge

>>5142974
>>5142992
>>5143003
>>5143008
Well, first thing’s first…it hasn’t been too long, you don’t think. “Brace for a bit, I’ll see if I can’t do some mid-travel repairs.” You place your gauntleted hands on the door and focus.

“Wait, whaddya mean-” Zipper’s comment is stopped cold as there’s a few sounds of bumps and pops as the metal around you subtly warps and restores itself. “...whoa. How the heck can you pull THAT off?”

“Magically imbued gauntlets,” you answer. “Been VERY useful on more than one job.”

“Lucky. Usually I have to stop and do repairs myself. I was gonna later on before night came, but guess it’s a straight shot now!”

“Yeah, I noticed you doing that when we first met,” you mention as you glance at Izumi and the kid. They’re still doing fine- or rather, Izumi’s trying to focus the kid’s attention, at least. “I have to ask- is there anything else you can do aside from driving and shooting? I figure to be assigned something like this despite being a C-Rank, you have to have a trick up your sleeve, right?” It otherwise wouldn’t have made sense, at least to you.

She glances back, and you can just see the beginnings of a grin. “Welllllll, yeah. But honestly? Part of it is Outgoer politics. Y’know, trying to fluff the numbers and all. It happens. But I can pull a couple stunts most folks can’t. Even the super powered ones.” Okay, she’s got your interest now. “First thing is, do you know what ‘aimbots’ are?”

“...yeah?”

“That’s me. If I can see it, I can hit it. End sentence.” Yeah, she definitely has a grin on her face. “As long as it’s with a barrelled firearm, I just…hit whatever I aim at. Doesn’t matter how far away or the conditions. Never could figure out the trick to it, and for whatever reason it doesn’t work quite right with anything that doesn’t use bullets, but I just know if I am at something, I hit it. Even if there’s supposedly something in the way.”

That…seems impressive. To say the least. “So, like trick shots galore?”

“Nope! Well, I can, but it’s like fighting a tugging in my brain. I literally mean ‘I am at thing, I pull trigger, I hit thing.’ If there’s a wall inbetween, no it isn’t. Bullet just passes through it. I hit what I want to hit and nothing else.”

“My word. That’s incredibly impressive,” Izumi says. “I’d love to have an ability like that. But what do you mean ‘it doesn’t work quite right with anything not bullets?’ ”

“Eh, just that that last bit doesn’t come into play,” she explains. “So like, if I had a crossbow, I still just…aim perfectly, but if something gets inbetween, bolt gets stopped. Same for something like a missile or energy weapon. Darndest thing. Bullets of any caliber seem to work, though. Again, no clue why. I don’t think it’s a mental block…” she mulls.

You stop to consider the possibilities, before remembering: “Wait, what was the other thing? You said you had two tricks?”

(cont.)

>>5143076
You alright, Handler, or has the meds snuck up on you again?

>>5143076

(I thought I'd posted this since it was going to be the last for the night.)

“Yup. Trick number two is that I’m a…” she pauses. “What did they call it, again? ‘Localized reality-something something or other.’” Well, THAT sounded impressive. “Essentially if I believe something hard enough reality goes ‘well, I guess that’s true, otherwise she wouldn’t believe it so hard!’ and then it’s true.”

There’s a pause as you both digest that. Surprisingly, it’s Izumi that comes up first. “Wait, you’re a REALITY WARPER?!”

She flinches. “Eeeeh, I don’t really like that term- makes it seem more major than it is. When I said ‘localized, I mean like, suuuuper localized. And small. Like, I can’t make big changes, it’s really just to me and like, maybe a foot around me? Like, I can’t make the car go if it doesn’t have any gas. But I CAN make it go faster if I really want it to. I think. I’d have to focus on it. Honestly, I mostly wind up using it to make sure I don’t forget shit like my keys or that there’s more bullets in my gun than there might actually be, or something. Super small scale.”

…thinking about it, Mono can do something vaguely like that with her singing- though as far as you’re aware, it’s limited to influencing surroundings. "Right, then. Lemme see the map, if that's all." You've got a lot to worry about.

Wordlessly, she digs into a coat pocket and hands it to you. Right, then, let's see here. The straightest path has been outlined already.

First is Fremont...then a few miles from there, a town called Taxson. From there, there's actually a split, with two paths highlighted- one goes to a town called Jayville, and the other to one called Bird's Eye. Then they rejoin to Avion City. "Route's nothing too fancy, thank goodness," she says. Only thing is that split there. Both about the same distance away, so I'm not sure which to pick yet. Figure we'll figure that out later."

Hmm. "Fair enough," you decide. One step at a time, then.

When you enter into the city limits itself is clear- and very much shown by the military wall that blocks off the street. That is, the obviously abandoned wall.

The corpses of humans and Wracked surrounding the place tell the tale of what happened there; and it's a massive mess of abandoned trucks, jeeps, even some small tanks, torn apart, blown up, or ruined somehow. "Shit," Zipper says simply. "That's...yeah, that's not exactly drive-throughable. And I wouldn't recommend us trying to barrel through like before, unless we wanted ALL the Wracked on our asses. I doubt a city will have a main straight straight through and clear. She frowns as you pull up slower, stopping several yards away, where the quiet is at serious odds with the carnage here. "If we're gonna get this thing through here, we're gonna have to pound pavement, I think."

You can't disagree with that. Question is, who's going- and who's staying with the car and the kid?

>Just you.
>You and Izumi.
>You and Zipper.
>Other

>>5143156
>who's staying with the car and the kid?
>>Just you.
We have Gartoum and Pecker + turret.

>>5143165
For clarification, I shouldn't have added the -who's staying' bit, since that's probably implied by the 'who's going' part.

All you're voting for is who's going on foot.

>>5143166
oh...
well, then
>>You and Izumi.
>Leave Gartoum and Clockwork turret with the car.
We won't be moving that fast so the turret would have to be relocated from time to time - no biggie.

File: Reno_FT17_5.jpg (37 KB, 500x365)

37 KB JPG

>>5143156
>even some small tanks
Hmmm...
https://youtu.be/zjj13U-j0_g

>>5143156
>>5143168
This one.
We can lend Zipper one of our heavier guns also, she 's only using pistols.

Somehow the option to use crystals got skipped, so I'm voting for that again.

>>5143240
>>5143156
Yeah, Izumi can lend her one of her Clockwork Carbines. And we seriously need to refill.

>>5143156
>>5143240
+

Writing shortly.

>>5143240
You used the crystals a couple posts up. It's why your mana level didn't change after you used the barrier.

File: Party_Van.png (80 KB, 522x424)

80 KB PNG

>>5143198
I know I'm late to this, but we do need to bite the bullet on buying a minivan for the kids eventually and, well, maybe Mitzi's got a few leftover parts she can work with, so...

>>5143156
>>5143168
>>5143240
>>5143244
>>5143340
“Izumi?” you ask. “Let’s go. Let the kid with Zipper, she can keep an eye on her.”

“Wait, say wh…gah, nevermind,” she says as you pull out the Clockwork Turret. “Look, we’ll take this bit by bit. Find a way over or through, open the gates, and we’ll try to budge forwards as we can, okay?”

You nod, as does Izumi. She seems reluctant a bit, but she gently sets the kid down on the seat. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back, alright?”

To your honest surprise, the kid blinks, and then nods, if slowly, before looking back down at her horse and playing with it. That condenser is doing wonders for her. Pecker…probably should stay, but you’re taking him with, just in case there’s something interesting to see. “Alright, then we’re all set?”

Izumi nods, taking out a hand cannon pistol. “By all means.”

Right. “One more thing. Gartoum? Keep an eye on the car, help defend it.”

“Of course, of course,” he waves off. “Off with you, now!”

Bah.

You both head out the car, and start on the street towards the wall. It’s surprisingly large, really. “Not a good sign that this got overrun,” Izumi muttered. “Over there- there’s a doorway,” she says, pointing off to the left. “Let’s move.” Huh. A lot more focused than she was earlier, but you’re not complaining.

The door’s checked, then opened quickly- it leads to a small guard, temporary guard room, but with no one save for the upper remains of a poor watchman. Nothing that’d open the gates in here, either. “Well, I was hoping it’d be easy,” you mutter.

You both head through the opposite door, to witness what looks like a dead city. Corpses, Wracked, and various detritus lines the streets, clearly the sign of a city caught unprepared. You can see that there’s what looks to be a guard tower on the other side of the street; hastily made, but still standing. There’s also what seems to be a police building attached to it as well. Further back, just past the roadblock, there looks to be something along the lines of a military encampment, or some sort of setup on a street to the right.

Two more shambling wracked are dispatched before they can lunge for you, but that’s all. The worst thing is that you can see that it’s not much better far ahead- there’s a whole building half blown out, stone and various what looks like carpentry spilled all over the road ahead, some cars crashed into each other beyond that telling the tale there. To the left is a side street that’s mostly clear, but you can see a number of Wracked in the distance as well. They haven't noticed you...yet, at least.

>Head to the guard tower first.
>Head to the police building first.
>Check out the military encampment first.
>Split up. (how?)
>Other

>>5143797
>Head to the guard tower first.
Let's hear what the average man on the street has to say about the situation.

>>5143797
>Split up. (how?)
>>Head to the guard tower first. (Miranda)
>Head to the police building first.(Izumi)
https://youtu.be/Y9L0dt70ZX4
These two building are small and close enough

>>5143797
>>5143875
Voting for this.

Writing. Food's on the way, so.

>>5143797
>>5143818
>>5143875
>>5144032
“I’ll head to the guard tower,” you decide, your voice hollow as you prepare yourself. “You check out the police building nearby. There might be survivors, or better yet, a way to open the gate in one of these.”

“Fair enough,” you decide as she begins to make her way forwards.

You proceed to head for the tower- you’re not sure what’s on top- it’s an enclosed position with only some windows, but hopefully there’ll be something there that’ll either give you a clue or help.

The few Wracked nearby don’t seem to want to bother you- though you can hear the light ‘pop pop’ of a silenced handgun going off that tells you that Izumi’s not so welcomed. She can handle herself, though. For now, you begin climbing. It’s almost hazardous, the way this thing is shoddily built, you think. You have to toss a pair of Wracked off the structure to get them out of the way, and the sound seems to draw some heads, but nothing else. Up, up, up you go, higher than most of the buildings in the city, even. Granted, they’re mostly one or two story affairs, but still.

You open the door as your Murmur Stone- Hootstone, really need to remember that- lights up. “Made it in alright,” she says. “Station seems abandoned at first glance. No survivors. I’m going to sweep it anyway, see if I can’t find anything interesting here.”

“Roger that,” you confirm as you open the door. There’s…not much here. A dead guard, and a Wracked nearby that’s also long cold. The man is- was sitting at a desk that holds a walkie-talkie, a magazine, and a couple of guns. Some molded food. Not much else. No levers or switches or anything. You take a look outside, seeing Zipper and the others below, unmolested so far. Good. You begin to pace a bit to consider. So, then, where did they open the-

Whoa. You’re almost forced to pause as you look out the back window, towards the city that you now have a good view of. And through there, you can see…a number of patches of purple fog. You hadn't seen any yet, but this...this stuff is thick, clearly. Heavy, and roiling, almost like something alive. Not sky high, either. It’s low to the ground; very low, relatively. Above most of the buildings here, but they’re not even skyscraper height. The patches are dotted throughout, but the biggest patch is clearly straight ahead; a gentle incline, and a few streets down.

You huff. There goes the most direct way through, if the Doc’s warning about that fog was any serious. But then your stone goes off once more.

“Me again,” she says. “Think I might’ve found something. There’s a room in here facing the wall and it’s got an industrial level in it…as well as a lot of dead bodies. Thinking they wanted this to hold for a good reason. I’m going to pull it, so let me know when ready. Might make a lot of noise.”

>Go for it.
>Wait… (what)?
>Other

>>5144143
>Call Gartoum via the ring so he can warn Zipper about the level, inform her of the fog
>Grab the walkie-talkie and magazine
>Go for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxUafBT7e7o&list=PLm4o9z6fBVbZUzTdN9LrhR27khSWr6fmd&index=25&ab_channel=EdgeCrusher420

>>5144143
>>5144167
Supporting.

>>5144143
>First, check for any smells or sounds around that might come from someone living, maybe grab that walkie-talkie and check for any signals (grab the magazine, too, in case it has any interesting info or lore, and any ammo laying around). Then look for where any doorways the Wracked might enter in from, then set mines at those locations. Then pull the lever.

File: file.png (476 KB, 800x433)

476 KB PNG

>>5144143
>>5144167
>>5144184
We need to a chokepoint.

One of the most popular tactics for these kinds of situation is to establish a "kill tunnel" - they only have one way in and we only need to look at and shoot at one direction.

For example, if we chose a narrow alleyway as a defensive location, we can set up traps and other nastinesses (be it good ol' fire+gasoline or a Cone of Discord/Palm of Succor spam, etc.).

>>5144228
Oh, and a note of reminder to ask Zipper to boost our turret with her warping if she can (pretty sure she can).

>>5144228
We got to figure out a way to lower Light Trap's mana cost in training eventually. Maybe figure out how to combine it with Sticky Mana to make Sticky Traps, too.

>>5144228
>>5144184
>>5144167
>>5144143
a bit iffy about mines, not sure the gate would be that loud to justify using even louder explosives - this could alert half of the city instead of a block or two. but we can overwatch from the tower, our crossbow shout be relatively quiet
>Grab Golden Crossbow and regular bolts

>>5144247
Yeah, that spell is prohibitively expensive despite how inefficient it is: couldn't incapacitate the big beast from the very first thread, barely harmed moth summon during the summon job. Yet it costs 1000 mana. Absurd.

>>5144248
Well, checking the Technique section of the MGFH spreadsheet mentions that sticky mana can be used to create hazardous terrain. Could try that instead.

>>5144266
>>5144143
That sounds reasonable

>>5144248
>>5144143
>>5144266
I think I can go for a hallway of Rapier-boosted sticky mana.

I don't think we should do overwatch duties, Miranda's the best on the front line. IF we do, we should create as much distraction as possible to divert attention from the car so they can break through. We can leap and catch up in no time.

>>5144143
In addition to the messy bits everyone's suggesting, get the car team to do this>>5144228

>>5144280
I think we can do a good enough job with the crossbow, Gartoum is already on the 'frontline'. Izumi would also join in after pulling the level, we don't need 3 frontliners. Someone has to stay on spotting duty.

>>5144297
>>5144280
>>5144143
Someone has to stay up in the tower and oversee this from a vantage point. Having Miranda and Izumi switch places could take too much time, we're good enough of a shot to provide support from above and we have gear to communicate and coordinate with Gartoum and Izumi.

>>5144297
>>5144143
Fine, if you want to do it that way.
But no crossbows, I'm voting to go for blasting spells with good area. The bolts don't have enough oophm for a horde, esp since we're on high ground so they can't penetrate through multiplie wrackeds.

>>5144319
I don't think there would be thatbig of a hordecoming this way, the place is scaresly populated. We won't be the only one shooting, so crossbow is enough imo.

>>5144328
>not expecting the worst in a horde scenario
Next thing you guys know, there will be multiple big ones like the guy we did in earlier.

>>5144338
If that's the case, we probably should keep the crossbow to use the faemetal bolts on the big magical ones.

>>5144338
1)We're perfectly capable of dispatching them
2)IMO multiple big ones would come only if we decide to start making loud explosions that could be heard across the city

And back. So, to confirm?

Aside from the other stuff, we want to spray the street with Stick Mana as best we can and use our crossbow against the incoming horde? Or just try to hole up somewhere else?

File: wombo combo.png (57 KB, 1551x396)

57 KB PNG

>>5144338
You're talking as if the guys we're covering won't be able to defend themselves
>Spirit Slash
>An energy slice Izumi creates by slicing the air with her sword. The energy is concentrated to a thin point, allowing for a razor-sharp cutting effect that can slice through buildings at a full charge. While Miranda already had a version of the Magi-wave technique when they met, seeing Izumi's version inspired her to refine it.
https://youtu.be/xDFl8O23TpY?t=43
We can swap places with Izumi after the car is past the gates and do the same thing with Rapier + Magi-wave or Low Quickening + Magi-cutter combos
>>5144363
the former

>>5144363
I'll go with sticky streets and crossbow. Inform Izumi about the plan, and leave a raised section clear of mana, in case she needs to move onto the streets to reposition.

>>5144363
>>5144385
This. Get the car team to move to a suitable choke point, plenty of those around in a city.

>>5144389
But I'm also voting to use sterner stuffs instead, there are already loud noises coming from the others so adding more won't hurt much.

Alrighty, writing. Prep dice.

>>5144143
“Hold for a moment,” you say to her, and then lift your ring. “Gartoum, you there?”

“Always!” Right.

“Let Zipper know that we probably found a level to open the gate. It’s probably gonna be loud, though, so be ready for a bunch of…interest. And maybe get those earplugs back in the kid. And what’s more, don’t try to charge straight ahead. There’s a bit of an incline, and what’s more, some of that nasty fog that the doctor warned us about. We’re going to need to take it slow and careful so that we don’t run into any patches.”

“Oooh, dear. That doesn’t sound great,” he opines. “I’ll let her know properly, then.”

“Great,” you say. Looking back at it, you take the walkie-talking, just in case, as well as the magazine. It’s not a bikini mag, at least. Looks like a general sorta ‘vacation spots’ thing. Probably pipe dreaming. With those stowed, you get out your crossbow. Should be quiet enough to prevent too much more extra noise. Now then…

“Miranda?” Izumi says wonderingly. “Still waiting.”

“Hope on, I’m gonna trap the street here for a minute,” you say as you hop out and take a leap to the ground. You take a breath, and spread your arms to let fly globules of mana for a road-sized tarpit. You’re sure to allow a decent strip untouched- you want the car to be able to move through it, after all, and possibly be able to reposition to support. “Gartoum, me again. I’m trapping a large section of the road.”

“Yes, I can hear it a bit,” he says. You’re not sure what that’s supposed to mean. “So, we need to be careful, as you just said.”

“Yeah. Be ready in case we need backup.” With that, you cease the communication with him as you finish up. It’s taken a bit out of you, so much sticky mana, but it’ll be worth it.

>Current Mana: 10,000

Looking over your work, you nod to yourself. “Alright. Izumi?”

“Still here. On your mark.” Okay. Here we go.

“Go for it.” With that, there’s the faint sound of a rusty level being pulled.

And a MASSIVE screeching from behind you erupts from the walls as gears that clearly haven’t moved in a while are forced into motion, and the gate slowly, slowly begins to split apart. You STRONGLY doubt it took this long normally, but you don’t have much time to complain- especially as howls and screeches very much not mechanical in nature sound out from range. You hop to a balcony for a bit of extra elevation, and it’s not much longer before the first mass of Wracked begins showing up, hordes from down the street and around the corner stumbling and tumbling and rushing towards the sound.

>Roll 1d100+15, best of three.

Rolled 88 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>5144498

Rolled 75 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>5144498

File: file.png (152 KB, 525x327)

152 KB PNG

>>5144505
We gud.

Rolled 90 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>5144498

>>5144513
Lmao
Ok speaking of vacation spots, are there any in the city?>>5144498

Not to be rude but I think using the word level instead of lever is a typo

>>5144498
>Looks like a general sorta ‘vacation spots’ thing.
If it has no useful information then it at least could serve as a picture book for the kid.

>>5144516
Has this world even developed the bikini yet? I’m expecting their equivalent to be full of models showing off their uncovered ankles.

File: swimsuit evolution.jpg (82 KB, 800x517)

82 KB JPG

>>5145151
to be frank I'm more surprised by existence of radio, even more so of something so light and compact as walkie-talkie
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-54 - ww1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCR-536 - ww2

>>5144498
>>5144505
>>5144508
>>5144511
Frankly, you’ve shot much more durable and harder to hit foes; they come in a low wave- not teeming hordes, but they’re enough that you make sure to not slip up in your aiming; you don’t have a ton of crossbow bolts, but what they do well is overpenetration- you can see more than one of them slicing through Wracked easily, felling two and three at a time as the gate slowly drags itself open. Izumi is clearly seeing no problems as well, shots ringing that tell you she’s got a second pistol out and is doubling up on bullet output.

The sticky mana is doing an excellent job as well- most of them don’t even notice the stuff, often lurching forwards when in it and ending up face down and nearly entirely engulfed. It soon starts to resemble a very morbid flypaper of sorts, but still makes it all the easier to finish off the undead creatures.

To your surprise, as the gap in the wall begins to widen, a heavy report of bullets starts up- it’s quick to see that it’s the combination of the automated turret, affixed to the front of the vehicle, and Zipper’s own automatic pistol firing as she leans out the window to take potshots. You actually take the opportunity to observe her a bit closer, curious about her skill…and it’s hard to describe.

Following a bullet is on the high end of skill even for you, but you SWEAR the bullets are almost homing, curving and shifting as needed to hit targets.

Mind, because of the massive amounts of targets, you could just be imagining things or otherwise misreading them.

Regardless, it’s not long before the car is through- you can see the kid with her hands to her ears, regardless of the earplugs. That’s not gonna be great, but at the least it won’t last much longer- the horde wave is quickly receding.

(cont)