>Cyborg: A synthetic fusing of man and machine with the strengths of both, you are more resilient to the elements and can weather more damage as a result, but your systems are old and sluggish, meaning your movements and reactions tend to lag behind. Starting advantages: Can acquire Knowledge faster - Possesses increased Strength and Resilience - Does not require Food or Drink. Negatives: Slow and needs frequent recharge.

>Power User: You were one of those few who were gifted with unique abilities before or during the Invasion. You can manipulate the necessary energies of reality in order to mold and suit them towards your needs, or weaponize them to fight off threats. Your power usage has alao increased some aspects of your physical body, enhancing your durability and mobility. Outside of these though, you still sustain damage as a mostly normal human and must stop to heal and recover as needed. Starting advantages: Can manipulate Positive Energies as a weapon against threats and a problem solving tool - Has enhanced physical skills, increased Resilience and Mobility. Negatives: Suffers damage as a mostly normal human, Wounds can be debilitating - Low initial Knowledge - Needs Rest and enough food to function.

>System Administrator: You were a diffused artificial consciousness capable of interacting with the world through a number of discrete drones and duplicated bodies, maintaining systems over vast distances. Though most of your greater systems are offline and presumed totally destroyed and your effective range has massively diminished, you still possess great amounts of power and many bodies to work with in exploring the post-Invasion world. Starting advantages: Has a number of bodies and different shells capable of performing various tasks directed by a single Mind - Mind has no material needs beyond constant supplies of Energy to maintain active state - Damage to bodies does not constitute damage to Mind, bodies (if intact) may be recovered and repaired. Negatives: Mind requires Energy, without large amounts of Energy, Mind will enter dormancy, with further loss of power signifying total death - If a body is completely destroyed, construction of new bodies can take hours or days depending on available resources - If Mind is destroyed, all bodies are immediately destroyed along with it.

>>5174688
>Power User: You were one of those few who were gifted with unique abilities before or during the Invasion. You can manipulate the necessary energies of reality in order to mold and suit them towards your needs, or weaponize them to fight off threats. Your power usage has alao increased some aspects of your physical body, enhancing your durability and mobility. Outside of these though, you still sustain damage as a mostly normal human and must stop to heal and recover as needed. Starting advantages: Can manipulate Positive Energies as a weapon against threats and a problem solving tool - Has enhanced physical skills, increased Resilience and Mobility. Negatives: Suffers damage as a mostly normal human, Wounds can be debilitating - Low initial Knowledge - Needs Rest and enough food to function.

>>5174688
>Cyborg: A synthetic fusing of man and machine with the strengths of both, you are more resilient to the elements and can weather more damage as a result, but your systems are old and sluggish, meaning your movements and reactions tend to lag behind. Starting advantages: Can acquire Knowledge faster - Possesses increased Strength and Resilience - Does not require Food or Drink. Negatives: Slow and needs frequent recharge

The world has changed, so shall we

>>5174688
>>Power User:

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>>5174645

>Cyborg

>>5174688
>>Power User:

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>>5174692
>>5174984
>>5175055
>Power User
You are one of those individuals who were gifted with unique powers before or at some point during the onset of the Invasion. As the world was irreversibly changed, so too have you been made into something else. Something different from other people. Now, you can shape the very fundamental fabric of reality, the energies that define it and use them to defend yourself.

Unfortunately, this power is still relatively new to you and for all that you've managed to do with it, you've kept to using it sparingly. Mostly because those damn monsters seem to be able to track your usage of it like bloodhounds.

Nevertheless, it's your power and you'll just have to live with it. Now, how do you use it?

>Shaping: Drawing from both external and internal sources, you can pool Positive Energies together to form objects, tools or even weapons with enough concentration. Drains stamina and requires focus, but generated items can be dispelled to regain a little bit of lost energy. - Melee/Ranged (Depending on object formed)

>Purification: Through usage of Positive Energy, you can purify sources of low-level Negative Energy such as weaker monsters, by expelling the energy from your body in the form of a projectile. -Ranged

>Tuning: You can focus your will and intent to obscure yourself from the detection of enemies, making sneaking by or subverting them with a stealthy attack a casual affair. Drains stamina - Certain entities may be able to see through it. -Stealth

>Wave: You release a blast of pure invisible energy from your palm capable of destroying organic material it comes into contact with. Has a short effective range, necessitating an enemy being close in order to utilize efficiently. -Ranged/Melee

>>5175061
>>Wave:

>>5175061
>Wave: You release a blast of pure invisible energy from your palm capable of destroying organic material it comes into contact with. Has a short effective range, necessitating an enemy being close in order to utilize efficiently. -Ranged/Melee

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>>5175062
>>5175064
>Wave
Ah, your 'Wave', ever the trusty companion when you're in a pinch outside and you need to get something done quick. It's not the most effective weapon, given its incredibly short range that puts you st risk, but it does its job well.

Now, presently, you're sequestered in your little bunker underneath the street directly below the rotted wreck of a city up above. It's late in the evening - or at least you assume it is, given that it's perpetually dusk nowadays, and that means that going up top is probably going to be a risk if you try. You could either wait it out a bit or try your luck peeking up top for a shot at scavenging some stuff.

>Wait a bit. Pick around some stuff in your room
>Test out your powers. What else can it do?
>Peek up top. How bad can it really be?

>>5175085
>>>Wait a bit. Pick around some stuff in your room

>>5175085
>Wait a bit. Pick around some stuff in your room

>>5175085
>>Peek up top. How bad can it really be?

>>5175085
>>Wait a bit. Pick around some stuff in your room

>>5175085
>>Test out your powers. What else can it do?

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>>5175088
>>5175232
>>5175264
>Wait a bit. Pick around some stuff in your room
You decide to focus on stuff in the room itself, rather than go up for now. Mostly, youre looking through boxes of stored items and equipment.

Currently, you have:
>Food x5 (restores lost stamina and some health)
>Scrap x6 (can be used to repair broken devices or apply upgrades to your lodgings)
>1 Energy-Tracking Device (detects high energetic readings within a few meters of you)
>A map of the local area

As it stands, your food supply is running low, so you will need to go out into the city up above sooner or later in order to address this. Your Device has been sitting at 50% power for a while now, but should be more than usable if you wish to find points of interest

You have just enough Scrap that you could use it to build one (1) item of your choosing.

>Go out and scavenge something from the city
>Build something using scrap
>Take a peek outside for a bit using the Energy-Tracking Device

>>5175354
>>Take a peek outside for a bit using the Energy-Tracking Device

I'll leave voting open for another 3 hours or so.

>>5175354
>Take a peek outside for a bit using the Energy-Tracking Device

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>>5175696
>>5175737
>Take a peek outside for a bit using the Energy-Tracking Device
You pop open the hatch separating your bunker from the world above and climb through, taking the Device with you as you ascend up to the dusk-lit sky and stale air above.

Peeking your head up, you look around. No entities are in sight and merely the sway of creaking, ruined buildings and the occasional passing gust of wind breaks the still silence. Not even trees or insects are present in the vicinity of what you have come to name "The Dead City."

Raising your device in the air, you point it around a few times. After a few moments, you get a couple readings from three different directions.

>North: Low-energy readings. Low risk of entity presence
>West: High-energy readings. Potential entity presence, but high chance of useful salvage
>South: High-energy readings. High chance of entity presence and the presence of useful salvage

Assuming you're staying out, where do you want to go?

>>5175864
>>West: High-energy readings. Potential entity presence, but high chance of useful salvage
risk is good

>>5175864
>>West: High-energy readings. Potential entity presence, but high chance of useful salvage

>>5175864
>South: High-energy readings. High chance of entity presence and the presence of useful salvage
Who dares wins

>>5175864
>West: High-energy readings. Potential entity presence, but high chance of useful salvage

>>5175867
>>5175888
>>5175970
>West: High-energy readings. Potential entity presence, but high chance of useful salvage
You head West, in the direction of the higher energy reading. Stepping past chunks of broken, scorched or dusted earth, you make your way past sunken buildings and desolate winding roads.

The Device beeps repeatedly as you creep closer to your quarry, then suddenly, it stops. You freeze up, as a shuffling scraping noise sounds amongst the cold unfeeling city. You duck low behind a chunk of debris as it grows closer.

Stepping out from behind the shadow of a large building, a twisted creature emerges. Despite looking humanoid, the face of its head has been brutally peeled back to reveal rippling red muscle and grotesque horse-like teeth extending from an equally pronounced muzzle. A secondary face sits embedded in its forehead, and both skulls lack eyes. The flesh of its jaws extends into twin pincer-like formations, ending in a grotesque fetus-like shape hanging from inbetween them.

The demon shuffles forward some more, oddly silent and you see the large bony protrusion ending in a gleaming tipped edge making up its left arm that it drags along the ground as it moves. Your device beeps silently, informing you of the large energy reading from the creature as well as a smaller more concentrated one behind it.

What do you do?
>Try to sneak past it
>Make a run for it
>Fight it
>Just leave, it's not worth the risk

>>5176128
>>Try to sneak past it

>>5176128
>Try to sneak past it

Closing vote in an hour.

>>5176128
>Try to sneak past it

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>>5176151
>>5176192
>>5176218
Trying to sneak past it wins. Roll a 1d100, against a DC of 40.

Rolled 34 (1d100)

>>5176253

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>5176253

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>5176253
sorry thought it was a singular 1d100 if you needed another roll

>>5176394
PRAISE BE

>>5176399
It's fine. I'll usually take 3 or 4 rolls, as a rule though.

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>>5176278
>>5176394
>>5176399
You creep slowly between the chunks of the debris, trailing along as the thing shuffles about. Without eyes, you're pretty certain it's either relying on hearing or sensing large amounts of Energy. Or both.

You keep crawling forward, briefly stopping once when it passes dangerously close by, the flesh of its face rippling all the while as the scraping sound of its bladed appendage impacting the rough earth catches almost too close to your position. Then it shifts and starts turning down the other way, creeping by until it slinks past the shadow of another building and out of sight. You still hear the scraping, but it's getting farther and farther.

Moving quickly (but still quietly), you make your way over to the broken down hollow that might have once been a residential complex pre-Invasion and your eyes catch sight of a glint of metallic silver. Your Device starts beeping faster as you get closer.

Picking it up and giving it a once-over, it looks like a hard metallic sphere. Outside of a single line on the front dividing it into two, nothing seems to break the general uniformity of it. It almost looks totally unassuming, but the beeping of your device assures you of its highly energetic nature.

>Pocket the sphere and keep checking out the place.
>Pocket the sphere, but leave. It's dangerous enough as it is.
>Leave the sphere but scavenge what you can.

>>5176541
>Pocket the sphere, but leave. It's dangerous enough as it is.

>>5176541
>>Pocket the sphere and keep checking out the place.

>>5176541
>Pocket the sphere and keep checking out the place.

>>5176541
>Pocket the sphere and keep checking out the place.

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>>5176619
>>5176901
>>5176965
>Pocket the sphere and keep checking out the place.
You place the sphere into your backpocket to hold onto it. For now. You're not sure what it is, but something with Energy readings that high could probably come in useful. Worst comes to worst, you can break it down for scrap.

Moving past a broken down wall and further into thge interior of the complex, you find some stuff. Mostly junk, but also some scrap.

>Gained 2 Scrap

There doesn't seem to be much else of interest out here and you're not sure whether or not that entity you saw or others may return. You can keep checking things out as you wish but you could also head back to your bunker. You could also chance it and check out those readings you caught in the North and South.

>Keep searching this area.
>Head back to your bunker.
>Go to the North.
>Head to the South.

>>5177302
>>Keep searching this area.
MORE SCRAP

>>5177302
>Keep searching this area.

>>5177302
>Keep searching this area.

>>5177304
>>5177369
>>5177482
>Keep searching this area.
You pick around the interior of the complex. Most of the rooms are as you'd expect; sunken in, covered in layers of dust, grime and some stuff you don't even want to think about. Long-dried splotches cover most of the walls, leftovers from whatever people were in here and got consumed by various entities. Too young to be from the Invasion period.

You keep checking around and picking through layers of dirt and garbage, getting some more Scrap for your troubles and a couple cans of unopened tinned food.

>Gained 3 Scrap
>Gained 4 Food

One room in particular though catches your attention, and as you duck under the partially collapsed doorway, you see why. Research papers and notes are scattered all over the ground, documents that have become yellowed and near brittke-to-the-touch with age, but documents all the same. You pick up the first one that catches your eye.

>VELES PROJECT

You skim the rest of the paper, but most of the writing has faded. Similarly, you find that the rest are in an equally-worn condition. Nevertheless, you gather up as many of the least damaged ones as you can.

>Gained Research Documents

Just as you finish packing them away however, you hear a clicking noise, from outside the room. It happens again, a soft tapping against stone.

Despite the distance separating you, you're certain it's heading this way.

>Book it, as fast as you can.
>Wait and pray that it passes you by.
>Stay and fight it.
>Try to do something using your Energy manipulation.

>>5177584
>>Book it, as fast as you can.

>>5177584
>Book it, as fast as you can.

>>5177584
>Book it, as fast as you can.

>>5177584
>Book it, as fast as you can.
oh nononononono

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>>5177587
>>5177594
>>5177608
>>5177612
Booking it, it is. Roll a 1d100. DC of 50

Rolled 24 (1d100)

>>5177624

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>5177624

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>5177624

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>5177624

>>5176253
>>5176541
>>5177624
Those images are soo good.

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>5177624

>>5177672
BRO

>>5177686
Listen, it's harder than it looks.

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>>5177689
its okay man

>>5177629
>>5177646
>>5177647
>>5177663
>>5177672
I won't count the 1, since it came well after the others, but these rolls are entertaining.

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>>5177629
>>5177646
>>5177647
>>5177663
You book it. Beating feet out of the room as fast as you can, and ducking under loose bits of rebar and concrete, you speed back down the way you came. The clicking-tapping noise gets louder and louder and you feel the intense burning presence of something large tailing right behind you. The Device you brought with you starts rapidly and incessantly beeping, the high energy readings of the thing chasing you driving it nuts.

You keep running, pushing yourself forward with your scavenged goods, but for whatever reason it doesn't look lime you're making any progress. You can *see* the exit, and the dim dusk-lit glow of the outside, but no matter how fast you run, you just can't reach it. The clicking increases. Your heartbeat roars in your ears.

Just as you're about to push yourself even further, reaching down deep for anything inside that could help you, something whizzes from way behind you and you shout in pain as something tears a groove across your back.

Toppling forward, you fall out into the open daylight, quickly scrabbling out of the shadow of the fallen industrial building. Quickly turning your head around, you catch the barest glimpse of your pursuer.

A huge shadowed face stares back at you, from the hole leading into the darkened building. It smiles a faint smile, then retreats into the darkness.

You are left breathing heavy on the dirt, a large wound cut across your back, slowly seeping your blood across the sand.

>Get up and try to limp your way back to your bunker.
>Find some place to hide and rest for now.
>Try and see if you can staunch the bleeding in some way.

>>5177705
>>Try and see if you can staunch the bleeding in some way.
I bet they can smell blood

>>5177705
>>Get up and try to limp your way back to your bunker.

>>5177705
>Get up and try to limp your way back to your bunker.

>>5177705
>Get up and try to limp your way back to your bunker.

>>5177705
>>Try and see if you can staunch the bleeding in some way.

>>5177705
>Try and see if you can staunch the bleeding in some way.

>>5177705
>Get up and try to limp your way back to your bunker.

A friendly reminder that using our power attracts the monsters.

>>5177713
>>5177714
>>5177720
>>5178187
>Get up and try to limp your way back to your bunker.
It takes a lot of struggling and a lot of doing, but you manage to force your body into getting up out of the sand and dirt and limping it's way towards home.

You know full well what happens to the injured and wounded out here. These entities don't seem to play nice, even with their own kind mostvof the time. And you're a massive target in the state you're in, in an area you already know is infested.

It takes two hours - or at least you assume it to be two hours, and every step is pain as you try to cover up your oozing back wound, but eventually you mnake your way back to your bunker without further incident. Some splotches of blood drip onto the pavement as you approach, and you try to cover them up to better mask your presence, but so long as you don't open the bunker while there's an entity or multiple waiting outside, you should be fine.

You slide into the bunker and shut the sealed door behind you. You slump against it afterwards, like a puppet with its strings cut and blood drips down your back. You might want to get that fixed.

>Try and staunch the flow of the bleeding.
>Just go and rest.
>Go eat some food.
>Examine the weird sphere you pocketed.

Current Status: Bleeding

>>5178509

>Try and staunch the flow of the bleeding.

>>5178509
>Try and staunch the flow of the bleeding.
Getting hurts by those things doesn't work like a zombie bite, right?

You should reply to all voters, not just the winners.

>>5178509
>Try and staunch the flow of the bleeding.

>>5178509
>>Try and staunch the flow of the bleeding.

>>5178509
>Try and staunch the flow of the bleeding.

>>5178516
>Getting hurts by those things doesn't work like a zombie bite, right?
It depends on the entity. The one that you (narrowly) escaped from? Not in this case, but it could have left you something nasty had it wanted to. It did not want to.

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>>5178511
>>5178516
>>5178518
>>5178543
>>5178549
Roll me a 2d100. One to stop the flow of the bleeding, the other so you don't knock yourself from the pain and exhaustion. DC of 50 for the first one, and 60 for the second.

Rolled 98, 60 = 158 (2d100)

>>5178572

Rolled 34, 81 = 115 (2d100)

>>5178572

Rolled 39, 40 = 79 (2d100)

>>5178572

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>>5178574
>>5178576
>>5178585
After a period of tearing off a strip of cloth (from your much cleaner bedspread of various sheets and fibrous materials rather than your dirty, dust-covered and bloodsplattered clothing) and pressing and tying it against your back wound, you successfully manage to contain the bleeding.

You know from experience that your abilities as a Power User grant you an advanced rate of healing and make you immune to traditional infection, but it's presently unknown whether or not the entity that harmed you carried some malign supernatural contagion that it transferred to you. You'll just have to hope your healing factor is greater than whatever it did to you.

You're out of immediate danger at the moment. What do you do now?

>Just go and rest.
>Eat some food.
>Examine the weird sphere you pocketed.
>Practice with your powers.

Current Status: Wounded

>>5178745
>>Examine the weird sphere you pocketed.

>>5178745
>Examine the weird sphere you pocketed.

Will using powers in the bunker alert monsters nearby?

>>5178753
No, the majority aren't paying attention to you. Some lesser ones might pick up traces of *something* in the vicinity but unless you managed to do something REALLY loud (on the level of blowing your bunker wide open and blasting away the street above it), they wouldn't be able to tell where it's coming from nor would they really care.

>>5178745
>Examine the weird sphere you pocketed.

>>5178745
>>Examine the weird sphere you pocketed.

>>5178745
>>Just go and rest.

>>5178811
bro what the fuck

>>5178751
>>5178753
>>5178761
>>5178776
You pull out the weird metal sphere you picked up. In the better lighting, you can see that it's basically a round silver ball, the small line breaking its uniformity coming across as a marking for a container of some sort.

Pressing your fingers up against it, you feel the top of the sphere separated by the line 'pop', opening it up to revival a series of tiny knotted wires and internals. Near as you can tell, it's some sort of device or at least the remains of one.

Perhaps, with a little bit of Scrap and effort, you could fix it up?

>Use some Scrap and fix the small device.
>You can deal with it later, go get some rest.
>Pull out those research documents you managed to get from that place instead.
>Eat some food.

Current Status: Wounded

>>5179166
>Use some Scrap and fix the small device.

>>5179166
>Use some Scrap and fix the small device.

>>5179166
>Grab some food.
then
>Use some Scrap and fix the small device.

>>5174688
>Cyborg: A synthetic fusing of man and machine with the strengths of both, you are more resilient to the elements and can weather more damage as a result, but your systems are old and sluggish, meaning your movements and reactions tend to lag behind. Starting advantages: Can acquire Knowledge faster - Possesses increased Strength and Resilience - Does not require Food or Drink. Negatives: Slow and needs frequent recharge.

>>5179166
>>Use some Scrap and fix the small device.

>>5179272
bruh

>>5179166
>Use some Scrap and fix the small device

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>>5179172
>>5179212
>>5179217
>>5179343
>>5179412
Fixing the device using Scrap it is. Roll a 1d100, DC of 45.

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>5179909

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>5179909

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>5179909

>>5179914
>>5179949
>>5179952
It takes some doing, some reconfiguring and reassembly, the occasional removal of parts entirely but you manage to get the device to what you assume is a 'working' state.

Popping the pieces back together, you place it down on the ground next to your bedspread. It doesn't move or react, but a faint hint of blue light shines across the line dividing the two halves. You suppose that's as good as you're getting.

>Scrap remaining: 2

What do you do now?

>Turn in and go to sleep.
>Eat some food.
>Read those research documents you got.

>>5180211
>Eat some food.
>Sleep.

>>5180211
>Read those research documents you got.

>>5180211
>Eat some food.

>>5180211
>>Eat some food.
>Turn in and go to sleep.

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>>5180215
>>5180247
>>5180282
You get up and decide to snack on some food. Canned tomatoes and vegetables, some meat and fish and in but a moment, you start feeling much better after the ordeals of the day.

>Food remaining: 5

Finally having filled your stomach, you curl yourself up into a sleeping position and pull your spread of sheets and mats over yourself for warmth, head next to the tiny device you fixed just a while ago. The moment your head touches the ground, you feel yourself fading from this world into the embrace of sleep.

But as you sleep, you dream. A green haze falls over your subconscious, and you feel yourself pulled through into something else. 'Looking' around, you find yourself in the middle of the Dead City once more. Except this time, a green shroud covers everything around you. It shifts and shimmers, as if it is a living entity of its own.

In the middle o the street before you, looking entirely out of place in the long-dead ruins of civilization, a child stares at you. Her skin as green as the environment around you and her face expressionless, she watches you placidly, standing as though she is a fixture amidst the ruined buildings.

>Approach her.
>Try and see if there's anything else around.
>Turn and walk away from the strange child.
>Try and talk to her.

>>5180415
>>Try and see if there's anything else around.

>>5180415
>>Try and talk to her.

>>5180415
>Try and talk to her.

>>5180415
>Try and talk to her.

Try to talk to her

>>5180415
>Try and see if there's anything else around.

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>>5180418
>>5180436
>>5180445
>>5180466
>>5180499
>>5180695
She watches you as you approach. You ask her who she is. She does not respond, but a smile finally appears on her face and she turns and begins walking further into the green haze, as though beckoning you to follow her.

The air shimmers and ripples somewhat as she leaves, making her figure appear indistinct and hazy the further and further she gets from you.

>Follow after her.
>Turn and leave.
>Look around for anyone or anything else.

>>5180761
>>Follow after her.

>>5180761
>Follow after her.

>>5180761
>Follow after her.

>Follow after her

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>>5180931
>>5181034
>>5181050
>>5181181
You follow her, taking dark twisting pathways through the ruined alleys, with only the dense green fog and the shimmering of the little green girl to guide you.

Sometimes, she pauses, as though thinking of where to go next. But soon she's turning do an another corner and you find yourself struggling to keep up.

This keeps going for a while and in spite of your best efforts, you lose track of anything else. Everything beyond your goal fading away into the green shroud. All you find yourself caring about is the green child who draws you deeper and deeper into the city. Silent with the face of a young girl but enigmatic and inscrutable, the only human figure you've ever encountered in the desolate wasteland that's become of the world, dream or no dream.

It is when you think you've finally lost her that awareness of the rest your surroundings finally returns to you. And it is then that you see it. A building, mnassive and imposing, stretching high up past your vision and becoming lost in the green light above, towering over the rest of the Dead City like some demented monument.

The little girl stands in front of it. She smilkes at you, before turning and stepping into the open entryway, vanishing into its depths shortly after.

>Continue following her.
>Turn away and try to go back the way you came.
>Search the perimeterboif the building before anything else.

>>5181466
>Search the perimeter of the building before anything else.

>>5181466
>>Search the perimeterboif the building before anything else.

>>5181466
>Turn away and try to go back the way you came.
Not trusting some spooky ghost girl.

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>>5181493
>>5181498
>>5181501
Roll a 1d100 to see what you find. DC ??

Rolled 9 (1d100)

>>5181838

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>5181838

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>5181838

:(

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398 KB JPG

>>5181847
>>5181848
>>5181871
These rolls truly are something else. Something must seriously have it in for you.

>>5181847
>>5181848
>>5181871
You decide to not follow the spooky ghost girl into the building, a flash of awareness keeping you planted in place instead of entering the dark ominous structure. Instead, you patrol the perimeter of it, looking for anything that might let you peer inside without having to step into the building itself.

But no such luck. The building is tall and though its base is wide, you find that it's all just one uniform block of dark green stone, with the only entrance being found at the front of the structure. No windows, no doors, no exits, no lights. For all intents and purposes, it's an inescapable cage in every sense of the word.

You stop to press your hand against the building, leaning on it for support as your mind wars with itself over whether or not to stay out here or press on into the building in pursuit of the girl. But just as soon as you do, the feeling of something...wet, catches your attention.

Drawing your hand back, you find that it has been coated in a thick trail of viscous green mucus. You try to shaske it off, but to no avail as it adheres itself to your skin. Your head snaps back to look at the building, and you see now that it is coated in layers of the sludge, packed so closely and so densely together that you mistook its shape for simple dark brick.

A great gurgling sound echoes out all around you, a sound like a sigh crossed with the burping stinging feeling of decay and mold.

You run, speeding back down the streets you came. But the green haze grows thicker and thicker, the feeling like it's wrapping itself around your throat and choking you becoming more and more apparent. Around you, the other buildings ooze sickly green, coming apart entirely and sinking to the ground as the same oozing mucus that made up that dark building. It follows you, a tide of stinking goop that flows down the streets and runs off the sides of the melting buildings.

Eventually, your feet themselves becoming stuck when the ground beneath you loses cohesion and you trip and fall into the bubbling mess that it has now become. A putrid mess of filth and age-old detritus floods your mouth, nose, eyes. You're choking and you can't get out.

You try to struggle, try in vain to free yourself. But it's no use.

Eventually, you realize, that the green muck is running down your throat and through your body. Everything is rushing into you and you can only hear, feel, taste the endless fields of greengreengreengreengreengreengreengreen

>>5182409
You awake with a sudden jolt, your body spasming. You splutter and gasp, turning your head to cough and retch. A dream. It was just a dream...

So why did it feel then like you had just died?

>"Observation: User who recovered and repaired this unit has awoken."

You're about to sit up and get ready for the day's activities when you hear the voice. Turning your head, you see the tiny metal sphere youd picked up just the other day, bobbing side-to-side. Did it just...?

>"Analysis: Elevated heart-rate, increased movement of eyes, tension in muacles detected. Observation: User suffered an extreme negative emotional response during rest-state."

It did. You're not just hearing things, as the mechanical monotone voice speaks yet again.

What do you do?
>You're too tired for this shit, just grab some food.
>Ask it what the hell it is.
>Poke it.
>Pick it up and look it over.

>>5182420
>>Poke it.

>>5182420
>Ask it what the hell it is.

>>5182420
>Poke it.
Need some laughs at the end of the world.

>>5182420

>Ask it what the hell it is.

>>5182420
>Poke it.

>>5182526
>>5182558
>>5182581
>>5183133
>>5183187
You poke it. It rolls backwards a little, but eventually manages to right itself.

>"Statement: Unit is not a toy."

You shrug a little. Sorry, guy's gotta have some laughs at the end of the world.

You watch as a shimmering blue-white light shines from its centre and covers you from head-to-toe. It passes by quickly, but afterwards you feel...refreshed? Rejuvenated, maybe?

>"Observation: Upon waking, Unit detected trace amounts of Necrium in User's body as well as a large wound inflicted by a [[..]] of considerable size. Application of moderate Fluxium used to purge effects."

It helped you?

>"Statement: User is welcome. Unit will now enter temporary stand-by mode to recover lost energy unless User has further questions."

What do you say?
>What is 'Fluxium' and 'Necrium'?
>Ask it what it is.
>Can it tell you about how it got damaged?
>No questions, let it rest for now.

Status: Rejuvenated

>>5183627
>What is 'Fluxium' and 'Necrium'?

>>5183627
>>What is 'Fluxium' and 'Necrium'?

>>5183627
>What is 'Fluxium' and 'Necrium'?

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>>5183653
>>5183669
>>5184259
You ask the tiny silver sphere what 'Fluxium' and 'Necrium' are, and what's Fluxium got to do with fixing you up like it did?

The orb rocks back and forth a little, before speaking once more.

>"Statement: Fluxium - Colloquially designated 'Positive Energy', the essence of ceaseless progression and change. All Fluxium increases the growth of the world and its strengthening, with all things normally having trace amounts of Fluxium and Neutral energies inside them. Due to its properties, Positive Energy is purely beneficial towards life and may not only generate various benign phenomena, but can also be utilized in healing and mending of damage as well as the purification of concentrations of Necrium."

The orb pauses a moment, before picking back up its pace, the tiny white light at its centre focused solely on you.

>"As a container and wielder of positive energetic phenomena, User possesses higher amounts of Fluxium in his body than the average. Observation: User's body uses and adapts to the increased Fluxium to better mend wounds and strengthen body."

Well, that's nice...you guess. So what's 'Necrium' then.

There is a long pause, as though the sphere is trying to find the right words. Then when it speaks again, something else seems to slip into its voice, though its tone stays mostly the same.

>"Statement: Necrium - Otheriwse known as 'Negative Energy', the essence of endless stasis and cessation. All Necrium is malign, hostile and holds deleterious influence upon all life known. Large concentrations of Necrium cause disruptive effects on local reality and the laws of space-time, as well as possibly further reaching consequences that go beyond the scope of knowledge of this unit. All Necrium, regardless of concentration, is corruptive to any stable or unstable entities exposed to it. In massed concentrations, aggregate masses of Necrium may form and develop independent thought and will, attacking, destroying, and consuming anything they may find. Necrium corrupts and subverts Neutral energies and in high enough concentrations, poses a threat to Fluxium as well, however the reverse also proves true."

>"Observation: Trace elements of Necrium in User's body and the size of the entry wound indicate that a moderately-sized Negative Energy specter caused the wound. Necrium was purified by introduction of additional Fluxium in yo User's body. No further Necrium contamination beyond base layer of what User has experienced on the surface has been observed."

You gape at the thing a little. That's more than what you were expecting, especially from something so small.

>Wait, go back a minute - you know what happened to the surface?
>Ask it what it is.
>Can it tell you how it was damaged?
>No more questions, let it rest.

Apologies for the gap in updates. Suffered serious system issues that prevented me from posting.

>>5185109
>Wait, go back a minute - you know what happened to the surface?
>Ask it what it is.
>Can it tell you how it was damaged?

>>5185109
>Wait, go back a minute - you know what happened to the surface?

>>5185109
>>Wait, go back a minute - you know what happened to the surface?
>>5185112
no problem

>>5185109
>Wait, go back a minute - you know what happened to the surface?
>Ask it what it is.
>Can it tell you how it was damaged?
All important questions

>>5185155
>>5185200
>>5185545
>>5186416
Wait, go back a minute-you know what happened on the surface? How it got all messed up?

The sphere 'chirps' in response, a mechanical humming noise, before speaking again.

>"Statement: Unit's knowledge is limited, but all indications point towards an extremely high amount of Negative Energy saturating the surface, signifying either a breach in the firmament separating us from the tide of Necrium existing beyond baseline reality or a passive increase that stripped the layers of Positive and Neutral energies that were acting as a protective measure. Hostile phenomena and manifestations would shortly follow."

And the Invasion? Do you know what caused it?

>"Statement: Negative. Unit's databanks and analytical properties do not stretch far enough back to make accurate conclusions regarding the Invasion Period. But from trace elements this Unit has interacted with, suspicions arise with 95% certainty that it was caused by either one or many Negative Energy entities of significant size and power. Whether or not they continued to maintain a presence here or left for more energy-rich locations is inconclusive."

Okay, well that's a bust. Still terrifying in its implications, but it doesn't tell you anything that you're not already living. Anyway; can it tell you what it is? Where it came from and how it got damaged?

>"Explanatory Statement: Unit is a Model I-302 Exploratory and Reconaissance Module for System Designation - MTRYA, Energy Resource Analysis & Experimentation. Unit's primary purpose was to explore and bring back new knowledge and data for analysis by greater System, in order to better refine knowledge of Fluxium and Neutral energies and their properties."

>"Due to severe System damage and database loss following [DATE LOST], which User knows as the Invasion Period, Unit was severely depleted in terms of energy resources. Unit was finally disabled as a result of high-energetic portal emergence which scrambled remaining systems beyond the ability for self-repair protocols to maintain. Significant passage of time degraded the rest."

How long has it been for you?

>"Time after deactivation: 20 years and 11 months."

>"Query: Does User have any further questions?"

Anything else?
>Show it the Veles Project files you managed to grab.
>Are there others like it?
>Does this 'System' still exist?
>No, let it rest now.

>>5186732
>>Show it the Veles Project files you managed to grab.

>>5186732
>Does this 'System' still exist?

>>5186732
>Show it the Veles Project files you managed to grab.
>Are there others like it?
>Does this 'System' still exist?

>>5186742
>>5187103
>>5187595
You show it the Veles Project research files that you managed to grab. It scans them over with its 'eye', blue-white light going over the yellowed papers with precision.

>"Analysis: Research notes regarding project that Unit was not aware of at time of creation. VELES PROJECT however, is in line with energy manipulation experiments that were being conducted prior to [DATE LOST]. "

>"Current Assessment: VELES PROJECT most likely some form of organizational structure relating to the manipulation of high energetic forms. It remains beyond this Unit's knowledge what it may specifically entail outside of the possibility that it was meant to provide greater access to higher densities of energy structures."

Well that sucks. Anyway, are there more like you?

>"Statement: Many Units, greater and lesser, were developed for the purpose of serving multiple Systems. This Unit corresponds to System Designation - MTRYA but many others existed at the time of construction."

Does this...'System' still exist?

It pauses, as though unsure.

>"Statement: Inconclusive. Requires more data."

With that, you notice the little blue light growing dimmer and dimmer, slowly fading.

>"Statement: If User has no further questions, Unit shall engage Rest Mode now until adequate amounts of Positive and/or Neutral energies have been absorbed."

It boots off completely a few moments later, though the small 'hum' coming from it tells you that it's still functioning. Just asleep.

Currently you have:
>x5 Food
>x2 Scrap
>x3 VELES PROJECT Research Documents
>1 Model I-302 Exploratory and Reconaissance Module

What do you do now?

>Go and take a peek outside.
>Practice with your abilities for an hour or two.
>Eat some food.

Status: Rejuvenated

>>5187889
>Practice with your abilities for an hour or two.

>>5187889
>>Practice with your abilities for an hour or two.

>>5187889
>Practice with your abilities for an hour or two.

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>>5187947
>>5188007
>>5188046
Practicing with energy manipulation it is. Roll a 1d100.

Rolled 68 (1d100)

>>5189017

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Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>5189017
Throw em.

>>5189023
nice

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5189017

Every roll I make is shit. Let's see if this has changed.

>>5189020
>>5189023
>>5189026
>>5189102
Energy rolls through your body and pushes it's way up to your fingertips as you stretch them out. You briefly feel a connection start to form, before the energy reaches a head and pushes its way out past your body and into the air around you.

The waves ripple and vibrate through the air, hazy and indistinct, even in your vision. But with incredible potency behind them. If this stuff is 'ceaseless progression and change' then all you have to do is give the energy shape and the waves will follow your will.

How do you manifest the energy?
>Bubble: Waves are focused and shaped into a thin layered 'bubble'. Capable of resisting 1 low Strength attack from a lesser enemy. - Melee
>Psychokinetic Grasp: Waves allow for focused manipulation of environment. Requires line-of-sight from user's body, drains a point of Stamina on use. - Ranged
>Defensive Oscillating Body: Waves are drawn onto self, creating a defensive field that damages Negative Energy entities who make contact with it. Can be used once per Combat encounter. - Melee

>>5189389
>>Defensive Oscillating Body: Waves are drawn onto self, creating a defensive field that damages Negative Energy entities who make contact with it. Can be used once per Combat encounter. - Melee

>>5189389
>Bubble: Waves are focused and shaped into a thin layered 'bubble'. Capable of resisting 1 low Strength attack from a lesser enemy. - Melee

>>5189389
>Bubble: Waves are focused and shaped into a thin layered 'bubble'. Capable of resisting 1 low Strength attack from a lesser enemy. - Melee

>>5189389
>Defensive Oscillating Body: Waves are drawn onto self, creating a defensive field that damages Negative Energy entities who make contact with it. Can be used once per Combat encounter. - Melee

Gonna call the vote later. Got some stuff to do.

>>5189393
>>5189720
>>5190010
>>5190578
Since there's no tiebreaker vote, we'll decide this with a roll. Roll a 1d2. 1 for DOB and 2 for Bubble.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5192158

File: 124ab5490ce610d82616a2671(...).jpg (1.57 MB, 2380x1840)

1.57 MB JPG

>>5192163
The dice have spoken. Bubble it is.

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>>5189393
>>5189720
>>5190010
>>5190578
You push the energy outwards, feeling it flow into the space in front of you. It shifts for a moment, as though unsure, before suddenly splitting into little multi-colored 'branches'.

Rapidly, the energy covers and forms a shell- or perhaps more accurately, a 'bubble' around you. It wavers slightly but holds. You get the impression it couldn't take much of a hit.

You let the bubble drop after a moment. The Module is still in rest mode and you presently don't have anything else to do.

Currently you have:
>x5 Food
>x2 Scrap
>x3 VELES PROJECT Research Documents
>1 Model I-302 Exploratory and Reconaissance Module

What now?
>Go outside and look around.
>Read the Veles Project documents you found
>Eat some food.

Status: Rejuvenated

>>5192790
>>Go outside and look around.

>>5192790
>Go outside and look around.

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>>5192795
>>5192940
You decide to finally pop open the hatch separating you from the world outside once more, climbing through as it opens with a hiss and shuts back behind you. You take your Energy-Tracking Device with you once more, but leave the little sphere to get some more rest.

Climbing out onto the street, you see that the Dead City has changed overnight (or at least as close to it as the world gets now, with the sky not changing whatsoever). Eerie, dimmed orange light crests over buildings and imposing spires that you're certain weren't there when you went to sleep last night.

As expected, the shifting tides of energy up here warped the environment into something unrecognizable. A common occurrence with the Dead City, but not one that usually happens this fast. Did your dream of that green girl cause this? Or was it something else?

Whatever the reason, you're just glad you and your bunker didn't get deposited onto some other street.

You raise your device into the air, taking some readings:

>West: Low-energy readings. Low risk of entity presence, minimal chance of useful salvage
>East: Moderate-energy readings. Potential entity presence, decent chance of useful salvage
>South: High-energy readings. High chance of entity presence and the presence of useful salvage.

Assuming you're staying out, where do you want to go?

>>5193356
>>West: Low-energy readings. Low risk of entity presence, minimal chance of useful salvage

>>5193356
>West: Low-energy readings. Low risk of entity presence, minimal chance of useful salvage

>>5193356
>South: High-energy readings. High chance of entity presence and the presence of useful salvage.

>>5193356
>South: High-energy readings. High chance of entity presence and the presence of useful salvage.

>>5193356
>South: High-energy readings. High chance of entity presence and the presence of useful salvage.

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>>5193406
>>5193448
>>5193450
>>5193990
>>5194187
You move towards the south, following the directions given by your Energy-Tracking Device. The energy readings are significantly higher in this direction, which means that not only could there be a chance for more useful salvage, but there's also a risk of there being a greater number of entities and hostile phenomena.

Very risky. But potentially worthwhile so long as you play it carefully.

As you move, you manage to snag a couple pieces of Scrap as well as find a few cans of unopened food stashed away in corners. Some only showing mild signs of the elements damaging them too!

>Gained 3 Scrap
>Gained 3 Food

It's not long though before you run into your first entity. A heaving glob of wet meat, eyes and limbs rolls out of a corner right in front of you, forcing you to stop dead and dart into the shadow of a building to avoid being seen.

The thing slides and flops around wetly, more and more of it pooling into the street in front of you. A child's voice cries out from it as it slides around.

>"Mama, Mama where are you?"

Eyes bob in the meat and many arms grab at nothing as it continues to slide and slink across the ground, like a living carpet of flesh.

What's your plan?
>Distract it with something.
>Try to fight it.
>Try and find another route around it.
>Think of something else. (Write-In)

>>5194449
>Try to fight it.

>>5194449
>Distract it with somethin
Maybe we can find a toy or something.

>>5194449
>Distract it with something.
throw a rubics cube at it

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>>5194453
>>5194679
>>5194947
Trying to distract it wins. Roll a 1d100 to see whether or not it takes. DC ??

Rolled 90 (1d100)

>>5195581

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>5195581

Rolled 2 (1d100)

>>5195581

>>5195944
>>5195858
>>5195666
one beautiful and two awful rolls

>>5195666
>>5195858
>>5195944
You manage to pick something up from the mess of dust, garbage and debris coating the ground under your feet, without causing any noise to alert the thing- which you have now mentally dubbed 'The Orphan' -to your positioning.

Object, a piece of rusted rebar in hand, you wind up and throw it through the air over to the side. It falls and clatters across the ground with a loud CLANG, causing the Orphan to stop and start shifting towards the other side, the noise successfully catching its attention.

>"Mama? Mama, is that you?"

It blubber and cries, slithering and crawling and sliding towards the source of the sound. Looks like it's distracted enough for you to go on by.

>Run past it as fast and as hard as you can.
>Just walk on quickly by.
>Stop and take a look around for anything useful.
>Write-In

>>5196309
>Run past it as fast and as hard as you can.

>>5196309
>Stop and take a look around for anything useful.

>>5196309
>>Stop and take a look around for anything useful.

>>5196309
>Stop and take a look around for anything useful.

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>>5196347
>>5196555
>>5196686
>>5196864
Stop and look around it is. Roll a 2d100, with a 1d100 for finding anything of value and the other 1d100 for whether or not the Orphan hears the noise.

Rolled 98, 21 = 119 (2d100)

>>5196907

Rolled 61, 1 = 62 (2d100)

>>5196907

Rolled 82, 95 = 177 (2d100)

>>5196907

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>>5196909
>>5196930
>>5197356
You take the brief moment of opportunity to start rifling through the trash and garbage for things of value. Can't waste your chances, given how low on resources you currently are.

>Gained 4 Scrap
>Gained 2 Food

Apart from that haul, you also acquire another rusted piece of metal, this time a pipe, which you choose to keep on-hand as a precautionary measure.

>Gained Rusted Pipe

Behind you, the Orphan gurgles something that you don't catch nor do you bother to wait and listen for it to repeat itself. It doesn't seem to have noticed you, but a good chunk of its blobby eye-covered body seems to have seeped back into the street. It's not COMPLETELY taking up the street in front of you, but it will make escape more difficult if it spots you before you can make good distance.

>Book it and hope it isn't fast enough to keep up.
>Use your rusted pipe and try to cut your way through.
>Try to quietly sneak by it.
>Write-In.

>>5198141
>>Try to quietly sneak by it.

>>5198141
>Try to quietly sneak by it.

>>5198141
>Try to quietly sneak by it.

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>>5198205
>>5198247
>>5198703
Trying to quietly sneak by it wins. Roll a 1d100. DC of 55.

Rolled 37 (1d100)

>>5200584

Rolled 39 (1d100)

>>5200584

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>5200584

Rolled 31 (1d100)

>>5200584

>>5200612
>>5200617
>>5200686
>>5200801
You creep by the disgusting mass of eyes, hands, melting flesh and cooing, blubbering voices and slowly try to make your way out to the other side.

Unfortunately for you, you stumble and make a crunch on a piece of old metal and bone, made brittle and easy to trample under foot due to the passing of ages. Which is still more than loud enough to draw the Orphan's attention.

The entity's many eyes shift and land on you, staring forward unblinkingly as you freeze up like a deer in headlights.

>"Mama, is that you? Come back."

It starts to shift and slide toward you, oozing liquid flesh flowing over rock and debris with ease.

>Run before it can catch up to you.
>Try and fight it off.
>Duck into a building and hide.
>Stab it in the eyes.
>Write-in.

>>5201541
>Duck into a building and hide.
What could go wrong?

>>5201541
>Stab it in the eyes.

>>5201541
>>Duck into a building and hide.

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>>5201753
>>5202017
>>5202050
You move quickly, sliding into a building and trying to maneuver your body inyo the shadows, as the wet sloshing slaps along the stone floor tells you that the Orphan is right behind you. The gurgling childlike voice comes up and all but whispers into your ear.

>"Mama, Mama don't leave me. I'm so lonely and scared. Mama, please stay."

You manage to crawl your way through a small crevice leading into a cramped room, narrowly avoiding the sight of the pursuing Orphan which surges past you with deceptive quickness given its bulk. But now you find yourself with another problem.

The Orphan is out there. And you're in here, in a small cramped room in an unknown building, in enemy territory, where any number of other entities could be lurking. And whilst the Orphan currently doesn't know your exact location, you can hear it giggling and skulking about out there. If it DOES find you in here, with no room to maneuver or escape its pursuit well...Best not to think on it.

What do you do?
>Examine the room that you're in for anything to help you.
>Go back out into the hallway and try to find an exit.
>Throw something out of the cramped room and see if you can lure the Orphan somewhere else.
>Just hide and try to wait it out.
>Write-In.

File: Current positioning.jpg (50 KB, 1024x648)

50 KB JPG

Very rough drawing of your current area and relative positioning. The Orphan is presently going further down the right hallway.

>>5203587
>Examine the room that you're in for anything to help you.
Whats that, a rocket launcher?

>>5203587
>>Examine the room that you're in for anything to help you.
>>5203603
Portal Gun

>>5203587
>Examine the room that you're in for anything to help you.

>>5203603
>>5203655
>>5204226
You quickly glance over the room you're in. You see a couple of broken pieces of wood (useless), what looks like a melted-in chunk of rebar and glass (possibly useful) and...is that gun?

Stepping over and being careful not to dislodge anything, you pick it up and give it a once over. It, indeed, looks like some kind of gun, almost like a pistol. Not of any make that you're familiar with though. For one thing, you don't see any visible chamber, only some kin of hollow cylinder where you think bullets might be if there were any in the thing.

Reaching out with your energy, you sense that this uses some kind of energy transfer in lieu of traditional ammunition. It feels significantly degraded though, probably not enough for anything beyond one or two shots at most.

>Take the gun.
>Leave it behind and search for something else.
>Go back out into the hallway and try to find an exit.
>Throw something out of the cramped room and see if you can lure the Orphan somewhere else.
>Write-In.

>>5205563
>Take the gun

>>5205563
>>Take the gun.

>>5205563
>Take the gun.
Maybe with the scrap and the sphere's help we can fix it

>>5205567
>>5205573
>>5206118
After some deliberating, you choose to take the gun with you. Sure, it might not have much, but it will suit you much better than leaving it to rot in some dusty old room.

>Gained Gun(?)

Now with your new acquisition, you listen closely for the sounds of the Orphan outside the room. You can still hear some distant cries of "mama" echoing through the building's halls, but they seem to have trailed off further into the structure.

>Go back out into the hallway and try to find an exit.
>Try and see if you can scavenge anything from the area.
>Follow the sounds of the Orphan.
>Go out and explore the building.
>Write-in.

>>5207351
>>Try and see if you can scavenge anything from the area.

>>5207351
>Go out and explore the building.

>>5207351
>>Go back out into the hallway and try to find an exit.

>>5207371
>>5207401
>>5207552
Since there's no other vote to resolve this, roll a 1d3. 1 for Scavenging, 2 for Exploring, and 3 for Finding an exit.

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>5209869

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>>5207371
>>5207401
>>5207552
>>5210012
You step out of the hole in the wall, slipping into the hallway and heading down the centre, gun slipped into your pockets and holding a rusted pipe out in front of you as you probe the darkness.

Stepping into the centre of the long hall, you see that it splits into three paths. The path on the left goes down into a long narrow passageway, the one in the centre continues ever forward into the darkness and the one on the left looks to be the one that the Orphan went down. It looks almost...crushed and warped. Like something fired a pressurized stream of acid down there until it carved a deep furrow into the building. Something drips from the ceiling periodically and falls onto the floor, sizzling.

Either way, you need to pick a path to head down if you want to figure out what's going on here.

>Head left.
>Head right.
>Keep going down the centre.
>Just turn back and look for an exit.
>Write-In.

>>5210473
>Keep going down the centre.

>>5210473
>Keep going down the centre.

>>5210570
>>5211026
You push further into the darkness ahead of you, which stretches long and far into the deep shadows ahead of you.

You keep pressing on, even as it moves deeper and deeper into the building structure and then eventually even that seems to cease, as the walls fade into the darkness around you.

You're not sure you're in the building anymore. If this ever was a building to begin with.

The darkness around you eventually gives way to a single flat pane, hovering on the shadows like a bizarre window into nothing. You can't see anything behind the translucent sheet, but it quivers when you touch it.

>Try to walk past it.
>Hit it with something.
>Shoot it.
>Pull against it and see if something gives.
>Write-in.

>>5211821
>Hit it with something.

>>5211821
>Hit it with something.

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>>5211872
>>5212221
Hitting it with something it is. Roll a 1d100.

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>5212309
Suffering.

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>5212309

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>>5212341
>>5213468
As anyone knows, the answer to all life's problems is thus: hit it with a blunt object until it stops being a problem.

That being decided upon, you take your rusty metal pipe in both hands, position yourself at a good angle, and then swing - smashing it straight into the translucent sheet.

The 'window' folds in on itself, then crumples up like a ball. The soft rustling sound of the rapidly crumbling shape increases, before it finally blinks out of existence and vanishes like it was never there.

You're just about to sigh in relief and express how easy that was, when something moves in the darkness ahead of you.

Stepping back, you see the shape emerge from the darkness, tall and decidedly unnatural. Its long limbs are colored a mottled orange, as is the rest of its body, which is itself covered with a fine layer of similarly colored fuzz. From what little you can make out of its bodily plan, it almost resembles some twisted mix between man and hound, but just by sensing the energy around you, you can tell this is something altogether alien.

The head that sits at the top of its long trunk-like neck observes you, as the entity sits in the middle of the hallway, quietly staring you down.

>Raise your pipe in a defensive stance, just in case.
>Try to feel its energy to sense its intent.
>Just back away slowly and keep your eyes on it.
>Make a break for it.
>Write-in.

>>5213519
>Raise your pipe in a defensive stance, just in case.
Not scared of some undercooked chicken man.

>>5213519
>Try to feel its energy to sense its intent.

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>>5213530
>>5214511
We'll settle this with force. Roll a 1d2 to resolve this issue. 1 for brandishing your pipe in a defensive stance, 2 for sensing its intent.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>5215175

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>>5215553
You push past the fear and terror you feel from the thing in front of you and reach out with your will to try and sense its energy and intent. Almost immediately, you recoil from the sheer wave of nausea and revulsion that hits you. You have to fight the sudden urge to retch. The sheer raw feeling of alien evil almost brings you to your knees.

Whatever this thing is, it is not from here and it certainly means ill, for you and possibly anything else that crosses its path. Despite looking like some twisted mixture of man and canine, it's clearly neither nor does it possess an Earthly mind of any sort.

As though having read your own mind during the brief exchange, the entity—which you mentally dub 'The Hound' for ease of reference—shifts and changes before your very eyes. Like an optical illusion, it goes through several shapes, some more elongated and warped, others stretched and gaunt as though they were starved, one a large heaving wet mound of fur and teeth, and on and on it goes. Until finally, slowly, it resolves into something that at a glance, you could almost mistake for a dog.

If a dog dwarfed a man ten times over and was orange and unnaturally pale and sickly looking, that is.

It pads over to you, impossibly quiet for something of its size and leans down. Its long head and bent muzzle reaching down to your face, a long black tongue dangling free as it huffs and pants. Green-gold eyes stare into your own and you feel strangely miniscule beneath that alien gaze. Drool drips down from its mouth and flecks of grey slime run down your face.

>Stab it in the eye with the pipe and run past it.
>Pull out the gun and shoot it in the face.
>Turn around and run as fast as you can back down the hall.
>Hit it upside the head and hope that you can stun it.
>Write-in.

>>5215786
>Stab it in the eye with the pipe and run past it.

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>>5215900
Time to roll for stabbing it in the face and running away, and hopefully not dying. Roll a 2d100, one for stabbing it in the eye and the other for bolting past it.

Rolled 9, 66 = 75 (2d100)

>>5216913

>>5217509
You swiftly move to stab the pipe into the Hound's eye as it leans down further, but it's as though you're trying to stab through a stone, the pipe not even budging an inch through the seemingly-soft flesh of the Hound's eyes.

Screw it, you're making a run for it. You drop the pipe, which clatters uselessly to the ground and speed off down the darkened hallway. A deep booming noise resounds behind you, followed by a hoarse throaty gurgling, as though someone is trying to laugh through a mouthful of water. You don't stop to turn around a look.

The hot breath of the Hound still tingles across your skin as you run through the darkness, feeling your vision grow hot and hazy and your body numb. All around you, the deep shadows shift and move, like the vast limbs of some gargantuan beast.

The last thing you feel before your mind is totally overwhelmed is a sinking feeling. Then nothing at all.

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>>5218605
When you next awaken, you open your eyes to find that you're still in the hallway of the old building, the darkness having vanished.

You also quickly notice that the hallway you were in is MUCH shorter, which you find extends into a dead-end block of solid wall when you try to go back down it. Figures.

You shift your eyes to the ground beneath you, finding your hands damp. Scrawled on the ground are words, written in messy splotches of blood.

"FiVE DaYs."

You are in the hallway, and you can vaguely hear the murmuring of the Orphan some distance away. But you notice no other entities in the vicinity, which is a blessing in and of itself.

What do you do?
>Leave. This place is cursed and full of horrors.
>Go back to scavenging and salvaging what you can.
>Go down the right hallway, where the Orphan went.
>Go down the left hallway into the passage.
>Write-in.

>>5218608
>Leave. This place is cursed and full of horrors.

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>>5218771
Leaving it is. Roll a 1d100, DC of 46.

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>5219705

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>>5220774
You make your way towards the exit of the building, carefully navigating your way down the hall and keeping your pace firm and measured so as not to alert the Orphan, roaming somewhere in the building's depths. In almost no time at all, you pass back into the shining light of the Dead City.

You trawl through the degenerated and twisted streets of the Dead City, cracked pillars of stone and metal stretching high up inyo the sky, lit only by the pale orange corpse-light that hangs over the entire world now. You do not encounter any further entities, but the presence and knowledge of the Hound back in the blackened depths of that building fills you with a mounting terror, that clutches your heart and threatens to make you pass out then and there in the street.

Which would be bad. Very bad indeed.

It doesn't take you long to make your way back to the spot where your bunker is, carefully buried under a torn up and broken street. The Dead City shifts and changes constantly, but you have grown used to the shifts, being so often that you have become strangely attuned to them, and some things remain constant despite the energetic shifting of this everchanging landscape.

Cracking open the hatch and slipping through the small tunnel behind it, you carefully pull the opening hatch shut behind you and hear it click into place. You push open the one that leads into your humble home and almost flop onto the ground, as it snaps shut behind you.

You are exhausted. Spent from your time out up above.

>Query: Is User in need of assistance?

You tilt your head to look in front of you. The sphere has rolled up in front of you, blue light marking its 'eye' focused on you with its full attention.

You can only make a choked groan before your head hits the ground with a loud conk. You are unconscious in moments.

First Node: End

>>5220793
Nice quest

Thank you all for participating! Whilst this isn't quite my first time running a quest, it's the first I've had quite this level of interaction, which has been a fun experience. Despite some technical difficulties that held things up initially, I am overall pleased with how this first thread came out.

The rolls mostly played in your favor throughout this, which is saying something given my initial plans for the encounters here. Your worst roll was probably the one against escaping that face in the building, but even that didn't end quite as badly as it could have.

Speaking of threads, my schedule probably won't be entirely free for a while but I should be able to get the next session started in a couple days. I may or may not think of potential epilogue or interlude sequences but I'll leave it up to you guys if I should post those in this or the next thread instead. By next thread though, I should have our nameless Power User's skills, abilities and current items put into a pastebin or something for easy reference, as well as notable locations and more.

Let me know if you have anything you'd like to ask or topics you'd like to discuss before this thread goes though. I'd be glad to hear them.

>>5220950
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it.

>>5221311
It might be a good idea to post the link to the next thread here before archiving