The first thing you feel is the biting cold. Second is the head-splitting hangover. You force your eyes open to reveal that, alas, you're still in the world of the living. Seems like you still have to go to work today. You are a Cleaner. A clean name for a dirty profession. From meaningless errands, to exploration, to contract killing, to everything in between, you work in all manner of jobs as a deniable asset to the Companies of the City. It's apparently one of the better ways to keep food on your plate and a roof over your head if you know what you're doing. Your main goal is to get enough money and resources to get out of this shitty gig.You rise up from the bed. You live in a remarkably shitty apartment that barely qualifies as one. Your bedroom only has a bed that's hard enough to belong to a prison cell, a table with a barely functional TV, and a closet. The only pricy thing you own is a cellph- RING! RING! You answer it quick. The connection is choppy but you can just barely make out the robotic and exhausted tone of the man on the other line. "Hey. It's me. Did I wake you up from your depression nap?" You start to answer but you get cut off. "Great. We have some messes for you to clean. A lot. Looks like you're in high demand, pal.""I'd get ready if I was you. We'll transmit the list to you shortly; we'd prefer if you don't die on us too soon. Your 'life' 'matters,'" the voice of your handler drones on. "And one more thing, please review the assessment sheet provided to you when you joined.""That is all. Good day." The Handler hangs up. You toss your phone onto the bed and reach for that stupid assessment sheet on your desk. You get up and head to the bathroom. You might as well try looking a bit more presentable before you start today.
Your bathroom's not much better than your bedroom. What little warmth you have is sapped by the cracked, icy-cold tiling. No Goddamn insulation. You quickly skim your assessment sheet before placing it on the top of your filthy toilet. You lean in to look at yourself in the mirror. Unfortunately, it's still you. What kind of Cleaner are you? (It's a small world when it comes to the industry you're in, you may see the others later down the line.)>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.>An oddly well kept and stylish woman with a shit eating grin. Max, former Aristocrat. High in demand with the Companies and has extensive access to corporate assets. Held in contempt by other Cleaners, very sheltered. >A tall, imposing man with scars and tattoos plastered all over. You are Ashton M, Petty Criminal. Higher base stats overall and has connections in the Criminal Underworld. Blacklisted by most Companies and entered many blood feuds in the past. >A nervous man in glasses weakly smiles at his reflection. Benjamin A, Pharmacist. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive.>A cybernetically engineered husk of flesh and metal, more meat and machine than man. You're Aster K, former bodyguard. Augmented physique enhances intimidation. Sensitive to the unnatural and slower to heal.
>>5796955>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.Im a sucker for office worker turned career criminal.
>>5796955>A nervous man in glasses weakly smiles at his reflection. Benjamin A, Pharmacist. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive.The delusional catches me.
>>5796955>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.
>>5796955>A cybernetically engineered husk of flesh and metal, more meat and machine than man. You're Aster K, former bodyguard. Augmented physique enhances intimidation. Sensitive to the unnatural and slower to heal.Time to get to work, hound.
>>5796955>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.Let’s start humble, cool quest OP
>>5796955>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.
>>5796955>An average, unassuming man with a grey and unfocused left eye. You are Vincent C, former Office Worker and Painter. High stress tolerance, versed in corporate bureaucracy. Little combat experience and very new to the job.CORPORATE DOG, WOOF WOOF.
>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies.Anomalous abilities + unstable psyche? What could go wrong with that combo
>>5796955>A tall, imposing man with scars and tattoos plastered all over. You are Ashton M, Petty Criminal. Higher base stats overall and has connections in the Criminal Underworld. Blacklisted by most Companies and entered many blood feuds in the past.
>>5796955>>A wiry woman with messy hair and a wild stare. You are Nicole S, former Urban Explorer. Knowledgeable on the Supernatural and the secrets of the City, and demonstrates minor Anomalous Abilities. Unstable Psyche and is considered a Person of Interest by many Companies
VINCENT: DYo, tjv, Q1J, Hub, o85 NICOLE:+AF, 4QB, BbB, tt6, Y5S, M9P ASHTON: NKzBENJAMIN 1s2 ASTER: Hb5Seems like Nicole won the vote. Vote is locked, update will be written soon Remember, it's a small world when it comes to your industry.
https://youtu.be/5jfU1HN2pSQ - APARTMENT AMBIENCE The woman staring back at you from the reflection frightens you. Not because of what she looks like. Bright pink blouse, simple dress jeans, short and messy reddish-orange hair, simple flats. If you paid attention to only that, you would just be a normal and lovely person. The rest deceives any attempt at normalcy. Your pink eyes dart around, focusing on random points of the room. Your clothes loosely hang off of your wiry frame, long since having gotten too thin and ragged to wear them properly. Tremors run through your body whenever stray thoughts threaten to enter your mind. You are Nicole Smith. You try your best to put on an award winning smile. It might've worked if it didn't look like you were snarling at someone. Well, you can work on it, you got a while to make first impressions after all. Grabbing your assessment sheet, you begin to review it. To see how other people view you. YOUR STATS FLESH: 2RESTRAINT: 6 VIOLENCE: 2TALENT: 4 WILLPOWER: 4CHARM: 2 CONNECTIONS: 2COGNIZANCE: 4BOONS: [SEEKER OF THE CITY]You have extensive knowledge of the City and its workings, the supernatural, and all sorts of knowledge they certainly don't want you to know about. When encountering an anomaly, you get hints on how to handle it through visions and internal dialogue. [ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You're not sure how but suddenly, one day, you managed to find a way to bend and break the laws of the world. This revelation currently manifests as minor telekinetic powers. Over time, you'll may gain more abilities or develop finer control over your current abilities.>Telekinesis (Free/1): You may move small items (anything you can hold in your hand), open and shut doors, and manipulate simple mechanisms from a distance if you have line of sight. If you spend 1 Restraint, you can send medium objects (like tables or shelves) flying. Attacks made this way will roll VIOLENCE and WILLPOWER together. BANES: [UNSTABLE PSYCHE] Your mind has cracks in it and it shows. As your Restraint gets lower, your perception of the world starts decaying, the more unstable your abilities will become, and you might just totally lose control over yourself. Try to keep your head on straight. [PERSON OF INTEREST] The Companies have their eyes on you. Corporate Agents stalk, hassle, and may even step in if they deem what you're doing too dangerous to their activities. Remember, They glow in the dark.STARTING EQUIPMENT:$500Map of your hidden supply caches across the CityA bottle of Joyvel (3 doses remain, each dose restores 1 Restraint.)After putting the assessment sheet down, you exit the bathroom and shut the door behind you with a simple thought. You have some downtime to burn before you must pick your first job. Your mind races at what to do. So much to do, so many options.How do you prepare yourself? You may select up to three activities.
>Attempt to practice with your powers. It's one of the few tools you have in this world. (Write in how you want to train them. More intensive training will have a higher chance at improving your ability at a higher WILLPOWER DC, and vice versa.)>Restock at one of your nearby supply caches. You forgot what's there but it might be useful. (Random results.)>Turn on the TV. See if there's anything on the news. >Call your Handler and try sweet talking him into being easier on you. (Hard Charm check, DC: 8. Succeeding will improve the mission selection you'll get. Failure will further erode your already weak relationship.)>Leave the house. Take in the sights and sounds of the City. Maybe you'll find some solace in it.>Visit the local bar. A gathering place for fellow Cleaners as desperate as you. Might be a good place to find allies.>Write in.And to explain what all of those numbers and stats means:Simple Mechanic Explanation>You have 8 stats, with 3 being normal in that field. You roll d6s equal to the amount of points in the corresponding stat. e.g having 4 VIOLENCE lets you roll 4d6 when attempting a VIOLENCE check. >When you succeed a DC, you do the thing you want to do. When you fail a DC, you typically take FLESH or RESTRAINT damage, though other stats may take damage depending on the situation. >When a health stat reaches 0, you enter a critical state where one more hit will kill you (FLESH) or cause a mental breakdown (RESTRAINT)>When a non-health stat reaches 0, you'll automatically fail any rolls requiring that stat, and will suffer crippling penalties until it is restored. Stat Explanation >FLESH: How much blood can you shed? Your Health Points. Rolled when attempting to endure intense pain, do prolonged heavy labor, or any other physical taxing feat. >RESTRAINT: How sturdy is your mind? Your Sanity Points. Rolled when resisting anomalous influences, managing intense stress, or pushing past mental limits. >WILLPOWER: How attuned are you to the supranatural? Determines how well you can use anomalous abilities and equipment, and understand anomalous phenomena.>VIOLENCE: How willing and able are you to hurt someone? Rolled the most during combat. It may also be used in intimidation or performing feats of strength, like breaking down doors. >TALENT: How skilled are you? Rolled when performing tasks which require technical expertise, such as lockpicking, repairing machinery, impressive backflips, etc etc. >CHARM: How well do you handle people? Rolled when negotiating with others, calming someone in a murderous frenzy, pulling a con, etc.>CONNECTIONS: How many favors do you have under your belt? Rolled when attempting to bargain with the Companies of the City and other entities in high power. >COGNIZANCE: How smart are you? Rolled when trying to remember specific facts, understand complex puzzles, or any task requiring your brainpower.
>>5797687>Turn on the TV. See if there's anything on the news.>Leave the house. Take in the sights and sounds of the City. Maybe you'll find some solace in it.>Visit the local bar. A gathering place for fellow Cleaners as desperate as you. Might be a good place to find allies.
>>5797694+1 Get news of the world, our thoughts together, then gather our allies.
>>5797694Support
>>5797687Support >>5797694Quite interesting so far.
>>5797694+1
Alright. Locking the vote since it's pretty clear what you guys want. Writing.
TV. The main source of information, entertainment, and spiritual enlightenment in the City. With a simple thought, you push the TV's power button. Snowy static floods the television's screen. Good, it's working. Once the signal actually reaches your hunk of junk, you see him. The funny news man. Your smile grows wider after seeing him. You get him. He tells you how it is, tells it STRAIGHT. You can always trust his suit and tie. "...Recent reports have shown a massive amount of defects in the latest Drone production line. Due to this, many businesses are struggling to get the manpower needed to operate their stores." "If you notice a Drone from the G-01 series, please report it to your local Q-Corp representative. It's best to crush an annoying bug before it causes problems." [SEEKER OF THE CITY] Drones are a type of artificial humanoid created by Q-Corp. While weak and inefficient in all manner of things, they are cheap to buy and are incredibly loyal to their owner. [UNSTABLE] You doubt the defect explanation. Their bodies is about as complex as a mannequin's, all one solid hunk of flesh. They have to be hiding something inside them. You gotta cut one open later."In other news, Leo Krakatoa has gotten into a scuffle with M-Company over them using his likeness in one of their latest music videos. When asked on the matter, they denied the existence of Leo." "Of course, this has strained relationships between the Krakatoa family and M-Corp. If you had to ask me, though? He should be glad he is even being given the time of day. His family's nothing but trouble, Nicole. I wouldn't associate with those types." The man on the TV snarls. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] M-Company produces most of the music, audio equipment, and radios of the City. Supposedly, all musicians have at least met a M-Corp representative once in their life. The family name sounds vaguely familiar but you need time to remember."Latest, but certainly not least, there's been a recent return of the Purple Phantom. While we don't know much on this Color, we know that districts they have been spotted in have a 52% rise in Cleaner deaths and disappearances! Those who can give us any solid information or pictures on it will be paid a solid $3000 for their efforts!" [SEEKER OF THE CITY] A "Color" is a specific title given to very dangerous, district spanning threats in the City. Can be applied to humans and anomalies alike. It's best to avoid Colors if you can, you'll likely die if you try fighting one. That bounty, though? 3k is a LOT of money for someone in your line of work and you only need to take a picture? You take a mental note of it in case you ever encounter it. Who knows what you could use that money on? Nothing else on the TV seems to be interesting to you. You turn it off with a simple thought. With nothing else left to do here, you make your way to your front door. You make sure to wear your two sizes too big winter coat before leaving.
https://youtu.be/KIXySk4GId0 - SNOWBOUND CITY You're instantly hit with an intense gust of freezing wind once outside. You don't remember the last time it's been hotter than 50 degrees in this part of town. It helps wake you up at the very least. Everything in sight, from your front porch to the streets to the roofs of buildings, is covered in an inch or two of white powdery snow. Remarkably light for this time of year.You begin your walk over to the nearby bar. It's going to take a while, might as well enjoy the sights and sounds along the way. You let out a shaky breath as you look around, keeping your eyes peeled. It's early in the morning, so a lot of people are out and about, ready to start their day. A few kids run past you in their cute little winter coats, on their way to school. A crowd of workers of all various types of Companies pass by you. You swear you even saw a few robots or faceless Drones pass you by. The crowd mutters about meaningless nonsense you tune out. What you care about more is the City itself. The living, breathing ecosystem you find yourself living in. The hum of neon signs in front of businesses. The smell of freshly cooked food from nearby restaurants. Laughs and cries blending in with video game blips and boops from a nearby arcade. Punk music blaring from a 'counterculture' store. You wish you could turn your brain off and enjoy the simple pleasures these Cityslickers have. But you have a job to do, you don't have time to wander around like you used to. You shake your head, no need to worry about that. You still have a few more minutes until you're at the bar. You pass by two people on a bench. An old man and a young girl, chatting about old times and precious memories of his former career. Something about being a cowboy? The girl seems ecstatic at the idea of her grandpa being one. A turn around a corner. A young man sits next to a burning barrel, strumming his guitar. Singing lyrics that are equal parts cringeworthy and heartfelt. He glances at you as you pass him by. You flash your best attempt at a smile at him. He does the same. [PERSON OF INTEREST] A man in a silver coat and hat passes you by. Your body shivers seeing him. You recognize what that outfit was. They're already up this early? [PERSON OF INTEREST] Hopefully he's only here to observe, nothing else. Keep an eye out.A group of teenager friends pass you by, arguing over who would be a better Cleaner. You didn't have the heart to tell them what a bad idea it was. It would only inspire them to try harder.But, the walk gave you a moment to focus on something besides yourself. Taking in all of the sights...help you, you know? Even if only for a bit, you've gained a bit of control back. It's nice feeling normal for once. You eventually reach the bar. Even standing out here, you can smell cigarette smoke, piss, and beer. The neon sign simply reads "NICOLAS'". Well, at least it'll be warmer if you go inside.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-4u9eH8Is - BAR THEME Oh god, your brain is already getting overstimulated by the hellhole you stumbled into. You already have to back away from two men beating each other up. You quickly walk past them to avoid getting into their scuffle. Annd that's a knife he's pulling out.Put it out of your mind, Nicole, best not to think too hard on it. Just a bar fight, r-right?As expected, this place is packed to the brim with all manners of degenerates, freaks, and losers. Most of which are men who walked out of a 1970s post apoc movie or from the nearby homeless shelter. You stand out like a sour thumb here.You eventually find a seat at the counter, squeezing in between two men twice your size. It doesn't take long for the bartender to find you. If it wasn't for his grey hair and hazy eyes, you wouldn't know he was in his 70s. He clicks his tongue on seeing you. "ID, please?"You nod, handing it to him. He skims it before handing it back to you. "Alright. What will it be, miss?" "W-water, please? J-just here to meet someone." That's technically not a lie? The bartender shrugs indifferently, not really caring. He pours you a glass of water. "Ain't gonna ask, kid. This is on the house, aight?" "Sides. Not like the beer's any better!" The old man guffaws. You try your best to laugh back. He takes his leave to go attend to the other patrons.[UNSTABLE] Is it tap? Better not be. You know the kind of shit they lace in there. The kind of shit that destroys your teeth and BRAIN. You let out a sigh. Oh well, down the hatch. After refreshing yourself, you take a look around the bar you find yourself in. It's time to try finding some ALLIES! There's POWER in COMRADERY! You try to see who stands out amongst them. Select up to two people you want to try recruiting. >An old man tinkers away at some bizarre contraption at the table he's at. Grease and oil cover his clothes. Seems like he's having fun. >A lady around your age jumps from table to table, talking to everyone she can. Each table seems a lot happier after she visited it. >A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.>A woman with bags under her eyes talks to someone over the phone. You notice her expensive outfit stands out a LOT compared to what the other patrons are wearing.>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] He's moving down the halls, like a drunk, but even a drunk would move his fingers once in a while. Something's off about him.>Someone else catches your eye...(Write in a simple description of the person you're trying to find.)
>>5798285Y'know, for an unstable thought I was thinking the same thing.>>5798290Bleh, fahrenheit, disgusting.>>5798294Okay, that thought was a bit weirder, but hey, it could be true, you don't know with this city.>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.>A woman with bags under her eyes talks to someone over the phone. You notice her expensive outfit stands out a LOT compared to what the other patrons are wearing.For when we run into trouble and for when fists aren't enough to get us out of trouble. Not gonna go for the shiny, it's probably just someone with Anomalous Abilities or some other variety of supernaturally endowed person. While that is interesting, we've got that and everything else covered.
>>5798285[UNSTABLE] Is it wrong to cut out hearts?Tastes like Disco Elysium again, something like a Encyclopedia and Half Light(?) run. Fun.>>5798332>(((Celsius)))>>5798294>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Not a DrunkA freak for a freak.>Shithouse.Every suicide squad needs its muscle. Perfect fit.
>>5798285>His family's nothing but trouble, Nicole. I wouldn't associate with those types."TV man talking directly to us already? You sure we don't have meds we forgot to take?>>5798294>A lady around your age jumps from table to table, talking to everyone she can. Each table seems a lot happier after she visited it.>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.Charisma and muscle. Though seeing how well we talked to the bartender, I'm not sure how well we'll even talk to these guys. Hence the charisma vote
>>5798294
>>5798294>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.>A woman with bags under her eyes talks to someone over the phone. You notice her expensive outfit stands out a LOT compared to what the other patrons are wearing.
>>5798294>A brick shithouse of a man stands over a man he just knocked out. An ear to ear smile rests on his face. He barely looks hurt from the fight.>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] He's moving down the halls, like a drunk, but even a drunk would move his fingers once in a while. Something's off about him.
SEEKER: HuB, 7le Shithouse: 4QB, +AF, Y5S, 7le Phone Woman: Y5S, +AF Happy Lady: 4QB Tell you what. You can talk to the Seeker, Shithouse, and Phone Woman and pick which of the two you want, based on what you figure out about them. Here's what I need from you, voters. I need two anons to roll CHARM (2d6) to determine your first impression with the Shithouse and Phone Woman. DC 4 for Shithouse, 6 for Phone. Fail? You spill your spaghetti and they probably won't want to associate with you. Success allows you to hold your spaghetti in and the more you overroll, the more you can learn from them. Then I need one anon to roll a WILLPOWER check (4d6), DC 13, for the Seeker guy. No charm roll needed. What happens on a success or failure is unknown, you just know he probably doesn't care about first impressions.
Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)>>5798852Rolling for the Phone Woman.
>>5798867Yeah, don't think I didn't see that. 11 is the willpower roll, you fail that.
Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)>>5798852Rolling for brick shithouse
>>5798855>>5798882How in the actual fuck. I didn't expect two of the first three rolls to be maxed out rolls. The hell are those chances? You succeed with the two normies and you...do something with the Seeker dude. Writing.
>>5798855>>5798882wtf...>>57988832.78%
>>5798883>>5798900Or 2.6% if you are asking what are the chances of rolling 4 6s out of 8 dice. I don't know the answer if we are taking your question literally exactly as asked.
>>5798929Moreso the fact both are boxcars but that's besides the point. Still impressive. I'll make sure to give a fitting reward for the statistical anomaly.Sorta fitting for the character with anomalous abilities.
Okay, Nicole! Time to nut up or shut up! You can act normal around people! You are a lovely, totally rational human being! With nothing unstable about her! Ha-ha-hoo. You guzzle your glass of water. If you pretend hard enough, you can believe it's just super watered down beer. Liquid courage to help you out. You push away from the bar counter, swerving by the various crowded tables to talk to your first choice. The brick shithouse. A wide berth is given to him and it's not hard to understand why. A barely alive husk of a man lays at his feet. If it wasn't for the twitching, you would think he was a corpse. [UNSTABLE] You remember a corpse like this. Old friend back in District 5, fell for a 20 story building. Went splat like a balloon, pop pop.[UNSTABLE] This unit of a man can do that? You need his violence. His bloodlust. He will kill the glowies for you. The man standing over the almost-corpse doesn't calm your nerves. A large leather jacket with some obscure gang sign covers a body of seemingly 97% muscle and 3% bodyfat. He towers over you by a solid three feet and you're pretty average for a girl. Scars and tattoos cover his hands, face, and whatever exposed skin you can see. His bright green eyes dart to stare down at you. His stained yellow teeth show themselves as he flashes a snarl. "What do you want, girly?" Good at punching. Starting to get to your head, probably good at intimidating.How to approach this kind of person...perhaps talking to him on his level? You take a moment to try deepening your voice before approaching him."Wow. Bet that fight was super boring, huh?" You scoff. "You know, I know a better way to use all of that muscle you got there." The man squints at you, as if waiting for you to continue. You oblige. "Look. I'm a Cleaner. I do dangerous jobs. I need people like you who can punch real well. And you're good at that, right?" "...Right." He nods, slowly taking in what you're saying. "Wait, a Cleaner? You're the type of guys who get paid a lot, right?" You nod back at him. Easily bought with cash, huh? You'll bet he's willing to do whatever for it."Fuck yeah! It gets tiring looting people's wallets all the time. Shit, have you SEEN how many people with only credit cards?" The man flashes a blood stained wallet before pointing at the person he beat up. "This piece of shit only had an expired credit card and a few nickels! Bullshit!"Easily angered."Well! I gotta keep my eyes open but I'm willing to get you some of that extra moolah if you're willing to come along. How's it sound? Works for both of us?" You try your best to flash a snarl at him. He just breaks out laughing. "Pft. You're a funny chick. Aight, I'll bite. I'm willing to join ya for a little down payment, ya get me?" "Oh, I get ya. Just two reasonable chaps here." "Absolutely. Tell ya what. I like your moxie...?" He pauses. Oh, right, your name. This is going swimmingly so far.
"I'm Nicole. You, punk?" You raise an eyebrow at him. "Call me Lex. So, let's get to brass tacks. You give me $300 so I know ya ain't bullshitting. And I'll come along. Sound good?" Normally, you would've just accepted but... [MAXIMUM ROLL] "Pft, you might as well just kill me already." You point at the dude bleeding out on the ground. Poor dude. Oh well. "Hell. He probably feels way better than I would after ponying that up.""You're gonna get money by working on the job with me. You get too greedy, you're stuck beating people up for pocket change, retard." Lex pauses for a moment. His eyes glance up and down, trying to process what you said. "Father Above, kid. You got some bite to ya." Lex snorts. He shakes his head in mock disappointment. "Yeah. You're right. How about $150, then?" You flash a genuine smile. "Sounds good, Lexie! Gotta keep my options open, though! Just, uh, do your Lex things while I think!" Lex can only offer a slightly confused chuckle. "Sure, I ain't got nothing to do." Next stop, that one woman who was on her cellphone. Something about her attire stands out way too much here. Not in a bad way, given how your Spook Detector isn't going off. You pass by a few more tables before managing to sit down at her table. She's too engrossed in her conversation to pay attention to you. "...I fucking told you, I needed Zeta and Omega over there five minutes ago!" You jump as the table is nearly knocked over by the Phone Woman. "Do you think we're dealing with a god damn Notice entity? This isn't like Appetite of a People Pleaser!" Notice entity? Code titles? She seems to have her nose in something shady here.She gives a nasty scowl when she notices you. "Great. I got some tweaker sitting here. Can't get a break, can I?" She turns her attention back to her phone. "Send in Phi. I want that entity handled already." She hangs up. "So. What do you want?" the Phone Woman crosses her arms together. "Make it quick. God knows when someone else calls." Gets a lot of calls. High position of power? Probably has good connections. "Seems like some of your workers aren't doing too hot, right?" You put on your best serious voice. The personas you have to put on are REALLY hurting to keep up. "I don't need to be reminded. How hard is it to get a few Agents to deal with some-" She pauses. "Wait. Why would I tell you?" You keep up your best smile. "I suppose I'm an agent too! Well, Cleaner, if you want to be more specific."A long, drawn out sigh hisses out of the Phone Woman. "Greeaaattt. Look, I don't have any jobs for you-" "Ah! You misunderstand, Lady of the Phone!" Your eye twitches a bit. Keep it in. "I have a job for YOU!" You jab a finger at the Phone Woman. The look of pure bafflement would be funny if you weren't trying to get her to be an ally. "What." Time to do your PITCH! "See! It sounds like your current staff are poor at their job! What if you got some NEW workers?"
"It's quite simple! I already got some workers ready to do whatever! With my charming powers, you could possibly get a whole new STAFF of AGENTS! CLEANERS! WHATEVER!" You spread your arms in the air as if trying to manifest a rainbow. "...Well, you got the spirit at least. What exactly would I get if I did humor your little proposal?" The Phone Woman taps at the edge of her desk. "Simple! While you get your failures to waste their time doing jobs you don't want to, you can work with us and get all of the rewards of the hit!" "Interesting. You're proposing that I liquidate my current assets, huh?" The Phone Woman hums. "I suppose it's not much better using the rejects I have now. They demand too much these days." She's a bit too open on ditching her current crew. Not sure if that's a good thing. "W-well, perhaps not now, but y-yes? I-it would be wise to move onto fresher avenues, wouldn't it?" Your smile wavers a bit. You're running out of steam but you can do it. "...Mmh. I demand a 25% cut on the next job you do, if you REALLY want my assistance. Considering the price of liquidation and the risk of the assets you gathered failing? You can see the issue here." [MAXIMUM ROLL] "I understand that but! I offer a counter proposal. I'm willing to pay that...if you provide your new assets with some equipment. Consider it your investment in us." "After all. If you liquidate your current assets and fail to supply your new ones with something, what are you left with?" The Phone Woman takes a moment to consider your offer. She nods her head slowly up and down. "Yes, yes, wouldn't want to be stuck with no assets. You gotta diversify when it comes to these things." Corporate grindset. A reliable source of equipment if you can keep her pleased. "Great! I'll inform the others. I'll see if they're willing to accept the deal." You got one more person to interact with. You glance to see...that man. Stumbling around, not knowing where he's at. You would think he's drunk but he's stiff as a statue aside from his wandering. You leave the Phone Woman's seat. Your legs automatically carry you forward despite a growing sense of unease building in your gut. >WILLPOWER: FAILED https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmbvlmKm9S4 - NOT A DRUNKYou eventually get in front of him. He's an average looking man that's wearing a suit and tie. Probably in his late 20s. His posture is slouched over as if he can't support his own body weight. Glossy, dead eyes stare back at you. He tilts his head to the side. "HELLO. ARE YOU A NEW FRIEND?" A monotone voice drones out of his vocal cords. There's something just...rubbing you the wrong way. "Uh. Yes. I'm looking for friends. I'm a Cleaner, sir." You try to keep a calm expression on your face. "HELLO, FRIEND. I AM. QUENTIN." An expression crosses his face. His mouth stretches and grows into a twisted, unrecognizable mess. "I WILL HELP. QUENTIN LOVES HELPING PEOPLE."
You can't get a read on him like the others. Except for one thing. You can smell him even with the distance you put between him and yourself. Smells like three week old curry. "T-that's all? Y-you just want to help?" "YES. HELPING IS MY PURPOSE. HUMANS HELP, RIGHT?" His glazed over eyes pierce right through you. youdontlikeityoudontlikeit Two sets of footsteps approach you. Turning around, you recognize Lex and the Phone Woman. Both have a worried expression on their faces. "Is that the...other option, Nicole?" Lex points towards the foul smelling man you're talking to. "I get you need all the help you can but this?" "H-hey, t-the more the merrier, r-right?" You smile. "M-More diverse assets, r-right, uh..." You gesture at the Phone Woman. "Alexis." She curtly responds."I 'trust' you enough to accept your judgement on assets." Alexis glances at Lex, then you. Seems like whatever you said has given you enough respect or trust to bring a third party member along. "Normally I would tell you to leave this freak in the dump." "However. I believe both of us deserve more compensation if we must bring him along. Don't you agree?" She nods towards Lex. "Y-yeah. I don't like how he looks." The towering mass of muscle steps back from the rigid, foul smelling man you're talking to. "WAIT! I HELP. NO PRICE FOR ME! I DO. ANYTHING ASKED OF. DON'T YOU WANT? ASSISTANCE?" He seems really desperate to join your party. You can't quite piece together why though. If nothing else, he seems loyal? You feel like you really should be spotting what's wrong with him. But the others are looking, you have to make your decision. Who do you decide to bring along? Select as many party members as you want.>Bring along Alexis. While losing out on a decent cut of job money blows, you think getting some supplies and equipment from her is worth it.>Bring along Lex. He's simple to understand. Keep him paid, direct his anger to where you want it, and he'll be great hired muscle.>Bring along Quentin. He's desperate to assist you and some small part of you thinks he might be useful down the line. (The others won't like it. Lex will cost $230 to hire and Alexis will demand a 35% cut of your next job's payment.)Your phone gets heavier by the second. Your handler's about to call soon, ready for you to pick your missions.
>>5799067>Bring along Alexis. While losing out on a decent cut of job money blows, you think getting some supplies and equipment from her is worth it.>Bring along Lex. He's simple to understand. Keep him paid, direct his anger to where you want it, and he'll be great hired muscle.Expensive, but the point is investing in these relationships. Plus Alexis will be providing us equipment, and Lex rounds us out since he is probably the only one good at sustained violence.Though now that we've made these connections I could see the wisdom in bringing along only one of these new friends along at a time to lessen the burden on our pay day. Quentin...does not seem like the straight forward kind of fucked up type like we are, or maybe he is depending on how you see it. Maybe we can bring him alone on a different job, but I don't want him giving others the creeps and making the job more expensive for us.
>>5799067>Bring along Lex. He's simple to understand. Keep him paid, direct his anger to where you want it, and he'll be great hired muscle
>>5799085+1Unfortunately, Quentin is the meme option here. He's out for today's mission, at least.
>>5799085+1As curious as I am about Quentin, he doesn't seem like First Mission material. Although it seems bringing him aboard in ANY capacity, even if on standby, will up the cost of the others? Or is it just if those two have to share the air they breathe?
Locking in, writing.>>5799309Those two are only tolerating the idea because you anomaously gained social skills instead of being a tard. They rather not associate with him in general.I will say this isn't a universal Bane he has. You'll be informed when bringing him causes allies you're hiring to demand more of a pay check or when you can freely bring him.
"Sorry, uh, Quentin. Not this time." "OH. MY BODY ISN'T GOOD ENOUGH. MAYBE BETTER ONE SOON. APOLOGIES." Quentin straightens his posture to stand straight up. You try your best to ignore the many cracks and pops he makes while doing so. "WILL RETURN LATER. I WILL HELP OTHER PEOPLE!" He drags his limp legs away from the three of you, leaving you in the presence of your two 'allies'. If you can called hire help that. Alexis's posture relaxes and Lex lets out a long sigh after Quentin disappears. "Thank fuck. That dude was driving me crazy." Lex murmurs to himself. "That asset was a poor choice anyways." Alexis nods along. Something feels like you shouldn't write him off like the others did but, god, you wish your brain could've read more about him. Oh well. You pull out your wallet and toss the money over to Lex. >-$150Alexis holds her hand out. Right, you don't know what the cut you have to give her is. "We'll see what my handler says." You mutter. She reluctantly pulls her hand away. >Alexis and Lex have joined the party!>Until a certain level of trust and work experience between you is met, you must pay them every time you want to use them on a mission.>ALLY STATSLEX:FLESH: 5RESTRAINT: 2VIOLENCE: 6TALENT: 3WILLPOWER: 2CHARM: 2CONNECTIONS: 2COGNIZANCE: 2BOONS[EASILY PLEASED] It doesn't take much to keep him happy and around. He won't ever ask for any extra rewards or equipment, nor will he question what job you're doing. Keep him paid and he'll do anything. [BRICK SHITHOUSE] You doubt anything's going to slow him down besides a shot to the head. Twice per mission, he may reroll all dice that rolled 3 or lower on a VIOLENCE or FLESH check. BANE: [BLOODLUST] Keeping him from not starting shit is going to be hard. He will try getting into fights whenever the chance shows itself unless it's suicidal. Successful CHARM checks can help curb this. ALEXIS FLESH: 2RESTRAINT: 2 VIOLENCE: 2 TALENT: 3WILLPOWER: 3 CHARM: 5 CONNECTIONS: 4COGNIZANCE: 3BOONS [CORPORATE CONNECTIONS] A half insane mess and a thug aren't likely to be welcomed into any place of true importance, but with Alexis around, you gain access to special corporate buildings and various V.I.P sections of businesses.[CORPORATE GRINDSET] She needs you around to do the dirty work for her. At the start of each mission, she'll provide valuable supplies to help you out. Weapons, drugs, armor, tools, anything is possible. BANES [LIQUDIATION] She's absolutely willing to ditch you if shit goes sideways. If another ally dies or the situation is otherwise FUBAR, she's liable to leave your party. [INVOLVED] You're not sure who or what will recognize her but she seems she has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies. Expect a lot more attention to be drawn to your group with her around.While you're busy processing what you've figured out about them, your phone begins to ring. Your allies perk up at the noise. "O-oh! Le-lemme get it." You answer the call.
"Hey, it's me. Are you ready to talk like a human being yet or are you going to gibber to me about glow in the dark men right behind you?" The Handler's guttural voice crawls into your ear like a bloodworm. You look over your shoulder.[UNSTABLE] THEY GLOW BECAUSE THEY WEAR SILVER. THEY HAVE TO. HOW ELSE WOULD YOU BE ABLE TO TELL THEM APART?[PERSON OF INTEREST] You saw one today. You looked into his eyes and they were cold and dark. They're everywhere. Keeping their eyes on you. Ready for you to slip up and show your true self. "Y-yes, I'm available, sir." You nod your head. Even if he can't see you do it. "Great. I wasn't lying about your type being in high demand. If I had a say in this, I'd give you the full works and throw your quivering husk back onto the streets myself, so be grateful for this change in employment status." The Handler spits out his 'praise', if you could call it that. "W-well, what are the missions, sir? Y-You know, t-time is money and all of that, haha?" "Goddamn it, you waste of skin you can't even say that one thing right. It's 'money is power and power is P Company.' Right. Now then. Here's what we have for you today." Choose what your next mission is going to be. >"We've received reports of an Anomaly in your District. Locate and capture A DEATH IN SPACE for transport to the nearest P-Company containment site." RISK LEVEL: High. REWARDS: $1250, improved CONNECTIONS with P-Company.>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.>"One of my close associates keeps complaining about his shop being broken into. Figure out who's doing it and turn him into a SHITPIG." RISK: Medium. REWARDS: $350, your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.>"Rumor has it that one of our casinos is skimping out on the kickback payments. Whether that's true or not, get us our money back from those fucking parasites." RISK: Low. REWARDS: $300, acquire a Corporate Catalog for better equipment down the line.>"We've heard rumors that you're a good explorer. We need you to scout out an abandoned section of District 8 for anything of potential interest. Report back anything interesting you find." RISK: Medium-High. REWARDS: $750 and dibs on any loot you find.>Write in. (Describe the mission and I'll assign the rewards and risk level.)
>>5799892>Track down Benjamin AaronWE NEED TO GOBBLE OUR PILLS YUMMY YUMS
>>5799892>>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.
>>5799892>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron.Meds are useful.
>>5799892>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.The explorer mission sounds like something we could do alone, although our allies have decent Talent. Whereas dealing with the Anomoly seems like the sort of thing we'd want far more prep and allies for.
>>5799892>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.
>>5799892>>"One of my close associates keeps complaining about his shop being broken into. Figure out who's doing it and turn him into a SHITPIG." RISK: Medium. REWARDS: $350, your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.
>>5799892>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.Meds. NOW
>>5799892>>"We need you to track down a pharmacist by the name of Benjamin Aaron. Z-Company keeps seething on my answering machine about wanting to pick his brains, so go ahead and do something about it." RISK: Medium-Low. REWARDS: $500, access to the IMPORTANT MEDICATION for your brain, improved relations with Z-Company.Potentially making our handler less of an asshole is enticing, but I think we could really use those pills.Maybe they'll help hide you from the glowing men, Nicole.
Vote locked, left it open a bit longer because I felt picking your first mission warranted a bit more time + I had to eat out with family. Writing.Funny how the first quest the schizo goes on is to find her meds.
>NEW JOB: TRACK DOWN BENJAMIN AARON. "Now, here's what I pieced together from Z-Corp's constant seething about this bastard. I want you to listen in real close." There's papers rustling in the background. "First off, he lives at an apartment block in District 14." [SEEKER OF THE CITY] There are 26 districts to this City, from A-Z, or 1-26. You currently live in District 7, a neighbor to 14. And a few others that aren't relevant right now."You would think that would be it, huh? Well, if it was as simple as that, I wouldn't be bothering to talk to you. His landlord hasn't seen him in days." The Handler shuffles through more papers. "We'll send you the location anyways." "Secondly, we have a physical description of him. Early 20s, bird nest's haircut, short, wears glasses, pale like a baby's ass." The Handler pauses for a moment. A half chuckle gurgles out of him. "Apparently wears leather gloves. Like a fucking dork." "Third, and certainly least, we have the names of two of his associates. Roland Moreau and Weston Halford. No clue where they're at but if you can find them somehow? Maybe they'll squeal like the pigs they are." [UNSTABLE] "ASSOCIATES"? WHAT A JOKE. THESE PARASITES WORK AS A COORDIANATED HORDE, THERE ARE NO GOOD ONES. EVEN THE 'NICE ONES' WILL DROP YOU LIKE YOU'RE SHIT FROM THEIR ASS. "Got that?" You're interrupted before you can answer. "Good. fuckinhearONEMOREcallfromZCORP." You can barely make out his muttering. Your eardrum nearly bursts when he starts speaking again. "SO FIND THAT FAGGOT ASAP AND GIVE HIM TO Z-CORP. PRONTO. REMEMBER. YUMMY YUMMY PILL MAN." The connection cuts off. Well then. You look over at your two allies. "So? What's the mission, boss?" Lex taps his foot against the floor with a steady rhythm. You can tell he's getting bored. "W-well! We have to track someone down. Company wants him, we find him, we get our payment. Five hundred smackaroos." You look over at Alexis. 25% cut, that's $125. So you will pocket $375.[UNSTABLE] IF WE KILL HER BEFORE THE JOB IS FINISHED, IT'S ALL OURS. BETTER TO STAB THAT BITCH FIRST. Alexis stews on what her cut's going to be. She slowly nods her head up and down. "Okay. That's good enough for me. A missing person's case?""Well, I guess so? I only got a place he lived at and some names." "Alright. I'll see what I can get. Be right back, alright?" The well dressed woman starts heading for the exit. You have no purpose staying in the bar either, so you two follow after her through the exit. "So. What now?" Lex turns his head to you. "I-I guess we'll w-wait for her to r-return.""Aight. I don't have a better idea." Lex shrugs. He leans his back against the graffiti coated wall of NICOLAS'. You do the same, wrapping your arms around yourself to stay warm. It's still early in the morning. The sun peeks out above the horizon, shining a faint yellow hue across the streets. A cloud of people, robots, and faceless Drones pass by the bar in a blur.
[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You swear you heard someone whisper to you. A cold, scared voice. "They are beautiful, are they not?" A woman, you think. Or an effeminate man.You look around at the source of the voice. It's gone. Might've just been a chunk of your mind playing tricks on you. Glancing over at Leo, you don't seen him reacting at all. Huh.Eventually, after what feels like an hour, you see a woman in her well kept business suit approach you with a briefcase in her hand.You recognize her when she's face to face with you and Lex. Alexis quickly nods her head at the two of you. "Alright. Took me a bit but I managed to wrangle some supplies out of an associate." She cracks open the briefcase and turns it to face it at the two of you.Lex whistles at the sight before him. "Damn, that quick? Guess doing this cleaner job stuff's gonna be easy with you around." He glances over at you. "Oh, and you too." He hastily adds on. You're not sure how to feel about that given you ARE the one who hired them."Sadly, we can't bring everything. You know, liabilities with new staff" Alexis lets out a breath she was holding. "So, pick what you want so I can return the rest."[UNSTABLE] WHAT A FUCKING SCAM. WE'RE PAYING YOU A HUNDRED BUCKS FOR THIS! WE SHOULD GET MORE THAN THIS, YOU GREEDY BITCH![UNSTABLE] LOOK AT ME, NICOLE. WE SHOULD KILL HER LATER. YOU KNOW IT'S THE RIGHT OPTION. GREEDY BITCHES DESERVE IT.You shake your head. You can't necessarily blame her. You look over the equipment she managed to bring over...Choose your equipment you and your party members get. (Select one for each)NICOLE>A Scrapper branded Crowbar. Useful for bludgeoning people's heads in AND B&E! (+1 TALENT and +1 VIOLENCE when equipped. Can force open certain doors or barricades.)>A standard issue Cleaner Medkit. Contains the necessary supplies to patch up minor wounds. (Has four charges. One charge heals 1 FLESH, two charges gets someone out of a Critical State.)>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)LEX>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)>A shoddy and makeshift Pistol. (Holds four bullets. Attacks made with it roll VIOLENCE and TALENT together.)>Low quality Body Armor. (Allows the user to ignore 3 sources of FLESH damage.)ALEXIS>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)>Emergency Self Defense Drone. For when a situation gets too hectic. (One time use. Activate in combat to add in a temporary party member. Easily destroyed.)>H-Corp branded Lighter. Insanely powerful for a simple zippo lighter. (Two charges, spend a charge to set most inanimate objects ablaze. Could pair nicely with your power.)
While mulling over what to pick, you have a little bit of time to talk to your party members. What do you do? Select up to three.>Bring up that weird voice you heard. Surely you couldn't have been the only one who heard it, right? (Hopefully it wasn't all in your head.)>Try to learn a bit more about them. After all, it's best to know your friends (or enemies) here. (Write in up to three questions to ask them.)>They should probably learn this sooner than later. Show off your telekinesis power to them.>Discuss a bit more about your phone call with them. Maybe they recognize the person you're hunting or his associates? Long shot but hey.>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.>Maybe it's best that they know you're a bit crazy? Try to inform them about your 'issues'. Honesty might be the best policy.>Maybe something else completely? (Write in what you want to do.)
>>5801027>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)>H-Corp branded Lighter. Insanely powerful for a simple zippo lighter. (Two charges, spend a charge to set most inanimate objects ablaze. Could pair nicely with your power.)>They should probably learn this sooner than later. Show off your telekinesis power to them.>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.>Maybe it's best that they know you're a bit crazy? Try to inform them about your 'issues'. Honesty might be the best policy.
>>5801027>UV FlashlightYOU ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON IN THE WORLD NICOLE, ONLY YOU CAN FIND HIM >Spiked Brass KnucklesEnforcer meet Punching Mitts. Can't go wrong with these. Also, good for Information gathering. >Fraudulent Agent ID. Seems strong. >>5801028>Discuss your phone call>Ask for contact infoMake sure we can contact allies and put all three heads together on the case. I hesitate to show off telekinesis because what if we start looking too lucrative to these two?
>>5801027>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)>>5801028>Bring up that weird voice you heard. Surely you couldn't have been the only one who heard it, right? (Hopefully it wasn't all in your head.)>Discuss a bit more about your phone call with them. Maybe they recognize the person you're hunting or his associates? Long shot but hey.>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.
>>5801027>>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)>>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)>>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)>>5801028>Bring up that weird voice you heard. Surely you couldn't have been the only one who heard it, right? (Hopefully it wasn't all in your head.)>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.>Maybe it's best that they know you're a bit crazy? Try to inform them about your 'issues'. Honesty might be the best policy.
>>5801027>UV Flashlight>Spiked Knuckles>Fraudulent ID>>5801028>Demonstrate our telekenesis>Get their contact info>Ask if they have any experience dealing with pharmaceutical bullshit, what they think they might expect trying to find this guy, or if they have any experience Finding PeopleDunno about evealing the Brain Damage just yet
>>5801027>A UV Flashlight. Allows you to see the otherwise invisible. (Enough charge for two charges. Spend a charge to add +2 to COGNIZANCE rolls when trying to find traces or tracks of someone.)>Spiked Brass Knuckles. Simple, effective, brutal. (+1 VIOLENCE, add an additional +1 VIOLENCE when attempting to intimidate someone.)>Fraudulent Agent ID. Flash this and people will listen. (One time use. Auto succeeds a CHARM roll when consumed.)Crowbar is tempting since it doesn't rely on charges, but we're tracking someone and we're the smartest person here, which makes it our job to do the actual 'finding him' part of the gig. Presumably we can get new batteries for the flashlight, otherwise that'd make the crowbar even more tempting as an addition to our permanent gear.Knuckles are good for getting Aaron to comply, though all of the options would be good for making Lex better at what he already does well.If Lex and our abilities aren't enough to carry us through the trials to come then I doubt a cheap drone or setting some throwable junk on fire will make much of a difference.
>>5801028>Try to learn a bit more about them. After all, it's best to know your friends (or enemies) here. (How's it going, like in general? What's their favourite drink, and does NICOLAS serve it? What do they want to spend their reward money on?)>Ask them for their contact information. It would be nice to have them on call if you need them again.>Discuss a bit more about your phone call with them. Maybe they recognize the person you're hunting or his associates? Long shot but hey.I forgot this.Revealing our powers and revealing how crazy we are is more for when we have more mutual trust. It's not good to be THAT open right away. Alexis in particular isn't someone I want knowing our powers if she turns on us or we decide to listen to the voice in our head, and because of her connections.I can't think of better questions. Just shoot the breeze, I guess.
EQUIPMENT >UV Flashlight, Brass Knuckles, Fraudulent Agent ID >QUESTIONS The ones that people mostly agree on is the phone call discussion and their contact info. There's a three way tie for the third question (Powers, Insanity, Weird Voice) but I'll default to Weird Voice, given how there's some opposition to showing off powers and your insanity.Hopefully that's fine. Rather not slow things down with too many tiebreakers unless it's actually important.Writing.
Lex doesn't hesitate for a moment to slip on the brass knuckles onto his hands. Honestly, you assumed he had some already given your general first impressions. You, meanwhile, grab a bulky hunk of plastic that you think is meant to be a flashlight. The light purple lens glimmers a bit in the morning dawn. Alexis pulls out what looks like the card of an ETF Agent. "ETF Foxtort" is the name of the supposed agent, with an image of Alexis' face on it. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] ETF Agents are Cleaners specifically hired to hunt and track down anomalies. While you may track them down as well, ETF Agents are sponsored and heavily assisted by the Companies.[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Needless to say, people tend to listen to them. "So!" You clear your throat, trying to think on where to start. "I should probably tell you about the call a bit more." "Oh? Sure, I guess. We just find a dude and punch him until he follows, right?" Lex blankly stares at you with a goofy smile. Alexis rolls her eyes. "Continue, please." She murmurs. You give a quick, short summary of your call to the two. Not that you had to summarize much, given how your Handler didn't give you a lot to work with. "So, we're probably taking a train over there, I know that much!" That's really as far as you've planned out, really. "What do you guys think?" "Not my first time dealing with this." Lex plants his foot against the wall behind him. "I say we just break into his apartment. Usually, runners don't have time to clean up everything." Alexis raises a finger as if to interrupt him but she stops. "Well, that's not a bad idea. I think there's a few issues with it." "C'mon, it's bulletproof! Hell, I bet no one will even care if we do it. All I gotta do-" Lex kicks at the air. "-is that and bam! In and out!" "Ah. But what if there's not enough clues to go off of? If a company is after him, wouldn't he try his best to not leave anything behind?" "...Well, what's your idea, smart guy?" Lex crosses his arms with a grumble. "We should talk around! Surely, he wasn't just some random recluse! At the bare minimum, the landlord had to know him, right?" Alexis stuffs her fake ID into her pocket. "We can grill him on when he last saw him!" "If that fails? Well, his neighbors surely saw or heard something, right?"You nod along. Both of their plans have their merits, you could see yourself doing either of them. Though, you have a few reservations on both...hm. You'll mull it over. "Oh, right! You guys have phones, right?" The others stare at you like you're a dumbass. You stand there, doe-eyed, with a nervous smile. "Yes." "Yes." It takes them a second to realize why you asked. You see Lex's eyes light up first. "Oh, sure!" He pulls out a hunk of junk that was probably made five decades ago. "Eh, why not." You quickly exchange phone numbers with each other. Good, good! best that you get that out of the way now. >Alexis and Lex have been added to your contacts.
You pull out your sprawling mess of a map to look for the nearest train station. The others look a bit shocked at what you pulled out. Hm, seems like there's one that's only fifteen minutes away! Alright, that's where you're going. "Onwards!" You point your finger in the direction of the train station before stomping forwards. The others shrug, following behind you. "Alright!" "Okay." The two yell and murmur respectively. The three of you walk in silence, none of you really feeling like talking. After all, you're basically still strangers to each other. There's still a question in the back of your mind though. "Hey, Lex?" You chirp out a faux-cutesy tone. "Yeah?" He looks over at you. "So, uh, while we were waiting for Alexis...I heard someone talking. Someone effeminate? Did you hear anything?" You throw the curveball of a question at him. A bizarre look crosses his face. He's deeply uncomfortable by what you just brought up...for some reason. He just turns away, not sure how to respond. Alexis turns around, clearly overhearing the conversation. "And what did this 'voice' say?" You're not sure if she's humoring you or thinks you're nuts. Maybe both? "W-well, it said something about the people passing by us being 'lovely'?" Alexis can barely hold back her laughter at what you said. "Uh huh. Seems like whoever this voice is, they're pretty stupid. Wrong kind of city for 'lovely' people, you know?" She turns away from you. You wonder why Lex reacted the way he did but...mmh. Not now. You don't have time to push any further.The three of you eventually end up at a trashy, barely held together train station. Alexis steps forward to, either in an act of kindness or pity, pay for the tickets for you three. You're not going to question it. You save money that way. The train arrives shortly after. When the three of you enter inside it, you notice how it's...empty. Huh. You'd assume there would be some cross-district commutes, wouldn't you? [PERSON OF INTEREST] Look over there. At the far left. There's that distinct glow, that shimmer. Silver on silver. [PERSON OF INTEREST] You're not alone. You are never alone. Keep an eye out on him. The others don't seem to notice. You're not sure whether that's good or bad. Regardless, the three of you eventually find yourselves a seat on the train. "...So!" You do have one more question, a casual one. You got a little bit of time to squeeze it in. "What do you plan on doing with your reward money?" Lex is the first to answer. "Rum and Cola. Some good pizzas. A nice blanket or two. That's all, really." He answers with an unusual earnestness. Simple goals, huh?Alexis takes a moment to process the question before speaking. "Paying for the equipment I borrowed. Investing into some other Agents and Cleaners." Having gotten your answer, you decide to sit there in silence. Alexis pulls out her phone to respond to some messages while Lex stares out the window of the cart in awe.
After what feels like days, you end up in District 14. The first thing that informs you of this is the fact everything seems to have the color drained out of it. Browns, blacks, greys, and whites make up 90% of the streets and buildings. The only color that stands out is gold, from the crosses hanging around outside of buildings.N-Company's District is...something, to say the least.You look over the map and where you marked down the apartment. You lead the others over to it and they follow mostly without question. Granted, you actually know what the place is.You arrive at the apartment not long after. It. It looks like shit, to be frank. Chunks are torn out of the wall, you can't see a single unbroken window, it's a whole mess. And it doesn't get much better as you two walk inside.The smell of mildew and rot hits your nose. Alexis gags, covering her mouth, while Lex's face just scrunches up. "Icky." He mutters.You take a look around at the front desk. There's a stairway leading to what you assume is the apartment floors at the back. There's some scattered chairs and tables that probably belonged to a bombed out war bunker. Oh, and at the front desk, there's a man above five times your body weight staring blankly at a porno mag. Probably the landlord.Where do you go from here, Nicole?>Go with Lex's plan. "Ask" the landlord where the apartment is so you can break into it. Cut to the chase. (DC: 18 using Lex's VIOLENCE. You'll get the apartment's location out of him regardless but succeeding will make sure he doesn't do any funny business.)>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)>Forget the landlord. Maybe you should wander around and ask the people of the apartment about him? (DC: ??, using Alexis' CHARM. Using her ID adds +10 to your final result. The higher you roll, the more information you get out of the residents.)>You don't need to talk to the landlord. Best he doesn't know you're here, even. Go up and start searching the floors one by one. (Might get the wrong kind of attention.)>Maybe the apartment isn't the right place to start. He's a pharmacist. Check your map to see what pharmacies or other medical places are, he HAD to have visited them, right? (DC: 12, using your COGNIZANCE. Succeed and you might notice something important. Failure? You waste your time.)>You got a better plan... (Write in.)
>>5801969Well either he is easily and deeply disturbed by crazies or the voice was the ghost of someone he knew, I'm guessing.And thanks for including one of my questions.>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)All the DCs are dead average, though Lex has a slightly better chance at succeeding owing to the brass knuckles. Still, I think it is better to go with the least violent options first and then follow up with the B&E and/or questing of the neighbours if we don't succeed initially, maybe even if we do succeed.
>>5801969> Check your map to see what pharmacies or other medical places are.If he's a runner, then he's run right out of here. Understandable with how the landlord is and so on. We can burn a charge on the flashlight to make the roll a 50/50.
>>5801969>>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)
>>5801969>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)
>>5801969>>Forget the landlord. Maybe you should wander around and ask the people of the apartment about him? (DC: ??, using Alexis' CHARM. Using her ID adds +10 to your final result. The higher you roll, the more information you get out of the residents.)
>>5801969>Go with Alexis' plan. Talk to the landlord what he knows about Benjamin. Anything can help. (DC: 15, using Alexis' CHARM. On a success, you'll get some useful information. On a failure, you'll likely get stone walled.)And then go from there, be it to violence or something else
Aight, seems like a solid majority is formed. I need two people to roll 2d6s and one to roll a d6, for ALEXIS' 5d6 Charm roll. I'm not going to bully you by asking five people to roll 1d6s but I also don't want one person rolling 5d6. I consider this somewhere in between.
Rolled 4, 1 = 5 (2d6)2d6, coming up.
Rolled 6, 3 = 9 (2d6)Second 2d6 roll
Rolled 2 (1d6)>>5802650
TOTAL: 16 RESULT: PASS. Noted. Will write the update soon. Might take a bit longer than usual since I have to housesit for some family friends.
>Talk to the landlord about what he knows...You nod your head at your two allies before approaching the landlord. They get the hint and follow after. Now that you're close to him, you notice something off about him. His skin tone is grey, just like the rest of the environment you've seen in this district. Reminds you of a black and white cartoon. He doesn't notice the three of you, still engrossed in the magazine. All you're willing to make out is a model named "Kate" is a prime star for some reason. You're tempted to use your telekinesis to send that damn thing flying out of his hands but, no, not now. Maybe if you had more VIOLENCE. "Excuse me, sir?" You tap on the dreary wooden desk he's sitting behind. "Mmh. Praise the Father, blessedth be his name. Do you have your rent payment?" It sounds like he's reading off a poorly written script. "We're not here for your religious stuff, man." Lex grumbles. "Sorry, sir, it'll only take a minute." Alexis speaks with a low, calm tone. The landlord glances up at Alexis. His eyes light up as he puts the magazine away. "Oh! No problem miss, I apologize! I was, uh, distracted, yes. Busy day."You look over at Alexis, actually taking a closer look at her. Long blonde hair, well kept business suit, a soft smile...doesn't look malnourished and actually has a decent body? Yeah. No wonder why. "What's the matter? Did your boyfriend run away or somethin'? If you got a name, I can check." You and Lex grimace at this display. "You know, for a lady in need." "Oh, I am looking for a certain man tonight." Alexis leans forward. "Perhaps you can help me find him. Does Benjamin Aaron ring a bell?" The landlord's good mood instantly deflates. He sinks into the chair with a sour look. "What about him? I didn't think some bimbo would be into him." Alexis closes her eyes and lets a deep sigh out before putting on a smile. "I do apologize. Perhaps later, we can talk more...privately." She winks. "You see, we're concerned that he hasn't shown up to our gatherings lately. He does live here, correct?" "Yeah, yeah. Fuckin' night owl, never really saw him much. What do you want me to say?" He shrugs. "We didn't really talk much. He paid his rent and he would fuck off to his room." Alexis steps away from the desk, mulling over what to say, before snapping her fingers and returning to the table. "Well, we heard rumors that he's gone missing." "So? Why should I-" "And if you can't help us find him, that means you have one less person paying rent here. Which means..." Alexis lets the Landlord finish the statement in his mind."...Shit. I don't have many people left, I kinda n-" He coughs, stopping himself from saying too much about his situation. "Well, sir, we're trying our best to find him!" You chirp out, adding yourself to the conversation. "If you can help us, that'll be really nice, you know?" "Fine, fine. I'll tell you what I know." You got him talking, time to listen.
"Right. Well, you can always try his apartment. Who knows where it is." The landlord starts to rattle off his factoids."Eh? How the hell do YOU not know where it is?" Lex clenches his fists. "Are you retarded or somethin'?" "Fuck you, bud." The landlord squints at Lex. "I just give them the key and they find the apartment. All I know is he likes going up high." "Alright, alright." Alexis steps in. "Well, what can you tell us about him, sir?" The presence of a non-schizoid lady calms him down a bit. "Well, he would always go to this one store around here. Ashley's General Store. Something about getting supplies?" You look down at your map. Taking a quick look, there does seem to be a store like that nearby. You mark it down a second time just to be safe. "Second, one of the neighbors made a noise complaint about him a day or two ago. Can't quite recall." The landlord scratches the side of his head. "Something about three men having an argument?" Huh. That's slightly concerning. You raise your voice as you ask your own question. "W-well, we know some friends of his. Do you happen to recognize, uh, Roland Moreau or Weston Halford?" The landlord squints at you like you're an idiot. You feel like you're gonna get a lot more looks like that in the future. "You're not from around here, right?" You look at the almost monotone haze of the room you're in, then at the landlord, then at your normal colored self. "...Took you that long to realize?" Your two allies try their best to hold in a laugh while the Landlord slumps into his chair. "Fair. Well, I don't know who Weston is, but Roland?" "I think he runs the biggest drug store around here. Not the fun kind, you know what kind." So, another pharmacist? "Ben kept crying about him the last time I saw him. Couldn't get a word out of him." "All I got left is who gave the noise complaint. Ms. Izanata, Floor right above us, first apartment you've seen." The landlord grabs his porno mag and begins flipping through it again. While you didn't get anything SUPER useful, you got some starting points to actually find him. The three of you step away from the front desk. You look over at Alexis and give her a smile. "T-thanks. For, uh, breaking the ice with him? I-it helped." "Yeaaahhh, I really just wanted to punch him. Getting kinda bored." Lex mumbles to himself. "Boring room, boring landlord, boring talk. Wish I could just punch a fuckin' anomaly or something." "Hey, this is just the start!" You wave your hands around. "N-no need to get so riled up!" "I rather not get the cops called on our first mission together, thanks." Alexis responds a deadpan, dried tone in her voice. "Just be glad we're actually succeeding so far." You got some decent leads. How do you want to continue, Nicole?
>You got a vague idea on where his apartment might be. Time to search! (COGNIZANCE check,. DC: 10 (-2 from a general idea of where it is). Waste time on failure, find it on success. May need further rolls to GET IN, however.)>Go ahead and talk to that Izanata lady. Maybe you can learn more about that 'noise complaint' and maybe some more details on Benjamin?>Might be better to go looking for that drug store the landlord was talking about. A friend of Benjamin would clearly know more about him than anyone here.>Go to the "Ashley" store. Maybe you can figure out why he had to run through what "supplies" he purchased or from asking the staff there. >You got one story out of the landlord, but maybe the other tenants will tell a different story. (Write in up to three questions to ask the tenants here. May need a CHARM check from Alexis depending on the questions.)>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You really just want to fuck with him. Use your telekinesis to send his porn mag flying. (Free action, costs 1 Restraint to use but heals 1 Restraint from the impending comedy. Unknown benefits/downsides beyond amusement.)>Write in. From now on (to reduce the clutter in the options), if an option has a skill check and doesn't say it uses a party member's stat, assume it rolls using YOUR stat.Apologies for the delay. Had to handle some rowdy dogs and the messes they cause. Gotta say, I love some rottweilers. Even if they can be assholes sometimes.
>>5802983>Go to the "Ashley" store. Maybe you can figure out why he had to run through what "supplies" he purchased or from asking the staff there.>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You really just want to fuck with him. Use your telekinesis to send his porn mag flying. (Free action, costs 1 Restraint to use but heals 1 Restraint from the impending comedy. Unknown benefits/downsides beyond amusement.)
>>5803100+1
>>5802983>>You got a vague idea on where his apartment might be. Time to search! (COGNIZANCE check,. DC: 10 (-2 from a general idea of where it is). Waste time on failure, find it on success. May need further rolls to GET IN, however.)
>Go ahead and talk to that Izanata lady. Maybe you can learn more about that 'noise complaint' and maybe some more details on Benjamin?See if we can get his apartment location from her. And if she caught any details of that argument, might prove useful.Then maybe go to the "Ashley" store after
>>5802983>You got a vague idea on where his apartment might be. Time to search! (COGNIZANCE check,. DC: 10 (-2 from a general idea of where it is). Waste time on failure, find it on success. May need further rolls to GET IN, however.)>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You really just want to fuck with him. Use your telekinesis to send his porn mag flying. (Free action, costs 1 Restraint to use but heals 1 Restraint from the impending comedy. Unknown benefits/downsides beyond amusement.)We're already here, may as well look instead of going back and forth.
We got a tie between finding the apartment and talking to Izanata. I'll wait a tiny bit longer for a tie breaker before just flipping a coin between the two
>>5804022I don't read your quest (Until this exact moment.), but I have been summoned to break a tie.We'll talk to Izanata.
Rolled 2 (1d3)>>5804052welp, I'm a dumbass who just woke up. It was a tie between the ashley store and finding the apartment. Fuck it, dice time. I apologize for my fuck up.1 = Ashely 2 = Apartment Search 3 = Izanata
Alright, again, I apologize for misreading things in a rush. I'll try to not do that again. But for now, I need two people to roll a 2d6.
Rolled 1, 1 = 2 (2d6)>>5804079Gotcha boss.
Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d6)>>5804079On it.
>SEARCH FOR BENJAMIN AARON'S APARTMENTAlright, so you know it has to be "high up". But it also has to be close enough for this "Izanata" type to hear an argument. She's on the first floor, so maybe one or two floors above that? You glance over at your allies. "Lex, follow me to the third. Alexis, explore the second. We're searching now." "I don't have any better ideas." Alexis reluctantly responds. "Hell yeah! Enough waiting around, let's get to it!" Lex is far more receptive to the prospect.Before you do, however...you decide to fuck with the Landlord. You focus on the mag in his hand as you clench your fist. A glow only perceivable by you surrounds the magazine. And with a small flick of the wrist, you send it flying. Normally, the effort of ripping an object right out of someone's hand would make your mind ever so more fractured (compared to moving it if it was unattended), but- "WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" The landlord yells out when he sees his magazine flying away, landing a solid 10 feet away from him. He scrambles over his desk like a man possessed, desperate to get it back. Alexis and Lex turn around at the commotion. You look back at them with a shrug. [UNSTABLE] THEY WON'T KNOW YOU DID IT. THEY DON'T KNOW HOW EASILY YOU CAN RIP THEM LIMB FROM LIMB. [UNSTABLE] GOOD. KEEPS YOUR CARDS TO YOUR CHEST. YOUR POWER. YOU ARE BEYOND THEM, NICOLE. "Guess he might've let it slip from his hands?" You chirp out. "I-I guess? How does it slip THAT far away, though?" Alexis tilts her head. "Pft, who cares?" Lex tries his best to hide his giggling fit. "He deserves it. If shit like this happens if I stick around, Nicky, hoo. It's gonna be a good day." >Rapport with Lex has increased slightly! Keep him entertained and he might become a more useful ally."Alright, enough fun though. Let's find that stupid apartment." Lex claps his hands. Without anything else to do (aside from watching the landlord cling to his magazine), you head up to the third floor with Lex while Alexis checks out the second floor. Once you arrive? A grey hallway with grey doors lining both of the walls. It's always grey with this apartment, isn't it? Your eyes nearly glaze over before Lex slaps you on the back. Right, apartment. [PERSON OF INTEREST] He was a runner. He would stay close to the exits. That might be too obvious, so you point to the right side of the hallway. "Check those doors. Tell me if anything's off." "Alright, boss." You start checking the doors on the left door, taking a close look of the doors to see if there's anything that stands out in the grey hellscape of an apartment. You almost wonder if you're somehow in an anomaly's den or something. >COGNIZANCE ROLL: 13. SUCCESS! You almost walked passed another door when you look down at the ground. There's a tiny splatter of something red on the ground. You turn around to look at where it leads to.
You take a few steps over to see it leads to an apartment door that's slightly crooked looking. You tilt your head to analyze what's going on here. There's tiny splatters of blood on the floor, a messed up door, and there were signs of an argument going on. Like there was a struggle. [PERSON OF INTEREST] The men in silver, they would just ambush you and suffocate you in their thousand arms. This chemist may be stronger than your Handler implies. You try to open the door in question but, as expected, it's locked. You're pretty sure this is Benjamin Aaron's apartment, though. You snap your fingers to get Lex to come over. With a quick text message and a few minutes of waiting, Alexis arrives shortly after. "So! We finally found his apartment, eh?" Lex seems really eager. If you had to suspect, he wants to break the door open. "Locked, huh? Perhaps it would be wise to try lockpicking it?" Alexis chimes in. "It might take a while and time may be essential here. But I rather not have the tenants...ask questions we don't want to answer." So, how do you want to handle the locked door? >"Lex, break that fucker open." (Auto success, given his high VIOLENCE. However, it will put you on a time crunch because of the noise. You will get a penalty to your COGNIZANCE rolls to search it) >"Alexis, go ahead and try lockpicking it." (TALENT check with Alexis' dice, DC 10. Succeed and you get in without anyone noticing. Failure may result in the door's lock getting fucked up..)>[ANOMALOUS POWER] Just rip the doorknob off with your mind.Your allies WILL notice your power usage, though. (WILLPOWER CHECK: DC 11. Succeed, you save time compared to the other methods and gain a bonus to COGNIZANCE rolls to search it.. FAILURE: You'll rip the door clean off and draw way too much attention.)>You found it, you can put a pin on it and do something else. (Talk to Izanata? Visit a location of interest? Talk to the other tenants? Write in.)
>>5804269>Alexis, lockpickWe go through the subtle way. If we fail, then get Lex to Kool Aid Man his way in.
>>5804269>"Alexis, go ahead and try lockpicking it." (TALENT check with Alexis' dice, DC 10. Succeed and you get in without anyone noticing. Failure may result in the door's lock getting fucked up..)
>>5804269>>"Alexis, go ahead and try lockpicking it." (TALENT check with Alexis' dice, DC 10. Succeed and you get in without anyone noticing. Failure may result in the door's lock getting fucked up..)
>>5804269If the door's lock gets fucked up, does that impair Lex's ability to just smash the door in?
>>5804269>Lockpick it ourselves.Isn't our talent higher? Aren't we better at it?
>>5804591>Isn't our talent higher? Aren't we better at it?Hm, now that you mention it, it is. Could've sworn Alexis' was higher or Nicole's was lower for some reason. I'll concede that I fucked up and allow you to use Nicole's talent dice if you pick the lockpicking option.I should probably make a pastebin so I can keep better track of the stats.>>5804534It wouldn't but you still lose out on the benefit of, say, not having a penalty to your COGNIZANCE roll. I apologize if I'm a bit scatterbrained. The last few days was kinda hectic for me. Hopefully less of these issues appear as we carry on.
>>5804591You're right. We got 4 TALENT and Alexis only has 3. Switch my vote here >>5804320 to>Lockpick it ourselves.
>>5804598No worries. Maybe you meant for each character to have 24 total stats? We have 26, the others have 24. Or maybe that is intended since we are a PC and? Or maybe everyone should have 26, to go with the alphabet thing?Still it makes way more sense for us to have more talent. We are an urban explorer, if we can't DIY shit better or perform parkour/backflips and lock pick better then it just doesn't make sense.If everyone should have 26, then I think maybe Lex and Alexis should have more connections? Lex for the underground, Alexis because that is her thing? Or maybe Alexis should be brought up to 3 flesh on account of her being healthier and less malnourished, with her other point going elsewhere. Lexi, I dunno, if he doesn't have connection, maybe he can be even tougher or hit harder.If we are supposed to have 24 each, then maybe take a point off our cognizance and willpower each? Or one off our restraint and one off our cognizance, to better represent our frayed mind and the fact that our knowledge/intelligence is more practically orientated?
>>5804616You having more stats than some random shmucks you picked is intentional. They are goons you hire to do things FOR you, after all. It really is just a lapse of memory because I didn't bother double checking. Also, for easier access for information (for myself and you guys) as more posts get made:https://pastebin.com/3y638TfK (MAIN CHARACTER SHEET) https://pastebin.com/A9nLYWP6 (MECHANICS) https://pastebin.com/8gdVZBPe (ALLIES AND THEIR STATS)Have this apology Vib for the troubles. (Gotta say, the QM who introduced me to this rabbit has great tastes.)
>>5804269Alright with all this in mind,>Lockpick it ourselves
>>5804623man, reading through this qst has given me inspiration to kick my collective quest back into it. thanks, anon.
Alright, lockpicking it yourself seems to be the winning vote. Two anons, roll 2d6, as per usual. DC 10.>>5804930Huh, really? Well, I'm glad I helped motivate you, anon. Just remember: If you're not having fun, don't bother writing the quest.
Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)>>5804980Rollin'
Rolled 6, 6 = 12 (2d6)>>5804980
"Alright, Alexis, go ahead an-" [SEEKER OF THE CITY] This is not the first time you've broken into a place, remember? Or did your mind fracture enough to forget that?"...lemme do it." You correct yourself. Alexis tosses you a few hairpins she was holding before you changed your tune. It doesn't take long for you to twist and turn it into a makeshift lockpick. "Lame." Lex leans against the wall next to the door you're going to lockpick. "Do we really have to do this? We're wasting time." "Do you WANT the cops to come running over here? W-we don't have a warrant for this, you know!" Alexis whisper-shouts. Lex simply rolls his eyes at the comment.You rub the side of your head. God, you're going to get a migraine. Oh well, time to force this thing open. You start fiddling around with the lock, trying to get the pins to click into place. >TALENT CHECK: 20!Before you even realize what you're doing, your fingers move all on their own. A small CLICK! informs you that you managed to unlock the door. Alexis just looks befuddled at how quickly you did it. "I-how? What?" "...Not my first rodeo." You shrug. With a simple push, the door creaks open. You gesture at Lex to enter first. He does so as you and Alexis follow behind him. https://youtu.be/xo65v1kTRZA - APARTMENT THEME The first thing the three of you notice in here is that it's an absolute mess in here. Somehow, your apartment looks better than this. The room you just entered (the living room, you think) has notes covering it from floor to ceiling with barely any furniture besides a lazyboy and a coffee table. The door to his bedroom has been kicked in, though you can't see much else from where you're standing. You can see the kitchen in here, given it seems to be part of the living room... And it's also a mess. Half eaten food and drink is left all over the counters. The fridge is plastered in notes that seem pretty illegible to you. Empty pill bottles litter around the kitchen sink. And, as if you approach to try getting a better look of things, the pungent smell of potent chemical cleaner causes you to stumble back. Now that you think about it, the whole place smells like it's laced in chemicals. Almost reminds you of the science class you had back as a kid, when you were working in a lab.The main thing that seems to catch your attention, though? At the back of the apartment, near the kitchen, is a broken in window."Hoo boy." Alexis rubs the bridge of her nose. "I'm starting to think this isn't a 'runner'." "This place is a fucking pigstay." "It's pigsty, Lex." "Shut up, I was right the first time." "No, you weren't." [PERSON OF INTEREST] He was cornered, surrounded. He could not run if he wanted to. You could be next.You're in his den now. You can probably get a good idea of either why he disappeared or where he is, if you know where to look.
What's your plan, Nicole? Pick up to two.>Try reading through the notes scattered all over the place. Maybe there's something of relevance? (DC 15 COGNIZANCE check. You'll get a good idea on who targeted him and why.)>Check out that broken window. Maybe there's a trail? (DC 12 COGNIZANCE check. You'll get a clue on where the intruder(s) could've came from.)>Check out his bedroom. Why? Well, you know, you did pick this mission for the meds... (If picked, roll 2d100 to determine what you recover.)>Use your UV Flashlight to try detecting anything of note, to see what your eyes can not. (DC 22 COGNIZANCE check with 6d6. You'll get a pretty good idea on who was here and what happened on a success.)>[UNSTABLE] Call it paranoia but you feel like you should be alone during your search. Tell the other two to stay outside and keep guard.>You should probably tell someone about this, maybe they would know more? (Ask Izanata about it? The Landlord? Write in what you want to tell them and who you're telling.)>Write in.
>>5805061Can we assign the others to different tasks?
>>5805061>CHECK BATHROOM FOR MEDS>ASK GOONS FOR HELP WITH SEARCHING FOR NOTES"What do I pay you for? Give me a hand, guys."
>>5805066You can but their cognizance is lower than yours, so they'll have a harder time passing a check compared to doing it yourself. (2 for Lex, 3 for Alexis, compared to your 4)Feel free to assign them to do a task if you think they can handle it, though. I say if you assign BOTH to a stat check choice, you can combine their cognizance for that roll (total of 5d6)Or you can assign one to do a non-stat check choice so you can focus on the stat checks yourself.
>>5805061>>Check out his bedroom. Why? Well, you know, you did pick this mission for the meds... (If picked, roll 2d100 to determine what you recover.)>>Use your UV Flashlight to try detecting anything of note, to see what your eyes can not. (DC 22 COGNIZANCE check with 6d6. You'll get a pretty good idea on who was here and what happened on a success.)Send our friends to check the notes
>>5805070Hey, what are the mechanics for getting all three of us on one task? Add Xd6 for each bloke participating?
>>5805348I'll probably regret setting this precedent later but for now, here's the rules for allies assisting in a stat check. For every 2 points they have in a stat, they can assist you with a check involving that stat for +1d6. So, +2d6 from the smooth brained Lex and the average smarts Alexis.This can only be done for certain actions that would allow for cooperation to make sense. So, for instance, three people trying to charm one person at once probably wouldn't work. They can't assist you to do a TALENT roll to do a perfect landing after you fell from five stories. They can only assist so much.
>>5805255Let's go with this
>>5805061Support >>5805255
>>5805255Support
I should talk to other people about freezing.
>>5805255+1
Alright, since we got a lot of dice to roll, I'll simply ask for two people to roll a 1d100, one to roll 6d6, and one to roll 5d6.No DC for the 2d100s.22 for the 6d6. 15 for the 5d6.
Rolled 56 (1d100)>>5805989
Rolled 34 (1d100)>>5805989
Rolled 3, 6, 6, 4, 4, 2 = 25 (6d6)>>5805989
Rolled 3, 1, 6, 4, 4 = 18 (5d6)>>5805989Rollan.
Successes for the stat checks, middling rolls for the loot. Writing.
[UNSTABLE] DON'T YOU DARE! THEY'RE GOING TO LIE, TRICK YOU, BETRAY YOUR TRUST! YOU'RE A SMART GIRL. DO NOT DO THIS- "Alexis, Lex." You point towards the notes scattered all over the place. "Read through them. Tell me if there's anything important in them." You shush the voice in your head. You hired them for a reason, after all. "Aye aye, captain!" Lex puts on a smile that's a bit too happy for the grueling labor you assigned him. Alexis doesn't bother responding as she starts digging through the papers. As for you? Well, it's not like he NEEDS everything here. You're just tasked with FINDING him later, right? After making sure your allies are busy looking through the paperwork, you enter his bedroom. It's almost the same as the one back at your apartment. Bed, desk, closet, and television. The one thing different you notice immediately is that the bed is different. It's about twice the size of yours and actually looks like a bed instead of something fit for a prison cell. It also seems new, as if he brought a bigger bed in here for some reason. Hm. No one said anything about him living with someone else. You'll put a pin in this later in case it becomes relevant. For now, you have one mission: to find meds. Or anything else of value, really, you're not picky. You check underneath the bed. Nothing there. What about the desk? There's only torn up notes and empty pill bottles. Television? It's a television. You do a quick double check of these locations to make sure you're not missing anything but yeah, nothing. All you have left is the closet. You open it up. There's about a dozen white shirts and work jeans hanging up in it. That's about it, at first glance, so you're about to close it before you notice something. Some of the breastpockets on the shirts seem to have something in them. You look through the pockets and hoo boy, you found some neat stuff in them. You empty out all of them before taking stock of what you managed to find. LOOT ACQUIRED>A loose Sinsul pill. (Heals for 1 FLESH when consumed. Simple as.)>A pair of Gorilla Grip gloves. For when you absolutely can't lose your grip. (+1 TALENT when climbing something and when resisting a disarm attempt.)>A tablet of Zanal. Fishy smelling but highly potent. (When consumed, grants +1 to all stats for a short duration. When it wears off, -1 to all stats for a short duration.)You stuff them into your own pockets. Not exactly the best haul but anything is better than nothing, you know? Right as you're done searching, you hear Lex call out for you. "Hey! We found some interesting shit!" You exit the bedroom to see what the hubba is about. The brick shithouse holds a crumpled ball of notes in his hands while Alexis is busy arranging the notes she found in a neat and tidy order. "There was a lot of rambling and chemical nonsense but we found some really interesting stuff!" You're not sure he actually knows what he found. He drops the notes he found onto the table.
"It was a mess, really." Alexis smooths out the crumpled up papers. "But, yeah, read them for yourself." There's about five different pieces of paper they managed to gather. You start skimming through them to see what stands out. "Went to Ashley's after meeting with Max, she seems to be doing well. Tried to gather more extracts. Hard to get what I need in this District, might need to go to that warehouse for another shipment. Don't like talking to them, though." "Tried to negotiate with them for another shipment. Told me I already owned them two thousand for the last one. I tried to explain that my Cleaner job wasn't working out. Negotiations went south. Need new supplier.""Kept running into the warehouse guys. Friendly guys, really insistent on the money. Keep telling them I'm sorry, though. One followed me a long while. He chatted with me a lot." "Anomaly hunting was a bust. Apparently, the Handler sent me something way about my paygrade. Damn crash test dummy nearly tripped my arm off. Running out of medication, NEED SUPPLIES NOW! Running out of money, missions are getting too hard." "Tried talking to Roland and Weston. Wouldn't give me the time of day but told me to stay. Said something about corporate scum not being allowed. The men from the warehouse came in. Ran. Surely, Roland had a reason, right? Weston had to as well. I can still trust them, right?" You put down the pieces of paper. He fell in with the wrong crowd and paid the price for it, huh? They keep saying something about a warehouse and some men who work there. Interesting. You have one last thing to check here. You pull out your UV Flashlight and flick it on, casting the whole room in a haze of purple light. >-1 CHARGE Alexis covers her eyes while Lex stands there with a confused look. You notice that Lex's outfit is glowing a nice shade of blue in the light. Blood stains. "Ah, right, I did give you that." Alexis lowers her hands. "You know, you can say thank you." She nods her head towards the notes she helped to compile. You give a thumbs up and a forced smile. You hope that's good enough for her. "Eugh." It wasn't. Oh well, searching time! Your goal is to find anything that stands out in the UV haze... >SEARCH CHECK: 25! SUCCESS. First thing you notice is splatters of something on the door the three of you entered through, alongside a nasty looking crack. Seems like a scuffle went down at the front door. A few fingerprint shaped blobs of blood cling to the wall next to the door. Someone got their hand stuck. A set of four footprints trail from the door over to the living room, where you three are standing at. Two sets of footprints leads to the bedroom while the other two head to the broken window. Four people total, one had to be Benjamin. So three other people came in. You track over to the bedroom to see...oh. That's a lot of bright blue flooding the bedroom floor. That's...not good.
You flinch when you hear a gasp behind you. You turn around to see that it's Alexis, who's seeing the same thing you did. Ah. A trail of blood leads from the bedroom over to the floor right in front of the window. Pointing the flashlight outside of it right as the final bits of your first charge dies out, you see a blood trail going down the fire escape stairs right outside the window. Down into the streets below. This was a kidnapping if you've ever seen one. And you got a few suspects. Your nerves rush with a mixture of adrenaline, fear, and something else. You look towards the others with a wild grin. Alexis steps away from you while Lex flashes an equally vicious grin. "I think we're getting close to solving this job." You murmur to yourself. Alexis relaxes a bit once she realizes why you're grinning. "Oh thank god. I want to get out of here anyways." Alexis taps her foot against the floor. "Rather not be stuck in this crime scene any longer than I have to."Seems like the situation is a bit more serious than you would've expected. What's the plan now, Nicole? >Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward. >You NEED to talk to those two associates. The notes said they work at the same pharmaceutical store and you got decent blackmail material to make them talk.>Go to that Ashley's store. If nothing else, you could try asking the staff there where this "warehouse" is. Maybe you'll get some help as well if Ben was trusted there.>Contact your Handler. You have a question or two to ask. (Free action, though you may need to make a CHARM check depending on what you ask. Write in.)>Exit the room and tell the Landlord about the crime scene in one of his apartments. You might be able to get him to help you out with your mission, if only to keep your mouth shut.>Write in.
>>5806182>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward.
>>5806182>>You NEED to talk to those two associates. The notes said they work at the same pharmaceutical store and you got decent blackmail material to make them talk.
>>5806182>You NEED to talk to those two associates. The notes said they work at the same pharmaceutical store and you got decent blackmail material to make them talk.>Exit the room and tell the Landlord about the crime scene in one of his apartments. You might be able to get him to help you out with your mission, if only to keep your mouth shut.If only to cause him even more distress, even if he's not useful. We'll probably pass by him on the way out, anyway
>>5806182>>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward.
>>5806182>Out the window and follow the blood trail. You'll be rushing in blind but it's the quickest way forward. Time is of the essence in a kidnapping, we don't need more clues on where he went unless we lose the trail. If there's trouble we otherwise could've learned about with more caution and questioning then we'll just plow through it.
"Let's get going!" You throw yourself through the window without any regards. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] You've done this before. Usually, in a rush to get out of somewhere when someone or SOMETHING was out to get you. You land on your feet immediately, rushing down the fire escape stairs before the others notice what you're doing. "Woah, hold on, Nicky!" "What the fuck?" Your two allies lag behind with their attempts to get out of the window. They can catch up later, you have a MISSION to complete. You have a TRAIL of CRIMSON to follow. The pitter patter of your feet stomping past the snow-free streets of District 14 is all your mind needs. Your eyes focus on the stains on the floor. Crimson is your guide forward. Take a turn there, take another turn there. Your legs move on their own, dead set on finding Benjamin. You only slow down when you hear footsteps following behind you. "Nicole! Slow down!" You turn around to see Alexis huffing and puffing, trailing behind you. Lex is a bit better at keeping pace with you but he's still pretty behind. You turn around to keep rushing after the fading trail. It must've been recent because you still see specks of red on the ground in front of you. You feel like you would've lost it if you hadn't acted as quickly as you did. "Father Above, fucking slow down already!" Alexis calls out to you while desperately trying to keep pace with you. Another turn. Another turn. Yet another turn. Specks of that delicious crimson pushing you forward. Your legs eventually stop once the trail goes cold. Your body is exhausted from your mad dash. You lean against the wall next to you, nearly dry heaving onto the sidewalk. It takes a few minutes for your two allies to finally catch up with you. "Fucking hell, what got into you? You ran like you were possessed!" Alexis isn't doing much better than you. Meanwhile, Lex walks up to you two like he was just doing a light jog instead of dashing after a women possessed. "Hoo, where are we, even?" Lex spins his head around. You don't actually know that. You raise your head up to see you're in front of some random abandoned building that might've been a business. That's not the important one. Across the street, tucked away between two abandoned office buildings, is a shoddy looking warehouse. Rust covers every inch of its exterior that you can see. A few empty boxes are littered outside as well.The few windows you can spot on its exterior have been boarded up, likely to prevent any break ins. The front entrance, from what you can see, has been shuttered off. Two guards with a similar build to Lex stand in front of it. Aside from some batons on their waistbands and some shoddy body armor, they don't seem too threatening in the grand scheme. Well, that's what you would say but you notice one of the guards is holding a leash. Your eyes drift to see what it's attached to and-What the fuck is that thing? Whatever it is, it's not a guard dog.
It reminds you of a stick bug. Its limbs are sharp and jagged, bent in weird and awkward angles. Violent shakes and tremor flood its body as it looks around, desperately looking for something to attack. Its black carapace has several cracks over it from what you can assume is previous fights it has gotten into. A red, way too human looking eye pierces out of its squashed triangle shaped head. >Feel free to make a DC: 15 WILLPOWER check to figure out what the FUCK that thing is. Two anons, roll 2d6. Succeeding it might give you relevant information. Failure? You'll get nothing."Huh, it's kinda cute." Lex notices the weird bug thing you're staring at. You can't really agree but that's besides the point. Alexis snaps her fingers to get the two of you to pay attention. "How are we gonna approach this? I don't think I wanna get into a fight with them if we can get away with it." Alexis glances back and forth between you and the guards. "I think we spent enough time talking. I was hired for a reason, wasn't I?" Lex scoffs. "C'mon. Enough pussy footing around. Let's just break in." You glance back at the warehouse. You're close to your goal now but you don't really have any idea how to proceed from here. What's your plan, Nicole? You know that Benjamin has to be in there. The money and meds you're promised for completing the job are so tantalizingly close....>"Stay cool. We can just 'talk' to them." Try to convince the guards to let you in. It might need a bit more than a wave and a smile... (Write in. What you say will determine the CHARM DC.) >"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)>[UNSTABLE] "Let's beat up some motherfuckers already." Just approach them and rip those fuckers to shreds. (Starts a COMBAT ENCOUNTER.)>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You see some empty boxes. Send them flying (-1 RESTRAINT if you pick it. DC 18, rolling your VIOLENCE and WILLPOWER together. Pass and you'll knock them out before anyone can respond. Failure will start the COMBAT ENCOUNTER with a penalty to your side.)>Write in. (Use any items? Try a different plan? Go somewhere else?)
Rolled 2, 5 = 7 (2d6)>>5807305>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)
Rolled 5, 3 = 8 (2d6)>>5807305Rollan for WTF is this. >"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through.
>>5807305>[UNSTABLE] "Let's beat up some motherfuckers already." Just approach them and rip those fuckers to shreds. (Starts a COMBAT ENCOUNTER.)
>>5807312>>5807318>WILLPOWER CHECK: SUCCESSFUL You've heard rumors about these kinds of bugs before. 'Firecrackers', you recall. Specially bred by a joint effort of Q-Company and V-Company as guard animals. It produces highly flammable compounds and can easily inflict 3rd degree burns when attacking someone. You notice that the leash around its neck seems like a standard dog leash, not exactly the best for this kind of creature.
>>5807305>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)
Suggest supplementing the quiet way in with:>Write-in>[ANOMALOUS] That Firecracker's a powder keg in clumsy hands. Rip the leash from away from the handler and whap the Firecracker with itFocuses attention to the door while we look around, should be less demanding than box-throwing, tides Lex over for now.
>>5807429It works for the fighting approach too.
>>5807305These all seem like entirely viable options. However, with >>5807322 in mind, I'll support >>5807429 combined with>"Stay cool. We can try finding a way in without fighting." Scout the building for any entrances you can sneak through. (DC 16 COGNIZANCE check. Success and you'll sneak in without being noticed, potentially getting a drop on who's inside. Failure? Well, you get spotted.)I will note that unless the write-in gives us 2 dice or we use the flashlight, we'll have to roll slightly above average to succeed. Or pretty well above average if we get no bonus dice.
Noting that the personality of Benjamin's notes is a strong match for the Ben A. in character select. Doesn't help at the moment, but him being Open Minded to the supernatural may present an opportunity. Communicate with him via the invisible glow of our telekinesis, perhaps.
>>5807854I'm almost certain they are the same person and I'm pretty sure everyone already assumed that. That same post you mention explicitly says that it's a small world for our industry.I would not be at all surprised if the Max mentioned in Benjamin's notes is the Aristocrat from the character selection.
So, the winning vote seems to be try sneaking in. Here's how I'll handle the write in. We'll do the standard "two anons, roll 2d6" and if you pass, you get in. Simple as. If you don't, you can roll an extra 2d6 because of the distraction but you lose -1 RESTRAINT because of your powers. So, two anons, roll 2d6.Update might be a bit delayed because I'm eating out with family later but we'll see if I can get it out on time (rather not mobilepost)
Rolled 6, 1 = 7 (2d6)>>5808061
Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d6)>>5808061
1 off, anyone one to roll again?
Rolled 6, 5 = 11 (2d6)>>5808074Sure.
Rolled 6, 2 = 8 (2d6)Whap the pupper
>>5808086We already had someone roll for the whap check but I'll take this anyways to determine how comedically funny the whap will be. 8/12, so it's up there.Writing.
"Alright, so we're going to sneak in." You nod to yourself at your incredibly smart plan. Alexis and Lex look at each other before back at you. "Wouldn't they spot us?" Alexis points at the guards and Firecracker. "It's the middle of the morning, we stand out like a sore thumb." "So what if they spot us? We can just kill them." Lex states with the same matter-of-factness of an office worker talking about his day. "Right, like that's a smart idea. Cause a bunch of noise, get injured, back up arrives! That's an excellent idea!" While the two are busy arguing with each other, you start focusing on the Firecracker's leash. A light lavender glow only visible to your ilk starts surrounding it. You clench your hand as you begin to influence the world through mere thoughts. The guard notices the odd pulling on his leash. He assumes it's just the Firecracker and pulls harder. You hear a tinny "YELP" from the bug. Ah, it's already getting agitated. With one swift flick of the wrist, you rip the leash out of the guard's hand. >Your head throbs. -1 RESTRAINT "What the fuck?!" The guard who previously had a leash stumbles back with confusion and fear. The guard next to him is about to yell at him before looking at the levitating leash. And with a flick of your wrist, you smack the Firecracker a few dozen times with its own leash. One or two would've worked but you just wanted to be extra sure. The crackling noises coming from the bug reminds you of a raging fire. Before anyone has time to react, the Firecrackers start attacking its owners with roaring fury. "Wait, how did it float-" Alexis questions the seemingly impossible thing that happened while Lex has stars in his eyes. He is eating this up. "I don't know but I'm loving it!" "Hurry." You gesture at the two to follow you. You can already see the fight is either going to end with someone being killed, so it's not going to buy too much time. The three of you cross the street as the guards desperately beat the bug with their batons. Nasty burns are already developing on their hands while more and more cracks form on the Firecracker. [UNSTABLE] It's kinda cute, isn't it? This tiny little bug that can just rip people into shreds, it's adorable! A perfect pet. You shake your head. Guh. Not now. The three of you begin to circle around the warehouse to find any openings that you can squeeze yourselves through. All you need is a single open window"Seriously, the fuck was that?" Alexis whisper yells at you. There's a conflicted look on her face, still dwelling on the anomalous feat that just happened moments ago. "I know my mind shouldn't be focusing on that but..." "Shh. It was funny." Lex waves her off, not at all questioning what happened. Alexis grumbles something that you can't quite make out but she's giving you a weird look now. It's not anger or anything but analyzing? Assessing? Like she sees a potential asset. Hopefully she doesn't connect the dots.
>FINDING A WAY IN: 26 ROLL. SUCCEED!After circling around the building for what seems like an hour, you notice something peculiar. There's an oddly placed piece of scrap metal leaning against the back of the warehouse. You would've completely glossed it over because it's painted to be the exact same hue of grey as the wall in question. Yet, you can JUST barely notice the slight difference compared to the rest of the wall.It is also way too big and heavy for you to move without using your powers, so you tap Lex on the shoulder. He tilts his head like a confused animal. "Yeah? What's the matter, Nick?" You walk over to where the scrap metal is and push on it slightly to show Lex where it is. "This. Not wall. Help me move it?" You hope he gets the idea. "Ah!" Thankfully, he does. He gestures at Alexis to come help at well and, with some reluctance, she does. The three of you begin to push the heavy sheet of scrap metal. Once it's out of the way, you can see what it was covering. A hole in the wall. Just big enough for you three to squeeze through. "Good eye." Alexis actually sounds impressed by you for once. "I wouldn't have expected you to notice it. Hell, I didn't." You simply nod along before you start squeezing through the hole. You get in easily thanks to your smaller build, so does Alexis, but Lex has to take a while longer to squeeze in given his sheer girth. You have time to kill thanks to that distraction earlier, though.Once inside, you take a look at your surroundings. You're in a storage room it seems. Shelves line the walls from top to bottom, boxes stuffed with god knows what filling every possible space. It smells like urine, chemicals, and blood and frankly, taking a closer look at the floor? There's stains here you don't want to think too hard about.There's only a single door leading out of the room, so you approach it and carefully open it. You make damn sure it doesn't squeak and blow your cover. Your allies follow behind while you peer around the corner...and you notice the last room was connected to what seems like the main room of the warehouse. The ceiling overwhelms you with how high it goes up, at least a solid thirty feet high. Shelves as far as your eyes can see are scattered throughout. The only thing keeping this place lit up is an intensely strong light coming from a single light bulb from the top of the ceiling. Besides the shelves, the main thing you notice is several tall, burly men standing around some sort of mad scientist looking chemistry set. Your brain doesn't take long to guess that's probably some sort of drug lab. "Lord above, we're dealing with drug smugglers?" Alexis whispers, trying not to get their attention. Lex leans in to take a closer look before shaking his head. "Nah. I think they're making their own supplier. You can guess why." The main entrance door slides open, catching the attention of everyone, including your group.
The two guards from earlier are standing there looking like they were just hit by a molotov. Massive burns cover their hands and faces with their uniforms being charred black in several places. The Firecracker has been killed or knocked out cold since it's not moving.Three of the burly men surrounding the drug lab equipment begin to approach the guards, leaving only one behind to guard a thin and scrawny looking man. You squint. Hold on a minute. Bird nest hair. Glasses. Wearing leather gloves. Really pale skin. Dried blood coating his forehead from an open wound. That's your target. "B-Boss! Someone's attacking us!" One of the horribly burnt guards yells out. "M-my leash s-started floating and t-then it hit the Firecracker a-and it got ang-angry an-" He proceeds to get slapped hard by the biggest and tallest man of the group. You take a closer look at him. He's adorned in a checkered red and black jacket with some sort of weird symbol on it. He's at least a solid seven foot given how he seems to tower over everyone else. His scarred face is covered in gaudy tattoos that you think are supposed to be scary looking. He glares down at the guard before he begins yelling at him, spittle flying out of his mouth. "Are you fucking retarded? Floating leashes? I'm sorry, are you fucking pulling my leg?" The gangboss (you assume) grabs the guard's collar. "I thought it was impossible for someone to be so fucking stupid, they couldn't even guard a door!" The guard hisses in pain at the physical contact. "N-no, seriously, s-sir! I-I s-saw a weird lady moving her hands r-really weird and-" He gets a slap to the face. The three of you hiss in unison. That couldn't have felt good given the burns on his body. "And you fucking killed the Firecracker! DO YOU FUCKING KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COSTS?!" The gangboss trembles with a rage you have not seen in a person in ages. "I HAVE HALF THE MIND TO RIP YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!" Everyone here is watching this spectacle unfold...except for one man. Benjamin. He's just working away at his little lab with an unusually upbeat smile on his face. It's like he doesn't even know what's going on. He's lost in his own little world. Everyone's distracted by the shitshow going down. The gang members aren't heeding any of the guard's advice either.Now, you have to somehow get Benjamin to notice you and sneak over OR deal with the gang members so you can leave. You don't have to kill them, you just need to get him out of here and to somewhere safe. From where you're standing at (right next to the door leading to the hole in the wall), you're about a solid thirty to four feet away from Benjamin. So you can't exactly whisper at him to come over... What's your next plan, Nicole? If you can get him out of here, the mission is essentially done. You'll be in the home stretch.
>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)>Fuck it, just jump them! (Enters a COMBAT ENCOUNTER. You'll get a sneak attack advantage given they're distracted)>[ANOMALOUS ABILTIES] It'll take a lot of effort but your powers are useful for surprise attacks. Send a bunch of the boxes from nearby shelves flying towards the gang members. (-2 RESTRAINT, DC 21 WILLPOWER + VIOLENCE check. If you pass, you'll knock out or heavily injured most of the gang members. If not, some will be injured but it's likely this place will go on high alert.>Try to subtly use your powers to get his attention. (Write in how you want to do this. Depending on what you do, you might need to make a willpower check.)>Write in. (Use any items? Think up another plan? Tell your allies to do something else?)Sorry for the delayed update, was busy being dragged out by my family. Had a nice time though.
>>5808267>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)>Have Alexis use her ETF ID.We're in the home stretch, the card is an autosuccess according to the original prompt, or +10 back in the apartment, either way, with Alexis's charm it is an easy win. If we can't convince Benny boy then Lex wanted a fight anyways, it's just six guys, two of whom are injured and poorly equipped. We can take em with our abilities.
>>5808267>>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)
>>5804623>that vibI'm gonna insert something allright. I won't be playing trash either with the sounds that'll be made. :^)
>>5808267>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)There's 2 burned guards, 2 burly guys, 1 gang boss, 1 Ben guard. I really want to bash some skulls in with Lex so he doesn't hate us. Maybe Alexis pulls people to the front as distraction, while Lex goes ham on the guys in here, then him and Nicole gank the outside ones as they walk in. Z CORP will want these fucks punished for kidnapping somebody they value, won't they?
>>5808267>"Alexis, go back to the front and distract them for a bit, would you?" (DC: 17 CHARM check with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll be able to close the distance between you and Benjamin to try talking to him while the rest are distracted. Failure will likely lead to Alexis getting into hot water.)>Have Alexis use her ETF ID.
>>5808267>>Fuck it, just jump them! (Enters a COMBAT ENCOUNTER. You'll get a sneak attack advantage given they're distracted)
Alright, the winning vote is for Alexis to distract them but people are torn between using the ID or not (only 2 said they wished to use it.) Do you want to use the ID or do you want to save it for a future mission?>USE NOW. >KEEP FOR LATER
>>5808918>KEEP FOR LATER
>>5808918>USE NOW. Alexis can always get new gear anyways, especially as we grew more useful to her and she can lean on her connections more. Presumably she won't give us the card after this mission if we don't use it, so it's only good if we bring her on an appropriate mission. If we need other stuff then we also have our caches as well, no need to horde.
>>5808918>USE NOW
>>5808918>USE NOW.
"Alexis. Go back to the front and distract them, okay?" You whisper to her. She nods as she turns back around to head through the hole in the wall. You can only hope she succeeds here. You and Lex wait in your hiding spot, watching the argument of the gang members and guards continue. It doesn't take long for Alexis to return to the front of the entrance. You can tell Lex is getting antsy but he has the self awareness to not run out and demand a fight. For now. The two of you look back at the entrance to see Alexis shouting at the guards. "ATTENTION! MAY I HAVE EVERYONE'S ATTENTION, PLEASE?" Her barks quickly get the attention she wants. The man in the checkered jacket lets go of the guard he was harassing. "What do you want, bitch?" He scoffs with a look of utter disdain on his face. "You're not exactly the type my men like." She pulls out the ETF agent card and flashes it towards the crowd. "I AM AGENT FOXTORT! If I was you, I would listen and answer some questions I have for all of you." She does his best impression of a serious, battle hardened Agent voice. >-ETF Card>CHARM check AUTOPASS!"O-oh!" The Gangboss stumbles back a bit. "I-I apologize, miss. W-we're not doing anything wrong, are we boys?" He glares daggers at the men surrounding him. All of them try their best to stay cool and professional. "YES SIR." "UH HUH!" "YEPPO." "YIP!" "YES SIR!" Everyone, including the man still standing near Ben, has their focus deadset on Alexis. The one guarding Ben starts slowly walking over to the rest. He's clearly more interested in what's going on over there.You two take this moment to start rushing over to Benjamin. You're not sure how long she can keep them distracted but it should be enough to get him out of here.The two of you pass by the man guarding Ben, who's too focused on the woman screaming that she's an ETF agent to pay attention to either of you. Though you notice Lex stumbling, staring at the back of the man's head. You can tell he desperately wants to cave his head in. Do you allow him? >YES (Auto success because of his high VIOLENCE and it being a sneak attack. Will improve his RAPPORT with you, potentially improving his skill set. The other gang members will probably go on high alert on seeing the dead body, though.) >NO (DC 6 CHARM check. Pass and he'll hold his bloodlust, allowing for a smooth escape later. Fail and he'll attack anyways without the rapport bonus.)Regardless of what you do to the guard, you keep pushing forward until you reach Benjamin. He's too busy paying attention to his little chemistry set to notice anything going on. You tap him on the shoulder. He jumps back with a yelp that's thankfully muffled by Lex covering his mouth with his hands. The thin man with a bird nest hairdo stares at the two of you with a wide flurry of emotions on his face. "Hello. We would like to talk to you for a moment." You gesture at Lex to uncover his mouth.
Benjamin stares at the two of you with a flurry of conflicting emotions on his face before he flashes a stupidly wide grin. "Oh, hey, new friends!" [PERSON OF INTEREST] He's way too trusting of you. The men in silver wouldn't even have to hide around him. What a fool. "I'm a bit busy now! My other friends told me they REALLY need me to make some Sinsu and, well, they're pretty pushy on me staying here!" Lex just squints at Ben like he's a total dumbass. "Dude, we need you to come with us. Like, right now, if you don't mind?" He gestures in the direction of where your escape is. "Well, I don't want to disappoint them! Surely, they'll let me go after I give them some. You know how needy people can be about the meds they want!" Benjamin coos. "If you don't mind, I'm a bit busy here." What the fuck? You don't think he understands the situation he has gotten himself in. Though, as you look at him closer, you see a nasty gash across his forehead that still trickles a bit of blood here or now. He might actually have a fucking concussion. You're so close to your goal. You just need to find a way to make him come with you that hopefully doesn't involve him kicking and screaming. You try to figure out a way to convince him. How do you convince him to come with? Pick up to three. You won't know which ones will work the best, you're kinda in the dark about him. >Tell him why you're actually here. "Z-Company wanted us to pick you up. They really want you to work with them! C'mon, a big company wants YOU!" >"Max misses you. She hasn't seen you in a while and I bet she's worried!" You have no idea what their relationship is. Hopefully they're close. >"Roland told me that he wants to see you. He wants to apologize. Weston too." Hopefully he was close to his associates.>"Your landlord hasn't seen you in a while and he wants his rent money. Just come with me so we can figure out a way to calm him down." >Try to convince him he's with the wrong crowd. "These dudes KIDNAPPED you. They're not going to let you go.">Show off your telekinesis. Lex will also see it. "I have magic powers. If you follow me, I can teach you how to get them." >Tell him you're also a Cleaner and you want his assistance. "Look. I need meds. I can offer you more than those other dudes. Trust me here." >You have something else to say to him. (Write in.)
>>5809121>YES (Tell him to drag the body somewhere out of sight.)If that can't be done because he is just smacking him quickly and coming to help us with Benjamin then I guess I'm fine with either a yes or a no. Kinda a waste of the card only to get into a fight now, but at least this way we can probably get a head start on an escape with the guards out of position. Committing to a full on brawl would definitely be a waste of the card though, and the medicine required to restore our restraint.>>5809123>Show off your telekinesis. Lex will also see it. "I have magic powers. If you follow me, I can teach you how to get them." >Tell him you're also a Cleaner and you want his assistance. "Look. I need meds. I can offer you more than those other dudes. Trust me here.">Have Lex get him moving to our exit while we talk, don't just stand around trying to convince him.Don't mention other people or the company. We don't know who he trusts, I'm guessing not the company that hired us, if he trusted them then they could just hire him themselves through normal channels instead of hiring us to kidnap him. Likewise, it sounds like he owes a lot of people money and isn't too hot at this Cleaner shit, so he's likely perceived as unreliable.Luckily he is pliable and seems like a nice guy, plus he likes the supernatural. Offer to open a door into the unknown for him and tell him we need his help (true) and he should be more than agreeable.
>>5809171>(Tell him to drag the body somewhere out of sight.)You can tell him to do that, no issue with that. The only downside is that he'll lag behind given that moving a body takes some time. But on the other. Alexis did buy you some time with her distraction and card.
>>5809171Why do you wanna tell them about the magic powers this early? Come on!
>>5809328Because he is naive and Open Minded to the supernatural, assuming he is the same character from the character selection, which in all likelihood he is. He'll be in Z Company's hands soon, and they are probably one of the corps sending suits after us, him blabbing to them does us no harm since they already know about us. Even if he is allowed his freedom, what's he gonna tell his few remaining friends? That we are a minor telekinetic strong enough to pick up lab glassware? Not exactly a big revelation.If you mean Lex, then I think we've already let out enough hints already, they'll figure it out soon enough. If we get through this job together then I'd vote to tell them about our powers anyways, not our craziness though. I'm the one who was against telling them earlier, btw.
>>5809171+1Yeah, I think showing him our funny powers is the quickest way to get his interest. It's better than lying about people we know nothing about
>>5809339OK fine let's do this>>5809171+1
>>5809171+1Keep moving forward, Cleaner!!!
>>5809171Supporting
>>5809171+1
Locking in. One Anon, roll a d100. Higher is better.
Rolled 74 (1d100)>>5809769Rollan
Rolled 48 (1d100)>>5809769
>LET HIM BUT TELL HIM TO HIDE THE BODY You flinch when you recall the sickening crack of someone's skull being pulverized. You regret turning around to look at the body again. If you didn't know any better, you thought the head was just GONE. You make sure to stand in front of it so Benjamin can't see it. You glance over at Lex before nodding towards the corpse. "Hide that. PLEASE." He gets the message, though you can tell he didn't regret doing it for a second. Blood and brain matter drip onto the floor, bits clinging to his brass knuckles. He leaves you alone with Benjamin as he starts dragging the body away. You can only hope he manages to get it done before you have to leave with Benjamin. "So!" "So?""Do you mind leaving me alone? I really don't want to be disappoint my friends, you know?" The brain damaged pharmacist flashes a goofy smile. "Seriously, we can talk later." You might just have to trick him into following you but due to Lex dealing with the body, you have to burn a bit of time. You clear your throat. Okay, how to start? "Look. I, uh." You rub the back of your neck. "I actually came to you for help, if you could believe that." You flash your best smile. Given how he flinches, it probably doesn't look that friendly. "I'm a Cleaner, you see." You point at yourself. "And, well, due to certain reasons...I need medication." You're honestly glad that Lex isn't hearing this. You rather not have your allies know about your 'issues'. Benjamin deflates a bit upon hearing your plea. "Oh. Another Cleaner? Ahaha! Hah. Ha." He turns around. He begins stirring something in one of his flasks. "Mind if I ask why?" "...Mental issues?" You shrug. It's the truth but you rather not go into detail about it. "Well, miss, I can't really give you anything without a prescription but, well! I can't ignore someone in need. I'll be sure to get you your medication once my friends are done with me." He yammers on and on. Well, he seems a bit more receptive to you but that barely made him budge. >BODY HIDING CHECK: 74. MAJOR SUCCESS. DIDN'T TAKE LONG.Before you even know it, Lex is back. You look around to see where he hid the body. Since you can't see it at first glance he probably did a good enough job actually hiding it. You nod at him to start leading Benjamin over to the exit. You might need to just grab him and run if your next trump card doesn't work. He places a hand on Benjamin's back and starts pushing him to follow with the two of you. The pharmacist yelps a bit but doesn't seem to resist at first. "Well, look, we really need you to come with. And I think I got a way to get you to drop your 'friends' behind." You try flashing a more confident and less teeth gnashing smile. Given how your two friends didn't flinch? You're improving. "Well, miss! I can respect your moxie but I really don't know what you could offer me that my dear friends haven't! They did say I could keep my life if I worked!"
Lex can only shake his head at what he heard. You're not deterred, however! You're not quite sure why but you think you could impress him with a simple and easy magic trick. You look back at his chemistry set you're walking away from. With a flick of your wrist, you bring one of the flasks over to the three of you. "So, what did you want to show m-" Benjamin sputters in the middle of his sentence when he sees the levitating flask. Lex looks at the flask, then at you, then at Ben, then back at the flask. As the three of you keep slowly sneaking over to the hidden exit, you do a few tricks with it. Spinning it around in place, moving it up and down in the air, small little novelty things you can do without any real mental strain. Which you're thankful for since you rather save your energy for important things. Benjamin's eyes glimmer like he's a kid again. "H-holy shit! A psych-" Lex promptly covers his mouth to prevent him from blowing your damn cover. You asked Alexis to use that card and you're not letting it go to waste. The three of you slide into the back room where the hole in the wall was. Only then does Lex uncover Benjamin's mouth. "Y-you have psychic powers?!" He starts running circles around you. He scans you from head to toe, as if he doesn't believe that YOU could have those powers. Lex just grabs the levitating flask and pulls it back down to a nearby shelf. "Yep. And if you come with us, I might be able to teach you how to use my magic powers." You try your best to make spooky sounding noises while waving your fingers around. "So, how about it? You wanna get out of here?" "Hell yeah! If I get to learn cool powers, screw these chumps!" That seems like that was the right answer. "Oh, right! Name's Benjamin Aaron!" >Benjamin Aaron has decided to follow your group for now! "Cool." You already knew his name, kinda, but you're not really interested in it per se. You're interested in getting him to a company and getting that god damn paycheck. [PERSON OF INTEREST] Selling someone interested in the ways of the supernatural to a company. He will leak your secrets to them. They will know.[UNSTABLE] THEY'VE BEEN FOLLOWING US LONG BEFORE THAT, DUMBASS. SO WHAT IF THEY KNOW WE CAN MOVE AROUND FLASKS? BIG WHOOP. WHO GIVES A SHIT. The three of you squeeze past the hole in the wall. To make sure your tracks are covered, you slide the piece of sheet metal hiding the hole back into place (with some help, of course). You're in the home stretch now. You lead the others around to the front, hoping to god that Alexis has managed to keep them distracted this whole time. You turn the corner to see the front of the building... "Alright, seems like things have been figured out for now. You can return to your business." Alexis taps her foot against the ground. The gang members are quickly rushing back inside, closing the shutter behind them. She turns around to see that you have Benjamin alongside you.
She visibly relaxes upon seeing that. "Let's get the fuck out of here." Alexis gestures you to follow. The group (now consisting of four members) begins its trek back to somewhere safer. Though as you're about to get to the other side of the street- "SYED? SYED? WHERE ARE YOU?" You hear the Gangboss yell out for someone. You try to process who it could be. "BENJAMIN? SYED, I TOLD YOU TO GUARD HIM!"Alexis turns back to stare at you and Lex. "What did you do?" She has a look of disappointment laced with some dying hope that you didn't let Lex do what she thinks he did. But one look at the blood on his hands makes her visibly cringe. "We should probably run, shouldn't we?" Benjamin remarks in a rare act of self awareness. You rapidly nod your head up and down. When you start hearing the shutter opening again, the four of you fucking book it. Thanks to how quickly Lex hid the body, you were given just enough time to get out of sight. You doubt you're going to get chased by them. Thankfully. Though you wouldn't be shocked if you made some enemies that day. Oh well! A job's done. The four of you keep sprinting until you're all the way back to the apartment block he used to live at. You and Alexis crumple to your knees while the two men seem to be pretty okay after their sprinting session. You grab your phone and dial your Handler. You're not sure what to do now that you have him, so you might as well tell him the job's done. Your phone rings three times before you manage to get him to pick up. "What is it, freakshit?" The Handler is chewing on something. "Busy here. It better be important or else I'm finding you later to-" "I recovered Benjamin, sir. He's at his apartment block." "Holy shit." The Handler makes a noise that's between a laugh and a sob. "You actually managed to complete a job? Holy shit! Okay, yeah, yeah!" He's way too excited at the prospect of you being remotely competent. It's almost worse than him insulting you. "Uh. Keep him there. We'll send over some Z-Company agents. You'll recognize them. Don't attack them or anything or I'm cutting your rewards, alright? You can handle that, right?" "You'll get your payment shipped to your apartment. You will be contacted later. Bye." You promptly get hung up on. >JOB SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED! >REWARDS: $375 (-$125 from hiring Alexis), some new prescriptions (more details will be given when you return to your apartment), +FAVOR (STERILE) >You have now gained FAVOR with a Company. When a Company feels like a person deserves any semblance of attention, they give them a FAVOR.>Favor is a resources you spend at any time to gain +4d6 when attempting a CONNECTIONS roll with a specific company.>Simply having one will also improve how people associated with that Company talk and interact with you. For example, hospitals will likely offer to heal you at a cheaper price with a FAVOR (STERILE)>You may have multiple favors with the same Company.
"So, uh! What now?" Benjamin twiddles at his thumbs. Right, you didn't really tell him why you actually brought him along. You have some time to kill now given that your job is done. "Well, my job's done." Alexis dusts her hands. "I'll see you when you need my assistance again. Until then, goodbye." Alexis turns away from the party and walks away without any further comment. >Alexis has left the party. Lex doesn't leave however. He pats you on the back, smearing brain and guts and gore all over it. You try your best to hide your disgust if only because he's still an ally. "That was fun. I didn't care much for all the talking but, you know, it was nice doing something for a change of pace." "Mind if I follow you around for a bit?" "Oh, uh, sure?" You smile at him. "I don't mind.""Kickass. If I get to hang out with a cool psychic like you, that's fine enough with me." You can feel some sort of minor RAPPORT building between the two of you. It's not a friendship yet but it's a friendly acquaintanceship.>RAPPORT 2 has been reached with Lex. You feel like the next time you hire him, you'll be able to improve his abilities somewhat. >Until you return to your apartment, Lex is willing to follow you around.What's your plans now that you're free, Nicole? Choose up to three things to do with your free time. >You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Explore around District 14 some more. You were too busy with the mission to see much of the place. You want to take in the shops, sights, and sounds of this place.>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time. >Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)>Your two friends here already know about your powers. Maybe you could train your powers with their assistance. (Do you try to improve how much you can carry? Try to learn how to crush things? Something else? Write in. Will call for a WILLPOWER roll depending on how intense it is.)>While your handler might not have any jobs for you right now but maybe there's some poor innocent people who need help! Try looking for people to assist nearby!>Just return to your apartment. You don't feel like doing much, your job is done.>Write in.
>>5809906>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road.>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Explore around District 14 some more. You were too busy with the mission to see much of the place. You want to take in the shops, sights, and sounds of this place.
>>5809906>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time.>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)
>>5809906>>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time.>>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)
>>5809906>You probably have some time before Benjamin has to follow the Agents. Talk to him, get his contact info, try to learn more about him. He might be a useful ally down the road. (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)1. What exactly happened with Roland and Weston? Did they sell him out?2. Who's the Max he contacted and wrote about in his papers? What's their deal?3. He wrote about a crash test dummy anomaly. Can he tell us where that was and when he went to it? It might have been apprehended since, but you never know...4. Don't fucking tell Z-Corp about the psychic powers, okay? No matter what they say or do. Don't even tell them we told you not to tell them. When it comes to any Company agent or person, that shit NEVER happened. Remember, if you want to get cool powers of your own, don't say stupid things that could cause you to lose the one person that could try to teach you how. Capiche?THEN>Looking at your map, one of your bigger supply caches is nearby. You should probably grab that real quick. (If picked, roll 3d100 to see what you loot from it.)LASTLY>Go hang out at Nicolas' with Lex. Get drunk, see potential allies, it'll be a good time.Celebrate the first job well done
>>5810057Supporting
>>5810057Supporting.I thought about going to District 14, but let's not go back to the scene of the crime.
>>5809906Support >>5810057 I guess.
Alright, three anons, roll a 1d100 to determine what loot you get. Here's the chart in question to determine what category of item you'll get this time.1-21: Consumable (self explanatory) 22-41: Defensive (armor, tasers, pepper spray, etc etc. Something to help protect you.)42-61: Offensive (Melee weapons, molotovs, etc etc. Something meant to hurt people.)62-81: Supportive (Counterfeit IDs, tools, advanced cameras, etc etc. Something to help you out in the field.) 82-94: Exclusive (Stolen company resources, company exclusive items, etc etc. Something that usually only highly connected people get.) 95-100: Anomalous (You're not quite sure what you'll get if you roll this.)
Rolled 24 (1d100)>>5811103ROLLAN
Rolled 94 (1d100)>>5811103
Rolled 18 (1d100)>>5811103Rolling>>5811119OFF BY ONE!!!!!
Rolled 60 (1d100)>>5811103
>>5811111>>5811119>>5811130>Consumable >Defensive >ExclusiveNoted. Writing. Due to the fucking Q U I N T S one poster got, I'll make the defensive item you're getting real spicy. Consider it a way to balance out the fact you were off by one for the anomalous loot. I wouldn't expect me to acknowledge anything smaller than quads, though.
>>5811130Exclusive items aren't bad
You have a lot of questions to ask Benjamin and he better be able to answer them. Well, that and learning his contact details."So, mind if I ask you some things real quick?" You practice your smile again. He doesn't flinch. Good. He nods in approval. "First, what's your contact info? So that I can, uh, teach you my magical powers later." You don't actually know how to "train" someone to give them magical powers, you think. No need to tell him that. "Oh, sure!" He pulls out his phone. You pull out your phone as you quickly swap phone numbers between each other. >Benjamin has been added as a contact. You may attempt to hire him on future missions. He might be cheaper than other hires due to his interest in your powers."Good, that's out of the way. Here's my actual questions." You take in a deep breath before you begin your interrogation. "What exactly happened with Roland and Weston? I, uh, heard you had troubles with them." Benjamin adjusts his glasses while thinking on the answer here. "What about them? They're still my friends, aren't they?" He tries to smile and wave the question off but you can hear his voice waver. "I mean, did they sell you out or anything? It sounded like your relationship got pretty rocky at the end." "A-ah, no, no! W-we were just talking about how I was going to District 26 soon. Y-you know, the scene here isn't that great so I had to move on. They didn't like that answer, though." He glances away from you before looking back. "I. I don't know what happened, really. They got angry at me. Said I 'betrayed' them for w-wanting to do bigger things!" "All I remember is those men coming in afterwards and me having to leave. I haven't talked to them since." Hm. Not a lot of information you haven't figured out before. "Last thing they said was they would 'gut me' for 'squealing their secrets' to someone else." That sounds like it was more than a squabble between friends but you don't think you're getting any more out of him. "Well, what about Max? Who is she? What's her deal?"He lightens up visibly at you mentioning her name. "Oh! She's one of my closest friends! She told me not to write her last name down for some reason." He nervously chuckles. "Sh-she helped me get approved as an official Cleaner! A-apparently I was nice to her compared to some of the other folks so she took a liking to me!" "S-she even told me that if I did a good enough job, she could help me move over to District 26!" He takes a moment to catch his breath. "S-sometimes, she would also hug me and t-tell me everything was okay. I-I liked it when she did that. Helped calm my nerves." "So, what, were you two in a..." "Oh, heavens no! Just friends! S-she helped out a lot, though. G-got me some jobs, helped me with my supplies...haven't seen her a bit. Hopefully she's doing okay." That 'last name' thing is questionable but you're not sure what to make of it. You do question her judgement on getting him to become a Cleaner, though.
"Yeah, about you being a Cleaner. I heard something about you fighting a, what was it, a crash test dummy anomaly? Do you have any information about that I can use? Just in case I encounter it." You pull out your map to mark down whatever district he says. "Oh!" His mood visibly sours when you bring it up. "Oh. That thing. I honestly forgot the name of it because I gave up the job the moment I encountered it." His posture slouches as he continues to talk. "Yeah. Apparently, I got a Class 5 Anomaly in my mission." [SEEKER OF THE CITY] You don't exactly know what that means but you do know this. All across the City, independent groups and facilities have made up their own rankings for anomalies. Whether it's how dangerous they are, their properties, or their behavior. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] In most of these, the higher the number is? The more dangerous it is. A five is probably up there? "Had to go down to District 24 to recover it. All they told me before I encountered it is that it stalks people at clothing stores given how it's apparently mannequin-like? It was a big bulky humanoid with giant metallic clubs for fists. Not sure how people couldn't see it." "That's what I thought before encountering it. Damn thing can go invisible." He glances down at his hands. You notice how there's a nasty scar going up his wrist and to his elbow. "It broke my arm with one hit when it decloaked and attacked. I tried hitting it with the gun Max provided me but the bullets barely made a dent on it. Only managed to get out because I outran it." Bullets didn't damage it at all and it can go invisible? No wonder why he was fucked."Alright. Thank you for telling me that. Before we go, I need you to promise me something, okay?" You put your map away and grip his shoulder TIGHT. Even with your wimpy arms, you can still get a hiss of pain out of him. "I need you to keep your mouth shut about my powers." He nods his head, eyes focusing into pinpricks as you try to make sure he gets how much of a secret you need this to be. "Don't even tell them I told you to stay quiet. If you rat me out, I can't teach you anything." "Capiche?" "CRYSTAL." "Good." You let go of his shoulder. You turn around to see two figures approaching the three of you. (Lex has just been sitting around, entertaining himself with kicking rocks.) You focus your eyes on them as they grab Ben. [PERSON OF INTEREST] White suits and red ties. Latex gloves. Pins with a snake wrapping around a staff. Perfect pale skin and white hair. These are Z-Company goons. Born to be as sterile as possible. [PERSON OF INTEREST] They hold no interest in you. Unlike the men in silver. Yet they observe you, trying to see how you TICK.The two agents (one man, one woman) look at you and Lex. The woman is the one to speak. "Please leave the premises." It's a command. You rather not attract any spook attention so, with a quick wave to Ben, the two of you leave.
"Well, hopefully he doesn't get his brain fucking scrambled by them." Lex kicks a stone while you two walk down the streets of District 14. So. Much. Fucking. Grey. Not even a bit of snow to add some white to the mix. "Hopefully." You look down at your map before realizing...hm. One of your old supply caches is still here. You grab onto Lex's arm and pull him down a nearby alleyway. He follows without much resistance. "Where are we going?" Lex glances around with a slight look of confusion. "I thought we were going back to the train station? To leave here?" "We have something to check out first. Trust me, it's all fine!" You chirp out with an unusual amount of glee. It's always nice remembering where a cache was and looting it. You don't even remember what's in them half the time! Probably because of the brain damage, frankly. Eventually, the two of you stumble across a small hut in the middle of the maze of alleyways. There's occasionally some small houses built in these places for those who are beyond poor. You, however, know this one is empty. You enter to find nothing inside except for a shoddy wooden floor and four walls around you. Good. No one has moved in. You point to a small part of the floor in the center for Lex to lift up. With some strain, he pries the loose floor board to receive a crate you left behind."Damn. You know, it would've been nice if you told me you had this before we did the mission, ya know?" You simply give him a blank look. He drops the subject real quick after that. He picks the crate up and puts it onto the floor of the hut.You pry open the crate with some help from Lex. This proceeds to let several things spill out onto the crate and all across the floor. You hope to GOD you didn't store a drink in there or something. >18 The first thing you pick up is a small pack of cigarettes. The package is a uniform red with small bits of white speckled about in the form of stars and swirls. "MARTLO CIGARETTES. FLAVOR SO SMOOTH, IT CURES POISON!" is written on the front."Yeah, right." Lex snorts. "Don't cigarettes rot your lungs? I'm not that dumb." >24. QUINT BOOSTED The second thing you find is something quite unusual. There's a small suit made out of a dark fabric that looks like it's thin enough to be worn under your regular outfit without anyone being able to notice. You don't recognize it at first but Lex's eyes light up when he spots it. "Damn, isn't this combat graded stuff? How did you manage to get that?" >94 The last thing is a jar filled to the brim with a bright purple liquid. A grey "Q" is stamped on the side of it followed by "DRONE PHEROMONE MARK A12. APPLY TO SELF TO INDUCE FORGETFULNESS TO THOSE AROUND YOU." You slosh the fluid in the jar. If you had to guess, there's enough to apply to at least a few people before running out. "Huh. I heard that costs a lot of money to get. Or, I dunno, working for P-Company and sending them...what was it. A-Energy? Some junk abnos make?"
>Martlo Cigarettes (6 charges). Calms your nerves. Adds a +1d6 to a WILLPOWER or RESTRAINT roll per charge spent. Can spend 3 charges to gain minor RESTRAINT regeneration for a mission.>Combat Bodysuit. Made specifically to be worn by those in high positions of power. Easy to hide under normal clothes. +1 MAX FLESH, prevents crippling wounds, and has a small chance of blocking attacks while worn. May need repairs if you take too much damage, however. >Q-CORP DRONE PHERMONES (3 charges). A foul smelling purple liquid that messes with the heads of those nearby. You may spend a charge to make the next person you encounter completely forget you were ever there. Useful for stealth missions. "Mind if I smoke those later?" He points at the cigarettes. You simply squint at him. "You can buy your own cigarettes. This is for mission stuff." You pack the supplies away for future storage. He simply shrugs. "Well, if we're done here, let's jet." "Wanna get drunk?" Those words are all you need to say to get his attention. He grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you. His smile has the kind of glee of a kid being told he can go to the candy store. "FUCK YEAH! LET'S GET GOING, THE HELL ARE WE SITTING AROUND HERE FOR?" He grabs your hand and begins to drag you over to the train station. Okay, wow, you didn't expect him to literally drag you by the hand. You're not quite sure how to feel about this! [UNSTABLE] PLAY ALONG. HE COULD SMASH OUR HEADS IN LIKE A GOD DAMN PIECE OF CARDBOARD IF HE WANTED TO. THEN, WE CAN GET AWAY AND HIDE IN THE SAFETY OF OUR APARTMENT. [UNSTABLE] HE PLAYED HIS BIT. NO NEED TO GET TOO CLOSE TO HIM, NICOLE. Before you even know what's going on, the two of you have already boarded the train back to your home district of District 7. Only after sitting around for a few hours on the train trip home does he calm down at all. You start heading over to Nicolas'. It's now late in the evening, given the time it takes to go to and from districts and the mission you were on. Not a lot of people are outside aside from various business men stumbling around on their way back home. A lot more snow covers the streets, threatening to turn you into a popsicle if you don't get somewhere safe. Lex keeps a hand on your shoulder to keep you steady as you two stomp through the snow. You stand before the bar again after a few minutes of walking. A brick building with a simple neon sign labeled "NICOLAS". A bright orange light peers out from the frosted window. Seems like it's still open. "Ladies first." Lex bows towards the door. You roll your eyes a bit before you eventually go through the door. https://youtu.be/-9ODZfDAA1Q - NICOLAS' THEME. It's a lot quieter in here now. The tables and booths around the place are mostly empty aside from what you can guess are a few regulars. Now that it's not a chaotic mess you can actually take in more details here. You slowly walk around to take in where you're at now.
It's a small place with only about a dozen booths and a few tables scattered around the place. Sports memorabilia lines the walls of various teams across the Districts. The place is lit up by gas lamps and candles instead of anything electrical. The smell of cigarettes, cheap beer, and piss still lingers but it's far weaker now. The bar counter has the same old man from before. He's a man in his 50s that stands at a solid six foot three. His outfit is a greasy shirt that used to be white that's covered by an equally greasy apron. He's busy polishing a glass. You glance around at the few people in here before you head over to the counter. Lex sits down at one of the bar stools. You sit alongside him. The bartender glances over at the two of you before flashing a smile. "Welcome to Nicolas'. I'm Nicolas. How may I help you together, you two?" He doesn't seem to recognize either of you. Can't blame him, it was hectic when you arrived last morning. Before you can ask for anything, Lex places a twenty dollar bill on the table. "Two strong ones. One for me and one for her." He's already spending his money on booze. Great. Oh well, not your money. "Of course." He turns around to grab a bottle from the massive pile he has behind him. While you wait for your drink, you take a look around to see who's here. Who do you try talking to in the bar, if anyone? Pick up to two. >You see him again. That shambling man who barely breathes. Quentin. What's his deal?>A woman in a leather jacket is strumming away at a guitar. The other patrons are listening intently with dumb smiles on their face. She seems to be having fun.>An old man in a poncho is slumped over at a booth table. A revolver rests on the holster on his belt. He stares longingly at a picture in his hand.>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>None of them. Let them be.>Write in. (Feel free to describe the person you're looking for.)And what do you want to do with Lex, now that you're here? Pick up to two.>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT. >Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done! (DC 9 FLESH CHECK. Succeed and you'll impress him a LOT. Failure and you'll probably still entertain him but you'll be sick after.)>Ask Nicholas about himself. Surely, this old man has some funny stories at his time at the bar.>There's still some things that bother you. Try bouncing some things off Lex for a fresh perspective. (Write in you want to hear his opinion on.)>Just enjoy the drinks and the atmosphere of the bar. Some peace and quiet can help calm your mind.>Write in
>>5811410>Nick, at the bar.Bartenders are gonna hear fucking everything in cyberpunk settings, what they say depends on how clean or dirty each one plays. Nick seems pretty safe though, so probably not too much shadiness..? Rackets about keeping secrets, illegal drugs and contraband, information to pay or die for, just the regular mentally damaged patrons in general. Slide him a $20 and see what he says about some of the people here.>You see him again. That shambling man who barely breathes. Quentin. What's his deal?Funny.>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done! Dunno about the Lex actions, so let's start with this one for now.
>>5811410>A woman in a leather jacket is strumming away at a guitar. The other patrons are listening intently with dumb smiles on their face. She seems to be having fun.>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done!>Ask Nicholas about himself. Surely, this old man has some funny stories at his time at the bar.
>>5811410>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands. >A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT.>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done! (DC 9 FLESH CHECK. Succeed and you'll impress him a LOT. Failure and you'll probably still entertain him but you'll be sick after.)
>>5811410>You see him again. That shambling man who barely breathes. Quentin. What's his deal?>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.AND>Ask Nicholas about himself. Surely, this old man has some funny stories at his time at the bar.>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done!
>>5811394Aww, that's sweet.>>5811410>A woman in a leather jacket is strumming away at a guitar. The other patrons are listening intently with dumb smiles on their face. She seems to be having fun.>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.Another day Quentin, we're with a friend and don't want to spoil his mood. Also you're a corpse invader who hasn't put on a clean suit yet like you said you would.>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT. >Ask Nicholas about himself. Surely, this old man has some funny stories at his time at the bar.Build that relationship and get to know the proprietor. Though just relaxing could also be good, we did spend a Restraint point earlier with the firecracker.
>>5811410>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT. >Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done! (DC 9 FLESH CHECK. Succeed and you'll impress him a LOT. Failure and you'll probably still entertain him but you'll be sick after.)
>>5811410>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT.>Just enjoy the drinks and the atmosphere of the bar. Some peace and quiet can help calm your mind.
>>5811410>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT.>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done!
>>5811410>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT.>Ask Nicholas about himself. Surely, this old man has some funny stories at his time at the bar.
>>5811410>A woman in a leather jacket is strumming away at a guitar. The other patrons are listening intently with dumb smiles on their face. She seems to be having fun.>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done! (DC 9 FLESH CHECK. Succeed and you'll impress him a LOT. Failure and you'll probably still entertain him but you'll be sick after.)>Ask Nicholas about himself. Surely, this old man has some funny stories at his time at the bar.
>>5811410>>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] The glint of stainless steel catches your eye. The android slumps at the table with a frown. Aside from her pilot jacket, you notice she has a film camera in her hands.>>A tired looking business man is busy downing shot after shot at his table. Despite his attempt at poisoning himself, he doesn't seem to be getting drunk.>>Try to learn a bit more about him. His backstory, his interests, anything. Something to build a better RAPPORT.>>Challenge him to a drinking contest. Something to celebrate a job well done! (DC 9 FLESH CHECK. Succeed and you'll impress him a LOT. Failure and you'll probably still entertain him but you'll be sick after.)
Wow, at the last possible second before I went to close it, someone dropped in a final vote. Well then. Android in a Pilot Jacket and Tired Business Man win. Talking to Lex and doing the drinking competition wins out (with Lex barely winning over Nicolas). Two anons, roll 1d6
Rolled 2 (1d6)>>5812324
Rolled 5 (1d6)>>5812324
>7 You were close but alas, you're still a scrawny woman. You do have an item that boosts your stats by 1 that could win it... But this roll isn't really that important I doubt anyone would vote for it. Writing.
>>5812335Funnier for Nicole to get close enough to Lex but lose anyway
You really, REALLY want to drink but you have some interesting people to talk to first. Besides, you rather be somewhat sane when talking to new people. No point showing your issues off just yet. "Excuse me, be right back." You get up from your seat at the bar. "Alright," Lex calls out. "I'll keep it warm for ya!" You hum back at him before heading over to the two people you plan on bothering today. You maneuver around the maze of tables until you get to the booth with the Tired Business Man. Best to start with him first before he drinks himself into a coma.He's slumped over in his booth with dozens of little small shot glasses scattered across the table. The man's dressed in a simple beige two piece suit. Black dress shoes, beige hat, he's the complete definition of non-descript. There's not even a cool scar, he's a completely generic looking man. No one would notice him in a crowd. He looks up from the pile of shot glasses he has been chugging from. In his bottle is a half empty bottle of whiskey. You can make out "100 proof" on the bottle. Despite drinking half of it all by himself, he barely seems hammered. "What?" He squints at you as he takes another swig of the bottle. No slurring either. "My office closed down a few hours ago. I'm not exactly available for any jobs." "Oh! I was just checking up on you." You sit down on the opposite side of the booth. "Going a bit hard on that, aren't you?" "Never seems to work." He takes another swig before putting the bottle on the table. He shivers from the strong taste of the booze but otherwise seems unaffected. His body must be pretty damn tough if he's not feeling anything. "The bartender doesn't water shit down here, right?" You shrug. You don't really know but realistically, you doubt you're getting anything great from the $20 Lex spent. Let alone what the business man is buying. "I'll take that as a yes." The two of you sit in silence for a moment as he eyes you up, trying to see why you're bothering him. His shoulders untense a little after a few moments of silence. "You really aren't here to ask about my office?" "No? I just saw you drinking yourself into oblivion and I was curious." "Do you know how hard it is to get a buncha cityslickers to actually DO their JOBS?" Woo boy, you opened a can of worms here. "Oh, I don't want to work today! I want to hang out with my punk gee eef! No, I'm feeling sick because I partied too much! Sorry, Mr. Maruyama!"You damn near jump out of your skin when he slams his fist into the booth table. "EEK!" Your messed up brain starts analyzing which shot glass to punt at him with your powers- "...Sorry, sorry." The middle aged man looks away from you. "That was beneath me." Emotionally, physically, and mentally spent. He seems like he has a lot on his plate."Your job's pretty hard, isn't it?" You try hiding a smile when he gives you a "no shit" look. "Well, maybe you should take a break?"
He looks at you up and down before shaking his head. "You're not my type. Too scrawny." Your brain doesn't process what he said at first. Then it clicks. [UNSTABLE] KILL HIM. KILL HIM NOW! RIP HIS ORGANS OUT WITH YOUR MIND! THIS MOTHERFUCKER- "What? No, no. S-see, I might need someone with your experience later!" Your smile comes out as a twisted, forced snarl. You slowly soften it once he looks a bit too terrified of the mess in front of him. "Do you have, like, a business card or something?" "..." He grabs the suitcase sitting next to him and opens it up. Hundreds of small white cards pour out of it onto the table. Oh. Oh. Without any delay, you grab one of the cards. "MARUYAMA DAIDO" "SECTION CHIEF OF STARLIGHT OFFICE""HOURLY RATE: $20"Your eyes glaze over most of the rest aside from marking down his contact details. If you had to guess how long a mission takes, you'd guess you'll probably have to pay $120 to hire him. "Thank you, sir! I'll leave you to your drinking. Thanks for letting me chat." You get out of the booth before your brain screams more things at you. He waves a hand at you but he seems a bit more relaxed after talking to you. Your next target is the android. You move past a few empty tables before finding a seat next to her. Without waiting, you plop down at her table. Which is when you instantly get blinded. [PERSON OF INTEREST] One of them finally found us. They placed a blackbag over our heads. Benjamin ratted us out, we're being dragged out to one of their company headquarters. [PERSON OF INTEREST] They have tools to make you talk. The Fallujah Firehose. The burning, oh god, the burning. When your vision eventually returns, you realize you're not in some deep government torture ring. There's just a robot sitting across from you with a camera in her hands. You stare at her doe-eyed as you try regaining your orientation. "Guh?" That's all you're able to get out. "Pffffttt!" Whatever frown the robot had before is gone now. "Not one for the spotlight, eh? I get that. You should've expected that, though." "...Guh?" You take a moment to process what the android looks like while you're in this doe eyed stupor. First off, it's clear it's not human. Her 'hair' is a solid chunk of plastic sculpted into a rough proxy of long hair. Her body is bulky and metallic with only small bits of flexible skin-like material covering her arms and face. It's pretty obvious what the benefits of being made out of metal are. Not held back by the weaknesses of FLESH.The bright orange pilot jacket and black turtleneck sweater she's wearing were obviously designed to fit her bulky frame instead of a human. You're not quite sure why she's even wearing them. Fashion, you guess? The blue LEDs she has for eyes focus in on you. Her amused smile fades when she realizes you haven't spoken and instead have been staring at her. "Hello? Earth to what's your name?"
She snaps her fingers at you. Though it's more like hearing two hunks of metal smashing into each other. "Huh, what? S-sorry, the flash was, uh, messing me up." You shake your head to clear yourself out of the daze. "No wonder. You looked like a deer in the headlights, you know?" Her voice, now that you're actually paying attention, sounds digitized. Like a recording instead of an actual human speaking. "First time seeing a robot around? Guess E-Company hasn't expanded into this district yet." Your mind draws a blank on the company name, aside from it running District 5. You know a lot about the City but you're not a master of everything. "C'mon, I didn't exactly pop out of another robot, you know?" She leans back into the wooden chair. It creaks and groans underneath the robot's weight. "So. What's your name?" Oddly more sociable than you expected. "Uh. Nicole. You?""Kiara Keller. I suppose if you want my model name, it's MODEL K1-4R. I picked the rest of it myself. Little creative exercise, you know?" "C-cool? Well, what do you do? I see you have a camera. Do you...photograph things?" You try your best to carry the conversation on. "Ah, yes, yes. I suppose you could call me a journalist more than anything. I go to various Districts to capture their sights, sounds, and people!" Her energy picks up a lot when you ask her what she does. A fellow explorer of the City? "Oh! I've been around a lot as well!" You don't want to say TOO much to a stranger, though. No need to be too open. "I-it's nice to meet a fellow explorer." "Mmh. Just wish my last job went over well." Her mood instantly dips once she remembers this 'last job'. "Might've gotten a bit overboard, haha." A digitized giggle echoes through whatever speech box she uses. "...Overboard?" "I might've gotten a bit too excited when, uh, photographing a district celebrity." She puts her camera down as she squeezes her hands together. "...Might've angered them. But c'mon, it was a good shot! How often do you get to capture a CEO of a company?" "Clarify, please? I feel like there's more to this story." "I might've pushed past the guards to get a better shot of him!" Oh boy. Sounds like she can get way too excited when doing a job. "G-good thing he told me I wasn't worth killing. Ha." The two of you sit in awkward silence after she tells you her story. "Tell you what." You snap your fingers. "I might need you around later. Maybe I should bring you to a new district or something sometime soon?" "Oh! Yeah, I might need a job, actually!" Her face droops when she says that. "...You can probably guess why." Ah. Yeah, rushing up to a company CEO does NOT sound like a good time. "I'll be around in the bar if you need me!" Before you return to Lex, you turn back at Kiara. "And what's your price for your services?" "Mmh. If there's something mysterious, like an anomaly? $50. Boring shoots? $150. Nothing cool to photograph."
You wave her goodbye before returning back to your seat next to Lex. A glass of a dark brown liquid has already been prepared for you. Tequila? Whiskey? You're not quite sure. "So? How did your little chats go?" Lex pats you on the shoulder. "Hopefully you didn't piss yourself in front of them." "What?" You wave your hand dismissively at him. "None of them were scary." "That's not what I saw when that robot had you staring at thin air for five solid minutes." "...Drinking contest." You grab onto the glass of liquor in front of you. "Let's see who can drink more. I'll show you something scary." Nicolas takes one glance at you, then Lex, then back at you. He leans over with an incredibly worried expression. "Now, young lady, I don't think-" "DRINKING CONTEST!" Lex interrupts him. He raises his glass up. "FUCK YEAH, LET'S DO THIS SHIT! NICOLAS, START IT UP!" "Fine, fine." The old man relents. He turns around to start getting more bottles of booze for your drinking contest. Before Lex can even take a sip, you start chugging down from your glass. It burns going down your throat and frankly, it tastes like shit. Before you even know it, you slam your empty glass down. "Fuck, take it easy." Lex lets out a nervous chuckle. He paces himself with his drinking, taking slow sips from his glass. "Didn't expect that out of you." "Guess we learn something new every day. Speaking about learning new things." You snap your fingers. You can already feel the booze going through your system. "...What are your plans now? After all of this?" "Ha! You imply I think ahead at all, Nicky." He finishes his glass. The two of you keep drinking once Nicolas comes back with a refill. "I dunno. I really don't." "Nothing? Not at all?" At least you have a goal of eventually getting out of this Cleaner business. "C'mon. Surely you have something to look forward too." "Nah. Not really." He takes another swig from his glass. "I'm content with my life. Talking to people, caving in skulls. Is it wrong to enjoy the simple things?" "I-I gu...ess." Your head starts spinning as you slam down your second glass. "But no dreams? No hobbies? It's just this?" Lex puts down his glass, waiting for another refill. "Nah. See, I think that all you really need in life is the simple things. No point overthinking about your place in it. Just do whatever you want." "Like, look at me." The brick shithouse of a man points at himself. "I don't have many options here. Hell, you're probably the only one to give me the time of day in a while." You finish your third glass before you even know it. "That's it? You just punch people and hope to get money out of it? Isn't that..." "Sad?" Lex chuckles. "I guess so. Never really knew much else. Kinda had to stick it on my own for a while. You learn to stop worrying about non-essentials when you've been in my shoes." The muscular man sinks a bit into his seat. "Hell. This is probably the most I've talked to someone in a while."
>FLESH CHECK: 7. FAILUREThe two of you keep slamming back more and more booze. You lose count of how many glasses you drank past the fourth one. You can only hope it's some weak stuff."No other fwiends?" You slur as more of your brain gets flooded with alcohol. "Nuh even sum fumily?" "Nuh uh. I dunnooo, ya know? Just always been like that, Nicky Wicky." He nudges your shoulder. You swear you're starting to see double. "Sooo. I guessss that's why I stuck with ya. You're... you are...fun? I guess?" "Ahhh, nuh, nuh. Ima fuck up too." You slam down another glass. "We alll just a buncha. Buncha fucky ups here." You swear you had ten fingers, not fifteen. "'ake it easssyyy, nicky." It sounds like there's water in your ears now. Everything's getting blurry. You feel really warm. Too warm, even. [UNSTABLE] YOU'RE BLASTING YOUR BRAIN WITH MORE BOOZE THAN YOU HAVE DRANK IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE. Hell, I'm not sure how much you can handle here. [STABLE] Hell, I think you're getting fucked up enough that you're thinking straight. Funny that. "I think you two had enough." Nicolas pours a final glass between the two of you. "I've seen enough drinking here. Whoever finishes their glass wins." "fuck ya." Lex mutters. He's swaying back and forth but he's still keeping his composure up. You? The only thing remotely in check here is your internal monologue. Your body feels like a mess and, hell, your eyes are barely keeping open. "Fuck you too." Nicolas chuckles. "Seriously. Last drink. Go home, you're drunk." He turns around and goes to attend the few others still here. "a toast. to a successfull misssionn." You leviate your glass of booze a few inches up. Lex clinks his glass against it. "a toast. to my pal nicky." Lex keeps muttering. The two of you begin to drink... ... BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Your head fucking hurts. Where the hell are you? You feel like your head is about to explode. You sit up and force your eyes open to notice that you're back at your apartment. Huh. How did you get here? You turn to see that there's several pill bottles on your desk alongside a written note. You force yourself up out of your bed. That was a mistake. You nearly smash your head directly into the floor before you manage to reorient yourself. God, you feel sick. Is this what it feels like to be hungover? >HUNGOVER STATUS EFFECT: -1 COGZNIANCE and -1 TALENT.>Wears off overtime. No real cure besides that. You'll be informed when it wears offYou slowly stumble over to the table to see what you have here. The note is written in nearly unreadable chicken scratch but you make out the main bits. "damn nick you almost won, real impressive. gotta say, throwing up after getting half way through it was something" "you told me where apartment was. dragged you there. pills here. dunno what they do. call me if you need me." He...helped you back to your apartment? Huh.
You take stock of the meds you got, probably from your job from Z-Corp. Your eyes glaze over the names... >VIRITOXAP BRANDED ANTI-PSYCHOTICS (3 doses). Negates the UNSTABLE bane for a short timeframe when consumed. Allows you to act and think like a normal person.>"PEP PILLS" (3 doses). Highly illegal but increases focus. When rolling a COGNIZANCE check, you may add 5 to the final tally. Has a chance to deal FLESH damage.>SOMTOIN ALPHA (2 doses). A potent psychoactive substance that improves creativity and opens your mind's eye. Boosts WILLPOWER and CHARM by 2 temporarily on consumption. May induce violent hallucinations. Well, these are at least useful for whenever you do another mission. Looking out of the window, the sun hasn't raised yet. You still have a bit before the Handler calls you for another job. What do you do with your free time until then? Choose up to three. >Take some anti-psychotics. You finally got your meds, might as well. >[UNSTABLE] Oh, TV MAN, tell us your secrets. Tell us about the world. In other words, watch some news while the TV man talks. >Go outside and try finding some stores to spend your money at. You can't spend it all on allies. Some fresh air will help too. (Feel free to write in any specific kind of stores you're looking for.)>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You got time to burn and you're probably too fucked up to go anywhere. Start training your psychic powers. (WILLPOWER DC: 15. Succeed and you might unlock a bit more potential in your power. Failure and your hungover brain will probably just hurt more.)>Go back to sleep. You need as much rest before going back to. (skip to the MISSION SELECT section.)>Pick up your phone and call someone. (Lex? Alexis? Benjamin? Your HANDLER? The two new guys? Write in what you want to say to or ask of them)>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Go outside and just wander around. See where your body takes you to. You might find some interesting people or places along the way.>Write in
>>5812569>MEDS. NOW.I WILL NOT TAKE MY MEDSMEDS?????OH YUMMY YUMMY ILL GOBBLE THEM UPYAHOONO MEDS NOOOOOOOO I KILLED MY DADBECAUSE HE WAS A SPIDER SPIDERS MUST BE SQUISHED>Go looking for a store. (Gun, ammo, or cybernetics vending machine. Or the related stores.) People like violence in this City a lot, so there's got to be good equipment shops somewhere.>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Wander around. Walk off the hangover.>Go back to sleep at the end.Cleaner sleep now.
>>5812569>Pick up your phone and call someone. (Lex? Alexis? Benjamin? Your HANDLER? The two new guys? Write in what you want to say to or ask of them)Call Lex:Something something we're up, hungover, hurts but okThanks for the fun night, Handler not called yet, taking it easy till then, talk later afterCall Benjamin:What's the situation? How's it going? Is he doing OK at Z-Corp wherever he is? Just checking. Handler not called yet, too early. Talk later, take care.>[UNSTABLE] Oh, TV MAN, tell us your secrets. Tell us about the world. In other words, watch some news while the TV man talksAnd then>R E L A XGotta chill the hangover off with news. No meds in this state.
>>5812595Supporting >>5812595
>>5812569>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You got time to burn and you're probably too fucked up to go anywhere. Start training your psychic powers. (WILLPOWER DC: 15. Succeed and you might unlock a bit more potential in your power. Failure and your hungover brain will probably just hurt more.)
>>5812650You can choose 3 anon
>>5812569>[UNSTABLE] Oh, TV MAN, tell us your secrets. Tell us about the world. In other words, watch some news while the TV man talks.More wisdom from our friend behind the screen.>Pick up your phone and call someone. (Lex? Alexis? Benjamin? Your HANDLER? The two new guys? Write in what you want to say to or ask of them)We should probably make sure Benjamin is actually okay and we didn't just feed him to a different set of wolves.>Fucking relax for a secondSeconded on just chilling for a bit.The meds also say a "short timeframe", so it might be a waste to use it right now. Plus, they might get rid of the TV friend before he can give us his sermon.
>>5812569>>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Go outside and just wander around. See where your body takes you to. You might find some interesting people or places along the way.>Pick up your phone and call someone. (Lex? Alexis? Benjamin? Your HANDLER? The two new guys? Write in what you want to say to or ask of them)Thank Lex Ask Benjamin how he's holding up and ask if he can make more meds for us>Go outside and try finding some stores to spend your money at. You can't spend it all on allies. Some fresh air will help too. (Feel free to write in any specific kind of stores you're looking for.)Buy weapons, make up and a new dress. That's what a proper normal lady should do right?
>>5812569>>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You got time to burn and you're probably too fucked up to go anywhere. Start training your psychic powers. (WILLPOWER DC: 15. Succeed and you might unlock a bit more potential in your power. Failure and your hungover brain will probably just hurt more.)Don't feel like missions with our malus.>Go outside and try finding some stores to spend your money at. You can't spend it all on allies. Some fresh air will help too. (Feel free to write in any specific kind of stores you're looking for.)Weapons and general gear. Army surplus?>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Go outside and just wander around. See where your body takes you to. You might find some interesting people or places along the way.
>>5812569>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Go outside and just wander around. See where your body takes you to. You might find some interesting people or places along the way.>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You got time to burn and you're probably too fucked up to go anywhere. Start training your psychic powers. (WILLPOWER DC: 15. Succeed and you might unlock a bit more potential in your power. Failure and your hungover brain will probably just hurt more.)>Go outside and try finding some stores to spend your money at. You can't spend it all on allies. Some fresh air will help too. (Guns, ammo, nice clothes, makeup, some real food.)
>>5812569>Go outside and try finding some stores to spend your money at. You can't spend it all on allies. Some fresh air will help too.urban exploration Store And non lethal weapons store (Taser, Pepper spray, rubber bullets gun)we have a low tolerance for violence. (Violence:2)>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You got time to burn and you're probably too fucked up to go anywhere. Start training your psychic powers. >[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Go outside and just wander around. See where your body takes you to. You might find some interesting people or places along the way.
>>5812569>>[SEEKER OF THE CITY] Go outside and just wander around. See where your body takes you to. You might find some interesting people or places along the way.>>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] You got time to burn and you're probably too fucked up to go anywhere. Start training your psychic powers. (WILLPOWER DC: 15. Succeed and you might unlock a bit more potential in your power. Failure and your hungover brain will probably just hurt more.)>>Go outside and try finding some stores to spend your money at. You can't spend it all on allies. Some fresh air will help too. (Guns, ammo, nice clothes, makeup, some real food.)
>>5812569>Take some anti-psychotics. You finally got your meds, might as well.>Pick up your phone and call someone. (Lex, Benjamin and Handler)>Go outside and try finding some stores to spend your money at. You can't spend it all on allies. Some fresh air will help too. (Supplies, weapons and vanity stuff)
The winning path seems to be training your powers, wandering around the city to clear your mind, and looking for a store from what I counted. For the training option, I want two anons to roll 2d6 for the WILLPOWER check.This time, with an image that isn't ant sized.
Rolled 3, 1 = 4 (2d6)>>5813569
Rolled 2, 5 = 7 (2d6)>>5813569
>11 That would be a failure. Do you want to take some SOMTOION ALPHA to gain an extra 2d6 to the roll? >YES. GAINING BETTER ABILITIES IS WORTH THE POTENTIAL SIDE EFFECTS>NO. I RATHER NOT RISK FEELING BUGS UNDERNEATH MY SKIN.
>>5813594>NO. I RATHER NOT RISK FEELING BUGS UNDERNEATH MY SKIN.Take the fail as punishment for attempting this while hungover like a retard.
>>5813594>YES. GAINING BETTER ABILITIES IS WORTH THE POTENTIAL SIDE EFFECTSMay as well. It is just medication, and our relationship with Z company is getting better over time, so we can likely get more. Given the hallucinations I wouldn't want to use it for trying to charm anyone except god whilst in the middle of a wild trip. Only other time I'd wanna use it is whilst in the midst of a fight.Tripping while taking a walk isn't the worst time to suffer the side effects either. Though maybe we shouldn't, we still have alcohol in our system after all.
>>5813594>YES. GAINING BETTER ABILITIES IS WORTH THE POTENTIAL SIDE EFFECTS
>>5813594>NO. I RATHER NOT RISK FEELING BUGS UNDERNEATH MY SKIN.We're going out shopping. I'd rather not look like some frothing insane retard.
>>5813594>YES, PUT THE BUGS UNDERNEATH MY SKIN I WILL SQUISH THEM AAAAAAAAThink of it like adderall for college students, it's fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine
Two hours is probably enough for a tie breaker. Roll that extra 2d6.
Rolled 4, 4 = 8 (2d6)>>5813684
Rolled 1, 2 = 3 (2d6)>>5813684ROLLAN
>>5813698DAMN, IT'S GOOD YOU ROLLED SECONDS FASTERHAHA
>19 Success. I'm going to have fun writing this next update because of this choice. Writing. Happy Hallow's Eve as well, everyone. I hope you're enjoying yourselves. I'm probably going to get drunk with my family and eat some leftover candy after I'm done writing.
>>5813701Very good indeed, would've been a real waste and an even worse pain if I hadn't. Though I suspect we'll still suffer for this.>>5813703Have fun. I just want to sleep.
You sit back down on your bed with the bottle of SOMTOIN ALPHA. Just in case you need a little bit of a boost for what you plan on doing. Your first plan is, now that you're thinking on it more, sorta retarded. Using your brain while hungover. Though your powers don't FEEL hampered by your hangover. You recall hearing something about gaining muscle is about pushing your muscles so hard, they get hurt and heal stronger? So if you use your powers a lot, SURELY something like that happens for your brain! You think! You rub your throbbing forehead as you try to find what to levitate around. Then it clicks. Why not just try levitating a lot of things at once? That should be enough to get something going. You take a pill out of the pill bottle you got and set it aside. You start focusing on the three pill bottles you got at first. The same glow as before surrounds them. With a flick of your wrist, they start floating in front of you. Cool. Three pill bottles. That's barely anything to remark. You focus your attention on the combat suit and gloves you set aside at your desk as well. You pull them over to the pill bottles, totaling five objects floating. The focus needed to levitate five things is starting to make your head throb. You pop the SOMTOIN ALPHA pill into your mouth and swallow it dry. It burns going down but you don't care, you just need more FOCUS. You push your powers to the limit by levitating your phone, flashlight, and pack of cigarettes. That's about eight things now. All of which needs your intense focus to keep from falling to the ground. >19. SUCCESSYour brain throbs in agony but you keep pushing forward. Your map, the jar of drone pheromones, the $725 you have. The Joyvel. All of them are floating alongside the rest of the the items. If you were to blink and loose focus for even a second, all of them would drop to the ground and make a mess. The SOMTOION ALPHA pill starts kicking in. You were about to lose your focus but you feel your brain going a mile a minute as the drug fully goes through your system. You even start levitating the table near your bed, bringing the total to 13. Sweat pours down your brow, any thoughts beyond levitating all thirteen objects have disappeared. You're in the ZONE now. After holding all thirteen in the air just like that, you slowly and carefully place the table down before placing the rest of the items on the table. You place your hand on your forehead. Something starts clicking in your head after you levitated all of those objects at once. It's like your mind is twisting and fracturing in on itself but in a good way. You don't NEED to follow the rules of the world and you just proved to yourself that you can. Just through mental force of will, you can do ANYTHING. A wild grin forces itself onto your mouth. You lower your hoof from your forehead, you're not sweating as muc- You stop in the middle of lowering your hoof.Wait, what the fuck?
You look down at your hands. Instead of fingers, you have two solid hunks of keratin. A light pinkish white fur grows from your wrist to the rest of your arm. What the actual fuck? You levitate over the bottle of pills you just took. ...Intense hallucinations. Shit. You toss it back onto the desk before sprinting over to the bathroom. You swear that your walking feels funny as you do so and it's NOT because of you being hungover. You force the door open and stare deeply at the cracked mirror. Long snout. Big floppy ears. Big, black eyes that don't seem to have any pupils. Your head is replaced with a deer's! Well, you guess "doe" in this situation since you have no antlers. THAT DOESN'T FUCKING HELP! YOU LOOK LIKE A FREAK! [UNSTABLE] WHAT'S NEXT, WE'RE GOING TO SPROUT MOTH WINGS AND FLY HEAD FIRST INTO A LIGHTBULB? THEY TRICKED US! Z-CORP FUCKED US OVER! [UNSTABLE] WE'RE A FREAK OF NATURE! THEY'RE GOING TO TRACK US DOWN AND USE US TO SHILL CHRISTMAS! IT'S ALREADY SNOWING EVERY DAY IN THIS DISTRICT, GIVE US A BREAK!!! You are officially freaking the fuck out. You hope to whatever higher power that exists that this bizarre transformation is only the result of your brain overclocked on a mixture of alcohol and booze. You grip onto the sink with your fucked up hoof hands. Feels like you're walking on high heels or something, you rather not look at your feet to confirm. [ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Perhaps this is just a mental metaphor for how you feel like you're pushing past your own humanity with what you just did. You do feel an untapped potential where there wasn't before. [ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Take a deep breath. This is simply a side effect of training your abilities. Maybe some fresh air will help clear your mind. You grab your low quality coat from your closet and try your best to put it on in your drugged, hungover state. You force the door open with your powers and rush out in the dark, snowy abyss that is the City. Somehow you feel less cold than you normally would. Your mind's just playing tricks on you, isn't it? Once you're outside the front door, you notice how dark it actually is outside. You would be completely blind out here if it wasn't for the streetlights still shining. It must be 4 or 5AM, if you had to guess. Okay. You hopefully won't make TOO much of an ass of yourself while walking around. You begin making your trek down the frostbitten streets of District 7. Walking is a complete hassle with your messed up sense of perception but you force yourself to keep moving. The darkness is NOT helping you here. Hazy, brightly colored silhouettes pass by you while you walk down the sidewalk. Yet... [SEEKER OF THE CITY] Your mind focuses on the City around you. The buildings keep their shape, their form, their identity. Your vision might swim with colors but you know the City is still what it always has been. With this, you're able to gain some focus. You keep pushing forward. To take in the sights of the City.
Your mind begins to bloom, as if ready to expand your powers. You'll wait until you're somewhere less frigid to start focusing on your anomalous powers. You glance around the streets you're walking down. The streets are flooded with the blurry, barely there impressions of people but as for those who exist physically? Not that many are wandering around this late. A teenager couple, a young man and woman, walk past you. You make out something about their parents being pissed at them when they return home. Both of them laugh, as if excited by the thought. A homeless man sits near an alleyway that only has darkness pouring out of it. He already looks half dead from how frostbitten he looks. He's still smiling despite it all. You envy his ability to enjoy his situation. A faceless Drone drags a limp body through the snowy streets. He 'looks' at you when he spots you. You wave at him. He waves at you. "GOOD DAY. I WOULD NOT REMEMBER THIS IF I WAS YOU." You nod. He nods back. A mutual understanding to forget this exchange. A redhead woman with too many teeth stands outside a storefront with light still pouring out of it. A pale man in a butcher's outfit yells back at her. You flinch when you see a brick hit the woman directly in the head. Black blood leaks from her forehead."FUCK YOU TOO! YOU'RE GETTING A NEW SUPPLIER!" "LIKE I WANT A BITCH OF A HARVESTER TO HELP!" The man slams the door in her face. She storms down the streets in a huff. You don't know what that was about and you're keeping it that way. The last person you note along your trip is a young boy standing outside in the freezing cold, right outside of a store with bright orange light pouring out of it. He's wearing a frankly silly hobo costume. Snow clumps in his blonde hair. "WITH DEALS THESE LOW, EVEN SOMETHING LIKE ME COULD AFFORD THEM!" He can't be any older than fourteen yet he tries his best to put on a gruff, gravely voice. The voice cracks shatter the illusion but it's too wholesome to make fun of. You try to ignore the two extra heads growing from his sides. Probably just the drugs. Wait. Deals? You step up to the young boy. "What does this store sell?" Your tongue feels weird in your mouth. You hope you don't look too silly. "ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING, MISS! HERE AT NEAL'S REAL DEALS, THE ONLY THINGS WE DON'T SELL ARE REFUNDS!" The young boy squawks with way too much energy in his voice. "OPEN 24/7, SIX DAYS A WEEK! Closed on sundays." You look at the storefront. Well, you were looking for a place to spend some of your money and it's clearly not a sunday, though you lost track of what day it actually is. Hm. Maybe you should check later. "Thanks." "NO PROBLEM, WEIRD LADY." You open the door and step into the store. You're instantly hit by a rush of warm air. Sniffing at the air, you smell wood burning. Is there a fireplace in here? Huh. That's something you haven't seen in a while. You take stock of the store.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xoxu_1v1K4 - NEAL'S REAL DEALS It's a small little store that probably only has enough room to hold seven to eight customers on a good day. There's a small fireplace near the front entrance with freshly burning wood inside of it. A few shoddy wooden chairs and a coffee table that has a bowl of sweets sits around it.Closer to the back is the front counter that has shelves on shelves of junk filling them. Hell, you think some of the items are about to spill out onto the floor. You try to ignore the shelf that's half stuck in the ceiling. Best not let your mind mess with you too much. A door behind the counter leads to some backroom but the main attraction is the shopkeeper. You would've expected it to be an old man given the name but it's a bored looking teenager instead. Her short brown hair is coated in soot but the store outfit (which looks like some drunkard's idea of a post apoc outfit) seems clean enough. Even if the chrome metal and muted rags looks tacky as hell. "Welcome to Neal's Real Deals. I'm not Neal. He's busy sleeping. Fuckin' old man." The teenager lets out a sigh as she puts a cigarette in her mouth. Her left hand (which you note is cybernetic) snaps its fingers until a spark flies, lighting it ablaze. "How may I help you?" The teenager hisses out after she takes a long inhale of her cigarette. "Mind if I ask what you sell?" You try your best to sound normal. Given how you still look like a god damn doe forced into a vaguely humanoid form. That and how the teenager seems to be blinking at least fifty times a second. "Well, that depends. What's your occupation?" She drones on as if she's reading from a script. You look around to make sure no one is listening before whispering your answer. "Cleaner." Her eyes light up for a split second before dulling to the same bored look she had before. "Anything and everything, including what we can't sell to the others. Take a look." She reaches her hand underneath the counter. With a simple 'flick', the shelves suddenly fill with a whole new selection. You start taking note of what you want to purchase. That and now you're somewhere safe, how to embrace your mind's untapped potential. Sure, it's not in the privacy of your own apartment, but your mind feels like it's about to implode if you wait too long. Best to get it out of the way.Note to self: be wary on what images you download and what webp to png converters you use. It's annoying how a lot of cool images need me to convert them via weird websites. webp is the most annoying file type in existence.
CURRENT MONEY: $725>BOLT ACTION PISTOL. A status symbol of a weapon. The wooden grip grants you confidence. Comes with two bullets. $375 for gun, $40 per bullet (+1 RESTRAINT to wearer while it has ammo. When fired, you roll 1+VIOLENCE+TALENT for the attack)>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP. This is more for your own vanity than anything practical. Makes you look less schizophrenic. $250. (+1 to your CHARM stat permanently)>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES. Useful for exploring abandoned buildings. $125. (Allows you to see in the dark and improves passive perception.)>TASER. A useful tool for nonlethally subduing a target. Overwhelms electronics. $150. (Comes with three charges. Spend a charge to roll an extra 2d6 when attacking a mechanical enemy. May also spend a charge to attempt a DC 13 TALENT check to knock out an enemy.)>ADRENALINE IMPLANT. A small chip that produces an emergency supply of adrenaline. $220 (Comes with two charges. Regains one per mission. You may spend a charge to add +2d8 to a VIOLENCE or TALENT check, or to heal 2 FLESH)>MENTAL LINK IMPLANT. Comes in a pack of two, one for you. $115 (Select an ALLY to implant into. Allows the two of you to communicate without alerting anyone.)>ECM JAMMER. Useful for when you want no witnesses. $135 per unit. (Disables all electronics (cameras, phones, etc) for a short duration while active.)>TRAUMA KIT. Oddly user friendly. Bought mostly by P-Company facilities. $235 per unit. (Has 5 charges. Heals 1 FLESH with 1 charge. Heals a crippling injury with 2 charges. Can heal near lethal damage with 3 charges.)>MYSTERY CRATE. "We stole these from an X-Corp military base. You manage to open it, keep what's inside." $200 per unit. (Offers random loot when opened.)>Surely, you can try haggling a deal out of the shopkeep. (Offer to barter? Try to ask for a discount? Ask what you can do to earn store credit? Write in.)Your mind begins to bloom. You start focusing. How does your new potential manifest? Choose one.>You feel how fragile the world is around you. How easy it is to BREAK. (Gain MENTAL BREAK. Spend 1 RESTRAINT to instantly destroy inanimate objects made out of weak materials. [Wood, plastic, glass, or otherwise easily damaged materials])>Why focus your power to just inanimate objects? Why not CONTROL the people around you? (Gain PUPPETEER. Spend 2 RESTRAINT to forcefully control the physical actions of another living enemy for a short duration?)>Hey, who says you can't use them on yourself? FLY free like a bird. (Gain LEVITATION. For free, you can hover a few feet above the floor. You can spend 2 RESTRAINT to temporarily gain a limited form of flight.)>With intense focus, you can force reality to bend to your will. To MANFIEST things into reality. (Gain MENTAL CONSTRUCT. You can spend 1 RESTRAINT to temporarily make small invisible walls to act as cover or to hamper progress. You can spend 2 RESTRAINT to create invisible, dangerous traps to mess with your enemies.)
Not sure why there's a question mark in the puppeteering description but eh, not worth deleting to fix.You can buy as much as you want from the shop, granted you have the moolah for it. You can buy one thing, fifteen things, nothing, etc. Just wanted to clarify that since I ran out of space to write that in the main post.
>>5813908>TRAUMA KIT.>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES.>TASER.That should leave us with $215 for hiring people or whatever else we might need. The trauma kit is the big important thing here, though.Mental link is interesting but after only 1 mission, I'm not sure who we'd even trust enough for that yet, other than maybe Lex.>Why focus your power to just inanimate objects? Why not CONTROL the people around you? (Gain PUPPETEER. Spend 2 RESTRAINT to forcefully control the physical actions of another living enemy for a short duration?)I presume this can be done from a distance? Like we could also just make someone shoot themself. This seems powerful
>>5813923I will clarify that Puppeteer requires line of sight. You can't make someone jump out a window or something if they locked themselves in a room where you can't see them.
>>5813908>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP>TRAUMA KIT>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES
>>5814028Forgot the second vote>Hey, who says you can't use them on yourself? FLY free like a bird. (Gain LEVITATION. For free, you can hover a few feet above the floor. You can spend 2 RESTRAINT to temporarily gain a limited form of flight.)
>>5813907Krita can convert webp to png (though it's overkill for just that)>>5813908>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES>ADRENALINE IMPLANT
>>5813908>PUPPETEER
>>5813907I just use ezgif's webp tp pngOr, to be really lazy, screenshot the image you want.
>>5813923+1TURN YOUR WEAPONS SYSTEMS ON EACH OTHER, NOWIt's a perfectly schizo choice, more fitting by the fact it hurts your sanity this hard.
>>5813908>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP>TRAUMA KIT>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES>Why focus your power to just inanimate objects? Why not CONTROL the people around you? (Gain PUPPETEER. Spend 2 RESTRAINT to forcefully control the physical actions of another living enemy for a short duration?)
>>5813895>picDamn Snail... Bunker correction needed... Arquebus a shit...>>5813908>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP. This is more for your own vanity than anything practical. Makes you look less schizophrenic. $250. (+1 to your CHARM stat permanently)Even insane schizo girls are still girls. There's no changing that.>TRAUMA KIT. Oddly user friendly. Bought mostly by P-Company facilities. $235 per unit. (Has 5 charges. Heals 1 FLESH with 1 charge. Heals a crippling injury with 2 charges. Can heal near lethal damage with 3 charges.)Hey I saw that "Bought mostly by P-Company facilities." We got a fuckton of mileage with ours back in HELP WANTED! and they were worth every C-Extract we spent on them. In a high damage and lethality setting, medical power is always king>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES. Useful for exploring abandoned buildings. $125. (Allows you to see in the dark and improves passive perception.)If we can see it, we can fight it>Surely, you can try haggling a deal out of the shopkeep. (Offer to barter? Try to ask for a discount? Ask what you can do to earn store credit? Write in.)Ew, you call THIS new? That looks like the same shirt I saw on that hobo a few streets back. And what about this eyeliner? Is this a colored pencil you took from some kid's art supplies? Come on.>Attempt to haggle down the NEW CLOTHES price. (220 is the ideal. -30 bucks is the goal.)As for mind power up>Why focus your power to just inanimate objects? Why not CONTROL the people around you? (Gain PUPPETEER. Spend 2 RESTRAINT to forcefully control the physical actions of another living enemy for a short duration?)https://youtube.com/watch?v=ocYAVbKT8is
>>5813923Support
>>5813908>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP. This is more for your own vanity than anything practical. Makes you look less schizophrenic. $250. (+1 to your CHARM stat permanently)>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES. Useful for exploring abandoned buildings. $125. (Allows you to see in the dark and improves passive perception.)>TASER. A useful tool for nonlethally subduing a target. Overwhelms electronics. $150. (Comes with three charges. Spend a charge to roll an extra 2d6 when attacking a mechanical enemy. May also spend a charge to attempt a DC 13 TALENT check to knock out an enemy.)Our talent is good, the taser is a good weapon for us. Goggles for exploring. New clothes are great. I think we can avoid major bodily harm by choosing our allies and missions carefully, at least for now. We have other options to acquire medkits, and while the same could be said for all of these things, I think having the option to choose these specific things that synergize with our strengths makes these the priority right now.>With intense focus, you can force reality to bend to your will. To MANFIEST things into reality. (Gain MENTAL CONSTRUCT. You can spend 1 RESTRAINT to temporarily make small invisible walls to act as cover or to hamper progress. You can spend 2 RESTRAINT to create invisible, dangerous traps to mess with your enemies.)Are these the only uses of this power, or could we say, make boxes to stack up and make a staircase to reach a certain height or make simple tools?Like the items, all of these are good. I just think something good against multiple opponents or with more utility would be preferable.
>>5813908>>TRAUMA KIT. Oddly user friendly. Bought mostly by P-Company facilities. $235 per unit. (Has 5 charges. Heals 1 FLESH with 1 charge. Heals a crippling injury with 2 charges. Can heal near lethal damage with 3 charges.)>MYSTERY CRATE. "We stole these from an X-Corp military base. You manage to open it, keep what's inside." $200 per unit. (Offers random loot when opened.)>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP. This is more for your own vanity than anything practical. Makes you look less schizophrenic. $250. (+1 to your CHARM stat permanently)>Why focus your power to just inanimate objects? Why not CONTROL the people around you? (Gain PUPPETEER. Spend 2 RESTRAINT to forcefully control the physical actions of another living enemy for a short duration?)
>>5814209Change>>5814236to Support this
>>5814153+1 to this
>>5813908>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP. This is more for your own vanity than anything practical. Makes you look less schizophrenic. $250. (+1 to your CHARM stat permanently)>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES. Useful for exploring abandoned buildings. $125. (Allows you to see in the dark and improves passive perception.)>TASER. A useful tool for nonlethally subduing a target. Overwhelms electronics. $150. (Comes with three charges. Spend a charge to roll an extra 2d6 when attacking a mechanical enemy. May also spend a charge to attempt a DC 13 TALENT check to knock out an enemy.)>With intense focus, you can force reality to bend to your will. To MANFIEST things into reality. (Gain MENTAL CONSTRUCT. You can spend 1 RESTRAINT to temporarily make small invisible walls to act as cover or to hamper progress. You can spend 2 RESTRAINT to create invisible, dangerous traps to mess with your enemies.)
>>5814318Oh and try to see if we can bargain the price of the dresses down.
>>5813908>NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP>NIGHT VISION GOOGLES>With intense focus, you can force reality to bend to your will. To MANFIEST things into reality. (Gain MENTAL CONSTRUCT. You can spend 1 RESTRAINT to temporarily make small invisible walls to act as cover or to hamper progress. You can spend 2 RESTRAINT to create invisible, dangerous traps to mess with your enemies.)
Closing the vote since I doubt any more votes are coming in. >WHAT TO BUY NEW CLOTHES AND MAKEUP: ivq, A5e, 8KA, 4Sx, oM0, PhN, um8, KWu, 8gkNIGHT VISION GOOGLES: 4QB, Hub, 8gk, A5e, 8ka, 4Sx, oM0, um8, KWuTASER: 4QB, Hub, 8gk, oM0, um8ADRENALINE IMPLANT: A5e TRAUMA KIT: 4QB, Hub, ivq, 8KA, 4Sx, PhNMYSTERY CRATE: PhNThe most popular choices are the new clothes, night vision googles, trauma kit, and taser. However, even if you successfully get the price down on the clothes you would just BARELY be off on buying the taser. By like 5 bucks if I did my math correctly. So I'll elect for you to simply buy the googles, clothes + makeup, and trauma kit. >WHAT'S YOUR NEW POWER? PUPPETEER: 4QB, A5e, Hub, 8KA, 4Sx, PhNLEVITATION: IvQ MANIFEST: oM0, 8gk, um8, KWU Puppeteer wins out there. To clarify oM0's question, whenever you gain a new power you tend to get a basic version of it. You could theoretically use it to make something to climb on with the 1 RESTRAINT ability but more in depth control of your powers usually requires training or contact with something anomalous to manifest. Regardless, I want two anons to roll 2d6 for a charm check. DC: 11 (-3 from "oh god your outfit sucks you really do need this, do you?")Succeed and you get a discount, saving a bit more moolah. (You will have $145 left). Fail and you have to pay the full price. (You will have $110 left.) I elect to ask for this despite only two anons voting for it since it doesn't really hurt you if you fail.
Rolled 4, 6 = 10 (2d6)Nicollan
Rolled 6, 4 = 10 (2d6)>>5815262The S in our name isn't for succ.
>>5815307>>5815331>20Turns out, a psychoactive drug that make you hallucinate having a deer head actually managed to make you sauve. For a bit. Success, writing.
You're somewhat disappointed at the somewhat limited selection she's offering you here. Probably because you're a new customer and she doesn't want to give you the spicy shit yet. Or maybe you're too early and they haven't restocked? Who knows. You mull this over while making your selection of items.The clothes and makeup is what catches your eye first. It's been a while since you managed to update your sense of fashion in any meaningful way. New shirts, new pants, a dress or two, eyeliner, lipstick, some skirts, a pile of cheap yet fashionable items. You glance up at the bored teenager."$250? For this?" You jab an index finger at the selection. "L-look at this! Ew!" You pull up a decent looking shirt. "I think I saw this on a hobo once! Real nasty type. FUCKING FILTHY, I TELL YOU!" The teenager doesn't bother responding. You hold up a set of eyeliner. Again, decent quality. If you ignore how your vision twists it to be three times the length it should be. "This looks like a colored pencil! I thought your store wouldn't steal from a kid's art supply! C'mon, $220 should be enough for this!" The teenager stares blankly at you. She pulls the cigarette out of her mouth. With a small tap, she lets some ash fall onto the front counter. >20 Her expression softens when she takes a closer look at you. You hope to god she doesn't mention your fucked up head. "...You really do need this, don't you?" There's a tinge of pity in her tone. "Shit, I get it. This stuff is expensive and, uh, no offense?" Smoke trickles out of her mouth. "I think you need this way more than I care about $30. Sure. It's $220, miss." She pops the cigarette back into her mouth. "Is that all you're buying?" Her whole mood has changed just by you asking for a discount. You were expecting her to be annoyed or somethin' but you're not sure if you like the pity look she's giving you. [UNSTABLE] SHE KNOWS. SHE KNOWS HOW MUCH OF A FUCK UP YOU ARE. YET, YOU WERE ABLE TO SPIN IT IN A WAY WHERE SHE ISN'T CALLING FOR THE COPS. THE FEDS. THE ONES WHO GLOW. [PERSON OF INTEREST] They wouldn't bother even if she did. They have bigger plans for you. "No, no." You mutter as you scratch at your snout. The teenager raises her eyebrow at what she must be seeing but doesn't comment. You grab a bulky rectangle with a bright red cross slapped on it and a dinky set of goggles with green lenses. "I'll take these as well. C-could you get, uh, more utility items in stock later?" "Uh. I'll ask Neal?" The teenager shrugs. "Total is $580. I hope you have the money on hand. Last time we accepted credit, we had to hire ten Q-Corp Drones to resolve it. Ugly sight." Her body shivers despite the heat of the fireplace nearby.It takes a bit of effort to get the wad of cash out of your pocket (damn drug messing with your head) but you eventually slap the $580 down. The teenager quickly checks it before plopping it into the cash register. She hangs you a full plastic bags. "See you later." "See ya."
>Acquired New Clothes + Makeup, Trauma Kit, and Night Vision Goggles You don't really have any other reason to be here so you start your trip back home. You need time to make yourself look somewhat sane, after all. Your trip back to your house is uneventful and you're starting to slowly dread how your mind is adapting to the feeling of walking around on hooves.Hopefully the drug wears off soon. Once you're back at your house, you place your bag on the desk in your bedroom before dipping into the bathroom for a quick clean up. You thank whatever fucked up god there is that your first power was telekinesis, you don't want to know how annoying it is to open doors or carry small things in your drugged state. A half hour passes by. You're finishing the last touches of your makeup. Considering you don't know what missions you're getting, you went pretty light on it. Some tasteful eyeliner, some concealer to hide the bags underneath your eyes, small things like that. Your new outfit starts with a big, floofy jacket that you intentionally got one size too big. Faux fur lines the interior to keep you nice and cozy. Fleece boots and well worn hiking pants keep your legs and feet cozy as well. You look down at your bright pink gloves, a little self indulgent but hey. Pink's good. If it wasn't for the deer head still forcefully imposed onto where your normal head would be, you would look normal. The drug has worn off enough for you to make out a rough impression of what you look like in the mirror. You just look like...Nicole. Not a deranged mess who hears voices and can puppeteer people.[UNSTABLE] YOU SAY THAT LIKE IT'S A BAD THING. WE KNOW WHAT YOU DON'T AND WE TELL YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. TRUST ME. YOU CAN'T TRUST ANYONE ELSE. Regardless, your new wardrobe is going to help with first impressions. >Base CHARM raised to 3. Your phone starts ringing. Shit, you would've thought he would've taken longer, the pill hasn't fully worn off. You float the phone up to your ear as you accept the call. WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK IS THAT NOISE- You nearly fall face first into the sink. You blink a few times before you realize, oh, that wasn't the screams of a hellbeast."GLOBA BLOBA?" What. "What?" "I DON'T LIKE REPEATING MYSELF. DO YOU KNOW HOW FUCKING ANNOYING IT IS TO BE WOKEN UP AT 6 AM BECAUSE OF THIS GOD DAMN JOB?" The Handler tries his best to destroy your eardrums through your phone's receiver. "I BET YOU WERE SLEEPING ALL NICE AND COZY IN YOUR CUTE LITTLE APARTMENT. LUCKY YOU."Suddenly, he stops sounding a bat out of hell. "Listen. I will give you this tiny bit of well earned praise. You managed to get Z-Corp to fuck off. Thank you. I might actually cry when I have to blow your brains out over the floor." You can hear his shit eating grin from here. "Now, Nicole. Make sure to look behind you before listening in. We wouldn't want the feds listening to us, would we?" You had to resist the urge to check. Fucking asshole.
Choose what your latest mission is going to be, Nicole. >"No one wants to go into the spooky abandoned section in District 8. It would be hilarious if a woman had more balls than them. Scout it out and report anything of interest." RISK: Medium-High REWARDS: $750 and dibs on any loot you find.>"We've gotten reports of a rogue group of Cleaners who have gathered a potent anomalous artifact called a PARADIGM. I don't care how you get it back but make sure they're not a problem ever again." RISK: Medium-High. REWARDS: $600, the potential to become more anomalous, four packets of A-Energy (a highly valued energy source in the City. Very useful as a barter item.) >"You better keep your head on fucking straight if you pick this. You are to escort a N-Company representative and keep him safe until he arrives at his location. Kill anyone who tries to touch him." RISK: High. REWARDS: $800, improved relations with N-Company, and minor holy relics.>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.>"A local P-Company facility has been struggling to stay operational due to high employee turnovers. Get a real job for once and work with the anomalies there as a temp hire." REWARD: $1200, improved relations with P-Company, the experience will help improve your stats and abilities. RISK: VERY HIGH. >"My bosses fucked up. Bad. We need some help smoothing over a, uh, 'sudden loss of inventory'. Look, talk to our clients until they're either calm or they're angry at something else." RISK: Medium. REWARD: $650. Just cash>Write in. (Describe the mission and I'll assign the rewards and risk level.)Who do you want to bring along? You have $145 to spend on allies. Pick as many as you can afford.>LEX. Your easily pleased muscle who has a bloodlust you need to sate. (RAPPORT discount. $125 to hire.)>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 25% cut of the reward money.) >QUENTIN. A mystery option. All you know is that he smells and is oddly friendly. (Free if brought alone. Non-LEX allies will ask for an extra cut (35% for Alexis, +$25 for the others) to hire.)>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($75 to hire.)>MARUYAMA. Resilient body used to physical strain and blends in easily with a crowd. Emotionally and mentally spent. ($120 to hire.)>KIARA. Fellow explorer of the City. Artificial physiology lacks the same limits as flesh and bone. Prone to making rash decisions. ($50 if dealing with the anomalous. Lack of funds for hiring on non-anomalous missions.)>No one else. Just you.Credits to MortisFriend for the attached fanart. Kino stuff.
>>5815466>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.>QUENTIN
>>5815463For once we are now Nicole the fashionable, no longer Nicole the nutter>>5815466>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 25% cut of the reward money.)>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($75 to hire.)
>>5815466>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.The sloppa joint needs help!>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($75 to hire.)>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 25% cut of the reward money.)We got Lex drinks last time, now to get Alexis and Ben the good food.
>>5815466>>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.>>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 25% cut of the reward money.)>>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($75 to hire.)
>>5815466>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.We're not ready for to be a big shot yet. Lets just build our relationships, get some more spending money to round out our arsenal.>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 25% cut of the reward money.)>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($75 to hire.)Someone to talk good for when we ask around, and someone to provide drugs or help with any investigation. If Benny boy asks about learning supernatural stuff, we can just tell the truth and say he needs to stick his nose around Anomalous stuff until his mind breaks and he gains abilities and then we can help him train. Or you know...make something up.
>>5815491Supporting
>>5815466>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 25% cut of the reward money.)>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($75 to hire.)
>>5815466>"One of my favorite food joints has been suffering in quality lately. Mind checking it out to see what the hubba is?" RISK: Low. REWARD: $335, improves the RAPPORT of any allies you bring along, and your Handler will view you more favorably, offering better missions in the future.>ALEXIS. A supplier of equipment and connections. Somewhat flaky and liable to draw attention. (Will ask for a 25% cut of the reward money.)>BENJAMIN. Fully licensed as a pharmacist and is Open Minded to the supernatural. Delusional, credulous, and naive. ($75 to hire.)I'm all down for making our handler slightly less of a piece of shit and building some rapport with benny boy.Alexis is a pretty convenient ally, not needing a down payment. But I have to remember she will ditch us if things get too dicey. I wonder if better rapport will help mitigate that, or if it's just some sort of overruling instinct for her, no matter who she's with.
Overslept. Will release an update soon. Dental work is a real pain in the ass.
>FAST FOOD SLOPPA JOB"So, here's the rub down. The down rub. The backrub. The spice rub. The-" "Please get on with it.""No need to be such a bitch but fine. So, you know District 6, right? The Streets of Flavor? The place where every carnal desire can be achieved? The juicy meat begging to be ripped apart that live there? Oh, some people say District 3 has better food but they're so, so wrong." You can hear him practically drool over the line. "Well, that's where the joint is." Okay, good, that's nearby. Your district allows free travel between districts that directly border it. And your district borders a LOT of other districts. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] G-Company IS associated a lot with travel. You don't recall the exact specifics but they create a lot of transport machinery for the other districts. "They've been getting a LOT less customers later. I still go, of course, but the place has been getting DUMPED hard by the others." "I don't know why, to be quite honest. The food's still good but people keep complaining about a lack of passion and one of the two chefs being a massive perfectionist?" You hear scratching over the receiver. "I dunno. Still tastes good to me. Never been a fru-fru fag who cares about deconstructed sandwiches. I just like food.""So. Here's where YOU COME IN. YOU'RE DOING THE JOB OF A FUCKING F-CORP FED. Well, I kid. But you are going to be my personal inspector. The shitpig who sniffs out for whatever shitpiggery is going on here. You're getting a few coupons to eat there for free." Oh! Free food! "Go in there. Find out what's going on. Try to resolve the issue. Kill anyone who's ruining the food." "You said 'coupons'. Is this something that's gonna take a while?" "Ideally not, freakshit. Ideally not. But in case your drug addled brain can't piece together whatever's going on, then yes. Or you can bring along some of you shitpig friends and get them to tolerate you a bit more." "Do you know the names of the chefs?" The handler snorts over the line. "Do you ask who makes your pills? All I know is one of them is named Adam. 'Italian' looking, if the old history books were right. You know, the ones that talked about that ancient Communist stuff?" What the fuck is Communism?"The rest is up to you, pig." He snorts. He's the one who sounds more like a pig here."Wait, can I at least get the NAME or LOCATION of the place?" You stop him before he can possibly hang up. It works since it lingers on the line a bit more. "Ah, right." He starts rambling the location over the phone in a barely legible blur. You start marking it down as quickly as you can on your map before he finishes. Right as you're finishing writing it, CLICK. Hung up.You check your map. Apparently it's not that far from the District 6 train station you'll be arriving at. Only about a mile or two of walking north. Hopefully this isn't another kidnapped person case.Time to call some allies up for this mission.
You do want to call Lex to tell him you're all okay but since you're going on a mission, that might be a lie in a few hours. Best to let him wait a bit. You ring up Ben first. You have been a bit worried about how he's been doing ever since yesterday. [PERSON OF INTEREST] The agents wouldn't have killed him yet. If he was you, sure, your powers are a threat to the City. Him? He's a nobody. He's already an unperson.When you're worried he's not picking up, the call goes through. "Yo?" Benjamin mutters over the line. His voice is low and groggy as he speaks. Probably just woke him up. "Who's this? I'm not buying any-" "Hey, Benjamin." "Oh!" He perks up when he hears your voice. "Nicole. What's the matter? It's pretty early, you know...?" You think you hear sheets rustling. "I got a mission. Handler called. I'll think you'll be helpful on it. $75 sounds good enough?" You shoot your shot with the price. You haven't really discussed how much he should be paid so... His voice audibly perks up when he hears your offer. "Heck yeah, sure. Better than doing solo missions. At least I get SOME money, right?" A forced chuckle hacks out of his throat. You hear more sheets rustling followed by a groan that's definitely too feminine to be his."Ben?" A boyish yet still feminine voice is picked up. "It's too early, can you quiet down?" The girl on the other line mutters. There's silence on the line as the two of you process what's going on. "..." "..." "Was that M-" "Tell me where to meet up." His dead inside voice shuts you up real quick. You rather not go to District 14 to go pick him up and to be frank? You rather not smell any booze for at least another day or two. You look at your map to see where's that one train station you're going to use. "Uh, there's a train station called Mono on the Alpha-1 line in District 7. Go there. I'll meet up with you there.""Cool. See you." He hangs up. You call up Alexis next. She picks up immediately. The screams and shouts of the crowd around her almost drown out her voice. Better make this conversation quick."MISSION?" She yells. "$84!" You respond. "MEET UP?" She yells back. "MONO STATION, ALPHA 1." You yell back. "UNDERSTOOD. MEET YOU THERE." The phone hangs up after that. Well, that was an enlightening conversation. You put your phone back into your pocket. You exit the bathroom and before leaving, you decide to put on that combat suit just in case. It slides underneath your clothes easily enough. Once you make sure it's not going to hurt wearing, you exit your apartment, ready to do another mission. >FLESH is now 3/3. You will be warned when the suit is too damaged to provide its bonus. >MONEY LEFT: $70. MISSION REWARD: $251, due to hiring AlexisHoly shit. You don't feel like you're going to get frostbite walking around now. These new clothes really are paying themselves back already, huh? You shake your head. It is MISSION TIME soon. You start heading to the train station.
You arrive after what seems like ten to fifteen minutes. There's barely anyone at the station aside from a few Drones and maybe one or two Androids sitting around, waiting to go to their jobs. You try to ignore one pair of Drones who appear to be handholding. Are they even sentient enough for- You shake your head. You sit down at one of the seats at the platform. You loathe how the station is mostly outside with only a small building for what you assume is the employees. But it's better than the bar. You look down at your hands just to make sure the drug's worn off. Yep. You no longer have deer hooves. The drug's mostly gone now. >CHARM and WILLPOWER have returned to their base values. You got some decent use out of the benefits so you're glad the side effects are over. Another hour passes before your allies manage to arrive. The first one to come over is Alexis, who you spot immediately due to her stark white suit. She sits down next to you with a briefcase in her hand. "I assumed you hired a third person, given the last mission?" You nod your head. You point at the train arriving right after hers to show Benjamin stumbling out into the platform. He's wearing a buttoned up shirt, jeans, and the same goofy leather gloves as before. Alexis squints at him, then at you, before letting out a sigh. "Fine. He works." Benjamin approaches the two of you with a giddy smile. "Sorry for the wait. I was, uh, busy talking to someone." Considering your phone call, you can guess who he's referring to. Though it might be a different girl. Too much of a personal question to ask. "So. I should tell you how this works. When I come here, I get you some equipment so you don't die immediately. I am keeping track of how much you own me if things go south." Alexis is staring daggers at Benjamin who doesn't seem to notice. "Coolio! So I guess we're, like, a Cleaner office now or something?" [SEEKER OF THE CITY] Some Cleaner groups become big enough to where they can establish themselves as a group called an 'office'. Typically, to gather and work on far more dangerous and rewarding contacts. "I wouldn't say that." Alexis groans. "Welcome to the team, I suppose." >Alexis and Benjamin have joined the party! >You have unlocked Benjamin's stat sheet! While most allies tend to have a stat total of 24, some special allies have 26 or even higher.>The sheet will be placed in the ALLIES pastebin."Wow! I've never been part of a team before! So, do we get special outfits! Oh, oh, maybe code names?" Benjamin looks like a kid again now that he's working with you. Do you humor him? Alexis looks like she's slowly dying inside as this goes on.>"Sure. Let's make some codenames." Humor the kid. Benjamin will probably like this. (Write in your codenames.)>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this.
Alexis opens up her briefcase. It's time to pick your free equipment. Choose one for each ally. NICOLE >A pack of Molotov Cocktails. Comes in a set of three. Very useful for dealing with multiple enemies. (Attack roll of TALENT+VIOLENCE+1. Deals damage to multiple enemies and deals afterburn damage. Rolls TALENT+VIOLENCE+WILLPOWER if you use telekinesis.)>A E-Company branded Aerial Drone. Comes with a controller AND batteries! What a steal. (Has three charges before needing new batteries. Lets you scout buildings or observe people without risk to yourself.)>A specialty Lockpicking Set. If you need a door open, this will help you out. (Grants a +2 TALENT bonus to forcing open manual locks and a +1 to electric locks.)ALEXIS >A set of earpieces. Enough for the three of you. Easily concealable under your hair. (Allows for communication between the three of you in a discreet manner. Easily damaged, however.)>A pack of smoke bombs. Allows for quick disengagement from a dicey situation. Comes in a pack of four. (Can be used to reduce an enemy's VIOLENCE by 2 or to grant a +2d6 bonus when attempting to escape an enemy.)>Stiletto Knife. A lady's weapon. (Grants +3 VIOLENCE during the first turn in combat. +1 VIOLENCE after.)BENJAMIN>Handheld Chemical Analyzer. Useful for health inspectors and chemists. (Has four charges. Can detect dangerous or unusual substances in air, food, or drink by spending a charge.)>Medical Grade Protective Equipment. You ARE going into a restaurant and you know how filthy those are. (Automatically protects the user from infections and gains a +2 FLESH bonus to resisting chemical or toxin based attacks.)>Hypospray. A specialized medical device that automatically generates chems. (Comes with three charges that regenerate over time. Spend a charge to heal 1 FLESH or RESTRAINT, add +1d6 to non-CONNECTIONS, non-health stat rolls, or purge a status effect)While you pick your equipment, you still have time before the next train comes. What do you do to pass the time. Choose up to three.>Check up on Benjamin. How has he been doing after you last saw him? (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>Check up on Alexis. She kinda disappeared out of nowhere last mission. What has she been doing? (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>You check your map. "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT", apparently that's the restaurant name. Ask your allies if they recognize the name or if a chef named "Adam" comes to mind.>It might be a bit vain but ask them how you look. You really do hope your new wardrobe makes you look less insane.>You have some spare time. Have Benjamin make you another dose of a drug you have. (Select a drug for him to copy. He'll make an extra 1d2 doses.)>Ask Benjamin about your drug hallucination. Maybe he understands why your mind picked a deer.>Write in.Reposting PASTEBINS.MAIN CHARACTER: https://pastebin.com/3y638TfKALLIES: https://pastebin.com/8gdVZBPeMECHANICS: https://pastebin.com/A9nLYWP6
>>5816730>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this.>"But if we make it far enough in missions, I wouldn't mind the codenames talk again."No, but maybe yes later>>5816735>A pack of Molotov Cocktails. Comes in a set of three. Very useful for dealing with multiple enemies. (Attack roll of TALENT+VIOLENCE+1. Deals damage to multiple enemies and deals afterburn damage. Rolls TALENT+VIOLENCE+WILLPOWER if you use telekinesis.)>A pack of smoke bombs. Allows for quick disengagement from a dicey situation. Comes in a pack of four. (Can be used to reduce an enemy's VIOLENCE by 2 or to grant a +2d6 bonus when attempting to escape an enemy.)>Handheld Chemical Analyzer. Useful for health inspectors and chemists. (Has four charges. Can detect dangerous or unusual substances in air, food, or drink by spending a charge.)THEN>Check up on Benjamin. How has he been doing after you last saw him? (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)Specifically about what happened after Z Corp took him in. Nothing personal, just a rundown>Ask Benjamin about your drug hallucination. Maybe he understands why your mind picked a deer.>You check your map. "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT", apparently that's the restaurant name. Ask your allies if they recognize the name or if a chef named "Adam" comes to mind
>>5816735>Sure. (21ST CENTURY GIRL, GORILLA, BUTTERFLY, BEETLE)I don't actually know a good name for Ben.>E Company droneDetermines how screwed we are.>EarpiecesCOMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT>Handheld Chemical AnalyzerWhat toxins are here and who usually uses these?>"BAZAAR OF DELIGHT" questions>Ask Benjamin about drug hallucination>BEN MAKE MORE ALPHA DRUGS FOR FUN AND PROFIT NOW NOWW NOWNOWNWOWN
>>5816730>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this.>>5816735>A E-Company branded Aerial Drone. Comes with a controller AND batteries! What a steal. (Has three charges before needing new batteries. Lets you scout buildings or observe people without risk to yourself.)>A set of earpieces. Enough for the three of you. Easily concealable under your hair. (Allows for communication between the three of you in a discreet manner. Easily damaged, however.)>Medical Grade Protective Equipment. You ARE going into a restaurant and you know how filthy those are. (Automatically protects the user from infections and gains a +2 FLESH bonus to resisting chemical or toxin based attacks.)>You check your map. "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT", apparently that's the restaurant name. Ask your allies if they recognize the name or if a chef named "Adam" comes to mind.>It might be a bit vain but ask them how you look. You really do hope your new wardrobe makes you look less insane.>You have some spare time. Have Benjamin make you another dose of a drug you have. (Select a drug for him to copy. He'll make an extra 1d2 doses.)More anti psychotics
>>5816730>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this.>>5816735NICOLE>A specialty Lockpicking Set. If you need a door open, this will help you out. (Grants a +2 TALENT bonus to forcing open manual locks and a +1 to electric locks.)ALEXIS>A set of earpieces. Enough for the three of you. Easily concealable under your hair. (Allows for communication between the three of you in a discreet manner. Easily damaged, however.) BENJAMIN>Handheld Chemical Analyzer. Useful for health inspectors and chemists. (Has four charges. Can detect dangerous or unusual substances in air, food, or drink by spending a charge.)>Check up on Benjamin. How has he been doing after you last saw him? (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>Check up on Alexis. She kinda disappeared out of nowhere last mission. What has she been doing? (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>It might be a bit vain but ask them how you look. You really do hope your new wardrobe makes you look less insane.
>>5816735>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this.>A specialty Lockpicking Set. If you need a door open, this will help you out. (Grants a +2 TALENT bonus to forcing open manual locks and a +1 to electric locks.)>A set of earpieces. Enough for the three of you. Easily concealable under your hair. (Allows for communication between the three of you in a discreet manner. Easily damaged, however.)>Handheld Chemical Analyzer. Useful for health inspectors and chemists. (Has four charges. Can detect dangerous or unusual substances in air, food, or drink by spending a charge.)
>>5816730>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this.>>5816735>A E-Company branded Aerial Drone. Comes with a controller AND batteries! What a steal. (Has three charges before needing new batteries. Lets you scout buildings or observe people without risk to yourself.)>A set of earpieces. Enough for the three of you. Easily concealable under your hair. (Allows for communication between the three of you in a discreet manner. Easily damaged, however.)>Handheld Chemical Analyzer. Useful for health inspectors and chemists. (Has four charges. Can detect dangerous or unusual substances in air, food, or drink by spending a charge.)>Check up on Alexis. She kinda disappeared out of nowhere last mission. What has she been doing? (Write in anything specific you want to ask.)>You check your map. "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT", apparently that's the restaurant name. Ask your allies if they recognize the name or if a chef named "Adam" comes to mind.>It might be a bit vain but ask them how you look. You really do hope your new wardrobe makes you look less insane.
There's a diplomatic way into codenames, I think. Alex sighs, but she was clearly talking in code back when we first met her. Bring this up, suggest sensible codenames, say Ben's clearly too stoked about the idea to mess it up.>>5816730>Sure. You: Deer (You've got the stare. No other raisin). Alexis: Crow (Clever, not white). Ben: Rex (Big name for a skinny guy, also Rx, geddit?).Also what do you all wanna bet that the restaurant used to dose food with happy drugs until perfectionist chef put a stop to it, and phone man couldn't tell the difference because he's got high drug tolerance?Perhaps I overplay my hand, but given the stated scale of the restaurant's struggles, I see three possible vectors: Fuckiness in the kitchen, like spiking or creative differences; Fuckiness in/around the venue, such as mood-altering paint, psychic field over the exit, or vindictive waitstaff; Fuckiness in the social sphere, such as review-bombing or a rival messing with their ingredient shipments.Investigating social sphere has minimal bearing on gear choice. If something is happening in the venue, it will be difficult to determine without someone observing from outside, isolated from the effects. Incidentally lets us conserve coupons. Earpieces are crucial to this. Good thing it's winning.If something is happening in the kitchen, I don't think it's necessary to know exactly what. Present ourselves as inspectors, rattle the cage with Ben putting litmus tests in everything and pulling out some portion of his chemistry set, Alex gets maybe-maybe-not accusatory, Nicole lets the paranoia win, watch who flinches, go from there. Opens up a Ben slot to let us go dumpster-diving.>>5816735>Lockpicks>Earpieces>Medical PPEI'd like to rapport with Alexis a bit, but something tells me that a smooth social mission would cup her tea just as well. Therefore, intel, prep, and a contingency.>You check your map. "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT", apparently that's the restaurant name. Ask your allies if they recognize the name or if a chef named "Adam" comes to mind.>Talk with Alexis about exploiting social openings in a restaurant. How to act like you belong in places besides the dining room.>Ask Benjamin to brew up some fast-acting tranquilizers.
>>5816735>A specialty Lockpicking Set. If you need a door open, this will help you out. (Grants a +2 TALENT bonus to forcing open manual locks and a +1 to electric locks.)>A set of earpieces. Enough for the three of you. Easily concealable under your hair. (Allows for communication between the three of you in a discreet manner. Easily damaged, however.)>Handheld Chemical Analyzer. Useful for health inspectors and chemists. (Has four charges. Can detect dangerous or unusual substances in air, food, or drink by spending a charge.)>You check your map. "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT", apparently that's the restaurant name. Ask your allies if they recognize the name or if a chef named "Adam" comes to mind.>Talk with Alexis about exploiting social openings in a restaurant. How to act like you belong in places besides the dining room.>It might be a bit vain but ask them how you look. You really do hope your new wardrobe makes you look less insane.
>>5817162>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this.
>>5816730+1 to these code names >>5817084These are good code names>>5816735Nicole:>A specialty Lockpicking SetAlexis:>A set of earpiecesBenny:>Handheld Chemical AnalyzerAs for what to do,>You check your map. "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT", apparently that's the restaurant name. Ask your allies if they recognize the name or if a chef named "Adam" comes to mind.>Ask Benjamin about your drug hallucination. Maybe he understands why your mind picked a deer.>You have some spare time. Have Benjamin make you another dose of a drug you have. (Select a drug for him to copy. He'll make an extra 1d2 doses.)Immediately ask for more Somtoin Alpha right after telling him how wack-ass it was taking it
>>5816730>"Calm down. It's not like that." Shut him down. Alexis will probably like this>>5816735>A specialty Lockpicking Set. If you need a door open, this will help you out. (Grants a +2 TALENT bonus to forcing open manual locks and a +1 to electric locks.)>A set of earpieces. Enough for the three of you. Easily concealable under your hair. (Allows for communication between the three of you in a discreet manner. Easily damaged, however.)>Handheld Chemical Analyzer. Useful for health inspectors and chemists. (Has four charges. Can detect dangerous or unusual substances in air, food, or drink by spending a charge.)>Talk with Alexis about exploiting social openings in a restaurant. How to act like you belong in places besides the dining room.>It might be a bit vain but ask them how you look. You really do hope your new wardrobe makes you look less insane.>Ask Benjamin to brew up some fast-acting tranquilizers.
Closing vote>CODE NAMES OR NOT? No code names wins out by a large margin.>NICOLE EQUIPMENT E-Company Drone: Hub, Ivq, um8Molotovs: D+kLockpick Set: 8KA, A5e, 6/d, 4QB, /uc, KWu>ALEXIS EQUIPMENT Smokebombs: D+k Earpieces: Everyone else. >BENJAMIN EQUIPMENT Handheld Chemical Analyzer: D+k, Hub, 8KA, um8, /uc, 4QB, KWU, A5ePPE: Ivq, 6/dNo questions on what to get here >FREE TIME ACTIONSChat with Benjamin: D+k, 8KA, 4QB Chat with Alexis: 8KA, um8, 6/d, /uc, KWU BAZAAR OF DELIGHT questioning: D+K, Hub, Ivq, um8, 6/d, /uc, 4QBVANITY: Ivq, 8kA, um8, /uc, KWU DRUGS. NOW: Ivq, 6/d, HuB, 4QB, KWuAsk about drug hallucinations: D+k, Hub, 4QB,So, we have questioning about the Bazaar of Delight and a three way tie for second place. So, gonna ask for a quick tie breaker vote on that. Pick two. How >Chat with Alexis. Ask her about ways to exploit social openings in a restaurant. How to act like you belong.>Ask them how you look. It'll probably make your mind feel better. Praise is always nice.>Ask Benjamin to start making some drugs already. (Choose between Tranquilizers or Somtoin Alpha when picking this.)
>>5817661>Chat with Alexis. Ask her about ways to exploit social openings in a restaurant. How to act like you belongThe silver glowies will still know us, but this can also come in handy elsewhere.
>>5817661>>Ask them how you look. It'll probably make your mind feel better. Praise is always nice.
>>5817661>>Ask Benjamin to start making some drugs already. (Choose between Tranquilizers or Somtoin Alpha when picking this.)Tranquilizers
>>5817661>>Ask them how you look. It'll probably make your mind feel better. Praise is always nice.>>Ask Benjamin to start making some drugs already. (Choose between Tranquilizers or Somtoin Alpha when picking this.)
>>5817661>Chat with Alexis>Tranqs
Rolled 2 (1d2)Three and a half hours is enough for a tie breaker. Benjamin wins with the tranquiller request, rolling a d2 for the last one to keep things from stalling out too much1: Chat with Alexis 2: Indulge your vanity. For the Tranquillizer vote, someone roll 1d2 for me.
>>5817975Indulging your vanity wins. Going to start writing now while I wait for the 1d2.
Rolled 1 (1d2)>>5817977
"Chill out, Benny." You raise your hand up at the overexcited spaz. His giddy smile dampens a bit. "Look, it's not like that. We barely know each other." "But. If we make it through more missions, we might have this talk again. Not now.""Alright." Benny groans in disappointment at your rejection. Alexis nods her head in approval. "Thank you. We have more relevant issues right now. Not that I have an issue in speaking in code." The blonde haired woman glances at her phone before she looks back at you. "I have to say, did someone replace you? The Nicole I have on profile wouldn't have done that." Alexis tries her best to hold back her laugh. You simply shrug back at her with a smile.>RAPPORT gained with Alexis!"Who knows? That's not important, I do have something to ask of you two. We got some time before the train comes so we might as well use that time." You clasp your hands together. Mostly to keep them warm, it is FREEZING out here. You do want to talk to Alexis about how to blend in at the fast food joint but, look, you're only human here. "How does my outfit look?" You get out of your seat. You slowly spin in place to show off the new clothes that, hopefully, make you look like a regular person for once. Your two allies stare at you. You can't really read the expressions on their face. You stand there awkwardly for a moment. The three of you silently look at each other while time keeps on passing by. Eventually, Benjamin speaks up. "It looks good." He gives a thumbs up. "I don't really know anything about fashion but it's good!" "Eh. It's so so." Alexis dismissively waves her hand. "It does make you look better. Though, that's a VERY low bar to clear." The happy chemicals flood your head. It feels nice knowing that, at least on a surface level, you look normal for once. >+1 RESTRAINT. 6/6 now. >You can feel your Hangover lighten up. It now only applies a -1 to COGNIZANCE this mission."Okay but seriously!" You clap your hands. "I got some questions to ask you two. It's actually about the mission this time." This actually perks their attention compared to your fashion question. "We're going to a restaurant to figure out why it's been losing customers. And I want to know if you guys recognize some details about it." "Name's 'BAZAAR OF DELIGHT'. One of the chefs is Adam something, didn't get a last name. Anything about this rings a bell?" Benjamin scratches the back of his head. "Name sounds kinda dumb, like they made it up on the spot. Maybe that's why? I don't really recall anything about that, though." He pauses for a moment. "I do know a chef duo named Adam and Benedict supposedly being a thing. That's about it." Interesting, another name. You look over at Alexis who is DEEP in thought over the question. She snaps her fingers. "Funny thing you mentioned that. A lot of my associates keep talking about that damn place." Seems like her connections are helping you out here.
"Yeah, apparently there's a Benedict Baker and an Adam Borrelli who are making it BIG in District 6 lately, the one that F-Company controls. I've never been there myself but they were some shooting stars a few weeks ago. Their place is FAILING?" Alexis asks incredulously. "That's what the Handler said." You simply respond. "Bizarre. I'm not sure how they could be failing unless they're actively trying." Alexis has a weirdly nervous tone to her voice. She leans forward in her seat. "Sure, it's a competitive market to fun a food joint in District 6 but..." She stews in her own thoughts. "This is going to be interesting to resolve.""Is there anything else you could tell me about them?" You snap your fingers to get her attention. "Oh, right. Something about Benedict being a perfectionist? That's all I can remember besides them working together." So, you got a name for the problem chef. That might be useful if you try talking to the Adam person. You check to see if your train's coming soon. You still have about half an hour to go so, before you go any further, might as well get some use out of Benjamin's equipment. [UNSTABLE] NO I DON'T WANT THE MEDS PLEASE DON'T YUMMY MEDS YUMMY YUM-"Can you make something to knock people out? Like, uh, tranquillizers?" You don't know a lot about drugs beyond the voices in your head hating it when you take them. Hopefully he knows something he can make pretty quickly. Wow, okay, he's already cooking something up with his mini chemistry set. Alexis stands in front of him while muttering "at least try to hide" and "what the actual fuck-" Before anyone can really notice what he's doing, he tosses over a small needle filled with a bright yellow fluid. "Can you at least WAIT until we're somewhere private?!" The sheer exasperation on her face would be almost comical if you didn't get where it was coming from. Benjamin stares at her with a blank, thoughtless look before he shrugs. "She wanted it. So I made it. Simple as.">1 use left for his chem boon this mission"That needle has a light muscle relaxant and sedative. Jab it in someone's neck and they'll go night night in a few minutes. They won't even feel you jabbing them, it's that good!" Benjamin gleefully chatters on about what he made.>You gained FAST ACTING TRANQUILZER! (Inject an unaware enemy to instantly knock them out, granted you sneak up on them or overpower them. Works if consumed as well.)"Well, at least it's useful. Just...try to do that in a private place next time, please? I don't want us to look like druggies here." The train soon arrives after he's done hiding his chemistry set. Alexis is the first one to board it. The two of you follow shortly after. It looks the same as the one you took yesterday except for there being a LOT of people with weirdly large amounts of teeth jutting out of their mouth. You're pretty sure you're not hallucinating and no one else seems to be questioning them. Oh well. Time for your mission.
It doesn't take long to arrive at District 6. While it's not as appealing as some of the trains you heard that only take ten seconds to arrive, you never had the money for those. The three of you step out into F-Company's District.You step off the train with your allies and- https://youtu.be/WGJbuHUbw8k - DISTRICT 6 THEMEYour eyes are immediately assaulted by the overwhelming sights, smells, and sounds in front of you. The streets are lined to end to end with various food, gift, and music stalls. It's like stepping into the world's most overwhelming festival. Benjamin quickly gets overstimulated by it and covers his nose in a fruitless attempt to gain some clearheadness. Alexis is handling it a lot better but it's obvious she wants to get out of here as soon as possible. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] A place of gluttony and sin. F-Company is most well known for indulging heavily in getting as many new faces to cook and create here. It's hard to find a street corner that doesn't have someone cooking some foul mixture. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] If it wasn't for the location you marked on the map, you would waste HOURS trying to find a way out of here. You pull out the map to lead your allies forward. It's a struggle to pass by the crowds that surround the stalls. Every step is like pushing through molasses. Benjamin clings onto your arm like a lost child while Alexis stands as close as possible to you as she can get away with. It takes a while but you eventually find yourself at the location of the fast food joint. Even if it took nearly getting crushed by a swarm of people and being overwhelmed by the noise and smells of the place. You three spill out into a somewhat quiet street that's north of the train station you left. It's a quiet little brick building that only stands out because the rest of the streets and buildings are covered in garish reds, golds, and yellows. A few dozen chairs and tables are scattered around outside but you only count three or four of tables having anyone there. Now that you're at the site, Alexis hands the three of you an earpiece, alongside the equipment she got for you and Benjamin. >+Lockpick Set for you and +Chemical Analyzer for Ben A sign with the name "BAZAAR OF DELIGHT" hangs over the wooden door leading deeper into the building. You scan around to see anything of note around the restaurant. There's a few windows showing the inside of the restaurant and at the counter, there's two men in checkered jackets harassing the poor fast food cashier. You swear those jackets look familiar but you can't tell where. A man in a chef's uniform sits at one of the empty outdoor tables with a cigarette in his mouth. He stares at the table with a frustrated look on his face. Three people in a fast food uniform argue amongst each other while carrying a bag to the dumpster. They toss it in and slide in through a backdoor. A disappointed looking group is getting up from a table. Most of the food is left uneaten.
What's your move from here, Nicole? >Might as well make a good first impression. Enter the restaurant and deal with the thugs. (May result in a fight depending on the choices you make.) >That chef might know more. Head over to him and ask him what's up. Maybe he knows more about the situation happening inside. >Head over to the disgruntled customers and ask them what's up with the food. Ben might be able to scan what's wrong with it as well.>[UNSTABLE] THEY'RE THROWING AWAY THE EVIDENCE! RUSH OVER TO THE DUMPSTER IMMEDIATELY! YOU NEED TO CATCH THEM RED HANDED!>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You spot one of them. A man in a silver hat and coat. Yet he doesn't seem to be here for you. Confront him on why he's here.>Try to sneak inside through the door next the dumpster. See what's going on in the kitchen (DC: 14 TALENT check. Succeed and you might learn some valuable information. Failure and you'll get kicked out, making future investigations harder.)>Point at your allies to do something. (Free action. Pick in an action for your two allies to do for you.)>Use an item? Take some drugs? Use your powers? Do something else? (Write in.)
>>5818264>[UNSTABLE] THEY'RE THROWING AWAY THE EVIDENCE! RUSH OVER TO THE DUMPSTER IMMEDIATELY! YOU NEED TO CATCH THEM RED HANDED!Either1. They get scared off, because minimum wages don't pay enough to deal with two nutjobs and a tard wrangler. We then go through the opened door behind them. 2. There's actually something in the trash. 3. We outcrazy them into doing our bidding. 4. ???5. PROFIT
>>5818331+1!!!!!!
>>5818264>>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You spot one of them. A man in a silver hat and coat. Yet he doesn't seem to be here for you. Confront him on why he's here.
>>5818264>[UNSTABLE] THEY'RE THROWING AWAY THE EVIDENCE! RUSH OVER TO THE DUMPSTER IMMEDIATELY! YOU NEED TO CATCH THEM RED HANDED!>Alexis and Ben can talk to the chef
>>5818262WAIT! Are they red and black checkered jackets? It's the guards from the warehouse we just stole Ben from!I wish I was available for the prior votes, the toolset we choose is useful, but given it our handler mentioned killing we should've probably chosen some tools suited for violence. We already investigate good and have Ben's tools. Not that it would've mattered given how one sided that vote was.>Alexis talk to the chef, ask what's wrong. Make sure she knows the guards from the other day are RIGHT HERE. Hope she has her persona worked out and kept that badge.>[UNSTABLE] THEY'RE THROWING AWAY THE EVIDENCE! RUSH OVER TO THE DUMPSTER IMMEDIATELY! YOU NEED TO CATCH THEM RED HANDED!>Bring Ben with us, hide from the checkered men.It's evidence! Quick, scan it!
>>5818622Change to this>>5818647Support
>>5818264>[UNSTABLE] THEY'RE THROWING AWAY THE EVIDENCE! RUSH OVER TO THE DUMPSTER IMMEDIATELY! YOU NEED TO CATCH THEM RED HANDED!Alexis and Ben>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You spot one of them. A man in a silver hat and coat. Yet he doesn't seem to be here for you. Confront him on why he's here.Nicole
>>5818264Changing vote from >>5818386 to >>5818723
>>5818723+1
>>5818264>>[UNSTABLE] THEY'RE THROWING AWAY THE EVIDENCE! RUSH OVER TO THE DUMPSTER IMMEDIATELY! YOU NEED TO CATCH THEM RED HANDED!
>>5818264>>>[PERSON OF INTEREST] You spot one of them. A man in a silver hat and coat. Yet he doesn't seem to be here for you. Confront him on why he's here.
WHAT NICOLE SHOULD DO UNSTABLE: Hub, plY, om0, /uc, KWU PERSON OF INTEREST: 8KA, um8, arl, 4QB, Ivq WHAT BENJAMIN SHOULD DO (if anything)Talk to the chef: plyHelp you with Unstable: om0, /ucDo the unstable task: arl, 8ka, um8WHAT SHOULD ALEXIS DO (if anything)Talk to the chef: ply, om0, /uc Do the unstable task: 8ka, arl, um8 Alright, to speed things along and to not stay mired in tiebreakers, I'll have Benjamin do the Unstable task while you do the Person of Interest task. Seems like a fair compromise to me.Do you want Alexis to talk to the chef or assist Benjamin in his garbage searching? >Talk to the chef. She's the only one here good with people and can get some information out of him.>Help Benjamin. She'll keep him focused and will assist in how much information he gets from the dumpster dive.
>>5819659>Talk to the chefLet's split up and look for clues!
>>5819659Backing >>5819662Let's split up, gang!
>>5819659>Talk to the chef. She's the only one here good with people and can get some information out of him.
>>5819659>Talk to the chef. She's the only one here good with people and can get some information out of him.We have the earpieces, it'd be a waste not to utilize their benefit. A bit worried about Benjamin alone with the checkered suits nearby, but he can just hollar over comms
Alright, unanimous to have her talk to the chef. Writing now.
"Okay, Alexis. You're going to talk to the chef. Benjamin, you're going to check the dumpster. Warning, there's some checkered freaks over there," You point at the window showing the two. You check and yep, those are red and black checkered jackets. "I think they're the same guys who messed with Ben. Ben, keep away from them. Alexis, keep your persona up.""Sounds good? Inform me what you find over the earpieces.""Shit. Noted." Alexis nods. Benjamin takes a moment to process the information but gives a thumbs up. "Okay, if you say so!" The two slip away to deal with their own targets. Your target? The man in silver. Your brain nearly didn't notice he was there yet, you can always see them. They glow in the dark. [PERSON OF INTEREST] He's not even looking at you. He's far more invested in the burger he's eating. Sometimes he glances up to look at the checkered men.[PERSON OF INTEREST] Yet you can FEEL his eyes staring at you. Right through your soul. Right into what makes you YOU. You take in a deep breath. If it wasn't for the mission, you would be running for your life but you have to do some sacrifices to get any progress. Your legs move like they're made out of solid lead as you begin to walk over to his table. He doesn't bother looking over at the person approaching his table until you eventually sit down across from him. There's no way you could describe him in words. Not out of a lack of trying but his face, body, and posture are the platonic ideal of unassuming and generic. All you can really remark is his silver hat and suit, a set of shades, his lack of hair and his pale skin. Sometimes it's almost like he doesn't have a face. Just static and garbage noise. You're not sure how much of that is your mind playing tricks with you. https://youtu.be/q-XRfTHmJYg - THE SILVER AGENT THEME"Nicole Smith." His voice crackles like it's being broadcasted through a faulty radio. There's a hint of a smile(?) on his face. "How unexpected. To what do we owe the pleasure? Your types normally don't want to talk to us." He puts down his burger, putting all of his focus on you. "What are you doing here?" Your mouth twists into a nearly feral snarl. "I don't get it! It's a fucking fast food joint! You're usually outside my house or in my walls or watching me! You don't DO normal people things!" "How presumptuous of you. From the rumors I heard, I thought you would've been smarter than this." Static hisses from his throat. "Is it not possible for me to enjoy lunch? You are not the most important person in the world." [UNSTABLE] BULLSHIT! YOU'VE NEVER SEEN THEM DO THIS SHIT WITHOUT HAVING A GOAL IN MIND! HE IS FUCKING WITH YOU! KILL HIM WHILE HE HAS HIS GUARD DOWN! THIS IS YOUR ONLY CHANCE TO GET RID OF ONE. "Cut the bullshit. Why are you here?" "Why are you here?" That smug tone is pissing you off. "I can do two things at once. It would be pathetic if I couldn't."
A crackle from your ear alerts you. Benjamin's voice whispers into your ear. "Okay, there was some half eaten food. I analyzed it and, uh, so...do you know what A-Energy is?" [SEEKER OF THE CITY] A highly potent energy source produced by many companies in minor amounts but mostly created by P-Company. Sold at insanely high prices.[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] The average person doesn't know this but they're harvested from the anomalies P-Company stores. That's how they can easily produce it."Apparently there's traces of it in most of the food? I don't understand why, it's too expensive to be using as a food additive." He gags a bit. "God, dumpster diving stinks. They can't be buying it so...I dunno, I'll keep looking. I'm not detecting anything else so far." The Agent stares at you while you listen into your headset.[PERSON OF INTEREST] Their kind knows a lot. You could potentially get VERY important hints if you ask them the right questions. Though, you're not sure how much of your hand or mission plans you should reveal. [PERSON OF INTEREST] If you prod him just right, you might be able to learn more than you reveal to him.Alexis' voice is the next on your earpiece. "Okay. Interview is done. It wasn't one of our targets, just another chef working there." She coughs to clear her voice. "I got as much as I could out of him. Try to remember what I'm going to say." "So, I filtered out all of the stuff we already know. Apparently the two bosses, I assume our targets, keep yelling at each other over how to handle the joint. Most of the staff are plotting to leave or 'do something about it', whatever that means." Yeesh, that doesn't sound good. You wait for her to continue speaking because you don't want to say ANYTHING around the Agent unless it is questions at him. You simply let out a small grunt. She gets the message. "Something about a local big shot food critic bombing their restaurant. That's apparently when a quality drop was noted in the food. Which is weird, it was well liked from what the chef told me before the review. The food 'tasting bland' was a recent change. Unsure why." "The only other thing I know is that while he's not sure who's here, one of our targets is currently inside the building. Keep that in mind. I'll keep talking to him in case anything else comes up." "Are you done listening? You should be more subtle with your ear piece." The Agent shakes his head. "I can respect the gear choice, though. Quite useful for this line of work. I have to give props to that."You scowl at him but, for now, you have something to do with him that isn't running away from him. What information do you try to gleam out of him? You're not sure how much you should ask him, though...(Pick as many as you feel like asking him. As a reminder, your CHARM is at 3 now.)
>Ask him how someone could get A-Energy cheap and easily. (CHARM DC 12. Succeed and you'll get a general idea how they could've acquired it. Failure will probably get more heat thrown your way in the future.)>Ask him if what signs to look out for when trying to find an anomaly. You're not sure how else there would be A-Energy. (CHARM DC 13. Succeed and you'll get some useful advice. Failure and you might get him TOO interested in the joint with your implication.)>Ask him if he knows anything about a food critic who visited here. Seems like a potential cause to the decline.>Ask him what he knows about Benedict. He seems like the problem chef here.>Hey, he's eating the food. Ask him how it tastes. (The silly question is probably going to get you made fun of.)>Ask him what he knows about Adam. He's one of the two main chefs, after all. Best to know what weird quirks he has.>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigate>[UNSTABLE] Don't ask him anything. HE KNOWS TOO MUCH. Run. RUN AWAY NOW. RUNRUNRUNRRUN>You have some other questions. (Write in. Some questions may need a CHARM check depending on what you're asking.)
>>5820145My guess is that he isn't watching us, or at least not only us. Something here has his attention, an anomaly. My guess regarding the A-energy is that it isn't an intentional additive but a byproduct of the process used to make the food, presumably with the help of an anomaly. The perfectionist could be either the one insisting they use said anomaly or one against it because of artistic culinary pride reasons. Or I suppose whatever is being added to the food could be used without either cook's knowledge. Maybe the issue was the whatever added the A-energy and now that one of the two cooks won over the other the issue is solved and the bad shit is going in the trash, but then we wouldn't have a job, so maybe it is the other way around and we want that shit to be in the food to get our paycheck.Our handler said he thought the food tasted the same, but maybe his taste buds are dead, or he has a drug addiction that makes stuff with A-energy in it taste extra good. The issue may not be whether the food tastes good but to somehow keep people going to this place so it doesn't go out of business, but that seems like too wide a scope for what we are being paid for. I doubt people would literally walk out of the store just because of a food critic, the food must've really changed. Unless the critic has memetic superpowers to alter people's taste buds or something. So, again, it must come down to the food itself and whoever is making it and the creation process. Like the handler said, find whoever is making it bad and kill them. Or at least fix the food by convincing whoever is responsible for messing up to...not mess up.>Ask him if he knows anything about a food critic who visited here. Seems like a potential cause to the decline.>Ask him what he knows about Benedict. He seems like the problem chef here. >Hey, he's eating the food. Ask him how it tastes. (The silly question is probably going to get you made fun of.)>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigateDCs are too high for my taste, but the person of interest question is the only one that doesn't have the sort of consequence that throws heat on either us or our mission.I think after this we'll have to break into the kitchen. Though we can try and talk to the head cook first, but getting our actually hands and eyes on the room where the magic happens is probably most important.
Forgot to add the last bit to the person of interest question. Was in a tiny bit of a rush to upload before I got too tired. Fail it and you'll just get stonewalled. He is under no obligation to answer, after all. Also, props to oM0 for the analysis posts.
>>5820161I know the canon ending.>Ask him if what signs to look out for when trying to find an anomaly. You're not sure how else there would be A-Energy. (CHARM DC 13. Succeed and you'll get some useful advice. Failure and you might get him TOO interested in the joint with your implication.)>Hey, he's eating the food. Ask him how it tastes. (The silly question is probably going to get you made fun of.)>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigate
>>5820161>Ask him if he knows anything about a food critic who visited here. Seems like a potential cause to the decline.>Ask him what he knows about Benedict. He seems like the problem chef here.>Ask him what he knows about Adam. He's one of the two main chefs, after all. Best to know what weird quirks he has.>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigate
>>5820161>Ask him if he knows anything about a food critic who visited here. Seems like a potential cause to the decline.>>Ask him what he knows about Benedict. He seems like the problem chef here.>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigate
>>5820283+1
>>5820191+1
>>5820161>Ask him how someone could get A-Energy cheap and easily. (CHARM DC 12. Succeed and you'll get a general idea how they could've acquired it. Failure will probably get more heat thrown your way in the future.)>Ask him if he knows anything about a food critic who visited here. Seems like a potential cause to the decline.>Ask him what he knows about Benedict. He seems like the problem chef here.>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigate
>>5820283How will this resolve canonically? Adam and Benedict fall out explosively and Benedict distorts into Art of Flesh... but our job here is to fix the food so the Handler likes it again. How can we do that without breaking canon? Or will things follow canon lines after Nicole is done here? Perhaps that's what the silver glownigger is here for. Either way, I'm starting to feel that we shouldn't sweat it so much
We have some of this A-Energy stuff ourselves, if Lex can be believed >>5811399. Used topically, it induces forgetfulness to those around you. No word on if you eat it, but the stuff's gotta be volatile like a perfume, it'll waft off the food anyway. In a popular restaurant, just having it around would be a recipe for dysfunction, because everyone in a kitchen /needs/ to be on the ball for things to happen on time. Even in a small restaurant, you'd expect a forgetful kitchen to produce a lot of burnt food, or staff to wander off while on break.What's this all to say? A-Energy is being delivered to the food by precise means so that the kitchen is minimally affected. It could be a well-sealed injector putting the stuff deep into the food as a final step. It could be spiked condiment packets on the customer side.>>5820161>Don't ask him anything.>Tell Benjamin to try to test the food components individually.>Tell Alexis to ask the chef if anyone's seemed off-task lately.
>>5820161>Ask him if he knows anything about a food critic who visited here. Seems like a potential cause to the decline.>Ask him what he knows about Benedict. He seems like the problem chef here.>Hey, he's eating the food. Ask him how it tastes. (The silly question is probably going to get you made fun of.)>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigateThe DC is rather high and I'd not risk too much
>>5820161>Ask him if he knows anything about a food critic who visited here. Seems like a potential cause to the decline.>Ask him what he knows about Benedict. He seems like the problem chef here.>[PERSON OF INTEREST] Flatout just ask him why he's here. He's clearly not here just for food. (CHARM DC: 14. Succeed and you'll learn more about the Agent and get some clues on what points of interests to investigate
>>5820847+1We really don't need to poke the hornet's nest.
Closing vote. Since more votes were asking four questions than three, I'll go with that. Here's the votes for what to ask him.A-ENERGY QUESTION: 8Ka, pX2ANOMALY TIPS: px2, arlFOOD CRITIC: oM0, trP, Ivq, /uc, 8KA, um8, KWU, 4QBBENEDICT QUESTION: om0, trP, Ivq, /uc, 8KA, um8, KWU, 4QBFOOD QUESTION: om0, trP, pX2, arl, um8, 4QBADAM QUESTION: IvqPERSON OF INTEREST: om0, trP, px2, Ivq, /uc, 8KA, um8, KWu, 4QBDON'T ASK ANYTHING, 6/dSo, all in all, you're asking him how the food tastes to him, what he knows about Benedict and a food critic, and why he's here. I want one anon to roll a 1d6 and one anon to roll a 2d6 for the charm check. Pass and he'll clue you in, failure and he'll stonewall that line of questioning.Oh, and I'll clarify two things>>5820667Lex was referring to buying it with A-Energy but you're not sure WHAT the pheromones are made out of. Might be an avenue Benjamin could check.>>5820586Your actions have consequences. I wouldn't put too much faith in this 'canonical' thing.
Rolled 3, 1 = 4 (2d6)>>5821795
Rolled 6 (1d6)>>5821795
>>5821812>>5821825>10 Oof. Wanna take some drugs to succeed? >YES. TAKE THAT SOMTOIN, ACCEPT THE DEER HEAD, BECOME GOD. (if this wins majority, roll an extra 2d6)>NO. I WANT TO SAVE IT FOR LATER SO BEN CAN MAKE MORE.
>>5821835>NO. I WANT TO SAVE IT FOR LATER SO BEN CAN MAKE MORE.I want the anti-psychotics copied, not the Somtoin, personally. But I also don't care that much about this question being answered, nor do I wanna 'waste' the drug here.
>>5821835>NO. I WANT TO SAVE IT FOR LATER SO BEN CAN MAKE MOREWe need to raise charm
>>5821835>NO. I WANT TO SAVE IT FOR LATER SO BEN CAN MAKE MORE.
Alright, locking in. Writing the update. I will say this much, charm checks usually won't be this hard for you in the future, you just happened to stumble upon a target who's a tough nut to crack.
"How's the food?" Your curveball of a question manages to shock the Agent for a moment. He raises a finger up before lowering it then raising it again. Confusion is evident in every inch of his posture."What?" The Agent lets out a half-laugh-half-sigh "I'm sorry, did I hear you right?" It's a toss up whether he's mocking you or is genuinely confused by you asking him the question. Not that it really matters to you in this instance. "Answer the question. Is it THAT hard to say how it tastes?" You cross your arms in a huff. "I was expecting a different opening. It tastes like a burger." The Agent looks down at the half eaten burger, trying to understand why you're asking him this. "You know, now that you mention it? That's all I can say. Doesn't taste like anything, really. It's more like the general concept of a burger?" "Imagine the taste of chocolate in your mouth. It's that same faint recollection. It is a bizarre taste to say the least. Not one I enjoy." The Agent pauses after he finishes his spiel. "Wait, why am I talking about how a burger tastes? This is beneath me." His opinion of you has lowered by a decent margin. You keep your composure together just enough to continue. "Well, that sounds like an issue with the chef's cooking, no? Apparently there's some big shot who works here," You snap your fingers. "uh, what's his name. Benedict. Yeah. I heard rumors about him. Surely someone like you has heard about them too." You hope to god he has something to say about it. "Do you assume I don't do my due diligence? How lowly do you think I am, Nicole?" The Agent scoffs. "He's an interesting study but what is there to say about him? A pathetic perfectionist patently pushing people away? That man is nothing but ego and obsession." "The only advice I'm obligated to give you involving him is to try humoring his obsession. That man's one wrong day away from breaking and, well. I rather not say anything else." If you could make out anything about his face, you swear there would be a smile there. "Or maybe do something that'll take his mind off matters. Who knows. I'm not your boss." "Yeesh. I guess that food critic rattled him if that's what your impression of him is. I would've expected SOMETHING positive." The Agent tilts his head before returning back to a neutral position. "Ah, Giallo. What about her? She's a snobby food critic who doesn't like much of anything. Typical woman behavior-" He stops. He glances at you before letting out a forced half-chuckle. "Right. It wasn't too long ago since that happened. Food started tasting like shit after. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?" "Not like the laymen care THAT much about food critics, though. They're a dime a dozen here. Businesses live or die by the actual quality of their service." Well, cross 'mind-affecting critic'.
"So, why are you actually here then?" You glance at the fast food joint. You can see your allies working in the background. "If the food sucks and you don't really care about the people here, what are you observing? Surely there's more going on here, right?" >10"Correct." The Agent then looks you dead in the eye; At least you think so. "But I think I said enough. You can piece together what you want. I know your types are good at finding patterns in random noise. So good, you can imagine talking to a person who's not there. What- Your thoughts are interrupted by the earpiece chirping in. "Alright, I'm finished talking to the chef." Alexis clears her throat. "I asked him if there was anyone who was off at the restaurant. Shady stuff, weird changes in mood; such as mood swings or depressive episodes, the works." When you look back at the Agent he's already gone. If it wasn't for the glint of silver turning around a corner that's at least forty feet away, you might've thought he was never even real. [PERSON OF INTEREST] Don't bother chasing after him. He's gone. Disappeared into the maze of the City. "Nicole?" "HUH YEAH?" "Right. All I could gather is that there was a young recruit that's been real antsy about something lately. Someone named Kate or something along those lines? Katherine maybe? No one else seemed suspicious to him. Then he told me to fuck off." You look over to see an irate chef staring daggers at Alexis, who is busy standing at a nearby trashcan. Benjamin's voice chirps over your ear piece next. "Okay, this fucking sucks!" There's no sarcasm in the glee that oozes from his voice. "So, I had a thought. Why not scan the things bit by bit? Individual pieces and all. Wanna know the kicker?" "I feel like since you're asking me, you found something pretty worrying." "So, you know how I said traces of A-Energy was found in the burger? Oopsie! Opposite way around! Most of the food in here is more A-Energy than actual, you know, food!" [SEEKER OF THE CITY] As far as you know, that is not possible. A-Energy is usually in a liquid state and even if it was in a solid state, there wouldn't be enough to make burgers without having a LOT of it. [UNSTABLE] LEST SOMETHING ANOMALOUS WAS GOING ON. WE NEED TO BREAK INTO THE KITCHEN. SEE WHERE THE MAGIC HAPPENS."Wait, you said most. Clarify?""Oh, sure." Benjamin clicks his tongue. "So the ranges vary a lot. Some parts have no A-Energy, some have 5-10%, some are closer to 55 or 60%. Of course, I'm not going to do a taste test of rotting garbage food to see how that impacts the quality." "Though, most of the higher percentage food barely seems to have changed, though? Hell, I think you can still eat it. it's only the lower percent ones that are rotting in any meaningful way." "Do you think one of the chefs found out and threw out the bad batch? I think we would be out of a job then." Your goal IS to 'fix the food' by whatever means.
"I doubt it. Wouldn't they want to shut down the restaurant if they thought their food was contaminated?" Alexis interjects over the earpiece. "I would accept the theory if we didn't see two thugs arguing over an order right through the front window." "Could it be possible that no one knows about the contamination?" "Possible?" Benjamin hums. "Yes. Yes, yes, that's it! We just have to tell them their food is all messed up and we can help them!" "Right." Alexis lets out a disgruntled sigh. "Start screaming at fast food staff about how their burgers are laced with the same stuff I use to power my car. That'll help revitalize the joint." "Of course it will! Hell, maybe you could market that! Clean power, clean food, clean service!" You can HEAR how beaming his smile is. It's almost insulting how energetic he is. "Mmh. Seems like my analyzer's got all it could find." >-1 Charge on his analyzer.Well, you got some more leads to go off of. How do you want to continue your approach from here? >Enter through the front door. Blend in with the other customers to see how the business operates. Observe. (COGNIZANCE DC: 17. Your allies will assist, adding an extra 3d6 to your 3d6 roll. Succeed and you'll gleam a lot more useful information on the state of the joint. Failure and you'll waste valuable time.)>Sneak in through the back door. Try figuring out the secrets of the kitchen. (TALENT DC: 10. Succeed and you'll get in, getting you closer to what fucked up shit might be going on. Failure and getting thrown out is probably the best outcome.)>Barge in and exclaim you are health inspectors from Z-Company. Have Alexis lead the charge. (CHARM DC: 13 (-2 from having FAVOR: STERILE) with Alexis' CHARM. Succeed and you'll draw the head chefs out so you could talk to them. Failure will likely cause excess fear and panic.)>Barge in and deal with the thugs still there. Best to make a great first impression (Liable to cause a combat encounter but will absolutely win over the staff and chefs if you win.)>Enter and order some food with your coupons. Eat it. See what happens. (You're a bit wary on eating tainted food but it is the most direct option you have.)>Time to burn some resources. Use an item. (Write in what you want to use.)>"Okay, Benjamin, Alexis..." Assign your allies to a task. (Tell Benny to make some drugs? Tell them to do a plan while you do something else? Write in.)>Write in.
>>5822047>Sneak in through the back door. Try figuring out the secrets of the kitchen. (TALENT DC: 10. Succeed and you'll get in, getting you closer to what fucked up shit might be going on. Failure and getting thrown out is probably the best outcome.)That's why I voted for lockpicks
>>5822047>Enter and order some food with your coupons. Eat it. See what happens. (You're a bit wary on eating tainted food but it is the most direct option you have.)>Enter through the front door. Blend in with the other customers to see how the business operates. Observe. (COGNIZANCE DC: 17. Your allies will assist, adding an extra 3d6 to your 3d6 roll. Succeed and you'll gleam a lot more useful information on the state of the joint. Failure and you'll waste valuable time.)I say we start simple. Why blend in with the other customers when we ARE other customers? Just go in, get food, check the place out while we wait, sit and eat, plan the next move in the meantime. This way we can also spend negligible analyzer charge figuring out the A-Energy of the food, then splitting the food up into 3 and see how all 3 of the group reacts to the varying amounts. As A-Energy in the food goes up, how does it change in taste perception? The A-Energy differences would also give insight to Nicole herself with her anomalous powers.>inb4 thugs recognize Benjamin and start a fight themselves and lose us initiativeThen what? Should we go in and beat up the thugs, THEN order food and scope out at the same time?
>>5822046Wait! Why am I the voice in Nicole's head? I'm not crazy! Oh god! Nicole isn't insane, she's just got us in her head, which is almost as bad.>>5822047>Sneak in through the back door. Try figuring out the secrets of the kitchen. (TALENT DC: 10. Succeed and you'll get in, getting you closer to what fucked up shit might be going on. Failure and getting thrown out is probably the best outcome.)>Use lockpicksAll of these options have acceptable DCs. Assuming we roll average, each of these is doable. I'm usually the sort to argue taking the least risky option first, then escalate afterwards, but I really want to get into the kitchen and stick our flashlight every which way. I'm fine with any option though. Going through the front is the least risky, thugs aside.I also wanna save our analyzer charges for when we have access to the kitchen or the anomaly or main supply of ingredients/A-energy.
>>5822047>>Sneak in through the back door. Try figuring out the secrets of the kitchen. (TALENT DC: 10. Succeed and you'll get in, getting you closer to what fucked up shit might be going on. Failure and getting thrown out is probably the best outcome.)>>Use lockpicks
>>5822047>Enter through the front door. Blend in with the other customers to see how the business operates. Observe. (COGNIZANCE DC: 17. Your allies will assist, adding an extra 3d6 to your 3d6 roll. Succeed and you'll gleam a lot more useful information on the state of the joint. Failure and you'll waste valuable time.)
>>5822047>Sneak in through the back door. Try figuring out the secrets of the kitchen. (TALENT DC: 10. Succeed and you'll get in, getting you closer to what fucked up shit might be going on. Failure and getting thrown out is probably the best outcome.)>Use lockpicks
Alright, seems like sneaking in with the help of your lockpicking set is what you plan on doing. Good thing you got over the hangover since you're rolling a 6d6 this time. Pretty hard to fail this, I WILL be impressed if you do. Three anons, roll 2d6
Rolled 1, 3 = 4 (2d6)>>5823164
Rolled 3, 5 = 8 (2d6)>>5823164
Rolled 4, 6 = 10 (2d6)>>5823164
22. Writing.>>5822244>Wait! Why am I the voice in Nicole's head? I'm not crazy! Oh god! Nicole isn't insane, she's just got us in her head, which is almost as bad.Snrk. No, no. Some of your questions were just reasonable for the cast to ask. Same as 6/d's suggestions for what Benjamin and Alexis should do.
You are tempted to go through the front entrance and see how the business operates or, hell, to eat the food. A part of you tells you that maybe it would be wise to cut to the chase. You slowly sneak over to the dumpster where you last saw the backdoor. Last time you checked, doors don't disappear. You pass by Benjamin who's still surrounded by half rotten burgers. "Oh, hey!" He waves at you. You simply nod in response before kneeling in front of the backdoor. You pull out the lockpick set Alexis gives you. It's impressive what kind of stuff she can get you, this looks way better than making a lockpick out of a bobbypin and hope to god that it works. You were hoping it was unlocked so you could just sneak in but sadly this joint cared enough to lock it. >22 Not that it matters. It's not the first lock you forced open before. What's the old saying? Locks only keep honest people away? With elegant and quick movements, your picks force the door open without so much as a hint of resistance. You don't think you made any noise. Good, no point letting THEM hear you coming. Silent, Nicole, silent. You place your finger on your ear piece. "Door opened. Sneaking inside. Stay close." You open the door and shuffle inside. You hear the door open as Benjamin follows right behind you. You wait a bit to see if Alexis comes with. You hear her voice over the earpiece. "I rather stay outside in case anything WEIRD is going on there. Thanks." You can hear an obvious nervousness in her tone. [UNSTABLE] SHE THINKS SHE'S CLEVER, HUH? OKAY. LET HER FEEL 'SAFE' OUT THERE. WE DON'T FUCKING NEED HER. Currently, you two are in a small hallway with a walk in freezer, a cleaning closet, and the exit door. Besides that, there's a small path forwards. You usher Benjamin forward as the two of you sneak your way deeper into the kitchen of the fast food joint. You turn a corner to peer into the kitchen. The first thing you notice is the sheer chaos going on here. About a dozen people in fast food uniforms are trying their best to make food in the kitchen. You can't exactly blame them since the place is a mess of grease, old machinery, and randomly labeled boxes. You're as lost as they are trying to find what's what."I FUCKING TOLD YOU THAT WE NEEDED KEBABS MADE BEFORE THE SHIFT STARTED!" A young man screeches over the hectic noise of the kitchen. You two peer around the corner to get a better look. There's a brown haired man in his early 20s wearing a short white toque and a buttoned up double breast jacket. A look of utter fury rests on his face. "AM I THE ONLY ONE HERE WHO KNOWS HOW TO COOK A FUCKING MEAL?! I HAVE TWO DIPSHIT BEGGING FOR A KEBAB FOR TWELVE MINUTES AND IF I DON'T GET ONE SOON, I'LL FUCKING STAB SOMEONE!" A man in his 30s exits an office that's right next to the kitchen. He has bright red hair and wears a decidedly not chef-like outfit of a black collared dress shirt, dress pants, and dress shoes. "Benedict, what did I tell you?"
Benedict jabs his pointer finger in the direction of the older man. The other chefs try their best to keep working while the two argue as if they're used to this happening. "HEY! IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOUR NEW HIRES ARE WORTHLESS! APPARENTLY THEY CAN'T EVEN FIND WHERE THE FOOD IS UNLESS I POINT AT THEM!" Benjamin makes a quiet hiss while he watches on. He puts a hand to the side of his head. "Something's off here. I feel something...unnatural nearby. It's close by, we're on the right track." "We just got a new shipment, it's not my fucking fault they can't figure it out!" The older man tilts his head in confusion. "N-new shipment? Look, that only comes once a week, what do you mean new shipment? I'm the only one who orders those." "And I keep telling you that we need more meat! More inspiration! More materials for my art! Thankfully, someone has been providing me with it!" Benedict's eyes glaze over for a moment. "...Mmh." There's a weird look on his face. He's questioning what he's even saying. "Look. Can you tell your new hires to stop being so slow, Adam?" "I'm not exactly the head chef here, am I? You're the one meant to train them." Before he can say any more, you can hear shouting from the front counter. Two gruff sounding men yell out in unison. You notice how, straight ahead of you, you can just BARELY make out the front counter and the goons. "WHERE'S THE FUCKING MEAT?" "THERE'S BARELY ANYONE DINING, HOW CAN YOU FUCK THIS UP?" "Do I have to do fucking everything?" Benedict pinches his nose. Something feels off about him but you're not sure what. What's your next move while they're distracted?>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Time to PUPPETEER. Make the two thugs fight each other. (Free action. The thugs are too weak minded to resist. -2 RESTRAINT to use but you gain a 2d8 to add to a skill check roll thanks due the big distraction.)>Try to search the nearby boxes to find out more about this 'new supply' Benedict is talking about. (COGNIZANCE DC: 16 (-2 thanks to Benjamin's Analyzer). Succeed and you'll find out why the food might be dropping in quality. Failure and you'll lose track and mix up what boxes are what.)>Sneak over to the office while everyone is distracted. See what information you can gather there. (TALENT DC: 12. COGNIZANCE DC: 14. Pass the first one, you get in. Pass the second one, you'll learn more information on how the business is run. Failure on TALENT, you'll get spot. Failure on COGNIZANCE, you'll probably get the wrong idea what's going on.)>[UNSTABLE] THE FREEZER IS WHERE THEY KEEP THEIR SECRETS. ENTER IT. LET THE COLD WASH OVER. (WILLPOWER DC: 15. You're not sure what will happen on failure or success. Only that it WILL reveal something either way.)>Listen into their argument. Gleam as much info as you can. (No check but you're unsure how much actual info you'll get.)>Get Alexis to do something if she's going to stay at the front. (Free action. What's your order?)>Write in.
Ran out of space to type it but unless stated otherwise, you're rolling a 5d6 on the COGNIZANCE checks thanks to Benjamin following after you and assisting you unless you tell him to investigate/do another task. One of the main benefits of having an ally.
>>5823318>Try to search the nearby boxes to find out more about this 'new supply' Benedict is talking about. (COGNIZANCE DC: 16 (-2 thanks to Benjamin's Analyzer). Succeed and you'll find out why the food might be dropping in quality. Failure and you'll lose track and mix up what boxes are what.)
>>5823327I'm really tempted to make the thugs beat each other up. Could we have Alexis do something out front too in the meantime? We do have those vouchers and food is food. Maybe we could use them up before the job here is done and take that food to go? Giving that takeout to the Handler might score serious points with him too
>>5823318He's not talking about us, is he?Thankfully the goons provided a distraction.>Ask Alexis to make a distraction. Maybe pose as a very grumpy ETF agent who cuts in line and really wants her food.The good outcome: the goons add verisimilitude to her story by recognizing her and saying something to the effect of "what a coincidence" or reacting with fear.The bad outcome: the goons recognize her and start a fight because they think she stole Ben. Or someone calls her bluff or realises her badge is fake and calls the law down on her.I don't really think this is necessary, the DCs are perfectly passable without this, but just putting this out there in case we want the distraction bonus without burning our restraint. Alexis may as well make herself useful.>Sneak over to the office while everyone is distracted. See what information you can gather there. (TALENT DC: 12. COGNIZANCE DC: 14. Pass the first one, you get in. Pass the second one, you'll learn more information on how the business is run. Failure on TALENT, you'll get spot. Failure on COGNIZANCE, you'll probably get the wrong idea what's going on.)
>>5823318>>Try to search the nearby boxes to find out more about this 'new supply' Benedict is talking about. (COGNIZANCE DC: 16 (-2 thanks to Benjamin's Analyzer). Succeed and you'll find out why the food might be dropping in quality. Failure and you'll lose track and mix up what boxes are what.)
>>5823318>>>Try to search the nearby boxes to find out more about this 'new supply' Benedict is talking about. (COGNIZANCE DC: 16 (-2 thanks to Benjamin's Analyzer). Succeed and you'll find out why the food might be dropping in quality. Failure and you'll lose track and mix up what boxes are what.)
>>5823318>[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Time to PUPPETEER. Make the two thugs fight each other. (Free action. The thugs are too weak minded to resist. -2 RESTRAINT to use but you gain a 2d8 to add to a skill check roll thanks due the big distraction.)>Sneak over to the office while everyone is distracted. See what information you can gather there. (TALENT DC: 12. COGNIZANCE DC: 14. Pass the first one, you get in. Pass the second one, you'll learn more information on how the business is run. Failure on TALENT, you'll get spot. Failure on COGNIZANCE, you'll probably get the wrong idea what's going on.)
>>5823386+1
>>5823318>Get Alexis to do something if she's going to stay at the front.Have her get in line and try to order food, ask the checkered suits what's up / what's taking so long. Y'know, like from one hungry customer to another.>>5823386We don't have the fraudulent ID anymore, and these might not even be guys who were there at the scene w/ Benjamin. Unless it's a happy coincidence. But I have the feeling a botched ETF impersonation in front of the staff would really raise alarms>Sneak over to the office while everyone is distracted. See what information you can gather there. (TALENT DC: 12. COGNIZANCE DC: 14. Pass the first one, you get in. Pass the second one, you'll learn more information on how the business is run. Failure on TALENT, you'll get spot. Failure on COGNIZANCE, you'll probably get the wrong idea what's going on.)We already know their meat has A-Energy, so it'd be a more valuable use of our time to check the office for documents or other intel rather than looking at more meat.
>>5823478Change >Sneak over to the office while everyone is distracted. See what information you can gather there. (TALENT DC: 12. COGNIZANCE DC: 14. Pass the first one, you get in. Pass the second one, you'll learn more information on how the business is run. Failure on TALENT, you'll get spot. Failure on COGNIZANCE, you'll probably get the wrong idea what's going on.)
SEARCH THE SUPPLY: pX2, um8, IvqSEARCH THE OFFICE: om0, KWu, 65I, 4QB, gbhSince a majority didn't vote for Anomalous Abilities or Alexis to do something, I'll leave those as backup options in case your initial rolls fail. I need three anons to roll one of the following. >4d6 (for the TALENT check)>3d6 (your part of the COGNIZANCE check)>2d6 (Benjamin assisting you in it. He can't really assist you in "sneaking faster".)
Rolled 1, 1, 3, 6 = 11 (4d6)>>5824289
Rolled 2, 2, 1 = 5 (3d6)>>5824289
Rolled 5, 4 = 9 (2d6)>>5824289Been a while since I rolled dice on this website. I remember the formatting being goofy ah fuck, is this right?
I literally don't even know what I'm doing and I'm the only person here who rolled a five or a four. It's so joever for Nicole.
TALENT: 11 COGNIZANCE: 14Barely passing and barely failing. You have a few options to tilt your odds, do you take them?>PUPPETEER those bastards to make a distraction. (-2 RESTRAINT but you will deal with the potential threats the thug present and make a severe enough distraction to allow you a chance to search more of the kitchen with impunity.)>Tell Alexis to pretend to be an ETF agent. Though you're unsure if they're the same people. (QM will roll 1d100, DC 45. Pass and the panicked thugs will leave. The staff and head chefs will be far more willing to talk and assist someone who's associated with an ETF as well. Fail and the botched attempt will be enough of a distraction to get you out but the place is liable to go on high alert.)>Tell Alexis to act like a hungry customer and chit chat with the thugs. (QM will roll a CHARM DC: 12 check with Alexis' dice. If she passes, you'll get some information and enough borrowed time to get out of the building. Fail and Alexis will probably draw the ire of both Benedict and the thugs.)>Eat the loss. (As you're leaving, you will be spotted on the way out and put the place on high alert. It's likely it'll be harder to sneak in and the head chefs will be more suspicious of any strangers. You WILL get the info, though.)
>>5824321>>PUPPETEER those bastards to make a distraction. (-2 RESTRAINT but you will deal with the potential threats the thug present and make a severe enough distraction to allow you a chance to search more of the kitchen with impunity.)
>>5824321>PUPPETEER those bastards to make a distraction. (-2 RESTRAINT but you will deal with the potential threats the thug present and make a severe enough distraction to allow you a chance to search more of the kitchen with impunity.)Time to use our newfound power
>>5824321>>Tell Alexis to pretend to be an ETF agent. Though you're unsure if they're the same people. (QM will roll 1d100, DC 45. Pass and the panicked thugs will leave. The staff and head chefs will be far more willing to talk and assist someone who's associated with an ETF as well. Fail and the botched attempt will be enough of a distraction to get you out but the place is liable to go on high alert.)
Three hours and a 3:1 majority is good enough for me. Locked in and writing. Also, it's a bit early but I'm doing it so I don't end up putting it on the backburner and forgetting it.https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=CleanerArchive is here.
"Follow me." You gesture at Benjamin to follow behind you. Given how he doesn't have any other ideas on what to do, he does so. The office isn't that far away so surely you can get there without- You stop mid step when you notice an employee is turning around to look right in your direction. If you move even an inch, you're probably going to get caught. Okay, shit, you might've been able to get through if you were a bit quicker. Think, Nicole, think. Your eyes glance back at the two thugs you can barely make out at the counter. You have a new power that is perfect for this. You stretch your left hand out and focus on the thug on the left; he's slightly more visible than the other one so it's easier for your power. Better line of sight.Transparent strings launch out of your fingertips and latch onto the arms and legs of the thug. At first he doesn't seem to notice anything is off. You pull your thumb back and, lo and behold, the thug's arm moves without his consent. "Wha-?" He looks down at his arm that's currently raised up in the air. "What the fuck?" Your hand moves on its own, pulling and tugging at the strings connected to him. You're not sure what you're doing but you seem to have an innate understanding on how to use this ability.[ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] It's hard to describe. You simply think to use them and they automatically work, no training needed. You can still train them to be STRONGER, of course. This is currently manifesting as the thug beating the everloving shit out of his friend. It's sickening to watch, frankly, given how both are crying out in sheer horror at what's happening to them. "WHAT THE FUCK?! STOP, STOP!" The non-possessed thug keeps his arms up in a defensive block. "I CAN'T STOP! PL-PLEASE! FUCKING HELP!" Tears are running down the possessed thug's face. You're able to use ALL of his strength against the other thug. >RESTRAINT: 4/6. Your brain burns... Benjamin covers his mouth to suppress a gasp of horror and...excitement? Everyone else (including the head chefs) is watching the fight with equal measures horror, confusion, and panic. Excellent. You grab Benjamin's arm with your other hand to pull him into the office. Your right hand keeps moving all on its own to pilot its puppet. "STOP! FUCKING STOP!" Benedict's voice booms out. Several footsteps rush from the kitchen to the front counter. Probably to stop your cute little puppet from doing anything. Wait, why did- Nevermind that. Not important. The two of you enter the office. To be blunt, it's a cluttered mess that's a pain for your burning, still mildly hungover brain to even look at. Let alone search. It's a remarkably cramped place with only a few feet of room to move in. Every other spot is filled with a cabinet, a shelf filled with various boxes, and a computer desk with piles on piles of paperwork on it. This is going to fucking suck."This is going to suck!" Benjamin chirps out. Why does he sound happy about it???
You try your best to drown out the screaming and shouting coming from the front counter. Dwelling on it for too long is going to make your brain bleed and you know that. "Alright. You take that side," You point to the left side of the office. "I'll take this side." You point at the right. "Sound good?" "Sure thing, Nicole! Say, what's with the strings?" He points at your right hand. Before you can even spit out a question he's already working on his side of the office. Alexis's voice chirps over on your ear piece before you can start. "What the actual fuck is going on?" "A fight?" You matter-of-factly state. It's not wrong. "Just keep an eye out. We're busy searching." Alexis goes silent after that. Probably best for her to do so.You begin searching through the file cabinets. Your vision swims and blurs for a moment before you're able to regain focus. God, your brain hurts. Focus. You flip through some of the folders to see if anything catches your interest.>14: SUCCESS. You manage to find a folder that actually interest you. "SHIPMENT INVENTORY" is the one you flip through. Your eyes glaze over the boring details at first but you notice some interesting comments that draw your attention. "Usual shipment arrives once a week at Sunday night to prepare next week. Shipment is meant to contain enough food to last a week. This has been going on as usual." "Four days ago, an unusual error started to manifest. Benedict claims that he has been getting shipments regularly throughout the week. I have informed him that we do not receive additional shipments unless I explicitly ordered them. I have not done so in several months.""When I went to check, I noticed there were several unlabeled boxes that were not there before. An odd detail to be noted is all of them had meat and only meat in them. No other supplies were found.""Benedict has been unable to recall who has supplied him or the origins of said meat. He claims, 'whenever I think we're out of something, I always find an extra box.' I am skeptical of this. Will look further into it." So, it's a supply issue and Adam (you assume he's the writer) has no idea where it's coming from. Yet neither does Benedict? They're the bosses so you have no idea how that's possible. Sure, it's easy to break in here but what would someone benefit from supplying them with extra meat? Weird."Hey!" Benjamin bumps his shoulder against you. "I found something. Something about an employee review? I guess they do it to make sure people are staying productive or whatever." Benjamin tosses another folder over to you. "I skimmed through it and marked the ones I thought were cool. I'll keep looking." He goes back to looking through a cabinet. You open it up to see three highlighted names. "BENEDICT", "KATE", and "WREN". You take a quick skim at the other ones but nothing of real importance shows up, so you go straight to the meat. As you do so, the strings coming from your right hand disappear.
Guess you ran out of juice. You hear a mixture of panicked murmuring, sobbing, and heated discussion from the front. You probably have a LONG while to read and search around here before having to leave. You flip through the employee reviewers. "WREN, JANITOR. PERFORMANCE: EXCELLENT. SOCIALNESS: INCREDIBLY LOW. ATTENDANCE: GREAT. QUIRKS: CLAIMS TO SEE THE 'SUPERNATURAL'. I QUESTION THE EXISTENCE OF IT MYSELF BUT I DISGRESS. CURRENT REVIEW: THE ONE EMPLOYEE I HAVE NO REAL ISSUE WITH OUTSIDE OF A COLD AND DISTANT PERSONALITY. HE HAS REPORTED THAT SEVERAL EMPLOYEES, MOSTLY BENEDICT, HAVE BEEN TAKING EXTENDED BREAKS IN THE FREEZER. IN HIS OWN WORDS, 'THAT SHIT IS HAUNTED. FUCK THAT NOISE.'""I DO NOT LIKE IT THERE EITHER. IT FEELS WEIRD. RECOMMENDING TO S-COMPANY TO BUILD US A NEW ONE." Huh. You swear you felt a weird urge to go in there yourself. Nothing really super important here beyond confirming a hunch that something might be there. There's a lot of weird shit surrounding this one chef, you notice, though. You flip to the next one. "KATE, CASHIER. PERFORMANCE: OKAY. SOCIALNESS: OKAY. ATTENDANCE: POOR. QUIRKS: MEEK, NOT USED TO F-DISTRCT CUSTOMS, EASILY SPOOKED. CURRENT REVIEW: UNSATISFYING. ONLY KEEPING AROUND DUE TO LACK OF NEW HIRES. REFUSES TO WORK NIGHT SHIFTS DUE TO AN APPARENT INCIDENT. HAS REFUSED TO SPEAK ON IT BUT HAS DEMANDED A PAY RAISE. SHE CLAIMS THAT SHE DESERVES IT FOR 'WORKING IN A PLACE WITH ANOMALIES'.WE DO NOT HAVE ANY ANOMALIES TO OUR KNOWLEDGE. MIGHT REQUEST ETF SQUAD TO SEARCH FOR ODDITIES?"So, something weird happens here at night? That might be your next step forward in dealing with this problem."BENEDICT, CHEF. PERFORMANCE: EXCELLENT. SOCIALNESS: HORRID. ATTENDANCE: EXCELLENT. QUIRKS: PERFECTIONIST, CONSTANTLY WORKS OVERNIGHT, REFUSES TO LEAVE BUILDING AT TIMES. HAVEN'T SEEN HIM EAT IN A WHILE. WORRISOME. REVIEW: Alright, look, there's no point being formal here. I'm worried. He hasn't been the same ever since that critic bombed our joint. He's gotten this wild look in his eyes and has been throwing himself at his work.It's starting to test my patience. The weird shipments, the stories I keep hearing from the other staff, the lack of business? Something's going to burst. I need to find a way to get him the fuck out of here so he can decompress but he only leaves when he's seconds away from passing out. Sometimes, I think he doesn't even sleep anymore. Fuck. I need to talk to someone." So, it seems to be all surrounding this one chef that's causing most of the problems. If you can single him out and manage to deal with him, you should be able to complete this mission. Though there's still a lot of questions you have about the situation.[UNSTABLE] WOULDN'T IT JUST BE EASY TO KILL HIM? THAT'S WHAT OUR HANDLER SAID. 'KILL WHOEVER'S MAKING THE FOOD BAD.' RIGHT? That could be an avenue but you have a feeling there's something here you're not quite getting. Decisions, decisions.
You peer your head around the office door to see what's going on. You see Adam, Benedict, and a few others surrounding two unconscious bodies. The thugs are bleeding out on the floor. Bruises cover their faces, arms, and what you can see of their torsos.Benjamin joins you to see what your power has done. He blankly stares at the two unconscious bodies. "...Not our problem!" He chirps with a sickening cheeriness to it. "Besides, they're the bad guys, right? It's water under the bridge!" "Yeah. S-sure." You mutter to yourself. You got some free time to explore the now abandoned kitchen until the chefs return back to it. What's your next move now? >It might be smart to talk to the head chefs. Try to get Alexis to arrange a meeting with them. (CHARM DC: 13 (-3 from the information you've gathered about the two) with Alexis' CHARM dice. Succeed and you'll get a chance to interview and question the chefs. Failure and she'll likely be barred from entering the restaurant again.)>Contact your Handler and inform him on the concerning situation here. Maybe you'll get a better pay check. (Free action. CONNECTIONS DC: 5 (-2 from doing a good job in the mission so far). Succeed and your rewards will be bumped by a decent amount. Fail and he's liable to get incredibly worried and demand you to do more to complete the mission.)>Benjamin seems oddly tuned to the supernatural. Get him to focus and see where his gut feelings point him. (WILLPOWER DC: 16 with Benjamin's dice. Succeed and he'll pinpoint where exactly the anomaly or anomalous phenomena is the strongest. Failure and he might mess up his brain from the strain.)>You have a clue as to what boxes are messed up. Check all of the food crates and scan them. You have a hunch at what might be going on. (CONGIZANCE DC: 13. Succeed and you'll piece together a decent idea at how the weird shipments are arriving. Fail and it's likely you run out of time to draw a good conclusion before having to leave.)>Check out the freezer. What the hell is so imposing about it? (WILLPOWER DC: 12. Succeed and you might find a clue to what weird anomalous phenomena has been messing with this restaurant. Failure and it's likely your brain's going to BURN even more...but you might learn more as well.)>Leave the building. Tell your allies you're returning here at night. You're deadly curious what's supposedly happening then. (Skip to NIGHTTIME.)>Write in. (Use an item? Tell an ally to do something? Use your powers? etc etc etc.)
>>5824530>stop your cute little puppet from doing anything.The powers speaking to us?>>5824531>all of them had meat and only meat in them>whenever I think we're out of something, I always find an extra box>what would someone benefit from supplying them with extra meat?Enabling Benedict's obsession towards homicide. Furthering his distortion. I bet the silver glowies are behind this, inciting potential targets to be distorted and become anomalies, so that energy and Paradigms and materials can be obtained for fun and profit.>KATEOUR Kate?>>5824533>SEVERAL EMPLOYEES, MOSTLY BENEDICT, HAVE BEEN TAKING EXTENDED BREAKS IN THE FREEZER>THAT SHIT IS HAUNTEDThere's something there>MEEK>EASILY SPOOKEDDoesn't sound like our Kate. Maybe before she got soul damaged?>WORKING IN A PLACE WITH ANOMALIESThey already suspect the anomalous? Might well be our Kate>REFUSES TO WORK NIGHT SHIFTS DUE TO AN APPARENT INCIDENT>CONSTANTLY WORKS OVERNIGHTAre the glowies doing it or is he engaging in "ingredient hunting" nearby?>that critic bombed our jointWho got the critic to review this place? Was it themselves or a third party? Could this be a 4d chess plot just to get to Benedict, and drive him to the brink and over it?>he doesn't even sleep anymore>HAVEN'T SEEN HIM EAT IN A WHILEHe's becoming a cooking machine... literally...My take is we contact Handler first, then take on THE FREEZE. Then regroup with Alexis and plan the next move.
>>5824534>It might be smart to talk to the head chefs. Try to get Alexis to arrange a meeting with them. (CHARM DC: 13 (-3 from the information you've gathered about the two) with Alexis' CHARM dice. Succeed and you'll get a chance to interview and question the chefs. Failure and she'll likely be barred from entering the restaurant again.)Alexis has 5 in charm. This should be easy peasy for her>Contact your Handler and inform him on the concerning situation here. Maybe you'll get a better pay check. (Free action. CONNECTIONS DC: 5 (-2 from doing a good job in the mission so far). Succeed and your rewards will be bumped by a decent amount. Fail and he's liable to get incredibly worried and demand you to do more to complete the mission.)>Check out the freezer. What the hell is so imposing about it? (WILLPOWER DC: 12. Succeed and you might find a clue to what weird anomalous phenomena has been messing with this restaurant. Failure and it's likely your brain's going to BURN even more...but you might learn more as well.)
>>5824631+1
>>5824631Support
>>5824534>We check the freezer, Benjamin the food crates>>5824566Our Kate was a long-time employee IIRC, the timing doesn't match.
I normally wouldn't close the vote this early but everyone seems to be going along the same path and I doubt five voters will crawl out of the woodsworks to change it. Trying to organize an interview while investigating the Freezer is a go. Same rules as last time. One anon per roll.>2d6 (for your CONNECTIONS check)>4d6 (for your WILLPOWER check) >5d6 (for Alexis' CHARM check)
Rolled 1, 2 = 3 (2d6)>>5825334
>>5825344Fuck. Time to burn another restraint dice.
Rolled 1, 4, 6, 5 = 16 (4d6)>>5825334
>>5825334
Rolled 6, 5, 5, 1, 3 = 20 (5d6)>>5825334
>CONNECTIONS: FAILED >WILLPOWER: PASS>CHARM: PASS There's not really any way to increase your CONNECTIONS roll without burning your +1 to all stats item and I bet you rather save that for something more important. So, locking in and writing.
>>5825367I would since we can get Ben to make more. No big deal though.
First things first, you pull out your cellphone to make a call. Your fingers run through the motions until you dial in the correct phone number. You swear the numbers blurred in your vision. A dull throb makes itself known in your head. You hold the phone up to your ear as you wait for the call to connect. "Huh? Is the mission done?" The Handler slurs over on the other end. There's a lot of background noise on the other end, you can't quite make out what it is but it seems to be other people talking. "I'm busy here so please tell me- Ah, yeah, TWO shots, barkeep." Ah. No fucking wonder. "Look. I think this mission is going somewhere pretty fucky wucky soon." Why did you say it like that? God, that sounded retarded. "I thought you told me I was going to handle a restaurant. Not some anomaly haunted one! There's a lot of weird shit going on down here!" The Handler hasn't responded. There's silence on the other line so, foolishly, you keep going. "Apparently there's weird shit happening in a freezer and the chefs are arguing and I have half a mind to think one is going to have a mental brea-" "Stop." You shut up."Stay there. You're in District 6. Shit, that's going to take a while. I'll come over here tomorrow morning. I better see those chefs alive and well by the time I'm back here. I hope you enjoy having a little rendezvous with me." He makes a noise you can't quite make out. Was that a burp or a growl?"W-wait! I need a better reward for this! I was expecting a simple investigation-" The line goes dead. All you can make out is silence now. Well, shit. You didn't exactly plan on SUMMONING HIM LIKE A DEMON but you suppose you're stuck with that looming over you. Well, you can't unfuck this now. Best to carry on. Benjamin has been watching this while you were busy with the phone call. The moment you put your phone back in your pocket, he opens his mouth. "Wow, that was a bad breakup, huh?" What? "What?" What the hell about the call even made it sound like that? The throbbing in your head is only getting worse. You have half a mind to point him at the food boxes to check to see what's inside them so he doesn't annoy you further but...eh. You feel like keeping an eye on him. "We're going to check the freezer. The records keep saying weird shit is happening there. C'mon." "Oh, okay." His enthusiasm seemingly dies the moment you speak those words. You raise an eyebrow as if to ask an unspoken question. He continues, "I dunno. I don't think we should go in there, you know? I, uh, I think we should go check the meat. Yeah. I really, really think that's the best option here." You glance back at the walk in freezer that's near the door you snuck in to get in here. It looks like a regular freezer from the outside. "It can't be that bad, right?" You mumble. You start approaching the door. Benjamin follows after you with an obvious reluctance. He doesn't seem to have a solid reason to ditch you. You grab onto the handle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYsNff9misM - FREEZER AMBIENCE It's pitch black in here. You expected it to be somewhat dark given it's meant to be a freezer, granted. You feel Benjamin wrapping an arm around yours. Well, okay then. [UNSTABLE] LEAVE. LEAVE RIGHT FUCKING NOW. DO NOT TAKE ANOTHER GOD DAMN STEP FORWARD. GO. GO. GO. GO. GO. GO! GO! You let out a hiss of agony when your brain starts throbbing. You really wish the voices in your head would shut up for, god, five minutes. Yet as you stand there in the doorway, the biting artificial cold nipping at you, you don't move. [UNSTABLE] LEAVE. WE DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS. WE CAN DO ANOTHER MISSION AND HAVE FUN ADVENTURES WITH, I DUNNO, THE CORPSE LOOKING DUDE. The hell is going on? You take in a deep breath and push yourself forward, ignoring the voice screaming desperately at you not to. Benjamin's grip only gets stronger. You really don't want him to do this but you continue forward. Your foot steps right into a puddle of something. Thank god you got some new boots for this. You stumble around to find some sort of light to turn on in here. You eventually manage to find something that turns the lights on and- You look down at the ground. There's a big yellow box around the size of your head right next to your foot that's leaking a foul greenish-yellow substance from a hole in the center. Benjamin unwraps himself from you to get a closer look at it. You decide to investigate the rest of the freezer in the meanwhile. >16. SUCCESS.You turn back to look at the freezer door. Something about it is rubbing you the wrong way. Now that the lights are on, you feel comfortable closing it with the knowledge you're not going to be stuck in the dark. Closing it shut, you notice something is carved on the back of the door. A series of sigils and weird symbols you can't quite make out. Your brain throbs just looking at it. [ANOMALOUS ABILITIES] Not just that. There's a yellowish-green ice-like substance inside the swallow cuts of the symbols. If you had to guess, this is what was telling you to stay out. A ward. There's no reason for that to be there unless there's something hidden inside of here. You start looking around to see what's up with this freezer. You notice that there's another door at the back wall that probably leads to another room. Besides that, all of the space here is empty aside from a few big yellow boxes leaking out the same weird liquid. Benjamin is holding his chemical analyzer out, testing to see what it is. He looks up at you after it's done analyzing. "This is all A-Energy. All of it. Count how many boxes there are." You do a quick scan of the boxes here. There has to be at least twelve of them, maybe fifteen at the most. "12? 13?"This is way too expensive for a restaurant to get. Hell, they only NEED one or two to keep this place running for two weeks straight!" Benjamin blabbers on. He dips a finger into the liquid before putting it in his mouth. Wait-
"...It doesn't taste like anything?" He mutters outloud. Out of a sick sense of curiosity, you kneel down to dip your finger into the leaking A-Energy box liquid and taste it for yourself. A buzz rushes through your system but otherwise, nothing happens. You taste absolutely nothing. Weird. You would've expected it to taste sweet or something. Like antifreeze. It just tastes bland? Something about that descriptor is making you concerned. Nevertheless, you focus on the door at the back wall. You take a few steps over and- [UNSTABLE] STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! STOP! Your brain is BURNING with every step it takes to approach the door. Something is telling you that you should keep going regardless. You grab onto the handle and pull it open. You make note that there's a lot more symbols on the back of this door compared to the first one. What you see inside is something you can't quite process. There's a chair sitting in the middle of the mostly empty room. Next to that chair is a vent that's sucking out a lot of the air from the room. It doesn't look like it's supposed to be there. The construction is shoddy and obviously done in a rush. [PERSON OF INTEREST] That's not all. There's a pile of silver fabric on the floor. Something wasn't careful when it came to making sure the place was spotless. There's a small machine attached next to the wall with a series of panels, buttons, and other gizmos you don't have the expertise to understand. You do make out a few things. "WORK RESULT: NEUTRAL", "A-ENERGY GENERATED: +4", "C-EXTRACT INJECTED INTO SUBJECT: 5 UNITS", "CONTAINMENT STATUS: WORKING ON." "What the fuck is...?" You nearly jump in place when you hear Benjamin talking behind you. He shoves you out of the wall to look at the panel with a clear interest. You grab one of the syringes to see that there's a cherry red liquid left inside one of them. [SEEKER OF THE CITY] "C-Extract! The product of the future! Need to heal a wound? Buy C-Extract! Need to kill your nagging wife? Buy C-Extract! Feel the cold abyss approaching? Buy C-Extract." [SEEKER OF THE CITY] Supposedly made from A-Energy. You have no idea what C-Extract's actual function is but you recognize the bright red color. This was injected into something, huh? "Uh, I think we should leave. Now." Benjamin steps away from the panel with a clear look of worry. "I don't know where the fuck the anomaly is now but I think this is a containment cell." Why would they be injecting this stuff into an anomaly, though? You squirm a bit when you see that there's wrist restraints on the chair arms. You don't got the full picture but it's clear that there's something concerning going on here.Though, why would they be injecting stuff made from an anomaly into an anomaly? It doesn't make any sense.You hold a finger to your ear piece. "Alexis. I think I need to talk to the chefs. Could you possibly arrange something?"
"I'll, uh, try. They're busy with the...bodies at the front." Alexis lets out a small sigh. "They were just tearing themselves up. What the hell was that about?" So she couldn't see the strings? Interesting. "I don't know. There's a lot of weird shit going on here. We need to think up of a plan after I'm done talking to them, okay?" "Alright. I'll try my best on my end. See you in a moment." "Let's get out." You nod at Benjamin. [UNSTABLE] IT TOOK YOU THAT FUCKING LONG?! "Fuckin' shut up." You mutter to yourself once you hear that damn voice again. Benjamin tilts his head to the side. Oh, yeah, talking to yourself. "L-let's. This place is giving me the creeps." The two of you promptly get out of the freezer which gives your brain the signal to stop fucking throbbing. The mild hangover you still have is more than enough head pain for now, thanks. Without further ado, you two exit the restaurant and into the alleyway where the dumpster was. The two thugs are being dragged out by a group of paramedics. Benjamin gags when he notices how the thug you puppeteered has one of his arms broken in half from how hard he was hitting the other person. You turn your head around the corner to see the two head chefs clearly freaking out over this. Adam is patching around back and forth. "A fight? That's going to drive down business. Why did a FIGHT have to happen?" He mutters loud enough for you to hear from over here. Benedict? He almost looks disappointed to see the two bodies being dragged away. He rubs his arm up and down with a weird, spaced out look. "Well. At least that gives me more time to work on my craft." "HOW THE FUCK IS COOKING THE ONLY THING YOU'RE WORRYING ABOUT HERE?!" Adam raises his arms up. "WE HAD TWO PEOPLE NEARLY FUCKING DIE IN OUR RESTURANT! I THINK THAT'S MORE IMPORTANT!" "Excuse me, gentlemen?" Alexis gets in between the two. "I think we can clear this up. See, I'm a, uh." She snaps her fingers. "I'm a journalist." This gets both of them to look at her. Adam looks like he's about a second away from breaking down while Benedict gives a blank, confused look. "I've wanted to interview you for a while. Some of my pals-" She glances at your direction. She gestures at you to come out. You two promptly do. "wanted to spin up a story about how great this local business is!" Benedict doesn't respond but Adam cools down for a moment. "Really?""As long as you answer all of our questions, I can make sure that little fight doesn't go anywhere. I think that's a fair trade, isn't it?" >20: SUCCESS"...Alright." Adam hisses out. "We'll talk inside. I don't want any of this to go outside of the restaurant. Okay?" You make a note to see that the restaurant has emptied out. The few customers that were there when you last checked are gone. "This better be quick." Benedict bluntly responds. "I don't want to waste too much time with this nonsense." "Can you PRETEND to give a shit, Bene?"
The five of you find yourselves sitting down inside of the dining room of the restaurant. Two tables had to be pushed together to get enough space for all of you to sit down at.https://youtu.be/jW6LYqODW4I - INTERVIEW THEME. "So. Let's make introductions quick. I'm Adam Borrelli. This is my associate, Benedict Baker." The well dressed man gestures at the chef. Now that you have a closer look at Benedict, you can see how raggedy and messy he looks. His chef apron and hat are coated in grease and have clearly haven't been ironed in a while. [UNSTABLE] HIS EYES. THEY REMIND YOU OF WHAT YOU SEE IN THE REFLECTION."This is pointless chatter." Benedict crosses his arms. You notice how his sleeves conspicuously cover his forearms. "Let's tell them our stories so they can get out. The quicker I can go back to cooking, the better.""Impatient as always." Adam waves his hand. "Alexis Morozov, at your service." Alexis bows her head. Huh, weird last name. You're not sure what district that's from. "Benjamin Aaron. Nice to meet you!" The bird-brained man flashes a goofy smile. "...Nicole Smith." You mutter. You better start asking questions before they start questioning why you're actually here. What do you want to ask them? Pick up to three.>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "Have any of you interacted with a man in silver?" Try to see what you can infer about that man's presence here from the two chefs.>"I don't see why that critic bombed this place. Mind if I get an appetizer, Benedict?" That silver agent told you to appeal to his ego. See how Benedict reacts.>"You okay there?" Try to prod Benedict about the weird mood he's in. Something about him worries you.>"How's business been doing?" Start off simple and innocent. Try to understand their perspectives a bit more.>"One of my friends works here. They keep whining about a freezer?" Prod them to see what the fuck their explanation is for what's back there.>"What do you add to your food? I heard rumors about something weird going on with it." Try to see what possible explanation there is for the A-Energy in the food.>You got another question... (Write in.)What do you want to do with your allies after the interview? Pick up to two.>Have Benjamin break away to somewhere private to make you some drugs. (Pick one of your drugs for him to copy or tell him what new drug you want him to make wholesale.) >Inform Alexis about the Handler visiting and ask him for some advice on how to appease him. Maybe she can rub some CHARM off on you.>Have Benjamin check the food crates. (CONGIZANCE DC: 13 with Benjamin's dice. Same success and failure outcomes listed in the last vote.)>Inform Alexis about what you found in the freezer. Ask her for what she can piece together of it.>Try to think up of a new plan with them. (Return here at night? Stake out the restaurant more? Try to find some employees willing to squeal? Write in.)>Write in.
>>5825625>[PERSON OF INTEREST] "Have any of you interacted with a man in silver?" Try to see what you can infer about that man's presence here from the two chefs.>"I don't see why that critic bombed this place. Mind if I get an appetizer, Benedict?" That silver agent told you to appeal to his ego. See how Benedict reacts.>"What do you add to your food? I heard rumors about something weird going on with it." Try to see what possible explanation there is for the A-Energy in the food.>Inform Alexis about the Handler visiting and ask him for some advice on how to appease him. Maybe she can rub some CHARM off on you.>Have Benjamin check the food crates. (CONGIZANCE DC: 13 with Benjamin's dice. Same success and failure outcomes listed in the last vote.)
>>5825918+1, wise moves
Mmh, I doubt any more votes are coming, so let's carry on. Two anons, roll 2d6.
Rolled 5, 4 = 9 (2d6)>>5826534There are slow days. It happens.
Rolled 2, 6 = 8 (2d6)>>5826534
17. Pass. Will start writing. >>5826540Eh, I expected one sooner or later. I was just trying to judge how long I should wait until closing it. Been trying to keep to something of a daily upload schedule to stay consistent.
"So. I have a quick, tiny question." Why are both of them smiling? You fucking hate that. They shouldn't be smiling. Oh, there they go. Back to normal. Silly goobers. "Have you seen any suspicious people around? Perhaps a man in silver?" You doubt you flatout hallucinated your conversation with him an hour or so ago."Well, I wouldn't know about suspicious but I think I recall seeing a gentleman in an outfit around him." Adam raises a finger to his chin. "I can't quite recall his face but he would always-"Adam is interrupted by his co-chef slamming his fist down onto the table. There's a very noticeable crack on the faux wood countertop. Benedict is staring you down like you asked him if he took a shit on his mother's grave. The anger doesn't last long however. He looks down at his hand. A gash covers the back of his hand yet there's no blood dripping out of it. "What were we talking about again?" There's an honest confusion to his tone. He turns to look back at the kitchen as if he didn't just have a temper tantrum. You and Benjamin glance at each other then back at Benedict. Alexis and Adam are completely dumbfounded. He barely seems to notice the four people staring at him.[UNSTABLE] SOMETHING IS THREATENING TO BURST FROM HIM. YOU DO NOT HAVE LONG UNTIL THE MISSION ENDS ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, DEAR NICOLE."Next question. I don't want to talk about this bullshit conspiracy nonsense." Benedict clicks his tongue. "You're wasting my time as is. After those puppets fuck fought in MY god damn restaurant? The slow days are one thing-" He mutters on about nothing in particular. "Well, I don't think a fight is enough to ruin a restaurant." Alexis coughs. It's obvious she's just trying to break the ice caused by the aborted questioning a few minutes ago. "It all adds up." Benedict clicks his tongue again. "You wouldn't understand what it takes to reach PERFECTION. No one gets the FUCKING CRAFT ANYMORE!" He grips onto the faux wood table. A human shouldn't be able to crack wood that easily. Wisely, no one openly questions this to him. "W-well, i-it seems like there might be other reasons why it's, uh, getting less customers. I heard a few rumors-" You get interrupted by another snap of wood. "WHAT. FUCKING. RUMOR?" "Benedict, control yourself." Adam slaps the back of Benedict's head with an open palm. For now, Benedict stops gripping onto the table. "Could you explain what these rumors are, Miss Smith? Anything that could damage our brand is something we are very invested in." "Well, one of my friends, uh...Benjamin." You point a finger at him. "He tried a burger here before." You can see the gears grinding in his head. It takes him a solid minute of silence to realize you're asking him to play along. "Yeah, yeah! It was a nice burger. Had something weird in the middle, something green and yellow. Some sort of liquid. Kinda reminded me of those energy boxes people buy." The two chefs don't respond.
Adam is the first one to speak up and he is appalled at the mere suggestion. "Are you fucking telling me someone has laced our supply with A-Energy? Are you serious?!" He runs his hands through his hair in a desperate attempt to calm his mood. "They only allow a milliliter per fifteen pounds of beef at the most! For there to be enough to be detectable in A BURGER?!" Benedict on the other hand is oddly calm about it. "So what? It doesn't have a flavor, so why would he care? There's no harm in it. It was a minor texture issue that can be resolved." "RESOLVED?! OH, YEAH, LIKE HOW RAT POISON IS JUST A NICE GARNISH FOR A COCKTAIL, BENEDICT!" Clumps of hair have been pulled out of Adam's head. "THERE SHOULDN'T THE SAME STUFF IN A BURGER THAT YOU USE TO POWER OUR CARS!" "No one has complained about it before. I didn't see an issue with serving it beforehand." The casualness of how he said that threw everyone still at the table in a loop. You nudge Benjamin in the shoulder. He gets the hint and sneaks over to the kitchen once Alexis interjects, distracting the others."You knowingly served contaminated food to your customers? And you feel safe admitting this? What exactly is your defense here?" Alexis grips onto the table in an attempt to calm down. "You do know how patently absurd this is, right?" "Adam." Benedict's smile is forced on. No, more painted on than anything. "You said yourself than when business is rough, you learn to cut corners. Correct?" "Y-yes, but only to a reasonable extent! We can't get repeat customers if we kill them!" "Our friend ate one of our burgers. He is not dead. That is proof the additive is useful for extending the meat supplies we have. It is simply like adding water to beer to get more." His expression of cold joy doesn't change as he describes the food situation. "There are costs you must pay in order to strive for PERFECTION. They did not care for my CRAFT beforehand. Why should I bother giving my all to those hunks of meat?""Surely there had to be a better way to cut corners than to lace your food. Isn't A-Energy expensive? Last time I checked, getting enough to fuel up a car costed $24 per gallon." She pauses. "Granted the mile-to-gallon ratio is good but-" "Oh, Father Above, Mother Blessed, the Protector Son." Adam slams his head into the table. "I beg you, please don't speak of this to ANYONE." You could use this as blackmail material for later. It wouldn't be that hard. "Expensive? I get it from the freezer." Benedict shrugs. "I don't quite recall how. I just do." "...What?" There were A-Energy boxes there. "How?" Benedict doesn't respond and Adam isn't in a state to question him."Well, uh," You glance to see if Benjamin's out of the kitchen. He's sneaking back to his seat. "How about you go make us some burgers? We got free coupons. I bet that critic was making shit up with how bad your food was. If you give us something to eat, we'll set the record straight."
A carefree, happy smile crosses Benedict's face. The simple offer of asking him to cook food seems to be enough to instantly change his mood. "Ah. So that's what you were actually here for. I knew all of this nonsense was just a pretense. A way to ease your mind.""No worry. I believe you have the fine palate to understand what a perfect meal actually is." Benedict pushes himself away from the table. Neither Alexis or Adam notices it but you can sense that you and Benjamin can. Both of your postures instinctually relax. It's as if a weird tension has faded from the air. Like you delayed something, if only a bit. "...fuck me." Adam groans. He is not in a state of mind to stop his friend and question him. Benedict disappears into the kitchen to cook your food. At least you're getting a free meal to eat with your pals later. "So. What did you find?" You wrap your arm around Benjamin to whisper to him. >17: SUCCESS Only now do you realize the weird, dodgy look he's giving. "Long pork." What? Long...pork? "I don't think we should eat those burgers, A-Energy or not." "What do you mean?" Alexis huddles around you two to join the discussion. "The hell is long pork? I don't recall hearing that kind of slang before." "District 21 slang. It's not a shock. He wanted to cut prices and, well, that would be a way to cut it. In more ways than one." [UNSTABLE] YOU DON'T LIKE HOW DODGY HE'S BEING ABOUT IT. SOMEHOW YOU CAN ALREADY GUESS WHAT IT IS. YOU DON'T THINK YOU WOULD MIND TRYING IT. "Spit it out." Alexis mumbles in annoyance. "Human meat. I don't know who, I don't know where, I don't know where he would keep the bodies. 2% concentration of myoglobin, though! Only human meat has that!" He lets out a breathy laugh. "Hehe. This is serious stuff. Hehe! Hoo boy, good thing those bad puppets got taken away from here. I wouldn't want to be eating them. "One, why do you keep saying puppets, two: we're DEALING WITH A CANNIBAL?" Alexis is, rightfully, fucking mortified by this realization. "He's feeding his customers energy-tainted human meat. Great. I really should ask for a better pay when I join your jobs." "No wonder why the people think the food here tastes bland and awful. Human meat is considered a famine food for a reason! I would know." Benjamin says that way too casually to be comfortable with.[UNSTABLE] EH. YOU CAN SEE WHERE HE'S COMING FROM. IT'S A WAY TO GET STRONGER.[PERSON OF INTEREST] It would not be the weirdest things your silver friends would've seen you do. Better that than them knowing your powers."Look. We'll deal with this soon, Alexis. Look. The Handler I talk to wants the chefs alive. I fucked up a call, I'm sorry." This does not improve the look on your face but you continue. "I dunno, teach me a way to calm him down! You got charm! Rub it off on me!" "Fine. I'll give you some tips. Then we have to figure out our plan from here. It'll be quick, we don't have much time."
"Tip one. Kiss his ass. I don't CARE about how you have to do it, you will kiss it until it's cleaner than the Cleanliest Cleaner in the Cleaning aisle at a fucking Cleaner Store. Okay?" You nod your head. "Tip two. Let him speak and talk himself into a corner. Always listen in for a way to appease to his better, or worse, self." "Tip three. Try giving him a reason he should actually listen to you. Don't ramble or try to be pitiful. Be straight and to the point when you shoot your bargain." "Tip four. Don't look too desperate. He'll just exploit you then, if I assume anything about the people who assign Cleaner missions. Keep those in mind whenever we have to talk to him, okay?" >You have gained SAUVENESS 3, a form of temporary CHARM. Most stats have a temporary version that can be given through implants, lessons, or boons. >You may spend one point to add a 1d6 to the associated stat. In this case, CHARM. You nod your head as you put this knowledge in the back of your head. Now that you've done all you can, you have a little time to prepare on how to carry forward. What plan do you want to pick?>Try to get Adam on your side. He would know how to handle Benedict, right? (Free action, CHARM DC: 18 with ALEXIS' dice. Succeed and he