>>6059649
Previous threads: https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Solarpunk%20Cleanup%20Agent%20Quest
Google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jhZljN9y7A8w6qFcD8wX_xYaKZP65ZH8EGrmgKQ-nIU/edit?usp=sharing
____

It's pointless to wonder about what they're hiding from you. Given how L1s can simply walk away, any information you're given is clearly what is allowed to leak. What wouldn't make a difference if the people down there in the city knew or didn't.

The operation's basic details were debriefed to you as an L2 agent, though you feel the words of the desk-jockey operator twisting into the shape of a carrot on a stick for you. Baiting you with that L3 promotion. They know how special it is to reach L3. They know you joined to earn the right to start a family. You'd almost think they see you daydreaming, feeling the tiny hands of your child grab yours when you're staring off into space.

They know you'd do anything to look and actually see something there, rather than just the phantasms of a lonely heart.

And they know to strike fear in the hearts of those who hear that their pursuers will be rewarded so dearly.

Today is your first day off deployment in a while. It's midday and Kiikoinen is nowhere to be found. The commons room has a small crowd, with some familiar faces - not everyone has work off on the same day, of course, the Stormwatch never sleeps. You are cleared to seek out various agents for training, guidance, or just casual chatting, if you please. And of course there's all of Helsinki proper, if you want to catch up with friends you met outside of the Stormwatch.

But what to do?
Choose up to three.
>Saemus is drinking water like a fish. He was testing out one of Jousten's new gizmos recently. Go up and ask him what it was about, how he's doing?
>Kai is over there, haunched over in a tiny chair reading a book. He seemed very enamored of Methuselah's spot of the woods. You probably need to tell him his comrade has vanished, and he seems pleasant to be around.
>That red-headed girl is around. Some time ago, her and an L3 had found some mysterious bullet casings? Might be important.
>Spar with Sumika if she is available. She's a very good swordsman, and she has a lot to teach you if you have an ear to listen.
>Find a Noita to talk to. You want answers to the many questions you have after that encounter with that singing underdweller not long ago. That, and what else you think you saw that day...
>You know where you can find Aamu, if you want to schedule a meeting with Leshy again. He has some very interesting views, and you want to know more about what he does. It can't happen today, of course, but soon, hopefully.
>Tell an Undercroft secretary that you're free to trial whatever the Black Swan has ready for you, if she is considering anything. You imagine more dedicated service comes with... benefits.
>[Write-in]

>>6059651
>That red-headed girl is around. Some time ago, her and an L3 had found some mysterious bullet casings? Might be important.
Follow up
Also welcome back QM

>>6059651
>Saemus is drinking water like a fish. He was testing out one of Jousten's new gizmos recently. Go up and ask him what it was about, how he's doing?
>Kai is over there, haunched over in a tiny chair reading a book. He seemed very enamored of Methuselah's spot of the woods. You probably need to tell him his comrade has vanished, and he seems pleasant to be around.
>You know where you can find Aamu, if you want to schedule a meeting with Leshy again. He has some very interesting views, and you want to know more about what he does. It can't happen today, of course, but soon, hopefully.

>>6059651
>You know where you can find Aamu, if you want to schedule a meeting with Leshy again. He has some very interesting views, and you want to know more about what he does. It can't happen today, of course, but soon, hopefully.

>Find a Noita to talk to. You want answers to the many questions you have after that encounter with that singing underdweller not long ago. That, and what else you think you saw that day...

It seems our obsession with motherhood isn't entirely hormonal. Remember anons, the supernatural of myth is not about human projection of agency (Like the manifestation of desire), but the opposite. Something from elsewhere is touching us, guiding us towards motherhood for unknown reasons. Perhaps our future daughter's spirit is simply helping itself become, but we'd be wise to ensure we're not being used by something malignant.
There's also the happenings up north. We're blind and deaf, only seeing the ripples of events far beyond our understanding.

>>6059651
>Saemus is drinking water like a fish. He was testing out one of Jousten's new gizmos recently. Go up and ask him what it was about, how he's doing?
>Kai is over there, haunched over in a tiny chair reading a book. He seemed very enamored of Methuselah's spot of the woods. You probably need to tell him his comrade has vanished, and he seems pleasant to be around.
>You know where you can find Aamu, if you want to schedule a meeting with Leshy again. He has some very interesting views, and you want to know more about what he does. It can't happen today, of course, but soon, hopefully.
We can bring Kai, maybe!

>>6059651
Add to my vote in >>6059722
>Find a Noita to talk to. You want answers to the many questions you have after that encounter with that singing underdweller not long ago. That, and what else you think you saw that day...
>Kai is over there, haunched over in a tiny chair reading a book. He seemed very enamored of Methuselah's spot of the woods. You probably need to tell him his comrade has vanished, and he seems pleasant to be around.

>>6059722
>>6060088
>>6059762
>>6059799
>>6059848
Fahy and Kai have the most votes, but talking to some Noita and Aamu are tied right now. I'll write for now, and take any tiebreaker I get for it going forward.

>>6060284
Noita, ask about these 'apparitions'.

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>>6060284
>I miscounted votes immediately
The winners were Aamu and Kai, and the tiebreaker would have been between Fahy and the Noita. I'm going with the Noita tiebreaker.

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>>6059762
>>6059848
>>6060088
Let's start with the small things.

Actually no that was a lie because the first thing on the list of things to do is talk to the giant dutchman.

L1 Trollslayer Kai Jonkheer is sitting at a table reading a book, in a rather serene mood for a man of his station. He doesn't seem to hate his occupation, like some of the other L1s still stuck in their positions. You and Fahy had been elevated due to interesting circumstances, so you have no idea how long you would otherwise be stuck in the pod, eating engineered pastes, powders, and liquid meals. You are just glad you're out of it because compared to your previous life, it was miserable. You're going to say it, you preferred being a peasant in the country than a serf in the city.

But Kai does not seem to be agonizing over that. He seems content, wherever his head is right now.

You almost hate to spoil his mood like this, but you feel obligated to tell him about what you know of his comrade Yoshimitsu. "Sir Jonkheer?"

The tall blonde boy looks up from the pages and smiles. "Ah, miss! Hello again. He still giving you the cold shoulder?"

"He's gone," you tell him, with difficulty getting the words out. "Security says he's never opened his door, never checked in, and hasn't appeared on cameras in a week. We... do not know what happened to him. They suspect he went to find the underground city himself. Why, we don't really know."

Kai's gentle face paused, glancing around in silence. He then just shrugs. "Yoshi... had some ulterior motive from the outset, I noticed. Why would an agent of his specialty leave the domain of his expertise? And to be so pragmatic, to such a..." he fails to find the words.

But now that Kai mentions it, Yoshi was very cut to the point. He was very direct with what the mission was with Leshy, to the detriment of actually persuading him. You shake your head, because it's all you can really do now.

"Jarnafeldt," Kai says, resting his chin in his hands, fingers running thouogh his muttonchops. "That grove was so... resplendent. I had never seen anything like it. Had I known a way to work in such a place instead of here - not that I mean to abandon my post, I assure! I, just... I've always been fond of life's majesty. Not just what is "natural" but, what life can do. And that place was... marvelous."

Kai really doesn't give a shit about Yoshimitsu at all. His mind has been captured by what MNP had done to the place.

>>6060476
The six foot five beanpole rolls his head to the side like a daydreaming schoolgirl as he continues. "And, of course, what was disclosed was fascinating. Even besides the remapping expeditions, which is itself groundbreaking and all, but... That... wholeness! They talked about that... connection I've always felt! I could never find the way to put it into words. Leshy said it defies precedent, but does it really? Is it just instincts returning, or is it- bah! I'm sorry, I have just been dying to know more. I could prattle on for hours." After a pause to shut the book and set it down, he looks straight at you. "Did you want me to?"

>Mention how you're about to schedule seeing them to talk to Leshy yourself on your own free time, and invite Kai along. Perhaps he can make his own connections.
>Ask if he's ever talked to anybody in the Stormwatch about the phenomenon himself.
>Talk about your own experiences, the things you've seen with your Attunement recently, and prod back if he's seen anything like that.
>Note how it's very odd for him to simply move on from the disappearances of his coworkers like this. Even if they were assholes.
>[Write-in]

>>6060477
>Ask if he's ever talked to anybody in the Stormwatch about the phenomenon himself.
It would draw ears of a certain sort... so not here in public.
>Note how it's very odd for him to simply move on from the disappearances of his coworkers like this. Even if they were assholes.
I wanna question him out of curiosity

Also I love this bit
>His mind has been captured by what MNP had done to the place.
Because though the MNP is less industrial and more environmentally healthy, that place is still a natural place exaggerated and warped by such means. It should be harmony WITH nature as the saying goes, and not harmony UNDER nature as the MNP seems to champion and enforce. Humans having all the children and encompassing the globe is just an extension of animal instincts I suppose, but we're getting all the negatives that a strict population limit comes with. Are we truly such a chosen people then, if the rats would still breed as rats do whether in the past society or this current eco-dystopia?

>>6060477
>>Ask if he's ever talked to anybody in the Stormwatch about the phenomenon himself.
>>Note how it's very odd for him to simply move on from the disappearances of his coworkers like this. Even if they were assholes.

>>6060477
>Mention how you're about to schedule seeing them to talk to Leshy yourself on your own free time, and invite Kai along. Perhaps he can make his own connections.

>>6060477
>>Ask if he's ever talked to anybody in the Stormwatch about the phenomenon himself.

>>6060770
>>6060923
>>6060961
You bet he really could talk for hours, but you decide to be a little more helpful. "I want to know if you've asked anybody else about it, first? There's bound to be some experts around here."

Kai furrows his brow as he expresses a degree of frustration. "I did! Now, I didn't mention... some things, you know, but I spoke with my mentor. His answer was very... Structured? Very tied to complicated concepts of the local religion. Which on one hand, possibly over here, but I think it's something more... normal than that. It was with me in the Netherlands, so no Suomi spirit gave me this feeling. Whenever I knew something had crawled in from the flooded lowlands, I just... felt it. It was with me the whole time."

So how you've felt it. With no words, no fingers, no anything, something tells you. It's more like the wind, almost. A gentle force nudging you. A vibration in the ground when there is none. It's very divorced from the gods, you believed. Odin has no time for little old you.

So it must be something else.

You share your thoughts with him, and sate his thirst for answers for the time being; or at least, entertain him enough that he's no longer spilling words out. This is now time to bring up something odd you noticed. "You know, you shouldn't be so... lax about Yoshi running off."

Shaking his head, the dutch man is quick to answer. "We all saw the video. Of Lorppo tearing the agents to shreds. I don't put it past him if he got cold feet and skipped town. And I don't put it past him if he has some other plan in mind. Maybe it will pay out. Maybe it won't. I've seen others go, in most ways they can. I've even seen some agents defect, right beside me! So, I... Perhaps I shouldn't grow so laid back as those around me fall off. But it's easy to move on for when they do go."

The numbers of agents in this area of the Stormwatch has dwindled, for sure. It was very easily noticed, but thankfully you haven't had to seen anyone die on a mission yet. But... defecting is something people do? From the very hand that will come back for them later? Really?

>>6061025
Either way, Kai doesn't seem to be trying to obscure or hide anything from you. He seems forward with his intentions, like Leshy. You think they'd like working with each other.

"In a bit, I'm going to catch up with the researcher," you tell him. "Whether something work related can be made, I'm not sure... but I'm going to see if I can talk to, uh, the old oak on more casual circumstances. Would you like to come along? He knew your name, so I don't imagine he's too averse to the idea of treating guests."

"R-right now?!"

You had actually wanted to go and talk to the noita first, but... Kai has puppy dog eyes. And they'll be around in the evening, just different ones from the daylight crew. "Aaaa... yeah! We can go."

After stowing his personal belongings in his pod, and dressing out of clothes that would identify him as a Stormwatch member when you told him to, you head on out of the HQ and onto Helsinki's streets.

>>6061030
Katajanokka is a modest island attached to the mainland by bridges, not too far from the city center. An underwhelming tourist section in the late ancient times, but as the world cooled and heated and began to cool again, Helsinki found itself to be in a more comfortable and pleasant clime. When it reached the cap of one million, Helsinki found Katajanokka was a much more vibrant center of bustling leisure and culture than it had ever been. A stormdrain was built, but much smaller in scale compared to the mainland, making it less prone to underdweller squatters and more inclined to normal petty crime which the standard police force usually deals with.

Most of the classic architecture has not endured, and the round and glossy new age modernity overwhelm and overhaul what little of the old city has been upkept. What's quite fond for you is that, much like your home village, it's very vertically focused, with stairs leading to higher and lower layers of establishments.

Dreary with November rain though it is, luminescent paint adds some liveliness to the practical city, and you can say that in twilight, the pale buildings pick up the blue, orange, and purple hues quite nicely - but not today at a stormy noon, where there was nothing but gray cast over the city.

All manner of guests reveled here, including many you wouldn't imagine. Besides Helsinki residents, there were sailors, and even peasants from the hinterlands far away from the city had travelled for days or even weeks on foot to arrive here for month-long stays, much like how Germans from your home village would take extended vacations in Calw or Liechtenstein.

You can see how Lalli can spend a lot of time here. Always new faces to see.

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>>6061036
You had chance encounters with Aamu from time to time, when venturing out to see what the people and places here had to offer. Aamu meets contacts from various places, so she prefers to idle away in a cafe by the northern side of the island.

Past a veil of rainwater cascading down from the balcony and rooftops above, you see her sitting alone in the small outdoor seating area. The cascade of rain beating down on the solar panel roads and cobble sidewalks drown the voices of the few pedestrians you past, never mind the drops drumming on the aluminum above. Peeling her gaze from watching boats pass between the drizzle of stormwater, the researcher from Mother Nature's Providence catches you in her sights. Her calm but mellow expression doesn't lighten up upon seeing Kai with you. Perhaps she doesn't remember.

"Hello, Fiona," Aamu greets. "I'm not busy at this moment, but... who is..." She tosses her head around to scout for any eavesdroppers. "Is this work related?

The premise of your being here is to request to see Leshy outside of Stormwatch related reasons for a more cordial visit. Whichever options you choose, you are going to get to that part.
Besides that, choose however many you like.
>Ask her if she has ever felt Attunement, that feeling you and Kai get.
>Prod her for her opinion on what your Attunement really is.
>Bring up the birds up north Arsi mentioned, how there were "too many." What's the deal with that?
>[Write-in]
>Don't trouble her with these questions, just ask for the invite to see Leshy.

>>6061038
>Prod her for her opinion on what your Attunement really is.
>Bring up the birds up north Arsi mentioned, how there were "too many." What's the deal with that?
Fuck it we ball

>>6061038
>Prod her for her opinion on what your Attunement really is.
>Bring up the birds up north Arsi mentioned, how there were "too many." What's the deal with that?

>>6061038
>Prod her for her opinion on what your Attunement really is.
>Bring up the birds up north Arsi mentioned, how there were "too many." What's the deal with that?

>>6061157
+1

Very unanimous vote. Writing!

man idk why I'm writing so damn late
>>6061157
>>6061169
>>6061222
>>6061539
You do your best to dissuade her concerns. "No, no. I'm here hoping that I could speak to Leshy soon, casually. Er, however casually someone of his station may be."

Aamu is still quite guarded. "I see. And... you want him to come along?"

"Yes! He was with me when we met Leshy before. Kai Jonkheer. Leshy even addressed him by name!"

The researcher squints her eyes. "Though it is the old oak's say on whether or not to entertain guests... But is there anything you had wanted to ask? Perhaps I could spare you the visit."

Clearly burdened with a question but struggling with his words and how he wanted to ask, your tall friend turns and looks out to the bay, and tries to find the feeling.

While Kai is thinking, you step to her other side and speak very softly. "There's something I'd like to ask, if you have the answer. I've noticed a few more spiritual people down there, recently. I asked one of the Stormwatch noita about this, and they said that this was because 'There were more birds up north than our zoologists thought could be possible.'"

Aamu immediately staggers.

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>>6061741
"You know?!" She stutters.

"That's all I've been told... but it must be a very special bird if it's turning people to faith. Or a lot of them," you answer.

Aamu shrinks back, and once again takes in her surroundings before continuing. "You've already talked to Leshy. I can tell you what most people know. Save him some time."

"From time to time, Helsinki gets receives a flock of anomalous migratory birds. Massive and violent swans, typically. Providence calls them species Cygnus Albus Fatalis. They avoid the small townships mainly and primarily harass the city, and the military is usually prepared for them and is given clearance for heavy ordinance in these times, but... there's more of them this year. We know that those that live in the stormdrain are largely protected from the schools of birds due to being underground, and from our reconnaissance of the undercity, we can tell they view Albus Fatalis as an angel of death sent to bring justice on their oppressors, and to open space for a few lucky underdwellers to be legally accepted into lawful society. The citizenry know of them, and take precautions to stay safe."

Cygnus Albus Fatalis. You don't know Latin very much. But you're certain that name means "Swan of White Death." That is a hell of a name to put down into official taxonomy documents.

"How big are these birds? Trolls? Jotunn?" You prod. She's confused, so you get more specific. "What class of aberration is it?"

With great difficulty, she begins to answer. "Aberrations are strictly creatures in the animal kingdom in which mutated ancestry is the reason for the divide between them and their pure cousins," Aamu explains, before leaning in, with a grave look in her eye and uttering a husky, raspy whisper. "Strictly by definition, Cygnus Albus Fatalis are not aberrations.."

"They... just grew to that size? Then what are they?"

"We don't know."

... Oh.

Rolled 1, 1, 4, 6, 5, 4 = 21 (6d6)

>>6061753
"If you want more, you're hearing it from Leshy," Aamu says, pushing her chair back. "Unless you have something more... casual to speak of? Like how is my day?"

Kai has been searching for the feeling, to hold it in his mind and find how to describe it to someone else.
Rolling for Kai's Attunement: Rolling 6d6, no target.

Rolled 4, 4, 6, 1, 2, 2 = 19 (6d6)

>>6061756

>>6061756
"Beneath me I feel the rats scurrying from the rain to dryer ground," Kai notes out loud. "I know in the waters over there, many fish live happily as the filters we pour is a mixture fit for blooming the plants they thrive off of. And in that grove where we met, I felt something in the air. Palpable. Thick."

The nature-loving man turns back around and begins to seat himself down. "He said that this attunement that me, Fiona, a growing number of people feel, is something new. I always felt this feeling, and... I want to know more. I don't know if you know, or even if he has an answer himself, but it seemed like Leshy had wanted to study. So I would like to know what that feeling is, if it's not supposed to be normal. If this isn't how we've always been. If you don't know, then I would like to help as much as I can to help you find out. I'm bound to serving the Stormwatch, of course, so that will retain being a priority, and yet-"

"Leshy has authority," Aamu assures with a smile. "He can make it happen, if he pleases, but if you feel as strongly as seem to then it shouldn't be too much of a question. As for what we believe on that... I'm afraid I cannot deliver an answer. While we have theories, we have no conclusions yet, and I wouldn't want to start rumors."

Kai was really happy to hear this.

After that business, you decided to stay and talk with Aamu. She's technically working, but nobody was due to see her for a bit, so you talked about antics you got up to in the forest as kids. You and your girls, Helga and Gretel, once carefully removed a beehive from a tree and threw a beehive into some schlampe's house. You actually think that might have saved her life, because a boy came running out, but then the beehive went right back out the window it came in. You were not the fastest getting away.

>>6062310
After half an hour of entertaining each other with stories, a messenger boy comes up to you with an electronic tablet. "E-excuse me miss, are you Fiona?"

"Jahwohl, that's me," you reply in a pepper mood.

The courier boy holds out the tablet to you. "I have a private message for you. You need to scan your face."

A courier delivered private message? Personal mobile phones are not permitted to Cat2 citizens - though you know there are some exceptions. Must be work related, Stormwatch knows where to find you through the cameras if you're not in the building. You fight the urge to look at the camera beading at you, grab the tablet and hold it still for it to register you.

After acquiring your face, it instantly blips.

L2 FIONA JARNAFELDT. REPORT TO SECTION 10 SW SUBSTATION AND RENDEVOUS WITH L4 NOITA PERCIVAL BLYTHE IMMEDIATELY.
GEAR WILL BE PROVIDED TO YOU.
BRING NO ADDITIONAL AGENTS.
RUN, DO NOT WALK.

- L5

Scheiße.

The twenty second timer ticks down, and the message deletes itself. You hand the tablet back, and tell the others you have to go. They'll take their time and chat.

You hurry your way through the rain over to the Kruununhaka neighborhood, right back across the bridge you came here from, where Section 10 of the stormdrain and a small Stormwatch outpost reside. The substation is little more than a checkpoint, an armory, and an insertion point into the drains. Unlike the headquarters, this tiny interior is very clearly a functioning arm of the force and nothing more.

After passing a heavy-duty checkpoint, you find yourself face to face with this Percival Blythe.

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>>6062311
L4 Blythe is a smallish gaunt man only slightly taller than you, and his black wet-dog hair and sunken beady anglo eyes seem to be pleading for help. You've seen him before; you caught him in an elevator not long ago. His weak but sincere smile is not present with him today; it seems to be too urgent for smiles at the moment.

"Hello," speaks the noita, his voice drained of strength and color but not entirely of the shaky, battered soul beneath. "You haven't gained weight since you signed on, have you?"

"What kind of question is that?! We just met!"

"I have a suit from the Black Swan. It was prepared for you using information from your last physical. You would have come in for a proper fitting, but we do not have the time. She has a very big job, but only so few hands." He pulls a black and gold mass from a backpack and hands it to you. "If it doesn't fit, come back out in regular clothes. We leave as soon as we can."

From the tough bulging fibers of the suit you can see from the shading, it is clearly the same make as the one Fahy has been wearing for some time now. You're regretting this already.

"We have to capture something alive and return it to L5 Jousten. Get a weapon with taze functionality from the armourer. You have five minutes to get ready before I dock a month's pay, and seven minutes before I demote you."

Capture something and-
If you're late he will WHAT!?

You slam open the doors to the locker room and get changing immediately.

The suit comes with a set of instructions which demand putting tabs with wires onto your body at specific points. Tearing the adhesive tabs off them is harder than sticking them where they need to be as you slide the parts in. Some sections have needles that have to be driven into your flesh as you put them on, which causes a few seconds of hesitation before you feel a pleading gaze on the back of your head, and you slam them in place. In addition to a few needles, a strange device connects just besides the base of your spine.

As you seal it all up, you suddenly feel the shock to your system as you become connected to this suit. You feel incredibly weak, and you have a feeling that you know why.

Stumbling out of the lockerroom as if you're wearing a new pear of sneakers all over your entire body, you ask the armorer for half a dozen liquid meals.

More importantly, you request the armorer give you
>Two Volt Machetes (6 Taze Charges, can sheathe one for better grappling)
>Volt Bardiche (10 Taze Charges, powerful weapon for maiming targets)

>>6062319
>Volt Bardiche (10 Taze Charges, powerful weapon for maiming targets)
Oh shit, oh shit oh shiiiiit.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qe54-ZOkC4
Undercroft E1 Bodysuit
An imperfect prototype for something much more important.
This muscle suit amplifies the user's athletic capability, but powers itself off their metabolic functions and demands hyperbolic caloric intake. The collar has a funnel to allow nonedible but biodegradable fluids to be taken in as fuel and to feed the user bypassing the mouth.
+ Naturally stronger and faster.
+ You gain a modifier to your base rolls starting at and capped at +3d6.
+ You can now consume food in combat as an action.
- After every roll you make, -1d6 is applied to the above modifier.
- The modifier can become negative with no bottom cap.
- If you have 0d6 in any base dice category, you collapse, unable to engage in combat.
+/- Consuming food adds 3d6 to the modifier.

>>6062335
>armour that turns you into a superhuman blood-absorbing berserker
Jesus, it' not only the robots who are vampires in this science division.

>>6062319
>Volt Bardiche (10 Taze Charges, powerful weapon for maiming targets)

>>6062335
>negative with no bottom cap
Oh fuck

>>6061753
>The swans of Tuonela gather in great flocks, bringing ruin upon the city

Well that's not concerning in the least. What the fuck did they nuke eachother with in the war? Did someone figure out how to blow open the veil?

>>6062319
>Volt Bardiche (10 Taze Charges, powerful weapon for maiming targets)
we might be engaging dangerous contacts, this will be needed to deal greater damage.

>>6062319
>Two Volt Machetes (6 Taze Charges, can sheathe one for better grappling)

>>6062319
>>Volt Bardiche (10 Taze Charges, powerful weapon for maiming targets)

Votes tallied, update Sunday

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>>6062329
>>6062348
>>6062451
>>6062492
>>6062540
>>6062543
Whatever it is, you're pretty certain you'd rather kill it than let it kill you, even if you weren't supposed to kill it. Tossing one of the finished meals into the recycling bin, you rush out to be on time.

"Not bad for such short notice. Katriina sang your praises well. Follow me."

The Anglo man leads you down a stairwell to another airlock style checkpoint, which you're aware leads into and out of the storm drain. He weighs his words carefully as the processes of letting you downstairs go through.

"Our quarry is a creature of perfect gluttony," L4 Blythe begins, waxing poetic.

Oh, you know. "A letiva," you interject.

"Immeasurably worse," he replies. "It is the perfect termite."
"Nälkäinen."

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>>6063805
The airlock checkpoint floor begins to descend as an elevator. You cannot go downstairs any faster, and you have to do nothing but listen.

Percival rolls his head, his exhausted drawl dragging his words and accent hastening through them in an irregular pattern. "It is a creature both humanoid and insectoid. Devices used to monitor its biological functions shackle it, though some may have been removed. It stands on two legs, bears four arms, and does wield a passing intellect beyond a simple beast. This creature, accursed by whatever god or man that created it, is acutely aware that it is dying. Food does not slake its hunger. It is always craving and yearning. It is driven by the constant sense of starvation to find its next meal. And it can eat anything. Thankfully, we are well aware it is the only one of its kind. If it could reproduce, it would be an ecological disaster."

Heavy metal bangs and slides as the elevator hits the destination floor. Noises come from the heavy metal door as it unlocks itself and prepares to open.

"Ordinarily, an L2 would not be trusted with such a task. But the Black Swan holds you and your Gaelic friend in her confidence. All the other agents have been recalled, the cameras disabled. Our only witnesses will be the Gods."

Bluish off-white light tears itself through the door as it parts open, revealing the dark stormdrain lit only by occasional lights beaming straight down and wall-mounted LEDs.

In your frantic rushing and confusion, you have overlooked the fact that Percival is not carrying a melee weapon. Your eyes only catch a holster of some sort under his baggy robes.

"What class of troll is this?" You ask.

"It is not the scion of mutated blood. It is a thing of the arcane. And must be understood."

Percival steps forward, snapping his fingers twice, as if gesturing a pet to come along.

"And now, our hunt begins."

There will be time for questions later.

In the heart of your bones you feel something vile.
Roll Attunement: Two anons, roll 4d6.

>>6063814
Oh, and a third anon can roll 3d6 for the benefit from the suit, I almost forgot.

File: WeTrackedYouEasy.jpg (7 KB, 300x168)

7 KB JPG

Rolled 3, 2, 1, 3 = 9 (4d6)

>>6063814

Rolled 2, 3, 1, 6 = 12 (4d6)

>>6063814
Hopefully i remembered how to do this. I sure do wonder what these prototype suits are made from...

Rolled 5, 2, 5, 5 = 17 (4d6)

>>6063821
Ok

Rolled 6, 3, 4 = 13 (3d6)

>>6063821
Re-rolling the 3d6 if you decide not to take >>6063908'roll

As an aside, it's always a pleasure to see this quest come back.

>>6063814
>WE WERE ALREADY HUNGRY FROM THE MOMENT WE WERE BORN
Kill it now

>>6063814
No fucking way we're expected to survive this. We're being sent to slow that thing down. Also
>L4 Eusten "The Black Swan" is keeping magic horrors captive in the storm drains
>Incidentally the black swans of Tuonela gather to siege Helsinki every year
Watch all of this be her fault.

>>6064048
>"Hey boss, these black swans keep sieging Helsinki every year. And you're called The Black Swan too. Really funny coincidence huh?"
And then Fiona was found drowned in a bathtub full of tea. Who could possibly have the resources for so much excessive tea and a bathtub (an old world luxury in this future dystopia)?

>>6064058
Two explosions to the back of the head. Ruled a suicide.

>>6064048
>>6064058
Aren't the giant demon-swans white? Cygnus ALBUS Fatalis

>>6064117
The black swan is a mythological finnish creature that guards Tuonela, their version of Styx. It sings spell-songs of death at the living who try to enter before their time.
The latin is just because swans are white. The "black" part is metaphorical.

Rolled 4, 6, 1, 6, 5, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 3, 6 = 40 (12d6)

>>6063832
>>6063896
>>6063908
After observing you make efforts to find the target's trail, Blythe makes an effort himself, after reaching into a pocket of his and procuring a curious bag and imbibing something from it.
Rolling L4 Blythe's attunement; 12d6 + two successes.

File: Level Four Percival, Stor(...).jpg (997 KB, 5079x2953)

997 KB JPG

Stopping to listen to the sounds of the stormdrain, feel the faint tremors of sealed doors opening and closing, and smelling whatever scents are carried on the wind, you feel nothing for a moment, but eventually you catch it. The stench of iron.

And the stench carries you quickly to a violent scene. Two squatters lie dead or dying. Given the direction of how they fell and how the blood is on the floor, you can judge the direction of whence the Nalkainen came, and where it might be going, and given the temperature of the bodies, they haven't been here for long; ten minutes, maybe?

But if it's driven by hunger, why didn't you find it eating here?

"Moikka, Pikku-Repolainen," greets the anglo to something, speaking his words in a poetic two-step dance.

You turn and look and he's squatting beside a corpse.

"O lost Child of depths, doomed pained ye.
Something wicked this way has went,
Maiming, killing, eating, craving.
Point me to it. I will end it.
For what struggle people bear with,
This fate cannot be your kin's, too."

... Why? Why's he doing that- you can already tell where it went. It pressed on, and is likely trying to make a break for the outside so it can get as far away from here as-

"Thank you, Pikku-Repolainen," Blythe speaks to the body, standing up and twirling around. His eyes are swirling, gazing around. It takes a moment to settle on you, rather than something behind you. "Three were they who battled it here. Two lie deceased; it hides, dining."

"A-are you okay?" You ask out of confusion for his sudden change of tone.

"Ah, forgive old Blythe, I remember. You are not acquainted to this."

File: Noita's Wares.jpg (1.39 MB, 1600x1080)

1.39 MB JPG

>>6064324
The noita pulls out various bags and packages he has on his person. Some look familiar, others... far less so.

"These with me are the noita wares. Breath, insight, focus, and yet more. Take aught that will benefit, miss. Or naught; face thy fate with clear mind."

Select up to two. If the first option gets the most votes, nothing is taken.
>What the fuck!? You're not taking anything he's offering!
>Pervitin
>Henbane
>Shaman Mushrooms
>Cigar
>Liquid IV

>>6064326
>Henbane

>>6064342
>If there's any hole in your life, you're going to desire its filling.
Hot. And Fiona's also wearing the constant hunger drain suit too. That's a recipe for disaster right here

>>6064326
My vote is
>Liquid IV
But I love the poetic style shift of the shrooms

>>6064326
>Shaman Mushrooms
>Cigar
Maybe distract us from the ghost child.

>>6064326
>up to two
Add
>Cigar
to my vote in >>6064365

>>6064326
>Stormwatch Cigar
>Liquid IV

>>6064326
>Henbane
>Cigar

Cigar for general use and Henbane for bloodspilling. I also find it incredibly fitting that Fiona, someone who desires a child would get used to taking "medicine" that makes you want to get laid. Goes with that whole fertility theme I guess.

Mushrooms would be neat but I don't want to subject Mojique to the pain of writing like that. Maybe later when we're a more permissive context?
And for the information, Pervitin is a form of meth so there's that.

>>6064326
>Shaman mushrooms
>Liquid IV
Let's not stack henbane with the suit that was presumably made from the creature we're hunting. Seems like a poor idea.

>>6064326
>>Liquid IV
We need to keep our body nice and healthy for our child's sake. No poison!

>>6064326
>Pervitin
>Cigar

>>6064326
>Stormwatch Cigar
>Liquid IV

Votes tallied! Update soon.

also damn there's a lot of you now

>>6064365
>>6064414
>>6064421
>>6064433
>>6064628
>>6064662
>>6064708
>>6064733
>>6064754
A devil on your shoulder whispers about seeing what the hell he means by "both arcane and divine, perceive" (and just how badly the Henbane... excites), but you don't want to jump into these things, especially when up against some vile,permanently hungry bug that broke out of Jousten's containment.

It occurs to you that its hunger and the suit's high metabolism are probably extremely connected.

You don't say anything out loud, of course. You just ask for a cigar and some liquid IV. You'd rather keep your head and body mostly clear of that stuff. Though you have to make sure you don't make this a habit. He stops you from lighting up immediately, as he is quick to lead you through the dark, musky concrete forest of the underground.

>>6064958
Eventually the jogging becomes walking, and then creeping. It's easy to tell why, as you can hear it in the distance.

Bloody sloppy meat being dropped on the floor with sickening noises.

Metal scraping across the artificial stone floor.

Gasping breaths of relief, as if they had just risen from deep underwater.

Beyond the pillar you and Blythe are posted behind is a section with a sabotaged light; an empty, pitch spot away from the surrounding lights. Only a haunched silhouette could possibly be made out in the tenebrous corner.

A familiar sensation of dread begins grabbing your ankles, clawing its way up your legs, pulling on the bottom of your heart. Stay away, your body tells you.

Percival produces a lighter for you. You draw the cigar and take the flame, and after some fumbling of trying to get it right, draw it all in. You've tried smoking from your father's wooden pipe before, but this is different and hard to get right, alright? It's much harder to nurture the flame on something that isn't so controlled, and your nerves are racking you and-

With but a few breaths of smoke, the demons holding you back lose their strength. Their grip loosens, shirking away back into the dark they came from. The mixture of flavors tastes like medicine, coming together for a rather minty sensation, but the rattling is gone.

Odin's third eye, nevermind how it soothes. The fact it drives away that trepidation is more than enough for you.

"Thou art ready?" Blythe asks. "Beyond, it waits." You nod, about to snuff it, but he gestures for you that putting it away won't be necessary.

With that gentle, tired smile, Percival turns the corner, no longer sneaking, and you follow with cigar in your teeth.

Throwing his arms wide and stepping lively, L4 Blythe made his existence, and his awareness of his quarry's, abundantly clear.

"Hail, old craver! Pleased with thy meal?"

The sounds of feasting cease.

Drip, drop.

"Slave to desire, slave to the now.
Could wait not to dine on our foes,
You went out to eat on your own.
Short your sight and dull your patience.
Come along now. Yield, or face us."

File: Arcane Creature Nälkäinen(...).jpg (1.88 MB, 2000x1200)

1.88 MB JPG

>>6064961
A lone red light appeared upon the dark silhouette. A glowing red eye. The silhouette rose, and began its march forward.

With one hand, it drew a squatter's blade.
With a second, it drew a Stormwatch axe.
With a third, it brushed its chest clean.
With a fourth, it wiped its maw.

And at last, the thing from beyond the fold stepped into the light.

A creature engineered to suffer perfect hunger, engineered to be the perfect termite, engineered to be a perfect weapon. There is no place upon this earth safe for any life so long as this creature exists within it. It will eat, and eat, and eat, and eat, and desire, yearn, crave more. Its perfect hunger fuels perfect ambition, and its will to live, and eat, and desperate attempts to bring an end to its constant agony would bring it to places not even the ancients had gone. Its singular monolothic biological imperative would drive it to swallow the world, yet looking at the starry firmament above, it will still be hungry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5LyzJdJw4I
NÄLKÄINEN
ARCANE CREATURE

The monster bolts forward.

>Engage to maim the creature (10d6t5)
>Tackle the creature and wrestle away one of its weapons (10d6t5)
>Bravely put it in its damned place (15d6t5)
>Flank wide to divide its attention
>+Employ a Volt Charge (reduce target successes to 4 until the start of your next turn, 10/10)
UCE1 Bodysuit Status: +2d6/+3d6

>>6064962
O boy.
>+Employ a Volt Charge (reduce target successes to 4 until the start of your next turn, 10/10)
>Tackle the creature and wrestle away one of its weapons (10d6t5)
>Bravely put it in its damned place (15d6t5)
Boss fight starting, We'll meet its momentum with ours and take initiative to put it the fuck down a peg from the get go.
This fight will only get more difficult the longer it goes.

>>6065007
+1

>>6064962
Seconding >>6065007

>>6065007
You can only choose one choice from the list and optionally fire the Volt Charge as you do so because it is a + that you may choose to add to any main vote.
If you're discussing with others how you want to take the Nalkainen on ahead of time, then yeah go ahead.

>>6065007
Let's not go brave right out of the gate. This thing is going to hit like a truck and it's not fucking likely it'll die in one turn. Remember brave engagements mean we take all the damage the enemy dishes out unless we one shot them.
We probably should disarm it while we have the suit's additional power though

>>6064962
>Tackle the creature and wrestle away one of its weapons (10d6t5)
>+Employ a Volt Charge (reduce target successes to 4 until the start of your next turn, 10/10)

>>6064962
>Flank wide to divide its attention
>+Employ a Volt Charge (reduce target successes to 4 until the start of your next turn, 10/10)
Alright, I'm spooped.

I'll back any action but Brave in a tie, though.

>>6064962
>Flank wide to divide its attention
>+Employ a Volt Charge (reduce target successes to 4 until the start of your next turn, 10/10)

>>6064962
>Flank wide to divide its attention
>+Employ a Volt Charge (reduce target successes to 4 until the start of your next turn, 10/10)
Strength in numbers, power in time.

File: Nälkäinen Full Profile.jpg (39 KB, 651x720)

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>>6065007
>>6065009
>>6065010
>>6065061
"Insectoid" doesn't accurately describe the abomination. The Nalkainen has the bodily appearance of a human skinned and cooked alive, the tendons and musculature on the exterior and a seared brown color, and that meat being less comparable to a man and more to a horse. The devices once used to monitor its biological functions coat it like a plate of armor. Underneath the brim what could easily be mistaken for a full face helmet lies its maw, still gleaming with the juices of its last meal.

Making sure not to swing toward Percival, you wave the bardiche like a flag overhead, sweeping the air to spread a cloud of copper dust. The Nalkainen skids to a stop, the slick floor causing it to glide along, and it changes its gaze to the wall. The minute wind fluctuations carry the cloud ever so slightly forward.

And with the click of a button, a spark shoots from the tip of the blade, and begins to dance along the copper particles like brewing lightning across the clouds. Thousands of nodes of particulate form a wall of levin, and the tip of the squatter's metal blade had strayed just too close. The electricity jumped from its crackling airborne state and sought out the grounded blade before coursing through the monster carrying it.

The Nalkainen goes limp for a moment, but unlike other aberrations, it crumbled to just a hand and knee. The axe-hand stays poised, ready to be swung.

Perhaps it has suffered this before, but now is your chance.

The suit provides an additional 2d6 to the 8d6 roll.
Two anons, roll 5d6 to engage. Target 4 successes.

Rolled 3, 6, 4, 1, 4 = 18 (5d6)

>>6065841
OVERPOWER

Rolled 2, 2, 6, 6, 5 = 21 (5d6)

>>6065841
Come on!

>>6065874
>>6065886
Choice, a success.
Update later tonight.

later tonight my ASS
>>6065874
>>6065886
>>6066047
As you consider how to attack this thing, you have to remind yourself that they want this bug alive. You will have to be careful with how you fight this thing, because even if you can kill this thing, you can't go all out. The next best option is to disarm it, to make fighting this thing as less lethal as you're trying to be.

For a blessing, its gaze is not focused on you, despite the cloud of lightning you staggered it with. Its red-eyed glare is solidly fixed upon Percival, whose weapon of choice remains unknown to you. You don't know how, or if, he can protect himself, so you have to do what you can, right now.

You throw yourself at the Nalkainen, shoving the haft of the bardiche right under the blade of the pneumatic axe and up against its handle to stop its swinging.

Deep within a bind with the beast, your mind plays an awful trick on you.

Po.

That's all it would take to end your life. The simple po of the axe's thrusters coming to life, sending the blade straight at you.

Eyes widening, hair raising on end, heart skipping a bit, your body acts on its own without conscious thought. You twist at the knees to twirl away from the axe's projected arc. You managed to hook your bardiche's haft on the beard of the axe, and drag it with you as you rushed past the Nalkainen.

This was not how you were dreading this was going to go, the force of which you're contesting with this six foot eight creature feels completely imaginary. Dreamlike. Fake. With the weightlessness of a broken shoulder press machine, you pry the pneumatic axe from the bug's grasp and sling it at the concrete column. The weapon bounces off, its obsidian-hard blade chipped from the contact.

You wonder how the hell you're doing this.

And then you notice your body is empty.

You are not sweating. Your mouth is dry. Every breath you take is heavier than the last, enjoying the vapors in the humid air. You feel something pulse through the suit's fibers.

You feel like you've had too much coffee and you are starving simultaneously.
UCE1 Bodysuit Status: +1d6/+3d6

File: 1454300488216.jpg (251 KB, 937x1500)

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Rolled 5, 4, 6, 5, 4, 1 = 25 (6d6)

>>6066323
Filled with a renewed need to see this battle through immediately, you pivot around, bardiche held ready to fend off this arcane creature. But the Nalkainen has little interest in you. It has abandoned you altogether, and seeks out L4 Blythe.

The noita smirks at the monster's aggression, but on his countenance is not a hint of spite or smugness. More like a father entertaining a child.

Percival's temperament toward the Nalkainen is paradoxically STERN and lackadaisical. This is clearly not his first encounter with the arcane creature.
Rolling for Percival's Cautious Engagement; 6d6 t4. Cautious Engagements take no damage as long as one success is rolled.

>>6066328
L4GOD i kneel...

>>6066328
Grant us weed, grant us weed...

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>>6066328
The Nalkainen fights its numbness and throws the blade at the robed man. The agent skips back, escaping the initial jab, and as it brings the blade wide for a slash at him, Percival ducks and tackles its ankles. It rolls over him, making a three point landing on its empty-hands and a foot to launch another stab at Blythe from being upside down, but he had already scrambled a dozen feet away like a feral animal himself.

Spinning around to face his foe, the robe flies up like a pirouetting dress, revealing the curious weapon on his hip which he makes zero hesitation to grab and level at his enemy.

"Jarnafeldt," Percival calls out as the Nalkainen charges at him, the weapon's core flaring with a golden light, "avert thy eyes-"

You grind your heels sideways to stop your movement and turn your head.

"-Daybreak!"

Just in time.

In the deepest depths of a dark pit under a city in its coldest and wettest seasons flashed a light not seen on this Earth outside of a hot Sahara noon. The light gleaming through the tumult of rain filtered through the stormdrain's systems and poured down in rancor turned into a stream of pure gold, the mists and fogs becoming luminescent clouds of heavenly dust, the columns becoming so blindly bright that they completely ruin what adjustment to the dark your eyes had settled on.

The clamour of metal and meat skidding across the concrete and splashing into water far ahead of where Percival was standing confirmed that the Nalkainen missed its charge.

Turning back around, and there is a cloud of glimmering yellow particles floating in the air where the noita had fired, and a gap tearing through it where the Nalkainen had barreled through. Blythe stands a few feet from where he was, blinking to adjust his eyes quicker. The weapon which looked like some form of pistol at first glance had blossomed open like a flower, and what appeared to be a light element in the middle is dimming down. Working a hammer-like switch on the back caused the machine to fold its petals forward to return to its standard gun configuration.

You swore you heard something on your person click a little, but whatever it is, it's stopped now.

The Nalkainen is pulling itself out of the water on its hands and knees, shaking its head and grumbling. It has retained its grip on the squatter's sword, which it brandishes defensively in front of itself as two hands cups the stormwater and bring it to its mouth. A few sips is all it bothers to give it, before rising back to its feet.

"Chains and cages'll do you wonders," Percival says, goading the creature, "Can't run, can't hide. Undercroft is thy home."

You have to wear down the Nalkainen some more before it will go quietly...
>Engage and wear it down (9d6t5)
>Bravely keep its head spinning (13d6t5)
>This suit is eating you; back away and drink up (Restore UCE1 Bonus to +3d6)
>Write-in
>+Taze (-1 Target Successes, 9/10 Charges)

>>6067001
>Engage and wear it down (9d6t5)

>>6067001
>This suit is eating you; back away and drink up (Restore UCE1 Bonus to +3d6)

Also... clicking. Shit is that a geiger counter going off? We maybe should get a little space for a minute.

>>6067001
>Engage and wear it down (9d6t5)
>+Taze (-1 Target Successes, 9/10 Charges)

>>6067026
+1

>>6067022
I wanna get to 0d6 baseline bonus before we chug one

>>6067001
>>Engage and wear it down (9d6t5)
>>+Taze (-1 Target Successes, 9/10 Charges)

>>6067001
>Bravely keep its head spinning (13d6t5)
>+Taze (-1 Target Successes, 9/10 Charges)

>>6067001
>Engage and wear it down (9d6t5)

Votes tallied but I'm not sure if I'm able to bring out an update tonight. I haven't taken a weekend in a while.

File: file.png (713 KB, 1188x487)

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God, sorry it took so long to get back into it. My head ain't where it needs to be.
_____________________
>>6067005
>>6067026
>>6067244
>>6067257
>>6067423
With a mind full of concern about that cloud of dust, you'd much rather be dealing with just copper instead of whatever that stuff is. The suit conjures up the vim and vigor for you to gallop sideways past it, flanking the Nalkainen. The creature eyes you, lit by the cloud's dim aurum glow and distant blue lights refracting off water.

Blythe's gun is now aimed at the monster, and it is keenly aware of that.

With a flick of the polearm, the copper fans forth from the nozzle of the bardiche, but the beast is already charging at you. Its head is already piercing through the copper clouds.

With a pull of the trigger, the bardiche launches its taze, sparks pouncing from the prongs and catch the copper particles like a flame to oil, dancing across the air in an instant.

But it is already upon you, and for fear of flagging you with the weapon, Blythe has to take care with his aim.

You'll need more than some gimmick to stop this monster in its tracks.
Three anons, roll 3d6.

Rolled 6, 5, 3 = 14 (3d6)

>>6069912

Rolled 6, 1, 5 = 12 (3d6)

>>6069912
Rollan'

Rolled 1, 4, 5 = 10 (3d6)

>>6069912

>>6069912
>spoiler
I get you. Been a rough week for me too. Feel better soon, QM!

>>6069913
>>6069939
>>6069981
The Nalkainen has two right hands. One grabs your wrist with a vice-like grip, locking it and your handle on the weapon there in place. The other grabs your shoulder, to steer itself, correct it, and to position itself as the left-hand with the blade begins to draw closer.

Dipping backward, you swing the haft of the bardiche at the monstrous creature, pushing the left-side arms up and over your shoulder. It's momentum dies as the creature's legs go limp from the stun cloud, unable to use its size to assert its power over you from the ground. It takes a lot of strength to avoid being dragged down with it, and as you wrestle your hands free from its vicious clutch that threatened to tear the fibers from the suit apart you send a wide gash at the arms with the sword to keep it at bay.

The action causes, after a second of recoil, a vicious retaliation. As it began to gain strength back in its legs, it threw itself at you, grabbing the polearm and sending blade and fist at you. With the leverage you were able to keep it at bay, but the pummeling and gnashing of the Nalkainen was overbearing. A cut across its arm did not stop its ferocious onslaught, and even as you warded away the Nalkainen and its blows, you see cuts and tears across the arms of the suit, drawing no blood.

You suck up the smoke of the cigar as you kick away the Nalkainen as it lunged past you. As the flavors curdle your tongue and travel down your throat, you have an epiphany. The taste you feel, the scents you smell, are small fragments of a more solid whole of something probably edible. Craving something, anything, any possible thing to stave off this incessant need you have, you breathe deep the cigar.

Fear won't overcome you.

"Careful, Fiona, thine blade bites," Percival calls out.

A slick juice runs down the blade. It's the strangest color for a bodily fluid, orange. A thick orangey sap. Perhaps it's the lingering remnants of that golden light floating in the air that give it that saturation, but the sight of its orange blood on your cyan blue crystal blade is more than just eye catching.

"Maim, not kill. Get that in your head."

The Nalkainen looks at the noita a fair distance away, pointing his gun at him. There's a certain pause in L4 Blythe's actions. He's giving the Nalkainen a chance to surrender.

Its eyes turn once again toward you. It seems hungry itself.

Your stomach squeezes inside of you, demanding your attention. Your mouth is dry save for your salivating tongue. Your muscles, though you had believed to have been aided by the suit, are beginning to burn.

>Retreat and pour the liquid meal down the bodysuit's collar gullet. (Restore suit bonus)
>You won't have time to have your soifood, keep the pressure up (Engage, 8d6)
>Attempt to totally disarm it (Strength, 8d6)
>Take a fucking bite out of the Nalkainen (Brave, 12d6, Restore bonus)
UCE1 Bodysuit Status: 0/+3d6

>>6070375
>Retreat and pour the liquid meal down the bodysuit's collar gullet. (Restore suit bonus)
Swap aggro to Percival again

>>6070375
>>Retreat and pour the liquid meal down the bodysuit's collar gullet. (Restore suit bonus)

>>6070375
>Retreat and pour the liquid meal down the bodysuit's collar gullet. (Restore suit bonus)
Slow and steady

>>6070375
>Retreat and pour the liquid meal down the bodysuit's collar gullet
Maybe it'll settle down if we leave it alone, besides we do need to recuperate

>>6070375
>Retreat and pour the liquid meal down the bodysuit's collar gullet. (Restore suit bonus)

>>6070375
>Retreat and pour the liquid meal down the bodysuit's collar gullet. (Restore suit bonus)
Cleric, take point!

>>6070453
>>6070460
>>6070463
>>6070591
>>6070676
>>6070691
You need to drink. It's bothering you, really bothering you. Your veins feel clean and empty, like it has overfiltered whatever content was in your blood. Give it enough time without giving it something new, and it will start excavating what little bodyfat your government-mandated four-digit caloric limit permits you have like a Bagger 288.

Knowing its gaze is on you, you begin to jog backwards away, and the ease and speed of which the muscle suit interprets what you want to do is frankly amazing. You've never felt anything like it, it's like you're walking on a trampoline, each step back feels like a full sprint leap. The suit is perfectly capable of functioning at this level, and it will continue to function, it's just that you won't.

With you having traveled eight yards in a few seconds from urgent backpedaling, the Nalkainen pauses for a moment as the Noita points a the gun at its legs.

"Stormwatch, Stormwatch, come in, eyes on," the noita speak in his strange drug-fueled patterned speech. "L4 Blythe here, section ten north. Target spotted, beseech backup."

You noticed while putting it on that there was a collar fitted with a grate fit to take in fluids as fast as you could pour it in, much like what you saw on the Red Dog's ACDD. Setting aside that comparison, in just a second you nearly sever the neck of the bottle as you begin pouring down the fluid into the machine suit, saving the last few ounces to fill your own mouth and give you some modicrum of satisfaction.

...

UCE1 Bodysuit Bonus: +1d6/+3d6

What the fuck.

That wasn't enough at all.

What the FUCK is this!?

You feel the machine begin to break it down and distribute it among your body, but you feel almost nothing else.

You feel robbed. Betrayed. You took out the cigar for this? You chew on its butt as you put it back in. Schweinehund, you should-

"Deathwatch? Deathwatch? Say no more, dove. Tell them V-Ring Ammo only." Percival rolls his head to the other side, in some sort of flamboyant taunt. "Hear that, Nalkie? Cease your fleeing. Else the MNP near kill you."

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Rolled 2, 3, 4, 6, 3, 1, 3, 4, 2, 1, 4, 4, 3, 5, 2, 1, 5, 1 = 54 (18d6)

>>6070950
"TAPPAA ITSESI," the Nalkainen spoke back.

"Tappa itsesi, hyttynen puhui," the anglish man ceased speaking his native tongue to speak down to the vile bug.

From over thirty feet away, you could see the eyes of L4 Blythe expand to form a perfect ring of whites around his beady black irises as he began to scream.

"TAPPA MINUT ITSE, MATO!"

L4 Blythe charges forth, gun blazing with the power of the sun as the Nalkainen began to take evasive maneuvers.

Rolling for Percival Blythe's Brave, mushroom fueled engagement. Rolling 18d6.

>>6070952
Bolts of superheated plasma or whatever it was scattered across the concrete wall as the Nalkainen skittered along it in a wallrun as mad as the dash the noita made against it. The speed of the projectile were sluggish, shots that would have nailed a slower human target lagged behind the bug as it leapt from the wall and cornered Blythe himself.

Quick with his aim, Blythe spun around laid a shot at the Nalkainen's center mass, but it was too far from any opening provided by the mass of electronics and metal attached to it. The plasma spalling sizzled in the stormdrain's stream and in response, the Nalkainen threw its blade at the agent. A nasty cleave across Percival's upper right ribcage staggered him enough for the Nalkainen to rush in and begin throwing every single one of its four fists at it in a fluid motion.

The agent greeted each blow as an opportunity; trying to grab each arm and hold the gun right up against its joints, the constant onslaught was just too strong to keep it rigid enough for such an awkward shot.

There came a time where this was not a problem; at the slightest of interludes between the beatings, Blythe slid forward and pressed the gun right up to the side of the Nalkainen's head.

In an instant forced reaction, the monster grabbed the researcher by his free arm and slung him over his shoulder. The force with which he was thrown made him go as limp as a ragdoll, the shot that was held as a threat flying far off target and closer to you than anything.

As the noita came flying over the arcane creature's shoulder, he threw the gun to you.

The Nalkainen swung the noita back forward to slam him against the ground, and he greeted the monster with wild kick to the face that used the momentum of the throw in his favor. Slammed against the ground, the agent got up, and began fighting the Nalkainen in bare handed combat. A few hits were traded, and the agent seems to be a very skilled fist fighter, but eventually the creature kicked aside the agent and scavenged its weapon before it was lost under the water.

You think that the Nalkainen is feeling a hunger pang of its own. Its movements are shaky and fervent, and signs of exhaustion are as clear on it as they are on you. It saw you drink the liquid meal.

Blythe rose with no issue, passed you a look, and began holding his arms in a left-leaning ninety degree angle.

Choose one.
>Pick up Daybreak yourself (New ranged weapon, you've no idea how it works)
>Return Daybreak to L4 Blythe
Choose one.
>Drink some more soifood, you clearly haven't had enough, fucking prototype suits (+1d6)
>EAT the BUG it is EARTHY and SAVORY and TASTES LIKE TREE SAP (Brave, 13d6t4)
>Keep it occupied, help is on the way (Engage, 9d6t4)
>Disarm it to prevent more damage to you or your tripping superior (9d6t4)
>+Taze (-1 Target Successes, 8/10 Charges)
>Mimic Blythe's arm positioining (???)

>>6070970
>Return Daybreak to L4 Blythe
I don't trust the cool sun gun
>Write In
>Taunt him! Stare down the Nalkainen in the eyes as you drink a second soofood. You know how a Stormwatch Axe works well enough, you can dodge and bait the pneumatic attacks into surfaces. Keep making him burn more of his energy to get to you.
This will buy time for Percy to recover enough

>>6070952
This exchange is fucking sick and funny at the same time, incredible

>>6071050
There were a few drafts to make that fit that "bubble bubble toil and trouble" Kalevala meter so I'm glad that it is appreciated

File: The_Noita_Experience.gif (2.02 MB, 240x240)

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>>6071054
>when the QM is autistic enough he has a character speaking entirely in a special ethnic meter and never once breaks it
This quest is awesome
Also here have pic related as an example of real Noita occupational hazard

>>6071054
>bubble bubble toil and trouble
Isn't Kalevala nine syllables?
Also why is the Anglo wizard a finnoboo? Shouldn't he be worshipping Wotan like the rest of the germanics or whatever Gaelic dieties the Brittons used to have?

>>6071152
In English it is a variant of Trochaic tetrameter, which is actually really easy to do. I have, for my sanity's sake, avoided some of the neutral stressing rules because ultimately it is English I am able to speak and write, and those rules make more sense in Finnish versus English.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trochaic_tetrameter#Kalevala_meter
This is a setting where it is accepted that all gods are somehow real and have power over the domains of their worship. While Odin might have power stretching from the coldest shores of Norway to Switzerland's peaks, Finland is the land of Ukko. Your God cannot hear you down here, so have to make do with whoever can, and that is, and I translate, some "old man".
>>6071119
It is a side effect of Blythe taking the mushroom that he is speaking like that (see >>6064326). His entire perceived reality is in meter, and if you guys took the shrooms the entire quest would be written in it until it wears off.

>>6071251
>the entire quest would be written in it until it wears off
Godlike QMing if real

>>6070970
>Pick up Daybreak yourself (New ranged weapon, you've no idea how it works)
We're wicked smaht. We can figure it out.

>>6070970
>>Return Daybreak to L4 Blythe
Have the man use his own gimmicky gun,
we have our own gimmik

>+Taze (-1 Target Successes, 8/10 Charges)
>Mimic Blythe's arm positioining (???)

>>6070970

>>6071339 is me, and I'll change to back >>6071441, to break the tie.

>>6070970
>Return Daybreak to L4 Blythe
>+Taze (-1 Target Successes, 8/10 Charges)

LIGHTNING BOLT, LIGHTNING BOLT

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You picked up the gun and were about to toss it to L4 Blythe, when you realized something.

Percival is performing the same kind pose the underground noita did. But the other way around. The other direction. You remember that noita requested their assistant to help make whatever happened... happen.

Either way you would not to ignore an L4's directions, however implicit they may be.

Raising your arms, you make that communion with this shaman.

“O Vellamo, brewer o’ storms,
Churning, rolling on, thunder roars.
Your rain pours yet ‘pon fertile land.
Naught remains in vile, termite hands.”

And, together, you rock your hands clockwise.

And as the clock turns forward, something strange happens. The next puff of your cigar is… totally healing. It feels like your head is clear of a ringing you never even realized you had. Every muscle, every fiber, you feel it, how it pulls and twists to your will. Your mind, body, and soul. It all becomes… articulate. You feel sharpness. Keenness. Supplicity. You feel it all, from the tip of your tongue to the grooves of your fingertips.

You feel alive.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0PsTVTHn-o
DICE HAVE BEEN INCREASED ONE STEP.
FOR THE DURATION OF THIS ENCOUNTER, YOU WILL NOT ROLL D6 AND SUCCEED ON 5 AND 6; YOU WILL ROLL D8 AND SUCCEED ON 6, 7, 8.

Rolled 7, 6, 3, 1, 4, 7 = 28 (6d8)

>>6071714
The Nalkainen accidentally fires the pneumatic jets of the axe while shaking it dry. It suddenly occurs to him how the weapon is intended to functions. The arcane creature permits you two to perform your gay little fairy dance, because it now has both intentions and the means to cleave the two of you into juicy chunks.

You toss the gun to Blythe finally, and with a spin he grabs his pistol. The gun folds open into its flower-esque configuration as he cocks that hammer back. The Nalkainen spins its head away as it rushes forward, which gives you ample opportunity to rush up and sling more of your tazer cloud at the creature.

The stormwater all over its hands worked in your favor as it became an easy conduit for the electricity bolting through the air, and just as surge ceased, L4 Blythe moved to assault the staggered and starving bug.

Rolling for P4 Blythe’s cautious engagement. Rolling 6d8t3.

>>6071715
Of all the things you expected him to open with, a mule kick to the thing’s head was not one of them. From the Nalkainen’s haunched and tazed position of trying to recover its footing, it was an easy blow to make, but why?

Enraged at the slight, the oversized roach snapped forward with the axe, with its massive reach and swing as dramatically sudden as any blow Kiikoinen would do, the wet pop as solid hydrogen instantly vaporized echoing through the cavernous chamber. But Percival was faster. The L4 Agent leapt back, and his spread-open gun went off.

A massive, blinding flare cast itself from the point of the gun to all across the stormdrain in a massive cone. What seemed to be the plasma of the gun shot forward as a powder and caked the Nalkainen in a thin layer of pure scalding heat. From casting godrays through the mist seeping down from the inlets to refracting off the unsettled water to finally the light bouncing off the walls, the entire section was lit up in a powerful sun-like glow.
In the distance you could see two figures, visible only by their cast shadows, and their inhuman bulbous red eyes.

Just as the arcane creature began to recoil from the light and the burn, Percival rushed forward and kicked the axe from the Nalkainen’s grasp and straight into the air by dozens of feet. Laying several shots on the Nalkainen’s legs at point blank, the L4 agent stepped forward and fired as it stumbled to the ground. With eyes entirely on the Nalkainen, the Noita grabbed the axe as it came back down, and in one fluid motion – po – sent the axe across the tip of the arcane creature’s dome. The helmet-like device adorning it was torn to shreds and was sent off in an arc and the crystal blade of the pneumatic axe shattered spectacularly, leaving a mostly blunt instrument.

Injured but not done in, the Nalkainen grabs at the axe as it comes back, snatching it mid-boost, and leveraged the weapon to bring the noita closer. With the retrieval of his weapon, a couple not-so-square strikes to the face and a failed strangling, the Nalkainen snarled as Blythe danced away.

In the silent second of the fight that came after that exchange, all of you could hear it. Heavy boots, and rattling gear.

“MNP, Nalkainen, draw near,” came the feverish announcement from Percival. “Come, we tire of this run; submit.”

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>>6072287
It locks eyes with you.

Its axe is blunted.

But yours isn’t.

With an act of self-destructive exertion, it pushes itself beyond its limits, ravaging its body and soul for the power it needs to take what it wants. All of existence is a currency to be expended, spent to satisfy its endless hunger. Blinded, tazed, burned, battered, but not yet defeated, the Nalkainen makes its harried rush at you.

The Nalkainen will leave everything ruin to satisfy its needs, including its mortal coil. It raises the DC for this check by two, at the cost of another level of hunger that will reduce its DC by 1 afterward. It will begin restore its damage threshold if it eats.
Engaging to not be disarmed; three anons, roll 3d8. Target 5 successes.

Rolled 3, 6, 8 = 17 (3d8)

>>6072288
Rollan'

> The arcane creature permits you two to perform your gay little fairy dance
I laughed. Also damn, Percy is scary when he wants to.

Rolled 4, 8, 7 = 19 (3d8)

>>6072288

Rolled 5, 2, 4 = 11 (3d6)

>>6072288
Come on just one more

Rolled 4, 3, 3 = 10 (3d8)

>>6072424
Oh fuck I rolled d6 instead of d8, hang on

>>6072288
Rollan proper

>>6072318
>>6072376
>>6072424
>>6072427
>off by one
I HATE THE DICE IN THIS QUEST
I HATE THIS DICE SYSTEM
FUCK YOU

>>6072428
It happens anon, it wouldn't be fun if all we did was win anyways. Besides it's not an instant-loss, we'll have an opportunity to fight back.

>>6072428
It's only a thin loss, we are gonna eat shit, but it shouldn't be detrimental.

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>>6072428
with all due respect it was a very hard check

>>6072318
>>6072376
>>6072427
Preparing yourself for it to try and strike you in an attempt to loosen you up, you hold the bardiche in a bracing position, ready to swing copper in a cone as it approache-
and it’s already sliding below where you could have thrown it.

Startled you begin to jump back, the suit springing you back further than you believed, and just as you were in a good range to spill some of the copper particles into the air, you land in knee-deep stormwater. Your suit is strong and agile, but the water ruined your momentum and caused you to stumble. Though you get back on your feet, the Nalkainen has made a pounce for you. Again with a brace you try to protect yourself, but with one of its arms it pushes aside the head of the polearm and with the three others it begins to grab the weapon and try to toss you away from it.

Though you anchored yourself with a firm grip on the polearm and even used your legs to push yourself and the weapon as far from him as you could, you couldn’t overpower the creature. It then starts to use its hands to pry your thumbs off their grip, like an annoying little child! It works, the fucker, and it twists the weapon from your loosened grip. Hitting the floor, you roll away from the inevitable attacks it would lay against you, and think about your next-

The Nalkainen is running away.

It cleaves at something in the darkness, and picks up a freshly severed arm as it begins to flee.

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You see Percival rushing ahead, and further behind the columns in the distance, dark figures come into the light of the overhead lamps for fractions of a second. All black with nothing but kevlar, a helmet, and inhuman gas masks.

The infamous visage of Mother Nature’s Providence own deathsquad.

The boogeymen are deployed globally there’s a threat to society on an influential scale. Traitors in political power, usually. The Deathwatch is equipped with high-end, dangerous gear that’s sometimes outright pollutant. It is an echo of the late ancient militaries, augmented with new materials sciences. To bring people to heel before even using these weapons, they often arm themselves with things considered evil in the cultures they face. Not only are units deployed to Arabia permitted to fire over thirty bullets a sortie, but those bullets are coated with a metal jacket made from iron extracted from the blood of pigs.

You’ve seen them once before. One cold winter night, you lazily looked out the window of a tavern, and saw two red eyes staring back at you from an unlit building. From two hundred yards away, you both silently agreed that you didn’t see anything. The next day, one of the village elders and forest rangers had disappeared, and you were alive.

Freyja’s tits, what are they doing here?

It is in your best interest to not look like dead weight to people who have unilateral authority to remove you from existence for looking at them wrong. Getting a spring back into your step, you begin a rush across the flooding Stormdrain.

Elite as they are, the MNP Deathwatch is equipped rather poorly for this environment…

The Nalkainen is eating as it is fleeing. To catch up will require speed, something this suit is able to provide, should the body be able to hold out.
Rolling Fast; Two anons, roll 3d8, target 2.

Rolled 4, 7, 2 = 13 (3d8)

>>6072948
YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY FAGGOT

Rolled 5, 3, 7 = 15 (3d8)

>>6072948
Time to break landspeed records.

We shouldn't forget about tilting windmills

>>6072954
>>6072957
The simple thought of running was enough to convince the suit to start moving. The onboard computer, located near the base of the spine was doing as much controlling you as you were controlling it. Eventually you began to comply, and the results were outstanding. Your breaths are heavy, your heart is pounding, the veins if your arm seem to be running thin, but you easily outpace the L4 agent and the Deathwatch.

You began to wonder if there was even a point to going this fast, that there was no reason why you would need to expend so much energy when you are outpacing everyone by leaps and bounds, barreling over eight to ten foot stretches of water in your stride. It would be so easy to just… slow down, and to stop this wild overexertion...

Your answer came as the Nalkainen stepped into light.

The Nalkainen is taking bites out of the arm. Difficulty for the creature lied in getting through the tough skin, raw and tough as uncooked longpig can get, and the meat was far from fatty and flavorful… but nevertheless it bit into the arm like it were a drumstick. Each bite is filled with gratitude and a moment of bliss you are a little envious of. Every bite is a step closer to an ideal of satisfaction. Every bite is-

Every bite is healing and nourishing. The fucker is recovering its strength.

With a spark of vigor and adrenaline that your body managed to produce to not be stolen by the suit, you go into a full on sprint.

The Nalkainen hears you coming, and is too busy stuffing its mouth to properly react. Wth its two right arms it swings the Volt Bardiche at you. The cackle of the tazer flares as it swings through the air, to the confusion of the monster who thought he could actually use your weapon against you.

Preoccupied by the act of eating while walking and with no free hands, the Nalkainen struggles to defend itself. You are unarmed, but beating things up with your bare hands is something you know more than just a little about. Though you're smaller than most, Kiikoinen taught you well.

Caught unprepared, the Nalkainen has not finished eating, and is vulnerable. Though the suit has begun to use you as fuel, the advantage is yours. Vulnerable target situational bonus, +1d8
UCE1 Bodysuit Bonus: -1d8/+3d8
Two anons, roll 4d8. Target 2.

Rolled 6, 3, 4, 2 = 15 (4d8)

>>6074664
COME ON
GIVE HIM A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE
EAT HIM
TEAR A BITE OFF
RELISH THE FLAVOR

Rolled 6, 5, 2, 5 = 18 (4d8)

>>6074664

>>6074669
>>6074693
Nice we won with two 6s

>>6074669
>>6074693
>no rolls for 7 or 8
>only 6s
>the 5s didn't count because the dice grade up
whew

>>6074724
It was close, there, for sure...

>>6074669
>>6074693
The leap at the Nalkainen you made was far more dramatic than you expected. You were able to break in too close for the arcane creature to defend itself, and the speed of your jump almost sent you straight over, but you managed to catch yourself on around its ugly bug head.

If your job was to kill it, you could easily begin to break its neck or even twist its head off. Unfortunately, this thing needs to live. Grasping at a crevice in the metal devices adorning the Nalkainen, you hold yourself in place to pulverize this thing’s face with your fists. Judging how strong its skull is after the first blow, you judge it is not as fragile as an ant and that it does have something of a partial exoskeleton. Meaning, you are free to drive your fist into its face as hard as you please.

Somewhere between your fifth and sixth overbearing blow against its cranium, the Nalkainen manages to reassert proper control over the bardiche and try stabbing you with it. Slipping past it onto its shoulder, you grab the haft and twist your way off the larger humanoid thing, locking its head and right arms in a bind as you roll to the floor.

The moment it tries to adjust the grip, the suit manifests its power and you try to trip the vile creature with a strong kick to the ankle while levering it forward. It had barely managed to correct itself in time, and stepped away to regain some control.

Locked in a moment of violent silence, you could finally see the true eyes of the Nalkainen gleaming in whatever light manages to make its four black dots sparkle. It’s an ugly thing, unlike any bug you’ve ever seen. Most interestingly, its skull shape flies in the face of everything you’ve seen in an insect, aberrant or otherwise. Evolution makes sense. Predators have its eyes on the front of the skull, facing forward, attaining depth perception to measure distance to their prey. Humans have predator skulls.

The Nalkainen’s eyes are on the side, signaling its role as prey.

As strong and as violent as it could possibly be, the Nalkainen is always running from its hunger.

Snapping back to reality, you see something in the corner of your ey-

POOF
POOF

>>6075573
The Nalkainen went limp, stumbling to the ground. Walking right past you was one of the MNP Deathwatch agents, tossing blue vortex ring shell casings out of a double barrel over-under shotgun with a hatchet for a bayonet, before sliding in a couple black-colored shells. The second came along with a small machine gun in his hands and a pneumatic battleaxe on his back.

The Nalkainen had made motions to stand, and before it could begin did the first Deathwatch agent clamp his heel down upon the arcane creature’s head, grinding it into the concrete. He then began to fire both barrels into the Nalkainen’s extremities, black bags bouncing off in every direction. The beanbags could not hit the ground before the agent had reloaded and began to fire more and more into the creature while the other stood by with his weapon trained toward an exposed part of the Nalkainen’s midsection.

The Deathwatch unload a total of twelve rounds of beanbag shot into the Nalkainen before it finally stops struggling.

“Vicimus contra cimex,” they spit into their radios in Latin, as the Rome-headquartered MNP servants usually. “Exspectate paulo diutius. Deinde, ad propositum nostrum revertamur.”

Percival Blythe arrives, having called in Stormwatch on his own end. With his sunlight pistol in hand, he walked up past the Deathwatch agents and sent a shot straight into the Nalkainen’s side. For once, it groaned in pain.

“Fool Nalkainen, craving craven.
To where could you call safe haven?
Underdwellers could not stand you.
They starve, they hunger and crave, too.
Nowhere you’ll find generous lands.
Safety, peace, in Undercroft hands.”

The Nalkainen gave spiteful growls, full of seething, bottomless hatred.

Blythe shoots the Nalkainen a second time in the side.

You drink the rest of your liquid meals back to back.

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>>6075574
You know better than to make casual conversation with Deathwatch. A civilian came down onto the catwalks from an access point in a building to investigate the constant shots levelled at the Nalkainen, and was killed almost instantly with a bullet from the submachine gun and the door shut from the ground with a blast of the compressed air V-Ring shot.

They have a higher level of authority than you could have imagined aspiring to joining the Stormwatch. You’ve heard joining the Deathwatch is like gaining knighthood, or becoming royalty, and that most are descendants from the previous generations of Deathwatch agents. Thoroughbred killers, you’ve even heard tell that they’ve come to have their own phenotype, nearly qualifying as their own independent race of human.

You know better than to make casual conversation with them, and would rather be as far away from them as you can.
But while waiting for Undercroft agents to arrive to carry the Nalkainen away chained to a stretcher, the Deathwatch made casual conversation with you.

“Hail, green girl,” spoke the shotgunner, with a vicious grin oozing from the tone of his voice. His compatriot was far enough away, securing a perimeter, that he could speak as freely as he could under the stoned gaze of L4 Blythe. “What do you know about this pet? One of the old oak’s, or did it come crawling in from the north?”

The words “I don’t know” sound too much like you’re purposefully withholding information. “I just got a courier delivered message directly from Miss Jousten to arrive at a substation and head down here immediately. This is my first time seeing this thing, or anything like it.”

The MNP agent shook his head. “I've seen your files. Your pedigree protects you, hunterkiller's daughter. You've seen some things you shouldn't. Seen something like it. A gluttonous creature, with the power to use bloodshed as its fuel… read about something real similar in a briefing not very long ago.”

>>6075584
“… The Red Dogs drone?”

With a singular but casual nod, the agent spoke more quietly. “Yeah. That thing, and that Black Swan’s magic engine. It was initially offered to support for a mission we have, but that Chicago judge said it is still undergoing ‘optimization.’ That it was too weak to join us on our mission up here.”

The gas masked agent squatted down, his knee on the side of the head of the Nalkainen, looking him in the eyes. “When your guys called us, told us what needed suppression, I connected the dots. I was hoping to see the real thing in action, and I must say,” his grip on his shotgun hatchet tightened, the fabrics straining. “I was so very, very disappointed. The inspiration for an actual blood sucking robot… a pathetic, snivelling, ungrateful creature. And you should be grateful. They could have cut you up to get a look at your insides and figure out how you work much better, you know? They’re holding back in tech because that swan lady values your life oh so much. And this is the thanks you give. Too scared to chop down a tree, let alone eat the face off a T3 Abber.”

He places his shotgun’s barrel up against the Nalkainen’s neck., the cold metal causing the bug to recoil. “Then again, being run down like this, you never stood a chance, didn’t you?”

“Poor thing needs to eat as kings do, lame and anemic as it is,” Blythe interjects. “Modest feeding keeps it control’d. Its strength can return with diet.”

The agent lifts his gun away, and passes a look at Blythe. “If you’re gonna try to feed this thing later, that’s on you. Everyone thinks they can outdo us... Chicago’s got those drones. You’re getting this thing, or something like it.”

Blythe was quick to rebuff the accusation. “Presume not you know our reasons-”

“Silence. We have a job here that you’re not doing. That you can’t do. Play catch up all you like.” He looks at you with a tilt of his head. “You’re in on this thing here. Do you know about the big problem that just came up? I don't know how current your bookkeeping is here in this backwater.”

“N-no?”

Splashing footfalls drawing near signaled the necessary end to the banter, and the agent gives a scoff. “Don’t worry your little head about it.”

>>6075585
L2 Manhunter Saemus Fahy was among the heavily armored Undercroft agents who arrived to carry off the Nalkainen. You don’t say much to him other than a pleasant but exhausted hello and a confounded look at the “arcane creature” and back at Fahy. He didn’t, and couldn’t, say much on the situation, besides “if you get more involved in the Undercroft, you can learn a bit more if you wanted.”

The MNP agents rallied together and left and resumed a primary mission they had taken a detour from to assist you. Drinking that replenishing cocktail that is the liquid IV, Blythe begins sweltering and overheating, but surprisingly, he seems to be coming down at a rapid pace.

Arriving at a cargo elevator not far from the main entrypoint from Stormwatch HQ to the Stormdrains, the black and gold armored men activated the panel and sent the elevator up, to be greeted in a moment by another elevator platform. Blythe insisted you were permitted to follow, and so you joined them on the elevator ride down to the undercroft. Though you weren’t permitted in the restricted area where the Nalkainen was taken along with Fahy, Blythe sat you down at a bench and explained that he had to talk to the director, so you had to wait with him. After being given well-sought-after permission to change out of the UCE1 Bodysuit and into some regular clothes (you'll have to pick up your original clothes later), you felt like you just wanted to lay down die of exhaustion, finally able to not feel so constantly drained…

But you also wanted to talk to a Noita for some time now. And you had some obvious questions.

Choose as many as you like.
>”So… Why is Kiikoinen called Mister Adder? He says you see him as a snake?”
>”See anything especially unusual on those shrooms, druggi-I mean sir?”
>”What even is that Nalkainen, now that we have time to talk? Do you know?”
>”Did I hear that agent right? We were planning on using that to fight Lorppo after ACDD didn’t do well?”
>”How often are Deathwatch around here? I don’t want to ask what they’re doing here, but…”
>Write-ins!

>>6075592
>”What even is that Nalkainen, now that we have time to talk? Do you know?”
>”Did I hear that agent right? We were planning on using that to fight Lorppo after ACDD didn’t do well?”

>>6075622
+1
The Deathwatch are nuts

>>6075681
>The Deathwatch are nuts
I dig their vibes. Weird inbred ecofascist Roman elites who kill and pollute egas! with impunity and casual sadism. Very spooky dudes.

>>6075592
>”What even is that Nalkainen, now that we have time to talk? Do you know?”
>”Did I hear that agent right? We were planning on using that to fight Lorppo after ACDD didn’t do well?”
>”How often are Deathwatch around here? I don’t want to ask what they’re doing here, but…”

>>6075728
+1

>>6075592
>”So… Why is Kiikoinen called Mister Adder? He says you see him as a snake?”
>”Did I hear that agent right? We were planning on using that to fight Lorppo after ACDD didn’t do well?”

>>6075585
>And you should be grateful. They could have cut you up to get a look at your insides and figure out how you work much better, you know? They’re holding back in tech because that swan lady values your life oh so much. And this is the thanks you give. Too scared to chop down a tree, let alone eat the face off a T3 Abber
Is this all directed at Fiona? I thought only the last sentence chastising not eating the Nalkainen was meant for Fiona. Extremely interesting if all this was meant for her. Does Jousten really value Fiona this much already? And she could be a real lab rat if we fuck up?

>>6075592
>”What even is that Nalkainen, now that we have time to talk? Do you know?”
>”Did I hear that agent right? We were planning on using that to fight Lorppo after ACDD didn’t do well?”
>”How often are Deathwatch around here? I don’t want to ask what they’re doing here, but…”

>>6075863
I'm pretty confident they were talking to the Nalkainen.

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There’s a lot of topics here, and they’re hard to approach by themselves. So you try to string them along. “So that… thing. The Nalkainen. What is that, thing? We’ve had that for… how long?”

“Not for terribly long, I fear,” Blythe answers, his patterned speech still lingering intermittently between labored breaths of the Liquid IV purging it from his system. “It’s… not an aberration. Aberrations are… mutated animals. This, the Nalkainen… we aren’t certain of the nature of its creation. It was made, I believe. Perhaps, in a similar fashion to the trolls, the gods orchestrated their creation by causing a chain of events… or perhaps it was simply man’s own hubris that he created the spitting image of himself, at the precise moment of the calamity… obsessed with consumption and growth, until the very soil ‘neath his feet turns to dust. But it is no being of natural evolution, influenced by accursed radiation or otherwise. Of that, we are certain.”

“So it’s… older than the calamity?”

“That, I cannot say…” Blythe answers, his tone bearing a level of difficulty. “Only, it was a gift, to Jousten, for research. She’s been very progress oriented since her promotion to L4. Indeed, the Red Dogs were invited to bring their drone over to take on a generator mimicking the Nalkainen’s digestive functions. The mechanics work, but as it is, that generator lacks the raw output, is what I’ve heard…” He shrugs, wiping his brow from sweat. “I am a noita, the esoteric workings of the Undercroft are not my focus. I care more to understand the unknown. Tackle more… unfathomable uncertainties. Like the Nalkainen, its arcane nature, as something supernatural, yet not aberrant...”

… Leshy did mention he objected to supplying her with “test subjects.” And it seems Percival is not aware of the Nalkainen’s origins himself. Or, not willing to share them with someone like yourself.

But more relevantly. “And Miss Jousten was planning on… employing it, to fight Lorppo?”

“As was clarified, it’s not dumb. The Nalkainen can make chatter. Bargain, be bribed, persuaded… see?” He shakes his head to regain his senses. “She believed it could be taught, through behavioral reinforcement to be as us. Seek long-term benefits. Cooperate. Do tasks, and be rewarded. Katriina also believes that if there’s any way she can avoid sending agents against Lorppo, it should be taken. Quite different from our predecessors, who believed a more… cyclical approach to our agents afforded the citizens with more births.”

Yeouch.

“And, indeed, I do believe it is up to task of facing Lorppo. It is capable of manipulating weaponry. With the right training and equipment, it could be a force to be reckoned with, though in my humble opinion, that is the last thing we should be doing with it.”

>>6076586
“The Deathwatch knew about this?” You begin a segue.

“They’re briefed on everything that could possibly be a factor to their missions. There are no secrets from MNP. The punishment for withholding information is… harsh.”

You glance around for the nearest camera. There’s one pointed right at you, from an angle. AI that can read lips from CCTV footage is something you learned of quite recently, as an off-handed remark from Fahy talking about his fodder missions. There is no camera pointed at the bench from another direction, so you turn your head to speak. “How often are the Deathwatch here in Helsinki? Working with the Stormwatch, at least?”

Blythe sighs and lets his uncertainty be known. “They’re not ours. We’ve no control of when or where they show up. They don’t show up to deal with defected agents, not even a treasonous L4. Maybe once every ten years do they reveal themselves to us, to ask for confidential information in person. No form of communication is as secure as fleeting conversation in an unmonitored room…”

Even L4s can turncoat? Gods. What’s even more preposterous is how far the Deathwatch must be up their own ass if they cannot even spare the afternoon it would take to assist in situations like that. Maybe if they did that, they’d be too busy cleaning up everyone else’s messes, but surely, the MNP does not have organization-threatening marks to hit every single day… right?

After an uncomfortable silence, the noita spoke lowly through gritted, unmoving teeth. “Though if I knew who they were targeting, I could not tell you… I can tell you what is obvious from what we have seen.”

Right. Sure. Just regurgitate what you already know. It’ll pass the time. Stupid MNP goons. “Go on.”

“They are after enemies of Mother Nature’s Providence. They are in the stormdrains. And, with the high power, high capacity ranged weapons the MNP has at its disposal, fit to take down any number of targets both human and aberration alike from perfect safety…”

Blythe’s tired eyes looked dead forward, his bleary voice fading like he no longer had a care.

“The Deathwatch chose to bring axes.”

… They did, didn’t they.

>>6076587
How does the recent Don reveal affect the quest? Quite funny that it happens just as we're fighting a proto vampire.

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more writing tonight btw, I hope you realize I was understandably distracted, and I hope you all don't let random Don events affect how you play Fiona from how you would have
>>6076762
>stoic beefcake is a clubbing autist (Canto V.1 releasing the literal day Kiikoinen gives you the slip to go clubbing)
>jannies and vampires (Canto VI Intervallo 2 after all this perfect termite shit)
if this shit happens a third time it crosses the line out of the realm of coincidence and enters the realm of KJH reading my quest, to which I say give Don more horned autist IDs and EGO

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Katriina Jousten came into view just in time, to prevent your dwelling on that subject. It wasn’t a game of trivia you were too keen on winning anyway; its only prizes were probably a boating trip over the Yahweh’s Lament and a pair of ice block shoes. As she approached, a retinue of armored guards flanked her, a few of which she dismissed as she got in conversating range. She was still wearing the UCE1 Bodysuit, but she didn’t seem bothered at all.

She hands you a pleasant smile. Though it’s well-practiced, you have a feeling it is nonetheless sincere. “Good work, Blythe, Jarnafeldt. It must have been terribly awkward to answer such a sudden summons like that. I apologize, but I only had so many agents available to address the issue. Myself, operators, undercroft agents. But it did seem we were in luck with our friends from Rome.”

Act natural. “Y-yes, they were pleasant to work with. Haha!”

Miss Jousten nodded, and suggested Blythe go rest and begin writing up a report on the mission, observing the layers of sweat caking his face. The anglo did not object, but did not depart before shaking your hand, giving you his broken, genuine smile, and wishing you luck.

The director of the Stormwatch began to pace around you, speaking carefully measured words. “L2 Trollslayer, Fiona Jarnafeldt. You have been seeing a many of things under my employ, have you not? Many… strange things.”

You do not like where this is going.

Pausing for a moment to admire the architecture of the Undercroft, you follow the eyes of your boss. The Undercroft was a late ancient bunker, never used for its intended purpose, as she claimed. Brown stone coated the walls, warm yellow lights painted everything a mild orange, and metal supports were coated with some brass-colored finish.

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>>6077065
Dryly, Katriina continued. “Ordinarily, agents of low rank would not be given the clearance to knowing of things such as our more protected research subjects. There are L3 agents who do not know of ACDD – let alone our role in its make. It is simply not relevant information for them and their operations. A standard L2 agent cannot be permitted to know of the Nalkainen. There are a few ways an agency like the Stormwatch can resolve this, and yet...”

The Black Swan put her hand on your shoulder. As the weight upon it applies layers upon layers of pressure on you, you feel far from reassured as she speaks.

“I see a bit of myself in you,” she smiles, “and I want to help. I can promote you again, to a L2 Specialist. There are benefits, a few tracks you can take, if you like. Some can lead you down this rabbit hole of mine, if you please. I would be glad to take you; speak with you in confidence, of our hopes and dreams. The futures we can make. Others tracks will take you elsewhere, where you may not see the likes of the Nalkainen again, Ukko willing. But there’s just one thing.”

The smile fades, and Katriina Jousten looks at you with a level of possible dejection.

”Do you trust me?”

“U-uh...?”

“I go to great extremes to protect my agents. I have studied the Nalkainen. I have created a converter based on its digestive system. I invited the Red Dogs to bring a drone for us to modify into a ceaselessly operating machine, that fights so we don’t have to walk that razor’s edge of life and death. I created this, this suit. It’s not perfect, it needs improvement, maybe a different approach… but it's to make you stronger. So you can take what you can to survive. I want to preserve life by trying to expand how we may persist, when we do and don’t have to be in danger. There are those who do not appreciate my endeavors, and I hope one day they might see the light as I do. But if I don’t have the faith of those beneath me, especially yours, in whom I see something, to save them…”

Her arm slides off your shoulder.
>Write in

>>6077077
>Write in
"Permission to speak frankly, L4 Jousten? I...feel as if I am in deep water, struggling to keep my head above the waves. From the moment I joined I've seen glimpses of countless secret plots and projects advancing, never understanding the true implications of the actions I take. I'm questioning the foundations of my understanding of the world, and I cannot say that I don't fear some of the things I've seen behind the curtain.
I worry about things I've no control or understanding of. About the black swans and the thorns in the north and perhaps that our research here will anger the MNP or the gods themselves.... But I believe you when you say you're doing this for the sake of the members of the Watch.
Yes, I do trust you. And it is comforting to know that the person in charge cares for us. I think I still struggle a bit doing things without knowing why, but I'm confident you'll choose our path better than I could've."

Maybe assuming a bit too much about Fiona's thoughts here, but I think airing our concerns is a solid strategy. Expressing our doubts reinforces the impression that we really do mean it when we say we believe her judgement superior to our own.
She seems to be approaching us out of sentimentality more than anything, so I don't think admitting our weakness is a mistake either. Let's play on the christmas cake's motherly instincts as much as possible >:)

>>6077122
+1
I still remember vaguely that Jousten had a significant reaction when Fiona told her she wanted to be a mom or hinted at it. I dunno if I'm making this up or if it happened somehow.
Oh right we still didn't investigate Fiona's hallucination. FUCK

>>6077077
Seconding >>6077122 because it seems sensible enough

>>6077122
+1

>>6077077
Very well thought-out, methinks.

Work thing early tomorrow, and my update isn't ready to post, ack
>>6077122
Nice! Thank you for a good, in depth reply. Gives me a lot to work with.

holy shit kill me
>>6077122
At the end of her explanation, Ms. Jousten’s words began to lose a measure of grace. The words began to stumble out of her mouth, shackled with difficulty and uncertainty.

Katriina was once an L1 agent herself. She said she had joined for similar reasons as you did.

When she could not reach the goal she had in mind, she had to find another.

You’re certain that this is it.

"Permission to speak frankly, L4 Jousten?”

“How freely?”

She had canceled several appointments to participate in the search for the Nalkainen, so her schedule was a very rare status of “free” for the moment, and she still hasn’t taken off the Undercroft suit herself. Whatever berating of the Nalkainen she wishes to do will have to wait. After the usual check-in with her secretary, you waited in her office while she set her gear down in her own personal armory attached to her office. In addition to all her choice custom-built armaments, it also has the ammunition for her bomb lance, and when she told you that after she had taken her luxurious synthetic desk chair, you could not help but scoot a bit away.

Collecting yourself, and focusing your thoughts, you finally spoke up. “I feel as if I am in deep water, struggling to keep my head above the waves. From the moment, I joined I've felt the sea beneath me churning, rushing, pulling. Things brushing up against my legs. I never - hardly ever understood the true implications of the actions I take. I’ve been… doubting how much I actually know about… everything, really, h-haha. I can’t say that I don't fear some of the things I've seen behind the curtain.”

Jousten leans in over the table.

She is listening.

Uhhh-

“I worry about things I don’t have any control, or understanding of. About the things north of here. The birds in the laplands. The thorns outside the city limits. And… perhaps, I worry that your research might upset some… people. But I believe you when you say you're doing this for the sake of the members of the Watch.”

A smirk comes to her face, before fading.

Even if you mean the words you’re saying, it’s hard to get them out. Even if everything in your body tells you that you should say these things, there’s this slightest hesitation, that’s hard to kill, and yet… “Yes, I do trust you. And it is comforting to know that the person in charge cares for us. I think I still struggle a bit doing things without knowing why, but I'm confident you'll choose our path better than I could've."

A thousand scenarios play out in your head. She stands up from her seat and gunmen shoot you down from behind you. She presses a button and you get fried in your chair. She told you, she told you right to your face with no subtlety whatsoever that other agencies have methods of dealing with situations like yours, and you knew exactly what she was implying. You were only trying your best.

>>6079523
The Black Swan lets out a bashful laugh.

As if she believes that she is the one treading unclear waters, fearing the current that might pull her under. That she is the one speaking to powers beyond her control, and pleading for their verdict. That she is the cog in a machine far beyond her control and understanding, that she is the one trying to grab the reins of things she should not have, that she is the one confessing to you.

“I… haha. Thank you, Fiona.”

Her voice is a thousand times lighter. A great burden has been lifted from her shoulders, and in her hands you have placed a powerful thing. Some would call it “validation.” “Justification.” “Permission.”

A Roman might call it “Casus Belli.”

Katriina has woven the words, and with a redoubled resolve, replies to your admissions. “I would not worry so much about those… other things. The thorns, the MNP, as long as you act with respect, those are not your problems. The birds? Yes. Those, anybody should be rightfully afraid of, but that is why we must stand against them. If you want be put on duty to fight them – typically this is a task reserved for Finland’s military, but we can supplement their ranks. I have made it a point of mine to always join the hunt. Though such an act would look stellar upon your record to any party questioning your loyalty… it will not promise the promotion you seek. That comes from a different brand of loyalty.”

She stands up, and begins to pace around. The hologram of the Bird’s Path glittering beyond the window behind her casts a silhouette in the shape of the Black Swan, white specks flying past her as she walked.

“But, if the undercity situation occurs as we anticipate, you may have an opportunity for promotion to L3 very soon.” Your ears perk up. That’s it. “The requirements are set by MNP, and I cannot change them, so if you show the right devotion, you might be on your way up faster than I expected.”

Everyone says that, EVERYONE says that! Right devotion this, commitment that, nobody has told you anything real on what those requirements are! “What is the opportunity?”

“The raid against the Undercity,” Jousten answers.

You blurt in frustration. “No, I mean… what do I need to do to get to L3?”

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>>6079533
The Black Swan looks at you. “Every L3 Agent you have talked to has done it. Every Operator has done it. I have as well. We were as you are, not knowing what it would be that would bring us up. It’s against policy for me to tell you specifically, but in the end, the requirement is proof of devotion to the MNP and its cause.”

Fine! Keep your secrets. You can climb to the top, with or without handholding. They want devotion, you’ll chop up whatever it is they need-

“I will not judge you if it is a threshold you cannot cross, L2S Fiona Jarnafeldt.” Her ominous line is quickly buried under her addressing you as your new rank. “I’ll send you a dossier on the tracks by letter. It contains details on the few tracks you might join. You will be obligated to talk with an L4 Agent about what becoming an L3 entails, as well as consistent training with them; that you may choose to do freely. In addition, you will enjoy with a higher paygrade.”

Her promotions are always awkward. They come off the back of uncomfortable heart-to-hearts. Nevertheless, a smile breaks onto your face as she is there to provide you help once again. It is a relief that is hard to put to words to know that your director is a human with a heart, rather than what you heard MNP was like in hushed whispers back home. “Thank you, Miss Jousten! I-I’m grateful!”

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Level 2 Specialist Trollslayer Reached!
>Trait pool expanded!

>You get the choice of up to three additional traits. Traits are taught skills that situationally influence your dice pool, unlock new actions and engagement types, or function passively. For example, Strength and Attunement are traits that come naturally with being a Trollslayer. Traits are divided between natural dice improvements, engagement modifiers, and passive traits.
>The Arcane, Esoteric, and Holy traits have been moved to independent Tracks.

A vote will be held Wednesday to decide which traits are being taken. Subsequently, a vote will be held Thursday for the specialist track and tutor. Each track (Arcane, Esoterica, Holy, and Grounded (no track)) has a couple tutors to choose from. Each track, including Grounded, has their own way of allowing you to manipulate rolls in addition to exclusive traits, and each tutor provides their own personal traits as you get to know them better.

___
I apologize this took way too long for me to get out, my sleep has been all over

>>6079590
>my sleep has been all over
If where you live is anywhere like where I live, it's the heat.

>>6079590
What >>6079592 said. The world is melting around us

>>6079590
Hey, don't be afraid to take some time for yourself if you're in over your head!
Quests are nice but you're a human being(hopefully) before that.


If you're the Nalkainen then, uh, nice typing skills?

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh8XDiMb-zM
Choose three traits! This list is split into categories for readability, but you may select multiple from the same category. Votes have a weighted system similar to equipment votes; ties between options are decided by how many votes included them as the top of their lists.
>General
Fast • +2d6 on rolls for physical feats of dexterity, agility, and evasion. Naturally, you move slightly faster.
Stalker • +2d6 on rolls to hide, and on any roll performed from hiding. Naturally, enemies that can’t see you don’t notice you until you actuate your weapon features.
Thanatophobic • +2d6 when severely injured. Naturally, you lose all inhibitions after a near-death experience.
Hedonist • +1d6 while under the influence of Noita medicine, and another +1d6 if it is of the high-end variety. Naturally, you recover from withdrawals quicker and easier.

>Engagement
Stern • Lessen damage from failed engagements, and become harder to bring to the ground by any means. You gain Cautious engagements: Use half the dice pool, but take no damage on failure so long as you have at least one success.
Butcher • You are incredibly fast when engaging an enemy. You gain Certain engagements: Use two less dice, and gain one guaranteed success on that engagement. Once a sortie, you gain two successes instead if it would make you succeed.
Vicious • You possess an intimidating aura. You gain Maim engagements: Take -2d6 to your dice pool, but if the attack is successful, all success thresholds are lowered by 1 for three actions.
Noble • People feel safer around you. You gain Intercede engagements: Use half your dice pool to take an engagement in someone else’s place.
Wrecker • Breaking objects such as doors does not require a roll if you have a suitable weapon. You gain Rend engagements: You target a weapon the enemy is holding and deal damage to it.
Empty-headed • You are unphased by danger, and let it wash over you. You gain Counter engagements: Use half your dice pool this turn, and in the next engagement, gain two successes.
Crestfallen • Killing a creature hurts the spirit of all their allies even more. You gain Rip engagements: Use half your dice this engagement, but if the engagement kills an enemy, you make another engagement against a nearby enemy.

>Passive
Gentle Soul • Stray animals are not bothered by your presence, and tamed animals and beasts have -1 DC to engagements.
Graceful • You carry yourself with elegance, and all engagements double as Fast rolls to reposition out of flanking.
Barbarian • You become very good at bullying people around, and successful engagements can deal sweeping damage to nearby enemies.
Rebel • Once per target, Brave Engagements against figures of authority are considered the highest possible roll. Against non-hostile figures of authority, your engagements are uncontested.
Stone Cold • Morality does stop you from dealing damage to targets you’d otherwise have difficulty attacking.

>>6080463
As a reminder, here is your current statline:
FIONA JARNAFELDT, L2S TROLLSLAYER
Strong • +2d6 on rolls for physical feats of strength, athleticism, and endurance. Naturally, you’re somewhat stronger.
Attunement • +2d6 on rolls to track and detect aberrations, sense creatures in hiding, and commune via prayer and ritual with the natural and supernatural alike. Naturally, you can detect if a place is safe or not, and what you should be feeling in that space.
Cunning • +2d6 on rolls to track and detect humans, foresee traps and ambushes, and reconstruct scenes. Naturally, you are capable of identifying if someone is lying or misleading.
Warrior • You may use multiple engagement keywords, such as Brave and Cautious, at the same time.
Tilting Windmills • Once per thread, you may reroll a failure. To reroll, all anons who participated in the roll must agree to reroll.

>>6080463
>Stone Cold • Morality does stop you from dealing damage to targets you’d otherwise have difficulty attacking.
>Gentle Soul • Stray animals are not bothered by your presence, and tamed animals and beasts have -1 DC to engagements.
>Thanatophobic • +2d6 when severely injured. Naturally, you lose all inhibitions after a near-death experience.
Lose some humanity, become more than human.

>>6080463
>Fast
>Noble
>Thanatophobic

>>6080463
>Fast • +2d6 on rolls for physical feats of dexterity, agility, and evasion. Naturally, you move slightly faster.
>Noble • People feel safer around you. You gain Intercede engagements: Use half your dice pool to take an engagement in someone else’s place.
>Hedonist • +1d6 while under the influence of Noita medicine, and another +1d6 if it is of the high-end variety. Naturally, you recover from withdrawals quicker and easier.

>>6080463
Graceful • You carry yourself with elegance, and all engagements double as Fast rolls to reposition out of flanking.
Stalker • +2d6 on rolls to hide, and on any roll performed from hiding. Naturally, enemies that can’t see you don’t notice you until you actuate your weapon features.
Vicious • You possess an intimidating aura. You gain Maim engagements: Take -2d6 to your dice pool, but if the attack is successful, all success thresholds are lowered by 1 for three actions.

>>6080466
>Fast • +2d6 on rolls for physical feats of dexterity, agility, and evasion. Naturally, you move slightly faster.
>Noble • People feel safer around you. You gain Intercede engagements: Use half your dice pool to take an engagement in someone else’s place.
>Gentle Soul • Stray animals are not bothered by your presence, and tamed animals and beasts have -1 DC to engagements.

>Fast
>Noble
>Thanatophobic

>>6080463
> • Fast
> • Noble
> • Gentle Soul

>>6080463

Stern • Lessen damage from failed engagements, and become harder to bring to the ground by any means. You gain Cautious engagements: Use half the dice pool, but take no damage on failure so long as you have at least one success.
Graceful • You carry yourself with elegance, and all engagements double as Fast rolls to reposition out of flanking.
Gentle Soul • Stray animals are not bothered by your presence, and tamed animals and beasts have -1 DC to engagements.

Votes are counted!
>Fast - 5 Votes
>Noble - 5 Votes
>Gentle Soul - 4 Votes
Writing the next vote, will be up earlier tomorrow, ideally.

As you arrived to your home, a large envelope had arrived in your letterbox. After throwing yourself in the shower and guzzling half the water that came from the showerhead, paying the cost of a cheeky meal in water bills, you finally feel like you have regained the physical strength to read the dossier in bed.

Sliding the pages out of the envelope and yourself into bed, you scan it, glossing over descriptions of things and people you already knew about and rereading a few things that you didn’t know about just to make sure you actually understood what was being said.

Having glanced over the options, you put the form aside, shut the already dim lights and lie there, drained physically and mentally.

In a moment of quiet as sporadic unorganized thoughts race around, the thumping of little footsteps reaches your mind's ear, scared of the sudden darkness you cast them in. You think you’re sorry, as you curl up a bundle of the blanket you’re under.

Things have always been dangerous. You need to carefully measure your options.

You may choose one track, and one tutor from the two available for that track. Each tutor teaches two traits; one you will receive on taking them as a tutor, and another that becomes available under certain circumstances.

>>6081839
ESOTERICA • You may add up to 5 successes at will to your rolls per thread. Unlocks exotic equipment for free use.
Technology has helped humans grow from savages into civilized people of plenty. Even after calamity brought mankind to its knees, it was mankind who was able to shape the world. There exists a more personal, wholesome way to develop humanity's future. And indeed, with the rise of strange, never before seen creatures, new perspectives can be seen, and new things can be learned. Humanity can already turn lead to gold; now it is time to realize its fullest potential. There is no need to improve how much energy humans can use; how they spend it must be optimized. Technology develops the world over, but this field is controlled by L5 Director Katriina Jousten.

>Tutors
L5 Katriina Jousten
This infertile 49 year old woman knows well the limits of the human body. From reviewing bodycam footage of her subordinates to her own failing vessel of flesh, the Black Swan receives constant grim reminders of the fragility of life. Deciding enough was enough, she has decided to take a stand against it, and actively spend incredible amounts of resources on protecting the lives of those who serve her. Maybe she could share them with the world. Teaches Swan Dive, the art of jumping olympian distances and heights.
Everstiluutantti Simo Ruoho
A Green Knight and officer of the Suomi Armed Forces, Simo Ruoho has been chosen by both Katriina Jousten and the King of Finland himself to serve as an intermediary between the two powers as he trials the technology created by the Black Swan’s research team. Not only has the research team has already vastly improved the resins, varnishes, and laminates used by the Green Knights, they also replaced his missing arm, so he owes the team and Katriina a debt of gratitude. Teaches Pride, a trait that grants spendable certain successes by performing successful rolls three times.

>>6081840
ARCANE • Gain Clockwise and Counterclockwise Metamorphosis, strengthening or weakening dice by one step. Attunement threshold to properly perceive the arcane and abhorrently aberrant reduced dramatically, and grants access to rather strange artifacts.
Upon the moment the scholars of the old world struck the words “Hic Svnt Dracones” from their maps was mankind doomed to see devils in each other, for there was nothing else in the world deserving of their enlightened and industrialized perfect hatred. But those days have past, and the Hiisi lie in the north, and mankind feels an Attunement they cannot understand. A new age of scholars is needed, those with an open mind and open heart. Mankind’s true potential lies in its bond with their world, not their dominance over it. This movement is spearheaded by the Old Oaks, a subsect of Mother Nature’s Providence chief researchers.

Tutors
L4 Noita Percival Blythe
A beaten and dejected man from an orchard village, Percival went on a journey throughout the gloomy and monsoon-stricken Avalon. On his rambling roaming, he found a lake where he sought to weep alone. He was comforted by a woman he could not see, but could hear. The woman, an Old Oak named Luna, heard his soliloquy of the comfort the wilds had given him that was denied him in civilization, and took him in under her boughs. Teaches Heartfelt, a trait which adds +1 to the value of all dice rolls on the first total failure of the thread.
L4 Operator Nonoka Sumika
Having been raised on a mountain in Nippon, Sumika experienced first hand the idyllic life that was afforded to those far from the cities. A tiny village of less than 100 people was ill afforded electricity or modern appliances, and frequently dealt with yokai of various kinds. Sumika understands quite well that this is not the world as it was a thousand years ago, and has a vested interest in seeing how it may grow. Teaches Miekkan Puhe, a trait that promises extreme success on fully successful rolls.

HOLY • Write and perform a poem in Trochaic Tetrameter/Kalevala Meter for protection, guidance, or strength, and that prayer may be answered. Unlocks communion with certain beings of abnormal nature.
After the Jealous God of the Wind who gifted mankind their enlightenment was promptly rejected as a delusion, the world fell into worshiping the New Gods of mortal men and material things. Some might have been worthy of praise, but none of prayer. When the oceans swelled, volcanic ash blotted out the sun, and no one was there to save them, they finally remembered the names of their Gods. And so they have returned, protecting over their peoples, and in Finland, so close to the second sun that formed over the north pole, much work needs to be done to appease them and restore the house of Gods to its rightful state. There is no archbishop of Finnish Paganism, as Finland belongs to its Gods, but primarily old man Ukko.

Tutors
L4 Noita Arsi Hotakainen
Few from the northern mutated Laplands find their way down to Helsinki to clean up the stormdrains, but Arsi was one who did. Few find his work to appeal to the hearts of men as crucial as dogmatic pragmatism, but he has not achieved L4 by not achieving results. He was promoted to his position after having persuaded a Cygnus Albus Fatalis to fly away by calmly walking up to it and speaking to it. Teaches Etiainen, a trait to call upon strange bounty of knowledge you didn’t realize you had.
L4 Operator Nonoka Sumika
The town from which Nonoka Sumika was raised had a shrine. During the calamity, the great slavestate fell apart and set about the destruction of global infrastructure. As the slaves fled from the flooding midlands, they brought with them a reliquary stele. The original text was lost to time, but it was known to lament how the Gods had given mankind a world of bounty, plenty, and peace, but all that mankind had done with it was bring about wanton death and destruction. This prophetic poem was recreated in Nihongo, and served to propel Sumika into service, to try and help make the world a better place. Teaches Humility, a trait which treats all unsuccessful rolls as 4.

>>6081843
GROUNDED • Take less mental, physical, and spiritual damage from anything that isn’t a Human or Aberration. Strings of consecutive duplicate rolls increase the power of those rolls by how long the consecutive duplicate rolls are.
Stop it. Get real. This is real life. There is no such thing as magic, or Gods, or at least, nothing here that's messing with your life. You live a perfectly normal life as the long arm of the law. There are dozens of stupid plots and plans beyond your ken. That’s just how things look to your uneducated, backward peasant mind. You’re prone to misunderstanding things, so stop trying to understand. There’s nothing to understand. Just keep your head down, get your rights, and get out of the game. You’ll live. Taking a track is getting yourself in deeper shit, the tutors you need are the mentors you have been assigned when you signed on, and the only substance to this promotion is that you personally have gotten more used to being a Stormwatch agent and a fatter paycheck to keep your mouth shut. This is perfectly fine, as they are where you need to be. You are in this for no other reason but yourself, and your baby.

Tutors
L3 Lalli Kiikoinen
Lalli Kiikoinen is as simple as a man can be. He came from a backwater village not far from Helsinki. After nearly a decade in the Stormwatch and attaining his L3 position, many would say Mister Adder hasn’t changed a bit. For some, this is a virtue, and there is some merit in that. For example, he is alive. He trusts himself, and not much else. Teaches Nonchalant, where you take further reduced physical damage and learn Block engagements: Target DC -1, but deal no damage.
L3 Sigrun Eugen
Virtuous and loyal by the accounts of most of her superiors and the model L3 Agent, Sigrun Eugen came from a sea-side fishing village. From a young age she hated illegals who committed banditry against her community, and has carried it with her all her life. Understanding that any pound of food stolen or used to feed illegals is less for those who follow the rules, she has a personal resentment for those excess humans. They’re why she’s hungry. They’re why her family is hungry. They are why the common man is in such squalor and dereliction. If they die, more food on her plate. Teaches Spiteful, a trait that makes all trivial engagements deal dramatically increased damage.

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You lie in bed, dreaming of a simpler life.

>ESOTERICA
>>Katriina Jousten
>>Simo Ruoho

>ARCANE
>>Percival Blythe
>>Nonoka Sumika

>HOLY
>>Arsi Hotakainen
>>Nonoka Sumika

>GROUNDED
>>Lalli Kiikoinen
>>Sigrun Eugen

>>6081840
>esoterica
>simo ruoho

>>6081847
>Arcane
>Percival Blythe
I want to at least help Kiikoinen with the neck snake. I feel like he deserves that much. Also magic is totally real and we've witnessed it firsthand, come on.
Sigrun is too much of a bloodthirsty bitch of the MNP. I must say QM, I really hate how the MNP have an actual point about control of population and resources and caring for the planet, but because they're all humans at their core they cannot help tainting everything with the trappings of dystopia.

I think this sort of quest setting would be cool if it were real irl, but I believe that the powers that be dictate behind the scenes that any significant change in the shitty status quo they caused will be at our expense. People on the level of us anons, you and me and everybody else here on 4chan, will suffer as a result of them no matter the set and setting. What gain is there in wanting any potential for positive change to always be painful for those who want it? Why can people simply not be given what they want and long for, without being extorted an arm and a leg in the process, then given a paltry facsimile and a mocking laugh for it?

Anyway...
I still want to stay on good terms with Jousten. Her and Fiona see too much of themselves in each other, and she could be a decent old aunt to Fiona's kids in the epilogue or something.
We've never seen Simo Ruoho yet, and I wonder how Arthurian these Green Knights truly are.
Nonoka stays as a trustworthy ally, no way we ditch her even if the path chosen is different.
Arsi is way too enigmatic for me to get a read on. He's worth talking to and working with, but there's too much to him I'm not getting.

I really want Fiona to finally get info on who the fuck the ghost kid is and why they're perceivable and even there. Percy will know since he made it clear he could see them

>>6081847
>ARCANE
>Percival Blythe
Sumika's trait is way better but she can't beat the depressed arthurian sorcerer. Also I'm pretty sure he knows magic.

>>6081847
>GROUNDED
>>>Lalli Kiikoinen

I wonder if I should allow people to vote for two, it was late as hell when I sent it

>>6082075
Give it time?

>>6081847
>>Grounded
>>Lalli Kiikoinen

>>6081847
>>6081930 +1
but if it comes down to a protracted tie, I'm prepared to back >>6082034 and >>6082325 to keep things moving.

>>6081847
>>Grounded
>>Lalli Kiikoinen

>>6082226
I was just thinking if there was a second vote option in the back of everyone's mind that everyone agreed with but wouldn't have chosen because it was secondary to their more radical first choice- or something like that. I don't know. I'm not a voter, and I am not Fiona. You are.

>>6082422
Nah, don't over-complicate it.

>>6081958
>Arcane
>Nonoka Sumika

Aside from the fact that we know her and are friendly with her, the trait is really a great expression of our character: we will have a child or we won't be at all.
Victory shall be glorious or it shan't be at all.

>Arcane
>Nonoka Sumika

>>6081847
>ESOTERICA
>Katriina Jousten
a hoonter must hoont

The arcane votes better not count as two different ones I swear to god. Groundedoids can't win bros...

Okay, closing votes because it's been on for a bit
>4 way two-vote tie
ouch

>>6082920
I'll switch to Sumika then if it gets us out of Grounded hell
T. >>6081973 on mobile cause it's 1 AM

>>6082343
me and my simo (the prideful sniper) bro stand strong,
we are proud.

>>6082926
Alright, I'll take it. There are more people interested in that path.
Update Sunday.

When you came here, you expected things to be straightforward. Not easy, but with a clear path.

Things were simpler back home. It was a simple life. Modest, but simple.

But the world was never simple, wasn’t it? You never could see the forest from the trees, after all.

Your parents worked with the Old Oaks to afford you a comfortable childhood. Though they couldn’t prove your loyalty to the world, they opened this door for you, and on the other side was a path of blood and guts and putrid humid air. But along with that, there was a guide who knew exactly what you left behind to be here.

You are glad Sumika was there.

This path, though not well-tread, has led people around you to the success you want. It might lead to strange places along the way, but in the end, your mom and dad were able to have you, and Sumika is where she wants to be.

So it only makes sense that you want to follow that path. That you want to see where it can take you. What it has given everyone else who is anything like you.

You clutch your pillow tight, but not like it were a child. Not tonight.

Tonight, you wish it were your mama, if for no other reason than to understand.

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>>6084263
You are no longer Fiona Jarnafeldt.

Instead, you are now L4 Operator Nonoka Sumika. Some might have called you a mutant. Others might be bold enough to label you an aberration outright. But to you, your close friends, and to the Stormwatch, you’re just tall, and nothing more. It is something you learn to deal with, being over two meters tall. And a burden shared is a burden halved.

You spent the evening with friends, sharing the arts of your homeland. Back upon the old mountain, there were not many people in the town, so rakugo was a popular artform as it only needed one actor. You were never terribly interested in performing on stage back then, so you preferred haiku, shared after copious amounts of dubiously acquired sake were had with those who would call you a friend. You still compose from time to time, but you are largely preoccupied with your mission as a Stormwatch agent. Your haiku is not written anywhere. Like many of your thoughts, they are best kept inside your head. Like in the past, they are best shared in private.

Taking a calm breath, you look up at the firmament over this sterile city.

Murky autumn skies.
Dark, sullen, cloudy, brooding,
And yet out of tears.

With a sigh, you march back toward Stormwatch HQ, to home and bed.

>>6084264
But you hear something from the drains as you begin to make your way home.

From the grates echo distant gunshots. With the filters of echoing reverberation off the walls and thin paths and obstructed by the various filters in place, such a sound comes crawling up from the grate to a normal person as construction work, or some other rattling noise.

But that is clearly machine gun fire.

And a loud noise roars from below, sounding as if a great weight was dropped onto heavy machinery. A truck bouncing over a speed bump,

That is a shotgun, returning fire.

Others notice, but move on, because they have trust in the Stormwatch to handle it. They don’t want to ask questions, either. As people on the street above ignore the chaos happening beneath them as well as they ignore their hunger, you are left standing there, ruminating over the noise.

You know who is fighting down there.

And it’s not just Deathwatch.

He had been ailing. Frustrated, discontent, and bothered. But a vocal man he was not. He was beset with the sort of upset with reality that radiates from him rather than is spoken. At least, not usually. For years you’ve known him, and now the Deathwatch has come knocking. Now, no matter if he wins or loses this fight, he will never know peace, but perhaps with this line of work, he never really knew it to begin with.

>>6084268
You stick around to hear the verdict through the bars. The machine gun fire ceased entirely early on in the encounter, while shotgun blasts continued to roar, sometimes at a rapid pace. Eventually, silence rung out, but through the heartbeat of the world, you could feel the threads of life being severed. You can feel the souls leaving their bodies.

The Deathwatch had been defeated.

But it's not enough that they are killed once. Knowing that more will come to finish the job, knowing that the one you know has fallen to a depth he can never escape, to a depth you can’t help him out of, you sigh.

For all Heaven’s gifts,
Death death death death death death death:
Man’s sole repayment.

Reflecting on the ugliness behind Helsinki's clean facade, you walk on.

>>6084268
>>6084274
Thought it was Percival at first but it doesn't seem like it.

>>6084274
Maybe the 'challenged' friend Sumika mentioned was a sewer-dweller? Even an aberration?

>>6084274
…

You are now Fiona Jarnafeldt again, and you’ve submitted the papers. You’ve made the commitment.

Katriina knows what she is doing and you have full faith in her. You will be there for whatever she has to offer you, but you aren’t going to commit yourself to being a lab rat, or directly involved with things like the Nalkainen. Lalli is a strong man and a dependable teacher, but he’ll always be there. Blythe is an interesting character, and you nearly chose him instead out of raw, sheer curiosity of how much of what he is on about is sincere versus delusion.

In the lobby you catch Sumika coming in, sword on her back, eyes heavy. You greet her with a smile. “I had gotten a promotion!”

The tall asian woman leered at you between strands of her hair. Instead of pride or enthusiasm, she questioned you with confusion. “Huh?”

Ah, you can see how you’d misunderstand. This transitory rank isn’t common. “I’m an L2 Specialist, now! And I took a track with you and Percival Blythe.”

Sumika laughed in what could almost be mistaken for relief, and a smile grew on her face. “Blythe? That’s a strange character. How did you meet him? I couldn’t imagine a biological researcher like him was doing field work.”

“He was,” you answer. “Something happened yesterday. Called in all the missions and shut the cameras. I was selected to work with him.”

“… Really,” she notes. She gestures you to walk with her up the stairs to her office. “Well, he is understanding. That’s what he likes doing, understanding. A very philosophical man. His passion to speak with others is… overbearing at times, but it is his job. To look through everything that’s natural, and find something wrong. To use new perspectives to seek answers is what he, I, and other agents of our group do. While Blythe speaks of high theory spiritual theory, I take a look at things in a straight forward fashion.”

As you reach the floor of your destination and follow Sumika through the sterile, plain white door common to the Stormwatch, your eyes widen with surprise.

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>>6084651
The smell of unfurnished elm seeps into your nose like the scent of unfiltered nostalgia. Dark wood covers the walls, floors, desks, shelves. Books of all ages line the rustic shelves, though plenty of space remains for more. Every piece of lumber and pane of glass has an artisanal, workshop style, almost amatuerish in ways if you were to trust the uneven surfaces of the walls and beams. You don’t have an eye for architecture, but you do recognize techniques similar to cabin homes. Some of the logs even seem to be alive, sprouts growing from the walls and treated as office plants.

You… you can’t help but smile!

The give of the floor boards take you back to the old near-rotting schoolhouse! The receptionist wooden counter is smoothed not with varnish or laminate but sanded down by human contact. There’s a presence in the air that’s… almost musty, but not bad? This place shows signs of natural, graceful aging.

Down the hall you hear the footsteps of robed scholars and sleep-deprived agents, in transit between drawing up missions, studying aberrant biology, and researching spiritual writings ancient and modern to try and come to a form of understanding with this thing that they felt as soon as they stepped into this floor.

This deep rooted nostalgia. This connection to a greater thing.

The Old Oaks funding has come on through, you can tell. They definitely had a hand in this. Though you don’t see anyone walking around in elk skulls or the sort, this is a place designed to highlight that certain connection.

“I have a question for you, Fiona,” Sumika says after watching you gaze around with stars in your eyes. “Just a simple question, from one hunter to another. No wrong answers, just tell me what you think.”

You shake your head. “A-ah! S-sorry, go ahead!”

Sumika has to be rather haunched in this floor, with the ceiling so low. Her hair drapes down nearly over you.

”Why do you think we feel Attunement, now, and so strongly, when it was not a studied phenomenon before the calamity?”
>Humanity has mutated.
>We just grew too far from nature.
>The Abrahamic God didn’t want us to feel it.
>Write-in (encouraged for our local schizoposters)

>>6084652
>Write-in (encouraged for our local schizoposters)
Th jews stole it from us, the calamity restored it when their blood rituals failed

>>6084670
oh that reminds me I probably need to doodle a world map to show what places were nuked to smithereens and which places just fell apart naturally

>>6084652
>Write-in
Nature itself has changed. The constant competition of natural selection has had its rules updated, whether through human intervention or the natural course of things developing strange complexities. No longer exists the individual, there is a new backing to the tapestry of life, an underpinning layer of knowing that has suffused every mind, every plant and even every stone, drop of water and murmur of wind. Life has existed here for millions, perhaps billions of years, but never like this. New avenues for survival are open, and with that come new forms of thought. It is only natural for humans to be subject to this, though we are thankfully blessed that we might use it as a tool for survival just as all else is.

"Everything is different. Gods are with us now, but they're not what old humanity thought they were. I think we are lucky to have this feeling, but only because it is so useful. We could have been victim to a much deeper change, as much of the world around us has."

>>6084652
>Write-in (encouraged for our local schizoposters)
We did, humanity has always held spirituality in high regard, and it was something in interest even back then.
What changed was not humanity, but the world itself.

>>6084670
Cringe.

>>6084652
>We just grew too far from nature.