"I need to stop killing myself."
+3 COMP, +3 TRAN. Walk to the place where the LANDSKNECHT killed me. While going there take a look at the various stores here and loot them (if there's no one there, that is) if they may have something interesting (like clothes or weapons). Try using "12" this time.
We're going to cut your turn short as we'll be needing you to specify your course of action here. Okay, we
could, conceivably have handled that entire action. But the amount of assumptions we'd be making would undermine your control over your character. Not to mention that we'd probably just have had you set off every alarm in the entire area and dress yourself in provocative lingerie whilst carrying around a golf-bag full of ladles and comically oversized sex toys.
Instead, we'll be giving you a description of the stores where you can get what you want. How you get in, and what you take is your choice.
Along the sidewalk, there are three relevant stores. All of which sport steel shutters over their doors, and plate glass for windows.
First, there's a retailer that sells outdoor clothing and equipment. Unsurprisingly enough, it has various insulated clothes, in addition to walking poles, kayak paddles and survival kits amongst other things. Unfortunately, each of their products has been noticeably equipped with a security tag, one that will no doubt set off the security systems should it be improperly removed. Assuming of course, that they have not been set already. There are diminutive monoliths of sorts that stand behind the doors and windows - security tasers. If set off, they will form a barricade of electrified wire.
Next, there's an independent clothing store. It, as evident, sells clothing and, more or less, only clothing. That is not to say that it lacks weapons, just that it lacks good weapons, seeing as coat hangers are not well known for being particularly efficient murder implements. Thankfully, the store lacks the taser monoliths. Or at least seems to, there's no guarantee that they're not hidden out of sight like some sort of vengeful electrical ghost. The clothes also bear security tags it seems, so chances are, there is at least an alarm system that could be set off.
Finally, there's a high-end fashion store. Needless to say, it sells clothing. Okay, perhaps from a certain point of view, it sells a certain image and set of (mostly) positive connotations, and the main benefit is from the association with their brand than their actual physical form, but, considering that you are currently running around near (if not fully) naked, that is probably a lesser concern. It evidently has an alarm, which is currently shrilly screaming, presumably because someone broke through the window, scattering the glass everywhere, and stole most of the merchandise.
[COMP: 8/5] Quite a lot happens in the next minute or so.
In the air before you appears a object the size and shape of a sweets tin, though decidedly not actually containing sweets, unless confectionery companies have started to manufacture containers out of what appear to be small bones not unlike those you would find in a creature's tail. In an unscrewing motion, it separates into an upper and lower half, revealing what appears to be a lump of coal inside. A lump of coal with a disturbing resemblance to a heart. With each shuddering beat, petroleum ripples through the air with an utter disregard for gravity. As each ripple slows to a halt, each reaching further than the last, it forms a magic circle. As the rhythm accelerates, the outer rings begin to spin and rotate.
For a brief moment, that object is bathed in an unearthly glow as green sparks seemingly erupt from its immediate vicinity, racing into it. Though still afterwards, lingering sparks remain, occupying a corona of sorts that is both a certain distance away from and in a certain proximity to the object. Interestingly enough, as long as their trails do not touch the heart, they remain indefinitely, but as soon as they do, they fade into naught. New ones appear at the outermost boundaries of the zone, whilst others flicker away when their points of origin move too far away. Perhaps, "interestingly" isn't the best term.
After all, from the center of your sternum, there is one such trail. A far larger one, closer in appearance to the discharge of a tesla coil, and it is with its far greater scale that you see the details. The trail ends in a hand, and it is grasping for the heart. It is stretching to grab it, yet unable to due to your distance to it.
Then, it flickers and dies, rapidly receding back into your body like a dying flame. Likewise, all the tiny wisps also flicker away.
With a roar, the circles collapse back into the heart as the object closes. Beneath it, the concrete footpath is torn apart by a series of cracks, the region closest to the epicenter effectively crumbling apart. The object falls and lands in place.
Welp. You know that the military would have commandeered all the nearby security cameras to help monitor the base's perimeter. You know that, unless something has gone horribly, horribly wrong, there are people watching their feeds at all time.
Question: What would someone watching through the security cameras see?
Answer: They will see a man in his underwear (or lack thereof) carrying an awfully large number of ladles casting black magic.
Truly this has been a great day.
"Wheee! I guess someone wanted to run a train on me!"
+5 Comp, +1 Trans, because explosions. Also, run onto that left train and take the ramp down inside. Video game logic says there should be a long line of coins in there.
You race down the ramp, into the depths of the carriage. It is approximately 8 meters wide, and 8 meters tall, awfully large for a train. Indeed it seems even more spacious than that, due to the evident lack of any seating. Instead, protruding from each of the luxuriously curtained walls, are mahogany benches. Resting ahead on the one to the left are eighteen pistol rounds, seemingly the kind your revolver would use, albeit painted in various vibrant pascals that extrude an almost childish innocence to them. Opposite to it, on the other bench, is a wireless toaster, albeit one with the chrome-shelled aesthetics of one of those primordial Cadillacs, complete with exhaust pipes.
Inscribed in golden hues upon the red carpet is a line that forks into two arrows, each pointing to one of the benches. The words "Take a Chance" are written above it. Illuminating it, and the rest of your surroundings are gas-lit chandeliers that hang at constant intervals along the center of the gradually arching ceiling.
At the end of the carriage, there are twin ramps along the sides, leading upwards, not to the top of the train, but rather 4 meters up. Presumably, the next carriage has two floors. In between the ramps is a set of double doors, with a sensor at the top of their frame.
+6 Transcendence, because this game hasn't been about magic yet, and when magic becomes important, I want not to be dead.
James whispered back: "I... see... this may be difficult to survive."
Like so, try to stay out of sight.
"Woo!" +4 Tran +2 Comp
Miaoko looked at all the soldiers filing out, immediately attempting to stay out of sight. "Look out," He whispered in his partner's direction.
You both hide as the soldiers pass beneath you, oblivious to your presences.
So, tell me, have you felt like murdering anything yet?
is it over yet?
"I value your honesty."
+5 to COMP, +1 to TRAN.
Continue forward through the new door, following my nose.
"And I value your ability to accept the meaninglessness of death!"Red replies in an enthusiastic tone.
"Oh, and that isn't a door."Sure enough, upon more scrutiny, it becomes apparent that the doorknob is in fact just a really good mimicry thereof, and the door is just more wall. This poor situation gets worse as three
things constructed out of what appears to be raw meat walk through the wall as if it were liquid. They are somewhat humanoid in their arrangement of limbs and mass, though instead of a head however have a single glowing yellow eye and a huge maw of teeth like a lamprey. Their shoulders are covered with bony protrusions and from the top of their torso sprout three horns in the same manner as a gazelle.
"No need to worry about the building itself just yet. It's currently busy nomming on your first corpse."The meat monsters begin to move in on you.
"That would work. Return anything you took from the facility and you can go home."
If the SL troops leave peacefully, Beirus opens up a channel to HQ. "HQ, this is O'Greenahan. The facility is clear. Requesting reinforcements and new orders."
+6 TRANS
More talking.
"How about half and you can keep the inoperative PUPPETS? ...Ah fuck it, not going to push it. Okay, you heard the man, drop the loot, we're withdrawing."The soldiers drop their loot and quickly fan out into a loose collection of small squads. They begin to leave the facility, though it is quite evident that some of them, specifically the ones with the odder weapons, have their eyes still trained upon you, just in case you decide to open fire.
"We'll release the hostages when we're a safe distance away, it's not that we don't trust you, it's, okay yeah, it's because we don't really trust you. No offense."Mirai speaks up quietly through your squad's private comms channel.
"To think that they'll be getting away with all this. Hopefully, they won't make it out of here alive, but I digress.""Understood. Reinforcements are inbound, you'll get your new orders when they come to secure the area. How damaged is your frame right now?"ALL MA POINTS INTO THE COMPETENCIES! (+6 Comp)
"Let's load the dice in our favor."
"0b 0a", if the result is even somewhat safe to handle, take with me and head to the market.
[COMP: 9/4] [TRAN: 4/4] You get a horse made of rope, like if a real horse had been flayed and had all it's muscles replaced with rather complex arrangements of coiled rope. It extends its next forwards slightly, by partially uncoiling the middle of its neck, and "licks" (if such could truly be called that) your hand with a dry, ropey tongue.
The market is full of people, the merchants are all dressed in casual clothes and appear to be a mix of civilians and military, although in the SL there is little difference between the two. Their stalls are colorful mats and carpets laid over the grass with shiny trinkets ranging from new toasters to exotic looking weaponry. Several of the merchants look at you and your horse with a speculative eye as you enter.
Derek, looking at the other guy vanish, ponders about this.
He walks up to the robed figures.
The robed figures, upon closer inspection appear to be a fusion of skeleton and mechanical exoskeleton with their body and limbs covered in golden metal plates with gears moving beneath. Only their heads, fingers and toes remain uncovered.
The figure on the left speaks
>Do you wish to join the game?Then the figure on the right speaks
>Or to return to the world outside?Behind the figure the red door becomes dull grey and fades into an image of an abandoned street, with rain and hail falling down from the obscured sky.
((You need to distribute your six free internal points.))
Author
Topic: Perplexicon - Down the Foxhole - Raining Mecha (Read 168853 times)