Linda McCallahan
Female
23

Salmon Bloomers
Neuter
27

Trevor Toms
10
Male

>>446775

Blasty Ferguson
Rocketship
22

"LInda McCallahan. 23... Um, female."

The name pops into your head, and you find yourself saying it before you can really stop yourself. The information surprises the hell out you, more than you think it should. You're obviously a girl... aren't you? It's almost like you couldn't remember even that simple fact five minutes ago. Another fact pops into your head almost at the same time. You feel yourself reach against your stomach, and find the old scar that rest against on your abdomen. You grimace as old memories surface. That's right... when you were younger you were injured, and your body doesn't exactly... function properly anymore. While it's saved you the pain every month, it's permanently taken your ability to have children...

Your brought back to reality as the man starts talking again, your interest in this strange occurrence taking your mind away from the past.

"Good, good. That's fine. Now then, to the useful things.

Between these three choices, what defines you the most: Strength, Finesse or Will?

Between the same three, what defines you the least?

Will is weakest, Finesse is strongest

Finesse most, STR dump stat.

Trevor Ferguson
24
Male.

Finesse, str, will, in that order.

Str will finesse

Finesse most, Strength least.

"Good. Good. Now then, only two more bits to go. What's next is a bit more... personal. I'd apologize, but I really don't care.

Tell me how you got that injury of yours. You know the one I'm talking about."

He gestures towards your abdomen, and you reflexively move to cover the scar underneath. For a moment, you consider refusing, but for some reason you can't stop yourself from letting it all spill out...

Some Additional Instructions: Feel free to give as much or as little detail as you like. Even if the story doesn't get used for our protagonist, I will use it for some of the other characters you'll encounter. So have at it.

You bit the organ out because it displeased you.

Turns out using a fully-grown saguaro cactus for a dildo is a terrible idea, and BASE jumping onto one with your legs spread apart is even worse.

>>446844
As for how it managed to leave that kind of scar and *just* that scar, well, how did you think reality broke?

>For a while you were unknowingly the host of some sort of parasite or alien or demon or eldritch abomination or the young thereof or something. You never really found out what, exactly, but the scar is from when it burst out.

>There was a teleporter accident--these aren't actually your legs, they were originally your old room-mate's legs.

>You were shot during a crazed gun-man's rampage at the local grocery store six years ago.

>Your parent decided that a pet tiger would be the perfect companion for their daughter. It was cute when it was little, but after the attack you weren't so fond of it, anymore.

>>446818
Car accident. Nobody else survived, in either vehicle. The other car's driver's corpse went missing.

Shrapnel from a suicide bomber blowing up the cafe you were in. Nobody else survived. No terrorist organizations claimed responsibility, and the bomber's corpse went missing soon after.

Plane crash right after takeoff. Nobody else survived. The pilot's body vanished soon after.

(basically, traumatic shrapnel-based wound where the person responsible dies then vanishes)

One evening you woke up bleary eyed and woozy in a bathtub full of ice. And there standing on the edge of the bathtub was your uterus. "You ain't nothin to me!" it squeaks and then jumps off and runs out the room, never to be seen again.

Waking Up Linda McCallahan 2012/08/24(Fri)06:25 No. 446952 ID: a407a5
File 134581471411.jpg - (37.84KB , 700x525 , Bedroom-design-in-Apartment-Interior-Decorating.jpg )

That day was supposed to have been simple. A simple walk to the store, pick up some food for the weekend, and then laze around until school came monday. That plan, of course, had ended as soon as the crazies came in. Claiming that everyone was "infested with aliens" and "out to get him", he proceeded to start shooting up the entire store. You avoided that, mostly by luck. You didn't avoid the shrapnel from the exploding gas tank. Oddly, no one else seems to remember the event, and the criminals body was never found. You even tried searching yourself, out of morbid curiosity, and it's like the man never even existed.

"Well then... that makes things a bit... difficult... Still, your easier than some others I could mention. First off, here. Don't loose this, no matter what. You won't be able to do a damn thing without it."

The man hands you what appears to be a bullet. Upon closer inspection, it is, in fact, a bullet, although it feels somehow... different.

"That is your focus. Don't ask what that means, you'll find out from someone else. They should be going to pick you up soon. For now, I've only got one last thing to say.

Have fun. Reality is now your bitch."

You blink, then the world goes dark and you find yourself waking up in your apartment. For a moment, you can't decide whether what just happened really just happened. Had to be some crazy dream, right? Then you feel something small and metallic pressed against your palm, and you open your hand to stare at the bullet now in your possession. Guess it wasn't a dream.

Well, time to get moving for the day.

>>>Input Commands...

>>446952
Turn a wall into a waterfall.

>>446952
Be dressed instantly.

Make a necklace or wristband that holds the bullet then put it on.

is the bullet just the slug, or is it complete with shell and powder? get a gun, put bullet in gun. your final, most extreme desperation attack is shooting your enemy with REALITY.

Changing Reality Linda McCallahan 2012/08/24(Fri)17:33 No. 447134 ID: a407a5
File 134585478454.jpg - (19.61KB , 210x205 , 50bmg.jpg )

A Discussion/Info Thread Thingy... sort of... yeah: http://tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/59148.html

You get the idea that perhaps you should try turning the wall into a waterfall or something, since everything else seems to have been true, but upon trying discover that nothing seems to be happening. Maybe this focus thing has something to do with it? Either way, a similar experience occurs when you try making yourself automatically clothed, namely nothing.

You examine the bullet more closely, finding the heavy thing to be a little less than the length from your wrist to your fingertips. It also appears to be an entire bullet, shell and everything. You think. You turn it slowly in a circle and discover a small engraving into the side of the thing. You frown trying to read it, and eventually rise from your bed to dig through some drawers till you find a handy magnifying glass. You discover the engraving reads "12.7×99mm of Fuck Reality".

After finding this, you let that stew in your mind as you rummage through some more drawers and drag out a small felt sack and a handy steel chain. You store the bullet inside and jury rig a necklace, testing its hold to make sure it will at least stay on during normally activity.

You dress as well, figuring you can't stay in your underwear all day.

>>>Input Command

Try holding the bullet close to yourself, focusing through it, like a magnifying glass, onto an item, and willing that item to become something else. Flowers, say.

Or you could just get dressed, go to work and act like everything is fine, reality isn't broken.

After manifesting a gun for that bullet, of course.

Holding the bullet in the palm of your hand with your index and thumb fingers fully extended, pretend to shoot something... imagine you actually shot it, make it real as possible.

And Suddenly the PLOT! Linda McCallahan 2012/08/24(Fri)20:03 No. 447204 ID: a407a5
File 134586379272.jpg - (14.15KB , 450x313 , Akecheta.jpg )

You get the idea that maybe trying to make a waterfall didn't work because you didn't use your... bullet... or something like that, so you decide to give it a try. You hold the bullet through the fabric of the bag it's in and focus on a book that just happens to be lying around. At first, nothing seems to happen, then there's a jolt of almost television like static that shoots through your vision before instantly returning to normal. You frown in confusion a moment, then notice the change. Or rather, you notice that tattered remnants of a book. Well... at least you proved something could happen. Maybe it doesn't always work?

>>447165
>>447173
Well, it is a bullet... Maybe there's a gun to go with it? You decide you should see if reality will let you do that at least, but before you really get the chance to do anything, the front door is busted open and a man looking very tired, very beat up and very unhappy comes bursting in. The first thing you notice is the odd feeling, like he isn't entirely... real. The second thing is the the rather dark flickering wolf that seems to slide in behind the man, the place where its eyes should be replaced with simple holes.

"Hey! You this Linda person?"

You visibly flinch, eyes snapping to the man again, proceed to stare at him in shock.

"Well? Are you? Come on, hurry up. We don't got all day before that fucking bitch outside decides to quit playing games."

>>>Input Command

Hide boolet.

Ignore him for a few seconds, continue making that gun.
"Yep, and now I'm ready. Who are you exactly?"

Be slightly cautious. "Who wants to know?"

Decisions, Decisions... Linda McCallahan 2012/08/25(Sat)17:51 No. 447630 ID: a407a5
File 134594229191.jpg - (162.23KB , 640x424 , 640x424_11936_Chain_saw_2d_girl_woman_chainsaw_pic.jpg )

The bullet has not been removed from its pouch. Therefore, no reason to hide it.

"Who wants to know?"

You back away from him a little, intent on keeping yourself as safe as possible. Or at least, as far away from the wolf as possible. It seems oddly more dangerous than this bastard. Or maybe, it's the thing that feels off... it's hard to tell.

"Look, we don't have time for this. I have to get you out of here before the bitch shows up and wipes the floor with me, you and whoever else happens to be around. Her little reality breaks aren't exactly pleasant things to experience. Now hurry up, we haven't got all day. I felt you shifting reality earlier, but you weren't manifesting it seems, so hurry up and do that so we can get the hell out of he-"

The wall suddenly crumbles as something comes tumbling through it, and the man jumps backwards, hand reaching backwards to brush against the wolf's head. Whatever came through picks itself up, revealing itself to be a young man, and as he stands he brushes himself off.

"Eh, sorry brother of mine, couldn't hold her any longer. She's gets to close to me without you around."

"God damn it...

Then SHE shows up, with a massive whirring sound ripping through the air. She seems to just walk in through the broken wall, and she's got this manic grin on her face.

"Come on now! That was no fun at all! Besides, I'm not here to kill you! I'm here to pick up the girl so she doesn't start helping you idiots fix reality. That is her, right?" The woman points at you with the end of her chainsaw with a questioning look on her face. Well that makes two of you because your not really sure what's going on eit-

CHAINSAW!?

"Don't think to hard about it! Just go with Rocket! I'll hold her off some and catch up with you!"

"Oh, well that's not very nice. I was just trying to be friends. Besides, she'll do much better coming with me. I can teach her all she needs to know about breaking reality, unlike you lot."

"We just want to fix it, damn it! It was you and that idiot boss of yours that fucked it up to begin with!"

You suddenly notice that your just about the same distance from both sides...

Decision time?

>>>Input Command

A broken reality is very much a good thing. However a manic grin might not be. Neither is a boss, nor an idiot. I say you either go with the chainsaw lady and then betray her having learned all her secrets, or go with the reality fixing dudes and then betray them having learned all their secrets.

How about we do the rational thing here?

Obviously we've got two rival factions trying to recruit us, and you both expect us to go along with you with little or no information.

So how about the two of you make your pitch, I'll make a decision, and then you can fight over me for no good reason. I mean really, why is the new person who has no idea what's going on always so important to you types of people?

Also, both you you just kind of trashed my house- the door and the wall. That's not such a great way to make first impressions, jerks.

(Goddamn, why did we make will our dump stat? They're going to ignore speeches we make).

(Uh... am pretty sure strength is our dump stat not will.)
"EVERYBODY CALM THE FUCK DOWN! Now will you PLEASE explain. What. The. Fuck. Is. Going. On. One. At. A. Time."

(Never mind about the will thing. Just saw the discussion thread.)

Also manifest the Rifle and fire a shot into the air.

For some reason, you get pissed. Very pissed. This is bullshit. Where the hell do they get off? They break into your home, tear up your apartment... what the hell are you going to say to the landlord?

"EVERYBODY CALM THE FUCK DOWN!"

Almost at the same time, you feel that reality warping sensation again, and without realizing it there's suddenly a rather large rifle propped against your shoulder, and the ringing sound that results from firing a weapon without ear protection. Wow! That really hurts the shoulder too, doesn't it?

Still, you can't be bothered to inspect the weapon your currently holding. Instead, you focus the anger and annoyance you feel on the three people around you.

"Obviously we've got two rival factions trying to recruit us, and you both expect us to go along with you with little or no information.

So how about the two of you make your pitch, I'll make a decision, and then you can fight over me for no good reason. I mean really, why is the new person who has no idea what's going on always so important to you types of people?

Also, both you you just kind of trashed my house- the door and the wall. That's not such a great way to make first impressions, jerks."

That seems to catch everybody in the room by surprise, except for the first man, who simply stares at you like your crazy. A moment passes, then the chainsaw-wielding crazy lady lets the weapon fall to the ground, dropping her somewhat aggressive stance.

"Yeah, alright I guess. I don't see the harm in trying to convince you to come."

"Wha- What the hell? Since when have you ever been reasonabl-"

"Uh, brother, try to keep your disbelief in check. We are kinda outclassed here. It can't hurt to try."

"...Yeah, yeah, alright... but I'm watching you, you fucking crazy bitch..." The man retreats to a corner, muttering curses, while the lady gestures for the younger man to go first. He bows somewhat politely, then turns to you.

"Um... well, I'm not to good at this explaining thing, but I'll try. Me and my brother Trevor over there, we're... well, if you can't tell, reality seems to be getting fucked up pretty bad. I honestly don't know when it started up, maybe it's always been like this, but me and my brother and a bunch of others are going around trying to fix it. Sometimes we succeed in an area, other times we fail. Most of the time when we fail, it's because of them." The man gestures to the lady, who waves and gives a much less insane looking smile. "Anyway, we just want you to come with us, because... well... reality shouldn't be so fucked up... I guess... Everyone has a proper place, you know? We just want that to stay that way... so... I'm done..."

This time it's the lady's turn, and she begins with a bit more energy and much less uncertainty. "Our side is plain an simple. We just want to have fun. Sure, reality is fucked up as shit. But I don't see why we have to go fixing it. Reality seems to be doing just fine without our meddling. But Boss could explain it better than me. I'm just one of the muscle. I kill things that need killing. Anyway, I think that sums that up."

You pause to consider the two sides, eventually deciding to...

>>>Input Command

Huh. Didn't expect that to actually work. Although apparently I'm going to have to watch my collective us'es and we's, otherwise poor Linda comes off sounding like anachronistic royalty. :p

So... free spirits vs fixers. I'm leaning free spirits. Learning to be a crazy reality bender sounds more interesting than trying to fix it, right after we start. We can always go for betrayal and if we find out reality is actually on the brink of destruction or something and not just being abused.

Sorry responsible people. I've got new cool powers here, learning to use them sounds more attractive then shutting them down.

Wow. They're both terrible at giving pitches. God, that boy's delivery was so pathetic, I almost just wanted to go with the crazy lady to spite him, but then, her speech was kind of terrible, too.

Ugh... Let's make the world a little more interesting. Go with the crazy lady, then rise to the top ranks of her organization and give it the firm leadership and direction it clearly lacks. We're gonna make reality fascinating.

Facepalm and an annoyed sigh.

"You both really, really suck at convincing people."

I am also leaning towards the free spirits.

Free spirits. I mean, it's not like we're going around breaking reality with them, just keeping everything running how it is.

Free Spirits Linda McCallahan 2012/08/25(Sat)20:06 No. 447681 ID: a407a5
File 134595041597.jpg - (478.23KB , 640x634 , the_red.jpg )

> Didn't expect that to actually work.
Honestly, I didn't either, but I rolled and you beat two out of the three of them. Surprised the hell out of me.

You bring your palm to your face and sigh, in the process almost overbalancing yourself. Oh yeah, you have that leaning on your shoulder, don't you? You bring it down from where the weapon is resting and carry it with both hands more or less like it should be carried. You think. For some reason your pretty sure that's how it's supposed to be held. Well, no time to think on that now. Instead, you've made your decision.

You turn to the chainsaw lady and start towards her, only to feel the sudden feeling of reality warping and the roar of something bestial and very unhappy. Instinctively you start to turn, only to get shoved to the side by te girl, that grin on her face again and chainsaw singing as she swings the thing into whatever the hell it is. Blood and the sick sound of flesh tearing fill the room, then the tv static thing happens again and there isn't any blood anymore. In fact, whatever it was she hit has just been hurled through a wall, like it had been hit by a baseball bat instead of a chainsaw.

"Lady! Take care of the kid, I'll go play with out werewolf friend!" The woman dashes through the new hole in the wall(your landlord is going to kill you), leaving you alone with the other man.

You both stare at each other for a few seconds, you in shock and he trying to figure out how to get out of this, then he suddenly shoots sideways and you see something start to form in his hand. You have maybe a second to react.

>>>Input Command

Shoot four times, break reality so each shot hits a different limb... and merely paralyzes it for an hour or so. We aren't ready to kill anyone.

Yeah, go for nonlethal disabling. Put those points in finesse to use. We really don't have a reason for wanting him dead anyways, and the automatic altar reality to save life powers shouldn't kick in if you're not actually shooting to kill.

Aim for the arm the weapon is manifesting in.

Go for non-lethal simultaneous shots. Be ready to again if he does some kind of insta-healing.

You react on instinct, assuming the worst. You swing the weapon and try to line it up with the man's arm, then fire, hoping you actually manage to hit. You also find that firing in quick succession isn't something your capable of, as you find the barrel suddenly pointing at the ceiling after your first shot.

The Good News: You hit the bastard right where you want to.

The Bad News: Apparently, whatever this thing is, it has enough power to it to severely mangle the man's arm, letting blood fly everywhere. The man screams in pain, clutching at the bloody mess that is the remainder of his appendage, hits the ground hard, and begins squirming in agony. Blood is pouring out, and your fairly certain that the man is quickly draining of color.

Then you hear a roar of anger somewhere beyond the new hole in your wall, and the whine of a chainsaw, then a call from your new friend.

"WHOA! DAMN! I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID BACK THERE, BUT IT PISSED THIS GUY OFF!"

Joy. Either way, you need to do something, fast, or this man is going to bleed out onto the floor.

>>>Input Command

...That was not a non-lethal shot. Use a reality break to heal him. Hopefully the shock of the wound will leave him out of commision.

Well I can't say I'm surprised that an anti-tank rifle did that much damage. We can only hope we can heal the guy but because healing things have nothing to do with the bullet we might not be able to. If healing him doesn't work I guess we can try making it so we never shot the guy which may have something to do with bullets (Shooting and not shooting) but if that also doesn't work then that guy is so dead and there is nothing we can do for him.

Man, screw superpowers we don't know how to use yet. Apply a tourniquet to his arm to stop the bleeding. Also, flip desk to try out your strength and take your mind off the fact that you just shot someone's arm off.

...If outright healing him by breaking reality works, then perhaps we could make a healing bullet of some kind.

"I ACCIDENTALLY SHOT THIS GUY'S ARM OFF. ANY ADVICE ON HEALING VIA REALITY BREAK?"

Also be ready to shoot again if the guy either somehow heals himself and tries to attack again or if his buddy decides to attack you for hurting his friend.

...if we're going to try not killing people, we need to conjure a smaller caliber gun next time.

>>447733
Tourniqueting the arm seems the best way to stop from bleeding to death.

Then we can go out and confront the other guy, he can probably save his brother's life if he stops trying to kill us and chainsaw girl, and rushes him to a hospital and/or his team's reality healer (that's a thing, right? Dueling super-powered crazies need healers).

You panic a little, then try focusing on somehow healing the guy. You feel that static feeling rush through you, then everything is back to normal. Well, mostly. Your pretty sure that guys arm wasn't completely missing. Oops.

"I ACCIDENTALLY SHOT THIS GUY'S ARM OFF. ANY ADVICE ON HEALING VIA REALITY BREAK?"

Your shout is quickly aswered, accompanied by another howl and the sound of crashing objects.

"WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO HEAL THE BASTARD? HE SHOULD BE ALMOST OUT OF STRENGTH ANYWAY, JUST SHOOT HIM AGAIN! OH NO, YOUR NOT GETTIN BY ME!"

You quickly turn your attention back to the man, but he's already breathing really shallowly. Damn it, isn't there anything you could d-

Static hit you in the face, then you realize the man is alive again, all the blood gone, although he's still missing his arm. Maybe because you tried healing it? Either way, he's awake and clearly in pain. You ready your weapon again, just in case, but the man waves you down.

"Like I could... do anything... in this condition. I surrender. Just... just don't shoot..."

You hesitate, not sure how you should act.

>>>Input Command

"Quick, run away before the girl with a chainsaw gets here!"

I think he tried healing it. But don't kill him unless you're hungry. Just keep your weapon trained on his heart, in case he's trying to get your guard down.

Just keep your gun aimed at the guy as he leaves

Right, accept his surrender. Then we march him outside and use our hostage to get the wolf boy to back down.

I think the hardest part is chainsaw girl will want to just kill 'em all, when we'd rather take prisoners, or even just force them to retreat. Yay for another persuasion roll with our rotten will?

"For what its worth, sorry about the arm. Any chance you could call off your buddy before I have to shoot him too?"

Will as the Dump Stat Linda McCallahan 2012/08/25(Sat)22:52 No. 447794 ID: a407a5
File 134596036640.jpg - (14.38KB , 400x266 , stock-footage-cartoon-of-dead-man-with-blood-on-hi.jpg )

"For what its worth, sorry about the arm. Any chance you could call off your buddy before I have to shoot him too?"

The man frowns, then shrugs. "Um... maybe... brother is a little... temperamental. I'll try... if you want..."

You nod your agreement, and the man struggles to his feet and limps through the hole in the wall. You follow at a safe distance until you find both your new friend and what looks like a giant wolf-thing glaring at each other.

"Brother! Brother, cool it. We lost this time..."

The wolf-thing snarls, the backs down in favor of going to support his brother. The woman starts to make a move, but you quickly see if you can convince her to back down.

"They surrendered, right? Just let them go, they can't do anything to us now."

The woman doesn't even hesitate. Both are impaled through the chest, then the sickening whine of the chainsaw is heard and both are shredded. The boy you'd brought with you doesn't get up, but the static happens for the wolf thing, his body getting shoved through the floor, making yet another hole. You hear him howl in rage, but before you can do anything there's the shattering of glass and the loud honking of horns coming from outside.

"Hm. Bastard got away. Least we got his brother." The lady glances at you with a little annoyance apparent in her face, then she simply shrugs. "Well, I guess you just barely got into this business. Killing probably doesn't sit too well with you. You can have the brats focus, I don't like ranged weapons. Try searching him for a bullet or something. Meet me outside when your ready to go."

The woman walks out, heading for the nearest hole to the outside, leaving you with the very dead body. This time, the blood and such haven't disappeared, and you just stand there, a little unsure of what to do.

>>>Input Command

damnit loot him.... then use all your reality breaking points with both focuses to bring him back.

Flip desk. Flip body. Call in sick to work.

Continue through hole.

...we joined the crazy murder squad, and we left ourselves without the stats to actually influence them. Oh, this is gonna be fun.

Next time we catch a prisoner, we shoo them out the back instead of bringing them to chainsaw girl. And we should probably do missions solo, so we don't have to talk crazy teammates into following our plans, because we're gonna suck at that.

Nothing we can do about it now, thouhg. If we turn on her, one of us will end up dead, and we'll be without any faction.

Loot his focus. Maybe we'll get a gun we can use for something besides omni-murder.

When you're done, head out. Introduce yourself to trigger happy, and ask what happens now that the murder fest is over and your home is sufficiently destroyed.

>stock-footage
That corpse has two arms.

>>447800
I don't think that would work because if it DID the brother would have done it for sure. Just loot the body we made our choice when we choose the crazy chainsaw lady

>we made our choice when we choose the crazy chainsaw lady
It's worth noting the other side isn't much less crazy. The wolf guy tried to kill you instead of letting you go, and the kid drew his gun before we could even raise the point we weren't interested in fighting.

Chainsaw girl may enjoy it more, but both sides seem pretty trigger happy. Pretty sure we'd still be awkwardly standing over a corpse if we'd chosen the other side.

>>447812
True enough but we might have gotten a bitching chainsaw instead of a new gun. This death still doesn't matter until we find out whether reality is about to be destroyed OR it just doing fine because it dealt with people messing with it like this for all of known time.

YAY! EXPERIENCE! Linda McCallahan 2012/08/25(Sat)23:33 No. 447819 ID: a407a5
File 134596280638.jpg - (75.20KB , 426x640 , 2591806036_9ec31b612c_z.jpg )

>stock-footage
>That corpse has two arms.
I am aware. Sad, I know, but I can't be bothered trying to find someone sufficiently bloody while also missing an arm and dead.

You steel yourself and start searching the corpse, finding a wallet with some cash, a few pieces of loose change, some car keys and a bullet. You pick the last up specifically for closer examination, and find it to be much smaller than yours. Maybe it's for a weapon smaller than yours? You pocket it for now, but the moment you do, you feel something rush into your head and you stumble a little, finding yourself a little light headed. The feeling passes, but you can't help but feel like your somehow... better?

Finished with your search, you briefly debate flipping random objects over before deciding that isn't going to help the situation at all. You do call into work though, letting them know you'll be out for the day. After that's done, you head out the hole you saw the crazy lady go through.

Upon seeing you, the lady gives you a look roughly translating to "Are you an idiot?" before sighing. "I keep forgetting your new to this. Ditch the gun, will you? We don't need to be drawing idiot in the area to us."

You blink, then realize you still have your rifle out. You frown, not sure how to get it to go away, but the moment the thought crosses your mind, the rifle dissolves in your hands. Well, that's convenient.

"You got his bullet? Good. We'll wait here till the van gets here. Then we take you to the Boss."

"Uh... right... I'm Linda, by the way. Linda McCallahan."

"Hm? Oh, right. Yeah, pleasure. I'm Cassandra Geld. You can just call me Cass if you want. Or Chainsaw. Most seem to prefer that last one." She says her nickname with distaste, but seems to otherwise not care.

You wonder if there is anything to ask, or if you should just wait quietly.

Experience Points Gained: 2
Explanation in Discussion Thread
>>>Input Command

'So, where are we going?'

I vote we spend a point unlocking our new gun.

The other point in spirit, I think. That gives us good returns for 1 point right now (better at reality warping, and more mp).

Stat (Str/Fin/Wil) boosts can wait, I think, as much as our will pains me. We'll just have to play smarter and not bet lives on our diplomacy rolls.
Actually, screw it. I want to be able to talk people into things more than I want any of the possible spirit powers available. 2nd point in will.

>Cass
Let's make a point of using her name. Enemies use derogative nicknames, not allies.

So... is it always like this? Seems a little much for what amounts to a philisophical difference.

1 Point into Spirit.
1 Point into Will.
New Ability: Warped Minds.

>>447829
Going with this after reading what warped mind does

>>447829
Agreed.

Another Ally? Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)10:00 No. 447917 ID: a407a5
File 134600043065.jpg - (440.98KB , 600x905 , Yuan_ti_mad_alchemist_by_kerembeyit.jpg )

Experience Points Allocated
Will Increased
Spirit Increased
Note: Warped Minds does not continue working if you actively start a fight. Keep Choice?

>"So... is it always like this? Seems a little much for what amounts to a philisophical difference."

"Most of the time we don't go so far as killing them. Usually just beating them till they're mostly dead and leaving just taking their foci. Least, that's what most other people do. I've got... an issue. Still, I'm not as bad as some of the other reality breaking groups out there. We're one of the smaller ones, while I've seen some groups with more than fifty members. I'd like to think we make up for it with skill though."

>'So, where are we going?'

"Keep your mouth shut and you'll find out. Look, here's the van. Get in so we can get this show on the road."

Cass hops into the front seat, leaving you to climb into the back. You barely manage to sit down before the van takes off, and you find that the drivers seat is occupied by a rather large snake-human thing. How it's pushing the pedals you don't see.

"Whosss thisss? Friend?"

"Yeah, Mike. She's a friend. Just get us home, alright? Boss wants to see her."

"Underssstood. Going home." The snake thing you find is watching you through the rear-view mirror, then it smiles, at leasts, you think it's a smile.

"New girl isss pretty. Prettier than you, Chainsssaw. Whatsss your name, sssweetheart?"

"Shut it you scaly sack of shit. You can't do anything anyway."

"Wasssn't talking to you, Chainsssaw. Girl hasss a mouth of her own. Ssso, sssweetheart?"

>>>Input Command

>Warped Minds?
I'm not sure how useful that is if it turns off once the violence starts, especially since we can just poof the gun away in non-fight circumstances anyways.

I'd think break sight would be more useful. We'd know how many times we could shoot someone fatally and have them static-respawn before we go for a disable or demand surrender. It's a passive mp / lives remaining scanner. I think we want that, especially considering how lethal our weapon is.

>I've got... an issue.
Oh duh, she's a berserker of some kind. Has a hard time stopping once the violence starts.

>Ssssnake boy
Linda. And I ain't your sweetheart.

There a secret race of snake people out there, or your powers just do that to you?

>>447922

Yeah after knowing warped mind doesn't keep working after we start fighting it seems kinda weird to have. I'm choosing break sight but I also want to find out if we need to know anything about the boss. Like don't talk about certain subjects and what not because I don't feel like getting shot if we say the wrong thing.

Oh, with that limitation Warped Minds is kinda useless. Go with Break Sight.

"Linda, thanks for the compliment, and I ain't your sweetheart."

The Boss 1/2 Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)11:46 No. 447947 ID: a407a5
File 134600681821.jpg - (32.19KB , 494x500 , The-Fairmont-Dubai.jpg )

Ability Changed: Break Sight selected.

For a moment, you don't answer the snake-thing... er, Mike, as you suddenly notice something floating next to each of the people in front of you. Namely, there seems to be a number floating around them. You squint at it a little, and eventually you make out what appears to be a 14 floating next to Cass. You think, THINK, this is the number of times she can break reality. An 8 floats next to the snake-man, who's still watching you. Experimentally, you try glancing around yourself, discover a number printed onto the back of you left hand. A 5. Huh. That's interesting. So... you an try breaking reality 5 more times before being drained?

You finally snap out of your little daze, though, when the question comes again from Mike.

"Hello? You got a name, sssweetheart?"

"Heh, maybe she's just ignoring your scaly ass, Mike."

"Linda, thanks for the compliment, and I ain't your sweetheart. There a secret race of snake people out there, or your powers just do that to you?"

Mike blinks in surprise, barely paying any attention to the road, then he lets out this sort of coughing/hissing sound, which you quickly figure out is his laughter.

"Fiery. I like that. It'll be fun to ssspend time around you, sssweetheart. I hope I get to be your driver for the tessst. But no, my powersss aren't sssuposssed to do thisss. I got locked into thisss form while fighting one of thossse fixssure typesss."

"So... anything I shouldn't talk about in front of this boss person?"

Both of the people in the front seat glance at each other than they both say at the exact same time:

"The doll."

Neither cares to elaborate more, but it doesn't take much longer to arrive at your destination, a five-star hotel you'd never thought you'd get to stay in. Cass leads you through the lobby and into an elevator, which begins its ascent to the top floor suite. Upon arriving, your greeted by a security guard, who let's you both pass after Cass says something to him, then your lead through the rooms until you arrive at an office. There, Cass stops outside the door and motions for you to enter.

The Boss 2/2 Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)11:47 No. 447948 ID: a407a5
File 134600682440.png - (322.96KB , 682x1023 , suit.png )

As you enter, the first thing you notice is the smell of cigarette smoke. The second is the man behind the desk, his back to you as he stares out the large window that makes up the back wall. The third is the number floating around his head. 54. Shit.

The last is the life-size doll in the corner. You would have mistaken it for a real person, if you couldn't clearly see where the arms connected to the torso. Damn though, it's a little scary. And the thing feels... off. Foci off.

You drag you attention away from it and focus on the man instead.

"Uh. Hello?"

The man swivels to regard you, and at first he seems almost disinterested. Then a massive smile breaks out across his face.

"Hello! Linda, I presume? Don't worry, I don't bite! Please, have a seat. My names Marc Conner, although many of those that follow me just call me Boss. It's a little unsettling, to tell you the truth, but what can I do? A pleasure to finally meet you. I'll answer any questions you have to the best of my ability. Do you smoke?" He offers you a cigarette as he gestures to a chair in front of his desk.

>>>Input Command

>>447948
You don't smoke. You'd like to know what this group does and why it justifies murder.

...I'm going to assume Lung cancer isn't even a remote concern for people who can bend reality to their will, is it?

(Still, let's politely decline. It's an expensive habit to pick up, if nothing else).

Tell him you'd appreciate some background information, if he'd care to fill you in. You've already figured out that you've gotten magic reality breaking powers, and there's factions fighting over how to use 'em, but it would be nice to know some hows and whys. And more about what this organization specifically, of course. Always good to know what you signed up for up front. Cass didn't exactly bring the company mission statement with her.

>>447949
Let's not come on so... strong. It's more war than murder. The fixers are just as willing to kill this side up, and Mike's obviously the victim of hostile reality breaking. Still, asking what justifies all the violence might be prudent.

>>447951
> It's more war than murder.
As far as we can tell, the fixers are just trying to defend themselves and keep the world from falling into destructive chaos.

>>447959
No, as far as we can tell the fixers are attempting to maintain reality's status quo. Whether deviating from that turns the world into destructive chaos remains to be seen. With Mike though, we've seen they can lock reality into something, and judging by the fact that he can break reality and is still a snake, may be able to do so in a way Breakers can't change. If so, then they might lock part of the world into a worse state, where as those breaking it at least maintain the world's ability to improve what they alter.

>>447959
I wasn't talking about goals, just behavior. Trevor was just as quick to violence and willing to kill as Cass. We'd have had just as hard a time trying to convince him to go for mercy if we'd chosen the other side (remember, he was the only one who resisted our suggestion to talk reasonably too). His brother was more hesitant, but still pulled his gun on us before we made a threatening action towards him.

The fixers are at war with the free spirits, and both sides are willing to kill. Moral justifications of their positions aside.

The moral problem is more complex. We know nothing about reality breaking. We don't know if it is wrong or detrimental to reality in an objective sense (exploiting hacks and bugs in a game doesn't always make a game unstable, for instance). It could be destroying everything. Or it could just be part of the way the world works.

>>447962
I think Mike's condition is like when we tried to heal the arm, which then fucked with the kid when he static respawned. His "natural state" got overwritten, so he can't go back to normal.

A Little Explaining Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)12:48 No. 447968 ID: a407a5
File 134601052772.jpg - (69.47KB , 560x560 , A_Break_in_Reality_by_xetobyte-560x560.jpg )

You politely decline the offered cigarette, you were never one for smoking, and don't feel like gaining the habit now.

>hows and whys
"How we got these powers of ours? To tell the truth, I don't really know. The most I can make out is that we've all been to that room The one with the old-fashioned man. We all answered some questions, and we all ended up waking up again, being able to do what we do. Why doesn't seem to present itself either. At least the why us bit."

>the company mission statement
"At the moment? I'm trying to create a safe haven for those of us that don't want to go around killing people, but don't particularly feel the need to "fix" reality. More than that, we try to protect the weaker of us, like you, from falling into the wrong hands. Or at least, from being fed the wrong information. If you ever feel like leaving, I won't stop you. Unfortunately, our goals do sometimes mean the deaths of some people. Most of them aren't the fixers though. Most of our enemies come from the other gangs of... I guess we never actually came up with a universal name for ourselves. Let's just call ourselves breakers then. Still, we try to avoid deaths as much as possible in favor of recruitment. In your case, I apologize for Cass. She was the only one available at the time. Normally I'd have sent Rodriguez, or perhaps Daniel.

"Now, I think that about sums up all that we are, at least for now. I do have plans to make us a bit more... proactive... in reality, but those plans will have to stay just that for now. I need to speak with Cassandra now, so if you'd be so kind as to send her in on your way out... Ah! I've heard your a weapon type? Guns, I think. You'll want to see Mac then. He can help you identify what kind of weapons you have on your hands, and he also functions as a sort of exchange for foci you feel you don't need. You can get all sorts of supplies there. Just go down the hall, first door on the left.

"Unless you have another question?"

>>>Input Command

Do you have any idea how long this kind of thing has been going on? Did breakers start showing up recently, or have their been groups around all the way back through history?

>mission statement
If he's being honest, those sound like principles we can work with. We didn't join the murder squad, we joined the pragmatists instead of the paladins. (Don't say any of that aloud).

>Mac
Sounds like this guy can tell us what the bullet we looted is capable of doing, so we can decide whether we want to keep it before we spent xp activating it. We should go see him next.

>>447968
Well, that sounds pretty good, assuming he's telling the truth.

What is this "wrong" information, and given that he openly admits to not knowing much, how does he know it's wrong?
What does membership in this group entail? Do they want you to abandon your old life? Your old friends? Your family?
Why is there conflict between breakers?
Are there any long-term consequences on scales large or small to free use of your powers?
What do the fixers do?
He said they prefer recruitment to killing. What about just leaving people alone?
What will these "proactive" plans work towards, beyond creating/maintaining a safe haven? It sounds like he's got more in mind than that.

Thank him for his time.

could you explain the whole broken reality thing? i'm assuming its not the sort of thing to that might end the world, also the fixer said that casses boss was responsible for breaking reality, could you explain that?

Some More Answers, Meeting Mac Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)13:41 No. 447986 ID: a407a5
File 134601370468.jpg - (55.79KB , 585x439 , hoarding-room-full-of-garbage-trash-boxes.jpg )

>Do you have any idea how long this kind of thing has been going on?
"Not to sound rude, but how do you think we would find that out? Couldn't someone break reality to make it so all this has been going on forever? So in the end, I really can't say."

>What is this "wrong" information, and given that he openly admits to not knowing much, how does he know it's wrong?
"What is wrong is not telling people that they don't have to fix reality. They can come to us, for example. The fixers though... they tend to pressure you into doing what they want."

>What does membership in this group entail? Do they want you to abandon your old life? Your old friends? Your family?
"Nothing so drastic. The only thing we require is that you make yourself available if we need a job done, or an extra hand somewhere, and that you keep the "Normals" out of this. They shouldn't be burdened with our problems."

>Why is there conflict between breakers?
"Some are more... violent... in the use of their abilities, and tend to make themselves as open as possible. Robbing banks, murder sprees... power seems to have gone to their heads. I'd like to think we try to help minimize that as much as possible, although the fixers would say we're just as bad as them."

>Are there any long-term consequences on scales large or small to free use of your powers?
"I truly don't know about the grand scheme of things. I've tried investigating, but... there's only so much I can do. I do know that as long as you don't leave things alone after destroying everything, reality doesn't really seem to care in the small-scale. Your apartment for instance. I've already sent someone to clean it up and return it to normal, so reality shouldn't be influenced too much."

>What do the fixers do?
"From what I've seen, kill our kind. I've never seen or heard of them doing anything else, although admittedly, any contact we've had with them is generally violent."

>What about just leaving people alone?
"If they want to leave after I've finished speaking with them, that is up to them. But I do insist on at least having people hear me out. Again, I don't want people getting the wrong idea about me and mine."

>What will these "proactive" plans work towards, beyond creating/maintaining a safe haven?
"That will have to stay with me, at least in the short term. Now then, please, go see Mac, and make sure to send in Cassandra."

You find yourself unable to really resist the urge to leave, so you rise, thank him for his time, and head out, telling Cass to go in after you. That done, you head down the hallway and enter the suggested door to find...

A lot of junk. And a man who seems remarkably large, almost literally wading through all the junk inside the room, a truly awe-inspiring smile spread across his face. For whatever reason, he seems way more pleased you've arrived then he reasonably should be.

"Ah! Yer teh new one, aintcha? Come on in, what can I help ya with?"

>>>Input Command

>Couldn't someone break reality to make it so all this has been going on forever?
Well, yes, but it'd be nice to know how far back our records go, even if they could be the result of retroactive timeline altering. Oh well.

>You find yourself unable to really resist the urge to leave
See, this guy understood the value putting points in will. :p

Overall, I like his answers. Protect our own and the newbies, don't fuck with the humans, maintain order without some crusade of fixing something we don't understand in the first place. I think we can work with these guys.

>what can I help ya with?
Ah yes, hello, I'm Linda. I hear you can tell me things about my foci? I've got my own, and this other one I... acquired... off a fixer. Can you tell me anything about them?

Also, could you tell how this swap and supplies system works?

Mac doesn't have a visible break number? So he's a normal, or on empty?

Just show the bullet we looted from the dead guy and shake hands with the guy "You got any idea what type of weapon this one is ? I mean besides it being a gun of course."

All of the above. What is Mac's number? Also, Manifest the Rifle.

"Is there anywhere I could practice with this thing?"

>>448000
Manifesting costs break points, and we don't have very many of those. I'd rather not waste a point on show and tell if we don't have to.

>>447986
>>What do the fixers do?
>"From what I've seen, kill our kind. I've never seen or heard of them doing anything else, although admittedly, any contact we've had with them is generally violent."
We should try to open negotiations with these guys. It sounds like there might be opportunity for reduced conflict and even cooperation, at least with regard to putting a stop to the destructive/violent breakers.

>>448002
Sure, but we shouldn't be too constrained; we're not expecting further combat, and even if we were I'm sure this place is plenty well defended without us. Don't waste points just showing, but if he actually has reason to inspect it or if you have opportunity to practice, go for it.

Marc never explaind just what jobs they might ask you to do, or what they might need you to give them a hand with. Ask Mac if he can tell you.

Shop Info Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)14:51 No. 448015 ID: a407a5
File 134601791683.jpg - (9.56KB , 225x210 , bartering.jpg )

"Ah yes, hello, I'm Linda. I hear you can tell me things about my foci? I've got my own, and this other one I... acquired... off a fixer. Can you tell me anything about them?"

You dig around your pockets and pull out the smaller bullet before opening up the pouch around your neck and retrieving the larger one. You hand both over to Mac, who examines them both closely.

"Hm... This biggon here is a .50 Cal BMG round. Pack a punch, these do. Yer a gun type then? Word o' advice. Guns aint got unlimited ammo. Ya have ta 'reload' em when the magazine is done. Takes a use of breaking reality, but it's instant. This smaller one here is a 9mm. Smaller, lots less stopping power, but better recoil and easier to use properly. Uh, ya mind showing me whichever is yer focus? The real gun I mean. I could tell ya about that too."

"Also, could you tell how this swap and supplies system works?"

"Sure! Real simple. Lots a times ya'll go out on a mission and ya pick up a focus ya either don't want or can't use. Ya bring em to me, and I'll see about trading em fer sometin else. Sometimes thats a focus ya can use, other times it's sometin special, like grenades, er body armor, er favors from other members. All sorts o' stuff. Ya bring back stuff like that to, I'll see about trading it as well. We aint using cash though, no point. Our kind can get cash outta places way to easily, and the Boss wants ta keep that sorta thing from happenin.

>Mac doesn't have a visible break number? So he's a normal, or on empty?

Mac seems to notice the rather intsense stare your giving him, and that sets him laughing.

"Can't see it, can ya? Thats cause I aint got a focus no more. Got it taken away by one of them fixers. Bastard. Still, I try to help out with what I can."

"Um... Marc said something about jobs... you know anything about that?"

"Jobs? Oh, yeah! Most of ya new ones'll get sometin easy to start. Maybe go recruit someone new, or help take out a weaker member of some other group. Don't worry, they aint gonna have you fightin Amelia or nothing like that."

>>>Input Command

Okay I know I'm new and all but who the hell is Amelia and how bad would she kick my ass in a scale of one to ten.

>Uh, ya mind showing me whichever is yer focus? The real gun I mean.
Well, if there's a point to it, we might as well. Spend the BP and show off our boomstick.

I think we should keep the 9mil, and not trade it. There's gonna be situations where we don't want finesse over stopping power.

So... you can't use a different focus? You need the original? Can breakers ever get going again if it's recovered after being lost?

Amelia?

Lets summon our gun for him.

>>448019
I'm betting 11.

Soooo, we can trade grenades for cool stuff? Any specific requirement on those, or can we just walk into an army supply depot and steal a bunch of cheap ones?

Learning New Things Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)15:56 No. 448043 ID: a407a5
File 134602177089.jpg - (33.06KB , 800x600 , Barrett-M82A1.jpg )

"Amelia?"

"Ah! She's that doll that the Boss has. He don't like people talking bout her like she's a doll, but she is. He's an Avatar type, their pretty rare, them. All that really means though, is when he gets angry an wakes her up, she kills. Everyone and everytin. Ya wouldn't stand a chance. Aint seen no one survive yet. Just don't get him mad, and ya'll be fine."

"So... you can't use a different focus? You need the original? Can breakers ever get going again if it's recovered after being lost?"

"Heh. Maybe if I still had a focus. See, ya can't tune yerself to another foci without havin one to begin with. I lost my only one, so I'm left high and dry. That's why most try to get a back up from somewhere, quick as they can. Makes you feel a bit sorry fer ta Avatar types, like ta Boss. It's rare to find another one, so he's gotta be extra careful what he does with his."

While he's talking, you bring out your rifle, and hand it over for an eager Mac to inspect. He starts checking it throughly, eyes getting more excited as he confirms this and that. By the time he's done, he's whistling in appreciation.

"Damn. I don't know what you did to deserve this beauty, but... well. Here, I'll map it out fer ya. What ya've got here was called an anti-tank rifle back during WW1 and WW2. Nowadays they call em anti-material rifles, since they can't really do much to a tank no more. But this baby'll stick cut through just about everything any civilian could throw at ya, and I doubt anyone else in our little gang here could match ya for sheer fire power. It's heavy though, and has lots a recoil. This one specifically is a Barrett M82. Ten rounds to a magazine, and it's semi-auto on top of that."

You stare at him, confused, before he sighs and dumbs it down.

"Ya don't have to touch anything on this after firing. Just pull the trigger again to fire again. Remember ya only got ten rounds before ya got to reload. As for attachements, this thing doesn't seem to have any yet. Probably cause ya need to fine tune it a little to yer likes. Still, my suggestion would be gettin a scope for this thing, it was meant fer long ranges to begin with. Anything else I can help ya with?"

Mac hands back the weapon, and you dismiss it for the time being. There's no point hauling it around out in the open for no reason, and you doubt there's a place to practice firing it up here. Your not really sure what to do at this point.

Luckily, your saved from indecision by Cass, who enters and glares at the piles of junk around her.

"See you still haven't organized this place, Mac."

"Don't see why I should, Chainsaw. I always know where everytin is."

"Yeah, whatever. You done here Linda? The Boss wants to talk to you."

>>>Input Command

"Yeah I'm done over here" Let's just leave and wave bye to Mac so we can see what the Boss wants to talk about. I would ask Cassandra what the boss wanted to talk about but odds are she doesn't know and she also didn't care enough to ask.

Okay. We don't need the original, but we need at least one at all times. And even if mac got his old one back, he's have to retune it to himself (since whoever stole it tuned it to themselves already) which he can't do.

We're gonna need three guns. Our main, the fallback, and a hidden tuned backup we don't keep on our person in case we get beat up and lose the other two.

>Boss wants yah.
Yes, I'm done Cass. Thanks, Mac. (That was quick, he got rid of us not 5 minutes ago).

Well it's a good thing you gain 1 XP for every foci you get. Two backups is nothing if we can find them.

Yeaaaah, mission time. And not even a ten minute cooldown before mission resets? Nice.

Job Choice Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)17:06 No. 448067 ID: a407a5
File 134602598293.jpg - (66.87KB , 500x375 , jobs.jpg )

"Yeah, I'm done. Thanks Mac."

"No problem. Drop by again!"

Cassandra leads you back down the hallway, but this time enters with you, standing a bit off to the side. "I brought her, Boss."

"Hm? Oh yes. Thank you Cassandra. Sorry about the rather abrupt and sudden call back. A few issues have come up, but they aren't too difficult so I thought I'd offer you the opportunity to test yourself a little. There's another of us waking up to their power, and we need someone to go investigate and convince them to at least hear us out. There's also reports of another one of the breaker gangs encroaching on what I suppose you would call our territory, and we need someone to go deal with them. In either case, I'll send Cassandra with yo-"

"Now hold on! No one said I'd be on babysitting duty!"

"Cassandra, please? We don't have anyone else on hand to accompany her, and I don't feel right sending her off alone."

"...Fine. But I'm not pulling her ass out of the fire if it means my neck."

"Thank you. Anyway, please. select whichever job suits you more. Ah! I... hope you don't have any plans for the rest of the day?"

>>>Input Command

Hmm. If we go for the newbie, you can bet another group of fixers will be there to compete with us. Probably combat.

If we go fro the gang encroachment, there will almost certainly be combat, with more people.

...let's go for the newbie. We just went through the same thing, it makes sense we'd want to help the next person. And we can make a better pitch than Cass does. Maybe we can even convince the fixer team to back down, if not, we can send 'em running again.

>I'm not pulling her ass out of the fire if it means my neck
Don't worry, I won't hold back this time.

(We need to not do extraneous breaking though, we're down to 4 points! 3 when we summon the gun. We may need those to respawn or reload in the fight, we may not be so lucky this time around).

Hopefully the car ride is a hour long or something so we get at least a break point back but I agree to go with the "Recruit a newbie" mission. "Nah any plans I had today was shot out of the window. I think I'll go with "Recruit a newbie for today."

Recruit the Newbie. There is absolutely no chance we give a worse pitch than Cassandra did.
"I already called to get the day off work, my schedule is full of adventure now."

On the Road Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)19:54 No. 448111 ID: a407a5
File 134603605858.jpg - (118.80KB , 1632x1232 , road.jpg )

"Nah any plans I had today was shot out of the window. I think I'll go with "Recruit a newbie for today."

"Alright. The location is about two hours drive north. I suggest getting there as soon as possible. Take this with you." Marc tosses a cellphone at you, which you catch and pocket. "I'll call you on that once I've dug up some more information. There's also a car waiting out front for you to use, try not to wreck it this time, alright Cassandra?"

"Yeah, yeah..."

You both leave, Cassandra leading the way, and a few minutes later you're on the road, heading northward. You stare out the car window for awhile, but eventually get bored of that.

Is there anything you want to talk to Cassandra about? Or maybe just getting some sleep would be a better idea.

Allied Gained: Cassandra Geld
Explanation in Discussion Thread
>>>Input Command

First off, ask how far away the place is. If it's a distance off, then yeah, take a nap. Otherwise, just keep yourself awake. You don't want Cassandra to start murdering people without you, now do you?

>>448113
It's two hours north so I kinda want to take a nap after what happen and how fast it's happening.

You guys wanna nap? But, but, npc interaction!

Let's apologize for giving her a hard time before. You were just kind of shocked, but it's really not your place. You had no idea what her history was with them, or any of the rest of it.

If it comes to it this time, she won't have to haul your ass out of the fire; you won't be holding back.

(That said, if we get into fights with other breakers again? I think our basic strategy should be to shoot them to death till they're out of BP, and take their foci rather than just killing them).

If we manage to get a positive response out of her, maybe follow up with a humorous jibe:
...that said, let me try to talk to the new guy. Because no offense, but your speech sucked. You're just lucky the other guys sucked way worse.

Hopefully ice broken, and we get a new friend! Car ride progresses with swapping stories and bonding, as they're supposed to.

>>448139
Sorry man my day revolves around taking naps and working but I guess this time we can do it your new and crazy ways to spend time in a car.

How about a compromise? Talk to her for awhile, then take a nap.

"Sooooooooo... Chainsaw, huh?"
"Does that thing where three people all bust into a house trying to recruit a newbie with weapons drawn happen often? Also, does that mean there should only be one other person coming this time?"
"Oh man, that only used up ten minutes? I'm going to sleep."

>>448160
Well yeah, we'd likely be hard pressed to come up with two hours worth of conversation material anyways. And I think eventually we'd start to annoy her, earning negative relationship points instead of positive.

>>448165
I can't tell from the context if you're referencing her weapon or calling her chainsaw, but I think we should continue to make a point of avoiding her disliked nickname.

"Um... Cass?"

"Yeah?" The other woman sounds kinda bored, but otherwise willing to listen, if for nothing less than taking the edge off the drive.

"I wanted to apologize for giving you a hard time, back when we first met... I was a little..."

"... Yeah, I got it. Don't worry about it. I was the same way, more or less. Although I took to the killing a lot faster than most."

"And don't worry about this time. I'll hold my own."

"Heh. We'll see."

"... That said, let me talk to the new guy. Because no offense, but your speech sucked. You're just lucky the other guys sucked way worse."

"I get that a lot. Yeah, don't worry about it. Your the one calling the shots this time, right? I'll just be the muscle, you can do all the talking. Just let me know if you want anything dead."

>"Sooooooooo... Chainsaw, huh?"
"Yeah. It's... complicated. I'd rather not talk about it..."

>"Does that thing where three people all bust into a house trying to recruit a newbie with weapons drawn happen often? Also, does that mean there should only be one other person coming this time?"
"More than anything else. Although usually it's only one on one. Those two brothers just never go anywhere without the other."

You spend a little longer just talking with Cass, who doesn't really say much. Still, by the time your done, you feel like she's opened up a little. She doesn't seem quite so... stand-offish.

You decide taking a nap would be best now, and you get comfortable before drifting off to sleep.

Arrival at a Diner 2/2 Linda McCallahan 2012/08/26(Sun)22:12 No. 448181 ID: a407a5
File 134604433392.jpg - (76.52KB , 800x599 , boundBrookInt.jpg )

Your woken up a later by Cass, who's shaking you.

"Come one. We picked you up kinda early, you probably haven't eaten anything."

You groggily get up and follow along behind the other woman, and when you finally rub the sleep from you eyes you find yourself in a diner, menu's in front of you and the smell of food permeating the air. Your stomach rumbles, and your finally reminded you haven't eaten since yesterday.

"Get whatever you like, I got some cash from the Boss. We'll be hanging around here until he gives us a call and tells us where we need to be and who to look for."

Break Points: 6
Cass' Break Points: 16
>>>Input Command

Glance around the diner as you get the chance, make sure there's no more floating numbers or foci type wrongness. Don't want to be jumped.

Don't overeat, or go for anything that looks like it might disagree with you later. If you're a coffee person, get your fix.

Make sure that phone Marc gave you is on, and not set to silent or something, so you'll get the call when it comes in.

Well time to order a cheeseburger and french fries with Dr. Pepper to drink(The Drink of Champions). After eating your food just wait for the call while making small talk with Cass.

You glance around the diner as you make sure the phone is actually on. It is, and there doesn't seem to be any issues with getting ambushed. Cass seems to be ignoring the menu in front of her, maybe she's already eaten, but you happily order yourself some basic set of food to satisfy yourself. The diner is mostly empty at the moment, so your food comes quickly enough, and you dig in without any preamble. About halfway though your meal, Cass seems to decide that the silence is disturbing her, as she turns to you to ask some questions.

"Hey. Why'd you pick me? Over the fixers I mean. I can't seem to understand why you'd pick an obviously crazy person who's outnumbered already instead of two guys that seems like they have a reasonable mindset and in a better position."

>>>Input Command

Well the choice was between free spirits VS responsible people and I just picked free spirits. The whole concept having to fix reality just seem boring when I could learn how to make reality my bitch.

Your organization gives me more room to work. I appreciate that freedom. I think I can make something great with you guys.

(Because we pick anything with tits? Because we're crazy and always pick interesting over good, regardless of the well being of our characters?)

Well, I wasn't exactly thinking tactically. Numbers weren't a part of it.

I just got super powers out of thin air. I guess being told they were a bad thing, destroying everything, and I should be working against it, against myself right off the bat wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. Learning to do something with it sounded more appealing.

I mean, we call it reality breaking, but how do know it's really bad for anything? Just because we get to cheat doesn't mean the game breaks down for everyone. I mean, maybe if I knew for sure we were killing the Universe or something I'd feel differently, but for now a crusade just didn't sound like a good idea.

...and when a bunch of otherworldly strangers all come crashing through your walls demanding you have to come with them if you want to live, they all kind of come off as crazy anyways. So you didn't have that much of a handicap.

And so long as Marc's not some kind of lying supervillian, I'm pretty sure I made the right choice. Pragmatic survival and looking out for each other seems like a better idea than killing anyone not willing to 'fix' things.

"Well, from my perspective it was Free-spirits vs Fixers. I guess I just prefer Freedom over being forced to fix something that is not my fault."

"Plus, Wolf Guy didn't really come off all that sane either. Also, The guy I shot clearly said that they were outclassed."

You pause a moment to finish chewing the food in your mouth, then get to replying to her question.

"Well, I wasn't exactly thinking tactically. Numbers weren't a part of it. I just got super powers out of thin air. I guess being told they were a bad thing, destroying everything, and I should be working against it, against myself right off the bat wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. Learning to do something with it sounded more appealing.

I mean, we call it reality breaking, but how do know it's really bad for anything? Just because we get to cheat doesn't mean the game breaks down for everyone. I mean, maybe if I knew for sure we were killing the Universe or something I'd feel differently, but for now a crusade just didn't sound like a good idea.... and when a bunch of otherworldly strangers all come crashing through your walls demanding you have to come with them if you want to live, they all kind of come off as crazy anyways. So you didn't have that much of a handicap. Plus, Wolf Guy didn't really come off all that sane either. Also, The guy I shot clearly said that they were outclassed.

And so long as Marc's not some kind of lying supervillian, I'm pretty sure I made the right choice. Pragmatic survival and looking out for each other seems like a better idea than killing anyone not willing to 'fix' things."

Cass considers this for a moment, then a small smile spreads across her face. "I see. Well, I guess that makes sense. Just try to come off as less crazy to whoever this new person is. Don't want to fuck it up like I almost did with you, yeah?"

You go back to eating, and just as you finish eating, you get the call. Time to head off again.

>>>Second half to be posted later. Meantime, have fun character building in the Discussion, and will be posting a wiki thread containing character information later as well.

Planning the Job Linda McCallahan 2012/08/27(Mon)21:14 No. 448614 ID: a407a5
File 134612727344.jpg - (157.28KB , 1024x685 , front_of_house_2_1024x768_1024.jpg )

You spent a good amount of time after getting the call finding your way to the place, almost an entire hour in fact, thanks to Cass stubbornly ignoring your directions until she finally gave up and just took your advice.

Now that your parked in front of the place, you stare at it a little uncertainly. It looks like a normal house to you, you don't think someone with the power to break reality is in there. Then again, you didn't think you'd be breaking reality, and you live in an apartment building.

You take a quick look down at the rather sparse notes that Marc had been able to get you. There's the address and a name, one Mathew Kemmet, and the rather unsettling warning that both fixers and a rival breaker group are reported to be moving towards the man. Hopefully this doesn't turn out really bad.

"So... got a plan, Linda?" Cass is lounging in the driver's seat, clearly unconcerned, although the added pressure that you get from her question isn't helping your nerves.

You toss the scrap of napkin you'd scribbled on somewhere random, and nervously rub the scar through your shirt, staring at the house. Of course you have a plan... right?

>>>Input Command

Ring the door, prepare for anything, and look as sane as possible to not scare off the new guy or at least look saner then the other people if there is any. Ask Cass to call us and delay any rival/fixer. She could also lead them there to make it look like we are the safest choice but it's not a guarantee to work though I mean look at us as an example of it not working so it should be a last resort if she think she gonna be overwhelmed. We can change things on the fly because plans never work out they way they are suppose to.

>Plan
Well, if we're here first, it's easier. We go in- through the door, and not the wall (hopefully makes us seem less crazy than the people after us, who do come in through the wall). If he's reluctant to let us in, we can play on the fact we know exactly what just happened to him (man in the room, etc) to get his interest.

Once in, Linda makes the pitch, lean on the fact that the exact same thing just happened to her. We just want to help, show him what's what, and let the boss give him the sales pitch. And get him out before anyone crazier shows. It's not even a binding offer. Our side just wants you to hear us out- I doubt the others will be so generous.

If things go south, and we end up fighting, Cass closes for melee (she's pretty devastating there- wolf boy couldn't get past her reach or inside her guard at all), while we offer ranged support- take down anyone who tries to mess her up at range, or who's nimble enough to keep out of her saw-teeth.

Don't park the car directly in front of the house, so the other factions don't see it and wreck it on the way in.

First Contact Linda McCallahan 2012/08/27(Mon)22:34 No. 448628 ID: a407a5
File 134613206850.jpg - (22.48KB , 240x320 , man-on-fire.jpg )

You decide, after a few minutes thought, that perhaps just going up and talking to the guy is the best course of action. It can't hurt to at least appear normal, right? You decide bringing Cass along probably isn't the best idea, given her... issues... with violence. But she can stand guard and make sure no one else jumps you right?

After giving the other woman her task and getting out of the car, you make your way over to the front door and knock. After a few minutes, the door opens ever so slightly and you hear a male voice, sounding very uncertain. At the same time, you find yourself feeling a little warmer than you should be.

"Um... hello? C-can... Can I help you?"

"Uh. Yeah. Are you Mathew Kemmet?"

"Y-yes?"

"Hi. I'm Linda McCallahan. I just need to talk to you for a little bit."

"I'm sorry, now really isn't a good time."

"No, you don't understand, I really, REALLY need to talk to you right now. Can I come in?"

"NO! I mean, um, no. I... look, not just really isn't a good time." Mathew tries to shut the door in your face, but you know you can't just leave him like this. You remember what you were like when you first got your power, and it isn't a pleasant thought, leaving him to his own devices. Especially with fixers and a possibly less friendly breaker gang on the way. So, you decide it's time to break out the trump card and hope it works.

"I KNOW! About the man and the room and the weird reality breaking thing! Just let me... me..."

In you attempt to stop him closing the door you put a little more force then you meant to and the door swings open. On the other side you get your first look at Mathew, and find him to be on fire. Your first gut reaction is to scream or something, but your experiences so far have made it a little easier to accept things. Especially given that he doesn't seem to be getting burned from the flames.

"W-wait. You... you know what's going on? Why I'm like this?"

>>>Input Command

"Yeah I do and I can help you out. What you did with fire is what you call breaking reality and there are other people can break reality as well. I don't think there is a official name for people like us but you can just call us "Breakers" if you want. I just kinda came here to give you an invite to come see our boss and see what we are about but if you don't like what our group is about you can just leave and never come back. I'm sorry if this is all happening so fast but I kinda want to leave before the crazies get here and start fucking up your house so if you got any question ask them now."
Be prepare to prove you can break reality as well by summoning your gun if the guy acts like you are crazy. Look at his Break points as well and be on the lookout for crazy shit.

What's his BP at?

Well, I don't know why this is happening, but I do sort of know what's happening. I was in your shoes less than half a day ago. Woke up with the power to change things and pull a giant gun out of thin air.

You got a fire form? That can't hurt you, and you should be able to just will it away, I think. It's yours, something you can control, not something being done to you.

(Initial focus is on calming him down, getting him to realize he can turn the fire off. I don't think he's figured that out yet, and he's freaked out by it. Once we've got him calm we make the pitch).

We're not the only ones who can do these kinds of things. There are whole groups of reality breakers. ...and not all of them are very nice, and they have rather aggressive recruitment methods.

Then segue into reasons why he's better off coming with us, we just want to help, show him what's what, and let the boss give him the sales pitch. And get him out before anyone crazier shows. Etc. If nothing else, at least he's with someone going through the exact same thing.

Congratulations your life is officially fucked. Welcome to the club. I represent one of many crazy groups who will destroy your house and wreck each other fighting over you. They can all track you down easy as a lighthouse, so your best bet is to get somewhere you don't pay property insurance on, and don't take no shit from no one, least of all myself.

Interrupted Conversation Linda McCallahan 2012/08/28(Tue)00:16 No. 448645 ID: a407a5
File 134613819280.jpg - (20.02KB , 300x400 , man-in-suit.jpg )

>BP
A quick glance reveals it to be at 4.

"Yeah I do and I can help you out.... Sorta. I mean, i don't really know why this stuff is happening, but I know more or less the basics. I was in your shoes less then half a day ago. Woke up with the power to-"

"Wait. Hold on. Come inside, I can't... I can't be seen like this." Mathew leads the way inside, and you follow, closing and locking the door behind you. Don't want any unexpected guests. He leads you into the living room, and you take a seat on the sofa, while he tries to keep himself from setting fire to things.

"I'm sorry, I can't seem to make it stop..."

"I think you can just will it away. Just... calm down and wish it gone."

Mathew seems to calm down a bit at your words, and then the fire abruptly goes out, leaving him in a very business-like suit. Your half amazed his clothes didn't burn away, but maybe reality is a bit nicer about that sort of thing? You start talking before he starts asking questions, because your really not the person to be asking about this sort of thing.

"We're not the only ones who can do these kinds of things. There are whole groups of reality breakers. ...and not all of them are very nice, and they have rather aggressive recruitment methods. I'm sorry if this is all happening so fast, but I kinda want to leave before the crazies get here and start fucking up your hou-"

Your cell buzzes in your pocket, and you quickly check it. The only thing you see is one very bad message.

fixers front door back up in 2 - cass

... Shit.

>>>Input Command

"Oh god no here come the crazies."
Summon up your gun
"Mathew put back your flames by concentrating on them. You are gonna need it because the crazies are gonna come out and play with us right now. If you can't do it just hide for now. I'll try to hold them off till backup show up"
Keep track of any sounds and keep your eyes peeled because you kinda don't want to get ambushed by anyone smashing a wall down to get to you.

If Mathew could hide in a closet, nobody would have found him in his house. No hiding from these guys. Go out the back and book it. You just need to keep up a fighting retreat for 2 minutes and you might get out of this intact.

>>448649
Fine tell him to get his flame on and run. I guess just cut the dialogue telling him to hide and replace it with "Let's get the fuck out of here."

Might as well tell him to take his Foci a.k.a the thing the guy gave to him in the dream with him

"crap, the crazies are here. they call themselves fixers, and they have a very with us or against us mindset. if you want to avoid a life and death struggle we need to get the hell out of here now."

"Too late."

Get up, move to the hall, summon your gun and take aim at the door, ready to blast whatever comes through it. Time your shots- if you absorb recoil and track your target carefully, you can chain your kills (ie bang, track the static stumbling backwards, bang again when the static clears, repeat).

Talk as you move.

Combat 101- dying doesn't kill us until you've used up all your points. Lose your foci and you're out.

If he's still listening at this point (even if you've starting to get shots off by now).

These guys are out to "fix" things, mainly by killing anyone who isn't doing exactly what they say. We just want to help, and to have you hear us out. Non-binding, doubt you get that offer from them. But things are about to get crazy here, and you [i]need[/] to pick a side.

Oh, and when you take up position aiming at the door? You don't want to be right up to the door. You want to be across the room, down the hall, whatever- so you have range to fire from, and you're not going to be in trouble if they blow through the door (which seems like standard procedure, especially if they see Cass coming).

"You got the thing the guy gave you?"

"What? Uh, yeah, it's this-"

"Good. We have to go. NOW."

You start to lead the way towards what you hope is the backdoor, but then you hear a whining sound. Not like Cass' chainsaw, this one is more high-pitched. The whine seems to be picking up, you almost get the feeling...

You grab Mathew and drop to the floor seconds before a hail of bullets tears through the walls, cutting through the air where you were just standing. Shit! You have no idea what that is, but you don't want to be on the receiving end. You manifest your rifle and take up a position that gives you a view of the door, all the while talking. It helps keep you just as calm as him, especially cause this is really only your second fight, and the other one was kinda quick. Your panicking a little yourself.

"Combat 101- dying doesn't kill us until you've used up all your points. Lose your foci and you're out."

"Points? Foci?"

"Thing thing the guy gave you! Points are... how many times you can break reality... I think." The door is kicked in, and you barely catch a glimpse of some guy holding a sword of some kind before you take your shot. Fuck him. The round smashes into his chest, dropping him instantly, but you can see him already starting to pick himself back up. Unfortunately, the recoil through off your aim, he'll be back up by the time you realign.

"These guys are out to "fix" things, mainly by killing anyone who isn't doing exactly what they say. We just want to help, and to have you hear us out. Non-binding, doubt you get that offer from them. But things are about to get crazy here, and you need to pick a side."

"Oh god, oh god, oh god. You just... you just..."

>>>Input Command

"He ain't dead and he coming back for more so just think of him having extra lives like in a video game." Take the second shot whenever he gets back up BUT keep an eye out for that second fixer coming our way. If we can tell him to use the thing the guy gave him to turn back into fire dude to help us get out of here and if he does tell him not to worry about hurting these guys as they can just get back up as he can plainly see.

Well, they're making things easier for us, shooting first, breaking in, and not even trying to talk. (I'm guessing that's the mini gun guy out there. Not great news that- rapid fire bullets are probably one of the few things effective against Cass. Hopefully he's facing the wrong way).

BP on the sword guy? Even if he's back up before we realign, he's at the front of the house, we're at the back. We should be able to drop him once again before he can close, barring tricks. (Doing something about the recoil definitely on the wishlist).

>you just...
I didn't kill him, and they're still trying to kill us! They just started firing blindly into your home- they're not good people. You gonna help me defend ourselves here?

Hopefully we can stir him to action. If he starts contributing to the firefight, that will make up for our blasting delay, and we'll be able to take his guy down while Cass engages the gunner. Remember that Matthew can't see BP- so you'll know when the sword guy is helpless, he won't. Don't let him perma kill the sword guy- loot his focus at gunpoint.

Shoot at the arm holding the sword, that smore effective then killing him over and over again.

Yeah that does seems like a good idea because it will take some time before he dies from blood loss and won't be able to use the arm so I'm gonna agree with you.

>>448723
>>448731
I approve. Immediately non fatal shots are more disabling- they have to wait to die for the auto-res to kick in, or power through the pain and shock to will the break themselves.

The trick is when to grab his focus. If we grab it before he bleeds out and static-respawns, he's dead. The trick I think is to quickly search him while he's down, find it, hover over it, and then nab it the second he goes blurry. That way he's alive, but neutralized. We've got fast, accurate fingers, we can do this, right?

(What would the focus for a sword be, anyways? A sheath? A pin? A knife?. Part of me still expect chainsaw foci to be novelty keychains).

Overkill Linda McCallahan 2012/08/28(Tue)12:22 No. 448803 ID: a407a5
File 134618174808.jpg - (52.23KB , 640x512 , overkill-demotivational-poster-1225067000.jpg )

BP: 5

"I didn't kill him, and they're still trying to kill us! They just started firing blindly into your home- they're not good people. You gonna help me defend ourselves here?"

"I... er... I..." Your works don't really seem to be reaching him, but at least he has the presence of mind(or the gut reaction) to stay on the floor and out of the way. Your just barely realigning when the man starts to pull himself to his feet, and since he's a clear target anyway, why not? You fire off another round, this time into his arm, and you manage to hit right about where the joint would be. The entire appendage rips itself free, and the man collapses onto the ground again, writhing in pain. This is almost like what happend with that other guy. Only his arm didn't come off that time. Almost instantly, the man does his little regeneration thing, only this time, instead of sitting up, he rolls to the side, dragging himself out of the line of fire. A few seconds later, the sword he'd dropped vanishes into thin air. Another hail of bullets rips through the building, but your not stupid enough to stand up, and they work their destructive magic uselessly above your head.

>>>Input Command

A quick note. While I'm not an expert on weapon, and never claimed to be, I did do a bit of research before handing you that particular rifle. A .50 cal round will, if you were to shoot someone in the arm, cause either immediate or very quick death due to the shattering of bones, the ruptured artery, the massive bleeding and the shock from the sudden damage. So... maybe the "let's not kill" approach isn't going to work with this particular rifle.

Ask if there are any exits besides the front door. If there aren't, you may have to make one.

He lights himself on fire and only just found out how to turn it off. Compared to someone summoning a weapon, I think there's a bigger learning curve to using it effectively in combat. Point being, don't rely on his help, and don't get mad at him for it.

Maybe also warn him you've got back-up coming. Somewhat reckless back-up.

"Time to move." You know what it might just be time to bolt and take our chances and run but at most I think a minute past. If necessary we could probably shoot though the walls to hit the sword guy because if you can punch a hole in a wall with a giant hammer odds are you can do the same with an anti-tank rifle.

>>448849
Yeah a warning would be nice but staying here won't do us any good at this point but who knows I could be wrong. Just use short phases and sentences so he can comprehend what we are saying because he basically having a magic gun battle in his house

Text Cass with where the guy with the machine gun is, so she can make the most of her entrance.
Crawl toward the door!
We could let him know that our company will fix the damages for him after we get through this alive.

Well, lay off Matt. As long as he's not attacking us, or running into danger, that's good enough for now. We're not talking him into a place where he's going to fight.

>spoilers
I think we just assumed there'd be a delay where we could try something, like with the last guy. But yes, message received, this is the overkill gun.

Speaking of the stopping power of your gun, if you saw what he rolled behind and you haven't waited long enough to give him the chance to move, you can probably peg him again right through the wall. It's just drywall and wood, and you have more stopping power than we know what to do with.

We can't really go for the back door. (Although changing position so sword dude doesn't know exactly where you are might be prudent). We're pinned down until Cass shows up and jumps the minigun asshole from behind. Hopefully she hasn't gotten held up with the other hostiles.

Hmm, can you see his BP number through the wall? You might use that to aim.

"Stay down. Help's on the way."

You try firing through the wall at where you think the sword guy might be, and are answered with a scream of agony as your round passes through the weak wall. Well... at least you hit somebody. After that last shot though, you decide moving is the best course of action, and drag/crawl your way over somewhere a bit more protected from the random bullet storms. Mathew is trying to work his way over to you, although he keeps hesitating as the walls and furniture are torn apart by whatever is going on outside.

From your new position, you try sending Cass a short message, just to see if she can't speed things along a little, since you're more or less pinned down. The reply is quick and to the point, and a bit garbled, although you get the idea.

onwaystoptxtn

You decide maybe staying put until your friend gets here would be a somewhat better idea than nothing. You wish you could see where Mr. Triggerhappy is, but he's outside, and your inside, and as much as you'd love to stick your head outside, you really don't want to find out what death is like. As your thinking this, your phone buzzes again, and you frown as you check it.

Cass arrival 1 min. Bring Mathew out through back door and along side of house - D

You stare at it, a bit uncertain, your fingers drumming against the back of your phone in nervousness, but it's about then that Mathew finally gets to you.

"So... is there a plan? Other than just waiting for this help? Not that I'm complaining or anything..."

>>>Input Command

Well, if they've got that number, that's likely from someone on your team. (Unless the baddies are reality hacking your phone). D is probably Daniels.

>is there a plan? Other than just waiting for this help?
Yeah, c'mon. We're headed out the back, reinforcements have arrived.

Then head for the back door, stay low.

Sword guy's down 3 lives. Plus he's manifested the sword twice (or manifested once, and called it to him when it was dropped? Not sure if remote pickup costs BP or is free, we're kind of attached to our things, after all). No idea how many BP remaining, though (I think the count up a post or two ago was for Linda). He's likely to work his way around the house and try to jump you though, so be on guard for that, and ready to blast him at close range.

Don't kill him if you come across him on empty, of course.

Let's go with this but just be prepare for that gunner guy because odds are we aren't the only ones with a cell phone. We can sign in relief because said sword guy can't see us right now he can't really tell his friend where we are but odds are they know which way we are heading out so yeah just keep doing what we been doing since the beginning but before we even start that we gotta ask Cass who "D" is (Friend or Foe) or if she sent that message. Better careful than sorry

>>448964
You know what scratch that because Cass can't text right now

Witnessing Murder Linda McCallahan 2012/08/28(Tue)21:30 No. 448996 ID: a407a5
File 134621464975.jpg - (38.81KB , 500x500 , priest.jpg )

"Yeah, c'mon. We're headed out the back, reinforcements have arrived."

You hope.

You make your way over to the backdoor(after getting some helpful directions from your unwilling host) and manage to get outside. You make sure know one is going to ambush you around the corner, then start to make your way along the edge of the house to the front lawn, making sure Mathew is still with you. Just as your about to enter the front lawn, Cass arrives. And she's not wielding her chainsaw.

Instead, she seems to leap out of nowhere, landing directly behind the mini-gun toting fixer, and shove what looks to be a knife the length of her forearm into the man's skull. Blood pours out onto her arm and clothing, but she doesn't seem to notice or care. Instead, as the man drops to the floor, she yanks hard, pulling the knife out, and straddles the corpse, letting him come back to life as she waits above him. The minute he opens his eyes again, Cass smiles at him, her intentions clear on her face.

"Welcome back~ Couldn't have you missing all the fun~"

Cass slides the knife into his chest this time and twists viscously, her smile never wavering. If anything, it seems to get wider as the man starts screaming, until he's cut short by death. She pulls the knife free instantly, and waits, ever so patiently, for him to return to life, this time inserting her instrument of death into his eye socket, killing him instantly. Your break sight confirms it though. This is the last time he's getting up again. And Cass is clearly not finished.

She gets up off him as he is brought back again, and even lets him get up. Then she drives her knife home into his stomach, her smile widening to an impossibly large size, and then she wrenches it straight up, cutting him open and spraying blood all over herself.

Then the laughing begins.

It starts small. Giggling really, and barely audible. Then it picks up, and intensifies, and within seconds she laughing out loud to the world, knife in one hand, blood covering her form and insanity clear for the world to see.

"We're all like that, you know, in one way or another."

The voice catches you by surprise, and you spin to find a man standing behind, dressed like a priest. He seems oddly calm, after what just happened, although a little sad. It's clear on his face that just watching the scene he's deeply hurt, like he felt all the pain the man had just gone through.

Mathew, of course, is freaking out, but hey, just another problem, right?

>>>Input Command

Hand on Matt's shoulder. It's okay. She's crazy, but she's on our side, thankfully. I know how it looks, but she's not so bad when she's calmed down, really.

...and for what it's worth that guy was firing wildly in a residential neighborhood.

>We're all like that, you know, in one way or another.
That sounds like something you and I should discuss later in greater detail.

For now, Daniels, right? Can we get out of here before anyone else shows up?

Part of me wants to try to calm Cass down, but we don't know if she can tell friend from foe right now.

"Damaged? Makes a twisted kind of sense. Reality breaks us. We break reality in turn. What happened to the sword guy"

"Mathew, look at me. It is going to be alright."

If Mathew doesn't look like he is about to burst into flames give him a hug.

"Mathew calm down this guy just tried to kill you so let's just get out of here before any more people show up" I want to loot this guy's foci before we go if that's okay.

Am pretty sure this is Rodriguez, not Daniels. Although, I can see how Linda would think that he is Daniels.

>>449006
Cass killed him, she gets the loot. We only get it if she's feeling generous again, and we're not raising the point ourselves.

I kind of don't like picking up a spray and pray gun anyways. Doesn't fit Linda's style. She's about finesse and accuracy, and we've consistently tried to limit our own collateral damage.

>>449007
Yeah, I'm just going off the text.

Cleaning Up Linda McCallahan 2012/08/28(Tue)22:09 No. 449014 ID: a407a5
File 134621694284.jpg - (35.26KB , 594x800 , 7_62-machine-gun-round-260-p.jpg )

You decide the first thing you should do is calm Mathew down, or at least get him to the point where he's manageable. You start by grasping his should and forcing him to look you in the eyes. That should give him something to focus on other than the bloody mess that is the man.

"Mathew, look at me. It is going to be alright. She's crazy, but she's on our side, thankfully. I know how it looks, but she's not so bad when she's calmed down, really."

Thankfully, he seems to calm down somewhat, enough that he isn't likely to outright start screaming his head off at least. Unwanted attention is still unwanted attention. With him calm again, your next step is to talk to the new arrival.

"Damaged? Makes a twisted kind of sense. Reality breaks us. We break reality in turn. That sounds like something you and I should discuss later in greater detail. For now, Daniels, right? Can we get out of here before anyone else shows up? And what happened to the sword guy?"

"Oh no, I'm not Daniels. I'm Rodriguez Hernandez, a man of the cloth, in faith if not in the church. Daniels is kindly taking care of our swordsman friend..."

He gestures to the side, and you finally spot a man using a thin wire to throttle his victim. He let's the man drop to the ground, wire still around his neck, then when the man is up again it's back to the strangling. Unlike Cass, the man seems more methodical about his killing methods, cold and calculating all the way.

"Regardless, I would be delighted to discuss the matter with you further, but I'm afraid now isn't the best of times. Now that we have Mathew, we should be leaving as soon as possible. I don't feel like fighting without reason. Daniels and I will make sure Mathew makes it to our little headquarters safely, you should take Cass and find a separate route. Besides, I'm sure you'll want to talk to her. She needs a female friend, more than anything else."

Rodriguez bows to you, then takes Mathew gently by the shoulder and leads him away, Daniels following along after looting the body he'd killed of it's prizes. You watch them leave a moment, then turn your attention to Cass, who seems to have calmed down a bit. You make your way over, and frown a little in distaste at how frequently you seem to find yourself searching mutilated corpses, but you do, and eventually manage to drag out a large bullet, you test the weight of it, wondering if you'll get any use out of it, then feel a hand on your shoulder.

"Not to seem like a bitch or anything, but that's my prize. I killed him."

You glance over at Cass to find her almost completely back to normal, although she's looking a little more tired than she was when you left her with the car. Either way, you find yourself debating whether you should really hand it over.

>>>Input Command

>Hey, my loot.
Fair enough. Spray and pray isn't really my style anyways. *Toss her the bullet.*

(They'll be plenty of foci to loot if the body count keeps up like this. And we've already got one we still need to attune. And building something with her is more valuable than loot right now. Besides, I think we'll get xp for the fight anyways).

You alright?

(We want to get her to open up and talk about her crazy, if it all possible. From her response after we called her on killing the last guy, and how much she hates her nickname, I don't think she can control it. And I think that bothers her).

>>449019
Sure we can talk about her "problem" but not here because I feel kinda expose out in the open with an anti-tank rifle in hand so I kinda want to leave. When we give her the Foci let's just leave "Hey Cass can we leave? I feel expose out in the open and I kinda want to get out of here as soon as possible."

Oh, yeah, we have a long car ride back, and possibly crashing for the night somewhere. We don't need to hang around out in the open, near a battle site. Plenty of opportunities to talk on the move.

Maybe if we can work it into the conversation, ask her how she got into this, or how long she's been at it.

Mission Complete Linda McCallahan 2012/08/28(Tue)22:50 No. 449029 ID: a407a5
File 134621940362.jpg - (3.42MB , 3309x2206 , Desert_road_UAE.jpg )

"Fair enough. Spray and pray isn't really my style anyways."

You toss the bullet up to her, which she catches and shoves into a pocket. Then she turns on her heel and starts off, likely heading for the car. You stand and dismiss your rifle, then jog after her, catching up about a block down. Just watching her, she seems sluggish and tired, and you let your concern for the other woman get the better of you.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine."

Her answer was too fast and too tense sounding. You may not have a lot of experience dealing with people, but your certain she is definitely not fine. Still, you keep your silence, and when you do arrive at the car she get's into the passenger side, leaving you to drive... damn, it's been ages since you've had to drive anything...

A few minutes later your on the road again, this time taking the more "scenic" route back to your city of residence. You drive for maybe a half-hour, the monotony making the time blur together, before you get an unexpected conversation starter from Cass.

"I don't like it, you know."

You glance over at you comrade, but she's not looking at you, preferring to stare out the window instead. You hesitate, not really sure what to say at this point.


Experience Points Gained: 1
>>>Input Command

>>449029
"Yeah that was the feeling I got after I saw how you looked when the fight was over. I'm kinda wondering how did you start out with this whole "breaking reality" thing to begin with?"

I want to unlock our other Foci by the way

"Didn't think you did. Hell, that shit makes my inability to have kids seem like a walk in the park."

>1 xp
Damn. That's what we get for passing up the loot.

Put the point in pistol. If we want to be able to spawn camp our next opponent and loot their foci (and get more xp!), we have to be able to fire repeatedly, at close range, without recoil.

Besides, a lower caliber weapon gives us disabling options. The tank gun is a 1hit kill no matter where we hit them (torso, limbs, head).

We can't afford a spirit upgrade anyways, a point in str/fin/wil isn't worth passing up another weapon, and I don't think we can afford to upgrade our tank gun and up it's manifestation cost yet with our current BP pool.

>"I don't like it, you know."
...I didn't think so.

Maybe ask her what she did before all this, and talk about your own life. The whole business nerd thing might get a little amusement out of her. Hell, you've got to have some good drinking stories with the backstory we gave you too. Bond with her. She deserves someone in her life who uses her name, and doesn't just treat her as a weapon or attack dog to be launched at enemies. Treat her like a person.

Maybe we could ask something like:
What's... it like? What happens, from your perspective?
Problem is I think it has to be framed delicately, and should only be asked if appropriate, and if she responds well to previous conversation. It's touchy, and not a lead in. Possibly not something we should even get in to today (hard to judge the mood several steps in advance).

>>448803
Then you should know that the Barrett M82 is actually known for its incredibly effective recoil dampening systems, giving it a felt recoil some have compared to a 12 gauge shotgun. The real issue is the deafening sound.

"...I didn't think so. Hell, that shit makes my inability to have kids seem like a walk in the park."

You say this a little jokingly, hoping to lighten up the atmosphere a little bit. For a moment, Cass doesn't say anything, making you think you'd screwed up somehow, but then you hear a slight chuckle come from her side of the car.

"Yeah... I suppose my little issue puts most others to shame... I mean, I am pretty messed up." She goes silent for a moment, then continues, her tone cold enough to freeze water. "But at least you got control. I don't got that. When shit starts happening... I lose it. Can't stop myself. It's... god, this is stupid. You don't want to hear me bitch about my issues."

Cass stops talking, going back to stewing in her own thoughts. Your left wondering if perhaps you should push a little more, or just leave it alone. Either way, you get the feeling leaving her to her thoughts isn't what Rodriguez had in mind when he said you should talk to Cass.

What to do...

>>>Input Command

"Hey go ahead and talk about your problems if you want because that doesn't bother me none but here is a friendly warning for you. I will bitch about my problems at a later date so prepare yourself."

This works out like a invitation and doesn't make us seem pushy or as pushy as we could be but if she doesn't take it maybe it will serve as a chance for her to open up to us down the road.

Screw Rodriguez. We're talking to her because we want to, not because we were assigned buddy building duty (although really, it's what we wanted to do anyways, so whatever).

>>449069
I kinda like this.

If she doesn't offer anything else, I say we back off on the crazy for now, we're obviously not going to fix it in a day. Let's try and talk about other things. You two barely know anything about each. Ask her what she did, or does, when reality isn't falling around around her. Introduce yourself as the business nerd you are for a laugh. See if she gets a kick our of your guilty anime habit. Share some drinking stories, you should have some good ones with the backstory we gave you. Seem what she's willing to share in return. Normal stuff.

Give her a chance to interact with you as a person. I get the feeling she doesn't get to be Cass very often anymore. People expect her to be Chainsaw. And that can't help.

Dialog for if we get her talking.

"At least you channel your crazy into something positive, Unlike all the crazy assholes out there. Damn, if you think about I am Insane, because of how well am adapting to this situation so far. I should be freaking out about the whole fucking situation right now, like Mathew was. That is the sane reaction to this situation."

Ooh! Late idea, if we still need any.

Maybe you're not as far gone as you think. I got through to you, the first time, back in my apartment, didn't I?

(Yes, I'm abusing our lucky roll for character development now).

>>449117
Add this to what I said and it sounds great

"Maybe you're not as far gone as you think. I got through to you, the first time, back in my apartment, didn't I?"

Wait for her response

"You can go right ahead and talk about your problems if you want because that doesn't bother me none but here is a friendly warning for you. I will bitch about my problems at a later date so prepare yourself."

or something like that

"Hey go ahead and talk about your problems, if you want, because it doesn't bother me at all. But here is a friendly warning for you. I will bitch about my problems at a later date, so prepare yourself."

There's a longer silence, and another ten minutes pass without any real change. Then she starts talking again. She's a little hesitant at first, but she eventually starts warming to her topic, and just starts going.

"It's like a movie for me. You know, how all you doing during a movie is watch. That's me. Every single time. The fighting starts, and I start going berserk, and... there's nothing. No control whatsoever. I hate. I hate. It sucks, and some part of me rationalizes that it's a useful state to be in, I don't have to worry about the killing or the danger. I don't think about that when I'm fighting. I just kill. But... I don't want to kill. I really don't want to kill. I just... Shit, I don't know. I don't know what it is I want out of all this."

There's another few minutes of silence as you digest that, then you think up something you hope is the right thing to say.

"At least you channel your crazy into something positive, Unlike all the crazy assholes out there. Damn, if you think about I am Insane, because of how well am adapting to this situation so far. I should be freaking out about the whole fucking situation right now, like Mathew was. That is the sane reaction to this situation. And hey, maybe you're not as far gone as you think. I got through to you, the first time, back in my apartment, didn't I?"

A moment passes, then Cass sighs. "Yeah. Yeah, I suppose you did..."

The other woman relaxes a lot, releasing a lot of tension from her body you hadn't noticed, then she falls asleep, sliding down into her seat to get more comfortable. The rest of the drive is silent, but you feel like maybe you've gotten her to open up at least a little bit.

Handgun ? Released
Experience Points Gained: 1(an additional point)

Back to Base Linda McCallahan 2012/08/29(Wed)07:05 No. 449129 ID: a407a5
File 134624910193.jpg - (585.82KB , 727x1100 , 539814111_6-lounge.jpg )

By the time your back at home base, Cass is awake again, and you barely park the car before she hops out. Before she leaves though, she pauses and glances back over her shoulder.

"Hey... texting isn't really working out to well, right? I'll trade this focus I got for some radios or something... and I'll see you around..."

She looks a little embarrassed, and leaves too quickly for you to say anything in return. Still, you hope that she at least considers you a friend. You enter the building and head to the top floor using one of the elevators, and upon arrival find something completely unlike a hotel floor. For one, there's a massive lounge instead of a random hallway, and it's occupied by a few people. Rodriguez is slowly reading through the bible, although he glances up and give you a nod as you enter. Mathew is sitting next to him, still looking confused, but a lot calmer than before. And you notice Mike, the snake-man, lounging on a couch, hum/hissing a song as he looks through what appear to be ads for heaters.

Daniels walks up to you before you get the chance to do anything, though, growling out a quick set of order.

"Talk to the Boss, later. Later being the operative word. He's with Cass right now, finalizing some stuff."

Then the man leaves, heading off down the hallway to who knows where. Well, you guess that means you have some free time.

>>>Input Command

Lets spend that exp point on strength so we can better control the recoil of our gun.

As for our free time lets talk to the priest, we were interested in hearing his theories on what these powers mean.

>Cass Trust meter +1
Yay!

>bonus xp for talking
*Mile wide grin*

Okay, we got a few hours to kill, I think. Things to do:

-Say hi to Matthew. He's still freaked out, and you're probably the sanest person he's run into since this all started. Plus, you can probably relate better than anyone else, you're in the same situation, just a few hours ahead. Don't waste a lot of time, but he could use the encouragement.

-Talk to Rodriguez. We wanna follow up on what he mentioned before. We need to understand if there's some kind of moral or psychological toll to this, and some philosophical discussion of this stuff would be interesting. I doubt we're going to agree with everything he puts forward, but trying to work this stuff out logically seems like something Linda would do. This conversation will burn some time.

-Say hi to Mike. Another short conversation, but let's keep in touch with our allies. Snake boy had a sense of humor, at least.

-We should check out our new gun. See if Mac can tell you anything good, manifest it, get a feel for it. Maybe try that trick you saw the sword guy do where the sword came back to him after he dropped it. If you put the manifestation down and move away from you, can you call back to your hand? (Just by the attunement I mean, breaking reality to pick it up and move it is cheating). That could be useful trick.

>>449130
>str +1

Sounds good. Brings our stats to 3/3/2. On our next level up we're probably going to want to up spirit again, maybe start thinking about our first gun upgrade, and/or put finesse back in the lead.

>>449135
When we go talk to Mathew ask if he talk to the boss yet and if he didn't just mention to him to not talk about the doll. A friendly warning from one newbie to another

You decide you should talk with some of your teammates, and since he turns out to be the closest, you make your way over to Mike first. He notices you coming and his tongues flicks out, tasting the air. He smirks(you think) as you get close enough for normal talking, and starts off.

"Well. If it isssn't sssweetheart. What can Mike do for you?"

You enjoy some light conversation, and discover that he's gained quite a few traits from his snake-side, including an aversion to cold and the ability to "taste" the air and get information. Within a few minutes though, you excuse yourself and make your way over to your next target... er, targets.

"Hello. Linda, correct? It's a pleasure to talk with you without the threat of violence looming over our heads. Please, have a seat."

"Oh... uh... hi... um... yeah. Sorry for flipping out on you, before. It's... I've been told what's going on..."

You offer a reassuring smile to Mike, but quickly find yourself focused on Rodriguez. It seems he hasn't forgotten his promise to talk to you about people being broken, and he seems eager to explain his ideas.

"We are all broken. We all know this. All of us have our issues. I won't pry into yours, and it would feel wrong to use Cassandra's for our discussion, so I shall use mine. I was a priest, and I was crucified. I have the scars on my hands and feet to prove it. I am, in a way, broken. I will not deny that. Yet, I awoke days later and discovered I had the power to warp and change reality. My focus..." Rodriguez touches a silver crucifix around his neck as he speaks those words. "... allows me to heal the wounds and pains of others. God, for whatever reason, decided those of us that are broken and scarred are the ones to change the face of the world. I have yet to meet one of us that wasn't somehow damaged, either physically or mentally, sometimes both. Some of us may be better at hiding it, other not so much, but regardless, this is the path the Lord has chosen for us."

The speech goes on for almost an hour talking about the specifics, but large portions of it are highly religious in nature. You manage to pick out the general idea though. For some reason, only those that have some sort of physical or mental trauma are capable of breaking reality. Why this is remains uncertain, unless God really does exist, but irregardless, from everything you've seen, it more or less makes sense. The question remains though, why those who are broken?

You excuse yourself finally, and visit Mac to see about this new gun of yours. You find out it's a Beretta M9, a standard among the military nowadays, and while it's stopping power isn't the greatest, it can still put a man down. With nothing more to gain from that, you make your way back to the lobby to find Cass having joined those in the waiting room.

You could try talking to her more, you suppose, or maybe it's time to visit Marc again?

>>>Input Command

Flash a smile and wave hi to Cass as we go talk to Marc. We can talk to her later and get to know her better when we have more than five minutes to fit a conversation with her.

If the pistol is a standard, modern weapon that means it has the advantage that we can be seen with it, and draw less attention.

>Healer
Hells yes, that's useful. Raises an interesting problem of type though. Does that count as a weapon manifestation, or a form? We'll have to wait till we see it in action, I guess.

>Talk to Cass
Sure, but keep it light. No prying into secrets or our own issues this time around. We've done enough of that for one day, and we're in front of other people. When we're done chatting we can see Marc.

"Hey Cass. Heard you were talking with the Boss?"

"Yeah. You'll find out what it was about when your turn is up... Here. I already visited Mac, and he said he'll give us more if we ever get more people attached to... well, just talk to the Boss. He'll let you know."

Cass hands you what looks like an ear-bud from an ipod, although it's shaped oddly, with it's cord connected to a radio box looking thing. Another cord extends from the box, this one connected to a clip looking thing. You frown, not really getting what's she's talking about, until Cass goes into more detail.

"It's a two way radio type thing. I don't really get how it works, but you put the ear bud in your ear, this box thing connects to a belt, and that clip goes on your sleeve." Cass shows you, her's already plugged in and working. You follow suit, putting everything where it's supposed to go, until you realize that you don't have a sleeve for the clip to go on. At least, not one that's useful.

"Eh. Maybe you'll just have to start wearing long sleeves or something. Anyway, you can hold this little button on the clip down and talk through it, and I should be able to hear it. If Mac actually got this thing working right. He said range shouldn't be an issue, unless we get miles apart from each other. You should get going. Boss is a little impatient sometimes."

You thank Cass, still fiddling with the radio-thingy, and make your way to the Boss' office. Upon arrival you enter, and find him already smiling, the man sitting on his desk.

"Linda! I hear you did a good job for you first time out. Fine job indeed. Although it's a good thing I sent Daniels and Rodriguez after you. Regardless, I think you've done a splendid job, and from what I can tell, Cassandra seems to like you. So for now, I'm hoping you'll team up with Cassandra from now on when you go out on missions. I'd also like to suggest you stay here, at the hotel. We have numerous rooms available on the floor below, and I doubt you'll feel comfortable by yourself. A number of our members prefer to stick around here. I could have your things moved within the next few hours. If you want to, of course."

>>>Input Command

While we should probably maintain our apartment as a front, moving to base makes practical sense. We have enemies now, and it's not safe to sleep alone when super powered crazies could bust in at any moment. A lone breaker is an easy target. We should take him up on it. ...we'd like to pack our own things though, if you don't mind.

And we're fine to keep working with Cass, too.

>it's a good thing I sent Daniels and Rodriguez after you
(seemed overkill to me, actually. Cass had the gunner dead, and we were controlling the swordsman. As soon as we weren't pinned down, or Cass entered the house, he was done. Unless they killed the 3rd gang we were expecting on the way in, all they really did was give us the chance to talk to Cass without Mathew in the back seat. And steal the sword guy's focus before we could get it).

>need sleeves
Good thing you have sleeved blouses in your closet!

I'm torn... some independance would be nice, but Wolf Boy is going to be looking for revenge....

So what should we bring if we are keeping the apartment just clothes and the like? What about the mecha anime DVDs? Do they stay in the apartment?

Hmm we could just bring some clothes over here and sleep here while keeping the rest of our stuff at our apartment so it looks like someone lives over there.

>>449331
Well, we'll need our laptop and work related files / documents if we want to stay employed. Working from home will now take place in the hotel (although I expect we can cheat somewhat at that now, so it won't take as much time as it used to).

Clothes and stuff, sure. We can leave the furniture, the hotel is furnished. Probably the bottle of the good stuff we keep handy for emergencies. The mecha anime of course, we'll just hide it in the bottom of the box. And lock the doors when we turn on the TV.

And the apartment really only needs to look lived in from the outside. We don't have to worry about stuff like taking too much out of the closet, I'd say.

>>449335
Agreed but man now I got to change the dialogue again

Shrug your shoulders "You might as well because the fixers know where I live now anyways and this place doesn't look too shabby but can I come as well to get some personal items? You guys can move the rest of the stuff.

(No one must know my secret love of mecha anime)

"Uh... sure. I'll live here. But... um... I think I'll go back and pack for myself... you know. Just to collect... some things. Personal things."

"Of course! Of course! I wouldn't dream of forcing anything on you. I'd be much obliged if you'd get it done today. It'll give me the time to get the necessary arrangements done as well. Since you'll be partnered with Cassandra, I'll put you in the room next to hers... Ah! I'll have Mike drive you over. You might take Cassandra as well, something is causing every breaker group in this town to worry, and I certainly don't like something that sets a fire under everyone.

Still, the final decision is up to you. I think that's all for the moment, so..."

You take that as a sign you should be going, and leave while thinking on the issue. Someone is out there who can worry the Boss? He's seems pretty strong, especially if he scares the people under him. You suppose that means you'll have to watch yourself. Who knows what kinds of things can happen nowadays.

You pause as you reach the lounge. Mike was coming, right? At least, that's what the Boss said. You suppose it would be better than going on your own. Should you bring Cass as well?

>>>Input Command

>Someone is out there who can worry the Boss?
Or something. We are dealing with an unstable reality, here. Besides, even if he's personally got a crazy powerful kill doll and lots of BP to keep him from getting killed, he has to worry about his organization getting torn down around him. His plans and setup are probably much more vulnerable than he is.

>Take help?
Sure, it'll make moving faster, although it should be pretty easy. You're super strong now, and they're even more so.

Besides, it'd be stupid to go alone, when the whole reason you're moving is the danger of being alone. Especially after Marc warned you.

C'mon, we're headed out to loot my apartment. We're gonna be neighbors.

>>449349
Agreed might as well take all the help you can get.

Wait did we ever use that exp point (The one we got after Cass open up to Linda little more) to increase our strength because I don't see a mention of that unless I missed it.

>>449371
Yeah, we must have. Our stats have already been updated in the wiki. 3/3/2

Moving Out Linda McCallahan 2012/08/29(Wed)20:06 No. 449394 ID: a407a5
File 134629597268.jpg - (106.41KB , 600x750 , 47467b1c0901cf8706663ed70812367d1233679556_full.jpg )

>>449371
... Yeah... um... whoops... Yeah, it got spent on strength.

You grab Cass and Mike, telling them that your going to need help moving some of your stuff, not to mention that you'll be next to Cass, which doesn't really cause any sort of reaction. That's a little depressing, she could have at least been a little happy about it, but whatever.

A few minutes later and your back at your apartment, Mike waiting outside in the car to keep watch, and Cass with you inside, hauling a box over to your closet to start packing up clothes.

You've elected to start in the living room, because that's where your all important treasures are... the mecha anime collection you've so lovingly bought. There's is absolutely no way in HELL your letting yourself leave these behind... but you'd rather not have anyone else no about them. And of course, there can be only one that gets to go in the box first.

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.

Why? Because it's fucking awesome, that's why. Giant robot, breaking physics, winning through sheer AWESOME. It's got everything. And because you've always wanted to be Yoko, and hell, you just realized after picking it up that you pretty much ARE Yoko now. You've got the huge ass cannon. You got the physics-breaking abilities that make everything seem possible. You've got a reasonably sexy body(although your chest isn't quite that large). You don't have your own Kamina though...

Your suddenly broken from your daydreaming by the sudden arrival of a familiar voice right next to your ear.

"Hey, isn't this that... what do they call it... Anime, right?"

You glance to your left to find Cass holding another of your treasured(if more depraved) collection, Neon Genesis. The only thought that manages to run through you head?

ohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshitohshit

>>>Input Command

...Did you really expect me not to do it?

Suggestion 2012/08/29(Wed)20:18 No. 449407 ID: f6cff9
File 134629672675.jpg - (26.74KB , 640x480 , Ohno.jpg )

Hide Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann before anything

"Cass look at me." Grab her "You cannot tell one soul about this. Please promise me this one thing for the love of god. Can you do this for me? Please?"

While saying this pull out the puppy dog eyes.

>anime?
Plan overreacted embarrassment is a go. You're mortified. It'd be better if she'd found a depraved porn stash (not that you have one!)

Hopefully in the end the exchange ends up as more amusing or endearing than anything else, and we earn Cass a few more normal human friendship points.

When the silliness calms down, make sure we make out with the clothes, shoes, computer, everything work related, toothbrush and bathroom stuff, our personal cell for work / friends / family / normals (we'll probably leave it in the hotel room from now on), the emergency booze, etc.

Your face goes bright red almost immediately. For a moment, you shovel through your limited knowledge of human interaction and come up blank with how you should respond to this. So you draw on another source of knowledge. The one you'd get so excited over you stayed up all night just to finish it an entire series. You turn to the anime you know and love.

You freak out.

"Youcan'ttellanyoneaboutthisiftheyfindoutI'llneverbeabletoliveitdownmyparentswillkillmemyjobcredibilitywillberuinedI'llb
elookeddownuponbypeopleeverywhereohgodohgodohgod-

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"

You collapse, a little tired out by your sudden outburst, and for a moment there is no response, then Cass is kneeling in front of you, a puzzled look on her face.

"Is it really all that bad?"

"Cass look at me." You grab hold of her by the shoulders, staring her directly in the eyes with the most serious expression you can muster. "You cannot tell a soul about this. Please promise me this one thing, if it's the only thing you ever do for me. Please?"

Cass stares at you with a somewhat doubtful expression on her face, but she slowly nods her acceptance. At least partially, she stops midway through the nod and gets an evil smile on her face.

"Only if you share some of that booze you got stashed away in your closet. That's some good stuff you got, and we can't have it lying around, now can we?"

You hastily agree, not really caring as long as it'll get her to stay quiet, and finish packing up the rest of your stuff. Then it's time to haul it out to the car. Two boxes worth to get everything you needed out. When you arrive at the car, however, Mike isn't there. Odd. You remember telling him not to move...

You feel a tugging on your arm, and glance down to find a maybe 13 year old girl staring up at you, a look of concern on her face.

"You have to help the snake-man, lady. He went under the street to save my mom and hasn't come out." The girl points to a sewer grate left open.

>>>Input Command

Aw man this is a total trap but we gotta help Mike if he is in there. Call Mike if we have his number first so this won't end up as a wild goose chase. If we don't have it or he doesn't answer I guess we gotta go down. Take Cass with you

>Share booze
We're going to get drunk with Cass later. I don't see how there could have been any better outcome.

>Girl
Be instantly suspicious. Bring out the paranoia. This has all the trappings of, well, a trap. Reach out with your senses. Is this girl a breaker? Is she under some kind of influence? Is she an avatar posing as a little girl? Do you sense anything, anywhere? Are you being played that you can tell, basically.

What... did your Mom need saving from, exactly?

Look to Cass- she's know Mike longer than you. Would he do that kind of thing?

If we're going under the street at least duck back into your apartment long enough to grab a flashlight.

>>449444
So go all out on the paranoia right? Make sense in this case though

Check if she has BP, then go down the sewers. Use that handgun, the cannon isn't quite maneuverable enough for tight hallways, and we get to test the thing out.

Call Cass on that radio.

Suggestion 2012/08/29(Wed)21:47 No. 449449 ID: 6a1ec2
File 134630207164.jpg - (44.79KB , 650x371 , 20111010_men_in_black.jpg )

Is she holding. A book. On quantum physics.

this sounds like a trap, but either way mike may need help. lets get mikes recounting of events and casses opinion on this before we head into the sewers.

>>449447
In addition to being unwieldy in tunnels, the tank gun is two-handed. We need a hand free to do a handgun / flashlight hold.

It's also worth asking Cass if she sense anything. She's got a slightly higher spirit score, and might make a roll we fail if someone is masking themselves from us (there is a spirit ability for that now).

City Spelunking Linda McCallahan 2012/08/29(Wed)22:01 No. 449461 ID: a407a5
File 134630288335.jpg - (9.16KB , 400x300 , Dark+Sewer.jpg )

You back up almost instantly, preferring not to be near anyone who seems like they could hurt you. You stare at the girl a moment, then kneel down, trying to make yourself less threatening while at the same time looking for any signs this girl is out of the ordinary.

"What... did your Mom need saving from, exactly?"

"The weird men. They won't leave us alone, keep saying stuff about reality and breaking. The snake-man seemed to know what was going on..."

You glance over your shoulder at Cass, but she's just shrugs. She has no idea what's going on either, and it's not like she regularly talks to Mike. She doesn't seem particularly alarmed either, so you doubt she sensed anything at all. You return your gaze to the girl, still feeling like this is way too suspicious. But there is literally nothing wrong with the girl herself. No numbers floating around her, no weird objects. She's just a kid.

Eventually you decide you can't just leave Mike down in the sewers regardless, so you go back inside to grab a flashlight, then make your way down into the sewer system. Cass follows along, looking somewhat bored, and after turning on your flashlight you find blood splatter along the walls, leading deeper into the tunnels. The strong urge to pull out your handgun hits you, but you nervously glance back up to the street and see the girl kneeling down by the manhole, eyes looking at you hopefully. You can't start pulling guns with a normal watching you.

>>>Input Command.

It's a little girl. She probably doesn't even know that handguns require a license. She just saw a half man half lizard. It doesn't get much more abnormal than that. Pull out your handgun, just make it look like it came out from under your coat instead of just materializing.

Part of me wonders if we should be leaving the little girl alone on the street. But leaving Cass to babysit, or sending her alone on a rescue mission both seem like absurdly stupid ideas.

>Can't pull the gun around normals
You could always fake as if you were drawing the gun normally. Or just wait till you're out of sight of the manhole.

>Blood
Touch it. It hasn't been long since they came down here. If it's not warm, it's probably Mike's.

Might as well follow the trail though, we've got no other leads.

If all else fails just ask the girl to be on lookout for any more strange guys so she will look away for a minute.

If Linda and Cass have their radios (we left them at the base, didn't we...) make sure they're on and ready to use. Either way we should also probably notify someone back at base about the situation in case it all goes south or has any relation to whatever had the boss on edge (if so try getting more info)

>>449766
We only have two comms, and from Cass's description, only for our squad. If we want to contact anyone at base, we'd have to use a phone.

I don't think the situation merits calling for help yet though. Cass would just see it as cowardice anyways, costing us some of the trust we've been working so hard to build up.

You manage to disguise your pistol by pretending to draw it from... somewhere. Damn it, you don't have a coat on. The matter is quickly irrelevant though, as you move deeper into the tunnel the girl can't see you anymore. You first stop is the blood on the wall. You reach out and touch it, and notice that it's lukewarm. Not a good sign for Mike. You shine your flashlight down the corridor and find another blood spot. You glance back once, Cass still with you, and follow the signs.

Once out of sight, you draw your newest weapon, the lightness in comparison to your rifle is a bit surprising. Well, at least it should be easier to fire, right? You get your ear-bud in, and make sure the radio things work, then continue down the tunnel. You keep following the trail of blood, hopping from blood spot to blood spot. Eventually you find yourself in a larger area, where all the sewage seems to come together.

"Well, this is a pleasant smell, isn't it? Wait... isn't that Mike? Who's that other guy?"

Cass points to a body laying on the ground. It looks definitively snake-like. On top of that, there's some random guy kneeling over him, doing something to the body. You see two numbers though, although you can't really make them out. At least that means Mike is alive.

"So... what are we gonna do, Linda?"

>>>Input Command

Well, we have two obvious choices. We either talk, or we attack without warning.

What is the breaker over Mike doing? He could be in the process of chain killing, although you'd think that would be more obvious. He could be searching for Mike's focus. Or I suppose he could be trying to help, unlikely as that seems.

I don't like just shooting the guy. There's the off chance he isn't hostile. And he'll take several shots to go down- he's potentially in the position to kill Mike faster than we can kill him.

I think we have to risk taking.

Have Cass hang back. You approach, pistol drawn and trained on him, flashlight off. When you get close, announce yourself, and turn your light back on. "Hey! What you doing to my friend!" Circle around a little in your approach, so when he looks up to see you, he isn't facing the direction Cass is waiting.

If he's not hostile, we get an explanation at gunpoint. If he is, maybe we can still get him to move away from Mike at gunpoint. And if it comes to it, shoot him.

>>449873
Yeah might as well go with this and if we die well at least we got our first death out of the way.

Time to see what's up. You gesture for Cass to stay put, then switch your flashlight off and approach, making sure to position yourself so Cass won't be spotted when the man looks up. You take a deep breath as you arrive at a place that is reasonably close, then you it's time for you to start. The flashlight comes on, and your voice is raised so the man can hear you.

"Hey! What you doing to my friend!"

The man looks up, then stands up, hands raised.

"Whoa! Th-there's no need for that! I-I'm j-just trying to h-help a friend!"

The man stands frozen in his place, although occasionally his expression changes to one of hate and anger. Still, he doesn't seem to be doing anything right now... Then you see Cass marched into your point of view, a spear aimed at her back.

"Sorry, Linda. Didn't notice him. Her. Whoever it is."

You see a 7 float by the man's head, the one threatening Cass, while the other man has a 26. He suddenly drops his hands, eyes getting sharp. And then not again. And then sharp again. It's very confusing.

"See! I told you WE should have taken Mike back to base! Then we wouldn't be dealing with this bullshit. B-but. M-Mike is h-hurt. We can't just m-move him. Come on! You can't start saying you've grown a backbone now. Still...

Who are you people? And why shouldn't we just kill you?"

>>>Input Command

We're friends of Mike, he was in the area helping me move. Besides Boss might not like losing two of his operatives.

With a 26 this guy is a tad out of our league unless thats ALL hes put his points towards.

Are we close enough to see Mike's BP now?

Standoff. Let's continue talking.

>Who are you people, what are you doing?
Name's Linda, and all I was trying to do was move out of my apartment before more crazy people showed up and tried to kill me again.
Instead, I come outside, find my friend missing, a trail of blood, and you standing over his body at the end of it. So how about you tell me who you are, and what the hell is going on here, and what you want with him?

>>450046
>>450039
Yeah time to continue the Mexican standoff and find out what is happening

Ah! Mike! You check him for a number, and find a 0. That must mean that he's at least alive, since you doubt a number would show up above a dead person. At least, you hope he's still alive. You've never bothered to check a corpse before. Either way, you assume he's alive. Especially because the man was saying he was going to help Mike. They wouldn't help a dead person.

"Name's Linda, and all I was trying to do was move out of my apartment before more crazy people showed up and tried to kill me again.
Instead, I come outside, find my friend missing, a trail of blood, and you standing over his body at the end of it. So how about you tell me who you are, and what the hell is going on here, and what you want with him?"

There's silence, and then the man sighs. "Seems like you really do know this guy. Well then, I suppose we can't go killing you, our leader wouldn't like that." He gestures, and the spear is removed from Cass' back. The man who was holding it moves to stand next to the first man.

"If you haven't been told of us yet, then I'd assume your boss isn't very trusting. We're another breaker group allied with yours. We're not quite so... passive... but we don't just go around killing people either.

As for Mike here, we found him like this. More or less. He was still awake when we got to him though. He said something about an Avatar, so I'm guessing he got ambushed by something, but regardless, hanging around here isn't a good idea. I'd suggest coming with me, but I don't want you anywhere near our base. I'll let Conner know we have Mike, in the meantime, you lot should disappear. Casey, collect the snake for me, will you?"

The other man moves forward again, and bends down to pick up Mike. You can tell Cass wants to fight, her body is tense and ready to roll. All she'd need is something to set her off. You hesitate, trying to make up your mind regarding the pair. You don't believe he's lying, but...

>>>Input Command

Ask Cass if she has heard of allied groups.

Tell the DID one that we have a healer at home, if we're allies you won't mind if we call him and bring him here for Mike's sake.

If Linda doesn't have the number of the hotel then Cass probably does. We can also get confirmation that we are allied to other groups.

The question is do we think we can take them on or not if we decide not to let them take Mike without them hurting Mike in the process? We also have to think if they wanted him dead they could have done it already. The worst case scenario is they want to ransom him or get info out of him. We have to ask them why we can't take him to our base instead. We got to make that much effort at least.

>>450111
We are in the sewers right now so don't be surprise if calling doesn't work. You know bad reception and what not but I agree we have to make the effort to at least talk to Conner. We also have a van so we can take Mike. We can't stay here for the off chance that guy who hurt Mike (If it wasn't the guys in front of us) could come back for seconds.

>>450111
We are in the sewers right now so don't be surprise if calling doesn't work. You know bad reception and what not but I agree we have to make the effort to at least talk to Conner. We also have a van so we can take Mike. We can't stay here for the off chance that guy who hurt Mike (If it wasn't the guys in front of us) could come back for seconds.

I guess the plan is ask question and then decide what to do.

Well, they lowered their weapons, so you can lower you gun from actively pointing at him to a ready pose instead. Shoot Cass a look telling her to stay in control.

...have you seen anyone else down here? There was a little girl topside, who said he came down to help her mother. Either she's the avatar, or there's someone else here.

>Allies, take Mike, help him.
No offense guys, but would you let a hurt friend to be carried away by a bunch of strangers? I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt when you say you didn't do this, and you're not my enemy, but that's asking a little much.

Look, how about we all just get him topside? We've got a van, and our own healer back home. We can take care of him. Or if you've got some pressing reason why he needs your medic in particular, we can call and confirm we've actually got allies.

(diplomacy roll, go! Wishing we'd gone for wil and not str now...)

Give Cass some emotional support here so she doesn't flip out and start killing people. Nothing big, just a hand on the shoulder or something. Some physical contact to ground her.

>>450170
You know she would probably back off if we told her. It's when she starts a fight that a problem occurs but if she needs it then go right ahead.

You lower your weapon and slide over to Cass, resting a hand on her shoulder. At your touch you can feel her muscles relax, although she still maintains a certain... air. It like the intent to murder, and it's all directed at the pair of men.

"...have you seen anyone else down here? There was a little girl topside, who said he came down to help her mother. Either she's the avatar, or there's someone else here."

"I don't know anything about a little girl. I do know that someone is hunting people down here. None of ours, so far, but there have been... others groups, though. They've been down here, hunting us, and losing members."

The man called Casey has shouldered Mike by now, easily carrying him. Cass is starting to tense up again, eyes intent on Mike, but you quickly get in the way. You doubt your partner will keep calm very much longer unless you do something. Time to try diplomacy.

"No offense guys, but would you let a hurt friend to be carried away by a bunch of strangers? I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt when you say you didn't do this, and you're not my enemy, but that's asking a little much.

Look, how about we all just get him topside? We've got a van, and our own healer back home. We can take care of him. Or if you've got some pressing reason why he needs your medic in particular, we can call and confirm we've actually got allies."

There's a pause, a long pause, and then the other man clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "Damn it... someone's here. Someone not friendly. Casey, follow one of them to the surface, get Mike to their van, the way back to our hideout isn't ... one of you is going to have to stay with me and help me distract whoever the hell it is. Hopefully we aren't outclassed by too large a margin.

Which one of you is it going to be?"

>>>Input Command

As you part ways tell Cass to call the hotel. Shes most likely to get a direct line to the Boss if she says its urgent. If the boss confirms their story good. If not... kill him and get Mike out... hes down to 0 BP.

Try to be discreet eh?

I say we stay in the sewers with the madman.

(Casey is the 7BP spearman, and other guy is the 26BP unknown with the funny eyes, right?)

Diplomacy went well. If they were pretending to be allies and wanted Mike for some purpose, they wouldn't have given in so easy. Unless they're trying to split you up and kill you.

>Pick a person!
Well, Cass is spoiling for a fight, and honestly, she's probably more deadly than us.

On the other hand, I'm not sure how well the berserker will do teamed up with someone she's already itchy about. And if we're staging a fighting retreat against something tougher than us, melee with ranged support would better than 2x melee, right?

>>450205
This is probably the best way to do it. You're some kind of melee form, right? I'll offer ranged support.

It'd be nice to manefest the tank gun if we're facing something nasty, but you still need your off hand for the flashlight. Plus, the pistol's probably easier not to accidentally plug your ally with during the fight.

>>450209
We were texting earlier, so she has a phone. She can call as soon as she gets reception.

Also: if this is a plan to divide and kill us? Cass is way tougher than spear dude. We'd just have to hold of this guy for a little while and then we get 2 on 1.

>>450209
We should ask how he fights so we can build around that but still it sounds like good times coming ahead for Linda. Fighting with a madman while people hunting for us huh? Sign me up

>>450214
Deleted post 450205 by accident and it said:

Are you a melee fighter or do you prefer range attacks.

If he is a melee fighter Linda stays and if he prefers range attacks Cass stays

>My computer has been acting weird lately so I'm sorry about that

>(Casey is the 7BP spearman, and other guy is the 26BP unknown with the funny eyes, right?)
Correct.

You decide you should be the one to stay to support, mostly because you suspect that Cass wouldn't do to well in a fight when the person she's partnered with is someone she wants to kill. Really badly. Instead, you send Cass back with Mike, telling her to call the Boss as soon as she can to inform him of what's going on. She nods her agreement, although she looks uncertain about leaving you, but within a few minutes her and Casey are gone, heading back the way you came. That leaves you with the mystery man. You turn back to him, but he's already arming himself with a... doll? What?

"Don't look at me like that. I'm an Avatar type." The doll seemingly came out of nowhere, but what's even more disconcerting is that it wasn't the man that had talked just then. It was the doll. It looks like a miniature version of the man himself, but it seems oddly more... frightening.

"So... what's the plan then?"

"I'll take this idiot-" The doll back-hands the human carrying him, which just causes the man to whimper in submission, "-and we'll go after whoever this is directly, to get there attention. You head along that tunnel-" The doll gestures down another side tunnel, "- and wait in the large round room at the end. We'll try to drag draw them that way. That alright for a plan?"

>>>Input Command

Sounds good.

If Cass gets attacked her chainsaw should be really, really loud in these tunnels.

"I don't like that plan." Avatar users aren't very common, I've heard. Still no sign of the 'mom' Mike came down here for, either. Should we just apply bullets to this guy's face?

>>450235
Yeah they aren't very common but they are pretty powerful and this guy is kinda out of our league as of right now. You have to consider the avatars are "independent" as in they can attack by themselves. It would be a pretty bad idea to attack this guy.

>>450233
I agree with this. The plan sounds alright

Sounds good.

Okay, if we're taking up a stationary position, we can probably prop the flashlight up, bunker down, and manifest the tank gun for super-sniping as whatever comes our way.

Keep the pistol manifested- tuck it in your waistband or something. If the target gets too close and we need maneuverability, we depoof the tank gun, draw the pistol and grab the flashlight. Then we're free to run and gun, dodge, and/or unload a clip quickly at close range (things that are harder to do with the tank gun).

>>450238
Cool but first we gotta find something to prop the flash light up which could be hard to find in a sewer. The good thing with this plan is that we have some time to do that. Let's see what we can do

Hmmm, now that we have two reality-breaking dice lets try to break reality to have super hearing for the next 30 - 60 mins. Controllable of course, wouldn't want to deafen ourselves with gunfire.

>>450241
We could also try to make something to prop the flashlight but I don't know what to use. I guess we could use some of the ground.

...we could just prop the flashlight up on the pistol. Then it's convenient to grab them both at once when/if we need to drop the tank gun.

Besides, we already spent the BP summoning it. I'm not keen to waste another point on making a prop.

>>450241
Hmm. I'm not sure we should attempt a breaking that effects ourselves directly, considering what we've seen happens when we fail, and since we don't know how hard something like that would be to do yet.

Hmmm how about a combat helmet then, full audio enhancement, night vision, the works.

I'm not sure how to work that though, maybe convince reality its not in the local army depot and is instead right beside us... or is that too advanced?

>>450246
Definitely more than we could do.

Think of it this way- it would cost 1 XP to upgrade a night vision scope to our gun. You aren't going to be able to get the same thing out of thing air for renewable BP.

We got a rough SP scale here: >>\questdis\59811
We're one point above color teaks, and several below changing existing animals into monsters. Creating equipment out of thin air has to be higher than 5.

From my understanding its all dice, with 3 you can possible change existing things... which in my mind means two you can probably move something that already exists. Distance might be an issue or it might not. No harm in trying eh?



As for the combat penalty... we aren't yet in combat! we're waiting for it to start and what better time to try and give us a bit of an advantage.

>>450253
We could probably mind move something, yes.

The problem is there's a concentration penalty (so it won't often work in tense combat situations). Also, I can't think of anything we have to mind throw right now that's worth burning an extra life on. Especially when we can just throw bullets.

We have no idea whats possible at the moment... the guidelines outlined so far are very vague. Which means experiment, experiment, experiment!

Actually I think one of peeps fears is that we don't know if failing to break reality costs a BP or not. I don't think it does since it wasn't mentioned the three times we did it when facing wolf boy and his bro.

It would be nice to know for sure though.

Let's just stick with what we know. I'm pretty sure you can't teleport something if you don't know where it is exactly. I mean how can you teleport something if you don't know where to teleport it from. I also don't know anything we can mind throw that would be better than shooting an anti-material rifle.

Whats the harm in trying?

>we don't know if failing to break reality costs a BP
We had 5 BP when we got break sight. 3 of those came from the level up, so we only had 2 after the fight in our apartment.

According to our stats in dis, our initial BP was 5. To get down to 2: we spent 1 on the failed waterfall, 1 manifesting the gun, and 1 failing to heal the arm.

Failures still cost.


>Experiment! Whats the harm in trying?
Opportunity cost. We have very little BP, and we need it to summon weapons, reload, and as extra lives. If this is a tough fight coming up, we'll need points for those. We also run into multiple fights per day- we don't get a chance to regen everything between encounters.

Basically, BP is too tight to dick around with right now.

what? Our BP started at five. And it was still at five when we got into the car on the way to the Hotel....

Could we take the discussion of how the mechanics work over to the dis thread? This is getting off topic, and DoT has actually been pretty reasonable in explaining how things work without experimentation.

If we die the four times it takes to completely drain us after summoning our rifle and a helmet then we'll most likely die the fifth time without the helmet as well.

The reason why I want enhanced senses is because we are in a sewer... with little light, and no idea exactly of the terrain. We NEED more information or we WILL die those 4-5 times.

>>450268
I'm up for bringing this to the discussion thread.

Agree, setup in the circular room. Try to pick a spot with a clear line-of-fire down the corridor the enemy is expected to come down. There is a decent chance this is all a trap, of course but not much we can do about it in this situation other than being wary.

No experimenting with Breaking right now, we need to save our points for reloads and not-dyings. Definitely no attempting to Break ourself. We haven't seen that end well.

Planned Encounter Linda McCallahan 2012/09/01(Sat)10:09 No. 450358 ID: 466404
File 134651938501.jpg - (84.19KB , 570x798 , anime.jpg )

You nod your agreement to the plan and head off down the tunnel, your steps echoing eerily. Now that you're alone down here, the place seems a litte unsettling. Still, the walk isn't very long, and you arrive at your destination relatively quickly. You find yourself a good spot to wait. You drag out your tank gun, prop your flashlight using your pistol, and get a good position, and wait. Just wait.

It seems like minutes stretch into hours, as you just stare intently into the dark, waiting for something to happen. Then you hear it. Something off in the distance. It sounds almost like the sound of metal on metal. You find yourself tensing, expectant, but then you get your own surprise.

"How quaint. You are, perhaps, the woman I met earlier? Yes. I think so. You feel the same. Good. I have reason to speak with you."

You turn around to look behind you and find a woman standing above you, her gaze fixed on you. She smiles slightly, although you don't smile back. This is the girl from earlier. She's much older, maybe in her late-teens, early-twenties, but the same girl. What the hell?

"Shall we begin with introductions? Aria Galliana, at your service. You are...?"

>>>Input Command

Tell her Linda. What does she want to talk about.

Whats her BP at, my guess is she was maintaining Normality Cloak when you first encountered her, despite our suspicion. Or she broke reality in such a way she WAS a little girl when you met her.

>>450359
Yeah if any of that was true then she is little out of our league so we gotta play nice for now. We don't really know how strong she is.

So she's got normalcy cloak, higher spirit than us, and either the ability to change her appearance or is an avatar type (although we don't know if the little girl is the avatar or the older version).

She's got the jump on you, and seems to be a much higher level. Turn to face her, but do not bring your weapons to bear. You'll likely get pulped.

Diplomacy time go. Again. It's a good thing we didn't send Cass. (Lusting for more wil...).

>Introductions
Linda McCallahan. You seem to have me at a disadvantage.

Care to explain yourself?