Are you really getting "I'm sane" vibes from Alice right now?

Pretty sure that getting taller was near the bottom on the list of mental health issues we were causing.

1/3 Alice 2023/05/19(Fri)17:24 No. 1064144 ID: 7375bc
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>Mutate grav gunner. Yay, a new friend! We can teach her to shoot better!
Alice's new recruit didn't come out of the fight unscathed but that's fine, arms grow back. Or was that cnidarians? Wait, trucleans were like camels she thinks. It's fine, she'll figure out something!

Alice is not a xeno-biologist.

>As for a new friend, shooters will continue to be a nuisance unless you have some too. Upgrade deadhead grav-gunner into some kind of deadeye grav-gunner.
Looks like one of the guns broke, but that's fine, she'll just set things up so each shot counts.

A deadeye shot, that means plenty of healthy eyes to aim very well, that sounds smart! Who hasn't wanted more eyes? Alice misses her eye sometimes.

Alice attaches some helpful tentacles to pump Grav Gunner's carcass and its attached bedhead full of mutagenic goo. She isn't sure how much this will take, so she'll just leave this running and check in later. The bedhead and its new body wiggle in concern.

>Can the mech suit be piloted by a bedhead too? Leave it aside for the moment, don’t want guests breaking it up for party favors.
Maybe, that'll probably end breaking it though.

>Might be some spare mem-cognition left in there that can be co-opted and make it fit for purpose. How much can you restore while still keeping them as your newest bestest friend?
Since the bedhead ate Grav Gunner's head, there is an approximately zero chance of pulling any information out of captive brains. She asks the bedhead to try being sassier anyway.

"Mmplgh!" it says.

It's a start.

2/3 Alice 2023/05/19(Fri)17:25 No. 1064145 ID: 7375bc
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>Speaking of sleep and beds, let's make one! Even if you can't sleep on it, you can make it the hidden central spot in your new maze-demesne, somewhere to lounge and think about how great everything is going!
Alice has a bed! She lies here a lot when she's not sleeping. She likes to stare off in the distance sometimes and not think.

>Hmm, planning for everything is basically impossible but you really do want to be ready for anything if they get to you... How about some kind of regenerative adaptations?
Let people beat the shit out of Alice so she can get better at getting the shit beaten out of her? No! That happens enough without encouraging it! That wouldn't be very dignified or boss-lady of her.

>For yourself, you should draw as much biomass into yourself to ensure that the primary cohesive unit, aka you, is not redistributed across the walls. This new, extra human form could protect your inside of its head, like a big… roll cage, and it could have big arms for… hugging!
>Something that you can slip on for guests, but can be slipped off so that it doesn't weigh you down when you want to relax around the house.
Yeah, it'd be like driving a funny car and everyone would love it! She can chauffeur herself to work (not that she works) and run over visitors.

Let's see, a big ball to sit in, and some arms to walk about with and do turn signals and such. And tentacles, just in case she needs to carry some luggage!

3/3 Alice 2023/05/19(Fri)17:26 No. 1064146 ID: 7375bc
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>You are not coping and are, in fact, spiraling more and more out of control as your sanity disintegrates.
Ha ha ha. Alice is fine.

>Whatever happened to the rest of your old bunkmates, Alice Dietrich? What happened to Robert Blake and Dr. Keziah Mason?
They are no longer here.

Alice is alone here and nothing is wrong.

Blake and Mason are no longer here.

This is fine.

We need to focus on the tourists!

>You are going to need to know... basically everything they know. Lots about the society they live in, it's competitors, it's resources, what it wants, how it fights, what it will do when it feels threatened, if there is a big bully type civilization in the region, what technology is generally understood to be capable of, what the understood limits of organic technology, farming, medicine, and 'wet' technologies are understood to be capable of, etc. etc.
Alice thinks being a hermit is probably better for everyone. Visitors are nice, but also they should probably die.

>Also, didn't those guys come here in a spaceship? Couldn't you snag that, co-opt it, loot it, leave fun little party surprises inside it, or whatever?
What a good idea! Alice sends her assorted wrigglers to check out the airlock that Asteroid Knight and Grav Gunner entered from.

There's scorch marks but no idea how old they are. There's no spaceship?

Did they have a third person on their spaceship? Did it leave? Where did it go?

How else did they get here? Where did they come from?

Ha ha, Alice mustn't have been watching closely enough. That's why she can't sleep, she'll miss things. They'll come and go and she won't know where it came from and where did it go?

This is fine, she just needs to be more prepared.

What was that about loot? If she can get people to stay longer she'll find their spaceship! What's some enticing items and other valuables she might be able to provide?

>>1064146
Yourself.
An incomparable bioweapon.
A fine prize for any aspiring empire, madman, or would-be conqueror.

Believe in the voices in your head who believe in you, Alice. You're doing great at self-employment!
What would Blake or Mason like? Blake liked weapons. Mason liked... having legs. Oh, and biotech. That probe thingy, anything else left from the xotl labs. That was of interest to the last bunch too. you can just stick a computer screen on a stick and somebody will think it's a neat hammer.

>>1064146
Do we still ahve vending machine? Vending machine friend is fun! But full of fleshy horror!

I hear people like bulging biceps. Maybe you could throw a few of those into a chest? Possibly even a treasure chest!

>>1064146
What would happen if you weren't fine?

>>1064146
Alice requires sleep! make second brain so you can sleep and work!

1/5 Alice 2023/05/26(Fri)21:16 No. 1064642 ID: e6e00e
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>Yourself.
>An incomparable bioweapon.
>A fine prize for any aspiring empire, madman, or would-be conqueror.
It is the entire reason the xotl were doing deeply dubious research, so maybe?

But she has met (and eaten) enough xotl for a lifetime. Also she's have to do something like this and go "Hoo hoo, look how desirable I am?" and then run away because she doesn't want to meet visitors until they get to the end. What if they want to talk about her feelings or something? They have to die before it comes to that!

Alice sprawls out on the table as a test. She doesn't think she likes the look that skeleton is giving her. This isn't really her.

>Believe in the voices in your head who believe in you, Alice. You're doing great at self-employment!
Of course she is, Alice is fine and everything is fine.

2/5 Alice 2023/05/26(Fri)21:16 No. 1064643 ID: e6e00e
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>What would happen if you weren't fine?
Nothing would happen because Alice is always fine.

>Alice requires sleep! make second brain so you can sleep and work!
Alice has like a million brains already and they're all watching each other so she doesn't go to sleep because she has to maintain a state of constant vigiliance so that nothing goes wrong.

What if more tourists come and she misses them? Where are they coming from? She still doesn't know and that's because she's been sleeping on the job!

>What would Blake or Mason like? Blake liked weapons. Mason liked... having legs. Oh, and biotech. That probe thingy, anything else left from the xotl labs.
Alice has broken all the good xotl weapons and to get new weapons she'd have to excluded function. That is to say, Alice thinks carefully, she would not be building any weapons but perhaps some building a tool that provide useful features like accelerating a small aerodynamic objection to high velocities in order to excluded function. In order to mine! Yes, to break up rocks. For mining!

Maybe, doing that would give her a terrible headache though. Millions of headaches. Because of her huge brains.

Alice isn't sure if legs would be popular because most people already have legs. Maybe if she had a clever distraction that removes legs it would be more attractive as a reward?

3/5 Alice 2023/05/26(Fri)21:17 No. 1064644 ID: e6e00e
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>Do we still have vending machine? Vending machine friend is fun! But full of fleshy horror!
Alice has vending machines, but she drank all the drinks long ago. She refilled the cans with her leftover slime, but that's very palatable. Messenger knows it even makes her throw up if she's not careful.

>I hear people like bulging biceps. Maybe you could throw a few of those into a chest? Possibly even a treasure chest!
Alice is low on anything made of conventionally biological meat because she eats things made of meat. Neither the bedheads or the knotvines have arms, her mutant bedhead needs those arms for shooting and she's certainly not tearing off her own arms to shove in a container for visitors to loot, even if they do grow back.

But maybe this is the right track, everyone wants better arms right?

>You can just stick a computer screen on a stick and somebody will think it's a neat hammer.
Yes she can... combine... ideas...

A vending machine full of sodas that are full of drugs that help make you strong! Bulging biceps and strong legs and all that! Yes! Brilliant, bravo! Alice revamps and restocks a vending machine.

4/5 Alice 2023/05/26(Fri)21:18 No. 1064645 ID: e6e00e
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Aliens draw near!

The airlock's breached and a strangely dressed neumono carrying a speaker steps inside, together with a smaller alien driving a mech.

Alice is getting weird vibes off this guy, and by that she thinks she is under psionic attack! He's cute, what is happening?! These rabbit-looking exots are supposed to have some empathic connection, but she's sure that was just within their species?

"Meatier than I thought." Psi Tuner says to his companion as he looks around. "Guess you'll have a good time here."

The other alien is some sort of chicken riding a robot? Why can't she get any larger, meatier tourists? Now she's two for two on visitors with disappointingly high percentage synthetic composition. This is like the xotl cyborgs all over again!

"Don't you start." Blaster Phoenix says.

Xenobiology is still not Alice's strong point but she thinks the bird's a ketza. There's thermal fluctuations around the her, and Alice's certain that's some sort of heat ray built into the robot. Fire is bullshit, how did they know to bring fire, that's cheating?!

There's two figures coming up behind them, this place really is turning into a tourist trap!

5/5 Alice 2023/05/26(Fri)21:19 No. 1064646 ID: e6e00e
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Asteroid Knight and Grav Gunner enter.

What?!

This is a trick, someone must has tricked Alice into falling asleep and now she is dreaming about ghosts! This is why she needs to stay alone here, she cannot trust anyone!

Except the knotvines and bedheads and some of the skeletons. She's vetted those.

Maybe they were pretending to be dead?! Where did she leave that armour? She definitely has her still-mutating bedhead and its attached Grav Gunner corpse, maybe she had a twin sister?!

"There's vine traps, be careful poking anything that looks valuable." Asteroid Knight says. "Don't get into any tight spaces either."

"I thought we were here for a good time." Psi Tuner complains.

"Things won't get hot how you hope. We won't find any comet sirens here." Blaster Phoenix says.

"Watch out for the little head guys, they're mean kissers." Grav Gunner adds, the ketza immediately giving her a look. "Don't let them eat your face."

The tourists have been spying on Alice, and they know about her tricks! At this rate they're going to find her and talk about their feelings?! She has to get her act together and organise a better response. What new tricks can she throw at them for derelict defence?

>>1064646
quick! we need EXPLODEY HEADS!

Oh man they respawn Alice is fucked

>>1064646
>respawning
Hey, Alice.
Do you happen to have any of Robert's and Dr. Mason's DNA left in your biomass? Maybe some of their memories?
Not to get your hopes up or anything, but...

This is good! Surely if they can respawn, so can you. And you can collect more grav gunner grav guns!
They were expecting a siren, so sing for them! Lure them in closer with your dulcet tones over the PA system.
You need highly reconfigurable traps where knowing their nature won't help you escape them. Explosive hazards risk a hull breach, but they make fire as dangerous for them as it is for you. It doesn't have to be so one-sided, you can both lose!
-The bard wins over hearts and minds with song, so you need fewer ears and more minds. Do you remember the basilisk? Set up mini-basilisks in the old security cameras to give him the evil eye and shake, shake, shake that confidence.
-Redistribute the tentacle trappers to use new disguises for more surprises. You only need to make one mimic out of the most common object onboard (the humble box) to make them spend time spy checking every single one. The ceiling is a great angle to hide in, one with a limited trigger radius but poised perfectly to attack the weakest angle of that open cockpit walker. Put one in a doorframe and give him the job of closing the door on people in the doorway purely out of spite!
-You need a new enemy type to deal with that wretched oxidizer, fire. Armor just slow cooks the meat inside, so to soak it up you need to find some hazmat suits to fill with meat, lots of meat. A real Brute of a blob with bad bedside manner.
-The bedheads are perfect as they are. Adorable little critters. They just need to change up their tactics. Running around out of sight but just in earshot, they can taunt visitors into ambushes by tougher enemies and move in for cleanup afterward. Sneaking up behind the heroes one at a time with a grenade clutched in their teeth as a welcome gift is a task that they only have to get lucky at once.

Alice, if some of these consoles are working, maybe you can use them to... check your mail? People might worry about you, locked away in your dungeon all the time.

Speak for yourself, I'd totally buy power armor and hire redshirt meatshields for a shot at dat Alice. *AHEM* Well, seeing as how you had issues with just 2 of those, I suggest a classic "divide and conquer" to win this. Like, slam a bulkhead shut with only 1 or 2 on a side full of your beasties.

Oh, and FIND THAT SPACESHIP!

>>1064645
Oh no, the psychic neumono is trying to get at your thoughts and feelings directly!
Don't panic. It seems to both have a sound motif and huge ears, inform them of your resort's privacy policy by yelling over it over the speakers with max volume. That should break their concentration.

> fire is bullshit
see this is why I suggested that adaptive regen thing, but that's besides the point now. is the vending machine goop also flammable or could you maybe coat a few minions in slime to buy them some time against firemech?

As for some new trick, they're only thinking of the knotvines as a trap in/around valuables, but we know they are able to help the vertically challenged. Have them and some carried bedheads hang from the ceiling in one of the taller rooms. Nobody ever looks up, and that walker doesn't seem to have a canopy.

clones.

THat means you need to capture them if you want to take their ship.

So get to eating only limbs.

If they hate closed spaces with knotvines, force them into closed spaces with knotvines so they have no choice.

(Will say, I'm curious if this is just an alternate timeline situation or actual continuation of the Bloom Quest because oh god I just want things to be better for Alice)

Can bedheads be detected psionically? Could you rig up a psychic-jammer with them by treating them as radios in a radio-jammer, except psychic instead?
how certain are we that Alice would wake up again if she went to sleep? I am pretty sure that the bioweapon will still be active even with nobody at the helm, so it probably isn't doing as much as a human body would to keep Alice's mind active.

1/6 Alice 2023/05/29(Mon)15:22 No. 1064760 ID: 99af08
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>They were expecting a siren, so sing for them! Lure them in closer with your dulcet tones over the PA system.
Alice turns on some speakers again but Psi Tuner turns up the beat, drowning out her garbled yowling. The tourists are getting pumped up!

>As for some new trick, they're only thinking of the knotvines as a trap in/around valuables, but we know they are able to help the vertically challenged. Have them and some carried bedheads hang from the ceiling in one of the taller rooms. Nobody ever looks up, and that walker doesn't seem to have a canopy.
Psi Tuner helpfully points out the knotvines lying in wait on the ceiling to Grav Gunner. Violent shooting ensues.

He looked up!

This guy is bullshit. And they're working together?!? This is unfair, they are ganging up on poor Alice.

>Redistribute the tentacle trappers to use new disguises for more surprises. You only need to make one mimic out of the most common object onboard (the humble box) to make them spend time spy checking every single one.
It isn't working, Psi Tuner's just too good at spotting them!

>Oh no, the psychic neumono is trying to get at your thoughts and feelings directly!
Argh!

2/6 Alice 2023/05/29(Mon)15:22 No. 1064761 ID: 99af08
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>Can bedheads be detected psionically? Could you rig up a psychic-jammer with them by treating them as radios in a radio-jammer, except psychic instead?
Alice doesn't know how to make them think louder off the top of her head.

>The bedheads are perfect as they are. Adorable little critters. They just need to change up their tactics. Running around out of sight but just in earshot, they can taunt visitors into ambushes by tougher enemies and move in for cleanup afterward. Sneaking up behind the heroes one at a time with a grenade clutched in their teeth as a welcome gift is a task that they only have to get lucky at once.
Right, even if they know they're around, that can keep them on edge. Alice sends the bedheads scurrying about, constant motion ahead and behind the invaders as they try to navigate the maze.

>The bard wins over hearts and minds with song, so you need fewer ears and more minds. Do you remember the basilisk? Set up mini-basilisks in the old security cameras to give him the evil eye and shake, shake, shake that confidence.
There are basically zero security cameras! A bizarre shortcoming of xotl base architecture!

>Well, seeing as how you had issues with just 2 of those, I suggest a classic "divide and conquer" to win this. Like, slam a bulkhead shut with only 1 or 2 on a side full of your beasties.
Alice tries it on one of the few doors that's not jammed open by growths but Asteroid Knight jams himself in there and forces it open again. So annoying, guy's strong!

3/6 Alice 2023/05/29(Mon)15:23 No. 1064762 ID: 99af08
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They come to a more closed in spot and Blaster Phoenix steps to the front, hosing the corridor down with a torrent of flames. The bedheads don't stand a chance. They're fast but also small and flammable. They need to get up close and personal to be deadly and they're not getting this. The ossified growths choking the corridor smoulder too. The derelict groans as other roots tense in sympathy.

>You need a new enemy type to deal with that wretched oxidizer, fire.
Alice can't just make one on the spot!

"Burn, haha, burn!" Blaster Phoenix cackles. This chicken's a pyromaniac!

>Oh man they respawn Alice is fucked
>This is good! Surely if they can respawn, so can you. And you can collect more grav gunner grav guns!
This, is bad? Or maybe good?! What if they're ghosts? Alice doesn't want to be a ghost!

>Hey, Alice.
>Do you happen to have any of Robert's and Dr. Mason's DNA left in your biomass? Maybe some of their memories?
>Not to get your hopes up or anything, but...
Whaaat, that'd need her to eat people. Ahahaha, ha ha, hah.

Alice doesn't have time to think about this!

>Alice, if some of these consoles are working, maybe you can use them to... check your mail? People might worry about you, locked away in your dungeon all the time.
Alice is busy right now!

4/6 Alice 2023/05/29(Mon)15:23 No. 1064763 ID: 99af08
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Alice does have one trump card though! Her mutated bedhead is ready to be fielded.

Grav Gunner is startled to be suddenly facing off with her own zombie.

"What?!" she says. "A mirror match huh?!"

5/6 Alice 2023/05/29(Mon)15:24 No. 1064764 ID: 99af08
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"No thanks!" Grav Gunner says.

She shoots a grapple beam out of one of her guns and flies up to the ceiling. Blaster Phoenix fires a laser through the vacated space.

>Oh, and FIND THAT SPACESHIP!
Her forces are too busy dying! She can spare one or two of the reserves she supposes, they're not doing much good charging in and getting mulched!

Her bedhead tries but with that cheap shot out the gate, she struggles against Asteroid Knight and Blaster Phoenix with Grav Gunner and Psi Tuner holding the bedhead reinforcements off.

Charred and half disintegrated, the mutant bedhead falls into a hole. A long drop into hopefully soothing slime!

6/6 Alice 2023/05/29(Mon)15:24 No. 1064765 ID: 99af08
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The visitors have finally found her. But they have not caught her sleeping!

The ground trembles as she steps forward, fortified by reserve mass she's pulled together from across the derelict.

They stagger as she screams a mind-rending roar at them.

But despite strength, mass, tentacles, two big arms for hugging, a basilisk organ, the deadly slicing surfaces of her feeding tendrils, and other Precursor-built abilities, she doesn't know if she can win this. She tried to make friends to help her, but her enemy's friendship was too powerful!

This means...
>It's over, it's finally over...
>It's not over!

uh uh uh...

assume final form!

>>1064765
bone doesnt burn easily!
THROW THE BONE SPIKES!
Make them erupt from the floor!
They will be utterly BONED!

It's over. Your search for new friends, that is!

Lie down
Try not to cry
Cry a lot

ENHANCE KNOCKERS!
And other lewds~
Weird them into leaving!

>>1064765
It's over, they're going to force you to talk about your feelings!

Get unconventional? Options. 1) Perhaps outrun them to flip the tables. Get to their ship, destroy the respawn device. Fear of death may force a rout to repair the device. 2) Psi-mono reads your thoughts so perhaps surrender as well as begging for your life might work out well? Offer to trade stuff for speeps? 3) Hit them with Mutually Assured Destruction - declare to the psi-mono your plans if they fail to back off. Plan is rocks fall, everybody dies. Punch a hole in a wall to space. With your size and brute force tightly gripping a wall or rooting yourself with tentacles means you have a shot to live.

Ok, Alice, you are an old pro at this.

You literally ate all the xotl, remember. All of them. They had tank drones and heavy weapons and you still won. You killed a tank with a piece of bone you shot out your arm, and got to keep the bone.

That instinct will be important. Ambush, destroy, disengage, regroup and rearm.

Like seriously, you have lots of brains, do you still have lots of loaded shotguns? Why don't you arm some tendrils on a wall with shotguns, it'd take some practice but I'm betting you could fuck em up by making a bunch of armed tentacles all over the place.

And if you had one of those weapons I bet you could slither through the undercarriage and pop out to kill that stupid fucking neumono who keeps alerting them to your traps. And then run before they asked you about your feelings.

They're not allowed to ask about your feelings unless they beat you in an arm-wrestle.

Electronics time! Pull out the vending machine and display a greeting on its screen.

1/3 Alice 2023/08/06(Sun)00:49 No. 1069816 ID: bfc6f8
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>uh uh uh...
>assume final form!
This is her final form!

>Ok, Alice, you are an old pro at this.
>You literally ate all the xotl, remember. All of them. They had tank drones and heavy weapons and you still won. You killed a tank with a piece of bone you shot out your arm, and got to keep the bone.
That's right, she's done much worse things than this! Some tourists aren't going to stop her!

>Kill that stupid fucking neumono who keeps alerting them to your traps.
>They're not allowed to ask about your feelings unless they beat you in an arm-wrestle.
Her arms are very big, this is a very good idea! Alice makes a final convulsive effort and throws her bruised and broken expanded body into the midst of her visitor like a battering ram. One arm grabs onto Psi-Tuner. She holds him up to her true body to take a proper look at her enemy before he turns into a corpse and maybe a ghost.

Psi Tuner stares back at her. "She's... afraid!" he calls to his friends.

His arms are weak and he didn't even ask!

Afraid?! He should be the one who's afraid! His life is in her hand! She can do this, she just has to close her fist. Just squeeze. She'll have bunny hamburger for dinner.

Then everything will be fine! Alice will be fine. Alice is so very tired... but she's fine!

...

He's going to come back isn't he? It'll be like the Asteroid Knight and Grav Gunner and everyone else. Everything she's seen and everything she's done won't stop haunting her!

Why can't it all... just...

2/3 Alice 2023/08/06(Sun)00:50 No. 1069817 ID: bfc6f8
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...

stop.

(Alice has fainted.)

3/3 Alice 2023/08/06(Sun)00:51 No. 1069818 ID: bfc6f8
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>It's over. Your search for new friends, that is!
...

(Alice is sleeping)

THE END?

mmm...drugs...

dream delicious dreams

New Objective: Date the Grav Gunner

Have a totally normal and non traumatic non memory dream.

>be the astro knight
>have traumatic flash back to you're many deaths.