Liam 2010/10/13(Wed)14:02 No. 243002 ID: a4b4e3
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Alright. I connect everything back together...

Though I still get a red light when I try to swipe the card. Hmm.

I was never trained too much in how to repair ancient stuff like this, but I do remember a rule of thumb that when things were colored, it was usually something practical, like the yellow plug goes in the yellow hole.

The two cylinders are colored red and blue, and leaving them out of it makes the device look empty or incomplete. What should I do with them?

try putting them back in the other order.

Liam 2010/10/13(Wed)14:35 No. 243007 ID: a4b4e3
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>>243002
Like this?

Still nothing. Red light shines and everything.

Hmm.

huh, put them back normal and try again. if still nothing then i'm out of ides.

>>243007

Exchange the cylinders with the ones you have.

Liam 2010/10/13(Wed)15:51 No. 243035 ID: a4b4e3
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Exchange the...

Oh! I do have more of these. That's weird. How'd these get in my bag? Aruuchi must have put them there...

Okay, I've got one extra blue one and two extra red ones, so I've got two blue ones and three red ones total.

Liam 2010/10/13(Wed)16:00 No. 243042 ID: a4b4e3
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Replacing them doesn't do anything either.

>>243035
Try double Red then swipe then double blue.

Make sure to keep track of the separate ones. Perhaps the blue or red one that are in there currently are broken.

Scrap what I said... your 'Friend' is in the talking box now. Talk to him

Have Aruuchi scare it into working order with a roar or whatever sergals do. Fuck if I know anything about 'em besides their intimidating as hell.

try a double blue and a double red.

Liam 2010/10/13(Wed)20:52 No. 243223 ID: a4b4e3
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The two blue ones work! The door slides up at last.

Liam 2010/10/13(Wed)20:53 No. 243224 ID: a4b4e3
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>>243044
Huh? I don't see him there.

after it opens take them back out. if the door stays open then keep them with you, they may come in handy for more doors.

Your Red feathered "friend" knows you're coming... have your sergal escorts be ready for anythin

Liam 2010/10/19(Tue)18:00 No. 246134 ID: a4b4e3
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Alright. I tell Jag to be careful and we both head inside.

It's practically pitch black, but I think I can hear a faint click of metal against metal. There's also something green that-

Liam 2010/10/19(Tue)18:02 No. 246135 ID: a4b4e3
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"Hello, Liam."

>>246135
Oh shit Liam, you're gonna be a Green Lantern.

>>246135
"Who are you? What's going on? How do you know my name? Why are you here?"

==>

>>246135
"You got some fantastic ominous lighting going on in here. I'd love to know your interior designer."

>>246135
Emit a quiet, nervous peep.

Liam 2010/10/19(Tue)19:30 No. 246159 ID: a4b4e3
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>>246144
"Uh... Hi, Dekustir. You always work in the dark or..?"

"It saves electricity."

"Ah."

"Tell your savage to wait outside and follow me. There's a lot we need to discuss."

He promptly walks out of view to the right. Should I do exactly as he says?

be ready to peep a cap

It's not like things can get much worse. Besides, how safe are you really with the sergals?

tell your sergal to wait.

>>246171

safer than with this guy thats for sure.

Man liam just keep in mind that the only one who cares if you live or die is aruchi.

Either stay with Aruuchi or take him with you, no telling what's in that room the the other peep.

Best to keep sweetness out. This guy has already stated that he'd rather see you all eaten than ally with the sergals, and here you are carrying your alliance papers.

Surrender papers.

Whichever.

Dekustir seems to be hidding something for you Liam and I don’t think you can trust him. Best stay on your guard.
Letting your company staying outside the gate would likely be a bad idea, there is no telling if his able to close it right after Jag have left the room. Maybe you should give Jag some of those devices you got in your bag,? Just in chase that he might be able to open the door again if it locks

>>246159
Nah. You clearly want all of the Sergals with you.

Any of them outside that door are probably at considerable risk of gunslinging skull-drone once you're in.

>>246718
Follow him, but have the others follow behind you stealthily. Remember, they may be scary, but you can trust them. He, on the other hand, has shown he can't be trusted.

you should probably get Aruuchi to come with you instead of Jag. Aruuchi seems to deal with the artifacts pretty well for a sergal, and he might be friendlier to you than Jag might be in case shit hits the fan (which, in underground ruins full of technomancy is inevitable) and you need someone to save you.

Tell him the *Sergal* or Aruuchi come with you or you don't come at all. He isn't trustworthy and you should have some protection.

Liam 2010/11/15(Mon)23:26 No. 256917 ID: a4b4e3
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Alright.

I tell Aruuchi to come with me, holding Sweetness behind my back. I don't know about coming in armed and with a friend when he's told me to come alone, but... Well, it probably is safer this way.

Liam 2010/11/15(Mon)23:35 No. 256919 ID: a4b4e3
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...Or not.

No sooner than Aruuchi comes into view, Dekustir grabs a gun from behind his desk and points it at us both, shouting "OUT! Get him out of here! Liam, you don't know everything that's out stake! For the love of Alh Mene, get that monster out of here!"

He seems absolutely terrified of Aruuchi...

All right. Ask Aruuchi to wait outside and forgive Dekustir's idiocy.

leap to the side and point your gun at him, engage Mexican standoff.

Tell Aruuchi to wait outside, but send your bag and the papers with him so they at least have some protection.

Summon the rest of the Sergals. :3c

"Relax, if you shoot him its going to hurt relations quite a bit"

you should probably get aruchi out of there, sergals probably ate dekustir's family in front of him or some shit.

>>256919
"Fine then. Aruuchi, please back up. And Dekustir, after all thats happened recently can you honestly expect me to TRUST YOU? If not for Aruuchi, I'd probably be DEAD. You and your little flying skulls could have KILLED ME. And you honestly expect me to be able to TRUST YOU? How am I to know you simply wont shoot me when my back is turned? How about you PUT THE GUN DOWN, and THEN we can talk?" If he doesn't put the gun down, blast him. He has shown he can't be trusted.

And remember, the sooner you get out of here, the sooner you can go back to finding your daughter.

Nice stockings, featherboy.

Liam 2010/11/16(Tue)19:16 No. 257161 ID: a4b4e3
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I tell Aruuchi to wait outside and hand my bag to him, sweetness still behind my back. Dekustir lowers his gun but doesn't put it away.

"Dekustir..." I tell him, "How can I trust you? If it weren't for Aruuchi I could have been killed by your little skull-things! I could ha-"

"You COULD have never come across these ruins at all, though coming down here might have saved your life. Radou told me to kill you, but all I really needed to do was delay you, time enough for our messenger to reach the fort first."

"Other... messenger?"

"We have a plan, Liam. A plan wrought out of necessity. Tell me, Liam." He leans in close, and whispers to me, "What do you think of the Shigu clan?"

Tell him to say his part first. Say you'll do whatever you need to protect your family.

>>257161
What is the "plan," first?

Liam 2010/11/16(Tue)20:30 No. 257223 ID: a4b4e3
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"First tell me what the plan is."

"The plan is simple. We sent a messenger the same morning you left to the nearby Clan Shigu fort, with a list of forged signatures of our town's leaders saying that our town is declaring war on the Shigu Clan. Do you know who is currently staying at that fort to nurse her injuries?"

"I... No..."

"The Brutal General herself, Liam. While she sends her forces to make an example of our town, as those savages so love to do, myself and the other researchers will be heading up to the fort with a slew of the fully automatic weapons we've found down here. She is the glue holding that empire together, Liam, without her they'll go back to fighting amongst themselves, never more threatening than a roaming band of raiders from time to time. Now, I can not give any guarantees but I can try to get your family out safely, if you swear allegiance to me now..."

oh fuck

Shoot him in the face.

>>257223
He can "try?"

That's the best he can offer you? He can "try?"

>>257223
>swear allegiance
Well, there's a great big warning sign.
Shoot him in the face.

Help him. This will actually work if everything goes to plan, then you don't need to ally with them to avoid being eaten, since they'll be dead and you'll be free to flutter around and peep, peep, peep in peace.

>>257223

Sure, say you'll help him.

say you'll help, then shoot him.

this entire plan, this ENTIRE plan. hinges on the fact that MAYBE Rain doesnt have a contingency plan in case of her death.

Any enemy of Rain is a friend of ours!

"what if they swear vengeance first and kill all of us before they start infighting?"

>>257223
keep this in mind liam: allying with him means you have to kill aruuchi and his whole tribe, even little ikar.

>>257254
But think of all the little oppressed peeps! Someone has to save them.

Liam 2010/11/16(Tue)21:06 No. 257256 ID: a4b4e3
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"Alright... I'll help you."

"Alright then. Go take care of the problem outside, and then we'll talk further."

"...Problem?"

"There's savages outside my door, Liam. I want them taken care of before we discuss anything further."

oh, fuck that. killing rain is one thing, but your friends? give him a new hole between the eyes.

>>257256
No way, Aruuchi is a bro.

Welp. Uh. Borrow his gun?

No deal, shoot him while his gun is down.

Then prepare to run like the goddamn wind.

So the plans are:

Kill your friends, go kill rain while her troops rampage through an innocent town, lose everyone you care about who ISN'T sacrificed for the sake of the plan to an immediate retaliatory strike.

or...

Fuck their plan.

As much as rebellion would be nice, it will fail to actually protect your people in every way that a plan can fail. The sergals will be infighting, but your people won't get to enjoy any peace as a result of it.

Aruuchi is a friend! If you don't kill him, he will. It's best to take out Dekustir before he has the chance.

Kill him now!

>>257256
Well, you can kill your friend and not know if your family will make it out alive, or you can kill Dekustir because he just told you to kill your friend.

I'm not sayin' kill Dekustir, I'm just sayin' kill Dekustir.

This is bullshit. Dude betrayed you and now demands you betray all your pals. Shoot him.

At least draw your gun and demand he drop his. Stick the barrel in his goddamn mouth.

>>257269
Well, okay. First ask him exactly what he means. If he does mean for you to kill your friend, then shoot him.

peep a cap into dekustir

If you're feeling like a huge pussy about shooting someone with a bigger gun and maybe some light armour, start looking terrified at a monitor behind him first, then shoot him in the back of the head when he turns around.

Don't worry guys, we can always start a new game later and pick the other route.

>Year and a half in, finally pick sides
>Beakie has that engsami quest and Hatch Part II to do
>Implying those won't take a year and a half each if not much more
>Implying there will ever be time for a re-do of Hatch
>Implying

Fact is, you can either have Little One grow up part of a free people, with rights as a real citizen and free of the fear of being eaten by monstrous sergals, or you can have her grow up as a slave to an evil empire, living every day in terror that she'll be eaten, violated, killed, or otherwise harmed by her cruel masters that know nothing of love or gentleness.

What are you willing to give up for your daughter, Liam? Are you willing to sacrifice Aruuchi? Are you willing to sacrifice his friends? Are you willing to sacrifice your own life?

It's time to make a choice, Liam.

Ultimately screw the dudes you don't know Liam. Sticking with Shigu might be evil in the long run, but probably ensures the survival of you and your kid.
Quickly kill Dekustir though, that's more merciful than having him a prisoner of the Sergals.

Maybe you can try to reach Rain before she makes an example of the nevreans and present her the original dokuments together with an explanation. Sergals are pretty fast and could easily carry you there.

Liam do you rely think that Rain would fall for such an obvious trap. And remember Rain is kind to those who ally them selves with her.

And if you get too her with Aruuchi he can say that you have the real document and I’m sure Rain would smile upon you for proving your loyalty

>>257453
This, basically. Sacrifices must be made for a good cause.

>>257476
Yes, she'd smile upon him, then rape and eat him, and then Little One.

Maybe killing her or dying trying is the better option.

>>257453
yeah, as soon as rain dies all the sergals in the world would instant start infighting.
yeah no, they will cry for revenge and kill all the nevreans in a 50 mile radius, THEN they will start fighting.
kill this douche and get your sergal pals.

>>257453
>you can either have Little One grow up part of a free people, with rights as a real citizen and free of the fear of being eaten by monstrous sergals
>implying Little One has a chance in hell of surviving the aftermath of this plan |U

>>257490
Well, let's be realistic here---she's currently off being kidnapped by a huge-chested bearcat and a sentient flower. She'd probably survive.

Her parents probably wouldn't. :V

If we do have to off this guy, we'll have to put him at a disadvantage. He has a shotgun, Liam has a pistol, and one of these has a lot more forgiveness at hitting a target at close range. Ask him how he expects us to accomplish this, maybe he can provide us something to level the playing field. To either fight if need be if you do expect to carry out a sergal slaughter.

>>257491

>She'd probably survive.

If we're being realistic, we should probably keep in mind that All support she could hope to reach nearby is going to be slaughtered by Sergals just by virtue of the war declaration message going through. Any survivors will be hunted down out of vengeance.

There isn't going to be any 'free people, with rights as a real citizen and free of the fear of being eaten by monstrous sergals,' because everyone will be slaughtered by the sergals immediately if this plan goes through.

They won't be 'slaughtered immediately', there'll be a war. There are always wars after power shifts, that's why you set someone up to take over who can stop it. Dekustir apparently hasn't planned that far ahead, but it's better than nothing. Even if Liam dies, at least he's guaranteeing a better future in the long run.

>>257558

>They won't be 'slaughtered immediately', there'll be a war.

In what magical fantasy land do they have the forces to fight a war? Their town is going to be 'made an example of' by virtue of being completely butchered. The fact that their town is apparently completely sovereign means that there is no real heirarchy or connection between the various Nevrean Towns, which means that an angry retaliation will literally sweep across their lands before they even have a chance to organize some sort of resistance.

Best for the nevreans to shoot Dekustir and try to stop the 'example' from being made.

Shooting him may seem like a fun idea right now, but isn't there already a messenger on the way that we have no way of stopping?

Don't shoot him! Go with the plan!

This way Rain and co. will rape their way through everything Hatch knew and loved. Later she will take up arms and have her vengeance after the timeskip.

Ok, so I agree that we need him to die, but I don't think that Liam will be able to fatally wound him so quickly that he won't be able to retaliate. We're not Vash the Stampede.

Obviously he doesn't have a camera on the area right outside his door because he was surprised that Aruuchi came with you. Suggestion: "Agree" that he is right (sound convincing) and ask him for his gun, because you don't have enough ammo for all of them.
When you leave, immediately and silently motion to arruchi that dekustir needs to die--point at him and draw a finger across your neck, then roll it to tell him to play along. Say something out loud like "Hey, he's got a plan. We need to get moving, so go get the others." Wait a moment, then fire the gun in the air (or yours, if you don't manage to get his) and have aruuchi crouch next to the door. Call for Dekustir and tell him something doesn't look right about this one, and quickly, before the others hear and come looking for him. As soon (or a little sooner) before he pokes his head out, have Aruuchi CAPTURE him.

CAPTURE. We need to interrogate him, and I think the sergals might be good at this, and find out what he knows and what's happened. Also, tell Aruuchi of this devious plan hatched by these birds and that you'll need a sergal to vouch for you, should you get a chance to beg for mercy for your town and daughter.


Buuuuuuuuuuuuut, we still need a time-jump, and an excuse for the orphan nevrean and sergal to spend years in a mountain retreat honing psychic powers and an unorthodox but incredibly lethal fighting style, respectively. So, I guess by DM Fiat fate you'll just have to die here or kill all your friends and doom your family/town/life forever.

>>257753
That's a whole lot of stuff we don't have time for because we also have a messenger to hunt down.

>>257754
nope, there are plenty of sergals left here to do the interrogating and to dispatch a hunting team.

but I seriously don't see a way out of here without tragedy striking somehow. we're not going to be able to fix this, the sergals and nevreans will go to war, and hatch and ikar are going to be the only pair of the two races who actually like each other.

at least, I think that's how it's going to go down.

Liam 2010/11/21(Sun)21:58 No. 258904 ID: a4b4e3
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"...What is it?"

I look over his shoulder at one of the monitors rather than answer him, pretending to be concerned about something on them. He keeps staring at me for a moment before getting a little nervous and going "What is it? Are they-"

Liam 2010/11/21(Sun)21:59 No. 258905 ID: a4b4e3
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BLAM!

Liam 2010/11/21(Sun)22:05 No. 258907 ID: a4b4e3
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He never sees it coming. I watch him fall to the ground and pool blood onto the floor. That's the second person I've killed through trickery in the last few days, but the first one I've known. I mean, the first one was a hired mercenary, Dekustir... well... wasn't. I... I don't know what to feel about that. I just keep telling myself he was armed and would have shot me if I hadn't gotten him first.

I can already hear Aruuchi coming back down the hall, shouting to find out if I'm alright. I did what I had to do, but I'm not sure.

Dammit, Dekustir. What happened to you down here..?

take his gun, may not be skilled in that model but you DO know guns.

>>258907

Become consumed with doubt. Second guess yourself. "Maybe I could have talked him down." That sort of thing.
If you're lucky, you'll be out of it by the time Aruuchi shows up, and we can watch him slap the crap out of you to get you to come to your senses.
Don't forget to take is gun.

Well, take solace that you've at least condemned your entire race of people to to slavery, at best. Chattel, at worst.

That's some comfort, right?

>>258907
He's willing to risk the lives of your whole village, and possibly your species, as a ploy under the assumption that Sergals are too savage to stay organized after their leader falls.

A leader who is a sort bogey(wo)man to THEM, let alone other races.

Your message, your peace, is the best route. Never forget that.

>>258907
Tell Arruchi to stop making such a ruckus before you bring a whole load of armed peepheads down on you.

>>258940
Yeah, this. Good job.

>>258940
>>258978
why? at worst they would just be the same as they are now.