Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/09(Tue)23:22 No. 144762 ID: 6118d2
File 126820574239.jpg - (233.20KB , 777x777 , 05-02.jpg )

>"I will instruct you as we continue on our journey. We must hurry. There are to be no distractions."

"Why?" Tannon has been going over our maps for a few minutes now. Burns is still moping about something, but I haven't had time to talk to him about what happened while I was out.

>"It does not concern you."

He's hiding something important. No doubt I'd never drag it out of him, even if I threatened his... its life.

>"For now, know that we need to get off of this continent. That should be your only concern for the moment."

geez, fine. ask if he wants to go to any in particular or just any other one.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/09(Tue)23:37 No. 144772 ID: 17e2b5
File 126820662727.jpg - (373.49KB , 1000x933 , 05-03.jpg )

"And you won't give any more information than that?"

>"Not concerning our path."

>asking for more precise directions

"And about where to go?"

>"You may proceed as you see fit, as long as we can acquire a boat, plane or something else to leave this worthless continent, as quickly as possible. It would be best to avoid the Coalition at all costs."

"Wonderful. It's entirely up to Burns and myself on how to get off this continent, then? And you'll only tell us our destination once we find safe travel?"

>"Yes."

All right, guys. You're still stuck with me until Burns decides he's up and able, again. I'm a little concerned about him, before you even ask. But this is how I handle things. I'll pick up his slack.

Right now we're in this Broken Towers place. I don't understand the continent like Burns, but I'll try not to bother him too much.

Tannon is sure to know a thing or two, anyway, although I can't say I'm very excited about speaking to the damned thing about anything.

I can guess as to what kind of travel we can acquire, where. Seaside cities, especially ones where there'd be a lot of traffic, are sure to be bustling with activity. It'd be harder to find transport in smaller cities, which are probably going to all be further inland.

Qer is a dead country, basically, so I doubt we'll find anything of merit here. Poilen is apparently politically unstable, but is prosperous from what I gathered from Burns, when we were talking in the jeep a couple days ago. Looks like we can use this sea the continent encloses to exit the mainland, or at least get to West or East Port. That would mean Gray Bay.

Or, we can head straight through the countryside. Highrise here in Qer may have some port travel, if we want to risk staying here long enough to travel faster in the long run. Otherwise, there're various other port towns across the continent we can head to. Although, crossing the borders into another country could produce more problems than it did when we left the Confederacy.

So, what do you guys think? Or do you need to ask some questions first?

Seriously just kill Tannon and find some other source of information. I think he's more trouble than he's worth. And letting him live he will try to fuck us over in the future. So kill him.

>>144779

Yeah, I'm voting we just shoot him now and avoid his stupid-ass sniveling "hurr hurr I'm better than you."

stop talking about killing him. he may be an ass but we need him.

i say grey bay would be the best bet.

Why don't we wait for the doublecross until later when it's more convenient? We need at least a general idea of where the vault is.

>>144782
Hold off on the shooting for now.
Plenty of problems have been caused by killing useless people too early.
Head for Poilen. The political instability means that any military force moving in is going to face immediate resistance.

Oh, and kiss Burns. That should snap him out of it.

inb4 backstabbing
inb4 IToldYouSo
inb4 We end up killing him anyway after he betrays us and still didn't get any information but are worse for the wear

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)00:30 No. 144834 ID: 17e2b5
File 126820983753.jpg - (146.76KB , 777x777 , 05-04.jpg )

>[[ Previous Chapters: http://www1.tgchan.org/wiki/Nahala:_The_Dead_Age ]]

>killing Tannon

Obviously, if it were just me, Tannon would be eating his own arms around now. But Burns needs the information Tannon is willing to give. I'm still concerned about his lack of loyalty, though. I'd be foolish not to.

"So what keeps you from dumping us," I mention, as I rummage through the maps, "or trying to harm us once you get to where you want? Maybe you're misleading us, to get someplace else."

>"You animals are such untrustworthy creatures."

"That's funny, coming from a species that has no sense of loyalty."

>"We are not a species. And we operate on conditional values. I attempted to betray you due to necessity.
>"If it will stay your petty biological fears, know that if during our travel, you prove that you will not impede my mission, I will do you no harm, and will even assist you in any capacity I am able."

>Poilen
>Gray Bay

I suppose it's as good a bet as any. Of course, Gray Bay will only take us as far as East-West Port. At that point we'll have to make a decision as to what city to head to, since they're both in different countries. But that's a decision for another day.

"We'll head through Poilen to Gray Bay," I explain to Tannon, loudly enough that Burns can hear me as well. He's still mulling. "If the Coalition tries to follow us, it won't be an army, like last time."

>"Fine."

In case any of you were wondering, the Coalition forces that were attacking us that didn't board the ship were either crushed under rubble, killed in the suspension field or escaped the cave-in. The escape route we took caved in as well, so we're cut off from where we came from.

The couple of Husks Tannon was with vanished during the commotion. I have no idea where they went, or if they survived. Don't care.

It's strange that Qer had such a huge Coalition force present in its borders. I wonder if Tannon or Burns knows anything about it.

I suppose we should head back to the surface, or see where these passages go. Only Tannon would know his way around down here, though.

>>144834

To Poilen then.

Yeesh, this Tannon thinks he's all high and mighty.

i suppose ask him if the cave system has an outlet near or in Poilen, if it does not then head for the surface, if it does then go that way.

If Tannon doesn't belong to any particular species... then what IS he? Some kind of robot thing?

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)00:59 No. 144860 ID: aa5284
File 126821154228.jpg - (147.18KB , 777x777 , 05-05.jpg )

>what IS he?

I don't know much about the Acruen. No one does. I'm one of the few that even knows they exist. They have different classifications than humans do, so they describe themselves in strange ways. I just know they aren't mechanical and they aren't biological. Not in a true sense, anyway.

>ask him if the cave system has an outlet near or in Poilen

"So how do we get out of your little playpen here? The entrance we used caved in. If we need to get to Poilen, then -

>"This cave system is the second largest in the world. It would carry us under Poilen, but we may have to make an exit. It would also take considerable time to head there on foot.
>"No doubt the vehicle you used is gone by now, taken by the Coalition. They will also be littering the surface, trying to cover up their discovery of the ship. It's doubtlessly still hanging over the city. What you describe as TAVs are simple enough to learn to operate, as they were designed with that in mind, but it will still take them time."

"So, what then?"

>"The light source you likely noticed before when you entered the caves is artificial. We were using equipment to search the caves for this specific ship several days before you arrived. Once we found it, the equipment was left behind. There we will find weapons and several vehicles that can traverse most of this area. You may take what you like."

All right, more choices. Head to the surface... stay underground and head to Poilen on foot via the caves... take another exit within Qer... or listen to Tannon and head to their old dig site and pick up a few things first, including a vehicle?

tannon did say he needs us for now. so i say go get the stuff. maybe some demo-charges or something else that would be really useful.

>>144860
If we take stuff from the old dig site that means less stuff for the Coalition.

[paused] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)01:04 No. 144867 ID: aa5284
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>[[ The ability to consider broader, far-reaching goals aside from the journey to the Unopened Vault will be rewarded. ]]

...maybe we can bring down the TAV? Keep the Coalition from keeping it? We need some powerful weapons for that though.

man, what is burn's deal? did tannon tell him his wife is dead or something? he is just being a mopesaurus-rex overthere.

His hand is probably healed. Which means he knows for sure he's Amortal. Or maybe Tannon proved it somehow.

oh wait! the pause is emphasising burns! we should see about checking his wife and kid's house, if they are alive, then woo! if they are dead then burns has closure and we can have him move onto his new life with kitty.

>>144860
Head for Tannons old dig site. Vehicles and extra equipment are both good things. And then you can get a new outfit for Burns, going around in his old uniform isn't going to help with sneaking across borders or staying under the radar.

By the way I think East Port would be a better choice than Gray Bay. It's further from the coalition forces and it's not inside a politically unstable land that isn't very likely to be able to oppose any coalition demands. That and East Port is probably a bigger harbor and lets you get out onto the ocean faster. And since none of you probably has entirely correct ids or passports then it's likely you're going to have to find human traffikers to take you were you need to go.

And when you have the time for it talk a bit with Burns. Hell you probably have the time for it now. He might need some support from someone that understands what has happened to him. And you can tell him we're sorry, it's most likely our fault he is an amortal now. When he's better it might also be a good idea to get him to write a letter to his family telling them that he has died. It's pretty accurate after all, and neither them or he would benefit from being around each other. He would see them slowly wither away and they would see him unchanging.

You should send Tannon significantly ahead of us to gather equipment while you follow behind so we can find out what the hell is up with Burns.

Staying underground seems like the best idea. It is honestly safest and it also makes Tannon think he has more control because it was his idea. Agreeing with him when his plans are reasonable is probably more likely to make him feel that we are useful allies. Disagreeing with him all the time when there is little gain is probably going to do the opposite, even if our plan turns out fine.

There is one advantage "animals" have over "perfect" beings. The advantage of imperfection is that you become unpredictable, and thus harder to control. It might be possible to send Tannon into an infinite loop for instance, whereas on your feeble faulty neurons would just get tired if they got stuck on an infinite loop. Imperfection effectively guarantees that no process never halts, which is a huge thing. That's probably why Tannon is so vitriolic to who he refers to as "animals" not because he simply feels superior to them, but because they terrify him by acting in ways he cannot understand and cannot predict.

>[[ The ability to consider broader, far-reaching goals aside from the journey to the Unopened Vault will be rewarded. ]]

Hint hint.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)13:50 No. 145034 ID: f2b2b3
File 126825783411.jpg - (105.32KB , 777x777 , 05-06.jpg )

>maybe we can bring down the TAV?

Don't blame you for considering it. I can't really go over how everything operates right now, but needless to say, there's no possible way we could do that right now.

>what is burn's deal?

Not sure. When we gear up to leave, he doesn't say a thing. I'm not going to press him about it. I almost wish you guys had been with him instead of me, when I was trying to reactivate the ship's engine. But, then who knows what would have happened to me, or... well, I'm not going to have regrets about something like that. Too many already.

>send Tannon significantly ahead of us

I'm not letting him out of my sight.

I agree we should hit up the dig site. We're low on provisions as it is.

Tannon leads the way, at arm's length. No one says a word till we arrive. Guess we all have our own reasons.

Once we arrive, the first thing you have to notice are the massive spotlights that are basically illuminating most of the cave system. How did they even get them down here? Best not to think about it too hard, I suppose.

But it looks like there's a group of people down below.

"Are those yours?" I ask Tannon.

>"No."

He seems very sure about it.

>>145034

Time for some tactical espionage action.

>>145034
I count six guys and a vehicle. I would assume they're hostile. Get out your scoped rifle or a set of binoculars or field glasses and take a closer look at them.

>>145038
Agreed. Scope out what they are, get some intel before you move in.

>>145047

Sounds good.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)14:28 No. 145054 ID: f2b2b3
File 126826009786.jpg - (191.92KB , 777x777 , 05-07.jpg )

>recon

Look like Spec-Ops of some kind. I can make out an emblem that looks like a "C" with five stars on its left border. You don't have to be a genius to guess who this is.

"Those lights were bound to attract someone's attention."

>"Coalition, I assume?" Tannon asks.

I don't bother answering, although that's good enough for him.

They're entering and exiting the tents down there. Probably looking for paperwork, and trying to figure out who Tannon's crew was, and anything else they can about the ship.

>"Doubtlessly, they'll have verified with their operators already that I was heading the operation here. They'll be on the lookout for me - us - in the future."

A lot of them are on the perimeter, looking through the tents there. They've probably already searched the innermost part of the camp, and are fanning out.

There's a group of five in the center that seem to be discussing something. There seems to be about twenty-two or twenty-three in total. They're all heavily armed.

>>145054
Well shit, taking out 20+ heavily armed spec ops while you're only 3 is not going to be easy. Ask Tannon if he has anything in the camp that would make it possible. He might have some useful hardware lying around.

>>145054
Check with Tannon to see what they might be looking for or what they might actually find, and then use his knowledge of the camp to work out a plan. You need to get in and out, so you can either slip through the fanning troops and kill the five in the middle silently, or simply gather what you need in the camp, get that vehicle, and get the hell out of dodge as fast as possible.

Shoot that fucker's face off. He's looking right at you. Please tell me your sniper has suppressed fire. Letting that guy live is too risky.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)16:45 No. 145155 ID: f2b2b3
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>"Don't do anything to alert them."

"Wasn't planning on it. Is there anything down there that can help us?"

>"No. There are, of course, weapons and explosives, but nothing you do not already have. Our problem is not resources, but manpower. You could easily kill them all yourself, but they would have the chance to radio for help."

Actually, I have an idea of my own.

"What if we kill the lights?"

>"They're powered by a generator hidden further underground. You could destroy the cables or the coupling rings on the lights. That would require a great deal of strength, which is not a problem for you. But, if only one were to die out, and then the other, it may look less like a power failure and more like an attack. It would have to be simultaneous. Additionally, most of them will likely have night vision, considering where they were deployed."

"And we're not sure how they'd react. We could just abduct them one at a time."

>"That would take time. And you'd run the risk of any of them managing to alert the others before they're killed, or having a body discovered."

"Well, hell, we could always just rush them and massacre them all. They'd likely call for help, but we could be in and out before anyone shows up."

>"Possibly. They must have discovered another entrance, unless they circumvented the cave-in. The closest is about two kilometers from here."

"Can't you calculate the best plan, or something?"

>"You'd be uninterested in the math. And needless to say, every plan we can enact will have pitfalls to overcome, whether now or later."

Damn. Plenty of options, but nothing for certain, guys.

Check out the generator if you can sneak around to the area it's in. If it seems feasable, take it out. even if some of them have night vision, it will almost certainly draw people from this area to that one. You might be able to slip in, take what you need, and slip out without even being detected.

>>145155

Killing the generator sounds like our best bet.

Best opportunity to talk to Burns and get him to accept what he has become if we go the way of simultaneous disconnection of the generators. Night Vision, while helpful, is still horrible compared to not having to use them in open light thanks to the vision being all fuzzy green. If we're going to have to kill them and may have to risk them calling for help, may as well have minimize their gun accuracy and depth perception. After the lights are out and you've killed three guards for their night vision goggles, bolt for the closest vehicle which you should be scouting for right now through your scope.

Goddamn those lights are huge. Wouldn't suppose they might have a local control console that'd let you rotate one or both of them inward to blind the fuck out of the guys in the camp?

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)17:12 No. 145196 ID: f2b2b3
File 126826993642.jpg - (172.62KB , 777x777 , 05-09.jpg )

"Burns, you up to -

>"My vote goes for just killing them all."

Damn, Burns. That doesn't sound like him.

"I think we may just hit the spotlights. Not every one of them is going to have a radio. We can take out their captains once their vision goes dark, and -

>"I can't see in the dark, Kitty."

"Neither can I, Burns." Guess he thinks I have cat vision or some shit. "Just mask your eyes beforehand so you'll adjust, quickly." Amortal vision is a little better than most, but I'll refrain from bringing it up.

"After we take out their captains, they'll have no radio contact. Then, we can take out the rest of them, which shouldn't be a problem, or we can just take off with what we need."

>"It'd be best to kill them all. Let's not take any chances."

>"I agree," Tannon pipes in.

That's the last thing I need. I'll have to talk to Burns in private after this. He's not right.

Kill the generator I think... but see if you can do it in a way that makes it look like it simply failed rather than shoot it or blow it up

>>145196

Well, we'd better look for any and all communication areas first. We gotta prevent them (or slow them) from calling for backup.

Burns has been turned into an Arcuen, or he's having mad PTS or Depression.

>>145197
Burn away some insulation on the wires, then cross 'em. The generator's killswitch will trip to prevent an overload, and for a casual inspection it'll look like the short caused the fire.

>>145196
Let us have a chat with him too.

>>145196
No there is something odd with him right now. But remember, he is still a soldier and people like the ones down there are responsible for the destruction of his nation. That he gets a bit bloodthristy with them around is quite understandable.

And he is right. If you kill them all then they won't be able to report anything. Just make sure they don't have any helmet cameras or something similar that will let their commanders see what happened.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)17:44 No. 145226 ID: f2b2b3
File 126827187214.jpg - (139.58KB , 777x777 , 05-10.jpg )

We can't pull this plan off without two Amortals.

"Burns, are you... ready for this?"

He hesitates.

>"Yeah."

I hadn't noticed. The bandage on his right hand is gone. I'm beginning to understand what happened while I was in the ship, while Burns was fighting for his life.

I'm so sorry, Burns. Maybe I shouldn't have told him about our kind of immortality. At least, not right away.

I was ecstatic when I discovered my abilities. But, I've always been such an awful person. Poor Burns. He didn't deserve what he got.

"Burns, you gave me your necklace for good luck."

He understands.

>"Keep it."

Please be okay, Burns. Don't do anything you'd regret.

"All right, Burns. ...Let's go."

>>145226
>Please be okay, Burns. Don't do anything you'd regret.

Man, you want Burns so bad it hurts..

Anyways. Tread carefully, these guys mean business. Serious business.

yep, he is having an identity crisis. after this we need to talk to him and ask him what he wants to do about his wife and kid. him writing a 'by the time you read this i will be dead' my be for the best.

anyway. let's do this.

Remind him he has his wife and kids to get to. Remind him that's all that really matters in the end.

>>145239
That is a really bad and stupid idea. He's coming to terms with the fact that he won't ever die. That everything he knows and holds as important will die and fade away as he is forced to go on. Bringing up his family will just remind him of his old life, and that's not what he needs to be thinking about right now... or anymore, really.

>>145246
They still matter a lot to him though. It might work motivating him. It's important he gets home soon to spend the time they have left with him.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)18:26 No. 145251 ID: f2b2b3
File 126827436739.jpg - (212.01KB , 777x777 , 05-11.jpg )

I'm not going to bring up anything about his personal life. That's his business.

And I hope you voices can gain experience. Maybe someday you'll learn a few things about love. I don't want to see Burns go through what I did, and make the same mistakes that I did. That's all.

We agree to signal one another and then wait a minute and a half while we scale the lights. After ninety seconds, our eyes will have adjusted, and we'll tear out the plugs.

These things are huge, but look fragile enough.

Most of the soldiers are inside the tents, thankfully. I wait for the soldier nearest me to turn away before I lean out enough to see Burns signal me.

Ninety seconds...

>>145250
That's not important at all. It's just going to make it harder in the long run. There are more important things to focus on.

some of us now a lot about love, some others have no clue. for now you are the expert on post-amortal relationships.

[animated] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)18:52 No. 145260 ID: f2b2b3
File 126827592374.gif - (667.22KB , 777x777 , 05-12.gif )

3... 2...

I can see the flicker of a dying light through my eyelids. We were off by a second or so, but otherwise nearly perfect.

I feel the huge cord tear in my grasp, as it rips and tears, surprisingly subdued. I only hear a few mouths speak out in surprise at the noise, as the spotlights die, completely.

We spotted our key targets, earlier. Almost all of them were within the circle in the middle of camp. They'll be dead, soon enough.

>>145260

Take 'em out.

>>145262
Leave one alive, for now. You could use somebody to interrogate.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)19:51 No. 145284 ID: f2b2b3
File 126827948267.jpg - (108.81KB , 777x777 , 05-13.jpg )

It doesn't take long.

The kills are silent: a twist of the neck, crushing their wind pipes, anything fast and lethal.

The inner circle of captains is gone in less than a minute.

As we continue our work, I can make out the sounds of the soldiers fanning out to search the area for intruders. They search the lights first, giving us time.

Take helmets and radios off the bodies. If one of the grunts gets a hand on the body, they get the radio. Night vision will just help see better.

Are you really trying to kill everyone? This seems so completely pointless. Is it just about revenge for Burns? Does he want to use his powers or something? I just don't get it.

[animated] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)20:12 No. 145301 ID: f2b2b3
File 126828076926.gif - (412.80KB , 777x777 , 05-14.gif )

I continue, into the tents, where I find my thirteenth target.

I hear the hurried click of a lamp.

>"Tony, where have you -

I finish my work. The fumbling a holster follows.

It took them longer than I expected.

>>145301

Jump him! Before he can alert the others!

QUICK!

Tellin' ya he's an Arcuen now or being a whiny emo bitch.

I mean think about it; you left the guy alone with hundreds of the little bastards. What if they offered to fix his hand, then in the process took him over? You said yourself nobody knows much about them, so what if their method of 'possession' is quick and easy? That aside, you don't know how long you were in that weird temporal space thing; I'd imagine one's sense of time is distorted.

On the other hand he's just brooding. He'll snap out of it eventually, probably break down and cry sometime along the line too. But eventually he'll get over it. It's not like suicide will do anything anymore.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)20:46 No. 145318 ID: f2b2b3
File 126828281954.jpg - (179.06KB , 777x777 , 05-15.jpg )

>jump him

Already done.

I smash the lamp, quickly, but find the light does not wane too much.

I exit the tent to find someone has switched on the headlights of one of the vehicles, outside. Bodies lay strewn everywhere. There's one or two shots of gunfire, but they quickly die away. Burns did his share of the work.

>This seems so completely pointless.

Perhaps to you. I know from experience, leaving your enemies alive almost always comes back to haunt you. You can act the part of a white knight if you want, but you're not the one that has to deal with these kinds of lowlifes. If we had allowed any of them to survive, it would impacted us negatively in the future.

Now that they're no longer a threat, we can proceed without concern for being followed as soon as we leave. Even if we had stolen a vehicle away under cover, how easy would it have been for them to track us? Especially if they had immediately radioed ahead what we had done?

No. This was the "right" thing to do.

>Burns being made an Acruen husk

That doesn't work on Amortals. The implant is rejected, and the body regenerates.

I can't spot any survivors. Burns is finishing off a straggler.

>>145318

Let's move on then.

>>145318
Investigate Burns. See how he handled his first usage of his power.

[animated] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)21:25 No. 145346 ID: f2b2b3
File 126828510618.gif - (181.29KB , 777x777 , 05-16.gif )

>Burns first use of power
Apparently, his second. He seemed a little overeager to -

"Shit!"

>>145346
Tannon turned out to be quite useful for support fire, I see.

>>145350
his ability to calculate flight-path, trajectory and all those other big words in like a second probably helps.

>>145346
Check what he was reaching for.

>>145351

All he had to do was solve a few basic physics questions. Now that we have laser measuring tapes/range finders, a single laser sight and a little deal to calculate wind speed/direction mounted on a rifle could display through a little LED screen exactly how to correct your shot for a hit. And that's OUR technology.

These people use crazy future technology. It's probably not all that surprising.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)22:03 No. 145370 ID: f2b2b3
File 12682874264.jpg - (182.74KB , 777x777 , 05-16.jpg )

>what he was reaching for
A radio.

>Tannon
>useful

For once. That shot came from a pretty good distance away.

>"Good work."

"A compliment?"

>"A statement of fact. Usually your kind get muddled down in worthless moral relativity - instinct. You were uncharacteristically efficient."

It's like an insult, coming from him.

>"Perhaps you aren't quite so like your animal kin, as I imagined."

He moves on, to get whatever supplies he has hidden away.

I forget when I stopped caring about human lives. It was before I lost my mortality. It was easy. That's all I remember. Coming from my world, human lives are already worth next to nothing, aside from just a price.

It always struck me as funny when I left there, how different it was, on worlds like this one. With people, like the ones here.

I know what we just did, and that he's a soldier, but this is exactly the kind of thing I don't want Burns to get used to. Normal people break and die so easily, once you turn. Violence is so easy, especially against someone you hate.

Amorality and Amortality go hand in hand, so easily.

[paused] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/10(Wed)22:09 No. 145373 ID: f2b2b3
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>[[ Tannon's opinion of you has risen. This increases the chances of your survival later. However, your moral objectivity has waned. This can create problems for your characters, as they try to better themselves as individuals.

>It is up to you, as the poster, to not only get the characters out of situations, but to convince them of the correct point on their moral compass to follow. ]]

Yeah, if you care enough about him you're really gonna have to monitor the guy. If you can somehow get him to be a bit more optimistic I'm sure he'd have an easier time straightening out.

If you want to go hardcore, remind him those people had families. Families like his. You put a personal face on stuff like this and it starts getting a bit harder to carry through killing like this mindlessly.

Remind him that HE still has a family. Just because he's ultimately going to outlive them does NOT mean he shouldn't take enjoyment out of the time he spends with them. He'll live to see his kids grow up and old. He'll live to raise his grandkids, his great grandkids, and on and on through generations. Every time someone close to him passes on, others will be there for him. He'll ALWAYS have someone.

Worst comes to worst, kick his ass and tell him to get over himself.

>>145370
You know what's wrong with Burns, and what he needs. Somewhere kicking around the back of his mind is the fact that he's lost everything. His country is dead, simply visiting his family will put them in serious risk, and he's going to outlive everybody and everything he knows and loves.
What he needs now is an anchor. Give him a hug, and tell him that you'll always be there for him. Literally.

actually, that is a good one. have him take on the role of eternal guardian, forever protecting his family. sometimes to protect them he must kill but it is only to keep those that he cares for safe.

Ask Tannon what is best in life. I'm curious to what he does when he's not trying to get off a world he hates and other survivalist bullshit. I want to see the man behind this logical shell he's built. Purpose: To build efficiency of group efforts and reduce likelihood of betrayal.

I know you hate the guy, I do too, I really want to fuck him over rather than learn about him, get his story and become buddy-buddy like cliche "white knight" shit, but team efficiency is key to survival and, ironically, a total survivalist may end up screwing up a lot of plans for his own sake.

Also, something tells me Acruen logic somehow may find a way to fix Amortality if we get the right minds and goals together. We could possibly get an actually happy ending for you, Kitty. Just try to push the skepticism that you undoubtedly have aside. We just might have to play "white knight" sometimes. If with Amortality comes Amorality, than with Morality may come mortality.

>>145414
Or we could see to Cynthia and Burns becoming the longest-lasting lovers of all time.
Kitty, think about how sex with Burns would be. Amortal sex with burns. The kind that shatters concrete.

>>145373

Dammit, I HATE it when we earn Dark Side points.

>>145373
>This increases the chances of your survival later. However, your moral objectivity has waned. This can create problems for your characters, as they try to better themselves as individuals.
Tangible benefit for nebulous, intangible cost! Score!

Ask if his bearing a human form has any relation to his disdain for humanity. And how he keeps the tremors out of his hands, if they're made of meat.

>>145370
Well it sounds like you and Burns need a little face to face talk later. Tannon has probably already explained some things about his condition, but Tannon is still only an outside observer and not even a human.

You're living with the condition. I think he could really need some venting and stress release right now, the pressure building up inside of him must be starting to get to him, especially now that he has had some time to consider what has happened to him.

>>145373
I'm pragmatic and a moral relativist with very few morals. Do we get any kind of negative impact on not caring about people? Aside from our characters not really caring about saving people just because they're people and having no real objections to brutal murder. Because I'm usually not that big on caring about innocents or the life of enemies.

>>145414
Amortality is not a new thing and digens has been around for 800000+ years I think it was. There is more information about them on Plagues DA page. But it's safe to say that they probably cannot cure it.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/11(Thu)09:36 No. 145702 ID: 6118d2
File 126832900670.jpg - (239.30KB , 777x777 , 05-17.jpg )

I'll leave Tannon to gather what he needs. He doesn't seem to like to be bothered when he has something to do.

Burns finds a cozy place on the vehicle's body to lay down a plot. He doesn't seem quite as depressed, or angry, or... whatever's been up with him, as he was.

I guess... I'll join him.

"Hey."

>"Yeah?"

How... how do I even do this... I've never been good with interacting with other people. I don't want to come off dramatic. I barely even know the guy.

What do I say? I'm not even sure if I should bring up his family, or his country out of the blue. Shouldn't I let him do that first? Or am I being overly cautious...

>>145702
Don't be too pushy. Just tell him that you're there for him if he needs to talk or ask something about amortals. And while you don't know exactly what it is he is going through right now you went through something similar once.

Other than that I don't think you should say much else. Just stay there with him and keep him company.

Ask him about what Tannon told him. Ask him if he's alright. While liekly to get him angry and sad again, so would the rest. I believe a simple "Are you alright" would be the least riskiest option of making him go really depressed again.

Put your hand on his arm when you ask him if he's alright.

>>145702

"You alright?"

If no, then just listen attentively. If yes or some other fuckoff answer, just reply "Well, you know where to find me if you want a listener," and back off.

>>145705

Burns, when she puts her hand on your arm freak out and yell at her "Not my arm too?!?!"

>>145713
Burns can't hear you without holding the Tear.

>>145747

I know I'm just fucking with Kitty.

>>145702
Give him a friendly hug.
Physical contact is a powerful emotional tool.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/11(Thu)15:42 No. 145778 ID: f11584
File 126835097741.jpg - (239.95KB , 777x777 , 05-18.jpg )

You guys are a lot more touchy feely than I am, that's for sure.

>"Ya all right?"

>"...Yeah?"

Oh jeez, I didn't think this far ahead.

"B-because... you know. You seemed kind of off, earlier. At the ship, I mean. And... later."

He kind of huffs, like he think it's funny.

>"While you were doing whatever it is you were doing in that crazy thing, I had to...
>"Well, things got complicated.
>"This kid had me pinned to the ground, and I -

"N-no, you don't have to -
"Don't worry about it.
"I just wanted to make sure you were fine."

>"Yeah.
>"It wasn't what I did.
>"I just had to, you know... admit to myself what's happened to me. All of this has been overwhelming. It just kind of all caught up to me, all at once."

"I know the feeling."

He seems to drift off. I need to make sure he doesn't lose his sense of morality, like I have. But that's so... it's such a big thing. How do I even try?

I've always been foolish for my age. Being as old as I am, I can't help but be experienced. But I've never really known the kind of life Burns has. I don't know how to make sure he doesn't lose what I never had.

Should I even try? This is so complicated.

>>145778
Damn right you should try. I still say we should have a talk with him.

>>145778

Just wait. He'll eventually drift back, and start talking.

>>145778
Kitty, in your entire life how many lasting friends have you had? Somewhere around zero?
Burns is going to live as long as you, so if you help him through this he'll be a lifelong friend.

I'm telling you to hug him for a wide variety of good reasons. You will understand why soon enough.

>>145778
I don't find morality to have any inherent value. But then I don't think anything has an inherent value. But it's usually easier to deal with people who have some sort of morals. Atleast easier to manipulate them.

I guess you could tell him that he needs to be careful. If he's not then he could injure both himself and others. Maybe remind him that he's a soldier and not a monster, simply because his enemies commit atrocities doesn't mean that he has to.

Other than that I can't come up with much. As I said I don't believe morals have any real value. If he doesn't have them then it just means it's easier to convince him what needs to be done at times.

>>145778
Well, it seems to me that he's a little conflicted. If you can find the right moment to say it, make sure he knows that even if he's changed, in the end he'll always be himself. His values and morals decide who he is, not the condition of his body.

On an unrelated note, it's probably our fault he ended up like this. The guy we saw said something about how he'd made an impact on us. So, for what it's worth, if he doesn't feel like taking us back and you find an appropriate moment to say this, do convey that we're sorry for the trouble we've caused. I mean hell, the man lost his whole team and his mortality over us. He deserves an apology.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/11(Thu)16:21 No. 145799 ID: f11584
File 126835331547.jpg - (238.48KB , 777x777 , 05-19.jpg )

>he'll be a lifelong friend
I don't want him to be a lifelong friend, I just... This isn't about him. I know this sounds bad, but I don't care how his life turns out. I just don't want him to live my life.

>his purpose
>morality
>an apology

Ugh! This is just so... I can't do this. It's just not in me.

>How many lasting friends have you had?

And this is why. Friend is another word for betrayal, where I come from.

...

"On my world... the only friends you have are your family, if you're lucky.
"Everyone else is always trying to use you for their own ends. Strangers abduct children on a regular basis. Women spend their lives either doing heavy labor because they're no longer considered desirable, or are living fuck dolls for the wealthy. It didn't always used to be that way.
"It's a small world, about a third the size of this one. When outsiders found our world, they changed it for the worst, pretty easily."

He listens. Why am I even saying this.

"Murdering someone isn't a big deal. If you want something, you take it, or you run the risk of dying, yourself. If you want to move out of the gutters, you have to make yourself appealing to the traders and whore masters.
"The girls with the best bodies, that enjoy sex the most - or at least pretend to - do well enough to live well, until they grow too old. Then they're abandoned, with no real life skills. Or, they kill themselves.
"You only have yourself to trust. Sometimes, you can't even... You can't trust yourself, sometimes. People are such horrible creatures.
"When I was turned this way, it was so... empowering. I could punish the people I hated. I could do anything I ever wanted. And no one could fuck with me anymore.
"But never once, did I try to help anyone. They didn't deserve it.
"I had the power to change things. But, I left, and carried the world with me. I didn't change for the better."

I pause, and he looks me over.

>"I've never murdered anyone," he admits.
>"As far as I'm concerned, the things I do - that I have to do - are done by the state. I'm just their tool."

How convenient. ...I wish I had that sort of excuse.

>"When I get back to my family, I'll only be a husband. And a father."

When he gets back. Does he intend to go back? What kind of life can he possibly lead with his wife, now? How can he watch his son age and die?

Maybe I should just drop it.

as long as he keeps them safe, his family will go on. his son will have a kid of his own, and they will as well. he will always have a family. if he keeps them safe, a thousand years from now his great-grandkid will be listening to his stories.

*or daughter

>>145799
Yeah don't point that out now. I think it's something he has already realised but still can't accept. And it's not just he who would have it hard. They would have to see him unchanging. But that's something he should be able to figure out for himself.

And he was a soldier. Soldiers always have that excuse for killing people. Still doesn't change that they do, no excuse or reason changes that. But what the hell, let him keep his little illusions about what he has done.

Moving on towards another subject. Ask him a bit about his family and his previous life.

>>145799
You came from a crapsack world. This one isn't like that. Here friends are people you can trust.
Aside from that, you're lamenting how you never used your abilities to help people. What's keeping you from starting now?
Hug him, and tell him you're sorry. You're not apologizing for anything you did, mind you, you're just expressing sorrow for what happened to him.

oh and you are falling back into safety. never trust anyone, never get hurt.
you chose the book of love in the ship, start writing in it.

>>145808

He brings up a good point.

>>145799
Are you done skirting around the real issue here?

You might not consider Burns a friend. You might not even want him to be your friend. But right now, even if he doesn't realize it, Burns could use somebody to be there for him. Make sure he knows that if he's got anything at all he wants to talk about, you'll be there to listen to him.

Some words have more than one definition. Today, you're going to learn what we mean when we say the word "friendship".

And on another note, I don't think you're half as bad a person as you make yourself out to be. The fact that you recognize that you've lost most of your morality means you're not some emotionless monster. You know what you've done. And you should also know now that you decide where your life goes. If you want to help Burns, then do it. The book of life that you chose was blank.

It's up to you to write in it.

>>145799
>When he gets back. Does he intend to go back? What kind of life can he possibly lead with his wife, now? How can he watch his son age and die?

Is your your life much of a life now? Woman, you don't look like you enjoy anything.

Seriously, can we stop with the constant fucking hug suggestions? Kitty doesn't want to do it, Burns probably doesn't want a fucking hug, and it would be so uncharacteristic and suspicious that it would make him want to open up to Kitty less, not more. There is a time and a place for these things. This is neither.

I'd say to keep things kinda neutral but open up a line of dialogue that will let him talk about it if he wants to, like maybe ask him how he feels about being an amortal now that he's gotten to experience his powers.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/11(Thu)17:12 No. 145825 ID: f11584
File 126835632063.jpg - (240.40KB , 777x777 , 05-20.jpg )

>you chose the book of love

Yeah...

>Hug him

Sorry, I'm just not the type.

Ha. Maybe one day.

Maybe you guys are right about his family. I was almost glad to hear my mother had died. I never knew my father. I think I'm pureblood, judging from my features, so he must have been Nyaerian, too. I wonder what she saw in him, and what brought them together...

"Tell me about your family, Burns."

He seems to light up, for once.

>"Delia and John.
>"She's a... well, she was, a service worker for the homeless. When I had them moved, after I got called back into service, she took a job as a campaign coordinator.
>"She's a bright woman. A lot brighter than me. Met her when I was fairly young. She's the one who pushed me into service... gave me a purpose. She's the best part of me."

"And John?"

>"Johnny... I haven't gotten to see him in nearly a year. He's really into playing sports. He reminds me a lot of me, except with his mother's good sense.
>"He's really gonna be something."

It's so strange, hearing him talk so fondly of other people. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to seeing life this way.

I think he's going to be okay.

"I'm sure you'll get to see them again, soon."

>"Yeah, I will.
>"Hey?"

"What?"

>"You all right?"

"Y-yeah. I won't be a problem."

>"I don't care if you'll be a problem. Are you okay?"

I... guess I am? As well as I can be. Thanks for your help, voices.

"I'm okay."

Should I offer you back to Burns? We should probably get going.

>>145801
And everyone of them will die while he remains unchanged for eternity. Everything he ever grows attached to will wither and die before him. Anything he develops an emotional attachment to will eventually disappear due to time. And no matter how hard he wishes for it he will never be able to die himself.

>>145817
I think you might be underestimating the suffering you can go through as an immortal if you become emotinally attached to things. After a while it will simply not seem like it's worth it.

Still there are things to be enjoyed in life even without other people. Good food, fine spirits, good books, research, exploring and gathering new experiances. Lots of things to do when you have an eternity to do them.

Wait does this have a point? Oh yeah. Kitty tell us a bit more about your travels. There must have been some interesting things going on.

>>145826
Hey you, stop being a depressing realist.

>>145825

Yeah, you should probably give us back. We need to speak with the man.

Yeah, we haven't spoken to Burns in a while. Let's go back to him.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/11(Thu)18:32 No. 145863 ID: f11584
File 126836112082.jpg - (180.27KB , 777x777 , 05-21.jpg )

No offense guys, but I think I want my head to myself for a while.

I open Burns' palm and stuff the Tear into his hand.

"See you around."

>>145863

'Sup?

Hi Burns. How are you holding up?

'ey there, Burnsie. We're baaaaaaaaaaack!

>>145863
I think she likes you, Burns.

Buddy! Who's awesome? You're awesome.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/11(Thu)19:52 No. 145893 ID: f11584
File 126836592158.jpg - (139.45KB , 777x777 , 05-22.jpg )

>Hey

...Hey. You guys don't sleep, do you? I was hoping to have some -

Whoa, nevermind.

Tannon is heading this way, dragging a moving body behind him.

>"This one is alive. Barely."

"What do you want me to do about it?"

>"I want you to interrogate him, obviously."

"What's stopping you from doing it?"

>"Can't you guess? You're going to do it, so I can discern your motivations and conflicts."

Fucker.

"We're not a couple of lab rats, Tannon."

>"Not rats, animal, no."

Think I'm getting sort of used to him. Maybe not.

Do you voices want to know anything? I'd just assume put him out of his misery and be off.

>>145893
He's not a threat. Killing him would just be cold-blooded murder. You said you're a tool of your government, and that they are acting through you. If you really believe that then you have to treat him the same way.

Blindfold him, patch him up, then interrogate him. Once you leave, call in for his forces to pick him up.
If Tannon objects, then he can go fuck himself.

>>145893

Don't know much about interrogation other than the Jack Bauer method. If he doesn't answer a question, shoot him in the leg.

>>145901
No, he's too wounded for that.
Just ask questions. If he doesn't answer then it's no loss.

Hey, dude, this is a big risk but when interrogating him get us to touch him. Ask him a question and he'll think the truth. No question of morality or anything.

>>145908
This is a brilliant idea.
Ask him:
What his orders were
What he knows about the ship
What he was looking for down here
Where the nearest exit is

>>145911
Reminds me of when we first met Burns.

MISSION MISSION WHAT'S YOUR MISSION?

...Good times. Except for the part where just about everything that could go wrong so far has.

...You know, forget I said anything.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/11(Thu)20:49 No. 145923 ID: f11584
File 126836937058.jpg - (180.31KB , 777x777 , 05-23.jpg )

While you guys decide on the specifics of what to ask this guy, I look him over.

He's pretty messed up. Whatever is wrong with him is internal, and he seems to be sort of out of it.

If you voices really want me to use the Tear on him... I can keep it in my palm and press it onto him. And I will, but keep in mind, I WILL kill him afterwards if we do it this way. I can't take any chances on him knowing a single thing about the Tear. I don't care if it even seems like he's unaware of what's happening. This is a military matter, and he's a prisoner of war. I can't take any chances.

>"Ughhh..."

He's stirring. I'm not sure if he'll even remember what happened. He may remember it all, including me.

If we do this normally, we'll have to decide after we get what we need from him whether to kill him or not. We can't take him with us, and we can't wait around.

Kitty's taken notice and is on the way.

So, make up your minds. What about the ship, specifically do you want to know? What concerning his orders? Is that all you can think of?

>>145923

And why it seems they're following you around.

>>145923
You don't have anything like a Geneva Convention, or universally-respected laws about what's fair game and what's not in war do you?

Anyway, first line of business is asking what the hell they were doing here in the first place.

Nest line of business is asking why his buds are looking for you.

Then the next line would be to ask how much they know about him and the people he's with.

>>145923
Well then we're not going to touch him.
Go get one of their officer uniforms, tell the others to get out of sight, and start treating him. Act friendly, and ask the questions like it's a field debriefing.
We need to know everything he knows about the ship. It probably won't be much, if anything.

You're going to want to find some kind of transportation, so ask him if there's something in the area you could use.

Interrogate him or something.

Ask him how many are in the area and what their orders are. Ask if such a huge force was allowed to cross the border or if they've invaded.

>>145923
Ask him what they were doing there.
When they were getting relieved.
How large the relief force will be.
What were their orders for these caves.
What is his name and unit.
Why were 23 spec ops guys guarding a camp.

If they indeed were spec ops then getting more out of him than name and rank will be hard. Unless he is groggy enough to not properly realise what he is doing.

Once you're done questioning him then snap his neck. If he is coalition spec ops then chances are he has commited atoricities in the past. But that's not what should influence your decision, it's the fact that leaving him behind is a liability and serves no useful purpose. If he is alive long enough to be found by coalition forces then he will be able to describe how many you are, how you look and what you're traveling in. And don't think for a fucking second that he would keep that information to himself out of some sense of gratitude, you still violently butchered his whole unit, many in their sleep. He's going to want vengence. All of this brings with it needless complications and is actually likely to cause more coalition casulties. So once you're done, snap his neck. If you don't feel like doing it then ask Kitty.

>>145985
He's a prisoner of war at the moment, and entitled to basic protections. Considering that they already know exactly what we look like and following our path of destruction is about as hard as playing spot-the-path with an F5 tornado, I don't think the half-conscious memories of a mostly-dead soldier are going to do us any harm.

Killing him serves no real purpose, and Burns psyche is already in a delicate enough state where that could cause permanent damage.

We are not going to kill him.

>>145991
Nobody is entitled to shit. I would say they're entitled to death since that is what everything eventuall gets. But that's not true in this place so then I will simply say that nobody deserves one single god damn fucking thing or have any rights.

They know what we looked like and what we were traveling with. Now we have a new vehicle, new clothes and Tannon along. That's information they previously did not have that they will have if we let him survive. They're also going to know immediatly what direction we left in and then they can launch a pursuit right away. They will also get a first hand report on what happened here, that along with the forensic report they will eventually get will let them prepare better for any future encounters.

And Burns, if you don't feel like it then ask Kitty to do it.

>>146001
We could tie him up take him with us, and dump him somewhere so it takes him long enough to report back that his information might as well be useless.

>>146007
Fine. I'm going to get downvoted by the rest anyway because of misplaced sense of mercy.

Alteast if we bring him along we could sell his organs at a later time. Or sell him to human trafickers, I'm surer there are some illegal fight clubs that could use an ex soldier.

>>146018
>sell his organs

Dear god man, he's a person, not a sack of MEAT. Our motivations here should be personal safety and the success of the mission. If we can keep the guy alive without any negative effects, there's no reason to kill him.

No, you're going to get down-voted because killing him serves no purpose, not the other way around. You've been watching way too many movies where prisoners somehow retain complete cognition despite grievous injury. To be honest the guy isn't in any condition to speak as it is, and I'd be surprised if you can get any information out of him in his current state. Humans no matter how tempered are still fragile; that mixture of adrenaline, mental shock, and overbearing pain does not exactly help someone think clearly, and frankly there's no reason to believe that he will give any information anyway as if he's a big scary soldier like you claim he is, then he'll keep his mouth shut and you'll end up killing him anyway.

People aren't walking targets with little XP values hanging over their heads. You'd like to think that it's your government's fault you're killing people, or it's their fault for forcing your hand, or that it doesn't matter because they were going to die eventually anyway. You'd like to keep things as impersonal as possible so you don't have to really think about what you're doing, but the simple fact of the matter is that's not the way things work. Eventually you are going to have to take responsibility for what you do. Eventually you're going to look back at the body count and wonder what it was all for, or what good it was. Eventually you're going to be at home, sitting with your family, and you're going to think about the families of those you've ripped apart. You're going to wonder why you're still here and they're all dead. It's a simple fact that you can only dodge guilt for so long, and the earlier you begin mitigating it the better you will be later. Burns is amortal now; guilt is probably the single worst thing someone in his position can have, as remorse never dies.

Secondly, Burns is amortal. Kitty is amortal. Say we keep the soldier alive and he turns on us. Who cares? They can't die, and are superior to them in every way. Getting out of a situation like that is easy. You also highly overestimate the value of any intelligence the man could give. Soldiers can only mobilize so fast. Information can only spread so fast. The Coalition is only able to follow them so far without things turning into a diplomatic nightmare, and their time to catch the group is waning every second. You again watch too many movies where military bureaucracy is completely bypassed in favor of fast-paced action. Finding three people who are on the move in any number of directions with just a description of a person, no matter HOW well-defined, is not going to help you in the slightest.

You're going to live a long, long time Burns. Think about what you're going to do before you do it; you don't have the luxury of escaping your mistakes now.

If we let this guy live, he'll eventually give someone information that could lead to ...difficulties. Most importantly, if he lives he WILL endanger your mission, Burns. By all means get any info you can from him, but if that's not possible this voice votes for giving him a swift and merciful death.

Wait a sec. We don't work for Burns or Kitty. Why are we helping them? What do we, as the crystal, want?

This voice only cares about what would be most entertaining to it and sitting safely in a vault isn't entertaining.

I swear to god I will sing 99 bottles of beer on the wall for the rest of eternity if you get our asses stuck somewhere like that.

>>146061
Oh, but it won't be the end for us. We're being put in the Vault temporarily. It's to hold us until Burns' superiors can get to us.

Well, we're going to a Vault with Tannon for...

Come to think of it why are we going to this vault in the first place? What was the whole reason for going there again?

Also evidence provided by a single traumatized soldier in ANY military or government bureaucracy is not compelling enough to warrant swift and affirmative action. Investigations, interrogations of the subject (namely our soldier friend here) and those who know him, psych evaluations, and a whole mess of other shit will invariably come first and foremost.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)01:39 No. 146067 ID: 212869
File 126838677529.jpg - (180.82KB , 777x777 , 05-24.jpg )

Looks like we're working with what we've got.

I know how unreliable interrogation is. And anyone from SpecOps isn't liable to just hand over information. Maybe not unless they're dying, and in need of aid.

"Hey."

>"Ugh?"

>"What's going on?" Kitty asks, running up to all three of us. Tannon signals her down, which she doesn't appreciate.

>"Wh-who... What happened?" the soldier finally manages.

"You were attacked. Do you remember by who?"

He thinks for a moment.

>"Y-you... You're... Qerian?"

It's best if he continues thinking that. I signal Kitty away. She's not wearing a disguise. He probably already knows Tannon, who stands behind him.

"I am. You're dying."

>"Y-yeah... How did you... No gunfire?"

I ignore this. It's best if he doesn't know anything about what... well, what I am.

"You won't survive, unless we help you."

He's probably bleeding internally. He may have trauma to the brain. I have no idea if he'll die or not, to be honest. I'm not sure if we could even help him.

"You got a wife? Kids?"

He hesitates. He probably thinks I'm making a threat.

"If you do, you'd want to get back to them. Right? I'm just defending my home, with some friends. You answer some questions, we get you up and out of here, and back to whatever family you've got waiting for you. All right?"

He struggles. For a moment, I think he's about to cry.

>"O-okay. Okay."

"Why are you here?"

>"The lights. We... were investigating. Some bigshot doctor was here, I think. They told us... documents. Look for important documents. Didn't find... nothin'."

"How'd you get down here?"

>"They knew 'bout the paths. Sent us down... a sewage chute, 'bout two miles away."

"You getting relieved soon? How many are waiting for you?"

>"I can't -

He coughs up more blood. He's concerned we're going to attack more of his people.

"We're not going to kill anybody. We thought this was an invasion."

>"Invasion?" he wheezes.

Tannon signals me away from this line of questioning. He apparently knows something about Qer's link to the Coalition that I don't.

"What about the ship?"

>"S-ship? Our convoy was... we didn't have a ship?"

He seems legitimately confused. I suppose this group was sent at the same time as the other one, and wasn't informed about the ship. Typical for Coalition military to isolate information like that.

Now, for the big question.

"What is the Coalition looking for from the Confederates' country? It's spilling over here."

>"D-don't know... Some small-time politician. Brass want him pretty bad, though."

"The name."

"I-I don't know. Think it started with... I... I d-don't know. Don't... Please. Help me. I'm... cold."

Guess he really doesn't know. He seems frightened enough to be telling the truth, although you can never be certain.

I'm amazed he could speak as well as he did. If he were really on the verge of death, he wouldn't know where he was, and could probably barely string together two words. I think we could probably get him some help and save his life, if we wanted to.

It's my duty to kill this man, for security reasons. But... the Confederacy is hardly a nation anymore. But I'm still carrying out my orders. I'm still on-mission. What do I do here?

Is it really my call to make this time?

>>146061
>>146062
>>146065
>[[ You're being taken to the Unopened Vault to store you. Why, Burns isn't sure. He just has a job to do, and he's going to do it. As far as you go, you're only "conscious" when someone is touching you. If you're shut away, you'll just instantly "wake up," even if it's a million years later.

>I point this out myself to keep the characters from having to break dialogue to answer questions they shouldn't have to keep answering over and over again, every chapter. ]]

Confederacy's dead, man. You still have a mission, and it is your duty to complete it, but you no longer have anyone telling you how to do your mission. As long as you complete it everything is free game; you really have no other orders beyond those of your mission until further notice.

This guy's not a threat to you. Killing him would be a pointless waste, as detailed above.

Everything from here on out is your call to make. Responsibility for your actions falls squarely on you. You get to live with the consequences of every action you make from here on out. No passing it off on others anymore.

>>146067
What kind of help could you give him? If we continue to feed him false information, getting him healed and then sent back on his way would be beneficial for us. Also, um. I kinda feel bad for him.

[paused] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)02:03 No. 146078 ID: 212869
File 12683882197.jpg - (133.89KB , 777x777 , 05-24-p.jpg )

>[[ The results from your interactions with Burns and Kitty can be complex, and may have negative short term effects but positive ones in the far future (or the inverse).

>Many times the results of your actions may be difficult to describe as only "good" or "bad."

>The choices you suggest to a character are sometimes not as important as how you will convince the character of why that decision is best. ]]

>>146067
Kitty said that one of her deepest regrets is that she used her abilities for petty and selfish reasons, but never to help others. She wasn't happy, she isn't happy, but she sees you in the position she was once in, and wants you to not make the mistakes she did.

When you were dying, the last thoughts going through your head were for your family. Not the war, not your comrades, not your orders, your family.
Right now he's in the same position you were in; dying, thinking of his family, and wishing there was some way he could see them again.
You are defined by your choices, and beyond being a soldier, beyond being amortal, beyond everything else, you are a human being.

Don't make your decision as a soldier to a dead country, make it as a human being, a husband, and a father.

>>146110
I'm not going to rewrite what this guy says. We all know that you have killed people and will have to continue to kill people. When that death serves no legitimate purpose, when it's merely convenient, you move away from your humanity. You don't want to get back to your wife and child and no longer be able to relate to them because of what you have done to yourself mentally.

It seems to me like the danger in leaving this guy alive is negligible. We need to ask Tannon what he knows, though.

>>146110
Realizing that you are immortal understandable makes you want to withdraw into yourself, becasue you know that it's the only thing that will not leave you. But you need to remember that just becasue good things will pass doesn't mean they were not good in their own time, the same with all evil things.

Just because it may seem easier to kill him and forget him does not mean it wouldn't be a cruel and heartless thing to do. Were you not in the same situation not so long ago? Sure he could be some trouble if he survives, but you are immortal, any trouble he could cause would eventually become dust in the wind.

But it would be the memory of what you did, that will stick with you. Any good or ill he does will eventually pass from relevance. But what you do, that you will have to live with, forever.

Burns, do whatever you want. I'm sure either choice will bite you in the ass somehow.

I'm not going to preach morality or humanitys worth or any shit like that. Convincing people to look at those things in a new way is almost as hard to make a believer change their religion. But I will not let morality stand in the way of what I view as most efficient or rational. I will advice you to take what I view as the most efficient way to achieve your goals. If that includes causing harm to others then that is a regretable consequence, but it will not change my advice.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)13:03 No. 146171 ID: c67320
File 126842780580.jpg - (154.47KB , 777x777 , 05-25.jpg )

Maybe this isn't just a normal command decision. My country is gone. I've accepted stranger things in the past two days. Somehow, the seems the most difficult. I've put my entire life into the belief that while my country may not be the strongest, or the most cultured, it still held merit. It was part of me.

But I won't give up my mission. Not ever. I have my own reasons for that that go beyond just being a soldier. I would be abandoning everything that I am, and every good part of me that Delia ever instilled in me. Just going home would be the greatest insult to my life, and hers, and my son's.

All right. I'll help him. Normally I would play this safe. But I'm making this decision as a man, not as a soldier. And I've never had blood on my hands, by my own accord.

He continues his labored breathing. I'm not sure what we can do for him. I imagine he requires surgery. Maybe we can radio a message to his people as we leave? Or something else?

>"What are you going to do?" Kitty asks.

Oh, if Tannon objects simply tell him that the man isn't in a stable enough condition to get any information out of, and that patching him up first will be required in order to get said information. Then let him know how patching the guy up will increase his chances of actually telling them something useful instead of keeping his mouth shut like a soldier, and how this man, given the nature of the information he may hold, is for the moment more valuable alive than dead. You could also bring up that since you are saving this man's life, he may actually be convinced to feed false information to his superiors, depending on how attached he was to his unit or not. Regardless, he's seen what you're capable of and push comes to shove could be intimidated into doing so anyway,

For Tannon, it seems that all you need to convince him is a logical argument.

As for what to do right now, obviously removing the guy's armor is the first thing to do, to check for and/or patch up any external wounds. Ask kitty to check around camp for any medical supplies.

Ultimately you're going to need to find one of those vehicles Tannon was talking about and load him up into one and strike off for any sort of settlement large enough to feasibly have a kind of hospital or clinic.

>>146171
While Kitty probably has quite a bit of skill on anatomy it's probably mainly on how to kill people. And where joints usually give out first. But ask her and tell her your plan anyway.

If you actually plan on saving him then I think you're going to have to ask Tannon. Guy is a massive dick and will probably tell you that you're a stupid animal because of your choice but he might still do it.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)13:45 No. 146181 ID: ebea88
File 126843034690.jpg - (154.86KB , 777x777 , 05-26.jpg )

>I think you're going to have to ask Tannon.
I'm afraid you're right. He's not that kind of Doctor, but something tells me he knows a lot about our physiology. They have to, to be able to... ride around in our bodies, or whatever the hell they do.

"You're gonna be all right, kid. Hang in there a bit.
"Doctor, we'll probably need your help here. His injuries seem to be internal, and -

>"Why do you wish to keep him alive?"

"I've got my reasons, all right? If we want any more information out of him, we need to stabilize him."

He seems unconvinced. The soldier is fading in and out.

I lean to Tannon and explain with a whisper: "Look, we can use this guy. If they pick him back up, with false information, we can buy ourselves time. We may even manage to make an ally out of all of this. Just trust me on this."

He says nothing, but nods, without an expression. I guess that's as good as I'm going to get.

"All right, let's get this armor off of him. Kitty, go see if there are any medical supplies around the camp Maybe in one of those mining vehicles."

>"Right."

She seems pleased.

I stir the soldier with my hand, to make sure he doesn't lapse into a worse condition. "Hey! You're gonna be all right. Hear me?"

[animated] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)13:46 No. 146182 ID: ebea88
File 126843040251.gif - (437.28KB , 777x777 , 05-27.gif )

>"Th-thank... you..."

roflcopters

>>146182
Heh, I knew that was going to happen.

By the way you still need Tannon so ripping him slowly limb from limb is not going to solve anything here. Neither is yelling at him or asking him what's wrong with him. He is likely perfectly normal for his kind. Just remember that you can never truly trust him. He will help you so long as he thinks it benefits him, the second he would see it as adventagous to dispose of you and Kitty and go his own way he is likely to do so.

OH and get out of your uniform. Find some non military clothes in Tannons camp.

>>146184
[[ He hasn't been in uniform since, like, chapter 2. He's wearing a black t-shirt and jeans, you know. ]]

Maybe you should inform Tannon the more stunts like that he pulls, the more you lean towards executing him and finding another lead to the vault. Tannon isn't and can't be your only lead.

'cause to be honest, you're Amortal now. You have all the time in the world to finish this mission.

>>146186
Didn't notice that. Well he should still pick up a few extra sets of clothes.

Don't do anything rash. You need Tannon. Plus if you don't react to it, he won't get the satisfaction of fucking with you.

Just say "I see you disagreed. Let's go."

...Y'know, just a thought, but you might want to relieve Tannon of his weapon before he can cause further incidents.

>>146205

Yeaahhhhh

>>146205
I really don't think he's going to accept that. Or have just one weapon.

>>146231
What he thinks of it is irrelevant. He's on the way to becoming more of a problem than he's worth keeping around for. If the situation turns dangerous, MAYBE he can have the gun back then, but obviously he can't be trusted to play by the rules outside of an immediate survival scenario.

Don't say anything to Tannon. Yeah, he's a dick, but he never was human. He won't understand and it will just make him think you're either stupid, weak, or both. Just shrug. Don't say anything at all. Besides, he's apparently a badass himself.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)15:57 No. 146279 ID: 212869
File 126843825090.jpg - (143.22KB , 777x777 , 05-28.jpg )

"I knew you'd try some shit like that!"

>"Of course you did. I was going to kill him from the start."

"I should tear your fucking arms off!"

>"Burns," Kitty tries to interject. She's already taken his weapon away.

>"That would be purposeless. I know you will do nothing to me."

"Maybe not now. But you're pushing your luck, Tannon! You need us a lot more than we need you."

>"How little you know.
>"Surely you can appreciate my actions. I have a mission to complete. I cannot allow your animal compassion and lack of foresight to hamper that mission."

"This is my mission, Tannon. I'm making that perfectly clear, right now.
"You're going to have Coalition on your ass for the next five thousand miles. How far are you going to make it without the two of us?"

>"We won't make it far at all, as long as you are creating a path for the Coalition to follow."

"My call. Not yours! As far as you should be concerned, you're my subordinate. You fall out of line again, I either kill you or leave you in a ditch, somewhere. We don't need you. Is that clear?"

>"Very well."

He says it with practice, and without hesitation. He knew this was what I was going to do. He could probably guess how the conversation would even play out. But I don't care.

I'm sick of this place. Are we done here?

Yes, please get the hell out of this awful place. The sooner you get out of here the sooner you get done with Tannon's awful shit.

>>146279
Well you could prove him wrong on one thing. Tell Kitty to hold him down. Grab ahold of one of his teeth, one halfway to the back on the sides should do, then pull it out. It will fucking hurt but not not be that harmful in the long run and will not impair his abilities.

I would suggest you get out of Qer. I would suggest going to East Port. There should be enough cargo traffic going through there to let you find transport to the Empire.

Kill Tannon first.

Think about it; He's recounting step-by-step on how to get to this place instead of simply telling you how to get there. He's controlling your exact movements and keeping your options narrowed by making sure you only know of the options he provides for you. He's more or less herding you to this location, and you're buying into it without question.

His hopes are riding on that 'animal compassion' keeping you from killing him. You already know he plans to betray you at the soonest possible moment. What's to say he isn't leading you straight into a trap; a place where he can get away safely without telling you anything, or even worse a place to capture both you and kitty. You're amortal but you aren't invincible; a heavy enough containment cell could hold you. He could hold one of you hostage to manipulate the other to carry out his bidding; don't think for a moment that this isn't the kind of plan that he'd come up with.

This is EXACTLY the way his kind thinks. You are only useful to him so long as you are controlled in some way. Once you disallow him that control he will seek to regain control by any other means. You are a calculated risk as long as you remain free to do as you please, and when this is over he will not allow you to remain free.

Kill him now and save yourself the hardship later. You know that going with him is a complete dead-end in every respect.

Uhm. Let's leave Tannon unmutilated, collect what supplies we need and move on.

...wait, grab a radio and set it to receive only. That way we can tell what the Coalition is doing.

>>146285
You know what, changed my mind. Tannon can keep his damn teeth. But keep it in mind for later occasions.

The rest still stands. Make your way to east port. And ask Tannon about Qer and the coalition, and why they would think he has papers important enough to send 23 commandos to look for.

What the fuck? Spitefully hurting Tannon because you don't like him won't accomplish anything. While you travel, ask him what he knows about Qer and the Coalition.

Trying to punish or hurt him because you don't like the kind of creature he is is useless. He doesn't understand the way you think, doesn't want to, and trying to punish him will make him more likely to think that you're a threat to him. If he has no reason to betray you, then he won't. Why give him a reason?

You are all assuming Tannon is actually leading us to said vault in the first place. We have no reason to believe he is taking us to where he says he is. He needed us to get him out of that cave alive, and he needs us to keep him safe from the Coalition. When safety is no longer a concern there is no longer any purpose to keep Kitty and Burns around.

This isn't killing out of spite. This is thinking exactly like Tannon and predicting results.

Do we really want to suck up to this guy for the rest of the game just to prevent him from his eventual betrayal? Do we really want to go the lengths necessary to keep a favorable viewpoint with Tannon, and establish our utility? I for one do not like being viewed as a calculated risk to be neutralized the moment we are deemed unusable at the earliest possible time he is able to dump us.

I say we find better friends.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)16:54 No. 146314 ID: 212869
File 126844169477.jpg - (144.41KB , 777x777 , 05-29.jpg )

>ask Tannon about Qer and the coalition
Kitty beats me to it.

>"Burns, why did the soldier seem surprised that a Qerian would think his country was being invaded?"

"Good question. Well, Tannon?"

>"Qer has been under Coalition control for a decade. The government - what little there is - is a puppet government. The Coalition has free reign here. No doubt Qer has declared its loyalty to the Coalition, or will do so soon enough.
"They may even move on from your country to attack North Poilen."

"Why would they do that? We got involved in a war with the Coalition over land claims with -

>"I know why you think you're in the war. Something more is at work here. I was at work investigating why when other matters took precedent. It is why I am fleeing this world."

"Why?"

>"Why I am fleeing this world? I cannot say. Press as you'd like, but it is information the Acruen cannot divulge."

I seethe at this, but I'm certain nothing can be done. For what I hate about Tannon, I'll give him this: when he takes a stance, he sticks by it. It makes him easy to read in some ways.

"Fine."

I lower him, having forgotten I was holding him off the ground. I had barely felt his weight on my arm.

"Why would they invade Poilen?"

>"As I explained before. Something about your war concerns who they're chasing, and the Sunrisen Empire's link with that person. That is the greatest likelihood. I know nothing more than that."

I spit as I turn, as ready to leave a place as I have ever been.

"Load up your shit in one of the vehicles. Let's get the hell out of here."

I guess I'll grab some extra clothes and food, if I can find any. I haven't eaten in forever. If there's anything else you can think of, mention it now, because we're leaving immediately.

>>146314
Grab a radio so that you can hear Coalition chatter.

Didn't Tannon say there were weapons? Get some. What else is around here, anyway?

>>146314
Do one last sweep for anything useful or anything that can be sold. Oh and search the coalition corpses. They're not going to need any jewelry or cash they have on them but you might need it.

Other than that I can only repeat my desired destination of East Port. From your current position you can easily get there without having to cross Poilen lands. And if the Coalition officially takes over Qer then there could be refugee streams going to Cerea, that would make it easier for you to blend in.

To be fair your reasons for keeping him alive were kind of lame. But Tannon is seriously bad news. You can't form a positive relationship with someone who has already decided to betray you, and takes that as a logical premise to all future arguments. Anyone with ay modicum of reason would kill the Acruen where he stands. You might mention to him how glad he is that he's in the company of "animals" because were he to pull this sort of thing with an a more rational minded being he'd have been eating his arms yesterday. What he perceives as weakness is both vital and necessary to his goals and his future functioning. I bet that'd knock him down a few pegs. His plans are now totally dependant on nothing more than the kindness of animals.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)17:51 No. 146351 ID: aa5284
File 126844510236.jpg - (160.22KB , 777x777 , 05-30.jpg )

So you voices are all against me killing an enemy soldier as a tactical move, but want me to murder Tannon, because you don't like him? Why am I listening to you again?

I'm not going to kill him. He's the only lead we've got. You can debate whether he's being honest or not all you'd like, but personally I believe he's being truthful enough. It's my command decision, and we're sticking to it. If he does something to jeopardize the mission again, we'll reevaluate.

I head off to collect what I can find. A lot of the bodies are already stripped away. Tannon was busy while Kitty and I were talking. I pick out a couple of radios. They won't have much purpose once we put some distance between us and the Coalition forces, but they may come in handy later. I also get a change of clothes. I stink of blood, and I imagine so does Kitty. We need a shower, but fresh clothes will do for the time being. I also collect what money I can find.

>I can only repeat my desired destination of East Port

Having overhead Kitty's discussion with Tannon earlier, they had agreed to head to Gray Bay. I trust her judgment, and there's not enough of a reason to change that now, aside from Tannon's wild speculation. It's funny what you voices choose to believe and disbelieve sometimes.

We can't stay here any longer.

Returning to the vehicle Tannon has chosen, I find it packed full of everything he's taken. He's thorough, I'll give him that. There's enough here to last us quite a while.

If you have any more questions you can think of, ask them. It will be a lengthy trip from here to the cave systems under North Poilen.

Tannon is already at the wheel. I don't know how to drive this thing, and he knows where to go, in theory. I warn him before we leave about the price of betrayal, which he seems entertained by, as though I shouldn't be concerned.

Kitty comes on board, and the doors close.

We drive away into the darkness of the second largest cave system in the world, into North Poilen.

>>146351
I said East Port all along. I think it's a better port and most of all it's alot further from any coalition forces. Bigger harbor further away from enemies should be a clear choice.

And about Tannon, trust Tannon to do what Tannon thinks is best for Tannon. He wants to leave this world, to do that he needs both of you. So long as he needs both of you, you can trust him to do what he thinks is necessary for success. Just never forget why he is doing this and never think that you can truly trust him. Think of him as one of those squadmates who you really hated but still knew could be trusted to cover you when the shitstorm landed on both of you.

Now for questions. Give us all the information you have about the political situation in Cerea and the Empire as well as their societies. Ask Tannon for more information as well.

>>146351

Interesting strategy. I actually <i>like</i> Tannon. I just want him dead because he's such a dire threat to your (presumably infinite) future, not to mention our little gem's existence. I get the impression that he gets ahold of us, it's Game Over. I wanted you to kill the Coalition guy too, once it became obvious he wasn't going to be any good as a prisoner.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)20:52 No. 146462 ID: ebea88
File 126845593317.jpg - (243.99KB , 777x777 , 05-31.jpg )

We finally get underway. These are the only mines in the world that can be navigated like this. It's hypothesized that at some point in history, some civilization dug out these caves for whatever reason. My guess? It was for the ship. Maybe more. A lot of it is still unexplored. It's gotten rougher over the centuries, but it's still navigable.

>one of those squadmates who you really hated

I loved all my squad mates.

>the political situation in Cerea and the Empire as well as their societies

What, you want me to hold a social studies class?

Qer didn't surprise me. There were rumors that their government was a sham, of course. Nobody really paid attention since the place is run by criminals.

Cerea is an old enemy of the Confederacy and North Poilen. They're the ones that wiped out South Poilen, a few hundred years ago. They were a kingdom back then, and tried invading us afterwards. They lost that war.

Nowadays, they're a major port trader on their west coast. The rest of the country is a lot of grasslands, mostly. A lot of farmlands and military installations. If the Coalition is pushing to control all of Gaeten, that will be their biggest obstacle, now that the Confederacy is out of the picture. The people there aren't particularly friendly, and they're fairly insular.

The Poilenese are a lot friendlier, although they have a lot of in-fighting that keeps you on your toes when you're dealing with them. They lost a lot of land to the Cereans in a war a few decades back. The two countries aren't very friendly to one another.

The Sunrisen Empire and the Coalition is a very long story. Do you really want to hear about all that?

>>146462
Certainly. I can't ascertain the necessity of knowing the history of these nations given that your current predicament is based more on touch-and-go planning than anything else, but hey, I'm curious.

At the very least it would make us feel a bit less in the dark about the goings on of your world--current events are only so helpful without the background history. That aside, seems like we have nothing but time anyway since Tannon is mum about anything particularly useful. Might as well indulge our curiosity and see where it leads.

Yes, please tell us. the more we know, the better we can help you.

Also, make eyes at Kitty to reinforce the solidarity.

>>146462

That thing's got 4x4 power drive, right?

Let's get this underway.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/12(Fri)22:53 No. 146546 ID: 8e9eb6
File 126846321681.jpg - (243.43KB , 777x777 , 05-32.jpg )

Well,, I was just hoping for some privacy while I change clothes, you know? But anyway, it's not like you're anything but disembodied voices, I guess...

The oldest of the two most major forces in the world is the Sunrisen Empire. It was once a lot larger than it is today. Whereas now it occupies all of South Taesen, it used to extend through East Taesen and into Northland, and even occupied some of Gaeten.

I can't really remember the specifics of what dates, who and where, but basically, the Sunrisen Empire got started a few thousand years ago as a small kingdom on an island near the Eastern Expanse. The Expanse acts as sort of a natural border ships don't want to enter, for obvious reasons. When that kingdom, whatever it was called... can't remember. When it started expanding by force, it moved south and west. The mountain ranges that extend through the southern part of Taesen acted as another natural border against routes.

Over a period of about five hundred years, that kingdom owned most of the continent due in part to intelligent military strategies, technological innovations and the invention of concepts like economies and right of ownership.

Gaeten and the Northlands and the Blacklands hadn't been discovered at the time, and the Wilder Expanse was seen as a place where evil creatures lived, so a lot of politics were congested in that part of the world.

War broke out between this kingdom and a republic in East Taesen about 1500 years ago. Neither side could really push beyond Vedic's Straight, because of the way the land narrows down.

Long story short, this kingdom discovered a more advanced method of navigation, or something like that, I remember. They ended up colonizing the Northlands while looking for someplace to establish a fort to act as a place for their armies to mass up to attack this republic from behind. The war died down a few years later, and this kingdom got expansion fever. The republic broke up on its own after its economy collapsed.

At some point, there were several revolutions in the kingdom, and it broke apart. One of the factions named itself the Sunrisen Empire.

Now, this to me, is where it gets really strange. "Sunrisen" was just a name. It didn't mean anything, as far as scholars know. They assumed it was someone's name.

Then, you guys came along. I didn't really put it together then, but... well... Sunrisen. The sun? Our world doesn't have a sun. And it's where you guys get your light, right? And it rises out of the ground, or something crazy, because your worlds are big balls hanging in nothing? It's like, whoever named the Sunrisen Empire knew something the rest of the world didn't. Or maybe it really was just someone's name. I don't know.

But anyway, the Empire became really militaristic and declared war on these other factions that had broken away. Over the course of a hundred years, they'd all been reclaimed.

The Sunrisen Empire started expanding out into the rest of Taesen, basically trying to control the entire world. The various nations didn't take kindly to that. One of them - and this I do remember - was named Yu Nayega. I remember that because that country still exists. It's the main country that keeps the rest of the Coalition held together. Yu Nayega led a unified army against the Sunrisen Empire.

After several years of war, some of the countries lost their leaders due to diseases the Empire introduced, and assassinations. Yu Nayega took their lands over, sort of quietly, under the guise of trying to maintain order. That's how they expanded to where their borders stand today.

Over the next few decades, the Sunrisen Empire destabilized when its citizens tired of the constant war and the problems it was creating. It lost control of its colonies in Northland, and two or three other countries broke away from its territories in East Taenen.

Things continued like that up to present day. No real world-changing events, aside from the discovery of Gaeten a couple hundred years ago, and the other Expanses that wall our world in.

Now, a hundred and fifty or so years ago, a man named Muerto Jack came to power in the Sunrisen Empire. He was a giant of a man, supposedly, and was known for being eccentric and often violent. He became a general, before he became something of a politician. I mention him because the Sunrisen Empire's King was assassinated, and most people thought Yu Nayega was responsible. The King had no heir. Nobody could decide who should ascend to the throne, or whether to retaliate against Yu Nayega. Muerto Jack basically stepped in and took control of the entire Empire overnight, and led a campaign against Yu Nayega.

Muerto Jack was killed a few years later, but that war has basically been ongoing, whether with armies or economies, ever since. The Coalition was formed by Exarch Belleza Ren about fifty years ago to stabalize a lot of floundering countries. She pulled them all together and basically resolved the world's economy overnight. After ten years, she stepped down and her daughter took up the Head Seat, and her daughter after her.

The two are still at war. It's been calm on the surface for the past few decades, but it looks like the Coalition is pushing back into outright war with the Empire. Not sure how that will turn out. The Empire is as weak as it's ever been. At least in comparison to the Coalition.

The current leaders are Exarch Selia D'san and King Paulson Kierva. The King is an old man, and isn't expected to survive the year. The Exarchs are always extremely secretive, and are only seen in private meetings. It's rumored Selia is beautiful, and looking for a husband.

The populations hate each other. The war polarizes a lot of worldwide politics. If you're seen as supporting one side or the other, you tend to be ostracized by the other. Which is basically what happened to us.

Phew.

Well, there's a brief history of the world. Satisfied?

...Where does the Confederacy fit into all that?

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)01:53 No. 146667 ID: f2b2b3
File 126847401648.jpg - (226.23KB , 777x777 , 05-33.jpg )

>...Where does the Confederacy fit into all that?

Doesn't. Gaeten as a whole is an afterthought in world politics. Most of the east part of the continent is mountains and desert. The rest is plains and deciduous forests. So, there was never much here to exploit, aside from a few gem mines.

The Confederacy was formed a hundred and twenty-five years ago from eight small colonies that chose to declare their independence when their founding country - called Tren - collapsed economically. They joined with two other kingdoms during a political marriage that united a good part of the continent. Hence the name, Ten Generation Confederacy. We haven't... didn't... have quite the history that the Empire and the Coalition have had. The only major wars we've been involved in were with other colony kingdoms, over the past two hundred or so years.

Now, if there are no further questions, I'm going to get some sleep before we arrive at Poilen.

>>146667
You know that was all very interesting. And makes me think of a couple of ways to potentially fuck up the Coalitions plans. But those would be quite difficult to achieve.

A method may present itself later. The plan would basically be to get Cerea and the Empire to agree to a silent alliance. The empire will then start sending equipment and officers to Cerea while Cerea takes a public stance where they say that they will view any attack on Poilen as an attack on their soil. If the coalition then attacks North Poilen then it's possible that they just may bite off more than they can chew. If nothing else it should slow down their advance nicely. I know it's not exactly an easy plan, but you and us both can try to keep our eyes open for any oppurtunities to gain political influence.

Oh and the name Sunrisen. I can think of two ways it could have been meant. Either that the empire was going to rise like the sun, in that it was inevitable and something that couldn't be stopped, of course the sun sets eventuall also so the destruction of the empire is just as inevitable but that is the fate of all things. The other one would be that it was going to be an empire that the sun never sets upon, that is that the empire would eventually cover the whole world. And hey who knows, maybe the guy that founded the empire had us once upon a time, or something like us. We tend to loose our memory when we go into hibernation.

Well, fuck, I don't remember if we asked Kitty or not but ask her if she's ever heard of a world called "earth". Just cuz its a conversation starter.

You call yourself human right? Or is your species called Nalans or something?

>>146667
...Is that a whole crate of nothing but canned ham? Also turn around if you wanna get an eyeful, Burnsie.

>>146710

Unless he looked at it before, he's gonna have to turn around to tell us about the hams crate. Which, to be honest, I'm a little curious about now too.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)14:41 No. 146773 ID: ebe67f
File 126852010871.jpg - (230.03KB , 777x777 , 05-34.jpg )

>Just cuz its a conversation starter.

Like I said, I'm pretty tired. I'd rather not start a conversation with a naked woman right now. She's been like that for a while now. Can't make up her mind what to wear, apparently. But "earth," as far as I know, is just soil on the ground. Is that what your world is called? Your round thing?

>Nalans

Where are you voices getting these made up words from? We're human.

>plan to bring down the Coalition

I guess you voices really think you're on a wild adventure here. I can't imagine anything I do having an impact on regional politics, much less national or world. My plan is to lay low, as I should, get my job done and get back home. End of story.

>Cerean alliance with the Empire

The Cereans are not a friendly bunch. And I have little doubt they wouldn't want an alliance with anyone. Like I said, they're an insular people and want nothing to do with world politics.

And as an aside from that, you voices have to realize that the Empire isn't exactly the good guys here. Throughout history, they've been one of the worst threats to world peace. The Coalition is far more recent, but has usually only been aggressive when it comes to butting heads with the Empire. They've started to try to police the world a lot more lately, but it wasn't until the past few years that they've become something of a bully, themselves.

I hate the Coalition for what they've done, but when I was a child, they Coalition was a hero for how they kept the "evil Empire" in check for so long. That black and white view of the world fell to the wayside as I got older, for a variety of reasons.

>HAMS

I like ham.

Wait a minute.

She's still naked because she can't decide what to wear.

Why are YOU still naked? You know you can talk and put on clothes at the same time.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)14:57 No. 146777 ID: ebe67f
File 126852104263.jpg - (230.45KB , 777x777 , 05-35.jpg )

Sounds like you guys don't have any more questions, or are more concerned with seeing Kitty nude, or something, so I'm going to get some rest.

"Hey, Kitty."

>"Hm?"

"I'm going to get some sleep. Watch on Tannon for me?"

>"Oh. Right."

With any luck I'll wake up just as we're exiting the cave system, wherever that may be.

I grab my stuff, lay down some soft material and grab some much-deserved sleep.

>>146773
It was simply a thought. I don't think it's likely you will be able to bring it off. I just tend to make plans with any information I get. Some are good, most are bad. Some could work, most would never work unless some extremly unlikely events happen. I still make them. Amd don't sell you chance to influence things short. Oppurtunities can arise and fortunes fall, if you're in the right spot at the right time you can change history.

The world is never black and white, it simply is. You said the coalition had started to conduct atrocities, Tannon hinted that there is more behind the recent Coalition politics than you see on the surface. If you want to bring down the Coalition then say so and I will try to find ways to do it, if not then I will focus on other areas.

Hams are nice by the way. Can't think of anything else now, so get some sleep and be ready to face a new tomorrow in North Poilen. I still think that's a bad idea by the way. Might be easier for you to get in but that's also going to be the case for the Coalition and politically unstable places can be nasty.

[paused] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)15:00 No. 146779 ID: ebe67f
File 126852125359.jpg - (161.03KB , 777x777 , 05-35-p.jpg )

[[ At certain points in the game, you will have the chance to help design clothing, equipment or items to be used in the quest, in the discussion thread: http://www3.tgchan.org/kusaba/questdis/res/321772.html

Game 1 is to design clothing for Kitty, although this will not apply until sometime later in the quest, when she has the chance to obtain new wardrobe items. ]]

>>146774
[[ He's wearing pants, although you can't see it. He's getting ready to sleep, so he's not wearing a shirt. ]]

>But "earth," as far as I know, is just soil on the ground. Is that what your world is called? Your round thing?

Yeah, the name Earth comes from a Roman god or something, like all of our planets in our system. Mars, Mercury, Venus, Saturn, Neptune, etc. Romans are basically your big bad empire only now they're a dead civilization. Also no guns. No clue how how long have guns existed in your world.

We're humans too. What a coincidence. I only really mentioned Earth the god because, fuck, how in the world did the influence of one of our dead religions get in your science and you call your dirt "earth"? Reasonably, Earth is a word you shouldn't even fucking know about.

I think someone from our world may have come up with a lot of your world's scientific revolutions or at east supported the language evolution. A likely explanation. Only the fucker didn't care to mention about outer space and stars. That is... if your speaking english and not every word of ours is being turned into a word of same meaning in your language.

>>146813
[[ The name "Earth" derives from the Anglo-Saxon word erda, which means ground or soil. It became eorthe later, and then erthe in Middle English.

There's no such thing as a god "Earth." I wouldn't think too much on etymology in this quest, as it's not something I'll be touching on outside my book. It's part of why the universe exists as it does, which you won't discover in this quest. ]]

>>146813
Earth can also be called Telus. Which I think is what the Romans called it.

But Burns don't bother with planets. Your reality is the one we have to work within. Our previous experiances and knowledge can't help you if they're not part of the reality you're in-

oh fffffuuuuccck sorry for being dumb

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)20:09 No. 146928 ID: 12084d
File 12685397788.jpg - (169.91KB , 777x777 , 05-36.jpg )

>Delia, oh Delia
>Delia's Gone
>One more round
>Delia's Gone

My dream interspersed the real I cannot find
Voices voice I hear upon the edge
Where cannot I form my mind
Lost, voices, lost
Help

>>146928
You're dreaming. So what? Make that dream your bitch! Force it to be what you want it to be.

>>146928

Don't think about being in high school naked. Don't think about it.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)20:23 No. 146951 ID: 12084d
File 126854057999.jpg - (172.57KB , 777x777 , 05-37.jpg )

>Always liked that song.

The voices... Tear. Makes it hard to

Thoughts slowly forming

Image appearing

Help me

>Well, come on, then. We don't have much time.
>The night's not long.
>Choose a path.

"Path? These... graves?"

>Whichever way you'd like to think.
>Really, aren't they the same thing?

"Who is this?"

The words come easier. The dream settles. Is this a dream?

>Pick a path, kid.

Go with Delia. Because John is obviously JOHN FREEMAN WHO WAS GORDON FREEMAN'S BROTHER. And we want none of that.

>>146951

Why take any path that leads to death? You can walk off into the shadows instead.

Well, the left appears to day Delia. The right appears to be written in Wingdings.

With the current information I don't think I can make a proper conjecture about which path to take. You should probably sit down and have a nice cup of coffee until the lettering of the right path becomes clearer.

i think you have to pick which you want to give up. the present, delia, or the future, john.

live for the future.

Well, Delia's your wife. John is your son.

Question is, what is the choice here? Who to dream about? Who to save? Who to give up? Or is it even more metaphorical, and we're choosing between living in the present (Delia) or the future (John).

In my opinion, you should choose John, the one with the most future left.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)20:55 No. 146991 ID: 12084d
File 126854250853.jpg - (223.26KB , 777x777 , 05-38.jpg )

"What kind of decision are you trying to get me to make?
"I'm not going to choose anything."

>"Oh, that was always your problem, Jack."

"Delia? No... you're not... Kitty? Why do you have my wife's voice?"

>"Something wrong with the way I look, Jack? You lost interest in my body a long time ago. Don't I look better this way?"

"Stop this. Stop it now."

>"You've seen more of her in two days than you have of me in five years, Jack. It wasn't the war that drove you away.
>"You never could make a decision for yourself.
>"Unless it was whether to ignore me and John and head back down to the bar."

"I never stopped loving her. You don't understand our marriage. You have no business digging around in my head.
"Our relationship is none of your business."

>"What relationship? Didn't you know? How she's been having an affair, for the past two years?"

"Enough!"

>"You haven't been there. You didn't appreciate her, love her, the way she wanted to be loved."

"You mean everything to me, Delia. Everything."

>"You never showed it. You depend on me to make our decisions, handle our business, solve our problems...
>"Maybe that was where it all went wrong. How could I expect a fulfilling relationship from a man with no passion left in his life? All you have is your service to a dead country.
>"What happened to those pretty words you used to say to me? Did losing my youth mean so much to you? Am I so unlike the woman you committed your life to?"

I have to get out of this. I can't wake up.

Are you responsible for this, voices? I should have never fallen asleep with you in my hand.

>>146991

Oh come on, man. We can't make you hallucinate about your wife.

Besides, I'm sure she loves you very much.

Don't look at me boss; this is a new thing as far as I'm concerned.

Maybe you should put the mission on hold for a bit and spend some time with the family? You're amortal now; you aren't exactly going anywhere, and neither are we or the vault.

How bad could it be to go back and see them for a bit?

Punch the wall inbetween, and forge your future through the actions of your present. Walk both roads at once, living for the future as you affect the present.

Enduring the pain of both future are present on his back... that's the job of a real man.

>>146991
Don't look at us. You're just having a nightmare from everything that's happened recently.

You're afraid right now, Burns. But you can overcome that fear. Master it, and fear becomes courage to face the unknown.

>>146991
No. We aren't doing this. I have an idea of who is... but I won't let you accuse him. You need to go through with this, and understand. Understand your mistakes.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)21:10 No. 147021 ID: 12084d
File 126854340934.jpg - (185.79KB , 777x777 , 05-39.jpg )

>You shouldn't blame them, Burns.

The image of my... wife fades, as I meet an image behind me.

>They're responsible for your dream, but not for what you're dreaming.
>This is all on you, kid.

"Who the hell are you?"

>A religious man, Burns.
>That's all I am. I herald world to world. I'm a disciple, preaching the Good Word.

"Get out of my fucking head."

>I will, Burns. I'm not trying to cause you any grief.
>You know, you don't have much time left with your wife.

"That some sort of threat?"

>Not at all. No. If this was a perfect world, she'd live forever.

"Like me?"

>No, Burns. What I had to do to you was tragic. But it's all right. Piaculum is on his way. Then, you and your wife and son can have the right kind of eternal life.
>Never having to watch your family die while you stay young forever. Being given a purpose, without having to worry about what meaning life has.
>That's the kind of god I serve.
>Burns, I only want to help you.

Who the hell is this guy? I still can't think straight. What should I ask? What should I tell him... What do I do? I can't do this on my own.

Block him out! Block him out!

Oh hell, wake up! Wake up man!

>>147021
He says Piaculum will bring some kind of 'eternal life" to you and your family this unsettles me. Ask him to clarify.

Well, if I had to make an informed guess, a Piaculum is on it's way to slaughter your wife and son, sent by the man whose responsible for making you amortal, which he did so for a purpose he hasn't graced us with yet.

In a nutshell, more or less.

>>147021
"What kind of eternal life?
Where can I learn more about this 'Piaculum'?
What do you want me to do?
What 'purpose' would you assign to me?
What are your plans for Kitty? For my wife and son?
You're obviously planning a major change, so what does that mean for my world's governments?
For personal freedoms and rights?
What about those who oppose you? Will you ignore them and let them be, or exterminate them?

eternal life, in heaven.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)21:52 No. 147094 ID: 12084d
File 126854592651.jpg - (164.62KB , 777x777 , 05-40.jpg )

>eternal life

"Eternal life? You stay away from my family."

>Nothing like that, Burns. True, eternal life. That's why I made you the way you are: to preserve you, until Piaculum could arrive. I can't give you real eternal life, unless you're still alive to receive it. The dead are outside of my reach.

>Where can I learn more about this 'Piaculum'?

"What the hell is Piaculum?"

>Piaculum is one of many names for the god that I serve. The mortal men and women we're trying to save call his body Piaculum, as well. You fought with a small part of his flesh recently.

"You really expect me to trust something like that?"

>His flesh is stained with the sins of all those lives he's saved. It's his burden. The further those pieces are from his reach, the more difficult it is for him to control them. It is good you sealed it away, until Piaculum can retrieve it.

"What do you want me to do?"

>Enjoy life. Do what you'd like to do. Protect your family at all costs. Above all, please, don't take any more lives. I can do nothing to help the dead.

"I've never killed anyone."

He smiles.

>I know. Just make sure the soldier that's a part of you doesn't either.

>What 'purpose' would you assign to me?

I'm not sure what you mean by this. But, I'll try to ask anyway.

"What purpose do you want to give me?"

>The same meaning that anyone deserves, Burns. To be happy. To love and be loved. We'll build a new heaven, a new paradise, together.

"What are your plans for Kitty? For my wife and son?"

>The same as any person. I only want to see them safe, unharmed, and alive. Everyone is equal. We all require salvation. Even me.

>the world's governments

"What about my world? Its countries, its identity?"

>Would you really be sad to see it go? Is there anything here worth protecting, aside from its people? Your governments, your pride, your sins, will vanish, forever. Piaculum will give you a new, perfect world, unlike this one.

>personal freedoms and rights

"And what about my free will?"

He laughs, rather heartily.

>Yes, your free will, will stay intact. You couldn't be much of a person without it, could you? Like most people, you fear your own salvation. But that's good. Fear makes you aware. Those that are afraid of the change appreciate it most. It pains me to see anyone in pain like that, but... it's unavoidable, sometimes.

>those that oppose you

"What if I don't want your salvation? What if I don't want eternal life?"

He samples the drug between his fingers and considers this.

>Everyone needs salvation, Burns. Whether they realize it or not. Would you abandon John, if he took a path in life you knew wasn't right for him? I don't want to sound cruel. But, sometimes, you have to do what's best for others, even if they don't realize it. I'll tell you now, no one that Piaculum has saved, has ever regretted it.

>Burns, I know this has all been overwhelming. But, I'm only here to help. I'm hurrying as quickly as I can. Every day, people are dying, all across Nahala. We can't reach them all. Please, protect who you can.

The image of the man I believe to be Caiphas, one of the digens Kitty once described to me, wavers and fades.

The dream that came for me, releases me. I fear its return.

Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)21:53 No. 147096 ID: 12084d
File 126854603528.jpg - (214.50KB , 777x777 , 05-41.jpg )

I awaken.

The dream... It feels like it's tainting the reality around me. Slowly, it crawls back to wherever it came from.

God, I'm so glad it's over.

His voice lingers, as the dream fades.

>Just make sure, when I find you again... that there's no new blood on your hands.

[end of chapter 5] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)21:56 No. 147101 ID: 12084d
File 126854618244.jpg - (202.46KB , 777x777 , 05-42.jpg )

>Even if those hands aren't your own.

>>147101

Hey, we're a mood ring!

i think this is a different tear. the blue is the second tear. this could be the first or third.

Suggestion 2010/03/13(Sat)22:09 No. 147117 ID: e75a2f
File 126854696641.jpg - (24.24KB , 450x450 , mood-ring-color-chart.jpg )

Looks like we're doing good.

[not canon] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/13(Sat)22:17 No. 147134 ID: 12084d
File 126854743960.jpg - (202.82KB , 777x777 , 05-42-ohnoooooo.jpg )

WHERE IS YOUR PRECIOUS COLOR CHART THEORY NOW

>>147134
A COLOR FOR EVERY VOICE, FOOL!

>>147134

I think this means we're gay. :o

Mneme!CRITTerXzI 2010/03/13(Sat)22:26 No. 147149 ID: a85626
File 126854801363.jpg - (93.21KB , 501x800 , galactus.jpg )

...

...

FUCK PIACULUM

Mneme!CRITTerXzI 2010/03/13(Sat)22:30 No. 147151 ID: a85626
File 126854820242.jpg - (26.65KB , 720x576 , evangelion.jpg )

FUUUUUUCK PIACULUM

Mneme!CRITTerXzI 2010/03/13(Sat)22:34 No. 147153 ID: a85626
File 126854846720.jpg - (63.44KB , 500x363 , tetsuo.jpg )

Fuck. Piaculum.

There is no way this could possibly end well.

'Even if those hands aren't your own.' = those aren't burns' hands.

I dunno if we should be worried about Piaculum. He said that nobody ever regretted being saved by him.

>>147167
Depends if they are capable of regretting it. I am still a voice of caution. I do not trust the smoking man.

Suggestion 2010/03/14(Sun)00:12 No. 147270 ID: e3f578
File 126855432031.jpg - (30.31KB , 700x393 , Gurren-Lagann_-_Kamina.jpg )

What, we've finally got a guy encouraging the good path end everybody seems to teter forward for and you guys go "fuck him"? Guy is the only actual not pessimistic fool in this quest so far. I don't want to turn him down.

Besides, its not like we can't fucking deal with a manipulative GOD if that's the case. We're /tgchan/ dammit. Go beyond the impossible and shoot reason to the curb.

>>147134
Who's awesome? You're awesome.

>>147270
the main problem isn't that he's an optimist. The problem is that he... well, he seems like some sort of wacked out cultist. "I am giving you eternal life! ...the flaying of your skin is perfectly normal for the procedure!" I saw, we approach his path, but with caution. I mean, we have seen what this thing looks like, and it doesn't look like the body of a kind and caring deity.

>>147253
He said that they retain their free will. That would require a clear mind.

>>147270
The main problem is that Piacalum is a vast entity that exists in another dimension and it's idea of bringing salvation is consuming everything. Think of it as the Tyranid hive mind in 40k and you get somewhat of an idea of what it is and how it will bring salvation to all. So lets try to not help it out.

[chapter 5 stats] Plague!!NkAwOzZ2H0 2010/03/14(Sun)05:47 No. 147442 ID: aa5284
File 126857083763.jpg - (167.21KB , 777x777 , 05-42-s.jpg )

[[ By your actions or inactions, the following has transpired:

Kitty:
*mistrust of Tannon has greatly increased
*relationship with Burns has developed slightly beyond the projections of her own regrets
*is concerned on how to change herself for the better, permanently, rather than falling back to her lesser nature
*is more aware of her need for a larger wardrobe

Burns:
*understanding of the moral ambiguity of his current mission has waned from mere utility and duty
*has developed a begrudging understanding of Tannon's methods and intent
*has lost some respect for the wisdom of the voices within the Tear
*is growing more reliant on making his own command decisions
*has a slightly better understanding of the secret history of his world
*is greatly concerned over his marriage

Tannon:
*has accepted Kitty and Burns as necessary elements
*considers Burns to be unstable and animalistic - too emotionally-charged for total competency
*considers Kitty to be less animalistic - amoral enough to seek necessary ends
*anticipates Kitty and Burns continued assistance if he maintains his part of their bargain
*now answers to Burns' command decisions

Gained:
x1 Mining Vehicle
x11 Combat-Utility Knives
x5 Coalition Combat Vests
x1 Tannon's Handgun (4 clips)
x20 Coalition Assault Rifles (73 clips)
x12 Coalition Handguns (64 clips)
x467.23 Coalition money
x5 days food/water

As the story progresses, events may encompass far more than the handful of characters you have accumulated. ]]

>has lost some respect for the wisdom of the voices within the Tear

Something tells me that's going to bite us in the ass later. Is it possible for you to tell us what caused that?

>>147450
All of the suggestions to keep the Coalition guy alive. Then the very upset mood when Tannon killed the guy. Which I frankly think turned out pretty well, Tannon is now more likely to obey Burns and Burns is less likley to listen to any stupid shit we tell him. And the Coalition guy died. So I'm quite happy with the way it turned out, atleast in the short term.

It was
>So you voices are all against me killing an enemy soldier as a tactical move, but want me to murder Tannon, because you don't like him? Why am I listening to you again?
that. Which was pretty petty of us, honestly.

>>147450

No that's pretty good actually. Burns's first mistake was assuming we would have answers for him. That he's coming to terms with our ignorance might save us his blind trust in the future. As in, he knows now to warn us.