Alice Dietrich 2015/01/01(Thu)02:00 No. 617232 ID: 256d52
File 142010643138.png - (22.72KB , 800x600 , corner_watcher.png )

Alice and Blake are skirting the labs in the xotl facility, looking for wherever they've stashed the rest of the Penguin's crew. Once they've grabbed everyone they can, they might get lucky and be able to dig up some info on what exactly the xotl have been working on while they make their exit.

Having some idea of what exactly the xotl have done to her would certainly help Alice sleep better at night but her crew comes first.

The xotl finally went on alert status. A new announcement came over the base's intercom just a few minutes ago. According to Blake, it ordered a lockdown. All non-essential personnel should be moving into shelters. Hopefully that'll make it easier to sneak around. On the other hand, if the xotl bioweapon clean up crews are moving in, there might not be much time until things get ugly.

The thing is...

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/01(Thu)02:00 No. 617233 ID: 256d52
File 142010645792.png - (22.76KB , 800x450 , glorious_xotl_discipline.png )

What is this xotl doing? Alice and Blake barely avoided getting spotted as he scurried past. Now he's stopped and is tooling around with something in the hall. He's grumbling to himself and thumping on the front panel. Is, is that a vending machine?

Alice could just leave him alone and see if he leaves once he finishes what he's doing. Or she could try to take him out. Guns might be too loud but she does have that harpoon.

Would need to hide the body too.

>>617233
Take its gun, take it prisoner, and pump it for information.

If you need to hide a body, you can hide it in your gut.
Also, I think Blake might be able to get the chest plate on, and that would offer him at least some protection.

How's Blake's xenolingual skills? If we can't effectively interrogate this thing, then it's a futile exercise. I'm willing to take the risks involved, but only if it's not a waste of our limited time.

Harpoon is the safest bet, but I'd prefer getting in close and snapping his neck if possible with minmal risk. No blood spatter there; I'd like to reduce our trail if possible.

Alice can probably carry the body without trouble, just bring him along till a convenient room to toss him into presents itself.

Without weaponry, the Xotl themselves aren't particularly a physical thread. If you can stretch a tendril out to snatch his gun (helpfully loose in a back holster) there's not much he can do to stop your grabbing him.

would rather just let the guy pass since if he goes missing they might send MORE people to go looking for him, also I don't want to get into another "should I eat him" debate so damn soon.

>>617233
Could be a trap. Scan the area for hiding places first where an ambush could be waiting. If there's none, restrain the xotl so Blake can interrogate him. Her?

>would help Alice sleep better at night
Assuming you still sleep.

>kill xtol?
Yeah, looks like a vending machine.

I'd wait a minute and see if it leaves. If you kill this one, his absence will be noticed in the lockdown shelters, or on guard rotation. Since everyone is supposed to be in specific places in lockdown, this makes you much easier to spot.

Only kill him if the choice is between making him disappear or letting him call it in. Discovery later is better than discovery now, but we'd prefer discovery not at all.

>take it prisoner, and pump it for information.
Way too slow with the language barrier, and very liable not to produce any useful intelligence if he's just a dumb guard.

>eat?
Also, you're not injured, and you're already huge. You just resolved to stop increasing your mass until you understand what's happening to you. So decide in advance: you aren't eating this one, unless you somehow lose a lot of mass you need to recover.

>>617233
After he's gone, loot the vending machine. Just rip it open, I'm sure you're strong enough.

>>617283
Don't do this if you want to be stealthy.

>>617336
Stealth is kind of important at this point. If they figure out you're going right for your crew, that gives them a chance to set a trap with them, or move them, or kill them... or worse.

...When was the last time Blake ate?

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/01(Thu)19:03 No. 617351 ID: 256d52
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>would help Alice sleep better at night
>Assuming you still sleep.
Thank you so very much.

>Take it prisoner, and pump it for information.
How's Alice going to stop it shouting the house down the moment they let it speak?

>If you need to hide a body, you can hide it in your gut.
Alice said she was going to try to cut down on that. Plus that wouldn't do anything about the xotl's gear or the buckets of slime it'd produce.

>Also, you're not injured, and you're already huge. You just resolved to stop increasing your mass until you understand what's happening to you.
For exactly those reasons.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/01(Thu)19:03 No. 617352 ID: 256d52
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>I'd wait a minute and see if it leaves. If you kill this one, his absence will be noticed in the lockdown shelters, or on guard rotation.
Alice gives it a little longer. The xotl grumbles to itself then picks some containers out of the dropper in the machine's base. It walks off humming to itself. There's a pause a little further down the corridor. The xotl juggles its load as it tries to open a door and then scampers through.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/01(Thu)19:04 No. 617354 ID: 256d52
File 142016789594.png - (27.83KB , 800x550 , return_of_the_smoothie.png )

>After he's gone, loot the vending machine. Just rip it open, I'm sure you're strong enough.
>Don't do this if you want to be stealthy.
Alice could do that, but she presses one of the buttons instead. A can rolls into the bottom. Looks like one of those meaty smoothies she found on one of the other guards. Guess the xotl don't charge for food.

Blake shakes his head. "Stopping to grab snacks in the middle of a security alert." he says, voice low. "Did we really get captured by these guys?"

"Ahhhnt komplahnnghnn."

>...When was the last time Blake ate?
"Hunghreh?" Alice offers him the can.

Blake grabs it and cracks the top. "Ugh, not great cuisine." he says around a mouthful.

Looks like it's a canteen ahead. The door the xotl went into. Makes sense, you'd want to put a safe room there. Alice isn't sure whether or not it's worth checking out though.

Just a quick glance inside. See how many of the things are in there. So you know if you need to be extra quiet.

Probably not worth checking out the canteen, you'd have to deal with the Xotl who just went in plus who knows how many were already in there, and they almost certainly wouldn't keep any crew in there.

>>617354
Canteen won't be where the crewmembers are. Pass it by.

Hey, can you make an eye on a stalk or something to see around corners? Or some extra-sensitive feelers to listen through a wall or door?

Hmm. The vending machine vended for you. If it's not broken, I guess the xtol was upset that it was out of something.

>>617352
Pff. It's almost cute making that face.

>Looks like it's a canteen ahead. The door the xotl went into. Makes sense, you'd want to put a safe room there. Alice isn't sure whether or not it's worth checking out though.
Yes, let's check the potential safe room with lazy ass xtol guards sitting on their asses eating snacks. I'm sure they won't notice the plant monster interrupting their lunch.

Move on. Stealth means not sticking your head in places with likely congregations of hostiles.

They probably don't have your crew in the canteen so I say skip and keep looking for your crew. Time is of the essence, especially now that this guys are actually looking around

>>617358
Seconded.

You may want to place some of your biomass in a protective casing. That way, you have a much higher chance of survival if you are downed and executed - they might capture you alive but that's better than being completely burned to death by paranoid troops.

skip the canteen

The Xotl aren't what we're here for, keep moving.

Don't look inside the canteen, just find some way to jam the door shut so it'd be as difficult as possible to open from inside. That way, xotl inside are out of the picture until somebody outside (who might otherwise have been shooting at you) takes the time to rescue them.

That's one of those rules of behind-enemy-lines action, isn't it? Never pass up a chance to delay and inconvenience your foe.

Also, grab as many of those meat smoothies as the machine is willing to dispense or your tendrils are able to carry, whichever comes first. Just because you're not injured now doesn't mean you should pass up a stack of free health potions.

>just find some way to jam the door shut
I wouldn't do that, even. If they discover a deliberate jam, then they call it in, and security forces know or suspect your current location, or worse, what we're headed for.

>>617458
Second.

grab three smoothies and proceed to the lab

>>617482
The alarm's already going off, and Alice and Blake are wandering around in a search pattern rather than zeroing in on somewhere specific. By the time a xotl guard calls in the evidence of sabotage they'll be somewhere else.

Does the entrance to the canteen look like an actual bulkhead, capable of sealing airtight? If so, maybe open up the door controls and trick it into thinking there's hard vacuum and/or a radiation hazard in the hallway, triggering a safety lockdown. Throw some FUD around.

It's back~! :D

Say, where WOULD the xotl stash the crew? Any likely locations? It'd be better start there than wander around aimlessly until we bump into someone.

Also I realize it's unlikely, given realistic specs for ventilation, but what are the odds of us traveling through the air vents, Alien-style?

>>618262
Maybe they've been dissected for xenobiology specimens for students to look at. "Why yes, here we have a set of human eyes! Note how the iris patterns are unique to each individual, they use this as one method of biometric security validation..."

>>617354
Alice...alice...the canteen is full of lightly armed if not unarmed xotols, its all for the taking. Flesh ripe and wet. hungry yet? oh you want a justification. heeeh...do you really think your crew is alive still? Hmm on second though, Ignore me. Just your stomach talking. Be seeing ya.

>>618566

I agree with the part that says "ignore me."

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/12(Mon)01:46 No. 619847 ID: 256d52
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>If it's not broken, I guess the xtol was upset that it was out of something.
Nothing comes out when Alice presses the middle button. The blue light must mean it's out of that type.

>Grab as many of those meat smoothies as the machine is willing to dispense or your tendrils are able to carry, whichever comes first. Just because you're not injured now doesn't mean you should pass up a stack of free health potions.
Alice settles for three. She doesn't want them banging together.

>Does the entrance to the canteen look like an actual bulkhead, capable of sealing airtight? If so, maybe open up the door controls and trick it into thinking there's hard vacuum and/or a radiation hazard in the hallway, triggering a safety lockdown.
They're already in a lockdown! No point in getting extra attention.

It's a slightly bigger door but it doesn't look like a secure door. Not even a keypad, just a normal open and close. Uh, two. Different heights. Based off the incinerator door, at her current mass Alice could smash through that in seconds. She would assume there's an entrance to a secure shelter inside.

>Probably not worth checking out the canteen, you'd have to deal with the Xotl who just went in plus who knows how many were already in there, and they almost certainly wouldn't keep any crew in there.
Not worth it then.

>Alice...Alice...the canteen is full of lightly armed, if not unarmed, xotl. It's all for the taking. Flesh ripe and wet. Hungry yet? Oh you want a justification. Heeeh... do you really think your crew is alive still? Hmm on second though, Ignore me. Just your stomach talking. Be seeing ya.
Right. Ignoring that.

Alice and Blake move on.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/12(Mon)01:47 No. 619848 ID: 256d52
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>Hey, can you make an eye on a stalk or something to see around corners? Or some extra-sensitive feelers to listen through a wall or door?
Um Alice kind of has no idea what she's doing. Once they're out of the open maybe she should take some time to experiment. Until then she's not going to risk screwing something up.

She thinks these head tendrils might be ears.

>Also I realize it's unlikely, given realistic specs for ventilation, but what are the odds of us travelling through the air vents, Alien-style?
Definitely a no go for the side rooms but the main distribution trunks should be large enough for a person to move through them. It's got to move a lot of air.

>Maybe they've been dissected for xenobiology specimens for students to look at.
No.

There's... something puts Alice on edge. She moves carefully along in a low crouch, at about xotl eye level.

There's a secure door ahead. The lock's engaged. Reinforced glass on the (tiny) window as well. There's a screen. There's a message on it. Not xotl.

Hello?

Alice can't see anything but the dim bulk of lab fixtures and tiny tell tale glimmers of powered up equipment in there. Nothing's moving.

Could there be someone in there?

confirm with blake you aren't hallucinating. if so then it's worth checking it out.

There definitely COULD be someone in there. It could also be a trap, but it would be a weird trap, so potentially still living crew member seems more likely. Can we open the door? Or respond to the message somehow?

look for another entrance. try the vents if nothing else works.

Send Blake to communicate, provide cover for him.

any way you think you could open that door without ripping it to peaces or setting of any alarms? either you or blake? This room definitely looks like it has something we'd be interested in.

Point at the screen, so Blake sees it.

Then... go peer in the window, I suppose. Let's see what's in the room before we try to get the secure door open.

This could be a subtle trap, but it's just as likely the xtol screwed up again, like they did with you. Meaning we don't have much choice but to risk it.

>>619848
Keypad... if we could abduct a Xotl we could get past the door. Damn, missed an opportunity with that lone one. Maybe we can open it up and bypass it via rewiring the circuitry? Does your engineering background include electrical engineering?

>>619848
get Blake on that door now. If it is a friend, we rescue them, if it is a trap, we kill and eat it. We eat it with rationality and calmness. delicious calmness.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/13(Tue)01:41 No. 620080 ID: 256d52
File 142114210724.png - (31.67KB , 800x500 , thinking_about_entry.png )

>Confirm with Blake you aren't hallucinating. If so then it's worth checking it out.
"Blaghk, see thesh?"

Blake peers in the window. "Huh. Hello? Was it already there when you came to the window?" Alice can assume she's not hallucinating. Or that this is a complex hallucination.

"Yesz. Trahph?" She taps at the window experimentally. No response.

"Don't think so." Blake pauses, watching with her to see if there's any response. "We don't know how long ago that message was written though. The xotl might have moved them." He sighs. "We don't have a lot of choice. Someone could still be in there."

>Then... go peer in the window, I suppose. Let's see what's in the room before we try to get the secure door open.
The windows are small and reinforced glass. Alice is pretty sure she'd be able to smash them and crawl through but she can't get at any wiring and they're probably alarmed.

The lights are out. Just a few screens providing light. Alice thinks she can make out a stretcher trolley. There's a fair bit of equipment in there but still no movement. Looks jury rigged, cables everywhere. Could easily be someone hiding in the clutter. More small windows on the opposite wall but it's even darker in there. Not a hallway, maybe a holding cell?

>Maybe we can open it up and bypass it via rewiring the circuitry? Does your engineering background include electrical engineering?
Yes. Alice pries off the key pad to take a look. It looks like forcing the door or entering the wrong code too many times will trip an alarm. It's all on the same power circuit but its a secure door so it'll stay locked if there's no power.

>Look for another entrance. Try the vents if nothing else works.
Looks like the next door is to a separate room. There was an access point for the vents a little down the hall though.

She raps on the door. The sound is dull and immovable. Something's telling her opening it through main strength is just beyond her... but that doesn't have to stay the case.

As far as Alice can see, her entry options are:

>Break a window. It'll probably trip an alarm so she'd need to get in and out fast.
>Try the vents. It'd probably take a few minutes to crawl to here and she doesn't know what's blocking it.
>Rewire the door. It'll be a little tricky with no tools so it'll take a few minutes. Screwing up will trigger an alarm.
>Cut the power and force the door. It's juuuust too tough for her but that vending machine is just around the corner... 8 more mass should do it.

>>620080
Juuuust too tough for you? Get Blake to help, that should work without having to eat more.

Try the vents. It's a bit of a time investment, but it has no risk of alerting anyone, and we might just find other useful rooms via said vents.

Boost Blake into the vents.
He's smaller and can fit in better, And if the message was typed in english, blake can communicate better than alice.

>>620080
try knocking on the window with a pattern or tune a human would be familiar with. Maybe that'll stir a response.

does blake know anything about electronics? could he help you with the door? If not go the way of brave heart and find out what a TV diner feels like (aka go through the vents).

Dude, just try to hotwire it. This is your core skillset, something you actually trained for. This is the only choice who's outcome depends on skill. The other options are basically pure luck (forcing the door and breaking the window are both gambling that we find something and get out before the alarm brings guards, the vents are gambling we can get through and there's nothing bad in there).

You might trip the alarm anyways, but then we can always go through the window.

Use your biomass as tools? You should be able to resist electric shock for obvious reasons.

If you can will your body to produce a set of specifically designed tools made of the same material for spikes, that should help.

>>619847
>Not even a keypad, just a normal open and close. Uh, two. Different heights.
That's... really odd. So far, we've only seen Xotl here, but why would they deliberately, install an extra door panel out of their own reach? Who else do they have working with them here?

>>620137
could be for the combat drones they have running around, those where kinda big.

>>620137
I think they were trying to recreate precursor technology, and didn't modify the architecture for Xotl physiology because they were worried if a little change in an advanced technology they didn't understand would cause a malfunction.

This should work in our favor, as Alice has been genetically modified based on one of the precursor's experiments.

I'd vote for rewiring the door.

Also, see if you can extend the flower-eye on a little bit of a stalk, for peeking around corners or maybe even exploring down the vent as an endoscope. Lot of potential applications for a trick like that, but it's definitely not a weapon.

>>620080
see if Blake can do the door at less risk, otherwise vending machine. It is corruption in small steps, but this one is us not eating another sentient. alternatively, we have a lot of biomass, it is unknown if the biodart is a built in feature of our horrible evolution or not, but perhaps we can manage to shift some of that weight around, loose effective mass for durability, but gain some in mechanical strength.
or
If we can destructively use our body, pushing it past the limits to open the door, and loose some mass in the process. e.g. guy lifts a car of another guy, but his arm muscles are shredded and he may have dislocated a joint or two.
<Arhra, if possibru please inform us if "evolutions" are a non viable choice until certain points so it stops being suggested>

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/14(Wed)00:29 No. 620313 ID: 256d52
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>Try knocking on the window with a pattern or tune a human would be familiar with. Maybe that'll stir a response.
Shave and a haircut... no luck.

>Not even a keypad, just a normal open and close. Uh, two. Different heights.
>That's... really odd. So far, we've only seen Xotl here, but why would they deliberately, install an extra door panel out of their own reach? Who else do they have working with them here?
Most likely high caste xotl. They don't have same bans on augmentation that the Hegemony does. Doesn't rule out the possibility the xotl are in this with another exot group though. It is awfully far out of their space.

>Dude, just try to hotwire it. This is your core skillset, something you actually trained for. This is the only choice who's outcome depends on skill. The other options are basically pure luck.
Uh, there's a fair bit of luck involved here too. No tools so Alice basically has to try to puzzle this thing out, guess the rest and hope the xotl designed this lock in a vaguely sensible manner.

>Use your biomass as tools? You should be able to resist electric shock for obvious reasons.
You can't make a circuit probe with tentacles! And if anything it's more likely electrocution would be effective on her.

>Does Blake know anything about electronics? Could he help you with the door?
Alice is better with electronics. Blake's more focused on xenology. He's keeping lookout.

>Also, see if you can extend the flower-eye on a little bit of a stalk, for peeking around corners or maybe even exploring down the vent as an endoscope. Lot of potential applications for a trick like that, but it's definitely not a weapon.
Later! Alice is feeling awfully exposed out here.

"Dietrich." Blake whispers urgently. "You hear that?"

Footsteps. Maybe as many as half a dozen, coming from the same direction Alice and Blake originally came. They should get out of the open.

"How's that door coming?"

Alice thinks she's figured out how to bypass the keypad. Lights are off in there and it's pretty cluttered. Easy to hide. Or maybe they shouldn't risk an alarm and try the next door down the hall - no lock on it but no idea what's in there.

>>620313
Next room over.

Arhra 2015/01/14(Wed)00:52 No. 620316 ID: 256d52
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>Arhra, if possibru please inform us if "evolutions" are a non viable choice until certain points so it stops being suggested
Just to clear things up, its the sort of thing that can easily monopolise suggestions so I'm saving them for when Alice has some breathing space to figure things out, if its a real emergency or it's a solution to try that seems clearly better than all the alternatives. She doesn't exactly have the instruction manual after all. There's some things Alice can figure out how to do and also an upgrade system that will come up soon.

Hmmm, kinda a toss-up. But if you think you've figured out how to bypass the keypad, I gueeeesss go for it.

I say its pretty much a toss-up too. Next room might be worse for hiding in/occupied and the guards might notice the panel being messed with; but we might set off the alarm system or not be fast enough. I'm leaning towards keep trying here though.

Make a single try, and attempt to hide in the next room if it fails.

If the alarm starts, still punch open the window if you have time, to make them think you went in there.

well you're here and have a good idea what's inside this room while other rooms you have no idea what's in them, whether you could hide in them, whether they are locked as well, if they are occupied, or even if the is or isn't another patrol group coming from the opposite direction. So I say try this door and hope for the best.

Problem is, we don't know what's in the next room. And there's no guarantee we don't set off an alarm or anything over there, either.

...I'd say take the risk. Try to get the door open. If the alarm goes off, be ready to fight or run.

If there's a fight, remember, you are not going to put on any more mass. You're only going to eat to repair damage, if necessary.

>You can't make a circuit probe with tentacles!
Why'd you have to turn into a space plant monster. Why couldn't you have turned into a space shark monster or something. Electroreception would have made your job easier, not harder.

how do you know they arent coming FOR THE CREW INSIDE?
how do you know they arent relocating them somewhere safe from you??? try the damn door.

Go ahead on this door. Opening it up was a good idea already; incoming troops make the risk of an alarm redundant.

If it comes to a fight, eat just enough to recoup injuries and gain the extra mass you need to force the door, then burn off the remainder on experimental limbs and accessories and so forth.

>>620313
>keep rewiring and succeed
That would result in avoiding a fight and examining the room.
>keep rewiring and fail
That would lead to a fight, while also being unprepared.
>stop rewiring and get into position
Would make a fight unavoidable, but would improve chances of survival.

Maybe you should play dead and hope they go away.

Here's a concern: assuming you succeed and get into the room, are you going to be able to put the panelling back before those xotl show up? If not, there will be fairly obvious evidence of your presence.

Assuming the xotl are coming around an appropriate corner, and you've run out of time to get the door open before they arrive, here is how you ambush them: back to the wall, right forearm parallel to the edge of the cover, right hand relaxed, most of the way closed, and level with your head. Left elbow behind you, left hand mostly open, in front of your chest, harpoon readied.

If the first thing around the corner is a xotl helmet, right hand clenches to a fist and comes down like a hammer. Conventional armor is irrelevant to this technique because impact applies almost directly to the weakest point on the spine, whatever that happens to be. Second xotl takes a harpoon to the neck, then both of them get dragged away around the corner, hopefully before the rest of the patrol realizes what just happened. If you're very lucky, those two will be it; else, improvise, and maybe let Blake pick up the slack.

If, instead, the first thing around the corner is a gun barrel, right hand drops palm-down, grabbing and twisting it to point at the ground. Momentum and weapon-retention training will force the xotl wielder to continue forward. Left hand grabs a shoulder or something, hoist up as a shield. Extend a feeding tendril into the trigger-guard (as previously practiced) and light up the balance of the patrol with the pointman's weapon. Leave the bodies where they fall, don't feed, and the next patrol will think one of their own just snapped under the stress, went blue-on-blue bananas.

We don't want to fight in a hallway, not enough cover, nothing to throw at them, nothing to improvise with. Get into the unlocked room and let them pass. If it goes quietly, fine, if there's people inside and it's a clusterfuck, it's still better than facing an armed patrol in a hallway. Literally the only thing that could be in there that's problematic is armed guards and it'll be a bigger problem if you are fighting a big group of them and they hear come up behind you, so into the unlocked room. Go Go Go.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/19(Mon)01:54 No. 621112 ID: 256d52
File 142166125949.png - (32.76KB , 1000x500 , hide_and_seek.png )

>Problem is, we don't know what's in the next room. And there's no guarantee we don't set off an alarm or anything over there, either.
>...I'd say take the risk. Try to get the door open. If the alarm goes off, be ready to fight or run.
It looks like this is a good hiding spot. And if there is crew in there, Alice doesn't want to just leave them.

>If the alarm starts, still punch open the window if you have time, to make them think you went in there.
Good plan.

Alice shorts one last connection. The door slides open without protest. Loud alarms fail to go off. Success. She exchanges thumbs up with Blake.

>Are you going to be able to put the panelling back before those xotl show up?
Alice crams the front panel back on. It should look OK she hopes. Alice and Blake pile in.

Inside there's a second door slightly offset on the wall opposite the entrance and some reinforced windows. No time to see if anything in there's in there.

Alice and Blake move right, rounding a trolley parked next to some bulky device, trying to find a hiding spot in the clutter without banging into anything. Blake crawls under a table, the piled wires and boxes stowed underneath conceal him pretty well. Too tight for two. He's got the sack of guns with him, including their one grenade. Alice just has a shotgun.

Moving further along, Alice pokes around and settles for squeezing herself into the awkward little space between some stacked crates and a cabinet. The little gap between them lets her watch the windows.

The door quietly hisses shut. There's a scraping sound as Blake moves something to cover himself better and then silence as the two of them wait for the xotl to appear.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/19(Mon)01:55 No. 621113 ID: 256d52
File 142166132006.png - (40.72KB , 1000x500 , xotl_patrol.png )

Footsteps.

The lead xotl barely comes into view and then calls a halt, signalling behind him. Looks like he saw the message in the window too.

It's hard to get much of a look at what's out there. Alice holds still and watches, putting together what she can from the slivers of the hall she can see. The xotl move forward to look in. They're mainly looking at the screen. Alice tries to act like a pile of rags.

One thing's immediately obvious. They've got a dragonslayer with them. The height and the fancy hat are a dead giveaway. Dragonslayers are elite shock troops. Cyborgs. Alice doesn't like the thought of tangling with one, let alone one plus his four little friends. This is bad. Very bad.

The xotl don't sound alarmed but Alice can't make out any detail in what they're saying.

The dragonslayer gives a few short commands. Most of the xotl move back but one goes to the door. The keypad seems to give him a little trouble, it beeps angrily twice, but then the door opens. Alice hopes she didn't screw something up.

>How do you know they aren't coming FOR THE CREW INSIDE?
Shit, maybe they are here to move a prisoner. They seem a little surprised to see the message though.

It looks like some of them are coming in. The dragonslayer grunts something at the one not wearing a helmet. That one moves forward and pauses in the door frame. One of the other xotl growls something at him, annoyed. Blake's holding still, Alice doesn't think the xotl have spotted her or Blake. Maybe they should hold tight a little longer.

>>621113
It's possible they just sent one person in as a scout. If you can avoid detection it'll be fine. IT'LL BE FINE JUST HIDE OH GOD

Yea, there isn't anyway we can successfully take on this many Xotl. For one thing I'm counting about 4 incendiary grenades visible.

I kinda want the dragon slayer's gun though. I betcha you are big enough to wield it.

yeah, hiding sound like a great idea her. Just don't move, hope they go away, and if they should find were either you or blake are hiding hurl as many of the boxes as you can at these guys to buy some time and hopefully be able to take out the big fucker in the confusion. Just try to aim for the neck.

But yeah as for what to do, hide unless they find you are find and start carting away anyone who looks like they might have been part of your crew.

>>621112
that thing to the left that's connected to the screen, could that be a crew member in a chamber of sorts, ruby style?

the hell is that blue thing in a red casing thingy? it looks cool and shiny and i want it.

>>621113
Its time to get real, real fast. That is a Dragon Slayer, a cyborg with enhanced cyborg senses. How long can we pretend it has not already detected Blake's human heartbeat, or the new and exciting hydrocarbon trails we have been leaving? On top of that, you outta bet your inhuman tentacles that there is something, likely someone in that cyber casket in front of us.

Strategy and reality time: We are going to have to eat after this one, because this is gonna hurt. (cant remember our exact inventory)
-The enemy is clustered in tight, and so are we. Throw any explosives or entangling devices we can at them first. If possible, "cook" it long enough that the enemy does not have time to react and use that shield.
- priority one is the big guy. Bum rush him, entangle him, stop him from bringing that big ass gun to bear. Go berserk, chew off his head, blast feeding tendrils out at the little guys.
* or Harpoon the big guy in the neck second, failing that, harpoon a target of opportunity, and pick off a few enemies with your weapon.
-While you are undoubtedly getting shot up or dealing with frantic xotls scratching at you, hopefully Blake is shooting as well.
-Open up that casket.
-Finally, Eat them all, in a calm and controlled manner, interrogate a survivor if one exists, break it's neck and eat it too. Ponder on life. See if we have a moment of quiet.

>Looks like he saw the message in the window too.
Oh, shit. That was dumb of us. We should have turned the monitor off, or turned it away from the window, before hiding. Didn't think ahead enough to make plans for what to do if we got in without tripping the alarm.

>what do
An ambush here would... not be optimal. I don't see a way to put the dragonslayer down quickly, you're in an enclosed space, and they all have grenades. And the door acts a choke point, especially with that shield of his.

Stay hidden, observe, ready to fight if we have to.

I note the dragonslayer's BFG has a cable on the back. A power supply, maybe, or just a tether so he can't be separated from it?

um, guys
the helmetless xotl has a gun trained on...it??? clearly there's a reason it has no helmet, and the reason aint gonna be insufficient armory. so, if you can, spare that one. but since it also has a gun, kill if it shoots at us
WHAT is that TURQUOISE thing? examine further when youre safe
okay so, wires connecting the monitor seem to be coming ouf of the fancy coffin thing, and so there is probably someone inside.
THE PROBLEM IS, the same thing blocking us from sight is the thing blocking us from attack. i mean all they have to do is chuck a grenade and call it a day - but would they sacrifice the rest of the bs here?
okay so, basically, wait and see, and if at any moment the dragonslayer's back is turned or he is vulnerable, FUCK HIM UP. FUCK HIM UP BAAAADDDD. CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED. i want that fucking gun

Xotl can see pretty well in the murk, dragonslayer probably more so. Can you extend your hair to cover more of yourself, or make your skin the color of your hair, or otherwise experiment a little with chromatophore-based camouflage?

Try to wait it out for now. Only engage if you or Blake is imminently about to be spotted.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/20(Tue)04:52 No. 621278 ID: 256d52
File 142175835250.png - (21.02KB , 800x500 , the_secret_garden.png )

>Yea, there isn't anyway we can successfully take on this many Xotl. For one thing I'm counting about 4 incendiary grenades visible.
Shit, hopefully they don't want any fires in here if they spot her. She could maybe hang off all that tubing on the ceiling, but getting Blake clear is iffy.

>I kinda want the dragon slayer's gun though. I betcha you are big enough to wield it.
Well, given Alice is slightly taller than the xotl and that she's super strong now... Yes. Yes she could.

>I note the dragonslayer's BFG has a cable on the back. A power supply, maybe, or just a tether so he can't be separated from it?
It's some sort of energy weapon.

>If at any moment the dragonslayer's back is turned or he is vulnerable, FUCK HIM UP. FUCK HIM UP BAAAADDDD. CONSEQUENCES BE DAMNED. I want that fucking gun.
Alice's gun envy isn't bad enough to be that desperate!

>The hell is that blue thing in a red casing thingy? it looks cool and shiny and I want it.
Doesn't look like xotl technology.

>Xotl can see pretty well in the murk, dragonslayer probably more so. Can you extend your hair to cover more of yourself, or make your skin the color of your hair, or otherwise experiment a little with chromatophore-based camouflage?
Alice can't change colour, unless sprouting red tentacles counts. Her hair is already pretty much covering every part of her that's exposed in this narrow gap. She doesn't have great visibility of most of the room. Hopefully that means she should be harder to spot in return.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/20(Tue)04:56 No. 621279 ID: 256d52
File 142175861072.png - (24.76KB , 800x450 , checking_for_life_signs.png )

>It's possible they just sent one person in as a scout. If you can avoid detection it'll be fine. IT'LL BE FINE JUST HIDE OH GOD
Alice hunkers down. A fight has so much potential to go horribly wrong. Just wait, hopefully it'll go fine.

>That thing to the left that's connected to the screen, could that be a crew member in a chamber of sorts, ruby style?
Alice only had a glimpse of it as she passed, but it's definitely big enough. She doesn't know what they'd put someone in there for though. This doesn't seem like a medical lab.

Three of the xotl stay well outside.

The dragonslayer takes up position just inside the door, shield raised and weapon ready. He's not taking any chances. Alice holds very still. His head and gun slowly swivel as he sweeps the room but he takes no movement further inside. For a heart stopping moment Alice thinks he saw her but then his gaze moves on.

The bare headed xotl pushes the trolley out of the way. Alice thinks he's inspecting the panel on the coffin chamber. She can hear it tapping a few things into a keyboard. Then anxious papery whispering as it relays something to its boss. Alice blinks, hoping she didn't hear right.

Oh Messenger, no, the xotl's saying there is someone still in there.

The dragonslayer seems annoyed. From what Alice can tell, that's not supposed to be the case. He's saying to get her out of there and on the trolley. Sedated?

There's a deactivated drone behind the dragonslayer, looks like a basic hauler. Lift and carry things. Alice guesses they'd use that to move the prisoner onto the trolley. A human would be too bulky for anyone but the dragonslayer to easily move otherwise.

Her. Uh, Alice strains her memory. Two other women on the ship. The XO and the hyperdrive tech. Damnit, damnit, damnit. She balls her hands into fists, feeling them quiver with her agitation. If she stays holed up here, the xotl might just leave. The dragonslayer ignores his minion as it circles around him, moving to the drone. It's just standing there, gun ready with that same predatory patience. Holding cells, maybe the rest of the crew's there. But there's someone right here right now and the xotl are about to take her away!

... you got some grenades left right? And how strong do you think you are now?

Because what I'm hoping we can do is find something small, fling it towards the opposite end of the room and when big blue turns to look we charge the bastard, aiming for the joints, and the moment we make a hole shove a damn grenade in it and throw/shove him into the group of Xotl. The hope here is to get in really close with the dragonslayer and by doing so rendering his gun useless and making it so his friends can shoot you without risking shooting the Dragonslayer. Only works though if you think you can overpower or match the dragonslayer though.

>>621281
How discreetly could we follow them? They'll probably lead us to the other prisoners, or at least part of the way.

This isn't the moment to engage. We're gonna wanna follow them. Also, grab that blue and red thingy, it looks like it matches your aesthetic.

>there is someone still in there [...] that's not supposed to be the case
I really wish we'd had just a little more time. We could have messed with the chamber, made it look empty like it's supposed to be, and they would have walked right by. Why didn't we hide the hello.

>what do
First priority: safety of the crew. Which means the biggest risk in engaging the xtol now is Blake and the unknown woman getting caught in the crossfire. This is a small room, and there are a lot of well armed hostiles.

Although, by the same token, if you're going to attack, you need to do it now. While the woman still has the cover of the cryo-chamber (?), and isn't in the open on a gurney.

...I hate to say it, but unless her life is in immediate danger (and they're apparently only planning to sedate and move her), engaging is the much riskier option. Someone on your side is probably going to end up dead.

Be real convenient if an alarm sounded somewhere else and drew attention away.

If there is a moment to engage, it's going to be when the dragonslayer can be taken out in the initial ambush. Unless you can manage that...

>>621279
Fuck it, let's do this. Grab the heaviest thing near you, lift it and rush the dragonslayer using it as a battering ram. Try to get in close combat with all the xotls so they can't use grenades against you. Make hardened bone spikes on your knuckles so you can penetrate armor with strikes. To take down the dragonslayer, snap its neck. Optimally you would grab its weapon and start using it to shoot the other xotls.

>>621279
Alice...its me. and its time. hehehee...lets try a little breathing experiment. Take one in, hold it, build that rage. Hold it. Compress it, make it hard, make it crystalline. Make it hurt. Use that pain as a focus. Feel your finger tips, flex the talons. The hammering of your circulatory system. Can you still sweat? Stop breathing, eyes fully dilated. Now wait. In this second we have two choices. Release yourself, be everything you can be, and direct it at the enemy in front of you.

Or wait. Grab the idol. we need it. we want it.

>>621355
Well it is worth pointing out that the "idol" looks very thematically similar to Alice. Maybe... it's something she could use to get stronger?

You have a decent chance of taking out the dragonslayer, albeit not without damage to yourself, but not decisively enough to then face those outside after. Now is not the time to attack.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/22(Thu)04:13 No. 621572 ID: 256d52
File 142192880796.png - (23.11KB , 800x500 , crew_fractions.png )

>We could have messed with the chamber, made it look empty like it's supposed to be, and they would have walked right by. Why didn't we hide the hello.
No use crying over spilt milk.

>If there is a moment to engage, it's going to be when the dragonslayer can be taken out in the initial ambush. Unless you can manage that...
Barring a master class distraction, Alice is going to get nailed by whatever that lance shoots the second she moves out of cover. Something about that guy has her seriously rattled.

>...I hate to say it, but unless her life is in immediate danger (and they're apparently only planning to sedate and move her), engaging is the much riskier option. Someone on your side is probably going to end up dead.
Alice doesn't like it but she thinks the only option is to wait this out. Too much risk, not just to her but to everyone else. She might be able to walk off horrible injuries, but no-one else can.

The little xotl, regular xotl really, taps some more commands into the chamber then activates the drone. The drone whirs to life, rolls over to the chamber and levers open an access hatch. Its manipulators snake in and pull someone out.

Half of someone.

>Try a little breathing experiment. Take one in, hold it, build that rage. Hold it. Compress it, make it hard, make it crystalline. Make it hurt. Use that pain as a focus. Feel your finger tips, flex the talons. The hammering of your circulatory system. Can you still sweat? Stop breathing, eyes fully dilated. Now wait. In this second we have two choices. Release yourself, be everything you can be, and direct it at the enemy in front of you.
Those bastards. For a moment Alice almost does, then common sense and memory rein her in.

Mason. Doctor Mason. Keziah Mason. Hyperdrive tech, yes, but seriously overqualified for a position like that, but small crews mean everyone wears a few hats. When not attending to the ship's needs, she's a physicist. The one to turn to for anything deeply weird that uncharted space tosses at them. Alice wasn't too close. There's something about people who work in that field that... well... they're spooky. She also had a way of making Alice feel like dumb muscle soooo... strike two there.

The xotl have detached her prosthetic legs. That is going to complicate things. In fact the xotl probably did it specifically to complicate any escape attempts. It makes her blood boil, seeing that tiny shape slumped on the trolley. Alice might not have liked Dr Mason very much but seeing her reduced to this is just awful.

Do nothing, Alice reminds herself, easing her face out of the grimace it's become. If she moves carelessly now, chances are someone will get hurt or killed in the cross fire. Wait for the appropriate moment and then save everyone.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/22(Thu)04:14 No. 621573 ID: 256d52
File 142192888731.png - (23.46KB , 800x550 , fourth_wall_stare.png )

The drone shuts back down and the xotl rolls the trolley out.

The dragonslayer slowly turns to exit, shield covering his body as he swivels clockwise. He pauses in the door, eyes sweeping the room again.

Alice freezes. He sees her! He must see her, how does he not know she's here? Isn't he looking right at her?!

The dragonslayer walks out the door.

What was that? What the hell was that?! Does he know? Did he see her? Why'd he leave if he did? Alice forces herself to take a deep breath. Paranoia. She's hiding away from murder squads and she has no idea what crazy things her body chemistry is doing to her. Stay calm, watch and listen.

The dragonslayer loudly says he wants two of the xotl to move the prisoner, the others are to continue the sweep with him. The door shuts, muffling the sound. The xotl that was in the lead comes over to him and he bends, saying something helmet to helmet.

That xotl takes the trolley, one of the other helmeted ones going with him. Huh, the dragonslayer's moving back the way they came? A few faint footsteps then nothing.

>How discreetly could we follow them? They'll probably lead us to the other prisoners, or at least part of the way.
Uh, it's risky but it'd be the quickest way to find the holding cells. With them split up, Alice might even be able to intercept them before they get there. She has to leave right now if she wants to track them though.

Maybe... maybe she should hide a little longer.

While I agree getting that idol now would likely grant a new power, it could cause sanity to slip.

If you do grab it, remember the mission.

that was a little too obvious a declaration. going out now is very obviously a trap. the dragonslayer may not know where you are exactly, but probably suspects you are in ear or even eyeshot.
since you'll want to wait a little longer, investigate that creepy idol thing.

I think paranoia is a good thing, given the circumstances. Grab that totem thing and try going out the vents.

>The xotl have detached her prosthetic legs. That is going to complicate things. In fact the xotl probably did it specifically to complicate any escape attempts.
It's logical. Detachable limbs are pretty convenient for security, and aren't prone to the same failures restraints or drugs might be. (...and at least that means they didn't have to resort to amputation. Or incineration).

That's going to be a problem if and when we rescue her, though. She can't walk, and she won't even be able to ride piggyback while sedated.

>Did he see her? Why'd he leave if he did?
If we assume he saw you, there are a few reasons he could have reacted the way he did:

If he recognized you were concealed and not about to engage. If he attacked you, a fight would immediately ensue. Why wouldn't the dragoon want a fight? Maybe there's something worse nearby it's concerned about. Maybe it doesn't want to engage you so close to its prisoner and its shorter brethren, risking collateral damage. Maybe its setting a trap. (Talking loudly, and limited to common, easy to understand phrases?).

>what do
Carefully sneak out of cover. Is the room clear?

Might be worth quickly checking if the prosthetic were stored in this room, or if anything was left in the pod. Or to investifate the crystal-thing.

Can we use your flower-eye to peek out the window without being seen?

Saying something helmet to helmet means he could be wary of someone listening in on there coms. This is probably because of the Hello on the monitor. That showed him that someone might have access to the network.

This whole thing feels like they suspect something and are setting up for a ambush. If one of the little guys had seen you then they probably would have panicked and opened fire. But the big guy is a pro so might be trying to lure you into the open.

So as tempting as it might be to immoderately go after the doctor you should be very careful.

why do I have a feeling we're going to be seeing that big motherfucker again sooner then I'd like. Ok I feel like the big guy is either setting you up or the much less likely option of actually helping you other if it is the latter and I highly doubt that it is, I have no idea as to why he would.

Anyways how's your sense of smell? Think you could track them with that? Oh and idol, grab and and see what happens.

Most likely, it's a trap.
...Is there another exit from this room?

If you stay, remember to check out the monitor - after all, that's why you came here in the first place. If it's a way of contacting someone, it could mean an ally against the dragonslayer. (Even if there's no-one responding, leave a short message that they took Dr. Mason, probably as bait in a dragonslayer's trap.)
Also, that piece of alien-tech may be important - bring it along. Of course, touching it with your bare skin might cause something to happen, for good or bad. (Any instinctual feelings, from looking at it?) If you're wary of it, you could wrap it in something, like a drink container.

If you do run out of the cell to follow them, you could still leave Blake to respond to the "Hello". (If you're leaving, though, I say take the extra risk and grab/eat the alien gizmo on the way out, on the off chance that it'll help you against the dragonslayer.)

>>621573
>The dragonslayer loudly says he wants two of the xotl to move the prisoner, the others are to continue the sweep with him.
>The xotl that was in the lead comes over to him and he bends, saying something helmet to helmet.
>That xotl takes the trolley, one of the other helmeted ones going with him. Huh, the dragonslayer's moving back the way they came? A few faint footsteps then nothing.
Nope. Totally not a trap. Totally not the Dragonslayer setting up a rear ambush for when you follow the trolley he just loudly stated was going to be minimally guarded.

>>621573
Once the area is clear, go get that thing on the table. Then tell Blake you're going to go rescue Mason, and he should probably just stay here.

I find myself wondering if the dragonslayer is the other specimen from the other wing, somehow having disguised themselves and infiltrated into the security forces. Or maybe, just maybe... it wants you to survive, and continue fighting, because they thought you were a failed experiment and now that they were proven wrong, they want to gather data on what you can do. Obviously only the higher ranking members of security would know this, because they want the cannonfodder to be their unwitting "research" target dummies.

>>621638
>>621573
as much as I hate this, there are three things we need to do.
1. Grab the idol and do a final quick sweep of the room.
2. Arm Blake the best we can, and send him after the trolly.
3. Lie in ambush for the rear guard. If a fire fight does happen, blake kills the trolley guards and we go from there.
~~~~4.Consider using the vents we did not take to sneak out and execute the ambush as they walk by. We can drag at least one xotol kicking and screaming into the confines of the vents, and I vote for the dragon slayer if we can pull it off. I doubt his CQC skills are that good against a tentacle attack grabbing him by the ankles, horror movie style.

Be careful about letting Blake interact with the blue egg thing. I'm guessing it could turn him into another one like you, which is a short-term gain, long-term loss sort of deal.

Did Doctor Mason by any chance have a pet rat-or-something named Jenkins?

>>621573
What if the dragonslayer's on our side, though? It'd explain why we weren't incinerated way back at the start.

Bet he's waiting with his gun pointed at the door. Check the room for air vents.

>>621573
So the dragonslayer saw you, then proceeded to order everybody in his group to leave with him while two of them take the prisoner off alone. Then he gave you a good, hard stare to let you know he knows you're there.

He's either giving you a perfect opportunity to rescue your crewmate, or baiting you into a trap.

Grab the idol, then follow your crewmate. When you get wherever they're going, ambush the xotl and disarm them, but leave them alive. If it's a trap you'll have hostages, while if it's a gift you can show that you're appreciative by not killing his subordinates. (And thus making him more willing to help you out in the future)

>>621798
That does raise a good point: if he really did just STARE at us (did he?) then surely HE knows WE know he knows we're there. He seems like he's probably super competent enough not to need to stare directly at a partially concealed foe, and to know not to do so unless you WANT them to know you know they're there....probably. Assuming that to be true...WHY?

>>621827
He simply wants Alice out of the room so he can shoot her up without damaging valuable scientific equipment.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/25(Sun)07:01 No. 622107 ID: 256d52
File 142219810587.png - (23.38KB , 800x550 , grab_that_thing.png )

>That's going to be a problem if and when we rescue her, though. She can't walk, and she won't even be able to ride piggyback while sedated.
They'll just have to come up with a work around when they rescue Dr Mason.

>Did Doctor Mason by any chance have a pet rat-or-something named Jenkins?
Huh? Jenkins, Jenkins. Uh, no. Alice wouldn't really call a data ferret a pet. It's just a little general purpose drone/computer.

>Nope. Totally not a trap. Totally not the Dragonslayer setting up a rear ambush for when you follow the trolley he just loudly stated was going to be minimally guarded.
Put that way it sounds alarmingly plausible.

Blake's starting to crawl out from his hiding place under the table. Alice mangles an instruction to wait and then slips him her data pad.

Probly trap
Too convenient
Wait a moment.

>That was a little too obvious a declaration. going out now is very obviously a trap. the dragonslayer may not know where you are exactly, but probably suspects you are in ear or even eyeshot.
That must be it. If he'd known for certain she was there, Alice is sure there'd have been a much more aggressive response. That look though, he must have had a feeling she was close. She must have picked up on it. Thinking it over, a ploy to lure her out into the open just makes too much sense.

>Since you'll want to wait a little longer, investigate that creepy idol thing.
Despite wanting to lurk in her increasingly inviting feeling hidey hole, Alice supposes she should take the opportunity to check that thing. She crawls on top of the table, the two big equipment racks in front of it should keep her mostly concealed. She'll grab it and see if Blake knows anything about it.

"What are you doing up there?" Blake hisses.

"Jussz wunn pthingh."

>Be careful about letting Blake interact with the blue egg thing. I'm guessing it could turn him into another one like you, which is a short-term gain, long-term loss sort of deal.
Surely it'd be in a protective case if it was that reactive?

>Of course, touching it with your bare skin might cause something to happen, for good or bad. (Any instinctual feelings, from looking at it?)
Now Alice looks at it closer, she could have sworn it looked a little different a moment ago. Something seems strangely familiar about it. Is it moving? And core.. wait... there's...

There's words in there.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/25(Sun)07:02 No. 622108 ID: 256d52
File 142219814133.png - (44.86KB , 800x600 , system_update.png )

Signal corrupt, reverting to optical channel. Wavelength synchronised with noetic linkages. Loading basal modification in node 02. Specification of instruction subset required.

Select one:

[ ] Megastructure - Improved cohesion and linkage of the worker-body. Template for formation of hardened structural elements. Uhhh... It seems like it'd make Alice stronger and tougher, and allow her to armour herself up. Guess she could grow other things with it too?

[ ] Clever Hands - Refinement of the subsumption architecture: basic modes to interface with non-biological material. Huh, Alice guesses you CAN make a circuit probe out of tentacles. If she is understanding this at all, it'll let Alice use her feeding tendrils as tools, allowing her to cut, shape and weld raw material. They should be able to pierce armour to some extent as well.

[ ] Quicksilver - Accelerated dissolution and reformation of structures in worker-body. Improved control of unstructured mass and reallocation to different functions. Alice's interpretation is it'd make her shape more malleable. Her boy would be able to turn semi-liquid so she'd be able to squeeze through tight places and she'd regenerate from injuries even faster as well.

[ ] Cancel

>>622108
[x] Cancel
For the time being, cancel. It looks like it may take some time to work and you need to go out and save the rest of the crew. Also, inform Blake that you found something that can transform you to do more things and explain what it does. Get his opinion on it.

It looks like it may make you less human for more 'utility' but I believe it is a good sacrifice to make. One's humanity for your crew's lives. Fair trade.

If I had to choose between the three options with no cancel and wait till later, I'd go for Clever Hands.

Hm, Quicksilver might be fun, but clever hands is probably the optimal choice - Alice is a tech expert, she needs tools.

give an engineer enough tools and they will destroy and rebuild the world with a 10% increase in efficiency.

voting for clever hands so hard.

>>622108
let's see.
control over hard things (snicker), so make armor, maybe hard weapons?
tools and dexterity
or.. strechy powers? there were a few instances where that could have been useful but it's hardly imperative.

i vote clever hands because engineer. we'll have to hope she'll get more of these soon.

want to say Megastructure really just because I feel like we're going to be getting into a fights with stronger and stronger opponents before we actually got out of here and it's more then likely we're going to have to fight to get Manson back.

While clever hands does sound useful for getting around and quicksilver sounds like it would help us sneaking around without getting caught, it's just that seeing our track record I can't help but feel that we're going to get into a fight sooner or later so yeah, I cast my vote in with Megastructure.

This is software update. It just offered to reprogram your body.

This changes the situation. You're not just a one-off xtol experiment that escaped- this is too robust for that- you're part of an established system. There's support infrastructure, and updates, and messenger knows what else. (Maybe there's an option somewhere to quit? Downgrade back to your baseline self? You can only hope).

Since this tech doesn't look xtol in design, and they aren't using it themselves, and don't have the tools to control their test subject, the best assumption is this is some kind of salvage- someone else's tech they've stolen or dug up somewhere.

...I suppose that's sort of a comfort? Precursor tech is scary and all, but I have more confidence they knew what they were doing than I do in the xtol.

>what choose
Alice is struggling with a kind of body dysphoria and identity crisis since this started. I feel like turning herself into a liquid metal terminator plant would be pretty bad for her long term sanity.

I'd go with the nimble hands. Alice was an engineer, but she's not getting access to other tools anytime soon. And we're in a base full of tech worth interfacing with. This choice reinforces part of her humanity / identity, lets her be more of herself. (Arguably, the armor reinforces her role as a soldier, but she's already got her quest to protect her crew and lots of combat to bolster that).

[X] Clever Hands

Voting for Clever Hands.

We can't turn down the upgrade. Not when facing a dragon slayer. And though the warrior upgrade is useful it will take Alice further away from her roots. Clever Hands however gives her a bit of what she lost when she got big back.

Cancel! We don't need your biology being messed up anymore. This is good though, clearly plant creatures are sentient to some degree if this thing is kicking around. We should keep it but not use it.

Clever Hands.

You're an engineer, so we'll get more use out of something that enables you to use your skillset than anything else.

Also: Your major threat isn't bullets or beams, it's fire. Nothing here is going to protect you against fire. At all.
Turning to goo would be useful, but this IS a spaceship so you can expect most areas to be sealed air-tight in a lockdown. Slipping through cracks isn't very useful in a place without a lot of cracks.

>>622108
Clever Hands! You will never become a not-engineer now. BE WHO YOU ARE.

>>622108
choices from top to bottom.

[x]quicksilver. lets us alter the shape of our body. we can look human again. we can look like a xotol if we need to. it is freedom. it is letting us be ourselves more than before. we could blend back in with society if we go home. We can heal faster and take more risks, play dead and infiltrate. If we are more malleable...we can have our voice back, we can talk without that fucking data pad. it sounds so nice...

[x]the hands. we can be our job, and maintain identity this way.
followed up by

[x] megastructure. we can protect and it is the most guaranteed way out of this shit hole.

Again, I urge caution. We don't know how this is going to impact your biology or psyche.

Clever hands, definitely.

You may even be able to construct new prosthesis for your doctor.

Plus, it doesnt seem like there is anything preventing you from manipulating raw materials from inside your body, so the next time you fire that harpoon, it could be metal.

Cancel, then later you can choose clever hands. You know, when you aren't on a time-limit to save a crew member.

Internalizing the programming here could make your instincts harder to resist, but it could also make them more structured and controllable. It's impossible to say for sure.

Finer control of your feeding apparatus might help. Might hurt. Or you could learn to get hard for Blake's sake. Quicksilver seems like it would shine with a more lone-wolf/predator style than you're going with right now.

Overall, I have to go with Clever Hands. Being able to engineer it up better, weld doors shut, tentacle molest Blake, and more easily mitigate enemy armor fits the tactical stealthy approach we've (tried to) adhered to.

>>622108
You're not an engineer. Megastructure or quicksilver, definitely.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/26(Mon)01:51 No. 622279 ID: 256d52
File 142226588939.png - (23.82KB , 600x800 , blake_wanted_bottom_bunk.png )

>It looks like it may make you less human for more 'utility' but I believe it is a good sacrifice to make. One's humanity for your crew's lives. Fair trade.
The opposition she's facing is steadily ramping up. She needs an advantage or no-one's getting out of here.

>Overall, I have to go with Clever Hands. Being able to engineer it up better, weld doors shut, tentacle molest Blake, and more easily mitigate enemy armour fits the tactical stealthy approach we've (tried to) adhered to.
Yes, that - wait, what?!

>This choice reinforces part of her humanity / identity, lets her be more of herself. (Arguably, the armour reinforces her role as a soldier, but she's already got her quest to protect her crew and lots of combat to bolster that).
Uh, armour would also greatly bolster her effectiveness as a soldier to be honest? She's gotten badly shot up so far and things could have gone a lot worse.

>Alice is a tech expert, she needs tools.
They might find a tool kit somewhere in this base but this will give her all of it at once. It'll help them so much. She can't turn it down.

>Again, I urge caution. We don't know how this is going to impact your biology or psyche.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[x] Clever Hands

Alice shivers as shapes and forms and formulas flicker through her mind's eye. The ghostly flickers elude her attempts to grasp at them, inspect them, hovering just below conscious meaning. But there's still a sensation of knowledge slotting in at the back of her head, new arrangements as natural as moving an arm or recognising a colour. Her body tingles pleasurably, intensifying to a burning sensation as it completes its reconfiguration.

11 mass lost. Mass total is 101.

Ugh, slime again. Alice can feel it accumulating inside her. Waste left over from the conversion, moved and stored to be evacuated when needed. She isn't feeling an urgent need to projectile vomit it everywhere, but she might want to dump it when she has an opportunity.

Maybe she should have those xotl drinks now. It seemed to be effective at countering mass loss.

"Dietrich, you alright?" Blake whispers.

"Uh, yezss." Alice says, trying blink her eyes clear. She crawls above Blake. "Padgh."

Looked at that artifact on
the crate. Loaded some sort
of instructions set off it.
How to make tools.

"You, you could read it?" Blake says. "That's dangerous, no telling what it might have done to you."

Had a cancel option.
Seemed fairly safe.
Do you know what it is?

"... Maybe. Not 100% sure yet."

Alice thinks he might be holding something back but she's feeling a little too exposed to launch into a full argument.

Wait a little longer.
I'll hop back in cover.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/26(Mon)01:52 No. 622280 ID: 256d52
File 142226592611.png - (25.71KB , 800x550 , lets_experiment.png )

Alice gets off the table and slides back in behind the crates.

>Since this tech doesn't look xotl in design, and they aren't using it themselves, and don't have the tools to control their test subject, the best assumption is this is some kind of salvage- someone else's tech they've stolen or dug up somewhere.
Starting to really look like its Precursor. What are the xotl up to? Maybe a control mechanism is what they're looking for. They can't control Alice, sure, but her mind seems to be reasonably intact. If they can refine the process and use it on their own troops... oh Messenger, maybe that's it. They might have tried it on her purely because she was expendable. Lab rat.

Speaking of which, while Alice is hiding in her hole like a little rat waiting for the cat to leave, maybe it's time to start figuring out what exactly she can do. She's stuck with this screwed up body, so she should make use of it.

We got a lab full of equipment here. And Clever Hands just gave you OPTIONS.

E
Lets look through the stuff here and see what we can make.

Alright, ideas.
1) Try making some sort of hydraulic spike you can shoot out of your palm on the non-harpoon side. That'll shove its way through really tough armor, so all you'd have to do is get your hand on an enemy's helmet to kill it.
2) Try making something that will let you launch the limb that has the spike in it, like the harpoon. That way you can get your hand on an enemy's helmet at range.
3) Acid spit!
4) Some kind of grippy surface on your arms and legs so you can climb on walls and ceilings.
5) Camouflage?
6) An eye on each limb.
7) Extra-sensitive hearing.
8) Enhance knockers.

Oh, and you should examine those maws you have all over your body in closer detail. You have some on your chest, how wide can those open up?

>>622282
That doesn't sound like anything Clever Hands can accomplish.

>>622280
You were able to launch bone out of your body, perhaps you can simply extend some and use as a stabbing implement?

>>622280
Well Blake is right there so get to tentacle molesting him. You chose this Alice. This is the fate you have decided. If it makes it easier, just think of the tentacles as a dozen tongues sliding all over his body.

Once that's out of the way, you're supposed to be able to "cut, shape and weld" plus some armor piercing capabilities, so what you should make is a wicked-cool thermal cutting sword. Totally rad.

>>622280
First, rescue their prisoner. Everything else can wait.

Some suggestions:
*A tool to break through armor, and remove inconvenient walls/floors; diamond-edged claws, or an organic drill, or super-acid...
*Tentacle Logic Probe, for lockpicking.
Upgrade to above: Organic Data Port - the ability to interface with the local computer network by patching into a wall cable. (We've got cables here we could adapt to. Also, this could let us respond to the monitor's message without coming out of hiding.)
Are there any security cameras to hack into? If so, they haven't been an issue, so far...
*Power supply: the ability to provide electricity to machines even in blacked-out areas. Could probably be jury-rigged as a taser. Combining some upgrades, we could make a wicked armor-piercing taser. Are Xotls vulnerable to electricity?
*Adjustable Grip: Ability to fully use tools and weapons, both Human and Xotl ones, regardless of our size. If nothing else, should improve our aim a bit.
*Organic Weapon Mount: Ability to incorporate captured weapons into body (or tentacle hair), aiming and firing multiple weapons while keeping hands free for other tasks.
*Some production ability? We might be able to spin/extrude an armor vest if we empty the vending machines. Or recycle Xotl suits into something that fits us.

BTW, how durable are the materials in this room? Like, if we snapped off the sarcophagus lid, would it make a decent bullet shield?

>Alice thinks he might be holding something back
Too be honest, even if he's holding the info back, the fact he might know what it is is reassuring. That reinforces our guess this is some kind of non-xtol (probably precursor) tech.

...of course he also thinks it's not safe to tell you, which is less reassuring, but honestly, if you weren't in your current situation you'd be a lot less inclined to trust things that reprogram bodies and dump information in the back of your head.

>Maybe she should have those xotl drinks now. It seemed to be effective at countering mass loss.
I dunno. You don't actually have any injuries you need to grow mass into now, do you? You're just a little lighter, now.

>maybe it's time to start figuring out what exactly she can do
Start with the obvious things from the description.

Make some kind of armor piecer. Practice simple tools you're familiar with or think you might need. Make adaptive interfaces to plug into electronic ports.

Can anything in the room be taken apart? Does any equipment have some thick metal plate that could serve as makeshift armor?

>>622280
The world is at your finger tips. Despite all these humerous thoughts, three things to do. Step one, take the little idol, we will attempt to interface with it, or take it apart with our fingers, learn something...clever.

Two. We are surrounded by machines, our playground. We recall an ancient earth game, a malevolent AI called Shodan hijacked all of a ships controls and wrecked havok. We probably cannot do the same, but we can perhaps look into the security system, open and lock doors, play with remote AI. And with that thought...

-Take over the drone carrying the good doctor, attack the custodians and if it survives, the dragon slayer. If we cant do that...
-Lock down the doors, isolate the slayer, and the others, pick them off.
-Turn off the atmosphere to certain rooms if possible.
-locate your crews holding place, and learn any facts possible about your current predicament.
-Find any more idols...yes...this would be optimal for us. listen most to this thought, and we will grow stronger.

Three- Can we whip up some armor/ weapons for us and blake, even something improvised like a crude shield.

Trace the connections to the monitor which had the "Hello?" message on it. We've been assuming that was Dr Mason's doing, but only because she happened to be nearby.

We need to figure out the extent of your capabilities, and many of these other suggestions seem exellent.

But the description implies you can manipulate non-organic materials now, and I wonder on what scale. Can you eat metal or synthetics and process them like a 3-d printer? How complex can your manipulations get? I will assume you probably cant produce a firearm from raw materials, due to complexity, if not lack of propellant, at least unless you can produce a thick coil bundle of hair-thin wires, attach these to a superstructure of polymers or even your own bone, and provide power to your new coilgun from a presumably external source with your newfound conductivity.

But for now, I am more interested in the possibilities of immediate temporary semi-prosthesis; E.G., producing metalic armor plates that you can fit under your skin. Your body should be able to shift and work around anything you put in it, and you can probably build things inside yourself. So internally constructing some armor plating and possibly some blades or nice big bludgeoning parts should work well.

>>622280
To the vending machine, we will carefully bore into the side so as to not draw attention, and consume the interior, then rig it to murder the next user...who we will also consume.

Or...or..

We eat the machine's contents and then regurgitate our own slime into it, sit and wait. trololol xotols.

Start by taking the closest scrap metal you can find, and try to use your abilities to make some crossbow bolts. Test how well your new abilities work with crafting tools and weapons.

Then load up a tentacle and see if you can make it VERY spiky.

>>622385
>We eat the machine's contents and then regurgitate our own slime into it, sit and wait. trololol xotols.

Oh god that would be great.

>>622385
Hahahaha

Check to see if the updateosphere can be re-used. It might just be asking you to pick modules one at a time because of limited bandwidth and metabolic installation costs.

As for tools, focus on something you could use to peel open that dragonslayer and get at the squishy bits. Think about the result you want and let your instincts find the most efficient way. Remember, it's not a weapon: it's just a more advanced version of the scissors an EMT would use to remove obstructing seatbelts and clothes before inspecting and treating an injury.

>>622107
>Surely it'd be in a protective case if it was that reactive?

If it was being *transported,* sure. For just storage, if it's not leaking contagious fluids, sealing it up in a disused lab behind a password-locked blast door sounds secure enough. The xotl seem to be fairly competent soldiers, but, based on your having survived the incinerator and so on, not so great hazmat techs.

>Jenkins. Uh, no. Alice wouldn't really call a data ferret a pet. It's just a little general purpose drone/computer.

Something like a smartphone, plus an extra pair of hands for fetching tools and such? I think her great-to-the-Nth-power grandmother, of the same name, wrote a paper on higher-dimensional spatial geometry at MIT's Arkham campus which laid the foundations for modern FTL. Sadly, that being either the earlier part of the 20th century or the later part of the 17th (records are inconsistent) and her being female, some grad student named Walter Gilman got all the credit.

>>622504
>Check to see if the updateosphere can be re-used.
Good idea.

What is the penetrating power on their guns (aside from the huge beam weapons)? Would we be able to weld off a section of wall or floor plating to use as a shield against normal xotl gun fire (or literal fire for that matter)?

>projectile vomit
Maybe you could focus it in one direction to spit goo from a distance on an enemy's head to impair their vision?

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/31(Sat)06:09 No. 622974 ID: 256d52
File 142271339485.png - (17.71KB , 800x520 , handiwork.png )

>Check to see if the updateosphere can be re-used. It might just be asking you to pick modules one at a time because of limited bandwidth and metabolic installation costs.
Alice looks at the idol again. Now she knows what it does, it seems easier. From across the room she can lock her eyes onto it and then it feeds information to her. It's offering the same options, but it'll overwrite what she currently has.

Alice familiarises herself a little with some of the quirks of her body. Her feeding tendrils come most naturally out of the red slits in her body but she can also easily slip them out of the tips of her fingers and tentacles. Speaking of which her fingers seem to be a little indecisive on whether or not they're tentacles depending on what she tries to do with them.

Her feeding tendrils feel dexterous now. Alice has a lot of fine control over them and can thin them down to hair thin filaments.

Time to see what else she can do.

>Tentacle Logic Probe, for lockpicking.
Alice tires out her modified feeding tendrils near the cabling. Hmm, she has some sort of electric sense, she can tell some are active. She can get some idea of conductivity too, with two she can check continuity of a connection.

>Upgrade to above: Organic Data Port - the ability to interface with the local computer network by patching into a wall cable.
Alice is checking things at a hardware level here. This doesn't turn her into some kind of living computer. She can't read any information off a data cable, she simply doesn't have the capability to interpret it. She isn't going to be able to hack the xotl's computers, drones or fancy hats with this.

>Power supply: the ability to provide electricity to machines even in blacked-out areas. Could probably be jury-rigged as a taser.
Low current only. Alice is just going to electrocute herself if she tries to use her own body as wiring for high power applications.

>Some kind of grippy surface on your arms and legs so you can climb on walls and ceilings.
Alice already has a strong grip and with a little fiddling she can get some suction or adhesion going on. Climbing stuff should be easy.

>Camouflage
Alice can't change colour.

>An eye on each limb.
One of the slits in her hand peels open as an eye forces its way out. It's a little eerie being able to look at herself. Disorientating. Alice isn't used to the extra sensory input. She wouldn't want to try moving around like this. She dissolves the eye again.

>Extra-sensitive hearing.
Alice hasn't had much trouble hearing things coming so far and doesn't want to mess with that. Too sensitive hearing would just be a liability.

>Organic Weapon Mount: Ability to incorporate captured weapons into body (or tentacle hair), aiming and firing multiple weapons while keeping hands free for other tasks.
Alice is most comfortable using weapons with her hands. It's how she was trained after all. She just doesn't quite have the multitasking to be able to coordinate herself like that.

>We eat the machine's contents and then regurgitate our own slime into it, sit and wait. trololol xotls.
Hahaha, Alice probably shouldn't do that but she can just imagine the looks on their faces.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/31(Sat)06:10 No. 622975 ID: 256d52
File 142271344842.png - (24.80KB , 600x800 , do_what.png )

>Enhance knockers.
What? Why? And, uh, this top here is kind of at maximum capacity already.

>Acid spit
All Alice has is slime and it doesn't seem to be very reactive.

>projectile vomit
>Maybe you could focus it in one direction to spit goo from a distance on an enemy's head to impair their vision?
Ugh, Alice would normally say she'd rather just shoot the enemy but seeing she's already had to deal with one thing where her guns alone wouldn't cut it, maybe she should consider it. She could make some sort of sprayer? It wouldn't be too difficult though getting much range out of it is the tricky part.

>As for tools, focus on something you could use to peel open that dragonslayer and get at the squishy bits. Think about the result you want and let your instincts find the most efficient way
Alice tries her feeding tendrils out on the crate she's hiding behind. It's ruggedised plastic. She extends one, makes it as thin and rigid as she can and simply pushes it through. Better than a knife. She'd liken it to a blowtorch except there doesn't seem to be any heating going on.

She cuts a circular hole in the side and pulls it free. To experiment further she lops off a chunk and then reattaches it to the disc, running a tendril around like she's trying to spot weld it. It seems to have fused the material. Almost no sign of a join.

The crate is empty except for some fabric. A dust cover probably. Maybe she should try to make some clothes out of it.

She tries her tendrils on the table next. It's a steel beast of a thing. Very heavy and solid. There's a lot more resistance, but she can cut it. She just forces her tendrils against it and they slowly worm their way though, like they're sinking through molasses.

It seems her feeing tendrils would make a fairly effective weapon even unmodified, but perhaps she should give more consideration to how to best use this.

>Well Blake is right there so get to tentacle molesting him. You chose this Alice. This is the fate you have decided. If it makes it easier, just think of the tentacles as a dozen tongues sliding all over his body.
WHAT. No, oh Messenger no! These things can saw through steel now. There's no telling what they might do to a human body. And that's assuming it doesn't make her go crazy with hunger again and eat him. Alice is just going to have to come to terms with the high probability she's never sleeping with anything ever again.

Alice Dietrich 2015/01/31(Sat)06:12 No. 622976 ID: 256d52
File 142271353910.png - (34.17KB , 600x700 , open_wide.png )

>Oh, and you should examine those maws you have all over your body in closer detail. You have some on your chest, how wide can those open up?
Uh let's see. Alice rises to open them up. Her flesh splits, the seam widening as the ones just above her breasts open up. The slit replacing her navel opens at the same time, feeding tendrils creeping out instead of her guts spilling everywhere. Ugh, it looks like she's trying to vivisect herself.

The splits keep lengthening, joining together in a Y. Something itches in her sternum and then unlatches. Her rib cage feels loose. Her top is in the way, stopping her ribs swinging out and holding her chest closed.

Alice is going to have to say somewhere between 'All of the way' and 'Inside-out' with respect to how wide they can open. She hugs herself closed until her flesh stitches itself back together.

>We got a lab full of equipment here. And Clever Hands just gave you OPTIONS.
>Lets look through the stuff here and see what we can make.
Ah, well, right now Alice doesn't want to move around too much in case she's seen from the outside. But given enough time Alice could take everything in this room apart.

>But the description implies you can manipulate non-organic materials now, and I wonder on what scale. Can you eat metal or synthetics and process them like a 3-d printer? How complex can your manipulations get?
Sub-millimetre scale definitely. But its only bulk adjustments. She's also getting a feeling she should swallow something she wants to reshape substantially. It'll be faster.

>Adjustable Grip: Ability to fully use tools and weapons, both Human and Xotl ones, regardless of our size. If nothing else, should improve our aim a bit.
She can do away with the tiny trigger guard these xotl guns have. Marvelous!

>Can anything in the room be taken apart? Does any equipment have some thick metal plate that could serve as makeshift armor?
The table or the drone's casing are her best bets - the drone casing will be much lighter and need less rework too. Probably not as good as xotl armour, but a lot better than running around naked. She could try to haul around a section of a reinforced door as a shield, but that'd be extremely heavy, slow to cut and very obvious.

Unless she wants to try something with electronics, it looks like Alice's best bets are adapting her guns and trying to cobble together armour for herself and Blake.

>>622975
"sleeping with anything ever again."
You know for enough money I bet someone could fix that....

I.. uh... huh.. that's quite odd..

So on top of being a plant-tentacle-freak, you can also do tech stuff inside your body?

Lets get some armor together. Guns afterwords.

>>622976
see if you can make grenades and/or flashbangs (would those work on xotl?)
how's the speaking situation? any easier? can you modify your mouth(s) to speak?
your harpoon, is the wire that it's attached to responsive now? directing it midflight, digesting people that are hit, that sort of thing.
i want to see what that ribcage thing is. what, it's for eating something whole? is it and inside-out transformation into something strong? we should find out, ask blake to turn around for a moment and check. it's quit possibly for eating something during a fight which might be handy, so see what it is and if possible make the armor so that it'll enable you to use whatever it is.

>Alice is just going to have to come to terms with the high probability she's never sleeping with anything ever again.
i wouldn't get carried away, never is a long time and you're in better control of yourself now than you were an hour ago. you'll learn to handle this better with time. don't rush into premature conclusions.

Okay, this is just a theory, but I think you may have a mouth inside your stomach... Have fun with that!

>>622976
Check to see how horrified Blake is at your body experimenting.

>>622983
Lets hope he doesn't have permanent nightmares from that.

>>622976
Next experiment: fine-tune your vocal cords.

who knows you might be able to attain your original voice and get spooky semi-useful mimicry.

also make sure Blake didn't peek and go catatonic.

uh, when you were experimenting with your body was Blake in view or was he out of eyeshot? Just wondering how he's taking these view if he was watching is all.

But yeah the only electron thing I can think of that COULD help would be finding a way to turn this place's power off. I'm not sure if you can see in the dark and I'm even less sure you could pull it off but if you could pull it off it would fuck with the xotl possibly slowing them down and giving you more wiggle room to move around with. Other then that though yeah, go make armor for you and black... and maybe use that cloth as padding for black so it would soften the blow against bullets for black since he's a little more fragile then you are.

>It's offering the same options, but it'll overwrite what she currently has.
Okay, cool. So if you really needed to respecialize, you could. Robust system.

Um. Do we want to leave that here? If the xtol do make some of their own plant monsters, do we want to leave them the capability to upgrade them? We might want to take it with us. (Or hide it. Or destroy it, if we can't do anything else). ...at the very least, we might want to turn it off.

>The crate is empty except for some fabric. A dust cover probably. Maybe she should try to make some clothes out of it.
Anything with pockets would be a big help at this point. Or a backpack or satchel to carry supplies. (Need to stick the data orb somewhere if we steal it).

Blake probably needs clothes more than you, since you're the shapeshifter who gets shot somewhat regularly, now. Also, if you cut up crates or the table, you might be able to jury rig a vest, at least. Decrease the odds he takes a fatal shot.

>An eye on each limb.
Useful for peeking around corners maybe, though. Snake a little tendril or finger over, close your eyes, open one on the end.

>She's also getting a feeling she should swallow something she wants to reshape substantially
So... your insides would function as an organic factory? I suppose you have a lot more tendrils to shape stuff with, in there.

>Unless she wants to try something with electronics
You know what would be useful? Some kind of radio to listen in on xtol coms. Or a small scale jammer to turn on in fights- prevent them from calling in the engagement or getting backup. Don't know if there's circuity in here we could cannibalize or jury rig to those ends, but it would be nice if we could.

>Alice is just going to have to come to terms with the high probability she's never sleeping with anything ever again.
Unless you find a data-orb that lets you turn this stuff off. ...or they experimented on more than just you.

Although even if you could make it safe for your partner, sleeping with anyone is off the table until we're sure monster-babies won't result.

If we can find some flame-retardant fabric that would be great to make a cloak out of. Even if it provides more psychological protection than actual flame resistance.

>>622976
I don't suppose you can make a drill-tentacle?

Make some clothes for Blake. Also, see if you can put together some basic body armor for him using the materials present.

Just remember don't take too long to do all this. We gotta catch up to our crewmate.

Make a simple toga and riot shield for Blake out of the cloth and drone plating, respectively. That should be simple enough for you to do quickly without letting the doctor be taken too far.

We should remove the trigger guards first since that will be faster (just a small piece cut off each), then see what we can quickly cobble together with armor.

> She just forces her tendrils against it and they slowly worm their way though, like they're sinking through molasses.
Could we cut faster if we focus those tentacles into a smaller area (like a 'blade' or 'spearhead')?

>It's offering the same options, but it'll overwrite what she currently has.
We should carry it around if we can. It'll probably cost some time and mass to respec, but being able to change our abilities fairly quickly could be worth it (especially if we run into another upgrader with something super useful that has superstructure as a prerequisite).

>>622280
>>622975
>>622976
Welp. we are what we are. These clothes are getting a bit small and in the way. Probably don't even have the right bits to hide anymore so no point in getting too modest. Gonna have to doubt Blake is into monster tentacle women.


Our clothes are small, our weapons are inadequate, the idol is essential, our biomass is small. Oh and we need to rescue the crew, but not go off half cocked.

-Take the cloth inside the crate, see if there is anything else that is cloth like, and grab some good metal for armor. Make yourself and blake some new armor/ outfits.
-Fix these fucking guns with the small ass triggers, see if we can make some sort of multibarrel/ improved weapon out of this garbage.
-Eat the idol. We need to do a long term study of this, manipulate it, learn from it. Most importantly, keep it safe. When we get off this station, the Shape shifting/ camouflage will let us blend back into society. Or we use it to reconfigure ourselves as needed on the fly.
-Find some food.

It occurs to me that you could swap skillsets on the fly by carrying the idol with you.

Grab some of the more versatile/high-value-density electronic bits and stow them in your abdominal cavity to play with later.

Maybe stick a snack canister in there, too. Less cumbersome, frees up external inventory space for a grenade, no harder to eat from in there, and the spent container might be a last-ditch hideout option if you get knocked back to single-digit mass.

>>622975
>kind of at maximum capacity already.

Any functionality, or strictly vestigial?

>>623054
>Make new outfits
Yeah, that's a good idea; maybe make yours adjustable.

>>623088
>Store electronics components
Yeah, that's actually a pretty good idea. Harvest stuff from something handy nearby, and keep them around for modifying stuff later.

Errr... Perhaps you should keep Blake's reactions to the changes in your body in mind before you go exploring the improvements the idol has provided.

Totally take that idol with you. Maybe Blake should hold it though.

>>623094
Better yet, make a bag for it out of the cloth.

Ask Blake if he wants to have some clothes/armor made for him.

Shame we don't have any kind of standard measurement like a ruler or tape measure to get sizes.

>>623096
Measurements are only useful if you're working with standardized materials. For one-off work from scrap, it's simpler to fit by holding material up to the recipient's body directly.

If you've got plates of maybe-bulletproof stuff but you don't have enough time or skill to reinvent the biomechanics of closely fitted body armor from the ground up, make lamellar: strips of rigid material laced onto a jacket so they overlap. Historically, the basic concept has even been adapted to use ingredients like horse hooves and truck tires as the plates.

Main priorities for armor (on a humanoid, at least) are 1) center of mass/chest vitals, 2) brain, 3) joints in major limbs. Limiting factor for armoring the head is obstructing hearing and vision, limiting factor for armoring the shoulders, neck, knees, elbows, and hips is restricting range of motion.

>>622976
This is a bit horrible, but I suspect we can engulf Blake in our body to act as bio armor. If the need arises. Like going out in the vacuum.

>>624169
And I suspect her body would eat him, whether she wants to or not.

>>624169
>>624189
Both good points. Perhaps we could test it on a xotl at some point? I guess?

>>624219
Trying to not eat, but hold a likely highly unwilling xotol within our horrible cavity maw. Yes. this sounds wonderful, surely we will not traumatize the creature before we render the flesh from its bones. and then its bones from its marrow...then the sweet marrow. yes. We really must look into getting more biomass...

Make Lamellar armor for Blake, and also some for you if possible

Consider carving a hole in a wall leading to an adjoining room or two - coming from an unexpected direction would give an edge against ambushers. (Small hole at first, soundlessly, to pop an eyeball through and make sure the room is unoccupied.)
Also consider prepping a last-ditch trap/escape route through the floor, cut not QUITE all the way through, so as to avoid detection from below.

If we had biomass to spare, I would advocate cutting trigger guards, making armor and wall hole(s) with Clever Hands, THEN switching to Megastructure for an armor-on-armor bonus for your next fight. (And probably switch back to Clever Hands when the fight is over.)
Of course, Clever Hands might be necessary to get through dragonslayer armor. Unless you can forge a diamond-spiked club?
And constant switching might not be ideal for our sanity, either, come to think...

If we leave without checking out that mysterious "hello?" it's going to irk me something fierce. Maybe if we defeat the ambush or confirm a lack thereof, we could pop back in again and type a few words in reply?

>>624534
Plenty of biomass to spare if we can win the fight cleanly or pillage the vending machine.

What's the smallest hole you could crawl through without injuring yourself, Alice? Carve some holes that size through the bulkheads into both adjacent rooms, parallel to the hallway.

So your tendrils affect non-organics either by some extremely fast easily reversible chemical reaction or by chewing at it on a microscopic scale. Need to watch out for chemical resistant or just flat out non-reactive armor and materials.

So as far as chemical refinement goes, is your body going to let you produce volatiles, or is it wanting to take any caloric content from such asap? If so, you may still be able to process chemicals by building a small processor out of reshaped metal.

Anyway, gunpowder is an entirely organic mixture, so it would be nice to know if you can produce munitions for yourself. Guns of course are better at shooting things than whatever you are likely to be able to build, but having an explosive option in melee may be worth the experimentation. Of course there are more potent explosive substances you could likely process, but their chemical structure isnt as widely known. And most of what you would make is more burny than blasty, so no go there.

More widely useful, however, is the possibility of your being able to construct chemical batteries, using either your own processing abilities or simply cannibalising the contents of an existing battery and shaping the container to fit snugly either inside your body or strapped to your person, thus providing you with a convenient power supply.

As far as electronics that we might power with said supply, a radio or jammer would of course be supremely useful, though the jammer is easier to make. the possibility of winding a microfine wire of the most conductive material you can get your tendrils on into a coil, coating it with insulating plastic inside of your forearm, and from then on firing your harpoons with a steel core using your new coilgun is too good to pass up, however; this would both be more convenient (And likely powerful) than the crossbow mechanism you used earlier, and leave you capable of using your arm. It should be noted that if you can construct the coil, you can easily construct capacitors to store charge to power the coil.

Other than that, attaching some sort of chopping or stabbing devices to your firearms couldnt hurt, nor could providing yourself and your ally with some custom fitted armor, as well as experimenting with the manipulation of fabric, because POCKETS ARE GOOD.

>>623059
>>623013
>>623054
>>623088


But yeah, totally take as many usable resources with you as possible, though the idol should perhaps be kept in Blake's care.

if you can get enough parts, probably using the smartphone thing as the core, perhaps make a small, maximally powerful computer for quick interfacing. Speaking of which, definitely check the 'hello' before you leave.

after you're done fabricating the adjustments and what not, you could try cutting a hole to the next room in the direction dragonguy is so you can maneuver behind him. you can avoid major wiring or whatever vital thing is between the walls, use the device to switch to quicksilver to get through and switch back.

that in mind maybe you can access important lines in the walls and hack them or redirect them and havok. Say you can clog up ventilation in the safe areas the little salmon colored shits are hiding. If they're fortunate enough to have an air-supply in their helms, it would be limited... or you can open up a water or sewage line in there and drown them out(unless those things on thier heads are gills, in which case sewage would be better)...

I wonder what that secret was that we missed out on last mission...

Might be worth it to rip the whole reinforced door out of wall and bring it along. Probably less work than cutting a chunk out of it, if you're willing to trash the room anyway. Don't think "shield," think "portable cover."

You're walking into an obvious ambush to save doctor Mason, and given how competent most of the xotl have been so far, that means concentrated fire from the heaviest weapons they've got. The door should completely block most small-arms fire, especially the literal incendiary sort of fire which is such a concern, and might even take the sting out of that dragonslayer's marvelous gun; field-expedient lammellar, while far better than nothing, can't confidently do any of that.

If you're strong enough to lift it (or become strong enough, during the fight) the door is also a weapon. Clumsy, admittedly, but unstoppable. High-tech armor is optimized for beams, blades, and bullets, not multi-megapascal hammerblows. Narrow corridors should make it easy enough to put your target in a position where they can't get out of the way, and then... skudge.

>>622979
Not sure how long they're willing to wait before they storm in. Relocate first, reseal exit and prep. It's nice that these fishies come in cans, at least we'll have an influx of material to make armor out of.

>>622980
Flash-bangs seem too complex for her first try and under pressure at that. Frags seem doable: segmented hard outer-shell filled with combustible material and accelerant, assuming we can salvage some from the arms we have. Also, the insides of a creature tend to be more vulnerable than their outsides. I'd reserve eating someone whole for the dead or unconscious.

>>622988
>>627456
Mess with the power wiring... or use it as a weapon. If she can find we can find a source of water, she could adapt to make some sort of high pressure water sac--spray them then drop some exposed high voltage wires.

>>622993
Good idea if we could find the material. Perhaps not in this room, but I'm sure there's suit somewhere in case of emergency fire on board a space vessel.

>>624534
>>624588
>>627456

Yes, there would be an edge on coming up behind them, but there's risk of being heard and the moment they turn around the advantage is over. I've read some people want Alice to drop on enemies from above. Maybe instead of dropping on them and presenting a target, we can carefully carve out the ceiling with an extended appendage (we risk less of our body mass if they hear something and unload into the ceiling) and let that drop on them instead.

>>627795
Stealth and mobility are Alice's assets in this encounter, and that would be a significant hindrance to both. In a face-to-face and back-to-the-wall situation it would make more sense, but I think the point is to avoid a firefight rather than walk into one.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/08(Sun)01:07 No. 628154 ID: 256d52
File 142580566858.png - (25.19KB , 800x550 , just_make_out_already.png )

>"sleeping with anything ever again."
>You know for enough money I bet someone could fix that....
What, to pay for the funeral?

>Although even if you could make it safe for your partner, sleeping with anyone is off the table until we're sure monster-babies won't result.
This conversation is over.

>Knockers
>Any functionality, or strictly vestigial?
There's no way of knowing that right now.

>Okay, this is just a theory, but I think you may have a mouth inside your stomach... Have fun with that!
At this point Alice thinks she'd have a harder time finding something that's not a mouth.

>I.. uh... huh.. that's quite odd..
>So on top of being a plant-tentacle-freak, you can also do tech stuff inside your body?
Yes. Apparently that's the deal.

>This is a bit horrible, but I suspect we can engulf Blake in our body to act as bio armor. If the need arises. Like going out in the vacuum.
That sounds like the worst idea.

>Perhaps we could test it on a xotl at some point? I guess?
>Trying to not eat, but hold a likely highly unwilling xotol within our horrible cavity maw. Yes. this sounds wonderful, surely we will not traumatize the creature before we render the flesh from its bones. and then its bones from its marrow...then the sweet marrow. yes. We really must look into getting more biomass...
Alice has changed her mind. This is the worst idea. And just the thought of it is making her hungry again.

>Make sure Blake didn't peek and go catatonic.
Well, he's still under the table so, uh. Oh. He was watching. This is awkward.

"Uh, szorryeh?" Alice whispers.

"Dietrich, I'm a xenobiologist. I'm not going to lose my head over something a little strange." Blake says. "Just... give me some warning next time." He shakes his head. "Do you have any idea how anatomically impossible you are?"

Footsteps. Alice hushes Blake and they hunker down again.

The dragonslayer passes, his companions in tow. That was fast. It's only been a few minutes. He must have decided he wasn't going to flush them out. Hopefully they should be in the clear now. Alice just hopes they're not going to be tightening the guard around wherever they're holding the prisoners.

Alice moves out of her hiding place and motions to Blake. He crawls out of his spot, pulls his gun and their sack of mostly guns out form under the table and then stretches.

Time to check out some things.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/08(Sun)01:08 No. 628155 ID: 256d52
File 142580569481.png - (19.04KB , 800x500 , hacking_ur_email.png )

>If we leave without checking out that mysterious "hello?" it's going to irk me something fierce.
Alice quickly checks. The screen's connected to the tank Dr Mason was in. It also runs off to the server rack and has some ports on the wall, into the dark room behind this one. While she's sorting through the tangle of wiring, Blake sticks his head in the tank.

"Sensory deprivation tank." Blake says. He rubs his chin. "My best guess for why it's here is post-installation adjustment to cybernetic implants. Maybe they were doing something with Doctor Mason's implants?"

Alice checks the screen wired up to the tank. It's saying its disconnected now. Must have detected Dr Mason being taken out. She scrolls back. There's a short message history available.

IT'S ROTTING ALREADY
>X: STABILITY OF THE HYBRIDS IS NOT YOUR CONCERN
>X: LINK WITH THE SPECIMEN AND TELL IT TO PERFORM THE MODIFICATIONS
THERE'S TOO MUCH NOISE ON THE LINK
MAYBE IF YOU GAVE ME ONE THAT DOESN'T FALL APART AFTER A FEW DAYS
I'D BE ABLE TO TRAIN IT TO GIVE USEFUL RESULTS
I NEED TO REST
THIS ISN'T EASY AT THE BEST OF TIMES
>X: IF YOU WOULD STOP DELAYING AND DELIVER USEFUL RESULTS
>X: THEN PERHAPS I WOULD LET YOU OUT MORE OFTEN
IT'S NOT THAT SIMPLE
YOU'RE TRYING TO SHOEHORN INSTRUCTIONS FOR FINE SCALE STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS
THROUGH A NEURAL INTERFACE TO AN EMULATION OF AN ANIMAL BRAIN
RUNNING ON A MOLECULAR ROBOTIC SYSTEM/COLONY ORGANISM
THAT YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT DOES
NO WONDER YOUR A.I.S ARE GOING PSYCHOTIC
HELLO?
ARE YOU STILL THERE?
>X: YOU ARE BEING PUNISHED
WHAT?
NO
DON'T LEAVE ME IN HERE AGAIN
ARE YOU THERE?
PLEASE
I'LL TRY AGAIN
>X: GOOD
>X: I HAVE DEVISED A NEW SPECIFICATION
+ FILE a112 SENT +
>X: YOU HAVE AN HOUR TO FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH IT
>X: AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS
HELLO?
+ DISCONNECTED +

How dare they. How dare they.

Dragging Mason into their experiments and then leaving her alone in the dark for Messenger only knows how long. No time stamps. Was it only going to be a matter of time until they finished experimenting on the rest of the crew?

And what was that about hybrids? And rotting. Is Alice going to start falling apart because of what the xotl have done to her?! Blake seemed to know something he wasn't telling, maybe she needs to press him on this.

Alice, Alice needs to do something to take her mind off this.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/08(Sun)01:09 No. 628156 ID: 256d52
File 142580574662.png - (32.42KB , 800x600 , armour_fitting.png )

"Dietrich, you alright?" Blake says.

Alice waves her hands in agitation as she tries to think about what explanation she's least likely to mangle, settles for pointing at the screen, then moves over to the drone they xotl used to lift Mason out of the tank and starts dismantling it.

Disabling the worker drone and dismembering it's casing settles her down a little. Its about as tough to cut as the table but lighter. Still won't be as tough as the actual xotl armour but it seems sturdy enough to give some decent protection. The main trouble is going to be shaping it.

There's some reddish material that acts as a flexible cover for some of the drone's working. Consistency's a bit like a diver's suit - some sort of padded layer in the middle. Good, it'll give her a little more options for padding even if it's not too protective. Alice grabs the dust cover and some of the plastic from the crate she opened. The plastic's very easy for her tendrils to reshape, she can make buckles with it.

>Ask Blake if he wants to have some clothes/armour made for him.
Alice hands Blake the datapad.

Making some protective gear for you.
Hold still.

She quickly holds up some of the various bits she's gathered to try and determine what will and won't fit. Main priority is cooking up a protective vest. Her feeding tendrils make very effective measuring tapes but she's reluctant to get them to close to Blake.

Arm armour looks like it'll probably going to be too restrictive and heavy for him, since this isn't a military drone she's using the parts from and there'd be a lot of rework getting the casing to fit.

In a surprisingly short time, she's gotten something resembling clothes and armour onto Blake. It feels like some real progress. Its satisfying.

"You think we're going to run into more resistance from here?"

"Yeszzz." Alice says. It's practically inevitable.

"Going to make anything for yourself?" He's been surprisingly calm. Alice expected more questions about her new abilities. There's a lot going on she supposes.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/08(Sun)01:09 No. 628157 ID: 256d52
File 142580578357.png - (60.43KB , 600x800 , bloom_paperdoll.png )

Alice does needs to consider clothes and armour for herself.

She essentially has a miraculously good cutter and welder. Reshaping bulk solids is doable but slow. As far as raw materials for armour and clothes goes, she has lot of the drone casing, dust covers and that drone fabric left. She can cut up the table or something else if she needs to as well.

Playing around with chemistry or anything like that is beyond her.

>These clothes are getting a bit small and in the way. Probably don't even have the right bits to hide anymore so no point in getting too modest.
Alice isn't going to start running around naked.

So, how to dress?

Arhra 2015/03/08(Sun)01:13 No. 628158 ID: 256d52
File 142580600996.gif - (23.26KB , 600x800 , bloom_paperdoll.gif )

Annnd since I couldn't work out an alternative, here's a dodgy gif with layers if that makes things easier for people.

Make a bulletproof shield and reinforce one side with flesh. Add some eyes to the opposite side.

Suggestion 2015/03/08(Sun)01:39 No. 628160 ID: d958ad
File 142580754121.png - (50.71KB , 600x800 , aliceshirt.png )

>>628157
Well, we've seen you can stretch your limbs out. Anything resembling tight sleeves or pants will get in the way. Your torso could be given a little bit of covering, assuming you don't want to use your chest-mouths for anything. Also you can't even wear pants because of those butt-tentacles.

So... something like this? T-shirt, armor plate on the front just in case there's something vulnerable in your chest. There doesn't seem to be anything vulnerable in your head... I wonder if you HAVE any organs anymore. Might be worth it just to keep up appearances.

>>628159
Yeah, actually... lugging around some sort of shield would be better than wearing armor, considering Alice's weird body and the fact that she needs to worry about other people more than herself.

Someone pointed out the obvious to me so hooray, layered things for all.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/29oh8ws7nsxlr60/bloom_paperdoll.psd?dl=0

Hey, heads up, people: Dr. Mason mentioned an emulation of an animal brain. It's possible that this is effectively a copy of Alice, and we're going to run into Alice 1.0 at some point. That might get awkward.

LimeBreaker 2015/03/08(Sun)04:11 No. 628169 ID: 2a1897
File 142581310380.png - (84.83KB , 700x800 , aliceoutfit.png )

Cloth wrap-ey stuff can be adjusted to fit whatever size Alice happens to be at the moment, and it allows for a full range of motion (including stomach mouths and whatever).

Beyond that, a shield allows for good protection against bullets while not significantly limiting mobility, and shin-guards protect what the shield can't.

Suggestion 2015/03/08(Sun)07:54 No. 628183 ID: 89941a
File 142582644774.png - (53.89KB , 600x800 , 142580578357.png )

All I can think of right now are some longer, and looser pants, and perhaps some metallic bracers on an adjustable cloth backing for melee combat. The aforementioned shield could be useful if you can carry it and have the materials. Any sort of head protection would be rendered inefficient by your flower eye I think.

In either case, would armour even prove efficient against their weaponry?

>>628183
bracers would hinder our ability to split our arm into a crossbow.

A glove type thing on one arm might help if we come up against more fire or heat. A maul might be nice too, a big hunk of metal to swing around.

>Do you have any idea how anatomically impossible you are?
Trying not to think about that. You have enough strains on your sanity as is.

>Dragging Mason into their experiments
Okay. Good points about this:

Mason is apparently useful to them as more than another subject. That's good. That means, even though she's still in their captivity, they're not likely to kill her, or subject her to potentially deadly and definitely life altering plant monster experiments.

(They could use her to run more plant monster experiments on other members of the crew, but that's unlikely with everything in lockdown and panic mode. They'd have to be desperate or insane to try that before regaining control of the base).

Also, if they've been forcing her to help, that means she knows stuff about what's been done to you. She can help, or at least answer some important questions, when you rescue her.

>Is Alice going to start falling apart because of what the xotl have done to her?!
If your transformation isn't stable, and it's going to end up killing you, does it help you in any way to know in advance? You still have to save your crew and get them out of here, whether or not you survive.

An exact timetable might help (so you could plan how cautious to be versus how much time you had remaining), but you're not likely to get one.

>Blake seemed to know something he wasn't telling, maybe she needs to press him on this.
I suspect it wouldn't really help you with your immediate problems if you knew, and you already have a lot to worry about.

Let's consider what he might have figured out. They used precursor tech? Yeah, you got that. That this might be fatal? You got that too.

What's the worst possible thing he could say? Uh, you're not Alice. You're a plant monster they fed Alice too and now you think you're, um, you? Right, that's a disturbing thought, but does it really make a difference if they used science to turn your meat-body into a plant, or if they uploaded your mind to the plant-body? Same end result.

See, there, you've guessed all the horrible things he might say. No need to ask him about that. Trust him to tell you if he needs to, and focus on the more immediate problems of staying alive and mounting rescues.

>clothing for self
Remember that you want your torso to be accessible, even if it's covered, so you can put stuff inside your stomach-mouth to bio-factory it, if you need to. Maybe some kind of removable plate over your middle (assuming organs are more important and take more energy to repair than limbs?), or something under your hair to prevent them from blowing your head off again? (No exit wound means less lost mass).

Limbs, hands, feet should be reasonably free considering how malleable they are in shape.

>Cloth wrap-ey stuff can be adjusted to fit whatever size Alice happens to be at the moment
Adjustable seems a reasonable idea, in case we gain or lose mass.

Could we make a fire-blanket, or something similar? Being able to put a non-combustible barrier between flames and yourself, or being able to smother flames, seems like it would we really helpful.

Suggestion 2015/03/08(Sun)12:56 No. 628231 ID: 3c17ca
File 142584459021.png - (65.85KB , 1055x800 , 142580578357.png )

>>628157
mobility, armor, and a mantle that can be lit on fire and disposed of first when dealing with situations that involve fire.

tl/dr: Fire proteciton.

Suit splits open down the middle and on the arms to allow for horrible plant monster action.

stretchy for growth.

>>628169
that looks good. might want to look into some head protection too.

if possible get some sticky tape or something on your breasts. you may need to sever your top for some weird shapeshifting purpose we can't foresee and that'll protect your modesty in that eventuality.

do you still have bones? spine, pelvis, skull? if there's something solid left in you cover that area in the thickest armor since that area won't need to change shape much.

Hm... You need fire protection, but also mobility so that your tendrils can shift and stuff...

I'd suggest some kind of liquid armor, but that's for later. Right now, focus on interleaving your flesh into the armor so that you can survive if your center mass.

Use your tendrils to reinforce armor that is extremely elemental-resistant but relatively fragile. You may be required to destroy your own armor to survive. It doesn't take a scientist to try out elemental attacks against a shapeshifting flora-based enemy.

Anywhere cloth crosses a seam on your body, such as the forearm harpoon or torso workshop, cut the cloth and add strips of velcro to hold it shut again. Preserves your modesty for now, and the material if you need to hulk out.

I think modesty is actually immensely important. Animals go to pieces because their lack of self-image means they thoughtlessly overwrite core systems, while a technically-inclined sapient being can be flexible while maintaining integrity.

Put a plate of hard material over your face in such a way that it covers your unused eye socket, the bridge of your nose, and as much of your forehead as possible without limiting your flower's field of view. Some elites get trained to go for headshots, and while that won't work on you as well as they want it to, no sense making it easier for enemy bullets.

Across the front of your faceplate, in big block letters of contrasting material, write "HELLO MY NAME IS" and below that, in some more artistict style, "Alice Dietrich" Apart from the psychological value of asserting your identity, and simplifying communication problems if you run into more survivors and Blake isn't there to help, it's dazzle camo: some xotl who sees half a nametag peeking around a corner might have a harder time identifying exact size and shape, and that confusion buys you crucial seconds of not being shot at accurately.

A simple cloak made of a fire-retardant material keeps itself out of the way, and at least provides some psychological protection.

Suggestion 2015/03/08(Sun)18:06 No. 628302 ID: 3c17ca
File 142586319231.png - (70.74KB , 692x964 , 142584459021.png )

>>628251
by our powers combined, all ideas in one.

>>628302
That looks pretty damn badass. Also protective and flexible. Bonus points if it's also comfortable.

As a woman, I'm pretty sure Alice is happy with the fact that when she grows, she is growing upwards and not sideways! XD

Also, she seems to be some sort of plant. A carnivorous plant, but still a plant. So, what would happen to her if she got some fresh water and sunlight? Would she grow faster or something?

our asset is fleshy plantmonster and you want to cover her up head to toe so she cant shift
okay.png

Also, we should take that idol thing in case we need to switch abilities.

>>628737
read up. the proposed outfit is designed to split open as needed and can be re attached later. see the divides along the legs, arms and torso. It also has a an overcoat that can take getting lit on fire first instead of Alice, so she can remove it.

Suggestion 2015/03/12(Thu)12:49 No. 628821 ID: 34bbab
File 142618978541.png - (106.41KB , 600x800 , Trupr.png )

Clothes would be good for her psychology (and hopefully for that abysmal sanity rating)

Something that reminds her who she is and what she's here do to (besides chew bubblegum.)

Helmet protects her veri important sensory organs, with an extra little blast shield that can slide down to protect against forces that could shatter her visors, which is accessible from the inside of the helmet by her headrils (tendrilocks?). Holes in the ear guards for her to retract her auditory stalks. Chest plate held in place by elastic bands that will stretch out and aside should she decide to open up to somebody.

Incorporates shield and name from other suggestions, as well as some stitching along some key areas that respond to her clever hands thing to open and close when needed. Decided against bracers and grieves because they would interfere with the harpoon or any other appendage mods she'd like to use.

>>628821
we need to make a Large duffel like sack to carry our illgotten goods. For as much prepwork is going into this iteration of armor, the moment we kill another group of xotols we can take their armor and weapons and really get to work with some quality materials.

...I wonder if it would be as psychologically damaging if alice just Cubed the xotols up into items the size of candy bars with her hands, then she could snack on "Meat sticks! the meat for the monster on the go!"

Where's the obligatory pokemon shirt? Did that die out?

>>628851
As a monster, I sure loves me some meatsticks!

>>629179
THANK YOU

>>629179
i was worried for a second there

Remember to root through the trolley when you've beaten them all up. I'd hate to see another secret slip through those fingers

>>628155
There are a few different ways to interpret that, actually. Yes, it's possible that the "specimens" were other members of your crew that underwent the same process as you (in which case you should be worried about stability... but not like you can do anything about it). In which case, Mason was intended to work like the idol?
However, other possibilities include:
*the specimens were Xotl that were transformed like you. In which case I wouldn't be too worried about stability; they probably rotted because their bodies are less suited to plant-monster purposes(hence why Blake seemed more delicious than the Xotl before)
*the specimens were AIs running on virtual bodies, probably to find out what the idol does
*the specimens were AIs running on actual plantmonster bodies
Or it could be entirely unrelated! (But probably not.)
Anyway, though, don't worry too much about "rotting", it may not even happen to you and we have no indication of how to prevent it anyway. Heck it may have already happened as much as it will and that's why half your face is messed up?

Suggestion 2015/03/16(Mon)16:28 No. 629451 ID: 3d1c54
File 142654849833.png - (162.73KB , 600x800 , suprtrupr.png )

forgot to show the product features to our discerning customers! The slide down blast protecting faceplate has several extension configurations! Can cover:

- upper visor only (not shown)
- both upper and lower visor
- full head protection
- upper visor and half-mask
- lower visor only
- lower visor and half mask only

Have a busy schedule? Big order to go? now you can save the time chewing and swallowing would cost you by placing foodstuffs directly in the digestive area thanks to the new, patent pending protective vest door hinge(TM)!

>>629451
Nice. Hm... why not replace the retracting top plate with a tablet or something, so that your flower-eye can use a battle scanner or something?

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/23(Mon)05:56 No. 630453 ID: 256d52
File 142711541363.png - (27.49KB , 600x640 , cherno_alice.png )

There's a tense silence as Alice gets to work. Neither of them want to talk about the implications of that log.

>Let's consider what Blake might have figured out. They used precursor tech? Yeah, you got that. That this might be fatal? You got that too.
>What's the worst possible thing he could say? Uh, you're not Alice. You're a plant monster they fed Alice to and now you think you're, um, you? Right, that's a disturbing thought, but does it really make a difference if they used science to turn your meat-body into a plant, or if they uploaded your mind to the plant-body? Same end result.
>See, there, you've guessed all the horrible things he might say. No need to ask him about that. Trust him to tell you if he needs to, and focus on the more immediate problems of staying alive and mounting rescues.
Well, he could say that loading that idol has overwritten part of her brain? Or her mind's going to rot before her body and she'll turn on her crew? Or that he's been collaborating with the xotl as well? Or that there's an original Alice out there damaged by the copy process? Or she's releasing spores and he's a dead man walking? Or maybe he smells so much better than the xotl because there's something in humans that she needs to eat to keep her body stable? Or any of the dozens of other horrible things that it might be?!

That's enough. Back to problems she can solve.

>Anything with pockets would be a big help at this point. Or a backpack or satchel to carry supplies.
Easy. Alice converts the labcoat-sack into a proper bag and makes a second one for herself.

>Well, we've seen you can stretch your limbs out. Anything resembling tight sleeves or pants will get in the way. Your torso could be given a little bit of covering, assuming you don't want to use your chest-mouths for anything. Also you can't even wear pants because of those butt-tentacles.
Uh, Alice has been wearing pants for some time now? But anything too tight is definitely a bad idea. Messenger knows how much Alice needs to get out of these old pants. Baggy. Baggy is good.

>So... something like this? T-shirt, armor plate on the front just in case there's something vulnerable in your chest. There doesn't seem to be anything vulnerable in your head... I wonder if you HAVE any organs anymore. Might be worth it just to keep up appearances.
Alice isn't really sure how a horrifying torso maw could come in handy for anything but just to leave her options open she makes a vest and attaches some armour pieces to it. Thankfully it's very easy for her to make fasteners to hold it shut.

>>Do you have any idea how anatomically impossible you are?
>Try not to think about that. You have enough strains on your sanity as is.
Alice thinks she could use this drone head casing as a helmet.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/23(Mon)05:58 No. 630454 ID: 256d52
File 142711549963.png - (34.90KB , 800x600 , question_time.png )

>...I wonder if it would be as psychologically damaging if Alice just Cubed the xotols up into items the size of candy bars with her hands, then she could snack on "Meat sticks! the meat for the monster on the go!"
That sounds awful. And would involved carrying around about twice as much stuff than if she just ate something on the spot.

>As a woman, I'm pretty sure Alice is happy with the fact that when she grows, she is growing upwards and not sideways! XD
Alice guesses so, but she's half a meter taller than she used to be and this place was designed by midgets.

>A simple cloak made of a fire-retardant material keeps itself out of the way, and at least provides some psychological protection.
Alice uses the dust cover to make a poncho. Clasps hold the back together so she should be able to tear it off easily if she gets splashed with something flammable. She doubts it's flame retardant.

>Beyond that, a shield allows for good protection against bullets while not significantly limiting mobility, and shin-guards protect what the shield can't.
Alice settles on using large pieces of the drone's case to make a shield. She has to cut it into segments to flatten it out but it's tougher and lighter than the table.

>A maul might be nice too, a big hunk of metal to swing around.
So far the only thing to survive five seconds of close proximity to Alice has been Blake.

Well, that's her ensemble assembled then. An armoured vest, baggy pants, a poncho, a silly hat, a shield and guards for her lower legs. Alice hands Blake the data pad to get his opinion.

Does this make me look fat?

"Oh God. Please no. Why?!"

Alice feels a little better.

>Also, we should take that idol thing in case we need to switch abilities.
In it goes with the gun collection. Though if the xotl can afford to leave it sitting around in a random lab like this, it can't be the only copy.

>Remember to root through the trolley when you've beaten them all up. I'd hate to see another secret slip through those fingers
Have to find them again first.

But in the here and now, Alice guesses she might have a proper peek into that dark room behind this one. She crouches at one of the windows, trying to make out what's in there before she tries the door.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/23(Mon)05:59 No. 630455 ID: 256d52
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What the hell is that?

Is it a xotl? It looks a bit like a xotl. A mutant xotl. That's dying. A mutant, malformed dying xotl. Why does it have a thing jammed into its eye?!

>Mason is apparently useful to them as more than another subject. That's good. That means, even though she's still in their captivity, they're not likely to kill her, or subject her to potentially deadly and definitely life altering plant monster experiments.
Alice thinks she's found another subject here. The specimen from the log? It's just lying there in a puddle of its own goo, occasionally twitching. Rotting, ugh. She points it out to Blake.

xotl?

Blake shakes his head. "Can't be. Look at it. It's too big. There's no thumbs. The eye's too small compared to the skull. There's no ear frills. Just about everything is off. They must have done animal testing."

>Also, if they've been forcing her to help, that means she knows stuff about what's been done to you. She can help, or at least answer some important questions, when you rescue her.
The log said Mason was linking with a specimen somehow. Loading instructions? More command sets like the idol? Mason had a neural link because of her cybernetics, but what about the other end? Maybe that's what the eye spike is for.

>I think modesty is actually immensely important. Animals go to pieces because their lack of self-image means they thoughtlessly overwrite core systems, while a technically-inclined sapient being can be flexible while maintaining integrity.
Alice is definitely in better shape than that... thing.

Ugh, she doesn't want to think she might end up like that. Just lying there in a deliquescent mess watching herself fall apart. They've got to rescue Mason but... maybe she should go in for a closer look.

Er, why?

>>630456
lunch, obviously. craft checks are hungry work.

>>630455
Nnnnnnnah. Worst case scenario, it infects you with faulty programming somehow, and I'm not seeing much value in poking this thing. We can't even send Blake to poke it because it's gross and tentacly and looks dead while also being a little bit of a cyborg and those are never really dead.

Ahahaha, nope. No. Don't.

>>630453
Okay, congrats, you thought of more horrible things. Although most of those fall solidly in "you couldn't do anything about that right now even if you knew it were true" territory.

If you're going to rot out or go crazy, you can commit suicide before you get too far. If we stay alive that long. If he was forced to colloborate at gunpoint, hopefully he realizes sharing Intel is better than being ashamed of it. If you need to eat people? Maybe you can make due with cadavers or suppliments. If you've already killed him with spores? You're never going through an airlock to human habitation again. If there's annother you? ...you'll deal with that when you find her.

>Alice isn't really sure how a horrifying torso maw could come in handy for anything
It's the easiest access if you want to place something inside you for bio-factory manipulation. And then take it out when complete.

>Ugh, she doesn't want to think she might end up like that.
Inform Blake, in no uncertain terms, if you get that bad you want them to kill you. Incendiary bomb or something. You do not want to melt slowly to death.

>what do
Don't touch it. If it's got faulty genetic instructions based on your own, they might be transmissible. Don't even make eye contact, in case in can do a remote transfer, like the idol.

Maybe Blake could try plugging something into the eye port to check it out, but I'd advise him not to touch the biohazard either.

I would consider mercy killing it. Don't get any splatter on you, though.

I want to look at that cyber jack they have stuck in its head. It could be a recording device the little guys were using for monitoring or it could be the artifact that started the transformation.

But I know if you go in there its going to attack you or try to merge with you or even worse it will smell so tasty you wont be able to resist or something.

So maybe get the thing but make sure it is thoroughly dead first.

It sort of looks like they tried using this tech on a pig. Would make sense as its really close to humans genetically and safer than trying it on a ape. Guessing the tech only really works on stuff with complex enough brains to control the process afterwards.

Honestly just looking at it makes it look more and more like they jammed a alien spike in your head and when nothing immediately happened figured it was a wash and disposed of your body.

>>630455
Dare you to eat it.

Leave it. Too much risk, if it's as hungry as you are.

And mercy killing it might be difficult, considering how much punishment you can take without flinching. There are better things to spend our time and bullets on.

self image.
the creature in the room tried to be whatever it was looking at rather then be itself. you have taken on a very close approximation of Alice's body. your subconsciousness knows what it looks like, this probably is what holds you together.
i doubt it can be dangerous to you, open the door and look at it from a distance wave a tentacle at it. see what it does. anything hostile can just have the door slammed in it's face.

If the eye spike is what lets mason communicate with it, you might be able to use it for the same purpose, assuming it can transmit the other way.

It's dying already, so you probably don't need to worry about it attacking you. See if you can use your harpoon to take it out quietly from a distance, then see if you can jury-rig a prybar or something to get the eyespike without touching the creature directly.

>>630530
>>630455
keep blake at a safe distance, and yourself too. attempt to communicate. If it cant communicate, and is not too much of a threat, investigate the jack, the creature, and all the potential implications. We might be able to locate the good doctor much faster with any data it has, and potentially learn something about ourselves. If not my jack, by optical link.

Finally, if it is broken, we may not have to mercy kill it. Expose it to the idol, perhaps it can be fixed.

If we need to mercy kill it, I propose eating it, might learn something that way. Our body is adaptable, we can probably reject most bad things, or even ID it as not good to eat.

TL/DR: Investigate> Communicate>Jack/ Optical> Idol> Eat

>>630538
Don't attempt to use the idol. Alice is dangerous, but she's still Alice, this thing is just dangerous.
And don't eat it, we might get its rot.

I amend my previous position to being cautiously open to the prospect of harvesting they freaky eye-piece on the chance that we can use it to communicate with the doctor, maybe. Seems like a longshot though. And interface on our end will be a challenge, since there's no way sticking it in -our- face is a good idea.

>>630672
There's basically no way that'll work with her not in the "bed".

I suppose it might be worth seeing if she can "program" us later, but more likely that'd just mess us up.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/29(Sun)05:06 No. 631554 ID: 256d52
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>Guessing the tech only really works on stuff with complex enough brains to control the process afterwards.
Alice is starting to think something like that's going on. Why not just load an AI in directly otherwise? Mason can probably tell her more.

This is a xotl pig? Alice asks via note, handing the data pad over to Blake.

"Uh, their analogue of one." Blake says. He pauses and then evidently decides against giving Alice a detailed correction. "It's not very, uh, intact but that looks like the best guess."

>Inform Blake, in no uncertain terms, if you get that bad you want them to kill you. Incendiary bomb or something. You do not want to melt slowly to death.
Don't want to end up like that
If I get that bad, put me down OK?

"It's not going to come to that, Dietrich. We just need to get out of here and then we can-"

Alice shakes her head. "Szzay eht!"

Blake looks down and frowns, jaw working like he's wrestling with some unpalatable alternatives. "OK Dietrich." he says slowly. "If it comes to it, and I think that the situation's not salvageable, I'll do it."

Alice nods and takes the datapad back.

I'm going in for a closer look
That thing in its head looks important
Finish off mr piggy down too.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Dietrich." Blake says, scanning the pad. He shakes his head at her choice of names for the specimen. "That thing looks like it's on its last legs but it's still dangerous."

Alice shrugs. Everything's dangerous right now.
Stay here, it might still be mobile.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/29(Sun)05:07 No. 631555 ID: 256d52
File 142763086705.png - (24.45KB , 800x500 , old_yeller.png )

>See if you can use your harpoon to take it out quietly from a distance, then see if you can jury-rig a prybar or something to get the eyespike without touching the creature directly.
Uh, why would Alice stab it with something from inside her body if she wanted to avoid touching it?

>But I know if you go in there its going to attack you or try to merge with you or even worse it will smell so tasty you wont be able to resist or something.
>So maybe get the thing but make sure it is thoroughly dead first.
Alice is going to play it safe. Try a few things but put a few bullets into the critter before she gets into arm's reach.

Since it might get in the way, Alice strips off her poncho. She carefully opens the door. Her hardware override works again here and is much easier with her tendrils. There was a screen set above the keypad, it's simply a camera for checking the room. Piggy's still lying there rotting.

The door opens into a small room. Other door opens into the pigsty. They're interlocked, can't open one without closing the other. There's lurid warnings on the inner door. Alice shuts the first door behind her, giving Blake a thumbs up through the crack. All good so far.

She inches the inner door open and steps inside, shield covering her. No reaction.

>Wave a tentacle at it.
>Attempt to communicate.
Alice waves, gargles and stares really hard at the piggy, in that order. No reaction. She's starting to feel a little stupid.

>If we need to mercy kill it, I propose eating it, might learn something that way. Our body is adaptable, we can probably reject most bad things, or even ID it as not good to eat.
It's not making her feel hungry looking at it. If she thinks about eating it there's no sense of revulsion. She's kind of neutral on it?

Well old Yeller, we've had some good times, but it's time for you to go. She lines up her shotgun on the thing's eye and pulls the trigger.

Alice Dietrich 2015/03/29(Sun)05:08 No. 631556 ID: 256d52
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Oh Messenger WHAT?!

That's not dead!

That's barely even dead at all!

SHEILD, USE YOUR SHEILD!

then use your strength to push the damn thing against a wall and crush it. maybe put a few more bullets in it just to be safe.

Engage in giant feeder-tendril maw wrestling.

Kinda like thumb wrestling, only with feeder tentacle mouth things.

>>631556
Shield bash, back off into the door frame. Put the door between you and it.

God, we should've thought of this. If it's like you, even if it's a failed experiment, it's body is still like yours; a few bullets aren't going to do jack shit. We need to tear it apart.
I propose using the shield to push it into the pigsty doorway, then getting Blake to push the " Close Door" button. That should cut it in half, or something.

>That's not dead! That's barely even dead at all!
Of course it's not dead. Would a bullet to the head have killed you? Why did you think that would work on it!

I think our best advantage here is the idol upgrade. We have magic cutting torch tendrils, it should have normal ones. Anytime it gets a grip on you, or tries to feed? Cut it off. Snip snip.

There's a tendril coming around the shield, wrapped around your hand. Slice if off before it can start to feed or something.

Shoving it away with the shield long enough to escape out out the door might work. Or failing that, we pin it up against a wall and try to crush it to death, and cut off any bits that squish out. Eventually it'll run out of mass or we'll damage something vital.

Whelp! Good luck!

>>631556
Just get out of there. A fair fight with anything even close to as tough as you are is going to leave you injured.
You can come up with a proper plan once there's the door between you again, for now, hit it with your shield.

>>631568
Second

>>631556
It's about to try to eat your hand. Your tendrils are very sharp now, dice it up. Eat it better than it can eat you.

Though mostly I'd say try to remove the thing in its face as a priority.

Back away a half-step, separating your left arm from the shield and the "pig's" feeding tendril. Then, right foot up and kick the shield-pig assembly on it's approximate center of mass, the same way you would kick a fire escape door, to propel it away from you and possibly crush it against the far wall.

Once it's stunned, grab the eyespike, rip and tear.

>That's not dead!

>That's barely even dead at all!
It still might be pretty dead. Who knows what sort of post-mortem autonomic response this Precursor nanotech has.

A bullet would not be any more effective against this thing than it would be against you.

A point-blank shotgun blast to the... er.. let's call that a 'face' - that would probably give it pause though, at the very least. Try to aim less towards the eyespike, and more towards the hellish, tentacle-filled maw. And keep that shield up.

>>631556
ok, shit. Shield up, smash forward, pound that fucker into the ground. While we are at it, use those new and improved feeder tentacles to rapidly slice and dice anything that is touching you. Meet it tentacle for tentacle.

Just keep advancing with your tentacles and eat it. This is gonna be ugly.