Stage 1: Houston Arc 2.10
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
Your Power Strike skill has increased by 1
Your Unarmed Combat skill has increased by 1
I nap just enough to max my stamina and to repeat a few rounds of Power Strike spam before I try to get this damn safe open. Part 1 of the Gun Smuggler quest hasn't been triggered yet. Does it not count until I have her gun in my hand? Maybe that's good. It would have topped me to level 11. While I want to level up, it would also bump Gamer's Body, and make training it harder. It would probably be easier to get the next level in it before hitting level 11, preferably twice, and let the jump from 24 to 25 hit via level up. There isn't enough reasonable active quest XP that will get me to level 12.
2 of 5 events achieved for Quest: Become a Cape!
Oh, maybe there is if I go do my thing three more times. I should check PHO or for reports of a new Master in Houston. I guess getting that notification means they have linked this morning to the drug house? Didn't take long, definitely a kind of present-cognition, added to whatever precog type effects have that let my quests do their thing. I should write that down as a cheaty power.
It's 10am and for the last three hours I haven't gotten the safe open. I'm reasonably certain I have the first number right and am slowly brute forcing my way through the rest, but this is getting ridiculous. I need the room another night, just to keep trying, and hole up for a while. I need to take a break to extend my stay, and do some shopping.
Your Observe skill has increased by 1
So much easier to grind that when I'm out and about in crowded stores and malls. I can see people's PER stat now, as well as modifiers they have for CON. Average PER seems to be about 15, which means I'm below average. That sucks because it's a hard stat to train. However I'm making good progress while trying to listen to crack the safe. I steal food for today and tomorrow, a long wooden pole to use as a staff for weapon variety, replace all my missing costume pieces, and swap out some clothes for cleaner stuff. I sell the ones that aren't bad off to the thrift store for a few bucks. I want to hit the arcade again to get more skill exploits, but don't have time. I have to get back to the hotel and get that safe open.
Your Melee Weapons skill has increased by 1
Your Power Strike skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the Pull your Punches feature for Power Strike
You may gain the Staves specialty for Melee Weapons
For testing the limits of your endurance and vitality, you have gained 1 CON
Thursday, February 18th, 2010
It's past 1 am? Holy crap. Still can't get this thing open. So close to a PER gain, if I can't open it before checkout time, I'll have to stay another night and steal some power tools because god damn. Is this one of those games where if I fail it doesn't tell me and can't try again until my skill level changes? That would suck.
Also, fucking Gamer's Body, I earned a CON point before I leveled that again. I'm close though. Hamster wheel indeed, sleep spam grind, sleep spam grind, listen to a safe clicking for 8 hours, break for spam grinding when stamina is full, over and over. It would be a lot faster if I just… mutilated myself, but I'm almost healed up. Meh, back on the wheel.
Your Gamer's Body skill has increased by 1
That took entirely too long. I need to do something else. I can make a few 1 pound clay snake golems to drain off mana and use as replacements. Snakes are just rolled clay with eyes and not much of a mouth. Theoretically they can bind and trip up people.
For exhaustively testing and training your senses, you have gained 1 PER
Finally, that was only another, three hours of trying? Fuck. Training PER is such a major pain, there has to be a way to do that while doing something else at the same time, but then the other thing ends up taking up too much of my attention. Maybe meditation? I haven't messed with that in a while. I can't do it now though because I have to move my hands. Oh, thank god, I can hear the internals better, and I can get the thing open.
Your Disable Device skill has increased by 1
Well the quest still hasn't fired, but the door is open. Julia's gun is in there, so is a knife, a lot of jewelry, a digital camera, a handheld game system, and an MP3 player. I'm keeping the last two, maybe the knife too if it's better than my current one. Sell the Jewelry and the camera at a pawn shop, preferably one whose clerk has 'Fence' as part of their class description.
I feel bad that these other kids got their stuff stolen, but I can't return it, or even know who it belongs to. Probably for the best as it would have looked really weird if the only thing taken from the safe was Julia's gun. Maybe I can sell the safe too. Nah, too obvious, I'll just ditch it somewhere.
A more immediate question is, train more Gamer's Body the slow way before I take the gun out and level up or after? I also have skill points left that I could spend; I'd only need one after leveling. I guess I still have a bit of time to decide later after a couple more sessions.
Your Power Strike skill has increased by 1
Your Unarmed Combat skill has increased by 1
That's an even level 4 in Unarmed Combat and I need to stop or all the specialties I want later will just get harder to get. That only leaves melee weapons to try. I'm worried about the increased amount of damage the strikes are doing. Hitting a lump of clay in the bathroom is one thing, but I have to clean specks off the walls several times. I try to pull my punches, but hitting for less than max is less efficient at getting skill XP. I need to switch back to melee weapons, but one wrong move and I'll lose my deposit because I took a chunk out of the tub. That also assumes I'll get more variety, there isn't a sword shop in town that I know of. A hardware store is a better bet, but weight is going to start being an issue.
I can overload myself so much that I kill my stamina rapidly with each step, that's what I need to try next. I don't want to squander a moment of having a hotel room where I can do what I want out of sight.
****
I find someone labeled as a fence, and sell the digital camera. I sell the jewelry across a few other pawn shops in the area. I probably got ripped off, but it's enough to pay for another night and then some. My skill gains are slow but I should get the next Gamer's Body level in less than 24 hours. I nab a hatchet, axe and machete from the hardware store.
I visit a gun shop, and find ammo and a magazine that matches Julia's gun but can't swipe anything. Everything is behind locked counters. I do replace my ski goggles with ballistic goggles. Those weren't behind a counter.
I get back to the room and try using my overloaded inventory weight, but it's less efficient than using Power Strike and doesn't raise up additional skills. After I study for a while I'll try power strike again, I just have to be more careful.
You may gain the Hatchets specialty for Melee Weapons
Yeah, I can't do that anymore. Almost broke some bath tiles on a missed swing, would have if I hadn't laid out the sleeping bag just in case. Now, finish off the Econ textbook quest, and get back below 40% on fatigue. I'll leave just one question unanswered to hold off the XP award until I'm ready for it.
You may gain the Trigonometry specialty for Mathematics
The thing slowing down my abuse of converting stamina into skill points is 'the can't rest' limit, but at least I can get other stuff done while waiting for that to get back down. Don't need Thomas's trig book anymore, maybe I can use it for machete practice. I glance at the time, it's midnight now, Friday morning. Damn nearly a week has gone by already.
Friday, February 19th, 2010
For testing the limits of your endurance and vitality, you have gained 1 CON
Well that's nice, but this is taking too long. Each time my CON goes up, the ratio of stamina points to HP for gaining CON and XP for Gamer's Body gets worse. It sure as hell isn't 25 to 1 now. There's no way I'm going to get to level 24 in Gamer's Body before I have to check out. I don't know if I'll be able to rent again, and if I did, it would put me at risk for affording the bus ticket to Brockton. I guess I can steal more shit to pawn, but that means spending time doing that.
Is saving an extra skill point worth it? I wish I had for Gamer's Mind, yet I didn't at all regret it for Interface. I'm 50% of the way there. I'd hate to have done all that for nothing. Well it won't all be for nothing due to the CON gains I got, but…
I'm ignoring the other way I can gain the skill XP I need. HP will convert at such a much better ratio. Is it worth it? Lose just enough HP to gain it all back from a meal or a nap? Technically, all point bars that are at their max leave wasted points that could have come from regen. Will it give me bad status effects that won't go away quickly enough? Gaining levels in Gamer's Body reduces both the de-buffs and timers of the ones I currently have. I'd be gaining two more before maxing it out. I'd have to test the numbers first…
****
-3 HP x5
Attacking myself this is going to look so healthy, only very minor bruising. 15 points for +3% GB. I'd have to lose way too much for that to be entirely worth it. What's my new regen rates while awake and asleep? Now I wait, study on the next textbook quest, and keep on checking.
You may gain the Suturing specialty for Medicine
I thought suturing would already be covered by First Aid. I should stop trying to make sense of what specialties I get. The last of my blood washes down the bathtub drain from an additional loss of 65 HP via several tiny cuts. Only cost all the consumables in my first aid kid. The oxy and 50% pain resistance helped. Apparently I had enough blood loss to drop several fatigue points but not enough to create any bleeding effects, good. This is maybe the stupidest thing I've ever done. But if it works, it's not stupid. I should get it back with five hours of sleep and a couple meals. I'll eat one now and sleep, I only got it to 75%. I'm not going to be able to complete it tonight, but I'll figure something out tomorrow.
****
I slept for three hours instead of five, automatically awakening if my fatigue meter fills to max. I make some more Golem snakes after practicing with them last night. I have fifteen now. I can't avoid another night here to finish this skill off. I'll go shopping, replace my first aid kit, get more supplies and figure out how to kill 12 hours waiting for fatigue to go back to rest exploit levels.
Your Thievery skill has increased by 1
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
For exercising your strength to the point of extreme strain you have gained 1 STR
It's after midnight again. I've killed twelve-plus hours with inventory overloaded STR training. Power strike spam only works best when cheating with power naps to force my stamina to fill back up super-fast. Otherwise stretching out all that stamina over physical training while awake is the better choice.
Your Create Mana Golem skill has increased by 1
Yeah, cause I need to spend the mana from the power naps, nineteen snakes now.
Your Gamer's Body skill has increased by 1
Finally! Finally! After all these hours and spent money. Shit it's past 5am. All that to save one skill point. I reach into the safe and take out Julia's gun, and drop it into my inventory. I'll need to ditch the safe somewhere later in the morning.
+275 XP, Quest: Gun Smuggler, Part 1 Completed
You have gained a level! You are now level 11.
Your Gamer's Body skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the Avatar feature for Gamer's Body
Gamer's Body has reached Max rank
Secret Quest: Max your core skills completed
Max your Gamer's Body, Mind and Interface skill out at 25.
Success: +5000 XP
Bonus Condition complete before level 25:
Success: +50 XP for each level below 25
Bonus Condition complete before level 20:
Success: +100 XP for each level below 20
Bonus Condition complete before level 15:
Success:+150 XP for each level below 15
Bonus Condition complete before level 10: Failed
Bonus Condition complete before level 5: Failed
+7920 XP, Secret Quest: Max your core skills completed
You have gained a level! You are now level 12
You have gained a level! You are now level 13
You have gained a level! You are now level 14
HOLY FUCK!
Oh, wow, that feels fucking awesome. Three levels at once, no, effectively four levels at once. Hot damn what did I get?
"Parapedia, Avatar"
Avatar:
You're a near-literal game character. Your Avatar state exists as long as you have positive HP. Your Avatar is an undetectably photo and tactile realistic representation of the current state of your underlying real body, overlaid and partially merged with it.
While active, all damaged received is cosmetic in nature as it is distributed throughout your Avatar, and displayed via awesome science-fictiony texture layering and microscopic voxel effects to produce bruising, cuts, bleeding, bodily fluid spatters and other signs of injury, to provide a high quality non-numeric visual representation of how close you are to 0 HP to observers.
Microscopic voxel effects that leave your person fade over time, just like the corpse of some random mob you fragged in your favorite RPG)
While the Avatar state is active it, and your underlying body, is immune to dismemberment and similar body destroying massive trauma, though the potential HP loss still applies.
If you reach 0 HP, the Avatar state turns off, your real body receives surface shock injuries, making most of those cosmetic appearance injuries real, and you are left just as squishy as your current baseline self, until you hit CON 0 and its game over.
The feature Avatar is a prerequisite for damage resistance and other skills. If the Avatar state is not active, all skills that require it as a prerequisite cease to function.
Good God, that sounds both awesome and scary. I strip down and examine myself in the mirror. My injuries have completely healed, except for the acne, fuck you too. I remove all my bandages and stitches. I don't look different, and I don't feel different. Photo and tactile realistic, eh? I guess it is. I notice it doesn't mention anything about gear or clothing, does that mean they are excluded? Apparently they are excluded; ripping off a loose thread from my shirt doesn't miraculously repair itself later.
So why hasn't the get Healthy again quest fired off? Oh right, need max mana, which will take some more time. That means, as much as I'd like to figure out how damage resistance skills work, it can wait until after that damn quest is completed.
+330 XP, Quest Supply and Demand Completed!
You have automatically gained the 'Basic Economics' specialty for Basic Academics
+330 XP, Quest Get Healthy Again Completed!
For testing the limits of your endurance and vitality, you have gained 1 CON
Some study, and power-nap stamina expenditure abuse, and finally some brief actual sleep, and I max out my bars and finish that damn healthy quest. And, finish off training that extra CON point, expending back what I recovered. Then add more golem snakes to my collection as my MP allows me to.
Well, that took my entire morning. It's check-out time and I can't afford to spend another night here and still have enough left for a cross country bus ticket, let alone how much hiring some guy to pretend to be my parent might cost. Unless I try to knock over another drug house or steal a bunch of stuff to pawn. It puts trying to gain and train up whatever damage resistance skills my power hinted at further off.
****
Your Thievery skill has increased by 1
Thievery is showing the telltale signs of slowing down. I can only tell by snagging a few things at a time, per store, and tracking progress. I realize I could steal a crap load of stuff, far more than what was needed for a level up, but hit an even level because the specialty weirdness halts progress at 0.00% on the next level. I'm losing chances and making it harder to gain specialties with each increase, but I have no idea what else might qualify. How long is shoplifting going to be enough to maintain progress?
I add plenty of games to the gaming handheld I got from the safe; between that and reading textbooks I'll have something to do on the trip. I pilfered an excessive amount of software. At first it was just an experiment, but Data Interface is ever more awesome.
My interface is some kind of computer. That's what video games are after all, so it makes sense. With Data Interface I can pull software right off the DVDs, even movies and music and such. I do have to take them out of their boxes and cases, but software weighs nothing, and once I copy everything, I toss all the physical media into some dude's truck who had left his windows open. So happy birthday, or merry Christmas, or whatever to you dude.
I can now learn all kinds of stuff right from my interface screens, no computer needed. Accessing the internet directly from my interface is still not possible. I don't know how to get around that limitation yet. So some software that has internet DRM or other internet access required bullshit is not working at the moment, until I hack around that. As cool as it is, it doesn't make much sense, but since when did powers make sense? Items in my inventory are in some kind of time stasis, but the physical media that software is on, given the ability to actually copy off disks and USB sticks and such, isn't? How is it getting power to do that? Well, running Data Interface does cost me 1 MP per minute to use, is it converting it into electricity somehow or something? Note to self: Download all those Textbooks and science courses and articles and such onto disks and upload to my interface.
Your Disguise skill has increased by 1
Your Disguise skill has increased by 1
Once I confirm the fashion magazines I swiped on a lark after noticing skill gain from bored browsing no longer gave me any skill, I toss them. I gained a bit of Artistry too of all things. Now why would those add to my disguise skill? I guess clothes are part of disguise, but I figured make-up, wigs, false teeth, colored contacts and stuff like that was what I was going to have to mess with. Another note to self: steal some wigs and disguise related stuff.
****
I got off the train at the day laborer meeting area. I had hoped to run into Miguel. The others said he had been there this morning but had taken a job. I had managed to get the best rapport and relationship with him according to my sheet, still just an acquaintance though, I want to see how amenable he would be to helping me buy the bus ticket. He'll likely be back by the evening, so I wait and chat, and wait and chat some more.
Your Speech skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the Alluring Charm feature for Speech
For cultivating your social demeanor and engaging others you have gained 1 CHA
It's late afternoon by now, day jobs are drying up and a lot of people are leaving. Then a dirty white beat up truck rolls up, and the two guys inside start talking to some of the Hispanic laborers. Vibes hit me, bad vibes. I move closer to get a better look at the driver and passenger. Their overhead tags already had '/Thug' as a secondary class next to their mundane jobs. "Observe, Observe".
That's not good. They're members of the 'Minute-Men', self-appointed civilian border guard and enforcement vigilantes who only end up harassing and beating those they suspected of being illegals, refugees, or whatever they considered undesirable job-takers. Over the last few years the group devolved into a gang subservient to the villain led Secessionists.
Fuck, as I move closer to the truck some of the men are already getting into the truck bed. What can I even do here? I'm not in costume, and nothing has even happened yet. "FRAPS on".
I'm not a mover. I can't follow a truck. Can I? I pull up my inventory and slip my hand into the side of my pants as I move the interface screen into position to bisect my leg. I tap a golem and feel it draw out down my pant leg. As I get up behind and to the side of the truck, I release the snake from my trousers at shoe level. I briefly swap cameras to get it to target the underside of the truck to follow.
"We have enough no more, get back with the others." The driver shouts at me as he stares at me in his side mirror. I have a hand on the tailgate, as I swap my camera back to normal. The golem wraps itself around the underside of the truck. I guess that works.
<"Seems bad, y'all be careful."> I say in Spanish to the five men that were in the pickup bed. I don't know if they hear me as the truck speeds off about then. I half-jog cutting through parked cars in the parking lot to the exit, as the truck weaves around to get there. My Golem sense gives me an indication of the direction it is in, although I can still see the truck anyways.
I catch up when it stops to wait for traffic before it can turn out of the parking lot into the street. I activate Good Pacing and take off at a jog down the sidewalk in the direction the truck's blinker indicates. Who am I kidding? It doesn't take long for it to go past me, and while an upcoming red light lets me make up a little time, the truck soon speeds beyond my sight. I don't have enough speed. My AGI is too low, something I need to fix. My Golem sense tells me where to go, for now at least, what happens if it gets out of range?
This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.
Someone blares a horn at me as I dangerously cut across the road. I can still sense the direction even if I can't see the truck anymore, so I just keep going, hoping I can catch up before my connection is lost. Last time I tried to figure how long my range was I guessed it at a quarter mile, but that was at a low level. I'm pretty sure they're more than a quarter mile from me by now. I at least have the advantage of cutting across parking lots and sidewalks and buildings as I go. No stop lights hinder me, and I lost count of how often I jaywalk-ran across the streets. I could really use a mini-map. Maybe I could download a whole map database and put it into an interface window? That's something to consider for later.
Forty minutes of hard jogging later, my mental Golem connection sense went from 'it's in this direction' to 'it's in this direction and I can give it commands', so they must have stopped. Still can't see them though. A few minutes later, I slow down. I’m in a dilapidated industrial part of town. From enhanced volumes I can hear shouting and screaming from up ahead. I duck into an alley near the dirty train yard, catch my breath, check my stealth, apply my face paint and swap into my costume before sneaking up to the scene.
I'm too late, at least the five day laborers are still alive, even if they're laying on the ground, bruised and beaten. Observe indicates three are unconscious, one is pretending to be, and the fifth is still moving. Eight men, levels 12 to 16 stand around them throwing racial slurs while drinking beer, armed with bats and clubs. The dirty white truck is off to the side as well as a larger blue one. There are fucking coolers and a damn barrel campfire and lawn chairs out, some of these fuckers were waiting for them to show up. I go into free camera mode to get a closer look at the scene.
I order the snake that is under the truck to crawl up into the engine and attack it. Don't know how well that will work out but I send another one off to do the same to the blue truck.
Even if half these guys look like they are middle-aged beer-bellied armchair warriors, I don't like 8 to 1 odds. I get my golems ready, then I take out my phone, prime it for 911, then duh, abort that, put my phone back and took out Fredrico's phone and call them with it instead.
"911, what's your emergency"
"Eight gangers beat up five day laborers around Milby and McKinney Street, in some occluded park area near a train yard. They're gonna need medical attention."
"Are you currently safe?"
"The eight dudes are still there, armed with bats and clubs, yelling something like that sounds like 'dey terk er jerbs'"
"We have units en-route, move away to a safe area. I need your name and—"
"HEY!"
"Oh shit, I've been spotted…" I throw the phone into my inventory. I look across the patch of ground at one of the rednecks who has apparently wandered over to wiz on a chunk of broken concrete.
Well, I'm in costume. I face the guy and undid the belt of my pimpin' fur-lined trench coat. "Fear my snakes! All of them!" I thrust open my trench coat and all 27 remaining golem snakes that I have on me pour out of my inventory. "All subdue Roy Cranston".
Roy backpedals but loses his grip on his undone pants as some snakes near him. He trips on his own pants, and gets swarmed. I pull out my bat and run up beside him as he struggles. I considered knocking him out with it, but he's already down. I pick his pockets and pull out the duct tape, and bind his mouth and hands, and order some of the snakes off.
-2 HP (3 Deflected)
My head rings as an empty beer bottle smashes into it and shatters. "A fucking cape has Roy!" someone screams.
I look up and spot the assailant. Shit, it wasn't supposed to happen like this, and duct tape takes too fucking long to use. "All subdue Bubba Buckworth." And fuck, Roy, suddenly freed, stands up and tries to run.
-15 HP
I clip Roy in the side of the leg with my bat and he goes down again, but not out. "Golem 3 subdue Roy Cranston." Fuck, I run back behind some cover.
I can't risk making myself vulnerable by scrying. I need to remember the names. "Golem 4, 5, 6 subdue Arnie Beechum, Golem 7, 8, 9 subdue Hank Bluff, Golem 10, 11, 12 subdue Jeff Fox, Golem 13, 14, 15 subdue Larry Roper…" shit, what are the other names?
The way clear for the moment I run over to Roy and kick him in the head twice and he stops moving.
-16 HP
-12 HP
"Golem 3 guard me"
I move forward enough to get a better view. Bubba is definitely down, the majority of the snakes having swarmed him. So were Hank and Jeff. Larry and Arnie are still awkwardly running off, snakes wrapped around some of their arms and legs. A couple more kicks and punches to Bubba and he moves less but isn't out of it.
"Golem 16, 17, 18 subdue Arnie Beechum, Golems 19, 20, 21 subdue Darryl Weathers, Golems 22, 23, 24 subdue Larry Roper" I ordered as I rob Bubba of everything he has on him, occasionally punching him as the two remaining snakes bind his arms and legs.
-10 HP (5 Deflected)
"Ow, Fuck" Bubba manages to head-butt me in the stomach, so I knee him in the face. I hear a crack and blood and a few teeth go flying
-27 HP (Critical hit)
Bubba stops struggling. The white truck fails to start, the blue one starts with a horrible crunching sound, drives off about twenty something feet and comes to a stop. Notifications are firing off but I don't have time to look at them.
Maybe I can win this on my own after all? I duct tape Bubba's wrists behind his back. "Golem 3, 25, 26 subdue Jim Meadows". I pick Hank, Jeff and Arnie's pockets, but Larry has escaped. Golem shards are about, so they weren't as strong as I had hoped. Darryl and Jim are holed up in each of the disabled trucks, my snakes constantly ramming on the window glass.
What the fuck am I doing? Five guys I wanted to help are hurt and I'm looting the bad guys. I go look for them, and nearly get my head smashed by a pipe.
<"Hey! I'm here to help."> I shout in Spanish at the day laborer who had been feigning consciousness earlier. He had moved the others, some of whom have woken up by now. We're interrupted by the sounds of sirens and shortly afterward by two shotgun blasts.
<"Let's get out of here"> I hear some of the laborers shout, I'm inclined to agree. I’m not interested in engaging with the police. I move toward the alley only to see Larry holding a pump shotgun and a knife freeing some of his friends from my now broken snakes. I jump behind a piece of broken concrete wall just as he drops the knife and levels the shotgun at me.
-24 HP (6 Deflected)
"Fuck!" I curse as some of the buckshot rakes my leg where I hadn't gotten behind the wall in time.
"All attack Larry Roper!" The gun is the real danger, and he is trying to go lethal, so I pull my Hatchet out of my inventory. Another shotgun blast goes off, not aimed at me thankfully. A quick third person camera swap let me see him blasting apart more of my golems. I switch back and run for some more distant cover. He shoots at me again but misses. I run around the corner right into two cops.
"Drop it now! Get on the Ground!" They both yell, conflicting each other.
I toss my Hatchet aside, and hold my hands up. "Fuck, I'm the one that called you guys."
"On your knees now!"
I don't want to get shot at again, I lower myself down. Texas cops are no joke and don't give a shit if you're a cape or not, much like many of the gun-toting residents. Another shotgun blast roars and two cops run past me while one pushes my face in the dirt and cuffs my hands behind my back.
The cops go toward the gunshots and I hear more yelling, and multiple gunshots. I whisper "all stop, all follow me."
"Stay down and don't move," a shaved-headed cop yells at me. He looks vaguely familiar. Yeah fuck that, as soon as he turns to help his fellow I stealth and move away. I don't want to get caught in the crossfire. My attempt to scurry away is short lived. Shortly after the gun fire stops someone grabs me from behind.
"Where the fuck you think you're going? Fucking cape aren't you?" Another cop pulls me up and shoves me in the back of a squad car, shuts and locks the door. Well fuck. "All stop. All go to way point A" A quick glance at my HUD shows several unread notifications. I’m not even sure how many of my Golems are still alive.
The cop that shoved me in here doesn't stick around as I watch him head back toward the others. Then suddenly all the lights which had been flashing, all the radio chatter, and the car engines just shut off at once. What the hell is going on?
"We got more capes on scene! Call in the PRT! Radios are dead!" several different voices shout.
A loud crash and I see a big hunk of concrete smash into one of the front of one of the squad cars. I look at where it came from and see a name tag,
"Where's the cape that attacked my fucking people?" I hear a loud voice yell. Then I see a giant lightning bolt arc across the ground and hit another squad car. Fuck this noise, I de-equip my handcuffs into my inventory.
The cops are falling back, and I can't open the fucking locks on the rear doors, and the front seats are partitioned off! I catch a glimpse of the other cape wearing a blue rubber raincoat and a welder's mask.
I pull the sculpture hammer out of my inventory. "Power Strike" and shatter the squad car door window, and dive through onto the ground. The air smells like ozone, my hair stands on end and the squad car I just jumped from explodes in another shower of sparks and thunderous boom.
-40 HP [Electrical] (0 Resisted)
I stumble at the near miss, get up and run through the ruined concrete park and across the street.
"There you are, you little shit." I hear Sparky shout.
"All attack Sparky" I yell and run harder. I dive for cover again and lose my hammer when I feel a tingle in the air.
"MY NAME IS ARC YOU ASSHOLE!"
-150 HP [Electrical] (0 Resisted)
BOOM! My ears ring. "Oh bejeezus holy fuckity-fuck" That wasn't even a hit, just being near where it struck. I run, no, sprint as fast as I can. There must be several seconds of minimum wait time between those blasts or I'd be fried already.
"Get these fucking snakes off me!" I hear Sparky shouting as I run down the street and cut through an apartment complex courtyard. I occasionally glance back at the flash of lighting and boom of thunderclaps. My hearing would probably be fucked if I didn't have decibel control. At least Sparky doesn't seem to be able to fly. A transformer blows up and all the light in the apartment complex goes out. Not that it matters because it’s still day time, but barely.
I try to find a place to hide and stealth but there are several eyes and cameras on me. Fucking cell phones, there were zero cameras just earlier. Another tingle goes through the air and suddenly the electric eyes count drops to zero again. Human eyes count hasn't changed. I keep running until I finally find a sewer embankment, go down it, run into a culvert storm drain under a bridge, and stop to catch my breath.
No more eyes on me. I activate stealth and risk a swap to free camera mode to get a bird's eye view of what is going on. As my camera ascends I see Exalt flying past in his white starburst themed costume, as well as Olympus flying on some kind of small VTOL craft that looks like a flying chariot in his gold and white Greco-Roman themed toga and iconic Greek theater mask.
Shit how many levels did Sparky have the last time I ran into them? Was Rappel there? I didn't see him. And where the hell is Eidolon when you need him? It seems reasonably safe for the moment, so I inventory swap back into my civvies, except I still have the face paint on. Shit of all the things I forget to put in my inventory? A fucking towel would have been useful. Note to self: put a towel in my inventory.
Um, "inventory face-paint?" Wait, that actually worked? It turns into an icon labeled 'filthy paint goop.'
My body hurts all over, the adrenaline is wearing off. The pain is lessened by a rush of elation, and I see my health and mana jump up a bit. No time to check as I cautiously climb back out of the culvert and back up onto the street, while keeping my eye on my observation indicators.
I find another fast food place and go into its restroom. I look like total shit, my leg stung, and my skin feels hot and dried out. A look in the mirror and it appears like parts of me had an accident with a tanning salon.
A re-observe of my costume shows it's badly singed. The once white fur trim is all black at the ends sticking up, and frayed to hell. It looked more hairy than pimpin' now. Well I'll have to get another one now. Surprisingly, there aren't any blood stains. Where is the blood? I feel myself bleeding from those shotgun pellets, and I see it in my pants and coat. Do I really bleed voxels now like Avatar says? The holes in both my coat and pants are still there for sure.
The pellets are also still in my fucking leg according to status effects. I strip in the stall, there are several red circular welts and bumps all down the backside of my left leg. A couple of them are close enough to the surface that I popped them out with a squeeze and a grunt of pain. The others though…
Hmm, "Inventory shotgun pellets"
-4 HP
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Motherfucker—" Damn, at least that actually works. Do I still need to do first aid? Or has that become obsolete. My leg still looks like raw hamburger, and the welts I had just magically emptied are bleeding now, but only lightly and there's no status effect.
I patch myself up anyway, for appearances sake at the minimum, and clean the blood up with the toilet paper. After a few minutes, the blood stains literally disappear, they just fade away wherever it wasn't right next to the wounds. The bruises and patched up hamburger appearance is still there. I finish cleaning up, go back into the restaurant area, order some food and sit down.
"Notifications"
+77 XP for defeating Roy Cranston
For performing a repeated action you may gain the 'Physical Damage Resistance' skill
+88 XP for defeating Bubba Buckworth
+55 XP for defeating Hank Bluff
+55 XP for defeating Jeff Fox
You may gain the 'Pickpocketing' specialty for Thievery
+110 XP for defeating Larry Roper
For performing a repeated action you may gain the 'Electrical Damage Resistance' skill
Your Strategy skill has increased by 1
Your Stealth skill has increased by 1
+385 XP for evading cops, gang, villains, and Protectorate
You have gained a level! You are now level 15
I ignore all the messages about my lost golems and take note of the good stuff. Two awesome resistance skills and a specialty? I hit yes, yes, and yes; and sweet, another level, that must have been the source of that elation I felt earlier.
Damage Resistance (Electrical): Lvl 1 (0.00%)
Your Avatar state adapts itself to resist ever increasing amounts of electrical damage allowing you to withstand greater amounts of current over time as skill level increases. Requires Avatar feature of Gamer's Body.
Specialties: NA
Features unlocked: None
Damage Resistance (Physical): Lvl 1 (0.00%)
Your Avatar state alters itself to resist increasing amounts of kinetic damage received from objects and blows. This allows you to absorb a greater amount of impact pressure as skill level increases. Requires Avatar feature of Gamer's Body.
Specialties: NA
Features unlocked: None
I have another perk available to me also, but I was hoping to reach 10 in AGI before picking one. I suppose I still can if I wait. I go through the wallets of the men I pickpocketed while they were bound, and get an additional $120 dollars plus change. Maybe I can go back to the hotel again, or try using some of these credit cards. Don't know if I want to keep doing that though, it's more risky, and I don't know if any of those guys managed to get arrested or not; probably not if those capes saved them while the police were retreating. I should keep an eye on the news, or check PHO.
Fuck though, that is out of my league. My body is still wracked with pain even with 50% reduction, so I pop another pill. I just wanted to help those guys, and I may have fucked that up. My stealth isn't as powerful as I hoped; clearly I'm not invisible, though I doubted that to begin with. I had always cast shadows when stealthed so light was still hitting me.
The police though fucking tried to arrest me? Fuck them, they almost got me killed leaving me there. I called them in. I didn't know capes would be there. How did that happen? Did one of those guys call in support while running from my snakes? I haven't paid enough attention to the local cape or gang scene to have messed with this shit. Not that I was trying to, I just wanted to stop those guys from getting beat up or killed, I couldn't even stop them from getting beat up, but hopefully they all got away.
My Hatchet's gone. My hammer's gone. Oh yeah, I guess holding a hatchet when I run into police with guns drawn looks kinda bad. All the golems gone, only got about 11 lbs. of clay left. I just need to get out of the city, especially if that Sparky dude is hunting me. How the hell did things get so pear-shaped? Is my LUC low? Do I need more of it? That damn stat still doesn't make much sense, despite everything I tried to learn about it. I still got away; does that count as good luck? Was the encounter bad luck? I didn't even have a quest for it, I just did it on my own because I thought I could help.
I got a lot of XP from it though; 770 XP for the whole encounter. Damn, that's better than the majority of my quests, only have to risk my life for it. Clearly with that kind of incentive my power wants me to get into fights doesn't it? Shit, is that what all those Conflict-Seeking status effects I see on capes are causing? Making capes go out and fight? To what end? "Status Effects" I don't see such a status effect listed on myself. A notification pops up.
Your Parahuman Lore skill has increased by 1
Oh God damn, I hate it when my power does that. It's just fucking taunting me with that shit. No clear definite yep your conclusions are right, or no they are wrong, unless that is what that is supposed to mean. Okay so assuming it is true, then all capes are actually driven to seek conflict. Why? Can I trust the fact that I don't have that status effect on me, to mean it isn't affecting me or is it just hidden from me? But why hide it for myself and show it for others?
I review all my FRAPS observations and my Parahuman database. Yep, Julia, Exalt, Dispatch, Granite, Sparky, and Olympus all have them. Is it consistent? I have to observe more Parahumans to find out, preferably without getting into a fight. When is the next PR event?
Well, I can't do anything about it now. I finish my meal, grateful for the bump in HP it brings me, and make my way back to the rail to go to the day labor waiting area. Maybe if I'm lucky I can catch Miguel there again. If I'm lucky huh? As good of a test as any I guess, but if I don't see any concrete useful result out of it…
I pumped four stat points into LUC.
Simon's Character Sheet:
Name: Simon Clarence Anderson
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Race: Human (Parahuman)
Class: Teenage Runaway / Thief
Faction: None
Money: $501.36
Title: Gentleman Thief
Level: 15 (0.75%)
XP: 19621
Primary Attributes
STR: 11 (+0.00) 11.00 (8.46%)
AGI: 7 (+0.00) 7.00 (59.55%)
CON: 18 (+0.00) 18.00 (69.75%)
INT: 22 (+0.00) 22.00 (60.25%)
PER: 12 (+0.00) 12.00 (0.00%)
WIS: 22 (+0.00) 22.00 (7.13%)
CHA: 13 (+0.00) 13.00 (2.08%)
LUC: 15 (+0.00) 15.00 (0.00%)
Unspent Points: 42
Secondary Attributes
Health Pool: 344/560
Stamina Pool: 320/437
Mana Pool: 939/4125
Stress Pool: 440/440
Attack: 10.50
Speed: 2.73
Dodge: 12.21
Armor: 0.40
Carry: 110.00
Allure: 3 (+0.50) 3.5
Status Effects
Teenage Acne: ALU -0.50
Alluring Charm*: ALU +1.00
Skills
Max Slots: 47
Free Skill Slots: 9
Artistry: 10 (79.96%)
Athletics: 11 (73.55%)
Basic Academics: 9 (0.00%)
Computers: 10 (0.00%)
Crafting (Stone & Pottery): 10 (0.00%)
Create Mana Golem: 11 (53.57%)
Damage Resistance (Electrical): 1 (0.00%)
Damage Resistance (Physical): 1 (0.00%)
Disable Device: 11 (2.55%)
Disease Resistance: 6 (52.60%)
Disguise: 3 (0.00%)
Drug & Poison Resistance: 10 (82.76%)
Empathy: 10 (22.66%)
Firearms: 1 (0.00%)
Gamer's Body: MAX (0.00%)
Gamer's Interface: MAX (0.00%)
Gamer's Mind: MAX (0.00%)
Language-English: MAX (0.00%)
Language-Spanish: MAX (0.00%)
Mathematics: 4 (0.00%)
Medicine: 2 (75.43%)
Meditation: 11 (63.01%)
Melee Weapons: 3 (1.56%)
Null Resistance: 3 (13.69%)
Observe: 15 (83.37%)
Parahuman Lore: 7 (1.45%)
Power Strike: 6 (54.80%)
Programming: 10 (0.54%)
Psychology: 5 (0.00%)
Science (Biology): 1 (53.22%)
Science (Earth): 1 (0.00%)
Speech: 10 (4.54%)
Stealth: 12 (0.76%)
Strategy: 4 (0.00%)
Thievery: 9 (0.00%)
Unarmed Combat: 4 (2.34%)
Vehicle Operations: 3 (0.00%)
Video Games: 26 (13.96%)
Unspent Skill Points: 6
Perks
Free Perk Slots: 1
Gaia's Blessing: Mana Pool and Mana Skill access
Gaia's Attunement: Elemental Affinity access
Light Sleeper: Need only 5 hours to get fully rested
Mana Reserve: Bonus MP per level increased by 25%
XP Whore: +10% Level XP
Flaws
Selective Amnesia: We had to make room for stuff in your head
A Bit of a Troll: Sometimes you just can't help yourself
Unnatural Curiosity: Can't always resist the urge to find stuff out