Stage 1: Houston Arc 2.8
Saturday, February 13th, 2010
Inventory, awesome, the thing that I felt I was teased with for so long. Of course it's a top tier feature on max rank skill. It's an extra dimensional space? I'm still in the stall in the gym bathroom, which gives me some privacy. Some other dudes are in here, I wait for them to leave before I start experimenting.
"Inventory"
I beheld a new interface window, pretty typical for lots of RPG games I recall playing. Avatar picture up in the upper right corner with a complex set of equip slots. No, not really equip 'slots' just entries for basic stat info of what I'm currently wearing. Upper middle is said entries, and upper left is more basic info, equipped weight, inventory weight, money, etc. a simplified repetition of some status information.
The lower half is entirely occupied by a set of 12x12 gridded squares on numbered, tabbed pages. A quick scroll through the entire set of empty pages goes from 0-999. One thousand pages of inventory, 144,000 grid squares. Is that a hard limit? Or if I ever fill it up will it add more pages?
Could I fill it up that much? That inventory 'weight carried' stat of 0.000 has me concerned there may be a limit. A quick drag and drop of my shirt between my avatar and a grid square confirms I now have quick change ability and yes, the weight carried value goes up when I drop my shirt on a square. An icon image of the shirt appears in the square, and a tooltip tells me what it is.
A bright flash of light came with putting something into inventory. Is that real light or invisible light like what my interfaces produce? I reposition the window and use one hand to drop something into inventory while I hold the other hand near the wall. My hand casts a shadow when the light flashes. Shit, probably real light then. Shadows never appear from the 'invisible' light effects of my interfaces. At least there isn't an accompanying sound effect. I'll need to find some way to obfuscate that.
I drop my watch into my inventory with the stopwatch active, wait about a minute then pull it back out. It has the same amount of time left as when I put it in. I do it several more times to confirm. It seems time does not pass for items placed into my inventory. Well that opens up a whole new branch of exploitation.
I put the golem I made earlier in and out of my inventory. Good, no apparent restrictions there. I spend the MP to wake the new golem, and wait a minute to verify the MP loss for maintenance and put the awakened Golem in my inventory. I wait another minute; there is no change in MP, another minute, still no change. I take it back out and the MP drop occurs at the normal rate. The time stasis effect suspends my recurring MP cost when a golem is in my inventory. That's fucking awesome. It means I just turned a potentially expensive recurring cost into a fixed one. So long as I have room in my inventory, I only have to awaken a Golem once.
As much as I want to keep experimenting, I brought a limited number of items with me. Most of my crap is still at the house, and I need to maximize my time at the gym.
For exercising your strength to the point of extreme strain you have gained 1 STR
That only took another half hour. At least I can put this new Good Pacing feature to use. Parapedia indicates it lets me halve my stamina loss during training once a day. 'Once a day' is too ambiguous. How long is that in reality? What if I spent all 24 hours training? If such a thing is possible, will it work all day? What if I got into a fight? Does that count as training that would let me activate it? At least, by using it right now, it seems to be working. I'll be able to last twice as long before my stamina is exhausted. Will it still work once I get to negative status effects or minor HP damage?
Using the good pacing feature from athletics, it takes me a while to exhaust my stamina to 0. I'm so close to leveling my next Gamer's Body, I keep going. I've been collecting some stares. Personal trainers have stopped by doing their sales shtick at first, and then just came by to ask if I'm okay. Maybe working out for 4 hours straight is not normal. The weight values I'm using are still pathetically low compared to what I see various bulky dudes using, but I just kept up the reps.
Your Gamer's Body skill has increased by 1
Right, finally, it's time to stop before people start asking uncomfortable questions. I take some water and lunch to get more HP back. It will probably take a few hours for my stamina to recover back to maximum, and I need to scout for intel and then go shopping.
****
I look over the rundown neighborhood after stepping off the bus; I still have a ways to walk to get to my destination. It's a mostly poor Hispanic neighborhood, so even though I'm on the lighter skinned side I still look in place and no one really bothers me. I get some occasional stares, but not many people are outside on a cold February morning.
There's the fucker's house. I pull out my last few smokes from my inventory/pocket. I only managed to keep it because they were inside the smuggler's book. Guess I don't actually need that book anymore. I stand about stealthed and smoking on the street corner, and turn on FRAPS and Free Camera. Hope no one walks up to me.
It doesn't take long. I'm a block away but scout the interior and exterior of the house. Big dog is in the alleyway. It raises its head and looks around as my view gets close to him. I don't know if that is a coincidence or not, but it settles back down a moment later. It's a cheap three bedroom house, one bathroom, definitely a fucking drug house, but only has weed and pills strewn about in the living room. Two entrances, front door and back door with a big doggie door that leads into the kitchen, there's no garage. Backyard has a chain-link fence with an alley gate chained padlock. Observe and camera confirm three occupants, the three fuckers that beat me up. Naho, Juan and Fredrico. Two are sleeping and one is on the shitter. The living room has burnt out joints, cigarettes, dirty dishes, and empty beer bottles strewn all over.
I set up my flashlight theme and sent my camera into various cabinets and drawers and whatever. I see one gun on the coffee table in the living room, a small revolver. I use Observe on as many things of import as I can, on the three perps and the dog, a German Shepard. Shouldn't this guy have parents or something? Where are they? And who sets up a drug house in the same house as the one your ID is addressed to? Shouldn't they use abandoned properties or something?
It takes an hour and a couple swaps back to normal camera to light new cigarettes and smoke them as slowly as I can, before I succeed in finding an old briefcase under the bed that my lighted camera mode and observe indicates might have cash in it, I think I have enough to go on now though. I head back to the bus stop and turn off FRAPS. Need to strategize how I'm going to neutralize those threats, including the dog, to hit this place.
****
Your Thievery skill has increased by 1
25 of 25 items stolen for the quest Sticky Fingers
+300 XP, Sticky Fingers quest completed
New Title obtained: Apprentice Thief
Your Thievery skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the No Prints feature for Thievery
Well, completing that quest became trivially easy with inventory. Head to a big box store, fill up a shopping cart with crap that built up obscuring 'walls' along the bottom, sides and part of the top, leaving just a hole to reach my hand through to an empty space in the middle. Then I just set my inventory interface horizontally to intersect with the bottom of the cart, and just dropped stuff in. Make use of Electronic eye and stealth to be sure I'm not being watched or recorded when I do so.
All this is to obscure the flash that happens when I put things in and out of inventory. Some things are still difficult to nab this way, anything large, and a lot of electronic components that are kept behind locked cabinets that you have to get a claim ticket for and bring to the register are not doable in this manner. Other things like jewelry and such, have too many cameras and people nearby to risk, nor do I need anything like that right now anyway.
I gather up gear and supplies to prepare for my debut and pending travel. I add a hockey helmet to help protect my head, motocross chest and shoulder protection, elbow pads, knee pads, shin guards, and a strap and cup to my costume. Getting punched in the balls hurt like hell, even with 50% pain resistance. I swipe an aluminum baseball bat for melee, and a tennis racket and racquet balls for training later.
I swipe some food from a grocery store. Observe tells me any unusual properties the produce has, and the descriptions are even more detailed than with ‘budding botanist’. Maybe because of the botany specialty from Biology? I'm rethinking that cooking/brewing skill I can get, but I don't have time for it right now.
I use a lot of Observe, on food, clothing and whatever to check armor values, and other properties. I nab some expensive fancy clothing that give minor allure bonuses, and some that give comfort bonuses. Heh, even some fancy silk boxers, +2 Comfort, and +0.25 Allure if visible. Interestingly there's also some clothing that gives negative allure. I suppose there can be reasons for wearing that on purpose.
****
I feel bad about stealing from the craft store, but I need the 40 lb. bag of clay for future golems, and the sculpture tools. They're a mom and pop type shop, not a big box store that can afford the losses. Although, how in the hell will I be able to get them fired? I sure as hell can't fit a kiln in my inventory.
I make sure I'm not being watched or recorded and heft the bag of clay into my cart and into my inventory, then abandon the cart and head toward the door. I'm unexpectedly walking slower than normal. Why? Damn I just doubled the weight of what I'm carrying in my inventory with that bag, 71 lbs. of inventory plus equipped weight. I check my status effects. 'Heavy Encumbrance', imparts a 30% loss of movement speed and 'can't sprint'. I was at light and medium encumbrance before, but at only a 5% and 15% movement speed loss that was mostly ignorable.
I definitely feel the weight of stuff in my inventory, but it's more evenly distributed. Maybe I can abuse this for more STR training? I was going to look for a hunk of soapstone, but this is too much.
I slowly walk my way to the bench at the nearby bus-stop and sit down. I go through my notification options and turn Encumbrance back on. I turned it off earlier because it's annoying, but with inventory it's going to be harder to tell when I cross a threshold. How is this going to affect me if I find myself in a fight? I'll need to be able to move as easily as I can, so I don't want to carry too much stuff if this is the result. Damn this makes STR a lot more important now.
What's going to happen when I finally pass that 90 lb. carry value? I'm damn close to it already. When I get back to the house and add all my golems, it will definitely go over, guess I'll find out then.
I use Parapedia on my other new features while I wait for the bus. So what's this new thievery feature? 'No Prints'? Um what? No fingerprints? I look at my fingertips and rub them together. They feel smooth, but I have to look carefully to notice it. I zoom in with my free camera to get a closer look; yeah they are definitely gone now, just like that.
So suddenly and arbitrarily my power changes some aspect of my physical body. This is concerning. But isn’t it already doing that each time my stats change? I didn't have a problem with my bad eyesight getting corrected. The slowly increasing muscle mass and definition isn't bad either. Still look like a twig, just less of one than I used to. Then there's whatever increasing my INT, WIS and CHA is doing to my brain. Shit, I don't have time for another existential crisis right now. Well my stamina is all filled up again but the bus rides are chipping away at my meager funds. Time to train the next thing, the bus pulls up to the rec center and I step off.
****
I have to dump all my crap in a locker at the rec center to lighten my inventory load enough. The bag of clay and the clothes on my back alone are enough to put me into Medium encumbrance. I need to figure out exactly what the weight thresholds are for each encumbrance status. For now just put all this crap aside. At least I am not losing Stamina with the weight overloads.
After two hours of exhausting uncoordinated attempts at playing racquetball against myself in the rec center, my stamina is at zero again. I check my AGI progress. A bit over 55%, it's definitely a full body movement activity. Only getting two hours' worth before my stamina is exhausted sucked, the good pacing thing really means just once per day. CON rises quickly with HP loss and much more slowly with Stamina loss. There has to be a conversion ratio hidden in there somewhere.
Stamina is a resource that should not be wasted just like MP. Stamina has a high regen rate, almost as much as my MP. So every point that I could have regened when I was at max, is a point wasted that could have been converted into Athletics skill and/or physical stat training.
My goal is to get STR or AGI up to a 10 before selecting a perk. A 10 stat value seems a common prerequisite for various perks. I want to pick a perk before I go after those dealers, which I need to decide on pretty soon. The shit is probably going to hit the fan when I get back to the house, but I need to go out tomorrow. Whatever the Beckett's say be damned, even if they sit outside my door.
The ‘Where's my Money?’ deadline is February 21st, it's currently the 13th, so I need to finish it before the end of Sunday next week. But that means school that week, which some of them attend. I might run into them there or they might come looking for me there. I don't want that, so the earlier I hit them the better.
I also need to call the bus terminal before I go back to the house. After navigating through their automated help system I finally get a hold of a person. As a minor without ID, I'll need signed permission from my guardian in person. However, 16 year olds don't require an adult to meet them at the destination terminal. Well guess I'm going to lie about my age, though I have no idea how to fix the in-person parental signature part, yet.
****
On the bus ride back, I review my expanded command features I got from skilling up Create Mana Golem. I need to figure out what possibilities they can provide. A lot it turns out. Basic new commands are 'Go to location', 'Fetch target', 'Carry target', 'Subdue target', 'Drop target', and 'Wait'. More significant is that I can queue up commands in a series, add quantifying parameters, such as following distance, time duration, etc. and most interesting, conditional execution parameters with a rudimentary companion type behavior and scripting interface. I can theoretically have a Golem walk a patrol route via a queued set of go to location commands in a loop, or wait at any point until a triggering condition is met before it moves to the next command. While this provides a lot of possibilities it's still limited too. There's not going to be anything complex I can make them do according to what I see. All major actions are still centered on variations of attack, defend, move, and now fetch, and carry type stuff. That is, assuming that they have the right appendages to do so.
Oh and before I forget, "Titles." 'Apprentice Thief', gives minor success bonuses to roguish skills: Thievery, Stealth, Computers (Hacking, Security Systems), Disable Device, Speech (Deception, Acting, and Intimidation), Disguise, Card & Board Games (any gambling with a skill element)
I have a lot of those already, so I'm definitely going to swap my title. Second, there’s a Disguise skill? And there is an Acting and Intimidation specialty for Speech? I don't have the Card & Board Game skill, I previously ignored it, but this might make it worth reconsidering. It is also a 'tiered' title. Parapedia indicates that it means it can evolve and be replaced by better titles of the same theme. Doesn't say how many tiers there are, or what conditions let you go to the next tier. This is just tier one.
****
It's about 7pm when I walk up to the house. I ate some of the food I stole to lighten my inventory a smidge. I stash the bag of clay and the sculpting tools in the bushes by the alley, it's too much weight to deal with. The rest I keep in my inventory when I go inside.
I walk in the door and get hit with a tirade. They flap their mouths and I give occasional answers. "…I had to return Rick's jacket." I didn't, Rick didn't own it, it's in my inventory now. "…well, then we hung out for a while."
"I think we should meet this Rick and his parent's." One of them says, I stop caring by then, and start grabbing leftovers from dinner. Then send me to my room, I gladly oblige.
Then I reorganize all my crap and my inventory, which means doing it in the bathroom out of sight. I blow more mana to wake up more golems and put them into my inventory. I don't think I'll be able to avoid some encumbrance. Going over my carry weight; put a 'Very Heavy Encumbrance' status effect on me. It gives a 50% movement speed reduction, can no longer run and I start losing Stamina when I walk. I don't lose stamina when I'm not moving. I guess that's a new way to purposely burn off Stamina overflow? Not a convenient or safe way to do it though, what with not being able to run away at a moment's notice.
I planned on going to sleep early, but want to check out this data interface ability. I was able to 'activate' my phone and the USB sticks while they are in my inventory. But it costs 1 MP per minute to have Data Interface running. I get my phone hooked up to the Wi-Fi, check email and download some apps and games. I copy a few test files back and forth to the USB sticks, and discover I also have the awesome ability to copy stuff to a folder thing located in my interface itself, and copy stuff back, including the music and sound files my power comes equipped with, the notes I've taken, and the FRAPS video footage. Holy crap, that will make for some interesting possibilities. I even have the ability to choose if I want the interface screen and features visible or not via a prompt when I copy a FRAPS file to my phone or USB stick. I assume the data size limitation on the devices is still present, but I can't tell if there is any such limitation on the 'computer' that represents my power and its interface. I'm not ready to risk that part of my power being revealed, so I delete and overwrite the test FRAPS file I uploaded to a USB stick for now. I should go to a library computer at some point to really confirm this does what I think it does, but it looks very promising.
Sunday, February 14th, 2010
I really need more STR or Carry weight. I wake up at 1am and experiment trying to decide what I was going to leave here, have in my inventory, or hide in the alley. The boundary between a Medium Encumbrance vs. a heavy Encumbrance is 60% of my Carry value. I want to get myself down to that. Also I do need to pick a perk before I begin this mess.
I finish off some food to lighten the load, and as soon as I verify everyone is asleep, I snag more breakfast from the fridge before sneaking out. I need to wake up as many Golems as I can and put them back into inventory so they won't drain my MP. I'd already awoken 4, 3 are in inventory, one I left out to soak overflow MP while resting. Despite this, I don't see any more gains in Create Mana Golem, not even with the guard and follow self instructions active. Guess that's not enough anymore to gain XP.
Nearly 800 MP later, all but two of my Golems are awake and in my inventory. The last two I leave with the clay. They're the bat and the fish, which proved useless in their ability to move. Those failures are dead weight now. I'm not sure what I'll do with them in the future, except maybe target practice.
I still need to wait. I have my free camera in one window, making sure the Becketts are sleeping soundly, the other window I play a chess game via data interface. I ignore the newest prompt asking me if I want to add Card & Board games as a skill, and leave it unanswered. Half an hour later I'm rewarded with a confirmation of my hunch.
For careful thought and consideration of the consequences of your decisions you have gained 1 WIS
You may gain the 'Games' specialty for the Strategy skill
I'll take that, but what is it? 'Units in your command get minor improvement to the gain rate of applicable skills and abilities when training them via a game or simulation you have prepared or are running.' Damn, I've been neglecting this skill for too long. That might be broken, but what represents a unit? How much is a minor improvement? Oh, +10% training XP. Does that apply to me as well; do I count as a unit under my command? Is that level XP, skill XP, or stat XP or all three? Does it affect other people? Can friends and allies count as units in my command, or is it restricted to things like golems? Golems don't earn XP though. I got all that, from half an hour of playing chess? What other possible specialties for this skill are there?
Satisfied everyone is asleep, I prepare to sneak downstairs. I put my free camera in view of the downstairs motion alarm alert, and toss my scarf into the hallway. Good, those are still disabled.
If like last time, they get up early to try and intercept me when they think I'm getting up, they might wonder how I got past the motion alarms, and start investigating. I don't want that but I might not have a choice. They also probably need to turn them off before going upstairs if it's before their shut-off time. Second, I don't want them to know that I know the security code. I swipe more food from the fridge, unlock and open the kitchen window a crack, but actually disable, and re-enable the alarm while slipping out the back door. I leave some footprints in the flowerbed below the kitchen window and trail some mud to, and unlock the front gate. I clean my shoes, and slip out the back gate instead, deposit my crap under the bush in the alley with the bag of clay and head off into the night. There's no way to avoid them realizing I left the house prior to when they turn the alarms off, I want them to think I used the window rather than the door so they won't change the code on me.
Of course this only matters if I need to come back and spend more nights here again. I have no way of knowing if I'll gain enough money from these fuckers or if I'll be successful. It will take a while to walk to Fredrico's neighborhood. It's too early for the buses to be running.
****
It takes about an hour to walk there, not exactly safe at 2am in the morning. I've already heard two distant gunshots with my hearing volumes cranked. I have stealth and my invisible flashlight active. I have most of my costume on already, save the armor bits. It's cold enough to justify wearing a coat, hat, gloves, scarf, etc. Thank you all-weather friend for making me not feel worse in this weather.
I still should pick a perk. I've gone over them, but haven't decided.
Extra Creative: bonuses to Artistry and Crafting
Night Owl: see in low light conditions and reduce the penalties of sleep based fatigue.
Hardly Hungry: reduce need for sustenance
Versatile: +5 skill slots
Instant Boost: +3 stat points
Skilled Up: +5 skill points
XP Whore: +10% Level XP gain (Level 10)
Toughness: bonus HP per level increased by 50% (10 CON)
Oooh, Shiny!: items of interest or potential loot literally shine and sparkle (PER 10)
Mana Boost: MP regen rate increased by 25% (WIS 10)
Eye Candy: increase your Allure (10 CHA)
Better Loot: your luck leads you to where they stash the good stuff (10 LUC)
Extra creative doesn't help me immediately. Night Owl and Hardly Hungry felt like trap choices. I can see well in the dark already due to other cheats, and the fatigue penalties I've already experienced don't seem like much of an issue short term. Slower drop of my Hunger bar will make it harder to gain HP from food so that's a definite no. Versatile, Instant Boost, and Skilled Up, while attractive, are also things I can get via other means. XP Whore is very desirable, and if it isn't retroactive, I should take it now. Seriously power, troll? Why the stupid names? Toughness is desirable, but I could get away with deferring it, since Mana Reserve was retroactive this probably is too. Mana Boost also looks good, but can probably be deferred. Is 'Oooh, Shiny' and 'Better Loot' doing the same thing in different ways? Would I be able to turn off those shine and sparkles, or would I get dazzled into blindness when I walk into a wal-mart or an electronics store? This is kind of like the 'Z-button' of some RPG game I recall playing once, or was it TAB? Pressing it made every item or container you could loot on the map give off a blue glow. It was helpful for pack-rating everything, but destroyed the exploration and searching aspect of the game. Then again this is my life, so I want to cheat at whatever I can.
My HP issue worries me. I've got 276 out of 318 healed up right now, and still have a few lingering status effects from getting beat up Friday. An extra 10% on every encounter and completed quest will just get me levels faster which also gives me HP, so XP Whore it is.
That's why you named it that, didn't you? You knew I would pick it. Ass.
You have gained the XP Whore Perk
****
I equip my costume and make my way into the alley behind Fredrico's house. I need to get close enough to deal with the stupid dog that woke up because some other dog also woke up and decided to start barking at the stranger in the alley. My stealth counters must only care about people because it says 0 are watching me. That's a good limitation to be aware of.
I throw two of the raw steaks filled with over the counter sleeping pills I'd stolen yesterday over the fence. That shut one dog up for now. I threw a third over the fence of the house behind me to shut the other dog up. I hope I don't poison them or anything. I don't think it is possible to actually OD on over the counter sleeping pills, even if you take a whole bottle, I hope the same goes for the mutts.
Now I wait. Observe shows both dogs with conditions of drugged and sleepy. Their barking woke up some people, but stealth still shows I'm unobserved. The owner of the house behind me yells at his dog to shut up and it leaves. Fredrico's German Shepard also quiets down and goes back into its doghouse.
I turn on my free camera and do my reconnaissance. There are now four people in the house.
The gun is still on the coffee table, albeit in a different spot than before. Some cash, pills, weed, cigarettes and other trash are also on the table. Nacho is passed out on the couch in the same room. Xavier and Selena are asleep on the bed the old briefcase is under and there is a wallet and a cell phone charging on the nightstand. Fredrico is asleep in one of the other bedrooms, and another wallet and cellphone is on the desk in there. I double check my MP and make another sweep. It has been about an hour, a bit after 3am. I have enough MP for less than 40 minutes with all my Golems active at once. That really means I have less time, because they also need to retreat to rendezvous points and get retrieved. Well if this whole thing takes longer than 30 minutes it's probably a bust anyway. I resume normal view; and pick the padlock on the alley gate.
+55 XP for defeating noisy dog
+88 XP for defeating possibly dangerous noisy dog
They didn't die did they? Oh, good, just knocked out. I open the gate a crack and go back to my hiding spot, set up my interface and inventory screen and pull Moon-Moon out.
Giving them on the fly go to location instructions is a bit odd. It's a bit like mentally clicking a RTS map with a unit selected except the map was the real world and I'm using a hand gesture to indicate a spot some physical distance away from me. There might be a total range limit to this I haven't determined yet, probably the active golem range, and this also creates line of sight issues. I send Moon-moon to the back porch. It runs through the open gate to the porch and stops. Its path finding routines seem quite good.
The LOS Issues can be partially solved by my free camera; which I use to see inside the house and send Moon-Moon to the living room. It goes right through the doggie door to the place I mentally designated. Phase 1 is working. I pull the rest of the golems out of my inventory and send them to various locations inside the house. Time to begin phase 2.
I began subvocalizing my commands.
"Moon-Moon fetch 'Ruger LCR', Golem 1 fetch 'Xavier's Flip-phone', Golem 2 fetch 'Xavier's Wallet', Golem 3,4,5,6,7 fetch 'Old Briefcase', Golem 8 fetch 'Fredrico's Wallet', Golem 9 fetch 'Fredrico's Smartphone', Golem 10 fetch 'Stack of twenties', Spider-Bong, Golem 11,12,13,14,15,16 go to hallway"
Lesson #1, Golems are not stealthy.
My view is on Moon-moon because the gun is the biggest threat. Despite the free camera I can't split my vision to multiple places. I have to hope for the best for the others, things are moving fast now. Moon-moon jumps up on to the recliner and jumps from the recliner onto the coffee table, which scatters all kinds of shit everywhere including the stack of twenties that was up there, now no longer in a stack. Moon-moon is unable to get his mouth on the gun, but was at least able to knock it onto the floor where he proceeds to chase it. This quickly results in him pushing it around the floor of the living room with his nose.
The commotion causes Nacho to wake up from the couch. He then proceeds to scream upon seeing a ugly clay dog thing chasing a gun, and a giant beetle running through the living room carrying a smartphone, its pincers trailing a charging cord behind it, which gets caught on the furniture and ripped out of the beetle's mouth. At least the charging cord and the smartphone became separated in the process and my beetle Golem got back up, picked up the phone again and carried it into the kitchen beyond my view. Well crap. Everyone in the house is awake now.
Spider-Bong, Golem 11 & 12 attack 'Xavier Mendoza', Golem 13 & 14 attack 'Fredrico Mendoza', Golem 15 & 16 attack 'Nacho Ortiz'
Lesson #2, Golem path-finding is more than just quite good, it's very excellent.
"Some fucking animals are attacking us" I hear Nacho yell. I hear a woman scream as well, must be Selena. Some of the lights come on. I spot Moon-moon standing still, in fact Golem 15 & 16 are also still standing in the hallway. WTF? Why are they just standing there? I notice several notification messages have queued up. So I view them.
Invalid target 'Nacho Ortiz'
You may gain the 'Semi-Autonomous Unit Tactics' specialty for the Strategy skill
Target 'Ruger LCR' is inaccessible
Spider-Bong has been destroyed
What? Fuck, "Golem 15 & 16 attack 'Naho Ortiz', Yes" Moon-Moon is standing at the edge of the couch, his head on the floor staring at something. It was the gun; it slid under the couch. Nacho has recovered and the lights in the living room are turned on and he kicks Moon-moon across the room, making him crash into a lamp.
"Ow, god damn it. Fuck my foot." Nacho swears, but Moon-Moon gets up and goes back to staring at the underside of the couch for all of 1 second.
"Moon-Moon Stop. Moon-Moon attack Naho Ortiz."
Lesson #3 Golems are still stupid.
I move my camera toward Xavier's bedroom. Shit, Golem's 3,4,5,6 and 7 have not even managed to get the briefcase out from under the bed, or maybe they are working against each other, I'm not sure. Selena is screaming and running for the door wearing nothing but panties and a blanket. Xavier is in nothing but his boxers. "Golem 3, 4, 5, 6, & 7 attack Xavier Mendoza" Golem 1 is still pulling on the flip-phone whose charging cord is still stuck in the wall. I can't see Golem 2, so it may have left the room. "Golem 1 carry 'Xavier's flip-phone', Golem 1 go to 'Under the bed' Golem 1 guard 'Xavier's flip-phone'"
"Shit we're getting attacked by some cape!" I hear Xavier yell.
I hear the back door open and I swap back to my normal camera. Shit Nacho is running into the backyard, the golems I sent to attack him charging after him, including Moon-Moon. Oh four golems are standing in front of me, #2, 8, 9 & 10. I pick them up and put them in my inventory including the smartphone, wallets, and a twenty they were holding, while withdrawing my bat and a roll of duct-tape.
I watch from my hiding spot as Nacho climbs the five foot chain link fence to get away from the strange creatures that are attacking him.
"Sup Nacho" I say as I spring forward and club him hard on the shoulder while his back is to me and he's half over the fence.
-60 HP, Critical hit, Back-stab
He screams and falls down on the alley side of the fence. That took about a quarter of his health right there. He wasn't unconscious though and looked at me.
"CAPE!—" I cut off his yelling as I swing at his ribs, except he kicks me in the shin at the same time.
-32 HP
-6 HP (4 deflected)
Most of the energy of the bat is absorbed by the end of it hitting the ground and only part of the shaft hitting Nacho in the ribs. I followed through with a kick to his head.
-12 HP
Nacho goes limp. A quick Observe shows he is unconscious, concussed, and has broken collar bone, and severely bruises and lacerations. Fuck, I did that? Moon-moon and the other golems catch up and try to gnaw on his arms and legs. "Moon-Moon stop." I pick the other golem up and put them in my inventory. I pull a wallet out of Nacho's pockets, put it in inventory, then bind his hands and mouth with duct tape, and leave him in the recovery position behind some trash cans. He still has a sliver of green left on his health bar and no status effects indicated internal bleeding, but would it tell me if there was? It's supposedly ‘known effects’, what if I didn't know? I put the duct tape back in inventory.
My wonder is interrupted by the sound of a gunshot, followed shortly afterwards by a second. Had they got the gun out from under the couch? I pull my retrieved golems back out of my inventory and tell them to guard me. I swap to my free camera mode, and send it into the house as fast as I can. I hear a third gunshot as I do so. A quick glance at my MP indicates it's only been 5 or 6 minutes since I pulled all the Golems out and set them to work.
Nacho left the backdoor wide open, my enhanced hearing hears a car engine start and tires squealing as my camera gets into the living room. The front door is also wide open.
"Selena drove off, where is my fucking phone?"
"I don't know mine is gone too."
"Where's Naho?"
Another gunshot goes off. Xavier is shooting at my golems and it wasn't with the revolver that got stuck under the couch. "Moon-Moon attack Xavier Mendoza" The shot missed but from the ceramic fragments, and the fact that Fredrico is holding a wooden bat in his hands, some of them have been destroyed.
Also, what the fuck? Xavier Williamson says lvl 20 now and Fredrico is lvl 13? Why? Fucking gun and bat? "Golem 2, 8, 9, 10, 15 & 16 fetch 'twenty dollar bill'" I can at least try to get the ones that had been scattered in the living room.
More gunshots fired, most missing but I see one of my golems explode into a cloud of fragments. About then Moon-moon charges into the room, jumps up and bites Xavier on the thigh. He screams and I see blood trickling down. Both look like they're only missing about 20-25% of their health.
Xavier's health drops to around 50% suddenly as he screams and I see Moon-moon and the bat both go flying across the room.
"You fucking asshole watch where you are swinging that thing."
"Sorry"
I have to react fast. "Moon-Moon Fetch wooden bat. Moon-Moon goto front yard" I spy a spot out the door I can see with my free camera. I don't want him to lead them out to the back. I queued up more commands. "Moon-Moon drop. Moon-moon attack Fredrico Mendoza" he manages to actually get a hold of the bat this time and my camera follows the scene into the living room as I catch Moon-moon running out the front door.
"There's more of them going out the back." Xavier says as more gun shots went off. Shit. The ones fetching the twenties are leading him right to me.
"Golem 2, 8, 9, 10, 15 & 16 goto back yard" I redirect their movement to lead away from me as I see Xavier run out the kitchen door, still in his boxers. I switch back to normal view and look up as I see him firing more shots at my golems. Then I heard the familiar click of an empty gun failing to fire.
"All attack Xavier Williamson" I spring up from my spot, go through the gate and run up to him while he's still facing the golems that suddenly turn around and charge at him.
Xavier spins around at the last moment and I only clip him with my bat.
-16 HP
He tries to shoot me but the gun just clicks. He manages to punch me in the kidneys twice before I can recover from my swing.
-8 HP (10 deflected)
-8 HP (10 deflected)
I swing again and miss. He punches me in the side of the head, the hat and hockey helmet absorb a lot of the blow.
-6 HP (8 deflected)
-1 HP
I kick and miss. He tackles me to the ground and punches me in the stomach, catching me half below the torso protection.
0 HP (4 deflected)
-7 HP (4 deflected)
I must have lost my bat because I'm trying to punch and kick him. At least I have on armor and he's wearing nothing but his underwear. I manage to land one blow before I feel a hard punch to my jaw, a few layers of my scarf the only thing giving me any cushioning.
-6 HP
-14 HP (2 deflected)
He is on top of me and holding me down, then knees me hard in the nuts. I'm so glad I added the cup.
-1 HP
-5 HP (12 deflected)
-1 HP
-2 HP
-1 HP
-1 HP
-3 HP
-1 HP
He lets up on his assault long enough for me to squirm away as I see Moon-Moon jump on his back and bite down on his shoulder. My golems are biting and scratching anything they can find, but he manages to grab one and bang it on the ground hard enough to snap off an arm and a leg, but it still keeps biting his hand.
-5 HP
-2 HP
-1 HP
My foot finally finds purchase and I kick down on his bare toes.
-8 HP
He responds by smashing the twitching golem that was still in his hand, right into my face, breaking the plastic of my ski goggles and its sharp, broken ceramic edges cutting into my flesh.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
-22 HP (2 deflected) Critical hit
I stagger backwards free of my pin, but I can't see out of one eye, and roll over something hard and cylindrical. It's my bat. I grab it, sit up and swing as hard as I can. Xavier manages to bring an arm up to block.
-46 HP
I hear a snapping sound, and a bone erupts out of his forearm. Aluminum bat vs. bare forearm? Bat wins. Xavier howls in pain. Another swing to the knee leaves him twisted and unmoving. Though I think I accidentally may have smashed one of my own Golems when I did that.
-52 HP
"You fucker!" someone yells as I feel a horrible pain in my back just below my right shoulder
-66 HP (18 deflected)
Your Gamer's body skill has increased by 1
I twist around to glimpse Fredrico as he tackles me, one hand still holding on to whatever was stuck in my back. "All stop. All guard me"
I hit the ground and scream as what only has to be a knife twists and cuts deeper. I hear the sound of cracking plastic on my torso protection, but Fredrico let's go as the knife appears stuck.
-44 HP
-2 (Bleeding)
He takes advantage of my staggered daze to punch me hard in the chest.
-15 HP (9 deflected)
-4 HP
I crawl backwards as my golems swarm him; there is noticeably less that I started with.
-1 HP
-2 HP
-1 HP
-1 HP
-2 HP (Bleeding)
-2 HP
-1 HP
-3 HP
-6 HP
-1 HP
-2 HP (Bleeding)
Moon-Moon is clearly doing the most damage, but it looks like pieces of him are missing. I take advantage of the distraction my golems provide to pull the knife out of my back,
-24 HP
-3 HP (Bleeding)
Shit, that, that may have been a mistake.
-2 HP
-1 HP
-3 HP
-3 HP (Bleeding)
I should but I don't want to stab the guy. I put the knife into my inventory. I try to enter stealth mode, but it doesn't work. I swing my bat at him, which makes my shoulder hurt like hell. I connect with a solid thwack on his… ass… because that's the closest to me at the time.
-12 HP
-4 HP
-3 HP (bleeding)
Okay I need to end this. I switch the bat to my off hand as I kick at Fredrico, miss and he punches me in my extended leg, which throws me off balance, and I fall to the ground. At least I avoid hitting my back but the impact still hurts.
-12 HP (0 deflected)
-6 HP
-3 HP (Bleeding)
Moon-moon comes to my rescue and bites down on Fredrico's Achilles tendon. He too is in nothing but his pajamas, but at least he has a shirt on. The other golems do minor damage or fuck-all.
-16 HP (critical hit)
-1 HP
-1 HP
-1 HP
While on the ground I swing the bat with my off hand at his other leg, connect to his ankle, and knock him off his feet, and I hear his head hit the ground with an awful sounding thunk. His ankle lays twisted in a position it shouldn't be in, and he stops moving.
-20 HP
-15 HP
-3 (Bleeding)
"All stop. All fetch twenty dollar bills. Moon-moon stop. Moon-moon fetch old briefcase." It had been about 15 minutes, all that in 15 minutes. Fuck what the hell did I do here? How many golems did I lose? I have a whole slew of unread notifications that will stay unread for now.
Lesson #4, Tiny golems are shit for combat, but could be useful for distractions and fetching if they have better grasping ability.
-3 (Bleeding)
The adrenaline is wearing off and I need to do something about that, but I also don't want these fuckers to wake up. I pull the duct tape out again and bind Xavier's and Fredrico's hands and put them in the recovery position.
-3 (Bleeding)
-2 (Bleeding)
-2 (Bleeding)
By the time I'm done I hear sirens. Also weird, my HP is higher than it was a few seconds ago? Oh I gained a CON point.
I put a few of my surviving golems into my inventory, some of them holding twenties in their little mouths or paws, some just standing around dumbly. I go into the house to see Moon-moon dragging the old briefcase into the hallway. I pick both of them up and drop them into my inventory. There is still plenty of weed and pills strewn about the living room for the police to find.
-2 (Bleeding)
-2 (Bleeding)
No longer in danger of losing all my MP to having the golems out, I do some quick Observes on Xavier and Fredrico before I head toward the alley. They are still alive. Xavier has a badly broken forearm, and is concussed. Lacerations and bite wounds all over. Fredrico had a broken ankle, a torn Achilles tendon, and also concussed, and plenty of other bite and scratch wounds on the exposed parts of his body from the golems. No apparent bleeding effects like I was currently suffering.
-2 (Bleeding)
-2 (Bleeding)
I get to the alleyway, Nacho isn't there anymore. I quicken my pace because this is bad, like really fucking bad. I'm losing a couple of points every 15 seconds or so, and I don't know if Nacho went to retrieve some buddies or not. 110 HP left, I will bleed down to zero in less than fifteen minutes. I jog, half run to the nearby gas station that I made note of on my way here. I make sure no one is watching and swap out my costume via inventory for something more normal looking and not bloody. My clean shirt won't stay that way for long, but a quick run into the bathroom won't let it look like a horrible bloodstain on any cameras.
By the time I get into a stall in the bathroom, I lost another 16 HP from bleeding.
-16 HP (Bleeding)
If this doesn't work, I have to call 911, hope I don't die, and figure out something else. I de-equip my shirt and pull out the first aid kit and try my best to patch myself up.
-2 HP (Bleeding)
-2 HP (Bleeding)
-1 HP (Bleeding)
-1 HP (Bleeding)
More notifications, I haven't had time to look at the ones from the fight yet. At least it's down to 1 HP every thirty seconds. I have 88 HP left, great, so now I have 22 minutes before I'm at zero. Did that knife nick an artery? "Status Effects"
Bleeding (from puncture wound)
-2 HP loss per minute.
Status: Treated (semi-successful)
Timer: 17 minutes remaining.
Blood loss from a bleeding effect can be eliminated in whole or in part via a successful use of the Medicine skill. Difficulty varies based on type and severity of the wound. Penalties apply to performing first aid on yourself. A wound can be treated only once per person, until an individual with higher skill can make an attempt.
Okay, 17 minute timer remaining? That's cutting it damn close. But does that mean it will stop or just downgrade to a less serious form and keep ticking away? I need more HP. I go to the sink and clean up and treat the cut on my face above my eye. Now both eyes have gashes above them, one only stitched up from Friday. I look like shit.
-4 HP (Bleeding)
Eh? I just gained another 4 HP after that bit dropped. Timer jumped down from 16 to 8 minutes. I go back into the bathroom stall, pull my planned lunch out of my inventory and scarf it down for more HP gain while I read through my accumulated notifications.
Golem 11 destroyed
Golem 13 destroyed
Your Strategy skill has increased by 1
Golem 12 destroyed
Golem 16 cannot fetch 'twenty dollar bill', nearest matching target inaccessible
Golem 14 destroyed
Golem 3 destroyed
For performing a repeated action you may gain the 'Power Strike' skill
For performing a repeated action you may gain the 'Melee Weapons' skill
+55 XP for defeating Naho Ortiz
Golem 5 destroyed
Golem 7 destroyed
+44 XP for defeating Selena Garza
Golem 4 destroyed
Your Strategy skill has increased by 1
Golem 1 destroyed
Golem 6 destroyed
You may gain the Street Brawling specialty for Unarmed Combat
+110 XP for defeating Xavier Mendoza
Your Gamer's Body skill has increased by 1
+77 XP for defeating Fredrico Mendoza
For testing the limits of your endurance and vitality, you have gained 1 CON
+440 XP Quest: Where's my Money? Bitch completed
Your Medicine skill has increased by 1
Your Gamer's Body skill has increased by 1
Jesus. Yes Power Strike, Yes Melee Weapons, Yes Street Brawling. What? I didn't even fight Selena, she just ran away.
Six, I have six small golems left, plus Moon-moon. Even Spider-bong is gone. Two of the small ones have minor damage, and one spider shaped one has only 5 HP left, is missing five legs, and both its mandibles.
-4 HP (Bleeding)
And I'm still fucking bleeding. 7 minutes, 28 more HP to lose out of 90. Game power says I don't die when I hit zero, I just start taking stat damage. I die when my CON is zero. I glance in the mirror, I look pretty pale. I need to eat more food, there's no more food in my inventory.
I re-equip my only somewhat bloody shirt, exit the bathroom, and pull a gallon milk jug out of the fridge. A glance at my detecting eye shows I'm being watched and recorded, can't swipe it.
-4 HP (Bleeding)
Some old lady is indecisively buying lottery tickets at the counter while I stand in line with a jug of milk and a twenty. "Hey I'm just gonna buy this super quick do you mind?"
"Wait your turn." The clerk says from behind the counter. He's the only employee here. Fuck lady why are you buying lottery tickets at 3:20am, on Sunday morning.
-4 HP (Bleeding)
5 minutes. Fuck it. I open the milk and start chugging it, while I prime my phone for 911.
"Hey! You can't do that!" The clerk said. I threw the twenty at him.
-12 HP (Bleeding)
2 minutes. It takes a while to drink a half gallon. I only manage to gain +8 HP before my Hunger bar maxes out. I didn't even finish half the jug.
-4 HP (Bleeding)
The old lady finally leaves. The clerk and I stared at each awkwardly. "I still need my change" I said while resisting the urge to pass out. All the adrenaline has worn off and I hurt everywhere despite my supposed 50% pain resistance.
-4 HP (Bleeding)
The clerk hands my change to me. "Did you bleed on my floor?" He asks.
"Uhh…" I look at him blankly, still trying to stay focused. Another notification fires off. It says the Dizziness de-buff from my Blood loss has doubled.
"There is blood on the back of your shirt. I can see it in the security mirror and when you got that milk a moment ago. Are you feeling okay?"
"Ask me again in a minute." If this doesn't work I may blow the rest of those stat points on finishing off the Gamer's Body skill.
But it stopped. The bleeding effect went away with 70 HP left. I still feel fucking dizzy, because of course that one didn't go away yet.
"Are you going to buy anything else? There is no loitering here."
"Yeah, I want that long sleeve T-shirt over there. The red one that says 'I'm with Stupid.'"
I take my new shirt and stagger back into the bathroom, holding on to shelves to keep me steady. Inside I swap it with the slightly bloody one going into my inventory. The original shirt I was wearing under my armor was, according to Observe on its inventory icon, 'thoroughly blood soaked'. My Trench coat is bad off as well, plus they all have a knife hole in them, nothing a round of shopping won't fix. I leave the bathroom head for the door. I'm still worried about the anemia effect though, it hasn't gone away, and has some steep penalties.
Why is my fatigue bar low? I literally just woke up less than two hours ago and it was full? Shit why is my interface blurry? I'm hit by a blast of cold night air as the automatic doors open and I step back out. At least I am not bleeding anymore, I guess the worst of it is—"
****
I come to and find myself in a hospital bed, with a blue gown on and everything. My clothes are folded up neatly in a pile on an adjacent table. The word 'stupid' prominently displayed on top. My face hurts and my back feels even worse. The back of my head also hurts. I reach up and feel a new set of stitches on my face and a fat lump on the back of my head. I pull up my inventory screen, everything is there, and I look at myself via my avatar, and with my free camera as an extra measure. What the fuck happened? There are pending unread notifications and opened them up.
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Fainted'
-12 HP
The Status Effect 'Fainted' has been replaced with the Status Effect 'Unconscious'
The Status Effect 'Transfusion' has been applied
The Status Effect 'Anemia' has been removed
The Status Effect 'Transfusion' has been removed
1 of 5 events achieved for Quest: Become a Cape!
The Status Effect 'Unconscious' has been removed
Um, okay. My Fatigue bar is back to full, as is my stamina and MP. My HP is back to 99/347. Did Anemia or the fight make my fatigue go down? The fight definitely was the cause of my loss of stamina, that was expected, but fatigue has never gone down at any rate other than its highly regular even depletion from 100 to 0 over 19 hours between rests. I glance at my watch, it's a few minutes past 7am. Did I sleep because my fatigue became low enough or because I had become unconscious? Resting is the ultimate point regen. Figuring out a way to exploit around the 'you are not tired enough to rest' barrier would be highly useful. I type up a reminder in my notes to investigate this in the future.
A further glance around shows I'm hooked up to a simple monitor and have an IV in my arm. Well at least I'm not handcuffed to the bed. I spy my chart. I don't want to get up and set anything off so I scry to get a look.
Doe, John. Anemia from Trauma induced Class 3 hemorrhage. Blood Type O-. Transfusion Received, vitals monitoring. Code 1608...
You have learned a new thing about yourself: Your blood type is O-, the universal donor.
"Well, you're awake, Hope you're feeling well enough to chat." Well shit. An elderly man in a doctor's coat holding a clipboard says as he walks up to my body. I swap back to my normal view and look up at him. His overhead tag reads
"The paramedics that brought you in couldn't find any ID on you. Is there anyone you would like us to contact?"
Well that's because everything is still in my inventory. Also that's an odd question to start off with. "No, not really. You don't want to know my name?"
"You can give it if you like, though there is a procedure we follow whenever we get... unusual cases. Do you know what happened to you?"
Well shit, what did the doctors and nurses discover? I activate my Speech skill, and glance at my stealth dot, to confirm no cameras are recording me. "I'd like to hear your observe-ations first, if you don't mind."
"Well, the Paramedics told me they picked you up after getting a call about you collapsing at a gas station very early this morning. Your injuries look like you may have been mugged or beat up in a fight. You showed strong signs of Anemia, that's blood loss. They found the wound on your back, someone had patched you up but didn't do a very good job of it, and so they re-did it and brought you here. You had all the signs of a Class 3 Hemorrhage. We had to put near two and half pints of blood back into you and I probed the wound to make sure there wasn't any internal bleeding."
"Well thanks, I guess. But why is that an unusual case?"
"You shouldn't have even been capable of walking around with a wound like that. And when I looked, the artery was fine, but the tissues above and below it weren't, and you clearly bled far more than you would have if your artery or another major blood vessel had not been nicked."
Right, so that was a not so subtle hit that he thinks I am a Parahuman. Code 1608? Also given his description, does that mean I have some kind of healing ability? "You said something about a procedure you follow?"
"We moved you to a private room. We also have a duty to report violent injuries, which include stab wounds, to the police. As well as unusual cases to the PRT."
Well fuck that. "And have you done that yet?"
"I personally haven't, but others may have. I wasn't the only one attending you. Clearly you've been through a very traumatic experience recently. We want to make sure patients suffering such things have an adequate time to adapt, calm down, and come out of shock. There is some reading material I can give you if you like." He pulls a pamphlet out and sets them on the table by my bed. The Protectorate: What we do and how we can help. "Now do you have some parents or guardians I can contact?"
Fuck that even more. "Why would you need to contact my— Oh right, my …youthful appearance…" I roll my eyes and sigh as if this was something I dealt with before. "It's a side effect of the …unusualness… I assure you that won't be necessary, and I will be checking myself out under my own cognizance. I presume doctor-patient confidentiality is under full effect and then some, and just so it is fully understood, you do not have my permission to share any information you are not legally required to."
"Yes, that's in effect. You certainly look better than you did a couple hours ago."
"I'm sure you have other patients to attend to. So if you don't mind, I'd like to use the restroom. Thank you for the pamphlet." I say as I begin unhooking myself from the machines in order to get up.
"Are you sure you don't need any assistance?"
I stand up next to the bed and detach my IV stand from it to roll it away, even though it’s still in my arm. "I'm certain."
"Alright, hit the nurse call button if you do." Then he leaves and shuts the door behind him.
I grab the pamphlet and my clothes and go into the bathroom as soon as he leaves; inventory equip swapping them immediately. I even drop the entire IV stand bag and everything into my inventory. The bag is still pretty full, it might come in handy one day, despite the weight it adds. My STR de-buff already dropped my carry weight so I'm not going to be sprinting out of this anyway. I even throw the pamphlet in there. I can read them later even if it's just propaganda.
I come out of the bathroom and look out the room window, and… yeah right, not happening, as I realize I’m on an upper floor when I peer out.
I stand behind the room door and do a quick scry of the hall. The Doc hasn't even wandered that far off yet. I look around and see a few ceiling cameras, and consider how to exit and shield my face. But since I was brought in here, I’m probably already on something. There's still too many people around that might easily pay attention to the door or myself when I step out. I feel around for the door handle with my body.
Well I've never tried this before. I set my interface volume real low and my camera near one of the ladies behind the hall desk, turn broadcast and my profanity filter on, and whisper, [CENSORED]. Good she turns to see what it is. I move my camera further away, turn on stealth, crank up my interface volume and have my body open my room door a crack.
[CENSORED]
While everyone turns to look toward where my invisible free camera is located I step out the room, hand shielding my face, while swapping cameras. I manage to make it around the corner before running into the wall.
-2 HP
I choke back an urge to yell after whacking my arm into the wall. I need to practice trying to move while my view is in free camera mode. Even swapping right back immediately still throws off my balance. Several minutes later I find the stairwell and am on the ground floor. No one is acting in a frantic rush, no guards are running around. Was I just being paranoid? Then I see a cape talking to someone at the information desk.
He's wearing a white costume with spiky steel points on his shoulders and forehead. His mask is an ugly stupid looking frown, covering the top of his face. Or is that supposed to be an arch? Whatever it looks dumb as hell.
"Observe"
Name: Arthur Kensington
Level: ??
Alias: Dispatch
Gender: Male
Age: 35 (37)
Ethnicity: Cajun, Creole
Race: Human (Parahuman)
Class: Protectorate Officer / Hero
Faction: Protectorate
STR: 17 (+100) 117
AGI: 16 (??) ??
CON: 18 (??) ??
INT: ?? (??) ??
PER: ?? (??) ??
WIS: ?? (??) ??
CHA: 10 (??) ??
LUC: ?? (??) ??
Allure: 3.5
Armor: 6.0
Speed: ?? (??) ??
Attack: ??
Dodge: ??
Health: 2350/2350
Stamina: 1340/1340
Stress: ??
H/T/F: ...
Summary Description:
Arthur, known as Dispatch in his Hero Identity is a member of the Houston Protectorate...
Status Effects:
Mental: Caffeine Addiction, Conflict-Seeking, ...
Physical: Caffeine Withdrawal, Fatigued, ...
Currently Feeling: Cranky, Annoyed, Sleepy
Motivations:
Investigate the Parahuman report, perform well at his job, avoid paperwork, help people, improve personal relationships, ...
Equipment list:
Light Ballistic and Ablative resistant armored costume
Small Kevlar Backpack,
Utility Belt,
5 Small Emergency Oxygen Canisters with built in Masks,
...
Holy Fuck! He has 117 STR and over two thousand HP? He has over thirteen hundred stamina? And why does he have two numbers next to age? I still can't even see the rest of his stats. I need to Grind Observe more. No way will I tangle with this guy if he spots me.
I take a FRAPS snapshot of Dispatch and the open Observe window as he finishes talking to the lady at the information desk and heads for the elevators. Once he is gone I stride confidently to the exit.
****
Your Observe skill has increased by 1
Your Thievery skill has increased by 1
Your Athletics skill has increased by 1
I read the pamphlets on the bus rides between stores. They must have at least some useful information because my Parahuman Lore goes up a smidge. It's bus rides for long distances or jogging for the rest.
I can't sprint. My Inventory induced encumbrance won't let me, but jogging plus the weight of my inventory burns off stamina that would have been wasted. Yeah it's screwing with my ability to get more Athletics specialties, but I have enough already. It appears consuming 25 stamina has the same effect as taking 1 HP of damage in terms of gains it nets me for Gamer's Body and CON. My STR progress has gone up a minor amount, but I'll need a lot more weight to overburden myself to make this more efficient. I couldn't do this before I had an inventory to exploit the weight load.
After eating lunch, I find a hair salon to get a haircut and have my hair bleached and dyed later. If I'm being looked for, best to change my appearance as much as possible. I swap clothing from my shopping trip, going with an entirely different style. I toss all the bloody clothes. I even toss my trench coat after finding something to replace it. I can't fix or replace the Motocross torso armor yet, but I clean it up. I’m not sure what to do with it yet.
I have to go back to the Beckett's eventually today. That's the other reason for the makeover. Not to stay there, but just to get my crap from where I hid it in the alley. I'm done with that place. I still need to find out where I’m going to sleep though.
****
I spam Observe again on everyone and everything in the Hair salon while I'm stuck in the chair meditating on my plans for the rest of the week. I still have to get the bus ticket and get over that in person parental consent obstacle. What can I do there? Bluff it? Fake ID? Hire someone to pretend to be my parent? I'm already spending a chuck of my ill-gotten money on this hair change. I can't exactly steal services, or a motel room.
How much of a Bum are you?
Find a safe place to sleep for the next three days.
Time limit: 75 hours.
Success: +150 XP per night.
Failure: Homelessness worse than what you already chose.
Well, that's a thing. Teenage Runaway/Thief is my class now? I guess that fits. My new dirty blonde hair look is complete, and since Simon is known for wearing glasses, even if they're non-prescription I put those away.
For performing a repeated action you may gain the Disguise skill
Yes, perfect. I definitely want that. I click yes and immediately get two more notifications.
You have unlocked the 'Mannerisms' bonus feature for Disguise
You have unlocked the 'Artistic Detail' bonus feature for Disguise
Neat. What happens with Speech level 10?
Make-up to cover up injuries will help also. Some part of me cringes at doing that as a guy. But why shouldn't I? Actors do it all the time. Heck the whole reason I got face paint for my costume was to obscure my skin color on what parts are visible. I write down 'make-up kit' on my shopping list.
I need to get the rest of my crap, and find a locker to store what I don't want to carry in my inventory. I'm tempted to put points into STR to up my carry value, but I don't want to fail that stat training quest. I start jogging back to the house.
****
The loot from the briefcase is sparse, or maybe it's because I don't know the street value of any of this, and Observe never tells me. I have three 1 lb. saran-wrapped bricks of marijuana, rolling papers, and three mostly full bottles of Oxycontin. Observe on the pills themselves actually confirm it. I end up taking a couple to deal with my shoulder pain. There's $250 bucks in there that I add to my money supply, and the cash I took from the three stooges wallets. The briefcase I toss as dead weight, as well anything not useful from the wallets. Was this haul worth everything that happened? I also have the bloody knife I was stabbed with. If that happens again, maybe see if I can use my inventory to directly remove it rather than pulling it out by hand? I clean it off before putting it back. All that shit is not going into a locker and going to stay right inside my personal extra dimensional storage space.
Do I use this stuff to train up Drug Resist more, toss them or try to sell them to get rid of them? Selling is risky, definitely too risky to do before I leave the city. I do still have Xavier's Credit cards and Driver's License, he's twenty-two, an older brother or cousin maybe? That presented some possibilities, but not sure if I want to do that. Nacho and Fredrico's stuff is worthless except Fredrico's smartphone. I use Data Interface on it to copy all its contents to a USB stick. I'll get around to wiping, rooting, unlocking, and swapping the sim card on the phone later.
****
I take a couple long drags of the joint as I stroll up to the bushes where I hid my stuff last night. Damn, those oxy pills are a hell of a lot stronger than anything they gave me before for the broken arm. Not that I condone doing drugs kid, that be bad okay? But I got reasons, grinding up the drug resist for the win, or something. Wait, why the fuck am I talking like this? It's not like someone can hear my thoughts. Oh yeah I'm thinking not talking. Uh, maybe? I didn't say any of that out loud did I? Where the fuck is my shit? There it is.
I start putting my crap into my inventory. The bright flashes hurt my eyes a bit, but so long and good riddance to this place you fuckers!
"Simon?"
I freeze and turn around, and stare at Rachel who is wide-eyed and standing on the other side of the alley just outside the gate to the Beckett's house smoking. My joint and her cigarette fell out of our mouths at the same time.
Fuck.
Simon's Character Sheet:
Name: Simon Clarence Anderson
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Race: Parahuman
Class: Teenage Runaway / Thief
Faction: None
Money: $412.50
Title: Apprentice Thief
Level: 10 (67.94%)
XP: 9369
Primary Attributes
STR: 9 (-1.25) 7.75 (38.15%)
AGI: 7 (-1.00) 6.00 (55.74%)
CON: 14 (-1.60) 12.40 (52.41%)
INT: 22 (0.00) 22.00 (8.32%)
PER: 11 (0.00) 11.00 (52.38%)
WIS: 21 (0.00) 21.00 (14.94%)
CHA: 12 (0.00) 12.00 (85.33%)
LUC: 10 (0.00) 10.00 (58.34%)
Unspent Points: 26
Secondary Attributes
Health Pool: 114/347
Stamina Pool: 122/298
Mana Pool: 534/2750
Stress Pool: 430/430
Attack: 7.88
Speed: 2.70
Dodge: 10.55
Armor: 0.20
Carry: 77.50
Allure: 2.35
Status Effects
Teenage Acne: ALU -0.5
Bruises & Lacerations: STR -0.25 CON -0.6 ALU -0.15
Stab Wound (R-Upper Back): STR -1 AGI -1 CON -1
Skills
Max Slots: 42
Free Skill Slots: 6
Artistry: 10 (71.23%)
Athletics: 11 (3.45%)
Basic Academics: 9 (10.43%)
Computers: 10 (0.00%)
Crafting (Stone & Pottery): 10 (0.00%)
Create Mana Golem: 10 (2.77%)
Disable Device: 10 (10.54%)
Disease Resistance: 6 (52.60%)
Disguise: 1 (0.00%)
Drug & Poison Resistance: 10 (24.65%)
Empathy: 10 (3.87%)
Firearms: 1 (0.00%)
Gamer's Body: 21 (23.08%)
Gamer's Interface: MAX (0.00%)
Gamer's Mind: MAX (0.00%)
Language-English: MAX (0.00%)
Language-Spanish: MAX (0.00%)
Mathematics: 3 (33.43%)
Medicine: 2 (0.00%)
Meditation: 11 (48.81%)
Melee Weapons: 1 (0.00%)
Null Resistance: 3 (13.69%)
Observe: 12 (95.83%)
Parahuman Lore: 6 (76.56%)
Power Strike: 1 (0.00%)
Programming: 10 (0.54%)
Psychology: 5 (0.00%)
Science (Biology): 1 (53.22%)
Science (Earth): 1 (0.00%)
Speech: 8 (24.98%)
Stealth: 10 (87.54%)
Strategy: 3 (35.30%)
Thievery: 6 (0.00%)
Unarmed Combat: 1 (0.00%)
Vehicle Operations: 3 (0.00%)
Video Games: 26 (5.87%)
Unspent Skill Points: 6
Perks
Free Perk Slots: 0
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