Stage 2: Road Trip Arc 3.4
Friday Feb 26th, 2010
"RUN!" I yell, move the Observe window aside, no time to read. Mini-map, Jack, Bonesaw and Crawler are nearby, coming up behind us near the fence.
"Stop stabbing them in the brain, Shatterbird! I need those!" Bonesaw yells, far too close for comfort, we race down the street.
<"This way!"> I'm yelling again, moving away from the enemy dots on my map. Unread notifications flash at me.
-120 HP [Fire Damage] (4 Resisted)
"AHHHH!" I'm screaming, pain, horrid pain! Instinctively I reel back from the fucking giant wall of fire blocking our path of retreat.
-60 HP [Fire Damage] (4 Resisted)
Shit! I'm still on fire!
<"Stop, drop, roll, Simon!"> Chela yells, shoving me onto the ground. She smothers the flames with her own jacket. Jordan is helping.
-42 HP [Fire Damage] (4 Resisted)
-20 HP [Fire Damage] (4 Resisted)
-10 HP [Fire Damage] (6 Resisted)
"Inventory…burning…clothes…fuck, ow fuck!"
-8 HP (8 Resisted)
Fire is finally out, after ripping some skin off by inventorying my burnt clothes. I glanced over at the others. Fuck Ruben got burned too; he is cradling his left arm, not nearly as badly as me. I'm fucking roast hamburger on my arms and front torso. Chela's hands are singed, her jacket ruined.
A flash of movement comes from inside the flame wall. A pale young woman with dark brown hair is standing in the flames, un-burnt, wearing a pink sweater over a white-collared shirt and black pleated skirt. Familiar overhead text appears above her.
Then with a "POIT" she's gone.
<"Can't go that way! We're trapped!"> Carmen cries.
"OH GOD! THEY'RE HERE!" Jordan yells, scrambling backward only to come back to the group as the flames encircle our position, leaving no room to flee.
"…I told you, your stupid knock-off game wouldn't work! Now what the hell are we waiting for?" Shatterbird yells angrily from overhead.
"Come on now Balluri, don't be such a spoilsport." Jack says with a raised, yet calm voice, which carries over the sounds of the crackling flames.
"Yeah! It's bound to work eventually again. It did before." Bonesaw's gleeful voice rises up as the two of them walk through the wall of flames toward us, unharmed. Standing in between them is a naked black and white striped woman, each arm resting on their shoulders. It's the Siberian, fuck me.
A Dimensional Matter Projection
This is a power manifestation produced by negative energy which siphons off exotic dimensional matter to form a humanoid shape of someone of personal importance to the Master who manifested it.
It is immune to all non-dimensional laws of physics. It has no stats or HP.
Status: Controlled
Fuck, "close," stay in the now. My HP is uncomfortably low, more unread notifications now, but I can't spend time looking at them.
"FIRE! FIRE FIRE! FIRE!" Burnscar screams from somewhere to my left.
"Settle down, Mimi, settle down." Jack sighs. "Ned, you mind smothering the flames?"
Crawler walks into the fire wall and lies down on the ground smothering half the flames Burnscar manifested. "You said I could have one, after the house," Crawlers rumbles.
Pump it. Put it all in CON and run through the fire, you could survive it. But the others won't, fuck, I… "Stats…"
"Fine, fine, take the red-head; he's probably too old for the experiment anyway." Jack says, while flipping an axe in his hand. My axe, the one David was holding when he…
"AHHHH!" Greg screams as one of Crawlers forked limbs grabs him and lifts him into the air suspending him over his dripping, open maw.
+4 CON, come on. I watch as some of my wounds become less grisly as my HP goes up from the boosts.
"NOOOOOO!" Greg swings the bat I had lent him, hammering uselessly against Crawler's limb. Everyone is screaming, except me.
FUCK! +4 CON, more, more…
"Don't eat his head!" Bonesaw yells over the din. Crawler just angles his head slightly to look toward Jack and Bonesaw.
"Well, you heard the little lady." Jack responds, and Crawler reaches a second limb up to where he was holding Greg and…
+4 CON, got to get the fuck out of here.
"I hope you choke on---" …Greg yells, then…. Fuck. Jordan screams louder, Chela throws up despite Ruben trying to shield her eyes. I…fuck, focus, have to run.
"Yea!" Bonesaw squeals and pulls a jar filled with a transparent green liquid out of her backpack and skips over to where Greg's….
+4 CON, faster damn it.
For reaching 50 in CON you have gained the Fast Recovery perk!
"Stealth" Run while they're distracted, grab what water I have in my inventory.
-62 HP [Fire Damage] (6 Resisted)
-35 HP [Fire Damage] (6 Resisted)
-14 HP [Fire Damage] (6 Resisted)
Fuck… "Inventory pants" roll, put out the flames, put my costume armor back on.
-6 HP (8 Resisted)
-1 HP [Fire Damage] (6 Resisted)
-0 HP [Fire Damage] (3 Resisted)
Oh, God, I'm so sorry Chela, I can't save any of you….I'm such a failure. Keep running, can't see, why? Too many tears, Oh God everything hurts so much. It's too much; I just want to find Julia again, I don't have anyone, no family. Everyone's going to die, I can't save… Too many notifica… Fuck, why is there music playing? Why is my music playing? WHY IS MY HUD FLICKERING??!!?!??
<------/Hatchet Face, Villain, Level ???> Shit, "Observe"
&#%^%$%^#
Alias: Hatchet Face
Gender: Male
Race: Human (Parahuman)
Class: Villain
&#^^&*U$$%
STR: NaN
AGI: NaN
CON: NaN
INT: ?? (??) ??
PER: NaN
WIS: ?? (??) ??
CHA: NaN
LUC: ?? (??) ??
Allure: 1.5
Armor: 0.2
Speed: ?? (??) ??
Attack: ??
Dodge: ??
Health: NaN/NaN
Stamina: NaN/NaN
Stress: ??
Summary Description: []^^&%#%\]2%^6@^ 5#54^8\|"3 -Error
Status Effects: B^&46-=%$#$-e%^f 6 -Error
Mental: b%R^&D^n 3^#$$66{'esd\ -Error
Physical: Significant facial scarring, &$FF 6#^$2456 &*|4b -Error
Currently Feeling: *#!@`^&$`~hjdfE|][54 -Error
Motivations: ?D>,<4^3@$$^6Tgl \QER -Error
Fuck that makes my head hurt. No damn it! Not now! Why won't you close? He's coming this way, SHUT THE FUCKING SONG OFF, It's not responding! Fuck! Stop Halping!
There, it's off, no wait, everything is missing…
-202 HP
Holy fuck, I got back-handed in the chest by Hatchet Face, and I'm flying through the air. This hurts so mu…
-52 HP
****
Nnngh, I'm still alive? My HUD has come back. No wait, don't open your eyes, don't move. Check my map. Bonesaw and Siberian are very close; Jordan and Jack are in some nearby small structure. Crawler and Shatterbird are near Chela, Ruben and Carmen, also nearby. Burnscar is off to the side. Why the hell isn't Hatchet Face showing up on my map? What about Mannequin? Is he still a member? I haven't seen him yet. Who's their ninth person?
I have seventy fucking unread notifications pulsing at me, but I need to know what condition I am in first. "Third-Person Camera," I subvocalize. It uses auto-movements, so I won't need to gesture to control it, revealing myself as being awake.
Gamer's Mind prevents me from freaking the fuck out because I am pretty sure I otherwise would have. I'm strapped to a table in nothing but my underwear and a pair of burned socks. An array of grisly surgical tools is laid out on a little cart beside me. There is some sort of tinker-tech device strapped to my head like a helmet. My torso is bandaged up and even my burns looked treated. Did the Nine treat me? Why would they do this? A spot on my back feels horribly itchy. Bonesaw is about a dozen feet over, next to another table that had Greg's... That small structure Jack and Jordan are in is an RV, we are all in some kind of parking lot? The Siberian is in a corner eating…something.
Chela and her parents are all huddled together, shivering and whimpering, near a trashcan fire not too far from the table I am strapped down on. They're all injured, Ruben more so than his wife and daughter. Shatterbird is standing near them threatening them with the floating glass spike. Crawler is laying down a dozen feet from us, gnawing on…
Keep it together. Analyze, gain Intel, assess your resources, and make a plan. Well, I can't move any time soon, "Notifications" I subvocalize as quietly as possible.
Quest: If you can't beat 'em, Join 'em!
For testing the limits of your endurance and vitality, you have gained 1 CON
Your Damage Resistance (Fire & Heat) skill has increased by 1
Greg Bonner has been removed from your relationship sheet.
Saved: 0, Dead: 40, Pending: 4
For reaching 50 in CON you have gained the Fast Recovery perk!
Your Null Resistance skill has increased by 1
Your Null Resistance skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the 'To Null or Not to Null' feature for Null Resistance
You are suffering from the Status effect 'Minor Level Drain'
You are suffering from the Status effect 'Minor Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been reduced!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been reduced!
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Mild Depression'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Mild Aqua-phobia'
Avatar state has been partially disabled!
-15 Stress Points
Your Null Resistance skill has increased by 1
The Status Effect 'Minor Level Drain' has been upgraded to 'Level Drain'
The Status Effect 'Minor Skill Reduction' has been upgraded to 'Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been reduced!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been reduced!
-2 Stress Points
Your Empathy skill has increased by 1
Your Null Resistance skill has increased by 1
The Status Effect 'Level Drain' has been upgraded to 'Major Level Drain'
The Status Effect 'Skill Reduction' has been upgraded to 'Major Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been reduced!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been reduced!
The Status Effect 'Mild Depression' has been upgraded to 'Depression'
-2 Stress Points
-202 HP
Your Damage Resistance (Physical) skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the 'Tougher on the Inside' feature for Damage Resistance (Physical)
Your Damage Resistance (Physical) skill has increased by 1
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Fractured Ribs'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Bruised Organs' x4
-10 Stress Points
-52 HP
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Mild Concussion'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Unconscious'
-5 Stress Points
The Status Effect 'Major Level Drain' has been upgraded to 'Severe Level Drain'
The Status Effect 'Major Skill Reduction' has been upgraded to 'Severe Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been removed!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been removed!
-5 Stress Points
Your Null Resistance skill has increased by 1
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Sedated'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Parasite Infection: Bonesaw's Tracker Bug'
Your Disease Resistance skill has increased by 1
The Status Effect 'Major Level Drain' has been downgraded to 'Minor Level Drain'
The Status Effect 'Major Skill Reduction' has been downgraded to 'Minor Skill Reduction'
The Status Effect 'Minor Level Drain' has been removed
The Status Effect 'Minor Skill Reduction' has been removed
Gamer's Body has been restored
Avatar state has been restored
Gamer's Mind has been restored
The Status Effect 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder' has been negated by Gamer's Mind
The Status Effect 'Depression' has been negated by Gamer's Mind
The Status Effect 'Mild Aqua-phobia' has been negated by Gamer's Mind
The Status Effect 'Fractured Ribs' has been treated with superb skill, healing time reduced
The Status Effect 'Bruised Organs' has been treated with superb skill, healing time reduced x4
Your Drug & Poison Resistance skill has increased by 1
The Status Effect 'Sedated' has been removed
The Status Effect 'Unconscious' has been removed
Damn, what happened here, in order? I got a quest I had to ignore because I was busy trying to run away. I still need to read Shatterbird and Burnscar's Observe info, at least it gets saved. Got burnt up by her fire, gained resistance, pumped my CON, got a perk at reaching 50, and tried to abandon everyone just to save myself. Then I ran into Hatchet Face, who shut my power down? Except Null Resistance kept going up… And fuck me, PTSD, Depression... they never went away did they? They're still hiding under the surface; Gamer's Mind simply turns them off for the time being.
Then Hatchet Face hits me. Hits me while Avatar and Gamer's Body are turned off? The pain in my chest is still maddening despite it getting treated. Fuck. Then what? Carried here, drugged, but treated, why? Oh my fucking god, what the fuck is Bonesaw's Tracker bug? Fuck me, that happened while I was unconscious? What happened to Avatar stopping... right, Hatchet Face. Fuck. And now I'm awake after my resist burned off the sedative? "Quests" I quietly subvocalize again.
If you can't beat 'em, Join 'em! (Sub-quest: This random encounter is too OP!)
Do you have what it takes? Convince Jack you're worthy enough to keep around.
Success: +2500 XP, +1 CHA, New Quest chain: Now Recruiting
Failure: New title! Meat-Puppet.
This quest cannot be declined.
Jesus are you fucking kidding me? Bullshit, fucking bullshit! I glance at Shatterbird again and subvocalize, "Observe."
Name: Balluri Ababil
Level: ??
Alias: Shatterbird
Gender: Female
Age: 28
Ethnicity: Arabic, Pakistani
Race: Human (Parahuman)
Class: Villain
Faction: Slaughterhouse Nine
STR: 13 (+3) 16
AGI: 15 (+3) 18
CON: 17 (+6) 23
INT: ?? (??) ??
PER: 16 (??) ??
WIS: ?? (??) ??
CHA: 18 (??) ??
LUC: ?? (??) ??
Allure: 4.5
Armor: 4.2
Speed: 3.2
Attack: ??
Dodge: ??
Health: 390/390
Stamina: 440/440
Stress: ??
H/T/F: ...
Summary Description: Balluri is the bastard daughter of a United Arab Emirates business magnate and his live-in migrant worker Pakistani maid. Her parent's relationship was an open secret but one in which her father held all the power. As she grew up she was shunned by both sides of her family. On her fathers for the shame and affront Balluri represented to her half-siblings and their mother, on her mother's due to the shame and to perceived privilege and special treatment she occasionally got when her father was feeling generous.
Even so, she benefited from her father's wealth and contacts in order to obtain a quality education and university degree, but with strings attached as she could never really get out from under his thumb. Internally she raged at her situation and feelings of powerlessness.
Her father and his associates, in a quest to seek more power, sought out powers for themselves and their children in order to create a cabal of Parahumans that could take control of the country. Not willing to risk himself or his true-born until he had seen the effects first, her father 'volunteered' Balluri as he viewed her as someone he could control.
Thus, unbeknownst to her, Balluri was doused with a power vial via a beverage at the college graduation party her father hosted for her in Dubai. The resulting power manifestation shattered every silicate object in the city and killing several thousand people instantly, including her family and other invitees...
...so after her stint in London and hurried escape to America, she joined the Slaughterhouse Nine. While she has not been with the Nine for very long, she has proven to be their most successful recruiter thus far...
...she continues to act very prideful, as a means to reassure herself she is better than what her family ever expected from her. However it is a mask to hide her poor underlying sense of self-worth. She also has an overwhelming desire to maintain control over everything and be powerful, as an overcompensation for the many years in her life in which she was powerless and had little control over her own affairs...
...she secretly harbors romantic feelings for Jack, but refuses to act on them. She constantly wishes to be seen as powerful and respected by the group, but the threat of violent harm and embarrassment can stay her hand.
She has dark coffee-colored skin, dark brown eyes and long, straight black hair. She is slightly athletically toned, with a modest bust and narrow hips. She is wearing a sleeveless costume and mask made of colored glass with a silk under-weave. She bears an intense, vacant stare while fiddling with her glass beaded necklace and bracelets.
Status Effects:
Mental: Major Control Issues, Minor Fear of Grievous Injury, Minor Fear of Embarrassment, ...
Physical: Cold, Minor Tinker-induced regenerative effects, Minor Tinker enhanced strength, agility, constitution, Tinker made sub- dermal armor mesh...
Currently Feeling: Pride, Restlessness, Jealousy, Suppressed lust, ...
Motivations: Proving herself right, eliminating competition for perceived affection and attention, reasserting her control, demonstrating her power over others, ...
Equipment list: Multi-colored, bird beaked shaped, blown glass mask and helmet, a low-cut, sleeveless, white silk semi-mesh dress fitted with numerous shards of colored glass, a glass bead necklace, two glass bead bracelets on each wrist, white cotton underwear and bra, Ruger LCR: .22 LR fully loaded 5 chamber revolver, leather hip holster, …
Holy crap she is a bought powers cape? Even if she didn't do it directly? No Conflict Seeking status effect either. What about Burnscar? Shit no, can't look, Jack and Jordan are moving. The RV door opens, Jordan is pale as a ghost, a dead stare in her eyes, her clothes are ripped, and she has cuts and minor burns. Shatterbird gives her a hateful look as she walks back over between me and the Sanchez family and sits down. Jack adjusts his belt and walks over toward my direction.
Shit. "Close", "Inventory" I subvocalize again, doing a quick review of what I had left. What can I do to get out of this mess?
"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue? Not literally of course, but that can be arranged. I'm sure Sibby would oblige." I hear Jack ask.
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
"Come on now, it's no fun if you pretend to be asleep all night. We know you're a brute, but you're not all that strong are you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have needed to hammer your way through a wall to get out. I mean really, going through the wall? Who does that?"
Fuck me, can't do any so called convincing being silent. "Somebody that can get past your crappy, predictable traps." I say as I open my eyes. This quest is bullshit.
Jack stops smiling, everyone looks toward me. "And yet, look at where you are now." Jack stands up and is looming over me now. The Siberian gets up and moves next to him and puts a hand on his shoulder. "Now that our little fun house got burned down, it looks like we get to do things the old-fashioned way."
I crane my neck to look around. Fuck. There's Hatchet Face, and Mannequin. I couldn't see them from the angle of my third person camera view earlier. Mannequin suddenly appears on my mini-map, but Hatchet Face still doesn't show up. What the fuck? "Observe" I subvocalize on Mannequin just to file it away for later. "Observe" I target Hatchet Face again. Ow, ow, ow... What the hell, fucking headache, error again. Why? He is not in range right now, my powers are working, so why? It's just like…just like what happened with Eidolon.
Jack is still talking to me. "…unless you were still trying to hide it from the others, if so well, that was stupid. Besides, you healed up pretty fast while you were unconscious as soon as Hatchet Face moved away from you."
There was a machine that went PING beside me. It did so and Bonesaw looked up from her project.
"He's using his powers," she says.
"Oh is that right?" Jack asks, watching me curiously. "You know I never met a cape that could make music appear out of nowhere before. Interesting song too, never heard it before, seemed…fitting."
"I can't wait to see inside his brain" Bonesaw squeals. "All these readings, his brain is really fascinating, very complex. I don't know how everything even got crammed in there."
I glance up at the assorted conglomeration of vacuum tubes, rheostats, gauges, wiring, and antennae on my head. "Observe." A brain-wave analyzer? Fucking tinker-tech. It was an equipped item in my inventory, just can't reach my paper doll to… deal with it. The machine PINGed.
-0 HP [Electrical Damage] (2 Resisted)
"Ow, what the hell?"
"Huh, I thought there would be more of a reaction than that. No unapproved use of powers okay?" Bonesaw chided.
"Maybe his brute abilities are more versatile than you thought." Jack unhelpfully added.
"Yeah, I better crank up the juice anyway."
-0 HP [Electrical Damage] (4 Resisted)
"No, I'm sure that's not necessary… Ow Fuck!" I plea.
"No Swearing! Hmm, still not high enough."
-4 HP [Electrical Damage] (4 Resisted)
"OW! ..GOSH…DARN FUDGESICLES…" I yell.
"That's better" Bonesaw giggles. "Need to make sure though."
-4 HP [Electrical Damage] (4 Resisted)
"AHH! …Darn it… Just why? Why? Y'all are a bunch of fuu… murder-hobos, how the hell are you even wandering around still after this long. What's the point of this?"
"Murder-hobos?" Bonesaw queries.
Jack starts chuckling. "You know I get that reference." Jack says, derailing my train of thought and canceling my impromptu 'reasons you suck speech'.
"Wait, what?"
"What's a murder-hobo?" Bonesaw asks again.
"Oh it's an endearing term, and rather apt. A fitting descriptor for our bunch, for sure. A bit dated though, surprised to hear it from someone as young as you."
"How the—"
"Oh it's simple really. I used to play a bit of D&D back in the day. My favorite character to play was an evil Halfling ranger. Mommy didn't approve. Said it was demonic, and would turn me evil. Guess she was right. After all, why should I be content pretending to wander around killing things with a party when I could do it for real?"
"Oooo, what's D&D? Is it a game?" Riley asks.
"Indeed it is, Riley my dear."
"Can you teach me how to play?"
"Why sure! After we have had our bit of fun here and are on the road again, it will be a great way to pass the time. When you're not tinkering that is."
"Yea!"
"Given how much you love to hear yourself talk, I'm surprised you weren't the party's bard." I say.
"Touché, I do love the theatrics of it all. I'm a true showman at heart, a real artist."
"You call yourself an artist? You rip off cliché Earth Aleph horror movies to get their ideas, and think it's creative? That's scraping the bottom of the barrel."
"The stupid kid has a point you know, I said it would not work. That reminds me, Alan, you lost our bet." Shatterbird says.
Alan silently stalks over and hands an intact wine bottle to Shatterbird. A soft hum comes from the top of it and the part of the neck holding the cork cracks, shears off, and floats away. "Why do you even collect these? You don't drink anything anymore." Shatterbird asks after taking a long swig.
Jack resumed talking to me, "I'll admit I'm a bit disappointed in that myself, but hey, whatever works. I'm more annoyed that I spent a few hours setting it back up only for it to be ended rather earlier than normal. You didn't even get to see two-thirds of the rooms."
"Yeah, well, I don't feel particularly sorry for disappointing you there." Just keep talking you schmuck; I'll keep working at trying to get my damn inventory screen positioned to make use of it better. Damn restraints. There, I finally got the thing maximized; now I need to move it around.
"Oh, on the contrary, you haven't disappointed, except maybe that awful attempt at running away earlier. Rather selfish and unheroic of you, leaving the others to their obviously terrible fate. You seemed more protective while I watched you on the cameras. Family? No… not enough of a resemblance, maybe the girl's boyfriend? No, not that either, not protective enough."
"Why not just let them go? You need to leave the occasional witnesses behind, to tell the tale of the scary Nine, and keep your reputation sharp."
"Oh, come on." Jack laughs "That little attempt at manipulation was pathetic, I bet you can do better than that. Besides, I have plans for them. Normally I'm pretty good at reading people, though you're a bit harder to read than most, kind of like Jason in that regard."
"Jason?" I ask.
"Hatchet Face."
I glance over to him; he is holding my machete, the one I had given Ruben. "Really? The big ugly fu---"
"Language!" Bonesaw interjects.
"The big ugly dude holding a machete is and some kind of mask propped up on his head is named Jason… that's just…" As I watch, his overhead tag updates to include his first name.
"Now you see? That right there, that is what I am talking about. You look like you wanted to make a joke. Now while Jason's hard to read, he’s also dumb as an ox. So his desires are rather easy to predict. He knows you are some kind of brute, so right now; he wants to pop your head like a melon. Mind you, I'm the only one holding him back at the moment. You, on the other hand, are obviously much more complex. Normally people would be pleading, begging for their lives, panicking, and all kinds of nonsense. Look at them for example." Jack says as he points to the Sanchez family. "They have pretty much become quivering wrecks. See the pretty nurse over there? She's almost entirely catatonic now, though she'll still squirm under the right kind of motivation, but you? You're still cool as a cucumber."
"I'm not interested in begging or pleading if that's what you're expecting. Where's the fun in that?"
"Heh, quite right. You know what I think it is? I think it's your power. So my friends, let's give the boy some space." Jack says as he, the Siberian and Bonesaw step away. "Oh Jason… Could you stand over here for a minute?"
Hatchet Face stands up and starts lumbering over. "FUCK!"
"LANGUAGE!"
-4 HP [Electrical Damage] (4 Resisted)
"OW FUCK DAMN IT!"
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Minor Level Drain'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Minor Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been reduced!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been reduced!
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Mild Depression'
You are suffering from the Status Effect 'Mild Aqua-phobia'
Avatar state has been partially disabled!
-10 Stress Points
"LANGUAGE!"
-5 HP [Electrical Damage] (3 Resisted)
The Status Effect 'Minor Level Drain' has been upgraded to 'Level Drain'
The Status Effect 'Minor Skill Reduction' has been upgraded to 'Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been reduced!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been reduced!
Your Null Resistance skill has increased by 1
-5 Stress Points
"NO! FUCK! STOP IT! CLOSE, CLOSE, CLOSE, CLOSE"
-6 HP [Electrical Damage] (2 Resisted)
"No Swearing!"
The Status Effect 'Level Drain' has been upgraded to 'Major Level Drain'
The Status Effect 'Skill Reduction' has been upgraded to 'Major Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been reduced!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been reduced!
The Status Effect 'Mild Depression' has been upgraded to 'Depression'
-5 Stress Points
-7 HP [Electrical Damage] (1 Resisted)
"AAARRRGH! CLOSE, CLOSE, CLOSE…"
The Status Effect 'Major Level Drain' has been upgraded to 'Severe Level Drain'
The Status Effect 'Major Skill Reduction' has been upgraded to 'Severe Skill Reduction'
The Effects of Gamer's Mind have been removed!
The Effects of Gamer's Body have been removed!
-5 Stress Points
Your Null Resistance skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the Protocol Removal feature for Null Resistance
-8 HP [Electrical Damage] (0 Resisted) x5
"Hmmm," Bonesaw queried, reading some monitor. "He's still using some part of his powers even though Hatchet Face is next to him. Not as effective though. Bit of a feedback loop, I'll turn down the settings."
-4 HP [Electrical Damage] (0 Resisted) x3
Your Damage Resistance (Electrical) has increased by 1
-2 HP [Electrical Damage] (2 Resisted)
"Well that is fascinating; I think we learned enough for now. Jason, if you could please." Jack shoos the mangled man away. Hatchet Face grunts, but complies, and wanders off.
"Oh, Jesus…." I subvocalize to dismiss the rest, until my HUD was uncluttered again.
"Hehe! Jesus. Prophet thought he was Jesus. That reminds me, I should do something with his corpse while it's still fresh…" Bonesaw says absentmindedly.
"Well, right. It's been a nice chat, but I'm going to let Bonesaw have her fun, while I get the next event started." Jack comments dryly.
No, I have to… "Why? Got tired of monologuing already? You never answered my question earlier."
Jack stops. "Oh? And what was that?"
"What's the point of this?"
"Really? You don't think I have--
"HOOOOOORRRRK!" Crawlers snorts, making an awful noise, drawing the looks of most everyone in the area. The Sanchez family scoots further away from him.
Jack looks toward Crawler then resumes talking to me, "You don't think I haven't been asked that hundreds of times before by the pleading masses? Usually right before I…" He gestures with his razor across his throat.
"I don't mean why you are doing all 'this'… Psycho is what psycho does. I mean what's the point of doing the same repetitive sh… crap every time? Clearly you want to break people down, but what's really in it for you? I'm genuinely curious."
"HUUUUUURRRK, HURK HURK!" Crawler snorts again.
"Ned really?" Jack sighs, and then continues. "Well, I do have to share the stage with other actors, but I always like to see that the world is a wor--
"HOORK! HURRK, HURK, HURK!"
"Ned, do you mind? I'm trying to have a moment—WHOA!" Jack says then suddenly lunges away.
An aluminum bat, pitted, corroded and discolored, comes flying out of Crawler's cavernous maw and slams into the wall of the adjacent building. Along with it comes other bits of stuff as well as flying globs of acid spittle. Was that a belt buck—"OH FUCK! AHHH!"
-25 HP [Corrosive Damage]
-15 HP [Corrosive Damage]
"Nuuuhhh!" some of the acid spittle landed on me, fuck it's on my arm, at least it's weakening the leather... "Notifications"…
For performing a repeated action you may gain the Damage Resistance (Corrosive) skill
"Stop ruining my toys!" Bonesaw shouts. Everyone was screaming, Jordan loudest of all.
"Y…Yes…. Fuck this hurts."
-12 HP [Corrosive Damage] (2 Resisted)
-11 HP [Corrosive Damage] (2 Resisted)
"Observe" Crawler's Acidic spit.
-10 HP [Corrosive Damage] (2 Resisted)
It takes all my effort to sweep my inventory window across my arm. "Inventory, Crawler's Acidic spit." I subvocalize it, gritting my teeth in pain.
-4 HP [Corrosive Damage] (2 resisted)
And yet I still didn't get all of it. Bonesaw then throws some powder on me and my skin stops sizzling. She then throws a lot more onto Jordan because… turn away, I can't look at that. She was the worst hit by Crawler's….loogie? The others seem to have narrowly avoided it.
"Thanks." I say to Bonesaw. "You bandaged my ribs up earlier too?" Well, back to manipulating my inventory screen. The new holes in the restraints give me a bit more wiggle room.
Riley Gray has gone from annoyance to stranger
"Oh, you're welcome!" she says in a chipper tone. "We didn't want you dying on us or anything before we were ready for that."
"HAHAHAHA!" Shatterbird laughs manically, and constructs a pane of mirrored glass in front of Jordan. Jordan starts quivering and moaning louder. "Not so pretty now, is she Jack?" she says, turning to face him.
"Annoying. You know, petty jealousy really doesn't become you." Jack sneers.
Suddenly four gunshots rang out. Jack flinches back "SHIT! That stings." he says. Blood is trickling from his shoulder.
"Jaaaack! You promised no swearing!" Bonesaw wails.
"You Bitch! That's my Gun!" Shatterbird screams, and stabs Jordan through the stomach with her floating glass spear.
"My apologies, Riley dear, I was just caught off guard."
Four shots fired, one hit Jack, one hit Shatterbird, two, I don't know. "Jordan, no!" I yell too late. The gun goes off a fifth time, last chamber. Flesh, bone fragments and grey matter explode out of the back of her head to cover those near her. Jordan's body slumps to the floor. Chela screams and manically tries to wipe the gore off her face. The gun clatters to the concrete and starts sizzling in a pool of Crawlers spit.
Jordan Palecki has been removed from your relationship sheet
Saved: 0, Dead: 41, Pending: 3
"God damn it!" Shatterbird yells then eviscerates her corpse with hundreds of shards of glass.
"Stop Swearing! Look what you did!" Bonesaw pouts. "Now I can't use her brain or any other part of her!"
"Really, Shatterbird, that was sloppy. Way to ruin the mood too. Why don't you keep watch from up high, make sure that house fire didn't attract any unwanted attention."
Shatterbird leers back but says nothing. She floats some glass up to seal the graze in her arm, and then ascends.
"I do hate it when they do that." Jack sighs. "Riley dear, do you mind getting your tweezers?" He pokes at the hole in his shoulder and the bulge behind it.
"Okay!"
"Observe" I focus on Jack's wound. It's minimal, the bullet blocked by his sub-dermal mesh armor. In short order, Bonesaw extracts the bullet from Jack's shoulder, drops it on the ground, sews the wound back up and applies more powder.
"Well, it's been nice chatting, but the show must go on. I'll leave you in Bonesaw's capable hands. I need to set the stage for the final act. Mannequin, Siberian if you could assist, let's gather up the happy little family."
"Wait! What are you doing with them?"
"Oh don't worry. I'll save you a front row seat." Jack smirks as he walks away. Carmen and Chela scream as they are picked up. Ruben tries to fight them off, but is just wrapped up in Mannequins chains and carted off as well. They are all still on my mini-map, not dead yet. But what, what can I possibly do? My attention is brought back to focus as the sound of a power saw hits my ears.
-63 HP (12 Resisted)
"Owww! Mother fu…. Come on Riley can't you warn me first?" Holy fuck, Bonesaw just used a bonesaw, on my skull.
"Aw, figured that wouldn't work, but I had to try."
"Uh, it didn't?"
"Yeah, your brute power is weird, it seems every injury is just skin deep. They look real enough though, but I can't even get a needle in there, it just stops. I could only sedate you remotely when Hatchet Face was carrying you. Of course I could have him stand over here again."
"Please don't"
"Yeah, well I wouldn't worry about that yet. None of my remote surgical systems work since the last trigger trashed them. I need to build new ones. For now, I'll just have to probe your brain with electric pulses."
-0 HP [Electrical Damage] (4 Resisted)
"Oh right, silly me. I forgot to turn the power back up."
-2 HP [electrical Damage] (6 Resisted) x5
I grimaced. Bonesaw, she's a child, a psychotic child but still a child, which flits from thing to thing, and gets distracted. Not much of a multi-tasker, she stops doing work while talking. Keep her talking. "So what was it that you said you noticed about my brain earlier?"
"Oh! Yeah! It's so fascinating! The brain waves coming off your Gemma indicates it is huge! It's like there are two of them but that's impossible. I wish I had seen your Corona Pollentia before your trigger, I bet it could have told me a lot. Oh and the x-ray said your brain tissue is pretty densely packed in there too,"
"Gemma, Corona Pollentia? I'm afraid I've not heard of those before, maybe you could explain?"
Riley Gray has gone from stranger to acquaintance
"Oh, sure! Wow, you're a lot more fun to talk to than most patients. They just cry and scream, until I turn their vocal chords off…"
Your Parahuman Lore skill has increased by 1
Your Parahuman Lore skill has increased by 1
-2 HP [Electrical Damage] (6 Resisted) x4
Just keep talking, you sadistic little Alice cosplayer. Grimace with each zap, keep lining up my inventory window horizontally with the table. There, I can almost touch it…
"Hi" Burnscar says after walking up to me.
What the hell? "Hi" I respond back still strapped to the table with this damn contraption on my head.
"Sorry I burned you and your friends." She replies sheepishly. "I just... I like fire."
"Uh, yeah sure, how about not doing that again then?" She ignores me and just walks away.
-2 HP [Electrical Damage] (6 Resisted)
-1 Stress Point
Another song started blaring from my broadcast function. My power was definitely trolling me right now.
"Hehe! I think I found your play button." Riley says, smiling. "Huh, I kinda like this song too."
A full body shudder passes over me, as Riley chatted freely about powers and her theories while the song played…
"…about that thing you were saying about passengers." I say over the music. "I think I get that really well. I guess I certainly feel like mine has a mind of its own sometimes, kinda pushing me around. You ever felt like that?"
Your Parahuman Lore skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the 'Power Summary' bonus feature for Observe
You have unlocked the 'Declassified' feature for Parahuman Lore
"Huh… you know I never thought of it that way." Riley pauses in thought, not paying attention to me.
Really I got a gain from that you troll? Is this more of your not so subtle encouragement? Well, newsflash, you aren't getting shit if I end up dead. Finally, "Inventory, Bonesaw's bone-saw" I subvocalize, after managing to tap it with my finger at just the right moment when my window intersects it while it's resting on the cart.
"Maybe you should, especially since, you know, you're so young. Even you know enough about brains, you're a practical expert by now I'm sure, to understand that a person's personality is rather formative in the early years. But if you've got this outside thing or passenger or whatever subtly influencing that, how much of you is really you and not something of its making?" "Inventory Bonesaw's Scalpel" I subvocalize again, just keep picking off random tools one by one.
A glance at my mini-map Ruben, Chela and Carmen are separated some feet apart. Their dots form a triangle in the next lot over. Jack is heading back this way.
"Hey! Where's my Bone-saw?" Bonesaw yells, finally noticing what I've disappeared.
"I think that's my line." Jack chuckles, "I say it whenever you wander off."
"Did you just make a dad joke?" Bonesaw asks, her eyes rolling with the attitude only a preteen could muster.
"I've been practicing." Jack smirks. "Anyways, I need to borrow your experiment."
"Aww…" Bonesaw laments. Fuck what's he doing now?
"The show's about to start, but it’s not much fun explaining the rules when the captive audience can't speak English."
"Graahh!" I wince at the pain in my ribs as The Siberian picks up the table I'm on, hoists it over her head, and carries me over to the next lot. I just manage to swing my inventory window down to intersect the table as I get painfully bounced along. Not yet though…
She drops me down next to Chela, who is chained to a post with a bag over her head. Carmen is strung up on a wooden beam, a noose around her neck, and her mouth taped shut, delicately balanced on an overturned oil drum barrel. The rope suspending her up threads through some wooden contraption, across a road construction crew's potable water truck, and the other end is tied around Ruben's wrists who is suspended over a currently unlit bonfire.
"Places everyone! The show is about to start!" Jack announces in a carnival barker's voice. All other members of the nine, except the Siberian, visibly move away.
"So, translate if you would please, though she may well be smart enough to figure it out soon enough." Jack says to me, then pulls the bag off Chela's head and she starts screaming, trying to reach her parents noticing the dire situation they are in, but cannot because one hand is chained to the post at her wrist.
"Over here! We have dear mommy. Can you save her?" Jack asks Chela. "Don't worry she probably won't break her neck instantly. I never did get my knot tying badge in the boy scouts. She'll probably just end up strangling to death slowly. But look on the bright side. That means you get more time to make a choice. All you have to do to save her is cut the rope, right here." He gestures to where it's running through the platform. Jack glances over to me again. "Go on now; let's make sure she knows the rules of the game."
I translate Jack's morbid instructions to Chela, throwing in a quick Observe. Near her breaking point; It's happening; this is the real point of their games, priming people to trigger.
"Over here! We have dear daddy. Maybe you'd rather save him instead? Mimi! If you would, please." Burnscar shoots a small fireball from her hand that lands at the base of the bonfire below Ruben's dangling feet, setting it ablaze. He screams and lifts his legs up in the air to avoid the licks of the flames.
"If you want to save daddy, all you have to do is turn the spout and open the valve, and the water will put out the fire. Too bad it's missing the handle, but any good lever will do. One Like this" Jack says, twirling the axe, my axe, in the air. "Use this as a handle to save daddy, or use it to cut the rope to save mommy." Jack pauses as he waits for me to translate. "But if you cut the rope, I rigged it so all the water will get spilled out away from the fire and dear daddy will fall right down into the flames. If you turn the handle instead, well. I doubt you'll finish doing that in time before dear mommy strangles to death." Jack gestured for me to translate again. "I suppose you could do nothing at all, but daddy can't keep his legs raised forever, he'll catch fire, and mommy well, you get the idea."
These sick twisted fucks, I want them all to die. Chela is screaming.
"It's a puzzle you see. Choose which one to save, if you can, or they both die." Jack flips the axe around one more time, and hands it to Chela. She takes it and lunges, but Jack easily steps away.
<"Save your mother! Chela! I love you."> Ruben yells.
"Oh, I nearly forgot. The chain isn't quite long enough to reach, is it? Guess you'll have to fix that. Don't worry though, afterwards, Riley can lend you a hand." Jack skips over to Carmen and kicks the barrel out from under her.
"NOOOOOOOO!" Chela screams
Error:
image [https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/569/491/fa8.png]
Simon's Character Sheet:
Name: Simon Clarence Anderson
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Race: Human (Parahuman)
Class: Teenage Runaway / Rogue
Faction: None
Money: $5.16
Title: Gentleman Thief
Level: 18 (89.69%)
XP: 32039
Primary Attributes
STR: 11 (-1.00) 10.00 (60.66%)
AGI: 9 (-2.00) 7.00 (15.48%)
CON: 52 (-4.00) 48.00 (60.04%)
INT: 30 (-1.00) 29.00 (0.00%)
PER: 12 (-1.00) 11.00 (29.16%)
WIS: 22 (-1.00) 21.00 (30.14%)
CHA: 13 (+0.00) 13.00 (60.95%)
LUC: 15 (+0.00) 15.00 (61.98%)
Unspent Points: 3
Secondary Attributes
Health Pool: 560/1566
Stamina Pool: 1159/1159
Mana Pool: 6347/6750
Stress Pool: 457/520
Attack: 11.00
Speed: 2.73
Dodge: 12.76
Armor: 0.40
Carry: 100.00
Allure: 3 (+0.50) 3.5
Status Effects
Teenage Acne: ALU -0.50
Alluring Charm*: ALU +1.00
Fractured Ribs: STR -1.00 AGI -1.50 CON -3.00
Bruised Organs x4: AGI -0.50 CON -1.00
Mild Concussion: INT -1.00 PER -1.00 WIS -1.00
Infection: Bonesaw's Tracking Parasite:
Skills
Max Slots: 58
Free Skill Slots: 17
Artistry: 10 (85.89%)
Athletics: 12 (38.53%)
Basic Academics: 9 (0.00%)
Computers: 10 (11.23%)
Crafting (Stone & Pottery): 10 (5.67%)
Create Mana Golem: 12 (18.03%)
Damage Resistance (Corrosive): 1 (34.16%)
Damage Resistance (Electrical): 3 (22.49%)
Damage Resistance (Fire & Heat): 3 (39.41%)
Damage Resistance (Physical): 6 (22.58%)
Disable Device: 12 (2.45%)
Disease Resistance: 7 (31.14%)
Disguise: 4 (25.98%)
Drug & Poison Resistance: 20 (15.75%)
Empathy: 12 (47.55%)
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: 3 (0.00%)
Meditation: 12 (48.91%)
Melee Weapons: 4 (30.76%)
Null Resistance: 10 (4.07%)
Observe: 23 (18.38%)
Parahuman Lore: 10 (15.53%)
Power Strike: 10 (8.07%)
Programming: 10 (0.54%)
Psychology: 5 (10.45%)
Science (Biology): 1 (53.22%)
Science (Chemistry): 1 (0.00%)
Science (Earth): 1 (0.00%)
Speech: 10 (35.41%)
Stealth: 12 (38.22%)
Strategy: 5 (25.87%)
Thievery: 11 (12.42%)
Unarmed Combat: 5 (4.97%)
Vehicle Operations: 3 (0.00%)
Video Games: 26 (16.74%)
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
Fast Recovery: x4 HP and Stamina regeneration speed (Free at 50 CON)
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
Affinities
Earth: 6
Water: 1
Plant: 1
Lightning: 3