You think about lying to make yourself look better in the eyes of this man but in the end, you decide not to.
Volition: Thank you. trust me you'll see that this is for the better.
Drama: Not what I would've done, but I trust you know what your doing.
Decision made, you can feel the skill voices receding back into your subconscious, as you try to remember what little information you have.
Ritsuka: "Well...Not a lot really. Just a quick, debriefing Pamphlet and the Simulation. They just flew me in today you see."
Lev: "Oh? So you're a complete amateur?"
He would look confused before realization crosses his face.
Lev: "Right....come to think of it we did call for applicants just to fill numbers. So you're one of them?" Number Cruncher Dialogue:
(Throughout the Quest, there will be new bits of Dialogue options that pop up due to any number of variables, in this case it's having the Number Cruncher Thought. This allows you to flesh out Fujimaru more, make headway into new thoughts and open up new options. Mechanically this only serves as Actual FGO like textbox choices, it doesn't really impact the story beyond Fujimarus headspace. EDIT: When these choices are made, the unchosen choice is deleted, and the Dialogue, outside of these line breaks are changed.)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future) Ritsuka: "Well, personally i feel like I'm more of a Number cruncher than a Number filler. But hey familiarity with Numbers is always a good thing, right?"
Lev: "..."
Mash: "Uhm....what was that?"
Ritsuka: "An...Attempt to convey my past and my okayness with the situation through a Humorous statement."
Empathy (Trivial: Success): You get the feeling that your attempt at brushing off the comment didn't go down well.
Conceptualization (Medium: Success!): You have been artistically distant ever since you've stopped roleplaying with your group, you get the feeling that if you want to fix that you'll have to find a way to re-stimulate your brain.
Lev: "Well I'm sorry I made you feel like you had to do that, it was insensitive of me. But please don't be discouraged because you are a public applicant, we need all of you for this mission."
He would say quickly moving on from what was no doubt a strange reaction
Lev: "38 Elite mages plus 10 talented Public Applicants..Somehow, we were able to gather all possible candidates. That includes you, and it's something to rejoice over. and now this year, 2017 we were able to gather everyone who could Spiritron Dives, I believe you know it as Rayshifting, all here with minimal problems."
You...can't tell if he's trying to tell you about the others or not. or...maybe this is more of a talking to himself thing? Regardless he ten seems to remember that he is in fact, surrounded by two people.
Lev: "Oh, excuse me. Went on a bit of a tangent there. Anyways, if there is anything you don't understand feel free to ask Mash or myself anytime."
he then pauses as if just noticing something off.
Lev: "Come to think of it, why were you and him Talking? That's not like you. Did the two of you know each other before?"
You take it that means Mash is a bit of an Introvert, or...maybe more than a bit of one.
Mash: "Ah no i've never met Senpai before. But he looked like he was about to fall asleep right there so..."
Lev: "Sleeping? Ritsuka was asleep here?"
He didn't quite get the circumstance of how you met, but it was close enough to what happened. So you nodded in confirmation.
Lev: "Ahh..you went through the Simulation when you entered right? Spiritron Dives can get to you when your not used to them. After the Simulation ended and the gates opened, you must've unconsciously walked out before waking up. Like a type of sleep walking. When you fell Ritsuka, Mash must've seen and approached you."
...Was...Was that really all there was to it, not Jet Lag, not a byproduct of the strange dreams that suck you in at any time, but just a side effect of the simulation?
Ritsuka: "Is that really all there is to it? because, It's a bit of a struggle to uh convince my body to be fully awake."
Lev: "Well it should be fine, but we should probably get you to the infirmary just in case."
As he reaches into his pocket, presumably to give you a map so he can show you towards the Infirmary, but his eye catches something on his watch.
Lev: "Sorry, Hold on a Little longer. The Directors Orientation is about to start. You should probably head over."
Ritsuka: "The Director?"
Lev: "The Director is the well, Director. The person in charge of Chaldea and commands us during our Special missions. Since you've only read the pamphlet I assume this is news to you?"
Mash: "Well the pamphlet doesn't disclose the Director's profile, it hasn't been distrubuted...to well any public resources of Chaldea."
Ritsuka: "Well Yeah uh, I wasn't informed of any director. Up until now i suppose."
Mash: "That makes sense, only Mages from families over 100 years old would show respect to the Animusphere family name."
Lev: "Ah, well whether you know the director or not, it doesn't affect your work as a Master so it's all good. But it's also good to stay on her good side to ensure a peaceful working environment, so let's get you to that orientation. It's for you and the other newly flown in people as well."
Ritsuka: "Alright then let's go."
Lev: "great, then let's hurry as it should start in five minutes."
The three of you began to walk towards the command room where the meeting is taking place when you see Lev slow down his pace to walk somewhat to your side.
Lev: "So while we make our day there, was there anything else you wanted to know? Something that uh, won't be covered by the orientation or the Pamphlet?"
Ritsuka: "Yeah uh....Why does Mash call me Senpai? I don't mind it, but it's strange she'd go for that before we were properly introduced."
Lev lets out a hearty chuckle.
Lev: "oh that? don't worry about it. To her every Human your age is her senpai."
Well looks like your hunch was right on the money.
Lev: "Although it is strange to actually hear her call someone that. This might be the first time. ever. I'm actually intruiged."
he would then speak up.
Lev: "Hey mash, why do you call Ritsuka, Senpai?"
After a bit of Silence, and Mash slowing down her gait to match yours and lev's walk.
Mash: "Well...if I had to say. The reason is that Ritsuka is the most Human-Like person I've ever met."
Ritsuka: "and uh...what does that mean?"
Mash: "I don't feel threatened. Therefore there's no reason to be hostile."
Lev: "I see. Well i can't blame you, the people at Chaldea are all pieces of work! I agree with you mash, I believe you and him will get along just fine."
Ritsuka: "....I uh...Thank you? I think?"
Empathy (Hard: Failure): You can't tell if that was a jab at your co-workers, a jab at you yourself for being so unassuming, or something else. regardless that does not instill you with much confidence when it comes to working here.
Mash: "....If you like senpai, Director will probably hate senpai."
Not much confidence at all.
Mash: "...what if we were to hide in the bathrooms to boycott the Orientation then?"
Composure (Hard: Failure): Your disbelief for the words she just said cannot be hidden. Luckily before you could come up with a whole list of reasons why that would be a bad idea Lev comes in with the save.
Lev: "I'm afraid that'll just make the Director more upset. We're going to have to leave it to fate. Shall we jump into the lions den Ritsuka? And hey once you get used to her you'll find that she can be a pretty sweet person." Dialogue:
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person" As Lev made the Lion's den comparison earlier, you are certain that this one will go over.
Ritsuka: "Well how bad can the pride be? It's only one person."
This one actually got a smile out of Lev, but Mash...she still doesn't look like she gets it. How Sheltered is She?
Lev: "Trust me, from the way she holds herself it'd be easy to mistake her for a pack of them."
Ritsuka: "Well I guess there's only one way to find out isn't there?"
And with that you and the others head inside. As you enter the Central Command Room, your eyes are first drawn to the globe within the center of the room, surrounded by various rings encasing it.
Inland Empire (Medium: Success): Even as a first generation magus, something, deep, deep in the back of your subconscious can tell, that globe, that globe is Important. when you get free time you should check it out.
The second thing you notice is that there are a bunch of folding chairs being set up , and, at a small set up stage was a girl with grey hair.
Mash: "...Senpai, your looking a bit pale."
You Jolt as you realized the Globe took your attention away from your two companions.
Ritsuka: "It's nothing. I was just uh, distracted by the Globe and I guess I must've started to space out again."
Mash: "It's an after effect of the Simulator. But, I wish i could send you to the infirmary."
The woman with gray hair seems to have noticed the presence of the three of you, and it's clear she does not like what she sees. well that or she hates people who are tardy.
Lev: "No more small talk, it looks like the orientation is just started. Fujimaru as one of the Masters you should have a seat for you in front."
At the front? Well....that certainly shoots a hole in your plans. Still you give him a nod and head towards the front of the crowd to take a seat, the Director speaks up as you do so.
Director: "Well that wasn't on time, but it looks like we're all here now."
As you sit down, a jolt of pure exhaustion blasts through your body. cementing that this was a terrible mistake.
Director: "Welcome to the Special Organization Chaldea. I am it's director, Olga Marie Animusphere. You have been selected or discovered from each nation for your rare-"
Endurance (Heroic: Failure!): You struggle to keep your eyes open as your body seems to be intent on surrendering to sleep. a familiar, feeling but this time there seems to be a different reason for it.
Ritsuka: "....crap. not again."
And after a brief but ultimately pointless struggle you black out.
You wake up in Chaldea's hallway. Mash leaning over you in concern.
Mash: "Senpai? Are you alright?"
Ritsuka: ".....I passed out didn't I?"
Mash: "yeah..but on the bright side it seems like the Directors slap woke you up completely."
Ritsuka: "her slap..."
Absentmindedly you bring your hand to your face, and you wince in shock as you feel a particularly sensitive part. that must've been where the slap hit.
Pain Threshold (Easy: Success): Considering just how sensitive to pain you can be, you imagine that it would hurt like hell had you woken up earlier. Small blessings you suppose.
Mash: "Anyways uh, You've been left out of the first mission Senpai. I'm here to take you to your room then report back to the Central Command Room."
It was at this point you noticed that mash was sort of, half dragging you towards your room, half dragging because it seemed like you were sleep walking in the direction she pulled you in. You decide to just...silently take note of that for later.
Ritsuka: "Yeah...I uh, I suppose I deserve that. Falling asleep during orientation and all."
Mash: "It wasn't your fault Senpai you just had a bad reaction to the-"
Fou: "Fou!"
Reaction Time (Hard: Success): You notice a Blur of white launch itself towards Mash's head.
Ritsuka: "Look out!"
Strangely enough, mash doesn't dodge she just, takes the hit as the creature settles on her shoulder.
Mash: "No, no. This is normal. No problem at all. Fou just likes to throw himself at my face slide around my back and ride on my shoulder."
Ritsuka: "....Huh. Are you the one responsible for Fou?"
You don't want to call this Pet-owner behavior to her face, not while Fou is around, but this is absolutely Pet-owner behavior.
Mash: "Well, i am his first caretaker, I even named him Fou. No real reason, just something about him."
You resist the urge to snark, well at the young innocent Mash, but internally you assume that's because Fou is one of the words Fou can say.
Fou: "Fou. Kuu, Fou Fou!"
Mash: "Huh. Apparently Fou has embraced you as one of his own Senpai. But can a Squirrel who sees Humans as rivals exist in this world?"
Inland Empire (Hard: Failure): Something about that resonated with your imagination..but it is not yet time for that. If you want to get anything more out of that idea you'll have to revisit it later.
Ritsuka: "He sees me as a Rival?"
Mash: "Well knowing Fou as i do I'm sure he'll forget about it the next day."
She stops walking as you face a door.
Mash: "Well here we are. your room. I should get going now."
Reaction Speed (Hard: Success): A question flashes across your mind as she turns to leave.
Ritsuka: "Wait! uh, before you go, which team are you on? Who knows once the Director let's me partake in missions maybe we'll be working together."
Mash: "Team A, the First one. Speaking of which, I've really got to head back now."
Shit....that's...how many layers of separation between you and her? A lot, so, So much for working with her on the job.
Fou: "Fou!"
Huh. it looks like fou's decided to stick with you.
Stepping into your room the first thing you notice is a man in a labcoat .
Ritsuka: "Uh...H-"
You are quickly interrupted by a very defensive and aggravated.
???: "You have some nerve coming into an empty room unauthorized! Don't you know that Until the occupant of the room arrives only certain Chaldea staff are allowed free access into unclaimed rooms! Not to mention I've pretty much unofficially claimed this room as a personal break room so you really shouldn't be here!"
Ritsuka: "Uh....About that. I think I'm the occupant of this room. Ritsuka Fujimaru."
upon hearing that he freezes in his tracks, his head looking behind him and towards the...indoor bathroom and shower where your luggage is before looking back at you apologetically.
???: "Oh. I see, so they finally got you here huh? Well uh, It's nice to meet you Ritsuka. I didn't think we'd be meeting like this."
Ritsuka: "Yeah this is...kinda awkward."
Dr. Roman: "Well let me try to fix that. My name is Doctor Romani Archaman. For some reason though, people just call me Doctor Roman. I'm not sure why but people tend to have an easier time pronouncing that. So feel free to call me Roman if you'd like. Honestly it sounds even better than Romani, it sounds cool and vaguely sweet."
Finesse (Easy: Success): You can certainly relate to wanting to come across as smooth and cool.
Ritsuka: "Well it's nice to meet you Doctor."
Roman: "Nice to meet you as well. I look forward to getting to know you."
On your shoulder Fou seems to be looking over Doctor Roman.
Roman: "Woah! is that the mysterious being only rumored to be in chaldea? Mash told me all sorts of stories about him, but I never thought they'd be true."
Roman would approach you, or more accurately Fou.
Roman: "Hey do you know any tricks? let's try, shake hand. if you do really well I'll give you a treat."
Fou doesn't even bother with a response as he looks away, and you see Romani step back with a disappointed look on his face.
Roman: "He just gave me the most pitying look i've ever seen and ignored me."
Ritsuka: "I gather he tends to do that to a lot of people. Me and Mash excluded. Not sure why though."
Roman: "Right...Well...Anyways i think I know what happened. You're the rookie who just got here and then ended up on the directors bad side right?"
Ritsuka: "Yeah, I uh, fell asleep during orientation."
Romani winces in sympathy.
Romani: "Oh she Hates that. Well i suppose that's why you're here and not with the rayshifting experiment. Everyone's supposed to be there. Well excluding me myself as I'm just here to look after people's health. Which most commonly happens before or after Rayshifting. Not much i could do in the middle other than monitor vitals and the machines are better at keeping track of the many mages rayshifting in their coffins."
Ritsuka: "Sounds rough."
Roman: "Yeah, and to add insult to injury the director said; "when your here Romani, everyone Slacks off!" and through me out. So I came here to sulk."
You don't doubt there was some truth to the directors worlds, Romani seems really chill...yet ironically prone to becoming over defensive.
Romani: "But that's when you showed up, this is what they call a blessing in disguise right? Since we both have nowhere to go, why don't we take this opportunity to deepen our friendship."
Ritsuka: "Sure, I could use some friends here."
Romani: "Really? Well I'm glad to be one of your first! Yes! I made a new friend!"
....He reminds you of an old friend...is friend the right word? Acquaintance back in high school, smart kid, wasn't that good with people, but treasured his friends dearly.
The two of you talk about Chaldea while you unpack your things, it wasn't much, just some spare clothes, which considering the lack of a dresser or a cabinet here are probably staying in the travel bags until you can get one assigned, your laptop, phone and chargers for both, which can go on the desk Romani is using near the door, other than that it's just a couple of pictures taken from home as to not forget where you come from, one of your family, on of your old DnD team..a copy of your high school graduation photo. Stuff you can be proud of.
Romani: "So that's chaldea, it's a workshop built on a snowy mountain 6000 meters above ocean level."
suddenly the comms turned on.
Lev: "Romani, could you come to the command room incase there's an emergency? A team is in perfect condition but B Team on down are inexperienced and are displaying some slight abnormalities. It probably comes from the anxiety of being in a coffin, it's like a cockpit and the name...probably doesn't help either."
Romani: "I could give them some anesthesia, I feel bad for them."
Romani would say, speaking into his comms device.
Lev: "Yeah, it shouldn't take too long. if your in the infirmary then it'll be about...2 minutes."
With that the communications device shut off and you stare at Romani.
Ritsuka: "You probably want to book it, because I don't think this place is near the Infirmary."
Romani: "Yeah...it's about a five minute distance from here to there. Ah well, I don't think they'll mind me being a little late, since A team is still good to go. Oh, and that guy's name is Lev Lainur, He's the Mage who created the Near-Future Observation Lens, Sheba. A Telescope used to observe that psuedo-Planet Chaldeas. Sheba not only observes Chaldeas but also this facility as well, serving as our Security system."
Visual Calculus (Hard: Success): A Near-Future observation lens? implying that using the data it has, and the possibilities programmed into it, making that observation of the near future an impressive thing. For a machine.
Interfacing (Medium: Success): You should ask Lev about that later, pick his brain to see how that works.
Ritsuka: "Wow. Is he also behind the Rayshifting technology?"
Romani: "Ah no, that would be the old Director, he made the summoning and unsummoning system which is the foundation of Rayshift Technology. In order to Actualize that though the Psuedo-Spiritron Calculation Engine, it's basically a supercomputer, was provided by the Atlus Academy. All of these different talents have been brought here to help carry out this mission"
He would then sigh.
Romani: "if you ask me, with all of that by their side it's a bit pointless for an ordinary doctor like myself to be there, but if they call, I must answer."
Ritsuka: "I know how you feel."
Romani: "yeah, I suppose you would, being one of the public applicants and all."
Ritsuka: "Yeah. it's all so...intimidating really."
Romani: "Don't worry Ritsuka, you'll adjust. I know I did. Anyways, thanks for talking to me Ritsuka. Drop by the infirmary later and i'll share some cake I have, You'll love it."
As he get's up to leave, everything goes dark.
Ritsuka: "...A Blackout? on day one? That's not a good sign."
Romani: "D-Don't be ridiculous. There's no way This is a Blackout."
Half light (Trivial: Success): You can hear the the fear in his voice as the possibility crossed his mind.
Romani: "su-Surely this is just a prank on those few of us who aren't-"
He would be cut off by the sound of distant explosions and the ground shaking, afterwards Emergency red lights would start flashing as a warning siren blares over the PA system.
PA System: Emergency. Emergency. A fire has broken out in both the central command room and central Power station Central Area's containment wall will go down in 90 seconds, All staff must evacuate from gate 2 at once."
Romani: "What happened in the central rooms?! Monitor, show us the Central Command Room! is everyone All Right?"
a Monitor would appear in your room, it's light breifly overpowering before your eyes adjust and what you saw was...terrible, the room itself is up in flaming ruins, and the Globe, Chaldeas...
Inland Empire (medium: Success): A very bad sign.
Romani: ".....Ritsuka. You need to go right now, I'll head over to the command room. The Containment Wall has very little time before it comes down, You need to evacuate before it does!"
Fou gives you a look. and understanding passes through the both of you.
Inland Empire (Easy: Success): he won't leave Mash behind, and neither will you.
Ritsuka: "I'm not going to run away now."
next thing you know, your rushing behind Romani Archaman. Hearing your footsetps he looks behind him and well doesn't like what he sees.
Romani: "What do you think your doing?! Gate 2 is back that way!"
Ritsuka: "I'm coming along to help whether you like it or not!"
Fou: "Fou!"
Romani: "You can't be- fine! there's no time to argue, just promise me you'll get out of there before the Wall goes down!"
As you approach your destination he tells you he's going for the power room and tosses you a fire extinguisher for the central command room. And the two of you head inside.
Romani: "...No survivors, the only thing left standing here is Chaldeas. There was no way something like this could've happened here on accident. No this had to be sabotage."
PA: "Generator operation stopped. Power level Critical. Backup Generator Switch....Error. Manual Switch needed. Containment Wall will close in 50 Seconds. Those in the Central Area Evacuate Immediately."
Romani levels a stern gaze at you.
Romani: "I'm going to to switch on the Backup Generator, i won't let Chaldea be in the dark, I want you to spend as little time up here as possible. Get out of here as soon as you can. and wait for help."
As soon as he said that Romani rushed off leaving you and Fou alone. The PA systems, no a different one turns on.
Rayshift PA: "System switching to final phase of Rayshift. Coordinates AD 2004 Fuyuki Japan. Laplace shifting protection established, Singularities Additional Factor Secured. Unsummon system set. Please start final adjustments."
Ritsuka: "Well I don't know about you, but I'm sure there has to be someone alive here."
Fou sniffs the air for a bit before jumping off of your shoulder.
Fou: "Kyu, Kou! Fou!"
Inland Empire (Medium: Success): You get the feeling he wants you to follow him. So you do.
As you do, the more of the destroyed room you see and experience...the more it sinks in that whoever did this wasn't just screwing around, this was supposed to be a killing blow to Chaldea. Romani was right about the severity of it. and with that realization came...well Emergency Mode.
Half Light: Fujimaru, what the hell are you getting us into?
Ritsuka: I'm helping.
Half Light: Helping who? You're surrounded by corpses and flames! the Doctor had the right of it, you should've left.
Volition: We can handle this. I know we can.
Half Light: Why do you never listen?
You end up reaching Mash and...She's not looking too good. Half of her is crushed by a Pillar and she would be...
Encyclopedia: She's going to die of blood loss if nothing is done, and will never be able to walk again if something is. We don't need to be medical professionals to assume that.
Volition: Well there has to be something we can do!
Ritsuka: "Mash!"
Mash: "Oh...Senpai."
Ritsuka: "Don't Worry, I'll...I'll.."
Your mind races, trying to think of something that could help but..
Conceptualization (Heroic: Success): I'm sorry, but there's nothing we can do. At least on our own.
Mash: "You...You can't help. Don't mind me please. Run."
Do You Listen?:
[[ Hell No, Move that Pillar off of her. She doesn't deserve to die like that. (Physical Instrument, Heroic: DC 15)
[] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[] Hell No, But...if there's nothing you can do to help then at least you should make sure she doesn't die alone (Empathy, Easy DC 6)
[] Hell No, at the very least you should be able to shift the pillar so she can crawl out. (Interfacing, Heroic: DC 16)
Okay...maybe I shouldn't have blitzed through all of the prologue before singularity F and taken it a bit more slow. Because i think this may have set up some expectations I couldn't live up to. But be assured, your choices at the end (and to a lesser extent in the dialogue) Do matter. I'll also be trying to find the right balance between going through story content and when and where to put choices. so be prepared for posts to vastly differ in word count,
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Claim to be more of a Number Cruncher than a Filler (Enables more bad joke/trying to be comedic Dialogue option choices in the future)
[X] Joke about "how bad can her pride be? It's only one person"
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
[X] Hell No, Comb the area, according to what you saw of it before, there has to be someone in a coffin well enough to help. (Visual Calculus, Heroic: DC 15)
Okay so...I updated the post, updated and put the Dialogue mechanics, into a spoiler as to not clutter up the dialogue choices line breaks.
And before i roll the Dice I figure I should go about the mechanics so everyone is on the Same Page.
The Basics: So this goes with Basic Disco Elysium Dice Rolls, roll to hit the DC, if you hit it? Great! if you don't you'll fail the task, sometimes in painful ways (Durability Damage), sometimes in embarrassing ways (Morale damage), but if you fail generally speaking you don't get a second chance at the roll. There IS a way to re-roll but Ritsuka doesn't have that yet.
Doubles: Double Sixes are always successes, and Double Ones are always failure. However that only applies to Active checks. Passive Checks are exempt from the doubles rule.
Modifiers: Modifiers come in two ways, Invisible (You won't see what causes these until the Roll) and visible (Actions you have taken before hand that you know will add to the role) Modifiers can help or hinder rolls depending on past actions and current circumstances.
Failing Upwards: The first New mechanic I'll be introducing to this quest, did you fail a roll you had no business failing? Most likely from Nat 1's? Well don't worry, Failing upwards still provides a path towards a solution near, or close enough the one. The catch? well You'll suffer a setback, either immediately (AKA taking damage) or something more long term (AKA granting your enemy an edge over you.) To Decide if you fail upward, we add up the Base Stat, the level of the Skill, and then the rolled result. If They all add up to make the DC, you fail upwards. If you don't you just fail.
Failure: Sometimes you just out, and out fail, but don't worry. failed rolls may not get you closer to success, but they do provide experience, Experience may not be shown until after the prologue is complete and we start Singularity F (effectively the Singularity prologue/Tutorial) but for the most part experience functions just like it does in Disco, get 100 of it, and you gain a point. Experience gain is determined by adding up the two die then divide the number by two. Snake eyes don't get divided by two.
So what do you all think, is too forgiving? Should I change the failing upward mechanic to work only with Double 1's? if there are any changes you would make to this (without scrapping a mechanic), I'd like to hear it, and if you make a good enough point I'll change the mechanics. I'll let this sit here a bit to gather responses before rolling (either on this post or the next.)
Alright, there seems to be no problems with the rules. Time to Roll:
Well I'll be damned. I was certain Ritsuka would have to fail forward. Alright I'll get to work on the next post now. Look forward to your choice of a Magus partner.
It WILL take me awhile to come up with a selection though, I have to balance experience, with not making this quest a cakewalk. took me a couple hours to figure out which of Team A if any I could put into the group you'll be choosing from.
So far, this seems good. I am not an expert on this kind of thing, but if your basing your mechanics based off of a highly successful game, then I think you are doing well.
You recreate the room within your minds eye, your brain working overtime to try and see what the bombs did the Least damage to, and which Coffins suffered the least.
Visual Calculus (Heroic: Success!): Here we go, the reconstruction of the room based on our one time in here. Better than expected.
You see it, the layer of blue overlaying the destroyed Room, a perfect reconstruction of it all.
Ritsuka: what are my options? And please keep them close to mash for time constraints.
Visual Calculus: least damaged coffins near Mash....
Visual Calculus: I've narrowed it down to four, no Six Options. Weirdly enough two from A Team, and the rest from coffins that just happened to be nearby. You'll have to move quick through, there's no telling what'll happen once the Rayshift occurs while their in the coffin.
Choose a companion: (A companion is well, a fellow master, someone more or less on your level that is relatively more knowledgeable than you in some aspect of the moonlit world. They unlock extra choices/scenes based on their personality and past, and each has access to a predetermined personal Servant)
[] Kadoc Zemplus (This Coffin is one of the furthest away from Team A, and consequently one of the least damaged, at least in comparison with the rest of them.)
[] Ophelia Phamrsolone (you'll be honest you have no idea how to pronounce the last name inscribed onto the coffin, but that doesn't matter. What does is the fact that you could've sworn you've seen a flash of red emanate from inside of it...and the lid of this one seems...easier to open than the rest. A strange hunch of yours.)
[] Samuel Peligor (...wait Peligor as in a family member of the owner of Peligor Corp? The guy who owns the company your tech is from? What the heck is one of them doing here? Well regardless he's good enough for C Team so clearly there's something going on with that family, and is close enough to help.)
[] Lucas Thompson (A fellow low teamer, a part of Team F, 2 levels above you and the other five Reserve Team Masters and considering Teams and their compositions are, and this what you are assuming anyways, based on general experience with magecraft you can only assume that he knows only a bit more than you, still he's close and help is help.)
[] Richard Goodfellow (That last name feels like a placeholder but you aren't questioning it, he's a part of Team D so...your assuming fairly powerful, or experienced.)
[] Howard Norwich (The Coffin seems to be...dented from the inside, and he's supposed to be in B-Team, so he has to be strong right?!)
So, Fun fact, I already have the end of the prologue written up, All I have to do is well account for the added Early companion. Not so fun fact, I am a FGO player and that's about as deep as I am in the Fate rabbit hole, so I distributed out the selection evenly, 2 OC's of my own make (Well, One of them is adopted by an already existing character i found on the Magus page of the Fate/Type Moon Wiki) 2 OC's based on pre-existing magus families that shouldn't be too broken, and finally two Magus from A team. it took awhile to think of the OC's and how to get them all to fit, but I think I can take the story in an interesting direction with any one of these characters.
It is prolly pronounced, uhh, Fam-r-solone? Anyway, I know only very surface details about Part 2 picked by osmosis from discussion and rare fanfic, but IIRC Ophelia is Mash's friend (or is predisposed to become one easily) and got some quite useful abilities.
[X] Kadoc Zemplus (This Coffin is one of the furthest away from Team A, and consequently one of the least damaged, at least in comparison with the rest of them.)
I know nothing about these guy's. So imma just pick a random one.
[X] Kadoc Zemplus (This Coffin is one of the furthest away from Team A, and consequently one of the least damaged, at least in comparison with the rest of them.)