[skyrim] Rest for [9] hours. OK?
Beneath Celestial Depths (An Arpeggio of Blue Steel Quest)
- Thread starter TheBleachDoctor
- Start date
- Sci-Fi
AnonymousRabbit
Rabbit Faced
Closing...votes tomorrow.... I feel like shit. Need sleep
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Gimme tallies.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
"Five!" Surcouf declared to a confused Mary.
The befuddled Design Child just stared at her Fog caretaker in confusion.
"FIVE!" the Fog ship reiterated before cackling wildly, turning her maw skyward. As she did, her mouth gaped wide, and out flew five baguettes. The five baguettes of the Apocalypse. They rained down upon the Earth and wiped all life from its surface.
The End
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Whelp. GG everyone, quest over. To those of you who said Insanity difficulty was a bad idea, I am vindicated. I wholeheartedly enjoyed this gripping narrative, engaging character, and especially the nail-bitting conclusion. Now I can unwatch this thread and never look at it again...
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ah, but you only unlocked the Normal Baguette Ending! You have yet to unlock the True Baguette Ending! Along with the other 665 endings! We truly have amazing replayability!
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Ending the world by Baguette in 665 colors, with five seconds of an ambiguous survival clip for the True Ending. Truly a magnificent reward for the loyalty and dedication of the fans.
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
We have another 200 True Endings as part of a DLC bundle!
AnonymousRabbit
Rabbit Faced
The sarcasm is physically painful to read.
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
Bioware's dropped ball on our collective brains and wallets hurt more.
AnonymousRabbit
Rabbit Faced
I'm not pleased with this behavior. I'll remember this.
Can't tally cause mobile
Hurry someone
Hurry someone
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
... from me and Bleach or from Bioware?
CompassJimbo
Where’s Your North?
- Location
- The former Rubber Capital of the World
Not Bioware.
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
I still need a real tally.
Give me 5 hours to get home. I promise you will get it
- Location
- New York
Vote Tally : Sci-Fi - Beneath Celestial Depths (An Arpeggio of Blue Steel Quest) | Page 26 | Sufficient Velocity
##### NetTally 1.7.4
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
No. of Votes: 8
Imaflatsquid
Alayn
angelofwhim
MobiusC
Muramasa
Unitveras
WarriorServent
Zedman7054
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
No. of Votes: 5
Cathon Grimeye
A Random Bowman
Always Late
Eridyne
obssesednuker
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
-[X] Before leaving visit the uplink and gain as much information as you can from it.
No. of Votes: 2
MilitaryAaa
Kerfirou
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] Mary. Leave your Union Core behind, this might be a trap.
No. of Votes: 1
Potato
[X] Have your hull prepared for combat, and have them trained on the ship at all times. Submerge the hull, the civilians may freak out at the Fog ship.
No. of Votes: 1
Potato
[X] If this is a trap, wrap Mary in Nanomaterial. Jump overboard and have the hull absorb both of you.
No. of Votes: 1
Potato
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
No. of Votes: 1
kinigget
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] Baguettes!
No. of Votes: 1
Nervos Belli
Total No. of Voters: 18
##### NetTally 1.7.4
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
No. of Votes: 8
Imaflatsquid
Alayn
angelofwhim
MobiusC
Muramasa
Unitveras
WarriorServent
Zedman7054
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
No. of Votes: 5
Cathon Grimeye
A Random Bowman
Always Late
Eridyne
obssesednuker
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
-[X] Before leaving visit the uplink and gain as much information as you can from it.
No. of Votes: 2
MilitaryAaa
Kerfirou
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] Mary. Leave your Union Core behind, this might be a trap.
No. of Votes: 1
Potato
[X] Have your hull prepared for combat, and have them trained on the ship at all times. Submerge the hull, the civilians may freak out at the Fog ship.
No. of Votes: 1
Potato
[X] If this is a trap, wrap Mary in Nanomaterial. Jump overboard and have the hull absorb both of you.
No. of Votes: 1
Potato
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
No. of Votes: 1
kinigget
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] Baguettes!
No. of Votes: 1
Nervos Belli
Total No. of Voters: 18
Depth 11
TheBleachDoctor
Secretly a Cat
- Location
- The Plane of Infinite Kittens
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X] Bring some things with you...
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
While you're reasonably sure that you can come back here after checking out the cruise liner, you're going to play it safe and stock up on supplies anyways.
So that huge pile of scrap metal sitting next to your dock? Into the hold it goes! Enough chili rations to last through to the heat death of the universe? The hold!
With that all squared away, and Mary sitting excitedly in your Captain's chair, only one thing left to do! Sail. You just hope your repairs hold up.
"Alright dear," you crack your knuckles as you feel your engines thrum to life deep in your hull, "Hold on, things might get bumpy!"
With a dull roar, you lurch from your moorings and dive beneath the water, into the pen's submerged exit tunnel. You probably entered through this way, so you should be able to get out. These tunnels were designed for ships many times your size anyways. It's really quite roomy.
The exit itself is partially obstructed by rubble, probably from overhead as time wore away at the island itself. You slip past with space to spare.
Your little Design Child is practically bouncing in excitement as you near the cruise ship. It appears to have minimal sensors, so you turn on your active scanners and pull up all information that you can glean.
While this isn't like any ship you've seen before, it's quite recognizable as a luxury liner. It's all sleek abovewater, with multiple floors of rooms for the guests. It has an odd double-hulled design, with a large number of recreational facilities situated in the middle above the water. You detect that this ship is capable of very high speeds, but you're guessing that it doesn't normally go that fast for the passenger's sakes. At the speed its going, you could afford maybe a ten minute venture onboard.
But how to get on the ship...
"Surcouf!" Mary points out one bit of the ship, near the aft, "Nobody is there right now!"
And so she's right. There's nobody there. It appears to be a library of some sort... excellent.
You gently surface next to the ship, carrying Mary piggyback. Here goes nothing!
Using your Klein Field like stairs, you quickly scale the side of the hull all the way up to the window, and dive in! Quickly scanning your surroundings, you confirm that you're undetected. Your hull dives back beneath the waves to make sure that it stays that way.
"All aboard!" Mary whispers excitedly as you go to check the door. No one around. Good.
You step out into the hallway, Design Child in hand. Time to blend in. An advertisement on the wall for a fashion outlet gives you a few hints, and in a swirl of glittering Nanomaterials, both you and Mary are wearing what you hope is the latest in American Empire fashion.
"This skirt is kind of long," Mary complains as she stares down at her clothes, which now resemble something like a summer dress, but not quite. As for yourself, you're sporting what you hope is a very classy pantsuit. In red, of course.
You like red. Red like the color of your baguettes, prepared Ketchup-style.
Going farther into the ship reveals more and more people, who thankfully don't pay your clothes any mind. Their own clothes aren't terribly uniform, which you suppose makes your concern about not fitting in a bit moot. After all, when no one fits in, everyone does.
The ship is, of course, decorated like a standard luxury liner. Lots of wood, polished metal surfaces, an obscene amount of glass and paintings... you suppose it's nice, but in all honestly you prefer a simpler aesthetic.
You try and hack their internal network and take extensive scans of the people around you while you take Mary to the buffet, where the little darling almost starts screaming in delight at the variety of fresh food available to her. You let her load up a very large tray of food, knowing full well that she's about to eat herself sick. A girl is allowed her indulgences, right?
At any rate, you quickly glean some important information from the cruise ship's network (It used old WPA-2 security, and you got past it with the username "login" and password "password"). Apparently, this is the ship "Amsterdam" from Holland America Lines, hailing from the American Empire. So they're still doing that name pun thing? Huh.
Anyways, it's coming back from a voyage to Japan. Ships from the "Oriental Union" escorted it safely out of Japanese waters, and it's making a short trek to a rendezvous point where American Empire warships will guard it on its way around the Hawaiian Islands Quarantine Zone. That'll happen in... 20 minutes, so once they start to get close, you're going to need to book it, or else you won't be able to bring your hull in close enough for an escape without tipping them off.
You gain a detailed map of both the Oriental Alliance and the American Empire. The former seems to be a collection of Japan, China, and the former South East Asian countries all joined together in one massive mega-nation. Unfortunately, there aren't any historical records for you to read. Apparently, they are in book form back in the library you entered through, which is now hosting a book signing by... Tom Clancy's clone? Huh.
At any rate, you now know a little more about another major power in this era. The American Empire itself appears to consist of the United States, which seems to have gone full crazy and conquered Canada, Mexico, and the entirety of South America, because apparently North America was just appetizers. Their rampage ended there, though. Unless the map is lying.
Given that this cruise ship is coming from the OA and going to the AE, relations between the two nations must be cordial at worst. Oh, you also find a brochure advertising cruises to the European Union and Russia, both of which are... bigger than you remember.
You're not going to be able to learn more without looting the library, sadly. You don't have enough time to read the books in question.
Another important bit of information is... all the Design Children on board.
True, they don't make up all or even most of the guests onboard, but there are a significant number of them. Scans without a physical DNA sample won't glean fine details, but it's enough for your to get the overall picture. So there are a lot of Design Children in the American Empire, to the point where they're mixed in with the general population... if you take this ship as a representative sample, at any rate.
But you don't learn much more, and it's time to go. As you lead Mary to a deserted area where you can hop overboard, she tugs on your sleeve.
"Surcouf," she looks up at you, "I want to stay."
You can't help but frown, "I beg your pardon, darling?"
"I want to go back home," she tugs again, "You want to go back to the island, right? I don't want to go back. It's cold and lonely there... I want to go someplace else."
"I'm not leaving you on this boat all by yourself, Mary," you kneel slightly so that you're eye to eye, "You might find yourself in a bad position."
Like compromising your existence to hostile elements. You never let information leaks like that out of your sight.
"I want you to come with me!" she begs hopefully, "I can show you around where I came from... if I remember right! Please? We're on the ship anyways, we just need to wait until it gets to its destination!"
You have to admit, it is a promising idea. Not for the reasons Mary gives, though. The girl can prove to be a guide and would be easy to work into a cover story... in the American Empire, you could infiltrate their society and communities, picking them clean of their history, technology, and secrets. You could learn a lot fairly easily that way. You wouldn't even have to abandon your hull, just keep it at an appreciable distance so it doesn't get detected.
Although, if Mary wants to leave for somewhere else, then you could take her to another place you've heard about. Like the Oriental Alliance! Japan specifically. You knew a bit about it through the other Fog ships and Humans that hailed from that region. That information is a couple of centuries out of date, so you might arrive to find that they've all begun to worship their Digital Goddess Hatsune Miku... well, it would be a learning experience for you and Mary both if that is so.
You could also go to the European Union. You remember that area well, even though it's the farthest and.... two century old information. Still, France! Baguettes! Hon hon!
The Hawaiian Islands is also a choice. Although if the Scarlet Fleet is still there, you're fairly certain that they'll hate you if they remember you.
Antarctica with Blue Steel also has the same problems. They might remember you... and you hope it's favorably, since you helped them a lot! Still, you double-crossed them in the end... so maybe not. Regardless, they'll certainly hear you out, whereas Scarlet Fleet might have Shoot-on-sight orders regarding you.
And then, finally, there's always the option to override Mary and go back to the island. You can think of a few things you might want to do back there...
At any rate, the American Empire warships are approaching. It's now or never.
[Major Action] - 1
[] Stay on the ship and go to the American Empire.
[] Leave the ship and head to...
-[] European Union
-[] Oriental Alliance
-[] Antarctica
-[] Hawaii
[] Go back to the Submarine Pen
[Minor Action]
(Available after Major Action votes close in 24 hours)
-[X] All the MREs we can gather on short notice.
-[X] all the scrap metal you can carry
While you're reasonably sure that you can come back here after checking out the cruise liner, you're going to play it safe and stock up on supplies anyways.
So that huge pile of scrap metal sitting next to your dock? Into the hold it goes! Enough chili rations to last through to the heat death of the universe? The hold!
With that all squared away, and Mary sitting excitedly in your Captain's chair, only one thing left to do! Sail. You just hope your repairs hold up.
"Alright dear," you crack your knuckles as you feel your engines thrum to life deep in your hull, "Hold on, things might get bumpy!"
With a dull roar, you lurch from your moorings and dive beneath the water, into the pen's submerged exit tunnel. You probably entered through this way, so you should be able to get out. These tunnels were designed for ships many times your size anyways. It's really quite roomy.
The exit itself is partially obstructed by rubble, probably from overhead as time wore away at the island itself. You slip past with space to spare.
Your little Design Child is practically bouncing in excitement as you near the cruise ship. It appears to have minimal sensors, so you turn on your active scanners and pull up all information that you can glean.
While this isn't like any ship you've seen before, it's quite recognizable as a luxury liner. It's all sleek abovewater, with multiple floors of rooms for the guests. It has an odd double-hulled design, with a large number of recreational facilities situated in the middle above the water. You detect that this ship is capable of very high speeds, but you're guessing that it doesn't normally go that fast for the passenger's sakes. At the speed its going, you could afford maybe a ten minute venture onboard.
But how to get on the ship...
"Surcouf!" Mary points out one bit of the ship, near the aft, "Nobody is there right now!"
And so she's right. There's nobody there. It appears to be a library of some sort... excellent.
You gently surface next to the ship, carrying Mary piggyback. Here goes nothing!
Using your Klein Field like stairs, you quickly scale the side of the hull all the way up to the window, and dive in! Quickly scanning your surroundings, you confirm that you're undetected. Your hull dives back beneath the waves to make sure that it stays that way.
"All aboard!" Mary whispers excitedly as you go to check the door. No one around. Good.
You step out into the hallway, Design Child in hand. Time to blend in. An advertisement on the wall for a fashion outlet gives you a few hints, and in a swirl of glittering Nanomaterials, both you and Mary are wearing what you hope is the latest in American Empire fashion.
"This skirt is kind of long," Mary complains as she stares down at her clothes, which now resemble something like a summer dress, but not quite. As for yourself, you're sporting what you hope is a very classy pantsuit. In red, of course.
You like red. Red like the color of your baguettes, prepared Ketchup-style.
Going farther into the ship reveals more and more people, who thankfully don't pay your clothes any mind. Their own clothes aren't terribly uniform, which you suppose makes your concern about not fitting in a bit moot. After all, when no one fits in, everyone does.
The ship is, of course, decorated like a standard luxury liner. Lots of wood, polished metal surfaces, an obscene amount of glass and paintings... you suppose it's nice, but in all honestly you prefer a simpler aesthetic.
You try and hack their internal network and take extensive scans of the people around you while you take Mary to the buffet, where the little darling almost starts screaming in delight at the variety of fresh food available to her. You let her load up a very large tray of food, knowing full well that she's about to eat herself sick. A girl is allowed her indulgences, right?
At any rate, you quickly glean some important information from the cruise ship's network (It used old WPA-2 security, and you got past it with the username "login" and password "password"). Apparently, this is the ship "Amsterdam" from Holland America Lines, hailing from the American Empire. So they're still doing that name pun thing? Huh.
Anyways, it's coming back from a voyage to Japan. Ships from the "Oriental Union" escorted it safely out of Japanese waters, and it's making a short trek to a rendezvous point where American Empire warships will guard it on its way around the Hawaiian Islands Quarantine Zone. That'll happen in... 20 minutes, so once they start to get close, you're going to need to book it, or else you won't be able to bring your hull in close enough for an escape without tipping them off.
You gain a detailed map of both the Oriental Alliance and the American Empire. The former seems to be a collection of Japan, China, and the former South East Asian countries all joined together in one massive mega-nation. Unfortunately, there aren't any historical records for you to read. Apparently, they are in book form back in the library you entered through, which is now hosting a book signing by... Tom Clancy's clone? Huh.
At any rate, you now know a little more about another major power in this era. The American Empire itself appears to consist of the United States, which seems to have gone full crazy and conquered Canada, Mexico, and the entirety of South America, because apparently North America was just appetizers. Their rampage ended there, though. Unless the map is lying.
Given that this cruise ship is coming from the OA and going to the AE, relations between the two nations must be cordial at worst. Oh, you also find a brochure advertising cruises to the European Union and Russia, both of which are... bigger than you remember.
You're not going to be able to learn more without looting the library, sadly. You don't have enough time to read the books in question.
Another important bit of information is... all the Design Children on board.
True, they don't make up all or even most of the guests onboard, but there are a significant number of them. Scans without a physical DNA sample won't glean fine details, but it's enough for your to get the overall picture. So there are a lot of Design Children in the American Empire, to the point where they're mixed in with the general population... if you take this ship as a representative sample, at any rate.
But you don't learn much more, and it's time to go. As you lead Mary to a deserted area where you can hop overboard, she tugs on your sleeve.
"Surcouf," she looks up at you, "I want to stay."
You can't help but frown, "I beg your pardon, darling?"
"I want to go back home," she tugs again, "You want to go back to the island, right? I don't want to go back. It's cold and lonely there... I want to go someplace else."
"I'm not leaving you on this boat all by yourself, Mary," you kneel slightly so that you're eye to eye, "You might find yourself in a bad position."
Like compromising your existence to hostile elements. You never let information leaks like that out of your sight.
"I want you to come with me!" she begs hopefully, "I can show you around where I came from... if I remember right! Please? We're on the ship anyways, we just need to wait until it gets to its destination!"
You have to admit, it is a promising idea. Not for the reasons Mary gives, though. The girl can prove to be a guide and would be easy to work into a cover story... in the American Empire, you could infiltrate their society and communities, picking them clean of their history, technology, and secrets. You could learn a lot fairly easily that way. You wouldn't even have to abandon your hull, just keep it at an appreciable distance so it doesn't get detected.
Although, if Mary wants to leave for somewhere else, then you could take her to another place you've heard about. Like the Oriental Alliance! Japan specifically. You knew a bit about it through the other Fog ships and Humans that hailed from that region. That information is a couple of centuries out of date, so you might arrive to find that they've all begun to worship their Digital Goddess Hatsune Miku... well, it would be a learning experience for you and Mary both if that is so.
You could also go to the European Union. You remember that area well, even though it's the farthest and.... two century old information. Still, France! Baguettes! Hon hon!
The Hawaiian Islands is also a choice. Although if the Scarlet Fleet is still there, you're fairly certain that they'll hate you if they remember you.
Antarctica with Blue Steel also has the same problems. They might remember you... and you hope it's favorably, since you helped them a lot! Still, you double-crossed them in the end... so maybe not. Regardless, they'll certainly hear you out, whereas Scarlet Fleet might have Shoot-on-sight orders regarding you.
And then, finally, there's always the option to override Mary and go back to the island. You can think of a few things you might want to do back there...
At any rate, the American Empire warships are approaching. It's now or never.
[Major Action] - 1
[] Stay on the ship and go to the American Empire.
[] Leave the ship and head to...
-[] European Union
-[] Oriental Alliance
-[] Antarctica
-[] Hawaii
[] Go back to the Submarine Pen
[Minor Action]
(Available after Major Action votes close in 24 hours)
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
... oh this is every kind of problematic. Imperialism, cloning, Design Children ubiquity in the general upper-class population pointing to a revival of eugenics to some degree? All we need now is Blue Steel going Iron-Sky-Nazis level of bonkers and our fucked up world is complete.
[X] Go back to the Submarine Pen
We are not done there yet. Need I remind everyone of our lack of sufficient weapons, sensors, armor, and provisions? Mary can learn some delayed gratification.
[X] Go back to the Submarine Pen
We are not done there yet. Need I remind everyone of our lack of sufficient weapons, sensors, armor, and provisions? Mary can learn some delayed gratification.
[x] Stay on the ship and go to the American Empire.
Mary!
Mary!
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
Weapons and armor are unlikely to be improved at the pen that being said.
[X] Go back to the Submarine Pen
Always Late
Lacking in coffee, sleep, and brains
- Location
- Ohio
And what do we do when the American warships detect our ship?
Zedman7054
Eternally 3rd
- Location
- United States
We should be careful how we play this. Mary is our only friend right now, and we don't want to alienate her. At the same time, we are not ready for anything that might involve combat. I say, take a raincheck on infiltrating massive empires at the moment and either go back to the base to make some repairs and use the uplink, then leave and/or go see Blue Steel. If they're friendly, strong hints leaning to yes, then that means friends and allies, and hopefully maintenance and firepower. If Mary wants to go home after we're comfortable and can defend ourselves and her, I see no problem with that.
[X] Go back to the Submarine Pen
And I'm tempted to vote for an apology for Mary explaining why I/She/We think we should prepare more.
[X] Go back to the Submarine Pen
And I'm tempted to vote for an apology for Mary explaining why I/She/We think we should prepare more.