I've always assumed that our actions are not limited to categories - that is, if we wanted, we could take 5 Martial actions in one turn, and so on and so forth. Is that not the case?
I can't find the details on how much Facility Slots our base currently has that can be used to build facilities. How many do we currently have?
1. Your typical CK2 style quest, or at least all the ones I've seen, only allow one action per category unless stated otherwise. I've seen nothing so far to lead me to believe that's not the case here.
2. We are currently based in a one room treehouse barely big enough to fit our whole group, so I'm gonna guess none. I'm currently operating under the assumption that any facility we build before expanding or moving will actually be located off site somewhere.
2. We are currently based in a one room treehouse barely big enough to fit our whole group, so I'm gonna guess none. I'm currently operating under the assumption that any facility we build before expanding or moving will actually be located off site somewhere.
We have the Treehouse...and our protagonists' house (which has a basement).....
Again, we need to A) Take the Hill and use it as another base/shelter (the tunnels there could make for a good bunker) and B) perhaps take the Library, somehow....perhaps sway the staff to our side?
Childhood Home ✰ [Personal]: Your two floor plus basement childhood home on the outskirts of Onnet's suburbs. It was where you were born and where you've lived till now. With your mother leaving, it belongs to you now. You don't think you could bear to sell it. [0 Slots for Personal Facilities]
But anyway...but bottom line, we have A LOT to catch up on, and we need MORE than the Treehouse. So...anyway we can...convince the Library staff to join us? Cause using the Library would provide a great cover for us!
Thank you so much! I don't know how my eyes skipped past that.
I guess the question is between if we want to do C.D. self-improvement, expand the treehouse, or build a facility - and if facility, Radio Room or Lab? Because while Porky has 24 Intrigue, Buzz Buzz has 15 Learning...
from reading his wiki recently, yeah, he just kinda even is.
Captain Strong is even kind of like, well-intentioned iirc, like iirc he's not ACTUALLY under alien control, but he is a Legalist and Moralist and oops, he was a bag of dicks to the city
But anyway...but bottom line, we have A LOT to catch up on, and we need MORE than the Treehouse. So...anyway we can...convince the Library staff to join us? Cause using the Library would provide a great cover for us!
I will say I am not opposed to this at all, but depending on the library model they might only have say, a conference room or two for students to study in that could be monopolized... but like, a good cover story would be "we're an independent reading club participating in volunteering at the library"
we might not need cover stories for long, but eagle quarter probably has a local library in each city...
Actually, that might be a reason to take studying at the library, hm. Try to start a pathway towards Build Community With Librarians
presumably if members of the sharks don't hate us and share goals it could work through mutual understanding and everyone just going along with it? it's truly that simple when there's no interfering factors tbh (i hope)
ooookay now you've got me thinking: "hey Sharks, if we win let's steal a police cruiser together"
if we're able to use their facilities, or pursue joint operations for a better odds, perhaps capturing more than just one sugared member could be an option, and likewise later stealing a police cruiser
when it's time for the riot? provided we've researched simple explosives Porky could driveby throw fireworks into the crowd of cops (pull a false-flag operation... actually this might be worthwhile pursuing if we steal a cop car even if we dont riot. have Porky pose as a cop tossing fireworks out at businesses, riling up the citizens to being PISSED at the fucking cops for having a loose cannon harassing the city, that the cops cant do anything about (especially because "someone stole one of our cars" doesnt look good for a police org))
Anyway, I also wanna consider: could we just buy a vehicle that the baseball factory isn't using for long distance deliveries? at least in terms of "get porky a vehicle to use for ramming into a barricade" to use that mechanized trait
Next turn for intrigue stealing electronics might be neat.. but I wonder if we could just buy them ("is your radio malfunctioning, we'll buy your scrap-worthy electronics" to refurbish)
..oh god, if we did Starman Jr Autopsy, do you think that would give us a presentation to present at the library?
You are the Bioroid known as Roll
As you open your eyes you scan over the cold concrete room, taking in how bare it is like it's the first time you've seen it. The dim light overhead shines just bright enough to see, but not enough to waste what precious power you have. You look at the empty bed across from your own and can't help but let out a sigh, it's exactly the same as you saw before powering down, meaning it's gone unused yet again. You slowly get out of your bed and while you don't need it being a Bioroid as you can power down in any position you like the Doctor says it's comfier and you have to agree. As you exit the small bedroom you spy the man sitting turned away from you working at a cluttered workbench, the empty styrofoam cups that used to house steaming hot coffee all but empty besides a few stains to the material. As you look upon the man you admire, your creator. your father.
You are the Bioroid known as Roll
Created by the Hero of The City Doctor Thomas Light, the one who made all of this possible, the man who blames himself for how it's turned out. The man who died in a freak "accident" when his lab blew up and took him with it but that isn't what really happened, you are the only person who knows the entire story as Dr Light, told you it himself. You snap out of your thoughts as you approach him, your feet accidentally crumpling one of the countless papers on the floor causing the man to quickly turn around brandishing a Zapper at her. You try not to flinch as you see your FatherCreator point something that could destroy you, as he sees this he relaxes but his face still holds that deep sadness you've seen him carry ever since you were made a few years ago.
Inspecting the man you've known for a few years now you see his gaunt skinny face look at you. He looks so different from the man you've seen in the photos he has kept. No longer is he a portly man now he barely looks like he gets a proper meal a day, his once bushy white beard now scraggly and full of pencils and other tools and dropped items, and his eyes though seemingly hollow carry a fire in it a fire to stop his old friend from hurting countless innocents.
"I-I'm sorry my dear." he mumbles out, though you know he's sincere
"I know Doctor, it's still a little scary but I know you can't always be sure it's me and not one ofthem." The reason you have to move so often from base to base, the reason you fear being recognized as a Biodroid everytime you make a supply run, the reason why project Mega is being worked on in the first place, and the reason why Dr Light has to be so sad. Doctor Albert Wily and his company Wilycorp, ever since Dr Light made his announcement over the radio almost a year back he has been much more afraid now that he's certain Wily is looking for him. You regret telling him how The City looks currently, what awful things you've seen every time you make a visit, maybe he wouldn't feel the need to risk his safety to spread hope. But you won't lie to him, it hurts too much to do so.
You let out a small smile "How's Mega coming along Doctor?" you ask innocently trying not to dwell on thoughts of the man who made you and the Doctor forced to run.
"I'm glad you asked Roll." he says with a bright hearty smile, one you so rarely see from him. "You see this prototype is going wonderfully, it's taken a few months but I think i'm so close to finding out how to get his positronic brain to be able to adapt to firing different weapons after taking it from other droids he defeats, while so far all my prototypes have failed, but this is the farthest i've gotten and I may soon be able to equip him with two completely different weapon types!" The doctor continues his ramblings, but his words are not what you're focusing on. It's the joy, the pride in his work you never get to see from him, you don't see the old depressed man who is determined to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders but a lively man, a man who wanted nothing more than to make children smile.
"Roll? Are you ok my dear, you're spacing out." You hear Dr Light say before you snap back.
"Yes Doctor, I was just happy you're happy." you respond with a smile before carrying on with your duties to clean and make him some food, no matter how much the Doctor persists it's fine you know that he appreciates it.
You are the Bioroid named Roll
This is the name Doctor Light gave you when you booted up for the first time a few years ago. You were his most advanced creation at the time made for a few reasons, the first as a proof of concept for Project Mega to see if he could make something so advanced by himself and with limited resources. But the main reason you were made was so he could spend every waking moment he had on the Project, he can't waste time in the city in disguise hoping people don't recognize him as he gets materials, food, and fuel. And a little part hopes he created you to be his daughter.
You were made to take care of him, you've seen how sick he can get when he overworks himself but you find it so hard to confront him about it especially since you know why he's doing it all. But for the sake of the world you need him to rest, so you approach him slowly as noon comes around.
"You didn't sleep again last night, did you, Doctor?" you ask timidly, though he doesnt turn around to look at you.
"I didn't." He takes a long pause as he continues his work. "I told you I'm close to a massive breakthrough here with Mega." you frown but let him continue "You know how important this is Roll, now please let me get back to work."
"Doctor, I know it's important, but you need to sleep, it's been 4 days of nonstop working and-" But you can't finish as Light whips around to face you, his face contorted in anger, and for the first time you're scared of the Doctor.
"ENOUGH ROLL!!!" He shouts at you "Wily could burst down that door any day now and you want me focusing on sleep? Right as I'm about to hit a major Milestone! So stop bothering me and go-." but his words falter and fade out as he notices how scared you are, how you're looking at him like you never had before. In an instant his anger vanishes and leaves behind a regretful and worried old man.
"Roll I-I-I'm so sorry." he says approaching you, and you let him, knowing even though his outburst scared you, he would never hurt you.
In a second he leans down and embraces you in his arms, you haven't felt his warm embrace in so long, and even though his words continue tears flow from your eyes, staining his old dirty lab coat in your tears. "Roll, I shouldn't have done that, I guess the stress of finishing this, and the fact Wily is going to claim this zone soon." He stumbles with his words clumsily.
"I'm so so sorry, I shouldn't have pushed my anger of that despicable man onto you. You're just a girl Roll, but you're the best thing to ever happen to me got it? I love you so much, and I should listen to you more than I probably do." He sighs and hugs you harder before letting you go. You wipe the tears from your eyes as you look up at the tall man before you.
"Roll, I'll get some sleep for a bit, and I'll take a small break on project Mega so we can pack up and leave to a new base hidden from Wiley. Why don't you go into the city and get some supplies my dear, we're also out of coffee." He chuckles as he says this and you nod in agreement as your voice seems to fail you at this moment. He walks over to the door leading to the bedroom and looks back to you to say one last thing before he enters. "Stay safe alright. I mean it when I say you mean everything to me."
You are now alone in the room, you stare at the door to the room where he just left for a few minutes before you finally find your voice.
"I love you too." you pause as you think if you should say it, even if he won't hear it, but after hearing what he said, it gives you the courage.
"I love you too Dad."
A/N: I do want to say that this is the first proper piece of story writing i've done in YEARS, so if the grammar sucks or I made any silly mistakes that's why. I hope you all enjoyed it though!!! I've never done an omake before, but last night I just couldn't get the idea out of my head of Roll being a prototype for light capabilities in the current state, and how he is able to not be spotted for the probable decades since his "Death". I also thought it would be unique to see how this man has degraded from some one else's perspective, since in my mind light would not be in a healthy state physically and most likely mentally. Which is why I included his outburst to, as it may seem out of character from Light in the games I believe being hunted and needing to get Megaman done has put so much stress on him. Though that's just how I see it! I do have a part two planned with Roll's shopping trip that I have some fun Ideas for but that's not a 100% right now. Honestly for my first proper short story i've written in who knows how many years, I'm happy with how it turned out!
Also don't know if I have to state it or not, but this was also written for the Shedding a Light on-Oops, Wrong Quest. bounty as well!
The City was a big place. You couldn't have a legion of robots build a megalopolis covering nearly half a planet without ending up with 'a big place'. Especially not when that City was only getting bigger each year. It was an urban region of unprecedented scale, composed of over one hundred zones, with a population of over ten billion. Ten billion humans, uplifts, mutants, and other, stranger beings, which left plenty of room for countless people to slip between the cracks.
Some of them were chewed up by the City and spat out, permanently changed. Twisted. Made worse by the experience. Those were the lucky ones; many were simply never seen again, having disappeared into the vast shadows of the City. For a City of such a massive scale, there was hardly a shortage of shadows to spare. On West Side Island, Eggdyne's most fortified stronghold along the Mobius Archipelago, one didn't need to search too far to find the shining zone that cast more than its fair share of them: The infamous bed of sin and debauchery known as Casino Night.
OMAKE:
Bright Lights, Casino Nights!
[Act 1 of 2]
Casino Night was the neon amusement park where dreams came true. Where any man could make a million zenny if he played his cards right. Whatever dirty secrets happened there, stayed there. A zone for the restless and the desperate with everything to gain. Or at least, nothing else left to lose. Casino Night was the zone of second chances, where the streets were paved with fool's gold.
It was also a zone where, on the edge of Casino Night's main boulevard, a pink-quilled street urchin was plying her trade as a fortune teller for cheap.
"Five zenny for a fortune!" the uplift girl called out to the passing crowds.
Every evening, the green-eyed hedgehog came out of the tunnels beneath Casino Night and offered divination services out of an abandoned E77 kiosk. It was an ovid prefab, cast in the same mold as Eggdyne's industrial storage capsules. She figured it was used for selling food or parking tickets, but the booth was long-abandoned by the time she discovered it. No one seemed to mind her giving the old eggshell a flowery makeover, so she went ahead and transformed the stand into the new corporate headquarters for Amy's Rosy Fortunes.
She only had the one kiosk, but Amy knew she had to start somewhere. There wasn't a lot of hope down in the storm drains, so she had to go topside if she was going to make enough cash tonight to stay somewhere better than a tent in the tunnels for the weekend.
"Palms and card readings!" Amy called out, struggling to be heard over the loud music and fluorescent signs on every corner.
Amy's sales pitch had a pushier, more insistent edge to it than usual, because she didn't want to go back underground while the Shellcreepers were around. It was bad enough when they were attacking people for food, but now they were dragging them deeper into the Pipes. Working close to Main Street was dangerous, but the chance to afford a hotel that wouldn't ask weird questions like "Where are your parents?" made it worth the risk.
"Anybody wanna see their future? It's your destiny, guaranteed!"
Eventually, Amy's persistence bore fruit. Her first mark of the night ended up being a short human with a big head and a small hairline. At a glance, she could tell that man's white suit and ego were much bigger than whatever he thought looked good in his head.
"Five zenny for a fortune?" the sleaze chuckled, sliding her a bill through the window. "Don't sound too bad a deal. Gimme the, uh, palm thing."
"May I see your hand, sir?"
Amy accepted the greasy man's extended hand and started reading his palm. At that moment, the pink hedgehog was grateful that she'd saved enough zenny to afford a decent pair of gloves from the ZEED thrift store. The uplift could see that he had a wavy heart line with breaks along the surface, a broken head line, and a real shallow fate line. The less said about his gigantic Venus mount, the better.
"What's Lady Luck got in store for me, missy?" Larry asked, unaware of his dire prognosis.
Amy suppressed a grimace. Lady Luck turned her nose at him for being an emotional tire fire. A relationship hazard to friends, family, enemies, and any woman unfortunate enough to give him the time of day. It wasn't anything about Larry's hand in specific, but one touch told her more about where this man was headed in life than she'd ever get from a cold read of his face.
"You have a very storied air palm."
"Whazzat mean?"
…More than she wanted to know about where Larry's downward spiral would take him, really, but Amy didn't always get to pick when she reacted that way. Not that it ever earned her tips, thanks, good word of mouth, or repeat customers when she told them the truth. Instead, Amy told Larry what he clearly wanted to hear.
"With hands like yours, it means you're guaranteed to make someone very happy tonight!" Amy beamed, predicting what would happen after he was beaten up and thrown out of a bar by security.
Larry smiled wide, tossing a stack of coins into her tip jar.
"Ha! I like those odds! Thanks, kid!"
"Enjoy your stay at Casino Night!"
The man wandered off to be someone else's problem. After that, the rest of her night proceeded as normal. Tourists would trickle in, one or two at a time, Amy would do her usual razzle-dazzle, and then they'd buy something. Palms or performing tarot readings were her biggest earners. For the cards, she'd pull out her least rattiest deck, filtering out the ones that gave people the willies the best she could.
There was only one time where Amy was worried she might need to close up shop early, and that was when she spotted a pair of armed goons making the rounds. Everybody knew that Dr. Robotnik had West Side Island under tight control, and that the X-Syndicate were one of the many gangs Eggdyne kept off the Archipelago, but everyone who lived in Casino Night understood the real score: The gangs ran all of the resorts and gambling parlors in this zone for him. Every hotel, slot, roulette, and pachinko. Robotnik only kept a token presence of badniks around as defense against an all-out assault, because too many patrolling robots on the streets put the tourists too on edge to spend.
Amy had a bag loaded with her earnings in case she needed to run, but the gangsters seemed to be in too good a mood to shake her down or scare her off the Strip. She was only able to breathe a sigh of relief after they passed her by. Maybe all of those ankh necklaces and Sheikah Eye charms she made out of junk were starting to rub off on her?
Around the early morning, during a lull in foot traffic that she spent snacking on a bag of ration pellets to stay awake, Amy was visited by one of her regulars. The azure bluebird swooped down from the rows of fake palm trees, landing on her stall counter.
"Hiya, Birdie!" she greeted her friend, who tweeted back in response.
The uplift didn't know where Birdie came from, before they met last year. If he used to have a family in another zone, or was someone's pet that got loose, she couldn't say. What Amy did know was that the bird was a stray like her. One of countless critters from the Old World that was given gene mods and forced to figure things out on their own.
"Don't worry, I didn't forget about my favorite bird!"
She offered a pellet to Birdie. The ration pack was given to her by Mr. Monty, the human who stopped by the tunnels to hand out food and medicine. He was a lot friendlier than Mr. Mole, the grouchy mutant that charged the adults that could work rent, but beat up anyone else who tried to do the same. Amy couldn't get a great read on either of them, outside of Mr. Monty having a mean side when he got mad and Mr. Mole having a soft spot for kids. She figured that the two of them had to be friends or something, because they both worked the tunnels and had the same taste in tacky tracksuits.
Amy's bluebird friend cautiously trotted towards the ration pellet. They were edible, but she was wondering if they were close enough to pet food that an animal would be interested. Alas, Birdie gave it a few cursory sniffs and turned his beak up at the offering.
"Just kidding," she giggled.
The pellets had all of the protein and vitamins a growing girl needed to survive on a budget, but they tasted like the flavor was sold separately. She popped the food pellet into her mouth and offered Birdie a chunk from her unwrapped wumpa bar. He took a bite, having found the dried, tangy fruit much more to his liking instead.
"We strays gotta stick together!" Amy exclaimed, and Birdie cheerfully chirped in agreement. "Hey, want a free tarot reading on the house?"
Birdie didn't say no, so she went ahead and reshuffled the deck, laying out a basic three-card spread. A card for the past, the present, and the future. It was less predictable than a palm reading, but Birdie didn't exactly have a hand she could read.
The first card Amy drew depicted two wounded mutants trudging through the snow, the stained glass window of a Messian church illuminating the background behind them.
"Your first card is the Five of Coins," she explained. Birdie only tilted his head in confusion. "With it being your first card, it's representing a… troubled past. Being broke. Alone. Not having a whole lot of hope that things will get any better."
Amy could relate, but as the fortune teller, she had to keep the show going. She drew the next card -- A skyscraper, the top floor destroyed by lightning from the sky -- and winced.
"Yeesh. This is not your lucky day, Birdie."
Birdie wasn't familiar with this card, either, so Amy shed light on it next.
"This one's called the Tower. It's a sign of an upcoming DOOM!"
Birdie fluttered back in shock!
"Or it could be that the cards are on the fritz," Amy admitted with a wry smile. "Have you had any sudden surprises recently?"
The bluebird glared at her irritably after recomposing himself.
"The Tower being your second card means that you should be in the middle of something big that'll tear down your whole life. Or maybe it's right around the corner!"
It was the cards like Tower and Death that always wormed their way back into the deck when fate demanded they make an appearance, despite her efforts to keep them out. Nevertheless, Amy could usually spin things so that clients didn't stiff her on the bill when they didn't like what they saw.
In Casino Night, no one wanted to be the one to burst your bubble. Not until bursting bubbles made more zenny than keeping them in the air.
Birdie didn't look convinced about his fate, and Amy shrugged.
"Who knows with these things? Anyways, you have one last card."
Her hand reached towards the deck, to draw a final card representing the future, when she felt a spark jump across the surface of the counter and zap her finger.
"Ow!" she hissed. After a few seconds of shaking off the pain in her hand, Amy turned to face her concerned friend. "I'm okay, Birdie. Must be the bad wiring in this old capsule."
Amy tried again, and drew the last card. On it was a young boy wearing a striped shirt and red baseball cap.
"Huh?"
She took a closer look, while Birdie gazed out to the rest of the town. The boy on the card was young and free-spirited, innocent to the fact he was walking off the edge of a cliff. He had a baseball bat in one hand, and a yo-yo in the other. The sun was at the boy's back, and an energetic white dog was nipping at his heels. Either to warn him of the oncoming danger, or equally unaware of the lurking threat.
Birdie hopped up to Amy's side of the counter, using his wings to bat at her arm.
"Calm down, Birdie! This one's a good card for you! It's about starting a new journey. A clean slate. Not having a care in the–!"
"What a nice, blue, blue flicky you have there," one of the two men in blue that walked up to Amy's Rosy Fortunes said cooly.
Unfortunately, Amy's tarot reading meant that her eyes were taken off the street for longer than was safe. She took a look at the pair in front of her, and felt a chill creep down her spines. Both men wore blotchy, periwinkle hoods and trenchcoats, with black ties that hung loosely along their necks.
"Flicky?" she asked, not understanding his words at all.
Blue was Amy's favorite color, but she didn't like how they wore it. To Amy, blue was supposed to be a nice, comforting color. The eyes under those hoods made blue feel cold and menacing. It almost made her like blue a little less than she used to.
"The purest descendants of Old Earth birds," the empty-eyed man said.
Worse than what they were wearing, these two men waited until this corner of Casino Night was vacant of any pedestrians to approach her stall.
"Pure enough," added the wild-eyed one with a chortle.
No witnesses, in case they did something to her that they wouldn't do to someone that mattered.
"And this one is naturally blue, blue. How much for us to take the Flicky off your hands?"
Birdie didn't seem any more comfortable around these men than she was, and stayed close to her side. Amy kept one eye on the strangers while sorting through her merchandise; a nervous habit that kept her hands busy until she figured out where this was going.
There were people in the Casino Night Zone that you didn't say no to. Robotnik. The X-Syndicate. Mr. Mole. Anybody with a weapon when you didn't have one yourself, and the hedgehog had already spotted that both men were armed. There was no doubt in Amy's mind that these weren't the kind of people who would take no for an answer, but there was something more important to her that she understood, too.
Amy knew she wouldn't be able to call herself a friend if she let them take Birdie away.
"I'm sorry, my friend isn't for sale. But I have some blue, blue amulets in stock that you might--?"
The wild-eyed man in blue slammed his hand onto the table, causing Birdie to scamper behind her side of the kiosk for protection.
"We were sent into this den of vice and degenerates to search for anything that needed to be saved from the evils of this world," the wild man growled, cutting her off with a deranged non-sequitur. "My brother and I have been dragged away from salvation to pick through the inhuman refuse for weeks until this blue, blue bird of Happy Happiness came flying into our lives!"
The empty man hunched down, his blue mask level with Amy's frightened expression. She tried to look past the mask, perceive what his soul was like. Eyes were supposed to be the window to the soul, but not a soul stared back at her.
"I will ask you again. You little. Pink. Rat. Be smart. And give. Us. The bird."
"No!" Amy shouted, slamming the shutter closed on the capsule. "And we're closed for the night! So get lost!"
There was a loud thump that rattled the capsule, causing Amy to let out a squeak of terror. Peering through the one-way screen in the booth, she saw one of the Happy Happyist men pull a lead pipe from their coat and start hitting the capsule.
"How do you get this piece of junk open!?" the wild one roared.
Amy knew that staying in here with Birdie would be a bad idea for them both. Capsules weren't invincible. If those goons got in, then no one would be coming to save them.
"Keep hitting the window, you idiot! It'll break, and we'll drag them out!"
"What should we do with the gene mutt once we have the bluebird?"
"The Father's still in the market for a high priestess, but I don't think Happy Happyism has room for animals that don't know their place," the unhappy Happyist summarized. "You're the one that used to run with Galuda, brother, so you tell me."
"Those were the days," the wild-eyed man slurred. "I'm ride-or-die for blueness now, but it's been too long since I taught one of these uppity beasts some manners."
The man used his pipe to renovate the capsule with renewed vigor. Amy dumped all of her money and trinkets into her backpack, Birdie gently going into her bag last.
"I promise you'll be safe in here," she whispered. Her friend, the brave flicky, nodded in comprehension. "I knew you understood me."
Standing up for a bird wasn't smart at all, but this wasn't about being smart. It was about standing up for the people she cared about.
When she had everything she needed, Amy lifted up her legs, and threw all her force behind a kick that knocked open the loose backplate she used to enter the capsule every evening. The metal panel went skittering down the road, distracting the Happy Happyists long enough for Amy to make a break for the backstreets of Casino Night.
"After her!" the wild cultist shouted in a rage.
"When the world is changed to blue, a peaceful country can be established!" the empty-eyed man chanted, vacantly parroting the words as he broke into a run.
The insane cultist chased after Amy with his chain whip, trying to get a measure of the girl's neck by sight. His brother with the pipe wasn't too far behind him.
"Where are you running, child? Wouldn't you like us to make you blue, too!?"
= = =
TO BE CONTINUED...
= = =
Here's my submission for the whole Psychic Spread shtick.
Funny story is, I had the loose idea for this story upwards of a year ago (I know it existed in a primordial state around the time the quest started), but I wasn't able to hook together how it'd take proper shape until last week. That was when I started posting updates of the Dead Metal I started with Argidoll, which inspired more ideas for how to handle Casino Night in 8BD, and then the new updates for Bound to Earth gave me the idea to use the Happy Happyists as the antagonists my prior drafts were missing.
Now I had so many ideas, the one-parter blew up into a two-parter.
But anyway...but bottom line, we have A LOT to catch up on, and we need MORE than the Treehouse. So...anyway we can...convince the Library staff to join us? Cause using the Library would provide a great cover for us!
maybe that's an approach for expansion we'd get that's behind extending treehouse? though instead of going that far it'd probably be more efficient to build in the hill where there's already space and everything's hopefully more defensible (elevation, not bordered on all sides by stuff, tunnels below it)
from reading his wiki recently, yeah, he just kinda even is.
Captain Strong is even kind of like, well-intentioned iirc, like iirc he's not ACTUALLY under alien control, but he is a Legalist and Moralist and oops, he was a bag of dicks to the city
might be worth keeping in mind there's possibly going to be some divergences from the games (due to being in space). generally things are darker and edgier right? so unfortunately people may be somewhat less nice.
ooookay now you've got me thinking: "hey Sharks, if we win let's steal a police cruiser together"
if we're able to use their facilities, or pursue joint operations for a better odds, perhaps capturing more than just one sugared member could be an option, and likewise later stealing a police cruiser
i'm guessing abducting just a single sugared is intended as more of a test case? if we could cure them, then we'd hopefully unlock an action for mass-curing them (which may involve scaled up abductions, may just be on the spot?)
having identified them via the intrigue action may help too, maybe we'd even unlock an alternative intrigue option to capture them, that'd be nice...
Next turn for intrigue stealing electronics might be neat.. but I wonder if we could just buy them ("is your radio malfunctioning, we'll buy your scrap-worthy electronics" to refurbish)
maybe the miscellaneous stuff we'd get from that would be the stuff we'd be buying/repurposing anyhow, and refurbishing it's abstracted away?
it could be we'd use that sort of stuff for building stuff like a crude workshop, and the thefts are for getting specific more exclusive tools that aren't for sale, like we did with the lab? (i assume if we lacked that we would have a "build a crude lab" option instead)
i guess it's lucky in this case that we can buy stuff for a proper radio room directly, huh?
..oh god, if we did Starman Jr Autopsy, do you think that would give us a presentation to present at the library?
wouldn't a presentation at the library be unwise when we're actively seeking to not publicly reveal the aliens? we could act like it's a robot but that would just give us suspicion along the lines of "where did they get the messed up robot from"?
could just give it to read-in faction members, but then there's no point to it, if we just need to disseminate the information that can be done informally?
maybe that's an approach for expansion we'd get that's behind extending treehouse? though instead of going that far it'd probably be more efficient to build in the hill where there's already space and everything's hopefully more defensible (elevation, not bordered on all sides by stuff, tunnels below it)
Well...that's part of my idea. We use the Library as a cover (while doing some renovating for the Treehouse). As for the Hill? We clear out the animals/animated objects, use Lier's house and tunnels as a bunker/main base.
i'm guessing abducting just a single sugared is intended as more of a test case? if we could cure them, then we'd hopefully unlock an action for mass-curing them (which may involve scaled up abductions, may just be on the spot?)
having identified them via the intrigue action may help too, maybe we'd even unlock an alternative intrigue option to capture them, that'd be nice...
[X] Plan: Fuck Da (O.P.F.) Police!!
[X] Martial: Claim Territory by Force
-[X] The Hill
[X] Diplomacy: Make Connections at School
[X] Stewardship: Pawn Crap from the Woods
[X] Intrigue: Steal a Police Cruiser
[X] Learning: Read Up on Different Areas
Personal Actions
[X] C.D.: Explore Your Dreams
[X] Buzz Buzz: Think Back On The War
[X] Porky: Just A Little Scheming...
[X] Kyoko: Brush Up On Personal Technique
[X] Plan: Fuck Da (O.P.F.) Police!!
[X] Martial: Claim Territory by Force
-[X] The Hill
[X] Diplomacy: Make Connections at School
[X] Stewardship: Pawn Crap from the Woods
[X] Intrigue: Steal a Police Cruiser
[X] Learning: Read Up on Different Areas
Personal Actions
[X] C.D.: Explore Your Dreams
[X] Buzz Buzz: Think Back On The War
[X] Porky: Just A Little Scheming...
[X] Kyoko: Brush Up On Personal Technique
1: do you know if moratorium's ended?
2: we have 4 personals, so you're missing three (and it'd likely be a good precaution to meditate a little *before* dreaming, since the stakes of that action are potentially getting mindjacked by spiritual entities?)
3: porky scheming/stealing a police cruiser is probably actively harmful when the OPF are waiting for a casus belli to crackdown on stuff so please reconsider
4: we can probably definitely wait on reading up on different areas since we won't be able to use any routes while the lockdown's up, so can i instead suggest researching wildlife, or perhaps weapons/armour? since we'd get to use those right away we'd get more benefit overall
Despite what those in the City claim, magic is real. The act of denying its existence stunts one's potential to use it. So it's no surprise that those above have fallen into a self-sustaining loop of 'denying magic' -> 'look for evidence of magic' -> 'find none' -> 'keep denying magic'. Also, it does not help that most magic is secluded in what scientists would call a different dimension. A dimension known as the Dreamlands.
Visiting the Dreamlands is as easy as sleeping (it's right in the name silly!). Actually remembering what happened there is a different matter. Unfortunately, I can't help you with that. Nor can I help you manifest your magic into reality; magic is very personal, thus uniquely tailored to each person. (Not inspiring much confidence, am I?) What I can do is tell you about the Dreamlands and those who live there.
I am blessed in this regard. Being able to remember my visits to the Dreamlands so clearly. My visits became so frequent that I became something of a neutral party to most 'factions' within.
Which brings us to this book. In order to maintain my neutrality and ability to explore the place somewhat freely, an agreement was made. I write descriptions of the lands and people (and how any Dreamer, regardless of morality, might find or summon them), they let me explore with minimum fuss.
Be warned: the Dreamlands are dangerous. Even the friendliest faces can turn violent if provoked, and the land shifts constantly. And the less said of those with malicious intent, the better (still have to write about them though, sigh). Dreamers, whether veteran or fresh-faced, should tread carefully. You can never be too careful.
~Ado, Dream Cronicaler.
The Blue Torso
One of the oldest inhabitants of the Dreamlands. Assuming they are a person and not some sort of natural (for a given value of natural) phenomenon that wanders around. None have been able to get a word from them, or any other kind of communication. Not that anyone wants to speak with them.
The Blue Torso is, well, a torso. We think. Looking like a silhouette makes describing their precise appearance a tad tricky. Some say they look more like hips. Regardless, they look like a legged, blue torso with eyes/holes that act as eyes. They posses no arms nor other facial features to speak of.
Personality is also hard to pin down. One moment they're staring at a wall. Next they've ripped most of the flowers from the park. I recall once seeing them attempt to reach a sports rental on the other side of a six-lane highway. After a solid minute of expert dogging, they were run over by an ambulance. Once they were patched up (it didn't take long thanks to dream logic) they were back to square one (ie. the opposite side of the highway).
Then they turned to me.
Our eyes met.
After a long moment (and a heightened sense of self-loathing), the Blue Torso turned around and walked into the woods.
As I said, hard to pin down their personality.
They are one of the most disliked and loathed beings in the Dreamlands. Just being in their presence can make you depressed. Prolonged contact can lead to suicidal thoughts or worse. Should the Blue Torso appear it is best to just walk away. Assuming they haven't already been chased off by fellow Dreamlanders.
Once you are away from the Blue Torso, the depressive episode will end.
The Blue Torso is a wanderer. They can functionally appear anywhere within the Dreamlands but prefers areas where a tragedy has occurred. If you dream in the City, expect to encounter them at least once.
The Puppet Show
A very chaotic place.
The Puppet Show is what happens when you cram living puppets from all walks of human history into one theater.
Hand puppets. Marionets. Finger puppets. Muppets. Ventriloquist dummies. Japanese clockwork dolls. Shadow puppets. Mannequins. The gangs all here.
Complete with an orchestral soundtrack.
The sheer variety and clashing personalities/egos ensure that an over-the-top, strange but entertaining bout is never far away.
Thankfully, visitors are usually given space if they just want to watch. Be wary of the more rambunctious puppets and you should be fine.
One notable resident is a yellow puppet named Headdy with a floating head. He is the most friendly and heroic puppet dreamers are likely to run into. Headdy seeks to ensure that no malicious puppets gain enough traction to become the de facto ruler of the Puppet Show. His common foes include the powerful and ominous King Dark Demon (yes, that is his name) and the persistent but never-successful bear/cat Trouble Bruin (yes, really).
Dreamers who wish to visit the Puppet Show must sleep in a place where puppet shows are still done, preferably after watching one.
In practice, the Eagle Quarter is your best bet.
Strange as it may seem, the lack of large-scale urbanization (outside of Fourside) means nature is plentiful. Most puppets are made from wood, which is hard to come by at a reasonable price in other zones. The abundance of parks also makes it the perfect place to perform an outdoor show.
While you can catch a performance in any city not named Fourside, two stand out. Twoson is the entertainment center of the Eagle Quarter, home to an honest-to-god theater. Most puppeteers coming into the zone stop by Twoson for a chance to perform in the "Chaos Theater". Even if they never get the chance, the people of Twoson are always hungry for more options.
The second place is the Eagle Quarter's tourist town Summers. Its sea-side location makes it the ideal location for one of the oldest puppet shows still in existence: Punch & Judy. Though a minor attraction compared to the "Scarab Cultural Museum", the novelty of the show keeps as small but constant stream of tourists coming in.
CarnEvil
A sick and twisted place that I'm only writing about to maintain my neutral standing. Should you choose to seek them out you are unlikely to survive.
The most interesting thing about CarnEvil is how it was not originally part of the Dreamlands. Why and how it did is a mystery for the ages, especially considering how its master died well over a hundred years ago.
CarnEvil is a basterdisation of circuses and carnivels. An evil, twisted place only the most depraved residents of the City would enjoy.
It's split into four areas: the Haunted House, Rickety Town, the Freak Show, and the Big Top.
The Haunted House is self-explanatory. A haunted attraction filled with zombies and Gools (which are ghosts, not ghouls) overseen by Hambone and Evil Marie (look, she's the one that calls herself evil, not me).
Rickety Town is an amusement park, complete with themed rides. Maintaining those rides is a legion of polite-sounding, deeply unnerving handymen with far too wide smiles. The food court is staffed by disgruntled, nasally sounding teens, who are all too happy to inflict what anyone working customer service would on annoying customers. The overseer of this section is Krampus: a twisted Santa with reindeer antlers who spends his time in the ice rink.
The Freak Show is where the ringmaster keeps most of his experiments. Human-headed flys and maggots. Twins with their legs sawed off and sewn together at the hips. Monkies modified to have eight limbs. Overseeing it all is Eyeclops, a two-headed freak with eyes across his upper body. Rumer has it that those who displease the ringmaster are taken here to be ground into food for his greatest creations.
The Big Top is the ringmaster's, one Professer Ludwig von Tökkentäkker, main labratory. Also overseeing things is his second in command, CarnEvil's mascot Umlaut, the floating jester head that speaks those stupidly catchy rhymes. The bulk of the Big Top's personal are clowns, Ludwig's asistans in his mad experiments. Be on the lookout for the vicios poodles and Spanish speaking imps.
If, for whatever reason, the previous paragraffs did nothing to disway you from wanting to go there, you are insane. As for getting to CarnEvil, that's where things get a little complicated.
It was possible to summen CarnEvil into reality if you followed the right instructions. Thankfully, it is no longer possible to do this since the the ritual's location, Ludwig's grave, was destroyed during the Invader Wars. Unfortunately, it is still posible to visit it in the Dreamlands. The ritual below will greatly increase your chances of going there when you dream.
Take a token, it must be recognised as such so ordinary coins won't do, and rub it in your blood. Make sure to get both sides. Seek out the grave of a clown or someone who had a similer profession in life. Clowns, mimes, and especially jesters will work. Travaling to the Outlands would be best; the many fudedal societies there are bound to have buried at least a few jesters. Take the bloodsoaked token and bury it in the grave (you won't have to unbury the body, just that the token is buried at the grave).
Next time you Dream, you will arrive.
When you do, prepare for the fight of your life.
*********
Adeleine sighed as she closed the book.
"God this is exhausting."
Not just because of how horific some places in the Dreamlands could get. She was writing the entier book by hand. Not to mention how she would need to run it by the 'editors' in the Caravan of Dreams. She could feel the future hand cramps coming on.
The Caravan's cronicler was sitting down, back against the canyon wall in some zone or another. The sun was setting, most of the day spent on her book. The small town she was staying in was a little ways away.
This most recent expedition had taken her to the Outlands for experimenting with different rituals. Adeleine was now on her way back home, making edits all the while.
"Hopfuly this will by my last journey for a good long while." the homesick girl mumbled on her way back to town.
Not that she minded her trips. Seeing and experiencing new things was what lead her to the Dreamlands in the first place. But she missed the Dees. She missed Meta. And she missed her king most of all.
But it wouldn't be long now. Dreamlands: Lands and People was almost done. Then Adeleine could get back to properly serving her king.
'I just hope my book dosn't cause too much mayhem. I left the Great Devourer out for a reason.'
AN: The impetus for this omake was thinking about where the varius games made by Treasure would fit into the setting. Then I relized, with how wild the scenarios could get, one or two could fit into the Dreamlands.
As for the games/characters depicted:
The Blue Torso is Horace from the Horace series. His characterization was influenced by this review, which points out how depressing Horace's design is.
The puppet show is based on the Treasure game Dynamite Headdy. Other puppet based games could also be rolled into here, but none came to mind. I also considered using the game Silouette Mirage but I wasn't quite sure how to adapt that games lore to the Dreamlands. It certainly would fit there.
CarnEvil is well, the Midway arcade game of the same name. It's also the game I was most iffy about placing in the Dreamlands.
[] Look into the O.P.F's Plans: It's obvious now that the OPF aren't playing around. They're boiling the frog and chomping at the bit to use more extreme means. But why do they feel that way, and what has made them so confident that this is their best course of action? The only way to find out for certain would be to check out the police station in town. With their attention fixated on the town, their security has laxed a little. DC: 75 (Reward: Learn the OPFs exact plans and an estimate of their faction strength)
Hm...So, has anyone considered this? High DC, even with Porky's-high-for-our-level Intrigue, but could be very useful...Or do we already know enough and should focus on the ants?
maybe that's an approach for expansion we'd get that's behind extending treehouse? though instead of going that far it'd probably be more efficient to build in the hill where there's already space and everything's hopefully more defensible (elevation, not bordered on all sides by stuff, tunnels below it)
I think the library is a good option for later, but for quick expansion it probably is better to just expand the treehouse and take the hill. I mean there's a currently empty house with a small tunnel network in that area that could be useful. Also my main reason for wanting to take the hill sooner than later (Not this turn, this turn we play ball) may be extremly petty, but I want his house. He was an ass to us for no reason (We're a totally upstanding citizen who's done nothing wrong in our life.) and I think it would be funny besides the other benefits. Plus I want to ransack his house before it's to late in case we find any goodies left over.
might be worth keeping in mind there's possibly going to be some divergences from the games (due to being in space). generally things are darker and edgier right? so unfortunately people may be somewhat less nice.
While true, as Pirkle is in kahoots with Giygas in this quest, while in the game he wasn't. As stated in an earlier turn when we did research on our enemies Captain Strong was stated that he mostly just follows the law and the CEO Mayor, so it's more likely that the more shady stuff the OPF is doing in Onett is because of orders from Pirkle. Though he still could be under a more direct influence from Giygas, but i'm leaning towards not working for the evil alien. Still an enemy, and don't think we can convert him to our side unless we chose Corp and took over the town. Maybe after we save Onett from Pirkle and the Ants but even then im not sure he'd help us in any way.
i'm guessing abducting just a single sugared is intended as more of a test case? if we could cure them, then we'd hopefully unlock an action for mass-curing them (which may involve scaled up abductions, may just be on the spot?)
I'd only really recommend one Sugared capture for cure testing, especially since we don't have enough room in the treehouse which leads me to my next point is that even if we get the sharks to join under us this turn (or before we capture a sugared) we don't use the Arcade to hold them in, since I feel like that would be one of the very top places the police would check if they suspect kidnapping, maybe Pirkle would push for it too as they want the police to be able to attack the kids/teens to cart them off to who knows where. so having them in the tree house (or maybe the lier's tunnels??? don't know how hidden those are since he was able to leave) would be the best as it's hidden and only we know. Honestly it might not be a bad idea to try and lead the OPF to search the arcade for the kidnapped sugared when the sugared isnt there as it might lead to the OPF losing a lot of Face and trust. Though we might want to have the sharks on our side for that first so they cooperate.
I was kinda against this at first as we have a better bonus if we did the martial with Kyoko than we have with Porky and our 3 intriuge. The DC could be lower on an Intriuge variant as well but I think the biggest benefit for doing this if the option pops up is we can take the hill right away (or expand the treehouse without using personal actions which idk if I want to do next turn anyways)
Though I agree that I might not want to do it next turn. Like learning the plan is great but I think the option of stealing the radio equipment, or if an intriuge kidnapping sugared action pops up might be a better option to take next turn (especially since we have a basic understanding of their plan via the Rumors action from last turn, where it doesnt seem as pressing an issue) though they seem to have an ace up their sleeve that might be really useful to know about. I am wanting to have Porky Loaf Around this turn for that bonus to his next roll next turn though (especially if we think there could be a sugared kidnapping intrigue unlocked via doing this)
Hey Crosswire, for no specific reason at all since I wouldn't dream of doing it (Wink Wink) Hyptheticallywould loaf around also add the bonus if we also had Porky do a little SCHEMING as well?
personally i'm convinced there's spooky stuff underground (if there was one magical artifact, there should be more) and badly want to squat there before anyone else can screw around with it
Honestly it might not be a bad idea to try and lead the OPF to search the arcade for the kidnapped sugared when the sugared isnt there as it might lead to the OPF losing a lot of Face and trust. Though we might want to have the sharks on our side for that first so they cooperate.
making the OPF look dumb by searching the arcade and finding nothing might work, but they might end up finding unrelated stuff like the explosives being worked on, and i'm pretty sure that's the sort of thing that'd happen without our imput (if they screw up on their own that'd be cool) so i'm not sure if the action would be justifiable? we might not be able to really *do* much, right>
personally i'm convinced there's spooky stuff underground (if there was one magical artifact, there should be more) and badly want to squat there before anyone else can screw around with it
Start getting the Outfielders to continue mining for more goodies. The Children yearn for the mines!!!
But yeah I think it's a really good idea as while I don't think Lier is coming back until the end of the lockdown, there's still a chance. And I'd rather steal his stuff before others do
