Over the last two hours, the troll has continually been bombarding you with profanity, insults, and other such annoyances. Quite bluntly, you want to be rid of it, but can't quite muster up the will to do it yourself. Thus, you begin searching for a place that looks like they might be interested in a troll. You eventually opt to simply visit the park towards the north of town, for lack of better ideas.
It's a lot different than the parks you remember from before, what with it having no grass whatsoever. Still, there's a parking lot that you manage to find a spot for Mel in. As you get out, you grab the boxed troll and step out onto the dried brownish-orange soil of the park. Walking through the park, you see several people, including a little kid trying to fly a model rocket with their mom. However, the fact that the box you're holding is constantly spewing vile profanity generally seems to put people off of spending time near you.
After several minutes of wandering, you eventually sit down on a park bench while clutching the shaking box to your chest, resigned. Still, eventually, someone sits down next to you. As they do so, you turn to look at them clearly.
As he sits next to you, he introduces himself with "Hello, I'm David Gilchrist. I noticed the profanity coming from this box, and wondered what might be in it."
After a bit of attempting to gauge his intent, you ask "Not that I don't want to be rid of this little nuisance, but I'm curious why you're so interested in it."
The man replies "I suppose I forgot to mention that I'm the cryptobiology professor at Ominous Tower of Doom University. I'd been planning on showing some live specimens to my class, and going by my mana-sense, it feels like you've got a larval Troll in that box. Would you mind parting with it?"
You nod, this thing has been nothing but an annoyance since you first encountered it, so of course you'll take any opportunity to get rid of it. Perhaps you could get some compensation for this? No, being rid of it is reward enough.
After your trip to the park, you get back in Mel, and ask your laptop "Hey, could you please find me any good, affordable restaurants here in Hillston?"
After a few seconds, the computer replies "The nearest eatery matching those criteria is Ruan's Oriental. It is an establishment serving both traditional Chinese dishes and new innovations by its owner and head chef Ruan Mu, grandson of Ruan Nuo, who originally founded the establishment. I will now provide directions."
You grin slightly, thinking how delicious it's going to be. Another thing on your mind is how this new ability of yours puts Siri to shame. Regardless, you're barely driving for a minute when you pull into the parking lot for Ruan's Oriental. Finding a spot where Mel can fit is a bit tricky, but you manage it anyway.
Making sure to grab your wallet on the way out (and noting that it seems to contain about 30 Australian Dollars in cash), you make your way into the restaurant. On your approach, you note a sign over the door reading "This is a pay up front establishment". There isn't a maitre dee, just a long counter with a bunch of swiveling stools lined up along it. You quickly find an open seat, and as you sit down, the man behind the counter walks up and passes you a menu.
After a bit of browsing the menu, you opt to order a roast pork egg roll, a small hot and sour soup, and the same quantity of vegetable fried rice. All to go of course.
(-10.53 AU$, accounting for tax and exchange rates)
It takes about 18 minutes for your meal to be prepared, with your egg roll being delivered in a mere 10 minutes. As you eat, you muse that this is basically just regular Chinese food. You're about halfway through your egg roll when the soup and fried rice arrive, and opt to finish the egg roll before departing.
Back aboard Mel , you scoop half of your fried rice onto a plate and pour half your soup into a bowl, before placing the serving containers in the refrigerator. Wouldn't do to overeat. Speaking of eating, this stuff is actually really good for its price. The hot and sour soup in particular burns your tongue in just the right way to leave you wanting more.
Leftover hot and sour soup (1 portion) acquired!
Leftover veggie fried rice (1 portion) acquired!
After your meal, you ask your computer "So, where's the nearest gas station? Also, do you have a name?"
The computer almost immediately replies with the locations of the three nearest gas stations, along with their (rather low) prices, before also adding "System name is Thomas."
As you drive to the cheapest gas station however, you are greeted by an interesting sight. Namely, two figures duking it out in the street. You pull to a stop to avoid being involved in this... whatever it is. On the left, is either a vaguely feminine figure wearing a suit of power armor or a robot.
On the right is a catgirl riding on a flying broom and wearing what looks to be a stereotypical witch's getup.
The power armored figure opens up with some sort of rapid-firing blaster, and the flying witchy catgirl defends with an energy bubble that quickly fades back into invisibility. Then the witch-girl flies straight at the woman in power armor, apparently planning on running her through with the broom. This doesn't go as planned, as the power-armored lady steps aside and grabs the broom out from under the catgirl while shouting "You'll have to try better than that!"
The catgirl shouts "Gladly!" and begins readying a fireball as you notice several small hovering robots zipping about the battlefield, seemingly at random. You think you catch a hint of lens flare as you come to a decision about your desired course of action.
[] Stay out of this, there looks to be negligible collateral damage so far.
[] Screw this, go and blast them all with your knockout nerf gun
-[] Where in the world did this [theme] getup come from!?
[] Lasagna, THEN intervene. (sudden outfit subvote applicable)
[] Write In [] You think you see something glowing in the cracks of the sidewalk. Looks like some kind of card. You want it. Bad.
More seriously, we know now that the Doom Tower is a university for doom-y stuff and that there's a class for cryptobiology there. Trolls are apparently enough of a thing that they can be studied in college courses. That would point to a more magical setting, except that we also have a girl in power armor, so it looks to be a bit more of a kitchen sink in terms of the fantastical elements. Given what appears to be flying cameras, seems like we might also have a bit of televised super-fights going on as well; at the very least, they don't seem to care very much about being noticed.
Something odd that I noticed is that we paid in Australian dollars, but didn't have any hassle about having to change the money. Either we skipped over some roleplaying or we're in some version of Australia. Except you mentioned exchange rates, indicating that we probably just skipped over that roleplaying, which means that for some reason, a cheap Oriental restaurant has readily-available means of currency exchange.
[X] Ask the flying robots what's going on.
-[X] Intervene if lives are in danger.
Another interesting point. In an earlier vote, we were given the options of driving South or North. East and West were not offered. So thst says something about the roads.
More seriously, we know now that the Doom Tower is a university for doom-y stuff and that there's a class for cryptobiology there. Trolls are apparently enough of a thing that they can be studied in college courses. That would point to a more magical setting, except that we also have a girl in power armor, so it looks to be a bit more of a kitchen sink in terms of the fantastical elements. Given what appears to be flying cameras, seems like we might also have a bit of televised super-fights going on as well; at the very least, they don't seem to care very much about being noticed.
Something odd that I noticed is that we paid in Australian dollars, but didn't have any hassle about having to change the money. Either we skipped over some roleplaying or we're in some version of Australia. Except you mentioned exchange rates, indicating that we probably just skipped over that roleplaying, which means that for some reason, a cheap Oriental restaurant has readily-available means of currency exchange.
[X] Ask the flying robots what's going on.
-[X] Intervene if lives are in danger.
[X] Screw this, go and blast them all with your knockout nerf gun
-[X] Where in the world did this [Alchemist] getup come from!?
Just because alchemy's cool. We'll either end up with
or
Either way we'll look fly as shit.
