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Law of the Sword (Worm/Destiny Quest)

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Chapter 58
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    • What do I do with the clone?
    [X][Clone] Take her with, as a prisoner. (10 Votes)
    -[X] Your prisoner, something is odd here and you have questions.
    -[X] Ask for her capabilities, is she a parahuman? Can she heal like Panacea? Does she have her memories? What does she know about this place? As a clone, do we have to worry about her having an "expiration date", and should we procure a healer for her when we get out? What is her job, as the "real Panacea", when she gets "rescued"? What should we call her? Tell her we'll get her outside of here, as long as she doesn't give us a reason not to. Do NOT let her touch our skin. Contact with Echoes only, always have atleast one between you and her. If she runs, shoot her. Ask her what she knows about her creator strengths weaknesses everything she know.

    Should I try to control the mutation?
    [X][Power] No, let it mutate. (Gain an adjacent power.) (7 Votes)

    Do I want to infuse a Sigil?
    [X][Sigil] Yes (9 Votes)
    -[X][Sigil] Untangled Nose (5 Kills) (9 Votes)
    -[X][Sigil] A New Perspective (5 Kills) (7 Votes)
    -[X][Sigil] Another Surface (15 Kills) (6 Votes)
    [X][Sigil] No (1 Votes)
    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Sunday, March 13th, 2011
    4:30 PM

    I make a noncommittal hum at that comment and take advantage of the brief lull in conversations to focus on the new cape kill. I decide to just let it mutate, shifting my focus to the newly acquired Sigils instead. The most obviously useful one is Another Surface, turning walls and ceilings into new paths is a huge advantage. After that Untangled Nose is probably good too, it will let me sort out the smells of rotting bodies and general decay, assumedly. After selecting those two I turn my attention to a Sigil that has been available for a little bit, A New Perspective, and decide to choose it too.

    The unstable energy from the cape kill settles into place at the same time that my freshly formed Sigils take the energy I just got from pumping the vein cluster full of my blood. As new powers come into sharp focus together as well, hitting me almost like a wall. Suddenly seeing out of two new sets of eyes, neither of which I can control, is probably the biggest shift brought about by the new Sigils. After that, the new feeling of being able to scatter is almost overlaid throughout my body, and I want to test it but can't with the current situation. My sense of smell is like separate parts of a weave that I can pull specific strands out of, not quite, but that is the closest thing that I can compare it to.

    My musings are cut short as the clone speaks up.

    "Can you take me with you?" She asks.

    My Echos shift back to following me before splitting off once more, one of them stepping to my side with their Malum raised and the other looking up and at the ceiling entry as I realize that this conversation might take a little bit.

    "I have a few questions first."

    "Okay." She agrees. I nearly ask if she is a parahuman, but I don't know if she would even count as human.

    "Do you have powers?"

    "I do. I don't know how to explain it, though." She says slowly.

    "Please try." I say, making sure that my own Malum Caedo is trained on her. She is quiet for several seconds before speaking again.

    "When I touch something I can see a lot of it, not all of it, and I can change the shape I see in so that I can look at other parts. I can also see the history of objects, like I know this used to be a base for someone else before it got taken over, but I don't know who." Her tone is honest and I can't hear any deceit.

    I think it over and that power sounds nothing like healing, so I dismiss that question from my forming lineup for now. It does move another one of my questions forward, though.

    "What can you tell me about the previous owner? And what did Morbistocrat do here?" I question, feeling somewhat like an interrogator.

    "It was a while ago so it's fuzzy, but I think there were a lot of people, so maybe there was more than one cape?" She shrugs. "As for Her, this was an experimental place. She made new things here, and most of them died quickly."

    "Okay." I say, nodding while I file that information away. "Next question. You know you are a clone, do you have your original memories?"

    "Not… really? I have memories, but they're not really real. I mean, I know they are fake, and even remembering them makes me see the fakeness of them. I think they are what Panacea's memories might have been? Or an attempt at them, anyway. I mean, I have my own memories from since I woke up, I was talking about before that." She says, her hands move a few times like she wanted to emphasize the point with them, but she manages to keep them raised.

    "Woke up?" I decide to focus on that point because I don't know how to deal with the fake memories issue.

    "It's what I am calling what happened. Before I got my powers, I don't think I was really thinking? Or, maybe I was but it was wrong? I don't know how to explain it, I just remember feeling lonely, and then I got my power and was able to watch Mom— Her make new monsters." Her voice was calm up until the end where she corrected herself with a great deal of venom in her voice. I decide that I don't want to poke at that right now and move to my next question.

    "Okay. Do we need to worry about some sort of, for lack of a better term, expiration date?" I say, finally lowing my gun. My Echos snap back to copying my actions for a second before separating again and retaking their previous positions.

    "I don't know." The clone shrugs. "The most any of Her creations last is thirty days, it was something she frequently complained about, but I've been here longer than that, so I don't know. I might start falling apart at any minute." She says the last sentence with a rueful smile.

    So once we get the chance, we'll need to get a healer to look at her. Maybe Panacea herself? I don't know how she would feel about that, though, so probably not because that could be bad. How would I react to a healing, a clone of myself? I can't really see myself not helping, but at the same time, I also can't see my helping. Pushing the matter to the side, I continue with my last few questions.

    "Do you know any of Morbistocrat's weakness or strengths?"

    "She can only work with dead material, and the time limit I mentioned before. I don't really understand what she was doing to make the monsters, though, so I can't say anything about her strengths." She says slowly lowering her arms and when my Echo, who is still pointing their gun at her, doesn't react, she drops them completely.

    An unfortunate outcome but I probably should have seen it coming, no one can understand Tinkertech after all. The thirty-day time limit does seem like an important piece of knowledge, though, so I make a mental note to bring it up to the Protectorate when I next see them.

    "Alright. A few more questions. You mentioned you were supposed to be the 'real Panacea' when someone broke in, what did you mean by that?"

    "Exactly what I said. I am the best clone in this base, so I was supposed to be the one that the intruders concluded was the real Panacea. After that, I was supposed to cause as much damage as I could, maybe faking not being able to heal anymore? I don't know, Mom's instructions weren't clear beyond killing as many people as I could." Her head tilts to the side as she talks, apparently thinking deeply.

    My Echos return to copying me, one keeps glancing back at the hole in the ceiling though, and I realize that I had decided to get her out at some point in the questioning. I'm not going to be stupid about it though, my Echos can carry her and if she tries to run I will just shoot her, it is just not worth the risk.

    "Okay. We'll get you out of here, if you try to run or touch me personally I'll kill you. Understand?" I say in a hard voice, to which she nods.

    "I just want to see the sky, honestly." She mutters under her breath, but I can hear it fine in the quiet room.

    "Alright." I acknowledge, my voice returning to its normal tone. I then realize that I should probably call her something other than 'the clone'. "What do you want to be called?"

    "I don't know. I hadn't thought about it, maybe just… elixir but that sucks. So call me Triage for now."

    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Once we get back up, what do we do?
    [X][Steps] Try to find Shade Skip in the sewers.
    [X][Steps] Get to the surface and…
    -[X][Steps] Write-In:
    [X][Steps] Try to find Shade Skip from the surface.
    [X][Steps] Ask Triage to look for possible secret passages.
    [X][Steps] Write-In:

    Stats
     
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    • [X][Steps] Try to find Shade Skip by looking for the Sword Logic

    Getting back to the surface can wait until after the crisis is averted
     
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    Chapter 59
  • Threadmarks
    • Once we get back up, what do we do?
    [X][Steps] Try to find Shade Skip by looking for the Sword Logic (6 Votes)
    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Sunday, March 13th, 2011
    4:40 PM

    "Triage." I repeat as I try to remember what that is because it sounds familiar. It's something medical, so it must be fitting enough. "Alright, ready to get out of here?"

    "Yes." Triage says eagerly. One of my Echos breaks away and starts gesturing for her to follow them to the wall.

    While it is doing, so I approach the wall myself and I can feel the Another Surface Sigil ushering me forward, my brain treating it like flat ground. Following it, I step forward and the feeling of having my foot flat against the wall is a bit odd, but my next step brings me perpendicular to the wall without so much as a mental shifting. Closing my eyes, I wouldn't even be able to tell you if I was standing on the ground or a wall because it doesn't feel like blood is rushing where it shouldn't and even my clothes are still falling the right way. I can see that my Echo is having a harder time with Triage, since she doesn't seem to understand sign language.

    "They want you to let them lift you under their arms so we can carry you to the tunnel above." I call over to her.

    "What about when we get to the ceiling? I don't think I can be effectively be flipped that way." She says before continuing. "I did see a staircase though, we could just use that?"

    "Staircase? I came through that." I say, pointing to the hole in the ceiling that has slowly dripping chunks of gore falling through it.

    "Yeah, it was broken, so she ignored it and just made the ladder." Triage says, walking over to a section of wall. "It's behind here."

    I hop off the wall and move over to the spot she gestured to. My Echos start making short work of peeling and cutting the flesh covering away to reveal the staircase. The space is a little odd, the staircase being air gaped from the walls, making the whole space feel bigger. The steps themselves are falling apart and a few of them have fallen through completely, but it will still be a lot easier than trying to hold Triage upside down or something. There are a few dead veins on the wall closest to me, and what almost looks like a stalactite of congealed blood formed on the ceiling of the room. I almost ask how she knew this was here, before I can though I realize her power must have told her, so instead I ask a different question.

    "Do you know if there are other parts to this base? Besides the path I took." I ask since she was probably watching me the whole time.

    "Um. Not in the spots I saw you in. I can't see the whole place, or I couldn't from my cell. Sorry." I just shrug.

    "No worries, I have to regroup with my allies before we leave, though." It looks like she is going to argue for a moment, but she swallows it and just nods.

    One of my Echos once again splits off and starts following her up, helping her where the steps are missing. As for myself, I just walk up the wall and jump onto the landing at the top, in front of the only door. Prying it open with Malum, I am greeted with a short hallway with a lot of sludge and melted concrete sections. Partway down the length I can see the hole that I jumped down, so this staircase was just completely covered by a wall of meat that is gone now. I am very glad for my ability to sort through smells because right now I am focusing on the faint smell of old, wet concrete, which isn't great but may as well be flowers compared to the sick smell of half melted dead bone and guts.

    Seeing my own back as the guiding Echo reaches the top of the stairs and abruptly returns to following me. Stepping to the side, I gesture for Triage to go first, to which she looks at the sludge that is starting to flow out of the now open door with visible disgust. Despite being where I actually started injecting my blood the floor under us was still more solid than this hallway is, so the reaction is fair. To be honest, it is just disgusting either way, so I don't blame her for the reaction.

    Triage takes a deep breath and starts moving though the gunk. I wait a few seconds and follow at a distance, one of my Echos even moving in front of me just in case. As I keep pace with her squish and squashing steps, a new smell makes itself known to me, it is close to the gross sweet smell that some dead things have, but not quite. The smell is almost like, if mint was a fungus, even though I have no idea what fungi smell like, so I don't know if that's really a good comparison either. Ignoring my bad comparisons, I am almost certain that it is Triage which makes me feel more than a little weird, being able to smell someone, but it might be good for tracking, like a dog. I'll have to look up ways that dogs use their noses later for ideas. My musings are cut short as Triage comes to a stop right in front of the hole.

    "I don't think that I can make that jump." She says nervously, glancing back at me.

    That is something I hadn't actually considered, the jump doesn't look very big to me, but I also know that I can survive the fall, so my perspective might be skewed a bit.

    "Do you want one of my Echos to carry you across like they did for the stairs?" I ask.

    "Yes please."

    The Echo that was standing between us moves forward and grabs Triage under her shoulders and lifts. They spin so that the Echo can walk backwards onto the wall and once there they walk sideways so that Triage is held over the drop, the image that comes to mind is that of a soggy cat being held aloft which makes me quietly chuckle. They make it to the other side without any issue, and I follow behind with a running jump.

    We make it to the next room and an idea of how to actually track down Shade Skip, it might be a bit mean, but I don't really care about the Undersiders and with their psychic, I'm sure they can figure it out themselves. Closing my eyes, I focus on our connection, I pictured it like a bridge the last time I examined it properly, and I wonder if that is literal. If it is, then it should point towards Shade Skip. Sure enough, as I look at it, I can see that, instead of a straight line, the bridge curves off at an impossible angle the further it goes. Opening my eyes, with the not-quite memory in the forefront of my mind, I can imagine it like a line rope guiding me back up and into the sewers I think.

    I start following it, leading the way this time. I am fairly certain at this point that Triage isn't going to try and attack or run, but I am keeping my ears open just in case. As we exit the original breach, I am pleased to see that someone turned on the lights running along the sides of the access paths, something I forgot might have been an issue.

    The downside to using this method for directions is that our connection doesn't follow any of the available paths, instead leading directly into walls, which means I have to make some guesses and on one occasion double back entirely when the sewer just kept going on without any intersections. We journey for about ten minutes before Triage speaks up.

    "I can see a group of people up ahead." Her voice sounds a bit odd, and I glance back to see that she is holding her nose.

    "Can you describe them?" I ask once what she actually said, registers.

    "Moment." She says, and I can see her eyes unfocus. Around a minute passes before she seems to snap back to reality. "There are three people ahead and a body. One of them looks like a ninja, one is talking really smugly and the other one is big. They haven't been there long, so I can't really tell anything else."

    The ninja one is probably Shade Skip and if there is a body that means they probably ran into another doppelgänger, the other two are the Undersiders if that is the case. Unless it's the opposite and the three are the fakes and one of the Undersiders is dead. I can hear footsteps starting our way and a moment after Triage speaks again.

    "They are moving this way."

    One Echo takes up position next to me, pointing their revolver toward the incoming group, and my other Echo goes to stand next to Triage to both protect her and ensure that she doesn't run off if a fight starts because I'm still not quite sure what to do with her. It doesn't take long before they turn into this tunnel, the whole time I am looking at my bridge to Shade Skip and see it moving in tandem with the approaching footsteps, so I know that she is the real deal at least.

    The trio freezes for a moment before Shade Skip relaxes, she must be doing the same thing I am, that doesn't clear the other two though. A small part of me want to just shoot them and be done with it, but I stuff that thought in a box and toss it out of mind.

    "Where are Bitch and Regent?" Maybe Grue asks.

    "Dunno. I'm sure that Tattletale can listen for their brains or something." I respond in a ruder way than I had intended, I must be more stressed than I thought. "Come on, Shade Skip, let's get out of here." I say much more neutrally.

    "That's Panacea then?" She asks, looking past me to Triage. I just nod my head because I don't really want to talk about it in front of the Undersiders Tattletale of course throws that plan out the window.

    "No, it's not. There are a bunch of copies running around, that's one of them."

    "Irrelevant." I say in a dismissive tone, still not wanting to discuss the exact details right here. Thankfully, Shade Skip picks up on it.

    "The PRT have issued a recall, apparently there has been an urgent development. My guess is they found out about the clones too."

    "So you're just going to leave our teammates?" Grue asks crossing his arms, the smoke makes it hard to tell, but I think his tone is angry.

    The question does make me feel a bit bad, villains or not they aren't like the Empire or ABB, leaving them in what is probably going to quickly become monster infested sewers makes me feel not great. Especially since I doubt either Grue or Tattletale are going to be able to deal with whatever issue has been tying up Bitch's monster dogs. Shade Skip looks at me, clearly feeling something similar, but she also shrugs, which I interpret as her following my lead on this.

    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Should we help find and/or rescue the missing Undersiders?
    [X][Missing] Yes
    [X][Missing] No
    [X][Missing] Write-In:

    If no, how are you going to explain Triage?
    [X][Fake] Write-In:
    Stats
     
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  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 60
  • Threadmarks
    • Should we help find and/or rescue the missing Undersiders?
    [X][Missing] Yes (7 Votes)
    -[X] Trade info with the other group. Also ask Tattletale if there's any programming in Triage that might be dangerous to us and if Triage is sane/not mastered/on Morbistocrat's side. If she is an enemy, hold her at sword and gunpoint with your echoes and try to get any relevant info she has, then kill her. If needed, lie and say "you will spare her, of course, you are a hero!" If she tries to attack at any point, default to attacking to kill. Also ask the other group why is the PRT calling everyone back.
    -[X] Before going, try to relay any important info you have to the PRT/Protectorate via cellphone. Explain you might have fucked up by releasing what you thought were hostages. Explain that you encountered a creature that took Regent's shape, and so suspect that the hostages might actually be Morbistocrat's creations. (Say only that Morbistocrat can make clones of other people, and that they can have powers of their own instead of this, if we end up actually killing Triage)You also have a clone of Panacea with you, she seems sane and has her own powers. Tell them any other relevant information Tattletale got with her power on the clone. Tell them that a clone/Triage said normal creations (without powers of their own) usually last 30 days.
    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Sunday, March 13th, 2011
    4:55 PM

    "No." I say with a sigh.

    I might not like them much, but they are people, not the barely human goons of the gangs, and so I should work to help them. If we're going to be working together a bit longer, then I should lay a few more things on the table, plus having Tattletale to ask about Triage will be helpful. If I were to be purely pragmatic about it, I could say that I want some more easy kills, but I do want to be a hero.

    "Alright, first, I have some questions that Tattletale should be able to help with." I say, turning and gesturing for Triage to step forward.

    "I can answer a few, but not many." She says with a smile. I nod and cut down a lot of the questions I had to just the important ones.

    "This is one of Morbistocrat's clones of Panacea, something that she knows. She is calling herself Triage for now and has her own set of powers that don't seem to have anything to do with healing." Tattletale nods along.

    As I give the rundown, one of my Echos is holding their pistol towards Triage, just in case. The other Echo is watching the other two, Grue is still standing with his arms crossed, but his stance is much more relaxed than it was before, Shade Skip meanwhile has tilted her head and is clearly listening even while her eyes are on another piece of Tinkertech that she is fiddling with.

    "She also called Morbistocrat 'mom' so I want you to see if there is any kind of internal programming or Mastering or something that would make her a threat." I say, keeping my focus on Tattletale.

    "Oh. I'm not sure if that's something that I can do here or fast." She says. "I would be surprised if there isn't a little bit of programming, but I can easily say that this clone— Triage isn't hostile."

    "Why can't you? Just look in her head and see if there are repeating thoughts or something." I say, trying to envision what a programmed mind might look like.

    Tattletale glances at me before turning her attention to Triage for a few seconds that stretches on to a few minutes. It's not too long before Triage speaks up again.

    "Am I supposed to do something?" Her voice is a bit unsure, and she glances at me, but I just shrug.

    "Okay so." Tattletale starts, breaking from whatever trance she was in. "Triage here is as safe as any other person, as far as I can tell. It's not a perfect read, but I'd need to see her over a longer period of time to be able to tell for sure." As she talks, I can see Grue start to tap impatiently on his arm.

    Triage take a deep breath of relief and I can see her sag a little bit. My Echos return to copying me with the pass, not that we are going to stop watching her, that would be stupid, but it is nice to know that my judgement was good on her. With that worry no longer taking up a good chunk of my thoughts, I start to ask why the PRT is recalling, but Tattletale lets out a small groan of pain that I only heard because of my enhanced hearing. Not only that, it would be kind of rude to just dismiss Shade Skip's theory.

    I decide to just ask the PRT, because another thing that occurs to me is that the hostages I let out might have some fakes among them as well. Turning to the group, I let them know my plan.

    "Alright, I'm going to call the PRT and let them know about the mimics as well as Triage's existence."

    "You'll have to go up, service is too spotty down here. Otherwise, we would have called a bit ago." Grue says, one of my Echos sees Triage perk up at the mention of leaving the sewers.

    "We can go after Regent and Bitch then, you can find me, right?" Shade Skip asks, to which I just nod my head.

    "Can I come with you?" Triage asks a second later, but before I can answer, Tattletale speaks up.

    "Yeah, you two go talk with the heroes, we'll get a head start down here." She says.

    Before I can argue, Shade Skip makes a sound or realization and presses a button on the device she was messing with. All the shadows start stretching towards her before tearing themselves off the ground and flying into her own shadow. More and more are sucked in before a pressure that had built up without my notice dissipates, the end result is that the tunnel looks it is in direct sunlight which makes it a lot easier to see.

    "Nice, how long does that last?" I ask.

    "Should be safe for an hour as long as I keep the effect local like this." She says happily.

    "Will it mess with my power?" Grue asks, which I take as my cue to leave.

    "Where is the nearest ladder?" I ask Triage to just points in the direction that Shade Skip's group originally came from.

    I start making my way in that direction, one of my Echos still glancing back to Triage. They see her start to ask a question a few times, but she never does. The ladder is fairly easy to find, positioned in a room with a number of meters and switches. There is also the body that Triage described when she saw them earlier, looking at it, I can't tell who it was a mimic of, if anyone, on account of its liquefaction.

    Slipping Malum Caedo into my waistband, I make a mental note to get a proper holster while climbing up. The manhole cover is a bit trickier to open from below, but it isn't too much of an issue to just slide it over. An Echo goes up first and signs the all clear before I finish my ascent. The street I emerge onto is dead quiet, but nicer houses still line the streets, so we haven't managed to go far. Triage is close behind, one of my Echos sees her almost scrambling out of the hole while I pull out the phone.

    Dialing the PRT emergency line, I am greeted to a busy tone. Pulling the phone away from my ear, I double-check that I dialed the right thing before trying again. One of my Echos is still watching Triage to make sure she doesn't try to run off, she isn't really doing anything, though. Her eyes are closed, and her face is turned to the afternoon sun, not really moving. I manage to get through on my third try, but only reach a machine.

    "All operators are currently busy, please stay on the line to be assisted when available. The PRT has issued a state of emergency for Brockton Bay, all citizens are to shelter in place and ensure all members of your house are accounted for while the Protectorate handles the danger, we thank you for your cooperation." The message then repeats.

    Part of me wishes it had a line number, so I would know how long—

    A faint roar echos from the direction of downtown, one that I recognize to be Lung. Things must have a turn for the worst if Lung decided to finally crawl out of his lair. Triage's head twitches, and a second later she points between two houses on the left.

    "Something is coming." Her posture takes on something vaguely combative, and through my Echo's vision, I mentally pick holes throughout the stance.

    "What does it look like?" I ask, mentally pushing the analysis out of mind as my other Echo points Malum in the same direction.

    "A weird dog thing? It's sniffing along the house." Her voice is a bit stilted, and I assume that's because she is using her power.

    "Does it have flowers or teeth?" I ask, since those are the only two kinds that I know about.

    "Um, flowers. What are they? I didn't see Her make anything that looked like this." Her voice has a bit of fascination in it, which is a bit odd.

    "Another monster. I've been calling them dogs in my head since that's what they look like."

    "Do you know what they do?" She asks.

    "The only dog-thing with flowers that I saw exploded into a bunch of spores." That causes her to whip her head around and speak quickly.

    "Did you inhale any of them?"

    "No." I deny before expanding a bit. "They got covered in some containment foam. Why?"

    "She made the spores in that lair, I heard her talking to herself. They grow in lungs and slowly suffocate people, if they get far enough along the person will start breathing out more infectious spores." She explains with a bit of relief.

    "We thank you for your cooperation." A garbled, scratchy voice says behind us.

    I turn around but don't see anything, Triage clearly heard it too, as she whips around at the same time I do. One Echo keep watch for the dog-thing while I lower the phone and scan the street again. As I do, I can see a smear of blood on the ground leading into a house a few doors down.

    "Hang up the phone." She says desperately, eyes glued to the same house.

    "Why?" I ask.

    "She called it one of her magnum opus', a semiautonomous assassin that can sense the electromagnetic spectrum and manipulate it slightly. Hang up and let's just go looking for the missing members."

    "Electromagnetic?"

    "Plus it's strong and fast, everything else, we have to go." Her fighting stance is gone, now her eyes are just bouncing between the manhole and me.

    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Do you comply?
    [X][Listen] Yes.
    [X][Listen] Hang up but aim to fight it instead.
    -[X][Listen] Write-In: (if you choose this one, Triage will attempt to flee back to the sewers, how do you respond to your prisoner trying to leave?)
    [X][Listen] No, the PRT needs to know what you've found out.
    [X][Listen] Write-In:

    Stats
     
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    • [X][Listen] Hang up but aim to fight it instead.
    -[X] Tell her you are fighting it and to go to the sewers, but atleast try to not get too far from where you were? It would suck if you had to search for her.
    -[X] Give your phone to an Echo, the thing is "semiautonomous" so it might attack, maybe even break it or it's weapons on your invulnerable echo. Try to stage an ambush for the Assassin.
     
    [X][Listen] Hang up but aim to fight it instead.
    -[X] Tell her you are fighting it and to go to the sewers, but atleast try to not get too far from where you were? It would suck if you had to search for her.
    -[X] Give your phone to an Echo, the thing is "semiautonomous" so it might attack, maybe even break it or it's weapons on your invulnerable echo. Try to stage an ambush for the Assassin.
     
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  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by ecoolasice on Jul 9, 2024 at 12:32 AM, finished with 2 posts and 2 votes.
    • [listen]
      [X][Listen] Hang up but aim to fight it instead.
      -[X] Tell her you are fighting it and to go to the sewers, but atleast try to not get too far from where you were? It would suck if you had to search for her.
      -[X] Give your phone to an Echo, the thing is "semiautonomous" so it might attack, maybe even break it or it's weapons on your invulnerable echo. Try to stage an ambush for the Assassin.
    Click to expand...
     
  • Voting
    • Chapter 61
  • Threadmarks
    • Do you comply? (7 Votes)
    [X][Listen] Hang up but aim to fight it instead.
    -[X] Tell her you are fighting it and to go to the sewers, but atleast try to not get too far from where you were? It would suck if you had to search for her.
    -[X] Give your phone to an Echo, the thing is "semiautonomous" so it might attack, maybe even break it or it's weapons on your invulnerable echo. Try to stage an ambush for the Assassin.
    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Sunday, March 13th, 2011
    5:05 PM

    I oblige and hang up the phone trying to hand it to an Echo, it just slips through their hand, so I quickly catch it before it hits the ground and slide it into my pocket. I don't have any plans to run through, so I draw Malum Caedo and turn to her.

    "I'm gonna fight. Hide in the sewers if you need to." I say seeing her panicked face.

    "Fucking idiot! Okay, okay, okay. It's fast, um, one of the main things she based it on is an electric eel." Triage says as she flees down the ladder.

    "Don't go too far." I say as I slide the manhole covering back into place.

    My Echos move into a huddle with me as I start to drum up a plan. Looking at my Echos I consider them, they've been interacting with things weirdly, but I haven't really had the chance to test it, so the specifics elude me. I do know that they haven't been damaged— hurt at all, and something tells me that isn't going to change. There is also the new power I got from whoever I killed in Morbistocrat's lair that I don't know about. It should die to our acid gunfire, like everything else, but if that doesn't work, my backup plan is just to cut it down.

    'It's fast' could mean too many things that I can't dwell on it for too long. Electric eel is more understandable, though, it means that only my Echos should get close because I am pretty sure that I can still have my heart stopped. There is still the dog-thing behind me, and I am tempted to just kill it real quick before focusing on the main threat, but I push it out of mind because according to Triage it is just sniffing around, and I am upwind from it, unfortunately that means that the 'magnum opus' is downwind from me so if it can track it's already caught my scent. Triage also said it is 'one of' the magnum opus' and if I had to guess the centaur-thing was another one, how many are there?

    "Please, I think there is something in the house." The thing's voice says, sounding like two sheets of sandpaper rubbing together, emerges from the house Triage was starting at.

    It still hasn't emerged from the house, and part of me wishes that I had a Molotov to burn it down, not that I think that would work. My eyes stay glued to the house for a few more seconds, but when it doesn't emerge, I let my mind try to pick apart the rest of what Triage said.

    'Semiautonomous' doesn't really mean anything to me either, but if I had to guess, it has a bit more brains than pure instinct. Applying that line of thinking to its calls, it might be trying to lure me into the house, it is being rather loud. Generally, doing the opposite of what your enemy wants is the best call, which is good for me because being in the open like this should be an advantage for me, unless it has some form of ranged attack that is.

    With that thought, one of my Echos starts scanning for any cover but comes up empty, all these cookie cutter houses have open lawns leading right up to the road leaving no room for sidewalks, and without those there is nothing to plant the trees on the other side of. So if I wanted to get to cover I would have to use one of the houses, but I have no way of knowing which ones have people inside, presumably most of them, and drawing the creature's attention closer to them isn't something that I want to do.

    "Just hang on, ma'am, a cruiser is on the way." It's voice echoes into the street, followed by an angry snarl-like noise.

    Is it intercepting emergency calls? Is that why Triage wanted me to hang up? Before I can dwell on that too much, my phone starts to vibrate. With both my Echos poised and ready, I feel comfortable enough to pull it out. Flipping it open I see an upcoming call from nowhere, instead of private, or unknown, or even just displaying the phone number there is nothing. The dots aren't particularly hard to connect, the call is most likely coming from the creature, but I have no idea how, isn't electromagnetic stuff magnets? Either way, I close it and shove it back into my pocket, no reason to let myself get distracted.

    As soon as I complete the motion, there is a wailing, raw sound from the house that sets my nerves on edge.

    "Mean! I'll find elsewhere." The speakers of my phone blare.

    The sound of shattering glass follows and going from nothing changing in my sight, the creature is probably leaving through a back window.

    =={==========-- | --==========}==​
    The dice are certainly telling a story…

    What should I do?
    [X][Step] Pursue it, try to force a fight.
    [X][Step] Let it leave and investigate the house, try to gather any clues?
    [X][Step] Return to the sewers and look for Bitch and Regent.
    [X][Step] Write-In:

    Stats
     
    Last edited:
  • Threadmarks
    • Chapter 62
  • Threadmarks
    • What should I do?
    [X][Step] Pursue it, try to force a fight. (5 Votes)
    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Sunday, March 13th, 2011
    5:10 PM

    It only takes a moment for me to really understand what is happening, and as soon as I do, my legs start moving. A few different reasons for why I am pursuing the creature filter through my mind, but I am not sure if any of them quite fit.

    The matter falls out of mind as I get closer to the house and a new, very strange smell hits my nose. It is like ozone almost, but with overtones of Morbistocrat's creature's signature rotting, putrid smell, the composition reminds me of Triage a bit.

    I shake off the musing as my sprint carries me to the house faster than I had though it would, and I quickly course correct and aim between the houses to get into the backyard. One of my Echos sticks with me, and the other starts running up the front of the house. Me and the one on the ground have to hop a fence to reach the backyard, and once we do, there is nothing out of the ordinary.

    The Echo accompanying me quickly splits off towards the next road as the other Echo reaches the top of the house and starts looking over the row of interconnected backyards. For my part, I try to use my sense of smell to see if I can figure out the direction it traveled, making only a little headway before the Echo that kept moving makes it onto the street and spots what is almost certainly our target.

    Shaped like a centipede, it is coiled over itself multiple times, making it about the size of a car. The single pointed forward end makes the shape sort of like a snail, if a snail had a squirming, crawling shell. A concave underside twists along its curves and occasionally folds the other direction, leaving me unsure what side is actually the bottom. In place of feet are uneven legs and arms and spike shaped bones wiggling independently of the main body's undulation. Across the patchwork carapace are flowing tufts of hair, the ends faintly arcing between themselves. Something must have alerted it to my Echo because the head twists around and lets me see the flat line of misaligned, blood stained, teeth at the end of its flat body. Above and below that teeth line are two multijointed arms coming forward to hold a staff of bones lashed together with tendons, at the end of which looks to be one of the jellyfish, trapped in place upside down by a small rib cage.

    As I take the sight through the eyes of my Echo, my real body is already moving forward and my other Echo has burst into a cloud of dust, my sight through them immediately going blurry as it moves through the air. The Echo facing the centipede-thing isn't idle, either, immediately bringing its Malum Caedo level with the monster's center mass and letting its black-white blood flood around the chambered round. The creature brings the staff forward, and I see a shimmering field pop into being at the same time the soundless gunshot jerks my Echo's arm back.

    The bullet passes right through the field and sinks into the rotten flesh, quickly melting a hole in the squirming lengths of the creature. As soon as the bullet hits, the creature lets out a scream that echos down the street and feels like it is burrowing into my eardrums. I push through the pain and round the corner in time to see with my own eyes as the staff is lowered, followed by a blinding flash of light and a deafening Boom that reverberates through my chest even as I squeeze my eyes shut and cover my ears.

    The Echo that was on the street is splitting away from me again, and it pulls me back around the corner of the house as my senses recover. The Echo that was flying's blurry vision returns to normal as it reforms on the roof of the same house I am using for cover. Said Echo is able to see that the monster is now crackling with electricity across its body and arcing from the flowing hair and to the ground. It can also see the house at the street's bend has a large hole through the front and is rapidly catching fire.

    The pain in my eardrums is rapidly fading, but my eyes are still too blurry to see anything properly. My Echo on the roof brings its Malum Caedo to bear as the creature untangles itself and stretches out, the 'head' remaining raised off the ground. A thick, jagged, afterimage is still burned across my vision, but I can feel my eyes readjusting to the afternoon sun. The rooftop Echo's Malum jerks back as it fires on the rapidly flattening creature, making it contort where I assume the unenhanced bullet lands. Almost immediately after that, the monster starts racing forward, right towards my hiding spot.

    It travels with deceptive speed, and the Echo's next gunshot misses as the centipede-thing doesn't react. I can't see well, but it should be good enough to at lease dodge as I shift Malum into it's blade form and ready myself into a fighting position. My Echo beside me also readies, positioning itself a few steps ahead of me.

    Three breaths pass before the monster comes crawling into view.

    Up close, its size is more apparent, not in my limited eyesight, but through my Echo's eyes. The Echo on the roof is quickly moving over to look down into the alley as the one in front of me darts forward. It is at this moment that I remember my new Another Surface Sigil, and that I can just move up the side of the building. With that thought, I bend my knees and jump up, shifting Malum back to its gun form, letting my blood start coating the next bullet, as my now-free hand touches the paneling of the house so that gravity now has me standing on hand. My momentum lets me shift to a kneeling position, looking down at the duel.

    At the same time I jumped, I was able to watch through the eyes of the Echo on the ground as Malum Ceado comes down and is blocked by the staff. The sword is withdrawn in time for a charge of electricity to harmlessly ground itself, I assume it was trying to travel through the connecting point, which is something to remember. The Echo uses the momentum from pulling their sword back to spin around and bring the tip forward, while doing so, blood starts coating the blade.

    A few things happen at the same time, my finger pulls on the trigger and my arms snap back as the blood soaked shot is launched down. The Echo on the roof reaches the end of the roof and keeps charging right onto the same wall I am on and levels their own gun where I was aiming, a fully charged shot following mine. On the ground, the creature has brought its staff down to block the sword, only for that Malum to burst into dust and reform past it, bypassing the block entirely.

    The one real and one shadowed bullet hit nearly the same spot, blowing through it and melting a bit of the body as most of the blood keep traveling with the bullet. Malum's blade sinks into the thin body easily, and from my view above I see the monochrome emerging from the brown and rotting flesh. It begins to writhe, and I feel a buzzing in my molars a second before all my muscles contract, making me fall to my side and pull the trigger again.

    Both of my Echos are unaffected through, and the blade wielder starts to drag their sword out the side of the creature. The ineffectiveness of the shot apparently spurs the Echo on the wall with me to jump down, reforming their own blade, and plunge their own attack through the creature. Almost right after, it freezes up before falling limp, my muscles unlocking but thoroughly sore.

    I feel the same sickly, bubbling energy that the crab had flow into me, asking for me to put it to use. Slowly forcing my limbs to extend out, I take a few deep breaths while the adrenaline starts filtering out of my system.

    =={==========-- | --==========}==​
    Was out of town and didn't have a chance to even sit down. I also took some of the thread talk into consideration for the power gained for this kill. I am also not sure how well this fight scene managed to be transferred from my head to paper, but revising it over and over will only make this take even longer.

    Return to the sewers?
    [X][Down] Yes, try to reconvene with Triage.
    [X][Down] No, try to call the PRT instead.
    [X][Down] No, investigate the house the creature was originally hiding in.
    [X][Down] Write-In:

    Significantly Non-Standard Kill recognized, how to proceed?
    [X][Odd] Pass it along the connection to Shade Skip.
    OR​
    [X][Odd] Absorb it.
    -[X][Odd] + 2.5 base Speed, + 7" base Height.
    -[X][Odd] + 35 base Strength, + 16lb base Weight.
    AND​
    [X][Odd] Try to extract an ability from it.
    -[X][Odd] Gain two arms. (75% chance of success)
    -[X][Odd] Beneficially Magnetic: Anything you are holding automatically magnetized in a manner that benefits you, also allied to metals that are not necessarily magnetic. (75% chance of success)
    -[X][Odd] Lightning Vision: You can now see sources of electricity, almost like another layer to your sight that you can focus on or away from.
    (Note: if a failure is rolled, the kill will not benefit you in any way.)

    Stats
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X][Down] No, investigate the house the creature was originally hiding in.
    [X][Odd] Absorb it.
    -[X][Odd] + 35 base Strength, + 16lb base Weight.
    [X][Odd] Try to extract an ability from it.
    -[X][Odd] Lightning Vision: You can now see sources of electricity, almost like another layer to your sight that you can focus on or away from.
     
    Last edited:
    [X][Down] No, investigate the house the creature was originally hiding in.
    [X][Odd] Absorb it.
    -[X][Odd] + 35 base Strength, + 16lb base Weight.
    [X][Odd] Try to extract an ability from it.
    -[X][Odd] Lightning Vision: You can now see sources of electricity, almost like another layer to your sight that you can focus on or away from.
     
    Vote closed
  • Voting
    • Scheduled vote count started by ecoolasice on Jul 15, 2024 at 5:53 AM, finished with 3 posts and 2 votes.
    [down] [odd]
    • 2
      [X][Down] No, investigate the house the creature was originally hiding in.
    • 2
      [X][Odd] Absorb it.
      -[X][Odd] + 35 base Strength, + 16lb base Weight.
      [X][Odd] Try to extract an ability from it.
      -[X][Odd] Lightning Vision: You can now see sources of electricity, almost like another layer to your sight that you can focus on or away from.
    Click to expand...
     
  • Voting
    • Chapter 63
  • Threadmarks
    • Return to the sewers?
    [X][Down] Write-In: Call PRT to inform them of centipede enemy who can mimic voice and fake emergency service calls. Also of shapeshifters.
    -[X][Down] try to reconvene with Triage after the call finished no matter if it mimic or real PRT. (4 Votes)

    Significantly Non-Standard Kill recognized, how to proceed?
    [X][Odd] Try to extract an ability from it.
    -[X][Odd] Beneficially Magnetic: Anything you are holding automatically magnetized in a manner that benefits you, also allied to metals that are not necessarily magnetic. (75% chance of success) (8 Votes)
    AND
    [X][Odd] Absorb it.
    -[X][Odd] + 2.5 base Speed, + 7" base Height. (7 Votes)

    You rolled a 73 out of 100, I feel like the dice are taunting me lol, but hey, a vote roll will fail eventually, right?
    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Sunday, March 13th, 2011
    5:15 PM

    I let out a small chuckle as my heart rate slows and a small nagging corner of my brain keeps pointing out that I am laying on the side of a building, that I have powers. My body is also taking this brief lull to let me know that I am growing tired, both mentally and physically. How long have I been going? Since yesterday, I am pretty sure, but it is sort of hazy. I brush those thoughts aside because I should probably get back to Shade Skip and the Undersiders quickly.

    Turning my mind's eye to the unsettled energy, I wonder if I can pull a power from it, the same way a power would form from a cape kill? It feels similar, and the monster definitely had abilities of some kind, even if I'm not sure what some of them were. For the cape kills, the energy was active and wanted to change in order to be absorbed, so do I have to force it to change? Maybe if I… no, trying to force some of my energy into it like I could with the cape kills doesn't do anything. I was able to absorb it normally last time, so maybe if I split it? No harm in trying.

    Grabbing the glob of ill power with my metaphorical hands, I pull and as I do, two things happen. It splits fairly easily, one half immediately being absorbed and channeling towards my legs, while the other half starts pulsing violently. I can feel the energy spinning in a ring, bringing to mind the image of a particle accelerator, and wobbling erratically as I try to hold it steady. It almost slips out of my control more than a few times, but somehow I manage to keep hold of it. Gradually slowing down, it's chaotic motions, I feel the ring dissolve into the same sand-like and night air feeling as it flows into me. The refreshing energy isn't quite enough to offset the soreness throughout my body and the almost-but-not-quite burnt feeling coating the hands of my mind's eye.

    Refocusing, I have enough energy to stand up, stand sideways? And stretch out. Time's wasting, so I hop off the wall and start jogging my way back to the manhole cover that I emerged from to reconnect with Triage. I would be running, but I figure I may as well try to call the PRT again now that the centipede thing is gone. Dialing the emergency line, I am greeted with a busy tone once more, so I just abandon that effort for now. I do reload Malum Caedo after putting away my phone, just to keep it topped off for my Echos.

    Returning to the street that I originally started on, I can see the flower-dog that Triage mentioned earlier, scratching at a door. I want to go kill it with my blade but the warning about the spores growing in my lungs holds me back, instead one of my Echos lines up the shot as me and the other Echo move the manhole cover out of the way. I watch as the star-flecked void of a revolver kicks and feel the gross energy flow into its place, telling me the shot landed successfully.

    The metal lid is pulled aside rather easily, and I just hop down since I know it's not that long of a fall. My Echos push the manhole cover back into place and then snap back into position, copying my movements. It takes a moment for our eyes to adjust from the sun to the dim fluorescent bulbs that illuminate the sewer. Once that is through, I make my way into the control room proper and see no one.

    Moving into the tunnel proper, I scan both directions but don't see Triage there either, meaning she must have moved in further, or just run off entirely. I feel a wave of disappointment at that idea, but the control room doesn't have any hiding spots and the tunnels are about the same in that regard, being mostly straight.

    Flipping through the smells, I find Triage's quickly dissipating trail headed in the opposite direction that Shade Skip, Grue and Tattletale went looking in.

    =={==========-- | --==========}==​

    Who do I go after?
    [X][Split] Rejoin the search efforts with Shade Skip.
    [X][Split] Follow Triage's trail.
    -[X][Split] Write-In: (what do you do if you find her?)
    [X][Split] Write-In:

    Do I want to infuse a Sigil?
    [X][Sigil] No
    [X][Sigil] Yes
    -[X][Sigil] Write-In:

    Stats
     
  • Threadmarks
    • [X][Split] Follow Triage's trail.
    -[X][Split] Write-In: (After finding her return to the protectorate's hub so they can get her registered or learn of her existence and that she's friendly)

    [X][Sigil] No
     
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