"Darn," Mao pouts, clicking her tongue, before snorting with a chuckle, and the glow fades away. She leans away from you – but not off you, taking a more casual stance, humming thoughtfully. "But in that case, then just shoot it close at fist range," she smirks, amber-gold crinkling in amusement. "That's what I did."
[Melee Check: Easy. Pass]
O-oh?
Melee just
blushed. I don't even have the words.
[] 'Seven Minutes of Heaven, Seven Hours of Purgatory, and Seven Days of Hell' Seed – a seed product 'cultivated' by the Beanstalk Pharmacy. Consumable. Effect: for your next 7 'Turns', you receive +7 Damage, +7 Sanity Resists, and +7 Damage Resist. However, for the rest of the Week, you'll be stuck in an 'Injured' State. Cost: 777,777 Ahn.
This is literally what we were looking for. A big bang consumable to get us through the urban plague. It doesn't even seem to have a downside until after the request (ok, it may injure us during the battle, but we'll probably be there by the time it wears out anyway)! We only have a Canard after this, so I'm not too worried about being injured. This unfortunately doesn't seem to make our actual clash rolls better, but it's still really powerful.
[] Salvaged Warp Glove – despite your trepidation, it does seem to be perfectly legal. Of course, there's no such thing as something this good ever existing at this low a price. Effect: When Attacking, if you roll a 6 on your 2d6, you deal an extra +5 Damage. However, if you roll a 1 on your 2d6, inflict 5 Damage to Self. Cost: 1,000,000 Ahn.
Yeah, this is both unreliable and basically a net-neutral for all our money. I get that we have a "bigger" health pool and damage is something we're kind of lacking, but eeeh. I really don't like this and I don't think we should get it. (EDIT: Was this really an 85 roll?)
[] Strange Organ Transplant (Augment) – Doctor Nyorau, according to Mao, is apparently a Master of actual repute, and you're only able to afford this because it's both highly experimental, and the payment that he seeks is to see what change this brings you. He's a Master of Hybridization Augmentation – a way of strengthening someone through adding traits from other beings into you. This is incredibly, incredibly suspect. Effect: +1 to Melee: What, +1 to Endurance: Are, and +1 to Instinct: You?. -2 to Ego: Not Yourself. ???. Cost: Nothing. Yourself?
So like, this does have benefits, but also certainly downsides, along with mystery things. The ego hit feels really bad narratively and would make us more vulnerable to mental damage, allowing for enemies to circumvent the whole Tank deal we have going on better. That, and messing with our body like
this when we've already got who-knows-what going on in us with our 2nd life and other things we'll find out later makes me very hesitant to get this, even if it is "free". I get the appeal, just feels too risky and out of my taste.
[] Bionic Muscle Vest (Wearable) – a product of the Wayang Workshop. A 'simple' vest that works by… connecting itself into your nerve's muscles? Or something? Anyway, it apparently reorganizes your muscles in a way that would make you stronger or tougher. It works, at least. Effect: At Start of Battle, you can choose to either increase your Damage or Armor by 1. Cost: 1,000,500 Ahn.
This would be the permanent/"greedy" choice compared to 7777777. Mind you, getting even more armor (or damage) does sound pretty appealing, though it wouldn't actually help our rolls. More armour also wouldn't do a lot if they apply swarm tactics against us, which they probably will (TBH, I don't know how we'll survive more than 3 turns [including revive] if they just keep doing that, so I'm hoping they don't). Just depends on how willing we are to bet our chances.
[] Gun-Glove (Wearable) – product of the SilverSteel Workshop. One of the few Workshops involving Guns that Mao seems to frequent – even though it's a gun, it's only usable in punch-range. It's part of the reason why it's cheap and hasn't been sold – it is still expensive, though Mao's more than willing to foot the bill. That being said, you have to buy your own bullets. Effect: +4 Damage per Shot. Uses Melee instead of Ranged. Requires Bullet. Cost: 4,999,999 Ahn. 100,000 Ahn per Bullet. Can only Carry 12 at Maximum per Outing.
-[] How many Bullets to Buy?
Funny. Also free "gun", so we might as well get some use out of it. Say, 2 or 3 bullets so we can focus down leader Vic? Though, do we lose the bullet if we still lose the clash? That sounds logical, but also disappointing.
[] Tattoo (Augment) – alternatively, you could always go for a tattoo. It looks like the artist is giving you a discount for your first tattoo ever, though they do look a little disappointed at the one mil thing. But you should manage. Effect: Flat +1 Damage. Cool Tats. Stylish. Cost: 999,999 Ahn.
-[] Where and What's the Tattoo
I mean... Bionic Muscle Vest is literally just better. Yes, it occupies a different "slot", but that doesn't matter in this choice atm.
Conclusion: Get 7777777 or Bionic Muscle Vest depending on how greedy we want to be. Also, some bullets if we can spare the money. Based on what Coffee said earlier on Plague reward combined with the Canard, we should barely scrape by for taxes + rent even if we spend literally all our money. I'm leaning towards 7777777 for safety, and also because imagining a scenario where we die, get back up, and
then chug it to go on a glorious rampage of revenge (or maybe bail Mao if she needs it) is too good.
. Though, we're getting the gun-glove regardless; just the bullets we're paying for.
