Alex prods his steak with his fork. “I don't even remember what she said, I sort of staggered home in a daze.”

“I remember going through something similar once,” you say. “I... got into a fight with some pretty bad dudes. I managed to beat them all, but once the adrenaline wore off it was this weird surreal feeling. Like what had just happened actually happened to someone else and I was just watching.”

“I guess that's how it goes,” Alex says, taking a bite of his steak and chewing thoughtfully. “Think we'll ever get used to it?”

“Probably. I mean cops and soldiers do this sort of thing for a living, right? I'm sure it becomes old hat eventually,” you say, carving up your steak and putting some A-1 on the well-done meat.

>>2009894

“I wonder if that's a good thing,” Alex muses, then shakes his head. “Anyway. When I first got my p... my armor, I thought I'd just screw around with it and have fun. But that experience got me thinking that maybe I should do more with it. Like, if I can help and I don't, what's that say about me?” Alex shrugs. “I dunno. I don't even like superhero shit, and now the news is calling me one.”

“What do your folks have to say about this?” you ask. Alex winces.

“They don't know about it, and hopefully they'll never have to know. I'm working on getting my own place now.”

“You should theme it up like a castle and call 'The Keep of Justice' or something,” you suggest with a smirk. Alex rolls his eyes.

“I'm not quite that far gone yet, thank you,” Alex says. “What about you, what made you get into this?”
You pause for a moment and blend truth with fiction.

“I almost got carjacked a few days ago and it pissed me off to think that you can be minding your own business in this city and almost get shot because some asshole thinks he deserves your stuff more than you. Then I saw you on the news and figured, 'Hey, here's someone that's doing something about it,” you smile. “This isn't a calling for me, though. If it was, I'd just join the cops or something.” You look at Alex. “Why didn't you?”

“You think they'd like a police officer run around in full armor?” Alex laughs. “No, no, the way I work... it wouldn't be compatible with any sort of regulation.”

“Well, they'd give you body armor wouldn't they? Don't tell me that suit of yours can stop bullets,” you say, popping a forkful of meat into your mouth.

“It can,” Alex nods dead serious. “It can actually do a lot more than people think.” Alex frowns. “I thought you didn't want to talk shop?”

“Sorry,” you laugh easily. “I guess it's just the elephant in the room. Maybe we should get a few things straightened out just so it's not hanging over our heads. Like, how low key are we looking to keep things?”

>>2009898

“I'd prefer to keep things as quiet as possible,” Alex winces. “...I'm just not that good at it. Then again I guess there's not much I can do about the media running with a story about a modern day knight running around putting the hurt on the local crime syndicate.” Alex takes a drink of his beer. “Though with Giusetelli being dismantled by the police that really takes care of that. I was aiming to eventually take him down myself, but I guess someone beat me to the punch.” Alex scowls. “That asshole ruined countless lives with his goddamn human trafficking ring. I just wish I could've been there to put a dagger through his throat.”

“I thought you got all broke up over killing?” you ask. Alex frowns.

“I'd managed to avoid it until the night we met,” Alex says. “I don't like it... I think it feels wrong. But for a man like Giusetelli, I'd make an exception.” Alex looks up to you, his eyes hardening. “When first started going on patrol, I figured it'd just be thieves and drug dealers. There's a lot worse out there. A lot worse. I've seen stuff I thought was constrained to bad horror movies like Hostel and it's all traced back to that skinny asshole and his Italian buddies.”

“All right, all right,” you say, holding up your hands. “So Giusetelli's down. Now what?”

“I... don't know,” Alex admits. “I guess I'll wait a while for the police to clean up and then see what they miss. Make sure none of his operation sur... is still around in our city.”

“Sounds like you feel pretty strongly about this,” you note.

“I've seen what they do to people,” Alex says, looking very tired all of a sudden. “All I want to do is help make the world a place I won't be ashamed to be a part of. I have no idea how to do that on a grand scale, so I'll just take whatever God puts in my path. If I see someone in need of help, I'll help them. If I see someone hurting people, I'll stop them.” He shrugs. “What else can I do?”

“If I figure that out, you'll be the first to know,” you say, smiling a little. The smile fades. “Though... that begs the question. How are you going to judge who needs to be stopped and who doesn't?”

Alex looks up. “I'm trying to figure that out too. I think... I think it's the people willing to destroy anyone else that we need to worry about. People like Giusetelli and his goons, who'll put a bullet in your head just for looking at them wrong and get away with it. People that act more like monsters. What about you? What do you think?”

>>2009903

You pause, thinking about what you've experienced this far. The jeweler an his coercions, whom you killed in their office. The carjacker who fled from your bullets. The mob boss' minions that you cut down by the score in their own base. Finally, the words come from a game about a world ravaged by nuclear war, the survivors forced to live in old metro tunnels.

“If it's hostile, you kill it. Ranger motto,” you nod firmly.

“Forgive me if I hope things hardly ever come to that,” Alex says, looking back to his steak.

The rest of the dinner is somewhat somber.

>End Vignette<

>Day 21
Tribute: 3/3
Emulation: 1/1

It's currently in the afternoon. You've just completed your magical studies and become a Wild Mage. With a sense of purpose you turn back to the other matter you've been wondering about... the mysterious puzzle box. You're close to solving it, but have been waffling on whether to use your emulation for the day to finish it quickly or just trying to open it normally.

What have you decided?

>>2009911

Use our emulation. Use it already. Save the very last thing for the morning.

Tribute Metro 2033

>>2009911
addd and emulate Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring

>>2009911
Instead of that silly puzzle, emulate a hacker and code up our own simple game. Text based, the only item can be consumed to make the user a god. Make it only usable by men, and all game characters female. Then play and tribute that game.

>>2009939
>>2009951
>Added and Emulated: Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring.
You nearly complete the puzzle, leaving the very last step until tomorrow.

>Tributed: Metro 2033
Artyom doesn't have much to give, but he manages to send over his old Universal Charger and his old pair of night vision goggles.

>>2009975
You already used your emulation for the day. You know some coding from your job, so you know the basics. Creating a simple text adventure game shouldn't take more than a few hours with your superphone. Did you want to spend the rest of the day attempting this?

>>2009992
Hell yeah, worth a shot

Wonder how smily is gonna shut us down

>>2009992

No, its a bad idea.

Lets just tribute a couple more games and go to bed.

>>2010010
How is it a bad idea to take a few hours and explore the limits of our power?

We waste to much of our day already

>>2010009
>>2010022
You spend the rest of the day coding a simple text adventure where the protagonist easily finds a magic gem that turns him into a god. Upon beating it, you attempt to summon tribute from it...

...only to find that nothing happens. The connection isn't there. There's just... an odd hollow feeling.

Tribute left: 1/3.

You're pretty tired, but you think you can manage a quick tribute before you head to bed.

>>2010062

World of Warcraft

>>2010068
You reach out to your erstwhile avatar in the World of Warcraft, and there a pause before a humble item that has saved the hero many, many times over the course of his adventures appears in your hand.

You now have a Hearthstone that can teleport you back to your warehouse whenever it is used.

>>2010062
The power taps on our love of video games, maybe it didn't work well because not enough love went into the making of the game, or maybe we just need to level up the power

>>2010083
A productive day. You became a mage, learned one of the limits of your power, and got a few handy items. A somewhat of a grind, but overall, a good day.

You collapse into bed with no regrets.

>Day 21 ends.
>All powers refresh.

"...I've got to be reaching SOME of you..."

Muted voices again. You're really starting to hate this dream. It's so... repetitive. At least it's better than the nightmares.

"...a hundred days! Don't you get it? A hundred days!!!"

>Day 22 begin.

You wake up with a sigh and let the echoes of the dream fall from your mind. Mornings haven't changed much for you since all this started. A bowl of cereal. A shower. Running a comb through your hair. It's a routine that brings you some amount of comfort with all the other changes happening.

Another day opens before you. What will you do?

>Updating paused. Will return in 3 hours.<

>>2010140

Gear up, finish solving the puzzle.

We should be wearing our growth egg, our troll ring, our shield, our scouter, our serenity ring and carrying our black blade strapped to our back, with REC gun in hand.

There, that should be good gear up, we've even got a good non-lethal option.

i'd also carry the twin guns we got from time splitters 2 as well

>>2010062
Dang. Oh well, worth a shot


>>2010140
Time to finish that puzzle! Oh, and tribute Pandemic 2 in case we ever need to hold the world hostage. Well, the world minus Madagascar.

>>2010206

We only have so many hands, anon. If we really need a gun, we can tribute one up.

>>2009911
Has no one realized that the puzzle box is from Hell Raiser?

>>2010164
>>2010262
You bring up the puzzle box and prepare to solve it...

>>2010568
...but at the back your mind, you feel a twinge of caution. You've never been one for movies, but you vaguely recall a similar situation where opening a puzzle box was a very bad move.

Still, the time has come to make a choice. Open the box or not?

>>2010568

I don't know hellraiser. Can we handle whatever that is?

>>2010693

I doubt it in our current position but fuck the police! I'll solve the puzzle, Pat!

>>2010693
probably same thing that killed the rocker. Ask the skull about it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemarchand%27s_box

>>2010702
>>2010677

Supporting.

>>2010702
"As I said before, the box appears to contain some sort of portal magic that activates when the puzzle is solved. It creates a short-lived two way bridge between this world and another, calling beings to it. I am not familiar with the plane it is attuned to."

>>2010699
One vote for. Any opposed?

>>2010262
You tribute Pandemic 2...
...and nothing seems to happen. Oh well.

>>2010262
Wait what? Are you insane? Asking tribute from a constantly evolving virus/parasite/prion that exists only to kill off the entirety of humanity with the exception of madagascar?

What did you expect to receive?

>>2010757
I am against.

Tribute Super Castlevania IV

>>2010761
Ask the skull if it detected anything coming through when we tributed Pandemic.

>>2010780
A rosary appears in your hands after you request aid from the famous Vampire Killer, Simon Belmont.

One vote for and against, what are we doing with that puzzle?

>>2010814
"I did. It appeared to be naught but a gust of air, though."

>>2010757
opposed, just solve it till the last step

>>2010761
when anon goes full retard, I wonder if we will get super AIDS.

>>2010848
It's been solved at the last step for a while.

If you're not going to open it, what else are you doing today?

>>2011005
Cardio and pop the magic tab

add trauma center under the knife.
we are gonna have to tribute some magic medicine shit to counter the plague thing if thats what we brought into the world.

add quarantine, touhou 7 and doctor mario.
If hellraiser wins then take the lightsaber as well

>>2011005

Do NOT pop the magic tab. It has value in possibly giving magic to someone else.

Investigate online to see if we can start finding more about the power sightings that have been happening.

See if there are any articles about the Giusetelli arrests.

fuck someone else, unless you're giving it to our cats after we shape them

>>2011109

Fuck eating it ourselves. We HAVE magic now, it'll barely do anything.

On the flip side of things, it is EXTREMELY valuable for anyone without magic. We could sell it, use it on a love interest, study it or even become a mini smiling man and just dump it on some random nobody.

Using it on ourselves is the LAST thing we should be doing.

>>2011018
Games added.

You run your usual routine of cardio exercises...

>>2011094
Then start browsing the local news. There are tons of articles on the Giusetelli arrests. The whole scandal has apparently started a chain reaction of arrests, accusations, and general mayhem as more and more cops, politicians, and local people of note are being found to have been in his pocket. Central figures in the arrests have been an Officer Bowlens and an Officer Gault, who are the new rising stars in the department thanks to this.

The United States has deployed a group of its best scientists alongside a brigade of regular Army to the Canadian town of Harmont in cooperation with the Canadian government. There is increasing concern over the incident as both rumors of impossible things happening within the cordon coincide with rumors of impossible things happening with artifacts brought back from within the town in labs.

The United States has released the first pictures of the three meter tall chrome giants that attacked North Korea to the public. Within hours of this happening, several circles noted the striking similarity between the giant's appearance and a being from a series of science fiction novels known as "the Shrike". No one is quite sure what to make of this, though it has been suggested the creator of the things might be a literature fan with a sick sense of humor.

NASA reports detecting several objects in orbit around Earth's moon. Early speculation is that they are fragments of a comet that passed by, caught by the Moon's weak gravitational field in an astoundingly unlikely astronomical event.

>>2011167

Can our super phone help parse search results in looking for more information on the north korean crisis?

>>2011191
Sure. Looking for anything in particular?

>>2011200
Look for weird incidents happening at NK just before the 3 meter chrome giants appeared. Also look at how they got into the country. Did they appear just from thin air?

>>2011200
>>2011167

See if we can find the first place the giants were spotted.

See if we can get a court date for when all of the Giusetelli events are going down.

>>2011273
All accounts have them just appearing from thin air. There are no incidents in North Korea prior to that.

>>2011291
The giants appeared everywhere at once in North Korea.

The court date for Giusetelli has been set for two weeks from now.

we should fly down to that town and loot it for what its worth.

>>2011323

I'm all for this. How are we going to get there though?

>>2011323
Sure beats sitting on our asses. Let's book a flight to Canada.

>>2011415
It's only in Canada, getting to a town near the Cordon is easy enough. You'd have to sneak past the barrier once there, though.

More than a few people are making the trip for similar reasons as you according to the news.

we rich as fuck, charter a private plane.
We'll need to shape a servant to guard our home and warehouse while the dragon guards the other. Set the turret to recognize them as friendly as well. leave food for them and such so we don't come home to a burned building.

>>2011437
>>2011433

Lets do it then.

>>2011437
OK.
What sort of servant do you want to create, human-like, humanoid, just mutate one of your lizards, or something else?

It's going to take the day to shape and mold new life if you expect it to last. Aside from making your servant, do you want to use your tributes?

>>2011437
Let's create a catgirl meido to fulfill our degenerate fantasies.

Kidding, a human-like servant so he/she/it can tell visitors to fuck off and also take care of our house. I also want to tribute Doctor Mario. We might have a plague on our hands.

>>2011528
Meant to quote >>2011482

>>2011528
Homonculus it is, what could go wrong?
Let's find out. Roll that d100.

>Game Tributed: Doctor Mario.
A single blue pill appears in your hand.

Rolled 75 (1d100)

>>2011572

>>2011572
Remember to equip the staff as well when we start shaping.

Rolled 22 (1d100)

>>2011572
remember not to make them too smart or to enjoy being servants or we're gonna get some rebellion.

Hell we might be able to shape something to fight the plague as well.

File: itspronouncedEYEgor.jpg (12 KB, 570x318)

12 KB JPG

>>2011591
>>2011588
>>2011600
It takes the day, but you manage to summon and shape into existence a short, bald, hunchbacked man with bulging eyes. He's got a friendly smile at least. This homunculus can pass for human, but is only as strong and smart as an ordinary man. You've managed to ingrain a deep sense of loyalty into him... unfortunately this has resulted in a questionable habit of responding to commands with a simpering "Yes, master," which might be off-putting if you ever have company.

Tributes left: 0/3.

>>2011437
With not much else to do, you look into chartering a private plane. It'll be expensive as hell, but you can fly to Toronto easily enough, then hire a driver to the nearest town, a place called Almington. You just need to set a departure date, as well as any preparations.

>>2011754
Almost forgot to put this up:

UPDATED PASTEBIN: https://pastebin.com/AuxYTqWs

>>2011782

Equip the Ancestor's Grace.

Fuck, so many things to keep track of.

Equip the Krona symbol.

Have our skull check out our rosary, see what it might be capable of.

Use Scroll of Recharging on Fictorum Staff.

Use Scroll of Enchant Weapon on lightsaber

Use Scroll of Enchant Armor on Borderlands shield

Use Scroll of Brand Weapon on Lightsaber

>>2011782
Fallout 3 wasn't tributed? You didn't add elona+ as well.

>>2011754
Lets set the date for departure two days from now. We will bring the all magic jewelry, potions, scrolls, a few days worth of rations and water. Bring our lightsaber and our modified pistol as well. Also get face mask that hides our identity.

>>2011901
>Use Scroll of Recharging on Fictorum Staff.
For what purpose.

>Use Scroll of Brand Weapon on Lightsaber
I gonna have to veto this.

>>2011925

>For what purpose

To improve its ability to generate mana and raise the level of boost it provides to spells.

>I gonna have to veto this

For what purpose?

I should think a Lightsaber is a plenty powerful enough weapon for us to start throwing buffs at it.

>>2011925
Fallout 3 was tributed, must've missed it and Elona, I'll fix that now.

What will you do in the meantime? You've got a day once you go to bed.

2 days seems like a good number.
A mask of some sort is also a good idea. could just go with a motercycle helmet as well.

One buff on the lightsaber should be enough though.
Also, we can just shove everything into the bag of holding cant we ?

>>2011954
I feel that the lightsaber doesn't need a brand as it is already super deadly and doesn't need it to kill.

>>2011976
We should use it on a ranged weapon like our pistol.

>>2011960

Cardio/Ocarina

Tributes as applicable

>>2011993
If we were to go for a ranged weapon, pistol would be a poor choice. We have a laser rifle.

Always spend your buffs on your best weapons,

>>2012025
The laser rifle ammunition might be a problem though because we can't get more of it easily.

Maybe we can charge it with the metro solar charger?
add starwars battlefront 2, the old one.
We could get laser weapons with charging ammo.

>>2012053
Our universal charger from metro might work with with the MFC ammo

>>2012070
dang it, didn't see your post

>>2012025
What tributes?

I'm out of time for today, so when I get back tomorrow at the usual time, I'd like to knock all the prepwork out and get us to Harmont ASAP.

>>2012124
Can we use the charger from metro to change the MFC ammo?

>>2012237
My first thought was yes, but after some thought and cursory research, no... It takes far more power to generate a coherent cutting laser than to charge NVGs. I applaud the creativity though.

>Day 24 begins

The plane ride to Toronto is thankfully short. Even though the jet you chartered spares no luxury, there's an unsettling feeling in the pit of your stomach that just won't go away. You haven't slept well the last two days. The dreams are gone, but you can't shake a feeling of weakness and vague nausea. Perhaps a change of scenery will help. Perhaps getting out and DOING something will help.

You deplane at Pearson International Airport and immediately make a beeline through customs to the car you hired. No limo, just a normal car with a normal Uber driver. You've got to keep things low-key. The driver helps you load your luggage into the car, a big trunk loaded with all your gear that wasn't stuffed into your bag of holding to avoid detection by customs.

You've left your holdings in the care of Igor and the dragon. Hopefully you won't return to a burnt out cinder.

With everything loaded, you jump into the car and nod to the driver to start the long drive to Almington, the last town before Harmont.

>Next post brings us to Almington, so this is your chance for last minute prep.

...and now we're going somewhere. I'm requesting that the scouter go and actually be USED a few times during this flight.

Since you guys wanna be his butt buddy, let's take the other Alex along. Not like we can't afford it. This however will be interesting just to see his tributes for a day.

This place is going to be the fucking wild west. Plan accordingly good anons! Remember there's people at least 100 days in.

I'd rather not bring alex, we're likely going to be flashy and show our shit off. can't really keep a secret if hes right there next to us when we start making weapons appear out of the air.

Shit, how about we just finince alex a bit instead of going out and paroling with him?
that could be our way of helping him

I think feeling of weakness and nausea is due to the disease from Pandemic 2. We should scouter the pill from Doctor Mario and see if it will cure sickness then pop it if it will.

>>2014205

Um. I do not think you are following the narrative too closely. We've already seen him in all his glory. He showed us his now its our turn

>>2014185

Don't bring Alex. This is a looting mission, not a JUSTICE trek.

>>2014205
Finance Alex sounds like not a bad plan. Depending on how we spin how we got our wealth

>>2014209
>>2014147

Pop that pill.

>>2014147
Oh yeah, did we use day 23 tribute and emulation?

Whatthefuckever. Why go to dinner with a guy and not get to use him as a meat shield?

>Anyways Trib Dino Crisis 3

>>2014147
Lets get some small animals and to make living tools also a map of Harmont.

>>2014272
We should do this tribute when we are out of the car and not being observed.

>>2014236
>>2014209
Let's all have a round of applause for the two anons that prevented your untimely death in two more days of game-time.

After a particularly nasty coughing fit in the car, you pull out the pill and the Scouter while the driver is occupied by the road.

The Scouter identifies the pill as a potent medicine that seems to attack all disease in a body at once through some unknown mechanism.

You pop the pill and immediately feel well again, the feelings of sickness vanishing.

Hopefully it wasn't contagious. You did just walk through an airport.

You seem to have decided not to bring Alex along. On one hand, his presence in your city somewhat increases the general safety of your things, as he will be keeping the pressure on Giusetelli's operation. On the other hand, it would've been useful to have another pair of hands out here. Ah well.

It's a four hour drive to the town, so you let your eyes drift close and let sleep help the magic of Dr. Mario cleanse your body.

"Eh, buddy, we're here," the driver says, waking you up. You blink groggily and look out the window. Almington is a small town, but it's got the standard amenities of any North American town in this day and age... plus a growing shanty town on the town outskirts that probably has something to do with the increasing number of "tourists" here to "see the fall leaves", and certainly nothing to do with treasure hunters waiting for their shot to pass the cordon around Harmont and loot the SHIT out of that abandoned town.

The large amount of refugees from Harmont and its environs might also have something to do with it.

"Hey guy, where am I dropping you off?" your driver asks.

The obvious option is the town's sole hotel, a Holiday Inn previously used mainly for business people passing through to more important places. There's an excellent chance it might be packed, though.

The less obvious option is the shanty town if you want to get a leg up on the shadier side of things here. It seems to be the center of commerce for the wanna-be STALKERs getting ready to go into Harmont.

And of course there's whatever your minds can dream up.

So what'll it be?

>>2014318

Holiday Inn. Otherwise you want to take all our shit and trust it around a bunch of looters?

>>2014309
How are you getting small animals?

>>2014272
>>2014309
When the car stops for gas, you go into the bathroom for a piss break and instead slip around to the back of the store and tribute Dino Crisis 3.

A jetpack falls into your hands.

>Dino Crisis 3 Tributed
>Jetpack gained.

>>2014330
You make your way to the Holiday Inn. It is, as expected, packed.

"One room please," you say, rubbing your eyes.

"I'm sorry sir, there's no vacancy currently," the desk clerk says. "With the influx of visitors, every room is occupied or reserved."

>>2014344
Go to the shanty town then.

>>2014353
You turn to leave and the desk clerk frowns and coughs loudly.

"Of course... for a small deposit, you could be placed on the waiting list. We'd contact you as soon as a room opens up. With a little... luck, one might open up very soon."

>>2014358
shit, just see if you can rent a house for a month in the town

>>2014358

Yup. Do that shit. I'm pretty sure we can make his price.

>>2014358
"Yeah, not playing that game," you tell the clerk, continuing towards the door. The clerk shrugs.

"Your loss."

Roll a d100.

Rolled 95 (1d100)

>>2014380

>>2014392
Against all odds, you manage to find a house for rent in the town, fully furnished, equipped, at a reasonable rate, ready to move into immediately, and without the myriad complications that might've happened if luck was against you.

It's a one story, six room house with a full basement and a garage. Honestly, it's way better than your old apartment, more than adequate as a temporary hideout during your excursion. You immediately begin setting up shop once the papers are in place and the driver drops you off.

You have your home base. Now what?

>>2014418
We probably doomed everyone when we passed through that airport.
Let's start the day by making a doompaul thread with some cryptic reference to a plague and coordinates to the airport. Do it with 7 proxies.

>>2014430
You can take the shitposter off the 'chan, but you can't take... no, wait. You really can't take the shitposter off the 'chan.

You're here forever.

You prove this concretely by posting Doompaul and reminding everyone that this was the future they chose. Further references to Ebola-chan and "Super AIDS" result in many instances of you being called a "meme-loving fuckboy."

Ah, it's like coming home. And seven proxies? There's no WAY this will come back to bite you in the ass.

But you didn't come here to shitpost, did you? What now?

>>2014464
lets go to the shanty part of town to talk to those wannabe stalkers.

>>2014473
What do you want to ask them?

>>2014473
Ask them what it like inside the zone and how do they pass though the cordon when the military is everywhere. Also where the best part to loot.

>>2014480
just feel them out, see what stories they have about people who made it out or where they've gotten stopped.

>>2014488
You get a mess of conflicting stories from a crowd that ranges from a grizzled ex-military looking fellow, to some fat guy with a big backpack and a pistol halfheartedly hidden in a fanny pack. They all agree on one thing, though.

Harmont is now extremely dangerous.

There's spots in the town that spontaneously light on fire when you step on them. There are areas covered in a strange slime that cause bones to slowly dissolve on contact. Not flesh, just the bones of anything they touch. There's wavy areas that crush everything within them like a trash compactor. There's areas draped in near-invisible threads that slice anything passing through.

But there is bounty there, too. Strange items that look like pulsing glass bubbles, orbs of living electricity, thorn cubes constantly moving by themselves, and more. Some of them generate sonic shrieks, some of them seem to generate a low but endless supply of electricity, some are claimed to heal wounds, or cure disease... and there is one that no one knows what it does.

There is a spreading rumor that deep in Harmont is a golden sphere, huge and perfect. And no one knows what it does. Many people are attempting to reach this item simply because it's said to be pure gold and twice the size of a basketball. That's a lot of gold to people not swimming in wealth.

Passing through the cordon is a matter of luck, mostly. The soldiers patrol vigilantly, but can't be everywhere at once, and it's been slipped that whatever happened to Harmont prevents satellite and high altitude aerial photography.

The military is operating blind.

That being said, there are two popular spots to sneak in, an area called the "Briar Patch", and the old Victoria Bridge. The Briar Patch is an outgrowth of giant thorns that used to be someone's hedgemaze before it was mutated. The soldiers don't patrol it because it's full of hazards. They DO patrol the Bridge, but the collapsed bridge and river provide a lot of cover and ways to avoid patrols if they get close.

This early, everywhere is the best place to loot. No place of the town has been drained dry yet.

>>2014506
You switch tactics and ask them a bit about people who got stopped or made it out.

There are quite a few stories of people getting caught by the military, be they the Canadian Grenadiers or the US Army. General consensus is that you want to get caught by the Americans if you do... the chances are better of finding a soldier who doesn't care about a Canadian town and would be open to a bribe.

There are scattered tales of people being captured either being tried and sentenced fairly, taken away to secret courts, executed on the spot, or even used for experiments in Harmont. A few even claim the combined militaries of the US and Canada are recruiting the most skilled looters for their own scouting forays into the abandoned town.

The people who claim to have made it out describe a half-alien half-familiar place of subtle dangers. There are scattered reports of things lurking in the shadows and mists of the town, but it sounds the hazards such as the slime and spider thread are by far the biggest danger.

"People who go fast, die fast in Harmont," one survivors says, half into a pack of smokes. "I saw my buddy try to sprint past this geyser that spewed acid only to run right into this... field, I guess. It held him fast, frozen in time. I couldn't get him out. Now he's still running there, running in place forever."

>>2014556
Is there a shady trader that we can sell loot and buy supplies here?

>>2014678
There are many, in fact.

>>2014556
go through the bridge.

>>2014719
Lets visit one and see their wares. We should look for a clothing that can provide environmental hazard protection. Our normal clothes probably isn't suitable for exploring Harmont.

>>2014740
You peruse the shady merchants, but the closest thing they have to protective gear is one looted hazmat suit from a dead Canadian exploration team, and some kevlar of dubious origin.

>>2014733
Ready to enter Harmont?

>>2014758
get the hazmat suit then go to the bridge.

>>2014763
You lay down the money for the hazmat suit and go to the Bridge.

The Bridge, as its name suggests, is a collapsed bridge over a rather large river leading into the town proper. Piles of rubble from the fallen road litter both shores of the river, which looks quite deep and fast in this fall season. A small group of five men in body armor and fatigues patrol the far shore, but that's the only military presence you see in the area. The shore is long and the men slow. Like the stalkers said, you can probably make it past them pretty easy if you're fast and quiet.

>>2014791
You do notice that someone has spray-painted "Harmont isn't real!!!" and "Fear the Sphere!" onto two particularly large chunks of concrete.

>>2014791
Note the military patrol route and start sneaking with their blindspots in mind.

>>2014842
Roll that d100.

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>2014866

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>2014866

Rolled 25 (1d100)

>>2014866

Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>2014866
Wooo, hope it's not of 3

>>2014868
You wait until the patrol is past you, then move from rubble cluster to cluster, hiding every time the soldiers stop to do a 360 inspection of the area. The only trouble spot is when you have to cross the river, the splashing of your legs through the rushing water nearly giving you away. Luckily you manage to jump behind a giant slab of concrete stuck in the river just in time.

In the hazmat suit, you are nice and dry, the water flowing around the airtight rubberized exterior.

It takes a few more minutes of sneaking to get you past the patrol area completely, but you manage it. It isn't long before you hit the shattered remains of a road, a road that you see leads to ruined and twisted buildings.

Harmont.

Half of the town looks completely normal and merely empty. The other half looks like H.P. Lovecraft and H.R. Giger spat at each other and the saliva drops hit each other in mid-air and combined both the nightmare essences from both men to form something innately disturbing. A police station is distorted into a spiral rising into the air like those twisted hills in Nightmare Before Christmas. A library emits a loud grinding sound as it constantly shifts and rebuilds itself. A two story house, humble and serene... somehow hurts to look at, and you find you can't stand to view it for more than a few seconds.

Whatever the hell happened to this town, you're sure it wasn't the work of terrorists, gas leaks, or whatever the hell bullshit story they gave.

>>2014185
You have your Scouter out and equipped. The readings its giving you are difficult to understand from the sheer amount of anomalous activity it's picking up. However, given that its primary function is to detect individuals with superhuman power, amidst the flow of unintelligible data you are able to tell that beside yourself, there are three individuals with bizarre power levels stalking the ruins. Well... almost. Two are moving around the ground level. One appears to be flying.

A number of nonhuman life forms are also detected moving around the ruins, but the Scouter is having difficultly tracking them due to monstrous amounts of interference from something in the town.

Rolled 91 (1d100)

>>2014866

Ah hell, while I wait I may as well throw my d100 in the ring.

>>2014924

Does the scouter have an interfacing port? Or some sort of controls to perhaps limit the search range?

>>2014868
>>2014887
>>2014890
>>2014899
As you move through the town, you notice that one of the powered individuals has begun to move erratically... but after a few moments it looks like whoever it is is on an intercept course for you. The other signatures have not moved yet.

>>2014925
It flickers only for a moment, but you catch a fourth powered signature in the town. Then it's gone.

>Quest paused<
See everyone in nineteen to twenty hours hopefully.

>>2014929
It does have basic controls, but you haven't fiddled too much with the alien device. You can probably get it to filter results to more immediate surroundings with a higher scan intensity with a few minutes of messing around.

>>2014939

So, no method of controlling or interfacing with the scouter?

Dig out our Pistol.

>>2014966
>>2014944

Sorry missed that post.

We'll fiddle after we deal with the immediate threat(?).

>>2014944
find some cover and prepare for a fight.

Don't mind me, just spitballing some ideas here.

Pull out black blade, emulate Mr.Shifty. "Heh, nothin personnel, kid"

Eat the Mushroom, pull out high frequency blade.

Emulate Magicka, grease target, proceed to smother in flames with our own magicka-boosted magic.

Unrelated to current scenario: try to Shape single celled organisms that survive and reproduce by eating whatever came out of pandemic 2, and can go into long dormancy periods if there isn't any around to eat.

>>2015313
>>2014966
You pull out your pistol and duck behind some nearby rubble as a young man swathed in rags with a bulky backpack emerges from a corner, looking around carefully as he checks some sort of handheld device. The air around him seems wavy.

>>2016785
Are you doing any of these?

>>2017089
Ah yes, I forgot to mention.
>Quest Resumed<

>>2017089

Like I said, just spitballing. These are just quick ways to end the encounter should it turn hostile.

Depending on the durability/defenses of our attacker.

>>2017089
>>2017099

Can our Scouter tell us anything about the waviness around him?

Creep further away, slowly.

>>2017089
This guy seems dangerous. Hack this guys handheld device and make it malfunction.

>>2017114
>>2017108

This, if possible.

>>2017114
The device he has doesn't seem to accept incoming signals, rendering it immune to your hacking.

>>2017112
He seems to be shrouded in some form of energy shield. If you're going to sneak away, roll a d100.

Rolled 99 (1d100)

>>2017132

>>2017132
hes got a scouter on him, running isn't gonna help.
stay put till he gets close and empty our automatic rifle we got from saints row 3 on him

>>2017132
>>2017159

If he has a scouter (which we don't know for certain yet), then we should be able to imitate energy readings with our phone, even if we can't properly hack it.

>>2017175
I don't see why our phone would be able to do that

>>2017150
>99
The dice really love you when you need them the most, it seems.

You slowly back away, back into an alley. You see the man sweeping his device this way and that way and finally screaming in frustration.

"Good! Run away! Harmont's my town! No one else is going to claim it for their own, you hear! I'll guard it until I die, you hear me! Until I die!!!"

He continues to rant and rave until you're safely out of earshot, hiding in an abandoned convenience store. Your Scouter informs you the other signals have switched position, but none are moving towards you yet. Two seem to be moving towards each other, while that last signal seems to flick in and out of detection all over the map.

You've got at least a few minutes of safety in here... You'll be able to hear anyone crash through the window or trip the little bells of the door before they see you. What's the next step of your master plan?

>>2017198

Fiddle with our Scouter, see if we can reduce the radius by half to get some clearer results.

>>2017198
Try and experiment with the scouter, give yourself a crash course on how it works

>>2017223
>>2017211
Roll a d100

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>2017236

Rolled 85 (1d100)

>>2017236

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>2017236

>>2017238
The dice giveth and dice taketh away

>>2017238
>>2017243
>>2017252
>1

You fiddle with your Scouter, experimenting with buttons and switches until-
>SNAP
Oh. That wasn't a switch at all.

Well.

The good news is that your Scouter will still detect beings with anomalous "power levels."

The bad news is that it's stuck on that mode because you broke the control that lets you adjust things, severely limiting its functionality.

>>2017276

Well, isn't that nice. In that case, let's start trekking towards the source of the interference.

>>2017284
Gathering yourself, you venture out into the town once more, attempting to find the source of the interference that's messing with your Scouter.

Immediately on exiting the store, you hear gunfire in the distance in one direction, and a chain of explosions in the other. Thankfully both aren't near where you think you need to go.

You keep to the alleys, passing half-melted garbage cans, empty beer bottles that seem to quiver like jelly, and even a few tires that spin in place with nothing to move them. Here and there you see... strange things. Blobs and orbs of light or shining material, lengths of purple vine, and other such bizarre debris are occasionally scattered in random places.

Finally you come to a long alley completely coated in a vicious black oil, a rusted fire escape hanging from what once was an apartment building. The building on one side is overgrown with vibrant green thorns while the other looks like it's been aged a thousand years. Someone has spray-painted on the decayed building, "A fucking leaf did this!"

Whatever is causing the interference is beyond this alley.

>>2017472
Pick up a rock and throw it into the alley to see if its safe and not full of anomalies. Go forward into the alley if it's safe.

>>2017472
Peek around the corner.

>>2017515
You pick up a rock and chuck it into the oil. It sinks into the blackness with a sizzle, vanishing after only a second.

>>2017532
You peek around the corner behind you. All clear. For now.

>>2017556

Step back. Light the oil on fire with our cantrip.

>>2017556
Is the anomaly inside the oil? If so, I back >>2017585

>>2017585
>>2017592
The oil doesn't seem to catch fire even when you blast it at full power. That's when you take a second look and realize that whatever this stuff is, it's not oil. It lacks the sheen oil can get when in the sun... instead it's a deep vantablack, an all devouring shade of dark.

>>2017619
I hate it. Grab a stick or something, poke it. Put half the stick in, then pull it out and see what condition it came out in. If it came out ok, walk into it.

>>2017619
Guess its time to use our jetpack. Practice with our jetpack before we start flying.

>>2017632
this

>>2017628
You put half the stick in... and you are left with half a stick. The other half is just gone.

>>2017632
Jetpack flying lessons. A little impromptu, but better than going in blind. Roll a d100.

Rolled 21 (1d100)

>>2017641

Rolled 65 (1d100)

>>2017641

Wait, we have a jetpack? How long have we had that?

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>2017641

>>2017646
>>2017650
>>2017652
You come close to injuring yourself a few times, but you manage to pull up each time. So long as you don't use the pack for fancy maneuvers, you're pretty sure you can do simple boost jumps or easy flying without problem now.

>>2017659

Cross the alley, carefully avoiding the all-consuming black goop, using the jetpack.

>>2017659
Ok stepping into that barrier will probably erase us from existence or something. Try approaching from another side?

>>2017659
See if there is another way in.

>>2017650
You just got it when you tributed Dino Crisis 3 on the way here.

>>2017664
You fly over the black goo for a good minute before the stuff dwindles to nothing, and the alley opens up again into a street lined with abandoned stores, the windows uniformly smashed and broken. Hitting ground with a muffled thump, you look around to see a trio of men in many pocketed coats moving around what was once a jeweler's. They haven't spotted you yet. The interference is coming from further down the road. The gunfire is gone, but the explosions continue, slightly closer.

>>2017717
Hide and observe the three men, are they bandits just looting this place?

>>2017758
You take cover behind the shattered wall of what was once a bookstore and observe the men for a while. They seem to be loading their pockets with jewelry and smashing display cases to get more... looters is an excellent guess.

>>2017774
We aren't looking for a fight so sneak past them towards the interference.

>>2017884
>>2017774

Yes, sneak by.

>>2017884
>>2017897
Sneaking past the men doesn't take a lot of effort, engaged in their theft as they are. You continue down the road towards the interference, passing a few more buildings before you stumble on a group of five men wielding a cobbled together array of weapons... baseball bats, a pistol, a shotgun, and one scoped hunting rifle. They're all kneeling around what looks like a crystal tube that bends and moves with the wind, a gentle luminscence glowing from within. Two of the men are busy trying to carefully lift the thing into some sort of seal-able metal container with tongs while the other three stand watch. On sighting you, the shotgunner and rifleman raise weapons.

"Best keep walkin', son. This here's our claim," the shotgunner says, his fellows redoubling their efforts to get the strange object into the container.

"You got ten to keep walking, before you end up like those two over there," the rifleman says, nodding to a pair of corpses across the road, ragged shot and bullet rounds clear through torn down jackets.

>>2017939

Is this the source of the interference?

If so, tribute DOOM.

>>2017962
>>2017939

Tier 2 tribute, that is.

>>2017939
Pretend to gtfo, then when they let down their guard, we come back and blast then with our assault rifle. No tribute or emulation, yet please.

>>2017939
move on to another anomaly

>>2017983

We want to either collect or destroy THIS anomaly, because its making tracking anything else difficult.

>>2017962
No, this is something else. The interference is down the road still.

>>2018042

In that case, keep moving. We don't care about other things while we are hunting the interference.

>>2018042
Just keep moving like they want then.

>>2018059
With this in mind you stalk past many similar scenes in your pursuit of whatever's causing the interference. Teams of looters, some obviously cobbled together, some obviously professional mercenaries scour the ruins for strange objects as you move past the outskirts and into the town proper. Once you even sneak past a firefight between two teams over something that looks like a crystalline pyramid jutting up from what used to be a drive-in.

More dangerous are the military patrols carefully analyzing the entire site... and shooting at any stalker dumb enough to get in range. You give these a wide berth, helped immensely by the patrol's complete lack of stealth.

The human element of Harmont begins to fade the deeper you go, however. Still picking at the outskirts, not many have bothered... or dared to press deeper into the center, where the interference is coming from. Dangerous anomalies begin to pick up dramatically here. You know enough to avoid things like the oil lakes now, or obviously dangerous things like the electrical sparks or fire columns you occasionally see belching up from the ground, but as you pass a ruined fire station, you see something very strange. All across the road in front of you are dead birds, sliced nearly into many pieces, and at least one luckless stalker missing an arm and part of his head.

>>2018042
Use flame tounge while holding the staff in front of the road. Try and burn away those invisible threads.

>>2018089

We must be near the monofilament wire or whatever invisible razor wires we heard about before.

Can our scouter see the wires? Otherwise, let's try using our lightsaber like a machete. I'll bet the fact that the blade isn't technically solid will let it get past the infinite sharpness.

>>2018093
>>2018089

Actually, lets give this a try. We can randomly swipe with the lightsaber to catch any stragglers.

>>2018093
Your jets of fire blaze through the area, and while you barely see thin lines silhouetted by the flame, it does not melt.

>>2018099
Nor does your saber seem to cut them.

However, by walking the fire, you are able to tell that the 'wires' seem to stretch only from the wall of the station to the wall of the opposite building, an office complex of some sort. Entering either of these buildings should provide a way around, if you're inclined to do a little urban exploration.

>>2018108
go through the office

>>2018108
pick up a couple of stones to throw then go to the office.

Add games:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

>>2018110
>>2018108

This, but use our lightsaber to cut a shortcut. May as well use it while we've got it.

>>2018127
>>2018108

That is, cut through the walls using our lightsaber. I want as little surprise as possible while we make a very short trip through the office building.

>>2018123
>Games Added

You pick up a handful of stones. It's not like you live in a glass house, after all.

>>2018127
"I found a shortcut through your hedge maze," you quote to yourself as you begin cutting through the walls of the office complex.

Roll a d100.

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>2018139

Here we go boys.

Rolled 41 (1d100)

>>2018139

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>2018139

>>2018141
>>2018142
>>2018152
You slice a hole in the side of the building and step through, then another, then another, then...

...then you hear loud groaning noises from the building around you, and you flash back to things the contractors mentioned when they were removing that BMW from your apartment.

"...LOAD BEARING WALLS!" you swear as you desperately try to run out of the building. As you do so, you catch sight of grotesque, faceless monsters reaching for you... so what happens next is a mixed blessing.

You try to throw yourself out the opposite end of the office complex as the whole thing comes collapsing down, crushing the monsters you saw in an instant. You don't get quite the range you want, rubble and debris painfully pouring on top of you as you hit the ground and get pinned under what feels like more and more weight...

You almost black out.

When the rumbling and dust subsides, you can only see faint cracks of light. You've been buried alive, but shallowly. With a little movement your move your hand and feel it hit air. Pain wracks your body, but instinctively you know it should be much worse. Your nanoaugmentation may have saved your live, and it certainly saved you much worse injury.

Gritting your teeth, you slowly dig yourself out of the rubble and take stock. Your left leg is broken, having been crushed under the debris. The rest of you is badly battered and bruised... but whole.

And at least, you're past the mono filament field.

That small triumph is short-lived though. Your Scouter is informing you that one of the powered signals is moving in your direction, maybe having heard the building collapse.

>>2018181

Pop a X-Potion, keep moving.

Ready the mushroom, we might need it soon.

>>2018181
Drink a heath potion nigga. And move away from the powered signal.

>>2018193
>>2018202
You set your leg as best as you can and drink one of your X-Potions. A lesser magic might leave you healed but still limping, but the renowned X-Potions does exactly what it does in the game... completely restores your health.

You move towards the interference, away from the building, but the signal is changing to intercept you. If you want to avoid this confrontation, you'll have to think of something fast.

>>2018226

Is it the flying signal?

Read scrolls of summoning, and blink. Blink as close to the interference as we can get without ending up in some obvious anomaly.

>>2018226
Move towards the the invisible threads use it to intercept the incoming signal.

>>2018242
this, hopefully we can end the fight before it starts.

>>2018240
>>2018242
>>2018251
Unfortunately, the signal seems to be moving the other way... it's moving from closer to the interference towards you, on the other side of the threads.

As such, you pull out your scrolls and read them in short order, summoning a horde of misshapen mutants and then teleporting a few hundred yards away and dashing. You don't see what happens next, but given the sudden abundance of gunfire, you're fairly sure you've managed to distract whoever was after you for a good long while.

The road finally ends in what looks like a small quarry. A large parking lot with a garage and office are around the open pit, but what really catches your eye are the four or so men standing stock still in the parking lot, all facing the same direction, hands at their sides.

>>2018297
Ready your rifle and call out to the men.

>>2018321
You ready your gun and call out to the men, but they do not respond.

>>2018322
Throw a stone to see if there is an anomaly. Perhaps they are hypnotized or trapped by a time anomaly.

>>2018297

Are we able to learn anything about the interference from where we are?

Might be time to start dropping some of our crazier stuff.

>>2018328
It's coming from in the quarry.

>>2018325
You throw a stone at one of the men and it just stops in midair a few inches from his head.

>>2018373
look for a long sturdy branch and see if you can pull one of the men towards us without getting close.

>>2018373

Emulate Magicka.

Cast Nullification.

>>2018390
>>2018418
Both interesting options, but I must leave for the night. Same time, same place tomorrow.

Thanks for playing!

>>2018390
>>2018431

How about we poke the floating rock with the black blade?

We already know it has time magic.

>>2018431
Schedule change. Session starts in twelve hours from now.

>>2018839
Online.

Are you doing any of these?
>>2018390
>>2018418
>>2018449

>>2021697

Poke the rock with the black blade. With the fullest of our reach.

>>2021697
lets try the branch first then emulate if it fails to get them out.

branch then sword

Rolled 56 (1d100)

Rolling for sword magic

>>2021754
>>2021781
>>2021746
You poke the man with the branch and find that the branch is suddenly completely immobile, it won't budge no matter how hard you pull.

You then pull out your black blade and give the rock a light swat. It immediately falls to the floor, bouncing away.

>>2021793

Is our scouter able to tell us anything about the field?

Bump the branch with the hilt of the black blade.

If it works, it's probably safe for us to proceed.

>>2021754

You do realize we'll then have 4 other possibly hostile guys on our hands...

>Games: Max Payne, Stranglehold, The Matrix Series. I think you missed these

>>2021801

Aside from the powered individuals we have carefully avoided thus far, I doubt these guys pose much of a threat between our shield and black blade.

>>2021799
Unfortunately, your Scouter is only good for tracking powered individuals and not much else right now.

You bump the branch with the hilt and nothing happens.

>>2021813
So its just the blade, then

>>2021813

Alright, stuff our black blade away, pull out our lightsaber, emulate Magicka and cast Nullification.

touch one with the flat of our blade, see if it gets him out

>>2021841
we can hold the staff on the other free hand so lets do that.

>>2021885
>>2021841


Sure, lets hold our staff and cast nullification.

>>2021841
>>2021881
>>2021885
2v1 Emulate v Blade, so...

You Emulate the mages of Magicka and cast a powerful Nullification spell. The magic seems to disrupt whatever is freezing time and the four men immediately slump to the ground, gasping. A moment later they have guns drawn, pointing them at each other, and you, but not firing.

"The sphere is mine!"

"Back off, I was here first!"

"What happened? What did you do to me?!"

"Drop your guns, now!"

"All of you better..."

"Back away, right now!"

The standoff looks like it could go hot any moment.

>>2021913
back away from them all and continue on.

Fuck, that emulation could have been useful for those fucks that keep homing in on us

>>2021913

Open up with a flame tongue (or whatever the name of our spell is), and after that start swiping with the lightsaber.

>>2021913
oh well, may as well salvage what we can from this and get that sphere. light up your lightsaber and order them to stand down. You just saved them and this is what you get?

>>2021961
switching to this.

>>2021961
The men turn and blink, momentarily dumbfounded.

"...is that a LIGHTSABER?" one exclaims.

"What the hell..." another murmurs.

"Stand down!" you repeat. "I didn't pull you out of that time field just to kill each other all over again, now shut up and listen!"

None of the men say anything, but their weapons are lowered as they look nervously from person to person. Looks like you've got an audience now.

>>2022034
So what happened and how did you guys get into this mess? Did you realise that you were trapped in some time field?

>>2022034
Also tell me about the sphere you just mentioned.

>>2022078
this
and try to convince them to leave the zone after being away for who knows how long. Also tell them its five years past what the real year is. that'll really freak them out

>>2022078
>>2022087
One of the men frowns. "It was like... I took a step forward and then everything stopped. I vaguely remember a horrid feeling of cold... of suffocation. Then the next thing I knew all these other people were here."

"I was using bolts to try and bypass the time fields... there's safe zones here and there, but I guess I missed a patch," one of the men grumbles.

"The sphere? How do you not know about the sphere?" another murmurs. "It's one of the most famous things in the town! A floating sphere of pure gold that some say can grant wishes..."

"And even if it can't, that much gold is worth a fortune," a grizzled man clutching an AK mutters. "Enough to retire on."

>>2022034

Now listen here! You are going to tell me what you are fighting over that was worth freezing yourselves in time for what could have been forever if I hadn't shown up.

You guys screwed up so colossally badly that no one wanted to come anywhere NEAR you lest they get caught up in your time bubble, and everyone else that didn't know was torn to shreds by invisible string before they could GET near.

You are going to tell me what you are fighting over and what caused it to go off, and then I am going to take it, to stop it from going off again. I don't know what you are going to do after that, and I don't much care, but I'll bet at least some of you have left people behind that have been worried about you or think you're dead for who KNOWs how long.

Or, you can try for the Darwin award a second time, and the man with the lightsaber AND each other. Because even if you were to fight me together and SOMEHOW win, you would still have to deal with the other three that want whatever the fuck it is.

>>2022108
Your words cause the men to shrink back a little.

"Nothing... went off as far as I could tell," one of the men says, a man in worn surplus army gear. "The Golden Sphere is supposed to rest in the quarry. Me and Robert here came and found the others already frozen, figured there was some sort of stasis anomaly, and started prodding around. We thought we found a way through... but we were wrong."

"So were we," the grizzled man grunts. "The patterns shift. I saw an anomaly move over Blake here a second before one must've caught me and I knew no more. The damn town just keeps throwing more surprises at us..."

"I'm going to go back to the outskirts," Robert, a man in flannel with a scoped hunting rifle says. "It's still dangerous, but not as bad as this."

"I'm done," the grizzled man says, shaking his head. "I'll snatch a few things on the way out to pay for the trip home and then I'm never coming back to this damn country."

>>2022146
oh well, situation resolved. lets move on to the interference.

>>2022146

Hold on, you SAW an anomaly move over Blake?

How?

>>2022165
"Because he was standing still to light a smoke... then suddenly the smoke stopped moving and HE stopped moving. Then I knew nothing more," the man says. "The anomaly field here moves around. It's why no one's been able to pierce it. Until now..." He pauses. "How... How did you manage to get rid of it?"

>>2022176
I just threw some stuff at you guys and then you started moving. I imagine the field just moved over someone else.
keep going but watch if they're following us after a bit.

>>2022165
we had an out

>>2022216
supporting this

>>2022176

"Come on, how much crazy ass shit do you think is in this town?"

Put away our staff, reach in to our BBoH, and lightly finger the blade of our black blade as we keep moving toward the interference.

"By the way, I don't know how long the anomaly will stay gone. I'm not saving you guys a second time."

>>2022229
>>2022216
This is enough to get the guys moving away... away from the quarry, and at a fast rate. It isn't long before you're along again, traversing the parking lot towards the quarry.

It doesn't last long.

You hear the voice before the Scouter detects a powered signal near you.

"Well... ahaheheh... that's not exactly how I figured that would happen, but I guess it's good enough? Mhmhm."

A teenager dressed all in green, raggedy clothes is perched on the roof of the parking lot. He's at least a hundred feet away, but you hear him as if he was right next to you.

"I've been waiting for a chance to speak... aheh... alone? This won't last long... The Leaf will return soon, this is his.... aheh... lair? No, no, more like guard station... no, no, no time for that. So, so SO! Gamer. You are the gamer. Yes," the teen scratches his mop of unruly blond hair. "Gamer. A hundred days. A hundred days before it happens, gamer. Fair warning, yes? Best I can give you. The absolute best."

What do you do?

>>2022274
I go a couple of questions. Who are you? Also why does the leaf guard this place? Explain what will happen on hundred days?

>>2022274

"If this really is someone's guard station, then lets walk and talk"

Keep moving toward the source.

"A hundred days until what exactly? I assume you mean starting from when we met the smiling man."

This guy seems to know what's up, and doesn't exactly seem hostile, stay polite until he acts aggressively. This looks like important information about our setting.

>>2022274
Also what did you mean by "would happen". What did you expected to happen exactly?

>>2022300
>>2022304
"I'm... aheh... the Quester. You are the Gamer. The Leaf guards this place because he fears it, fears to use it, fears others may use it, and above all the guilt, guilt. Didn't you read the message I left you? All this was done by..." the teen seems to spasm a bit. "A FUCKING LEAF!" he shouts. Then he grins and returns to normal. "A hundred days. I don't know what will HAPPEN, only that it WILL, you know? Like knowing a pop quiz is around the corner, I don't know the questions or the answers. And yes. Yes, yes, the Smiling Man. You know his name, few do, few do... Well, no. Not name. Names have power. His... title? Yes, title. I won't give you my name. Just my title. I don't dare ask for you name. Just the title. Gamer. Yes. Heeeee."

He smiles broadly, but with eyes that hold no humor in them. In a flash he is gone, only to reappear further down the roof as you walk towards him. "You think I'm mad, don't you?"

>>2022320
"I expected you to... well, just sort of slash your way through the maze. Instead you used you magic to nullify it all? Why?" the Quester blinks. "Did the lives of those men mean something to you? There were four. Isn't that worth a quarter, Gamer?"

>>2022323

"Maybe, but the situation we're in is plenty mad on its own. I'd say that if you are mad, then I'm probably a little mad too."

>>2022327

Worth a quarter? You'll have to explain what that means. I know about my power only what I have been able to discern through my use of it.

>>2022329
The Quester giggles, smiling broadly. "Of course you are. We're all mad. You must be. Or you wouldn't be here."

>>2022336
"Four men for a quarter, isn't that something gamers used to say? I heard it once, I think. I don't speak the language well."

The Quester suddenly convulses. "He's on his way. You haven't done poorly so far, so far, not as bad as the Leaf, not as good as the Watcher... a little better than the Knight or the Fan. And... hehehehe..." The Quester grins again. "MUCH better than the Music Man or the Priest. One dead, the other led. And the Weeeeeeeb." The Quester draws out the word in disgust. "The less said about him the better."

Your Scout is picking up a second powered signal, closing in.

>>2022357

"Sorry to cut our meeting short, but in that case, I must get back to looting. Gamer, you know how it is."

Double time it toward the interference. Prepare the scroll of fear while we do.

>>2022357
is someone with a title on the way? will you assist me?

>>2022433
>>2022460
"The Leaf's back... I gotta book it! Hahahaha!"

And with that the Quester is suddenly gone like he was never there to begin with.

The man with the hazy shield you saw from earlier has emerged from a ruined building across the way and is full on sprinting for the quarry.

You break into a sprint for the huge pit yourself, hands clutching at the scroll from your magic bag...

>Quest paused, resumes in 10 hours.<

And that's where we leave it for now. Thanks for playing!

>>2022475

Just to be certain, we ARE ahead of the leaf, right?

>>2023238
>Quest Resumes<
He's sprinting towards the quarry at a right angle to you, you're pretty sure you've got a bit of a lead on him.

>>2023326
The two of you run for a good full two minutes before the distance begins to close and you hear him shout out to you.

"What the hell do you think you're doing! Isn't the power you already have enough?!"

You don't reply in English, instead chanting out the words of the Fear scroll. The scroll burns away to ash as you finish and for a moment the man known as Leaf blanches, looks as if he might bolt... but instead he redoubles his pace towards the quarry, beginning to catch up to you.

"Turn around now, this is your last chance!"

Are we using the boots we got from Portal?
If so,try to climb a building and then jump off tje roof.

Tier 2 tribute doom.

>>2023382
>>2023363

>Isn't the power you already have enough!?

"That's cute after the megalomania act you were putting on before."

>>2023363
"Why don't you come over here and make me turn around?"

"Yeah that's right, I'll kick your ass, you fucking leaf. Go back to drinking maple syrup and having sex with moose."

>>2023366
...you're going to have to explain this one to me, the Longfall Boots negate fall damage, how would climbing up a building just to jump back down help anything?

>>2023382
You call on the power of the Slayer and the mighty bulk of the BFG 9000 falls into your hands.

>>2023397
"Megalomania?! This is my home, you ass! I just want idiots to stay away while I try to fix it!? the Leaf says. He's still a good twenty yards away, but you've reached the edge of the quarry's lip. An imposing drop greets your vision, a good fifty feet down to the bottom. There's a ramp hugging the wall leading down to your left, and on the quarry floor you see an abandoned digging machine... and beyond it, a floating golden sphere. A few bones and puddles of dried blood are scattered around the sphere, a good ten feet away from the thing. Bullet holes and burn marks mar the quarry wall behind it, signs of a struggle.

>>2023363
take your chance and shove it up your ass
just pull out the crysis freeze gun, if we can't hit him then freeze a piece of ground hes gonna step on and trip him

>>2023421
>>2023412
"You goddamn American!" the Leaf shouts, pulling an oversized pistol out and firing it at you. A shimmering beam of blue light strikes your shields, draining them in an instant as you aim your freeze gun and fire, letting the BFG hit the floor beside you.

Roll a d100.

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>2023435
hahaha, canucks

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>2023435
>>2023421

WTF? We had the BFG. That's why we tier 2'd doom.

Gah, whatever, rolling to recover this mess.

Rolled 36 (1d100)

>>2023435

>>2023443
>>2023449
>>2023450
The BFG is still in reach if you want to follow up with a shot from it.

You fire the Crysis gun at the Leaf's feet, freezing it instantly.

"Like I'm not used to snow and ice, come on, buddy!" the Leaf says, slowing his pace instantly and rebalancing to avoid falling down. He takes another shot but this one goes wide.

>>2023464
Literally playing into your own stereotypes now.

Use the BFG

>>2023464

Blast him.

>>2023473
>>2023476
"I'm not your buddy, guy," you growl, grabbing for the BFG and leveling it at the Leaf.

"Is that... Are you stupid?! You'll kill us all!" the Leaf shouts as the weapon charges up.

Roll a d100.

>>2023464
yeah, switch to bfg