Today has been a bad day, and the whole world deserves to know it. As you travel through the throngs of pedestrians making their evening commute, you make sure to glare at anyone who bothers to look your way and pointedly ignore anyone trying to get your attention. Sure, maybe they didn't do anything to you, but you deserve getting to be pissed at somebody today. Just look at how your morning went!

You woke up with a crick in your neck thanks to the shitty futon you sleep in, you stubbed your toe walking into the kitchen because your landlord is about three months late with the new light fixture he was supposed to install, your oatmeal was stale, and to top it all off you stepped outside only to find out that it's gotten down to twenty fucking degrees already! It's not even November yet, goddamnit!

So yeah, you're a little bit upset. As much as you wish you could just tell the world to fuck off and enjoy a personal day, you've got an empty wallet and an even emptier fridge. With about five Marks to your name, you'll need to do a job if you want to eat anything better than spoiled oats this week. Luckily for you, a contact got back to you yesterday, so you have a potential job lined up and ready. After enough time spent walking through the city, the cold manages to simmer down your fury at life to the point where you can make a phone call and not cuss out your new employer. This time you really can't risk losing out on the cash you need to make it through another month in Autush City.

You flip your phone open and dial the number as you walk. Technically you're calling to ask the client where he's gonna meet up with you, but in your heart you already know where you're headed. You looked up the business that this guy works at, and given your luck today there's no chance that he'll be coming to meet you. After all, the people you do work for are usually far too self-important to leave their comfy, heated office and stumble around in the streets like everybody else. When the phone picks up though, you don't hear the male voice you were expecting. Instead, a woman - a girl really - pipes up with a cheery voice, announcing that, "You've called Mister Bill Durham's office, how may I help you?"

>Get straight to the point. You don't like dawdling. If you're not going to get the job, you need to know sooner rather than later.
>Try to act as polite as you possibly can. You NEED this money, no matter how much ass-kissing you gotta do to get it.
>Vent all of your frustrations out at this poor girl. You probably won't lose the job for shouting at the guy's Secretary, half of her job is devoted to dealing with assholes like you.

>>4110201
>Vent all of your frustrations out at this poor girl. You probably won't lose the job for shouting at the guy's Secretary, half of her job is devoted to dealing with assholes like you.

>>4110201
>Get straight to the point. You don't like dawdling. If you're not going to get the job you need to know sooner rather than later.

>>4110201

>Get straight to the point. You don't like dawdling. If you're not going to get the job, you need to know sooner rather than later.

>>4110201

>>Get straight to the point. You don't like dawdling. If you're not going to get the job you need to know sooner rather than later.

>>4110201
>Get straight to the point. You don't like dawdling. If you're not going to get the job, you need to know sooner rather than later.

UwU Seems we know what won. Unless more people come & vote

Despite how you feel, you bottle up your spite and calm your mind. You hope that this guy has let his Secretary know what's going on. Without missing a beat, you duck into an alley and tell the girl, "I'm Innis Morganach. I'm supposed to meet with your boss this evening. I'm headed over to his office right now, is that where he wants to meet me?"

A few beats of silence pass before she responds, confusion in her voice ringing through the sugary-sweet politeness. "I'm sorry sir, but I don't have an appointment for that name written down in his schedule. Unless..." You hear the distinct clack of fingers on a keyboard, followed by a soft sigh. When she continues her sentence, all the cheerfulness fades from her voice, replaced by an almost apologetic tone. "Unless you're another one he's hiring for an acquisitions job?" For whatever reason, you can practically hear her cringing.

"Yeah, that's right." You assume that she's correct, even if that's not quite how you'd put it. Getting your hands on objects and pieces of information that are normally hard to find is how you've made a living ever since you came here, so 'acquisitions' isn't inaccurate.

"Alright, well... you can come to the office and he'll be ready to see you at 4. But..." She hesitates for a moment, and you suspect it has something to do with her earlier reticence. With a hushed tone, she insists, "I have to say something, Mister Morganach. Please don't tell him I said this — the job Mister Durham is hiring you for isn't safe. Three people have come in here before you, and... nobody has seen them since! Two missing person reports were filed, but the police couldn't find any trace of them. Please, if you value your life, just say you're not interested, I can pass it along to Mister Durham and you can just walk away!"

Under normal circumstances, you'd be skeptical in the face of a hysterical girl, but in this case you suspect she's probably right. The jobs you do are few and far between, but you don't get to make a few thousand Marks per contract if there isn't at least a little danger involved. There's a good chance this one is going to be more dangerous than usual. At the same time though, you can't help but imagine suffering through another week of stale oats...

>Tell her you'll be there at Four sharp. Straight, to the point.
>Reassure her; this isn't the first time you've put your life on the line.
>You may want to eat, but what good is a full belly if you're dead? You're out, this job isn't for you.

>>4110284
>Reassure her; this isn't the first time you've put your life on the line.

>>4110284
Hmm go with the obvious plot of taking the dangerous job and potentially it going well or to shit.
>Reassure her and tell her you'll be there at Four sharp. Straight, to the point.
To adventure we shall go and go face to face with potentially life dangering something.

>>4110294
This

>>4110284
>Reassure her; this isn't the first time you've put your life on the line.

You let out a soft sigh into your phone. This girl's naivety is as sweet as it is pitiable. Softening your tone, you tell her to, "Give me your name."

"Huh?" She responds with surprise, not expecting a response like this to such a stern warning. "My— My name is Crystal."

"Alright, Crystal. I understand your concern completely. You're probably right, I might not walk away from this contract. I've known that since I agreed to do it."

"But then why--"

You interrupt her mid-question, trying to convey a calming tone. "Crystal, life isn't easy for everyone. Some people aren't in a position where they can afford to not take risks, and some people just can't be satisfied living the safe life put in front of them. I'm sitting squarely in both camps, so I've learned how to live life balancing on the razor's edge. Your worry for me is sweet, but it's misplaced."

She leaves a few seconds of silence in the air while she takes in what you've said, before meekly answering. "I... I see. Just as long as you know the risks."

"Of course I do," you assert confidently, well aware that you don't really know what you're up against yet. "I've been through some tough scrapes. I can handle more than most people."

You're distracted from what she says next when as you hear a soft, metallic hum from down at the end of the alley. Turning your head, you look up at a disheveled mop of curly black hair sticking out of a ratty, torn up trenchcoat. The mess of a man is holding up a pretty big knife in your direction and slowly approaching, as a raspy voice calls out, "Hey! Gimme your wallet and nobody gets hurt! Got it?"

You frown and hold up the phone, announcing into it, "I'll be there at 4 PM. For now I have to deal with some personal business, but I'll see you then." With that you flip it closed, taking a closer look at the mugger in front of you. Judging by his stance and the way he holds the knife, he's used the weapon before in a fight, but he's never had any formal training.

Putting all that into consideration, this should be easy. Particularly thanks to the fact that you have experience as...

>The local Boxing Champ back home
>A well-trained MMA prodigy
>The heir to your grandfather's skills as a Restolan knife fighter
>Write-in

>>4110441
>The local Boxing Champ back home

>>4110441
Ohh some martial arts skill
>A well train MMA prodigy
Let's hope we got good reflexes

>>4110441
>A well-trained MMA prodigy

Thankfully, thirteen-year-old you had a unquenchable interest in professional cage fighting, so you jumped at the opportunity to learn how from a young age. Nowadays you've reached a point where you're strong enough to crush all the local competition, and compete solidly on a National stage. It's just a shame that the sport is so unpopular in the Egra Republic. If it had more public support, you could easily make a living off of prize fights and sponsorships. Still, your skills as a fighter should make this a safe fight.

Combat Start!

Opponent: Homeless Mugger
Weapons: Large knife
Known Abilities: Severe Halitosis

Your Abilities: Martial Arts (Various, Advanced)
Your Weapons: None

Vitality: 5 / 5
Spirit: 3 / 3
Insight: 2 / 2
>Vitality represents Innis's physical well-being. When it reaches zero, death becomes imminent without immediate medical attention.
>Spirit represents Innis's mental well-being. When it reaches zero, his will to fight will disappear and he'll be forced to surrender, run, or give in.
>Insight is a resource that can be spent in order to reveal hidden possibilities during combat. This could mean anything from revealing a method of disabling an enemy's abilities to exposing a more clever way to attack the enemy.

You'd love to say that this will definitely be a cakewalk, but that's unfortunately not the case. Even with training, it's hard to completely avoid the threat of an armed attacker bare-handed. It's unlikely he'll be able to do more to you than cause a few scratches, but you'd prefer to not be leaking blood all over the old guy's office when you go in to ask about that job.

The alleyway is dark, but there are a few things to take note of. You're about thirty-five feet away from the sidewalk you came from, and the mugger is about eight feet in the opposite direction. Most of the objects around are scattered debris from the half-open dumpster you're standing beside, with a broken guitar sticking out. Some cans on the ground, a broken beer bottle rolling around somewhere behind you.

>Charge the bum. He's never gonna see it coming!
>Run away! Try to duck into the crowded sidewalk before he can reach you with that knife.
>Just give him the money. All you have is five Marks anyways, it's not a huge loss. He might need it more than you do.
>Write-in. (Note: Clever write-ins that would provide a significant benefit will be chosen automatically over votes for other prompts, unless objected to by other players)

>>4111044
Even a broken guitar is enough to outrange a knife we could use the money as a distraction, knock the knife out of his hand and disable with CQC.

>>4111044
Supporting >>4111054

>>4111044
>Throw your wallet over to the man on his right as a distraction and grab the broken guitar to knock the knife out of his hand then disable him with CQC.
Sounds good?

>>4111044
>Run away! Try to duck into the crowded sidewalk before he can reach you with that knife.

Just fuck off. What's the point

Alright. Your plan is simple. The moment he takes another step closer, you pretend to see the knife for the first time and hold up your hands, palms out. "Hey— whatever you say man! The money's yours, just keep that thing away from me!" To sell the ruse, you slip your hand into your pocket and pull out your wallet, showing it to him.

Once you've got his attention, you toss the wallet over to the left of him. During the brief moment he spends turning to look at where you tossed it, you reach over and grab the neck of the shattered guitar, ripping it free from the half-buried body. Once you have your weapon in hand, you give him as little time as you can to react, kicking forward quickly enough that, by the time he looks back up at you, all he can do is try to guard himself with the knife.

Raising it up to shield himself plays right into your plan though, emphasizing the gap in experience between the two of you. Tightening your grip, you slam the wooden neck full force into the back of his hand, following it up with another strike to knock the knife out of his hand and send it clattering onto the ground.

From there, the task becomes as simple as giving the already shocked mugger a harsh blow to the shoulder to set him off balance. Once he's lost his balance, you slip around and pull him into a tight chokehold, moving far too quickly for an untrained fighter to react and slip away.

Having put him in a completely helpless situation, you have a few options from here.

>Let him go, give him a warning, and walk away. He probably just wanted dinner, and picked the wrong guy to mug, he deserves some mercy.
>Choke him out till he goes under. He'll wake up in a few hours without any major injuries, and you can go on your way.
>Crush his windpipe and break his neck. He'll be dead in minutes, if not instantly, and won't have a chance to cry for help.
>Write-in

>>4111186
>>Choke him out till he goes under. He'll wake up in a few hours without any major injuries, and you can go on your way.

Just to be sure- also he must smell terrible

>>4111186
>Choke him out till he goes under. He'll wake up in a few hours without any major injuries, and throw the knife into one of the Dumpster then you can go on your way.

>>4111186
>>Choke him out till he goes under. He'll wake up in a few hours without any major injuries, and you can go on your way.

This mugging asshole deserves to take a nap on the concrete for a little while. You tighten your grip and cut the flow of blood to his brain, holding him still despite his writhing and kicking. It doesn't even take twenty seconds for the guy to fall unconscious, but it feels agonizingly long as the adrenaline high quickly fades and you realize how bad he smells. You're forced to retch halfway through, and as soon as he's out you drop him like a rock.

Ugh. You're definitely going to have to do something about the smell before you show up at that rich fuck's office. In the meantime though, you snatch up your wallet and head for the street. A few steps in, however, you glance back, remembering something. You're wearing a suit, so you don't really have anywhere convenient to stash it, but...

>You grab the hobo's knife and pocket it, just in case. It sticks out a little, but it's not illegal to carry a knife here.
>You grab the knife and break it in two, tossing into the dumpster so that amateur mugger can't hold up more people just trying to make it through the day.

With that out of the way, you make your way out onto the street, heading in the direction of the skyscraper the office is supposed to be in. On the way you stop inside a convenience store and find a small bottle of deodorant spray. It's not usually your thing, and overpriced at two Marks and five Tenths, but it's better than smelling like rancid hobo breath.

Soon enough, you reach the skyscraper and make your way inside. It's a pretty high-class place, full of people busily shuffling in and out without even a second to spare. It doesn't take long to find a board indicating which floor Mr. Durham's office is on. What does take you a bit is the several attempts you take at re-reading the sign before you actually believe what it's telling you. It says he's all the way at the top of the building, on the 68th floor.

This is certainly a first for you. Your clients are never poor by any stretch of the imagination, but you've never had one who was high up enough to be... so high up. Nobody wealthy enough to own the entire top floor of a skyscraper in the heart of the city, you're absolutely sure of that. You're not sure whether this is a good sign or a bad one, especially considering how little you know about the job.

Whichever it might be, you still have more than half an hour before your appointment, so you have time to kill. It's just a question of how you want to spend it.

>Head up to the office and wait up there. Maybe you'll be able to strike up a conversation with that secretary, Crystal.
>Ask around about Mr. Durham, see if anyone knows exactly what his Company does or what he's like.
>Practice your speech, figure out exactly how you're going to present yourself. First impressions count!
>Write-in

>>4111320
>You grab the knife and break it in two, tossing into the dumpster so that amateur mugger can't hold up more people just trying to make it through the day.
>Ask around about Mr. Durham, see if anyone knows exactly what his Company does or what he's like.

Unfortunately it's getting pretty late here, so I'm going to have to call this for the night. I should be able to continue tomorrow, in the morning. See you all tomorrow.

>>4111320
>>You grab the knife and break it in two, tossing into the dumpster so that amateur mugger can't hold up more people just trying to make it through the day.

>Ask around about Mr. Durham, see if anyone knows exactly what his Company does or what he's like.

>>4111359
Support.Also could ask Crystal if there time to spare
Thx for the run

>>4111328
>>4111359
Support these.

>>4111320
>Head up to the office and wait up there. Maybe you'll be able to strike up a conversation with that secretary, Crystal.

I'd rather not be snooping around who our -tentative- boss is. Word might reach him real fast about what kind of guy we are.

On the other hand, the secretary can give us a hint or two, or simply tell us some history about the guy

>>4111930
And I don't care about the knife. Knife's a hoe

>>4111930
What that we are curios? Or what about us?

You make a living off of being able to get your hands on things normal people can't. You know the number one priority when going into a situation you know little to nothing about. Intel.

It doesn't take more than three casual conversations struck up with suits traveling in and out of the building and milling about for you to find one who says he knows about Mr. Durham. Unfortunately, the guy doesn't give you much useful information. He just tells you all about how, in his opinion, Durham is an uptight asshole; apparently the guy refuses to associate with the plebeians on the lower floors. You manage to wrench yourself out of the conversation just as he starts to go on a tirade about the one time when he talked to Durham personally.

You're glad you got away from that useless exchange, but few people in the building seem nearly as willing to talk about the man as him. When you ask people around here about him, most of them claim to have seen him once or twice, but you don't find a single person who works with him, or has even been up inside his top-floor office. So, running out of options, you go for a slightly risky move. Looking around the place, you find yourself lucky enough to catch one of the building's cleaning staff on a smoke break.

You approach him with a stern look on your face and fold your arms, confidently giving him some bogus credentials. "My name is Frederick Knowles, third-class detective in the Department for Security and Welfare's investigation bureau. I'm here under DSW authority to perform an inspection of this building's tenants. Could you take a second to come with me?"

He looks confused for a moment, but it's clear that the authoritative tone and fake identity have him convinced that this is something serious when he stands up and snuffs out his cigarette. You have experience with pulling this grift before, so while you take him somewhere more secluded you give him a spiel about how this is an undercover investigation, and how under no circumstances should he inform his employers about your presence here.

"If all goes well, I should be out of everyone's hair by the end of the week, like I was never here at all. But for that to happen, you have to cooperate with me." You give him a glare that spooks him into vigorously nodding and insisting that he's not going to cause any trouble for you. "Now, let's start with the top floor. The office operated by Mister Durham. What do you know about the man and his business."

(cont.)

When he's all finished, you thank him for his assistance and tell him to go along his way, insisting that he not tell anyone about your investigation. Now that you only have five minutes left, you hurry to the elevator and head inside. Instead of finding a button for the 68th floor, you see a button labeled "68" just below what looks like an intercom speaker. Upon pressing the button, a familiar voice rings out inside the elevator, asking, "Do you have business with Mister Durham, Sir or Madam?"

"It's me, Innis. I hope you haven't forgotten me already Crystal." You glance over at the only other person in the cabin, who seems shocked that someone is actually going up to the top floor of the building. You give his awed expression a polite nod as the elevator starts moving up.

The elevator moves quickly, only needing two minutes to reach the top despite making a stop for the businessman in there with you. When you reach the top floor though, you're more surprised by what you see than anything. Rather than the usual sterile office environment you expect from a business in the middle of the city, you step out of the elevator to see a garish entryway with marble flooring, expensive paintings in gold-plated frames, and a rather understated desk sitting off to the side.

Behind the desk, a small, cute girl sits comfortably in a high-backed office chair. Her deep red hair is tied up in two thick bunches to the side, hanging just behind her shoulders, while her bangs are swept to the side just above her brow. She waves at you with a soft smile, undercut by an apologetic, slightly fearful look in her wide eyes. You can tell she thinks this is the last time she's going to see you, and it's hard to not feel sorry looking into those deep, teal eyes.

"Mister Durham is ready to see you whenever you're prepared, Mister Morganach..." She tells you in a soft, morose tone.

>Thank her and move ahead. You don't have the time to be worrying about the secretary of the man you're getting your paycheck from.
>Pass by without saying a word. You don't like this girl, and you'd rather not have to talk to a wuss like her ever again.
>Let her know you're going to be alright. Give her your number and tell her you'll give her a call once the job is done. This girl deserves reassurance after watching three people walk past her toward what you both presume was the end of their lives.

>>4112119
>>Thank her and move ahead. You don't have the time to be worrying about the secretary of the man you're getting your paycheck from.

Her concern shows she's not part of the world we are in

>>4112119
>Thank her and move ahead. You don't have the time to be worrying about the secretary of the man you're getting your paycheck from.

>>4112119
>>Thank her and move ahead. You don't have the time to be worrying about the secretary of the man you're getting your paycheck from.

>>4112119
>Thank her and move ahead. You don't have the time to be worrying about the secretary of the man you're getting your paycheck from.
I want to see the look on her face when we come back.

>>4112119
>>Let her know you're going to be alright. Give her your number and tell her you'll give her a call once the job is done. This girl deserves reassurance after watching three people walk past her toward what you both presume was the end of their lives.

"Thanks for your help. Have a nice day." You don't spare her a second glance as you walk deeper inside the office. She clearly doesn't understand what it means for a man to risk his life, and you know there's no helping that. If you're really in as much danger as she's inclined to believe, your focus needs to be on survival and success, not coddling a grown woman you barely know.

As you head deeper inside, the place only looks stranger than before. The elegant marble flooring gives way to shiny, polished hardwood, and the long hall you walk through leads into a wide open, two-story room with giant glass windows on the far side revealing a beautiful view. Looking around the room, a few things start to make sense, as you realize that the place is furnished like a home, rather than an office. Along with all the expensive decoration, three leather couches sit in the other corner, all facing a television larger than any you've ever seen before.

You approach and watch as a classic horror movie from a few decades ago plays on it, glancing down to see a man sitting lazily against the couch. As soon as he hears your footsteps, he scrambles to pause the movie and he climbs up from his seat, standing up and facing you. The hefty, middle-aged man gives you a wide, toothy grin as he sees you, wearing bright blue sweatpants, a white dress shirt, and a brown blazer. In a deep, resounding voice, he practically shouts at you. "You must be that new hire Crystal was telling me about, Morgan right?"

You stifle a groan and nod at him as you realize what this is. This isn't an office, it's a weak excuse for Mr. Moneybags to live in the penthouse of a skyscraper in the heart of town without it being zoned for residential use. Nevertheless, you've got a job to do. "Innis Morganach, at your service. I'm sure you're a busy man, so why don't we get down to brass tacks, sir?"

"Ah, indeed!" He makes his way toward you and doesn't spare a second thought for your personal space, butting in and wrapping an arm around your shoulder while he talks. "I like you, Morgan Ack. You don't take nothing from nobody, do you?"

"No sir, I don't. So, what is it you need me to get for you? That's what I do, after all." Judging by what you've seen so far, he seems like the type to stray off topic if you let him, so you'd better focus on the job.

"Great question! How do I put this..." He thinks for a moment, rubbing the peach fuzz on his chubby chin thoughtfully before asking, "Do you know what a Hunter is?"

"As in... a person who goes out and shoots wild game?"

He shakes his head, clearly disappointed by your confusion. "No, no, I mean the kind of Hunter who—" He shakes his head. "Never mind, I can tell you don't know. To make a long story as short as I can get it, Hunters are the members of a group that do work for the government. Most governments, actually, not just ours. They're a sort of paramilitary outfit..."

You don't exactly know what he's talking about, but you're sure you'll figure it out soon enough. For the time being, you ask him, "I don't mean to interrupt, but what exactly does that have to do with my job, sir?"

"Oh! I shoulda mentioned that first, huh?" He laughs boisterously, slapping you on the back. "I want you to join up in their ranks for me, son."

>What? He wants you to join up with some kind of paramilitary NGO mercenary group? As... what, a double agent or something? Even if you were qualified for this, what could possibly make that worthwhile to you?
>You're considering it, but what's in it for you?
>Alright. You're in.

>>4112254
>>You're considering it, but what's in it for you?

>>4112254
>You're considering it, but what's in it for you?

>>4112254
>>4112265
+1
Can we ask what's in it for him

>>4112254
>You're considering it, but what's in it for you?

>>4112254
>You're considering it, but what's in it for you? And what's in it for him that he sent three people before you?

"Joining up with a paramilitary group, huh?" You give him a skeptical look, ready to make your position clear. "I'm not about to do that for nothing. What's in it for me. And just as importantly, why do you want me to do it in the first place?"

"Good point!" He leads you along through a hallway while he talks, seeming unusually cheerful at the topic of payment. "For your second question, the answer is pretty simple. These hunters all get a badge from their organization called the 'Hunter's Insignia.' Most of the world's governments make use of the Hunter Organization's services, so anyone who has an Insignia is granted diplomatic immunity in almost every country.

"You know what that means, right?" His grin widens to an almost unnerving size. "If I had an employee with an Insignia of their own, I could get away with practically any crime! Embezzling funds, smuggling illegal substances, even murder! It might as well be a ticket to the top of the world!"

You're inclined to disbelieve what he's telling you, but... the excitement he's showing leads you to believe that he's being honest. If this is true, then that would make this easily the biggest job you'll ever do. You're starting to see how three separate people could lose their lives trying. As for you, "If you're telling the truth, this has to be risky. What's going to make it worth my while?"

"Whatever you want!" His voice is loud enough to rattle the paintings on the walls at this point, and you're forced alongside him into a small elevator. Before you can ask where you're going, he jams a button and slaps your back yet again. "We can talk about what that is later, but first I need to know something. What do you value more than anything else, Morgan? What's more important than even your own life, that you'd be willing to risk it all to get?"

You think about the unorthodox question for a moment, feeling put on the spot. If you had to give an answer here and now, it'd be...

>Wealth. Objects, status symbols, cold hard cash.
>Power over others. The ability to control people.
>Knowledge. Information about anything and everything, whatever you don't already know.
>Strength. The ability to come face to face with any threat and handle it by yourself.
>Justice. The good should thrive and the evil should be punished, by your hands if necessary.
>People. Close allies and friends, the kind you can count on no matter the circumstances.
>A good fight. Being able to come face to face with another, with each side risking their life.
>Write-in

>>4112311
+1
Crystal

>>4112367
Late response
>>4112362
>Strength having the power over others.

>>4112362
>Strength. The ability to come face to face with any threat and handle it by yourself.

>>4112374
With strength wealth, knowledge, & other stuff can fall right under it, we shall gain them with Strength

>>4112362
>Strength. The ability to come face to face with any threat and handle it by yourself.

>>4112362
>A good fight. Being able to come face to face with another, with each side risking their life.
It's the purest reason of all.

>>4112362
>>A good fight. Being able to come face to face with another, with each side risking their life.

>>4112362
>Strength. The ability to come face to face with any threat and handle it by yourself.

"Strength." Despite how matter-of-fact your statement is, Durham seems surprised by it. "I want to be able to take on anyone or anything, no matter how much the world is stacked against me." As unusual of a statement as it is, it fits your profile perfectly. You've been this way since you were a little kid. You always talked about how, when you grew up, everyone who bullied you, held you down, and took things from you would get a face full of your fist. You leaped at every opportunity you could find to get better at fighting, taking as many classes as your parents would let you. When you were nearing graduation and you realized that your parents were pushing you toward an easy, cushy life taking over their thriving business, you told them to screw themselves and walked out, ready to prove yourself all alone in the big city. If you can't get what you want without someone handing it to you, that just means you're not tough enough yet.

"Well! I didn't realize I had an eccentric on my hands!" The man chuckles, slapping you on the shoulder as the elevator slows to a halt. "I can guarantee, doing this job will open up opportunities you had no idea even existed! As soon as you get me that Insignia I'll use my connections to make you the most famous fighter in the country, you'll have all the equipment you could possibly need, you'll have personal trainers waiting on you hand and foot."

You'll have to think about how much you really want that, but for the time being it sounds to you like Durham's offer is substantial. Regardless of what you specifically want, he's planning on putting you in a position where you can get whatever you're looking for, just as soon as you get this Insignia for him. You're distracted from your thoughts, however, as Durham presses a button on the control panel.

The doors of the elevator open up, revealing an impressive rooftop patio covered in expensive furnishings. Everything from a pool to hot tubs to a stage surrounded by speakers. More impressive than anything on the roof, however, is the view from up here. As Durham leads you across to the edge of the roof, you can see the city below and the landscape all around for miles and miles. The sight is absolutely stunning, but not as stunning as what's above. Looking up, you can see The Grand Levee all around in a way that just isn't visible from down below.

The great stone walls that surround the cradle of life, the Lunar Cistern, rise high above you, higher than anything else in the world. They're a constant of life, as much as the sky above and the sea below, and everyone knows about them. From a young age, children are told how the Grand Levee was formed. In primordial times, before life sprouted from the earth, and man with it, the great whole is all that existed. Then, some event caused the whole to separate into two parts, the Earth and the Moon. The crater that the moon left behind became the Lunar Cistern, a deep cavity filled with a shallow pool of water, leaving the world's continents above the surface. The water of the oceans, being vital for all life, was held in by the giant walls of the Cistern, called the Grand Levee for their service to man. In the past some civilizations even worshiped the Levee, and to this day it's still of importance to everyone's lives.

That universal importance is why the view is so amazing to see. Even from an airplane, you don't get to see the world from this angle. Up here, you can look all around and see more of the Levee than you could've ever imagined. As the sun sets over it's lip, you get to see the beautiful orange light bouncing off of the eastern wall. Normally, you'd only be able to view the very top of the Levee to the east, as the rest of it falls below the horizon. Being up here is a one of a kind experience, one that only the extremely wealthy could have the privilege of witnessing every single day.

After letting you take in the sight, Durham steps in front of you and asks the question. "Son, do we have a deal?"

>It's a deal.
>Nope. This job isn't for you.

>>4112625
>It's a deal.

>>4112625
>>It's a deal.

>>4112625
>It's a deal.

>>4112625

>It's a deal.

>>4112625
>It's a deal.
Obvious plot route taken

You reach your arm out, and he extends his. Your hands clasp together, and you announce, "I'll get you your insignia, Durham. Just make sure that you uphold your side of the bargain."

"Oh, how absolutely wonderful!" He slaps the back of your hand and shakes yours vigorously with both of his, with that unsettlingly wide grin plastered all over his face. "I'll make all the preparations and fill out all the paperwork, you just sit back and wait for my cue."

You nod, freeing your hand from his and taking a step back. This is going to be one hell of an undertaking, but something tells you that it'll be a fun one. In the meantime though, you have a more pressing issue. "Durham, sir? How long do you expect this to take?"

He starts leading you back toward the elevator, a bemused smile on his face now. "At most a month. Why do you ask? If you have prior engagements, just drop them. I'm certain nothing else could be nearly as beneficial as this agreement."

"Actually..." You swallow your pride and admit the truth to the man, hoping he won't think less of you for it and renegotiate now. "I'm late on my rent. I'm due to be evicted if I don't pay within the next two weeks."

"Pff." He waves his hand dismissively, jamming on the big elevator buttons with his comparable sausage-fingers. "I'll rent you a hotel room at a building just down the block, Morgan! You'll be out of town once you join up as a Hunter, so it's not like you'll need your old place anymore. Once you come back you'll be able to afford any condo in the city!"

Soon enough you reach the inside of the suite once again and Durham leads you along toward the foyer, where Crystal is waiting with a stack of paperwork. After about ten minutes of reading and signing a bunch of forms, Durham tells you that you're free to go and gestures for you to leave. Despite his sunny disposition when dealing with you, it seems like he wants to get back to lazing about on a couch all day.

Once you reach the lobby again, you take a deep breath, assessing everything that's happened today. Durham may not have been the most pleasant man you've ever met, but you might have just secured a job that's going to take you places, if you're lucky. Judging by the fact that the man is offering, up front, a month's stay at an expensive hotel, you have some high hopes.

With something like a whole month to prepare, you figure you ought to start asking how you'll spend it sooner, rather than later. Considering the potential dangers involved here, prep time could end up being the difference between certain death and possible success. So, what do you do with the time you have?

>You can pick more than one, available time will be split between each:
>Physical training (Increased vitality)
>Meditation (Increased Spirit)
>Mental Training (Increased Insight)
>Get into some local cage matches and try to develop a new fighting technique
>Call up some of your contacts and try to procure some weapons
>Write-in

>>4112952
>Physical training (Increased vitality)
>Meditation (Increased Spirit)

>>4112952
>Physical training
>Mental training Seems very Useful
> Get into some local cage matche to develop new fighting technique.
>Meditation last moment I, also can do when waiting in future events
As write-in >Gain knowledge on Hunters Organisation

>>4112952
>>Physical training (Increased vitality)
>>Meditation (Increased Spirit)
>>Mental Training (Increased Insight)

>>4112952
>Meditation (Increased Spirit)
>Mental Training (Increased Insight)

>>4112952
>Physical training (Increased vitality)
>Get into some local cage matches and try to develop a new fighting technique

>>4112952
Just got caught up, looks promising.

>Physical training (Increased vitality)

Easy pick for us.

>Mental Training (Increased Insight)

Meditation's tempting but not really useful to us until we develop nen. And honestly, fighting smart's one of the most important aspects of hunter x hunter, so best to build our insight early.

>Get into some local cage matches and try to develop a new fighting technique

Nen abilities are good, but you've gotta have a strong foundation. Not to mention if we develop an interesting technique our nen abilities could grow off of it, once we awaken them.

>>4112952
>Meditation (Increased Spirit)
>Mental Training (Increased Insight)

I want to cover our weakness

>>4113187
>Implying we will survive the exam

>>4113266
Eh, well, we'll try and muddle through, somehow. I doubt we'll be particularly standout, but since we won't be in Gon and the rest's exam the competition probably won't be quite as harsh. Hopefully.

>>4112952
>Physical training (Increased vitality)
>Mental Training (Increased Insight)
>Get into some local cage matches and try to develop a new fighting technique
>Call up some of your contacts and try to procure some weapons

>>4113500
Yeah the Exams usually have way fewer competitors and characters that have Nen are more or less guaranteed to reach the end.

So, anons, do we actually wanna work for this guy, once we manage to become a Hunter? We should probably at least do some work for him, what with how much he's helping us out, but I'm not sure we wanna tie ourself to this guy long term. Not to mention, well, once we actually have our license he might just try to kill us and take it. It's not like licenses are something only their original owner can use, so if he wanted it for himself alone he could just have us killed and claim it for himself.

>>4112973
>>4112979
>>4112991
>>4112995
>>4113129
>>4113187
>>4113262
>>4113917
Votes:
Phys. Training: 6 / 8
Meditation: 5 / 8
Mental Training: 7 / 8
Cage Matches: 4 / 8
Weapons: 1 / 8

Physical and Mental training, Meditation, and Cage Matches all got at least 50% of the vote, so those are the activities Innis will spend the month doing. As long as there aren't any objections to this, I'll start drafting the next post now.

>>4114313
Sounds good ^ 3

>>4114258
I think a deal's a deal. If he tries to kill us and steal our license then ruin him thoroughly and hand him over to the system, but if he honors his word then we should honor ours.

You have your work cut out for you, but this isn't anything new. Especially when you were younger, the month before a big fight was always something that inspired as much dread as excitement. During the few weeks leading up to the battle where you beat down your former Sensei, proving you'd surpassed him, you worked harder than you ever have in your entire life, but the pay-off was better than anything you've ever experienced.

Nowadays though, your mindset is a little more developed than your old, "Get strong enough to smash a cinderblock by stomping on it" mentality. You do spend plenty of time developing your body, but just as much of your time is focused on honing your other mental abilities. After every workout, you make sure to spend at least an hour getting comfortable and meditating, steeling your mind and ensuring that you can remain in control of yourself, no matter the circumstances. You also spend quite a bit of time performing mental exercises, doing everything from basic logic puzzles to reading books on human psychology in order to hone your mind. The mental work doesn't go as well as hoped, but if you're lucky it might give you a bit of an edge in combat.

Maximum Vitality increased to 6!
Maximum Spirit increased to 4!
Maximum Insight will increase soon!

While you aren't training at the gym or in your hotel room, you make time to go sign up for the bi-weekly downtown cage fights happening every Wednesday and Saturday. Thanks to your being a regular combatant at the two different places you're fighting at, the organizers let you take part in no-holds-barred matches, and there's plenty of competition eager to take you on without having to hold back.

Normally, fights like these would be a cakewalk for you, but that's not the point this time. Instead of waltzing in and beating down every opponent who comes your way, you decide to limit yourself somehow. By creating a new challenge for yourself, you think you might be able to develop some skills beyond your current repertoire of various hybridized martial arts. The only question is how you do it...

>Fight with your hands tied behind your back. It shouldn't make things too hard, but you don't know if it'll do much besides make you better at kicking.
>Fight without striking. You don't know how much it'll help, but it should at least improve your grip strength trying to beat seasoned fighters with just chokeholds and joint locks.
>Fight with a blindfold. It's a high-risk idea. Being able to fight without your eyes could possibly be a useful skill one day, but you're liable to get your ass kicked trying.
>Don't fight. As insanely risky as it is, forcing your opponents to concede without having to fight back, just by protecting yourself from them, could improve your defensive skills immensely.
>Write-in.

>>4114357
>Fight with a blindfold. It's a high-risk idea. Being able to fight without your eyes could possibly be a useful skill one day, but you're liable to get your ass kicked trying.

>>4114357
>Fight with a blindfold. It's a high-risk idea. Being able to fight without your eyes could possibly be a useful skill one day, but you're liable to get your ass kicked trying.

>>4114357
>Fight with a blindfold. It's a high-risk idea. Being able to fight without your eyes could possibly be a useful skill one day, but you're liable to get your ass kicked trying.
AWAKEN MY EN

>>4114357
>Fight without striking. You don't know how much it'll help, but it should at least improve your grip strength trying to beat seasoned fighters with just chokeholds and joint locks.

>>4114357.
>>Fight with a blindfold. It's a high-risk idea. Being able to fight without your eyes could possibly be a useful skill one day, but you're liable to get your ass kicked trying.

High risk high reward

>>4114313
We gonna study boes

>>4114366
hono no tamashiiii

>>4114361
>>4114365
>>4114366
>>4114398
Upon request, the fight organizers agree to let you wear a blindfold during all of your fights, provided that you sign a waiver. It isn't long before the first fight comes up and you tie a thick cloth around your eyes, ready to take on the competition.

>Roll 1d100 (best of 3)

Rolled 89 (1d100)

>>4114447

Rolled 72 (1d100)

>>4114447
pff, time for a 100

Rolled 74 (1d100)

>>4114447

https://youtu.be/vdnb6BbSxuM

With a blindfold on, the first fight you take part in is mostly just spent stumbling around in the dark. You're disappointed by your own lacking performance, but there's not much you can do to help it. You can block some attacks, but when you can't see your opponent's fists coming there's not much you can do to avoid taking a few dozen hits to the face and chest. Your resilience is impressive if the noise from the crowd is to be believed, but by the end, you collapse to the floor and the judge rules that you're unable to continue fighting.

The second fight doesn't go much better. You try to shut out all the intrusive thoughts and instinctual reactions running through your mind so you can focus on predicting where the other guy's gonna strike next, but it's no good. Your only chance at winning is getting close enough to turn it into a grappling match, but at this level nobody's going to be stupid enough to give you that chance. You do last longer on the second bout, but you're still not good enough. You can pick up on when the other fighter is going to punch some of the time, but you always dodge left when you should've dodged right, or duck right into an uppercut.

It's on the third fight where things start to change. You're dreading it even more than the last two, with your face still not having fully healed from the previous punishment you put it through, but above all else you can be stubborn when you need to. You get about a minute into the fight when you realize that the sap you're fighting doesn't know what he's doing. He's definitely got plenty of strength, but he keeps his arms up against his face constantly and he's always striking in the exact same way. For the first time since you started all this, you take advantage of the situation and give him a brutal smack to the jaw, sending him stumbling back into the corner.

Unfortunately, a single hit doesn't save the fight for you. He gets back up and spits at you, earning a nasty warning from the ref, before getting back to the fight. He changes up his tactics slightly after this point, so you don't get another chance to hit him, but after only another minute of hitting you almost exclusively with body-blows he steps back and calls out to the ref and the crowd, "That's it, I can't do this! I can't fight someone who can't even see me hitting him!"

Hearing this, you let out a long sigh and drop your fists, letting yourself relax. Your whole body is aching at this point, so you just let your mind go free. With the pain, the stress of fighting, and the intense mental work of trying to predict all of your opponent's movements, you don't have the energy left to do much besides stand there and let your mind and your muscles cool down. You don't even pay enough attention to the world around you to hear the brief conversation the ref and your opponent are having. Most importantly, you don't hear him say, "Actually, I think I've changed my mind."

With your mind basically turned off, you aren't capable of thinking about how to react to what happens next. Without even being conscious of it, you sense someone charging toward you. While your consciousness tries to kick into gear and analyze the situation, your unconscious brain already knows what signals to send to your body. Right before the quickly moving fist hits your face, you duck down and to the side, swinging your left arm up and jamming it right into the temple of the scumbag who just tried to bum rush you while your guard was down.

Once your brain catches back up with what your body just did, your eyes go wide and you pull up the blindfold to make sure you didn't just accidentally kill a man. After a few tense moments that the ref spends checking up on him, you let out a sigh when he gives a thumbs up. His pterion is fractured, but he was fortunate enough to not die from taking a blow directly to the weakest part of his skull.

Despite hearing plenty of jeering from crowd members claiming your victory was a fluke (ones who probably bet against the blindfolded guy), you get plenty of congratulations back in the locker room. Nevertheless, you remain confused about how it even happened. You were completely unprepared, you had no idea he was even coming! Or at least, you don't think you knew he was coming. Some part of you must have realized it though; your body reacted in exactly the way you normally would've upon seeing a punch like that.

Half of a week goes by after that before your next fight comes up. With your mind firmly stuck on what happened the last time, you find yourself wondering if you shouldn't be thinking so hard about what you're doing. You're hesitant to go in there without planning your moves ahead, but your curiosity is unbearable. So once you get into the swing of things in your next fight, you stop and try to clear your mind.

This bout doesn't turn out all that much better than the first two, and you do end up losing, but you learn quite a few things along the way. Even though your opponent is just as good as the first two you fought, you find yourself actually able to move out of the way of some of his punches and kicks. Where in the first and second fight, all you could do was block where you thought they'd try to hit next; now you can just avoid their attacks entirely!

Thanks to everything the fourth match taught you, your ability to let your instincts take over and control you grows immensely. Throughout the half-week up until your next match, you come up with a consistent method. All you have to do is visualize yourself, and let the vision fade away. Just pretend that your own presence doesn't exist, and your senses will sharpen. Don't actively try to do anything with your body, and your body will do what it needs to. Almost like breathing, you don't even need to think about it.

With your new skill properly developed, the fifth fight goes amazingly well. You don't win it, but by avoiding attacks and being persistent, you force the bout to come down to a Decision. The judges refuse to give you the match since you didn't go on the offensive, but you're proud of even lasting long enough to bring it down to a decision. Satisfied with your ability to dodge, on the sixth attempt you decide to go on the offensive.

It's tough going, tougher than you expected. You're forced to clear your mind in order to reach that state where you can dodge based on consciously imperceptible signs, and thinking about throwing a punch interrupts that Empty Mind state significantly. You make it happen a few times during the sixth fight, and despite being blocked more often than not, you do get several hits in between dodging. However, you take more hits than you'd like as well, since you need time to get back into the Empty Mind state. For that reason, once the match reaches a Decision, the judges favor your opponent, but you can tell you're not far from being able to win a fight like this.

On the final week, Durham calls you up and tells you when you'll be shipping out for the job. He wants you to meet him in his office on Friday, two days after the next upcoming match. That gives you one more chance to go for a blindfolded win. If you take the chance and fail, it's more likely than not that you won't recover completely in time for the job you'll be doing. However, if you take the chance, you might be able to refine this Empty Mind technique into something viable for use against really dangerous opponents. It's a gamble, but it could pay off.

>Go to the fight on Wednesday. You're so close to a win you can taste it!
>Skip the fight and recover. It's just not worth taking that risk right before a big job.

>>4114598
>Skip the fight and recover. It's just not worth taking that risk right before a big job.

>>4114598
>Skip the fight and recover. It's just not worth taking that risk right before a big job.

>>4114598
>Go to the fight on Wednesday. You're so close to a win you can taste it!

>>4114598
>Go to the fight on Wednesday. You're so close to a win you can taste it!

>>4114598
>>Go to the fight on Wednesday. You're so close to a win you can taste it!

Gotta break the tie!

>>4114644
>>4114671
>>4114729
You're not entirely sure if it's your wisest move, but you've always been something of a sore loser. You can't look away and give up on this when you're so very close to success!

>Roll 1d100 (best of 3)

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>4114754

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>4114754

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>4114754

>>4114754
Rolled 55 (1d100)

Hope to God this helps

>>4114834
>not a real roll
wut

Rolled 6 (1d100)

>>4114754
Not sore looser. A gambleR

>>4114844
Wait, really! Didn't realized

>>4114834
>>4114895
I don't even know how to react to this shit.

Your hopes are high going into the fight. You've grown rather proud of the progress you made in just the past three weeks, and you're confident that you should be able to make something of it. Your opponent this time is a veteran near the top of the local MMA community who exclusively goes by the name "Legbreaker", but you're not afraid of him. This won't be your first time smashing his face in, though it might just be your last.

As you step into the squared circle, you make sure to limber up before putting on the blindfold. With how close you got to a win last time, the seats are packed tonight, and you're sure there's a lot of money riding on this fight. Once you put the blindfold on and the referee starts counting down to the beginning of the match, the arena goes silent, and let all of your thoughts drift away into the void.

He approaches. Left hook. You step back. Three jabs. You avoid them. He reaches for your arm. Now! You open your eyes and sweep his legs while he's aiming to grab you, sending him tumbling to the floor. You give him a single, solid kick before backing away again, and clearing your mind. He finally gets up as your sense of self disappears. He steps back. He throws a feint. You don't react. He swings for your chest. You move left... right into a solid kick. Ouch.

The hit to your cheekbone stings, but you don't let it rob you of your focus. The fight lasts quite a while, with most of his attacks missing, and your attacks only coming at the most opportune times. Despite your wish that you could take control and dominate, the battle becomes a war of attrition. You let your body do all the work for you though, and before you know it the bell rings and the ref announces that the fight is over.

When you open your eyes and pull up the blindfold, all the pain hits you at once. Your ribs are sore, your cheek is bloodied, your legs ache... you got hit quite a few times there, and it shows. Frankly, you're lucky that you didn't break anything.

Vitality: 4 / 6

Still, Legbreaker isn't much better off. You dealt plenty of damage not by hitting often, but by hitting hard. The whole arena seems tense until the judges come to a decision, and the referee announces to everyone, "Ladies and Gentlemen, your champion tonight is... the legend of legends himself, Innis Morganach!!!"

With the knowledge that you secured a win safely in hand, you stumble off back to the locker room and take a nap on one of the benches.

Once you wake up, you remember what you have to do. This was, sadly, not your end goal. You head back to your hotel room with the knowledge that you have a lot of work ahead of you, but you also know that you've developed an ability that's likely to help you along your path forward.

Ability Acquired: Empty Mind

The next few days go by rather quickly. Your injuries prevent you from doing much exercise, but you doubt that working out for a day or two is likely to help out much. Soon enough you find yourself back at that elevator, pressing the button and telling Crystal to let you up to the office. Once inside, you find Mr. Durham sitting at his dining table with enough food to feed five people stacked up in front of him. He gives you a wave and pushes himself away from the table, wiping crumbs off of his face. "Mister Morgan, how nice to see you again! I'm sure you're eager to get me that Insignia, so I'll jump straight to the point! Come with me."

He leads you along back up to the roof, where your thoughts are drowned out by a deafening noise. As you step out, you see a helicopter left on the pad, blades whirring and kicking up dust all over. Somehow, you can still hear Durham's booming voice through the din. "Now, son, you're going to take this helicopter down to the port, and then you'll take a boat ride to a location the Hunter's Association specified. Before you go though, I want to know if I can help you out in any way, if I can improve your chances! So I'm offering one of two things! I can give you a significant amount of money or a weapon of some kind! I have a lot of them, but I care about them dearly, so you only get to pick one!"

>You'd like some money. Cash is a powerful thing.
>You could use a weapon. You're capable of fighting bare-handed, but you're not sure if your enemies will feel the same way.
>You don't need anything. His help would only stifle your growth.

>>4114982
>>You'd like some money. Cash is a powerful thing.

>>4114982
>You could use a weapon. You're capable of fighting bare-handed, but you're not sure if your enemies will feel the same way.

>>4114989
+1

>>4114982
>You'd like some money. Cash is a powerful thing.

>>4114844
>>4114979
Would you believe me if I told you that I'm new to this.

>>4114982
>You could use a weapon. You're capable of fighting bare-handed, but you're not sure if your enemies will feel the same way.

May as well, never know what you're going to run into. And if we keep one on us we can catch people off-guard with the MMA.

>>4115001
In options you write dice+ and the dice
dice+1d100+20
dice+2d40 etc

>>4114982
>You'd like some money. Cash is a powerful thing.

Money would help plus, guys with weapons never had good luck......

>>4114982
>You could use a weapon. You're capable of fighting bare-handed, but you're not sure if your enemies will feel the same way.

>>4114982
>>You could use a weapon. You're capable of fighting bare-handed, but you're not sure if your enemies will feel the same way.

>>4115037
So roll once then add 20?

>>4115037
I really want to say something like "I don't need weapons because my whole body is a weapon", but I think Innis isn't quite that advanced yet.

>>4114982
>>You could use a weapon. You're capable of fighting bare-handed, but you're not sure if your enemies will feel the same way.

>>4115162
Only if the QM says to add twenty, you can also roll more dice at once if the QM asks but it only works with dice of the same type as far as I know

"Let me look at those weapons, Mr. Durham." You fold your arms, resolute in your decision. With your life on the line, survival is more important than profit, and you get the feeling you won't be able to buy your own safety with cash where you're going.

"I thought you'd say that..." Durham trails off, clearly disappointed. He takes you along to a large table next to a hot tub, upon which are stacked quite a variety of weapons. It seems to have all the basics you'd expect, everything from brass knuckles to medieval broadswords to modern rifles. The table is also stacked up with some more curious weaponry, items who's function you can't quite suss out on your own.

In order to satisfy your curiosity, you point at the items that stick out the most and ask him to elaborate upon their function. The first is something that looks like a needlessly bulky pistol with a bolt jutting out of the side. Durham explains that, "That one is a tranquilizer gun! It can be loaded with darts filled with whatever sort of chemical you want, but the ones that come with it are just filled with a lethal poison and a powerful sedative!"

Next, you ask about a box full of pills that doesn't look like a weapon to you. Durham's response is less begrudging with this one. "You can take as many of those as you want, son! I don't care for them. They're Combat Stimulants that my dealer sold to me as a part of a package deal. I have no interest in drugs; my love is for tools that cause death, not tools that protect you from it!"

After that, you pick up a leather glove with a bunch of electronics attached to it, and Durham tells you, "That's a fun one! The Shocking Grasp, it's a glove outfitted with electrodes that can send a nasty shock to anyone you get your hand on! Just flip the switch, then have the whole palm of the glove touch someone's bare skin, and it'll send a million volts through their body!"

Lastly, you pick up a bulky object made of some kind of elastic tube connecting two silvery metal rings with a control panel attached. It looks like there are four of these things, though you can't discern why. When you look at Durham, he has a confused expression on his face. "That... that's not supposed to be there! Those should be in my gym, they're a set of joint training bands."

"Joint training..." You've never heard of these things before, but you think you have an idea of how they work. While Durham goes to ask who put them here, curiosity overcomes you and you slip one of them onto your right arm, pressing the start button on the control panel. The two rings tighten around your forearm and upper arm, and the elastic band tightens around your elbow joint, gently forcing your arm straight. Moving your arm is easy, with the minute amount of force being applied, but you're curious how strong it can get. Pressing a few buttons, you increase the tightness of the elastic band. It's clearly made of expensive stuff, because it gets tighter and tighter and tighter until it takes you all of your strength just bending your arm ninety degrees. And it's still not on the highest setting yet. Once your arm snaps back straight, you feel it slam down with nearly enough force to smash concrete. You strongly suspect that this sort of equipment was made for an individual of your strength, not someone as weak as Durham.

With the options laid out before you, it's time for you to decide. Which item will you take from Durham?

>None. You've changed your mind, and just want the cash.
>You'll take some brass knuckles. Improving the impact of your punches is basic, but it should help.
>You want a katana! You'll look so cool swinging it around!
>A sidearm would be nice. It never hurts to be able to point a gun at someone, even if you're not sure how effective it'd be in comparison to your fists.
>You want that tranquilizer gun. A part of you feels like it's almost cheating to use it, but you want to be able to cheat.
>Combat stimulants would be invaluable! You'll take the whole box, hopefully they'll come in handy.
>The glove sounds like a blast to use! All you need to do is grab a bare arm and your opponent will be on the floor in an instant.
>As unorthodox as it is, you think you can use the training bands. Even if you just end up improving your own strength with them passively, it'll help out.
>Write-in.

>>4116227
>As unorthodox as it is, you think you can use the training bands. Even if you just end up improving your own strength with them passively, it'll help out.

>>4116227
>>The glove sounds like a blast to use! All you need to do is grab a bare arm and your opponent will be on the floor in an instant.

>>4116227
>As unorthodox as it is, you think you can use the training bands. Even if you just end up improving your own strength with them passively, it'll help out.
Not only do we get to train constantly, it'll also piss him off because he doesn't want to give it up. It's perfect.

>>4116227
I was originally against having a weapon, but
>>As unorthodox as it is, you think you can use the training bands. Even if you just end up improving your own strength with them passively, it'll help out.
This is just for training.

>>4116227
>As unorthodox as it is, you think you can use the training bands. Even if you just end up improving your own strength with them passively, it'll help out

Hey OP, just curious, do you have an idea on how Innis Morganach looks like?

>>4116251
+1

>>4116260
For some reason my brain keeps filling him in with Baki. I need a proper image

Although he sounds like he could be redheaded. Maybe it's the vaguely Irish-sounding name.

>>4116260
In my head, yes. I do have an idea of what Innis looks like. I wasn't planning on making it canon though, for the sake of letting you guys fill in the details. If you all want me to, I could include a canon description in a future post though.
>>4116272
Personally, I have been imagining him as a redhead, yeah.

>>4116227
>>You'll take some brass knuckles. Improving the impact of your punches is basic, but it should help.

>>4116275
Hmm...
>6'1", bulky but not ripped
>Has red hair and irises
>Handsome, but more like a predator than a heartthrob
>Jaw so square you could measure a foundation with it
>Looks a little pissed off even when his face is neutral

>>4116304
Where'd did that description come from?

>>4116308
I just made it up.
>for the sake of letting you guys fill in the details
...I guess that's not a very good reason huh?
I should probably be getting to sleep.

"I think I'll take these." You pick up the three other bands and hang them on your arm, turning around and facing Durham with a smile. His look of shock and confusion is absolutely priceless.

The man is completely speechless for a long moment, before asking, "You know those are for exercising, right Morgan? I understand your type likes to work out a lot but now hardly seems like the time!"

You let out a small laugh, walking toward the helicopter. "Trust me, I think these are going to come in handy sir."

"Wha-- But those are mine! I need them for my weekly half-mile walk!" He calls after you, stomping his foot.

"I don't know what to tell you, it's your staff that put them on the table, isn't it?"

The last thing you hear from him as you climb up into the helicopter is him shouting, "Damn it Crystal! I'll have her head for this! And you get out of my sight, Morgan, before I change my mind about punishing her instead of you! Now go and get me that Insignia already!"

You feel a little sorry for Crystal, but it was her fault for putting the wrong thing out there. Besides, it's not like there's all that much Durham can do to her. You doubt it'd be easy for him to find any other professional secretaries willing to work the front desk of a rich asshole's house.

While the chopper takes off, you take the liberty of putting on the bands. Luckily for you, you didn't wear your suit today. Instead, the clothes you put on are not just hardier, but baggier as well. Underneath the thick, warm cargo pants, the rings attached to your thigh and lower leg are only visible if you're looking for them, and the insulated jacket you're wearing conceals the upper bands just as well.

With the equipment securely attached to your body, it's just a question of how high you want to set it. It will take a few seconds to change it in the middle of a fight, so you need to make a choice that won't screw you in a tense situation.

>Minimum intensity. Too low to notice, no extra force needed to move.
>Mild intensity. Just enough to make movement a little harder.
>Medium intensity. About double the normal force required to move.
>High intensity. All movements have to be deliberate, feels like lifting weights.
>Very high intensity. Each and every movement is a struggle, you'll move much slower and get tired quickly.

>>4116364
>Medium intensity. About double the normal force required to move.

>>4116364
>>Medium intensity. About double the normal force required to move.

>>4116364
>Medium intensity. About double the normal force required to move.

>>4116418
+1

>>4116364
medium, like a soft spicy soup

You set the bands tight enough to make movement tough, but not high enough that it would impede you in a life-or-death situation. With that out of the way, you sit back and take some time to rest in preparation of what's coming ahead. You let your eyes fall closed, and allow the humming of the engine to lull you into a light sleep.

When you open your eyes back up, the helicopter has landed and the driver tells you that this is your stop. You give him a thumbs-up and hop out, stretching your limbs and looking around. A brief look attracts your view toward a group of four individuals looking in your direction. One of them is wearing a black outfit that looks like some kind of military kit, though you don't recognize it as belonging to any country you're aware of. One of the others is wearing what you can only describe as a high-quality tactical bathrobe.

The other two are outfitted in plain civilian clothes, like yourself, but it doesn't take more than a glance to recognize that they're not average civilians. The men are clearly plenty tough, with bodies kept in peak physical condition, and a look in their eyes that tells you they've seen combat. As you approach the group, the man wearing the black military outfit, who looks middle-aged to you, speaks up in a raspy voice.

"That's him, he fits the description to a T. Now, let's get going." With that, he turns around and walks onto the nearby dock, stepping into a motorboat with one too few seats for the five of you.

The group follows behind him, with you trailing a short distance back, but one of the two plain-clothes men, the bald one, turns back to talk to you, with a rough, toothy smile on his face. "Hey stranger! Th' name's Riley, glad we didn't end up with another freak-o on board!" He stops and reaches his hand out to shake yours, but his dark-skinned friend grabs him by the collar and yanks him into the boat.

You follow behind and climb in, sitting down on the side of the boat thanks to a lack of open seats. The bathrobe guy, who looks awfully moody, turns his head and looks away from the three of you, staring wistfully off into the water as the boat's engine starts up. The other two are having a conversation with each other up until the dark-skinned guy turns to you. His voice is sharp, but not threatening as he asks, "What's your name, kid?"

"Innis Morganach," you answer honestly. This doesn't feel like a situation that requires secrecy, as far as you can tell.

"Well, Morganach," he gives you a glare, and you can tell he's going to be judging your every word. "I'm Des. My friend here doesn't want to ask because he's piss-scared of being impolite, so I'll ask what we're all wondering. What are you doing here? We're headed to try our hand at becoming Hunters, what does some rich kid riding around in a private 'copter want?"

Your answer here could be crucial. If you're not the only one here to become a hunter, these guys are likely to be your competition. Giving them unnecessary information could end up backfiring, so you might want to be cautious.

>Tell him it's none of his business, you're keeping your reasons to yourself.
>Tell him a lie. Say your dad is a famous Hunter, and you want to follow in his footsteps.
>Be honest. You're here working for a rich dude, end of story.
>Tell him to fuck off.

>>4116562
>Tell him to fuck off.

>>4116562
>Tell him to fuck off.

>>4116562
>>Tell him it's none of his business, you're keeping your reasons to yourself.

"Fuck off." You spit back, turning away. If he's going to be an asshole, you have every right to be an asshole right back.

After a beat of silence, Riley breaks out into a fit of raucous laughter, slapping his leg and doubling over. Once he's finished, he tells his friend, "I toldja you can't just come out and ask a man such a rude question." Des gives him an indignant look, but he ignores it in favor of looking back at you. "I like you kid. Innis Morganach, right? Does that make you Restolan?"

You give him a subtle nod, even if you do feel pretty insulted right now. It's not like he'd have trouble figuring that out whether or not you told him. In spite of your apparent disinterest, however, he goes on to tell you, "Me and my buddy served in Restol once! Our unit was only stationed there for a few months, but the food there was damned good. And the ladies? Whoo, lemme tell ya, if I was a younger man I might just ditch everything to go get some tail there..."

He goes on like this for a few minutes, just rambling on and on while everyone else sits there in silence, letting him talk. Though, you note that it doesn't take long for the bathrobe guy to let out a long sigh and reach into a pocket, pulling out a pair of earbuds and putting them in. You've come pretty far from the shore, so you'd guess that you have some time before you reach your destination.

While you wait, what do you do on the boat?

>Nothing. Just relax until you get there.
>Give in and have a conversation with Riley. He's at least pleasant, unlike his friend.
>Talk to Des. If nothing else, it might get Riley to stop yammering on.
>Try to strike up a conversation with the bathrobe guy. He hasn't said a word since you got here.
>Talk to the no-nonsense boat driver, maybe he'll be useful for information.
>Ask a specific question to someone. (Specify)
>Write-in.

>>4116660
>>Talk to the no-nonsense boat driver, maybe he'll be useful for information.

>>4116660
>>Talk to the no-nonsense boat driver, maybe he'll be useful for information.

>>4116660
>Talk to the no-nonsense boat driver, maybe he'll be useful for information.

>>4116660
>>Talk to the no-nonsense boat driver, maybe he'll be useful for information.

>>4116660
>Meditate

Neglecting the other three passengers, you turn toward the man driving the boat. He looks quite a bit older than you, maybe in his mid-thirties, though his body is covered so many scars you'd expect him to be an aged war veteran, not a soldier in the prime of his life. Perhaps he'll be a better conversationalist than everyone else on his boat. You lean over and ask him, "So you work for the Hunter's Association? What's it like?"

He lets out a pointed sigh and glances back at you, a frown marring his already stern expression. "No, I do not work for the 'Hunter's Association.' I live through the philosophy of Shingen-ryu, and I trust in the Grandmaster's will. There's nothing more to be said on the matter, so I expect you to keep your mouth shut. If you disrespect the Grandmaster again, I'll personally remove you from this boat by force. Understood?"

You give him a nod, reeling back from the near-shouting. You're not sure what exactly you said wrong, but apparently it was something very offensive. You don't know if you actually committed some kind of significant faux-pas or if he's just some kind of religious nut, but either way you get the feeling that saying anything else at all could put your mission at risk, so you decide to give him his space.

This boat just seems increasingly hostile with each passing moment and you can't wait for it to be over. It doesn't take long for you to reach the shore at your destination, a relatively small island with just a port and an airstrip on it. Looking around, you can tell that you've reached the mouth of the river, leading out into the ocean. Behind you, Autush City sits a few dozen miles inland.

The driver leads you all off of the boat up over the shoreline, where you get to see the airstrip fully. Sitting right in the middle of the pavement you see a massive group of people. As you approach, you count at least six or seven hundred people, maybe even eight hundred. The only building around on the island is what you assume to be some kind of traffic control tower at the other end of the runway.

Once the driver finishes leading you to the group, he tells you to wait there and walks back toward the little dock you came from. You're given a brief period after he leaves to look around and analyze the competition, but with so many people it's hard to find any who really stick out. The only notable examples you find are the not insignificant number of people who look, to you, like they're either too weak or too young to be here. For some reason, that has you worried.

Your thoughts are abruptly interrupted by a booming clap, loud enough to startle the entire crowd and even make several members draw weapons. As everybody looks toward the source of the noise, you see a man standing up on top of a rock. The extremely burly man is holding his hands together, as though that noise came from him clapping his hands together. Obviously that can't be the case though; nobody can make a noise like a gunshot with their bare hands.

The man, with his golden-blonde hair slicked up into a halo of spikes jutting up from the top of his head, gives you a wide grin and calls out to the crowd, his voice echoing in the distance. "The tryouts for acceptance into the Hunter Association begin now! However! I'm sorry to say, we forgot to account for the number of candidates we had this year! The boat that you'll all be taking to get to the first stage can only fit a maximum of four-hundred participants! For that reason, we have 400 numbered badges that we'll be giving to the most qualified among you.

"See that tower over there?" He points at the concrete building sitting on the other side of the runway. "Your tags are sitting on it's roof!" With that, he hops down off of his rock, heading toward the shore. As he walks, he calls back, "Better hurry up, it's first come first served!"

You turn your head and see that members of the crowd have already started running toward the tower. You're already behind, but you should be fast enough to make it within the first 400 if you start running now!

>Go for it! Run down at a dead sprint, you've gotta get one of those tags!
>Don't rush yourself. Start running, but at an even pace. You can't risk slowing down right at the end and losing your chance.
>Stop. Analyze the situation before moving, you can't just dive in without knowing what's going on first.

>>4118276
> Stop. Analyze your situation before moving, you can't just without knowing what's going on first.
Hehe the test begins! let's let the fools running ahead kill themselves first whittleing down the competition.

>>4118290
Meanwhile we can possibly talk to the dude heading toward the shore amd maybe gain some hint about stuff like future test although most likely not allowed to say.
Gonna have to fully use our Arsenal since ee aren't strong yet

>>4118276
>>Don't rush yourself. Start running, but at an even pace. You can't risk slowing down right at the end and losing your chance.

>>4118276
>Don't rush yourself. Start running, but at an even pace. You can't risk slowing down right at the end and losing your chance.

>>4118276
>For that reason, we have 400 numbered badges that we'll be giving to the most qualified among you.
I get it now. They want us to fight over them.

We should identify someone whose ass we can kick and is also probably fast enough to get a badge.

>>4118507
Why do that when you could trigger a street brawl and knockout most of your competition at once. Killua proved if you knock out enough of your competition, you can become a hunter faster.

>>4118553
Cause we are not as strong as Killua, Duh
Think aboutt our ability

>>4118276
>Stop. Analyze the situation before moving, you can't just dive in without knowing what's going on first
There's a trick to this, obviously. If they just wanted to test our speed they wouldn't have put the tags so close.
And they definitely wouldn't have forgotten to account for the number of candidates.

>>4118745
We have to eliminate most of our competition anyway. Number of people that pass the exam and become hunters are going to be in the single digits.
>>4118783
The “trick” is obvious. They want people to fight over them though I guess you know that.

>>4118276
>Stop. Analyze the situation before moving, you can't just dive in without knowing what's going on first.

I think we should start running as soon as the first gunshot is fired.

>>4118890
>The “trick” is obvious. They want people to fight over them though I guess you know that.
Does Innis know that? This option will be his chance to figure it out. Until then, knowing that people are supposed to fight over them is OOC knowledge.

>>4118316
Can I change my answer to
>Stop. Analyze the situation before moving, you can't just dive in without knowing what's going on first.

>>4118276
>>Stop. Analyze the situation before moving, you can't just dive in without knowing what's going on first.

>>4118921
If we can figure it out then our character can figure it out.
> knowing that people are supposed to fight over them is OOC knowledge.
>figuring out something OOC with information the character was given IC is OOC knowledge
What the fuck is this logic? By that logic all choices we make for our character are not IC but OOC.

>>4119718
Listen, anon.
>figuring out something OOC with information the character was given IC is OOC knowledge
Innis doesn't know that people are supposed to fight over them. He knows that there aren't enough for everyone, so it's first-come-first-serve.
That, combined with the distance to the tower, would imply that the test is a race to the tower, not a brawl to eliminate the competition. The very fact that the option to think about it is offered implies that Innis has to make the deduction with the knowledge he has, making any premature deduction OOC.

>>4119718
>>4119754
g-guys... it's not that... oh god stop it

>>4118276
>>Stop. Analyze the situation before moving, you can't just dive in without knowing what's going on first.

>>4118276
>>Stop. Analyze the situation before moving, you can't just dive in without knowing what's going on first.
I vote for waiting to snatch a badge from someone else

This situation is too much for you to handle on the fly. You recognize the confusion all around, and refuse to get drawn into the panic. A breath leaves your lips, and you close your eyes for a brief moment, shutting out all outside stimulus and examining the situation you've found yourself in...

=END OF EPISODE 1=

Sorry for the abrupt end to the thread, everyone. I overestimated my ability to keep momentum while juggling this quest and real life at the same time. On top of that, my plans for the exam have already changed several times, so I'm going to plan them out more thoroughly before continuing. I expect to be ready for the second thread in around two or three weeks, so expect episode 2 to show up on Friday the 20th or 27th.

>>4122684
Can't wait for the next thread! This is pretty good so far.

>>4122684
Thanks QM. I'll be waiting.

>>4122684
Thanks for running! Excited for more!

>>4122684
keep it up, byondqm

>>4112254
>He shakes his head, clearly disappointed by your confusion. "No, no, I mean the kind of Hunter who—" He shakes his head. "Never mind, I can tell you don't know. To make a long story as short as I can get it, Hunters are the members of a group that do work for the government. Most governments, actually, not just ours. They're a sort of paramilitary outfit..."
>You don't exactly know what he's talking about, but you're sure you'll figure it out soon enough. For the time being, you ask him, "I don't mean to interrupt, but what exactly does that have to do with my job, sir?"

I'm sorry OP but I find this part weird. In the HxH setting, everybody knows what a Hunter is. Netero himself is a huge star. It makes little sense for a random guy not to know what a Hunter is, and it makes even less sense for this main character to have no idea what it is. It's like ignoring what a fireman is.

>>4123455
RIP. I had hoped I'd made things clear enough, but I guess not. Look at this line and tell me if you're still confused:
>Far from a familiar land, far from stories already told, humanity ekes out a living in another, different safe-haven.

In future threads, I think I'll try to make it more explicit that this doesn't take place (mild manga spoilers) within Mobius Lake, the dark continent lake that all of HxH takes place in. It takes place in a different locale, called the Lunar Cistern.

Obviously, this raises some questions about the setting, but I probably won't be able to answer the most prominent ones without some plot spoilers. If you want an answer that Innis would know, I can tell you that. If you want an answer that he wouldn't, you'll have to keep playing until he finds out.

>>4128144
You mean >pic related?

>>4131888
https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/hunterxhunter/images/f/fe/Continente_Azian.png/revision/latest?cb=20141101122408&path-prefix=es