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Last time:

Well, the hatch is FUBAR, so it can't hurt to break it.

“Barta!” You psychicly focus photon energy through your cane. A subzero jet of icicles assault the hatch. You hear the metal whine as it strains under the temperature change. You grab your cane with both hands and bring it down hard on the hinges. They shatter, sending the hatch falling inward onto the construction kit. You notice some shrapnel from the inside of the door has penetrated the box. You hope there's no damage.

“Ash! Eleanor! I want both of up here right the hell now!” Kireek barks from outside the shuttle. Eleanor jolts awake.

You lift the heavy box through the hatch and see what the commotion is about.

There appears to be a pack of wolf-like creatures with scales along their packs. You can tell they won't be as friendly as the Rappies.

Kireek faces down the largest wolf. “Eleanor, stay on top of the shuttle and shoot anything that isn't us. Ash, cover Pheonixia. Pheonixia, I want the conduit up YESTERDAY!”

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Current stats: 5 STR/7 DEX/10 MIND

There are seven wolves surrounding the shuttle. Ash looks at you. “Where are we setting up?”

“Somewhere with a hard flat surface at least a square meter in size.” You look around, seeing a clearing off in the distance. “Guess that'll have to do...” You point to show Ash. He looks annoyed.

He looks down at your handgun. “You any good with that thing?”

“When I need to be.”

The wolves pace around the shuttle, surrounding you.

> A. Jump and make a run for it. [DEX-Moderate]

> B. Take potshots at the wolves with your gun. [DEX-Easy]

> C. Try to disperse the wolves with a fire technique. [MIND-Hard]

>>39959829
>Make a fire-wall around self. Walk while casting, but if the wolves start to approach, run towards them to scare them with the fire.
if MIND-Moderate/Easy

else
> B. Take potshots at the wolves with your gun. [DEX-Easy]

>>39959960

Firewall would be temporary, but is currently hard.

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Extending the vote to 7:30 because ain't no one here.

>>39960208
normally, you can't expect too many people for the first vote. Doubly so what with all the new quests flooding the catalog.

It'll take a while.

Rolled 7 (1d7)

>>39960289

Well sheeit. Guess We'll run on a skeleton crew until more people show.

Rolled 5 (1d7)

>>39960357

Hey, a crit. What should this mean?

Let's roll again and see what happens.

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You pull out your pistol and start firing at the closest wolf. The bolt lands right between it's eyes. It collapses in a small pool of it's own blood. Six more to go.

One of wolves leaps up with a loud bark, tackling Ash. He's holding its jaws at bay by hold his saber under its throat, but amazingly the wolf's skin is holding up.

Kireek has been wrestling the large blue wolf for a bit, but managed to impale it with his scythe. It drops.

The other wolves let out a long howl. They seem distracted.

> A. Use a fire technique to blast the wolf on top of Ash, point blank. [MIND-Moderate]

> B. Shoot the wolf on top of Ash [DEX-Moderate]

> C. Shoot one of the howling wolves [DEX-Easy]

> D. Make a run for the clearing [DEX-Easy]

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We are now officially on page 6. Bumping with Pheonixia to get some players in.

>>39960552
sorry, breakfast

>>39960552
D. Make a run for the clearing [DEX-Easy]

Rolled 7 (1d7)

>>39961121

A run it is.

Rolled 6 (1d7)

>>39961174

Fucking hell...again?

>>39961174
>>39961193
the dice gods are telling you not to give up.

Also, it's d7, what were you expecting?

>>39961228

But twice in a row, though. That's like a 2% chance. Anyways, update inbound.

>>39961300
more like twice in 4 rolls, for a 12.2% chance.

That, and the general paranoia that 4chan dice favor crits like no other.

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You grab the constructor kit and make a run for it. You jump clear over a wolf's head and land gracefully, and quietly, in the grass.

The box is a lot heavier than you anticipated, but the importance of the mission overtakes your fatigue.

One wolf gives chase behind you. Eleanor lands a shot at the base of it's skull before it has a chance to lunge at you. The beast drops. Only three wolves left.

Ash has pushed the wolf off the shuttle, but now all three are circling your team. Kireek and Ash stand back to back, waiting for an opening or an incoming attack. Eleanor tries to shoot the wolves with her rifle, but they move too fast for anything besides a grazing shot.

After a good 50 meter sprint, you're at an elevated clearing. You open constructor kit and find sharp pieces of shrapnel have cut through to the inside of the box. You can't tell if it's actually been damaged or not without a full diagnostic. But that will take time you don't have.

> A. Run a diagnostic. [MIND-Easy]

> B. Continue to construction process as normal and just re-route around any damaged areas as they come up. [MIND-Hard]

> C. Put the kit down and rejoin the fight.

>>39961448
>A. Run a diagnostic one handed. [MIND-Moderate]
>Provide blind cover fire in the general direction of the wolves with the other hand
Obviously don't point in the general direction of allies.

Rolled 7 (1d10)

>>39961537

At this distance, they are pretty much in the same place, but for the difficulty increase, I'll allow it.

You start on diagnostic. Your MAG interfaces with the constructor kit and gives you a loadout of dead connections. Looks like you've got some soldering to do. Good thing you caught it, too. The signal reconstruction circuit was damaged. You'd have been able to travel out, but a return trip could have easily turned you into a puddle.

You've spent enough years on a lab bench to be able to repair circuitry and photon couplings blindfolded. You pull out the damaged components of the kit and begin soldering one-handed.

You reach for your gun with your left hand and turn to provide some cover fire. You're normally not the best shot with your right, let alone shooting southpawed.

One wolf leaps onto the shuttle, ready to maul Eleanor. With what you've seen of these things, you doubt metal would be much of an obstacle to them. Ash puts himself between the two and brings his saber down on the wolf. Kireek is back to wrestling another wolf that decided to make a leap for the top of the shuttle.

While most of your shots miss, you do manage to get one lucky hit in as the third wolf tries for a sneak attack on Eleanor. The plasma bolt strikes it mid leap. Its body slams against the hull of the shuttle and drops back to the ground. It's angry, and now you have its attention.

> A. Keep repairing, hope that Eleanor has your back.

> B. Ready your cane to cast something as soon as it gets close.

> C. Stop repairs and shoot until it drops. [DEX-Moderate]

>>39961813
>A. Keep repairing, hope that Eleanor has your back.

>>39961813
> A. Keep repairing, hope that Eleanor has your back.
It's their job, after all.

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You keep your mind on the task at hand. You need to get this ryuker conduit up and running. The wolf is running toward you, and you can hear it's guttural growl getting louder as rifle bolts seem to land just short. Afraid to even look behind you, you keep focussing on your work.

Heat from soldering iron begins to sting your face and your grip tightens to the point where you can feel the bones in your fingers press against the metal. You make the repairs at a frantic pace. The last board is done. You slap the components back into the kit and activate the constructor.

The wolf leaps into the air. Without thinking, you spin around and jam the still hot soldering iron into it's eye as its teeth find their way behind your collar bone.

You let out a shriek of pain. You've been been in real combat, not like this. Blood is dripping from both of you, and you shake from adrenaline and fear.

> A. Shoot wildly at the wolf [DEX-Easy]

> B. Bring your cane down on its head [STR-Easy]

> C. Blast it away with a fire technique [MIND-Easy]

>>39962071

"You've never* been in real combat"

>>39962071
>Kick it off, let the others deal with it while you regain your composure.
>grab cane
calm down

>>39962071
>C. Blast it away with a fire technique [MIND-Easy]

>>39962071
fine, fine

switch >>39962135
to fire technique. Missed the bit about being bitten in the collar bone.

Rolled 9 (1d10)

Fire it is.

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You summon every bit of frustration and rage into a psychic lens, focusing as much photon energy you can into a fireball.

“Eat this, you son of a bitch. Foie!”

A fireball shoots out of your cane and smacks the wolf in its side. It yelps and drops. You collapse onto your knees, fatigued.

The constructor seems to be done. The ryuker field generator is activated. It gives off a hum, a familiar comfort. You're ready to head back to the ship and rest, but the calibration needs to be set. You're a bit woozy from the fight, but you can still do your job.

That's weird...the frequency and orientation is right, but you can't seem to get a good signal back from Pioneer 2.

> A. Run a second diagnostic on the conduit.

> B. Try to force a signal lock by spreading the beam.

> C. Call for medical help. You feel like you're about to faint.

>>39962384
> A. Run a second diagnostic on the conduit.

>>39962384
>C. Call for medical help. You feel like you're about to faint.
>"Pioneer 2 might be worse off than we are."

>>39962480
>>39962464

Well then. If I don't get any new posts by 9:15, I'll just roll to see which vote wins.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

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You run a second diagnostic on the conduit. It takes a few minutes to double check all the circuitry after the device has been assembled. In the meantime, your team joins you.

“Are you ok? You look like you got bit pretty bad.” Eleanor asks, concerned.

Kireek offers you his praise. “I've never seen a force as green as you take a hit like that, let alone return one. You're alright kid. Keep that up, you might impress me one day.”

You acknowledge everyone with a grunt, eyes never leaving your screen. It's starting to get hard to focus.

Ash limps up next to you. “So, uhm...how's the teleporter thing coming?”

He actually just called this thing a teleporter? You cannot deal with this level of tech illiteracy right now.

> A. Explain to him exactly what it is and that you can't seem to acquire a handshake signal from Pioneer 2 [MIND-Easy]

> B. “I can't find the ship.”

> C. Ignore him and attempt not to get more irritated.

>>39962384
>A. Run a second diagnostic on the conduit.
Sorry, just got home and was catching up.

>>39962822
>A. Explain to him exactly what it is and that you can't seem to acquire a handshake signal from Pioneer 2 [MIND-Easy]
Let's see how much the hunter can handle. We need to vent. How better than to dialogue in a way that makes us feel smarter than everyone else?

>>39962822
> A. Explain to him exactly what it is and that you can't seem to acquire a handshake signal from Pioneer 2 [MIND-Easy]

>>39962822
>B. “I can't find the ship.”
let's not tax our failing focus right now

Rolled 4 (1d10)

>>39963028

Sorry, looks like we're going nerdrage.

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The diagnostic comes out clean. You have no idea why you can't find the ship.

You grit your teeth and turn to the knuckle dragging, sword-swinging manlet next to you and take a deep breath.

"First off, it's not a teleporter, it's a ryuker conduit. A teleporter, if such a thing could ever exist outside a comic book, instantly takes your entire body's qauntum waveform and forces a collapse in another location. A ryuker conduit converts your body into a matter stream and shoots it at exactly the speed of light to a target. Right now, that target is deep fucking space," you punctuate those last three words by kicking the conduit.

"So right now I'm trying to find out why this piece of shit conduit can't find the ship. And it would be a lot easier if I didn't have to answer basic fucking questions while I'm bleeding all over my fucking frame! UUUGHH!"

You'd be tearing up if you weren't so angry. Ash looks like a puppy that's just been kicked. Eleanor silently applies monomate to your wounds while you lean onto the conduit's console and rack your brain.

> A. Go back to the shuttle and see if there were any parts that got knocked loose from the constructor kit.

> B. Switch the beam to omni-directional and search the entire sky. (This could take a good while.) [MIND-Moderate]

> C. Apologize to everyone.

>>39963288
> C. Apologize to everyone.

>>39963288
>C. Apologize to everyone.
You'd be mad too if a dire wolf chomped your collarbone for the first time in your life.

>>39963288
>C. Apologize to everyone.
>"Do you think anything happened to the ship?"

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You close your eyes and rub your temples. “Look, I'm sorry, ok? I'm just a little frustrated and I need to think.”

Ash looks down at his feet, “It's ok. Don't worry about it.”

Eleanor tries to break the tension by switching the topic. “We were all caught off guard with that last fight. Maybe if you just talk out the problem we can brainstorm something.”

“Alright. The machine is working perfectly. Everything is performing as it should be. I've taken into account atmospheric composition and scattering and pointed the beam directly to where Pioneer 2 should be, but it's not answering back.”

“Well, I remember something you said in one of your old lectures while I was doing some mission prep,” Eleanor contributes, “you said the beam gets affected the same way light does. Maybe there's some sort of gravity well bending light between us and the ship.”

Your eyes pop open. You feel like an idiot, but you think you know what's wrong. You set the machine to scan for gravitational anomalies.

“Did I say something helpful?”

The machine reports massive amounts of dark matter in and around the central dome.

> A. Just compensate for the dark matter and get home

> B. Announce your findings

>>39963854
>> B. Announce your findings
that dark matter sounds bad.

>>39963854
>B. Announce your findings
"Very much so. Thank you."

>>39963854
> B. Announce your findings

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“Yes, very much so. Thank you.” You start writing a script to automatically correct for gravitational interference.

Eleanor looks over your shoulder, “So, what was it?”

There is a ridiculous amount of dark matter around the Central Dome.

Kireek finally sounds interested, “What do you mean?”

“The Central Dome is somehow creating a fountain of dark matter.”

Ash risks another stupid question, “So they why can't we see something like that?”

Your frustration leaves just in time for your patience to return. “Dark matter is invisible to any form of light or electric probe. You'd have to measure gravitational waves to know it's there.”

“Oh...” Ash goes back to closely examining his boots.

“But now we can compensate for it.” With a few button presses, the ryuker gate glows red, indicating that it's ready for long distance travel.

> A. Head back to the ship

> B. Suggest checking out the Central Dome

> C. Try to cheer up Ash (write in how)

>>39964162
>Suggest scanning the dark matter and nearby wildlife from here. Check if there is a connection and report back to the ship.

>>39964162
>A. Head back to the ship
> C. Try to cheer up Ash (write in how)
Apologize again and compliment his performance. Either way, all we had to do was establist the gate. Now that we have reliable transportation, more hunters and researchers can come through and take a closer look; we're not well-equipped for a jaunt into the unknown right now.

>>39964162
>> C. Try to cheer up Ash
Friendly butt pat and an acknowledgement that you only learned these sorts of things because of prodigious effort.

>>39964162
> A. Head back to the ship

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“Let's go home guys.” You grab Ash's arm as Eleanor and Kireek beam out.

“Look. I'm sorry about earlier. I spent a long time learning this stuff and surrounding myself with other people that knew this stuff really well. I forget sometimes that not everyone has this really specific knowledge.”

A weak smile creeps onto his face, “No really, it's fine. I get it. We're all tired and and depending on you to get us out of here. You're totally within your rights to have a moment or two if it means we get back safely. Especially with amateurs like me dragging the team down.”

“What are you talking about? You did great out there. If you weren't there fighting I wouldn't have been able to get the conduit up as fast as I did. Don't be hard on yourself, you did your job.” You give him a congratulatory slap on the rear and push him into the conduit. He has a mixture of relief and confusion on his face. You remember that such traditions are usually restricted to the men's locker room.

>Continued

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After a one night stay in the med bay, you wake up refreshed. You still haven't collected your payment from the guild yet, but once you do, you'll be able to afford some pretty nice upgrades to your equipment. Or you could just splerg and go buy something for yourself.

Eventually, you have to report back to Tyrell with your findings. He'll probably expect you some time today.

> A. Get your payment and hang out at the guild

> B. Get your payment and go shopping

> C. Report to Tyrell

>>39964704
>C. Report to Tyrell
We'll fully debrief before we get paid.

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You make a beeline for the Principal's Office. You pass by Eleanor as she gets out of the elevator.

She waves to get your attention, “You look like you're doing better!”

“Yeah, just got out of the clinic. Apparently it was an all nighter for the doctor to repair the muscle damage. It's still a little sore, but I'm doing alright.”

“Are you going to meet with Principal Tyrell?”

You nod. “My MAG has a bunch of gravitational data that I need to share with the people in charge of setting missions to the planet.”

“Well, good luck!”

…

You finish giving your report to Tyrell. For once, he seems attentive.

“So this...dark matter. Should we be concerned?”

> A. Explain what it is using the proper terminology [MIND-Easy]

> B. Use an analogy to try to get him to understand [MIND-Hard]

> C. Tell him it would be easiest to have the scientists at the Lab take a look at the data and make recommendations.

>>39965173
> B. Use an analogy to try to get him to understand [MIND-Hard]

> C. Tell him it would be easiest to have the scientists at the Lab take a look at the data and make recommendations.

>>39965173
>B. Use an analogy to try to get him to understand [MIND-Hard]

Rolled 6 (1d10)

""Let me dumb this down for you""

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“Well, let's say that the person using the ryuker conduit is a sailboat, and the dark matter is like a whirlpool you can't really see. If you just keep sailing toward...”

Tyrell's eye briefly twitches. “I didn't get this job by not knowing the basics of transportation! Stop patronizing me and just answer the question!”

You feel your heart sink to somewhere around your boots.

“Uhm...N-no, sir. Not for now. I have a fix in place, but you should probably have some additional gravitational sensors hooked up for safety's sake. The Lab might also have a few suggestions as to what should be done.”

“Good. I'll forward the data to them.”

You turn to leave.

Tyrell stands up. “One more thing. Given the nature of the native life, I think that we'll be restricting all travel to Ragol without a permit. Are you up for future missions planet-side?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Read this file and report to me tomorrow.” He taps a few buttons on his console. Your MAG gives off a sound indicating it has mail. “That will be all.”

You wait until you have the privacy of the elevator before you open the file. It's a dossier on Rico Tyrell.

> End of part 2

I'll answer questions in the thread for at least a little while. Follow me on Twitter for a heads up on the next update, which will probably be on a Sunday. I doubt I'll be doing too many more weekday sessions considering how much attendance is hurting.

https://twitter.com/sbf2009

>>39965749
It kinda popped up without warning, and I wasn't home by the time it was already halfway through.

>>39966006

Sorry. Sent out a notice on Twitter Wednesday. Next one is definitely Sunday at 7PM.