- Player 2012/02/26(Sun)08:50 No. 389058 ID: 939692
File 133027505407.png - (34.41KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-063.png )

Niece: "... Player, right? Thank you... for..."
"It's okay. This happens often?"
Niece: "... sometimes. A few times per week. He's always good by morning. There were only rants before, maybe once he tried walking into the dungeon, but this is the first time he--"
"It might get worse. Keep the knives away from him."
Niece: "-- but... we're cooks, see? He asked me for the knife, we were dicing vegetables for tomorrow... I should have suspected... what should we do? What am I to do about him?...."

Apologies for the crap quality, I took way too long on this for no good reason.

>>389058
Tell her to try to arrange for higher-level crawlers to help him find what he's looking for, and you'll try to bring back anything edible you find next time you're in the dungeon.

Also? Tell her to ask Bella to chain the cooking implements to the table. That way his fits can't hurt anybody outside the kitchen.

yeah that sounds good. can have the knives chained to the counter. right length lets it used for the job and can't do anything else with them.

>>389058
Show him the mushrooms.

I kinda want you to hand us to him, see if he can think of a good description when he doesn't need to talk to describe things

I thought he said we didn't smell like it though? If it IS the mushrooms that would be convenient.

>>389058

Well, I've already said my piece on whether or not we should bring him with us tomorrow. It is an option I think viable to solve this as quickly and efficiently as possible, but we either do it, or we don't, and I think the current vote count is pretty even.

And if we don't, Niece doesn't really have a whole load of sensible options. Sure, she can chain up the knives, but that's not going to prevent him from running off (unless she chains him up too), nor is it going to prevent him from finding other inventive means of hurting people who wants to stop him from hurting himself.

She -could- get the dungeon guards to lock Benjamin up, but nobody wants that, I think. The best option to keep him under wraps, I believe, would be for her to talk to Father McLaughing, Lia and Sun about seeing to that her husband is kept somewhere sturdy, yet safe. They're caring and inventive, so I think they should be able to help if she just told them the truth of things and asked for help. Also, they're the healers in town, so she'll want to go to them anyway.

(That said, if we want to bring Benjamin along, she may want to come up with a decent cover story. Serious kitchen accident, or whatever.)

If Benjamin is kept safe here, her main solution would be to get some crawler to get her the goods Benjamin needs... hopefully that will cure his affliction. Player should certainly offer to -look- for it, especially since he's the only guy available right now who's got the guts and will to look into the dungeon problem, but there's no guarantee that he will find it. Reinforcements from Central are also still a week or something off, so if Player can't do it, she'll have to wait it out.

Depending on how the clergy wants to keep Benjamin safe, he may have to quit making meals for Manuel, though. Same if he goes with us. That's gonna attract attention either way, unless someone comes up with a really good cover story. I don't know if Niece wants to keep this between as few people as possible or not.

- Player 2012/03/03(Sat)11:25 No. 390003 ID: ab3feb
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>hand us to him
I'm seriously opposed to finding out what you'd do to him.

>mushrooms
>we didn't smell like it.
True. It can't be anything I have on me.

>chain
"I don't know what you'll do, but I know what I'll do. I'll hide somewhere else for the night. You should look into getting those knives chained to the table or something."
Niece: "... I guess..."
"... and I don't know... if he keeps getting worse, we might need to... eh, the guards or the church might think of a way to keep him from hurting himself."
Niece: "I see..."
"And you really need to find a higher level adventurer before its too late."

- Player 2012/03/03(Sat)11:32 No. 390004 ID: ab3feb
File 133080316093.png - (30.53KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-065.png )

Niece: "S-someone else? But aren't you--"
"Look, whatever he needs from there, he needs badly. And I don't know, I'm just level three? We gotta expect the worst."
Niece: ".. I see..."
"I'll be on my way."

- Player 2012/03/03(Sat)11:33 No. 390005 ID: ab3feb
File 133080320813.png - (63.63KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-066.png )

That was something seriously fucked up.

yeah, let's go.
and the ones wanting to touch him were probably thinking they could figure out what he wanted by looking in his head.

Get to Miss K. Avoid getting seen, avoid drama. And hurry it up.

wait...aren't you level 5?

>>390013
he may be a good person, but he isn't above lying.

The more this situation progresses the more I think we need to guide him through the dungeon. But let's just go sleep for now.

>>390005
Player, when you can, tell someone that the cook is getting worse and needs help.
If therapy can't work, then at least some sort of anti-psychotic medication.
Say, I don't suppose you guys have some smoke-able pipe-weed that is known to calm the user into unfocused lethargy?

>>390004

Fucked up or not, they do need helpzzzzz. We should consider taking the time to aid them.

>Just level three.

Correction. Right now, you should be at level five. You jumped to four after facing Charlotte and mom, and five after meeting with the poor ant queen.

- Player 2012/03/10(Sat)10:39 No. 391644 ID: 751fb3
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Nice, ehr backdoor was locked. Time to hope here...

>level 5
>above lying
I deal with facts, and as far as I know I'm level three. Thats the level I had when I got evaluated, I don't feel like a fiver, I don't... know if fivers are supposed to be different actually. So I'll pretend I'm a three.

>medication
Antipsicowhat? There's stuff that makes crazy people into normal people? Outside knocking them unconscious, that is.
... the only think I can think of is very fresh hash, buuut... I wouldn't give that to someone who deals with knives. And I don't think they make their own ropes here, that limits things.
Maybe if we had coca around like back home, a few of leaves once in a while could mellow him right out. He'd need to be careful to not turn it into an habit though.

- Player 2012/03/10(Sat)10:41 No. 391645 ID: 751fb3
File 133140487273.png - (59.76KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-068.png )

Phew. Door open. Nobody saw me. I hope.

>tell someone
I'll tell Kay, does that count?

>guide, dungeon
I'm sure you'll have reached a consensus by morning. Until then, what now? I don't think Kay actually knows I'd be here.

any bells to ring? if not then just wait on the counter and ponder what could need a wrench f that size.

>>391645

Well, it's ill-adviced to poke about in someone's private areas without permission, but if Miss K brings someone home with her, perhaps you should stay away from the room with the front door. Call out carefully to check if he's here, or somewhere else in the building. If nobody's here, go into the next room. Might be she's in her workshop. Wasn't that in the cellar, or something?

At any rate, there's a number of things we should be showing and telling miss K. Those glass things, remember? Not to mention the shotgun shells. Lia mentioned Kay might be wanting some proper gunpowder. Hmm... anything else, guys?

Knock on the counter a few times.

Well, if you have poppies those might mellow him out a bit... still, as you mentioned, most mind-effectants are addictive and that could end poorly (some will eventually lead the user to 'require' some at all times simply to function normally.)

I wouldn't try Coca though... that stuff's a pretty good painkiller but it might just put him on edge a little, we could tell you how to make coca MUCH more effective though a few simple chemical processes... you could probably become rich as all hell but... the side effects, social and physical are simply unacceptable without an incredibly good reason.

Anyhow, you might want to get behind the counter, hide somewhere were you can't be seen through the large glass window, or by any customers who walk in unexpectedly. We only want to reveal ourselves to Miss K, not any other possible guests.

Call for her, but by the inside door there so you don't have to be too loud.

"I don't feel like a fiver, I don't... know if fivers are supposed to be different actually."

Well, see, that depends. Does being a higher level actually convey some kind of advantage such as increased physical strength and agility, or is it just a measure of how totally awesome you are? If it does give you some advantage you can test your level just by trying out something that you couldn't have before, and if it doesn't then why does anyone even care about it anyways?

>>391892
pretty sure it gives you more HP at least.

>>391893

Far as I can remember, leveling has only, to our notice, given him a bigger pool of ADP (seemingly the stuff used to power bad-assery, like... extra adrenaline, or something).

What this means on an effective basis is that he can pull off awesome stuff for longer. We don't know if his HP has increased from leveling. Our logic says it would, but then again, perhaps it doesn't. Mind you, to Player, all of this is just abstract gibberish anyway. We're looking at the mechanics of his existence in a completely different way than he does.

If he doesn't feel different it's probably because leveling isn't something that -would- make you feel much different. From the impression I've been given, your level can be tested or evaluated, giving you something like a set of credentials (as evidenced by the dungeon now being a level six zone).

Others might get a whiff of his current level just by being with him, too. I believe Player told us an anecdote about being with one of his old trainers and how he just got this gut feeling that the trainer was a badass of a higher level than him, despite not even being a level five 'officially'. Or something like that.

- Player 2012/03/12(Mon)12:03 No. 392210 ID: 751fb3
File 133157903267.png - (56.25KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-069.png )

>wrench
I didnt want to know when I first saw it, I dont want to know now. I think its actually a weapon.

>glass things
.. actually, I can't remember any glass things.

>poppies
>coca, rich as hell
... poppies? That one I don't know
Hrmn, you're right. Coca sharpens the senses, sort of. It'd be a terrible idea.
... and that thing about refining sounds a little too shady and a tad too alchemical for my tastes.

>on Levels
Put simply, levels are a measure of experience and survivability. Some people just can do more and take more based on what they've been trough, and measuring that-- having someone's ability as a number, and someplace's danger as another -- helps to avoid needless deaths.

...maybe there's more to that, more to levels. I admit; me becoming a crawler was a huge investiment in time and money, but nobody would make an entire bureaucracy just to help me not getting killed. But I'm not a scholar.

"Kaaay? Are you here?"

No response. Its a small corridor here, two doors and a flight upstairs.
I guess the workshop must be up, we had lunch in the kitchen-storage, the other door is the bathroom.

well options are ether go upstairs or putz about down here some more. wanna stare at that picture on the side of that cabinet? is on the one with 3 cylinders on it. maybe spools of something?

She might be asleep, there is some reason for her not to respond yet. The laws of comedy say she's probably in the bathroom and there is no way it's not going to be awkward. So if that's the case you may as well start there. Knock on that and each door after and ask if she's in there.

Wait around here more. The laws of drama say she's going to walk in just as you happen to be going through her personal things, so let's try to avoid that.

I thought she had a basement? Go upstairs, I guess.

- Player 2012/03/17(Sat)06:51 No. 393547 ID: 751fb3
File 133199231539.png - (44.88KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-070.png )

>upstairs!
>laws of drama
Well, good thing this isn't some badly-written seldomly-sung bard serial, or else I'd be walking into her cheating her husband with their half-brother or something equally stupid.

Huh, this is her room. Its....

- Player 2012/03/17(Sat)06:58 No. 393550 ID: 751fb3
File 133199269446.png - (49.86KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-071.png )

... disappointingly normal, really. Imean, it could be worse, this could be an elaborate disguise to hide a secret passage that'd reveal a world destruction plot commandeered by a mad scientist awakened penguin.

... I have no idea why I just thought of that.

>basement
Nope, none that I could see downstairs. I remember the kids saying something about horrible sounds, where would they come from?

>>393550
Turn around and leave the room NOW.

>>393550
Miss K is right behind you. I think there's a SECRET PASSAGE somewhere.

Look at the cupboard. There is a drawer missing. And that picture above the bed is suggestive. look around if you can't find something to put where the drawer is missing.

>>393550
K's right behind you. Duck.

Spin around with your arms straight out in front of you.

Sidestep and say hi.

warned you dude.

>>393550
>K right behind Player
JUMP ONTO THE BED, DUDE! ROLL OVER IT AND TAKE COVER!

rifle through her underwear drawer.

- Player 2012/03/20(Tue)06:16 No. 394367 ID: 745888
File 133224939389.png - (55.15KB , 800x600 , r001-0010-072.png )

>right behind you
>SECRET PASSAGE
Don't be silly, I'd hear her climbing that flight of s "stwwaaaAAH!"
Miss K: "Gyehehehehe~ look what the cats brought me~"
"How did you do that?"
Miss K: "Adding breaking and entering to your growing list, me Greenie? Never thought you had it in yew~"
"-hey, the door was open! I just"
Miss K: "Trespassing it is! What were you looking for here, mmmn~"

... uh... ok, I came to talk to her right? What did we have to talk about anyway?

>>394367
Give her the shotgun shells, then start talking about what you've discovered.
Also, the offer to teach her how to make gunpowder is still on the table. We're willing to teach her how to make high-powered explosives as well, if she'll make some so we can seal areas of the dungeon if needed. (Also, should do something like 20hp in damage to anything in point-blank range.)

You came here to get a nights sleep and something to eat, and maybe unload on a sympathetic ear. It's never nice to have to kill something friendly, and obviously innocent of wrongdoing, even if it's necessary.

And didn't you pick up another DU shell? You should leave those here instead of hauling them around, it's bad for you to be in contact with a lot of that.

>>394376
She already knows all about modern firearms.

>>394377
>DU cores
...Yeah, it probably wasn't such a good idea to have him hauling around huge hunks of a highly toxic heavy metal with his bare hands for several days straight.

>>394485
they were in his pockets. the fact they could fit in there tells me subspace compartments. also the D in D means depleted. they are very not radioactive.
also the shells are for her to have a nice chunk of high quality gunpowder. not for the shells themselves.

>>394367
>... uh... ok, I came to talk to her right? What did we have to talk about anyway?
First, mention that the chef's fits are getting worse, and you hadn't taken a detour and calmed him down he might have gone homicidal on his own niece if she had gotten in his way.
He wants to go to the dungeon and find some specific ingredient for "the perfect bread" he's been having dreams about. If there is any way K can help him out, she needs to share it so we can prevent a terrible mistake from occuring.

In other news you discovered and managed to accidentally assist in the suicide of a Demon Ant Queen, so the Demon Ants should be clearing out soon over the next few days.

There was also a Ruster carcass on the upper levels that shouldn't have been there.

Also, dimensional portals and demons with shotguns, and Player got to use one too, or did we already cover that?

>>394534
we told her we saw the demon with it last time. he used it this time.