2/3 Dowser 2021/12/12(Sun)22:02 No. 1017230 ID: 7e04cb
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Obviously being a lone Tobak has its ups and downs. I am able to attract much less attention, not that there are many other Tobaks around here besides the occasional looters like myself or nearby guards for hire, who certainly don't work for free.
I don't have to worry about any of the mining company Tobaks because this place was deemed too expensive to continue any sort of operations.
I do have to worry about local Fauna, but not to the extent that one would have to in some of the lower levels. I didn't bring a nail gun with me so I should avoid wild animals or tribal Tobaks.

3/3 Dowser 2021/12/12(Sun)22:02 No. 1017231 ID: 7e04cb
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On my map are various listed locations, the red text was put down by my mining partner, which I call him pretty loosely. There are plenty of places to go, and each may or may not be worth my time. I want to collect at least a few things before I head back to the depot and sell to one of the alien mining companies. With enough luck I can make enough money to make ends meet for a week or so.

Besides the map I also have my PDA. I can use to communicate with any nearby Tobaks (Or aliens, but I highly doubt it.) I don't expect to see many who keep their appearance set to public, but I might be able to recognize a few of the listed names. I could also try talking to strangers if I wanted to, but do I really want to waste people's time?

The bucket excavator seems like the first stop

Questions:
---
What is in your inventory?
What skills do you have?
Is that a bomb collar on your neck?
What is the scrap from?
Is this legal?

World Questions:
--
What is the tech level?
Have we been recently uplifted?
Do Tobaks have any notable anatomical features that would be useful to know about?
Do we have all of the six senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing, and balance? Do we have extra senses?
What is the nature of the aliens?

I guess start with the excavator move towards the refinery once you give that a look over and if you don’t find anything good the wonder over to the camp?

Well, you've got to cross the bridge first. Then let's hurry on to the refinery and see what might be in there!

How picked over is the vehicle yard?

Are the guards essential to visit specifoc areas and make it back without being mugged?

>>1017236
>Is that a bomb collar on your neck?
I think those are glasses.

The big machine certainly call attention. You can't really carry the bulky components, but the engine and the control panel must use some worthy electronic parts. The downside is that it's a big target that must have attracted many looters like yourself.

The most valuable loot would be vehicles because beside being valuable they let you carry more stuff. The drawback is that I doubt the company left functional vehicles behind, so if there are any it it will probably need some reparations or combustible (probably both).

Bucket excavator first. Get a feel for things. Probably it's been picked over the most, what with being the closest, but you never know.

Agree, Bucket Excavator first

You'll be passing by the bucket excavator on your way to most of these places, anyway. I say go there first.

Geeze, they set up an entire bucket miner and refinery, and THEN immediately decided to abandon the place? Yeesh. Guess it depends on how long "not long after" is, I guess.

How long are you planning on being down here? A few hours? A few days?

1/2 Dowser 2021/12/14(Tue)04:42 No. 1017380 ID: 7e04cb
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>bucket excavator
Seems like the obvious choice, seeing as it is the closest. The bucket excavator, or 'big red' as some like to call it is a pretty good landmark for navigating the area. Unfortunately for myself it's pretty popular with looters and I don't expect to find many unturned stones, so to speak. I might be able to find things that were left by other Tobaks, or they might even still about.

What is in your inventory?
The bare essentials. Pick, goggles, Map, PDA, enough food and water for the moment, antivenom and bandages. I also have money but not much.
>What skills do you have?
As a person or as a Tobak? because as a Tobak I'd say my biggest skill is not being as short sighted as the others. Besides that, I can be resourceful when it counts, and I can think quick on my feet.
>Is that a bomb collar on your neck?
Those are my dimming goggles. You need to be particularly tacky to not own a pair in this day and age.
>Is this legal?
Yep, pretty sure. Mostly.
>What is the tech level?
On this planet? not amazing seeing as all the cool stuff like plasma swords and laser rifles doesn't get used by Tobaks, on account of the whole light sensitivity thing. We also don't get many luxuries imported, seeing as many in the galaxy don't even know we exist. Most of what we get is what the companies bring us.
>Have we been recently uplifted?
Depends on what you mean by recently. Several decades at least. Happened before I was born so can't have been too recent.
>Do Tobaks have any notable anatomical features that would be useful to know about?
Overall, we have big ears, strangely shaped pupils, leathery claws, and semi-beak like snouts with teeth towards the back. That's overall, there are more differences between the sexes. Males have three tails, fur patterns and lodestone horns. Females have one tail, are taller and have longer ears.
>Do we have all of the six senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing, and balance? Do we have extra senses?
We got all of those. Our most notable sense is our sense of sight, specifically seeing in the dark. I can see in a pitch-black room as though it were fully lit, much like I am right now, unfortunately there's a big downside to this in that we are very light sensitive. That's what the dimming goggles are for. As far as extra senses go, male tobaks have horns which give us a sense of magnetism. Helps more than one might think.

>How picked over is the vehicle yard?
No clue. Tobaks don't know much about vehicles, so I wouldn't be surprised if they overlooked things.

>Are the guards essential
Not if I keep out of trouble.

>Geeze, they set up an entire bucket miner and refinery, and THEN immediately decided to abandon the place?
There's a story to go along it. But to keep it short, it involves warring companies and a scorched earth policy. turns out it doesn't need to be on earth for it to work.

>How long are you planning on being down here? A few hours? A few days?
As long as it takes me to find items valuable enough to keep things afloat for a while. As it stands, I have enough supplies to last a day and a half.

After I'm done with the excavator, I might head over to the vehicle scrap yard or refinery.

2/2 Dowser 2021/12/14(Tue)04:43 No. 1017381 ID: 7e04cb
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I reach the base of the excavator, and what do I see? A fence. It still has a lock on it but I still seriously doubt this has stopped anybody. Oh look, there's even a sign. I wonder who that's for.

Seems I have a very important decision to make; what is my preferred method of breaking and entering? As discouraging as this feeble chain-link fence and rusty lock are, I must find a way to press forward!

>>1017381
Just walk around until you find a hole. Let’s not ruin this pristinely preserved historical part of the fence.

And if there is no hole, someone’s been fixing the fence.

Clime over the fence

>>1017381
Just jam the end of your pick into the padlock and twist, if it's all rusty the leverage should be enough to snap it off

I wasn't expecting an intact barrier. This invoke three possibilities:
-This obstacle is very easy to bypass so no previous looter bothered breaking it.
-You took an unusual path that almost no one use.
-The usual passage through the fence have being recently fixed.
The last option is concerning. If possible break in in a way that doesn't make too much noise. Either jump over or unwire a hole near the button.

Yeah, breaking the lock shouldn't be too hard. That's a gnarly-looking pickaxe if you need to smash something! Inserting and applying leverage should work just fine, though.

No need to worry if the fence is electrified; this place isn't in active operation, and someone should be expected to touch the lock with their hands even if it was. Plus, your electromagnetic sense would be telling you something was up with the fence if it was on, given how magnetism is intrinsically tied to electrons - how do electric currents register to you?

>>1017382
Absolutely seconding this!

The sign and the lock have survived this long already! It would be absolutely criminal to be the one to break it!

--

>>laser guns & plasma swords
Can you use the lasers outside of your visible spectrum such as x-ray xasers, microwave masers, gamma-ray grasers, or infrared irasers? Are you able to use combustion or magnetic (railguns etc.) slug throwers? Does the muzzle flash not bother you, or do you require flash suppressors in order to use such weapons? Can males use railguns or do the electromagnets fuck them up?

>>1017382
This. Avoid breaking the lock if possible.

Mine iron gate, you could use it later.

1/2 Dowser 2021/12/17(Fri)04:48 No. 1017659 ID: 7e04cb
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>how do electric currents register to you?
I mean, I would be able to sense any electric currents if there were any. Even if this fence were fully electrified, I would only feel it lightly. That goes for almost all electric equipment.

>Can you use the lasers outside of your visible spectrum such as x-ray xasers, microwave masers, gamma-ray grasers, or infrared irasers?
That all sounds pretty high tech. If any of that worked and you wanted anything like that, you'd be better off sucking up to one of the many alien corporate dominions our planet has become home to, and they might throw one your way if you get enough trust.

>combustion or magnetic (railguns etc.) slug throwers? Does the muzzle flash not bother you, or do you require flash suppressors in order to use such weapons? Can males use railguns or do the electromagnets fuck them up?
Anything that doesn't produce light is fine. For gunpowder weapons, the sound is a separate issue altogether. so, stuff like compound crossbows, nail guns, railguns, et cetera are the weapon of choice among tobaks. As for magnetic interference, that isn't so much an issue to male Tobaks as much as how heavy those things are.

>Just walk around until you find a hole. Let’s not ruin this pristinely preserved historical part of the fence.
>The sign and the lock have survived this long already! It would be absolutely criminal to be the one to break it!
And who would I be to ruin a perfectly preserved piece of history? Not me! I leave the lock be in hopes that future generations come to the same sense of enlightenment that I did.

While it's possible someone replaced the lock, I find it highly unlikely. It isn't like the corpos come around these parts anymore.
I probably approached the site from an unusual direction. This turns to be pretty likely when I walk a short distance and find plenty of points in the fence for me to exploit. There are holes and entire sections which have been pulled down. Going into the compound proves to be profoundly easy, even a moron could do it!

I make my way up the metallic staircases, seeing as the elevator is out of order. And when I mean out of order, I mean the buttons were stolen, which was enough to send the message. Walking around the side of the excavator, one thing is for certain, and that's that despite only having been uplifted for a few decades, we are already so rich in culture! Just look at all this graffiti! If nothing else, this should prove that this place is a good place to set up camp so long as I'm around the area.

2/2 Dowser 2021/12/17(Fri)04:48 No. 1017660 ID: 7e04cb
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Thinking of what I should be going for, I wander down the corridors, looking for things that might be of interest. There are signs labelling the directions to the control room, data storage, armory, tools closet, anything I can think of really. To find anything worthwhile in this place is unlikely, but I won't rule it out completely.

I round a corner and am assaulted by a pesky burst of light. Lucky for me it is pretty miniscule, so it isn't enough to blind me. Still annoying though. Listening close I can hear noise, coming from a radio or TV. It's difficult to tell but I think I can hear alien voices coming from whatever it is.

There may be other tobaks nearby. if there are I can concentrate on my horns and sense if there are any other males nearby whose horns can give me a signal.

If I am to proceed further, I need to put on my goggles. The light from a match head is enough to blind a Tobak, which is why we tend to be careful around electronics and flammables. I could also proceed to look through other rooms in the excavator or use my PDA to see who is nearby.

If there are other male Tobaks, how likely is it that they've already sensed you?
Also if you concentrate to better sense them, does it make you more detectable?

I guess a tobaks could be watching an alien show using one of those goggles, but that is a lot of inconvenience for some entertainment. Unless this is an intentional distraction, there is a high chance the person in front of the tv is an alien.
How much can you see in the dark with those googles? If they prevent you from seeing anything other than the illuminated objects you might want to check around before investigating the light source.
To be honest I'm curious about who is here, but you didn't come here to meet interesting people. Might be better to just avoid this person and look for loot elsewhere.

> "TOBAKS RUL-" *falls down the stairs*
Okay, admit it; that one got a chuckle out of you.

> Bright, Alien-Speaking TV
Probably not a Tobak who's watching that, actually. Maybe take a different route. Aim for data storage - seems the least obvious place to go, but unlike most, you can actually think of a few people who'd want to pay money for work logs.

how dangerous is it to come across others down here? I mean will they try and chase you off so you can't take the stuff they're looking for, will they attack you to see if you have anything worth taking, will they be chill and just ignore you or maybe even talk to you? Just trying to get an idea on how what to expect if you come across anyone else down here is all.

Dowser 2021/12/17(Fri)21:55 No. 1017706 ID: 7e04cb
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>If there are other male Tobaks, how likely is it that they've already sensed you?
Virtually Zero. You have to really concentrate to notice when others might be around
>if you concentrate to better sense them, does it make you more detectable?
Yep. So it isn't the best thing to use if I wanted to go unnoticed.

>Using goggles is inconvenient for entertainment.
We've gotten pretty used to using goggles for screen technology, adjusting to them has become second nature at this point.

>A chance that it's an alien
I doubt it. Aliens rarely come down to the caves to do the dirty work themselves. I can think of one or two alien species that do that, neither of which do it too often.

>How much can you see in the dark with those googles?
It's like looking through the world in the perspective of an alien who live on the surfaces of their planets in full view of their suns. Which is to say, not at all. It is virtually blackness.

>To be honest I'm curious about who is here, but you didn't come here to meet interesting people. Might be better to just avoid this person and look for loot elsewhere.
I don't need to interact with whoever is in there, they probably won't notice me if I stay in the dark.

>you can actually think of a few people who'd want to pay money for work logs.
Everything has a price, even things you wouldn't expect like pages and documents. It's all a matter of finding the right buyer.

>how dangerous is it to come across others down here?
The vast majority of Tobaks are non-violent. If I run into other prospectors, we are more likely to be cooperative than anything. That isn't to say that there aren't tobaks to watch out for. Tribals and raiders to name a couple.

I slip on my goggles and pass a quick glance into the room. There are two plain tobaks sitting beside each other, watching a TV. Why these two are up here in a bucket excavator watching alien shows on a TV is beyond me. Neither of them notice me, so I can choose whether to initiate a conversation or continue looking around.

They look chill and might be polite to say hello, but you can't waste too much time hanging out. At most ask why they decided to stay here.

Is there any significance to the red accessories? If there is, isn't your tail a risky place to keep it?

Ask them why they're watching TV here.

knock, great them, and ask what they doing.

Well I mean I doubt they found a working tv here as if they did I have a hard time believing the thing wouldn't have been looted a long time ago by one of the many scavengers so that means they probably brought it but if so why?

>>1017706
>Why
Might be their break / private spot and this place still has the infrastructure to run that telly. Perhaps they're working on tearing things out from here, and are taking a break - maybe they just found this telly just now.

If they're going to be listening to loud alien noises, you should be free to explore the place, just be wary of pulling any plugs or wirings that'll ruin their fun time.

Or we can move on, seeing as this place is in use and has competition.

Or we can say hi and maybe ask if they know the lay of the land and if there's other Tobaks nearby, since this spot already seems half-claimed (by them). They don't look like tribals and raiders - not if they're watching alien shows, at least, so there shouldn't be much danger in just talking. Probably they're just like you... maybe belonging to some local affiliation or something? They're both wearing a piece of red cloth.

... actually, so are you, on your tail. Do you know these guys?

Is it standard practice to wear at least one red article on your person? Does it mean they're of the same "faction" as you? Even if they aren't necessarily allies, does this loose affiliation at least have an agreed-upon "friendly greeting" you can use to not startle goggle-wearers too severely?

They seem pretty chill and relaxed. Might be best if we not disturb their down time here though and check someplace else.

1/2 Doswer 2021/12/19(Sun)08:42 No. 1017829 ID: 7e04cb
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>Is there any significance to the red accessories? If there is, isn't your tail a risky place to keep it?
Wearing a plain red accessory is essentially a way of declaring that you operate independently, not under employment or contract of any company. It's a solution to a problem where loner tobaks would wear company equipment and other companies would get the idea that their rivals were sending scouts or spies too close to their turf. With the red cloth system, you don't have to worry as much about being captured and questioned or attacked in some cases. It shouldn't matter that it is on my tail, I just prefer to keep it out of the way.

>Do you know these guys?
Never seen them before. At least not directly. There is a chance we have passed by each other at the depot, but neither of them strikes me as particularly familiar.

>knock, greet them, and ask what they are doing.
I knock on a metal panel beside the doorway and the sound reverberates around the room, getting the attention of the pair, who in turn react by turning off the screen and pausing the show they were watching. They pull the goggles off their eyes, and I do the same.

"Yo."
>"Hey. You're new." Says the one wearing the helmet
"What are you guys doing in here?"
>"Relaxing. For the most part. Been a hot minute since either of us got to watch TV. We found a set at the vehicle yard that was miraculously intact and brought it up here. The reception up here is great, and there's enough power coming from an unstable fusion battery that nobody wants to mess with. It probably has a few months of juice left so if you want to charge something, here's the place to be."
"You guys are getting reception for TV? In a cave?"
>"Not quite. The reception is for the local area, up here your PDA has the range to contact just about everyone in the surrounding area."
"Speaking of which, do you know the lay of the land? I'm looking for swag to loot, I assume the same as you guys are."
>"If you're looking for light valuables, this place isn't very fruitful. Even the raw scrap metal isn't worth dragging all the way up to the depot. The vehicle yard looks like it still has some meat on the bone, as a matter a fact we got a buddy there who is trying to fix something up. If he can do that, we'll have things made. Both of us are up here because we've got just about all we can carry, and neither of us know anything about vehicles."

2/2 Doswer 2021/12/19(Sun)08:42 No. 1017830 ID: 7e04cb
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"I still don't know how or why you guys are watching TV up here."
>"Because I went back and brought back some tapes for us to watch!" Interjects the other tobak.
"You brought tapes? What kinda show is it?"
>"We'll let you watch with us if you pay us." Says the helmet Tobak.
"What? How much?"
>"How about... 15 zeny."
"No way!" I only have 23 zeny on me, and that's just about all I have. "I don't even know what the show is about."
>"It's a neat show! It's about this alien whose' a secret agent, and she goes into a cave and there's this whole-"
>"Dude, you're gonna spoil it!" The helmet tobak interrupts.
>"Ah, sorry!"

>"Anyway, if you want to find some valuables for yourself, we would be glad to give you information. Us loners gotta help each other out from time to time!"
"You guys don't know each other?"
>"Nope! We met just today, but we really hit it off. Maybe you'll find someone you gel with when you go looking around. I highly suggest you look through your PDA's public contact list. There are a few people in the area who you can send messages to. The guy at the vehicle yard could probably use assistance if you feel like lending a helping hand to a fellow loner. Though I would ignore the distress signal if I were you, some alien goofball got separated from his group and backed himself into an abandoned radio tower in the middle of a razorworm nest. He's practically already dead at this point, and I don't think even his hive is going to get to him in time. He might not have anything good but in case you feel like playing hero, you can see the distress message he put out on your PDA."

I can stay here for a bit longer and talk with these two, or I can look at my PDA and see who resides around the surrounding area, or I can decide on which area I should head towards next. If I decide to go for the distress signal, I will need to prepare beforehand. Razorworms are no joke.

Tell them they seem cool and you would love to hang out, but unfortunately you are broke and need to find some valuable to keep afloat. If we meet again in better circunstancies I would like to watch whatever you recommend.

There is always a neumono...
If one those are in a pickle dealing with razorworms must be very dangerous. What would you need to get past them?
Since this is the most urgent rumor, try to contact this person. Even if it's a case you can't do anything you could still help a little by looking from far away to inform this alien with bad vision what the situation around him is.

>>1017830
hero time for sure, you know you'd want help in that dude's situation.

well thank them for the info and wish them luck in getting a good deal with their loot. Nothing against them but you are broke as hell and are trying to find a paycheck to be able to survive for a bit longer so better to get back to work for now and think about resting after you found something worth selling.

As for what to do, I guess check out the PDA and see if anything sounds like it would be worth your time and if nothing interest you I guess head towards the vehicle yard since they did say you might find something there.

And do you know anything about vehicles? If so it might be worth talking to that guy they told you about. Might get something useful out of it if you help out.

As for the guy stuck out at the radio tower... well if you find something that might be able to pull his ass out of the fire it might be the nice thing to do to help him out but since you have no weapons and no real way to get to him without being torn apart yourself not really much you can do so no point in heading over there and getting torn apart yourself or having everyone have to think about have to save two people now. Though speaking of that guy what can you tell us about razorworms and what makes them so deadly?

Hmm. Hit up your PDA and ask where you can get stuff for fending off razorworms. Do they have a repellent, or maybe a favorite bait?

Doswer 2021/12/20(Mon)03:42 No. 1017889 ID: 7e04cb
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>There is always a neumono...
I've never seen a neumono down here. I haven't even met one personally, but rumors suggest that we don't get along all that well, even if we do share physical similarities. Tobaks could just be biased though, there’s only one hive that operates on the whole planet, and perhaps the negative actions of one bad hive shouldn't represent their whole species. That being said, I know very little of them or their culture, just that they run a family business compared to the bigger companies.

>hero time for sure, you know you'd want help in that dude's situation.
Admittedly I know little of his situation. My situation however stipulates that I need to focus on earning money for my own survival, whatever he has going on takes lower priority.

>Fending off razorworms
Chemical compounds acting as repellent exist, but I'll have to be creative to find any. I would probably need to kill them with some sort of weapon or figure out a way to bypass or interfere with their sense of vibration. I could use bait, but their favourite is the live kind, so maybe I'd rather keep myself or others out of it. If I want a weapon, I can pay a visit to a cache which was made by my 'partner'. He told me that if I take something from there, I'll need to put something of greater value back. That is as fair as he is going to get.

> do you know anything about vehicles?
Nope. The only vehicle I frequently use is the unirail. I've never owned my own personal vehicle.

I thank them for the information and tell them that they seem cool and that I'd like to hang out, but I have stuff to do. They seem understanding.
>"If you want to contact us from anywhere or find something you think is valuable and is too much for you to haul alone, give one of us a call. Our contact codes are t-108742-ind and t-411108-ind. They guy at the vehicle yard is t-845924-ind. We should all have our status set to public."
"I see them. My code is t-738128-ind."
>"Right. Happy hunting. We'll be here if you need us, just don't be a pest and call us too much."

>check out the PDA and see if anything sounds like it would be worth your time
I put on my goggles and look down to my PDA. Looking at the public contacts list, I can see 8 contacts in range. 3 of which I am now familiar with. Make that 5, if you include the guards for hire, both of whom I recognise, one of which sent me a message. I'mmmmmmmm going to ignore her for now. She owes me a favor, I'll need to decide when to cash it in.
At the bottom of the list seems to belong to the alien. The tobaks watching the TV told me that his PDA ran out of battery so I shouldn't bother trying to contact him.
The other two are a mystery to me.
Usually there would be jobs or contracts but because this is such a small area, nobody has put any up.
Do I want to contact any of these people, or do I want to move on? If I decide to move on, what is the next location I should start to head to?

>>1017889
you're not thinking long term. Heroism comes with movie rights and book sales, bro, that's passive income

>I put on my goggles and look down to my PDA.
Even this thing have luminous screen? The company that offer non-luminous screens will dominate this planet electronic market.

Why does this guard own you a favor? Why are you ignoring her messages? Is there a juicy gossip here?

Send a message to the two unknown asking if they are the one currently having an emergency. Ask the one who confirm it what is the situation and what do they need.

Send a message to the vehicle guy asking if he need any help. He supposedly know more about car mechanics than you and already have two friends he dismissed, so it seems unlikely he would need anything, but leave the offer just in case.

Well outside of vehicle guy and maybe that one chick that owes you a favor if she’s asking for another favor, looks like nobody else really has work for… while besides razorworm bait out there but that’s obvious.

Maybe give vehicle guy a call and see what he needs help with. I mean you’re heading in that direction anyways might as well see if he has something for you to do.

Oh and do you have anything to scout things out from a distance, like binoculars? Maybe it might be worth scouting out the radio tower from a safe distance from the worm nest just to see if the guy is even still alive.

Ask the car mechanic if he can use some help in exchange for some compesation. Even without helping is still posible to find something you can use as car (a car without motor is cheap).

Also it's interesting to know if they had some kind of hoovercraft to avoid the vibrations in the floor and thus the razorworms.

About the distress call don't go if you don't have a plan. If the call is a broadcast you can hear what the situation is, but don't get involved if you can't actually help.

This PDA looks like a model that went out of style millennia ago on Earth. Neat throwback!
Talk to the vehicle guy on your way to the motor pool. Motors are loud and vibrate a lot. Maybe he'll have some ideas for fooling razorworms.

1/2 Dowser 2021/12/21(Tue)08:28 No. 1017992 ID: 7e04cb
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>you're not thinking long term. Heroism comes with movie rights and book sales, bro, that's passive income
Would somebody even make a movie or book about a tobak? I don't think such a thing has been done before. Tobaks barely have a publishing or film industry to begin with. I guess we'll have to make do with the cheesy movies that get imported off world instead.

>Even this thing has a luminous screen? The company that offers non-luminous screens will dominate this planet electronic market.
Tell me about it. Truth be told, this is a much older model, the newer stuff doesn't have much of a problem. Problem is that if its new, loners are the last to get their hands on it.

>This PDA looks like a model that went out of style millennia ago on Earth. Neat throwback!
It might look like an outdated piece of junk, and yeah, maybe it is! But I prefer this sturdy brick over a slick glass tile any day. It has all the bare essentials, and that’s all I need. Maybe once I make a big score I’ll consider upgrading.

>Why does this guard owe you a favor? Why are you ignoring her messages? Is there a juicy gossip here?
She owes me a favor because I let her have something she valued highly at the time, and she is serious about paying her debts to others. As for why I'm choosing to ignore her for now... She's a bit... eccentric. She also fills her messages with so many text faces that it's hard to read sometimes.

>Send a message to the two unknowns
I don't want to bother strangers, but I send them both a messages to see if any answer, neither get back to me right away.

>Send a message to the vehicle guy asking if he need any help.
Sounds good to me. I bring up my PDA and send out a message

t-738128-ind: hello? I have met two others who have told me you were at the vehicle yard. do you need help?
>t-845924-ind: Hello! This is unexpected. His response was very quick, barely 20 seconds.
>t-845924-ind: Help huh?
>t-845924-ind: Do you know anything about vehicles?
t-738128-ind: no more than the average tobak. sorry.
>t-845924-ind: Not a problem!
>t-845924-ind: There is still something I could use help with.
>t-845924-ind: Think you could fetch something for me elsewhere?
t-738128-ind: that depends on the compensation. motors are loud and vibrate a lot. do you have some ideas for fooling razorworms?
>t-845924-ind: Hmmmm.
>t-845924-ind: I think I could jury rig something for you.
>t-845924-ind: What I need you to get me is fuel. Some for me some for you.
>t-845924-ind: You can probably find some at the refinery.
>t-845924-ind: We should meet in person and discuss the details. How about it?

Seems I can choose to meet with him in person or cut out the middleman and head to the refinery to get the fuel.

2/2 Dowser 2021/12/21(Tue)08:29 No. 1017993 ID: 7e04cb
File 164010416587.png - (133.35KB , 800x600 , TQ13.png )

>do you have anything to scout things out from a distance, like binoculars? Maybe it might be worth scouting out the radio tower from a safe distance from the worm nest just to see if the guy is even still alive.
I do have a pair of binoculars. I can use them pretty safely from up here and get a good view. I can see the radio tower, but I can't see much on the ground level. It appears to have a slanted concrete foundation. If there's a way in there, he is probably safe. Assuming he isn't bleeding out or at risk of starving, or both. I’ll have to get closer to get a better look at the situation.

Out of curiosity I take a look at what the distress message is.
>n/a-928606-n/a: TO ANYBODY RRFDING TIHS: I AM TRAPPWD IN A BIULDING. BATTRY LOW. FOOD LOW. BLPPD LOW. CANNOT SEE. WAS AMBUSHED BY RAIDERS - SEPEREATED FROM HIVE -WAS ATTACKED BY SOMNETHING SHARP AD LONG. - MISSING ARM AN DLEG. IF ANYONE RECIEVES THIS MSSAGE, HIVE ORNOT. PLEASE HELP. IDON'T WNAT TO DIE DONW HERE.

Sheesh, that does sound like a desperate situation. I do feel a little bad for him now... I want to try do something for him, but there isn't much I can do unarmed and unprepared. I am unable to send him a message, likely because his battery died.

From here I have a few options, including heading right to the vehicle yard to meet the mechanic tobak, and see if there is anything valuable to find there. I could head right to the refinery and see about collecting fuel for the mechanic before I meet him. I could head to the cache and see if there is a weapon, I can arm myself with. I can also message one of the guards for hire and see if I can get one of them to help with a rescue mission, if I'm serious about going through with it.

The scrapyard and cache are both between the refinery and the radio tower. Hit the refinery first, after texting to inform the scrapyard guy of your intent to get the fuel first and ask how much is needed.

I don't think you should invest every favor you have available for the rescue, especially since you don't even know if he is alive. If you get one or two simple noise machines from the mechanic that should be enough to distract the worms long enough to get in with food and emergency medical supplies and get out.

Fuel is essential to revive an old vehicle. If this guy didn't secure it before there must be some difficulty involved in the acquisition. As much as I would love to spare unnecessary trips you need to negotiate a fair deal before wasting any effort, so go meet him.

Do you have rope? Ideally your noise machine should allow you to activate and move from far away. It would be stupid if you need to run when it's turned on and risk your life if you want to get it back.

>>1017993
Mechanic, refinery, mechanic, rescue - and start hustling, since there's a vague sense of urgency to this now.

Helping the mech finish their job also makes sense, since you may need a vehicle to haul a heavily maimed neumono outta here if their hive isn't coming to fetch them - in fact, that's going to be one of the main challenges of getting them out of there, isn't it? You may want to prepare something - or consider whether you'd be able to carry half a neumono. Depends on their size, you guess.

Honestly, you don't know if this is the right call, but saving someone should net you SOME reward if you're successful and having even a small hive of neumonos in your debt might not be a bad thing. You know you'd want someone else to respond to YOUR distress call, should you ever make one.

might as well grab the fuel first so the guy can get started right away. Also since it sounds more and more likely we're probably going to help the tourist alien out think his hive would give you a reward for saving one of their own?

Head to the vehicle yard so you can keep asking questions. He can give you an idea of where and what to look for. Then head to the weapons cache.

There is some kind of data of how many time has passed since the signal was broadcasted? If it has been about hours he might need haste in this. If he has been about days is higly improbable that an hour means the difference between the life and death for him (if he had severe injures he either stabilized them or is dead by this point). If a week has passed then don't hurry, it's better to assume he is dead and you are going to retrieve his corpse for his family's funeral traditions.

As your map has the signal marked and he talks about lack of food, I discard the first case.

About the route I would ask the vehicle guy if he mind if you take a detour to the refinery first. Is on the way to the vehicle scrap and you can inspect if there are any fuel in the first place. Even more, you can bring just enought fuel to move one vehicle there and load the rest which will be faster.

1/3 Dowser 2021/12/22(Wed)12:16 No. 1018094 ID: 7e04cb
File 164020418237.png - (280.67KB , 800x600 , TQ14.png )

>Is there some kind of data on how much time has passed since the signal was broadcasted?
The message was sent out 12 hours ago. It's probable he is still alive, just very bored, or terrified, or somewhere in between.

>think his hive would give you a reward for saving one of their own?
I dunnooooo. Neumono have a reputation for not getting along well with tobaks, not hiring any and all. But I have heard that they value family a lot, so If I rescue this one and bring him back, I'm sure I'll get some kind of reward. Neumono equipment does fit us pretty well since we are close to the same median size, at least for tobak males anyway. Maybe I'll get some neat tech? Or maybe a suit of bio armor? nah, probably not. I hear that stuff is crazy expensive, and it'll probably kill me if I try putting it on. Wishful thinking aside, I'm sure we can work something out.

>Helping the mech finish their job also makes sense, since you may need a vehicle to haul a heavily maimed neumono outta here if their hive isn't coming to fetch them - in fact, that's going to be one of the main challenges of getting them out of there, isn't it? You may want to prepare something - or consider whether you'd be able to carry half a neumono. Depends on their size, you guess.
That is true. I hear those guys can be pretty heavy. When it comes to size, they can be big and small. The big ones stay in small groups, so seeing as this planet's hive company is at least over a hundred strong, there's a good chance he is on the smaller side.

>Do you have rope?
Not on me at the moment. But it should be really, really easy to find some, or at least something that acts as rope. I can see lots of cables, and I'm sure nobody is using them.

>Head right to the refinery.
I'm half and half on whether to go to the vehicle yard or right to the refinery. To save time, I decide on the refinery. I send a message to the mechanic to let him know.

t-738128-ind: i think I will head to the refinery first.
>t-845924-ind: Do you have anything to carry the fuel?
t-738128-ind: ...
t-738128-ind: never mind. I'm coming right to you.

After a slight change in plans, I set my trajectory for the vehicle yard. After walking for what seems to be around 15-20 minutes, I arrive at a large cluster of broken vehicles, piled on top of each other with large stacks of scraps sprawled about for good measure. Most of the vehicles here belonged to the company that was occupying the area at the time. Most stuff was destroyed beyond salvage so it couldn't be repurposed by the rival company that invaded. I can see stuff like mechs and mining machines as well as regular passenger vehicles, all equally destroyed. Maybe if I’m bored I can climb into the drivers seats and pretend I'm driving.

2/3 Dowser 2021/12/22(Wed)12:16 No. 1018095 ID: 7e04cb
File 164020420994.png - (193.01KB , 800x600 , TQ15.png )

It doesn't take me long to spot the mechanic. He is wearing glasses and has one of those electronic cigarettes. He is currently working on a small vehicle of some kind, it looks to be in pretty good shape, whatever causes it to not work must be on the inside. I walk over to him.
"Hey, it's me, the guy who messaged you. My name is Dowser."
>"Oh hey! Thanks for reaching out to me. My name is Raphyl, but Raph is fine. I can certainly use the help, seeing as I can't be in multiple places at once like I wish I could." He has a nice, friendly tone. Not totally uncommon, most loners tend to be nice to one another.
"Not a problem. Tell me what I can help with."
>"Ah, but what about what you wanted? You said something about making thumpers for interfering with razorwoms if I remember correctly. It probably isn't my business, but were you thinking of helping with that distress call?"
"Thinking about it, yeah."
>"I think that's a truly noble and kind thing to do! I'd be happy to help. I can jury rig a thumper using an engine block and extending the pistons a bit, but it would need some fuel, and a bit of time. Here, I have some jerry cans you can use."

3/3 Dowser 2021/12/22(Wed)12:18 No. 1018096 ID: 7e04cb
File 164020429178.png - (210.15KB , 800x600 , TQ16.png )

"I have a question, fuel is essential, and seeing as you don't have any already, could that mean that there is difficulty to acquiring it?"
>"For me to acquire it without leaving the vehicle I'm trying to fix? It's looking pretty impossible. I'm concerned about leaving this alone for too long, because somebody might come along and see this pristine vehicle and decide to either take it for themselves or take some of the essential parts to sell. Besides, there is still work to be done."
He produces two jerry cans to hand to me.
>"Fill these two up, and that should be enough for the vehicle, and for the thumper or thumpers you want. Also, if you want my advice, you'll want more than just a thumping machine, razorworms won't stop attacking vibrations until they cease, if they break the engine, that might mean bad news for the alien and you. Consider finding a weapon or getting a helper. I could... Maybe fix up a mech... But that might be overkill..."
"Got it. Is there any valuable stuff around here?"
>"Plenty! If you know what you're looking for. If you're looking for a working vehicle, this might be the only one remaining, and I only just got it close to working. They tried burning the components out with thermite to destroy it but luckily for me, they did a sloppy job. Once I'm done and you've brought back the fuel, I can let you hitch a ride around to get to places quicker. the carrying capacity is pretty good, it can hold one person in the front and two in the back pretty comfortably."

I can ask the mechanic questions, or head right to the next of my destinations. Speaking of which, should I visit the cache first, or go right to the refinery? Or any other location for any other reason. Or maybe I could ask this guy to sweeten the deal.

There's no kill like overkill! But it might take too long to get a mech back online plus that cycle. Get cache upon delivery of the fuel so you can catch a faster ride there.

Wouldn't the mech be sold pretty high? An overkill to security that you can resell is not that bad.

Go first to the refinery. If you get something valuable in the cache it will weight you down when you pull for the fuel.

The deal seems fair, no need to be greedy (Or do you need the money fast?)

There is no such thing as overkill, lets see if we can get a mech running. If not, we'll have to look for weapons -- it looks like we're betting big on credit for saving them.

>>1018096
the mech would be indescribably fun on top of its necessity here in leiu of more straightforward options, and ON TOP of that, I expect a _functioning mech_ would fetch our new engineer friend a fair penny.

I see literally no reason for us NOT to do that.

Ask where fuel and valuables are respectively found in the refinery, then head there. We're seeking fuel, primarily, followed by something valuable and portable we can either trade at the cache or save for later.

Dowser 2021/12/22(Wed)22:20 No. 1018150 ID: 7e04cb
File 164024041235.png - (160.22KB , 800x600 , TQ17.png )

>do you need the money fast?
I'm not in any desperate situation like owing money to a powerful faction or something like that, I just hate eating this planet's food.

"Hold on, go back to the mech thing, were you serious about that?"
>"Half serious! I believe I could fix up one of the smaller mechs around here, each is missing one key essential component, a gyroscopic module which essentially keeps the whole thing from falling over."
"If I get that, could you be able to fix a mech in a reasonable amount of time?"
>"I'm a field mechanic, so of course! The only problem is finding one of those. I think there is a place with mechs that might still have parts. Do you know about the mining camp east of the refinery? If you get there and find anything that looks intact, send me a message, and I’ll tell you what to look for. If you can help me with the repairs, I can get you something functional, at least on the short term. If we get it working, I hope you don't mind if I take it off your hands after you're done with it. I need to make a profit too!"

>Ask where fuel and valuables are respectively found in the refinery, then head there.
"Where can I find fuel at the refinery? Oh, valuables too."
>"Everything is kept in large containers. You might have trouble figuring out which silo has the fuel since not all of them are marked clearly, so try not to load up the cans with the wrong liquid. The refinery also doubles as a hazardous material storage facility, they have silos filled with waste and corrosive ichor. So be careful. I'm not sure what other valuables you can find, but I'm sure you'll find something."

I take the jerry cans and follow the road to the refinery. It takes about 20 minutes, and I arrive to a series of large buildings with an array of giant containers. They are labelled with numbers and codes, so I'm not sure which hold the contents I am looking for. An office might be the best place to start if I'm looking for clues. I walk into the building and stand in the doorway.

What is that on the floor... Is that?

That's blood, baby.

Tobak blood.

Fresh blood? Pickaxe time.

Quick! Duck beck out the door and against the wall! Use your antler sense to see if anyone's in there, and see if you're able to check you PDA for nearby signals. Also if you get the chance then try to determine how old the blood is, if it's fresh we have a problem on our hands, if it's old the problem's long gone.

might be wise to drop the jerry can somewhere that another scavenger won't just see and take it and then take out your pickax and do a careful sweep of the building.

Raiders? Accident? If you can locate a person or a body and figure out the nature of its wounds, maybe you'll find out before whatever happened finds you. Either way, care seems warranted.

So, sneaky pickaxe time. Put down the jerry cans quietly. See if you can follow the blood trail, but do keep your eyes on your surroundings as you do.

Dowser 2021/12/23(Thu)07:06 No. 1018170 ID: 7e04cb
File 164027198536.png - (223.78KB , 800x600 , TQ18.png )

>Leave the jerry cans and sweep the building
Good idea. I tuck the cans behind some barrels and I carefully approach. The building is pretty big so I doubt I can sweep the whole thing.

>Pickaxe time.
While I may seem timid on the surface, I'm not afraid to defend myself. I bring out my pickaxe, just in case of unexpected company.

>Use your antler sense to see if anyone's in there
I try to pick up any signal of others with my lodestone horns, but I don't detect anyone. My range is about 10 metres, so that only really means that nobody is hiding behind any corners. I can only get a signal from someone who is alive, which I should keep in mind given the current situation.

>see if you're able to check your PDA for nearby signals.
Right. I take a quick glance for any signals close by, but there doesn't seem to be any, at least not from anybody who has their visibility set to public.

>try to determine how old the blood is
It might seem a little morbid... but my curiosity is also a bit morbid. I shuffle over and take a closer look.

Just as I suspected, it does look dry. Very dry. Tobak blood is usually bright blue, like our tongues, and it's supposed to have a slight glow to it. Since its old it has faded and now gives off less of a glow. I touch it for good measure. Yep. Dry.

>follow the blood trail
That's just the thing! there isn't any trail. Which is... Unusual, I think? It's all kinda pooled in one place, like a guy just walked in with a glass of blood and poured it in the middle of the floor and walked off. Who would just leave blood on the floor? Seems like a big waste.

Well... what happens next? Is this something I want to ignore?

Look up, just to be sure.

If the blood is old and there's no trail, it's likely whoever bled a lot here was promptly patched up (or cauterized) before being moved (not dragged, which means either the body was lifted by something strong, or that Tobak was still able to walk on their own power).

>>1018170
No imprint in the dried blood? Like someone was lying in it for a while and then got peeled off it later? They could've been killed on the spot and the body gotten dragged away.

Hm. Look up. It didn't pour down from something else above, did it? Like a pipe or a hole in the floor above?

If neither of these things, then yeah: odd. Someone could have stabbed or shot them, then stuffed their wound so they didn't leave a blood trail, then left with them. Or weirder scenarios.

>Leaving blood on the floor is a waste
Hold on. Are there any particular uses for Tobak blood?

Head upstairs. Maybe the blood dripped down from above.

Quick - look up. If there's a threat, fucking dodge. If not, then the best conclusion you can make is that the pool's origin was on the next floor up. (Someone dying to chemicals and being dissolved to nothing would alter the blood's color in strange ways and also damage the floor.)

check out the rest of the building and keep your guard up. Once you're sure the building is safe and the threat is long gone then you can grab the jerry cans and move on towards grabbing that fuel.

1/2 Dowser 2021/12/23(Thu)12:30 No. 1018200 ID: 7e04cb
File 164029140386.png - (134.58KB , 800x600 , TQ19.png )

>No imprint in the dried blood?
Nothing like that. Not that I can see...

>Look [b]up. [/i]
Huh? why?

*drip*

ah-! that came from...

2/2 Dowser 2021/12/23(Thu)12:30 No. 1018201 ID: 7e04cb
File 164029142567.png - (213.98KB , 800x600 , TQ20.png )

Oh. That'd explain it. I don't know why I didn't look there first.

That guy is... I think almost... certainly 100% dead.

>Hold on. Are there any particular uses for Tobak blood?
Plenty if you can keep it in your body. This guy obviously couldn't, for whatever reason.

>Head upstairs
Hold your horses! I need to decide... whether I want... anything to do with whatever went down up there. I get the feeling that the danger has long passed, but I still wonder if what happened up there was an accident or some sort of foul play. I'm not ruling raiders out as a possibility either. I can always grab the cans and pretend... that I didn't see any of this.

But what if that guy had expensive equipment on him when he died?

I fear we may end up learning too much about something. We're already on a diverted quest, let's not divert it further. Better keep looking for doc saying where the fuel is.

>>1018204
Unfortunately, the doc is likely in a supervisor's office, which is... upstairs, most probably. Ah, well! The danger seems past; let's head up. Cautiously, of course.

>>1018204
And yet. And yet.

Loot! Or at least an understanding of what killed that guy - which might still be around and which we'd be otherwise unaware of.

Agreed that we shouldn't take overly long, though.

Before you do anything send a message to your mechanic pal. If something happen to you he maybe can send help or at least be prepared.

Being paranoid he wouldn't have sent you here if he was related to the death of this Tobak (or did it to make it look as if he is not the killer which also means he needs you alive). You can trust him.

About going or not going I would go being very carefully to look for what killed him (so you can avoid ending as him) or make a brief expedition to the weapon cache so you are safer.

Definitely go up there now! He might have a cool time traveling watch or something.

Find a stick and poke the body with it, make sure Tobak Zombies (or Vampires) dont exist and nibble on you...

...or do they?

You can't just leave a body unlooted. Go see if he had any good stuff.

>>1018206
A supplement to my prior suggestion: Although they weren't here long enough to run out of wet blood, they were here long enough for a big puddle to form and get old — ergo, at least an hour ago, which is before you arrived in the area. Therefore, you weren't around to hear if there were any gunshots, so you should be cautious of automated defenses. (I'd be optimistic, though, since I'm sure the mechanic guy would have mentioned it if he heard anything.)

>>1018214
seconding the all-important stick poke.

1/3 Dowser 2021/12/25(Sat)07:48 No. 1018321 ID: 7e04cb
File 164044730620.png - (329.84KB , 800x600 , TQ21.png )

>Send a message to the mechanic in case something happens
I bring my PDA out and send out a message to the mechanic that I'm checking something out, and if I take too long getting back to him, he should ask those other guys from the excavator to come to the refinery to back me up.

>Find a stick and poke the body with it, make sure Tobak Zombies (or Vampires) don’t exist and nibble on you...
Tobak zombies? I've heard something like that, but those rumors are only brought up deeper down the mantle. Nothing like that should be seen around here, or outside of movies for that matter. That being said I will search for a poking stick.

>You can't just leave a body unlooted. Go see if he had any good stuff.
Loot is why I'm here! Rescue mission can wait, this venture seems more profitable!

>Hear gunshots
Nail guns tend to be pretty quiet, especially indoors. It's possible that something happened as recently as an hour that I didn't hear.

>He might have a cool time traveling watch or something.
I can only hope, you know how much I could sell a cool time traveling watch for? I wouldn't have to worry about food for like, a year!

I choose to approach upstairs [i]very cautiously [/i. Things like automated turrets or traps may be a possibility, and I don't feel like making overly risky decisions. Just one peep to see if there is any loot worth taking, and I’ll be back to the task at hand. just a quick 20 seconds. As the old saying goes; take only photos, leave only footprints. I don't have a camera so it's ok to not follow it exactly.

I take a peep in aaaaand...

Oh dear. there is more than just a dead guy. It's a storage warehouse full of dead guys. 8... 10... 13... 16... There must be over 20 dead tobaks in here.

>I fear we may end up learning too much about something
Eh, too little too late.

2/3 Dowser 2021/12/25(Sat)07:48 No. 1018322 ID: 7e04cb
File 164044732521.png - (380.91KB , 800x600 , TQ22.png )

I'm no detective, but I'm pretty sure all these guys shot each other with nails, judging by the nail guns on the floor, and the nails sticking out of the walls, and the nails sticking out of tobaks. One thing I notice pretty quickly is that these guys are wearing uniforms from two different companies, none of which are the company that ran this refinery while it was active. I'm pretty sure the blue guys are owned by the Pomi and the brown guys are owned by the Heefs, both of which are off world alien species.

Gathering what I know, I have no idea what went down here. I wasn't even aware that these two companies had beef. I walk around the room some more, not touching anything, so I have the opportunity to leave without any evidence I saw anything. There are a lot of nail guns laying around, I can pick one up if I want.

After not too long I notice a tobak that stands out. He is wearing a tobak jammer on his back. It's still turned on and isn't out of battery. No wonder I didn't detect anybody else around, not just because everyone seems to be dead, but there's a jammer clamming my electromagnetic frequency. I did kinda feel that something was off when I walked in. This means that there might be survivors, but I won't know until I turn it off. But if I do that, whoever is around will know that I'm about. Maybe it's fortunate that it was turned on when I arrived.

It’s weird that none of these armed guys had any armor. Guess I won’t be looting any protective gear.

3/3 Dowser 2021/12/25(Sat)07:49 No. 1018323 ID: 7e04cb
File 164044734290.png - (331.02KB , 800x600 , TQ23.png )

I walk around a little more looking for clues as to what happened, until I come across a trail of blood. This is the only one I've found that leads outside the room. The jammer prevents me from being able to tell if there is a survivor.

I'm all for looting this jammer, but not yet. Look for documents here first, then follow the blood trail.

>>1018322
to my brain, there's more reasons to turn the jammer off than to leave it on. it signals we're out here, which could be seen as a warning to whoever is in there that survived this. with that warning, they're slightly less likely to reflex murder us.

conversely, if we leave it off we're basically asking to stumble on a guy with little forewarning and get plugged for it.

Hold up, there's something very suspicious here. Each corpse has a head wound, WITH NO NAIL IN IT. Every other wound has a nail.
What's also strange is that nobody seems to be behind cover, and the two companies are mixed together. It's like a nail bomb went off in here, then someone came in and mercy-killed everyone. Or a hit squad came in and blinded everyone before gunning them down.

What I'm saying is that you're wrong, they didn't kill eachother. Someone else did, and did a very good job. You should leave, right now, without touching anything, and maybe not tell anyone about it.

how much is a jammer worth and how much do nail guns go for? Also how while to nail guns do against razor worms if you absolutely had to use one on them? Oh and are the light blocking goggles worth anything?

Part of me is wondering if it would be worth it to just grab everything you can carry and store it somewhere to come back to with a wagon or something and then sell it all later if it would be worth it.

>>1018326
>Each corpse has a head wound, WITH NO NAIL IN IT.
The fact both sides have people head-shot with nails that are missing or penetrated all the way in (i.e. shot by a more powerful launcher) should be emphasized, as that means the crack shots involved had good aim and good guns. It's also notable that some of them have nails in their backs - they were running away when they were gunned down (or if this is some kind of cover-up, they were gunned post-mortem, and whoever did it didn't bother moving them).

I'd say it's still possible this is all down to a messy fight. But it getting this messy is also weird in the first place - you'd expect that in a gunfight between two groups the casualties would be more focused towards each side's, uh, area of approach, but here they are all mixed in with one another - as if they were a mixed group to begin with, not two sides facing off.

It could have gotten bad while they were getting up one one another's grill while arguing, I suppose. Somebody escalated to violence and then pow pow pow, surprise messy running gun-battle. If that was what happened they must've run across one another while... what, reclaiming the facility? The original company was here to mine something in the first place and the veins must be untapped still since they never got going. Which might mean this is contested company ground and either party might complain if you're snagging loot or fuel, so it's in your interest not to be seen.

On the other hand, if the teams were here to fix up this place, some of them might know which tank contains the fuel so you don't have to run around an apparent battlergound to try to find it by trial an error. And you really don't want to run into whoever's a crack headshot while standing around trying to fill gas.

...

>What to do
Don't turn off the jammer and announce your presence. Snag it instead, check how much battery it's got left. Bring it with you, so you can guarantee you have surprise (and hey, additional loot). Grab one of the loaded nailguns - and maybe a clip or two if you can find some? Then follow the third blood trail. Put on your goggles as well. Nails hitting metal can cause sparks and I'm betting that would sting your eyes some.

Oh! And is a jammer usual equipment for company outings? If not, then that indicates Team Pomi would've been trying to ambush Team Heef, but it all went terribly wrong.

>Loot
How much are the guns worth? You don't need to pick them all up and carry them with you now, but if you could gather them and stash them somewhere safe outside before you leave, you could just fetch them later (or sell the location to someone else). That's ready-made bank. Ghoulish, ghoulish bank.

If somebody was playing tic tac toe with that guy's back, I think it's wise to leave the jammer on until you leave. Investigate that trail. And grab a nail gun.

>>1018337
No matter the skill of the sniper or the power of the round, it wouldn't lead to each one being plugged cleanly between the eyes. These guys were executed. Best case scenario, the messy fight happened, and then the survivor(s) methodically plugged each body to make sure they were dead.

Whatever we do, we need to start getting real tactical with our next moves.

Your goggles wouldn't happen to have a thermal setting, would they? If they do, you could throw them on and do a sweep and make sure all the bodies are just as cold as each other. If some are newer, that would be another red flag (assuming you are warm-blooded, ofc).

That body left of the door seems to have nine nails in a perfectly square pattern on their back. Are there any weapons that fire in a pattern like that, or is it something fucky?

--

Might be a good idea to see if any of the goggles these guys have are better/have more bells and whistles than the ones we have. It could be worth switching them up.

>>1018337
>take the jammer with it still turned on
Great idea! Profit and stealth all in one.

Dowser 2021/12/25(Sat)14:10 No. 1018351 ID: 7e04cb
File 164047023732.png - (229.95KB , 800x600 , TQ24.png )

>Loot the jammer
Sounds good to me. It might fetch a good price for the right buyer. A couple hundred zeny at least. When I carry it around, I don't have to worry about being ambushed though, so that's neat. As for the battery, it looks to have a few hours left before a recharge is needed.
>is a jammer usual equipment for company outings?
Not to my knowledge. My guess is that these guys were doing something under the table and wanted to move around without outsiders finding out.

>Hold up, there's something very suspicious here. Each corpse has a head wound, WITH NO NAIL IN IT
huh... It took me a bit to notice, but there is something weird about that... Were they stabbed? or shot? either there was a total crackshot sniper or something that was executing them after the fight... Mannnnn I don't have the time or patience to solve a murder mystery!

>Your goggles wouldn't happen to have a thermal setting, would they?
Mine? No. Any of the goggles on these guys? not likely. It's all mass-produced company standard issue. Nothing has fancy tech like that unless you get something custom or you're higher up the corporate chain of command. Speaking of which, it's strange that there aren't any bodies belonging to higher ups around here.

>how much do nail guns go for?
Depends on the type. Your average company standard one might go for 60 to 80 zeny.

>how much do nail guns do against razor worms?
with an air powered nail gun with this calibre of nail? virtually nothing. Razorworms are huge, long, and armored. You need something capable of getting through their shells, like a rail gun or acid.

>Part of me is wondering if it would be worth it to just grab everything you can carry and store it somewhere to come back to with a wagon or something and then sell it all later if it would be worth it.
I'll keep that in mind.

>That body left of the door seems to have nine nails in a perfectly square pattern on their back. Are there any weapons that fire in a pattern like that?
There is one, A nail shotgun. they aren't too common, but they do see some use here in there. Maybe I can get my hands on one of those.

>Grab a nail gun
That also works for me. There are two different types that were being used by these guys, one type has a round magazine while the other uses boxes. If I go for the cylinder magazine, I can hold onto many rounds without reloading but getting an extra magazine would weigh too much, so once I'm out, I'm out. The box magazines have a lower capacity, but I can carry a few magazines on me to reload with. The magazines in each of the guns aren't compatible with one another. I'm looking around but I can't see any nail shotguns, which is a bummer.

Oh, there is a different weapon laying on the ground here...

AH, WHAT THE HELL.

I thought these things were illegal. - oh god, it’s not gonna go off, is it?! I'm not a gun nut, but I know what a flare gun is. If I misfire this thing, I'll get my eyeballs burned out for sure. Why is something like this laying in the middle of the room? Didn't these guys know that these are unsafe as hell?

After I decide on what nail gun to get, I'll check out the trail, and hopefully that leads me to fuel. but I am not sticking around long enough to be discovered, that's for sure.

Take whichever one lets you hold onto the most total nails. Box magazines are probably less of a pain to reload too. Take the flare gun - you have no intention to use it (yet), so it's best that you take it somewhere for disposal instead of leaving it lying around.

Are flare guns worth a lot? If so take it and grab a box nail gun so you don’t have to worry about mistaking one gun for the other.

Important. Is the trail also of dry blood or is fresher? You might want to avoid that path if there is someone alive.

About the guns I would pick a round magazine for exploring this place and square magazine when you get out. If there is someone still alive you might not need more than a magazine and don't want to have to reload in a bad spot.

>>1018351
>flare gun in the middle of the room
Ah. That's... probably how they all died. They were blinded, then shot in the head one at a time, while they all shot blindly at the attacker, hitting eachother with nails as they did so.

I still think you should leave while you still can, but if you must follow the trail... be ready with your goggles.

Don't take the flare gun, too dangerous. But I agree you shouldn't kleave it laying around either. Put it in some drawer. Unless it's unloaded.

+1 on not taking flare gun, it could be useful but it's dangerous and sounds like it'll cause legal problems.

If we're just keeping the nailgun for whatever's in the building lets grab a cylindrical magazine, if we're using this for longer then we should take a box one, grab several mags, and whatever we can't carry we should secret in a stash for later.

Would these particular nailguns suggest we got them from the corp and cause trouble, or would they just be generic?

>>1018351
There’s an easy answer to both the flare gun and the lack if higher ups. They could have been aliens, and now whichever side won (or whoever attacked the two teams) has them captive.

Goggles on. Where there’s one flare there could be more.

Prep a message about all of this to the indies, public channel, but don’t send it. If someone starts attacking you, you could threaten to expose everything going on here... or do it and maybe get help or force your attacker to consider retreat.

Box ammo gun. You want as much ammo as you can carry, because, an idea: what if you could shoot the ground from afar to draw the razorworms away? They react to vibrations. firing in a pattern could draw them off.

>>1018377
Ah. Grab the flare, too. Better YOU know where it is than someone else come in and grab it behind you. Thing goes in the securest receptacle you have though, if any.

> No patience to solve a mystery.
Nonsense! It only takes time and patience to solve when evidence is meticulously hidden or requires analysis to be helpful. If you simply observe instead of just seeing, and resolve to think as you walk (as you've already been doing), you may well surprise yourself!

For instance!

> The Flare Gun
It seems you've found the "smoking gun," so to speak. Double-check to be sure (careful not to pull the trigger-looking part), but I suspect its sole loaded round is spent. A picture now starts to take shape: a gathering of two groups; a flare, loosed; pain, light, and confusion; nails flying everywhere; no survivors.

> The Cover-Up
This is just the outermost image, though. We've already spotted the details suggesting a more complex subject to this piece: signs of unimpeded execution, a missing weapon, missing superiors.

> Premeditated
Yup, this certainly wasn't a spur-of-the-moment escalation. Someone brought a flare gun. Someone arranged for the presence of a jammer. Someone wasn't affected by the flair. Someone (or multiple culprits) killed Tobaks on both sides.

> Motive
This is a bit murky, but it's clear that "corp vs. corp escalation" was the image our culprit(s) be goin' for. This was either meant to artificially ignite conflict between the two corporations... or someone was trying to disappear.

> The Missing Superior
Even without looking where the trail leads, we can say with some certainty that there's at least one Tobak in charge that's unaccounted for. This makes them one of three things: a devilishly lucky coward, a prisoner now being pumped for intel... or a mass murderer. If it's one of the first two, your attention should then be directed towards the neumono you were preparing to save. The hive was doing some kind of operation here, at least one was close enough to the northeast quadrant to have a misadventure, and they're definitely an answer to the question of "cui bono." My money's on the missing superior running off with embezzled corp money stashed somewhere, though. Not to be self-deprecating of your kind, but a Tobak who's inexperienced with alien systems would make some beginner mistakes like "failing to account for people asking where the superior officer is."

> Two Questions
One, is there a way of differentiating corporate group-PDA addresses from freelances? (If not, "freelancers" might be considered suspects.)

Two; is there any significance to the fact that we've yet to see a female Tobak among this whole group? (Heck, we haven't seen one since arriving in the area, come to think of it.)


> WHAT DO
I think we should turn off the jammer and follow that blood trail; make sure to alert whoever's at the other end that we're coming, assuming the jam ending doesn't reveal any surprises in this room. Someone was wounded; assuming they aren't already dead, they need our help far more urgently than that Neumono. Plus, alive or dead, whether you can get their testimony or just their rank alone, light will be cleared (not shed - you're a light-recoiling Tobak) on the subject of this portrait. And, of course, when you've completed the portrait of a killer, all that's left is to find a patron willing to pay a generous commission for it. (It's the subject that will ultimately pay for everything, however - though you're realizing now that this analogy is starting to get away from you.)

>>1018377
The message is great, but this isn't a neumono jammer (even though it looks damn near identical). Given that this is jamming electromagnetic signals, this is much more like conventional electronic warfare jamming, which means our messages probably won't go through.

Anyway, goggles up, and keep moving.Grab a box nailgun and make sure you repack the magazines you take so they are full (including the one in the gun itself).

Keep the flare gun in case you need it. On the subject though, that thing looks absolutely human, and absolutely ancient, like if you think your PDA is ancient, try tacking on a century or so looks very very similar to a WW2 era American AN-M8 breech-loading flare gun. Specifically, it looks like an aircraft flare gun since the top hook is for mounting on an aircraft canopy. Strange that they are using it here. The thing is very very simple to operate though, so you should be able to pull up on the lower hook to open the breech (keep your goggles on while doing this). Once done, you should probably take out the round, both to see if it is still live, and to make sure you don't misfire.

Odd idea, but are there any (primarily) human factions in play here? Given how well a lot of human WW2 tech pushed the absolute boundaries of the perfect combination of dirt-cheap, mechanically simple, idiot-proof, and reliable (just look at how well the sten smg performed for being a glorified pipe with a trigger), I suppose it wouldn't be out of the question for human companies to use these sorts of designs to supply their proxy groups.

--

Just to sanity-check the sniper theory, are there windows here, or are we in a fully enclosed building?

--

Lets prep and reevaluate everything before we push into the next room.

>>1018384
Forgot to add:

Keep in mind that flares are only nuclear for your species. Most aliens will be perfectly fine once they remove their NODs.

>>1018384
We also have said jammer to turn off, if we bring it with us.

Carefully discard the flare gun. Grab the nail gun you carry some re-loads for. Once you're well equipped, check out the blood trail.

To me the flare gun suggests that this massacre was perpetrated by an alien or group of aliens because I doubt any sane Tobak would want to carry around or use a flare gun even if it'd give them a combat advantage over other Tobaks. I think this wounded Tobak would probably atleast be neutral to us as long as we don't spook them into shooting us. Assuming this Tobak is still alive they're also our only hope for a complete picture of what happened here and especially where the killers went and what they want, it wouldn't do to get ambushed while we're trying to fill up our jerry cans.
I think turning off the jammer would be a good idea to avoid getting shot by the injured Tobak but it's kind of risky if there's any hostile Tobaks hanging around. If the flare gun is still loaded (probably not?) then I think you should take it as a last resort escape device against other Tobaks

>>1018384
I just noticed that the vehicle being worked on here (>>1018096) looks a lot like a kettenkrad. This could mean that this summit mining is some human company with a rather dated sense of design for their vehicles and equipment. Given the flare gun is made to look like it is the same vintage, it could have been left behind by the mining company and in the midst of battle, one side just happened upon it.

>>1018402
these could also be stylistic choices by the author that i am looking way too far into

no flare guns, wear goggles

1/2 Dowser 2021/12/26(Sun)15:25 No. 1018442 ID: 7e04cb
File 164056113437.png - (283.69KB , 800x600 , TQ25.png )

I pull me goggles down and carefully pull the latch which opens the barrel and... phew. there isn't a live round in there. I can still take this with me, but I don't see any spare shots laying around. I still don't have a good feeling about carrying it back home, so I'll carry it around until I can store it at the cache. Who knows, maybe I can use it in a bluff.

I grab a box magazine nail gun, while the magazines only have a capacity of 30 nails, it is much easier to carry multiple magazines. I grab an extra magazine for a total of 60 nails. I don't grab another because I'm still conscious of over-encumbering myself. I make sure to grab stuff that hasn't been soiled with blood, and I grab magazines that are fully loaded.

>Important. Is the trail also of dry blood or is fresher?
Looks dry to me.
>Be ready with goggles as you enter the room
The goggles don't help me see anything if I'm in a pitch-black environment. They are only designed to make things darker. , only the higher tech stuff could save me from being blinded by a flare.

>are there windows here, or are we in a fully enclosed building?
I don't see any windows in here.

>Would these particular nailguns suggest we got them from the corp and cause trouble, or would they just be generic?
Using corporate equipment doesn't cause trouble considering that most loners use said equipment when it becomes unwanted. My goggles used to be company owned but I got it for practically nothing considering how mass produced they are. Nailguns are a bit different, but they don't have paint signifying what company owned them. The only distinct difference between these particular nailguns is one having a box magazine while the other having a drum magazine, slight mechanical differences aside.

>Use nailgun to draw razorworms away
I don't think these nailguns are impactful enough the cause vibrations strong enough to attract razorworms. It's usually something that can emulate footprints that attracts them.

>is there a way of differentiating corporate group-PDA addresses from freelances?
Yes. Company PDA's give a different user code. If your code starts with a single letter 't', that means you aren't aligned with any corporate dominion, or in other words, a freelancer.

>Prepare a PDA message just in case
Being this close to a jammer seems to interfere with the PDA. I might have to turn if off for a moment to do that.

>is there any significance to the fact that we've yet to see a female Tobak among this whole group? (Heck, we haven't seen one since arriving in the area, come to think of it.)
Female Tobaks are considered... much less expendable considering that males outnumber females 5 to 1. Females are valued much more for their greater stature and better sturdiness, so they tend to fill security and combat roles, not so much grunt work like... whatever this was supposed to be. There are a couple female Tobaks working as guards for hire in the local area though, I can contact them at any time through my PDA. Not that the jammer is helping much with sending messages.

>Flare gun looks absolutely human, and absolutely ancient
I've heard that there are reasons why so much stuff was built off of old designs. If there is anything around that resembles old technology from past human society, that's because a database exists documenting equipment that was made during wartimes, and companies use it as a guideline to manufacture basic, primitive equipment which is easy to operate, mechanically simple, cheap to mass produce, and very easy to produce replacement parts for. The main reason they do this is to make their equipment undesirable to other companies in the event that one tries to annex territory. Summit is notorious for this strategy, and it seems to pay off.

>are there any (primarily) human factions in play here?
Summit Mining Co is the biggest human owned mining company I can think of. Well, joint owned. It is cooperatively owned by both humans and belenosian. But as is the case with the wider universe, humans are fairly hands-off when it comes to alien affairs.

Just a quick recap of my inventory so far before I proceed:
Pickaxe, goggles, Map, PDA, 2 days of canned rations, water canteen, antivenom, 2 bandages, 23 zeny.
My new Items include:
2 empty jerry cans (stashed close by) A nail gun with 2 30 round magazines, an empty flare gun and a Tobak jammer.

2/2 Dowser 2021/12/26(Sun)15:26 No. 1018443 ID: 7e04cb
File 164056116444.png - (295.00KB , 800x600 , TQ26.png )

I decide to turn off the jammer and follow the blood trail. As I turn it off, I do pick up a magnetic fluctuation. There is only one, and I can't tell what it is. It could be a tobak, or it could be a magnetic item.

In the case that it is a person, he has probably also noticed me. I call out to alert to him that I'm coming. Moments pass and I get no response.

After a while of calling out and waiting, I assume that there probably isn't anyone alive, and I see no reason not to proceed. I carefully sneak and poke my head through the doorway, only to be met with a similar sight to before.

Two more dead tobaks, but there is something different with these two. Notably the fact that these two seem to show a higher rank. I can only assume these guys were in charge of what was supposed to go down here. Both of them have the nail shotgun pattern wounds, and the same head injury that all the others had. One thing to note is that one of these guys had his arm severed off.

Between them lies a briefcase, open and completely empty. The handle has a handcuff around it and a severed hand not too far away from it. This is all so cliche, bleurgh.

I can still feel the fluctuation I felt coming in the room though. It's coming from... The Tobak missing the arm. No way he is still alive though, so I'm not sure what that's about.

Oh hey, look, a map on the wall! I can use that to tell which building the fuel is stored!

>No way he is still alive though, so I'm not sure what that's about.
Poke him with a stick (or suitably long poker object if available). Gotta make sure zombies dont exist. Then loot that body, see what's up with him...

Use canteen on probably-corpse.
I don't suppose that arm wound is salvageable? If he's still alive, you might want to hear his last words. Or maybe it's something on his person.

>>1018443
Poke him with a stick, then search him.
I bet the nail shotgun was something the assassin(s) looted on-site.

Hmm, the handcuffs attached to the case imply the arm was cut off to get at the case, but it was then unlocked? I guess they just needed better access to it in order to open it; leaving it on the guy's arm made things too awkward.

After you've got the body searched, check out the map.

Poke the tobak we're getting the signal from with the nailshotgun ready, we want to make sure he won't lash out (even if it's unlikely).

How would he survive with a hole in the brain?
Check his vitals: heartbeat, breathing and pupil dilatation (if that works for you).
If far more likely that he have some magnetic object, but if he is alive you should try to reduce the bleeding.

Do the higher hanks have any pocket money?

> Magnetic Signature
Yeah, never count a guy out until you check vitals. Do a poke test, then check for a pulse. If you feel anything, move immediately into performing triage. If not, search his body for the signal's source.

> Handcuffed Briefcase
Oh. Now you begin to understand the story of these two groups. They came here to exchange one or more things - things contained in a briefcase that a third party took from their cold dead bodies after someone leaked the meeting. I know you're not a fan of mysteries, but even you ought to realize that this is enough to clear any misunderstandings that might muddy the waters between the two companies. Let it be said that even intangible things like up-to-date truths can have a lucrative price tag attached if you know who to talk to.

On that note, scour the other captain's body thoroughly. It's a remote possibility, but there's a chance that whatever the Pomi corp wanted to give in exchange for the carrying case is still on this guy. You probably aren't bold enough to cash it in yourself, but I'm sure they'd appreciate its return.

Also, see if you can find whatever PDAs these guys were using - these items too may fetch you a reward.

> Map
Once you've resolved everything else, locate that fuel.

>>1018443
Check their kit and goggles! They are the ones most likely to get the best toys.
Also snag that beret. Berets are cool (plus it matches our outfit color!).

That guy is almost definitely dead, which to me says he has some potentially useful or valuable tech on him. Check for booby traps though (an electronic bomb could also be what is giving off the em signal, although that is kind of high tech just to trap a corpse, so I think this is unlikely), just in case.

The briefcase itself looks pretty nice. Has a foam interior and a presumably trauma-proof outer shell. Would that be something worth either selling or using ourselves? You would need to look around for the key (or remember to keep it unlocked) and may need to carve some of the foam out to allow for more general objects to fit.

>>1018443
Did they cut off that dude's arm then open the case it was attached to like... not even a foot away?

Also a strong magnetic reaction from inside a tobak that is like.. pretty dead looking implies some dumb alien shit going on. Focus your magno-sense as strongly as you can. Loot dead blue officer, but don't get handsy with the brown officer until you have at least some idea what's going on with him being magnetic.

Do tobak normally dies eyes wide open?

>I can still feel the fluctuation I felt coming in the room though. It's coming from... The Tobak missing the arm. No way he is still alive though, so I'm not sure what that's about.
If I had to guess he has something on his person that's giving off the signal. Search him if you want might be valuable but other then that I say look at the map, find where you can find some fuel, and see if you can't find a good location to stash your loot. That jammer looks like it could be worth something but also looks bulky as hell, Plus all those nail guns still laying around. Be a real shame if you had to give up and a decent payday just because you didn't have enough pockets to hold everything (or brake your back trying to hold everything but same difference really)

As for the shootout... whelp not really much more you can do here besides loot the bodies. I guess let someone know about it eventually if you don't think you'll get in trouble for it or just ignore it completely once you grab all the loot you want and let it sort itself out.

>>1018478
Yeah, sheez, this could be a magnetism-based booby trap for whoever is sent to investigate. Can you walk past him without your fields overlapping? Can you turn on the jammer again and then walk past him? Not sure it’d be worth messing with the body in the hopes it’s actually something lootable and valuable.

And yeah, think we can discount this being a fight between the two forces - this was a secret trade and someone ambushed it with a flaregun and stole the items.

Also some cabinets to the right there. Probably just useless papers inside, but since you’re here a peek probably won’t hurt.

1/2 Dowser 2021/12/27(Mon)03:47 No. 1018496 ID: 7e04cb
File 164060564322.png - (259.00KB , 800x600 , TQ27.png )

>Do tobaks normally die eyes wide open?
Apparently!

>Poke him
Poke. Poke poke. God, that is the meanest looking tobak I have ever seen! It's a good thing he is dead, because there is no way he'd let me do it if he were alive.

>Pulse
Oh, right, a pulse, I forgot to check for a pulse! I hold on to his wrist, the one that is still attached to feel for a pulse, some sign of heartbeat, but there is nothing. I check for breathing, and still nothing. This guy is thoroughly dead, no two ways about it. Nope. This guy ain't springing to life anytime soon.

Poke. Poke poke poke.

I just noticed; he has a name tag. 'G.CLAY' Is Clay his first or last name? What does the 'G' stand for? Was he a general or something? General Clay doesn't ring any bells.

I scour the body of the Pomi corp higher up to see if he kept whatever has was gonna exchange for this briefcase, unfortunately I find no such thing. I don't find anything useful on him at all, not even pocket change, which is a real shame. Both of these guys have their PDA's on them, but they both have them password locked, and it's starting to look like the passwords will remain a well-kept secret. I could scrap them for raw components but that would hardly be worth the trouble.

Poke poke.

>Check their kit and goggles! They are the ones most likely to get the best toys.
Pomi corp guy seems to have a regular pair, the Heef corp guy on the other hand seems to have something more special. Maybe 'custom' is more the word I'm searching for, seeing as he only has half a goggle with a box of sorts where is non-functioning eye is. It seems to be a more up to date model with an infrared mode, but it only has one eye. I could loot it, but If I were to use It, I can say goodbye to any sense of depth perception, and my aim with a nailgun would be off as a result.

>Also snag that beret. Berets are cool
Berets are cool. But I don't think I'm ready for the kind of attention that would bring!

Poke poke... poke poke...

>Did they cut off that dude's arm then open the case it was attached to like... not even a foot away?
What's stranger is that they took everything out of the case instead of just bringing the case with them. What's wrong with the case? Looks perfectly fine to me.

2/2 Dowser 2021/12/27(Mon)03:47 No. 1018497 ID: 7e04cb
File 164060567897.png - (219.87KB , 800x600 , TQ28.png )

>Search his body for the signal's source.
I focus really hard on trying to find where the emission is coming from and it's somewhere around his torso. I doubt it's a bomb or something like that, maybe it's a piece of tech?
I rummage around his jacket, and it doesn't take long for me to notice an object tucked away into one of the inner coat pockets.

Huh? What's this? Whatever it is, this is what the emission is coming from. If I had kept that jammer turned on, I would've missed it completely! Talk about lucky!

It seems to be some kind of rock. A crystal? No... An opal? it does glimmer a little, but that doesn't explain the magnetism. An ore? possibly. What is it? I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like it. It does look pretty though. It isn’t heavy either, I can carry it in my bag without worrying about it weighing me down. I can feel the signal emitting from it constantly, but it isn't uncomfortably strong or anything.

I start to get sad, thinking about all the loot I have to leave behind because of my carry limit. Maybe when the engineer gets that vehicle up and running, we can bring it over here and get the rest of it! Maybe I can shoot a message out to those guys at big red to see if they want a piece of the action. We're looking at zeny close to the quadruple digits baby! Coming here turned out to be worth it after all! So long as no consequences arise, that is.

… Poke.

For now you feel like two signals but can silence an area if needed. Keep this in mind.
That is enough poking, go find the fuel.
When you leave this building send a message informing the mechanic that your detour didn't resulted in your death.

I’m sure absolutely nothing bad will happen if you take this mystery, magnetism-emitting rock thing from the body of high ranking corporate agent you found in the midst of a literal bloodbath where everyone has died with weird wounds on their heads.

Surely you can find a non-murderous buyer to sell this to. Or like, bring it to their company for a reward. In the meantime, let's get to that fuel.

Whatever that item is it is probably hot and needs fencing fast. Unless keeping it on your person makes it hard to detect as a separate item or entity? Could use the jammer to disguise its presence, even if not (and hey, you can probably recharge the jammer at the place with the two TV indeps). Maybe... that’s what the blue team was doing? Maybe part of the trade had already occurred when the ambush happened and the ambushers missed it due to the jammer being on? Or not having magnetic senses in the first place. That makes this the prize of prizes (valuable, small, transportable), you’ll just have difficulty selling it for what it’s worth. Hm. Maybe if you save the Neumono you can use the opportunity to sell it to his corp?

Proposal: tell your two TV indep buds about the haul (they’ve got nothing better to do, clearly), say you’ll want a small cut (10%) or later favors, but you got the heebie-jeebies from the scene and have to hurry anyway, so they’re welcome to it if they’re willing - you can’t do much about it on your own (too MUCH loot!) AND still go save the Neumono.

Then hustle outta here with the fuel just in case whoever did this realizes they missed something and comes back.

Might even be wise to pull in a guard or two, ostensibly to help with the Neumono thing (you can pay the other with the jammer, seems useful for a gun for hire, or at least really pawnable), but really to guard your back.

Do you have anywhere you could stash all the loot in here if you had a way to move it? If so it might be a good idea to double time it for that fuel and then tell the mechanic about this place once he fills the vehicle up so he can make a pitstop near your stash location (not at the location itself that would be dumb) after you come back to loot this place. You will probably have to give him half the stuff you loot but half is still better then none. Or at the very least ask if he can make/find you a wagon/wheelbarrow.

> Cuffs Cut Off, Not Unlocked, Case Was Open
The key to the handcuffs wasn't here, but the case could be opened; the case's contents were definitely what the Heefs were offering.

> Didn't Take the Case Itself
Again, the case was likely opened when the two groups were attacked, and I assume the culprit doesn't have the means to open it themselves.

> Magnetic Crystal Found on Heef Officer
> Pomi Employee Has the Jammer
Were they in the middle of handing this off when they got jumped? You'd think the jammer would come with the crystal as a joint package.

Wait, come to think of it: Check if you can close the case without locking it (or can unlock it again if need be, being sure to memorize what code it's currently set to or, failing that, resolve to see if Clay had a key on him). If you can, try putting the crystal inside and closing it, observing what happens to your sense of it - bonus points if it fits neatly into one of the slots. Think about it; one party had a jammer, the other had a lead-lined case. Heck, the timing works, too; I can totally see the culprit waiting for them to open the case before they struck, especially if they weren't sure of the contents at first. Clay had taken one crystal out when shit hit the fan. He shoved it into his pocket as he limped away with the other guy who had his shit slightly more together.

Considering how the case slots are arranged... the culprit probably knows they missed something, even if it wasn't their primary objective...

> What Do
Take some identifying pieces off both officers (PDAs, tags, badges, custom gear, etc.). I'm sure the corps will appreciate getting accurate info about what happened to that group of Tobaks they sent - and call in the massacre on public chat. "Pomi and Heef Corp Tobaks dead in the refinery; they got flared and shot up by a third party. The stuff they were there to negotiate about got yoinked. Stay safe, guys."

Then locate that fuel.

Dowser 2021/12/27(Mon)10:15 No. 1018519 ID: 7e04cb
File 164062895476.png - (171.61KB , 800x600 , TQ29.png )

>Check if the case blocks the magnetic frequency of the ore when closed.
I move over to the case and put the ore in one of the slots. It fits in one pretty neatly, but not exactly, the rough shape of the ore rattles around loosely in the squared-out shape. Maybe it was supposed to come in a box? I close the case making sure not to close the latches and accidentally lock it. upon sealing the ore inside, I am unable to pick up the signal. I guess that proves it, the case is lined with something breaking up the magnetism, Lead if I would have to guess.

>Surely you can find a non-murderous buyer to sell this to
That won't be an issue, you can pretty much sell anything to the depots. Ores, alloys, copious amounts of dubiously obtained copper piping, you name it, they won't ask questions. Which company I sell it to is the better question, each pays a different amount to what you turn in. I might have to think on it first before deciding.

>Maybe if you save the Neumono you can use the opportunity to sell it to his corp?
I could do that, but I don't expect to get a good price. When it comes to mining companies, the Hive is the smallest of the small. If I have to compare the size of their depot, it's like a lemonade stand when put next to all the others. At times I feel bad for them, the impression I get of Neumono is that they must be very underwhelming compared to the other aliens, especially if one can be entrapped and in need of rescue so easily.

With all of that out of the way, the fuel comes back to being my first priority.

I look over to the floorplan of the facility on the wall, and it tells me pretty much of what I suspected; I'm not in the liquid storage area to begin with. Getting over there is a walk that'll last a bit, so I use the time to check and send out messages. I go down my list of contacts.

>Call in the massacre on the public chat
That doesn't sound like the most profitable use of this situation! I don't want others looting the scene while I'm gone and giving me none of the cut.

>tell your two TV indep buds about the haul
I send out a message to the two.
this is the beginning of a group text chat with t-108742-ind, t-411108-ind and t-738128-ind(you).
t-738128-ind(you): hey guys, this is dowser. feel like picking up the rest of a good equipment haul?
>t-108742-ind: yOU AGAIN. WHAT'D YOU FIND?
t-738128-ind(you): i stumbled upon some sort of gruesome scene that went down. all in all, around 22 dead guys, lots of equipment to pick up and sell, i have about just all I can carry.
>t-108742-ind: iNTERESTING.
t-411108-ind: Oh hey you guys started a chat! I would be down there with you guys, but this show is getting really good! I'm a big fan of the big lady with the scary smile. Hey Damyin, what's up with your caps?
>t-108742-ind: mY KEYBOARD IS BROKEN. dON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.
>t-108742-ind: dOWSER, WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS.
t-738128-ind(you): I won't reveal anything until we can work out a deal. I want a cut of what you guys get out of it.
>t-108742-ind: i WON'T NEGOTIATE ANYTHING UNTIL I SEE THE EQUIPMENT. iT AUGHT TO BE WORTH THE TIME.
I leave the conversation there to check with other contacts.

>send a message informing the mechanic that your detour didn't result in your death.
t-738128-ind(you): i am ok for the moment. don't send anybody, at least not yet.
>t-845924-ind: Happy to hear it!
>t-845924-ind: I hope you are not having too much trouble!


There are two unchecked messages I got since the last time I checked my PDA
>ts-315054-gfh: Heyyyyyyyy~ Σ: Dosweerrrrrrr~ <3 That’s her alright.

>t-657029-ind: I-would-watch-my-back-if-I-were-you. this one is a little ominous. This is from a device code I do not recognise.

>>1018519
Shit. Someone saw you go in there. Jammer goes on, you get the hell out, tell those two that you now have reason to believe the location is being watched and there may be danger involved. If your phone can take and send pictures, send them some pics of the loot before you go.

Also take some pics in general.

>Watch-your-back
Resist (or don't) the urge to literally look around and watch your back. What it really sounds like is that someone's observed you entering the place and knew it'd be bad news. Or maybe they are the bad news... but then why warn you?

Respond: "Thanks? Anything, uh, else?"

Definitely hire a guard. Pull that favor. Make helping the Neumono your reason, at least until you can inform them in person. Tell them to meet you at the mechanic's place, that'd be a nice rendezvous point.

>Neumon-down-on-their-luck-os
Huh. Okay. Guess you'll just have to make your own impression of them then.

>TV indep crew, acceptance hesitancy, lazy TV watching
Ah well, we're a bit committed now, so reveal more details, especially if you can manage to get the other guy interested in the mystery, rather than his TV show. Tell it depends on what he considers 'worth his time'. Would slightly less than two dozen nail guns, probably some pocket goods, extra mags, and a heck of a warscene to witness do it?

If he really wants to inspect the goods you looted (sans crystal, of course) before committing offer to meet at the mechanic's, soon-ish. If he presses for more info or seems dubious, reveal more, as needed:

- You think some sort of secret deal between two corps - brown heef, blue pomi - went sour.

- Does he know who a "G.Clay" is? Because, uh, whoever they are? Now dead. Both corpocaps involved are dead, actually, but only one had a nametag. Weird, for such a clandestine meeting.

- You don't know when anyone is coming to check up on the dead guys. You'd say it happened a few hours ago. Depends on how secret the secret deal was, you guess? (fair warning about risk, an indicator you're being honest and also another good explanation for why you're not taking everything yourself)

- Someone ELSE definitely got away with a score, but you'd advice staying mum on that, in case any of them are still nearby doing that whole 'criminal always returns to the scene of the crime' thing (you too, have seen movies). You just stumbled across the ambush site and snagged a few things that weren't nailed down (oh boy, that terrible pun wasn't even intentional), then felt bad about leaving the rest, hence this call.

- He can make up his own impression on the scene if or when he gets there, maybe he'll find or realize something you didn't.

Conclusion: If t-108742-ind accepts without having to meet up, say you'd like a fair 10% from any sales made, and you hope that claim is low enough that he won't try to cheat you from anything even if he finds more than the stuff you saw.

If it's normal to haggle start at 20%, then allow yourself to get pushed - he/they would be taking the risk of running into an angry recovery crew.

Then... hustle and get that dang fuel and get back to the mechanic's place.

>upon sealing the ore inside, I am unable to pick up the signal. I guess that proves it, the case is lined with something breaking up the magnetism, Lead if I would have to guess.

I once failed a test question about this.
The Faraday cage effect prevent magnetic and electric fields from outside to manifest inside, but it doesn't prevent those fields generated inside from manifesting outside. A lead layer wouldn't be enough, this case must have some other mechanism and might be valuable tech because of it.


>t-657029-ind

Isn't this one of the two unknowns you send a message asking if they were having an emergency?


>Heyyyyyyyy~ Σ: Dosweerrrrrrr~ <3

You were holding some gossip! Is she cute? How did you called her attention?
Don't make her wait too long. Greet her and mention you stumble into something that may be worth caching that favor if she is available. Also ask if she would have fun playing hero with you, you got something in mind.

>>1018519
Let the tv watchers know about the ominous message you received and give them the ID code for the device that sent it to you.

> Any depot will do, no questions asked.
Well, in this case, depending on who you sell what, questions are going to be asked even if you aren't the one being addressed. If you plan to dump whatever you looted and wash your hands of the matter, be wary of the Pomi, Heef, and Neumono depots. Any one of them might decide that you know too much and/or that you know something they don't. (The latter would be good, actually - that scenario has profit potential - whereas the former really, really wouldn't be good at all.)

> Incredulous looters.
If you can take and send photos, do it - this is both a tech-feature question and a lighting question, for the record. If not, reveal your surface-level observations (but keep withholding the location until an agreement is reached).

> The Favor.
Between the rescue op you're planning and the vague threats, I think now is the time to cash in your favor. Should you be bracing yourself for this to lead to snoo-snoo later? (Also, agreed on the rendevous point being the motor depot.)

> Last-minute loot plus exit strategy.
Don't take the case itself - the culprit left it for a reason; I wouldn't put a tracking device past the corps. Take the infrared goggle and badges, though. Once you've sent your messages, the scrambler goes back on, the fuel is gotten, and you should be leaving through a different entrance than when you arrived.

find fuel and see if you can't negotiate getting something to help you carry stuff from mechanic guy after dropping the fuel off. Maybe have the other two guys you're trying to get to help you loot stuff meet you at the mechanics place so you can show off some of the loot you grabbed and see if they're interested in getting part of the haul.

not sure if you should call that favor in yet though as the random response from the creepy message might just be from someone who heard/saw the fight go down and is just throwing out a general warning. I mean you've said it yourself, things are mostly safe in this part of the cave, you have to go further in before you need to start worrying and you've been down here a lot and long enough to have a pretty good idea on how stuff works. Sure the shootout was gruesome but you made it sound like while rare isn't unheard of for things like that to happen so I don't see why you'd be getting paranoid about it now. Feels a bit premature.

Cool rock, check. Cool goggles, check. Infrared is useful - who would need depth perception and light dampening simultaneously?
Tell the guard you'd like to meet up, while you ask the cryptic one who they are. Head for the fuel stores while keeping an eye out for snipers.

>>1018530
Weird that the Neumono are included in this. Unless the assumption is that they did the robblery, in which case maybe we shouldn't go ahead and rescue some guy of theirs and instead just focus on gathering the loot that's here?

Eh, it's gotta be a coincidence they were in the area just when a big ambush went down. It's not like they did the hit then had to leave one of their scouts behind because they were hauling the hot hot goods away just as they chanced upon the razorworm nest, right?

...right?

Ooooh nooo, the Neumono are actually degenerate dangerous hired killer assassins and their entire corp being a small mining hive is a cover for their real activities: murder for fun and profit!

... eeeh, nah. Still sounds silly. Let's just go rescue the unfortunate fella. Maybe he'd be able to tell what he and his fellows were doing around here?

>Grab infragog
And I'm not sure about picking up the infragog (it's for one eye, so gog instead of goggles). While it'd be sorta useful (and could prevent you being blinded in both eyes, since you can wear one at all times and gain the benefits of both, if loss of depth perception and having to shift focus back and forth from one eye), maybe it's a bit too distinct and recognizable? Nail guns and even jammers can probably have been gotten from other places, but this is a pretty distinct piece of tech. Maybe we could incorporate it into our existing goggles or something to make it less obvious.

Are tracking chips a thing? That's also something that worries me about all the equipment we're picking up.

>>1018519
Did you know that Neumono are a little bit psychic? They can share their empathy with each other.

Maybe the reason they’re antagonistic towards Tobaks is because you guys being able to detect things with your lodestone horns messes with the Neumonos’ psychic emotions?

>>1018519
Remember to grab that upgraded custom goggle. We could try to use it with one lens of our current goggles, or with an eyepatch. Monocular vision isn't the worst thing. Some military outfits use monocular NODs after all. Even if you don't use it for now, I'd wager we could jury rig something with it.

Make an effort to look for the key to the case since you just locked it. The case seems like a high quality item in and of itself and it would be a damn shame if we have to break it to get the mcguffin out.

--

Probably shouldn't respond to either of the new numbers unless you have a very good reason to. Especially the unknown. They could be an unrelated troublemaker. If they aren't, we still have no reason to communicate at this point.

--

Grab the beret. Even if you don't wear it for now, we could take it and customize it later so it isn't so much of a target. (I really want us to get a beret. :P)

--

>>1018561
iirc from established lore, empathy isn't related to the em spectrum, meaning there is no chance of that happening.

If there is legitimate bad blood, I would guess that Tobak's appearance is close enough to Neumono themselves that it triggers an uncanny valley effect. It is also possible some Tobaks have the same pupil pattern as Predators do, which would likely be extremely alarming to Neumono.

>>1018550
>trackers
If we can find the key, we can store anything that may be chipped in the box, since it seems to have a faraday cage incorporated in it (probably not lead lined. That would make it really heavy, plus lead doesn't block magnetic fields).

Two companys has send to death a lot of Tobaks for that piece of ore, might not be the only involved. Are you sure the risk is worth it?

Ask t-657029-ind what he means. I doubt he will respond, but you don't lose nothing for trying.

And what company ts-315054-gfh works for? Maybe you can get her help to sell that ware without dying as favor.

Yeaaaaah, that rock has "MacGuffin" written all over it. I hope you're ready for a solid few weeks of intrigue and harrowing adventure.

I'd strongly consider calling in that favor, at least if any new dangerous developments occur.

I would respond to the ominous message, because they clearly know you're there already, and you're still sortof in the dark. So to speak. Further info on what to watch out for would be nice. Don't count on a response, though.

>>1018568
>mcguffin-proofing
We could potentially bury it somewhere and sell the location. Less risk to our person.

1/3 Dowser 2021/12/28(Tue)10:59 No. 1018582 ID: 7e04cb
File 164071796564.png - (157.58KB , 800x600 , TQ30.png )

>The case might be valuable tech. Is there a key? take the goggles
If it's valuable it probably has a tracker on it. Last thing I need is to be hunted down for valuables I didn't take! Well, most valuables I didn't take. I don't see the key anywhere, so that is another reason I won't take it. The goggles (or gog, since it is only one lens) on the corpse though? I think I'll snag those. Might not get a good price If I plan on selling it since there is only one lens, but maybe it'll fetch some use. I'll pocket it for now. You know what? fine, I'll even pocket the beret, but only because of how light it is.

>Take pictures
It's difficult to take photos of a pitch-black room. Besides, my PDA isn't capable of taking photos.

> keep an eye out for snipers.
While there aren't many windows around, I still follow the advice I got from that message and watch my back.

>Neumono involved in what went down
While not an impossibility, I don't see any evidence to support the theory. I hear they don't have the reaction times needed for a fire fight.

>Did you know that Neumono are a little bit psychic? They can share their empathy with each other.
I did hear something about psychic powers. It might not be too different from a male tobak's dowsing, but it is entirely separate. The overall antagonism comes from the hive not hiring outsiders. That's just how family businesses are, I guess.

>You were holding some gossip! Is she cute? How did you call her attention?
She is... Eccentric. That is probably the best I can describe her. Capable and eccentric. I called her attention when I had something she wanted one time.

>What company does ts-315054-gfh work for?
Last I checked she was a freelancer/guard for hire. I think she is still on her own but maybe she found work since then.

>Pull that favor. Make helping the Neumono your reason, at least until you can inform them in person.
May as well. The task certainly warrants some help.
t-738128-ind(you): alright, i think i have something worth cashing that favor in for. are you busy?
>ts-315054-gfh: O? \(8)\︿/(8)/ Finally! naw i'm just chillin'. About the favor- AFAIU you were saving it 4 something special? o_O
t-738128-ind(you): meet me at the vehicle yard. i will see you there in a bit.
>ts-315054-gfh: Okii!~~ <3<3 xoxo

God the way she types irritates me. I much prefer to speak with her in person for this very reason. I leave the message brief to leave the talking for later.

Thinking about the mystery message, it was probably somebody who saw me come in, and hopefully not much more than that. If it was whoever caused the scene, it doesn't really make sense for them to warn me.
t-738128-ind(you): thanks? anything, uh, else?
>t-657029-ind: That-may-have-come-off-as-threatening,-but-I-mean-it.-I-think-it-might-be-haunted.
I don't believe in ghosts. Maybe zombies. Not ghosts.
t-738128-ind(you): Who are you?
>t-657029-ind: Not-anyone-of-note.-I-am-nearby,-watching-from-the-road.-trust-me-though,-I-have-seen-weird-stuff.

I hold off on talking further to the TV guys, I don't want to send them here if this place is unsafe. Maybe once I get the fuel and split.

>Yeaaaaah, that rock has "MacGuffin" written all over it. I hope you're ready for a solid few weeks of intrigue and harrowing adventure.
If it's a big deal I can put it back! It might not even be valuable. Maybe it was just a pretty rock that the guy picked up. I'm only holding onto it on the off chance that it holds value.

2/3 Dowser 2021/12/28(Tue)10:59 No. 1018583 ID: 7e04cb
File 164071799679.png - (265.83KB , 800x600 , TQ31.png )

I arrive at the liquid storage branch of the refinery. I wasn't sure if what I was looking for would be marked but luckily for me, it seems an independent Tobak with a marker came through earlier with a marker and labelled everything for me.

Most of the containers are labelled with 'ICHOR' which is a colloquial term for anything acidic, corrosive or otherwise caustic. I find a line of containers marked with fuel, but most seem to be empty or converted to a different liquid.

After looking through each one, and not getting much luck, I end up to the last one in line. I tap the container a few times, and it isn't empty! Thank God. Alright, just need to turn this valve and fill up the cans, then leave.

Just gotta... turn it right. Right makes it looser, right?

Maybe if I get behind it I can... Al...most... Just gotta... put my weight into it...

3/3 Dowser 2021/12/28(Tue)11:00 No. 1018584 ID: 7e04cb
File 164071801783.png - (263.94KB , 800x600 , TQ32.png )

-snap-

...oops.

That’s lefty loosey… oh well. Any chance a tool could turn the shaft of that valve still?
If it’s truly haunted, a look around with infrared might reveal any ghosts.

You know the phrase is "righty tighty, lefty loosey," right? This is probably one blunder you'll never live down if anyone finds out it was you.

This is salvageable, right...? Maybe text your mechanic buddy for tech support.

Meanwhile, it seems Spooky might be a witness: "Mysterious how? Got some examples?"

This is really bad. If you don't have a tool to rotate what's left of the valve the only way to get the fuel is to damage the container wasting a lot of fuel you can't carry. That is one way of gaining a bad reputation among looter.
Is there another functional fuel tank nearby? Do you know anywhere you could find tools that weren't looted? Can this tank be open from the top?

>>1018584
You know that guy that's watching from the road? Pretty sure he saw that. And now he's going to tell everyone about how you broke this and no one can get fuel from it. So you better fix this before your reputation becomes "guy that broke the fuel valve".

>>1018584
Oh boy. How bad is the damage? Could you pull out what's left of the valve shaft and use one of the other valves (from an empty tank) to replace it?
Also yeah it's lefty-loosey, righty-tighty.

Dowser 2021/12/28(Tue)13:55 No. 1018605 ID: 7e04cb
File 164072850395.png - (239.88KB , 800x600 , TQ33.png )

>Meanwhile, it seems Spooky might be a witness
I ask him to elaborate on what he was seen.
t-738128-ind(you): what kind of weird stuff? got some examples?
>t-657029-ind: people-have-told-me-that-they-see-a-shadowy-guy-lurking-around.-nobody-recognizes-him-or-his-affiliation.-he-is-always-too-far-away-to-get-a-good-look-at. not-to-mention-that-there-have-been-a-few-times-where-tobaks-have-entered-and-never-returned.-those-are-the-rumors-anyway.-I-bet-the-place-was-built-on-a-tribal-worshipping-ground.
>t-657029-ind: I've-tried-stopping-everyone-I-can-from-entering-but-I-must-have-missed-you.-If-you-see-a-shadowy-guy,-watch-out!
I'm pretty sure this guy is just telling me stuff just to scare me off. I'm not a kid anymore, I don't believe in fairy tales.

>If it’s truly haunted, a look around with infrared might reveal any ghosts.
That's ridiculous, there is no such thing as ghosts.

>Any chance a tool could turn the shaft of that valve still?
hmmm maybe if I look for one. I don't think I have anything on me that could do that...

>This is probably one blunder you'll never live down if anyone finds out it was you.
Oh god, oh HELL. nobody can ever know.

>Text the mechanic
What did I just say? Nobody can ever know! Besides, I feel like this isn’t worth his attention.

>If you don't have a tool to rotate what's left of the valve the only way to get the fuel is to damage the container wasting a lot of fuel you can't carry. That is one way of gaining a bad reputation among looters.
OH GOD OH GOD NOT MY REP.

>You know that guy that's watching from the road? Pretty sure he saw that. And now he's going to tell everyone about how you broke this, and no one can get fuel from it. So, you better fix this before your reputation becomes "guy that broke the fuel valve".
AAHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHY ISN'T IT FITTING BACK IN.

>Is there another functional fuel tank nearby
That depends, does napalm work good as fuel?

>Can this tank be opened from the top?
I assume so, the top is flat so I'm guessing there is some sort of hatch. I'll have to take the catwalk, problem is that if it's mostly empty, I'll have to find a way of filling the cans from up top.

>Do you know anywhere you could find tools that weren't looted?
Maybe if I look around. Maybe find a wrench or something.

Or I could... Get my pickaxe and... y'know...

The higher you aim, the less fuel you’ll drain. Get up on the catwalk to gauge how much is there.

>>1018605
Find a bucket and a really long rope, attach rope to bucket, lower bucket down from the top of the tank, pull bucket up with fuel, pour fuel into cans, repeat until cans are full.

Make sure you don't fall into the fuel silo because you won't be able to get back out if you do.

>Or I could... Get my pickaxe and... y'know...
Isn't that risky? If you do that, you might cause a spark, which would ignite the fuel and cause an explosion! Which would be extremely bad, since there's also napalm in the next silo over and that's even more explosive!

>>1018607
Agreed, on both accounts. Especially the latter point, fuel fires aren't fun and go boom VERY fast.

Sidenote, in absence of glorious bucket, you can double back and salvage some clothes and jurry-rig a "cloth bag" with that and the nailgun. Rope too I guess, but what industrial site doesn't have rope and a bucket?

>>1018605
just find a wrench and use that. jesus, there's pipes all over the place, there's gotta be a pipe wrench sitting around somewhere.

oh, also, there's totally a scary shadow guy right behind you, and he'll probably vanish the moment you look. tricks of the medium are non-negotiable, you see.

>>1018607
>Find a bucket and a really long rope...
I was thinking something along those lines. The bucket may not even be necessary if the cans can be lower with the rope.

If you find a wrench before finding a rope it's an even better solution for the problem.

The pickaxe is exactly what I was referring to in relation to waste fuel you can't carry. Not only that you would also be spilling who knows how much flammable liquid around you.

Now pay attention to the apparently male tobak to your left.

Jammer on, now. Fix screw-up later, address Tobak behind you now.

> Mysterious Lurker
> Witnesses Go Missing
> Missing Prize In Clay's Pocket
Ladies and gents, we have our second suspect (after the Neumono Company as our first).

>>1018605
Looks like the shadow dude is behind you.

>high tech case
Fine, whatever. We should probably make our own faraday cage for the rock then. All it is is some metal mesh made into a container. It should block the signal.

>Trackers
Wouldn't you be able to sense the EM signal coming from tracking chips? I mean, they have to give off something be tracked.

>broken wheel
You are going to need a blowtorch. Pretty much the only way. I thought about making thermite (aluminum shavings and rust powder), but you would need a crucible which you don't really have, nor would you likely be able to make one.

If I were to guess, there probably isn't an opening at the top. Originally, they probably attached a hose to the nozzle with the shutoff valve closed, and once attached, opened the valve and pumped in the fuel.

I suppose you could also find an empty tank and replace the valve from that, although you may need some tools to safely replace the handle without opening the valve and spilling fuel everywhere.

Second on the pipe wrench, also probably dont spill a lot of highly flammable fuel in a room full of caustic and flammable liquids

Peek at spooky shadow guy with your peripheral vision, prooooobably dont wanna look directly at him

righty tighty, lefty loosey is the motto I believe.

Anyways you have rope right? if their is a hatch at the top you can just tie the rope around the handles of the jerry cans and lower them into the tank to fill them. Also if you have a marker, if you can't fix the valve you can leave a not saying, "valve fell off, need to get fuel from the top." If anyone ask, just say the valve was stuck and came off when you tried to open it. Everything around here is so old that it wouldn't be to strange that something just broke and you were just the unfortunate bloke that it happened to when the thing finally give up the ghost.

Ya made a big CRNK noise. Check to see if anyone came to check on it. This could include your magno-sense and popping the infragog over an eye, pending level of paranoia.

As for what to do, there's not a whole lot you can do without specialized tool - that break looks like it went pretty far in. Trying to open it from the top and lowering the cans down with a sturdy piece of cabling or wiring might work. Anything you can find nearby?

>>1018605
Who's that behind you?! Why can't you sense them?

Is it a belenos? Try your infragog.

1/3 Dowser 2021/12/29(Wed)17:18 No. 1018717 ID: 7e04cb
File 164082708054.png - (200.55KB , 800x600 , TQ34.png )

>Wouldn't you be able to sense the EM signal coming from tracking chips?
I don't know much about technology, but it isn't hard to sneak stuff underneath our radar.

>oh, also, there's totally a scary shadow guy right behind you, and he'll probably vanish the moment you look. tricks of the medium are non-negotiable, you see.
The what? a scary shadow... what the hell is that.

It's some... featureless... grey thing.

The harder I look at it, the less I can make out... It has horns? I think? and fur? No eyes, no mouth... I am looking at it through perfect dark vision, and I can't see it properly.

>magno-sense
My jammer us turned off at the moment, the only thing I'm getting a signature from is the ore in my bag... Whatever this shadow is, it isn't a person...

>infragog
I pull it out and try to observe it through the gog, but it doesn't have a heat signature... I can see right through it...

>Is it a belenos?
It's possible... I thought those guys were a little taller than this, but it'd explain why I can't sense it.

>We have our suspect
I'd certainly hope not...

I stand still, staring at it. A few minutes go by, and it doesn't move or do anything. Is it... my shadow? In a room with no light? A tobak shaped cardboard cut-out? Whatever it is, it seems harmless, or at least intent on not doing anything. So, I decide to move on to get the hell out of here as quick as possible.

2/3 Dowser 2021/12/29(Wed)17:18 No. 1018718 ID: 7e04cb
File 164082712380.png - (280.10KB , 800x600 , TQ35.png )

>You are going to need a blowtorch.
I find a blowtorch! Now all It needs is fuel...

>Pipe wrench
I look around but it looks like whoever came before me also took almost everything not nailed down (heh)

>The higher you aim, the less fuel you’ll drain. Get up on the catwalk to gauge how much is there.
I open the hatch and it seems to be at least a third of the way full. might be a bad idea to put a hole in it from down there. Creating sparks near a fuel tank... yeah that may be bad...

While I'm up here, I find that there is indeed a hatch on the top.

>tie rope around the handles of the jerry cans and lower them into the tank to fill them.
Sounds like a much more sensible and feasible plan than what I had in mind originally. It's a good thing I stop to think about these things! I find enough cables around to make something like this work. I'm not the best at tying knots but this'll do.

I lower the first can into the silo and wait for it to fill. I lift it back up and boom! full jerry can! One down, one more to go! This plan works surprisingly well all things considered. The can smells like fuel but I don't mind that smell too much. It's a good smell. It smells nice.

Just gotta fill up the other can and I can finally move on!

3/3 Dowser 2021/12/29(Wed)17:19 No. 1018719 ID: 7e04cb
File 164082714396.png - (199.27KB , 800x600 , TQ36.png )

>"Give it back."

W...

What?

Did... Did the shadow just... speak??

turn around
see something is their
yell "OH FUCK A GHOST!"
throw something at it

>>1018719
Ask it what it wants. The ichor?

Tell the spirit he have to move on, go to the other side. Whatever duty he believe he is fulfilling is from long ago and this place is now abandoned. He can't keep haunting the living. Go find peace in the beyond.

>>1018719
It's only got one eye. Is it the ghost of the red guy downstairs? If it is, then he might want the infragog you took from him. Or he could want the ore that you took from his body.

She's after your lucky charms! Nailgun and run.

Offer macguffin rock. Strange things generally cause stranger things. Perhaps it wants that?

> Tobak Undead Mechanics
Fuck, fuck, okay, what do we know? We know there are rumors of Tobaks coming back from the dead. I don't think most aliens have such prominent stories about them not staying down. Males of your kind are attuned to electromagnetic stuff. Stories are... are more prevalent near the mantle! Is there something significant about that? One of the things that's different about different depth levels is... mineral types! If there's something special that lets Tobaks haunt the shit out of people, it's probably something that interacts between your special ability and a special mineral. ... Holy fuck, that's why you can't sense him; you have been sensing him from the beginning! The "real" Clay (or whatever's left of his mind) is in your fucking pocket!

Jammer on. NOW.

This shadow might have done the thing to the others, we should play this safe and try and ask it what it means. The real thing is, if we do give it back, will it still hurt us? And also is something worth dozens of armed gaurds and gear something we should be giving to something that as far as we can tell isn't real?

>>1018724
Eye color and pupil shape match. I would say it is almost 100% that guy. Now, there are several unknowns, however I would say we should go off of the assumption that this is, in fact, the guy, and his parent company somehow outfitted him with a way to fake his death (or come back from the brink, or repair tissue and resuscitate). I am pretty sure similar tech exists, so this seems like the most sensible possibility, so lets use occam's razor and just say he is alive.

Ask what he means.
Then, assuming he says something along the lines of, "You know what I mean." give him the rock. If he still isn't happy, give him the gog, followed by the beret (all three were off his body).

>>1018749
Looking back, it looks like the blood coming from his 'corpse' was both a bit brighter and more uniformly bright along the streaks than on the other corpses. This seems indicate that he was still actively bleeding. This would add more weight to my theory (along w/ any zombie theories).

Only issue is he doesn't seem to be covered in blood (he could have cleaned himself up, or the blood could have dried while we dicked around with the fuel).

--

Another possibility I just thought of is that the dead guy was a body double for this guy. If the corp thought something was going to go down here, they could have sent in a double while the real one did overwatch.

Dowser 2021/12/29(Wed)20:01 No. 1018754 ID: 7e04cb
File 164083690305.png - (173.73KB , 800x600 , TQ37.png )

>throw something at it
The only think I have close by are things I'd rather keep!

>Tell the spirit he has to move on, go to the other side.
"Move on, spirit! What business you left unfulfilled is from long ago, you cannot keep haunting the living, go find peace in the beyond!"
>"I am not a ghost you idiot. I’m still alive.”
His lack of magnetic pulse says otherwise.

>Ask it what it wants. The ichor?
"What do you want? The ichor?"
>"No. What would I do with a vat of acid? Drink it? Take a bath in it?"
"Then what do you want? The rock?"
>"Bingo. And while you're at it, give me back my beret and goggles. You should be thankful I'm giving you a chance and that I didn't skip right to the part where I kick your ass for poking me."
He was awake while I was doing that??

The more and more I look at and talk to him, the more he comes into focus... I can tell that It's clearly the guy from before, the one who I grave robbed - General Clay.

>Jammer on
I turn the jammer on, but he is still standing there, looking at me.
>"Were you trying to accomplish something? Turning on that jammer?"

>She's after your lucky charms! Nailgun and run.
That's a she? I would nailgun and run but I'm on top of a fuel silo several metres tall with the only pathway blocked by him. or her?

>"Look. If you give it back, I won't hurt you. I just need to get that rock, and bring it to... uh... damn it... who was it? who do I work for again? Why can't I... remember?"

>is something worth dozens of armed guards and gear something we should be giving to something that as far as we can tell isn't real?
Wait... This isn't real? I'm sure there's a rational explanation. I just need to figure out what's happening here. Is it a zombie?? Is its soul trapped in the ore???

Ask General Zombie how he's still alive and why you cant sense them, and why they have no body heat.

Also point out he's very clearly been shot in the head, so that probably explains the memory loss.

And of course ask if he remembers what the deal with the funny multicolored rock(s) is, or why two companies and possibly extra killed over it.

>>1018754
Yeah that's not the real Clay. You had the jammer off, they had no magnetic signature. Also, the bullet hole in the face. I'm guessing this is some kind of creature that can read minds, and thus read your memories of Clay's body to make a doppelganger to lower your guard. The body you're looking at might not even be real- it might be inside your head, forming an illusion of what you're seeing and the conversation you're having.
It's some kind of predator, likely. Something that eats Tobaks, but it's an ambush predator. It didn't move a muscle while you were looking at its unformed shape. I suspect it can't move very fast.

Try shooting it.

I think he may actually be something undead adjacent, not undead as that requires things like magic and all that but considering what we've seen...
This man was obviously dead before.
This man did not react to you taking the stone as he was dead.
This man first showed up as a grey silhouette.
This man cannot remember who they work for.
They do not have a magnetic signature.
This could mean several things.
This is somehow a projection or manifestation from the stone or otherwise, possibly a hallucination, this would explain the gray silhouette and the poor memory as it would be made from information available from the building or you brain, it could be that the magnetic signature it's outputting or something else about it is causing you to hallucinate so it was contained in lead to prevent that, so the solution to this scenario is to put it back into the case.
There's also the possibility this is an alien using advanced technology, the grey silhouette could have been cloaking technology that's effective on aliens but makes an odd silhouette for your species which explains what the dude who texted you saw, especially since if the silhouette was this person they wouldn't have remained where they died so this leads me to believe that this alien has disguised themselves as that dead tobak to fool you and they mentioned not remembering to free suspicion from not being able to tell you which company the tobak is from.

The solution to both of these problems turns out to be going back to the room you found the stone. Point your nailgun at this person and claim you will give them back the stone but only if you go back to the room you found it in, bluff if need be.

tell him you are very confused as he currently doesn't have a pulse which is both confusing you and creeping you out a little and why didn't he say something when you poked him. I mean that was the reason you poked him to see if he was alive, would have been a good time to say something.

Also is he still missing his arm? If so how is he not bleeding out? Speaking of which fuck the rock buddy you need medical aid like right now. I mean yeah we can talk about giving your stuff back later because right now you do not look like you should even be walking.

Unless his arm is reattached, in which case how the fuck did he reattach his arm?

Ok... You look more physical than I first though, but last I checked you were cold dead: no pulse, no breath, no reaction to stimuli and no magnetism. Even now I can't feel you and the heat vision show you as the same temperature as the surroundings.

Before getting any closer I have a few questions:
-Is this contagious?
-How is this possible?
-What does this feel like?
-Will you somehow recuperate or decay?

I will give your stuff back, just let me put them down and walk away. Please don't turn me into a zombie.

> Need to focus to bring him into being.
A ghost, still, not a zombie. Though one can see why almost everyone would make that mistake. A mundane trickster is unlikely; the most advanced cloaking tech in the galaxy can't be this good, and there's no reason for them to stick around for as long as Spooky is implying - the bodies would have been the first place I'd have looked for missing objective items. Meanwhile, whatever's making him possible, the jammer isn't disrupting it, so maybe this spectral trick is indeed self-propelled.

"You were awake for that? But- but why didn't you say anything before! And... I checked. I didn't do this to you, but whoever did, did so pretty dang thoroughly! I checked your pulse - nothing. I couldn't sense you while the jammer was off. You- You don't even show up on your own thermal goggle, for crying out loud! I... I can hand the stuff over, but we're going where I found you, first. I... I need to confirm I'm not losing my mind here."

>>1018754
Okay... okay keep your cool here. Maybe it's that rock's magnetism affecting your brain - and maybe it was affecting CLAY'S brain before they died, too! So, like, an imprint of Clay got stuck in the rock when he died, and is now echoing in your head by way of the weird rock? Would explain why 'his' memory's all shot - it could be at least partly (maybe mostly) YOUR memory, since Clay remembers being poked and what you took, despite being very much dead at the time!

No wonder these rocks are valuable, if that's something they can do.

Or maybe this place is really just haunted, since the jammer should've messed up any kind of signal the rock was sending you, right? Unless the close proximity to the rock overrules that. You could try taking out the rock and removing yourself from its immediate vicinity with the jammer still on to test that.

Though... maybe talk to and appease the apparition first? Be, like, reasonable with it?

"I'd be happy to return your rock and stuff if you help me out here. Your entire team's, like, dead anyway, and your memory's looking real bad (wow didn't know you could survive head-wounds that fatal-looking), so you might as well join me for the moment, right? I'm indep, so had nothing to do with whoever attacked you, I really thought you were dead, uh, sorry about the poking and the looting, then."

Shrug nervously.

"Look, I'd be happy to escort you wherever you think you need to go and bring the rock too, but... what are you doing in my hea- uh, here in the first place, General? Heck, what are these rocks, and who, um, ambushed you and the other guys? Can you remember ANYTHING?"

Try to run a quick test as to their physicality. Move over to 'em and poke 'em. Or, like, trick 'em to pick up a jerry can or something.

Oh, it's just you. It's rude to not wake up when someone's poking you, you know?
Now, your memory's clearly taken a tumble. Why don't you let me hold onto this until your head's cleared up? I'll help you find someone who can get you healed up. Someone killed a lot of people in here, after all. Likely some of them were your doing...
Oh dear, what about his arm? Is it still bleeding?

>>1018754
If my revival-bot theory is right, they may still have brain damage that is healing. You could give them a second for that to finish up.

>>1018758
We could test this without shooting. If you can, try to think up some details about the corpse that you know are false (like have the little voice in your head say the factually untrue things). Like think something like "he was wearing brown so he must be working for the Neumonos". and see if they say that. If they do, we know they are a fake of some sort. If they don't, we are back at square one, but it is still worth trying.

>>1018774
>bleeding arm
Good idea! Glance at their arm and see if they tied off the wound at all or if it is still just oozing out (or, assuming their heart or heart equivalent organ is working, rhythmically spurting out).

I agree with the idea the rock is somehow retaining psychological signatures or energy, possibly on an electromagnetic level due to your species.

This guy is a brain ghost you're channeling through your horns and from the looks of it, not an entirely complete one.

Unless you're willing to fight over the stone, just hand it to him.

1. It's the thing he asked for, so that's most likely to appease him.
2. If he's not corporeal, he probably won't be able to take it, answering that question.
3. If he IS corporeal, or can otherwise take the stone, he could (and probably would) fight you for it, and probably win, so I don't think there's much to gain by fighting over it. Sorta doesn't even matter if he is what he says he is.

Now, if you ARE willing to fight over the probably expensive rock-we-don't-know-what-it-does, your best option would probably be booking it, maybe first chucking a distraction. Frankly, though, we already had enough stuff on our plate today, and it doesn't seem like you're really after becoming rich; just earning enough to get by.

Whole handing it over ask what the fuck happened in there. Also examine his arm. Still off?

Is it possible that the bullet hit the part of his brain that connects to the horns?

A lot of thoughts here that Clay might actually be a physical entity, but there's a reason why that's doubtful: He appeared as a frickin' shapeless grey shade to begin with! He only took that form after a while. It's like... it took a while to form a mental connection?

There's a possibility it's this place and not the rock itself, like you were warned by that other guy, but that sounds more like tribal superstition than anything. There's gotta be a rational explanation for why you're talking to a dead guy! You're way too young and beautiful to be insane or haunted!

You should still fill up that second jerry can while speaking to Clay and ready yourself to get going ASAP.

Know what? this is not worth getting in trouble for. Lay the stone on a table or something, and walk away.

Still, may ask him how he's even alive, especially as you can't sense him.

>>1018754
Alright, in order:
"Dude, I was poking you because you were super dead, you have a big hole in your forehead.

Two, you have no magnetism and can't remember your employer, which unless you got some kind of internal suppressor, probably means you've got brain damage.

Three, before you grew a face just now you were some kind of funky cloud of nondescript grey, and I think the weird rock did that.

And four, you don't have a pulse.

Conclusion: hey dude you're a zombie ghost and you might have bigger issues right now because of it.

Take a moment to confirm, poke yourself as needed."

doesn't seem like a dickbag so far, but they don't seem to grok the severity of their situation.

He could be using advanced stealth tech or even being a ciborg of some kind, so maybe he were not dead. Also he could have his horns jammed in some way to not emmit pulses?

Retun his things, you are a looter not a thief. Also he seems to have some kind of heath issue, ask if he needs medical aid of some kind.

Also ask why he didn't react when you poked him, you would have stoped first. Ask if he can tell you what the hell happened there (more curiosity than need). And ask if you can provide him some kind of medical aid, he clearly is passing for a lot (amnesia can't be good).

The zombie ghost theory has one problem with it: the spooky shadow thing was implied to be here for a long time. Long enough for it to be known as a thing that might be killing people. Clay died relatively recently- some of the blood from the fight was still dripping, even.

Unless the spooky shadow thing has a particular affinity for the magnetic ore that caused it to just now be possessed by Clay's ghost it's not actually Clay or any kind of undead.

1/2 Dowser 2021/12/30(Thu)16:18 No. 1018844 ID: 7e04cb
File 164090988961.png - (239.78KB , 800x600 , TQ38.png )

"I had nothing to do with whoever attacked you, I really thought you were dead, uh, sorry about the poking and the looting, then."
>"Save the pleasantries. I have a duty to fulfill."

"How are you still alive? Why can't I sense you? And why don't you have any body heat? You didn't even have a pulse."
>"I'm not sure. I don't remember anything before coming here."
"Would the bullet wound explain the memory loss?"
>"That could be one explanation. I feel like I should know a lot more than I do."
"Do you remember what the deal is with the rock, and the conflict between those company guys? Was there an ambush? If so, who was responsible? What else was in the briefcase?"
>"I can't recall a single thing. I feel I should know at least one of those, but I don't."
"Why didn't you say something when I was poking you?"
>"...I don't know..."

I’m getting a lot of uncertainty from him. I’m not sure what his deal is.

>Is it possible that the bullet hit the part of his brain that connects to the horns?
I don't even know if that's possible, so I wouldn't put my money on it.

>Also is he still missing his arm?
His arms are behind his back, so I'll ask him to show me.
"Your hand, is it still missing?"
>"Hm? Hold on, let me check." He presents his arms and to my suspicion, it remains severed.
>"Ah."
"Dude, how are you not bleeding everywhere? Forget the rock, you need medical aid! Maybe we can find a doctor or something."
>"No no, it's alright. It... doesn't hurt..."

"Is... whatever you have contagious?"
>"What? being alive? You tell me. assuming I was dead, I could've caught it from you. "
"What does it feel like? are you recuperating or decaying?"
>"It doesn't feel like anything. I don't feel as though I'm falling apart or getting better. It's... abnormal."

2/2 Dowser 2021/12/30(Thu)16:18 No. 1018845 ID: 7e04cb
File 164090990543.png - (248.49KB , 800x600 , TQ39.png )

>Is he corporeal?
Only one way to find out.

>Shoot him
I pull out my nailgun and take a shot at him. It passes right through.
>"I see..."

"Do you still want the rock?"
>"No. It'll just fall right through my hands. And besides, I don't even know what I'd do with it anyway."

>You're way too young and beautiful to be insane or haunted!
Now this I completely agree with. Something must have brought this on, and I'm guessing that the ore is the culprit.

>Okay... okay keep your cool here. Maybe it's that rock's magnetism affecting your brain - and maybe it was affecting CLAY'S brain before they died, too! So, like, an imprint of Clay got stuck in the rock when he died, and is now echoing in your head by way of the weird rock
That sounds supernatural. I can believe that the rock is affecting me on a psychological level, but I don't think his soul or memories are haunting me. And I certainly don't believe there's some ancient ghost roaming the halls of the refinery and taking the form of a dead guy to rob me. I'm starting to believe this rock might hold some value after all.

>go back to the room you found the stone.
"Would you mind going back to the room where I found you? That way we can prove if you're you, or..."
>"No need. I'm convinced."

He walks right up to me. I put my guard up, but I have a feeling that I don't have anything to actually worry about.

>"Alright, Dowser, I have come to only one conclusion. I'm not real, am I?"
"Uh... evidence points to no, you're not... You know my name?" He seems fairly self-aware for a fragment of my imagination.
>"You don't know anything about the actual G.Clay, do you? I'm just a character you made up in your head. I don't know anything you don't know. And I know everything you know. There is one way to prove it with certainty. Use your imagination to change a physical aspect of me. Or multiple. Do whatever you want."

>"Do whatever you want."
Oh, Clay my buddy you messed up with this freedom of choice...

Make Him a Her :V

Fix Clay's arm with a cool robot prosthetic. Then make his antlers shimmer like the rock, so you know he's a ghost.

imagine a 12 inch cock and double d boobies lol

>>1018845
Looks like... you have a second independent brain, sort of? A second mental track? Created by the rock?

Well, see if you can’t fix ‘em up. Arm restored, infragog in place, hat back on. They can stay Clay for now. Dunno why they showed up like him. Maybe because he had it last? Or you had thoughts of ghosts on your mind?

Either way, establish ground rules. Say you’ll be acting like they’re not there when around others to avoid coming off as insane, but you’re happy enough to chat when not. Basically the same person now, right? Sort of. If sharing memories. Anything they think they can do for you?

Finish up filling the jerry cans and get ready to leave. Inform the indeps about the haul here and ask for 10%, or... ask your second mind if it’s got an opinion on that - or is it really just like a second train of thoughts so you can keep a convo going with yourself?

>>1018850
>sharing memories
Pretty sure he just told us that's not possible, since he's a figment of our imagination and not the real Clay. He doesn't have any of Clay's memories.

maybe the rock is alive or something and it just thinks its clay because it was around him long enough to grow a connection. I mean the rock is pretty much the only thing I can think of, of why you're being haunted. While either that or their is someone with superpowers is down here and thinks that the best use of said powers is messing with random scavengers, though that's even less likely than the ghost theory.

One thing to do to see if you can change what he looks like is make it so he doesn't look like he just got torn apart by a wild animal. Maybe change his fur color a bit too if you can change him just so you can pretend you're not talking to a dead guy. I mean talking to someone you saw brutally murdered is kiiiiiiind of creepy so making him look different enough that he doesn't look like a dead body you looted might help make it less so. And if that's not enough maybe imagine what he'd look like if he was female. seeing how different the sexes look for your species that should put enough distance from talking to a dead body and instead turn it into talking to an imaginary friend so it's not AS disturbing.

>>1018851
As in, sharing the same memories makes them both the same person. Ish. Right? Unless there's something else the other can recall that isn't Dowser's memories.

>>1018845
Huh, the shadow thing isn't corporeal.
...wait, the shadow thing only showed up after the mysterious phone contact told you about it. Maybe there was never a shadow, and that phone contact put that idea in your head on purpose? Hmm. I dunno why they'd do that, so maybe the story of the shadow thing was just a haunted house myth. Made up. Then whatever's happening to you made you hallucinate it.

Alright, first thing's first, clean up the poor guy. No more bullet hole or blood, and give him his arm back.

>>1018845
He’s going to regret saying that.

Make him a female with really big boobs.

>>1018845
ooh ooh, cool robot face! cool robot face!

That is kind of crazy.

Try to visualize him as something small that won't obscure too much of your vision. Give him a form that won't be confused with anything you might encounter. If possible make him float so you can look at him at eye level and his presence doesn't mess with your perception of the environment.
I know I'm basic asking for a chibi version of General Clay and that that sound a little weird, but I'm serious about the utility of minimize the obtrusiveness of this hallucination.

So hey... imaginary friend... Do you want something?

oh no don't imagine him as you but totally naked by accident that would be really weird even without nobody around but that stalker guy
But also haha, the guy named Clay is free to change around. Can you do wacky things like have him tell you what's around corners you haven't looked around? You should test out what you can do. Also adding vote to cool robot prosthetics and fabulous ghost effects like shimmery seethroughness!

Turn him into the sexiest boy or girl tobak you’ve ever imagined.

Remove his injuries.

>>1018875
Hahaha, yes; chi-bi-Clay! Chi-bi-Clay! Chi-bi-Clay!

>>1018900
Seconding this.

1/4 Dowser 2021/12/31(Fri)12:31 No. 1018933 ID: 7e04cb
File 164098266674.png - (218.79KB , 800x600 , TQ40.png )

>The guy named Clay is free to change around
I didn't even think of that. That's hilarious.

>Restore arm, infragog in place, hat back on
Sounds reasonable. let's see if I can make that happen.

>Fix Clay's arm with a cool robot prosthetic.
Oooooh that sounds cool, let's give that a try.

>clean up the poor guy. No more bullet hole or blood.
The blood and injuries are no more!

>cool robot face! cool robot face!
But of course, I need the face to match the arm! I saw something like this in a cybernetics catalogue once.

>"I see. So, you can change what I look like. Am I some kind of cyborg now? I have to hand it to you; these are quite interesting choices. Even though I am a part of your psyche, I must compliment you on your creativity, as egotistical as that might sound."

"Hold that thought, I feel a different idea coming on."

2/4 Dowser 2021/12/31(Fri)12:31 No. 1018934 ID: 7e04cb
File 164098268189.png - (231.39KB , 800x600 , TQ41.png )

>Make Him a Her
>Turn him into the sexiest boy or girl tobak you’ve ever imagined.
>Make him a female with really big boobs.

>"...Never mind. "

3/4 Dowser 2021/12/31(Fri)12:31 No. 1018935 ID: 7e04cb
File 164098269754.png - (181.79KB , 800x600 , TQ42.png )

"Eheh..."

At least she looks less like that dead guy now?

>"Weren't you going to try visualise me as something that won't get in the way of your vision? Did you forget how large female tobaks are?"
"Fine, I had another idea-"
>"That's quite alright. I'll stay as this for the time being. I believe I have the same level of control over my appearance as you have, so I can change my form to something more suitable if need be."

4/4 Dowser 2021/12/31(Fri)12:31 No. 1018936 ID: 7e04cb
File 164098271342.png - (197.84KB , 800x600 , TQ43.png )

>Dunno why they showed up like him. Maybe because he had it last? Or you had thoughts of ghosts on your mind?
I suppose his body was the last thing I looked at with any sort of focus. My mind filled in the rest of the blanks.

>Looks like... you have a second independent brain, sort of? A second mental track? Created by the rock?
If I were to guess, we seem to think somewhat independently of each other despite knowing all the same information. I feel like I’m talking to someone else.

>Maybe there was never a shadow, and that phone contact put that idea in your head on purpose?
Likely just coincidental superstition. Miners are a superstitious bunch, and it isn't always unfounded.

>Tobak predator.
While it has been ruled out what the most probable cause is, tobaks do have predators. I've heard about mind controlling neumono predators and how similar the Tobak equivalent is. While ours don't use mind control, they do take advantage of our magnetic sense and use it against us. Luckily, I don't have to worry about running into any head splitters in this area.

>Can you do wacky things like have him tell you what's around corners you haven't looked around?
>"I know what you're going to ask, and no. I cannot look around corners and tell you what's behind. I only know and see what you know and see."

>Ground rules
"Right, well, uh ground rules. I'll pretend you're not around when talking to others, I don't want people thinking I'm insane."
>"You are insane, are you not? imaginary friends induced by strange rocks are not normal, last I had checked."
"Is there anything you can do for me?"
>"I can offer you second opinions, but you don't need to seek advice from me since I don't know if I'm going to disappear the moment you part ways with the rock or keep the jammer on for long enough."
"This rock... how is it doing this?"
>"My guess is that it's doing something through your horns. Might be why those guys had a jammer in the first place. And all of this started happening to you the moment you turned it off, right?"
"It's possible..." Maybe this property makes the rock ultra-valuable?

"So, hey... imaginary friend... Do you want something?"
>"Not in particular. I'm not opposed with going with the flow because I have no goal in particular. Not like I have many options, essentially being a ghost that only you can see."
"You're not gonna haunt me forever, are you?"
>"No. As a matter a fact. I think we're done here; I'll go back to observing quietly."

It disappears. Alright then.

I fill up the other jerry can, and that's all the business I had here. I can choose where to go from now. I can go to the excavator or cache and drop off some of this swag, that way I can have room for more. I can go to the mining camp east of here to search for a gyroscopic module so the mechanic can fix up a mech for me to use, as well as search for more loot. I can also head right to the vehicle yard so that I can give these cans to the mechanic and meet up with the guard for hire.

Head to the vehicle yard so you can get to all those places faster on the Kettenkrad.

>>1018936
uh, quick point, if it was something active with the gem wouldn't the lead-lined case have prevented it from affecting us?

You know... it could be permanent. Could possibly test by putting that rock in the case, and stepping a good bit away for a while, see if Clay vanishes, or is very much still there.

If it IS permanent... You're now looking at a unit who most definitely looks as if she would crush your pelvis, if you didnt phase through. Nice.

But yeah, Vehicle Yard. Proper vehicle would expedite the salvage operation pretty nicely..

>you are insane
That'd make them insane too, no? So let's just say 'nuh-uh' to that and claim weird science did it, somehow.

>I don't know if I'm going to disappear the moment you part ways with the rock
Yeah, I doubt their stay will be permanent. The weird magnetism is definitely involved somehow though, so getting a solid link between the two probably... improves reception or something? Or could allow you to stay in touch even through a jammer field?

Maybe you could secure it in your hair between your horns and hide it under the looted beret? Even if you don't, lightly touch it to your horns to see if that actually has any additional effects.

Yay to doing weird totally not crazy science to yourself!

>It disappears
Well that was quite something - and even if you can't see it it's still there, too. Maybe respect your sudden other-self's apparent autonomy the next time and don't swap 'em out too badly? Granted, they seem to have some control of their own visual options and didn't complain overmuch. Who knows what they'll appear as next, though.

But... a completely different perspective with your memories now exists, in your head. Huh. Yeah, this rock is probably worth a fair bit even if the practical uses of a headbuddy seems semi-limited (although, give it a really smart Tobak and you'd have two really smart Tobaks playing off of one another).

Wonder if it'd be worth it to just keep the rock. You'd at least never get lonely and it feels a bit sad that you kind of have to, well, literally sell off a part of yourself, however recently introduced to existence. Though they did also seem pretty cool about it in a 'well, not much I can do here about this situation' kind of way. Guess you'll just have to see how things go. Selling it is definitely still in the cards both for cash and to avoid attracting trouble in the long run, but the whole headbuddy thing might be worth giving a go for if it proves useful.

>What next
Mmm. Still feel you should just offer the TV-buds (or bud) the remaining score for decent percentage of the loot, and then head to the vecicle yard and meet up with the machinist. Neumono still needs saving and you ostensibly have what you need for that.

Maybe he'd agree to help out s'more for a cut of the loot score you just found. He'd certainly have the carrying capacity for most of the gear there.

> Ghost-buddy mechanics.
Yeah, I'd wager this is exactly what led to those mantle-depth stories. A male Tobak sees someone die - that'll burn an image in their brain. They're exposed to this mineral, which is likely more common near the mantle. One or more varieties of guilt (survivor, culprit, etc.) plus familiarity with the Tobak in life will amplify the resulting performance. Boom; you have your "zombie."

Theoretically, if your jammer was down, other male Tobaks might start seeing things. Better keep it up.

> Ghost situation defused; all in your head?
Wait.
Shit.
Watch your surroundings as you GTFO. That can't have been the "ghost" Spooky was talking about.

>>1018938
Agreed, I'm sure ghost wife will appreciate not having to imagine herself walking everywhere.

>>1018936
The fact that you made "Clay" really sexy says something about you. It says that you're lonely and you really want a girlfriend. Possibly one that's just as attractive as "Clay" was before it disappeared.

You mentioned that acid could be used to get through a razorworm's shell, right? Would ichor do the trick? 'Cause if it would, then perhaps you could somehow use it against the razorworms that have trapped that neumono. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how. You'd need a container that's acid-proof, first off. However, after that I can't think of a direct delivery method that could hit the razorworms without either major risk of getting ichor on you or whoever else is applying the ichor, or having to get so close to the razorworms to do so that you or whoever else did so would probably get ripped apart by the worms the ichor missed.

Maybe a trap in conjunction with the thumper. Use the thumper to draw the razorworms down a narrow pass or crevasse, then have, I dunno, a tripwire tip a big bucket full of ichor over on 'em. Then the ones that don't get immediately splashed would have to move through the puddle of ichor left behind. Hm, that could work. Better remember to ask the mechanic guy next time you see him if he's got a large acid-proof container.

>>1018936

Let's make our delivery, then see what our new friend has to say about matters, since it seems G. Clay (that's Ghost Clay) may be able to provide additional insight.

>>1019105
Oh, but ask the mechanic first how long it's been since he, or anyone else he knows of, has visited the refinery. That'll give a upper limit to how long it's been since this massacre.

>>1018979
Or you are just a pervert on the inside (totally fine, btw).

Anyway, lets fall back to the original plan.
Take the fuel back to the mechanic.

Before we do that, do you know how to weld safely? If so, we may want to consider welding the handle back on the tank (the fuel is probably gasoline or some flavor of diesel. if it is the former, we would have to be very skilled and/or extremely careful not to heat the tank enough to cause ignition or an explosion).
Otherwise just grab the blowtorch and handle and take them with you.

We can tell the mechanic that the handle broke and needs welded on.

>>1019120
Most of the blood was dry, but there was some still wet. Unless tobak blood takes a very long time to evaporate, it was probably within a day (human corpses stop bleeding within 6 hours so honestly, assuming the anatomy is similar, it all probably went down about 4-5 hours ago, since we seem to be on the tail-end of the setting period in these corpses). There also weren't any organisms eating them (things analogous to flies and such).

>>1018936
Looked into opals. Opals are generally formed in sedimentary rock as it turns into metamorphic; however, it also is rarely formed in volcanic activity. Opal itself is generally not conductive itself, so whatever is causing this is most likely whatever is inside the opal. This is ofc assuming it is in fact an opal.

Basically the takeaway is either there is another, probably more mundane rock that the opal grew around/on/in that is causing the mental stuff, or it isn't an opal at all.

Also of note is that fucker is worth a pretty large sum(current irl markets put that opal, which is probably either a black or boulder opal, at around $3.5k-$10k per carat, which is 0.2 grams. We have a fist-sized chunk. This is at least $18k).

It might be best to head back and give the mechanic the fuel. Having a ride would certainly speed up our adventures down here.

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>if it was something active with the gem wouldn't the lead-lined case have prevented it from affecting us?
The jammer seems to be enough. Maybe the case was lined with lead for a different item, assuming there were more items stored in it other than this ore.

>lightly touch it to your horns to see if that actually has any additional effects.
That depends, does this feeling of awkwardness count as an additional effect? I'm just kinda... standing around touching my horns with a rock. It sticks a little because of the magnetism but I can separate it without too much effort.

>Could be permanent
I hope not. Hallucinations are hardly beneficial. If nothing seems to make it to go away, I might just have to see a doctor. For now, it seems harmless.

>The fact that you made "Clay" really sexy says something about you.
Hey, that's not fair! how am I supposed to control what comes to mind so clearly? I can't be blamed for following my instincts, can I?
>Or you are just a pervert on the inside.
Psssssshhhhhh. I can't believe I'm judging myself like this.

>Theoretically, if your jammer was down, other male Tobaks might start seeing things. Better keep it up.
The jammer is on and I'm keeping it on, especially around other males. Especially if it’s possible for them to see what I did to my hallucination…

>do you know how to weld safely?
Nope! Few do, we tend to leave stuff like that for the aliens to repair.

>Head to the vehicle yard.
Sounds good to me. I start going down the part of the road that leads to the vehicle yard. As I do I look down to my PDA to resume my conversation with those TV guys. I'm thinking of starting off with a higher percent like 20 and lowering it down to 10.

t-738128-ind(you): all right. everything is in a small warehouse portion of the office complex at the refinery. there is blood and bodies. many nailguns and goggles as well as other pieces of equipment and things I didn't check for on many bodies. the cut I want out of it is 20% of all the stuff you sell.
>t-108742-ind: aLRIGHT. THAT SOUNDS FAIR. I'LL CHECK IT OUT. Ah damn it I totally could have asked for more!
t-411108-ind: I'll stay here. Watching this show. You should pay a visit some time Dowser, it’s getting really good.

>You mentioned that acid could be used to get through a razorworm's shell, right? Would ichor do the trick?
Most definitely. If it isn't metal or a certain plastic, it'll eat through just about anything. Problem is that I need an effective way of weaponizing it. If I can find a liquid sprayer, I could effectively use it as an acid thrower. I'll ask the mechanic.

t-738128-ind(you): hey. do you know where I can find a liquid sprayer for weaponizing ichor?
>t-845924-ind: hmmmmmm
>t-845924-ind: Oh - Yes! You know that mining camp? That'll probably have one! They used liquid sprayers to spray the giant drills when they needed coolant and lubrication. If you find one there, it'll probably be good to use. I can give you a ride there once you bring that fuel.
t-738128-ind(you): do you know how long it's been since you or anybody you know visited the refinery?
>t-845924-ind: It’s been a while. A day or two at least.
t-738128-ind(you): oh and by the way, the valve for the fuel silo is broken. needs welding.
>t-845924-ind: And the one who broke it didn't bother to fix it?
>t-845924-ind: The nerve on some people!
t-738128-ind(you): haha. yea.

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Out of the blue I get a message from the guy who saw me walk into the refinery.

>t-657029-ind: You-made-it-out.-Good.-Watch-out-though,-Raiders-coming-your-way.
t-738128-ind(you): what? where?
>t-657029-ind: WNW

I pull out my binoculars and look west by northwest. There are three tobaks riding some kind of scouting vehicle with the one at the top holding onto a mounted heavy nailgun. The vehicle kinda reminds me of a design of hovercraft I've seen, but this thing seems nowhere near as high tech, instead being grounded with tracks and a wheel. Like most vehicles that see use on Saxum VIII, liquid fuel is king, and gas vehicles get the most milage.

While organized criminals like this don't wear any sort of uniform or insignia to help identify themselves or make themselves stand out, I can tell that these guys are probably members of the deadrack raiders, who are local to the area. They are pretty far away and likely don't see me, but they are moving pretty fast and will probably spot me in the next few minutes. I don't know what their intentions are, but it probably isn't hard to guess.

Saxum VIII? You didn't even get to name your planet? That sucks, man.
Well, we should probably hide! It's a big refinery, head around to the far side.