Polo 2013/05/19(Sun)14:15 No. 511701 ID: c3663c
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I doubt I am hallucinating anything at the moment, unless they have had a breakthrough in the last 10 hours and replaced the hallucinogen gas with an odorless version.

Unless I did breathe the hallucinogen gas, smelled it, began hallucinating, and my memory tells me that I never smelled it in the first place.

"Bell, can you hear a hissing noise?"
>"Yes, but rear camera input does not allow me to pinpoint a direction."
"And do you know anything about these hallucinogens?"
>"Negative."
"You said you would pinpoint stalkers by movement, and specifically said you would not be able to detect light diffractions."
>"... I was wrong. I can now."

Damnit. This does not sit well with me. Maybe I am hallucinating, although since I am not in some absurd, non-cave location, I do not believe I am heavily influenced. These stalkers have a high chance of being real.

I hold my breath regardless. While I am tempted to move on, I spent too long thinking. One of the stalkers must have quickened its pace and pops out while I hold my breath. I cannot help but notice that it has its weapon out, but has chosen a knife over a gun.

Nono they had a breakthrough and now they can make camera mounted A.I.s hallucinate!

...yeah I got nothing.

>>511701
There's another option. Bell isn't Bell, but is the CAI, or some other individual trying to help us without us even knowing they're helping us- like one of the science hivers.

Also, I bet it's looking around the corner with the reflection on the blade. That's YOUR trick. I guess the ambush is ruined now. May as well start shooting.

>>511701
Bell, can you lie?
Bell, this statement is not true.

>I was wrong. I can now.
Previously, I suspected this was due to Bell using different equipment (the rear camera versus the visor) and them having different technical specifications (ie, the visor may have had night vision, IR and X-ray capability, but it lacked diffraction scanning).

However, if this were the case, your AI would have said so. They're logical like that.

...well, unless Bell is too dumb to realize the reason for his change in capability. But seeing as how he's been able to sass you, and the analyses he's performed for you before, I don't think that's likely.

I think the most likely explanation is that you've been hacked. The CAI got into your helmet and is helping you for some reason.

We'll deal with this later. Deal with the enemies in front of you now, we'll confront whatever's in your helmet later. If it is the CAI, I have a line of reasoning to try and turn them prepped and ready. >>/questdis/69728

>has chosen a knife over a gun
If she's outfitted like the first two cloakers we faced, that's because she doesn't have a gun. But she does have a grenade it may try and lob around the corner at you.

Weapon out means they know you're here. You can't let them continue to tail you, or report in. Gotta shoot. You can see that slight distortion to the right of the knife, right? That's the ear. Use that as a reference and pump several rounds into their head. Regretably, her breast barely pokes around the corner, so you aren't a good angle to put anything in her torso.

Whisper out as if you mistook the blur as Moi. Extremely unlikely that it actually is Moi but that might give you a few seconds to dive around their cover and unload into them.

Is this cloaker peaking around corners with a knife like YOU do at like every corner you find?

I thought we might have an issue with the CIA hacking our suit AI but seeing how the hole thing seemed to be on a close circuit I didn't think it could do it without us or somebody else to hook us up directly to it, like that usb port thing the CIA wanted us to use to hack the war hive's ship. however we have survived this long by living off a paranoia so why stop now, assume your suit's AI is compromised until we can prove otherwise.

Shoot the cloakers and see if you can't just take them down fast since I'm not sure how quickly the sound of gun fire will bring in enemy reinforcements.

>>511738
>how could they have hacked us without direct access?
Remote control is unlikely, as radio contact is intermittent and unreliable down here. Even for the enemy- their hidden relays don't cover everywhere. That means if we've been compromised, we're looking at something that was uploaded, or that Bell was reprogrammed.

As to how? I can think of a few possibilities.

We have a radio, and Bell is connected to it. The CAI could have gained access that way via their relays. That, or our gear was compromised before we left by bugged sabotuers. Sure, not deploying us with weapons or ammo would have been obvious. But giving us a suit with compromised AI? Much sublter. Or possibly, there was something hidden in the map data we downloaded from the hunter helmets.

It is probable that the CAI got into your helmet because a friendly science hiver found your camera at the duel site, and hacked it while it was sitting there unattended.

You're only going to have one or two shots with this gun before the recoil completely throws your aim off, so aim low to start. One shot below where you estimate its arm to be, then one more if the gun is still pointed at the cloaker after the recoil. This is make the cloaker bleed and compromise its cloaking so you'll be able to target it better.

Only continue firing if the cloaker immediately charges you. Unfortunately you'll have to go to burst fire or full auto if you hope to stop it before it gets to you. Otherwise, if the cloaker pulls back, you're going to have to assume it's going to use a grenade and you'd best get away from your current position right away and behind cover.

You can worry about Bell later, when you're not in a combat situation and not possibly hallucinating. However, if Bell was altered in some way it wasn't to the benefit of the salikai, since it has had plenty of opportunities to screw you over and hasn't. For example: It could have quietly turned your helmet's radio transmitter on and gave your position away without you knowing a thing. So its very likely trustworthy, as far as your safety goes.

Polo 2013/05/22(Wed)21:46 No. 512106 ID: c3663c
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I am uncertain how Bell would have been hacked or otherwise compromised, but the chances of it happening are non-zero. I will worry about it later.

I shoot. Enough blood comes off that I must have injured it significantly, but it immediately pulls back. I do not see either one, and a second passes.

At least one of them may very well be using a grenade.

Actually, that's less blood than I'd like to see for someone taking several machine gun rounds to the head.

Anyways, stop wasting ammo, they pulled back. You need to either duck behind cover, and/or pull back or around, to try and avoid a counterattack or grenade.

They're either going to attack around the corner with a grenade, or try and sneak wide with invisibility or something.

Or try to fall back and report in, which would be very bad. Can't really afford that with our mobility still hindered.

>>512106
Let's move back, out of range of an incoming grenade.

i say do a fighting retreat as our main goal is to get away, not kill everything that looks at us funny. We are still crippled and I'm certain they have more bodies then we have bullets. If we can kill them great but don't go chasing after them, and try not to get bogged down either. If they are calling for backup it's going to be like when the camera first caught you which started this whole mess only this time you won't be able to run away as quickly.

You'd best assume additional enemy forces are incoming, since if any with a radio were within earshot of your gunshots the call will have gone out to converge on this position. This means you have an unknown, but likely short, period of time to get away from here, so you can't get bogged down fighting these cloakers in one spot; Keep moving while dealing with them.

Since your shots compromised the cloak of the cloaker you just hit, it'll almost certainly use its grenade if it has one, since it can no longer shadow you or possibly sneak up to knife you. Though it's up in the air whether it'll throw the grenade and retreat or if it'll attempt a berserker rush to suicide bomb you with it; With cloaker being bugged it could go either way.

Even though Bell is somewhat suspect right now, its ability to spot the cloakers is your only advantage here, so you're going to have to trust it for now.

Turn around so Bell has as clear a view as possible towards where the cloakers would be moving and tell it to alert you to any activity that way. Then hold one hand against the wall to hold yourself up while you hobble-hop along it on your good foot as fast as you can to get to any cover.

Watch for spots where you could brace yourself against the wall to fire, since if the wounded cloaker does rush you you're going to have to throw out as much lead as you can to take it down before it can get within blast range.

Tangentially releated to the current situation: At some point in the future you should ask Bell if there's a port or socket on the front of your helmet where you could easily plug the rear view camera in, giving it a forward view. That way if the situation called for it Bell could watch ahead of you.

>>512122
A fighting retreat is difficult when we can't move very quickly. It's also not really what we want as that involves continuous engagement.

And no, our goal isn't to kill everything. But shutting down a patrol that has seen us (hopefully) before it can report in, or preventing it from shadowing us, or attacking from behind with grenades or Rokoa darts? Hell yes that's a priority. We need to shut down both cloaked hunters before we GTFO.

(Presumably, patrols aren't in constant radio or bug contact with command. Or else the ambush tactics we and Biles have used successfully in the past without triggering a full lockdown like when Polo was seen on camera would not have worked. So yes, while there's a good chance reinforcements may be coming, there may be a small window in which we have to prevent that).

>>512145
The main problem with this plan is it involves us turning our back on the enemy, and we have to wait for Bell's warning and Polo's turning around to fire. Which is plenty of time to be attacked from behind.

The cloakers are hard to see, but they are visible to the naked eye if you're paying attention. And with the machine gun, precision isn't as important anyways.

>>512153
Alright, it does make more sense for Polo to remain facing towards where the cloakers probably are. It'll mean she can brace herself against the wall to fire so she'll be able to aim better than just standing.

I do agree Polo will have to neutralize these cloakers before leaving, since she's in no shape to lose them if she flees. She'll have to either kill them or injure their legs enough that they can't follow faster than she can move.

And I think it would actually be preferable if the cloakers left to report Polo's position, since that'd leave her as much time to get away as it would take for them to find an enemy unit with a radio to report to and for the enemy forces to descend on this position.

1/3 Polo 2013/05/23(Thu)22:23 No. 512209 ID: c3663c
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I move back, using the machine gun as a crutch while pulling out my pistol, which is just about the only weapon I can use right now with one hand. Their jammer is turned off, or rather, it's flipped. I sense Four Stripes along with them. The salikai must already know where I am. Take me down, at any cost, even at your own lives is Four Stripes' message. I would say that I had seriously considered moving forward, in an attempt to neutralize them before they had a chance to toss grenades or chase me down. Unfortunately, grenades were what they were already doing, and given Four Stripes directive, I am uncertain if this scenario was yet another case of choose the least worst option.

I see a grenade and a gun leap out. They both come out in synchronized time, and I unload my pistol as quickly, and accurately, as I can. The blood comes out ahead of the grenade. Both stalkers must be there, and the gun wielder is protecting the grenade lobber from getting hit. She tries to shoot me, but misses all of her shots, due to her being particularly good at being a meat shield. The grenade lobber is effectively free to lob.

2/3 Polo 2013/05/23(Thu)22:23 No. 512210 ID: c3663c
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I try to jump out of the way and into the nearest cover. It was cooked, and I was only marginally successful. It strikes my back, and I start rolling and tumbling along the ground from the force.

3/3 Polo 2013/05/23(Thu)22:23 No. 512211 ID: c3663c
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My consciousness is intact, but all I can tell is that I was flung far, and my armor is getting wrecked. Or in the upper body's case, completely wrecked. The voklit loosened it up too much to withstand the grenade. I can barely move, and my vision is fuzzy. I want a break. I hear water nearby.

Right, only chance. Roll into the river.

well shit our only real option for if we want to live through this to to get into the water and hope to god it carries us somewhere safe before we drown or something unfriendly finds us.

>>512211
You can't run yet. There's still one stalker up.

Move your body, soldier. Get a gun out, any gun. Eliminate the enemy. Only then can you escape.

Also the strap's about to break. At this point I just want to get back to base alive, but it would be nice if we still had SOME equipment when we get there.

Fuck. Rest in pieces, Bell. Just became a moot point if you were compromised or not.

...say 'pigiron pomi' anyways, on the off chance there's a large enough piece that Bell is functional and he still has audio. If they weren't destroyed, we don't want the enemy getting those maps.

Anyways, you have several options:

(1) Fight to the last. Wait for the cloakers to come check your body, or enter visual range again, and then shoot them with whatever you've got. Not that it will really matter though. The hunters aren't your real enemy, and are disposable to the salikai. Plus, there will be more enemies coming.

(2) Suicide. Spare yourself a fate worse than death, prevent letting yourself become a source of intel or a mind controlled asset for your enemy. Arm the bazooka round if you still have it, and boom.

(3) Allow yourself to be captured. You're disabled- they may take you alive. Pray that your training will allow you to break free of their control later, and that you will survive, and not be subject to a fate worse than death. Or at least, that your torture distracts the salikai long enough for others to act.

(4) Throw yourself into the river. Either this will turn into suicide or capture, or maybe, just maybe, you'll get away.

(5) Inane option. Play dead, wait for the hunters to get close enough, then grab a rokoa dart off one and infect yourself. Hulk out and do as much damage as possible before you have to kill yourself.

...I'd say realistically, 2 3 and 4 are your only real choices. Try for 4, and if you can't reach the river in time, fall back on 2 or 3.

Disable helmet and roll or crawl to that water. You need to get washed so far downstream they cant find us for a few days.

1/2 Polo 2013/05/23(Thu)23:06 No. 512231 ID: c3663c
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"Pigiron pomi." I say, just in case Bell was not destroyed, to kill the data.

I dropped the machine gun. It is somewhere else. I reflexively put my pistol back in its holster before the grenade went off, so that is with me. I leave it there and bring out the sniper rifle, pushing myself backwards with my foot to the water, resisting the considerable urge to just fall asleep right here and now. The slope starts going downhill, so it turns out to be about as fast as it would be if I were using my sniper as a crutch.

The jammer is back up, as I don't believe the stalker would be that far. But I don't see it. It's either staying still, or simply out of sight. I keep scraping along. My HE ammo is active. I don't have much room, or mood, to try and minimize it anymore. The stalker will die if it pops out to try to kill me. But it isn't. A few possibilities as to why come to mind, but none of them change me going to the river. It could be anywhere, and I am moving slowly, downhill or not. But, I am close to the river. A hasty glance backwards confirms it, and I keep going. My left arm is broken again. Somehow, I feel lucky, as given how close the grenade was, one broken bone could be all I could ask for.

That, and a break.

2/2 Polo 2013/05/23(Thu)23:06 No. 512232 ID: c3663c
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thk

well, thats not good. Get it out of you immediately. Don't stop going for the river though. Lets also hope you're will to live is equal to Rokoas.

>>512232
Oh shit. Oh SHIT. OH SHIT.

Get that dart out of your head immediately! Shoot the fucker that shot it at you!

...damnit, you're in bioarmor! If that can shrug off bullets, it should damn well be able to block something thrown by hand!

Nevermind complaining about fairness, through. You've been darted. First priority is to remove it, limit your exposure as much as possible. Pull it out, or scape it off against the bank as you fall into the river. Crush the dart after, so you can't be restuck.

Fuck the hunter. Shoot if you can, but we have more important concerns to worry about now.

If possible, apply your combat knife or pistol to the affect area. Cut or blow the site of injury off the back of your head.

Fall into the river, and remain conscious. Ignore the outside world, and whatever happens to your body. You need to turn your focus inward. Meditate. Go back to every anti-mind control trick you learned while practicing with three stripes. You need to fight for control of your self, and to deal with the infection within yourself. You've beaten her every time you've fought in the real world. You'll be damned if you're going to lose within your own mind.

If you can't pull the dart out quickly with your injuries (or before you fear the inner conflict will render you immobile) the fastest way to limit the damage is to slam you head backwards against the rock ground, shattering it. This will give you more exposure than instantly pulling it out (since you drive the tip into yourself), but much less than if you let the brain-slurry seep into you.

Dart out first, shoot second, cut out the crazy third.

oh FUCK, well here's a lesson for all you kiddies out there, things can ALWAYS get worse, case and point right here for example >>512232

The msin thing to do right now is remove the dart as quickly as you can, use you knife if you have to (that also might get rid of the infected tissue as well but will hurt like a bitch, but seeing as how you are knocking on death's door right now I don't think that will matter much) And no matter what keep going towards the river. You won't be safe in there but you will be safer then you are out here.

Keep moving to the river and get that dart out. With a dart that size will take a bit to inject much so the faster you remove it the less Rokoa you will have to deal with in your head.

On that note not sure if keeping your silence up would be better or worse for fighting off the dart brain. Guess we can find out later.

1/3 Polo 2013/05/24(Fri)00:21 No. 512254 ID: c3663c
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>If that can shrug off bullets, it should damn well be able to block something thrown by hand!
Unfortunately, bio armor is not resistant to certain things, and is only moderate in actual protection. Its main use is extending biological performance. That, and the stalker may have had a blowdart.

I pull the dart out. Unfortunately my return shot is slow due to having to drop my sniper to deal with that, but it happens, and I dive in the river. I am not confident in my dart removal speed, but at least it was not a full dose. There is just no escaping her.

What happens now, I am not sure. I do not know how fast acting this is. Either way, if there was any chance I would not be silent, that chance is gone.

There is a small water branch. I take it, if just to maximize the chance of not being found as soon as I pop out.

2/3 Polo 2013/05/24(Fri)00:21 No. 512255 ID: c3663c
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Perhap the salikai did not think I would pop out here, perhaps they simply couldn't mobilize in time, or maybe I am just lucky. No, not the latter. I get out and have a chance to continue wandering. Which is exactly what I do. I don't know how long I limp through the caverns for, but I don't think I would argue with anyone who told me days. But, somehow, someway, I'm able to stumble on a location, with just enough presence of mind to realize it is familiar. Maybe a little lucky. I go back in a river to go home.

I can feel something boiling under the surface, but it does not feel like Rokoa is trying to take over yet. Not like I know what to expect. Only the fact that I am underwater keeps me from falling unconscious. That, and the bio armor, and the fact that I am so close to home. But I am overexerted. Swimming with one arm and one leg does not help.

The alcove, and one last bit of energy. I get up to it. For all I know, all of my allies were found out, and I am going to poke my head up so that an enemy voklit can snatch me up out of the water. I pull out my pistol just in case, more out of second nature paranoia than thinking that the waterlogged pistol's single shot will do me much good.

Polo Quest - Thread 2 END Polo 2013/05/24(Fri)00:22 No. 512256 ID: c3663c
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I get to breathe again.

>"Polo?!"
"Katzati. I want a break."

All right, girl. You did good. You get to pass out now.

If you can, at all, warn them that you were hit with a dart. That way they know to kill you if you start turning grey and busting out of your clothes. And that the science hivers will know what to look for while they're busy doing other medicine to you.

Also, if and when anyone asks what the hell happened to us:

Got caught in a cave in, got hit with a grenade, and a voklit tried to eat me.

>>512256
Alright, as soon as you are conscious again, first priority is telling them how Biles was able to disable the bugs. Then give a detailed report of your scouting results, and talk to the experienced soldiers present about your combat engagements and ask for input about what you may have done wrong, and how to improve your effectiveness in future fights.

rest now kid, you've earned it

After all you've lost and given of yourself to get back here, you truly deserve a break. So take your well earned sleep, and here's hoping you have pleasant, comforting dreams (perhaps involving being hugged by Katzati.)

>>512256
you have to tell her about the dart before falling unconscious!

Let your body sleep, Polo. Your mind has a battle still to face.

I really hope the rokoa battle doesn't destroy the ability to be silent.

>>512295
Whether it does or doesn't, until all the Rokoa elements are removed Polo won't be able to be absolutely silent because those Rokoa bits will be broadcasting. Hopefully it won't get to the point where anybody else could sense it beyond direct contact or being adjacent to Polo.

In fact, that might make removing the Rokoa elements possible if they aren't diffused throughout Polo's body. If Polo goes silent then she or another neumono can sense exactly where the Rokoa bits are so they can be cut out.

Hey, whatever happened to the mapper? I can't find any mention of whether we located and pocketed it after the cave in or not in the updates. Because if we did, Polo might still have the damaged mapper on her person for Katzati to try and dig through, even with her helmet lost.

>>512347
...you're assuming any Rokoa elements in her would set up a separate empathic network not under Polo's control. Not that it would blend into her, or be reliant on the same set of 'broadcasting equipment' as it were, that Polo controls the on/off switch to.

Considering we know next to nothing about how this works, these assumptions are unfounded. We'll just have to see what happens.

Personally, I'm hoping for a dream sequence letting us into some of Rokoa's past (compared to body horror or having your personality rewritten, reliving some of someone else's memory is almost benign).

That or we just give into insanity and get to see the slasher smile original flavor jerky Rokoa influences duke it out with the smile-less, utilitarian, amputation-fetish Rokoa dart influences for control of Polo's brain, green and grey hulk style. :V

>That or we just give into insanity and get to see the slasher smile original flavor jerky Rokoa influences duke it out with the smile-less, utilitarian, amputation-fetish Rokoa dart influences for control of Polo's brain, green and grey hulk style. :V
This sounds kind of awesome.

Tell her you got shot with a dart, and if you start turning into Rokoa to just kill you.

>>512349
From the way Polo reacted to it being crushed, I assume it was beyond recovery. And even if it wasn't, it was left behind with the stuff she booby-trapped with the bazooka round, so it was blown up and possibly burned up as well.

However, this doesn't mean that all of the map data Polo collected was lost when her helmet was destroyed. If I remember correctly, she exchanged map data with Biles, so if she or her allies can make contact with him they can get a copy of the map. Polo will have to fill in the areas after that point from memory, but since there wasn't much but tunnels mapped before the mapper was destroyed the loss in detail wouldn't be serious since there's was really only the camera positions and tunnel intersections to note.