Turn 55

  --- Maya ---

  “Okay, so what exactly do we know about these guys?” She asked herself, having a brief tactical meeting before going in to meet the school’s Arcane Club.

  (Their leader is one Noah Delacroix, he’ll be the boy wearing too much jewelry.) Her inner reason supplied. (If we’re lucky someone here will actually know something about magic.)

  (But we shouldn’t get our hopes up since this entire club is more about fanboying -or girling- over the Arcane rather than being actual magic users.) Her inner passion pointed out.

  “Still… we need somewhere to start.” She sighed, before knocking on the club door.

  There was a bit of shuffling on the other side, before a large teen opened the door. “Uh, yes? Can we help you?”

  “This is supposed to be the Arcane club or whatever right?” She asked, unable to keep her personal bias against magic to herself for even five minutes. (Okay, I was a little rude but I haven’t actually pissed anyone off yet!)

  The large teen narrowed his eyes. “We’re an RPG club, not an Arcane club.”

  “Oh.” She blinked. “That’s actually helpful in a way I can respect, even if it’s not what I’m after.”

  (She’s totally going to fuck this up isn’t she…)

  (Quite possibly…) Her inner logic sighed.

  “Uh, what do you mean?” The large teen asked, clearly caught a little flat footed by her response.

  “Originally I was looking for help with a ‘magic’ problem, but an RPG club can help me with a different problem.” She explained, “You see one of my friends is new to tabletop RPGs and I think we may’ve overwhelmed her a bit with our last session, but she’s the one who decided to play a Malcontent for her first game.”

  The large teen winced. “Yeah, that’s not a smart move.”

  “I know right!” She nodded. “I tried to warn her, but she’s being stubborn, so I’m hoping if you can’t help with the magic thing you can help with a Malcontent build or something since I never play Malcontent.”

  “Oi, Frank who is it?” A voice called from inside the club room.

  “Uh, someone with a ‘magic’ problem, who also wants help with a beginner’s Malcontent build.” The large teen ‘Frank’ called back.

  “Hold up.” The voice said, before a teen she just recognized as Noah stepped around him.

  (The jewelry really does make him more identifiable.)

  (It also doesn’t go with his outfit.) Her inner madness added.

  “What’s this about a ‘magic’ problem?” Noah asked.

  “My brother apparently got hit by a screwed up ‘focusing charm’ or some shit, and now I’m looking for a way to keep that from happening again.” She explained shortly, wanting this whole charade over with. “Hence me coming to what I thought was the school Arcane club.”

  “Oh,” Noah blinked, not expecting that. “Is… Is your brother an Arcane?”

  “No, he just got whammied by one.”

  “And you’ve gone to the heroes’ guild right?” Noah checked. “Or a Hunter’s Agency at the very least.”

  “Of course,” She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “We’re not idiots.”

  “Right, um… Okay, so personal defensive charms aren’t really my thing, but my family does run a magic shop.” Noah admitted, pulling a card from his wallet. “If you head there you might be able to find something.”

  “A magic shop?” She repeated with some scepticism, earning a look from the other teen.

  “Yes, a magic shop.” Noah confirmed dryly. “You were looking for a solution to a magic problem, so I don’t really know what you were expecting beyond a card to a Hunter’s Agency.”

  “And… this is a real magic shop, right?” She asked, accepting the card. “Not some scam, where I have to come back and break your kneecaps.”

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  Rather than answering Noah snapped his fingers, teleporting a black book into his hand before closing the door in her face.

  “Oh…” She blinked. (I don’t think we’re the only Deviant in school.)

  Scene Consequences

  -New Search Location: The Witches’ Wares.

  ---

  Finally having a bit of time to work, she made sure to finish her work on her Scan upgrade. Her inner gamer having demanded that she finish the upgrade as soon as possible and turn the world into an RPG.

  “That should do it!” She giggled, with just a hinge of the mania M.A.D.s were infamous for.

  (Hey! If they’re building shit this cool, then no wonder they’re laughing all the time!) Her inner madness argued.

  (Fair.) Her inner reason conceded to that point.

  Sliding her Headset on she used Scan () on herself before watching a white 20/20 pop up under a red bar, “Okay, so far, so good…” She nodded, before turning towards her minions.

  A quick series of scans resulted in the DM’s giving a pair of 10/10s beneath their bars just as her scans of the LCMs resulted in a pair of 5/5s beneath theirs.

  “So roughly consistent scanning parameters, now just have to figure out if it adjusts for actual damage.” She told herself, feeling a bubbling amount of excitement.

  (Uh, preferably without damaging our minions!) Her inner reason reminded her.

  “Well, duh.” She said with a roll of her eyes.

  (As if we’d ever hurt our babies.) Her inner passion agreed with her own scoff.

  (And without harming ourselves either…) Her inner logic continued, knowing who she was dealing with.

  “Okay, now you’re making this needlessly difficult.” She sighed, before looking around for something to break.

  (How about the door?) Her inner passion offered.

  “That could work.” She nodded, walking over to her wooden door, wondering if she should test her metal doors.

  (Preferably not.)

  “Fine.” She sighed, before taking a stance and scanning the door. (20/20.)

  Nodding once more, she pulled her fist back before punching the door as hard as she could and- “Fu-rmmm!”

  She bit down on her lip to muffle her screamed curse, not wanting her minions to hear it, before shaking out her aching hand as she hopped in place.

  (I asked you not to hurt us…) Her inner reason groaned. (Why couldn’t you just use the Hand Cannons?)

  “Because I didn’t think to!”

  (It’s your job to stop us from doing stupid shit!)

  (I kept Maya from punching a metal door!)

  (So you half assed the job since she still punched a door!)

  (Then why didn’t you stop her?!)

  (Because it’s not my job to!)

  Cringing over her hand, she turned to the door and gave it another Scan ().

  “Eighteen out of twenty…” She chuckled, smiling through the pain. “Success!”

  (Hello RPG world!)

  (You’re both idiots…)

  Scene Consequences

  -Scan () upgraded to V1.4

  --Scan () now reveals target Physical HP.

  --Physical HP of Maya’s party is now quantified alongside their health state.

  ---

  Having a Saturday to herself with little else to do, she focused on working on creating an Aimbot for her Blaster Protocols ().

  Admittedly she could have attached the sub-program to her UI Management (), which in turn would’ve offered her the chance of applying her aimbot to more equipment, but she felt that by specializing the aimbot for her Blaster Protocols () meant that she could more easily set the program to work alongside her Hand Cannons improving her aim even further than her UI Management () would’ve with having to account for different weapon types.

  (Of course none of this changes the fact that you can’t shoot to save your life.) Her inner passion pointed out boredly. (Which you know would kind of be the point of shooting in the first place.)

  (Well that or saving someone else’s life.) Her inner reason tacked on.

  “Uh-huh.” She nodded, raising her glove towards her target. “Steady, aim, and… fire!”

  A bolt of electricity shot out of her Hand Cannon and struck the brick sitting almost twenty meters away. She adjusted her aim and proceeded to repeat this feat with the next two bricks she’d lined up, before turning her other Hand Cannon on another trio of bricks, not missing a single shot.

  “Ha, yes!” She cheered, before giving a mad laugh. “Who can’t hit the broadside of a barn now?!”

  (You still, since you need an aimbot scrub.)

  “Fuck you.” She growled quietly enough that none of her nearby minions could pick it up.

  (If you don’t believe me try throwing a Brick and then shooting it.)

  Her eyes drifted to a nearby brick.

  “I don’t feel like it.” She admitted.

  (Uh, huh, and it has nothing to do with the aimbot readjusting our Hand Cannons’ firing lenses and not being able to adjust fast enough to calculate a moving target at the same time.) Her inner madness critiqued dryly.

  “Come on, aren’t you supposed to be the fun voice?” -(I resent that)- She whined childishly. “Why’re you being such a killjoy?”

  (Because we are capable of better explosions than this and I refuse to settle for mediocrity!)

  “You’re… not wrong…” She forced herself to admit, since she couldn’t argue against the fact that she could cause better explosions if she wanted to.

  (I stand by yesterday’s statement.)

  Scene Consequences

  -Blaster Protocols () upgraded to V1.2

  --All Blaster weapons gain +5 to accuracy checks on stationary targets.

  WARNING: COMP memory cap exceeded please choose a non-essential program to remove until Memory is freed or raised.

  Okay, so if spoiler doesn't screw me over, this should be a copy of Maya's current character sheet.

  Since this is a read only version of a quest I thought a few people might be interested in seeing Maya's stats, skills, and equipment.

  Spoiler: Character Sheet

  Spoiler: Maya Williams

  Alias: None

  Deviancy: M.A.D.

  Health State: Very Good (20/20)

  Current Power Supply: 25/25 (+3/Turn)

  Current Memory: 25/25*

  Spoiler: Quests

  Haunted Hospital: Deal with the ghost at Beacon Hospital.

  -Research the ghost.

  or

  -Hire Hack & Slash Inc. ($500)

  Hospital Hell: Figure out what the hell is going on with the Alchemilla wing.

  -Hire Hack & Slash Inc. ($500)

  Vi’s Worries: Prove to Vi that you’re safe being an M.A.D.

  -Talk to Kim about having family visit the M.A.D. club. (After fully joining of course.)

  Artistic Obsession: Tommy is okay. (Now we can find the person responsible and beat them into a coma.)

  Spoiler: Upcoming Events

  None.

  Spoiler: Programs

  Spoiler: Energy

  Gravity

  -Mass Limit: 100kg

  -Dilation: */ 2

  Spoiler: COMP

  Generator V1.2 (): (Mem. 2/7)- A program capable of hacking reality to generate energy, and compress it into a connected battery.

  -Upgrades: -Power upgrade X1 -Memory Compression X1

  Simple AI V1.4: (Mem. 5)- A simple minion AI capable of following orders.

  -Currently follows up to 5 orders at a time

  -Can Now Hack Into: Cell Phones, Most Computers, and Unsecure Servers

  -Upgrades: -Intelligence upgrade X2, Power Upgrade X2

  Informant Network (): (Mem. 1)- An Information gathering program that filters and collects notable information from different sources.

  -Watching For: Crime

  -Currently Hacked: Police

  Map V1.1 (): (Mem. 2)- Offers a GPS map of the area as well as tracking virtually all nearby individuals and marking any with known criminal connections.

  -Current Tracking Range: 20m

  -Synergy [Informant Network]: Displays a map revealing all confirmed criminal activity in the city. (Note: Threat levels are based on likelihood of incident, not the danger of said incident.)

  -Synergy [Scan]: Increased range by 10m, and detects both Thermal and Sonar.

  UI Management V1.4 (): (Mem. 5)

  -Allows Headset access to other programs and hardware.

  -Headset is better suited to filter through visual data.

  -Headset can now run voice software.

  -Can now use Headset to run functions and orders through the COMP.

  -Headset can now calculate and see vision cones for enemies. (Costs 1 power to trigger.)

  Blaster Protocols V1.3 (): (Mem. 4)- A series of protocols helping manage all Blaster-type equipment.

  -Blaster weapons can now switch ammo types when reloading.

  -Blaster weapons can now have ranged options.

  -+5 to all ranged accuracy checks on stationary targets.

  Scan V1.4 (): (Mem. 5)- A program that sorts through and processes all information gathered by Scanner.

  -Can now scan a target's biometrics, revealing their general Health status. This health status is then quantified into a viewable number. (Applies to objects as well as people.)

  -Can now process Sonar and Thermal data.

  -Synergy [Informant Network]: Can provide any information discovered by Informant Network () on anyone scanned.

  Energy Burst (): (Mem. 1)- Generate a small burst of an energy effect at a given target point.

  -Range: 1/10 of Scanner range. (2m)

  -Energies

  --Electric: Shocks target, paralyzing them or overloading a machine.

  --Heat: Sets a target on fire.

  --Sound: Create a loud bang at a location drawing attention, while pushing objects away from the point.

  --Gravitational: Increases or decreases an object’s gravity, making it harder to move or easier to carry respectively. (Gravity limiters remain.)

  Spoiler: Base Server

  Server Farm Mk.1 (20/25)

  Alchemy V1.3 (): (Mem. 4)-Allows reworking of some materials.

  -Current Materials: Plastic

  -Plastic cost reduced by 2.

  -Can convert Plastic into: Foam Padding

  Biology Interface (): (Mem. 1)- Allows control of Bio-Pods, and other organic interfacing tech.

  -Can currently grow simple plant life.

  -Available Mutations: Enhanced Crop Growth (I),

  Drone Minion Protocols V1.4 (): (Mem. 5)- Controls the basic functions of all Drone Minions.

  -Drone Minions can better avoid passive detection.

  -Drone Minions gain a small proficiency bonus when working with other minions.

  -Drones Minions are capable of toddler speech.

  -Drone Minions can back up their data on base Server Farm.

  Drone Back Ups (Mem. 10)

  -DM-1 and DM-2

  Spoiler: Skills

  Spoiler: Skill Tutorial

  Skill Ranks and Levels:

  F(1-3)- Novice

  E(4-6)- Beginner

  D(7-9)- Intermediate

  C(10-12)- Professional

  B(13-15)- Expert

  A(16-18)- Master

  S(19-21)- Grand Master

  Spoiler: M.A.D.

  Reality Hacking: Lv. 5 (10/12)

  Electronics: Lv. 5 (7/12)

  Metal Working: Lv. 2 (4/6)

  Biology: Lv. 2 (3/6)[/SLIDE]

  [SPOILER="Combat"]Fighting: Lv. 6 (0/14)

  Mobility: Lv. 5 (2/12)

  Marksman: Lv.1 (2/4)

  Sneak: Lv. 2 (0/6)

  Spoiler: Social

  Bluffing: Lv. 3 (2/8)

  Law: Lv. 3 (0/8)

  Politics: Lv. 1 (1/4)

  Spoiler: General

  Art: Lv. 3 (7/8)

  Cooking: Lv. 3 (5/8)

  First Aid: Lv. 1 (0/4)

  Spoiler: Perks

  Physical Conditioning (II) Increases Max Stamina and Health by a small amount each level.

  Basic Memory Compression: Reduces base Memory of all programs by 1. (Cannot go below 1 Mem.)

  Hardwired Software Connection: Reduce cost of all Hardware with direct Software connections by a small amount. (If a project costs Memory it gets a discount to it's Electronics Cost.)

  Spoiler: Inventory

  Spoiler: Crafting Gear

  Makeshift Tools[/U]:

  -Electronics cost 1 Less.

  -Can use Metal Working, but it costs 1 more Scrap.

  Spoiler: Equipment

  Hand Cannons (Mk. 1.3)

  Shots per charge: L-3/R-3

  Shot Types:

  -Burst: Fires a short-range burst of current energy type. (Slow fire rate.)

  -Ranged:

  --Electricity: Can be fired at a single target at a greater distance than other energy types.

  --Sound: Launches an even stronger blast that can reach a distance, even if it's shorter than other energy types.

  Ammo Effects

  -Electricity: Has a chance to temporarily stun enemies.

  -Sound: Shots have a wider area of effect, and a knockback effect.

  Headset (Mk.1.6)

  -Provides visual information from any and all programs in use.

  -Can now use other Vision Modes: Night, Thermal, and Sonar.

  -Has a retractable (empty) Mask to hide our identity.

  --Now filters out non-corrosive and non-viral toxins such as smoke while mask is up.

  --Voice is unidentifiable while mask is up.

  Scanner (Mk.1.3)

  Currently Scans targets for:

  -In-depth Internet Search.

  -(Basic) Biometrics

  Can Also Scan: Sonar and Thermal

  [Synergy]-Police Records

  Armor (Mk. 1.1)

  -Chest plate, bracers, and knee guards.

  -Reduces [Physical] Damage by a small amount. (+3 Def)

  Grav-Pack (Mk. 1)

  -Can constantly apply Gravity modifier to the contents of this bag.

  Spoiler: Consumable Resources

  -Old First Aid Kit: Allows Maya to restore a small amount of health to herself and others.

  -Healing Herbs (x2): Heals an organic unit by 1 Health State. (Cannot be used in Combat)

  Spoiler: Base

  Server Farm Mk.1 (20/25)

  -Alchemy()-4

  -Biology Interface-1

  -Drone Minion Protocols-5

  LCM Feeder Mk.1

  -Feeds LCMs a healthy slurry whenever they're hungry.

  -Removes rounding of Organics cost when feeding LCMs.

  Lab Defenses Mk.1

  -Allows the lab to be turned into a panic room in times of emergency.

  Spoiler: Traits

  Mentally Augmented Deviant: As an M.A.D. this person feels the compulsive need to build and as such has to devote 1 action each turn to this. Additionally the worse their mental health becomes the better they are at building things.

  Family First: Maya is a family oriented person and will naturally focus on her family in times of crisis, going above and beyond to help them in their time of need.

  Spoiler: Minions

  Spoiler: Drone Minions

  Minions

  -DM-1: Our first minion who happens to hold a strange grudge against rodents outsice of the LCMs. (10/10)

  -DM-2: A sweet but shy little minion who tries her best to help out around the lab. (10/10)

  Special Abilities

  -Minions United (I): Gain a small bonus to all actions when working with other minions to complete a task.

  -Basic Speech: Are capable of talking much like how a toddler would.

  -Stealth Protocol (I): Reduces chances of being detected when being stealthy by a small amount.

  Tools:

  -Scrap Collectors (I)

  Spoiler: LCMs

  Minions

  -1A: An intelligent little critter who acts as the leader of the two LCMs while trying to get as much work done as possible. (5/5)

  -1B: An enthusiastic little critter who is happy to help however he can while enjoying life to the fullest. (5/5)

  Special Abilities

  -Poison Resistance (I): Are resistant to most natural poisons.

  -Adrenal Overload: Consumes all available Stamina to spike Speed and Agility by a proportional amount for a single action. If this unit is in danger and this ability can be triggered it automatically will be.