We Sons Of Daley [Manhattan Blues]

> Casually back out of the room

A little late for that, mister! You're too FAR IN and a little too SURROUNDED to make that call.

They're dolls, magically or some other way animated dolls but they're only dolls. Which means you can set aside any form of morality concerning humanoids, really. Try to knock one over and steal its knife, then dismember it.

You'd do this, except you're better with your BARE HANDS than you are with a knife. It's always been the case, really. You're not sure why, but you have a lot of peculiar bits of SECOND REFLEX that you never remember learning. Which means...

Punt them like footballs.

Is exactly what you're about to do, looks like, even as they start floating towards you. They begin to glow with a BLUE-WHITE LIGHT while this is going on, kind of like what you hear WILL-O-WISPS look like.

This isn't going to be fun... it is time for INITIATIVE! Sort of. Thankfully, I won't be making you do any of the book-keeping or making you read LINE AFTER LINE OF TIRED MECHANICS.

Enough references! It's time to punch something!

Of particular interest is the one that almost GOT THE JUMP ON YOU. You BAT IT ASIDE, casually. Unlucky for you that there are four more of them.

Luckily for you, you have an ACE UP YOUR SLEEVE. Specifically, your ONE TECHNIQUE. It's not much, but you'll take it. It'll be another round before you can use it, though.

... Mind, you may not need to; they might as well be sending you a TELEGRAM on when they're going to attack. The second one never sees your attack COMING and is SHAKEN APART. The WISP hangs for a moment before vanishing with a POP.

Or not, one almost gets you through your LONGCOAT. The other two follow suit, and soon enough, one of them causes you to sport a NEW CUT. That's gonna be a PAIN IN THE ASS, but you're too HOPPED UP ON ADRENALINE to notice.

The last one comes around out of a bank- they seem to know their way around an ENCLOSED SPACE, even while FLYING. Stupid MYSTIC BULLSHIT.

But, now it's time for you to bring some hurt... One makes like it's about to shank you, but you activate CROSS COUNTER, your ONE AND ONLY TECHNIQUE. You can SUSTAIN IT for a bit, but the most you've ever been able to pull it for is THIRTY SECONDS, and that was WITHOUT any other KI USAGE.

... These things aren't the most STURDY in the universe and with CROSS COUNTER and your SUPERIOR REACH you can go ahead and CLOBBER THEM. Like you just did. Wow. Look at those splinters FLY. The last one after that is made SHORT WORK of.

Okay, so you managed to get rid of those... WHATEVER THEY WERES before they could SET OFF THE NITRO or KILL YOU. Unfortunately, you've still got four unconscious HOSTAGES, and a conscious one who is now looking at you like SHE HAS GONE INSANE. And should the PIANO WIRE snap, the entire place could still GO OFF ANY TIME.

You shut off CROSS COUNTER. It's not going to be useful here. You have another ONE in you, MAYBE TWO IF YOU CUT OFF THE FIRST ONE IMMEDIATELY before you're DONE as far as KI is concerned for the day.

So. What now, genius?

Talk to the lady to keep her calm while you figure this out.

"Now lady, it's not out of the question that you might have a veeeery minor case of serious brain damage! But, don't be alarmed, alright? Uh, although if you do feel alarmed, try to hold on to that feeling because that is the proper reaction to being told that you've got brain damage."

"Just say apple."

Defuse those bombs?

Defuse those bombs?

Bomb, singular. It's a gallon jug, full of NITROGLYCERIN. You're pretty sure of this, because it sure SMELLS like TNT- a little acrid with a certain CHARGE in the air that DRIES OUT YOUR NOSE- but is LIQUID. That's quite a few sticks of TNT's worth, there, and it's all in one big HIGHLY VOLATILE PACKAGE that might EXPLODE if you so much as SNEEZE ON IT.

Well, not quite THAT volatile. But you certainly don't want to drop it, and disarming this would take BALLS OF STEEL, NERVES OF IRON, and DEXTERITY OF METAPHOR.

The reason you didn't notice this in the first place is because all five of the HOSTAGES are sitting with their BACKS TO EACH OTHER, in the CENTER OF THE ROOM, in a CIRCLE. The jug is suspended between them, in the CENTER OF THAT CIRCLE, via PIANO WIRE attached to their WRISTS. If they were all CONSCIOUS, they could probably work together to MOVE IT AWAY and GIVE EACH OTHER SLACK.

With four of them UNCONSCIOUS that's not gonna happen any time soon.

Talk to the lady to keep her calm while you figure this out.

"Now lady, it's not out of the question that you might have a veeeery minor case of serious brain damage! But, don't be alarmed, alright? Uh, although if you do feel alarmed, try to hold on to that feeling because that is the proper reaction to being told that you've got brain damage."

"Just say apple."

"Are you done being a moron, Mister Political Officer, or are you going to work on this bomb I'm strapped to?"

"Just don't move too fast," you reply. "I can trust the rest of these guys to stay still... Do you know what those things were?"

"FAMILIARS, if I had to take a guess... Th... THAT MAN bound them here."

"That man, huh..." You continue to look over the BOMB while you talk, not sure where to begin. "Hey, what's your name, anyway, miss? I can't keep calling you 'the conscious one'. THAT MAN's name might be nice too."

How about it, girly?

> Barnstench Snarklette

> Vulellia Neuterich

Cast weight elimination on the nitroglycerin.

Fuckyou-Anne D'get Zisbomoff-Measshole.

Fuckyou-Anne D'get Zisbomoff-Measshole.

"Let's swap names AFTER we're not all gonna die!"

"Yeah, fine, hold on-"

Cast weight elimination on the nitroglycerin.

Weight elimination doesn't quite work that way, it's not OBJECT MOTION or PSYCHOKINESIS. You simply can't use it on ANYTHING THAT ISN'T REALLY YOU IN PARTICULAR.

In fact, the only thing weight elimination is good for, really, is ASTOUNDINGLY DIFFICULT TERRAIN, like WALKING ON WATER or STANDING ON A CEI-

... You're a bonehead. "Hey, if I give you some slack, can you get out of there?"

"How do you plan on doing that? There's no way to get at it!"

You smirk, as you DROP your TYPEWRITER, BACKPACK, and M4, and put the SAFETIES on the 1911s before SECURING THEM TO HOLSTER. You look around, and find a GOOD SPOT TO ASCEND. Using WEIGHT ELIMINATION, you RUN UP THE WALL and STICK ON THE CEILING, reach down, and PULL UP ON THE JUG, which gives MISS CONSCIOUS some slack. She ESCAPES WITH REMARKABLE EASE.

"Could you see to the others? I got MAYBE TWO MINUTES before I drop."

"The jug?" She's working on the others now, and she seems to work FAST.

"From the CEILING."

"Right, right..." That's two...

"I know this can't exactly be rushed, but we are on a time limit here-"

"Okay, that's everyone."

This took about thirty seconds, which is good, because you're ALMOST DRY on STURDY KI (one of two kinds you don't use to activate CROSS COUNTER, which requires FOUR). You catch the jug closely to you and come down from the ceiling, GENTLY.

Your hands are now FULL OF BOMB.

Oh, and it looks like your NEW FRIEND is muttering something and WIGGLING HER FINGERS.

> _

GTFO My way Beech! I'm full of Bomb!

Put it down somewhere gently and ask what she's doing?

Put it down somewhere gently and ask what she's doing?

You get the feeling you already know, seeing as the air is sparkling with GREEN LIGHT for a few seconds before she shouts a word you DON'T QUITE CATCH in a language you DON'T QUITE KNOW.

The air seems to fill with the scent of MOSS, and you slowly see the COLOR return to their faces.

"... Great. So you're the bandits' WITCH." You rub your eyes.

"My name is ALICE. And I work for ME," She says, a little annoyed. "And are you going to get rid of that bomb or would you like to bask in the RADIANCE OF MY PRESENCE a bit longer?"

Seeing as your cut JUST HEALED, you're inclined to the latter, but frankly you'd rather not have something you could SHAKE VIOLENTLY and GET AN EXPLOSION OUT OF. "Come with me, and we'll talk a little about who did this, see?"

"Yeah, sure, these jerks aren't going anywhere unless I spend more SOUL than I'm comfortable throwing at them." She shrugs.

"So. Who did this?"

"Dunno his name- not properly anyway. But most people call him REDCAP."

"Redcap? Doesn't sound that ba-" Wait. Waiiit. "You mean like those stupid GOBLIN THINGS that they used to talk about? Those don't EXIST."

"Redcap does. Just like the Ginnie. Living legends, flitting across the RUINS OF AMERICA."

"Quit talkin' TREASON. I'll pretend I didn't hear that."

"What-EVER. God. He's a sadistic little jerk. Loves setting up these traps. I'm SURPRISED you don't know about him. Isn't he like a MAJOR PUBLIC ENEMY?"

"Never been on any list I know of," you shrug. You almost regret shrugging.

You are now OUTSIDE. You are holding the BOMB. Might want to fix that soon.

BANDITS SLAIN 30/150
HOSTAGES RESCUED 5/???

Ponder how exactly this 'Redcap' fellow did that. If you don't know, ask.

>Get rid of the bomb. Drop it in the bandits' base, maybe? Then run.

>Get rid of the bomb. Drop it in the bandits' base, maybe? Then run.

You attempt to hurl the 25 POUNDS of NITROGLYCERIN away from you.

In basic, they had a saying for trigger-happy goons like you: DWFD, 'Don't Fuck With Dynamite'. You don't even realize the glass shards go through you, all you hear is noise and light. 25 pounds of nitro is enough to not only destroy the wall of what you were throwing at, it is also enough to cause a shock wave that collapses the mine shaft, and as an added bonus, rips both you and Alice apart.

You are dead, your team is trapped in the abandoned mine with no way out, and did we mention you won't even be alive to enjoy them panicking? Because you're dead.

This ending is "Bomb Squad Reject", with a score of 23 of 100.

Loading game...

>Get rid of the bomb. Drop it in the bandits' base, maybe? Then run.

You have a terrible premonition that if you do that, you will die! Actually, it's more like certain knowledge. Fucking with dynamite is not your department. That's the department of your EXPLOSIVES EXPERT, who is also your MENTALIST. Go figure the guy with PSYCHOKINESIS should handle BOMBS.

Alice seems to be FONDLY REGARDING something while you're thinking about throwing the bomb like a moron.

... Wait, where's your KEEPSAKE?

"... You're a psychic, Mister Political Officer?"

"ARLINGTON, HAROLD." You find a nice open area with a BUNKER to hide behind nearby, and geeeeeently lay down the bomb. "And no, no I'm not."

"This crystal seems to think otherwise..." She says, staring at it intently, the OPALESCENT LIGHT filtering over her features. "Where did a political officer from Chicago get their hands on a SELKIE CRYSTAL...?"

You snatch it out of the air and put it in your pocket. "Get in the bunker, I'm about to set off the NITRO."

"Powerful, too... Just how much PSYCHIC POTENTIAL do you have?"

"Don't know, don't care." You set up a shot with your SNIPER RIFLE from the BUNKER and BREAK THE JAR.

KABOOOM.

You have successfully disposed of the BOMB.

Ponder how exactly this 'Redcap' fellow did that. If you don't know, ask.

"SO, HOW DID THIS REDCAP GUY DO ALL THAT CRAZY TRAP BULL HOCKEY?" You shout over the din and your RINGING EARS.

"WHAT!?"

"I SAID, HOW THE HELL DID THE REDCAP DO THAT?"

"I'M SORRY, I'M HAVING TROUBLE HEARING YOU!" Slowly Alice seems to be recovering. You can't hear what she's saying anymore though.

"WHAAAAT?"

She rolls her eyes and looks around for something, pulling out a box, with a small, damp SHEET OF PAPER which she puts on your FOREHEAD.

Ah, that's much better.

"I SAID, 'Hold on a second, I think I buried a cache near here'."

"Yeah, I noticed. So what, you've got SCROLLS? PATCHES? ...SPELL-LOADS?" That last one with a hint of horror; you've heard of SPELL-SLINGERS from SOUTH CALIFORNIA and aren't exactly eager to MEET ONE.

"None of your business, yet. If we need any of the things in here, I'll USE THEM."

"Fine, but I want to INSPECT that later." You pause. "Of course, if you're not around once all the hostages are rescued, I won't have a CHANCE to."

"Heh. Loud and clear, Mister Political Officer. Any other questions?"

"Yeah, the Redcap, how did he do that?"

"At its most basic? It's like... Okay. You know about ROBOTS, yeah?"

"... Sort of." You shrug while you walk.

"Well, what you do with a FAMILIAR is, you're building a robot out of PARTS, then ANIMATING and PROGRAMMING it with MAGIC. Redcap seems to have a TALENT for it," Alice says. "Mostly I don't bother with it. It's a lot of work to put together."

"So it's kind of like a GOLEM?" You don't quite get it.

"That's another word for it," she nods. "There are a few traditions that use them."

==>

MOAR INFODUMP MS. EXPOSITION!

==>

MOAR INFODUMP MS. EXPOSITION!

"So what's in it for you, Alice?" You ask, now seriously interested in why she's doing this.

"Huh?" She doesn't quite understand the question.

"You're working for you. What's in it for you, going back in with me, like you're doing right now, with someone who is saving hostages from highly deadly traps?"

"Oh. That. Two things. One, I want to know what a null- from Chicago, of all places!- is doing a SELKIE CRYSTAL. Two, the Redcap took my REVOLVER and my DUSTER, and I'd like to get them back- it's a long, annoying, PAINFUL process to make them from SCRATCH."

You toss her a 1911. "Here."

"All well and good, you Chicago boys can make CORDITE in your back yards. If it weren't such a pain to transport I would have STOLEN that NITRO and FASHIONED SOME CORDS- it's PRETTY RARE in the REST OF THE PLANET. As it stands though, I'd rather have my REVOLVER BACK."

"... Well now I feel like a bonehead."

"Don't, we probably would have gone a day before your OVERWATCH killed us both," she nods

"How do you-"

"It's not exactly rare knowledge, Harold... Um. Three behind here. Feel that?"

"... Yeah." Hm. This door is locked, too! You start to issue a WARRANT but Alice scoots ahead.

"I've got this." She pulls out a PAIR OF HAIRPINS and CASUALLY OPENS THE LOCK IN THREE SECONDS.

This room just seems to have them tied up, no BOMB. Just what are your SQUADMATES doing!?

HOSTAGES RESCUED: 8/???
Items Identified: -- SELKIE CRYSTAL

You follow the TRACKS to a LARGE VEIN INTERSECTION. Wow, that is a lot of hostages. Wow, that's a lot of POCK MARKS everywhere in the walls. wake up

Knowing full well that this could easily be a trap, you unsling your TYPEWRITER and walk in ready to make some noise.

... That's a lot of FAMILIARS.

... That's a lot of MACHINE GUNS.

... That's a lot of RATE OF FIRE.

And worse, you're in a CROSSFIRE. If they all open fire at once, there is no question, you are as DEAD as your BULLET RIDDLED MINION ON THE FLOOR WHO TRIED TO RUN PAST THEM EARLIER.

>_

>Wake up.

Ask her what all that business with emphasizing certain letters was.

Ask her what all that business with emphasizing certain letters was.

You start to ask the question, but then a VICTROLA starts up by playing another tune in ragtime. If it's the same author, you don't know, but you do know they start shooting as soon as the music does.

You don't know much else.

You are dead.

BAD END- MAPLE LEAF RAGDOLL, score 23 of 100.
-- Did you forget something important?
-- Is this situation really impossible?
-- Timing is everything.
-- Make sure your TYPEWRITER is loaded.

Loading game... Loaded.

>_

>Quick: Look a victrola, then MAKE SOME NOISE at it. Familiars need to be triggered, based on our prior experience (and post-mortem experience).

If cross counter will help, use it. I'm still not sure what it does exactly.

>Quick: Look a victrola, then MAKE SOME NOISE at it. Familiars need to be triggered, based on our prior experience (and post-mortem experience).

If cross counter will help, use it. I'm still not sure what it does exactly.

[CROSS COUNTER- Improves counterattacks, doubles base damage on all strikes.]

Alice looks over the room.

You spot the Victrola and raise your TYPEWRITER to your shoulder.

"Wait, no!" Alice says-

You give the Victrola a LOVE NOTE. It is now FULL OF HOLES and NON-FUNCTIONAL.

"... That's just the controller, who knows what they're PROGRAMMED to do now that it's BUSTED!" Alice finishes, face-palming and running back down the corridor.

You have about three seconds before the unpredictable happens. What now, boss?

>Wake up.

Something in you SPARKS as the HOPELESSNESS of your situation hits you. If you can't STOP THEM FROM KILLING THE HOSTAGES, you'll bring EVERYTHING here to a STOP.

[Awakened POWER: Hide Matrix]
[Awakened DISCIPLINE: Cryokinesis]
[Awakened POWER: FREEZE]
[Awakened POWER: CRYSTALLIZE]
[Awakened POWER: EVERLASTING MOMENT]
[INNATE SLOTS ACQUIRED: 3]
[Psychic Potential with Points: +30]
[PSYCHIC POINTS FREE: 17]

The CRYSTAL in your pocket PULSES as everything else in a 50-yard radius FREEZES STILL in an EVERLASTING MOMENT. Except for you. You're not sure how you're doing it as everything collects a layer of FROST, except you're certain that you are EXERTING YOUR WILL UPON THE WORLD.

With your 1911, you casually SHATTER the remaining FAMILIARS.

Time is not STOPPED. But everything else that moves within your field of view is.

With a thought, MOTION RESUMES.

So, let's review. You're an ESPER, apparently. You've been maintaining a CONCEALMENT MATRIX for... You don't remember how long. The HOSTAGES are alive, but if any of your team find out about your psychic powers, you won't be for long.

Yeah. You're boned.

Welcome to Level 4.

>_

Turn up your concealment matrix again, if you can. How about a rundown of the mechanics for allocating psychic points? We might want to invest further in metapsychickery like hiding power.

Free the hostages now that you can too.

You might want to rethink your lifelong dream.

Turn up your concealment matrix again, if you can. How about a rundown of the mechanics for allocating psychic points? We might want to invest further in metapsychickery like hiding power.

Free the hostages now that you can too.

[MECHANICS CHAT: PSYCHIC POWERS
Psychic powers largely run on WILLPOWER. How many you can activate at any one time, how much power they have coming out, how well they improve- all these things are dictated almost entirely by the WILL of the psychic.

[Arlington has a high WILLPOWER as befits his POWER SET, and his SELKIE CRYSTAL improves this even further. Currently, before his SPENT PSYCHIC POINTS, he has a POTENTIAL of 190. This is enough to activate most powers, and if he wanted to be really crazy, he could activate up to five at once.

[Aside from POTENTIAL, there's also PSYCHIC POINTS. These are what you use to GAIN DISCIPLINES, ACTIVATE POWERS, FOCUS, and INCREASE PSYCHIC POTENTIAL.

[Psychic points are INVESTED to gain DISCIPLINES- one per DISCIPLINE- and then once more for each POWER. For instance, to awaken Cryokinesis, Harold needed to spend a point, then he needed to spend three more to gain the FREEZE, CRYSTALLIZE, and EVERLASTING MOMENT powers. Powers gained like this can be activated at any time for NO COST. Be careful- once you've invested a point in a psychic discipline or power, you CAN'T GET IT BACK!

[You can also INVEST points to GAIN POTENTIAL. They are added in summation fashion- the first +10 costs ONE, the second +10 costs TWO (for a total of +20 for THREE POINTS), the third +10 costs THREE (for a total of +30/6), and so on. You can GAIN POTENTIAL IN A SPECIFIC POWER, too, for a much cheaper +10 for 1 point, flat. Again, points invested this way CAN'T BE GOTTEN BACK, so MAKE SURE THIS IS A POWER YOU WILL BE USING OFTEN!

[Innate Slots are interesting. They cost an investment of TWO PSYCHIC POINTS, but they can hold any power you like, and they will be MAINTAINED INDEFINITELY WITH NO CONCENTRATION. Currently, Arlington has only the HIDE MATRIX POWER in his innate slots, of which he has three.

[With all of that taken care of, anything you haven't INVESTED is a FREE POINT. FREE POINTS can be SPENT to FOCUS, to ELIMINATE FATIGUE, to ACTIVATE A POWER, or to IMPROVE AN INNATE POWER. Free points come back ONE PER HOUR, and there is NOTHING that obviates this LIMIT.

[If you have a DISCIPLINE, but not a POWER, you can SPEND A FREE POINT to activate that power. For instance, if you want to send ICE SPIKES at an opponent right now, Arlington would need to SPEND A FREE POINT to do it.

[He may also FOCUS, to improve a power's ACCURACY or its POTENTIAL. He can spend up to five of these at once, and each one gives a flat +10 to Potential or Accuracy.

[Arlington can also use Free Points to improve an INNATE MAINTAINED POWER, when he sets it as INNATE, for a rate of +20 per point spent. He can spend up to five of these at once. BE AWARE, though, Points used this way are COMMITTED- Until you RELEASE THE POWER you WILL NOT GET THEM BACK!

[Psychic powers have a caveat- if you can't activate them properly, you gain Fatigue. Fatigue is BAD. If you SPEND a free point BEFORE ACTIVATING A POWER, any Fatigue and Power loss will be waved away if you fail. This usually won't be a problem for Arlington, but it is something to be aware of.

[That said, your allocation is as follows:

[6 points: 3 innate slots
[6 points: +30 Potential
[1 point: Hide Matrix Power.
[1 point: Cryokinesis
[1 point: Freeze
[1 point: Crystallize
[1 point: Everlasting Moment
[This leaves you, with your Level, with 22 FREE POINTS of 39.
[Innate Slot 1: Hide Matrix. Superb. major activation penalty to Sense Matrix and other magical detection abilities!
[Innate Slot 2: It WAS Everlasting Moment. But now, there's nothing.
[Innate Slot 3: Nothing.]

You might want to rethink your lifelong dream.

You start to get that feeling, yes. But it's not looking to likely right now- the price of failure here is pretty high.

You start freeing the hostages; soon enough Alice comes back. "Wh... How did you..."

"Ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies."

>_