Turn 75: Bombs, Tasers, Stealth, and Death

--- Maya ---

“First things, first. We need to restock our explosives.” She said as she began moving around her lab to collect the various bits and pieces necessary to build said explosives.

(Ugh, this is going to become a chore real fast isn’t it.) Her inner madness groaned.

“If we want to use are bombs with any frequency? Probably.” She admitted, taking a seat at her work bench.

(Look at it this way, the more explosives we stockpile the more dakka we can use in a fight.) Her inner reason tried to, well, reason.

“Yeah, and it’s not like we have an actual limit on how many explosives we can stock.” She agreed before pausing to breakdown the bits of scrap she needed to fuse into her bombs.

(Still this is going to be so boring…) Her inner child whined.

“Well, if you want to blow things up then you’re just going to have to put up with it.” She told herself.

(Ugh, the things I do for the dakka dakka…)

That made her pause. “Uh, I’m the one doing all the work here.”

(Ugh, the things I do for the dakka dakka…) Her inner drama queen repeated.

Scene Consequences

-Gained (Trap Making Rank + Electronics Rank + Explosives Rank = 4) Explosive Charges

-Gained 1XP to Trap Making and Explosives

--Currently: Trap Making Lv. 1 (3/4) and Explosives Lv. 1 (2/4)

Note: You’re only getting XP in both because these skills are Lv. 1. I’ll flip a coin for level 2, and you won’t get any for restocking at Lv. 3.

---

“Well, let’s see if this works this time.” She told her other selves as she looked at the rings on her middle and ring finger.

(I don’t believe we should be testing this particular invention while wearing it.) Her inner reason cautiously warned her.

(Eh, she’s just a coward. Zap something already!) Her inner passion -by contrast- recklessly encouraged.

“Well, we can’t really test it without wearing it.” She pointed out, spinning the two bulky rings so that their magnetic bits connected, thus completing the simple circuitry she’d embedded into them and causing a light to glow on each ring.

Ever so carefully she reached out towards the medical dummy she’d procured from somewhere in the hospital before flinching back as electricity visibly sparked from her rings stinging her own hand as they electrocuted the dummy.

“Fuck that stings.” She hissed, shaking her hand out, before pulling the rings off and noting how despite the pain there was no true damage to her fingers.

(The fact that that didn’t burn your fingers off was more luck than anything…) Her inner survival instincts sighed.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes. “It wasn’t that dangerous. The rings are too small to generate anywhere near enough energy to cause permanent damage, and there is an insulator layer to keep it from directly zapping us.”

As was she’d had to hunt down a terabyte usb just to be able to fit a simple version of her Generator() program into a space small enough to wrap around her fingers, while leaving enough space to add the actual bits necessary to direct the electricity away from her.

(Uh-huh, and the pile of melted rings we have off to the side isn’t a reason to feel any caution about this?) Her inner logic dryly asked.

(Of course it isn’t!) Her inner madness agreed, as she very pointedly did not look at the pile of melted rings sitting on her work bench.

Scene Consequences

-Developed Taser Rings Mk. 1

--Add a small amount of Electrical damage to an Unarmed Melee Attack and Stun target for 1 Round. (Costs no Power, 1 Use Per Encounter.)

--Hidden Weapon: Cannot be detected by mundane means.

-Gained 1XP to Electronics

--Currently: Lv. 6 (7/14)

---

“Okay… That should do it…” She said, after linking her COMP to the newly built Stealth-Pack on her workbench, having finally finished the rushed Stealth Protocols she needed to actually operate said device.

“They’re not rushed, I just did the minimum necessary to make it work.” She argued.

(Yeah, she didn’t rush it. She half-assed it.)

(My mistake.)

“Look, stealth tech is an extremely complicated thing, and I’m not going to know what I need to fix in the programming until I give it a proper test run.” She tried to defend herself as she used her COMP to scan herself and then ran that information through her Stealth-Pack.

She held her hand up in the air before clicking the on button and watching as her hand turned invisi- (transparent, her hand turned transparent not invisible.)

(I’m aware, I was just trying to make it sound more impressive.) Her inner reason explained.

(Yeah, but saying it turned invisible when it’s just transparent is a lie.) Her inner madness countered.

(Well, it’s invisible by video game standards.)

(Actually-)

(Invisible by kinder video game standards, rather than the harsh ones that just don’t render invisible enemies.) Her inner logic rushed out with a touch of annoyance.

(...)

(...)

(I’ll allow it.)

“You two, done?” She asked, having spent the last few moments testing out a few details on how her stealth pack operated, and found several flaws.

Namely that her invis- (transparency.)

(...)

(...)

“...”

Namely that her invisibility quit completely whenever she moved too much.

“Right, uh, that’s just something we’re going to have to fix later.” She told herself with a touch of caution.

(Yeah, you’ll have to build the other half of that ass.)

(You’re an ass…)

Scene Consequences

-Developed Stealth Protocols V1

--Allows development of Stealth Tech and Upgrades there-in.

--Allows application of [*Invisibility*] buff, gaining +D6 to all Stealth Checks.

---(It’s actually the [Transparency] buff.)

-Developed Stealth-Pack Mk1

--While standing still Maya can use Stealth Protocols on herself. (Costs 1 Power per Turn.)

-Gained 1XP to Electronics and Reality Hacking

--Currently: Electronics Lv. 6 (8/14) and Reality Hacking Lv. 6 (4/14)

---

With the Bloodhounds and their boss dealt with -and a few upgrades to her kit- she was finally able to actually begin digging through the archive’s records of death. And while she had (disturbingly) found more than one Elizabeth in the records, none of the pictures with those records matched her Elizabeth.

“Alright, this is starting to get depressing…” She grimaced, returning yet another file to the cabinet. Some part of her feeling like she had to, less she disrespect the dead the files referenced. “We’ve been through the entire cabinet by now, and haven’t found anything.”

(We’ve only cleared a single cabinet.) Her inner reason reminded her. (Expecting us to find her file that fast is simply unrealistic.)

“I know…” She sighed, moving onto the next cabinet and beginning to go through its files. “It’s just this is so… monotonous.”

(And morbid when you realize every face we see is dead.) Her inner emotions helpfully supplied as she glanced at the photo of someone who’d died years ago. (Wasn’t trying to be helpful, just feel we really should acknowledge how morbid this is.)

“I know exactly how morbid this is.” She frowned as she ran a hand down her face. “But if we want to help Elizabeth then we have to do this.”

(Yeah, but this is really underlining the whole existential dread that we’re going to die one day. All while having the added bonus of looking for Deadwoman in a recently demon infested and abandoned hospital in the dark.) Her inner madness pointed out as she withdrew another autopsy report away. (Perfect thing to be doing for the Halloween season.)

She couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of her nose. “You know, none of that was actually bothering me until you brought all of it up!”

(Well, you're welcome then.)

“You’re a fucking idiot.” She sighed, realizing this was pointless as she closed another file.

(Well, I’m you so what does that say about you?)

(That she’s an idiot who is about to put up Elizabeth’s file.)

“I’m what?” She blinked before reopening the file in her hand.

Taking a moment to adjust her light to get a better look at the photo within, she found a picture of a young woman who while looking notably more… lively than the Deadwoman she knew, was still close enough to undoubtedly be Elizabeth, if with a bit more color and a fair bit more meat to her bones.

Her eyes moved to the name on the report, “Elizabeth Addams… This is her!”

(Now that we’ve found her file, perhaps this can help us in our search for Elizabeth’s daughter.) Her inner logic told her, prodding her to keep reading.

“Right.” She nodded, before reading Elizabeth’s date of birth and her date of death. “Fuck… She died over sixteen years ago, and…” (she was only a couple of years older than me…)

Feeling a sudden bout of reluctance she closed the file.

(Maya?)

(...)

“Um, uh, I don’t… It’s uh, we can read this later.” She told herself as she closed the filing cabinet. “We-we found the file, and it’s uh, it’s getting late so we should go ahead and pack it up.”

(Are you sure?)

“Yeah, I’m sure…” She swallowed, grabbing her light as she stood up. “Besides, we’ve got Elizabeth’s name now, so it’s not like we really have to go prying into her medical history. I mean, it's-it’s not really our business, is it?”

(...)

“No, no it’s not.” She assured herself, as she held the file of a dead girl little older than herself close to her chest.

Scene Consequences

-Gained C Rank Intel = (4D6 + Crit D6) = 20 Intel.

--Current Elizabeth Intel: 45/100

-Due to naming a key target gain +D6 to all intel gains for this investigation.