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>>6019053
The debrief between your agents and this mission's operator, L4 Noita, Arsi Hotakainen, covered nothing new. You verified where the entrance to the squatter tunnel was on the map, verified the age of the man you killed (you had a fright when it was brought up, but to your relief, he was around twenty), and noted other places had signs of transients. You discussed Leshy's wishes, to not attack people using it but only to monitor the movements of migrants and to intercept aberration importing. The one underling not in the infirmary ward, L1 Trollslayer Kai Jonkheer, agreed and went on to iterate Leshy's point that to cut off the squatter's means of escape would only embolden their violence. Arsi understood the botanist's wisdom and accepted the terms.

As soon as you were dismissed, seated outside the debriefing room was Sigrun Eugen, L3 Manhunter. The swede's well-kept platinum hair was as cold and flat as her icy blue eyes. You don't imagine you look great, distraught and frustrated, but she shows no empathy. In fact, seeing the remnants of blood in your hair from the stone seems to agitate her more, but not against you. Knowing she had something to talk to you about, you walked up.

"Miss Eugen?"

"L2 Jarnafeldt, we have made progress." she began in a stately manner, opening a folder she had been carrying to show you maps showcasing the main sections of the stormdrain. "We have triangulated where the biggest holdout of the squatters are from various tells, including increased suspect density, food and battery theft, and aberration movement patterns. They are in Undercity 19, an old settlement they previously occupied several times historically - most recently twenty years ago. When the stormdrains were originally built, they were constructed on top of older, less resilient buildings. While most had been destroyed by time and erosion or torn down, the buildings in Undercity 19 serve as crucial supports to the city above, and thus have both received critical care and cannot risk being destroyed. Its relevant links to the surface have been sealed shut and rigged with traps besides, so an infiltration from neighboring stormdrain sections is necessary."

>>6019057
Absentmindedly, she shows you pictures. You can barely make heads or tails of them before she shows you another, her tone almost bored. Somehow you're getting that this is just a pretense for her. "We're certain that's where they've taken the stolen solid-state hydrogen fuel and Sumika's pneumatic suit, and where they're reverse engineering it. Unfortunately, it's not only heavily guarded, but they have been, of course, turning loose aberrations as something of a layer of defense. While such raids against undercities are prestigious missions capable of sending even a L1 agent straight to L3, we need to secure an area for us to prepare a proper assault. So, barring exceptions, you will be facing the aberrations that the criminals have turned loose and had make nests in the sections around the Undercity." The swede closes the folder and holds it to her chest. "Until then, they will continue to stink up the drains, steal, kidnap, debase and defoul, as they've always have." She tilts her head. "I hope you haven't forgotten the urgency of our mission which has been here since the very moment you got sworn in."

A sudden dagger of words made you jump in surprise, but you keep your cool. "Y-yes, ma'am! When do we begin?"

"Tomorrow. Early, preferably. Kiikoinen will be in the office waiting, I have made sure he will arrive on time. Perhaps you can take two missions in a day, expedite the process." She steps past your shoulder and casts a gaze at you, a look of conviction in her eyes. "I will not be joining you. I have rats to catch. If you see any, please do report them to me. No matter how much they say they could change their ways, how much good they've done, a rat is a rat. And it will look stellar on your review."

"I understand, L3 Eugen, miss. Thank you for the opportunity. Good luck...!"

She walks away without saying a farewell.

Arsi and Kai moved on and left after the briefing was over.

Your walk in the woods didn't clear your head like you wanted. You almost want to vent to someone.

>Bottle it up. You don't work where you can say anything like this.
>Sumika is the first agent you met, and she said that she was willing to talk if something was bothering you.
>Kiikoinen is your mentor. As an L3 Trollslayer, maybe he has choice words of wisdom.
>Fahy is your peer, he could understand your frustrations.
>Write in

>>6019068
Did we give something away to Eugen last thread, t imply we might not be 100% anarcho-primitivist pilled? I don't recall, but she's being really weird...

>Sumika is the first agent you met, and she said that she was willing to talk if something was bothering you.
Kiikoinen is a very closed-off man, and Fahy doesn't seem especially empathetic after the 'baby' incident... And probably can't keep his mouth shut for shit, too.

Oh! I forgot the necessary links.
>Suptg archive
https://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/qstarchive.html?tags=Solarpunk%20Cleanup%20Agent%20Quest
>Quest doc including characters, equipment, mechanics, etc.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1jhZljN9y7A8w6qFcD8wX_xYaKZP65ZH8EGrmgKQ-nIU

>>6019100
+1
Glad to have you back QM

>>6019108
Thanks!

>>6019113
Agreed, this quest is awesome.

>>6019068
>Fahy is your peer, he could understand your frustrations.

>>6019068
>Sumika is the first agent you met, and she said that she was willing to talk if something was bothering you.

16 hour vote period has expired, 3-1 for Sumika. Writing.

>>6019100
Eugen is acting uncharacteristically hostile. Maybe all this runaround by the underdwellers is getting to her? But all that "rat" talk and shittalking the underdwellers makes me wonder if there's more towards Fiona than before?

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>>6019456
>>6019113
>>6019100
L4 Operator Nonoka Sumika.

Lali is cold. Saemus is self-centered, or at least independently goal oriented. You wanted to think Sigrun was just married to the job and wanted nothing more than a paycheck, but she seems especially aggressive to you about it.

Nonoka has always been welcoming, when she had time. Her background shares a similar skeleton to yours, from country girl to joining the force in a city, and has gone through the struggle of this... culture shock, is the most politically correct way to put it. Possibly twice, since she traveled from Nippon to here.

First thing's first, you stop by the infirmary to get the cut checked out, and then head back at your place to get into some dry clothes and grab an umbrella if need be. you first ask after her at the clerk controlling entry into the Operation Room, where high-level agents act as mission control operators and micromanage missions of the boots on the ground. It is, respectably, a controlled environment, but the clerk is able to tell you that Sumika isn't here.

Heading down to the lobby to see if she was at her own residence, you manage to catch Sumika arrive. The immensely tall and long haired woman has to crouch through the glass panel doorways, shaking drops off her rain-drenched wide-brimmed hat. It has a striking resemblance to the Undercroft pneumatic suit armor's headpiece, and it is broader than your umbrella. Very not Finnish, however.

"Fiona," she greets with a polite foreign half-bow from her haunched stance as she walks to pass you by.

"M-miss Sumika!" You start in a panic in a desperate bid to keep her attention. "I would like a word, if I can."

The tall woman stops, and cranes her neck over her shoulder. Sumika's expression, what little you can make of her pale face past the long locks of straight black hair, has a measure of concern. "Is it important? I have a shift that begins in a few minutes."

You swallow your anxiety and just spit it out. "Yes. I-I need to talk."

After a moment to consider, a gentle smile comes to her face, with a nod.

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>>6019955
Sumika goes to speak to the lobby clerk - something about calling the operating room to put a L3 agent in the operator role for a trial run. The tall asian woman's explanation for her absence was "preserving the integrity of Stormwatch assets." You guess it has to look good on paper somehow.

Postponing her business for a moment, she walks past you back to the doorway. She leads you through the rain toward her estate. Though you tried beginning to talk in the heavy rain, she hushed you, and kept walking.

Sumika's estate is a residence that went through heavy renovations specifically for the abnormally tall woman. You haven't seen much of Nippon, much less how the people live, but it continues to live up to your every imagining of them. Rather than coming here for training in her especially spacious dojo, she takes you to a room where she had you sit on a floor at a knee-high table with a blanket sticking out over it, and grabbed a drink for you. Some white bottled drink that smelled like nothing but rice and alcohol, served hot. It was easy to drink, at least.

"I am sorry for not taking control of your mission today," Sumika starts with an apology on her end, her speech much slower and heavier than when she is on the radio. "I have so... so little free time. I am not allowed to bring outsiders here to my abode, as well, so I had only just returned. I had hoped Arsi was a suitable replacement, but yet... Did something happen on the mission? Did... you lose someone?"

Select up to two options.
>Lament how poor of a leader you are for letting Yoshimitsu get gnawed on by an aberration for a long time.
>Express concern for the treatment you got from Sigrun just now.
>Vent how the MNP took your mother away, and made you and Sumika live like peasants, and how you have to kill to hold a child in your arms, and(...)
>Let it all out. Complain about all the above, and probably a lot more.
>Write-in

>>6019964
>Lament how poor of a leader you are for letting Yoshimitsu get gnawed on by an aberration for a long time.

>>6019964
>Lament how poor of a leader you are for letting Yoshimitsu get gnawed on by an aberration for a long time.
LAMENT
>Express concern for the treatment you got from Sigrun just now.
And this is also recent like wtf was that crap?

>>6020001
+1

>>6019964

>>6019964
>Lament how poor of a leader you are for letting Yoshimitsu get gnawed on by an aberration for a long time.
>Vent how the MNP took your mother away, and made you and Sumika live like peasants, and how you have to kill to hold a child in your arms, and(...)

>>6020001
seconding (thirding?) this. Let's throw our less potentially treasonous thoughts at her first and see how she reacts. We can bring up our grievances against the MNP if we're given indication that she'd be understanding, but let's not forget that Sumika was thrown out of Nippon for refusing to compromise on principles. For all we know she could be a die-hard collectivist resenting even the suggestion that we'd put our own happiness before the Greater Good of MNP.

If we need to air those particular thoughts I say we go back to Leshy. He's enough of a humanist that he flat out ignored MNP's edict regarding the squatters.

>>6019964
>>Let it all out. Complain about all the above, and probably a lot more.

Votes counted. Away from my PC a few hours, but will write as soon as possible.

>>6019987
>>6020001
>>6020109
>>6020334
Sedition comes to your lips, but you quickly bury it under the "sah-kay" Sumika has given you. First thing's first. "No, I didn't lose someone, but I came close. I thought the two of the L1s could handle an aberration by themselves while I dealt with the two others that had ambushed us. I killed one and chased the other off, an Ajatarra. I wanted it dead, specifically, because I didn't want..." You pause for a moment.

What did compel you to chase after the Ajatarra and leave your squad behind?

The more you think on it, the dumber an idea it seemed.

"I was not sure if it had reinforcements. I wasn't sure if that was really the whole of the attack. Before things got worse, I wanted to take as much as I could, to keep it as even a fight as possible. And, well, the less of trickster trolls in the forest, the better."

Sumika groaned, looking aside. "How bad is he? The one who got hurt. Or, was it both of them?"

"Just the one," you make clear. "Yoshimitsu. Some spiderlike dog beast gnawed on his arm and kept jumping around the Hollander's swings. Eventually they got him, tazed at point blank and squirmed out from underneath it so it could be killed safely."

"Yoshimitsu. I have overseen a few of his missions. Very... stubborn man. He does not see authority until he is under its crushing heel." She sips some sake for herself, the tiny cup dangled from above by three long fingers. "I had to beat him in the training room to get him to take my orders seriously, after he ignored orders. Even pulled out a tanto in that fight. Not of Stormwatch make, and not one for training..." The long woman chuckles, partly from the comedy and partly to alleviate the feelings of frustration. "I should add a note to his files. To make him bend the knee, beat him until he cannot stand. This kind of attitude is popular in Akihabara crime circles - and it should not be in the Stormwatch. It is bad for everyone. Worry not about whether you have his respect. He will learn."

Well, he did always have a cold attitude toward you, from the start. Hopefully he'll shake it off soon.

"And, well. You should not expect rookies to be good at things. They die, even in decent situations. The weapons, the armor; they help, but they are not guarantees. I understand wanting to even the playing field, but keeping the numbers you have is an important part."

Critique is painful. Thankfully this warm drink isn't.

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>>6020755
https://allinallmusic.bandcamp.com/track/the-wheel-to-die

"And, another thing," you interject after a moment of absorbing the L4's perspective. "Miss Eugen told me about the Undercity she found."

Nonoka cast a blank expression at you. "Undercity...?" In understanding, she rocked her head back in a reverse nod. "Ah. So they found it."

"You mean you didn't know yet?"

"They must have found it today. I had been visiting a friend of mine. He's a bit... special, but he likes hearing of Nipponese plays."

That's not really relevant to your venting right now, so you don't pry. "Well, the moment she started telling me about it, she felt like she started to get really aggressive about it. As if she was accusing me of doing something. I don't think I did anything to upset her? She was angrily telling me to tell her if I found any 'rats'."

Sumika sets her cup down and leans back and sighs. "I have known Sigrun for a few years, and I will have to apologize in her stead. It's obvious to me she meant you no ill will. She is simply in her element."

You blink in mild confusion.

"Sigrun joined the Stormwatch not because of any selfish goal, vendetta, terrible circumstance, or anything of the sort," the nipponese woman began, throwing her arm wide, as if to cast navy blue paint across an unseen screen. "She joined the Stormwatch because this is what she wants to do. I have hope for Yoshimitsu to see authority in his Stormwatch superiors, because Sigrun had his respect from the start. Wars end, but crime does not. She lives to see thieves and murderers fleet on their heels, attempting to escape their fate. And she kills to do it all again."

"So if you had told her about how she made you feel, I am certain she would ask your forgiveness. She has a just cause, a whetted blade, and worthy villains. She isn't angry. She doesn't mistrust you. She is simply eager."

Sumika paints a very red picture of the swede.

"She does not wish to be Level 4. She does not wish to be an operator. She wishes to be a viking. If the concrete could burn, she would raze every undercity to the ground and stamp out its smoldering embers under her boots, leaving only a few alive to start the hunt anew in time. And she wishes to be right to do so." Sumika speaks, leveling a flat eyed stare at you. There has been more than a modest amount of spite in Sumika's voice as she spoke her opinion of the Manhunter, though it would have been just as easy to pick up if anyone heard a word she said. "Ask her all this, and she would tell you herself."

Select one of these three.
>"Sounds like a useful person to have on the Stormwatch."
>"Sounds like a vindictive control freak."
>"... Thank you for telling me all this, I-I'll keep this in mind."

Select up to three of the following.
>Ask her about her personal life. Quite rude of her to call her friend "special" like that, but maybe they don't have those kinds of manners over in Nippon
>What kind of plays was she talking about that were so interesting?
>Dig into what it was that got her sent over to Helsinki. Something about killing a crime boss' heir?
>Ask if she knows anything about other Stormwatch employees you should be aware of because that was rather enlightening (specify who)
>Ask if she's ever met with Leshy, he's a very pleasant grandpa like figure
>Ask to train with her, you only ever sparred once and you could make a habit of it
>Don't keep her from her appointed duty for too long, show yourself out
>Write-in

>>6020763
>"Sounds like a useful person to have on the Stormwatch."

>Ask her about her personal life. Quite rude of her to call her friend "special" like that, but maybe they don't have those kinds of manners over in Nippon
>Dig into what it was that got her sent over to Helsinki. Something about killing a crime boss' heir?
>Ask if she's ever met with Leshy, he's a very pleasant grandpa like figure

>>6020763

>"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, miss Sumika, but that sounds like a monstrously evil motive for a member of the Watch to have! Violence is an unfortunate necessity of our station, not a goal in itself."

>Ask her about her personal life. Quite rude of her to call her friend "special" like that, but maybe they don't have those kinds of manners over in Nippon
>Dig into what it was that got her sent over to Helsinki. Something about killing a crime boss' heir?
>Ask if she's ever met with Leshy, he's a very pleasant grandpa like figure

We'll apologise for taking up her time, but there was no one else we could talk to about our worries. Sumika comes across as closest in mindset to Fiona among the senior Watch operatives we've met thus far.

>>6021075
Justification for the write-in: Fiona gets to fish for Sumika's opinion on Sigrun (and the Watch/MNP in general) while coming across as naive and idealistic rather than seditious. If we project an image of a certain immaturity, our seniors will be inclined to "wake us up" to the realities of enforcement, thereby also informing us what they consider an acceptable range of opinion.
We'd do well to map out what each person of interest around us believe and what we can get away with in their presence. Knowing who will shield us for taking what actions might be the difference between expulsion and a slap on the wrist in the future.

>>6021075
>>6021077
+1

>>6020763
>Write-in: "Sounds like a dangerous motive... Does this not risk jeopardizing Stormwarch's interests?

And

>Ask if she's ever met with Leshy, he's a very pleasant grandpa like figure
>Don't keep her from her appointed duty for too long, show yourself out
>Ask if she'd be available to train one of these days, now would be pushing it too much

>>6020763
>"... Thank you for telling me all this, I-I'll keep this in mind."
>What kind of plays was she talking about that were so interesting?
>Ask if she knows anything about other Stormwatch employees you should be aware of because that was rather enlightening (specify who)
Get her opinion on Jonkheer on Kiikonen. We gotta' consider babydaddy/husband candidates eventually, right?

Tallying votes.
>>6021075
>>6021077
Are you the same anon with a funny moving IP or someone doing a big fat +1?

>>6020763
>"... Thank you for telling me all this, I-I'll keep this in mind."

>Dig into what it was that got her sent over to Helsinki. Something about killing a crime boss' heir?
>Ask if she's ever met with Leshy, he's a very pleasant grandpa like figure
>Ask if she knows anything about other Stormwatch employees you should be aware of because that was rather enlightening (specify who)
Jonkheer

No poll because I got too autistic, this is a doozy
Those are some... colorful thoughts on your superiors. There has to be a way you can prod at her thoughts more. Get her to show her hand. Thankfully, you've had to talk your way around things for a while. You have a little practice.

"Forgive me for speaking out of turn, miss Sumika, but... that sounds like a very evil motivation for a member of the Watch to have! Violence is an unfortunate necessity of our station, not a goal in itself..."

From between a casual sip, Sumika cocks an eyebrow in your direction, squinting.

... Perhaps that was a bit too on the nose.

After carefully measuring her words, Nonoka begins again, her tone having lost all of its bite. "I did not mean to imply she has no justification for what she does. If you talked to her on the subject, she could articulate her own thoughts far better than I could. I wished to convey that her goals align with the mission of the MNP and the Stormwatch itself, rather than be entirely self serving as some others who serve alongside you and I. As far as the Stormwatch is concerned, the violence is the sentencing for the crime of placing a burden on Mother Earth that she struggles to bear. There is only so much the world can afford to sustain, and the MNP, Stormwatch, and Sigrun have all agreed the squatters are... outside of the budget. L3 Eugen is the ideal loyalist. She has faith in the method, and she wishes to be its instrument."

You're not sure if that helps put Eugen in a better light, after what Sumika said about her before. "Thanks. That helps me understand, a little bit. I'm... a little glad she's not upset at me. I couldn't imagine what I had done wrong."

An awkward moment passes.

Before she can speak up again to ask if that was it, you lean in. "Hey. You said... Yoshimitsu had acted like some Nipponese gangster before? Wasn't that why you got brought over here?"

"It's a story that bothers me," she admits.

You want to hear it but you don't want to play down her emotions. "If it's something you did wrong, then, well... talking it to death helps bury it."

Sumika nods, and pours herself another drink. "I had joined Akihabara's policing force two years prior. Akihabara is... just a neighborhood in what was once a larger ancient city. A handful of buildings which pierce the heavens, joined by a web of bridges across for ease of travel, surrounded by dozens of agricultural towers. Greenhouses, hydroponics, close communities. A city of plenty and pleasure. A rolemodel city to the MNP for peak human infrastructure... besides the underworld of yakuza."

>>6021750
"Akihabara had to deal with aberrations - yokai, over there - but mainly the oni, who cleave close to the line of humanity. Clans of yakuza offered to sneak mountain-dwelling oni into Akihabara, where they could live in decadence, should they serve as muscle. Some were loyal to their masters. Some less so. It was clear the root cause of yokai in Akihabara were the yakuza clans. So to cut off their heads would be a good thing. And that's what we tried."

"We entered the Kageyama Clan estate on the 40th floor through the windows. They were caught by surprise. Oni began to escort the patriarch and his family away, but I pursued. I was cut off, and outnumbered... but the son had to make a point to his girlfriend. He abandoned his family, grabbed a sword off the ground and before I had noticed, I was crossing blades with the firstborn son of the Kageyama clan."

Your eyes are glittering at the scenes that come to mind. Lights blaring in through broken windows, silhouettes casting shadows, and Sumika, surrounded by shadows, But Sumika's eyes were devoid of light as she leaned in to clarify.

"This wouldn't have been a problem with me, had he not been fourteen."

...

... What?

"Rebellious age, edgy kid, trying to live free or die trying. Wanted to prove he was more than just a shadow of his father before it was even his problem. Thought clashing steel with someone seven feet tall would be a story told for years." Her dead eyes liven for a moment with a chuckle. "The oni tried to help, and I let them. They kicked him away, tossed him across the ground, but he kept scrambling back for more. But when one finally grabbed him and ran off, the heir stabbed him and made one more dash. I was swinging wide at two that had flanked me. I didn't notice when I had hit a third, I only recognized what I had done when I made a second swing through him. The rest of the clan retreated right after."

You don't say anything.

Doing something like that on accident. You couldn't begin to imagine...

"A man from the MNP headquarters in Rome, visiting at the time, personally awarded me with Cat-3 citizenship globally. For commitment and pursuit of peace in our time. It did not help me feel better like he imagined it would. The Kageyama patriarch was still alive and grieving, so the mission was a failure. In a few months, I was honorably discharged and offered a transfer to Helsinki's Stormwatch to offer my expertise. I knew it came out of concern for my safety, as I had been feeling the sensation of daggers in my back for weeks, so I accepted. And now, for years, I've been here."

A story like that is hard to follow up on. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone who signed up for anything like Stormwatch. I'm sorry you had to-"

Sumika quickly interrupted you with her hand. "It is a burden long since carried. I stay off field missions usually. I am happy to be mission control, and help how I can with the community."

>>6021752
Oh, you wanted to get into that. "... With your special friend? It's kind of rude to call someone that, you know. Is that a Nihongo thing?"

Finishing what remained of her cup, Sumika stood up and nearly bashed her head upon the ceiling. "Fiona. I am nearly eight feet tall. I stand head and shoulders over the next tallest man in the room. I am a freak. Freaks stick together. The world is a lot smaller than it used to be, and a burden shared is half the burden. They will never be Cat-3 citizens, so... I do what I can to make their lives worth living up here, rather than let them lured down there."

... You hadn't really considered what endeavors agents past L3 get up to. Ten years as an L4 Stormwatch agent, and you're incredibly well-off. It's hard to imagine L4 Agents who went out and got these promotions had nothing in mind to do with all that money. Katriina spending all of her freetime and resources making better tools for Stormwatch agents is nice and all, but looking out for those less fortunate to prevent a spiral downward is a far more positive use of excessive resources, at least to you.

"If that'll be all, then I do have something to get to," Sumika says.

"W-wait, one last thing!" You say, as you get to your feet. "Have you talked to the tree guy?"

The asian woman's eye's widened to a normal width, and you realized that was a dumb way to put it.

>>6021753
"During my scouting mission today, I met a naturalist from MNP who went by the name of Leshy. He's hooked up to cameras hidden in trees to scan Helsinki forest."

She slapped her head. "Ah, Leshy! I have heard of him. I have yet to make acquaintance. It is simply not something I have the time for between my current obligations. I had met his compatriot. Callsign Zephyr. L4 agents and management communicate with him regularly. He and his team are responsible for monitoring the statistics of the stormdrain. What kind of chemicals and minerals are going in, where from, how much of each, how much is getting filtered out, what is happening to everything that does not make it from one filter to another, and he estimates the squatter population. He is overworked, but he has a bleeding heart. That is more than what you could say for most sent by MNP."

The two of you share a short laugh of relief. The shadows of MNP agents walking through your home village could be seen from time to time in your childhood and it was never a good omen, but knowing there's people like Leshy and people he trusts in it inspires a little bit of hope. That it's just bad circumstances that bring the bad out of otherwise good people. That one day it won't be as bad, and when that day comes they won't be as bad either.

But for as long as you've been alive, they haven't been very great.

"I hope that cleared a lot of the dark clouds in your head, Jarnafeldt," Sumika spoke up, beginning to lead you out.

You give a much more cheery nod than you would have been able to walking in. "It did! Thank you, miss Sumika!"

Heading out back into the rain with your umbrella and her rather large hat, you and Sumika begin walking back to the HQ proper. There's a man ahead of you two, long hair wet in the heavy rain and stride very shaky and sloppy. This drunkard must be one of yours, the guards wouldn't let anyone not a Stormwatch agent past. After suggesting you go to the infirmary to see Yoshimitsu in a few days, Sumika went her own way up an elevator, and you found the drunkard had already called one.

Stepping inside and reaching past him to press the button for your floor, you get a good look at the man.

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>>6021754
... Kiikoinen?

He's covered in scars.

He didn't have those scars before.

Meeting your gaze, Lalli rubs his jaw. A cloudy skin colored substance smears across the ravines of flesh dashed across his face before dripping down onto his neck.

Kiikoinen's usually stern gaze has become loose and soft, but still carries all of its intensity. When the elevator starts moving, he grins. There's a thousand things on the tip of his tongue, but a clear level of exhaustion holds him back from opening his big fat mouth. Finally, he smiles. "Forgot to check if it would rain today."

You're still forming thoughts. It's happening rather quick. Your floor is coming up soon.

"Sigrun wants to try and overwork us tomorrow. Two missions, perkele." Alcohol comes crawling from between his teeth. "I mean, I don't mind. You up for it?"

His metamorphosis is making it hard for you to think straight. "If I can. It's been a long day, I need to sleep."

"Ah, it's fine. If it's so much a problem we can bother one of those noita for something to keep us strong. Thoughts and prayers are nice and all, but-" Your mentor begins to cackle and his smile morphs into a hyena-like grin when he finally stifles it. "You'll see."

Your door opens. You don't hurry out, but you're a little confused. In the few moments you had your back turned, he wiped the grin off his face and was standing as he normally was. He nods and gives a goodnight as if it were any other moment.

When at long last reach your bed, you don't think a single bit about all that happened that day. You crave the silence.

You hug the pillow, and imagine it hugging you back.

>>6021752
Did they not tell the yakuza brat's father that his son ran at the girl repeatedly to try to kill her? That even his oni bodyguards tried to keep him away but he fought back at then out of sheer pride and ego, just to get close to Nonoka again to fight her? Honestly she did a good thing killing him; the retard wanted to die the whole time. It wasn't even "honorable". The patriarch's to blame for raising a suicidal moron

>>6021753
>I am nearly eight feet tall. I stand head and shoulders over the next tallest man in the room.
Does she know how hot that is?
>I am a freak.
There are many men out there who would heavily disagree with this assessment.

>>6021947
Grief makes madmen out of the strongest of people. Besides, it might just be a question of saving face or any other myriad reason that could be found if you look for it far enough.

>>6021949
Though entirely true, I doubt telling her that would help endear her to us. Or make her feel better.

>>6021758
I'm inclined to believe Kiikoinen wears makeup to conceal his scars, wouldn't be that surprising considering the time he spends on himself. Why, though, I wonder.

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The stinging pain from the rock to the head yesterday wakes you up to tell you good morning at the wonderful hour of 4AM. The pain is not unbearable, and the strike to your knee isn't that bad either. You're able to walk fine, though it did shake a bit as you got out of bed. Fashioning yourself a breakfast of bread rolls, sausage, and jam before washing up in a shower that isn't the size of a casket has you very grateful that you are no longer in that pod they give to L1 agents.

As you head down to the office area, the man you recognize as Kiikoinen is already there, coffee in one hand, IV hooked up to the other. No scars are visible. Long hair neatly hidden under his Stormwatch cap. Bored and flat expression. Just like any other day, despite how he got last night. Or perhaps he gets like that most nights.

"Good morning, Jarnafeldt," Sigrun bids, which startles you. Saemus is behind her ready to get going. He seems to be wearing some form of jumpsuit underneath his clothes that you don't recognize. One of Jousten's new projects? "Despite the progress made finding the squatters in Undercity 19, there are of course problems around the whole of the Stormdrain that need to be dealt with before we can commit a greater portion of our resources for the time it will take. Lalli has selected a few jobs for you two. And I recommend doubling up."

Walking up to Kiikoinen, you see the files on the desk. You see the files, and they don't look really pleasant at all.

>>6022499
>Subject: Vieriva Kivi [case 206]
>Designation: BEAST
>Height: 100cm ~
>Weight: 210kg ~
>Suspected Diet: 500 calories ~
>Intellect: Animal
>Form: Stone Snail
>Suspected Location: Under Töölönlahti
>WITNESS REPORT: I was conducting a mission in a neighboring section of the stormdrain when I spotted some Puri. This wouldn't have posed a problem, but I noticed that their shells were covered in what I initially thought was a black moss. For years, there's been mold in the stormdrains growing near Töölö bay, and though it is a poisonous substance, the mold itself and the spores don't make it past filters, so it wasn't a real problem as long as people didn't go there. But now the mold is growing on the backs of these aberrations, and they threaten to help that mold spread. I think they make their nest there.

>Subject: Hiiden Huurta [case 422]
>Designation: TROLL
>Height: 150cm ~
>Weight: 360kg ~
>Suspected Diet: 500 calories ~
>Intellect: Animal
>Form: Massive Hound
>Suspected Location: Katajanokka
>WITNESS REPORT: Partying citizens heard strange noises coming from beneath the drain grate. Drunk man began taunting whatever creature was down there. An oversized dog's mouth lashed out from the darkness and tried to push off the grate. It failed to do so. It then ran off, and another followed it. Be advised that Katajanokka's stormdrain is far shorter and narrower than the standard stormdrain sections.

>Subject: Young Letiva [case 422]
>Designation: TROLL
>Height: 17cm ~
>Weight: 180kg ~
>Suspected Diet: 500 calories ~
>Intellect: Unknown
>Form: Long-Armed Humanoid
>Suspected Location: Ruoholahti
>WITNESS REPORT: A door to the stormdrain was barred from the other side and my mentor L3 Vaesterstrom and I went to investigate. We found a man sleeping in a corner of an unlit access room accessible only by a ladder. We yelled from across the room to prove his citizenship. He startled awake, turned his head, and from across the room he shoved L3 out of the doorway and off the catwalk. I did not attempt to suppress the aberration and went to check on Vaesterstrom. It seemed to have several joints in its arms.

Nasty bunch, today.
Select up to two.
>Vieriva Kivi - Letting the whole stormdrain filled with black mold is not a good idea for anyone.
>Hiiden Huurta - You'd love to face down some more kinderschredders.
>Young Letiva - Deal with that problem before it gets way too big.

>>6022501
>Hiiden Huurta - You'd love to face down some more kinderschredders.
>Young Letiva - Deal with that problem before it gets way too big.
We ARE a troll-hunter.

>>6022501
>>Hiiden Huurta - You'd love to face down some more kinderschredders.
>>Young Letiva - Deal with that problem before it gets way too big.

>>6022501
>Vieriva Kivi - Letting the whole stormdrain filled with black mold is not a good idea for anyone.
>Young Letiva - Deal with that problem before it gets way too big.

>>6022501
>Vieriva Kivi - Letting the whole stormdrain filled with black mold is not a good idea for anyone
>Young Letiva - Deal with that problem before it gets way too big

>>6022501
>Vieriva Kivi - Letting the whole stormdrain filled with black mold is not a good idea for anyone.
>Young Letiva - Deal with that problem before it gets way too big.

>>6022545
>>6022575
>>6022685
>>6022776
>>6023010
Votes tallied.
And important note: I've found some new employment so my schedule is subject to change a bit. Not sure how this will impact my update schedule since I already post late as hell, and not sure if I'll keep it, but just a heads up.

>>6023695
>new employment
Congrats!

>>6023695
Happy to hear things are going well, QM!

You know Letiva are a big problem in most ways, but this is the first incident report you've handled that casually mentions the injury of an L3 Agent. That makes it very high on the list of things that need to be put down. Just below that is bringing a lot of mold everywhere. There's zero notes on their hostility, which on one hand is a good thing, but on the other just means you'd just be exterminating them. Which isn't always nice, but you've had to deal with rats before. Just how it goes.

Kiikoinen seems to readily approve of those choices. He goes over the basic considerations of the mission; they would need a large bludgeoning force to deal with the shells of the snails, which would kick up a lot of the mold and make it airborne, which would necessitate a gas mask, and through his yapping you just can't help but try and examine his face for any mistake, any flaw in his mask of makeup. But no, it's completely flawless. It's as if his flesh was always like that. It takes him to notice you ogling his jawline before you bashfully look away.

But down to brass tacks, Lalli's instructions were quite clear. To enter that area of the Stormdrain, you have to bring a hazmat suit, and unless you wish to take a stop back at Stormwatch to re-gear, you have to have it for both the Kivi and Letiva.

Kiikoinen proposed that one of the two of deal with the beasts by themselves with a powerful weapon (a maul or pilebunker) while another stands watch with whatever weapon they please. It's projected to be a large nest, but there might be other predators. What could predate on a family of slugs covered in a poisonous fungus, you don't know, but if these slugs can live near it, other things might be able to as well. And whatever you bring has to be similarly effective against the Letiva, which seems to be a strong creature with good reach.

Though there's something he brought up before he seems to have forgotten about. You almost want to bring it up as you head over to the armory to gear up.

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>>6025153
For this sortie, Kiikoinen requires you to use either the HAZMAT Suit or the Turnout Gear, as both come with filtered breathing apparatus necessary to not take damage from the FILTHYmold.
You have two weapon slots. The top two will be taken.
For this weapon vote, you must place three votes on separate options. The first vote you cast will be listed as your primary vote, and the subsequent votes will be tallied as a regular vote. In case of a tie, whichever option had more primary votes wins. "No Sidearm" is an option included to allow voters to leave a single weapon slot empty for the sake of speed.
Pick three Weapons:
>No Sidearm
>Pneumatic Handaxe
>Volt Machete
>Searing Knife
>Kimmo Blade
>Stormwatch Pilebunker
>Undercroft Pilebunker
>Jarngreipr
>Pneumatic Battleaxe
>Volt Bardiche
>Stormwatch Flamberge
>Pneumatic Maul
>Stormwatch Crossbow
>Stormwatch Longbow

>>6025163
Primary
>Undercroft Pilebunker

Regular
>Kimmo Blade
Good for FILTHY things, right? Not just rotting ones?
>Stormwatch Longbow
If they have reach, we want range

>>6025163
Pick one worn equipment set.
>HAZMAT Suit - Total protection from all attacks involving filth and toxicity, lightweight, poor physical protection. Fixed mask greatly inhibits ATTUNEMENT.
>Turnout Gear - Passable protection from attacks involving filth and toxicity, heavyweight, good physical protection. Removable mask permits normal levels of ATTUNEMENT, at the risk of exposing yourself to the environment.

And about what he said last night...
>Inquire about what he meant about asking the Noita for something. L4 agents are busy, usually...?
>Don't bother, he doesn't remember, and he doesn't want remember that, anyway.

>>6025170
>>6025173
>Turnout Gear
Versatility, since we're hopping between missions

>Inquire about what he meant about asking the Noita for something. L4 agents are busy, usually...?

>>6025170
>For this weapon vote, you must place three votes on separate options
Just select three of your favorites from the list, just in case you're the odd one out. And it's a big list, can't expect everyone to agree on one weapon every time, but from the top 3 there should be some favorites.

>>6025163
>Turnout Gear - Passable protection from attacks involving filth and toxicity, heavyweight, good physical protection. Removable mask permits normal levels of ATTUNEMENT, at the risk of exposing yourself to the environment.
Primary
>Pneumatic Handaxe
Side arm
>Searing Knife
>Volt Machete

also op when you write the opening post, can you include that info doc?

>>6025191
I forgot to include it in the literal OP but I did post the Doc and Suptg archive here >>6019108
Apologies for not wrapping it in neatly in the first or second post

>>6025163
>>6025173
Backing these:
>>6025170
>>6025175
I want to give choco-blade a test run, and I want range badly after the fiasco with the tunnel search mission

>>6025177
I'll stick with those three, then.

>>6025300
oh, d'oh
I'm stupid and didn't notice you broke it up
forgive me, I am a PM fan and cannot read

Votes tallied!
>Pile Bunker
>Kimmo Blade
>Turnout Gear
Writing

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quest doc corrupted as I was nearly finishing up
i'm gonna need a few days to recover
full of #####s
checked the backup folder and saw the last autosave in it was somehow from september and is only 7 pages long
thankfully most of the story is in my head and all I lost was some character descriptions and the whole update

but I think I'm gonna take the rest of this week off

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>>6026120
NIGGA THAT'S NUTS
You'll be OK OP, I have fAith in you and your quest

>>6026120
....... How?

>>6026120
Fair. That's frustrating as fuck. Sorry to hear about your travails, QM. Be well, and see you soon!

>>6026384
very funny actually
>writing update
>"huh, my backspace is suddenly no longer continuous, I can't hold it down, I have to mash it 8 times to delete a word"
>save the document before doing anything else
>"now is it just my openoffice that's laggy or is something going on with my PC?"
>happens in my browser as I go to search the problem and get irrelevant results
>"oh, something's happening, let me turn things off and on again through task manager"
>kill Discord, Firefox, openoffice processes
>computer becomes unresponsive
>had saved doc like 3 minutes ago so it's fine
>power button off because windows is totally unresponsive and can't power down normally
>boot it up again
>open doc
>"failed to recover file from autosave"
>#########
need to clean up my PC I guess

>>6027414
When there's perceptible lag going on that persists across programs and affects your whole PC, I find that's due to some garbage process sabotaging you and that's visible via task manager. Adobe shit does that for example, or other bloatware

>>6027414
Do you use any backups, like OneDrive or Dropbox or anything? They've saved my ass before.

>>6027461
My computer is free from the taint of Adobe, and God Willing it never will be.
>>6027464
I thought the program I was using had a list of backup saves, but as it turns out it didn't keep that many of them. The only backups it made were from when I first started the quest, somehow. I iterative save for drawings, 3D art, animations, etc. but now I gotta do it for a fucking text document? Maybe I really should just write in notepad. Right now I just made a new doc for the thread and will just make a new one per thread.
I'm spite writing now. Update tonight or tomorrow. Perhaps multiple.

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You know enough about Finnish to know that "Vieriva Kivi" means "Rolling Stone," so you're gonna need something really tough to crack those open. And you've always wanted to see how this kinda weapon is to use after someone tried killing you with it. And the very idea of a chocolate sword is too silly to not try at least once - not to mention that the fleshy Letiva are a choice target for such a weapon. You send the Armorer to go downstairs and requisition an Undercroft Pilebunker for you, and to get you a Kimmo Blade from one of the labs.

When you turn around having placed the order, Kiikoinen sighs and puts away the Stormwatch pilebunker, instead grabbing a pneumatic maul. After rummaging around in a locker, he picks out a set of turnout coat your size and tosses it at you, and you nearly fall over. The full kit is easily sixty pounds, maybe even seventy, and it doesn't even have an oxygen tank. You'd swear it was lined with lead. It's a dense and layered weave of fibers and rubbers meant to prevent cuts, block fluids, and insulate from heat. You have to tie several belts across your knees, hips, arms to keep the weight evenly spread out, but you feel tough as nails wearing it.

While the Armorer was still out, you figure you should ask as you have time. "Sir Kiikoinen, about yesterday, what was it you were talking about?" Kiikoinen passes you a puzzled look. He obviously doesn't remember. "Something about the Noita having something to keep us strong throughout a mission?"

His puzzled look stays frozen as his eyes trail off thinking, and suddenly they shoot wide open. "Ah. I did mention the noita. Yes, they offer... medicines. But they don't respect a godless heathen like myself. Though nothing prevents me from requisitioning material from them, I don't trust them."

"Godless heathen" is not something anybody calls themselves, so you imagine he's quoting someone else. Still, you didn't think Lalli was the kind of man to ever have conflict with other members of the Stormwatch, especially superiors. "Why is that?"

The Finn sits upright and levels his head at you. "Pervitin is a proven combat medicine when taken in moderation and necessity can provide the proper focus and energy to minimize disaster, which proves it may be worth the withdrawal symptoms. Henbane is a historically attested poultice that I personally can attest to as a functional stimulant if you have someone capable of keeping you in line. Psilocybin mushrooms have no place in a combat situation. Its presence in the Stormwatch is pushed by spiritualist junkies who abuse their position to have as much of it as they please. The mere presence of it carried in a squad jeopardizes someone's life as someone attempts to see beyond and cripples all of their senses. It has no place anywhere near an agent while they are on the clock."

... Of all the things you expected Noita to be doing, that was probably the most obvious one that didn't come to mind.

>>6027774
Being handed your weapons by the Armorer, you take special care to admire them as you follow Kiikoinen down into the Stormdrains and through the moist underbelly of Helsinki.

The Kimmo blade meets your every expectation. This off-black brown sword with a two and a half foot long blade has the faintest smell, and when you lick the flat of the blade, the smile just lights up your face as you actually taste the chocolate. It's not a pleasant chocolate. It's viciously dark and bitter. It's the 99.5% dark chocolate kind, and you're certain that last 0.5% is a some mixture of silver, salt, and anything that kills bacteria. You're a baker, not a chemist. You just enjoy the spectacle of it. It is a disposable and recycleable blade that can make sterilizing cuts, which against things that fester down here like Letiva can hurt like acid in an open wound. You just have to shake it dry after every few cuts, which you have something of an idea of from practicing with Sumika that one time. You think you could get it in one or two flicks. And in case it does melt, they did include powdered milk to make it more palatable.

Strapped onto your arm is the other weapon, and it's hard to ignore. It's going to make swinging the sword a bit difficult, given how it stops your hand from getting in its trajectory. The woman in the hospital came at you with a similar device to what is strapped onto your arm now, but what is strapped to your arms very clearly has the shape and aesthetic of a weapon, not the slapdash workshop tool converted into a weapon that open-form design had. The mechanism, just shorter than your underside of your right forearm, is a smooth encasement for a large nail, the magnetic rail that guides it, a small box at the end for "fuel," though given defined amount it uses to launch the stake forward up to two feet outward, "ammunition" might be the better term for it, and the actuator which turns solid-state hydrogen into full-sized hydrogen at a preposterously powerful rate. Realistically you have far more than you could imagine using in a single day. What really matters is, the solid metal construction permits more fuel being used, sending a heavier rod down a greater length to deal some of the most powerful attacks the Stormwatch can offer.

You asked around not too long ago about what the "strongest" weapon currently employed by the Stormwatch is. Besides the Black Swan's explosive-charge launching bomblance, there is currently a 4-bore shotgun being loaned out to an MNP operative, though they reportedly haven't had to fire it in over six months. You have no idea what 4-bore means, other than it must be very big if it's just a step down from a full-blown bomb thrower.

>>6027775
Back to what's happening, you're surprised at how much water is down here. The rain must have continued for hours into the night, as the water reaches so high that it's becoming an obstacle to traverse. You're grateful your clothes are waterproof. The Kimmo Blade's sheath is also very good at drying the blade without the application of heat.

Finally, you're told to mask up. You're approaching the section of the stormdrain overrun by the mold. Ever since the incident was reported, the doors have been sealed to limit its spread. Putting on the mask, you're surprised to feel it's quite easy to breathe in this thing. There's no oxygen tank or nozzle, just an air filter, and it is very comfortable. Now that you're thinking of it, you expect nothing less from a city that filters all of the runoff, rainwater, and rotting letiva remains to pure H20 by the time it hits the bay.

Your operator chimes in. It's L4 Arsi again. Sumika is disposed at the moment, you were told. "The door will open in a few. Find and kill as many of these stone slugs as you can. They don't fight back. One of you, keep watch."

Kiikoinen looks at you from behind the glass of the masks. You don't recognize him at all, if it weren't for the uniform color and nametag. Maybe his posture and musculature give him away. Underdwellers don't eat good enough to get a shape like that. After a moment of rocking his head, he presses his palm against his face and then a finger to his ear. "Fiona," crackles his voice over the radio.

You are rattled by the volume, but figure out how to reply. "H-huh?"

"I'll keep watch, you handle the kivi," Lalli orders. You give a vigorous nod.

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>>6027776
Loudly, the door begins to raise, the waters from both inside and out spilling forth and intermingling. Arsi clicks through several windows on his computer. "There's very limited number of operable cameras in this area. I only have your bodycams and one camera watching this entrance to go off of. Be careful."

As enough of the door is raised to be traversible, it looks pretty awful in here. Mold stretches tens of feet onto the pillars, and grates from above spray misty water over the area, exacerbating its growth. You can see dead beasts lying about, what seems to be a man's body face down in the water as you step across the channels of murky water.

Oddly enough, some of the beasts are arranged into piles. It's hard from a distance, but you think one of them might be a dead letiva. An ample sponge of nutrients, slowly being wrung dry. There's going to be a lot of places to look. But you have to wonder if all these beasts were here as the mold began to take over, or if they were migrating through?

Though this full-body kit of yours blunts your ATTUNEMENT, you still have the instinct that and natural sense of how this place came to be.
Roll Attunement: Two anons, roll 3d6, target 2.

Rolled 6, 5, 6 = 17 (3d6)

>>6027780

Rolled 5, 1, 3 = 9 (3d6)

>>6027780

>>6027798
>>6027826
Radical, twice the result!
Will write in the morning
_
Also, the employment I caught was more part time than anticipated, and far more weekly focused than I was prepared, so I am still able to do the latter half of the week and maybe even the weekend. It's a good amount of money so I won't bite the hand that feeds too immediately, and part time is convenient for my current situation, so I'll keep it going. So I'll probably rotate my schedule to Wednesdays to Sundays rather than just weekdays.

>>6027927
Thanks for the heads up, and congrats on the job, QM.

First, it's incredibly clear from the quality of the air down here and the very clear signs of rot taking the entire area that nothing that died here chose to be here to begin with. It has a very clear foreboding aura, from the mold stretching tens of feet up the pillars and the sickly green color of the water here. Simply being alive around here in transit isn't lethal, the aberrations and animals that died here for some reason had to stay around here long enough to succumb to it.

You see plenty of the "stone snails" already, but you take a moment to observe them. They don't grow shells, but affix various things to their back. In the case of the stormdrain, there's debris from underdweller "renovations" that they wear. The chunks of concrete adorning their back are covered in mold, so either they have been here for quite some time, or the rocks came from a somewhat recent hole in the wall.

At the far end of the chamber, what you believed to be a dead letiva is merely just a pile of bodies of beasts, trolls, and humans. What's interesting is that it's an actual pile, and not just a cluster of them. It'd be pointless to climb on top of something to die, so it's more likely that something put them there.

That's when you notice the ladder sticking out from under the bodies. Your eyes drift up to a catwalk directly above it, from which the ladder was almost certainly hewed from. There is a door there, but you don't know what the point of dropping a body into this room would be? Unless they're still alive when they're sent over.

Remembering you have an expert on your radio, you voice your thoughts to L4 Arsi. His calm speech is slowed by intense thought. "Interesting. I think I've seen this before. Underdwellers have been using letiva as feed for their livestock, so they have a motivation to support them and their growth. This is them sowing the fields, as it were. Preparing fertile ground. I'll mark this place for a heavy cleanup immediately... Miss Jousten's new acid will see a lot of use here."

Shit, you could have brought that. You are a clean-up agent... but you're also not a maid.

Rolled 3, 6, 6, 2, 1, 6, 5, 1 = 30 (8d6)

>>6028992
Satisfied with your answer, you get started on the Kivi. They don't know that you're here to kill them, so the first one you walk up to doesn't budge as you pull your arm back and give it a good-

Po-CHUNK

Once you have finished recognizing how massively loud this pilebunker can get and your body recovers from the raw tremor this thing inflicts upon you, your entire vision is completely subsumed by dust formed from the exploding concrete shells and the mold that is now turned into a cloud by the process. Your arm is dragged through the space where the creature once occupied by the sheer force of the stake coming to a halt. The air clapped as it was rapidly displaced, punching the sound barrier for a fraction of a second. The kivi is dead, but not because you hit it somewhere good or anything, just the shockwave of the piston forcing itself inside the body rippled through and crushed every vital organ inside it.

Ripping your hand back, the stake collapses upon itself back into its hole.

You can't help but laugh.

Finding their nests was fairly easy; stones and other objects that once served as shells were used to build something of a cave or a house, and the wet trails are easy to spot on dry ground. For about half an hour you march around, crushing each of the Kivi with the pilebunker. There's dozens, but you have time. Now Lalli just needs to keep an eye out.

Rolling for L3 Kiikoinen's Attunement. 10d6 with a two-dice penalty, 8d6 t3.

>>6028995
>4 successes
Alcoholic degen sweep. Guess we're fighting some sewer farmers

sorry for the quietude over the weekend after suggesting I write, my head was not where it should have been
Resuming normally Wednesday

>>6031936
No worries, QM. Shit happens. IRL first!

>>6028995
And these rolls were worth the wait, lol.

Punching through these things created dense clouds of dust as concrete and mold became airborne, which made quick work hard. It did take quite some time, and as you approached the last few as they made their movements away, Kiikoinen crackled on the radio. "Movement. Personell doorway - Catwalk. By the pile of bodies."

You cease your onslaught against the defended but defenseless slugs covered in poison, and look around for what he described. There's something moving on the catwalk near where all the bodies are being dumped? You're not terribly far from it. The mold-coated slugs are slithering in that direction, so some ripples in the water would be undetected as you drew closer.

As you hid behind the pillars, you began to hear them. Footsteps, up to three of them. The clanging sounds of metal on metal, followed by the clap of flesh upon the wet concrete floor and the thud of a rope striking it after.

This is it, you are thinking. This is when you start hear their barbaric banter through their masks.

>>6033946
"O Vellamo, water's mother,
Hear me now, if be you alive;

Moonlight never reaches down here,
Sons and daughters plead and cry here,
Blood spills heav'ly down the drains, and,
Stomach roars in hunger pangs, and,
Uplanders care not for siblings,
Slaves to their master's bidding.

O Vellamo, kind old mother,
Hear me now, if be you alive.
Shield us now, with your loving heart,
Let us flow now, to safer steams."

Your heart sinks when he finishes that verse.

In your headset you hear slam on the desk. Arsi speaks rather distant from his microphone. "Vittu! I'll be right back."

Kiikoinen continues to describe the situation in the operator's absence. "Three of them, full turnout gear. Two are armed with spears. Their noita isn't. The two armed ones are coming down a rope they set up, their noita is staying behind. There's a pool of water they have to cross. They're heading toward a route between us."

They're coming to check out all the loud noises they heard. How do you and Lalli want to deal with them? Mind you, with a pile bunker, any success is almost totally lethal.
>Rush them as they're climbing down and personally introduce them to the loud noises. [Fast - 6d6 t3. Success will catch them offguard and allow a full standard 6d6 engagement roll, which can be made a brave attack.]
>Catch one by surprise as they turn the corner. [Engage - 4d6 t2]
>Tackle one of them into the water and end their fucking life. [Brave - 6d6 t2]
>Rip off their masks. [Strength - 8d6 t2]
>Hide and let them walk past, so you can figure out what to do when you've more opportunity. [Attunement - 8d6 t3]

>>6033954
>Hide and let them walk pas

>>6033954
>Tackle one of them into the water and end their fucking life. [Brave - 6d6 t2]
We've done it before. We'll do it again. We can't falter or fail to show resolve. For our future... For our child!

>>6033954
>Tackle one of them into the water and end their fucking life. [Brave - 6d6 t2]
Your motherfucking life ends 2 minutes from now.
...
...
.........................

>>6033954
>Tackle one of them into the water and end their fucking life. [Brave - 6d6 t2]
Given our gear, any maneuver that makes the enemy less likely to actually is precious. And given our choice of weaponry, the scuffle will serve us well.

>>6033954
>>Hide and let them walk past, so you can figure out what to do when you've more opportunity. [Attunement - 8d6 t3]

>>6034025
>>6034037
>>6034243
Ambush is winning out! Writing.

Apologies, folks had me cooking. I'll try to get a second update out tonight.
>>6034025
>>6034037
>>6034243
Quietly, you let Kiikoinen know what you want to do. "Do you want to ambush them?"

After a few agonizing seconds, he replies. "Good call. You go first, they'll notice me standing up."

The edge of the column is round, so there's no corner for you to hide right behind. You can only crouch down, casting a shady silhouette across a dark floor, and hoping that's enough to mask you just enough to get the first hit in.

You hear the footsteps growing closer, marching through the waters.

Closer.

Closer...

A shadow comes into view. There's a certain anxiety building up in you right now. Your mouth salivates, your breaths go heavy, your fingers ache.

The second shadow becomes visible. It's time.

You step out from the dark, arm at the ready, and spring yourself at the one trailing behind. The two of them are wearing Lapland turnout gear much like the others of his ilk, but adorned with beast teeth on colored-string necklaces and black rune-like markings stained upon the cloth.

While you're taking this one on, Kiikoinen will have the time he needs to get up and make his own attack against the leader.

As he struggles to ready his spear, you're going to make sure his chest is going to be done in like you're punching a curtain.

The Gods may be watching, and you fear they may not be on your side.
Roll for a Brave engagement: Roll 6d6, target 2.

Rolled 3, 6, 1, 3, 2, 4 = 19 (6d6)

>>6034678

Rolled 6, 3, 1, 2, 4, 2, 1, 4, 1, 5, 1, 1 = 31 (12d6)

>>6034691
Just as you were passing the first, you thought you had created enough space, but with the butt of his spear he caught your weapon arm. You tried to power through, twisting and reaching your arm out to grab at your target, but he stepped away.

Having missed your lunge, you roll into the shallows of the murky water onto your knees. You graze the immensely heavy contraption on your arm into the concrete, to let its metal ring warn the underdweller to stay back.

While the two had turned to face you, L3 Kiikoinen pushed himself off with the length of his maul. You can't help but notice a tremor as he rose to his feet. Leaping across the stream, Lalli charged at the one you lead past. The leader, adorned with a pair of fertile branches on a crown, turned in time to prepare for Kiikoinen's approach.

He too feels something is wrong. Rolling for L3 Kiikoinen: 12d6 t2.

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>>6034758
As your mentor approached the leader, there was something slimy underfoot. Though it threatened to throw him to the ground, it instead let him slip down, maul in hand, and prepare an underhanded attack.

The underdweller managed to swing the tip of his spear at Kiikoinen, but it was no use.

PHOP

The tiny moist po of a pneumatic axe's hydraulic jet burst is put to shame by the explosion that propels the maul. A stream of mist trailed behind the hammer's head, violently collapsing and dispersing as the tumultuous vacuum the weapon creates as it is swung whips and unsettles the air itself.

The maul crashed into its target's side, sending the underdweller leader up and off his feet. The spear falls from his hand as he gets launched into the water. You can't tell if it was an outright kill, but it would take a lot to get back up after that.

The follower jumps at the sound, and is making steps away from both of you into the murky water. It's going to be harder to approach through knee deep water, unless you're really reckless. You know this thing on your arm would certainly do this punk in, but you consider maybe the sword is a good option here...

... One of the slugs that was running from you is right next to you.

The noita watches from above. He raises his arms as if in prayer, but you don't know what god prefers to be prayed to with arms held up and to the side like a clock.

You still cannot shake the sense of doom as you take action.
>Wait for Kiikoinen to help and properly flank him. [Engage - 5d6]
>Run past the spear and give him steel, Fiona! [Brave - 7d6]
>Grab the Vierva Kivi and toss the moss-covered rock slug at him. [Strength - 8d6]
>Put him in a hot spot, go climb up the rope and take one up there that was singing.
>+ Switch to the Kimmo Blade [-1d6 penalty versus Pilebunker's -2d6, make another choice]

>>6035544
>>Grab the Vierva Kivi and toss the moss-covered rock slug at him. [Strength - 8d6]
Guys i think this man is french, let's indulge him.

>>6035544
>Grab the Vierva Kivi and toss the moss-covered rock slug at him. [Strength - 8d6]

Rock slug's gotta' hurt to get hit with... or at least it should be distracting.

>>6035544
>Grab the Vierva Kivi and toss the moss-covered rock slug at him. [Strength - 8d6]

>>6035544
>>Grab the Vierva Kivi and toss the moss-covered rock slug at him. [Strength - 8d6]

>>6035544
>Grab the Vierva Kivi and toss the moss-covered rock slug at him. [Strength - 8d6]
>+ Switch to the Kimmo Blade [-1d6 penalty versus Pilebunker's -2d6, make another choice]
Captcha: ARM82T

Vote seems clearly focused on glassing him with a snaust
Tomorrow's a busy day for me but I'll try and make time

>>6035544
I dunno why but that feeling of doom is leading me to believe there could be a massive beastie lurking in the water. The kind we're gonna lure by throwing dead people inside.

>>6035759
WAIT I DIDN'T KNOW THE SLUG WAS SNAUST
NOT MY WIFE
WE JUST GOT HER WEDDING DRESS

>>6035934
Too bad you fucckin brainlett... you're goin to Finland XDDDDDD

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>>6035759
Here, have this I found on pixiv

>>6035934
not really they don't have human faces, but they are totally helpless creatures that happened to be pefectly fine with toxic mold growing all over them

Throughout all of history, it's been a dumb idea to run at someone with a spear. Kiikoinen seems to have a similar opinion, and is not rushing down the last standing underdweller down here.

Thankfully, you have a ranged method of attack. Specializing in fighting trolls trolls, you're required to at least be able to push their bodies off of you should they fall on top of you as you kill them. Lifting up a knee high creature of slime and concrete is comparatively a breeze to some of the weights you had to prove you could lift, but still easier said than done, because it's so fluid. Like a sack of water, its weight is shifting and twisting.

Throwing it might be a bit of a challenge, but thankfully you don't have to throw it that far. Just from outside his reach. Any solid hit should make him stumble and lose his grip on his spear, at which point you just need to catch up with him.

The lone underdweller is being told to return by the noita from above, who is maintaining his arms in a 3 o'clock position. He makes careful steps to the rope, warding prods at Kiikoinen, as he suddenly notices you grabbing the concrete-coated snail...
Roll Strength: Two anons, roll 4d6. Target unknown.

Rolled 5, 4, 4, 6 = 19 (4d6)

>>6036447
Rolling!

Rolled 5, 5, 4, 6 = 20 (4d6)

>>6036447
Hmmmm

>>6036452
>>6036480
Ah, it's not so hard at all! There's a nice rock on its back that's easy to grab and close to its center of gravity! Lifting the Kivi up and then rocking it onto its back, and you're already in prime position. Kiikoinen is casting at you a look you can't discern from under a mask, but you like to think that when no one's looking he has a big smile.

The underdweller, having cast a glance between defensive jabs toward your mentor, does a wild double take and begins galloping sideways.

Tredging through the water to get at him, you give him your finest kivi shotput. The concrete snail spins once in the air before making direct contact with his face, kicking his poorly secured gas mask up and off his face and sending him directly into the contaminated water.

Though he's probably not dead, he's certainly not going to feel well the moment he pulls himself out of the water.

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>>6037453
Though you laugh, the noita is not very happy. He holds his strange stance that you are beginning to believe isn't a prayer at all, and calls out to the whole chamber to hear.

"Tapio," calls the Finnish mage.

The sloshing of water from yards behind Kiikoinen cease as the underdweller leader he batted aside finishes returning to his feet. He must be in poor shape, but even still, he mirrors the noita's arm positions.

"Together."

And together, they rock their arms counterclockwise, as if turning back a clock.

And as the clock turns back, all the blood seems to rush from your head, sourceless colors cloud your vision, and your balance becomes hazy. Not just you, Kiikoinen's rush against the defenseless underdweller becomes halted by some similar onslaught of the senses. You can barely see anything in this gas mask as it is - it's become claustrophobic in here. This cage of rubber and tempered glass. Your vision sinks back as if pulling back from a window.

You've become aware of your human flesh, and how you must tug on its strings to bend it to your will. A clumsy puppet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40M1yNX3cfo
YOUR DICE HAVE DECREASED A STEP.
FOR THE DURATION OF THIS ENCOUNTER, YOU WILL NOT ROLL D6 AND SUCCEED ON 5 AND 6; YOU WILL ROLL D4 AND SUCCEED ON A NATURAL 4.

The man you attacked with the slug is pulling himself from the water, though he is in no fighting shape. He seems to be making his way to the rope. The leader has regained his spear, and is sick of you.

>Catch up with that kid and put him down. Less underdwellers for you to fight tomorrow. [Trivial Engagement]
>Climb that rope and confront that Noita, whatever he's doing, he is annoying you. [Fast - 6d4 t2]
>Put down this leader, you don't like how he's able to get back up after something like that. [Engage - 4d4 t2]
>Punch a hole in his fucking stomach to finish what Kiikoinen started [Brave - 6d6 t2]
What is going on? Rolling for Attunement Two anons, 3d4: target 3.

Rolled 3, 1, 3 = 7 (3d4)

>>6037457
>>Catch up with that kid and put him down. Less underdwellers for you to fight tomorrow. [Trivial Engagement]
Even if we debuffed, the less of them there are the better for overall combat.

Rolled 1, 3, 3 = 7 (3d4)

>>6037457
>Catch up with that kid and put him down. Less underdwellers for you to fight tomorrow. [Trivial Engagement]
COME ON

Rolled 2, 1 = 3 (2d4)

>>6037457
>Catch up with that kid and put him down. Less underdwellers for you to fight tomorrow. [Trivial Engagement]

>>6037457
Oh shit, magic is for sure real now.
>Climb that rope and confront that Noita, whatever he's doing, he is annoying you. [Fast - 6d4 t2]

>>6037457
>Catch up with that kid and put him down. Less underdwellers for you to fight tomorrow. [Trivial Engagement]
I wonder what clockwise does...

>>6037463
>>6037512
>>6037572
>>6037925
It's... it's...

It's your breath. It has to be your breath.

This suit must make it hard to intake anything. Does it filter breathable air as well? Then what is this gas filling your lungs with every swelling of your lungs? Scheiße! How long has it been that you've been breathing bad air!? You shouldn't stay here long.

The noita above suddenly flinches and recoils. He jumped in the same way a giant bug flies in front of your face, but you can't see anything from here. Must have been a much smaller bug.

Suddenly, your radio crackles into life at last. Arsi sounds winded from sprinting. "Back, hah. Let's see - good work so far. You've got this. Fiona, go deal with that straggler. He can handle himself, can't you, Mister Adder?"

Mister Adder? He means, what, the snake? This is the first time you're hearing of this nickname. Kiikoinen does not comment on it.

Giving your skull a vigorous shake to pull the blood back into it and try and reclaim some of your vision, you hurry over toward the boy stumbling through the muck and water, hacking and wheezing. You should be more clear; he's not a boy. A couple years younger than you. Twenty, or so Men don't grow old down here, don't they?

Well, sorry kid, it's time for you to be the reason.

This attack is trivial, and successes reward additional damage, but in most circumstances this should kill a normal man. Roll to engage. Two anons, roll 3d4.

Snuck in a cheeky up date before my "weekend break"/work. Hopefully I can do this more often - I'll see you all Wednesday.

Rolled 1, 3, 2 = 6 (3d4)

>>6037985
End of the road.

Rolled 4, 1, 3 = 8 (3d4)

>>6037985
>Mister Adder
Yesodfags...
Viperbros...

Rolled 1, 4, 2, 4, 2, 4 = 17 (6d4)

Leaping into the fetid water, you wade after the fleeing underdweller. He begins to find his footing on solid concrete, rather than on piles of loose mildew and sloughed off flesh, but with a moment of clarity, you lunge at him and grab his coat. He turns, a battered but meek face greets you by pulling you closer to try and wrestle you to the ground.

As he sets his hands on your neck, you fire the pilebunker into his side. A thunderous boom reverberates off the featureless walls and pillars of the chamber. The chaotic forces at work drag your hand into the massive wound channel it has created. For a split second, you see and feel every ounce of his flesh ripple as if you had dropped a stone into a pond, across his face and through his fingers. His grip loosens, and in total shock he plummets into the water face first.

"Good job, Fiona," Arsi comments as you reload the pilebunker, taking deep breaths to take in whatever good air you can.

Kiikoinen and the underdweller leader ogle each other wordlessly as they both close the distance. With a spear pointed squarely at his chest, the trollslayer marches until he is just barely out of striking distance, and then rears his maul back.

Though his senses are blunted, Lalli relies on fundamentals that even most Operators do not have. Rolling for Kiikoinen's certain, brave engagement: Rolling 6d4, target 1.

>>6040289
You have always sensed something cold about Lalli. Perhaps it was his general cool demeanor, his statuesque body language, collected speech.

But sometimes on a mission, something in him clicks. Nothing gets activated, or turned on. No, not at all. It's clear to you that instead something has turned off.

After a swing at the tip of the spear to bat it aside, the veteran underdweller quickly sets it back and prepares to stepforward and make a counter attack. But from beyond the spear's reach, L3 Kiikoinen stepped back, following through the arc of the maul, swung it back overhead. Finally, with a squeeze of the trigger, the pneumatic jets are activated, and the maul flies from Lalli's hands and straight at the underdweller at a savage speed.

Trying to dodge or block the thrown maul was hopeless; before he could even flinch in fear the maul found itself land at an odd angle against its chest, but even without a perfect sound blow the weight and speed crushed the underdweller's collar and sternum instantly before bouncing off into the air and sending the poor man onto his ass and into the vile water. The spear once again flew from the target's hands, and Kiikoinen made no attempt to grab any knife he might be carrying or to retrieve the maul.

As the underdweller managed to pull his head out of the water, Kiikoinen slowly strode towards him, knelt down, and sent a fist straight to the squatter's temple, rocking him straight back into the water. With one hand he grabbed the collar of the squatter's turnout jacket and dredged him up from the stagnant storm runoff, and with the other punched him back down into it.

"Fiona, give me visual on the noita," Arsi requested. "Kiikoinen will take a while."

A gas mask bounces off the sloped concrete besides you and plops right into the water, prompting you to look up and see the noita, a pale man with wild platinum white hair, leaning over the ledge, scratching his head and trying to pull the hood over his face. In some spastic fit, he almost collapsed, but he's regained enough composure to dart back the way he came.

Your operator lets out a breath of relief. "Ah. Got good visuals on his face. I'll put a bounty up later. For now, leave whatever Kivi remain as they are. You've culled many, so they won't be an issue for the time being. Another team will patch up the holes they escape from, dispose of that flesh pile there, and give the chamber an acid bath."

A brief pause in Arsi's speech highlighted the absence of splashing from a struggling underdweller. "Finally done, Kiikoinen? You know a weapon would have been faster."

The cold blooded snake stood up, flicking his hands from dripping water, his voice disinterested and distant. His mind far elsewhere. "My body is a weapon."

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>>6040389
Arsi informed you of another L1 and L3 pair that was waiting outside the chamber to wash you (mostly) clean of whatever filth you've got on you before continuing the rest of your mission. As the door opened from the closed-off section, you see the two of them standing off to the side, examining things on the floor.

You recognize the L1; the red-haired girl from a few days ago. You passed her over for your scouting mission. You never quite caught her name, but you do know she is quite obviously from Texas, the America of America. The rather chilly air down here has allowed her to grow her hair out. Beside her is a distinguished man who strikes you as some bastard from Avalon - he has the pale blonde hair and blue eyes of a nord, but his face has the quality of an anglo. Despite your typically accurate deductions based on race, he has a graceful air about him.

They seem to be having a conversation about what they've found. The Texan girl offers her expertise. "... The low grain load wouldn't have produced a projectile capable of damaging the stone, but would have peppered bare flesh of anything without a tough hide. It wouldn't leave a trace besides some scratches, spent shells, whatever projectiles they used at the bottom of the drains and anthing shot by t hem. But at this gauge, why use shorts?"

"I'd say we have to consider the acoustics; broad opening, low yield... such an odd configuration might not have even been identified as a gunshot at distance, but some other cacophonous racket," the Avalonian wagers, before whisking his hand in the air lackadasically and finally addressing you. "Ah, L3 Kiikoinen!"

"Carver," Kiikoinen replies in his usual bare minimal way, from within the confines of the contaminated section.

After a moment's pause, the anglo raises a finger in realization. "Hold still! L1 Ambercrombie, if you would?"

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>>6040392
Tossing aside what looks to be a large coin with a short red miniskirt aside, the annoyed red-haired L1 grabbed a large spray bottle of disinfectant and begins hosing you down. Once she was finished with a rinse of water, removing the mask and getting fresh air felt so good.

The anglo, L3 Manhunter Tobias Carver, made cordial conversation. "We were launching an investigation into some curious corpses; namely, some trolls were killed by gunfire, namely a shotgun. Curiouser still, we hadn't heard a thing about it. Some patrols just found dead trolls with holes in them. No reports to any relevant ministries about sulfur discharge, no reports from Stormdrain Surveillance about the sound of gunshots, just bodies. While these creatures needed to be put down, we can't let whoever shot them continue to quietly shoot however much sulfur into the air as they please. Our schedules aligned, so we had the privilege of getting you in a proper clean shape."

"Dontcha mean I do?" The redhead spat.

"Level One Manhunter Alowishica Dolores Bethany Ambercrombie, I will take no sass today," retorted Toby.

You think you will just call her "Tex".

"Do you think the squatters have guns?" Kiikoinen asked.

L3 Carver scratched his chin in contemplation, before shaking his head. "The investigation is ongoing. There are, of course, several suspects... of which I am not at leisure to disclose."

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>>6040398
After washing up and chatting about what they could talk about with their current missions, you head south with Kiikoinen to where the Letiva is hiding.

You've well over a mile to walk to reach your target, especially considering the stormdrain's oftentimes labyrinthine layout. Thankfully, most of it is cleared, but you have to take detours to avoid less secure areas. With all this ahead of you, there's plenty of time to talk now that you have breathable air.

Kiikoinen seems a bit dour, but maybe he just looks like that. Or maybe he's always dour.

>"So... "Mister Adder?" "
>"Are you friends with any Stormwatch agents, or just acquaintences?"
>"Do the underdwellers usually have weirdos like that with them?"
>Don't bother, he doesn't want to talk, it looks like
>Write-in

I have plans for tomorrow, so I might not get a chance to update; so I will try a double-dip Friday.

>>6040403
>"So... "Mister Adder?" "
>"Do the underdwellers usually have weirdos like that with them?"

>>6040403
>"So... "Mister Adder?" "

>>6040415
+1

>>6040415
+1

>>6040415
+1

Well, you've a lot of time. And you're glad to have that dumb thing off your face - the air feels so cool and refreshing. You're going to stretch your jaw a bit.

"Sooo," you begin, rolling your head toward the stoic Finn. "Mister Adder?"

"It's a nickname," Arsi clarifies. "If you don't get it, I would not concern yourself about it, Fiona."

Kiikoinen looks over at you, and gestures to mute your microphone wordlessly. You do, with a confused crook in your brow, and as he mutes his own microphone Lalli begins. "He would have talked your ear off with an actual explanation. Fiona; do you know what a Luonto is?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPB7izLB8LY

It's been some time since you did any reading on the mythology of Finland. But from what you recall... "It's a... spirit animal, or something?"

"A luonto is a part of a Finn's very soul, the Noita claim. A manifestation of their own personal characteristics; some argue the opposite, that the Finn manifests the nature of their luonto themselves. They can't be seen or felt by those lacking attunement, as they would put it. They would peddle you their drugs to help you reach that level of insight. The Noita claim that Katriina Jousten's is a swan. Arsi Hotakainen's is an owl. And they have said that they haven't seen many like mine, which they described with colorful language directly to me."

"They said that my Luonto is that of a cold-blooded serpent. It emanates a mist of frozen air, as if its very heart were made of ice. It sits wrapped around my neck, from which it never leaves, and never attempts to, and comfortable where it is, it chokes itself. Every day, it molts its skin, and emerges as looking superficially different. Through this it achieves a constant state of metamorphosis, but in the end, they emphasized, it never ceases to be a snake, and it can do nothing to change that."

"I had not heard such plainly dressed insults from a coworker in my life. The Noita weaponize their spirituality to demonize and idolize whoever outside of their cliques as they please. They, through their mysticism, would have you believe that I am a two-faced snake. But I am not. I am me. That's all I ever was, and ever will be."

Hearing that description, you break eye contact and look off. It's a weird thing for someone to say to another, and weirder still to be told.

But you do feel attunement. You do feel these things. The heartbeat of nature which pulses, even down here, this catacomb of manmade stone.

You close your eyes, and try to feel what they felt. See what they see.

See with your heart, not your eyes. Rolling Attunement; Two anons, roll 4d6. Target unknown.

Rolled 2, 6, 5, 6 = 19 (4d6)

>>6041858

>>6041859
>28 seconds
whew

>>6041860
So fast I forgot to drop my name.
I sssenssed a fellow sssnake.

Rolled 3, 2, 1, 6 = 12 (4d6)

>>6041858

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>>6041860
Here OP

>>6041859
>>6041864
Quite a lot of successes...
I've been writing, but some errands first before publishing.
>>6042528
A fine addition to my collection

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With eyes closed and a heart open, you open your eyes.

Well, no. That's a flowery way of putting things. You're just... thinking, now. Staring off.

Through his make-up, sloughing off from the sweat and the mask, you can start to see the scars of who Lalli is, underneath the facade he puts up. He's been injured, many times. Not even your father, whose career more than doubles Kiikoinen's in length, has even a third as many. And this is just the face.

Sharp green eyes, open only as slits, look ahead. His mind isn't here, you can tell. From what little of his neck you can see, he seems just passively tense, like he's about to puke or something. Something is in his throat.

There's something locking him up. Constricting. Binding.

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>>6042686
You try to imagine the snake around his neck, as Kiikoinen said the noita put it. Cold and constantly molting. It would be very tender to the touch, but could anyone ever really reach the snake's scales through all the layers of shed skin?

It's coming together in your mind's eye, piece by piece.

A snake searching for its ideal form, filtering through hundreds of iterations, trying to find something that is what it wants to be.

And in doing so, lost its way, and forgot what it ever wanted.

It only remembers that it must be different.

That's just depressing, isn't it? A creature such as that.

Somehow, you wonder if you could help.

You try to open your eyes.

They are already open.

The snake is locked in eye contact with you. It is frozen solid in its place around Kiikoinen's neck as your mentor walks unabated by the serpent's ensaring of his neck. Its disgust-ridden coutenance turns up its head to look down at you, but you feel there's something choking him, too.

"DO not PERCEIVE me, HARLOT," spoke the snake. "Your GLOWING eyes BURN us."

You blink and he's gone.

What.

... You get another flush as colors swarm your vision, and you shake your head clear.

You're seeing things.

Kiikoinen is glaring at you, bothered by your muted outburst and gesturing at you to turn your microphone back on.

>>6042691
A few minutes pass as you digest what you just saw, and ultimately decide to leave the speculation for later. You continue with these questions, if to get your mind off what you've started seeing. "D-do underdwellers have noita with them, uh, usually? This is the first time I've seen one, fielded... on either side."

In a stark contrast to his prior answer, his tone is very lax and, in some ways, downright considerate. "The underdwellers live lives of poverty and need. It is very understandable that they would turn to faith and superstition to provide them strength and mental fortitude where otherwise there would be none. So it is no surprise that these mages are popular down there, and the squatters place a great deal of trust in them, though few of them can be considered masters. So, no. It's fairly rare for them to appear outside of their settlements."

Arsi chimes in. "There might be a greater influx of those committed to the faith, given reports from the Lapland"

Lalli was rather confused. "What reports would those be?"

"Not any to be disclosed at this time," Arsi answers. Kiikoinen is rather annoyed by getting told something is above his paygrade, but makes no comment.

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>>6042694
merry christmas QM

>>6042694
Getting near the site, fate would have it that L3 Eugen and L2 Fahy are down here as well. Sigrun is visibly annoyed at Fahy, who is filling up two liquid meal bottles with water straight from the ground past one of the filters and chugging them. Though you had no business with them and were to casually move past them, Fahy stops what he's doing and rushes over.

"H-hey," Saemus greets with extreme difficulty, as if the distance he sprinted was ten times longer. "Did you drink your soilent yet? I-I need it. This suit-..."

"What's wrong? Didn't eat at all today?"

Sigrun walks up behind him. "He's been eating and drinking all day. Took two meals with him, ended up taking mine as well."

Fahy leans in close, pulling aside the collar of his shirt to show off that black and gold undersuit you only caught a glimpse of before. You can see something resembling muscular fiber heading down off the collar. "I got this suit, from the Underworks. You know, Jousten's projects. This does a lot of stuff, yeah?" He pauses to drink whatever's left in one of the bottles. "But it doesn't have a battery pack or anything. It straight hypercharges my metabolism, and is powered by it. I gotta eat. Or else it... kinda starves me. That's what Jousten said."

"And you agreed to wear this?!"

"I told Katriina I'd be down for everything she had... long as I... look, she said there'd be benefits. And she's wearing one too. She's over in Lautta, chopping up Abbers and... yeah. So can I please have some of yours?"

You hand him the soi food. He unceremoniously cracks it open and begins to down the entire thing - stopping only at the realization he'd might need some later. His breaths are labored and frequent, borderline hyperventilating. After a moment of recovery, he looks at you and passes a bright smile.

"Thanks, girl," he thanks with an enthusiastic thumbs up. Sigrun drags him away before he can ask for Kiikoinen's food as well.

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>>6043296
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1MTFmXwPKM
Much of the Stormdrain can sometimes feel repetitive, pillars all the way down, but here under the more downtown sections by the water, the distant drain outlets do provide a level of security and take you out of senseless liminal space. This place should also have been secured; but it seems other teams were not so thorough.

The situation at Ruoholahti made itself very obvious as you approached.

Twenty feet from the ground is the catwalk that leads to the Letiva's lair. The railings are partially damaged from the confrontation in the report.

From the dark passageway up high descends an arm. A very, very long arm, with dozens of joints, if not a hundred. In its hand it holds two rats, and is grasping around for more.

Lalli is a bit annoyed. "Grew fast."

"But how?"

"Don't know. Judging from what I saw of the camera footage, it was a sack of meat with one arm and a mouth. Maybe there's a hole that leads to the surface it uses to snatch discarded food."

Your operator offers his two cents. "Judging from the bodycam footage, it was deceptively barrel-chested. Perhaps it keeps much of its arm inside its body and unsheathes it."

"A wonderful image," Kiikoinen comments. After a pause to take in the arm blindly thrashing about, Lalli proposes a plan. "Jarnafeldt, I need you to jump on the arm. From there, we can break it."

An interesting proposition...
>Sounds like a plan! Give it a tackle. [Brave - 6d6t2]
>Suggest climbing the ladder and attacking its main body. [Fast - 6d6t4]
>Here's an idea; you go up to the surface, find the locked door on the report, and bust it open so you are on solid, even ground.

>>6043320
>Sounds like a plan! Give it a tackle. [Brave - 6d6t2]
You're the boss, boss!

>>6043320
>Sounds like a plan! Give it a tackle. [Brave - 6d6t2]
A bit rash but likely effective.

>>6043320
>Sounds like a plan! Give it a tackle. [Brave - 6d6t2]
GET UP ON THE HYDRA'S BACK

>>6043320
Correction on the first option; Brave engagements against Aberrations with a Pilebunker would be 9d6, since it's (8d6-2d6)*1.5, so it's a lot better odds.

>>6043320
>>Sounds like a plan! Give it a tackle. [Brave - 6d6t2]

>>6043320
>Sounds like a plan! Give it a tackle. [Brave - 6d6t2]

>>6043320
>Sounds like a plan! Give it a tackle. [Brave - 6d6t2]
AYE AYE, CAPTAIN!

>>6043329
>>6043340
>>6043348
>>6043372
>>6043415
>>6043458
Seems pretty unanimous.
Rolling for a Brave engagement. Three anons, roll 3d6.

Rolled 4, 4, 1 = 9 (3d6)

>>6043515

Rolled 5, 4, 6 = 15 (3d6)

>>6043515

Rolled 5, 2, 4 = 11 (3d6)

>>6043515

Back from my weekend, and boy howdy is this thread on its last legs. I thought I'd be able to squeeze more out of this one, but lots of complications.

>>6043521
>>6043539
>>6043627
Immediately the arm buckles and contorts, dragging you away a dozen feet in a few seconds trying to shake you off. Your grip is solid, it notices, and begins to abuse it, by lifting you up and swinging you at the ground. It has a poor concept of what you even are, so it mostly just bangs its arm against the ground while you use your one free leg to not faceplant in to the ground. But each second you aren't dealing a crippling blow is another this thing is getting all the more violent, reaching higher and higher.

The arm began to drag you ten, fifteen feet in the air. This would be a very dangerous blow.

But you have a trick up your sleeve, and you press your sleeve against the arm.

Po-CLUNK

The pressure of hydrogen gas being ejected from the pile bunker and the sheer amount of air blown away in the shockwave of the stake effortlessly rocketing forward through the arm is enough to cloud your eyes from the sight of one of the arm's many elbows exploding into a cloud of viscera, though you did not need your sight to feel the reverberations pulsing down the arm to beyond your leg. Even bones not in a direct line of contact a couple feet away were shattered by the force.

What little strings of flesh still connecting the lower arm to its upper arm, clearly marked by the giant hole separating the two, snapped as gravity brought you back down to the ground. The landing is hard, but you manage to land in a way that doesn't outright break anything.

You hear a scream. An echoing wail of a monster, one that should be in agony, but clearly not in as much pain as you'd imagine.

Getting back on your feet, you step back to see the arm retreat up to the catwalk, and wrap itself around it. The rope of arm strains.

File: Pitkakasi[sound=files.cat(...).png (2 KB, 228x228)

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>>6045942
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4xyxOHkhxY

The troll pulls itself out of its den and into the light.

A writhing mass of flesh, unrestrained in its growth. Thick uneven layers of grease coat it, giving it a sweaty-pig-esque sheen. Like all Letiva, it consumes, and consumes, and consumes, but this one has focused much of its growth into the form of an arm.

Without a hand to manipulate its arm, it will have to come out of its cave to fight.

And it seems intent on beating you to death with its bloody, pulpy arm from the vantage point of the catwalk.

"Fiona," Kiikoinen says, stepping underneath the catwalk. "Keep it busy, if I miss."

You were about to ask him what he meant by that, when he lifted the maul over his head with his eyes fixated on the quivering catwalk support struts.

Lalli is attempting to destroy the catwalk. Rolling 10d6, t4.

Rolled 4, 6, 2, 4, 6, 2, 1, 3, 3, 4 = 35 (10d6)

>>6045943
Kiikoinen's Roll

>>6045941
It happens, don't sweat it. Just keep plugging along.

>>6045946
With the jettisoned launch helping Kiikoinen sling the giant hammer to where it should by no rights ever fly, the maul approaches its target and bangs against the grate. It doesn't smash the catwalk, it doesn't make it teeter or jiggle, it just collides with it. Kiikoinen casually invents a new way to curse the devil by the time the maul lands against the floor. The great fall does some damage to the weapon as the head bounces off the pavement...

The Piktakasi slaps its stumpy arm across the wall, dragging the sloughing sparse meat off and grinding the bone to a point. With a new makeshift gnarled claw, it begins to whip toward you.

>Carefully try to disable the arm once again (Engage: 6d6 t3)
>Destroy that thing a second time (Brave: 9d6 t3)
>Grab the Letiva and fucking pull it down (Strength: 8d6 t3)
>Try and lure the beast to a more precarious place on its fragile catwalk (lower Kiikoinen's success targets)
>+ Switch to the Kimmo Blade to get rid of the -2d6 engagement penalty

>>6045977
>>Try and lure the beast to a more precarious place on its fragile catwalk (lower Kiikoinen's success targets)
>>+ Switch to the Kimmo Blade to get rid of the -2d6 engagement penalty

Falling damage is harsh, yo.

>>6045977
>Try and lure the beast to a more precarious place on its fragile catwalk (lower Kiikoinen's success targets)
Teamwork making the dream work.

>>6045977
>Try and lure the beast to a more precarious place on its fragile catwalk (lower Kiikoinen's success targets)
>+ Switch to the Kimmo Blade to get rid of the -2d6 engagement penalty

>>6045992
+1
You are not immune to fall damage even if you're a hideous fleshbeast. Come down here and taste the cold stormdrain concrete

Rolled 6, 4, 2, 6, 3, 1, 2, 1, 5, 3 = 33 (10d6)

>>6045992
>>6045993
>>6045998
>>6046086
Jumping back from the first swipe, it's clear that this Letiva doesn't know how to use the full length of its now shortened arm yet. Its muscle memory betrays it for now, making it trivial to avoid as you step away, not attempting to strike it. It's tough to imagine wrapping your head around actually trying to fight this giant skewer, so backing away is a good choice.

In case you do need to start defending yourself proper, you draw the sword you had brought. Despite the humid air, the kimmo blade's unbending hardness makes it tough to draw from its scabbard. A good sign for its durability. It'll be great for chopping up a creature like this. The clunky metal thing on your wrist is a bit of a problem, but you have the idea.

As you pull away from the lashing out arm, you leave its greatest reach. From well over forty feet away, the Letiva pushes its tiny legs and pulls its tiny arm against the railings to get far removed from the dark doorway of its den, now leaning upon a corner of the catwalk railing. With this new vantage point, and having manipulated its stub of an arm for quite a while, it is beginning to readjust. Avoiding getting hurt while in its reach might actually take a little bit of skill now...

The metal scaffold, held together by straining screws and bolts, is giving to the weight of the Letiva. The budding jotunn has to be a thousand pounds, over that, even.

Kiikoinen has retrieved his hammer, and steps to a new angle. One that is more aware of the precarious nature of the teetering catwalk, before rearing the maul back and giving another go. The catwalk needs to be replaced, anyway...

Rolling for Kiikoinen's second maneuver. Rolling 10d6 t3.

>>6046405
Lalli slung the maul sideways, the broad jet setting him up to speed and its last vestiges spinning the weapon as it hurdled through the air. The new angle did wonders, and instead of uselessly crashing against the grate floor of the catwalk, it slammed directly into one of the supports.

At first you didn't think it was enough, until the Letiva retracted its lashing arm and brought it back to hold onto the railing. It began to try and move, but that very shifting of weight caused half the catwalk to finally buckle.

The Letiva spilled from above like ten pounds of dough, dripping in an almost semi-fluid fashion. Eventaully most of it was slipping down and the rest was unceremoniously dragged down to plummet to the floor. The meaty whack of the budding jotunn hitting the concrete filled the stormdrains with such a filthy sound anyone who wasn't looking must have thought it was something heinous. The arm fell after its owner like a line of rope collapsing onto its body.

Kiikoinen let out something that you almost want to say was a laugh, but he rushes over to retrieve his weapon.

The Letiva is almost certainly stunned as it begins to recover. As you make your way close, you realize just how fucking fat this thing is.

Growing Letiva bodies are filled with a dense layer of "blubber," which cover the vitals of the creature in feet of fat. Even the head looks like an overstuffed ragdoll rather than anything natural.
Both attacks are 8d6 due to the stationary, trivial target.
>Slice through the meat with the Kimmo blade
>Pilebunk it

>>6046509
>Slice through the meat with the Kimmo blade
Fat too much, we cannot pilebunk through it or we'll be stuck. We gotta cut right through

>>6046509
>Pilebunk it
It's because there is too much fat we must pilebunk it. If you want to try and slice fat, you might as well get off it now since that's exactly what the fat is good for blocking.
Pierce the fat and gouge the organs out, if it gets stuck we can leave it to finish it off after.

>>6046509
>>Pilebunk it

Penetrate.

>>6046509
>Pilebunk it

>>6046509
>Pilebunk it

>>6046509
>Pilebunk it

>>6046535
>>6046536
>>6046540
>>6046748
>>6047130
Rolling for an engagement. As a stunned target, it is a trivial attack. Two anons, roll 4d6.

Rolled 2, 4, 4, 5 = 15 (4d6)

>>6047279
come on

Rolled 1, 6, 5, 6 = 18 (4d6)

>>6047279

>>6047290
>>6047312
You've seen how the shockwave ripples through meat and flesh. You know how much damage even just being near it does. And, of course, you like the feeling of firing it. You gotta.

Juggling the sword into your other hand, you eye up the Piktakasi for a choice place to blow open. This thing is fat. As a pile of meat on the ground, the letiva rests four feet tall, and even from this heavy-duty weapon, there's places on it that you can hit that will be nothing but flesh. You measure carefully, and find after galloping around for a better view, where the top of the creature is. It is very hard to make sense of this thing.

The arm begins to move again. The time for measuring is over, and the time to strike has come. You sink the blade into its soft tissue with one hand, and drive your wrist into the mountain of meat.

You don't even register the sound, loud and mechancial as it is, because something incredibly horrifying happens as the stake drives itself into the mass of pillowy flesh.

The hole punctured into the letiva expands. The meat opened up, like a flower, or like a stone dropped into water, and blossomed. Inside you see pale yellow blobs of what seems to be fat, but is fashioned from brick-like structures held together by a sticky membrane. Inside you see layers and layers of skin like an onion, blooming open. At the very end of the wound channel, which extends past the nail's two-foot length, you spy bulging musculature. This giant hole you bored into the little giant spreads well beyond the width of the stake. This three inch wide nail caused the wound to form a bubble three feet wide.

You are blown away by the explosive wave of blubber lashing out at you. There is still viscera landing upon the floor by the time you wipe whatever shit sprayed your face. Your first breath afterword is filled with downright sickening, and it's a struggle to get back up.

Rolled 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 2, 6, 2 = 42 (10d6)

>>6047391
Kiikoinen, however, has found his pneumatic maul.

Due to his mistreatment of the maul, it's slightly less powerful than it should be. It is still a jet-powered rock on a stick.
Rolling for L3 Kiikoinen's engagement: 10d6.

>>6047393
And before you knew it, the maul was in an arc straight at the head of the Piktakasi.

The fat that was forming a protective barrier around its head was pushed aside, and a slurry of blubber came squirting out of the hole you punched into its chest. As Kiikoinen struck it, the arm went limp, but wasting no time, he readily swung it down a second time.

There was no squirt of fat. Just the muted crumbling of a skull being caved in muffled in meat.

After he pried the hammer from the Letiva's flesh with a disgusting squelch, your coughing is the only thing that breaks the silence.

"Targets down," Arsi chirped over the radio. "A bit destructive of the property... but it was damaged and needing recycling. I would have cut that troll open so its innards would spill out better - and yet it is dead all the same. Nice work, Jarnafeldt, Kiikoinen."

Wiping yourself off, you exchange a glance with your mentor. His brows perch in their usual flat manner, eyes half-open and glazing over as you look at them, and a natural resting frown. When he breaks eye contact, you realize that this isn't boredom or just a passive expressionlessness he's wearing.

He looks disappointed. Not at you, or the letiva, or anything here. He just stares off.

"Return to base."

>>6048103
There wasn't much to debrief about. The face of a white-haired noita from the undercity was the biggest thing. Cross referencing with citizenry records don't turn up anything. Across the past week his face hasn't appeared on any security camera on the surface - an analysis you were surprised to have been completed within an hour of Stormwatch receiving your bodycam footage. The only recorded footage is from other Stormwatch agents or from remotely repaired stormdrain cameras, and generally that only matches his mask and hair composition. This man was born and raised outside of Helsinki's million count, and Arsi says that there's more like him nowadays.

And on that note, you ask about the report Arsi mentioned earlier, how there are now more noita than before. The operator bit his lip and measured his words, before answering.

"There are more birds up north than our zoologists projected would be possible."

You waited for him to continue.

He said no more.

The question of what kind of birds would even cause this kind of social reaction comes to mind for a moment. It is dismissed immediately, as you have no clue.

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1.34 MB JPG

>>6048122
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0QyWlqfrtA
After washing up at home to get the stench of troll fat out of your hair and nose, you decide to follow up on Sumika's suggestion and visit Yoshimitsu. He should be in bed, recovering from his wounded arm.

Baking some nice fresh bread as a gift, you head on down to where his pod is and ring the doorbell. There is no response. You ask around the common rooms, and other L1 agents report that your comrade didn't like it in this place, and went fishing.

You can't blame him. This place feels like it's wearing a mask, sometimes.

So many people here here are hiding behind masks.

So much smoke and mirrors. So many people with something to hide. And if they don't, they're just a willing boot to keep someone down.

You sit down in the common room, and begin imagining the daughter you don't have, eating the bread you made beside you. She'd take too much at once and you'd have to tell her to slow down. She could never finish all that. Even if it's good, she should only take what she knows she can have.

These daydreams you've had have always been vivid. They're always convincing, like you're actually seeing her out of the corner of your eye. Like that snake you saw when your head was... out of it. Freyja's tits you are lonely. You need something real.

Though you waited for well past sunset, you never caught Yoshimitsu returning home. Ah well. Maybe he snuck past you. A little disappointed, but glad he's found something to enjoy himself with. You smile and stand up, and imagine your daughter making scurried steps along with you back home.

In the elevator to your residence you catch a tired-looking man in some scholarly-looking robes. You've never seen him before, perhaps he's an operator. He never makes eye-contact, he just giggles looking at the floor, where you could almost see your darling girl tug at his robe, and as you depart the elevator he bids a pleasant farewell. Your grin, however much you tried to hide it, must be infectious.

As you dress down and head to bed, you think about your coworkers. You wonder if they have fantasies like you do, dreams like you do. Maybe while you're chasing yours, you can help them chase theirs.

Anything to make this cold city feel any warmer.

>>6048122
>"There are more birds up north than our zoologists projected would be possible."
A little birdie told me the end is approaching... did they sing true or were there false notes in there?

And that concludes Solarpunk for this thread! Thanks for reading. There's a lot of threads being started recently so I'm not so certain about the life of this thread. I hope to get an intermission out tomorrow, but I plan on making it a doozy. Afterward, I'm gonna want a week or two to get some vidya gaems outta my system. I'll make a post in /qtg/ to let you all know.

>>6048199
Thanks for the work OP!

>>6048103
>I would have cut that troll open so its innards would spill out better
I FUCKING TOLD YOU GUYS
>>6046535
>>6046536
>>6046540
>>6046748
>>6047130
I FUCKING TOLD YOU BLADE WAS BETTER

>>6048673
Still worked, and we didn't get injured. May have lost some sanity though, Fiona truly delulu.

>>6048673
It literally worked.
The reason why Kiikoinen's blade was so effective was because it straight up shattered the skull.

>>6048706
Only because Kiikoinen could secure the kill with his maul
>delulu
I'm worried that the crazy noita guy reacted to Fiona's daughter delusion as if it were real. Is Fiona so bent on having a daughter that she's manifesting something real? Like an external tulpa or similar weird paranormal phenomena due to Attunement?

>>6048726
>blade
He had a fucking maul bro. And of course it worked because that force still went right through the fat and muscle

...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is75Qb3zQCg

You are no longer Fiona Jarnafeldt.

Bright-eyed, chipper, innocent.

Well, as innocent as a Stormwatch agent can be. She hasn't gotten her hands too filthy.

Through your connections, you have a full dossier on every fielded agent in the Stormwatch. You have the names of every clerk and janitor. You know exactly what benefits they reap. You know exactly how many each has killed. You know exactly how many bastards of theirs wind up down the drain, here.

The answer for every one of those questions, is all too many.

You take care of what the "uplanders" discard. Living, breathing piles of trash, to them. Precious flesh and blood, to you. You scorn their heartlessness. You scorn the yokes they've grown so fond of wearing. You scorn the labels which they lay upon you.

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>>6049015
You are the head mistress of the orphanage of the undercity Vanhu Koskela, and you are an aberration. An abomination. A monster. At least, in the eyes of that order that seeks to regulate the world. They would destroy you in the same breath as they say they preserve the natural order.

The gloves of the stolen suit fit your hands perfectly. The broad hat of titanium and kevlar is broad enough to act as an umbrella for those you hold close enough. When you run, there's a po, po, po, of pneumatic jets firing in rhythm.

As you examine the fibers of the glove you're wearing, you think of what those who made them wanted these gloves to do.

Had they wanted them to crack the whip that banishes people from their home and into the wild?
Had they wanted them to brandish the blade that slices down any who dare defy the artificial order?
Had they wanted them to grasp the neck that does not resist, strangling the life from the children whose only sin was being born?

And they would say you are the one who eats children. They who this glove was made for is more of a monster than you could ever be.

Full glad are you to have these gloves on your hands, and not theirs.

>>6049020
"What a long day, my back is killing me" an actor speaks.

You look up. The undercity of Vahnu Koskelta is hosting a festival of the arts, and you are in a theater, having watched several performers doing songs, edda, plays, whatever performances can be done by those materialistically poor but culturally rich. You are in the front row, besides a few children from your orphanage.

On the stage is one aberration, living their best life.

"Hello there," greets the other performer. "I'm cooking some sausage over here."

"Huh, I've never had food made cooked on sauna coals."

"Oh, you have to try some. I've got plenty to share. And you got some beer with you too?

"Kippis."

The actor grabs a prop stick and pretends it is a can of beer, cracking it open and phantomining drinking it. The other actor does the same, before flipping the stick around and pretending to turn over food on coals.

They begin talking in succession. "So what was the heist today?" "A very wealthy restaurant was closed for a day, so I got inside and checked it out. They had no food, so that must have been why they were closed. I grabbed all the drinks, and it was a lot of drinks." "Really?" "Yeah. It was 900 pounds of drinks, in multiple trips." "900? Wow. Sounds like you're beat. Care for a steak?" "What?"

The actor gestures pulling a bucket of hot water up and putting it onto the bench between them, making sounds as their went on their act. They pulled an imaginary sous vide steak from the bucket and putting it on the coals next to the sausage.

The performance goes on, with the cook in the sauna providing massive amounts of food to share with the thief. As more and more gets added onto the coals, the joke is that the cook stole from the restaurant first, stealing all of the food.

These actors work great with each other. The expressions and tone really sell this performance. And it's a good thing they like each other.

File: So Called Lorppo.png (301 KB, 580x635)

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>>6049023
It would be very bad for them if they didn't enjoy each other's company.

Their names are Iika and Iida.

And to call them a chatterbox is rude.

>>6049024
As the performance goes on, the kids you are with watch intently. Sisu is the oldest, and was gifted an old Stormwatch blade from Iika not long ago. The boy is too busy trying to be tough to impress Tahti to laugh with the rest of them. Tahti is a bookish girl Sisu liked, and that really couldn't be any more obvious to anyone who isn't Sisu or Tahti, who are both painfully oblivious. At least the boys Kusti and little Sten can enjoy themselves.

As performers come and go, you stay with them until the hour grows late, and it's time the kids got back to their rooms. You stand up and take Tahti's hand, and the rest follow.

You cross the ampitheatre's gateway into the busy and lively main market halls of Vahnu Koskela, an undercity formed from apartment buildings buried under the stormdrain. Damaged once by water when the water levels rose, but well maintained, repaired, and rebuilt. It is a dense place, filled with eclectic and lively people and places. Many of these people are discarded Finns, who were denied a place in the world above. Many more were never one for the world of light. A good deal, however, are drifters, nomads who travel on the roads, stopping at each city for a temporary stay before departing. They are few, but common enough that you don't look twice.

But there is something oddly familiar about that man you see in the corner of your eye as you cross the threshold of the gate. One of this foreigner's sleeves is empty as his arm rested upon the belt of his hakama from the inside. The look in his eyes is a vicious one, but one you don't assume is borne against anyone or anything; life off the books is hard, and the resting faces of the downtrodden are that of anger, agony, and sorrow. Content to let this man exist, let him fight his own demons however he pleases, you walk right past him.

But you should have known he was Stormwatch.

>>6049026
The clashing of blades catches your attention. You spin your head around to see Sisu, drawing his sword in the act of trying to protect Tahti. The small tanto glided past the edge and was diverted from their throats, but it was put on the path of Tahti's hand. Making a horrific gash as it went, the knife was only stopped by your padded armor, which it pathetically grazed across, not even scratching its kevlar hide.

As the jomon readies to stab Sisu, who is dramatically raising his sword against the man attacking him, you see Kusti and Sten. Falling to the ground. Red trails budding from their necks.

There are no words in the Finnish language to describe how fast your hand grab this assassin's neck. You're careful not to squeeze it off, or to crush him against the chainlink fence you crash into from lunging at him. His knife tries to find a gap in your armor, but you grab his arm and-

Po

Instantly strip it like a reed. Every bone in his hand is shattered before he could even let go of the knife.

You hoist this tiny man, this five-foot something devil, far off the ground. You grab his knee with the hand that shredded his hand to properly grab his whole body. With him perfectly in your control besides the flailing of his arms and leg striking your armor in futility, you rear him back and-

Po-po-po

The flattened mound lays still against the pavement. There is a red stain where his head should be. You can hear the fragments skittering across the road over thirty feet away, to serve as a feast for rats for days to come.

Cries fill your ears. Sisu takes his shirt off to cover Tahti's wound, as the two little ones are too maimed to be helped. People look around at each other in paranoia, trying to spot the next knife in the darkness.

Somewhere, a Stormwatch agent sleeps soundly.

Without a word, you pick up Tahti and Sisu, and rush back to the orphanage.

The bodies will be butchered and sold as food. Their clothes cleaned and reused. The bloodstains wiped away, as if nothing ever happened.

Right outside the ampitheatre, in the middle of the street where there is no sun, is a tree. He is a living testament to the resilience of life despite the dreadful conditions, and a watchful protector. His heart bleeds for those who struggle and endure. If he could, he would cry, but he is no willow, and it is not his place to weep. It is his duty only to stand.

Yet who could stand the sight that lies before him?

Not anyone, you should think.

Not you, at least.

Not at all.

End of Thread #5.