It is beautiful. You never had a thing for gems, but this one you cannot look away from. In part because you see it whether your eyes are closed or open, true, but also from how eye-grabbing it is. It was so small, if not for the way it shone, you would have never picked it out before it flew at you.
It looks like a ruby, if a ruby had an inner glow to it, and looked as if it couldn't decide how it wanted to be cut from one second to the next.

This strangeness is amost enough to distract you from what has happened. They'd started it. It wasn't your fault. But now they are dead, and next thing you know that stone flew at you, straight through you actually. Your clothes are intact, you felt nothing but a splash of heat on your chest, but when you turned around it wasn't there, and now here it sits in your vision, like the sun's afterimage. And you suddenly know more than you did a scant few minutes ago.

This. Is a bloodstone. It forms inside a person when they kill another. When killed in turn, they...turn on? Activate? Awaken? Come alive? It's hard to say, you're parsing thoughts that don't feel like your own. Point is, something very rare has happened to you, perhaps the only good thing about this mess you find yourself in.

More informations spontaneously flows into your mind, as if your brain had known all along and was helpfully volunteering a memory. But you know that to be false. You skip most of it as one part jumps out at you, barely needing translation. Power. Strength, health, all that you desire. This stone can give it, but it can do better. Let you home in on others. Inside other people. You could take them. They are murderers. But so are you.
You could ignore it. Even as you think that the vision of the stone fades, but the thoughts linger. You could be more. This...this is what you wanted, isn't it? This is destiny. You can reach for it, or let fate consume you.

You must choose.

But you must first choose...You.


WHO?

ARE?

YOU?

>>6249589 (OP)
The Young Man :

You : A mid twenties, middle-class, mostly average young man, accutely aware of the way your body has already started to decay, in part because you have little else to preoccupy you. You have a normal life, and a normal family, in a normal country. Though you've been finding out that last part may hold a different meaning than you thought. No job. No opportunities. Feeling stuck, helpless. Aimless. And now this. And everything has started to fall.

The Victim : A police office on a (possibly drug-induced) power trip who nearly arrested you on bogus charges, which turned into a brawk, wich turned into a fight for your life when he brought a gun to a fistfight, only to end up shooting himself. But that was enough for the stones.

The Reward : Two Bloodstones. The first gives you the [Scan] skill. Passively detects nearby bloodstones, active or inactive. Maybe be used actively for a time, depleting the stone. Effects on those scanned actively unknown. The second goes to Body Enhancement, makng your body better and closer to its perfect form. May be used to heal wounds and restore lost blood, depleting the stone.

The Consequences : It was also enough to kill the bastard, which was heard by every cop tuned into his radio, and thankfully noone else in the quiet street where you were. You need to...you aren't sure. Turn yourself in? As far as anyone is concerned, your're a cop killer. Your life would be over, maybe literally if the rest are anything like the last piece of work. You need to run. But where? You don't know, but you had better figure it out. And figure out what to do about those stones. Yyou can't do this as you are now.

The details :
This options is the fastest, with one ingame days taking multiple updates, especially at the start. Success will bring ever more ressources and forces against you, especially if you choose to go ham on Bloodstone collecting. Fighting will likely be common, with either potential victims or gun-wielding police forces, or worse. You have a little cash, but very little on hand, and a very short window to grab your stuff, if you decide to run home before fleeing. You are close to your peak body, which may give you more powerful options if achieved. You'll need them, you are up against the whole country.

>>6249589 (OP)
The Aging Man :

You : An early forties, middle-class, mostly average office worker, You have a normal life, a normal job, a body that is starting to get rusty, and...well that's about it. You're living the modern middle class dream, and you know it is slowly killing you. Dating is somehting you gave up on, your job manages to both consume your life and leave you feeling empty and lke you aren't making a difference;. You'd kill for a way to shake things up.

The Victim : Some drug-addicted homeless man who tried to shank you for some reason on your way home. You killed him in self defense.

The Reward : One Bloodstone. It gives you the [Scan] skill. Passively detects nearby bloodstones, active or inactive. Maybe be used actively for a time, depleting the stone. Effects on those scanned actively unknown.

The Consequences : Low. In a way, it is sobering all by itself. Even if you turned yourself in, you would likely be cleared of charges, though it may ruin your reputation in the process. But leave, and let someone else report a dead druggie? You'd likely get off scott free. You could go back to work, pretend this never happened. Pretend you are just like everyone else despite the power humming in your ears, telling you that you can just reach out and pluck your destiny with just a little...cleanup.

The details :
This options is the slowest, with most of your day taken up by work and routine, leaving you little time for your chosen course of action. Keeping up appearances is a shield, however. If people turn up dead, the boring paper pusher is not a likely suspect. You manage your own risk, though life may throw wrenches in the way. Unless you get caught, fighting is likely to be unfrequent, and limited to knives and improvised weapons instead of guns. You have a good nest egg, and have a home on mortgage. Your peak body is a ways off, though that depends on your methods...

>>6249589 (OP)
The Old Man :

You :... are dying. You don't need the doctors that occasionally check on you in the retirement home, or the looks from the nurses. You can feel it. You've lost so much already, both in loved ones and in body, but still you stubbornly cling on. You feel yourself slowing week by week, and days go by in a samey haze.

The Victim : Another patient went nuts and came biting and clawing at you. You fended him off as best you could, you both drew blood from each other before burly nurses dragged him away. The stones came a few days later in the early morning, and at once you knew he'd passed in his sleep.

The Reward : Three Bloodstones. You didn't know the guy, but are starting to suspect he may have done some shady stuff.... The first gives you the [Scan] skill. Passively detects nearby bloodstones, active or inactive. Maybe be used actively for a time, depleting the stone. Effects on those scanned actively unknown. The second goes to Body Enhancement, makng your body better and closer to its perfect form. May be used to heal wounds and restore lost blood, depleting the stone. The Third lingers, unthetered, brimming with potential.

The Consequences : Zero. For now. Several people saw you didn't start the fight. Hell, you're mostly bedbound these days, though your stubbornness has spared you the diapers for now. No one holds you responsible, especially since the man died several days after. But the stones have healed you. You can keep it hidden, but if it happens again...well not many people expect you to last the year, or at least get worse physically. The retirement home may have opportunities, but it is limited by how few people are around. Finding enough stones to stave off old age, let alone reverse it, will take getting out of there. But you're ninety four, and with no family willing to take you in, it will take some doing. But you have time to figure it out, left alone most of the time. And for the first time in what feels like forever, you feel like you have more time. And most importantly, a hope for a way out of this rotting carcass...

>>6249592
>>6249589 (OP)
The details :
This options may be slow, or very slow, depending on your actions. One days may be very busy making and enacting plans, or week could slip away from a bad roll or waiting for circumstances to change. Fighting will be nearly non-existent for a long while, of course. Your current issues means brain and tricks will serve you better than brawl. It is up to you to decide whether to stay, and figure out ways to get outside for more stones, or get yourself discharged, somehow. You aren't rich, but, you have some funds leftover paying for your spot in the retirement home. You are very, very far from your peak body, and maintenance means a lot of stones will end up in Heal for the passive bonus. Though you have other options for Bbody Enhancement, which will have a lowered effect in exchange for better passives and actives. That, and you may find it interesting to go for Mind or Spirit Enhancement instead, esepcially with that leftover stone.


CHOOSE.


Welcome to Bloodstones, everyone. For those that don't follow the /qtg/, I had this one in mind for a while, and what with me being soon-to-be freshly unemployed I figured it was past time I gave quest writing another go.
I want to get a couple quicker updates out tomorrow, so this first character selection vote will be open for about 12 hours.

Those three archetypes came packaged with the idea, so I'm not giving a write-in option for this vote. But beyond that, I want to encourage clever write-ins in either social or combat situations, so don't hesitate! You guys are free to take whoever you pick in let's say most directions, though I reserve the right to turn down things at my discretion.

And by all means, if your favorite choice doesn't win, if you think things should have gone differently, or if you believe you can write this better than me, go for it, crib my ideas and systems, and run your own version, I'll probably play it!

Speaking of system, I want some details to roll bonuses, so we'll be mostly going with d100s, higher is better, crits on 1 and 100. No degrees of success, but things may be affected by how much you beat the target by, or for rolling very high or low, success or failure.
I will be winging a bunch of the mechanics as I go, which means you can suggest a lot. This is especially how I'm intenting Spirit Enhancement to work. If you all want to be tossing fireballs at people or pushing them off stairs from three rooms away, you'll need to get there by investing in the more basic stuff and planning out a build. Assuming you can get the stones for it, and don't die in the attempt.

I'll be around to answer questions for a couple hours, and I'll tally up votes in the morning.

I apologize in advance for any spelling errors, I've yet to find a good spellchecker to help catch those.

Thank you for checking this out, and for the support I've already been shown in the /qtg/!

Let's see how we do!

>>6249593
>The Young Man

Throw us into the gauntlet QM, fuck me up!

>>6249589 (OP)
The Old Man

>>6249590
>The Young Man

>>6249593
>The Young Man

>>6249591
The aging man, I’d like to see a “falling down” situation play out here

>>6249593
>The Old Man

I like this.

>>6249593
I'd go
>Aging
or
>Old

but I like either better than Young. if I must choose one

>Old

>>6249593
>The Young Man
I want to play as the man on the run.

>>6249589 (OP)
>The Old Man

>>6249593
>The Aging Man
or
>The Old Man
I believe the need to maintain a facade in society as we slowly choose to become a greater and greater monster is more interesting than being an outlaw from the start.

>The Young Man
>4 votes


>The Aging Man
>3 votes


>The Old Man
>5 votes

Sorry, tried to link the posts above the choices, but it got marked as spammy. Guess that means I owe you all another thank you for the big turnout!


Closing votes, a closer three-way than what I had expected. The Old Man ekes it out due to people picking both it and the Aging Man, which I'll allow, though I would prefer people list out a first and second pick in those cases for the future. Still, there is also a clear enough preference for some masquerading, so Old Man it is! I'll write up a more detailed intro, but in the meantime, you all can think of a name, what job(s) he occupied in his life, and maybe even what to do with that third stone!
As far as names go, if you need inspiration, this takes place in a ficticious country in an alternate world's Western Europe, because I don't care that much for perfect realism.

>>6249593
George is dead. Or was it Jorg? Or Jurgen? No, you're pretty sure it was George, even if you can't recall his last name. You felt this weird heat on your chest a few minutes ago, and then those things showed up. But they aren't things, they are Bloodstones. Of course they are, George apparently killed a few people...how do you know that?
You're not usually awake so early in the morning these days, so you spend a few minutes with your eyes closed, trying to sort out whatever this is. Picking out the new knowledge is easy, it's all about these stones, and it feels quicker and fresher than almost everything else, even the memories of the fight. And that was the most exciting thing that happened all month! Best crap you had in a while, too.
So, some self-probing yields basic information. George had killed at least three people. This caused Bloodstones to “appear” inside his body. Inactive (or asleep, you aren't certain about the meaning of that one), and undetectable by normal means. And then you killed him. Well, really you didn't, but apparently scratching him back, mixed with the shock of the fight and whatever had gone wrong with him to drive him to start it, was enough to put old Gorg...George, out to pasture for good. And as the last person to have technically fought him, and being one of apparently a rare subset of the population able to do so, you got his Bloodstones, activating them in the process.
Now, Bloodstones...do...things. Right, let's see about that, you think as you focus on the three unruly red gems floating around behind your closed eyes. You scrunch up your face as you try and get them to keep still.

...Why won't they just go where they're supposed to and do something already?!

Ah, intent. You need to think about it, and they do the rest. You lean back and observe, not much else to do.

The first stone moves to the left of your vision, and something happens, as if it settled in place. Focusing on it feels strange, what few sounds you head beyond your room growing more muted.The second takes a spot a little ways off to the right side, and you feel a slight thrumming. You body feels warmer for a moment, which is nice. You'r always so cold these days, no matter the heating. You do feel a little bit better than before once it's over, though it's hard to say. The stone thrums again.You focus, and you both feel and see it empty . A flash of vitality courses through you, closing the scratches from the fight, shrinking bruises, and leaving you feeling somehow both warm and refreshed. The stone doesn't shine as much. You open you eyes and slowly lift up your right arm. With some effort, you bring your left hand over and pick at the scab of one of the scratches, revealing smooth skin under. It even looks a little softe than the skin around it. Your eyes trail upwards and you realize you may have a problem.

>>6249920
The large, everpresent bruise on your hand from the regular bloodtests has shrunk noticeably...you're pretty sure that isn't normal, and that someone will notice. You can feign ignorance and it will likely get overlooked, but what if it happens again?

Before you can think more on it, one of the nurses comes in to check in on you and bring you breakfast. Katie, Katy, Cathy? Ah, it used to be you could put a name n a pretty face, at least...still, Katie helps you get dressed, and takes a bit of your blood before leaving you to it. She remarks on the bruise looking better, smiling at you. It feels nice. She's pretending like you're getting better, even though you both know you don't have a lot of time left. Still, maybe that isn't true anymore?

The empty stone doesn't seem to do anything when you prod it during breakfast. Soon enough, Katie is back, this time with one of the doctors, your blood test in hand.

“Good morning Mr...”

>What is your name?

“...we just got the results on your test, and it looks better than expected. Blood cells are high, so is iron, no sign of that lingering infection from two weeks ago, so we'll be taking you off antibiotics for the time being.”
It's a small thing, but you can't help but feel the stone may have had something to do with this.

The doctor stays a while, talking about your laundry list of issues. You've had a good run at life, but several illnesses are now in a race to see which one will finish you off first. You have:

>Pick at least three:

>Cancer: At your age, chemo would kill you. But your age is also saving your butt, the tumor is growing slowly and has yet to spread. Still, give it a few more years and it will be a real problem.

>Blood leakage: Some part of your digestive track leaks blood. You require semi-regular blood transfusions, and need to avoid blood-thinners. Reduces ntural healing, and halves blood production rate.

>Stroke risk: You've had a couple lucky brushes, small blood clots that formed and broke soon after. You get sleepy, and when you wake up you can't recall the past hours before the small stroke. High stress increases the risk, as does not taking blood-thinning medicine. Random chance of happening.

>>6249921
>High muscle loss: Even for your age, you have little muscle mass. Moving on your own with a device to hold on to is difficult and slow, and you barely do any better trying to wheel yourself around. Worsens cancer growth rate.

>Hearing loss: You are half-deaf.

>Vision loss: Macular degeneration is a bigger bitch that cataract. You have little central vision, like a black spot. There is no cure, no way for modern medicine to give you back your vision. Complicates a variety of skill checks.

>Mid-stage Parkinsons: Holding objects is difficult, as is holding onto things.Complicates a variety of skill checks.

>Damaged immune system: High vulnerabilty to disease, worse effects when sick. A simple cold is like a bad flu for you. Anything above that can be lethal. If you didn't have the stones, that is.

>Write-in: Suggest something you'd like to get rid of later, hopefully.

Didn't put Alzheimer's in there, you already have some memory problems and while constant wondering if the stones are real might make for an interesting tale, Ii'm not sure it would work for the quest I want to write.

As a note, yes, picking more illnesses will let you pick more buffs, but as you've seen, be wary of nasty combinations making your life harder. You are a sickly old man, your options are already limited enough as is!

Hoping to get another post out at the same time as yesterday, so another shorter voting period. This post is about the bad, next one will be about the somewhat good. Jobs, buffs, and experiences from your ninety-four years on this planet that will define how you think and act to a degree, maybe counter some of your illness choices, and help you in your designs, or not. After that, we'll get into the meat of things, select what you want to use that third stone for, and start strategizing and making plans!

>>6249923
>>6249921
>Mr. James Underwood

>Hearing loss: You are half-deaf.
Damaged immune system: High vulnerability to disease, worse effects when sick. A simple cold is like a bad flu for you. Anything above that can be lethal. If you didn't have the stones, that is.
Mid-stage Parkinsons: Holding objects is difficult, as is holding onto things. Complicates a variety of skill checks.
>High muscle loss: Even for your age, you have little muscle mass. Moving on your own with a device to hold on to is difficult and slow, and you barely do any better trying to wheel yourself around. Worsens cancer growth rate.

>>6249923
>>6249921
>Mr. James Underwood
>High muscle loss
>Hearing loss
>Damaged immune system
Parkinsons would make firearms unreliable(not that we'd end up using them often), and the vagueness of what variety of skill checks it effects means it could hinder almost anything.

To kill people, I suppose we could sense other hospital patients and poison them, but we don't have the access needed to do that.

These bloodstones have major health benefits, and that's what's of most concern to us, so I recommend Mr. Underwood having been a doctor before retiring.

>>6249921
>>6249923
>Mr. James Underwood
>Hearing loss
>Damaged immune system
>(Write-in) Contusions: You suffered multiple contusions in your left leg due to your scuffle with George. Nothing broken; a small mercy, but you'll take what you get. Prohibits independent movement without a wheelchair until your leg has mended.

>>6249949
I'll veto the write in, but thanks for reminding me I need to go into more details about Body Enhancement and Heal.

>Bloodstones: Heal or No Heal ?
>When thinking of the main Body Enhancement slot, and its associated skill, Heal, it is important to split things into two, temporary afflictions, and permanent afflictions.
>Think of it like a health bar. A (blood) red bar over a black background. Getting injured or suffering a debuff, be it illness, food poisoning, actual poisoning, smoke inhalation, and the like, reduces the red bar, replacing it with gray, still over a black background.
>The active Heal lets you replenish the red bar to its current maximum, taking over the grayed out part.
>The passive version of Heal, as in the boon you get from slotting the stone in the main Body Enhancement slot, is what actually grows the red bar, taking away more of the black background.
>The active heal will restore you to your current peak at most, while the passive brings you closer to your actual lifetime peak, and a little beyond that.

Contusions can be removed by one or more extra applications of Heal, once you figure out how to refill the stone. As such, it is a temporary affliction, and one that would go away even on its own. You don't need to slot another stone in Body to make it go away.

I could try offering temporary debuffs at a rate of two or three for one, but then it would just get complicated, and I like having long term afflictions for you to triumph over and keep in mind as a goal, at least at the start, then as a reminder of how far you've come!

>>6249970
Me from >>6249949, I'll take High Muscle Loss instead.

>>6249923
>Mr. James Underwood
>Hearing Loss
>High Muscle Loss


Hesitant to go for weakened immune system as even with the stones means a bad virus could put us in bed rest for days lol

>>6249978
You're still missing an illness pick.
And don't worry, there will be plenty of downtime anyway. This option means that you'll always have this incentive to keep a stone or two filled to catch it early. Besides, having a history of catching diseases could be leveraged into leaving the retirement home, provided you can offer up a better alternative...

Refilling stones isn't too bad, but it is quite like getting gas in your car. Harder to do when you run empty in the middle of nowhere, and all that.

>>6249980
I’ll throw cancer on as well, seems fitting, even if it’s just a worse version of the compromised immune system lmao

>>6249981
Not quite. It's more of a ticking time bomb. Won't do anything for now, will start spreading if the timer gets too low. Timer goes up when you dedicate a stone's passive boon to it, but down when you don't. Getting a younger body means faster tumor growth and spread, after all.

>>6249985
It may also put some treatment options back on the table, especially with Heal available, but no surgeon or anesthetist will operate a tumor on a 94 year old, even if you are physically younger, so you would need to figure that out.
Or just heal it with stones. You aren't using up the boon when you're targeting an illness, I'll sepcify, more like giving it a priority, you'll still get a general age buff.

And it goes without saying, slotting several gems in one slot means you get several separate casts of, Heal, or the relevant skill.

>>6249923
Closing votes!

>Mr James Underwood
wins pretty universally.

As for illnesses, the high muscle loss, hearing loss, and damaged immune system combo gets with three votes, with another vote switching out the latter for cancer, so we have a pretty clear winner there too.
I'm impressed you resisted the urge to pick more. I added in the option last minute just in case, but sticking to three is likely the better choice in my mind!
I'll get to writing! Next up, thinking about the life you led, and where you want to go with that last stone, and how you might go about getting more.

>>6249923
“Right Mr Underwoord, that's everything for now. Thankfully this sorry affair doesn't seem to have thrown things too out of order. We'll readjust your medication back to where it was. If there's nothing else, I'll be seeing you next week.”


“Nothing comes to mind for now, thank you for your visit as always doctor Chen!”

The doctor leans away from you, needing to get close on account that your ears are no good these days. You wonder if you should have brought up getting back to doing physical therapy. You had stopped a couple months back, you...you just couldn't see the point anymore. It was more comfortable to stop trying.
Still, bringing it up so soon, they would think it is because you are afraid after the George mess, and they would just have more people check on you, which may be the last thing you need right now. Waiting a little while is best, as is coming up with another reason...
Why, you have just the idea. You had mostly stopped taking your meals in the common room recently. You felt bad needing to be wheeled there. Yet another piece of your independence sloughing off your skeletal frame. They wouldn't object to you socializing after what happened, you could maybe even pretend that seeing the others eat makes you more hungry as an excuse to eat more protein, and use all of that to get them to let you do physical therapy again.
It would also put you in contact with more of the residents. You think that first stone is some kind of compass or something. You would get a clearer picture of how many stones are nearby...God, are you really considering this? George was an accident, but could you really do it? Take a life to stay alive a little longer? You would damn yourself.

You look down at your arms and hands, thin and weak. You remember yourself as you were, oh so many years ago. You can't stay like this, rotting away slowly now that you have tasted the sweetest, most dangerous poison of all.

Hope.

All this remembrance takes you on a path down memory lane. You grew up in a turbulent time, what with the last Great War, and you worked a number of jobs before settling into your main line of work.

>>6250117
>This quest takes place in a different world, but some elements are similar enough. The timing is a little different however, as we aren't quite in the modern days yet, though how far is yet to be determined. Your character is old enough that they were of fighting age when the last Great War came to your country.

>Choose a wartime occupation. It does not need to be fighting related, and could instead be the job you worked when the war forced you away from your home.
>Draftee: You saw little conflict, and only got basic training. You had to make do with little, and became [Thrifty] as a result.
>Soldier: You signed up for the war, be it for fame, for money, for politics, or anything else. You got very little of that, only a lot of training, and the knowledge of what a man looks like when he dies messily. You have decent firearms training, and kept the muscles from that time for most of your life. You gain [Strong] and [Calm Under Fire], but the war left its mark on you, leaving you with nightmares, whether you enjoyed the killing or not. You still have them, and the problems they cause, from screaming at night to poor sleep.
>Worker: Odd jobs carrying things, be it as part of army logistics or in the civilian sector. There was plenty need for hands, and the crappy work conditions made you [Though].
>Factory worker: You kept the war effort going at home, producing whatever was needed. The work was tiring and dull, but you became known for your [Deft Hands].
>Salesman: You were [Charismatic] enough to land a job in a shop, making extra from what you sold. You were pretty good at it.
>Write-in: The list is far from complete. Describe a job and its associated skill. One job may grant two skills and one debuff instead.
>Choose a postwar line of work, where you settled in after the conflict was over, while the country rebuilt itself, and you did, too.
>Army Career (Draftee or Soldier only): You decided to stick with the army once the fighting died down, eventually making it to a [Leadership] position before leaving as you aged out. You kept the commanding voice and presence.
>Worker: Odd jobs carrying things, be it as part of army logistics or in the civilian sector. There was plenty need for hands to rebuilt, and the crappy work conditions made you [Though].
>Factory worker: You kept the war effort going at home, producing whatever was needed. The work was tiring and dull, but you became known for your [Deft Hands].
>Salesman: You were [Charismatic] enough to land a job in a shop, making extra from what you sold. You were pretty good at it.

>Write-in: The list is far from complete. Describe a job and its associated skill. One job may grant two skills and one debuff instead.

>>6250118

>Choose a postwar line of work, where you settled in after the conflict was over, while the country rebuilt itself, and you did, too.
>Army Career (Draftee or Soldier only): You decided to stick with the army once the fighting died down, eventually making it to a [Leadership] position before leaving as you aged out. You kept the commanding voice and presence.
>Worker: Odd jobs carrying things, be it as part of army logistics or in the civilian sector. There was plenty need for hands to rebuilt, and the crappy work conditions made you [Though].
>Factory worker: You kept the war effort going at home, producing whatever was needed. The work was tiring and dull, but you became known for your [Deft Hands].
>Salesman: You were [Charismatic] enough to land a job in a shop, making extra from what you sold. You were pretty good at it.

>Write-in: The list is far from complete. Describe a job and its associated skill. One job may grant two skills and one debuff instead.

>Choose a career. What you ended up doing for most of your life. This will bring the greatest benefits, and shape what kind of person you are the most.
>Doctor (requires [Smart]): You eventually got into med school, and spent many years as a general practitioner in a mid-size town. You know a lot of general knowledge about medicine, though you never specialized.
>Investment Banker (requires [Charismatic]):You got into banking, and moved your way up to managing big accounts. You know the markets well, and have gotten quite the profits as a result.
>Shop Owner (requires Salesman): Years spent learning to know your clients and bantering with them has made you [Very Charismatic], and netted you some good cash.
>Worker: Odd jobs carrying things, be it as part of army logistics or in the civilian sector. There was plenty need for hands to rebuilt, and the crappy work conditions made you [Though].
>Factory worker: You kept the war effort going at home, producing whatever was needed. The work was tiring and dull, but you became known for your [Deft Hands].

>Write-in: The list is far from complete. Describe a job and its associated skill. One job may grant two skills and one debuff instead. Career jobs also determine what ressources you now have available. Broadly, we can separate these into three parts, not very rich, rich, and very rich.

Living in such times was not easy. You always had a few edges to keep you going, however, even if they too feel faded now.

>Pick three traits on top of any granted by your jobs.

>[Thrifty]: You are used to making do with less. You need less food and get better search rolls.
>[Strong]: Better strenght
>[Though]: More resilient to most things.
>[Def Hands]: Affects a wide variety of skill checks.
>[Charismatic]: Better social rolls, including intrigue.
>[Smart]: Better learning and insight.
>Write-in: You know the drill by know, what would you like to have, or what do you think makes sense for the character to have?

>>6250119

Then, there's the matter of this last stone. You tinker with it some once you are left alone and done reminiscing, and figure out it may go in several places:

>Body Enhancement
>Heal: get another charge of Heal. The passive boon may be focused on an illness, reducing its effects and de-aging your body by about six months, or left generic, de-aging your body by about a year.
>Something else? You feel several opportunities. Instead of focusing on an illness, you could do so on part of your body, enhancing them beyond normal human parameters. Bones, skin, tendons, muscles. The smaller the zone, the stronger the resulting effect. Also de-ages you by about six months.

>Mind Enhancement
>Something else? You feel several opportunities. Enhance one of your senses, your general awareness, your information processing abilities, your learning speed, how good you are at reading people, and more. No de-aging.

>Spirit Enhancement
>Scan: better range both passive and active, get another charge of active Scan.
>Something else? You feel several opportunities. This is the most nebulous option. You don't understand much of what is being offered. There is a big one called Insight, and a bunch of smaller ones called Techniques or something? It sounds like you could get, well, powers, like in those old superhero comics. Apparently not big ones, more like the silly one note ones you would see in small time villains and teen sidekicks. But that's with just one stone. No de-aging.

>>6250120
Okay, this is when it becomes very obvious how much I'm flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to the systems.. I really wanted to get a second set of posts out today, and ff I tried to make the jobs more complete I would be here all night, and I do actually still have a job to go to for a few more days. Sorry in advance, but I may be relying a lot more on write-ins for this one, so don't be afraid to make something fully custom! I hope the examples and guidelines I gave can be of some help with that.

Please feel free to discuss what your plans could be moving forward! Is going for the common meals a good idea, or would you rather stick to yourself so you can meet more of the nurses and talk to them if you so choose? What do you think Underwood's personality is like? Who would he be ready to kill? Someone at death's door? A criminal? Anyone? Should you stay here and sneakily get stones like you did with George, or go for a staff member if any of them have stones? Should you try and leave as soon as possible to get access to a better pool? How do you convince the staff to let you go? Improve physically and try and explain it away, appeal to their emotions, bribe them if you have the money?
Should you bring someone else in the know? Would you trust them? Would you betray them?


I likely won't be able to do two posts tomorrow, so this is going to be a 24-ish hours voting period, with me trying to answer things whenever I can get to my PC as I'm still afraid phoneposting will get me banned for ban evasion because someone used my Phone IP to post tomfoolery on another board. Yes, it's a true story.
Thank you for following so far and for sticking with me through the dreaded character generation, and thank you in advance for dealing with my half-baked systems, anons!

>>6250118
>Soldier: You signed up for the war, be it for fame, for money, for politics, or anything else. You got very little of that, only a lot of training, and the knowledge of what a man looks like when he dies messily. You have decent firearms training, and kept the muscles from that time for most of your life. You gain [Strong] and [Calm Under Fire], but the war left its mark on you, leaving you with nightmares, whether you enjoyed the killing or not. You still have them, and the problems they cause, from screaming at night to poor sleep.
I like the idea of us being thus gung-ho macho man who can’t stand the fact that he’s not as strong, as fast or as deadly before. I know we have a little apprehension about taking lives but I think that’s normal as we’ve only been trained to kill the ones who “deserve it”

>Worker: Odd jobs carrying things, be it as part of army logistics or in the civilian sector. There was plenty need for hands to rebuilt, and the crappy work conditions made you [Though]

Same line of thought, we never could capture that feeling of semi-importance and felt lied to all our lives about the great return home and being appreciated for our service. Gotta have some reason to want to rage against the dying of the light

>>6250118
Wartime occupation:
>Soldier
Postwar occupation:(This section seems odd, compared to career. Is there being three job-related sections intentional?)
>Write-In: Medical School and Fellowship
Not only did Mr. Underwood not go to one of the accelerated(3-year instead of four) med school programs started because of the war, but he was so devoted to his studies that he undertook a fellowship after residency, becoming an expert in a field of medicine. Not that this helped his career.
>>6250119
Career:
Doctor
Non-job traits:
>[Tough]
>[Charismatic]
>[Smart]
I am assuming we can use the non-job traits to take the prerequisite trait for the Doctor career.
>>6250120
>Body Enhancement
>Heal(non-specific)
This would in total make our traits [Strong], [Tough], [Calm Under Fire], [Charismatic], and [Smart], in addition to medical knowledge and whatever mark the war left.

Mr. Underwood loved his time in the army, when he knew he was appreciated by his brothers-in-arms. After the war, he studied medicine day and night, year after year, so that he could become an upstanding member of society, an example to look up to. But it just wasn't the same. He had no true friends, no one who really knew him. Worse still, his career was thoroughly normal despite his efforts. He still had himself, though, and he applied that same zeal to training his mind and body. So, he refuses to lose anything else.

>>6250118
>>6250119
>>6250120
>Choose a wartime occupation.
Soldier
>Choose a postwar line of work
Salesman
>Choose a career
(Write-in) Personal Assistant (requires [Calm Under Fire]): After your stint as a salesman, you landed a small-time job working for a captain of the industry, and worked your way up to being his full-time assistant. Much of your considerable nest egg was lost in a disastrous market crash that crippled your employer, but managing crisis after crisis and juggling dozens of duties has given you [Nerves of Steel].
If you choose to veto this, I'll take >Worker instead.
>Pick three traits
[Thrifty]
[Deft Hands]
[Smart]

>>6250118
>Soldier: You signed up for the war, be it for fame, for money, for politics, or anything else. You got very little of that, only a lot of training, and the knowledge of what a man looks like when he dies messily. You have decent firearms training, and kept the muscles from that time for most of your life. You gain [Strong] and [Calm Under Fire], but the war left its mark on you, leaving you with nightmares, whether you enjoyed the killing or not. You still have them, and the problems they cause, from screaming at night to poor sleep.
>Salesman: You were [Charismatic] enough to land a job in a shop, making extra from what you sold. You were pretty good at it.
>Shop Owner (requires Salesman): Years spent learning to know your clients and bantering with them has made you [Very Charismatic], and netted you some good cash.

>[Thrifty]
>[Def Hands
>[Smart]

>>6250120
>Body Enhancement
>Heal: Passive focus on the high muscle loss

>>6250120
>>6250345
>Last stone
Body Enhancement - Heal (generic)

>>6250345
+1, let's be a killer secretary.

>>6250120

>>6250368
>>6250120
Oh, and
>Spirit Enhancement
>>You can sense the severity of someone's depravity, cruelty, or sadism like a stench

>>6250122
>when it becomes very obvious how much I'm flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to the systems..
One of the positives of quests is diving into the unknown.
How powerful is the scan?
Are bloodstones only gained when killing someone else with one or any random person will do?

>>6250380
We probably shouldn't just kill random people, and we already know that killing any random person will create a dormant bloodstone within us, that would be useless until after we die.

The range of the scan is really important to consider, though, as other killers might sense us, and a really prolific one might sense us from so far away we never know of them.

Ah, I can see there are some things I should have made clearer.
For the jobs, I was following this little rule of three I had for the three archetypes, but me pasting a bunch of the jobs didn't help with the confusion.

>6250124
You are able to pick from three categories. The Aging Man would have had a job during his youth, and the carreer he's currently stick in, though with different option, while the Young Man would only have the odd jobs he found thus far, and maybe a choice of degree.
As the oldest, then Old Man gets to pick three, the job he had during the war, the one he had in the years after while the country sorted itself out, and the career he eventually settled in.

>6250138
Yes, the idea was that you could pick a bonus trait to unlock another job, I just completely forgot to actually mention that as it came to me during writing, glad you picked up on it. For example, Doctor requires Smart, which you can't get from other jobs, and you could pick Charismatic for the Banker even if you picked different jobs in the other sections.

>6250345
[Nerves of Steel] being the social version of Calm Under Fire does make some sense, being balanced with a lower wealth level than the banker, and with a bonus to tense social situations and against being overwhelmed compared to the Shopkeep's more general charisma that may falter under similar circumstances. This seems to fit in to me, I'll leave it as is. Write-in accepted!

>6250371
This can work, though with just one stone it will only be an active for now, which you can use in a conversation like one would a skill in combat. Write-in accepted!

>6250380
Scan should work by the rule of three, with the active ping being three times the passive. As for how much, one meter does seem low, so let's go with a nice and even five. So five meters for passive, fifteen for active. More stones will give better range and another charge, as mentioned.

Bloodstones can only be gained by killing someone who has an inactive stone inside them, you cannot as far as you know generate one through murder yourself.

>6250387
A quick check through your new knowledge reveals that you would not in fact generate an inactive Bloodstone either, with no extra information why.

As for being sensed, I did mention that the active ping, much like sonar, would likely have some kind of effect on any Bloodstones it reaches. Whether it requires a check of some kind or be affected by distance remains to be seen, however. I have it mostly down after pondering it after seeing these two posts. I'll write it out whenever you guys get the opportunity to first use it.

I'm glad to see some discussion already!

With that, I'm thinking of extending the vote until tomorrow so people who voted last night can get a chance to amend their votes with the new information, support one of the new builds, or to ask more questions.

So far we have a pretty clear trend towards Soldier as a wartime pick, with a personality that felt at ease in the army, and regrets those golden days.

Afterwards, we have one pick for a med-school write-in and a Doctor career, two votes for Salesman and a write-in option, on Salesman/Shopkeep combo, and a vote that despite missing the middle pick seems to want to stick with worker for added motivation at getting another shot at a good life.

For the stone, we have a clever write-in and wanting to undo some muscle loss, but the majority leans towards stacking another Heal so far.

I'll tally up the skills when closing. Feel free to grab a trip in case your IP switches, and to link back to your posts when switching votes, it makes things smoother!

I am >>6250138
and I would like to change my vote to >>6250345
As important as [Tough] could be, [Nerves of Steel] is a really great idea for a serial killer, and one we almost definitely can't get any equivalent of from the bloodstones.
Now, I'm not sure how we're going to kill the other patients, but that's something to plan for after scanning the common room. Especially as it might have to be tailored to their specific health conditions to reduce suspicion. Can't just kill everyone the same way, after all.

>>6250345
>>6250368
>>6250704
Tthe Personal Assistant write-in takes the career vote, and the skills one as well!

I'm closing votes and getting to work on the posts, have a small character sheet in the meantime, should be everything for now.

>Name: James Underwood
>Title: The Old Man
>Jobs: Former Soldier, Former Salesman, Former Personal Asistant

>Traits:
[Calm Under Fire]
[Nerves Of Steel]
[Charismatic]
[Thrifty]
[Deft Hands]
[Smart]


Bloodstones: 3

>Spirit Enhancement:
>>Sense (1)

>Mind Enhancement:

>Body Enhancement:
>>Core (2)


>Abilities:

>Spirit:
>>Scan (1)

>Mind

>Body
>>Heal (2)

>>6250851
Of course I immediately forgot the illnesses, way to go, me.


>Illnesses:
>>High Muscles Loss
>>Hearing Loss
>>Damaged immune system

>>6250117
You were a rather lost young man, but even you could feel the shifting winds. You were always a smart cookie, so you got in ahead, didn't wait for the draft. Better pay and training if you were getting shipped off to the frontlines either way. The army wasn't like you expected. Sure, your old Sarge and drill instructors were hardasses, but they all are. You found true brotherhood in the army. True loss too when you had to watch them die. You still aren't sure why you're alive and they aren't. You wonder if anyone remembers their names. A few of them were only children, and you didn't keep in touch with each other's families. Someone ought to remember.

You got into sales after the war. Quite the odd choice for a vet, especially since you could have stayed in the army, but the latter just had too many uncomfortable memories attached to it by then. Besides, you found out you were pretty good at the business stuff even while in the ranks, from sweet-talking quartermasters into deals to running your own little trading hub with the lads. There was a tidy profit to be made by a smart lad like you trading cigs, booze, chocolate, and more between the enlisted and the draftees, and even the occasional NCO so they would tolerate your little show. You came to learn a parallel economy is a staple of most functionning above ground markets. You carried most of that into your first job. Sure, you made a profit from sales commissions from smooth talking clients, but the real deals came after you got your boss to trust you for getting a couple rather irate customers calmed down with both your veteran attitude and your growing people skills. Some fancy inventory management tricks to stock up on likely shortages. With things as they were in the After Years, there was ironically no shortage of those. From helping out sister stores with extra in exchange for favors or other items, to being able to upsell when your store was the only one in three hours of driving with specific items when the shortages got too bad. Times were good, and you pondered about opening a store of your own, or taking one over, when an appealing job offer slid across your little desk tucked in a corner of the storeroom. And that is how you met Mr Jefferson.

Not right away of course, even in those yeas he was a rising star in the metal industry, owning more factories, steelworks, and even mines by the year. You were just in charge of supply in your small sector. Orders to fill, stocks to sell, raw products to be directed where they'll turn the most profit. It was a hectic job, but really just more of the same, and so you dove in.

>>6250903
You first met Mr Jefferson two years later when he personally came down to shake your hand for being the third most profitable sector in the country percentage-wise, up from the low nineties before you came in. The next year you were first, and got a promotion in the mail instead of a handshake. Bigger quantities, bigger deals, bigger competition, bigger stresses. You always thought you were a rather nervous person, but eventually you realized what counts as stessful for you and the average person is, well, about as wide as the gap between soldier and civilian. Having seen and done the things you have, having to wrangle three mine owners to smooth out a deal just doesn't register that much. Besides, every economy needs a black market. And if it doesn't have one, then it needs one to help grease the wheels, so you did that too. Nothing too serious, bit of digging for issues to use when negotiating, bit of blackmail, a few roughing ups through hired thugs. Some things need to get done even if the price is high, the army taught you that much.

Then you were summoned to the capital offices. You were nervous, even more so when Jefferson himself invited you to step into a nondescript office, but you stood firm. He proceeded to rattle out everything you'd done, shady dealings included from a printed sheet in his hands. He looked up at you. You looked back at him. He smiled, put the list in the paper shredder next to his desk, and told you he was looking for a personal assistant with a varied experience, a can-do attitude, and a willingness to get things done. You said yes and shook on it.

Those were your best years. You were smart, but Jefferson left you in the dust. You could sometimes see things he didn't, figure out better supply chains or suss out some market variations, but the sheer breadth of his industry knowledge and magnetic personality were a sight to behold, especially from your position as his unnofical right-hand man and sometimes enforcer. Things got dirtier, meaner, but a lot more profitable. Besides, you didn't even think you and Jefferson were doing bad. Most of the people targeted where even bigger assholes than you were. The few that weren't were just unfortunate collateral damage. Jefferson got rich, but his factories helped your country rebuild, brought thousands of jobs, supplied goods to government projects, made a difference.

>>6250904
Then the After years, the Golden Years, ended with a market crash, and the country Jefferson had helped build back up stabbed him in the back while he was off-balance. Some testimonies were real, some not, in the end it didn't matter. Jefferson was too powerful and influential, and had made too many enemies despite your efforts. He was eventually imprisoned, though in a fancier cell than what common prisoners got, and died a ruined, broken man. He was unrecognizable the last few times you visited him in prison, many years ago. How much do you look like he did now? Most of his business was nationalized following the trials. You stayed on to limit the damage to the companies both you and Jefferson knew was coming. You still don't fully understand why he didn't throw you under the bus. You weren't brothers in arms, not quite, but there was fellowship. But enough to clear your name by saying he had been behind it all? He was perhaps more of an idalist than you knew.

You did what you could, and the new people in charge had to recognize it. They knew of your skills, still used them. Why shouldn't they? The trial was never about methods, just a power grab. A lot was lost from both incompetence and malice as government appointed stooges came in for a slice of the pie, and replaced good workers and leaders with their own friends and political allies. The company endured, still does, but it is an inneficient shadow. You did what you could to leave behind a sensible crop of new leaders. Is it betraying Jefferson's memory to help those who doomed him, or is it honoring him by preserving his life's work? You still can't answer that one.

You got shuffled into an early retirement. You had lost much in the crash, and there were too many eyes on you to do much business on the side, but you weren't strapped for money. You've still got a bunch in accounts in some places, you can't remember so well off the top of your head these days, but enough to be paying for this place. You may have use for that cash yet.

Still, that is a ways off, for now it's time to get out of this bed and get things done. You call for a nurse, and talk her into wheeling you and your lunch tray into the refectory. You aren't scheduled to eat there, but you brought your own food and there are empty seats, and the nurse seems happy you want to socialize. If only she knew.

>>6250905
You poke at Scan as she takes you there, getting more details. Five meters for the pasive range, fifteen for active, three times as much. It's like a sonar, the active one will cause the Bloodstones to vibrate sympathetically. Those with inactive ones shouldn't feel it, and even the more peceptive will have little clue. If they have active Bloodstones however...well, your first stone slotted itself into Scan, so they would know what you know, and understand they've been “pinged”, unless they are very dull. It fortunately means you would know too, even if they have a longer range than you. Putting more stones in scan would help the range on top of giving you another “charge”, too...interesting, these abilities can grow as well.

For now, you have a choice to make. You are fairly sure noone else here is like you. Statistics tell you otherwise. Five meters won't cover everything. An active pulse here would catch a solid half of the residents, and the cooking staff and a few nurses and doctors as well. It would give you targets.

Some more prodding gives you even more. Detected Bloodstones will stay detected for some time before fading, though getting within twice your passive range before that happens will cancel that without making the stones shake again. So, for a Bloodstone you've detected recently, your passive range is doubled. This will be useful later, you're sure.

As for charging the depleted stone back up, well, the answer is simple. Blood. You do that on your own, part of why you've been feeling a little hungrier, but someone else's blood will do almost as well, especially if “fresh”.
You ponder what someone with dozens of these stones might do on a battlefield. How many stones would you need to put towards a tougher skin to stop shrapnel, bullets? How many in your leg muscles to jump across building or catch up to an accelerating car? How many in your hands to tear someone's head off? And if those stones give related abilities, you could just keep refilling them as you kept killing...

How many people like this are out there? How many more will there be in a few more years?

You...you need to do something. Even if only to save yourself. There's a storm coming, you can feel it. The winds are shifitng again. You won't get to sit this one out. You need to sign up before you get drafted...

“Mr Underwood, is everything okay? You looked pale.”

“Ah, I'm sorry...Helen, was it? Sorry, I forgot how busy this place got.”

“Oh, well it's okay if you want to go b...”

“No, no, I'll be fine!”

You were a little too loud and quick on that last one, but she doesn't seem to notice. Years of experience let you deflect the inquiry with little issue.

>>6250907

You need to decide what to do.
>Use Scan (much larger pool of people, empties the stone, incredibly very low chance of something going awry)
>Don't use Scan (safer, lower pool of people since you can't just wander around the room without looking strange, especially with Helen being the one to control where you actually go.)

>Current recharge rate is 0.3 Bloostones per day. 1 base rate, divided by two due to the various effects of old age, minus ten percent from your lacking muscles and damaged immune systems impacting production and consumption, reducing available extra blood, plus zero percent from traits. Strong would have been ten percent, Tough a whole 25 percent.


And where to eat.
>Eat alone with Helen by pretending to be a little overwhelmed, get more information on the staff, and maybe the outside world. Specify any topics you want to bring up.

>Eat near some of the chattier and louder residents that make up the local rumor mill. Get more random information about the residents.

>If you detect a Bloodstone, try and eat next to their table to get more information on them, at least their name and where they are in the retirement home. Due to your bad ears, you will have to strain to catch a lot of it since they aren't as loud as the chatterboxes. (Roll required)

>[Write-in]


The fact you're scanning and then picking the action right after is unfortunat, sorry about that but I want to move things along. Feel free to put it as a first choice, then have a second vote.

I'm still not sure what I'll be using for the Bloodstone detection roll, though. I'll see about it.

Depending on how many posts we get before tonight, there may be a second post, otherwise it will be tomorrow. With chargen over two posts should be doable.

Oh, and it will be on the character sheet the next time, but your biological age is now at 92 instead of 94! No major differences yet but it does help out with a few rolls, and will help once enough time has elapsed I get to roll for anything going wrong with your aging body.

In the meantime, thank you for making it through the dreaden chargen with me, anons!

>>6250908
>Use Scan (much larger pool of people, empties the stone, incredibly very low chance of something going awry)
If you detect a Bloodstone, try and eat next to their table to get more information on them, at least their name and where they are in the retirement home. Due to your bad ears, you will have to strain to catch a lot of it since they aren't as loud as the chatterboxes. (Roll required)

>>6250908
>>Use Scan (much larger pool of people, empties the stone, incredibly very low chance of something going awry)
>If you detect a Bloodstone, try and eat next to their table to get more information on them, at least their name and where they are in the retirement home. Due to your bad ears, you will have to strain to catch a lot of it since they aren't as loud as the chatterboxes. (Roll required

>>6250908
>Don't use Scan (safer, lower pool of people since you can't just wander around the room without looking strange, especially with Helen being the one to control where you actually go.)
>Eat near some of the chattier and louder residents that make up the local rumor mill. Get more random information about the residents.
Gather intel and sniff around with our more passive sense for bloodstones, maybe?

>>6250908
>Use Scan
>Eat alone with Helen by pretending to be a little overwhelmed, get more information on the staff, and maybe the outside world. Specify any topics you want to bring up.
A nurse killing residents, possible.

>>6250908
>Use Scan (much larger pool of people, empties the stone, incredibly very low chance of something going awry)
If the scan results in any staff being pinged:
>Eat near some of the chattier and louder residents that make up the local rumor mill. Get more random information about the residents.
If not:
>Eat near some of the chattier and louder residents that make up the local rumor mill. Get more random information about the residents.

From what I understand, the targets in range will only know they've been pinged, not that we've done it. Going to eat by them would give that away. Going near the chattier residents would be helpful, but a killer in the staff is far, far more of a concern.

>>6251080
Do you want to bring that up as a subject somehow? You are fairly sure no one got murdered recently, though people pass semi-regularly here.

>>6251095
There is a low chance someone with dormant stones will feel a disturbance, but anyone with active ones will know they're being pinged, though they likely won't know where from.

I should also mention that the probability of there being someone with active Bloodstones on staff is near zero. I also haven't rolled it yet, Underwood was just getting paranoid about the implications of Bloodstones. And logically, even if there is someone and they aren't here, why would they have let George pass without making a play?

Still, this is very fun to read!

Looks like Scan is leading, I'll tally up tomorrow and answer any new questions!

>>6251127
>Do you want to bring that up as a subject somehow?
No, just thinking about it. Could ask about deaths in general.

>>6250908
>>Use Scan (much larger pool of people, empties the stone, incredibly very low chance of something going awry)
>Eat near some of the chattier and louder residents that make up the local rumor mill. Get more random information about the residents.

Can't show hesitation to Helen or she may start trying to know better. Start with the loudmouths and work our way down. Patience, like an alligator in a river.

Right, so we'll be using Scan first and foremost, though votes appear split on what to do afterwards. Let's see if we get any bites first, then. Which means I need to introduce the most cumbersome roll. Figuring out the percentage chance of anyone having a Bloodstones, and figuring out how to not have to roll dice for each targeted person.
Now since this is a fictional country with a fictional crime rate, and Bloodstones aren't guaranteed to form, I can be a bit more freeform in the base chance.

Let's go with a flat 1%. I'll throw in a 50% bonus since you're in a retirement home full of people who lived both a long life and through the last Great War, so the chances are better. Let's say we've got about sixty people here, forty-five residents and fifteen staff.

This will get really cumbersome for larger populations, but for now I guess rolling 60d200 can work. Might as well let you guys do it, Ii heard anons like to roll dice! If anyone lands on a 198,199 or a 200, congratulations, we've got a hit and get to roll some more!

I never had a great relationship with maths, so this is the quick and dirty solution. If anyone has a good way of making this smoother for rolling with litteral hundreds if not thousands of people, please be my guest!

>>6251324
Let's start with just 10d200 per person to let people have some fun, if it's too slow I'll let people roll again!

Rolled 89, 96, 65, 142, 92, 178, 40, 13, 35, 70 = 820 (10d200)

>>6251326
Here goes

Rolled 9, 97, 113, 109, 85, 55, 57, 175, 113, 80 = 893 (10d200)

>>6251326
Alrighty then

Rolled 98, 61, 29, 60, 94, 20, 97, 21, 76, 27 = 583 (10d100)

>>6251324
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nTHJ4xt_dk

Rolled 156, 145, 183, 125, 158, 141, 127, 200, 151, 149 = 1535 (10d200)

>>6251326

>>6251346
Nice song, even if I'm not certain why you shared it!

>>6251349
>200
We have our first hit! Truthfully, I was worried the rate was too low, so it's nice to see it!


Anyway, that leaves us with two more sets of ten, you can roll again if you wish, then we'll get into the nitty-gritty of what we've actually got!

Rolled 21, 31, 52, 161, 135, 112, 132, 61, 61, 54 = 820 (10d200)

>>6251352
I roll, I lose, I roll again

Rolled 159, 154, 107, 4, 65, 25, 99, 111, 176, 51 = 951 (10d200)

>>6251326
Rolling

Also neat quest you got here. Going to also add to the vote yeah sit with someone with a bloodstone. Sibce that seemed like a vote some people were going with

>>6251324
With that, we have (1) Scan ping. Let's see exactly what it is!
Uusally Ii would only roll for how many Bloodstones are, but here it does matter whether they are patient or staff.
So I will be rolling 1d60, 1-45 is patient, 46-60 is staff.

As for the main roll, it will be your classic 1d100. I will throw in a +5 Luck bonus for hitting that 200, because a nat max roll is always a treat, and luck is something you need to keep in mind going forward.

2-50 means one inactive Bloodstone, 51-70 means two, 71-90 means three, 91-95 means four, 96-99 means a whole five, and 100 will bring us soe very juicy exploding loot rolls.

As for one, you don't need to worry about that, right?

Rolled 51 (1d60)

>>6251360
Right, meant to roll the d60, it's been a little while sorry!

>>6251358
And thank you anon!

Rolled 9 (1d15)

>>6251361
Oh, this is interesting, it /is/ a member of staff. Ah, it does mean getting to sit with them will be difficult.
Let me roll another dice real quick so I can see if the option works, sorry if it doesn't. Then I can stop teasing and roll the actual number of stones!

1d15:
1-6: Kitchen staff member
7-10: One of the doctors
11-14: One of the nurses
15: It's Helen.

Rolled 25 (1d100)

>>6251362
My my, some medical malpractice, huh, or did someone LARP like it's the 19th century and procure a few fresh bodies for med school assignments?

Rolling for Bloodstones!

>>6251363
Just the one!

The option was to sit next to their table, not at it, misremembered, so it should still work!

Let's tally up th votes in case of successful Scan.

>>6250911
>>6251002
>>6251358
Target: 3

>>6251010
>>6251095
>>6251314
Chatterboxes: 3


>>6251080
Helen: 1

The latest anon's vote gives us a tie! We won't have time for another post today anyway, so I will let this rest an hour or two to see if the news that we have a killer doctor on the loose will change some people's votes!

>>6251366
I'll flip to supporting >>6251002, to break the tie.

To confirm, since Scan detects both active and inactive bloodstones, we don't know exactly which the doctor we pinged has?

>>6251511
Well crap. Sorry, between seeing this vote late and a busy evening, I don't have a full post ready, but we have the choice to sit near them locked in. I've been tinkering some options, after this we will probably be doing a small one-week timeskip to let you pick your new routine now that Underwood is getting motivated to live again, and see where that leaves us.

>>6251603
The stones aren't active as far as you can tell. They don't feel like yours, and poking your Scan-slotted stone gives back a mental image that's close to what you're seeing glow and movement wise.

It would be active only if I had rolled a 1 on the Bloodsones roll.

>>6250908
Small extra roll and vote time!

I need 1d100 for intel gathering.

Base 30 or above, they aren't being stealthy and Helen is likely to make some small talk with them.
+20 because you are mostly deaf
-5 because of Smart, you are more likely to piee together something interesting from idle chatter.
So 45 or above for success, higher is better!

As for the small vote, does Underwood have any family? Children, grandchildren, younger siblings maybe?

Are they estranged, distant, or loving?

This is a more freeform choice, but be aware that more and closer family will mean more scrutiny, and is very likely to force you to either come clean or disappear, and maybe fake your own death.

Let's see what you all would rather have!

Sorry again for the delay, next update should be in about 20 hours due to work.

Rolled 5 (1d100)

>>6251636
Also going to say maybe to the distant kids and grandchildren. Dont visit often. Dont have crazy ideas though on specifics so leaving for other anons.

Rolled 59 (1d100)

>>6251636
Me from >>6250345 >>6250350. Been gone a while.
>As for the small vote, does Underwood have any family? Children, grandchildren, younger siblings maybe?
He has one son, who himself has grandchildren. His wife is deceased. Underwood is in a retirement home because his family couldn't take care of him, but they make sure to visit regularly.

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>6251636
>As for the small vote, does Underwood have any family? Children, grandchildren, younger siblings maybe?
He has one son, who himself has grandchildren. His wife is deceased. Underwood is in a retirement home because his family couldn't take care of him, but they make sure to visit regularly.

Rolled 8 (1d100)

>>6251765
+1

>>6251709
Alas, I did say only 1d100, didn't think of mentionning it wasn't Bo3 because it didn't cross my mind.

For now, a singe die is all you get. Underwood is a smart cookie though, careful preparation may help for more than just roll advantages...
Still, you are especially deaf today, and the nearby chatte combined with their low voices mean you hear about nothing.

Though at least you get to ask Helen for the man's name without too much suspicion.

>>6251765
This write-in takes it for the family with three votes! They will likely show up at some point in the near future.

Next post should be tonight, very basic info on your target, and choices on how to occupy your schedule for the week!

What are the odds our guys family has a bloodstone?

>>6251874
Same as anyone else's, so much lower for his grandkids. I'm thinking much higher chance of active though.

Writing in progress!

>>6250907
You make your choice, and, closing your eyes, you will the Bloodstone on the left side of you vision to empty, just like you saw the healing one do. The effect is immediate, you both feel and see behind closed eyelids a red wave spread outwards, centered on you. You see silhouettes, the darker, deep, fading, almost dull red of the furniture contrasting with the brighter tones of the sitting retirees and staff members. Then your focus is drawn to the side, aflash of white and something like a pinging noise. A single, bright red orb in the middle of a clump of red. You panic for a moment, then your heart settles as you review the new knowledge. This is merely what Bloodstones look like when they are, for lack of a better word, inactive.
You open your eyes, only to find the Stone still in your vision, surrounded by a small circle of the red you saw during the pulse, as if you had x-ray vision straight out of those superhero comics for kids, only bloodier.
The man looks middle aged, sharing a table with two nurses. He wears a doctor's white coat. You bite back a curse.

“Where do you want to go, Mr Underwood?”

Perfect timing Helen, thank you.

“Oh, over there looks fine and a little less busy. I'd...forgotten how noisy this place got. I'll be fine, it's something I'm no longer used to. For now!”

You smile up at Helen, and part of it is true. You heard a saying once. Get busy living, or get busy dying. You have been dying for far too long. You intend to grasp this chance as hard as you can, no matter who stands in the way, you reason as Helen pushes you to a quiet table, which happens to be right in front of your target's.

During the meal that follows, you do your best to keep an ear out to catch as many details of the conversation as you can. Building a profile is essential in many domains, including this one. Name, habits, favorite food, small facts, his schedule, anything that can give you an in.

Over the course of the next thirty minutes, you overhear precisely nothing. Blast those old ears of yours, they're being especially unhelpful today...you should have accepted that damned device years ago, no matter how bulky...
You manage to keep your annoyance from showing, and make small talk with Helen. When the three staff members behind you leave, you even manage to ask Helen who he is.

“Actually, I don't recall seeing the man who was behind us around much, is he new?”

“Oh no Mr Anderson, Doctor Phillips has been here for seven years now, he's one of the geriatrists, but he usually takes care of the younger patients so it makes sense you haven't met!”

“I see, I see, thank you!”

Phillips, then. Him taking care of the comparatively younger patients might me he moves around more, as they are less likely to be bed-bound. Or near bed-bound like you...

>>6251980
You end up finishing your whole tray, much to Helen's delight. You do feel rather peckish as you see a small trickle of red fill out the spent Bloodstone. That is good, the extra appetite will go a small way in both showing your improving condition, and explaining it. May help with the muscles some, too, even with a stone draining you, you feel confident you are coming out ahead nutrition wise compared to before.

Which reminds you to check, and yes, now that the Scan stone is recharging, the healing one you used this morning no longer is, though you note it is still slightly refilled. You can only charge one at a time, which given your condition is likely for the best, but you can chose which ones do so first, trying it with a flick, and confirming that there is no loss of progress for doing so. You have another Heal ready, so you keep the charge on the Scan for now. You haven't gotten a look at everyone around here yet.

Speaking of, as Helen pushes you back to your room, and helps you in the armchair next to the bed, you ponder how to organize your days, even as you feel yourself grow a little sluggish from all the excitement. You eventually circle back to the stones. You can't help but think there is more to them. More prodding might yield something interesting...

...ah, you drifted off there for a second. Maybe that would help? Instead of brute force reviewing all you have access to, maybe it's like trying to remember something you forgot? Maybe sleeping would help, or meditation? You were never one for it, but Jefferson did say it had merits back in the day...

>[Insight]
>Insight can be used even without active Bloodstones in Mind or Spirit enhancement, though not very well. It is similar to a research project, where your character seeks to understand more about the Bloodstones, usually though meditation or sleep. Insight will progress randomly, though having a specific line of research or questioning in mind helps a lot.
More Mind Bloodstones dedicated to stenghtening Insight will help with understanding Bloodstones mechanically, revealing options you may not have thought of, or helping you figure out uses you suspect might be possible.
More Spirit Bloodstones dedicated to stenghtening Insight will help you with the more esoteric aspects.
Body generally does not help [Insight], but there are Body-related insights/research projects linked to both Mind and Spirit.
You may favor one or the other, or try and balance both.

>>6251982
>You have a lot of time in the day, but not the energy to make the most out of it. Your sleeping hours currently leave you with the following schedule:

>Late night: Sleep
>Early morning: Sleep
>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>Late morning: [Free slot]
>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>Early afternoon; [Free slot] (Slow)
>Mid afternoon: [Free slot]
>Late afternoon: [Free slot] (Tired)
>Early evening: Meal [Where?]
>Mid evening: Sleep

(Slow) means worse physical rolls, and a smaller debuff to other rolls, since you'll be noticeably slower from digesting. A better physical condition would help remove this
(Tired) means you're running out of energy for the day, nearly all rolls take a debuff. Better physical condition or a very good sleep roll might help with this, while a worse sleep roll might apply (Tired) to the mid afternoon!

Most of the following options can be put in any slot, unless specified otherwise. This will decide your schedule for the next week.

>Schedule options:

>Physical rehabilitation (mornings only): Start up appointments with the retirement home's physical therapist again. Lets you get a better understanding of your current muscle loss, start mitigating it with good rolls now that your body is just that little bit younger. You may become (Tired) as a result, which will affect the mid afternoon slot first.

>Wander halls (New targets): Have the nurse take you on trips seemingly at random, but really checking out the places where you think there are people you haven't scanned yet. Specify whether you use Scan or not if you find some that are out of reach.

>Wander halls (Phillips): Have the nurse take you on trips seemingly at random, but really trying to map out where Phillips tends to spend his time, or whch paths he uses to move around the retirement home. Intel roll, this time without relying on your ears too much!

>Chat with nurses (Stories): Share your stories. From the war, from your career, from the things you saw. The more unsightly sutff you did doesn't get mentionned, but you're hopeful it will make them like you a little more.

>Chat with Nurses (Information): Chat with the nurses about current events, and see if anything catches your attention. May get information on the retirement home, the city, the country, or the world.

>Meditate outside: There are some gardens on the grounds of the retirement home. Have the nuse wheel you outside, and just rest and ponder for a while. Insight progress, with a small bonus to Spirit. Gets you extra vitamin D as well! You may become better at meditating.

>Meditate in your room: Try out this meditation thing. Insight progress, with a small bonus to Mind. You may become better at meditating.

>[Unlocked option] Get a hearing aid: You've let this slide for too long. Have the nurse help you fill out paperwork to have a few models brought to you from a local distributor, and try them out. Will help mitigate [Hearing Loss] depending on what options you pick.

>>6251983
On top of this, you also have the choice of taking your evening meal by yourself or within the cafeteria. Better rolls for learning some useful info, or better sleep rolls, which will help against nightmares, and help avoid lack of sleep. It will also let you tinker with your Bloodstones before bed, also giving you a chance for better [Insight] rolls.

>Eat dinner in your room
>Eat dinner in the cafeteria


There we go, I hope this isn't getting too mechanically dense, especially Insight! Like I said, basically research projects, progress is gained on good meditation or sleep. You may already select a subject if you want, select only an aspect (Body/Mind/Spirit) or let me or the dice decide!

>>6251983
>Late morning Physical rehabilitation
>Early afternoon Chat with nurses (Stories)
>Mid afternoon Meditate outside
>Late afternoon Wander halls (Phillips)
>Eat dinner in your room
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebhDP0lgjBM

>>6252001
+1

>>6252001
+1

>>6252001
+1 support
This is decent enough for now. Getting the nurses to like us now will help, and I prefer the outside meditation vs inside. I'd like to get people's opinion on whether we should pursue a hearing aid in the near future?

Also great work QM, am really loving this so far. Keep it up!

>>6251983
>>6251987
>>6252001 +1, except
>Eat dinner in the cafeteria

More chance to gather info and have interesting interaction. I'll take the chance on nightmares and psychic ignorance.

>>6252129
I think a hearing aid makes sense. We could also try to stick a bloodstone in our ear later?

>>6251983
>Late morning Physical rehabilitation
>Early Afternoon Wander halls (New targets)
>Mid afternoon Meditate outside
>Late afternoon Chat with nurses (Stories)
>Eat dinner in your room

>>6252129
Hearing aid would be smart but we should fix our hearing with bloodstones, having the hearing aid would explain why we're hearing better and actually fixing our hearing would allows us to eavesdrop by visibly removing the hearing aid

>>6252001
We have a pretty clear winner here with four votes, so I'll close votes now and you can start rolling. Hopefully I'll manage another post tonight!

So, in order (Still Bo1 unless otherwise specified, keep it to a roll per post while specifying what you're rolling for, so othes can still have fun rolling, please!)

>1d100 for physical rehab, 65 or higher.
Going from high to medium muscle loss is a pretty hard step, it will get easier with other steps, and if you keep at it. Should be a 75, but your newfound appetite and caloric intake lowers the threshold by 5, and your bost of motivation from all this makes you keep at it harder, giving you another 5.

>2d100 for impressing the nurses, 30 or more
This is something you are great at, and you have ample time to get to know the nurses and see what kind of stories and anecdotes they prefer so you can tailor your storytelling. Beyond that, it's the kind of social stuff you've spent decades doing. Your experience earns you a second dice. Difficulty starts at 40, minus 5 for Charismatic, and another minus five because being a weathered old grandpa does help with impressing the much younger nurses with your stories from the war. None of them knew it, or the after years for that matter.

>1d100+5 for meditation. No roll goal.
I'll pick what you get and how many points you need to sink into it!

>1d100 for wandering the halls. 40 or more to succeed, higher is better.
You're starting almost from scratch, so anything you learn about Phillip's routine, personality, attitude, et ceatera... might help you. You just have to figure out where he is first.

>Roll 15d200 for Bloodstones! (5 rolls each, let's share!)
Even if you aren't looking for them, you still come across people that weren't in the cafeteria that day, both from ating there at lunch and for moving across the various wings of the retirement home, and several drift within the five meters of your passive range.


>Roll for sleep quality! 1d100.
Good sleep should be 20, but you are old (+10 to difficulty) and have bad nightmares (+25). Still, relaxing before be helps (-5). So 50 or above. Higher is better, lower is worse. Best not to roll under 5. Or a 1.
80 for Insight progress, down from 85 from eating dinner alone.


Right, should be everything for now, I'll check in tonight!

>>6252129
Also, thanks for the compliment, I'll do my best!

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>6252250
Rolling for physical rehab

Rolled 21, 14 = 35 (2d100)

>>6252250
impressing the nurses

Rolled 91 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6252267
They ain't impressed
>>6252250
Rolling for meditation

Rolled 86 (1d100)

>>6252250
Aaaaah I'm wandering

Rolled 85, 144, 101, 175, 187 = 692 (5d200)

>>6252250
Bloodstone part 1 of 3
We will need two more rolls of dice+5d200

Rolled 6, 85, 39, 90, 54 = 274 (5d100)

>>6252250

Rolled 151, 2, 119, 181, 192 = 645 (5d200)

>>6252284
Oops wrong dice

Rolled 100, 195, 64, 184, 181 = 724 (5d200)

>>6252250
I'll be taking the last five dice for bloodstones as well

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>6252250
I think its been long enough so rolling for sleep

>>6252257
A close success for physical rehab!
>>6252267
A rather surprising failure when it comes to impressing the nurses!
>>6252271
An unexpectedly high roll for your first meditation, in the 95+ range too, this will be interesting for sure, but more on that in a bit.

>>6252274
Very good information gathering with zero suspicions from anyone.

But no new Bloodstones to report for now!


Now, sadly, due to leaving work almost an hour late due to an emergency, I have been running behind all evening, and feeling rather tired to boot.
I will try and chip at the post tomorrow if work allows. If it doesn't, I should still be able to put out a smaller thing during my lunch break.
You very nearly rolled over 100, which is what I figured the first Insight/research projects should be at. I have an idea which you may rather like, and since you're so close, you'll get a shot at helping Underwod make those last few connections early!

Though by early I mean a solid 13-14 hours from now.

>>6252470
Thanks for the udpate. See you soon, QM!

[...]
Your afternoon relaxation and meditation sessions have been surprisingly enjoyable. You had always been more of a city and factory fellow, but something about the quiet inner garden on a sunny day makes you feel a rare sense of peace.
You have been pondering the stones, aimlessly at first, then in a more guided fashion. Something about Scan. At first you thought you might figure out a way to increase the range, but you haven't managed to pin those...you struggle to call them visions...flashes of insight, down for the past few days.
Instead, both in the garden and when falling asleep, you experience a recurring image, getting clearer with time. You're close to understanding something, you're sure.

The vision features two bloodstones set atop straight wands, or scepters of some sort. The wands cross and uncross, reminding you of something you've seen a long time ago, a word on the tip of your tongue...
[...]


>What is the word?

>>6252772
>>6252271
This is me

Is it a caduceus? I am pretty sure it is the symbol of askeplius (or Hermes maybe). Like two snakes entwining.

>>6252772
>>6252800
A Caduceus would make sense

>>6252800
Wrong answer! You've gone wrong with the verb, I'll say that much! I'll be writing the update in the back ground, but you and any other anons should fee free to take a guess!

>>6252772
Herald?

>>6252918
Not it eithern though I'm not sure where you were going with that one.
>>6252848
I will say the wands in the visions are in fact straight, not curved.

>>6251983
The next week passes, and things fall into a routine, though certainly not back to normal, though no one seems to mind. You approach the staff and get signed back up for physical therapy. It both helps and is helped by your renewed appetite, and though you don't look much different, by the end of the first week you can stand and walk around your room, and still have enough energy for a few simple exercises. Your progress is somehow mostly confined to your room for now, you manage a lot less steps in the corridor, evn if you do that first. You suppose you've come to think of your room here as a safer place over time. The doc is quite positive about your progress, especially after so many months without proper practice. You feeling two years younger helps. It isn't night and day, but you had forgotten how you had been slowly rusting more and more, even so recently. Even better, the exhaustion leaves you with rather peaceful sleep for the week, while also dissipating easily enough that you don't feel that much more tired.

You attempt to recount some old life stories to whichever nurse wheels you in for lunch, and stays with you for a little time after when you ask. Sadly, you know enough about people to tell when they are just being polite instead of truly interested. You just aren't getting through to them, be it with subject or style of storytelling.

What are young people even into these days, again? You really do feel like an out of touch old man. You can't even get mad, as it brings a certain sense of normalcy you had been rather lacking in recently!

A more welcome surprise is how much enjoyment you find in the hours that follow these failed attempts at fostering better relations. Your afternoon relaxation and meditation sessions have been surprisingly enjoyable. You had always been more of a city and factory fellow, but something about the quiet inner garden on a sunny day makes you feel a rare sense of peace.
You have been pondering the stones, aimlessly at first, then in a more guided fashion. Something about Scan. At first you thought you might figure out a way to increase the range, but you haven't managed to pin those...you struggle to call them visions...flashes of insight, down for the past few days.
Instead, both in the garden and when falling asleep, you experience a recurring image, getting clearer with time. You're close to understanding something, you're sure.

The vision features two bloodstones set atop straight wands, or scepters of some sort. The wands cross and uncross, reminding you of something you've seen a long time ago, a word on the tip of your tongue...

>>6252930
Your attempts at spying on Phillips more than make up for your lackluster showing at lunchtime. You soon figure out his routine, and that he seldom deviates from it. While younger and older patients are often intermixed, the geriatrist seems to order his appointments clockwise. East wing, south, west, and north, starting somewhat early in the morning. The younger patients tend to be less sleepy. You've mostly seen him in the north wing as a result of when you went looking, but the rest was easy to deduce, as well as the fact he prefers to use the old staircases over the elevators. A very interesting fact, as they see a lot less use most of the time. You file that tidbit away. Beyond that, nothing outwardly screams murderer about the man. Your mind is mostly made up, but you do feel yourself wavering sometimes.

Still, your options are limited. You have regained some strength, and should be able to gain more, but age will still catch back up to you, even if you were to get Phillip's stone. And even if you did, would you be best served by putting it towards Heal as you did the others? You have little clue how you'll even get rid of Phillips, let alone anyone else. The coming and going around the retirement home mean you can expect a small trickle of new people every month or so, but with how low the chances seem, this is hardly sustainable, and even if it was, you can't afford to limit yourself to sustainable. Things will not stay as they are, and you cannot hope to weather the storm like this.

You almost certainly need to get out of here. But that is a plan for later. For now, you think upon your schedule and how you can adjust it.

>You may choose to redo your schedule entirely, in part, or leave it as is.

>Schedule option changes and updates:

>Focused physical rehab: With your recovery coming along better than expected, you can float the idea to the therapist of focusing more on either your arms or legs, with a success giving more progress to the chosen option. Slightly more difficult.

>Sneaky physical training(Modifies Evening meal): Trade your evening relaxation after a quiet dinner in your room for some basic strength training. Same effect on sleep quality (lose the calm mind bonus to sleep quality, but gain it again from exerting yourself before bed. Lose the lower Insight progress threshold), chance for more physical progress. Low risk.

>Invesigate(Temporary leave): Getting yourself discharged is unlikely, but maybe you could still go outside for a while under supervision? You highly doubt you could get Bloodstones that way, but it would open up more options, and let you show more independance to help build your case.

>>6252931

>Current Insight progress: 96/100
>Current Insight project: Some manner of Spirit ability, related to scan, with a vision you can almost understand...

You may still make guesses to try and autocomplete the project if you wish, with no penalties for failure obviously!
Of course, write-ins are still allowed and encouraged!

Work is taking a bit more of a bite out of me than I expected for these last few days there, so this will once again be on the smaller side. At the risk of making foolish plans, would anons prefer I try and go for two updates a day starting next week, or is it more convenient to have just one a day with a potential rolling period in the middle so that as many anons as possible gets a window to vote?

>>6252931
>Invesigate(Temporary leave): Getting yourself discharged is unlikely, but maybe you could still go outside for a while under supervision? You highly doubt you could get Bloodstones that way, but it would open up more options, and let you show more independance to help build your case.
We have to work on getting a discharge to leave freely, and this will allow us to gather intel, build a reputation for renewed self-sufficiency, and improve our cardio.

>>6252932
>ould anons prefer I try and go for two updates a day starting next week, or is it more convenient to have just one a day with a potential rolling period in the middle so that as many anons as possible gets a window to vote?
The latter is my preference, but whatever works best for you is fine by me.

Happy to keep our in-game schedule the same for now.

Regarding updates, perhaps just leave it one a day.

>>6252967
Which time block should it go in?

>>6253201
Early afternoon, rather than hall-wandering?

Ah, with that, it seems we have a tie. Since it is a small thing, I will allow myself to tiebreak.
1 is keeping as is.
2 is switching out early afternoon from wandering to temporary leave.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>6253411
That settles that!
I'm not in a state, or flush enough with time, to write an update tonight anyway, so it's a good thing it's rolling time!

>1d100 for physical rehab, 65 or higher.
You have made some progress, and this keeps your spirits high!

>2d100 for impressing the nurses, 30 or more
You decide on a new approach to try and connect with the staff more.

>1d100+10 for meditation. No roll goal.
You are nearly there, so this is just to see if you get a very high or very low roll. Yes, you got an increased bonus from that great first roll.

>1d100 for Temporary leave. 40 will get you something basic, 80 something nice.
This is as much about finding something interesting as it is about convincing someone to let you out. You poor physical state makes this a rather complicated affair. The nice thing would be around 30 if you had pick no muscle loss and strong. As for now, it's an uphill battle. Better staff relations would help.

>Roll 5d200 for Bloodstones! 197 or better!
You don't wander as much, but you do manage to snag a couple more readings. You get two refills a week as it is, and since nothing went wrong last week and you were topped off, nothing is stopping you now.


>Roll for sleep quality! 1d100.
Good sleep should be 20, but you are old (+10 to difficulty) and have bad nightmares (+25). Still, relaxing before be helps (-5). So 50 or above. Higher is better, lower is worse. Best not to roll under 5. Or a 1.
80 for Insight progress, down from 85 from eating dinner alone.


Oh, and if someone could also please roll me a 1d2 for next week's event, please?
>1 is new arrivals. This
>2 is your family visiting.

If the new monthly arrivals do not happen next week, they will happen on the net one, and repeat every four weeks, barring extra happenings.

Here's hoping the promise of dice will lure some of the anons back despite the rather dry updates recently!

By which I mean my captcha is DDDRY, even this website is calling me out! Sorry, but like I said, this would start off quite slow, and your picks certainly took it further that way. I'm still figuring out how to help and nudge you guys, which is why there is a 40 target on Temporary leave. I will say more about this potentially short to mid term goal if we hit the target!

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>6253421
Physical.

>>6253421
Impress nurses

Rolled 90, 31 = 121 (2d100)

>>6253442
Please roll

Rolled 43 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6253421
Meditation.

Rolled 92 (1d100)

>>6253421
Temporary leave!

Rolled 75, 136, 184, 188, 123 = 706 (5d200)

>>6253421
Bloodstones

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>6253421
Sleep

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>6253421
The next week's event

A splendid showing all around!
I'm officially out of a job, so pace should increase from now on.
This next update may run a little longer with those good rolls, but I'll still try to get it out tonight, and if not, less than twelve hours from now.

You're owed some luck with those rolls, so the new arrrivals get a small meet and greet thrown for them, which you attend, giving you an easy shot at a Scan-less glance on any stones, and a few of the patients and staff you were missing.

>Roll 10d200, please!

Rolled 76, 19, 45, 28, 85, 41, 61, 59, 50, 30 = 494 (10d100)

>>6253806

Rolled 134, 185, 134, 122, 133, 192, 63, 99, 100, 142 = 1304 (10d200)

>>6253857
It would help if I rolled the right dice

Over the next week, you do little to change your new routine, which does seem to work out for you! Your efforts in getting your body back into some semblance of shape keep yielding good results. You can now walk up and down the hallway next to your room alone, though slowly, and with a hand on the wall for steadying yourself. You even manage to walk up and down some steps in the nearby stairway, though with the therapist and a nurse near you. Still, this is good progress, and the doc comments that you are recuperating very well for your age, the nurse adding that your complexion is better too. The effects of the bloodstones are still working in the background, it seems. Though most of the changes were immediate, it seems they don't show all at once. Good, you think, less suspicious that way.

Another piece of great news is that you seem to have cracked the code with the nurses. In hindsight, it makes more sense that a staff of mostly female nurses under forty wouldn't be that interested in your war tales, filled as they are with rough reality rather than dashing young men fighting the good fight. No, what really captures their imagination is the Great Decade. After the rebuilding years, the economy boomed. Standing besides Jefferson as you were, you got to see the high society that was borne of it. The balls, the parties, the fancy clothes and fancier people. You don't pay as much attention to the world now but it's obvious from how the nurses react that, for all the technological progress that has been made since then, things don't feel that much better for those not near the top. Sure, they have more stuff and better standards of living, but you definitely can see a growing malaise, a loss of purpose. None of the nurses have hope for things to get better, it seems. Once again, your resolve firms about the stones. What would growing up or coming of age during times such as these do to someone once they got Bloodstones? What about the years that are coming? Something both great and terrible, you decide, and you firmly intend to be too strong for it to affect you. Or what little family you have left...
Still, at least nurses often stop by for a storytime during meals, which does draw in some of the residents with whom you trade stories. People around the retirement home are more aware of you now, in a positive light, especially the nurses.

Your meditations go well, though it takes you most of the week to finally understand. It's only when the picture pulls back, and you see the lengths are both mtallic and L-shaped that you recall a conversation in a camp mess hall several decades ago with a man who swore he knew someone at home that used dowsing rod to find water everytime. You thought it was hogwash, but the word resonates with the stones. Dowsing.

>>6254199

>Spirit Enhancement unlocked.
>Sense
>>Scan
>>Dowsing: instead of a short-range pulse, the stone lets you temporarily turn your hands, (or anything else you have two of symmetrically) into dowsing rods. By turning around, you can feel out the nearest Bloodstone. Gives you both a direction, and very rough estimate of distance. Range is fuzzy, but much, much better than Scan. Knowing were to look increases your chances, though the bonus will vary. Obviously getting a Very Close reading and going there immediately will give you a better chance than waiting a day, or heading to a reading further away. This method is also a lot less noticeable, especially at a distance. Its passive effect seems to just add another meter to your passive range, though you can't help but feel like there is more to it. Something to ponder. Though at least it means your current active range is now 18 meters instead of fifteen.

You figure the two would combine pretty well. Even stuck here, there is nothing stopping you from using this idly to get readings. Once you are better able to move under your own power, have the authorisation to get out of here, and what feels like a dozen other things, you can just head to whichever are gets you the best readings, at the time of day where you get them the most, and just people watch. Sure, getting the stones will be a while different bag of trouble, but it would be a start.
Well, there is one problem. All your stones are allocated right now, you can't exactly just yank them out and put them somewhere else...right?

Thinking on that, you decide to have a chat with the nurse at the reception during a quiet time of days, and ask about getting permission to go on trips outside, though not alone of course! The results are even better than you imagined. It seems the therapist put in a word about you, as did the nurses. You are making good progress, and getting you outside would help keep you motivated, and keep you socialized as well. The paperwork is almost half filled. If you continue to improve, chaperoned trips into town could be only a couple weeks away! Futhermore, the nurse tells you about how the retirement home is planning a trip two months from now. A whole one week affair to go visit historical sites in a town near the mountains, half a day's driving away by bus. If your physical state permits, you could quite easily buy a spot. A faraway spot, getting to look around everywhere, this could be a golden opportunity for some less-risky harvesting, you think! You thank the nurse, and go on your way.

>>6254201
The last highlight of the week is when the retirement home throws a little welcoming party for the new arrivals. It's nothing to write home about, just a chance to get everyone together, but you socialize with more people and get to passively Scan both the newcomers and a ew more of the retirees and staff you were missing, though sadly none turn up a Bloodstone.

Still, this week has given you much to think about, and your sleep is still quite okay! You even tend to wake up a few minutes earlier in the morning due to feeling and being better, and younger.
>Week 3:
>Pick you schedule
>Current schedule:

>Late night: Sleep
>Early morning: Sleep
>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>Late morning: Physical Therapy
>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>Early afternoon; Chat with nurses (Slow)
>Mid afternoon: Meditate Outside (Optional: Specify project)
>Late afternoon: Wander halls (Phillips) (Tired)
>Early evening: Meal in your room
>Mid evening: Sleep

All options are still available, though I switched us back to the week 1 schedule since you have most of the information you want from Temporary leave, though if you really want to you can slot back in to try and go for more intel, or maybe lay some groundwork and fill out paperwork. Though be aware that you aren't at the required physical strenght to be allowed outside, and that the trip is eight weeks away, so what you do achieve will be rather premature and more difficult than if you did it later. But don't let me stop you!

This update wasn't as big as I figured it would be, mostly because I'm abstracting a lot of dialogue. Nnext week should be a family visit though, so there should be a lot more of that as we slow the pace down again!

On Sturday, you get another piece of good news on the phone. Your son and his children are coming to visit you next week!

>(Optional) Choose names for the son and children, and how many grandchildren Underwood has.

Speaking of, how does Underwood feel about his family coming to visit him?

>Happy they still come to visit him
>A little stressed that his son will notice something wrong
>Conflicted as to whether he should try and talk to his son about the stones
>Afraid of what kind of world is waiting for them in the future
>Hopeful now that he has a way of staying in their lives and watching his grandkids grow for longer
>Write-in

>>6254207
>Pick you schedule
>Late night: Sleep
>Early morning: Sleep
>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>Late morning: Physical Therapy
>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>Early afternoon; Chat with nurses (Slow)
>Mid afternoon: Meditate Outside (Optional: Specify project)
>Late afternoon: Get a hearing aid:
>Early evening: Meal in your room
>Mid evening: Sleep

>A little stressed that his son will notice something wrong

>>6254207
>>Pick you schedule
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: Physical Therapy
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>>Early afternoon; Chat with nurses (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: Meditate Outside (Optional: Specify project)
>>Late afternoon: Get a hearing aid:
>>Early evening: Meal in your room
>>Mid evening: Sleep

I support this arrangement of tasks presently.

>Afraid of what kind of world is waiting for them in the future

Fear is a powerful motivator, it will push our guy further.

Son's name: James Arthur Underwood
He has 4 kids, three boys and the youngest, a girl. Their names are:
Thomas 'Tommy' Underwood (James Jr didn't want to saddle his son with his name)
James Stephen Underwood (James later felt bad for not using his father's name)
Hamish Henry Underwood (James has an scottish wife)
Mary Rosanna Underwood (Rosanna was her father's mother aka James Sr's wife)

Figure this should be good. James has a reasonably large direct family, which both adds more characters to play with and helps ramp up the fear James Sr. has for the future.

Alright, I'll keep the family and mood votes open, but we can lock in the schedule now.

So, rolls!

>1d100 for physical rehab, 60 or higher.
You have made some progress, and this keeps your spirits high! Extra bonus of five due to your good roll on Temporary leave, and knowing your family will be there next week.

>2d100-5 for impressing the nurses, 60 or more
You have made great inroads, but it does mean going further will be rather difficult. Still, you've decided to give it a try! Also remembered Slow should apply a small debuff to even non-physical rolls. We'll say the freebie was due to Underwood being extra motivated!

>1d100+5 for meditation. No roll goal.
Since we got no options I'll be picking up the next project. It is Body related, so you lose the environmental +5, but keep the bonus you earned from that first meditation, which is related to you cultivating there.

>1d100-10 for picking your hearing aid. A higher roll will yield you better options. I need to start remembering that Tired debuff more.

>Roll for sleep quality! 1d100. 50 or above

Rolled 11 (1d100)

>>6254426
Rehab...

Rolled 37, 61 + 5 = 103 (2d100 + 5)

>>6254426
Impress nurses

>>6254428
>>6254461
Oh boy.

Rolled 2 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6254426
Meditation

Rolled 24 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6254426
Sleep aid

Also oh no this weeks gonna be disasterous

>>6254560
Meant to say hearing aid. But ya get my point. Still another bad roll

Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>6254426
To keep it snappy I'll roll for sleep quality as well

Also if everyone who rolled want to weigh in on the mood and family vote (if they haven't already) that'd be appreciated.

Zamn! An entire week without any success

>pic rel.

Rolled 42 (1d100)

>>6254426
>>6254560
This hearing aid?
>>6254240
I'll back this guy.

Well this makes quite the contrast compared to last week!

Now, it's nothing too bad! I was expecting you to fail way more with the rehab anyway, and you're just not making progress instead of regressing, no worrie there.
The nurse opinion is already good, I'm surprised you guys kept at it actually.
Meditation...well it's a good thing you rolled high first, but this will likely knock out five for next week, I'll see about it when we get there, but nothing permanent. Small note on Insight, specifying a project or making a starting hypothesis can help you start at a higher level of progression, something to keep in mind for the next project!
The hearing aids won't be too great, but you'll have the option to dedicate more time to it next week. It was minus ten, so we end up at 14.

The bad sleep fits quite well, since I'm locking in the vote for >>6254240. Underwood should have some rather pointed nightmares this week, which does mean the Mid Afternoon slot will be getting that minus ten as well.


Right, I'll try and get a post out tonight, usual week summary and the family visiting during the weekend.

>>6254974
>Right, I'll try and get a post out tonight, usual week summary and the family visiting during the weekend.

Well, the short summary went well enough, but the family interactions need a little more time, so estimated posting should be tomorrow, 10-12 hours from now.

>>6254207
You push away your breakfast tray, not quite empty this time, and sink back slightly into the pillows holding you up in a sitting position in your bed. This week wasn't so great. Your efforts with physical rehabilitation have plateaued for now, which was to be expected. The crap sleep you've been getting hasn't been helping matters either.
Your chats with the nurses have similarly had littl effect, beyond letting you learn more about conditions outside. Rising prices, violence in the streets, more political strife than what you're used to, lower employment. Nothing too catastrophic, but clearly the golden times your talk of in your stories are well and truly gone. Could Jefferson have stopped it? As good as he was, he was still one man, one company. Likely this goes deeper. It is far from reassuring
No new people to scan either. There are a few left, but you would have to dedicate time and several uses of Scan to flush them out. Stil, they are either loners or in rather bad health, so if one of them had Bloodstones, you could maybe make a repeat of the George situation happen.
Then it's like everything cascaded downwards this week. You just can't focus and find the peace to meditate, and have grown rather annoyed at the idea. Maybe taking a week to cool off wouldn't be so bad if this is the kind of progress you make when in this mental state?
And of course, as a cherry on top, the hearing aid you had talked to the staff about getting either didn't get here at all when you asked the local center for trial samples, or what got there was the crappier bottom of the line models. Bulky, not very efficient, and overall a pain to use for long. You decide this can wait until you have real options. You still have cash to splurge anyway.

Still, you do your best to grab at a bit of the serenity you've felt in the retirement home's inner park these past few weeks to get rid of your fould mood before Junior and the kids get here. You're happy they still visit you, both your son and his four children. Thomas and James, the older two, are in highschool, though at seventeen years old Thomas is set to graduate later this year and is aiming for college. James should turn sixteen around that point too. Hamish is still in middle school since he's still thirteen, and ten year old Mary should be joining him in a little bit.

>>6255496
They make for quite the happy family, and even if their mother couldn't make it, you ar eglad they still make the trip from the other side of town to all come see you, with even the more brooding elder pair still upholding the habit. Still, this visit has played a part in some of your nastier nightmares this week. Of your family helplessly caught in a conflict they have no hope of understanding or winning. Against people like you. Worth even less than soldier were in your time, just bloodbags or a surge in power. What if one of them has a stone? How could you protect them? Can it be extracted safely, or even just destroyed? But none of your children and grandchildren have ever killed anyone, right? The questions and fear kept you up at night. You're glad they come in the morning, both so you can have your answer quickly and because you have been rather sluggish in the afternoons from everything that went wrong this week.

Finally, you hear the chorus of steps in the corridor, and a nurse opens the door. It's Katie again.

“Mr Underwood, your family is here!”

“Thank you Katie. James, kids, come on in!”

Moment of truth. You try and keep the smile on your face as they file in. James, in his early forties, well dressed. Thomas and James Jr behind, in more relaxed clothing, Hamish in a smart jacket his mother makes him wear to visit you, even if she's given up with the older two, and finally little Mary with her flower-patterned dress and her bright smile showing off the tooth she lost a month ago. One by one, they all enter your room, and you look inwards.

>Roll for Bloodstones.
>Like I mentionned at the start, up until now you were rolling a 1.5% chance due to several factors. For James, we are back to the classic 1%. Same for Thomas and James Jr. Hamish and Mary will get a lowered rate at 0.3%, so one in three hundred.
>Roll 3d100
>Roll 2d300

>In order, James Sr, Thomas, James Junior, Hamish, Mary.

>Roll an extra 1d100 for plot reasons.


Well, let us see if the dice gods are merciful today. Definitely didn't forget I should have aksed for rolls until I picked up writing this morning. Still, the stage is set, so as soon as I get these hopefully failed rolls, I can move along with the update!

Rolled 70, 90, 82 = 242 (3d100)

>>6255497
Here goes the 3d100, hopefully the bad luck has passed

Rolled 162, 125 = 287 (2d300)

>>6255497
big numbers are best

>>6255498
>>6255499
Phew, no one seems to have Bloodstones! Just need that last d100 roll from a third anon!

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>6255497
>>6255512

>>6255497
Nothing. You let a relieved smile show as you scoot to the side of the bed and stand up to extend a hand to James.
“Glad you all made it okay son, how's Abigail?”

“She's doing well dad, I'm glad to see you up and about!”

He's surprised. The last few times you stayed in bed and needed the nurse to help you sit up. He had made his peace with you not having long left, you suppose, so seeing you like this must be strange.

“I've been feeling better these past couple week. Eating more, even called the doc to pick physical therapy back up!”

“Thomas. Stephen. Good to see you boys.”

You shake their hands. They're almost adults now, at least by your day's standards, and they certainly are trying to build an adult identity, so you keep things manly, nevermind that the time where they were bright-eyed youth like Hamish feels like it was just yesterday to you.

Speaking off, both he and Mary come forward for a hug, which you gladly oblige. You had let the nurses know, so there are a couple more chairs in your room for everyone to be seated comfortably. Soon enough you all settle in the usual small talk about school, grades, and accomplishments, and Thomas' plans for college. He's thinking of med school, actually. You did too, before the war. You hope he'll make a good doctor. They stay almost an hour, yet it feels all too short. You and James send off the children with a mix of shoulder pats and hair-ruffling, they're used to letting you two talk for a little while. You talk of what you've been doing to James, not mentionning why you suddenly picked up physical therapy again. You'd also asked the nurse to keep the whole George thing under wraps, arguing it was nothing worth worrying your family about. They readily argued, not wanting the whole affair to make waves. Your son does look happier seeing you well. It makes you heart swell a little.

You think about telling him, if only for a moment. Things can stay as they are for a couple more years, for sure, but eventually...assuming you gather enough stones...you will simply look too young for your age, even more if you start looking younger. You aren't even sure what the best way to tackle that particular ball of yarn would even be. You could fake your death somehow, and just linger around keeping an eye on them, but the thought hurts.
And even if you did tell him, you have nothing to offer up for proof, no flashy abilities, nothing tht couldn't be explained away.

>>6255607
Jame's own life is going well, he's nicely settled as a middle manager in of Jefferson's old companies. He got there on partial nepotism as you like to think. Not airdropped like so many government patsies, you just helped him get his foot in the door and fed him challenges to overcome. He did, and was recognized for it, at least so long as you were around. Slower now, of course, as far as you can tell he's never been an office politics expert. Still, it's a good life, and with a little help from your nest egg at the time, he and Abigail own a suburban house outright and she got to stay at home for their four children, though with Mary soon to join Hamish in secondary school, she has been thinking of picking up something part-time apparently.

Your death would not destroy them. You used to take some measure of happiness in that fact, but now you aren't quite ready to go anymore.

In more practical matters, your son is willling to pick you up for an outing on the weekends as soon as you get that temporary leave business sorted. With the retirement home dedicating someone for it in the weektime, you would have more options out there. James would also be more willing to let you wander off. You are still his father, the reliable oak under the shadow of which he grew up, especially now that you look a little less like a frail old man. The fact you'll finally, finally be taking his advice and getting one of those hearing aids also factors in since you'll be able to hear him call out, and generally be more aware of your surroundings. Not that you needed your ears for that, but that's not something he realizes. Even before the stones, but now you have a 360° vision six meters away. Well, not really, but you are confident that the ping you send out and that outlines people and objects must also be a feature for the passive version, even if it only lets you track people. Something to ponder.

He also encourages you to go on that trip, arguing it could be good for your health. He offers to come in and double check the paperwork when bookings open three weeks from now, and seems surprised when you accept. You don't mind another opportunity to spend time with him, and maybe you'll have something to show him then, assuming you want to? Maybe you could make him understand. They are his children too, not just your grandkids. He would want to keep them safe if you got him to see the danger as you do. Still, all of that is up in the air for now, though it's worth keeping in mind. You'll have to make that choice at some point.

>>6255608
Not wanting to make him stay too long, you wrap things up with James not long after. He's got a life to get back to, though you can't help but ask him if he's noticed things getting more violent recently, and let slip that you're worried. He reassures you that he'll keep his family safe. You do feel like a paranoid old man, and he probably thinks you are, but you hope he'll take at least some of what you said to heart and be more alert.
You can't walk James back to the break room where the kids are used to waiting, but you can wave him off at the stairs, which is certainly welcome progress.

Then you're back in your room, pondering over what to do.

>Week 4

>Overview: The week-long trip will be on Week 10, and you'll need to sign up on Week 6. You are most of the way out of High muscle loss, but without Bloodstones it will take time, even with successful training. You still have some potential targets, but you will need to track them down directly and use Scan to reach some of them. Your current plan for handling Phillips is lackluster. You have no hearing aids for now.
>Plan overview: Take some time to outline your strategy for the coming weeks, and maybe for the trip itself, though you'll get more information next week. And how would you go about getting Bloodstones once you have detected one, for that matter?

>>6255609

>Pick your schedule.
>Late night: Sleep
>Early morning: Sleep
>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>Late morning: Physical Therapy
>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>Early afternoon; Chat with nurses (Slow)
>Mid afternoon: Meditate Outside (Current project: ??? Progress: 7/???) (Switch? Must specify new project.) (Tired)
>Late afternoon: Wander halls (Phillips) (Tired)
>Early evening: Meal in your room
>Mid evening: Sleep

Reminder of extra schedule options you haven't used so far:

>Focused physical rehab: With your recovery coming along better than expected, you can float the idea to the therapist of focusing more on either your arms or legs, with a success giving more progress to the chosen option. Slightly more difficult.

>Sneaky physical training(Modifies Evening meal): Trade your evening relaxation after a quiet dinner in your room for some basic strength training. Same effect on sleep quality (lose the calm mind bonus to sleep quality, but gain it again from exerting yourself before bed. Lose the lower Insight progress threshold), chance for more physical progress. Low risk.

>Wander halls (New targets): Have the nurse take you on trips seemingly at random, but really checking out the places where you think there are people you haven't scanned yet. Specify whether you use Scan or not if you find some that are out of reach.

>Chat with Nurses (Information): Chat with the nurses about current events, and see if anything catches your attention. May get information on the retirement home, the city, the country, or the world.


>Meditate in your room: Try out this meditation thing. Insight progress, with a small bonus to Mind. You may become better at meditating.

>Write-in

Once again find that writing like this works better than whatever dialogue I tried coming up with. Such is life. I'll try and cobble together a little calendar for important stuff and keeping track of time, it took me an embarrassingly long time to be certain I had the weeks right with the trip!

I must say this is a dicier situation than expected. With the chosen build I do wonder how anons plan to actually kill or get people killed, be it in the trip or in general, and I would like to hear your ideas!
But the dice gods are fickle, for all I know you'll get half a dozen bloodstones next week from half-dead residents that you can grab like stealing candy from an armless, mute child! Not glamorous, but also pretty easy...


Anyway, thank you for sticking around these past two weeks. Here's hoping the pace isn't too glacial for you guys, this is quite the hole to climb out of, but things are likely to accelerate at somepoint, likely far more than you would ever want!
Underwood is rather lucky, after all. Ootherwise he wouldn't be here. Bbut still, as he has learned in many different ways over his life, luck is often made, and must always be exploited to be truly useful. I for one look forward to it!

And to any questions you might have, of course!

>>6255609
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: Physical rehabilitation
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>>Early afternoon; Get a hearing aid
>>Mid afternoon: Wander halls (Phillips
>>Late afternoon: Meditate outside (Tired)
>>Early evening: Meal in your room
>>Mid evening: Sleep

>>6255613
Honestly agree with keeping to the same schedule so +1

Only thing considering is focused physical rehab on the legs. But gonna see what everyone else thinks first

Only thing i

>>6255613
+1

>>6255628
Focusing on our legs and cardio is probably a smart first step, yeah.

>>6255613
+1

We should avoid killing anyone close to us(such as that doctor) if possible, but killing a random person could be even more difficult. Mr. Underwood lacks the physical strength to bludgeon someone, and a firearm would be loud and difficult to get rid of, while poisoning a stranger would be all but impossible. It may be necessary to resort to killing other elderly people.
It would also be good to familiarize ourself with forensics in a casual/discreet way. Given Mr. Underwood's age, it can be assumed such technology is quite advanced, which might pose serious problems for serial killing.

>>6255613
Since we have an extra vote in support of this and not switching out the rehab to something more leg-centric, I'll be going with this and trying to get a post out tonight to get back in the groove.

>>6256159
Yes, the build you and other anons picked mean that confrontation must be heavily stacked in your favor to go your way. This is a fictional western european country, so guns are rare. The most you would find would be hunting rifles, with strict buying and storage requirements. An underground exists, a well developed one, but Underwood's contacts are hardly up to date. It would take a dedicated effort to try and check if any old bridges are still standing.

Studying forensics might be a good idea. Things have progressed somewhat since the last time he had to bother with that sort of thing, but he suspects the figures themseles haven't changed. Most crimes that end up getting solved, especially when it comes to murders, are the spur of the moment ones. With some proper planning, risk can be minimized, assuming you don't figure out a way to not arouse suspicion. Accidents happen, after all, and the nature of Bloodstones, at least what little part you understand, inherently gives an element of randomness to your targets that would throw off most investigators from the serial killer theory.

Feel free to write-in those options going forward!

>>6256703
Ah, blast, I forgot to ask for dice rolls.


So here, please roll the following:

>1d100 for rehab, 70 or higher
You get no bonus for good performance unlike the previous weeks, and there are no other factors to help. At least the lack of good sleep only affects the afternoon.

>1d100-5 for picking up your hearing aid
Once again, getting a 14 last week means no bonus here since you had made very little progress. Higher is better.

>1d100-5 for wandering. 60 or higher
You have some idea where to look, so you get a +5, but also the -10 from being more tired than usual. You've plucked most of the low-hanging fruits, so happening onto the more interesting and usable stuff will take some time, dedication, and luck

>1d100 for meditation.
Persevering after next week means your usual bonus is not applied.

>1d100 for sleep quality


>Also, given what has been talked about, do you want to use Scan to get access to another five bloodstone rolls during your wandering? You will use it three times during the week as it refills, so it will be empty for the beginning of next week. Please vote yes or no with your your rolls!

If we get a large amount of yes votes and all others rolls are in, then an anon can roll the usual 5d200.

Rolled 16 (1d100)

>>6256745
Hearing aid.

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>6256745
Rehab.

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>6256745
Wandering. No scan for Bloodstones.

Rolled 87 (1d100)

>>6256745
Meditation, surely a 100

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>6256745
Sleep quality also yes to scan

Closing votes and writing!
Since we had one yes, one no, and three blank votes, we'll be doing without the Scan.

>>6257062
Oh, damn. I guess I'd have voted for the scan. Sorry, missed that.

>>6257439
It happens, don't worry! It's too late for this vote as I'm about to post the update, and I think three votes would have been best for a clear majority anyway. There's always next time!
But yeah as it is you regen about two stones a week, so as long as you aren't using your heals, you might as well not let the refilling go to waste!

>>6255609
A sudden sensation of cold and darkness passes over you, your face scrunched in concentration. You glare at the passing cloud blotting out the warm sun and go back to studying and prodding the stones, sitting in your wheelchair within the retirement home's garden. This week has had its ups and downs. You made some more progress in regards to your muscles. Your new diet and dedication have been undoing some of the damage, aided unbeknownst to all but you by being two years younger. You have to walk around with a cane and grip the handrail on the stairs something fierce, but you can move around on your own for a little bit now, and your arms are coming along fine. The doc says that you're still filling out the new muscles, and that if you keep at it for a few weeks, you'll be in great shape for the trip. He's given his okay on principle, and will clear you for outside trips starting next week as well!
Which may be for the better since you made no real progress on the Phillips case, and are in fact considering not going for him to avoid suspicion with the trip coming up and hopefully giving you better opportunities.
And also because of these damned hearing aids! You aren't sure what the malfunction is at the distribution center or at the local distributor's office, but it's just been delay after delay, and you're still stuck with those crappy bulky older models...
And now this. You've been making great strides pursuing this latest idea. Applying Body Ehancement to specific body parts. You figured that since you apparently could target your various issues, it would mean enhancing a specific part of your body anyway. You have been trying to get something approaching a list, and what the different active effects might do, since it seems it wouldn't just be a simple heal, but you're rather tired in the afternoon these days. You tried to get that flash of insight you almost got for Dowsing, but either this one is too broad to work, or you're too far off. Nevetheless, another week ought to get you there anyway. But it's still grating.
Of course, you know it's your bad sleep making you cranky. You're still getting nightmares about James and the kids. At least you suppose it's a change of pace from before. Alas, there's no sign of them letting up next week. At least James will come in on Thursday to help you sign up for the trip, and you two can chat then, it will be nice. For now, you aren't inclined to tell him anything, especially since you have little to show beyond your good progress with physical therapy, but that won't be enough.

>>6257657
>Physical rehabilitation has been temporarily modified with a much lower DC. You are well on your way to recovering, but without Bloodstones, regaining those muscles will take another two weeks. For now, you cannot push further, and simply have to keep up your current efforts. You may choose to drop the activity to free up your debuff-free morning slot, but it will require slotting the following into an afternoon slot. Be aware that failing that higher DC could extend recovery time by another week. Up to you, if you want to be mostly out of the wheelchair earlier or want to make another action more likely to succeed!

>Personal fitness training: Keep up your current exercizes as your body slowly catches up. No supervision required, so you can do it whenever!

Meditation progress 84 (7+77)/100

>Week 5 concluded
>Week 6 : Pick your schedule

>Important : Will you sign up for the trip on Week 10?


>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: Physical rehabilitation
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>>Early afternoon; Get a hearing aid
>>Mid afternoon: Wander halls (Phillips
>>Late afternoon: Meditate outside (Tired)
>>Early evening: Meal in your room
>>Mid evening: Sleep

>You now have access to outings. Your improved physical condition and the therapist's recommendations mean that you can fit in one per week. It wouldn't make sense to use up a whole time block for it, and causing everything else to take a debuff would just be annoying and make anons reluctant to use it, which isn't fun, so we'll be doing it like this unless someone has arguments against it!

>Current outings include:
>The shops : go buy something from a local shop or even supermarket. Pretty wide range of options, tech stuff should be late eighties/early nineties though.
>The post office : Spend your free time writing letter to contacts and go post them. If anyone asks, you're checking in with old work and personal life friends!
>>Write to who? [Write-in]
>>[Unlocked by Personal Assistant] : Try and get back in touch with some of your old contacts, those that should still be in the business anyway. Will require a roll to see what you can get. A very good or very bad roll could have significant repercussions.
>A stroll downtown : You are all but guaranteed to run into Bloodstones. The problem is that you'll almost certainly be unable to do anything about it. You'll take a notebook to write down what you recall about those you see, but you'll have no clue where they live or what their routine is.
> [Unlocked by Smart] A stroll in the woods : The garden seems to do you some good, maybe spending some time in a more natural place could help you grasp things better, or learn something new?
>Write-in : Not all options are open to you, you are still a 94 years old grandpa, but maybe you can think of something else, or have a thing in mind you want to do outside?

>>6257658
I apologize again for the slower pace and smaller updates, I haven't been able to get into the writing groove much this week. I'm hoping the widening options will help. The good news is that I now have quite a bit of character concepts for you to run into, though most of them are active Bloodstone users so the chance is rather low for now.
Also, since your current project will be completed this coming week, I will remind everyone that it's better to specify a research idea when starting a new project. Depending on how complete or fitting it is, you can get a starting progress bonus of up to half the total project value. And it lets you influence what you get, of course, be it more options or refining available ones, or taking them in new directions. With a good chance at new Bloodstones during the trip, being able to get an extra project done, or maybe even two, could be quite interesting!

>>6257658
Important : Will you sign up for the trip on Week 10? Yes
>Late night: Sleep
>Early morning: Sleep
>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>Late morning: Physical rehabilitation
>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>Early afternoon: Meditate outside
>Mid afternoon: >Chat with Nurses (Information):
>Late afternoon: Get a hearing aid
>Early evening: Meal in your room
>Mid evening: Sleep

Try and get back in touch with some of your old contacts, those that should still be in the business anyway. Will require a roll to see what you can get. A very good or very bad roll could have significant repercussions.

>>6257673
+1

>>6257673
>>6257658
+1 support, though specifying using meditation to try and come up with a way to lace words with suggestion. I suggest that through this, James bring targets close before slitting their throats.

>>6257673
Very well, we'll be going with this schedule for week 6.

So, please roll the following :

>1d100+10 for physical rehabilitation.
You are happy your efforts are bearing fruits, and that you are finally allowed out and able to go on the trip. As I've said, this is a formality roll, so nothing fancy will happen unless you roll 10 or under or 91 and over.

>Roll 1d100+5 for meditating
You get your bonus back, and the -5 from Slow doesn't apply since this isn't a physical activity.

>Roll 2d100-5 for getting info from the nurses.
Minus ten from Tired, plus five for the good opinion they have of you. Best of two, higher means better. Since no specific information type was specified, this means you don't have specific DCs to pass or fail. I'll pick or throw dice, but the higher the roll, the more immediately useful!

>Roll 1d100-15 for getting a hearing aid
Getting nowhere two weeks in a row is starting to take its toll. Tired and cranky make for a bad mix when filling out yet more paperwork with the nurses, this time calling upon both the previous distribution center and a new one further away. If this doesn't work or the results aren't what you hope for, consider letting the matter rest for a week, or doing this when you aren't tired.

>Roll 1d100 for the outing
Yes, there are arguments to be made for this being BO2, or getting various bonuses. But this is a roll you're getting due to Underwood's background, and given how important it might be in a numer of ways, I want to keep it nice and simple and up to the dice gods.

Also, you still get a look at a bunch of people while at the post office. Classic rate of 1%, so roll me let's say 30d100. Five at a time, roll again after an hour if there are still rolls needed. 100 or bust!

>Roll 1d100+10 for sleep quality
Despite the setbacks, you feel genuinely hopeful, and getting some measure of control back over your body you didn't think possible a scant few weeks ago has helped your mental state some. Plus five for that and another five because after two weeks missing sleeping hours too often, you are more likely to sleep into an exhausted, dreamless sleep.


Right, should be everything covered. On that, I'll leave you anons to roll, and go try and fix my own lack of sleep!

Rolled 16 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6258295
Rehab

Rolled 17 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6258295
For meditation

>>6258330
>>6258374
Not an auspicious start.

Rolled 11, 35 - 5 = 41 (2d100 - 5)

>>6258295
Rolling for nurses

Rolled 87 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6258295
>Hearing aid

Rolled 2 (1d100)

>>6258295
Outing roll

Rolled 8, 66, 49, 92, 77 = 292 (5d100)

>>6258295
Blood stones roll 1

Rolled 78, 16, 51, 43, 78 = 266 (5d100)

>>6258295
Five dice for people at the post office

Rolled 9, 30, 93, 9, 6 = 147 (5d100)

>>6258295
And now for dice numbers 10 to 15

Well, let's see, rehab is low but that's not an issue for now. Sam for meditation, project completed. Nothing too fancy from the nurses. Hearing aid finally giving us good rolls, shame it's a minus fifteen.

We're still missing sleep quality, and no 100s for Bloodstones yet.

However...
>>6258574
>2

I think we can skip the gourd picture this time and go straight to the Uncanny Mr Incredible section on this one.
Ohhhh boy this will be interesting, in a "may you live in interesting times" sort of way.
The past really has a way of kicking you in the balls sometimes...

I'll be putting ideas together while waiting for the last rolls.

Feel free to roll the last fifteen stone rolls together, too.

Rolled 56, 17, 15, 59, 50, 91, 12, 24, 15, 21, 64, 12, 22, 12, 34 = 504 (15d100)

>>6258710
People 15 to 30
>the past has a way of kicking you in the balls
Perhaps it's Mr Jefferson's grandson, homeless and starving on the streets? That'd really kick James in the ass

Rolled 26 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6258295
Since i have woke up and no ones done sleep roll here it is

>No stones
>No sleep

Mr Underwood is not having a great time, and it's not about to get better.

>>6258716
You have no idea what you've done. This is going in the Plot Box, and it's already giving me ideas. Lots of them.

Anyway, I'll have the post up as soon as I can, thank you all very much for the rolls, even if they aren't what we hoped for, and for sticking around!

>>6258783
The dice dice gods are laughing at us right now.

Well atleast we may finnally get a hearing aid

>>6257658
Another week trudges by. You keep up your morning sessions with the physical therapist, with little progress, as expected. You simply need more time to build back your muscles stronger, no rushing that without more stones. You get to chatting with the nurses again, trying to gain some useful information. None of it is very interesting, just an overall upwards trend on violence and crime that everyone seems to agree on. That is actually what gets you started on your first outing project. You spend some time in the afternoon penning letter, and a nurse drives you over to the post office. They could do it themselves, but they agree that it's good to have you keep up old habits. You wrote to various contacts you had in the vicinity, hoping some of them might be open to make business of sorts. Discrete enquiries, as usual, but you never know what or who might come your way. You got a glance at the post office staff and the customers in the front parts of the building, and a few passers-by, but turned up nothing.
What does turn up, at long last, are hearing aids worth a damn. You even get a few options, though they've yet to fit those on the same device.

>Hearing aid choice.

>Fine-tuned : Professionally adjusted using your hearing exam results, this model fits your hearing well. While it lacks adaptability, it does a good job in most cases, and you don't have to fiddle with it all the time. Reduces your deafness debuff by a flat value of fifteen. Listening in on a conversation in the cafeteria was a minus twenty to the check, but worse conditions may inflict a worse debuff.

>Adjustable : This one you can fiddle with, but it's less efficient without it. Reduces your deafness debuff by ten, can roll for better, or worse. Should handle more adverse hearing conditions better. Your swift hands and general smarts may help with this, assuming you want to bother with this every time.

>Noise cancelling : Can produce some white noise. Helps with meditation when you aren't in a peaceful place, maybe not so much in the garden. The extra quiet helps you with falling asleep, even if the retirement home is usually rather quiet.
Meditation goes rather poorly, as you are disturbed often, but you finally get a clearer picture on Body Enhancement, at least at a basic level.

>>6259215
>Bloodstones for Body Enhancement
>As you suspected, you can choose to directly link a Bloodstone to a specific part of you. This stone will only de-age you six months instead of a year, but provide a passive bonus to the affected body part, and an active bonus. The stone will bear the cost, and as such there is no disabling of the passive effect after using the active one.
>Current choices include, but are not limited to : Muscles, Skin, Bones, Tendons, Nerves, Eyes, Ears, and any internal organ you can think off but also stranger ones like Nails and Hair and Teeth. And yes, you can use it as a fertility aid if you want, apparently.

>If you want to go for something that isn't on the list, just ask!
>Unless and until told otherwise, assume all passives are a mild boost to efficiency and durability, with active being a tripling of that boost, as with Scan.


>New Meditation Focus/ Research Subject :
>>Suggested idea : Suggestion (Mind): Figure out if you could use a stone to enhance your charisma to unnatural levels.
>>Another idea ? (Write-in)

James comes back on Saturday to help you with the signing up for the trip. You enjoy some idle chatting and catching up as you do. For the trip itself, it is as you were told, a one week excursion to a nearby mountain town. You will take a bus to and from it, and have individual rooms in a local, somewhat decent hotel. Activities include hiking, at least for the younger residents, though you could sign up for one if you wanted, a ferry trip on a nearby lake, some time shopping out in town, a few shows and events both outside and inside in the evenings that are happening in the town at the same time. You'll be outside of the usual tourist season, though not by much, so there won't be that many people around, but who knows! You'll be able to get more details and pick what to do on the way there and during the first day, so you don't have to do more than think on it for now. What would be the best ways to secure more stones? As far as you're away only a few nurses will come with, so Phillips likely won't show. You bid goodbye to your son, still feeling a twinge of doubt as you keep everything to yourself once again.

On Sunday morning, you get mail. A nurse brings you an envelope that was apparently slipped right into the mail box. The message within was done on a typing maching and not by hand.

To : Woods

From : Mason

Subject : Bad weather

My dear woods.
Enjoying a sunny retirement, are we? No rest for the wicked on my end. Expect no other replies from the rest, a bad storm forced many to close up shop. Not sure I'll stay open long. Don't, worry. Err on the side of caution if you peek you head out, old man! Zack sends his regards.

-Mason
>Rest of the update coming in a little bit, just wanted to let you guys read the message first. I want to see if it's as easy to figure out as I think, in cas I want to do more of that later!

>>6259216
Fine tunned

Also i kinda. Wanna look more into the spirit capabilities of the bloodstones. Dont have anything specific in mind but wanna look at things besides scan enhancement

>>6259216
He didn't capitalize your codename. Basic cypher. The message is clear enough. Trouble. Then you pick out the first letter of each sentence, and the paper falls from your hands and flutters to the ground.
M E N E N D E Z.

Jesus fucking Christ. Menendez. Fucking Menendez. Octavius Menendez. Junior, like with James. Far from the only similarity. Octavius senior was in a similar enough line of work to yours, only on the other side of the gray area law-wise, and he brought his son into the business too. Sons, actually. Like the name implies Octavius is the eighth son of eighth son. Must have been a lucky charm, considering none of his brothers lasted as long as he and his father did in their line of work.

Said work was a steadily growing gang who dipped fingers in many unsavory pies during the end of the Golden Years and after. Too many pies for the likes of many. Octavius Senior, like Jefferson, accrued too much power and too many enemies. As for why his kid being here is a problem, well for one he's supposed to have been dead for years. Secondly, because the hit job that should have gotten him managed to bag the other targets, meaning his dad and the rest of the gang's leadership. Someone either fucked up the DNA testing on the corpses since they were related, or someone protected him. It matters little, because reason number three why this is a problem is that the hit was ordered and orchestrated by you. And everyone in your circles knew it. And since the letter states those people got taken over by Menendez, you have no doubt someone squealed. Menendez is back from the dead and on the war path. If he was anything like his dad, he's probably worse now. And you remember all too well how his sick fuck of a daddy handled his enemies and their families...perhaps Bloodstone users aren't what should worry you most. At least you really hope he hasn't got those. A whole gang hunting stones form him among the criminal underworld...how powerful could he get? How powerful could you become in his place.

Sadly, that won't happen. Menendez kept himself alive through sheer paranoia, and somehow not getting shot full of holes and then blown up alongside a whole under construction skyscraper alongside his dad must have made him worse. Anyone not street level will be very loyal. A decapitating strike would still destabilize them, but turning them is very unlikely, though you would need to see what leverage he has on his different captains to...

You shake your head. You can't get that intel. You have no network. Your old contacts are dead, in Menendez's care wishing they were, or in hiding, the switch identities and countries and never come back kind of hiding. And it's only a matter of time before he tracks either you or the kids down. Sins of the father, it seems.

>>6259450
You aren't sure it changes much beyond lighting yet another fire under your ass. If you didn't have the Bloodstones, you would be panicking right now. But the stones are right. You can hear them whisper, like you sometimes do when you mditate and things start clicking together just right. More stones. More power. None shall stand in your way. None shall threaten you and yours, or your property, with inpunity. Menendez thinks he can crawl out of his grave and put you in it? We'll see about that, kid...

Despite your mental peptalk, the nightmares are worse that night. More real. You've seen Octavius Junior's work, and you can't fight off the dreams putting your family's faces on the victims, what was left of them in the crime scenes you saw yourself, anyway.

>Week 6 concluded
>Overview : https://youtu.be/F2HH7J-Sx80?si=H5gdgL28dUHcuNNk One can safely say that things are not good. An old adversary with a burning hatred for you has come back from the dead to haunt you, and very likely you family. Your quest for Bloodstones become more urgent. You are completely in the dark as to how close his tendrils have spread. Mason was still in the capital, so you may have some time still. Menendez doesn't know where you are, probably, on account that you and your family are still alive. You choosing to let your son start at the bottom means you two weren't linked when he was forced into hiding. He's looking for you, not a hypothetical offspring still working for the company. He's likely still building power and searching for an old man isn't a main priority. You hope so anyway. You also hope he doesn't have Bloodstone users. But with how violent the criminal world seems to be getting, it's a statistical certainty more will crop up, and you doubt they will be subtle. He will learn about them at some point. Good news, going up against Menendez and his ilk means a lot of Bloodstones given their methods. If violent deaths are what is indeed needed, those guys must be positively loaded! Bad news, you have a whole gang coming for you in the hopefully not too near future. Whatever your plans for Bloodstone collection are, consider accelerating them, or going for something more direct. You'll be able to walk around for a decent amount of time in a little bit. You have army training. You need targets, an alibi, and a weapon. Get busy collecting or get busy dying, soldier.

>>6259453
Fun fact, the very good and very bad outcomes for calling old contacts are ideas I had for a little bit, but the post about Jefferson got my muse singing, and now we have this. A 1 would have guaranteed Bloodstone users within Menendez's gang. As it is, it's only very likely. I hope this doesn't feel too much like railroading you into a more active playstyle! Menendez isn't going to bust down your door any minute, but he's yet another ticking time bomb to keep in mind. As it often is, risk and reward go hand in hand. He's creating Bloodstone-filled killers everywhere with his escalation, you just need to cash in without getting stabbed or shot.
I will let this one sit for a little bit and be around tomorrow to answer questions, or give advice if you want to know general details that Underwood would know. Thank you for keeping up with Bloodstones, now with NaN% more Call of Duty references! I thought of a codename/nickname for Underwood, and from there it was simply too perfect to not do!

>Set your schedule for week 7 (don't forget the outing!)
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: ?
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria/ change ?
>>Early afternoon: ?
>>Mid afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Early evening: Meal in your room/ change ?
>>Mid evening: Sleep

[spoiler ]Also, even the caption was PST2D, that's not a great omen. Or it's just Underwood's crappy sleep streak. [/spoiler]

>>6259455
Sidenote qm mind reminding us our options occasionally. It is pretty far back into the thread

>>6259215
>Fine-tuned

>>6259455
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: Limber up, light exercise
>>Midday: Try to learn more about Phillips
Welll need that stone, soon...
>>Early afternoon: Outing
>>Mid afternoon: Nap
>>Late afternoon: Try to get our hands on a knife from he kitchen or the like
>>Early evening: Plan our murder of Phillips
>>Mid evening: Sleep

>>6259455
>>6259661 +1

>>6259626
Noted! Would just the option names be enough, or should I paste the entire description as well?

>>6259661
Hmm, I'm not quite sure I can take this one. The late morning option would be no different from physical therapy at this stage, so I would like more details about what you want from it.
For midday, sorry I wasn't clear about the change part, it is mainly a choice of whether you eat alone or with others. As long as you are in the retirement home, meal times are fixed.
The outing doesn't need to take up a slot, it's a once a week thing, that would be too much!
I'm guessing nap is you trying to get rid of the Tired debuff on the early evening time block? That could work actually!
I will okay the knife stealing, but it will have to be its own thing even after the roll.

As for the plan, I guess you could switch out the bonus to sleep rolls for a bonus to planning, but as it is you have too little to go off of. Your best lead is that Phillips sometimes takes the stairs alone, but then what? Stab him there? There is no way an intruder could get in and out of there undetected, so suspicion would fall on the staff and the residents like you. Pushing him down the stairs is risky as well, and in both cases you have to make sur no one will take the stairway for as long as possible for a clean getaway...you need more information to make a halfway decent plan.

>>6260110
Option names would probbably be good (and good for future posts. ) descriptions only really nessesary first go around

>>6260150
Same anon by the way just. Moving around right now

>>6260110
>The late morning option would be no different from physical therapy at this stage, so I would like more details about what you want from it.
Privacy to plot, scheme, and psyche ourselves up for murder.

>As long as you are in the retirement home, meal times are fixed.
Fair enough...

>The outing doesn't need to take up a slot, it's a once a week thing, that would be too much!
Outing for one day around that time, then, and chat with nurses for the other, then? make a personal friend of the most impressionable or useful?

>I'm guessing nap is you trying to get rid of the Tired debuff on the early evening time block?
You got it, boss.

>I will okay the knife stealing, but it will have to be its own thing even after the roll.
Very good.

>as it is you have too little to go off of.
Hence why I'm hoping we can devote some time to scoping him out and studying him.

>>6259661
>>6259455
+1 support this guys idea, with the considerations from this post >>6260110
and this post >>6260368

I put forward once more that we should try and meditate on improving our speech, so as to compel people, though I am happy to put that off until the next vote. My reasoning is that our speech is not impeded in any way, and by compelling others to do things for us (like, say, "Come here.") we can get around some of the maluses of our age and physical condition. It would be a lot easier when a victim offers their throat up to the knife.

>>6260110
Changing my vote >>6259752 to

>Late night: Sleep
>Early morning: Sleep
>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>Late morning: Physical therapy
>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria
>Early afternoon; Wander halls (Phillips) (Slow)
>Mid afternoon: Try to get our hands on a knife from he kitchen or the like
>Late afternoon: Meditate in your room (Tired)
>Early evening: Meal in your room
>Mid evening: Sleep

>>6260150
I'll keep it in mind going forward, thanks for the feedback!

>>6259661
Alright, we'll go with this option, modified as we discussed, with support from this anon >>6260427. Since he's the only one who specified, the next research project will be Mind-focused, on trying to influence or compel people with our voice. Having a clear goal grants you 25 points of progress. Also, the hearing aid choice goes to Fine-tuned!


>Roll 1d100+5 to limber up. This will let you get back into your old mindset, but since you'll be exercizing alone, you will need to roll a higher DC of 40, up from 20.

>Roll 2d100-10 to learn more about Phillips. I'm not actually sure whether you wanted to listen in when he was there, ask the nurses, or ask other residents, so I picked the nurses since they have the most bonuses (+5, for now). You can do it while eating and getting wheeled around, but it does bring a fair share of distractions and lost time (-15). As usual, higher rolls mean crunchier tidbits of information!

>Roll 2d100+5 to chat up a specific nurse. 60 or more. A successful roll will give you several options, but going even higher may unlock better ones.

>Roll1d100+10 to nap. You really could use it these days, and you're used to slowing down and meditating around that time anyway. 30 or more to wipe out the tired debuff for when you try and get the knife this week. 60 would make you rested and give you a bonus instead. Both will add to the sleep roll for next week (+5 and +10 respectively). Sadly this can't affect the other schedule rolls since they happen at the same time.

>Roll 1d100-10 to sleuth around and figure out how hard it would be to steal a kitchen knife. DCs are 30, 60, 80 and 90. 30 would mean it is hard to pull off, 60 moderately hard, and 90 pretty easy, while 80 would give you an opening.

>Roll 1d100-15 to plan your murder of Phillips, trying to fit together what you have learned. +5 from previous intelligence, -10 since you're still getting a little disturbed by nurses coming and going, though less than at lunchtime, and -10 since you're still tired.


>Roll1d100+10 for sleep quality 50 or more to no longer be tired in the Mid afternoon, 85 or more for Insight/meditation progression.


Right, sorry about the delay everyone, I hope what I've picked is satisfying and makes sense to all of you!

I, uh, also noticed you didn't really pick an outing, my bad again, I'll include it under the schedule going forward.

You could go people watching, shopping for...things, take a risk and send letters to someone else, visit the bank, go to a park or in the forest to meditate. Spend time with your family outside. Or something else you would like!

We'll be slowing down things a tad from the weekly rhythm due to the plan to steal a knife, since you'll have different options depending on rolls, including one to abandon the plan because it's too hard, or you've found an easier way of getting what you want...

Rolled 5 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6261213
Limber up

Rolled 49, 38 = 87 (2d100)

>>6261213
Going to say go to a park

Also learn about phillips roll

Rolled 2, 34 = 36 (2d100)

>>6261213
Doing nurse roll due to the slow responses

>>6261515
Not too great so far, but thanks for picking up the rolling. I'm hoping US hours will give us the rest.

Locking in park for the outing.

>Roll 1d100 for park meditation. Unmodified for now. We've figured out Underwood is good at meditating near nature, now we just need to see what kind of settings are best. It'll help a lot more in the future. Though since this is just the one afternoon, this won't convert to Insight progress 1/1.

Good luck with the rest of the rolls!

Also, I'm surprised no one suggested just going on a supermarket outing with your son and persuading him to let you buy a cutlery set!

Rolled 13 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6261213
Nap roll

Rolled 76 - 10 (1d100 - 10)

>>6261213
I will roll for sleuth now

>>6261213
Okay since still slow doing the murder plan roll before bed and hopefully people will finish by morning

Rolled 82 (1d100)

>>6261780

Forgot the roll

Rolled 35 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6261213
rolling for sleep

Rolled 17 (1d100)

>>6261213
>>6261541
Final roll for park meditation

Alright, so nap is a fail, Sleuth is at 66, so medium difficulty, murder planning is 82-15: 67, so you'll be getting some ideas at least. Park meditation is a wash, and sleep roll is also under. How many weeks now, four ?

And of course, writing!

Rolled 83, 191, 159, 103, 151 = 687 (5d200)

>>6262489
Right, just checked my internal calendar for the quest, last new arrivals were on week 3. In the interest of keeping things moving somewhat fast, I'll go ahead and roll the usual 5d200, looking for 198, 199, and 200 rolls.

>>6262553
Close, but no cigar. I'm hoping for the update to be up in an hour or so. As said, we'll be breaking from the routine to let you guys pick whether to move forward with attempting to steal a knife or not.

>>6259453
You spend most of the next week in your head, mulling over everything. Menendez, Phillips, James. You tell the doc you can pick up the exercizes alone for the week so it gives you time to think about what you need to do. It's harder than you'd expect. Maybe because of the circumstances? When working with Jefferson, you had that thin pretense that you only came after those who deserved it. And that those who didn't nevertheless put too much at risk. During the war, you followed orders, and protected your brothers in arms. Tried. But now here you are. You can justify as much as you want, about how this is about your family, weathering the storm, making sure that you and yours can't be pushed around by superpowered psychos...but you'd be one of them. Just a crazy old man killing for a chance at a longer life. That's what it is, isn't it? You always wanted more...
You barely exercize this week, spending entirely too long looking at nothing.
>Warning : As a of this, your progress has stalled. You will not be rid of High Muscle Loss this week, and the DC for fitness next week will be increased.

Even the stones feel agitated, maybe reacting to your own mental state, or mirroring it. You make sure the nurses don't catch you zoning off, you really don't need that on top of everything else, but something must still show, because you can't make headway trying to befriend any one of them. In fact, only your experience lets you smooth things over and downplay your mental state when you accidentally snap at one of them.


You go to a park to see if you can meditate better. Doesn't work. You try and nap in the afternoons to feel refreshed. Doesn't work either. Nightmares.

At least you get new arrivals. But you get a quick look at most of them, and see nothing. There are still some unknowns in the building, but you would have to go out of your way to get a reading on them.

ou try and keep an ear out for information on Phillips at meal time, and ask some discrete questions to whichever is eating with you or nearby. You get some stuff, but no glaring openings. He takes the stairs alone a lot of the time, on a somewhat regular schedule. You could maybe push him, but then would you be fast enough not to get caught? What if he survives? Besides that, he always eats at the cafeteria, and takes his car back home every evening. Car crash? Too risky, if someone else hits him, or he hits them, you may lose “priority” on the stone.

>>6262570
You start hatching a plan to grab one of the kitchen knives, they're sharper than those you eat with. But they're only found in the kitchen area as there's no reason for them to be outside. Still, the door is an inside door, so while locked, it isn't linked to an alarm...you could try and lockpick the door during the night rather than slip inside during the day? Then again, between your active and passive scan, you would have a pretty clear view of whether people are inside or not. They show up as empty shapes, but they still show up...
>[Smart]
Actually, doesn't that mean you have some kind of shoddy short range night vision ? Something to think about.
Still, even if you get the knife, then what, you can't just stab him and throw the knife out of the window!
Actually...maybe you could hide the knife outside somehow. Throw it down in the inner garden and retrieve it later, assuming the cops don't find it first? Tape it under the windowsill, or to the side?
Could maybe work, but you'd still need to get away. You figure you could probably do it without getting sprayed with blood, but it's not a guarantee.
>[Smart] [Lucky]
And then, it clicks together. You're going down the stairs, and shift your foot left to avoid the bit that crumbled away recently. Damned fancy tiles tend to give at the front
That's it!

Steal the knife, use it to chisel away one of the tiles.onthe inner side of the stairs. Time it so you show up with a nurse to ensure he's on the right side. Get a witness to see him fall, likely on his head. They'll run for help. Gives you time to scratch them, or finish them off by snapping their nck maybe. Open and shut cas with two witnesses and a known safety issue. No autopsy. Any bruising will be blamed on the fall...
Yes...you can work with this...a proper knife would help for sure, the regular one would blunt and take too long, though they would be workable. Oor maybe you could just ask James to go buy cutlery, make something up. It would get you a knife, though it would be easier to track back to you, even without DNA samples on it, since you would have to be very lucky to find the exact same type the kitchen has.

But still, you have a plan, even if you don't feel too well about what you feel like you have to do. You crap sleep (for the...fuck, fourth week in a row now? Since James and the kids visited, you think.) can attest to that. But you have something now.

Now the question is, do you go for the knife, and if so, how?

Week 7 not concluded:

>Knife Stealing plan in progress
>Continue
>Cancel

>If continue is selected, what method?
>Day infiltration (use of Scan to pick a moment where the kitchen is empty to dart in and out)
>Night infiltration (use of Scan to navigate the corridors at night, and lockpick the door to the empty kitchen)


I'm hoping to get another update out tonight if we get enough votes soon enough!

>>6262570
>Continue
>Day infiltration (use of Scan to pick a moment where the kitchen is empty to dart in and out)

>>6262573
>Continue
>Day infiltration (use of Scan to pick a moment where the kitchen is empty to dart in and out)
Picking the lock might scratch it enough for someone to notice and get suspicious

>>6262573
>>Continue
>Day infiltration (use of Scan to pick a moment where the kitchen is empty to dart in and out)

For now we do the best we can

Rolled 87 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

>>6262573
You decide to go in during the day. You have some knowledge of how busy the kitchen is from taking your meals right next to it. The staff tends to go for a smoke break before and after the lunchtime rush. You elect to go after, once they're tired out.

As you put your plate and cutlery on their respective piles during lunch time, you get a good look inside. Four people that you can see. It's easy enough now to lose the nurse escorting you by saying you'll spend some time in the garden before coming back up to your room. You're left alone until what you're fairly sure is breaktime, then go back in. You walk like you have a purpose, a classic trick, and no one questions you since its daytime. You near the door and grab a hold of your Scan ability, willing the relevant stone to empty out.


>Rolling 1d100+25. Each increment of 25 means one less person in the kitchen. +25 from intel allowing you to time your entry better.


Sorry for the long wait, I've been fiddling with how to get this done and the Saturday update was the only writing I managed all weekend. I'll try it by rolling until I feel like there's a choice you need to weight on, and we'll see how that goes.

Rolled 78 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6264486
Case in point, no need to vote on that one.


Scan flashes, a dark void with grey shape, and a complete lack of red in front of you, though you snag a few people moving in the hallways behind you, and in the cafeteria beyond. You've lucked out, no staff in sight. Eighteen meters covers pretty much all of the kitchen area. You waste no time, casually walking up to the door once you've made sure no one is coming up behind you, and letting yourself in.
With no one else looking, you've got free reign to start your search, only needing to avoid the front that opens into the cafeteria, but that's not your goal anyway.

>Rolling 1d100-5 for finding a knife. You need 30 or more, it's just a decent knife, should be some in a knife block, on a workstation, or failing that in a drawer somewhere. Roll over 50 and you grab something useful on the way out. Over 70 and you do so quickly and efficiently, getting in and out before the staff has a chance to return.

>High Muscle Loss gives you a -30 normally, but you've mostly solved it, so we'll bump it down to minus 20. The different stages add onto each other. Low up to -5, Mid up to -10, cumulative to -15, and -15, and so -30 in total, for high muscle loss. (-20)
>You are [Smart] enough to not put yourself at risk of being spotted, and to know where to look(+5)
>You are [Thrifty], and are no stranger to making off with silverware to trade. Looting rights, and all that. (+5)
>Your [Deft Hands] let you search faster (+5)
>[Calm Under Fire], [Nerves of Steel], and being familiar enough with doing such things from your less glorious army days ensure stress isn't hampering you.

This should be a clearer way of showing what goes into a roll modifier, I hope.

>>6264488
Gone in under three minutes. You allow yourself a smile as you wrap the knife in a prepared handkerchief and slide it on the underside of your sleeve. You had a good hunch about a cluster of drawers, and lucked out almost immediately. You even had time to grab another little thing that won't be missed. You went back out, checked with your passive Scan, and then you were past the door again, and going back up to your room.

>Pick any one kitchen utensil. Yes, it could be another knife if you really want. Has to be small enought o be concealed on your person, and should be inconsequential enough or common enough that it missing wouldn't set off alarm bells.

>>6264491
Part of me wants to say small pan. But im guessing that may be a lil too hard and big so if not. Forks always nice

>>6264491
Cheese wire for a garotte?

>>6264491
My apologies for the radio silence, I've been having a tough time putting words to paper, or keyboard, this week.
>>6265192
The wire idea wins by default. It's also a very good one!

I hope to wrap up week 7 in a few hours, and we can resume our usual pogramming, at least until the trip rolls around. You will also get to decide whether you want to snag Phillips' stone now to have another tool on hand for the new hunting grounds, as it were, or if you would rather come back to it after, and hopefully stronger. Or perhaps you believe that failure is too likely to throw a wrench in your plans?
In either case, you will get to choose tonight, muses willing.

>>6264488
You get back to your room and safely stash both the knife and the other item you grabbed under one of the piles of clothes in the wardrobe. You grabbed a thin metal wire, which was likely used for either cutting cheese or butter, but looked flexible enough to make for a decent garotte, or tripwire, in a pinch. You have trouble sleeping that night with all the adrenaline, but you feel rather good besides. You hadn't done proper sneaking around in decades at this point, but it is a familiar rush, that of a successful purloining. Even better, you have a plan to take care of Phillips. A lot of it is still more up to chance than you would like, but you know you can likely mitigate that.

>Current Project : The Phillips Hit
>Goal : Retrieve Dr Phillip's Bloodstone upon his death, whether by causing it, or by being the last person to inflict damages before he dies at either his own hands or from his body giving out.

>Current Plan : Orchestrate a fall down the stairs while you are nearby. The proximity and your involvement should suffice. You hope so, at any rate.

>Obstacles :
>>Believability : Handled, the stairs are older and the ceramic tiles used as covers are flaky.
>>Creating the weakness : In progress, your new knife should help you quickly wear out the mortar around the ceramic tile atop the stairs.
>>Catching the wrong fish : Partially mitigated. The staff and most patients use the elevators. Depending on which stairway you pick, he would either be among the first in the morning, or at the beginning of the afternoon. Morning would be the east stairway, early afternoon would be west.
>>Denying blame : Handled You would be nearby, with a nurse that would attest you had no hand in the accident. Even if it fails to kill Phillips, you could likely get away scott free.
>>Survival : Partially mitigated. You intend to trap a step close to the top of the stairs and catch Phillips on the way down, sending him tumbling to the next landing. If push comes to shove, while the nurse leaves to get help, you would be alone with Phillips. You could try and break his neck. With a ready-made cause, the resulting bruising could be pinned on the fall and there would be no suspicion in the first place.

Now, some questions still remain :

>Put the plan in motion before the trip. You need that stone as soon as possible. The rich get richer, after all.
>Put the plan in motion after the trip. You may come back with other ways of making this foolproof, or you simply fear there may not be enough time, or that it may jeopardize the trip.

>>6266996

>Set your schedule for week 8
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: ?
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria/ change ?
>>Early afternoon: ? (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room/ change ?
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : ?


Some available options :
>Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>Wander halls (New targets)
>Wander halls (Phillips)
>Chat with nurses (Stories)
>Chat with Nurses (Information)
>Meditate outside
>Meditate in your room
>Write-in

New(-ish) options :
>Limber up : Do some light exercize while trying to get into your old mindset as both a soldier and Jefferson's right hand man. Can give bonuses to plan while also keeping up physical restoration progress, if you wish to take the chance of a bad roll.
>Nap time : Try and remove the Tired debuff. Will affect the first timeslot with the debuff following the nap slot. If you nap in the morning, it will remove Tired from your Mid afternoon action roll this week. May also affect events like the knife stealing, provided they would happen in the affected timeblock.

>Set the trap : (Choose east or west stairs, see above) With your new mobility, you can move around without so much oversight. With your Scan, you can tell when someone enters the stairways near you or starts coming down. You will have to do this bit by bit, but dedicating some time to it like this will speed up the process since you can linger in the area and take advantage of all the times where no one is around.
>Research the trip : With the trip only a couple weeks away, you've been getting more details. Get to know your new playgrounds, or hunting grounds, see if you can't get a more detailed scheduled for what you'll be doing, try and see if there are any interesting places around. Feel free to write-in anything you might want to look for!

>Current Meditation/ Insight Project : Suggestion (Mind): Figure out if you could use a stone to enhance your charisma to unnatural levels. Progress : 25/???

Right, should be enough to get us back in the groove. If I've forgotten something or left anything unclear, please don't hesitate to say so, and let's try and get this show back on the road!

>>6266996


>Put the plan in motion before the trip. You need that stone as soon as possible. The rich get richer, after all.
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: >Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria/ change ?
>>Early afternoon: >Set the trap : ( West) . (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: >Research the trip (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: >Meditate in your room(Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room/ change ?
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : Stroll downtown (searching for bloodstones possibly)

>>6267205
This vote wins by default. Dice rolling time!

>1d100+10 for physical rehabilitation
While you didn't do as well by yourself this last week when it comes to getting some meat and muscles back on you, you're still well motivated, between your little heist reminding you how good it feels to move around on your own, and your new plan for more growth and power. Like last time, this is a formality roll, so nothing fancy will happen unless you roll 10 or under or 91 and over.

>Roll 1d100 for setting the trap. DC 30 or above. Current progress : 0/5. Every set of 20 above the DC gives one progress. Due to there being no suspicion on you, you will automatically add one progress per week, including this one if you suceed your rehab roll.
This isn't a difficult task, but you may be interrupted frequently, so it isn't a complete cakewalk. Even if you aren't, you need to be ready to sweep away all evidence on a dime, which slows you a little.
Physical activity means minus 5 from Slow.
Deft Hands give you +5 from your faster working speed.
Passive scan lowers the risk threshold significantly and Nerves of Steel do so further, leaving it at 5 or under. Only very bad luck could get you caught in a position you couldn't easily explain away.

>Roll 1d100 to research the trip. DC 30 gets you some info about the town and the events you can expect. 50 will get you more info about how many people are coming and how things will be organized. 80 gets you the week's schedule in advance. Your findings may come in handy once you're there.
+5 for chatting up the nurses about it due to good relations, and another +5 from Smart helping you track down relevant info in the brochures and when asking people who might know more around the retirement home. -10 from Tired.

>Roll 1d100-10 for meditating in your room.
You're trying something new after your failure at the park. Was it perhaps being left alone that helped more than being around nature? You decide to test this theory next.

>Roll 1d5 for the outing, then xd100 depending on what your roll on the d5.
With how many people you'll meet, it's not a matter of if, but really how many people you'll meet with stones. But intel and actionable intel are not the same. You'd need a lucky break, or maybe you'll just spot a juicy target for later. The d5 is how many you spot, and the d100 will tell us if there's anything interesting about them you could use or should remember. I'm thinking this is better, if perhaps less satisfying than a dice shower.

>Roll 1d100+15 for sleep quality? DC 50
Escalating to +15 because it's been four weeks of this. Basically either you sleep like the dead or you'll start taking more debuffs.

Rolled 4 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6268422
Hopefully i am not actually the only one participating in the quest still. But just wanna say still enjoying it! Even if its going slowly . gonna do the rehab roll now. And if i dont see any others when i wake up will see about rolling the rest.

>>6268668

Which is unfortunate because it has become clear my rolls are cursed

Rolled 7 (1d100)

>>6268422
>Roll 1d100 for setting the trap
I'm still here. Glad the quest is still going! The hiatus had me worried, and then I sort of forgot to check in again.

>>6268668
>>6268677

>>6268678
Nevermind we are just all cursed the last few updates

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>6268422
Research the trip!

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>6268422
Meditation

Rolled 5 (1d5)

>>6268422
Doing the bloodstone roles since been a few hours

Rolled 19, 75, 49, 3, 42 = 188 (5d100)

>>6269163
OH HECK 5 suddenly luckier later in the day

>>6268677
Yeah, sorry about the break last week, I cratered my writing muse stupidly with something else, and decided to let the vote get more replies, which didn't happen, meaning I needed some time to scrounge up motivation.

Also, if only I'd done this a day sooner, I'd have had the perfect excuse to use the "Captain, it's Wednesday" meme given the rolls.

So, in order.
Physical rehab got flubbed. Between that and last week I'm actually not sure what consequences should be, I genuinely didn't believe you would fail that one. I don't want to push back getting rid of the muscle loss level any more, but we might have to, and I'll guarantee it next week. I'll think on it.
Setting the trap is a complete dud. And here I was thinking setting the critfail floor at five was being too generous! No progress, but at least no troubles. Though it does leave us with a problem. If you don't roll exceedingly well next week or don't dedicate more timeslots, the trap might not be ready, and week 10 is the trip, so that's something you'll have to consider.
Trip research is also a dud, but trying the new meditation setup goes suprisingly well, which I'll make a note of for later relevance.
Good luck on the outing, but the resulting rolls aren't great. The 3 is unusable, as is the 19. You didn't even get to see the first person, and only cuaght a glimpse of the second. 42 and 49 will give you an apperance, but nothing else. If you're lucky, maybe you'll meet them again and actually remember their faces? 75 isn't bad, however, and could make for a good target.

I"ll get writing, and in the meantime, could someone roll a proper Bloodstones roll for our new target?
>>6251360
Here is the guide for when we rolled for Phillips. Just roll the d100, and I'll throw in the +5 Luck bonus again because you poor anons could use it!

I'm really glad there are people still enjoying the quest, and that also goes for any lurkers checking in occasionally, even if you don't vote or roll!

Rolled 7 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6269359
S8nce its been 2 days ill just finish up the rolls right now especially since your writing. So sleep roll

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>6269359
And bloodstone roll.

Also yikes we just. Never get good sleep

>>6269370
So that's just the one Bloodstone again.
As for the sleep roll, at this point I'm not even surprised. Honestly, I can write this as Underwood's PTSD being worse than usual, so it's fine. Though between that and his slowing progress, people have begun to notice...

>>6266996
You sink down in your bed, eyes closed, and sigh. You've just walked James and the kids back, even managed to clamber down the stairs with them and wave at them from the retirement home's front doors. This week has had its challenges. Given your atrocious progress last week, you asked the therapist to come by in the mornings again. You're doing fine enough, but between your fragmented sleeping these past few weeks, and the resulting lacking energy and hunger, you aren't as far ahead as he had hoped. He and one of the nurses laid it out with you on Friday. If you don't get better, he'll withdraw his approval for the trip. You can't even be mad, you feel yourself getting even slower after so many weeks. That and your night terrors pobably woke up a few people this week. He nurse said she was worried it was the trip making you anxious. If only she knew. You need to prove its still a good idea for you to go, and you have a few ideas already.
Setting the trap for Phillips started out well. You picked the perfect spot in the west stairwell, on the inside of the stairs, a few steps down from the landing he always comes out from. Maximized falling distance while low enough he won't fall back onto the landing. As good as you're likely to get.
You got to work chiseling away the mortar with your new knife whenever you could make an excuse to walk in that direction and there was no one around, and even dedicated some time where you discreetely lingered around and took every opportunity to get some more work done. Well, you would have, but fate seems to have befuddled you at every turn. You managed to make some headway by chipping away inbetween other tasks, but any time you tried to linger for a while you were disturbed. There were a few very close calls, and enough nurses saw you that you feared they would start asking questions, and so progress slowed to a crawl. If this keeps up, you'll need weeks! Still, this activity was rather abnormal, and you hope it will abate next week.
Yet another hang-up presents itsefl when you try and learn more about the trip. No one knows anything for sure, some mess with the hotel, or maybe the tour guides, or some of the events not lining up, everyone seems to have a different reason why, but the result is that there's no clear information yet. You don't have a shedule, you don't know if other retirees will be staying closeby you could potentiall target, and you aren't even sure what events might be open for you to go to. What a mess.
At least your new idea of meditating in your room has been very fruitful. Not as much as the garden, but only just. You wonder if there is something about nature, or if you just do well in solitude. No matter the case, this has finally let you shed some light on a new ability!

>>6269496
>New Ability:
>Suggestion (Mind) : Inbue your voice with a charismatic energy that renders people more suceptible to what you say. Can be used to convince, confuse, compel, and more. Passively grants +2 to almost all speech rolls, pushed to +10 when activated. Lasts one hour, then disables the passive until the stone has been refilled.

You also took the opportunity to take a walk downtown with one of the nurses, just doing some idle people watching. To your relief, you were able to spot several inactive bloodstones, but as you suspected, getting information you could act on in such a situation was rather difficult. Some only briefly crossed into your range, while other you barely got a look at, but still did your best to commit their faces to memory. There was however one interesting find.

“Hi, my name is Tim”, loudly proclaimed the somewhat garish badge on the young man's uniform. A single stone shone within the twenty-something waiter of a busy downtown cafe. You don't know how he got it, and you don't care. You had so much blood on your ends by the time you were his age. Some of it was younger than he is. Still, you have a name, a face, and a place of employment. You can get started with this, assuming you want to.


>New Obstacle:
>Your repeatedly lacking results in sleep quality, your more recent struggles with physical rehabilitation, and the resulting decrease in food intake has the staff worried about you going on the trip. They must be convinced to let you go. You may choose to pursue any numbers of the following goals, and need only succeed in one.
>Solutions:
>Prove your physical fitness : Pass a higher DC for physical rehabilitation by allowing the therapist to test your current limits. If nothing else, the exertion should help you sleep (+5 to sleep roll). Failure could injure you, but you can just consume a Heal charge, though you'll need to spend time refilling it.
>Fix your damned sleeping schedule: Dedicate one time slot to napping, and succeed a higher than usual sleep roll DC. No penalty for failure but wasted time and steadily worsening performance.
>Use your new ability to swet talk the therapist into not witholding support: Try out your new ability. Requires you slot in physical rehabilitation in the morning slot, even if you don't go for the higher DC of the first solution. Will empty the new stone.
>Write-in: What else could you do?

>Set your schedule for week 8
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: ?
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria (change ?)
>>Early afternoon: ? (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: ? (Very Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room (change ?)
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : ?

>>6269497
Note : You now suffer from the Very Tired modifier, inflicting a sizeable -20 to the action in the affected time slot, unless specified otherwise (for example, nap time would not suffer from this). Be careful what you choose to do in this situation, and be aware that further sleep roll failures will escalate this debuff further! Succeeding in a sleep roll will remove this effect, and more will be needed to remove other steps of exhaustion.

Some available options :
>Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>Wander halls (New targets)
>Wander halls (Phillips)
>Chat with nurses (Stories)
>Chat with Nurses (Information)
>Meditate outside
>Meditate in your room
>Limber up
>Nap time
>Set the trap
>Research the trip
>Write-in

>Current Meditation/ Insight Project : None! Pick, or let fate decide! (Hi, I'm fate!)

Right, that should be everything. If you think I've forgotten something, or that something is unclear, don't hesitate to say so! The same goes for any questions you might have!

Also, and assuming you succeed in not getting old-man-grounded, you'll be off on a trip next week, so we'll be getting into the daily details a little more, so if the schedule stuff was putting you off, now might be a good time to join in on the action!

And as always, thank you for reading Bloodstones!

>>6269499
>Put the plan in motion before the trip. You need that stone as soon as possible. The rich get richer, after all.
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: >Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria/ change ?
>>Early afternoon: >Set the trap : ( West) . (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: >Set the trap : ( West) . (Slow)
>>Late afternoon: Nap
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room/ change ?
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : stroll downtown.

(Wanna just . Keep notes on various possible bloodstones and possibly a good opportunity showing itself at some point. Though also maybe check out tims place of employment as a customer

>>6269572
Oops messed up in my copy pasting

But the activities are all things i wanna do

>>6269572
Also if it wasnt clear

>Fix your damned sleeping schedule: Dedicate one time slot to napping, and succeed a higher than usual sleep roll DC. No penalty for failure but wasted time and steadily worsening performance.

>>6269618
The vote looks valid to me, no worries, and you'll be keeping tabs on Tim for sure!
I just have three questions:
Do you want to go for either of the other solutions for staying on the trip? You have rehab slotted, so you could opt in for the higher DC, and convincing the therapist is also available. Just wanted to make sure you knew you were allowed to try several methods at once her.

Do you have a new research project in mind?

For the outing, do you want to use your Scan charge for a bigger pool of Bloodstones?

I'll leave the vote running overnight to see if we get other anons back!

>>6269572
>>6269618
+1


>>6269876
Just rehab should be enough, since they haven't rescinded permission yet, IMO.

>For the outing, do you want to use your Scan charge for a bigger pool of Bloodstones?
I, for one, do.

>Do you have a new research project in mind?
I, for one... Don't.

>>6269876
Gonna leave the project up to fate. No exact ideas come to mind

(Except maybe looking into the deaging stuff. Maybe a way to boost it further? just for consideration but honestly if that isnt doable definitly leave up to fate

And for if we wanna try another method. Yeah prove physical fitness on top of the nap method good!

Also yes to scan

>>6269927
Gah, my mistake, I should have been clearer.
If you don't succeed in at least one method this coming week 9, the trip on week 10 won't happen for Underwood. They will absolutely rescind permission, sorry I didn't make it obvious enough!

Considering that, we have one vote for doing the fitness goal. The penalty for failure is draining a Heal stone, but even with Scan being okayed for the outing, we're still within your regen cap of about two stones a week, so you won't be missing any going into the trip.

So yes to scan, and random research project, let's see about those die.

>1d100+5 for physical rehabilitation DC 10 or above to get rid of High Muscle Loss, DC 60 to manage the therapist's test and be allowed on the trip.
You have to make this happen to go on the trip next week, so you do have a little extra motivation.

>Roll 2d100 for setting the trap. DC 30 or above. Current progress : 0/5. Every set of 20 above the DC gives one progress.
Ah, damn, reading back I did say you would only get the automatic progress if you succeeded at your rehab roll. I wasn't actually expecting you guys to fail, but it does mean you're at zero out of five, not one...

>Roll1d100+15 to nap (same bonus as sleep rolls). We'll keep the DC 30 and 60, and add one for 90 which will give +5, +10 and +15 to the sleep roll. Additionally, it will also lower the DC for convincing the nurses with your sleep roll by the same amount. However, rolling 90 or above will be an automatic success, regardless of your sleep roll. As a treat. Since it is the last timeslot before you sleep, the nap won't affect other rolls.


>Roll 1d5 for the outing, then xd100 depending on what your roll on the d5. You're looking out for the two carriers you got a look at, so the first two d100 will get a +10, assuming you don't roll a 1. You'll also take the opportunity to grab a drink at th cafe where this Tim fellow is working, case out the joint a little, se if anything exploitable jumps out at you.

>Roll1d100+10 for sleep quality 50 or more to no longer be tired in the Mid afternoon, 65 or more to convince the nurses, 85 or more for Insight/meditation progression.


Right, should be everything. A little more convoluted than usual, if something feels off or is missing, say so!
Now get rolling!

Rolled 5 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6270059
Physical rehab

Come onnn dice

>>6270082
Well... atleast we got rid of muscle loss? Since it was exactly a 10

>>6270082
>I pull down the DC from 20 to 10
>"Surely this is me being paranoid, there's no way they'll roll that low again."
>5(+5)
Well, at least you're down to medium muscle loss, yes, let's focus on that! Though a five is basically a critfail, I'll take some pity and not have Underwood use both stacks of Heal, just the one.
I can't wait to see the rest of the rolls! oh boy

Rolled 32, 100 = 132 (2d100)

>>6270059
Surely I will not fall into my own trap

Rolled 7 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6270097
HEY A CRIT. Our luck is changing also pretty sure that all meant we set the trap!
Anyway doing another roll before i head to work... nap roll

>>6270134
Blehhhh. I continue to be cursed.

Rolled 4 (1d5)

>>6270059
Outing

Rolled 51, 54, 23, 72 = 200 (4d100)

>>6270233
>>6270059
4d100 for these bloodstones

>>6270097
Well, even without the crit that would have been the trap done. A bit of a shame the crit ended up on the one task that would autocomplete with time anyway, but I'll think of something nice to give you guys as a reward, especially with all the bad rolls recently!

>>6270355
With a +10 to the first two, that gives us some okay intel on four different people, lovely!
I'll need three new Bloodstones rolls as a result, plus a 1d100 to see if you get anything good from your cafe visit since I forgot to actually mention the dice.
Also, the sleep roll. Better hope you nail this one, or no trip!

Rolled 49, 81, 31 = 161 (3d100)

>>6270503
Gonna do the additional bloodstone rolls.

(And if no one else in a few hours does the tim and sleep ill do them. But feel like its almost a certainty i may fuck up the sleep roll if i do it

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>6270503
Cafe

Rolled 15 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6270059
Alright im just gonna try for the sleep.

>>6270702
>>6270559

And now we see the dice defying the odds and giving us the exact same low number twice in a row

well i guess the only good thing that happens this week. Is we hopefully kill Phillips since the trap is ready

>>6270703
At this point it's genuinely impressive to watch, in a way. I know best of one can be though, but I can't recall the last time I saw rolls this strangely low.

So, uh, guess I don't need to figure out the whole organization of the trip.

On the other hand, my current way of handling Bloodstones during outings mean that you have other opportunities locally, but still...
Also, more stacking sleep debuffs.

>>6270527
Case in point, we have two new targets with one stone, and one with three!

It's too late for me to start writing tonight, but I should be able to get to it tomorrow morning. Just in case, is everyone in favor of putting the plan to get Phillip's stone in motion this coming week 9?

>>6270796
Definitly in favor. The faster we get it. The better it will be for us. (Getting our age further down would be nice.)

>>6268677
Same issue for me desu but I'm back.

>>6269497

Late afternoon on Thursday, overcast weather. You sit somewhat melancholically in an armchair in the west wing, listening to people chat about the coming trip. You had another talk with your physical therapist and a nurse this morning. You could have tried using your new ability, maybe, but you didn't see the point. Your efforts to guarantee you wouldn't be taken off the trip have by and large been a disaster. You barely managed half of your regular exercize schedule, nevermind the course designed to see if you could handle the trip. Yyour therapist even had to cut the Monday session short because you pushed too hard. He's glad you didn't injure yourself. The truth is, you had pulled a muscle, but you always had a good card playing face, and you burned a Heal charge soon after. Still, that particular plan was dead in the water instantly.
Not for the first time, you feel betrayed by your own body. You move fine a lot of the time, all hings considered, but the great strides of the first few weeks feel beyond you know in a way you can't explain. Your mind is also not keen on playing nice. You're supposed to be napping right now, yet another idea that went nowhere. You simply couldn't fall asleep. Why, back in your day you'd watch for the enemy six hours in a row, get relieved, and then walk five meters and go to sleep on creaky old floorboard, out like a light before your head hit the wood! But now, even with how tired you are, you can't manage a good nap, and the few times you did try you woke up quickly, in a sweat. Predictably your nights haven't fared any better, and there is no hiding that.

You dream of fire and destruction. You know what that's like. Cities turned to rubble. Gaunt civilians skulking through what used to be their homes, pulling the meat that used to be their loved ones out of bombed out houses, shops, and shelters. Now they have your family's faces. Your son holding his wife's body, half of her face burnt to the bone. Little Hamish weakly calling for his parents, trapped under rubble with his leg gone above the knee in the pouring rain. Thomas a gaunt-face conscript, eyes unseeing, laying down in a field of mud, deaf to the gunfire screaming overhead, holding his rifle wih cold hands, two red spots on his chest. James signing up to avenge him, or just to get his family more food rations. Little Mary being left a orphan, barely skin and bones as the ten year old follows soldiers into an alleyway so she can have something to eat. Hamish dead on the side of the road, flies on his wounds, Thomas lined up against a wall and shot by his own side for stealing food, Abigail running out of a house you just called artillery on, her head on fire, craddling a wailing bundle of cloth, falling down, falling...

>>6271203
You've seen this. You saw all of this, and more. You knew the men going into that alleyway. This was your country during the last Great War, the occupied parts at least. And when the tides shifted and you invaded back, it was you causing the exact same thing. And you were hailed as heroes by those ruling over you. Righteous. Righteous...

Those fools aren't ready for those like you. And even if they were, they would just seek to use them as soldiers. Monsters in the guise of men tearing apart tanks with bare hands, turning against their own side, or turned loose into friendly cities to hunt for stones or replenish their blood stores. Petty warlord demigods uncaring of the plight of those under them. Warring city-states putting each other to the torch. Only strenght will matter. You cannot, you will not let this happen. To your family, to your country. All those who carry stones have murdered. You seek the stones' power for a greater cause. Are you not more rightous now than when you were following orders, no matter what society and law might say?

It is nearly time, you recall as you shake your head. Despite all your setbacks, you have managed to set your trap in the west stairwell. A carefully chiseled away step on the side of the stairs, the debris swept away discreetely. Rarely ever stepped on, and so you will be there to make sure the doctor doesn't misstep. You used the poor performance in therapy to drag your assigned nurse on some stair-climbing after lunch. With how quickly the work on the step went, you even had more time to catch Phillip's exact timing, even waving and saying hi to him a few times. You'll enter the stairway as he does, and you'll cross just as he starts walking down. He'll have to take the stairs on the inside, and you'll grab his attention at just the right moment, maybe go for a handshake, anything to ensure his arms are towards the outside of the stairs, away from the potentially life-saving railing. You wonder if touching him will help when it comes to getting the stone, but you hope proximity and intent will be enough. Tomorrow, you decide. You don't have to care about disturbing the trip anyway, and the longer the trap is set, the more likely it is to be found, and Phillips isn't ususally here on the weekends, or at least not with his fixed schedule.

>>6271204
With any luck, he'll be the first, though far from the last. You went back to spy on Tim at his workplace, but haven't been able to peek into the back, and there are no convenient alleys on the side of the builing where you might catch him on a break. You'll have to keep looking, but at least your persistence is paying by sheer weight of numbers. You managed to find two of the people you noticed last week, and new person besides. The first is some office worker, likely getting off work. You heard her complain about bus schedules. One stone. The third is a street busker, his clothes and hair rather recognizable. He'll likely stick around different parts of downtown, though without a consistent routine. If he is homeless, he might make an easy mark, provided you could find a reason to be out so late, and alone. But the second is where things really shine. Some manner of barber, stuck between a real estate agency and a butcher's shop. You barely caught him as he came outside to smoke. Three stones. Three! In a man younger than your son by at least a few years. What has he been doing in that shop of his, or in his youth, you wonder...

Still, it does mean this city offers options. But too many murders will raise all sorts of alarms. It would be better to pread them out, but you're in no state to drive, part of why this trip could have been perfect. Alas, the best laid plans of man...still, once you get enough of these stones, this will no longer apply to you, you feel. For now, they will help you become the man you were, but soon enough, they shall push you further. You can almost hear them whisper, a reassuring thought or two when the dark thoughts come again and again.

You can barely sleep that night, morning coming both too fast and too slowly. You go through the motions, exercize, eat lunch through a tightening throat, pretending all is fine as you chat with the nurse. It's Helen, which you figure is poetic in a way. Your nerves might have been shot, were it not for a lifetime of pressure. You smoothly time things and stand up to leave on time, chatting with Helen as you tell her you want to go exercize some more in the west stairwell. Nothing much, just to help you digest. You let her make you admit that you're trying to get some extra exercizes in because you're sad you can't go on thr trip. Truth and lie mixed together make the most potent poisons, after all. You stop on floor where Phillips should be and walk some corridor lengths, Helen talking happily about how much progress you've made these past two months, and how you shouldn't rush this, that you will get even better in time. You intend to.

>>6271206
Finally, you catch Phillips' stone moving through the corridor above you. You confirm he's going for the stairs and do so in turn. Mere coincidence, as far as anyone is concerned. You decline Helen letting you hold the external railing running along the wall, electing to climb the stairs without help, just her arm hovering nearby to make sure you don't tilt backwards. As you reach the half-floor landing, the doors above you open, and Phillips strides out.

Showtime.

>This is a trap you have planned in advance. Due to the work you have put in making sure all will go well, this check is a best of two. Please only roll one at a time. Because more people get their turn, and because I like that it adds tension!


>Outcomes:

>1: ???
>2-10: Phillips trips the trap, but suffers no consequence.
>11-30: Phillips avoids the trap, but is none the wiser
>31-50: Phillips falls, but is only lightly injured.
>51-70: Phillips falls, and is injured. You may have the opportunity to attempt to finish the job.
>71-89: Phillips is grievously injured. You ay leave things to change, or try to finish him.
>90-99: Phillips dies from the fall.
>100: ???

Bonuses:
>Lucky: Despite everything, you do have your lucky moments, for you would not be here today if you didn't. (+5)
>Well-laid trap: Because of your smart plan and how well its preparation went, you made sure the tile would all but fly out from under Phillips, sending him careening out of control and making it more likely he could simply flip over and bash his skull against the stairs. (+10)
>(Optional): A well-timed handshake. Rush up the stairs some and offer up your hand for a handshake as you pass Phillips, right before he steps on the tile. Should prevent him from grabbing onto the railing. But he may also grab onto you. Roll 1d5 if you choose this option, 1 means you will fall as well. Grants +10 to the roll.


No rolling for now, choose whether you go for the handshake or not, I'll tally up the votes in a few hours and we'll roll overnight.

>>6271123
Welcome back! Sorry about the break, it was unfortunate timing on my end. But I think I'm finding my rhythm again, and am quite happy with this update, especially when it comes to getting inside Underwood's mind some more!

Rolled 61 (1d100)

>>6271207

Rolled 5 (1d5)

>>6271207
Handshake

Rolled 78 (1d100)

>>6271207

Alright first roll for me.

>>6271220
well . I dont think we need to roll again with the bonuses. Heck yeah finnally things go good

>>6271220
Does that count as a 100 with the +25 or is the 100 on a nat

>>6271220
Hmm, I did say not to roll yet...

Still, I'll take it, not like it makes much of a difference. Glad to see our luck shining through when it matters!
I will still be needing that second roll, just in case.
>>6271222
It was for nats, yeah, hence why I need the second roll to check!

Here, going above 100 with bonuses won't earn you much, since the plan already ensured you would be cleared of any suspicion, but that won't always be the case.

>>6271336
Oh sorry. Thought ya meant like dont have the same person roll multiple times in a row not wait for you to respond. Apologies will know next time

>>6271348
Ah i see. Looked at it closer now. Yeah i completly missed the no rolling at all. And that it was suposed to be a vote

(Perhaps next time going to do that dont put the final roll in it. And just include the question of interfearence or not. Beforehand? It may have made it clearer

Anyway ill let someone else roll for the second one.(or atleast wait a bit.) Appologies again for the misstep

>>6271350
It's fine, don't worry! I admit having the roll there was confusing. I just wrote it as a whole a didn't think of just saving it for later. The vote itself wasn't anything big, and you had the Heal charges to alleviate the worst of it anyway, but I wanted to give anons the choice considering it could have mattered a lot one way or the other. Agency matters a lot in how I view quest running.

Rolled 50 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

>>6271350
Alright since it has been a bit

(And 8 hours since the first)

Rolled 83 + 25 (1d100 + 25)

>>6271207
In case you want more rolls

>>6271207
>Yes, handshake

>>6271207
>>6271220
>78+25
>103

“Ah, good morning doctor!”

“Good morning Mr Underwood, post-meal stair-climbing again, are we? Some of my patients would do well to imitate you!”

“Ah, I'm sure you're doing your best doc, but what can we do, stubbornness comes with ages after all!”

“Why, I certainly won't disagree, but don't let some of them catch you saying it!”

You chuckle politely as you keep walking up, Helen at your side. Keeping Phillips' eyes on you. You stop inbetween two steps and reach out for a handshake. He notices you've “accidentally” stopped a little short, and helpfully steps down, right above the sabotaged step. You make a show of wobbling just a tad, and he brings up his right arm to steady you.

“Ah, sorry about that doc, a bit wobbly but it's getting better! Don't want to hold you up now, you have a good day!”

He smiles as he lets go. Quite the polite man, even as he steps down...

“No worries sir, you be careful climbing up those stai-”

Right onto the step, which glides out from under his foot...

“-AHHHH...”

Causing said foot to plunge down another two steps...

“...HHHH-*SCRNK*”

Which by way of counterbalancing causes his head to smash down onto the stairs before he rolls down. For a moment there's silence but for the strangely soft, somewhat fleshy sound of his body bouncing limply on the steps, with a few accompanying, ominous cracks.

Phillips ends his flight in the halfway landing, blood rapidly pooling underneath his head, with a bone jutting out of his left leg, several twisted fingers, his head decidedly the wrong way around, and making no noise save for what you know for certain is a final, wet rattle.You aren't quite sure when he died, but you do figure the man is very, very dead.

“AAAAAHHHH!!!”

That. Was not Phillips, but poor Helen, who finally finds her voice again. You just have to mutter a disbelieving curse under your breath, loud enough for her to hear, and then act shocked. It's not too difficult, as a part of you is still a little stunned. Your first murder in...a long while, really. A fair bit more personal than what you're used to. You idly wonder what Phillips really did do that put him on your path. Who did he kill? Was it really where that stone came from?

You stagger back into Helen, careful not to tumble down yourself. Her training and habits kick in and she shuffles you closer to the railing. Above you the doors open, and a concerned head pokes through.

“W-What's going on?”
“F-Fetch the first aid kit, Doctor Phillips just fell!”

“W-Wha...?”

“NOW!”

It's easy after that. You sink down until you're sitting on the stairs, still looking at Phillips as more and more people come in, shaking your head occasionally. A nurse soon comes and with Helen's help coaxes you upright and through the doors into the west wing proper. Helen asks if you would rather go back to your room, and you nod, adding a simple reply.

“Elevator...please...”

>>6271944
She eats up the shaken, maybe traumatized old soldier trying to put on a brave face act while maybe reliving tough memories, and walks you to the elevator, then through the garden and to your room in the south wing, using the elevator again. You can see the flash of sirens through the window soon after. You know there's nothing to be done for Phillips. You saw the tiny red comet fly from him to you when he landed. Even now, it rests within your vision, brimming with blood and potential. Four Stones. So far away from your goals...but how best to put this one to use? You are alone for now, though you could chose to postpone the decision if you so choose. You don't feel any particular pull, unlike with the first ones.

Assign Bloodstones (1) :

>Body Enhancement
>Foundation (Heal): Have the stone reinforce and rejuvenate your body. The passive boon may be focused on an illness, reducing its effects and de-aging your body by about six months, or left generic, de-aging your body by about a year. Get another charge of Heal.
>Refinement (specify body part) : you can choose to directly link a Bloodstone to a specific part of you. This stone will only de-age you six months instead of a year, but provide both a passive bonus to the affected body part, and an active bonus. The passive effect is baked in upon selection, and the stone will bear the cost of pushing the affected part far past its usual limits and handle “repair costs”, ensuring there is no disabling of the passive effect after using the active one.
>Current choices include, but are not limited to : Muscles, Skin, Bones, Tendons, Nerves, Eyes, Ears, and any internal organ you can think off but also stranger ones like Nails and Hair and Teeth. And yes, you can use it as a fertility aid if you want, apparently.

>Something else? You can try a shot in the dark, now that you have an actual stone to experiment with..

>Mind Enhancement
>Suggestion: Inbue your voice with a charismatic energy that renders people more suceptible to what you say. Can be used to convince, confuse, compel, and more. Passively grants +2 to almost all speech rolls, pushed to +10 when activated. Lasts one hour, then disables the passive until the stone has been refilled.

>Something else? You feel several opportunities. Enhance one of your senses, your general awareness, your information processing abilities, your learning speed, how good you are at reading people, and more. No de-aging.

>>6271946
>Spirit Enhancement
>Sense
>>Scan: better range both passive and active, get another charge of active Scan.
>>Dowsing: instead of a short-range pulse, the stone lets you temporarily turn your hands, (or anything else you have two of symmetrically) into dowsing rods. By turning around, you can feel out the nearest Bloodstone. Gives you both a direction, and very rough estimate of distance. Range is fuzzy, but much, much better than Scan. Knowing were to look increases your chances, though the bonus will vary. Obviously getting a Very Close reading and going there immediately will give you a better chance than waiting a day, or heading to a reading further away. This method is also a lot less noticeable, especially at a distance. Its passive effect seems to just add another meter to your passive range, though you can't help but feel like there is more to it. Something to ponder. Though at least it means your current active range will be18 meters instead of fifteen.

>Something else? You feel several opportunities. This is the most nebulous option. You don't understand much of what is being offered. There is a big one called Insight, and a bunch of smaller ones called Techniques or something? It sounds like you could get, well, powers, like in those old superhero comics. Apparently not big ones, more like the silly one note ones you would see in small time villains and teen sidekicks. But that's with just one stone. No de-aging.


Also, this is mostly unrelated, but god damn it. Looking back up for Bloodstones options, I glanced at the chargen, and noticed that Soldier should have given you [Strong] on top of [Calm Under Fire]. That wasn't purposeful on my end, though we can argue the High Muscle Loss would have gotten in the way. It may change how I do things once we get to Low Muscle Loss,maybe. I'll be much more mindful of it in the future, and you're getting an updated character sheet next update. As a piece of good news, it means physically disabling your victims will be much simpler! Of course, if you spot anything wrong, do assume I screwed something up and point it out to me!

Also, small secondary vote:

>How does Underwood feel after killing Phillips? (write-in only, be as detailed as you want, though one word works too)

>>6271946
>Suggestion
De-aging one year is less useful to us at this stage than being able to go where we want and get what we want.

>>6271946
>Feels grimly determined. Killing comes easy, too easy. It always did. It's a sad thing, making him feel alienated from the very family he wants to protect, but that desire to protect them and their innocence is what he'll cling to, to keep himself feeling human.

>>6271946
Body enhancement with a focus on lowering the muscle loss further

(Considering we have been doing physical therapy hopefully less noticible. But honestly think this is absolutly nessesary if we are going to be going after targets in outtingz

>>6272059
Also + for how underwood reacts

>>6271946
>>6272059 +1

At some point though we should get something that makes people not notice us

>>6272309
Chameleon skin?

>>6272317
Maybe, or some kind of mental effect

>>6272059
Locking in Suggestion and the reaction write-in, and writing!

>>6272317
>>6272352
Both of these are doable, but they're out there enough that you would need to research them via Insight, and the process would likely include intermediary steps.
Also, don't forget you can also upgrade Insight itself for faster research. Among other things.

>>6271946
It's a sad but necessary thing, what you had to do. You've done it before, for much worse reasons, on people who deserved it less. You're used to it. Doesn't make this more palatable, but some things need to happen. It can't change you much more, and what you seek to protect is more important anyway. Even if they wouldn't understand if they knew. Not like they know everything about the rest either way. That talk will likely come some day, but for now you put it out of your mind, and focus on your...reward.

For a moment you consider using this stone to help shore up your still rather dreadful-looking muscles, especially given how you've struggled to make progress recently. Still, you only got Phillips because of luck and good circumstances. Strength will come back to you in time. You hope. Besides, you know it doesn't take that much strength to kill a man. Especially when one has a knife and knows how to use it, while looking like a harmless, peaceful old man. No, what you need is honeyed words. Lure new victims in advantageous places they would balk at normally, help your efforts at convincing the staff. You will need this soon. You can make do with a weekly outing for now, but you should be able to petition for more at some point, and this will help. More importantly, you cannot stay here forever, most likely. Any outing means a minder, and your age and appearane will bring questions down the line. Even if you are doing better, no one will allow a ninety-four (as far as they know) year old man to wander the streets alone. This will help keep your minder off your back some, and help when you make your exit from the retirement home. Speaking off, you should likely make a trip to the bank at some point. Or you could wait for James to come by next time. He has no reason to lie to you. You feel hesitation and crush it mercilessly. You are doing this for your family, you shouldn't doubt them like this.

Your new stone slots in the bottom of your vision as you focus on one of the new abilities you discovered. Suggestion is the closest name you got from what the stones shared with you. Powerful, especially when paired with your natural charisma. You wonder what more stones could turn this ability into. You simply have to get more.

>>6272631

Not long after, an honest to goodness policeman comes in to ask you a few questions. You aren't surprised, and the man is rather apologetic, but he needs to walk through the events with you. You do so easily enough, though you know to appear just a little despondent when you get close to the sensitive part. The police will check if your testimony matches Helen's and the other nurses, but this will be no problem. You bringing Helen along means she saw you didn't push Phillips, and weren't even in contact with him when he fell. No, you didn't notice anything on the stairs. Yes, you had seen some wear on the steps, but that went for all stairs, and usually only the tips of the tiles breakng off, or cracks running throughout. No, you didn't get close to the doctor after he fell, you just held onto the railing, sat down on the stairs, and then were guided out to an adjacent room, then here.

The man apologizes for disturbing you, and leaves, leaving you free to plot for next week. You idly wonder if the trip will be cancelled because of this.

>Set your schedule for week 10
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: ?
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria (change ?)
>>Early afternoon: ? (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: ? (Very Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room (change ?)
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : ?


Note : Your sleep debuff has worsened further. Removing the effect will now take another week of good sleep. Effects will escalate if this continues.

Some available options :
>Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>Wander halls (New targets)
>Chat with nurses (Stories)
>Chat with Nurses (Information)
>Meditate outside
>Meditate in your room
>Limber up
>Nap time
>Write-in

>Current Meditation/ Insight Project : 0/??? (Type: Unknown) (Hint: Pick a clear project for bonus starter Insight!)

There we go, just a small thing to round off the week. And here is the promised, and revised, character sheet!

>Name: James Underwood
>Title: The Old Man
>Jobs: Former Soldier, Former Salesman, Former Personal Asistant

>Traits:
[Strong] (Disabled by Medium Muscle Loss)
[Calm Under Fire]
[Nerves Of Steel]
[Charismatic]
[Thrifty]
[Deft Hands]
[Smart]


Bloodstones: 4

>Spirit Enhancement:
>>Sense (1)

>Mind Enhancement:
>>Compel (1)

>Body Enhancement:
>>Foundation (2)


>Abilities:

>Spirit
>>Scan (1)

>Mind
>>Suggestion (1)

>Body
>>Heal (2)


>Achievements:
>Balance 1 : Have at least one Bloodstone in the three main categories. +1 to all Insight rolls.

>>6272632
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: >Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria (change ?)
>>Early afternoon:>Meditate in your room (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: >Nap time(Tired)
>>Late afternoon: >Chat with Nurses (Information)(Very Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room (change ?)
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : look into the three stone barber do research on possible ways to get him while out and about.

(Also if anyone has input on a murder plan please do bring up. Im not too good with coming up with details

>>6272667
+1, and as for a plan... Let's learn more about him and where he works, first.

>>6272667
OH sidenote. Use the new ability on the roll for chat with the nurses. To make it easier. Since we have it might as well activate the bloodstone

>>6272632
>>6272667 +1
but I also wanna add a clear project for bonus starter Insight, namely a mental ability to have people ignore us

>>6272831
Sure will go with your idea there

>>6272667
Locking in vote.
>Roll 1d100 for physical rehabilitation. 50 or higher.
Despite the step forward that they are, you can't find it in yourself to muster much enthusiasm from getting some muscle back on your frame, or from getting Phillips' stone.

>Roll 1d100+1 for meditation.
Having a clear idea in mind should help guide you.
Current Insight progress: 25/??? (starter bonus +25)

>Roll 1d100+15 for nap time

>Roll 2d100+5 for getting interesting information out of the nurses. Higher is better.
+5 from successful friendliness roll
+5 From Charismatic
+10 From Active Suggestion (yes it's only one hour in the week but you're practiced enough to spot when a conversation might be turned to juicy gossip so I'll give you guys that one)
+5 From pity factor because everyone assumes you were traumatized by seeing Phillips die
-20 From Very Tired

>Roll 1d100 for outing.
Your focus on the barber and your lingering in a known area reduce the amount of new stone bearers you'll turn into. Roll 1d3, then xd100 where x is the result of the d3. If applicable, the first two will be new targets, and the last one either the ofice woman or the street performer.

>Roll 1d100+15 for sleep quality

This should be everything, I hope. I'm sorry this simple update is coming so late. Today wasn't a very good day. Honestly...I think I should apologize in advance if this quest's update shedule grow erratic in the coming days. The could be less update, or there maybe could be faster ones.
Bluntly put, the elder relative that inspired me offering the Old Man as a chargen option, a person who matter quite a lot to me, suffered a nasty stroke today. We are bracing for the worst. I hope you understand this might affect my output here, both in the tone of updates as well as in their frequency.
This is likely too much info for 4chan, but I like to think qst is a little different, especially these days.

Rolled 70 (1d100)

>>6273089
Rehab

Rolled 79 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>6273089
Meditation

Rolled 13 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6273089
Its alright man. Real life comes first over a silly quest!

Rolled 99, 81 + 5 = 185 (2d100 + 5)

>>6273089
Also before bed. Info roll

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>6273089
Outing

Rolled 2 (1d3)

>>6273089
Bloodstone number roll

Rolled 77, 55 = 132 (2d100)

>>6273089
>>6273298

Rolled 95 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6273089
Doing the sleep roll

>>6273471
Sleep curse finnally broken for once?

>>6273471
>Be James Uunderwood (Senior)
>Be old PTSD-ridden veteran
>Get weird power from invisible stones
>Craft Looney-Toons level trap
>Watch a man die from falling down the stairs.
>Start sleeping so good you achieve a minor enlightenment
>Refuse to elaborate
>Go back to smooth talking nurses

I'm going to have fun writing these rolls, I can tell!

Apparently blood sacrifice is one way to please the dice gods if this is any indication!
I'll get writing, but given how today has been going it'll likely be up tomorrow instead of tonight.
Also, wasn't sure whether to do this now or next post, but now is fine.
It has now been ten weeks, meaning it's time to see if you being a crumbly old fuck is going to cause you trouble!

Roll 1d100 for potential health issues, DC is, let's see:

Base DC is 1, because life can be unfair.
Age penalties will stat at 70, and escalate every decade. From 70 to 80, 0.5 per year, up to +5. +1 per year up to 90, so +10. And +2 for every year between 90 and 100, so +4 because you are biologically 92. So +19.
Muscle loss will work like it did with its debuffs. Low is +1, medium +2, and high would have been +3. So +2.
Hearing loss is a non-factor, but your defficient immune system gives you +5. Though if you roll on the higher end of the DC it's a guarantee the health issue will be related to this.

DC is then 1+19+2+5= 27!

Roll over and all is well. Roll between 23 and 27 and you'll fall ill, roll under and some other bad thing will happen.

Consider this an attempt at realism affected in part by current events, and another reason to invest in your body (and thus bring about issues to fuel the story, yes).

Rolled 69 (1d100)

>>6273878

>>6273879
Everything is fine for now, thankfully!
I would be tempted to do something funny with that sixty-nine, but Underwood just doesn't lend himself to that kind of sillyness.

>>6273878
We need to get and dedicate 3 bloodstones to our long-term health issues asap.

>>6273942
He IS talking up nurses, lol

>>6273994
I did suggest one for the bloodstone but was outvoted. Hopefully we can better convince though when we get the barbers 3

>>6274041
>>6273994
I think suggestion made sense for now, until we can build momentum. Being as strong as a 70 year old (or, if I am understanding correctly, more like an 89 year old, lol) instead of a 90 year old is less of an advantage than low-level mind control.

>>6272632
As the next week progresses, the retirement home feels much more silent than usual, and not just because the trip meant a lot of people were away this week. Phillip's brutal death on the premises had made the rounds before the body was out and headed for the morgue, courtesy of two of the most gossip-hungry kinds of people: nurses, and the bored elderly. Everyone avoided the stairs like the plague, or held onto the railing for dea life if they couldn't avoid it, it seemed. And even those that didn't kept an eye out when moving between floors. From what you've heard at least, no one doubts that this was an accident. Tragic, and avoidable, but merely accidental. There are talks of the retirement home getting sued by Phillips' family. You aren't sure if he was married or had children. You don't think you need to know.
As for you, something about what happened seems to have helped whatever had been plaguing you. These past few weeks. Maybe all the pressure drained out. Maybe it was getting confirmation that you hadn't gone crazy after all. Maybe it was spotting that new target out in town. Whatever the case may be, it's a good thing you still aren't managing naps, or the nurses would start to question why you started getting such good sleep after seeing a man die. It does clash with the slightly-traumatized old man person you have been putting on. But it is true you now sleep like the dead at night. Even better than that. You have been dreaming. Strange, half-formless things that mostly vanish when you wake up, but you believe they have helped your meditation. More importantly such good sleep has done wonders to your recent tiredness. You wonder if the stones could help with this, too.

>For passing 80, you have gained bonus Insight progress equal to the difference (110-80=30 progress). For passing 100, you have gained one relevant Insight project idea.
>For passing 100, you enjoy double benefits, losing two stages to your tiredness. You are no longer [Very Tired] and now merely [Tired] at the end of the day.

>>6274382
That has had a cascading effect on your appetite and physical condition, it seems. You can feel you've been making strides again when it comes to plumping up, so to speak. It's not brilliant, but for a man your age it is quite excellent, says the doctor who came to check in on you on Wednesday. Both he and the nurses have been prodding about how you have been handling Phillips' death. You headed them off easily enough, acting shocked, but sharing that you had the misfortune of seeing much worse. That seemed to satisfy them. The therapist is also happy with your progress. He has been checking how well you can sit up and down without help. He says that if you keep this up, you could look into getting permission to have your family come pick you up on the weekends to go somewhere on top of your normal outings. Going places with James would let you run into the weekend crowd, and may also afford you more feedom of movement when you are out and about, you reflect.

The doctor also checked your blood tests, which are still green. But something tugs at you. How certain are you that if you had, say a heat attack or a stroke, that your Heal stones would know to activate on their own? Or what if you got shot out there? You never know, and shock is a nasty thing.

>Insight Project unlocked: Auto-Trigger. Lets you define conditions under which Bloodstones will be used automatically. Does not cost a stone to set up, or upkeep cost. Progress: 100/500. Maximum starter bonus: 50% of max=250. Get a higher starting bonus by suggestion how the project might be implemented, or what kind of conditions could be specified.

>>6274383
This week also let you go back to chatting with the nurses, and listening in for juicy gossip. And, by coincidence and because they have less people to talk to because of the trip, you've struck paydirt. Phillips wasn't supposed to go, but even if he was, you suppose they wouldn't have cancelled the trip for even this with how much of a hassle it was. Not like it matters to you. You have finally been able to test your new ability, and the strong effect tells you that you are very much not crazy. You are faily certain you got one of the older nurses to blush. That just doesn't happen normally. You grow ever more concerned about wht someone could do with those things, turned loose on an unsuspecting city....No, the really important part is a single piece of news. Thursday saw the whole building abuzz with talk about an event that had taken place the previous night. Three people murdered in an alleyway near the historical center of town, a little ways away from downtown. Not just killed, but mangled. Many are quick to link the murders to a string of similar incidents five years ago. The killer, unimaginatively named the Mendig Mangler by tabloids, after the city where you currently reside, had never been caught, and may be on the prowl again. You aren't worried, but you know that if there is one such killer, they must be brimming with stones. Assuming they weren't someone like you all this time. Part of what made the police investigation so difficult was the lack of link between the victims, beyond the state of the bodies. Presumably, you would be similarly confusing should you decide to go on a stone-collecting murder spree. Still, this could be a grand opportunity, and you add the historical center to your outing ideas, in case you could catch the killer returning to the scene, or hunting for victims.

In quieter news, your meditation has also been advancing well, with your room being extra silent this week seeming to help. You've also noticed mental images coming just a little easier. Interestingly, prodding the stones about this gave back impressions of balance, and harmony. It seems slotting a stone in the Mind section so you had at least one in all three categories did something? It is barely noticeable, but when there is one such thing, there might be more. You could try and glean some Insight upon this, or just discover them as they come.

>Current Meditation/ Insight Project : Erasure (Mind) Progress: 105/150. This one is a more complex ability compared to what you have sought out so far. The fact that you're going for Mind and direct targeting over Spirit and a blanket perception distorsion ability also help make this more complex, though that other project is still available should you wish to pursue it.

>>6274386

>Set your schedule for week 11
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: ?
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria (change ?)
>>Early afternoon: ? (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room (change ?)
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : ?


As a small note on the world of Bloodstones, while I have deliberately been light on details regarding this alternate world, I figure you are currently in a large state that encompasses an area similar to Western Germany, Eastern France, the Benelux, and parts of Northern Italy, though geography will vary. The Northeast would as such have Belgian and German names. Country name I've yet to decide on, but it isn't too relevant. Debating whether to have it use the French revolutionary calendar with our own AD numbers. It would have interesting worldbuilding implications actually!

>6274042
Admitedly, even getting three years younger wouldn't do much. I guess getting under ninety could grant you a bonus to rehab rolls, and generally would make happening rolls a bit less scary, but not much beyond that. As mentionned before, you could also choose to old deage six months but work off part of a long-term illness. Honestly, since you've unlocked Refinement, you could use that too, and it might be the better option since you'd get something on the side. A better immune system and the ability to supercharge it could maybe come in handy sometimes, but I'll let you all decide that!

As always, don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions, or suggestions, or if anything feels off. And of course, thank you for reading, and for voting if you do!

>>6274388
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: >Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria (change ?)
>>Early afternoon:>Meditate in your room (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: >limber up(Tired)
>>Late afternoon: >Chat with Nurses (Information)( Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room (change ?)
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>>Outing : look into the three stone barber do research on possible ways to get him while out and about.

Okay so incase the murderer is collecting bloodstones going to continue with original plan untill we atleast get the barber and so investigating again!

Changed the nap slot to limber up since we got rid of very tired

>>6274388
>>6274429 +1

We should research the auto-heal option, triggering the healing bloodstones whenever we sustain serious or even deadly damage. Setting aside the benefit of surviving any surprise attacks, we are so old any silly accident could kill us.

I would also like to suggest an 'anti-ping' skill/power. Perhaps we can research a use of our 'scan' skill that counters any attempt to feel our stones and then set it to auto-activate whenever someone is pinging us. The second any other user finds an old man with 4+ bloodstones we'll be in deep shit.

>>6274429
+1

>>6274759
>I would also like to suggest an 'anti-ping' skill/power.
Very wise, if it's doable.

>>6274429
Gah, I knew that last updae felt too short for a reason. I'm very sorry everyone, I apparently completely forgot about the outing. I'll make a relevant micro-update to tack onto the last on, but while the outing roll itself for the barber was unimpressive, you did roll above 50 on both spotted bearers, meaning I'll need another 2d100.Depending on results, I may leave you all another day if you wanted to switch things around.
Sorry again!

>>6274759
A dedicated Bloodstone stealth mechanic could be very interesting. Thoug at this point it's not even the number of stones, if you'll recalln but the fact that active Bloodstones ping completely differently from active ones, if the stones themselves are to be believed.
Outracing the ping itself would mean modifying your passive range, maybe, but it would be a hard race since the bigger the scan range, the higher the speed at which it would go from reaching your passive range to your actual body.
You could also try and masquerade your stones as inactive, but obviously this will get less and less relevant.
Masking the actual number however would get more and more relevant with time. As would better Scanning on your end. Which is a good point to say you can absolutely research tech again to try and make it better!
Then there's the big one, keeping up a constant field that has you show up as empty for scans. No chance of being outsped by a larger scan, but you'd need it to be good enough, and the sheer upkeep cost...well you'd need a lot of stones, and alot of blood regen...or blood...

Also, I hope you realize all those ideas you're floating around are going into the encounters pile to build up other bearers, so please keep doing that, it's very fun!

Rolled 43, 2 = 45 (2d100)

>>6274921

>>6274955
This was. Very close to being dangerous.

>>6274955
>2
>*sharp intake of breath*
You guys like scaring me, huh? I swear, I can't mention mention one itsy bitsy serial killer without you almost manifesting them!


You did go on your weekly outing, focusing on that barber, but were unable to make much progress, beyond spotting another two bloodstones wandering around downtown. Another office worker, a clerk for a notary office downtown you think, and a man on his day off shopping for clothes in a fancy store.

>Roll 1d100+5 for physical rehabilitation. 50 or higher.
Last week went rather well in most aspect, you're feeling pretty good!

>Roll 1d100+1 for meditation.
Also, small erratum, you progress on Erasure was wrong. 25 base progress +80 from the roll, but I forgot the 30 from that excellent sleep roll! Apologies again, external circumstances weigh in and I really dropped the ball on this update...

>Roll 1d100 to limber up. DC 50 to give a +10 bonus to your rehab roll. Sadly you can't double up on the progress since it isn't just about workouts. In the future this will also affect physical rolls, like it might have for the kitchen knife heist.

>Roll 2d100+10 for getting interesting information out of the nurses. Higher is better.
+5 from successful friendliness roll
+5 From Charismatic
+10 From Active Suggestion (Since you have no other stone drain planned this week and it's risk free, I'm giving you all this one again. If you don't want to do it going forward, don't forget t mention it!)
-10 From Tired

>Roll 1d100+15 for sleep quality
It'll go back to +10 if you get another success, but I'm walking these back as they were tacked on so I think this is right!

>Roll 1d100 for researching the barber.
Roll 1d2 for spotting other bearers, then xd100 for how much you see. 50 and higher get a Bloodstone roll.
Also, roll me a separate 1d100. DCs are 2, 75, and 90.


Should be all for now, good luck on your rolling anons.

Rolled 9 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6275239
Rehab...

>>6275247

Rolled 74 + 1 (1d100 + 1)

>>6275239
Meditation

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>6275239
>Limbering up

Rolled 18, 82 = 100 (2d100)

>>6275239
Information

Rolled 73 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6275239
Sleep

Rolled 56, 70 = 126 (2d100)

>>6275239
Barber research

Rolled 47 (1d100)

>>6275239
Barber research

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>6275239
Stones

Rolled 1 (1d100)

>>6275239

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>6275721

>>6275754
Okay nevermind prior anon rolled and we have a problem on our hands now... atleast i hit the 90 dc on the final roll?

But uh time for active bloodstone user attack I guess

>>6275752

>>6275824
That reaction seems about right

>>6275752
>>6275754
Good morning everyone, did we get the rest of the ro-
...Oh.


https://youtu.be/F2HH7J-Sx80?si=lwXFOi3BZu0CxqPa

Rolled 11 (1d15)

>>6276020
Ooookay. Wasn't expecting that, for sure.
So, active bloodstones user. First step, how many does he have. I'll keep the numbers low for this one, on account that you aren't getting news of entire villages going missing yet.

Rolling...1d15 for number of Bloodstones.

Rolled 2 (1d4)

>>6276021
>Sound of breath being sucked in through teeth.

Okay. Not great. Now, where did they invest those, is the real question. And yes, you do get to see the categories when scanning them.

Rolling...let's do a 1d4.
1 is Balanced spread with 5 stones to Body, Mind, and Spirit.
2 is a spread favoring Body
3 Favors Mind
4 Favors Spirit

Favored stat gets 7, other two get 4, if applicable.

Rolled 2 (1d4)

>>6276022
Okay, I'll be picking from one of the early Body archetypes I'd been thinking up. I will however roll 1d3 for age, Young Aging or Old, like in chargen, and a 1d2 for Man or Woman.

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>6276024

>>6276025
Okay, I picked out 4 archetypes that mught work here, so time to pick. Telling the full nicknames would be spoiling, so just the letters.
Rolling 1d4.
1:I
2:F
3:W
4:B

Rolled 1 (1d4)

>>6276034
*ahem*

Also, I swear that order is purely accidental!

>>6276035
Alright, writing. This will be a mostly normal update until the end, so sometime in the next eight hours.

>>6276036
See ya in 8 hours with this probbably batshit insane update.

Brains going through plans on how to deal with this before it starts. So gives me more time to think.

(Honestly might be nice if we win 11 bloodstones but probbably unrealistic. And more likely we gotta get outta here)

>>6276042
Sorry meant 15

>>6276042
Like I said, it should mostly be a normal update (with one extra surprise) before that oh crap moment at the end.
>>6276043
Nono, eleven was righ...
>looks up
>sighs

Okay, that should teach me to take a break in the middle of this. I apparently ignored my own roll and became convinced it was a full fifteen. I'm not trying to screw you guys over unfairly, so it is eleven.
Meaning we're looking at 5 in Body and 3 in the other 2. A little less scary, especially given the archetype.
Anyway, I had a bunch of stuff on my plate but I should be able to get this one out soon so you can all properly start panicking.

And while I do appreciate the bloodlust, do reember that you are in public. You both are. This may not devolve into a fight.

>>6276111
You know, looking back the 93 was the stones roll, while the 1 was for the barber...but it /is/ more fun like this, isn't it?
Please try to remember to label your rolls going forward!

>>6274388
You settle for another week of peaceful progress and observation as the retirement home fills back up with those returning from the trip. Despite you taking the time to do some exercize on your own, your physical rehabilitation stalls once more. Quite frustrating, but you'll get there. And if push comes to shove, you can just throw stones at the problem, either directly making your body younger, or by enhancing your muscles, which should have an effect on their growth back to acceptable levels as well. Though at this point acceptable might just have to be average for now, instead of the pysique you cultivated during your army days. You remember with a smile how a bunch of the profits from your little dealings back then went to getting the drill sergeants to not chew you out too hard when doing routine PT.
Your nights are still quite peaceful. While you fail to reach the deep meditative state from last week, you still feel lik you're making extra progress. Between that and your regular meditation, you soon have a new potential ability to invest into, albeit a costly and limited one for now.

>New Ability: Erasure (Mind); Directly affect a target's mind, erasing you from their perception. Will only work after the skill has been triggered, and will not affect past memories. If you are spotted and activate it, you will disappear from your opponent's perception, but they will not magically forget having spotted you. The passive effect will also affect only one person, granting a +5 to stealth against one target. Erasure lasts one minute, and is not interrupted by attacks against the target, as it is a direct attack on their nervous system, not some grand illusion.

>105+75+8=188-150=38 extra progress points diverted to Auto-Trigger, progres 138/500. Please specify a different project if you wish for extra research to be used elsewhere!

Even better, your talking with the nurses has told you that there might be a new trip this summer which you may take advantage of, though the details are still fuzzy for now. Oce again, Suggestion proves its worth. You also managed to catch that the projects on the northern side of town have seen a rise in petty crime and violence recently. They may prove to be good hunting grounds if you don't feel like hunting serial killers. They may just go there themselves for targets, if they have active stones.

Still, you keep up your watch on the barber, who you learned is a Mr Todd. You pass in front of the shop, the opened shutters indicating he is likely in, when...

“Oh! Careful, Mr Underwood! Did you trip on something?”

It takes you a second to answer as you do your best not to stare at the inside of the shop through the wall, as you stopped a few meters to the left, as soon as the barber came into your passive Scan range. At least you assume that's the barber from his movements. Ah, right.

>>6276162
“Ah, yes, yes I'm fine nurse Julia, I must have missstepped, there's nothing there, see!”
You laugh off the stumble and reassure the nurse, taking from your long experience to keep dread from showing on your face. You keep going, and you idly glance at the inside of the shop, where you can see the barber talking with a customer from behind a counter. It's him alright. But he doesn't have three stones. He has six.

Really it should be five, one from rolling over 75, and another for 90, but you guys deserve a treat!

What in the Holy Ones' name is that madman doing?! Three stones in one week? At least three people dead by his hands, likely more, you figure as you leave the barber shop behind, the smell of meatpies from the neighboring shop tickling your nose as you think. You aren't sure what game he's playing at, but he must be stopped. Besides, at this rate he'll get arrested soon, and then getting those stones will be markedly harder...should you report him? What would you even report? Bbut he's killing people somehow! Do all of them deserve it? Does he get to choose if they do? Of course he does. You did too, with Phillips with so many others before.

You're mulling over what you might do when, for the second time today, ice fills your veins. You feel a completely unknown malaise wash over you. You barely have time to step forward and stumble to a halt as you stones all but scream at you before you catch a glimpse. The crowd parts, and you lock eyes with an older woman, likely in her early fifties. Her gaze is like two gray pools drawing you in. She's wearing some manner of fancy fur outfit that looks like it was in fashion in the Golden Years, but somehow it fits her well. And in her core blaze stones, too many to count at a glance. You're barely five meters apart. You crossed into her passive range and stumbled forward, putting her into yours before you both stopped. She knows. And she knows you know. She doesn't look armed, but she has a fancy leather purse.. Her face is calm, but her eyes are wide. And rather pretty. The coat makes it hard to read her body language. You finally parse out the stones, noting that, unlike the barber's, they seem to cluster into three groups in her abdomen. To the left, to the right, and below. Spirit, Body, and Mind, assuming the follows the same rules you do. An errant thought has you wonder if it's different for everyone, or if it's a default setting you may be able to change, or if it has significance somehow? But assuming her organization matches yours, she has five stones in body, and three each in Spirit and Mind, eleven in total.
Neither of you has moved yet. Julia is at your side, likely about to ask what is wrong, about to glance over and see you in a strange staring contest with that woman.

What.
Do.
You.
Do?

>Do nothing. Pretend this hasn't happened, make up some excuse to Julia, and be on your way.
>Do something (What?)

>>6276163
>Do nothing. Pretend this hasn't happened, make up some excuse to Julia, and be on your way.

(As i said dont wanna start a fight. Kinda wanna say something though but considering we are with someone theres nothing really can be said but if anyone else has good ideas give it a shot i will happilly switch over

>>6276163
Oh shit, it's Sweeney Todd.

>>6276163
>Nod to the lady, and smile
Do not make a powerful enemy here and now. Silence in this instance, makes us as likely a target as the barber for this super-powered serial murderess.

>>6276300
>>6276339
This.
Also let's be careful about the info we give away now. If Julia's uniform has any type of identification let's try to cover it as we walk by and let's avoid any conversation that includes names and places. We don't want this lady to know where we are staying.

>>6276339
Gonna agree with nod and smile

>>6276300
>>6276353 +1

Rolled 2, 37 + 11 = 50 (2d100 + 11)

>>6276339
I figured that would be enough, since no one picked up on the pie shop!

So, the majority vote is doing nothing much, just a polite and maybe enigmatic nod and smile, then being on our way. Nurses accompanying patients on outings don't wear their uniforms

Now, roll me 2d100+5 to see how that goes.
+5 for Charismatic.

Your best roll against hers, which I'll be rolling.

>Rollling 2d100+11
+5 (???)
+10 (???, Base 5+5)
+6 (??? Base 2+2, x1,5)
All/2 (Nerves of Steel)


DCs:
-90 (Your best roll is sixty points under mine): You are in completely over your head. Except severe roll penalties, and Underwood making subpar decisions relating to this matter going forward.
-60: You are completely flummoxed, and will suffer roll penalties against this person in the future.
-30: You are put off balance, and cannot stop Julia from talking about the retirement home, giving the other side precious intel, though not the exact name.
0: You seamlessly extricate yourself from the situation with no side effects.
30: You appear confident enough to put her off balance.
60: You appear entirely too confident given your respecitve strength. She ponders if you are hiding something or have tricks up your sleeve.
90: You appear terrifyingly confident. She fears you have powerful backers who could spare the stones to keep you around and figured out a way to do so.


Good luck, and watch that spaghetti!

Rolled 9, 58 + 5 = 72 (2d100 + 5)

>>6276951
I hope this goes well. If it does not, this may be GG.
>>6252800
This is me. Have been away. Glad this isn't dead.

>>6276951
I have read from where I last was and have officially caught up and I wanted to say more fully that I am glad this quest is still going. To me, it is something very fun and unique, and I have thoroughly enjoyed seeing where it is going. I am sorry to hear about your the suffering your older friend has gone through recently, and I want you to know that I wish both them and you all the best, for whatever the wishes a random stranger on this turkmenistani archaeological digging forum are worth.

>>6276965
Thank you for the kind words and well wishes. My relative is doing better, though given everything that mostly means they're alive and recovering some.
I think the wishes are worth something, on this part of the bulgarian clarinet juggling forum at least. There's fewer of us, and less anonymity to go around.
And I want to think Axis QM's disappearance led to more habitual checking up on people on here, if only so I can tell myself it meant something.

In a less grim subject, I fully intend to keep this going while hopefully getting a new job soon. Since I kind of failed to increase the pace of updates, I'm hopefull it won't slow down much, at least.

>>6276962
>63-48=15, so no real issues one way or the other. I shouldn't have put that DC at zero, since really it covers up from -29 as well.
Also, that should have been a +17 because I forgot to multiply by how many stones were active (3). So +33 total.
As a small spoiler/technical note, three things are saving Underwood's ass right now.
One, he's fully aware that he's facing a potentially hostile stone bearer, not some random cougar, so you counter a full 50%
Two, his current physical and psychological status mean he isn't the best target for what she's using.
And three...neither of you had time to activate skills. So yes, that's a +33 with less than optimal passive effects. Yes I have a full, proper sheet and Ii'm not making the numbers up. Yes, you'll get there. Really, you already are almost there with Erasure.

Right, enough rambling! Nothing happens, spaghet remains unspilled. Writing, I should have this one out in a couple hours if nothing else crops up!

>>6276163
You break the stalemate first, nodding respectfully at her, plastering on a small smile which you hope comes across as more enigmatic than strained, all the while fiercely fighting not to let your gaze wander. The woman seems to relax a tad, and nods in turns. Your turn away slightly towards Julia but keep her in your peripheral. She turns away a little herself. You start walking away and willingly leave her in your blindspot. An uneasy truce, due to both the public setting and perhaps because she's also never run into someone else who sees and uses the stones. Because with eleven of them, there's no way she hasn't been collecting them. Neither of you knows what to do. But for now you need to make sure Julia doesn't feed her information by mistake.

“Oh, who was...”

“Just an old work acquaintance Julia, nothing much. I didn't expect to see her here, last I hear she lived in a different part of the country.”

You don't let her call you Mr. Underwood. That woman can ponder whether she's family and not home in on retirement homes immediately?

“Ah...I see, shouldn't you go and talk to her?”

“There's no need, we never were more than work colleagues, and it was a long time ago now, I barely even recognized her, or her me from the looks of it. But perhaps we'll catch up if we run into each other again.”

Since the woman entered your passive range, you can still percieve her stones from ten meters away instead of five. It seems she has at least one more stone in scan, but maybe not any more than that. You stumbled forward by a little bit, but not a whole two meters back there. She's hovering nearby, using the same trick you are to stick close and listen in even as people walk inbetween you. She likely knows you know, so it's probably so Julia doesn't force another confrontation. She's likely heard what you said, maybe even taken it as an invitation of sorts. As you keep walking, she finally falls back and away from your perception. You fade from hers not long after, as your stones stop tingling.

As far as first contacts go, you figure that wasn't too bad. You were definitely right that there are very scary people out there. Who knows how long she's been at this. But she likely can get stones faster than you. Another five people got into the retirement home this week, and there's maybe fifteen, twenty people at most you haven't scanned in the different buildings. But after that, your little protected hunting grounds will be down to a trickle every month. One that will have ever more questions for you as you keep getting healthier...and younger-looking.

>>6277251
You need to set up new living arrangements, or start figuring out who would be willing to ignore a medical miracle for money in the retirement home. And you're going to need a lot more stones, and fast. You may need to do something bold for that barber...doing so in your weekly outing with a nurse may be difficult, but maybe your son would be willing to go into downtown with you next weekend? He's supposed to visit anyway, you can call him from the retirement home and ask about it, then pretend to have a flight of fancy and decide to get your remaining hair styled like the eccentric old man that you are. Then...what, bluntly accuse the man so he tries to murder you, heal back up and stab him? That would be extremely risky, from getting outright murdered to facing pointed questions as to why you're covered in your own blood with no physical wounds...

Or go after another target? Spy on Tim some more, hope you can catch a time where's always alone, out on break or taking out trash after rush our, stagger into the alley you thick is behind his place of work pretending to need help, bury a few inches of knife into his liver when his back is turned, and stroll out and lose yourself in the crowd?

Maybe you should just take a step back instead of being rash. Visit the bank, see what financial levers are at your disposal. The retirement home was convenient for your family, would have helped you leave them with more money eventually, and helped as you lost autonomy, but the stones have put everything in a new light. And even with the market crash, you still had a good enough nest egg, though it has been a while since you checked properly.

Then there is the matter of this woman. What are her goals, her methods? Are you two destined to be on a collision path, or is coexistence possible? How about subjugation? With how powerful these stones are, would it really be a stretch? If you understood correctly, the next stone you get would outright make you imperceptible to someone for a full minute. What if they could do more? What if you took the stone and put in someone else, would you have sme measure of control over them? For that matter, can stones be traded? You figure that once slotted, retrieval would be difficult, but beforehand is up in the air. The stones seem unusually tight-lipped about the subject when you prod them on the way back to the retirement home.

This week has given you much to think about, not all of it bad.

>Set your schedule for week 11
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: ?
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria (change ?)
>>Early afternoon: ? (Slow)
>>Mid afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: ? (Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room (change ?)
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>> Nurse Outing : ?
>> Weekend Outing : ?

>>6277252
You now have access to a second outing slot, once every two weeks, on the weekends, with your son James instead of one of the nurses, which may allow for other options, even if he knows nothing of the stones, for now.

You have access to most of the same options, but could try and persuade him to let you out of his sight for a little while. It isn't much room to maneuver, but it is a start.


Schedule actions:

>Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>Wander halls (New targets)
>Wander halls (Phillips)
>Chat with nurses (Stories)
>Chat with Nurses (Information)
>Meditate outside
>Meditate in your room
>Limber up
>Nap time
>Write-in

Outing actions:

>The shops : go buy something from a local shop or even supermarket. Pretty wide range of options, tech stuff should be late eighties/early nineties though.
>The post office : Spend your free time writing letter to contacts and go post them. If anyone asks, you're checking in with old work and personal life friends!
>>Write to who? [Write-in]
>>[Unlocked by Personal Assistant] : Despite the threat of Menendez, you could perhaps still try and get back in touch with older contacts he might not have gone after yet. The somewhat legitimate ones that lasted through the storm that brough Jefferson low.
>>Write to Mason: Very risky, there's no telling if Menendez has already tracked him down. But he may be getting desperat eneough that if you dangle a solution in front of him, he'll come to you. Still, while you were close, the stones are no small secret. But perhaps you could get away with spinning some other tale?
>A stroll downtown : You usual outing. You seem to have run into most of the targets. For this next week, going back there at the same time may cause you to run into the woman once again. Perhaps a chat is in order? You know that if she does come, she'll be ready, and you should be too.
>A stroll through the northern projects: Last reported sighting of the Mangler, a serial killer who likely has a large store of Bloodstones, but who may also be an active user.
> [Unlocked by Smart] A stroll in the woods : Meditating in a garden and in your rooms seems to give better results than when you tried in a public park. How about going for a mostly silent stroll through the woods, then? They aren't that far anyway.
>Write-in : Not all options are open to you, you are still a 94 years old grandpa, but maybe you can think of something else, or have a thing in mind you want to do outside?


There, back to some semblance of normality, with a new activity slot and some leads on what Underwood could do. Thank you for reading, voting, and rolling!

>>6277253

(Heres my usual help scheduling. Other anons feel free to help refine and or change things)
>Set your schedule for week 11
>>Late night: Sleep
>>Early morning: Sleep
>>Mid morning: Sleep/Rest
>>Late morning: >Physical rehabilitation (mornings only)
>>Midday: Lunch in the cafeteria (change ?)
>>Early afternoon:>Wander halls (New targets) (Slow) check new people plus remaining
>>Mid afternoon: >Meditate in your room (Tired)
>>Late afternoon: >Chat with nurses (Stories)(Tired)
>>Early evening: Dinner in your room (change ?)
>>Mid evening: Sleep
>> Nurse Outing : try to get in contact with with other contacts
>> Weekend Outing : suggested go after in an outting with james to maybe get an opportunity to kill barber

Alright again going to ask other anons for a specific plan. Though im all for taunting the barber and stabbing with our knife. Perhaps even luring somewhere unseen with charisma use

>>6277297
+1to the schedule. As for the plan, I think we go for a trim and get his bearings, as a starting point. Using our charimsa spec to learn more about him.

And of course, since I can't make an update without errors slipping in, this is indeed the schedule for week 12, not 11.
>>6277297
Just to be sure, going for a downtown nurse outing next weekhas a pretty good chance of letting you talk to the other stone bearer. Going back after will lower the chance a lot. While it is dangerous, as you've seen, it may be your only opportunity for a peaceful conversation.
Not pushing you that way, just want to make sure you have all the information.

>>6277297
>>6277253
+1 support this plan.
Happy to simply get our bearings with the barber, using suggestion and our charisma spec to work him for info and perhaps creating a situation where he can be killed. I'd like to meet the woman again, but she could also BTFO our weak 94 year old ass.

Also, polling you anons here, when do we bring our son in on the whole bloodstones business? He is safer not knowing, but having an accomplice could be helpful too in the acquisition of more bloodstones (murder).

>>6277322
Oh no im aware. I just think its better to avoid potentially dangerous situations UNTIL. we kill the barber.

So i wanted to go with the contacts stuff instead . Which also might be dangerous but less imidiate danger

>>6277253
>>6277297 +1

>>6277297
Alright then, locking in this one!

>Roll 1d100+5 for physical rehabilitation
Between the barber and the woman, you have plenty of reasons to try extra hard this week.

>Roll 1d100+5 for checking the remaining unknowns in the retirement home. 30 or above to get a read on the new arrivals, then 40 50 60 and 70 for the remaining 20. Each DC will let you roll 5d200 due to the 1.5% chance instead of 1%.
You're getting a +5 since you do move around faster now, and you have enough time before the outings to use Scan once while doing it, so +10, but this is a physical activity in a Slow-affected slot, so you're getting a -10.

>Roll 1d100+6 for meditation.
+1 from achievements, +5 sinc eit's a Mind project, and even if I've been bad at remembering it, I did mention room meditation would buff Mind, as opposed to outside buffing Spirit, so here you go!

>Roll 2d100-5 to chat up a specific nurse. 60 or more. A successful roll will give you several options, but going even higher may unlock better ones.
Bringing back the same roll as last time, but with the -10 from Tired.

Roll 1d100 for getting in touch with old contacts. No DC for this one.
Roll 1d2 for meeting Bloodstone users, then xd100. I'll roll a 1d2 to see if they're a repeat or a new one.They're starting to stack up, so I'll look into making a little list I can post as a reminder.

>Roll 2d100+5 for grilling the barber. DC is 10, then higher is better. Given the dangerous situation, you'll need to clear the DC with both rolls to avoid issues, then we'll take the higher value as usual. Doing it like this is a bit of an experiment, so let me know what you think of it!
Roll 1d100 for the barber's kill tally. DCs are 6, 50, 75, and 95 this time around.
And you won't be seeking her out since it will be at a different time, but roll 1d100, DC 15 so you don't run into the woman.


Roll 1d100+5 for sleep quality.
Back to +10, we'll go down to +5 if you get another two success, then +0 because you'll finally be back at the level of general tiredness we started at, roughly. Maybe we'll even get to see what being well-rested can give you?


Should be everything for this round! Do speak up if something doesn't make sense or feel right, and please remember to mention what you're rolling for to avoid any other situations like this one!

Rolled 84 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6277943
Rehabilitation

Rolled 6 + 6 (1d100 + 6)

>>6277943
Meditation

Rolled 88 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6277943
Checking remaining uknowns

Rolled 116, 46, 108, 67, 132 = 469 (5d200)

>>6277964
Since it is a lot of rolls for bloodstones ill do the first 5
(Note for everyone else looks like we need 4 total 5d200

Rolled 14, 125, 157, 120, 174 = 590 (5d200)

>>6277943
Rolling second of four bloodstone 5d200s

Rolled 110, 171 = 281 (2d200)

>>6277943
Doin another set of the bloodstone roles before sleep

Rolled 62, 127, 154 = 343 (3d200)

>>6278082
Oops messed that up other 3

Rolled 100, 64 + 5 = 169 (2d100 + 5)

>>6277943
Grilling barber

Rolled 75, 193, 96, 92, 74 = 530 (5d200)

>>6277943
Rolling fourth of four bloodstone 5d200s
>>6278116
nice hundo

Also, what rolls do we have left to do?

Rolled 72 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6277943
For sleep
>>6278153
I think this the last one

Rolled 12, 76 - 5 = 83 (2d100 - 5)

>>6277943
Nurses
>>6278153
I think we need 1 more d100 for contacts

>>6278244
>>6278153
We also need a roll for kill talley and not encountering the woman

>>6278245
Also the d2 for the downtown bloodstones

>>6277943
Anyway contacts roll

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>6278288
Oops

Rolled 2 (1d2)

>>6277943

Downtown bloodstone count

Rolled 6, 1 = 7 (2d6)

>>6277943
>>6278288
Whoops anyway here is the downtown bloodstones roll

Rolled 35, 54 = 89 (2d100)

>>6278291
(Honestly since its getting close to 24 hour mark gonna start doing a roll every 2 hours. Untill these last rolls are done.

This is the bloodstone rolls for the two seen

Reminder to others we still need barber bloodstone count increase and bloodstone lady roll

Rolled 97 (1d100)

>>6277943
Barber kill tally

>>6277943
For the lady

Though. The barber has EVEN MORE bloodstones giant lootbox for us if this works out i guess

Rolled 20 (1d100)

>>6278362
Oop

Rolled 2, 2 = 4 (2d2)

Well, meditation and lack of bloodstones in the retirement home aside, this was an excellent set of rolls!
>>6278157
Ah, sorry, as per the writing under the sleep roll, this was meant to be a +10, so you'll be getting a tiny bonus to Insight progress too.


>>6278306
Rolling 2d2 to see if those are repeats or new bearers!


I'll sort this out properly tomorrow and start writing out the update, thanks for all the rolling!

>>6278462
Both are new bearers, then!

>>6278462
See you tommorow then qm probbably later than my usual time . But i am excited for the update. And hope the barber situation goes well

Rolled 76 (1d100)

>>6278306
Update is progressing apace, and that 100 will grant you a very interesting opportunity once I've got it written just right, but I did notice that we have a new mark with a roll above 50, meaning I need to make a Bloodstones roll, sorry about that.
The update is still on track for tonight, though!

>>6277253
You decide to that acquiring the barber's stones needs to happen before you run into the woman again. The stones and physical state difference are too much, even if she was to have no real combat skills. Besides, the madman must be stopped, even if he is something of an appreciating investment. You phone your son on Monday evening to tell him that the rehab is going well, and that your physical therapist had cleared you for accompanied outings which needn't include a nurse. He quite readily agrees to switch out the planned visit at the retirement home for a walk downtown. The children will be staying home with Abigail this time. Since you intend to directly approach the barber, this may be for the best.

In the meantime, your week proceeds as it often does. Rehab is progressing excellently, and your sleep is still quite peaceful somehow. Beyond helping with your appetite, you also grasped some insight from the more peaceful dreams you keep having. It isn't much, but given that your meditations stall quite badly this week, it is a welcome bonus.

>Current Insight Project: Auto Trigger (138+14=152/500)

You decide to take the new arrivals as the excuse to finally finish Scanning everyone who stays or works at the retirement home. You work your way down your mental list, and luck seems to smile down on you. Needing only a single use of Scan in the end you have as far as you know gotten a look at every single last person in the building. Sadly, you didn't spot any more stones. But at least there hasn't been a mass murderer or active bloodstones user right next to you this entire time, which is a relief considering how close you have found both of these recently.

You've also picked up another old project, that being cultivating a friendship with one of the nurses.

>This success will turn the relevant +5 bonus to a +10 when interacting with the nurses. You may additionally pick one nurse to gain the relevant bonus.

>Julia is the one who's been on outings with you the most. She knows you're reasonable and trustworthy, and maybe a smidge eccentric, and may not mind some of your stranger requests. Gain a +5 to your Nurse outing rolls.

>Helen is the one wheeling you around a lot of the time, and is a bit of a gossip. Gain +10 when talking to the nurses for information.

>Katie is the one who does your blood tests and brings you your medication in the mornings and evenings. She knows you're always good about taking them on time, so she could be persuaded to just come in and leave them a little early in the evening. It's nothing much, but you'll get a bit more time to wind down from the day, maybe fall asleep a little earlier. Gain +5 to sleep rolls.

>>6278958
>Agnes is an older nurse, the one who was at the reception and who told you about the trip and the signup process. Even if it didn't happen in the end, she is a practiced hand with all of the retirement home's paperwork. Be it signing up for another trip, or properly filling out the documents to be discharged, or just knowing what has to be filed when to limit headaches, being able to lean on her would be helpful. Gain +10 to retirement home paperwork rolls.


Your first outing of the week goes well. You send out a couple of innocent-looking letters to “a few old work friends”, and spot two new bearers. One you barely get a glimpse at, a man with a bright yellow hard hat, maybe a worker in a local renovation project on a break? But the other is far more interesting. An older man in a business suit, three bloodstones floating around his body, and what looks to be a bodyguard two steps behind him. You file away his face for later research on his identity. Could be a local industry or commerce powerhouse, or a politician you hadn't heard of.

You keep up your schedule, and get a short reply from one of your letters. An underground market in a neighboring city is still active. They don't know who you are, and the prices and the risk are likely to be quite high, but you gather you should be able to find a lot of rather interesting things to buy. Included is a brochure for a local sweets shop, the products scratched out and replaced by weapons and ammo, and a separate typewriter note detailing a dead drop in the city. Cash only.

>You now have access to a black market! Well, part of one. As a new and unknown client, you won't be able to buy the good stuff right away. Still, some basic options, including pistols, are available for purchase. You will need money for it though. Quite a bit of money.

As planned, James arrives on Saturday afternoon to pick you up in front of the retirement home. You manage to clamber into the passenger seat with only a little hassle, even as a nurse lingers nearby to make sure you'll be doing okay. With a reassuring wave to her, you're off, idly chatting with your son.

As you near the shop, you can't help a certain nervousness. You ran into the woman not far from here after all, and though you had been careful to avoid the area since, you can't help but wonder if she knows of the barber, and has been keeping tabs on him. Could you going in push her to act? To your relief, you don't see her anywhere near the shop, and your own stones remain silent. You make a show of absentmindedly scratching your hair, before spotting the shop and deciding you might as well get a shave in “while you've still got a little hair”.

>>6278959
You've elected to go in somewhat frontally. March into the barber shop, and get your hair cut. Make the usual haircut small talk. Prod the man with some remarks about people going missing. Get a good look around. You aren't sure where the killings take place actually. Surely he wouldn't be mad enough to...?

Your thoughts stagger.

“Fleet's Barber, at your service gentlemen, what can I do for you?”

The man has a wide, friendly smile. And nine, nine stones in his chest. At least three more bodies since last week. You'd heard nothing from the nurses, about the Mangler or anything else. What is going on?!

You recover from zoning out, only to see your son move on ahead, declare you'll both be getting a shave, and turning back to smile at you, having no clue of the wrench he's just thrown in.

Still, you attempt to make the best of it. The barber sits you both in the back of the shop, opposite each other, facing two large mirrors. You elect to go first, and make small talk just as you had planned. The tenseness in his face when you mention hearing about people going missing may be small, but from someone of your experience it might as well have been a scowl. You deflect by talking about the Mangler, but you can tell his composure is a little frayed.

And then, you see then feel it. A tenth stone...blooms into existence inside his chest, for you have no better word to describe what you see then. In the instants after, you feel a pull towards the back of the shop, on the side where it shares a wall with the pie shop. Your gaze moves back, but not befire catching on a mop and bucket filled with water being left in a corner. The bucket is red, but you can tell even from here it isn't just red-tinted water. You've seen blood mixed with water too many times for that. And as you rest your gaze forward again, you spot it under your son's seat. A small streak of red, a few flecks. The barber puts these large gowns on you, large enough that they cover the seats them. Large enough that they would get in the way of someone bringing their hands up to their throat. Large enough to avoid getting blood on the seats themselves, only on the ground. Whichovered in a throwaway sheet, ostensibly to catch falling hair. Cut throat, carry body to back room, switch sheets, clean up around with the bucket, toss out the water. Simple, and incredibly likely to go wrong. And yet you are sure this is what the man currently holding a blade over your throat as been doing. Surely he must pick his targets to not have been linked to their disappearance? Maybe only people he can lure in, those who wouldn't have known and made it known ahead of time they would be going to the shop?