Thread 6276144

Your name is Vincent Cruz. You work at a small accounting firm somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Texas. By accounts, you are a complete and total nobody.

You've spent the last five years of your life doing the same monotonous routine day in and day out.

Wake up. Catch a bus. Suffer the indignity of underfunded public transportation for an hour. Arrive at work.
Get a cup of coffee. Go to your cubical. Work on financial and tax paperwork for eight hours.
Go home. Watch TV. Get a restless six hours of sleep.

30 GOTO 10.

That's the way it's been up to this point. The job pays well enough and the other options weren't much better.

Today begins as much as any other day. You step off the rolling hunk of steel which you could call a bus and into the looming shadow of your workplace, a grey steel and glass monolith that holds nothing but human misery inside. Just how you like it. Ha.

Your body and mind prepare to go on autopilot to get through your routine. Your legs carry you forward automatically and your face is set into the daily mask of impassivity.

You're stopped by the receptionist before you can even step foot into your office.

"Mr. Cruz." The chipper receptionist offers her usual plastic smile. "Mr. Cantwell would like to speak to you."
Oh. Great. Your manager wants to talk to you? You can already imagine the dragged out conversation he's going to put you through.

You slump your shoulders. "Okay. Thank you." Your body swerves down the hallway opposite of where your office is. It doesn't take long to find yourself in front of his office door. Lucky bastard actually gets an office all to himself. You knock on the door. No answer.
You check the doorknob and it's...unlocked? Huh. You open the door to reveal a room completely shrouded in darkness. You can't see a damn thing in here.

You have half the mind to leave right now... but you might as well see this little jape all the way through. Why not? You step inside and the last thing you remember is two metal prongs being jabbed into your back and the accompanying surge of electricity flooding through your entire body.

You wake up after God knows how long. You can't see anything and, as you try to get up, you realize your arms and legs are tied to something. There's a few whispers and footsteps then the bag gets removed from your head. It's still too dark to make out much of your surroundings, but you can make out what's immediately in front of you.

There's a man sitting on the other side of the stainless steel table that you're forcefully sat at. He's an older gentleman wearing a simple white labcoat with a turtleneck sweater underneath, late 50s if you had to guess. He adjusts the desk lamp (the only source of light in this room) to get a better look at you.

"I apologize for the, erm, troublesome circumstances that surround our little introduction." He lets out a forced chuckle. "To keep it brief, you've been promoted!"

"Haha?" You awkwardly laugh at what you assume was a joke. "What for?"
"You have been promoted to a researcher for a brand new branch of the United States government - the Abnormality Regulation Coalition or A.R.C. for short." He pauses, quite obviously baiting for your reaction.
"I think you misunderstand. I'm not a scientist."
"Ah ha!" The fake smile he has is getting on your nerves. "You see, due to budgetary issues we have been forced to find researchers from, uhm, alternative sources. You understand, no?"
"I-"

"Great!" Several dossiers are abruptly dropped onto the table. "As a freshly assigned researcher, you have been assigned an anomaly to take care of. You'll be responsible for researching, interacting with, and containing the anomalies under your preview." He claps his hands together. "We'll explain more of your job responsibilities once you picked your first research subject."

There's a mechanical click and your hands are freed from their bindings. Only your hands. You're not going anywhere anytime soon.

You feel someone else close by but your instincts tell you not to look behind you.

"We have several anomalies for you to choose from. We made sure to saddle you with a very basic and safe anomaly for your first day. We wouldn't want our newest asset to die on us, right?"

With no other option, you begin to flip through the dossiers. There's not a lot of information in them — the majority of the text is redacted to hell and back. All you got to go on are a few images and ominous-sounding phrases.

"I must apologize for any confusion, but you currently don't have the clearance to read most of what I handed you." There's a bit too much glee in the researcher's voice.

This is already going to be a long day, isn't it?

CHOOSE YOUR FIRST ANOMALY! ["As an early sign-on bonus, you get to pick five! We'll limit future acquisitions to three anomalies."]
>"Let's stop and watch the roses." (You're reasonably sure that that's what a giraffe is supposed to look like.)
>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the corpse.)
>"Give me my beloved back, you imbecile!" (You never believed in haunted objects. Yet you know that this painting is not of this world.)
>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an android could look so exhausted...)
>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the old man was staring right at YOU.)

"Haha?" You awkwardly laugh at what you assume was a joke. "What for?"
"You have been promoted to a researcher for a brand new branch of the United States government - the Abnormality Regulation Coalition or A.R.C. for short." He pauses, quite obviously baiting for your reaction.
"I think you misunderstand. I'm not a scientist."
"Ah ha!" The fake smile he has is getting on your nerves. "You see, due to budgetary issues we have been forced to find researchers from, uhm, alternative sources. You understand, no?"
"I-"

"Great!" Several dossiers are abruptly dropped onto the table. "As a freshly assigned researcher, you have been assigned an anomaly to take care of. You'll be responsible for researching, interacting with, and containing the anomalies under your preview." He claps his hands together. "We'll explain more of your job responsibilities once you picked your first research subject."

There's a mechanical click and your hands are freed from their bindings. Only your hands. You're not going anywhere anytime soon.

You feel someone else close by but your instincts tell you not to look behind you.

"We have several anomalies for you to choose from. We made sure to saddle you with a very basic and safe anomaly for your first day. We wouldn't want our newest asset to die on us, right?"

With no other option, you begin to flip through the dossiers. There's not a lot of information in them — the majority of the text is redacted to hell and back. All you got to go on are a few images and ominous-sounding phrases.

"I must apologize for any confusion, but you currently don't have the clearance to read most of what I handed you." There's a bit too much glee in the researcher's voice.

This is already going to be a long day, isn't it?

CHOOSE YOUR FIRST ANOMALY! ["As an early sign on bonus, you get to pick five! We'll limit future acquisitions to three anomalies."]
>"Let's stop and watch the roses." (You're reasonably sure that that's what a GIRAFFE is supposed to look like.)
>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)
>"Give me my beloved back, you imbecile!" (You never believed in haunted objects. Yet you know that this PAINTING is not of this world.)
>"Wash all your dreams and worries away. In the end, there's only one other escape from your woes." (You never knew that an ANDROID could look so exhausted...)
>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)

>>6276147
>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)
Fuck yeah. SCP quest.

>>6276147
>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)
Let's say hi to grandpa

>>6276147
>"Let's stop and watch the roses." (You're reasonably sure that that's what a GIRAFFE is supposed to look like.)

>>6276147
>"Give me my beloved back, you imbecile!" (You never believed in haunted objects. Yet you know that this PAINTING is not of this world.)

>>6276147
>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)
Welcome back, Manager

>>6276147
>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)

>>6276144 (OP)
>>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)

>>6276147
>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)

BASED QM

>>6276147
>"Dreams are nothing more than wishes and a wish is just a dream you wish to come true." (A deep melancholy looms over the CORPSE.)
We're so back.

>>6276147
>CORPSE
Oh yeah, it's anomaly time

>>6276147
>"Please, have a seat. Watch my death with the reverence it deserves." (You swore the photo of the OLD MAN was staring right at YOU.)

>>6276147
>"Give me my beloved back, you imbecile!" (You never believed in haunted objects. Yet you know that this PAINTING is not of this world.)
glad to see you back

>>6276147
>CORPSE
Welcome back HandlerQM.

CORPSE: tUc, csn, NMz, +u7, t4e, y4z (6)
OLD MAN: KOO, 1w+, iFJ, T4x (4)
PAINTING: GOu, SXG (2)
GIRAFFE: CWx (1)

Well, seems like the CORPSE anomaly has won out.
Don't feel too bad, you'll likely see some of these anomalies pop up again in future choices. Writing.

Your hand lingers over the second dossier. You still can't get the grainy image you saw outta your head. You thought it was nothing at first. A bunch of flowers sprawled out on a floor that looked pretty but not 'anomalous' in any way.

You barely saw it through the film grain but there has to be a dead body underneath there. You at least saw a limp, broken arm jutting out of the flowerbed. You can't make out anything else out of the poor quality photo.

Something about how it was taken fills you with an overwhelming sense of melancholy. It washes over you as quickly as it arrived, bringing you back to your normal apathetic state.

You doubt a corpse is going to do anything too bad to you, right? It's already dead.
"I'll pick this one."

The researcher's false smile stretches even wider. His taut, plasticine skin is going to rip itself in half if he smiles any wider. "Excellent. We'll transfer ownership of In Limbo over to you now."

"That's its name?"
"Yes sir. No more questions, bye bye, get to work." Another burlap bag is unceremoniously thrown over your head. You feebly struggle against the iron grip of whoever's behind you.

Something sharp is jabbed into your neck. You don't remember remember falling unconscious, just that you felt so, so cold.

---

VINCENT CRUZ
HEALTH: DOING FINE.
MENTAL HEALTH: DOING FINE.
TRAIT: WAGEKEK (+5 to all rolls involving paperwork, menial labor or brown nosing superiors.)

ROLLS: Whenever a skill check is called for, 3d100 will be rolled. How many thresholds are met (i.e if the DC is 60, rolling two 62s and one 7 passes two thresholds) determines the success of the check. This will change from check to check but usually, 0 successes = SOMETHING REAL BAD and 3 successes = SOMETHING REAL GOOD.
Rolls will be done AFTER voting, not DURING it.

---

You wake up gasping for air.
Your throat is drier than a desert. Your head is spinning around and around and around. A dull pain radiates across your back. They really don't care about treating their new asset well, do they?

It takes a moment for you to take stock of the room you're in. Wow. Garbage dumps look better than this place.
The room you find yourself is in horrid condition. The walls, floor and ceiling are caked in a faint brown crust that reeks of coffee and burnt cigarettes.

The walls have begun to rot from the sheer lack of care. You can see right through them. Exposed, rusted pipping snakes up the inside of the rotten wall. Occasionally, a puff of boiling hot steam bursts out of a pipe. Great.
A few random tables straight out of a highschool science lab are scattered haphazardly throughout the small, boxy room. There's also two shelves with old, moth-eaten academic books scattered around.

Great. Is there anything in here that isn't corroded or rotten?
That's when something catches your attention. A loud, electronic BEEP! Where the hell did that come from?

You quickly figure out the source of the noise. An ancient desktop is resting on a desk by the northern wall. Seems like it turned on by itself - Guess it wants you to look at it, huh? You wander over to it to get a better look at it.

It's about as old as the researcher you met - This has to be a Macintosh from the 1980s. Its case is stained dark yellow from years of neglect and dust cakes every inch of the poor thing. It takes a solid six minutes after pushing the power button for it to turn on.

There seems to be a text file left for you. You quickly skim it.

"This is your training file. Read it carefully."
"Listen [LOW RUNG RESEARCHER], we're completely out of funding since the govt slashed our budgets in the last restructuring. We can excuse some of your mistakes in the scientific process for now. Just get us some of that sweet sweet DOSH."

"You have TWO OBJECTIVES. RESEARCH THE ANOMALIES and MAKE US CASH."
"How do you make cash? Simple - You find a way to make money off of the anomalies we give you."
"There are three types of anomalies we care about - ENERGY, RESEARCH and ESOTERIC."
"ENERGY anomalies produce some kind of energy source. Gasoline, coal, unique anomalous forms of energy, etc. We need to boil as much water as possible and these anomalies help."
"RESEARCH anomalies produce some useful byproduct that could be transformed into a product."
"ESOTERIC anomalies are anomalies that have no immediately obvious use. These ones are super weird - Be careful."
"You may also receive sponsorships from foreign parties or other researchers like yourself. Accepting these sponsorships may help you acquire the CASH."
"You will be given $2000 upfront to buy new equipment and to 'motivate' other staff to work with you. Good luck."

…Huh.

You check the room to see if there's anything else and that's when you find it. A fancy airlock straight out of a sci-fi book. You missed it at first from just how much grime was coating it but there it is. A small placard hanging next to the airlock reads "IN LIMBO. RISK LEVEL UNKNOWN."
A keycard scanner is installed next to it. You dig through your pockets to find that you were, thankfully, given one.

"VINCENT CRUZ - LEVEL 0 RESEARCHER". That's all that's on the cheap plastic card. It doesn't even have your face on it.

Guess that's your anomaly. You should probably take a moment to think about how to proceed from here. They probably left the dossier around here somewhere, you'll just have to look for it first.

DAY 1 of your NEW JOB has started!
Due to there being no other staff but you and the horrid state of your 'lab', you have eight TIME TOKENS to use.
Each action requires a certain amount of TIME TOKENS. When you're out of them, the day ends.
You may pick up to two actions per turn, as long as you have the TIME TOKENS to spare.

What do, Vincent?

>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)
>Try to organize the lab to the best of your ability. Might as well make it easier to work here. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a pigstay. (-3 TIME TOKENS, 3d100+5t60 to determine how much you clean up. Good for your mental health.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. See what we're working with here. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)
>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)
>Write in.

>>6276455
>DOSSIER
>COMPUTER
Cleaning can happen later. What are we working with here?

>>6276455
>The SCP foundation got DOGE'd

Uh oh.

>DOSSIER
>ORGANIZE

>>6276461
+1
We should do the cleaning in maybe the next turn. I doubt the "In Limbo" will like the CONTAINMENT CELL dirty.

>>6276467
Hmm, I wonder, does ARC give anomalies here a psychologist/therapy/psychiatrist?

>>6276455
>Check the dossier.
>Check through some of the academic books

>>6276455
>>Check the dossier.
>Check out your computer.

>>6276454
>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)

>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a pigstay. (-3 TIME TOKENS, 3d100+5t60 to determine how much you clean up. Good for your mental health.)

Welcome back Handler! Didn’t expect to see you this soon.

>>6276470
We are the therapist, anon. And the medical doctor, and the security guard, and the nuclear physicist.

>>6276455
>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)
>Clean
>>6276454
>"Yea we have zero funding dude. Also here's 2k dollars to start with!"
*Hmmmm*

>>6276516
And the theoretical physicist. And the- Yeah our job description is basically "anything we need to be whenever we need to be."

>>6276525
2K is peanuts compared to millions or billions of dollars on a typical government budge

>>6276461
+1
Computer and cleaning can wait a turn

>>6276455
Dossier
Organize

DOSSIER: EVERYONE (9)
COMPUTER: t4e, Szu (2)
ORGANIZE: U+R, 04z, y4z, csn (4)
CLEAN: ggd, z8q (2)
BOOKS: CWx (1)

Seems like we're reading the file and organizing our shitlab. Fair's fair.
Three anons, roll 1d100+5. You'll find SOMETHING as long as you pass one THRESHOLD. (More thresholds IS better, though.)

Oh, also, to the anons excited to see me again - I'm excited to see you too. I don't like being idle, what can I say.

>>6276455
>Check the dossier. You didn't really have time to read it until you got dumped here. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100+5t55 to determine how much information you can get.)
>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)

Rolled 53 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6276588

Rolled 97 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6276588

Rolled 67 + 5 (1d100 + 5)

>>6276588

>>6276525
>"Yea we have zero funding dude. Also here's 2k dollars to start with!"
To be fair, you don't exactly know how far 2k is worth in this facility or how much it can actually get you.

>>6276590
>>6276591
>>6276595
THRESHOLD COUNT: 3/3!
HIGHEST ROLL: 102!
The power of PAPERWORK shines through your soul. Seems like you're going to get some valuable information out of this after all. Writing.

>>6276525
>"Yea we have zero funding dude. Also here's 2k dollars to start with!"
To be fair, you don't exactly know how much 2k is worth in this facility or how far it can actually get you in terms of goods.

>>6276590
>>6276591
>>6276595
THRESHOLD COUNT: 3/3!
HIGHEST ROLL: 102!
The power of PAPERWORK shines through your soul. Seems like you're going to get some valuable information out of this after all. Writing.

There's no reason to rush around right now. You're in an unfamiliar place that's clearly holding you against their will (they kidnapped you, for Christ's sake!). You're going to take your sweet time here.

You duck to avoid a stray blast of steam. God, you need to get that fixed sooner than later. Fixing this lab up so it's anywhere near usable is probably going to eat up most of your funds.
Feh! You can worry about that later. You need to find that dossier. Someone had to bring this anomaly here so it's likely they already know SOMETHING about it.

You find the dossier laying on one of the tables. It was partially underneath a pile of wet, almost digested paperwork that was left by your precursor. Eugh. You wipe off the gunk to the best of your ability. You crack open the still-stained dossier to see what you can make out.

>102!
It's pretty dry but it's actually pretty informative for what's that worth.

TIME OF ACQUISITION: 14:16:22, 6/19/2026 (A week ago?)
LOCATION OF ACQUISITION: ROOSEVELT MEADOWS THEATER, OAK HILL ST GA.
EXTRACTION TASK FORCE AGENTS WHO RECOVERED IT: ROXXIE [REDACTED], LOXXIE [REDACTED], GERALD SMITH.
INITIAL DISCOVERY REPORT: RESIDENTS OF AN APARTMENT BLOCK ON OAK HILL COMPLAINED TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES ABOUT EXCESSIVE, DAILY BLACKOUTS. NO OTHER BUILDINGS REPORTED ANY SUCH BLACKOUTS
POWER SOURCES THOSE THAT SHOULD BE UNAFFECTED BY POWER GRID OUTAGES (BATTERIES, GAS POWERED GENERATORS, SOLAR POWERED EQUIPMENT) WOULD SHUT DOWN ALONGSIDE THE POWERGRID.
ROOSEVELT MEADOWS THEATHER [ABANDONED CIRCA 2020] WAS DEEMED A POINT OF INTEREST AFTER SEVERAL RESIDENTS SAID THEY HEARD 'WEIRD STATICKY SOUNDS' COMING INSIDE.
TWO ELECTRICANS WERE SENT INTO THE THEATER WITH APPROVAL OF LOCAL AUTHORTIES. ELECTRIANS DESCRIBED A LARGE MASS OF FLOWERS LAYING IN ONE OF THE EMPTY THEATHER AUDITORIUMS. FURTHER EXAMINATION REVEALED THAT AN UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE CORPSE WAS ENTAGLED IN THE FLOWERBED.
COMMUNICATION WAS ATTEMPTED. NO REACTION WAS RECORDED. ANOMALY WAS RECOVERED FROM THEATER WITH NO INCIDENT. INFORMATION ABOUT THE ANOMALY CAUGHT THE ATTENTION OF EMBEDDED ETF AGENTS INSIDE LOCAL POLICE PRECIENT
ETF AGENTS WERE SENT TO RECOVER AND TO SUPPRESS INFORMATION ABOUT IN LIMBO. COVER STORY #9-10-255, "SQUATTERS RIGHTS", WAS IMPLENTED.
ETF ROXXIE STATES, FOR THE RECORD, 'It's bullshit! I took a lotta cool pictures of this thing but all of them look weird and grainy! Bleh!""

That's all she wrote. You wish you had a bit more to work on but whatever this thing is but you got three useful pieces of information.
-It interferes with or drains power from any nearby power sources. Has an area of effect(?)
-It's either inert or incredibly passive.
-You can't take good photographs of it for some reason. Intentional or a byproduct of its anomalous properties?

Not much else you can learn from this. Maybe you could figure out a way to invert its power draining?

You'll need to study it more to figure out if that's possible.
You close the dossier. You might as well organize this place if you're going to be working in here, right?

You start by clearing off the tables. Pile after pile of liquified, rotten paperwork are discarded into a large trash can you found near the exit. Your hands are now stained with a slurry of sticky black, grey and brown liquid. Eugh.

The tables themselves are nearly fused to the ground with how much gunk is caked onto their legs. You have to put all of your bodyweight into pushing them but you eventually manage to move them. You push all of the tables together into one compact table to save space. Just in case you buy any heavy equipment or machinery you need to put in this lab.

You then organize the books scattered across the various bookshelves. You decide it's probably best if each shelf only has one category of book so you can easily find a specific category later. You rather not have to flip through ten chemistry textbooks to find a math textbook, right?

As you're messing with the books, you find that some random small objects were left inside them. Either the last sob here used them as makeshift bookmarks of they were trying to hide them.

ITEMS OBTAINED!
>GRIMY FLOPPY DISK (A pink floppy disk with '1000 HOURS OF ENTERTAINMENT' scribbled on it with sharpie. A video game? A movie? Who knows.)
>STAINED FOOD COUPON (A fast food coupon for '75% off any A.R.C BURGER meal!'. Not expired. Value uncertain.)
>MYSTERY BAGGIE (Filled with an off-white substance. You are oddly compelled to taste it.)

>TIME COST to STUDY ACADEMIC BOOKS is reduced to 1d3-1! Has a chance to cost no time!

You take a quick walk around the lab to see if there's anything else you can organize. Your eyes glaze over the stained, muck-coated walls. The loose lightbulbs limply hanging from the ceiling barely keep this place illuminated so you nearly missed it but...

You're pretty sure there's other airlocks in here. It'll take a while to clear the muck away and, well, who knows what could be inside them? You doubt anyone has bothered checking inside them for WEEKS. You're pretty sure they won't be any anomalies inside, thankfully.

>NEW ACTION unlocked!

You wonder how the hell the lab could've gotten into a state like this anyways. This doesn't seem to be just a case of neglect or budget cuts. It's almost like you're being laughed at. This isn't the first time you've had to deal with some sort of hazing ritual at a new job.
Usually it's just being hit a few times or being dared to do something stupid. This is a bit excessive if it's a hazing ritual...or is it?

Only God would know for sure.

Your lab still looks like garbage but at the very least, it's easier to find what you need in here. It's a start at least.
6 TIME TOKENS left. What do you do, Vincent?

>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a pigstay. (-3 TIME TOKENS, 3d100+5t60 to determine how much you clean up. Good for your mental health.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)
>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)
>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)
>Write in.

>>6276622
>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before.
Knowing is half the battle!
The other half is appropriate industrial cleaning solutions.

>Check out your computer
We need some way to write down any observations, and I'm not confident we were provided a pen and paper.

>>6276631
>I'm not confident we were provided a pen and paper.
You were not. Aside from what you just found and the dossier, Vincent's inventory consists of...

>WAGESLAVE UNIFORM (White dress shirt, black dress pants, black dress shoes, purple tie for contrast. Offers no bonuses.)
>BREATHMINTS (A roll of 12 mints. Keeps your breath minty fresh, if the ads are right.)
>WALLET (Emptied out. Merely just a faux-leather vessel to stuff things into later.)
The bedside service of your employers isn't the best, as you can clearly tell.

>>6276636
>You were not
I fucking knew it. Cheapskate government glowie pricks!

>>6276622
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind
Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before.

>>6276622
>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)
>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)

>>6276622
WTF is a "t60"?

>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)

>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)

See if the books have anything to say about the gunk.

>>6276622
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)
>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)

>>6276708
If you go back and look earlier, it stands for "threshold". Dunno why QM isn't using DC but it still works fine

>>6276622
>>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)
>>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)

>>6276622
>>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, 3d100t60 to determine what you find. Anything you don't have to buy is something good, right?)
>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before. (-1 TIME TOKENS, 3d100-2t62 to determine what the substance even is. You doubt this is the last time you'll see it in this place.)
May as well. Maybe there's a gun in one of them or something.

>>6276622
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind.
>Try to figure out what the fuck the gunk in here even IS. It's nothing you've ever seen before.

>>6276708
>WTF is a "t60"
It's just the threshold you need to roll to get a success (outta 3). I'll probably just make it DC for future voting choices to make it easier to read.

Anywho,

WHAT IS GUNK?: EVERYONE (8)
SCRAP GUNK!: Cwx, KOO, csn, T4x, y4z (5)
COMPUTE: ggd (1)
LEAVE: CWx, U+R (1)
STUDY: 04z (1)

Pretty solid majority. I need three anons to roll 2d100 this time since we got two skill checks.
The first three rolled will be for WHAT IS GUNK???, the other half will be for SCRAP OFF GUNK!!!

WHAT IS GUNK SUCCESS TABLE? DC: 60
0: You got no fucking clue. It stinks and it stains your hands. That's all you can gleam outta this.
1: You got a rough approximation of an idea what it could be. You gain +2 to future checks involving the GUNK.
2: You got a solid enough idea what it is. If you had the cleaning supplies, this could be easy to deal with! You gain +4 to future GUNK checks, 'CLEAN THIS PLACE" reduced to 2 TIME TOKENS.
3: A half-remembered memory flickers in the back of your head. You think you've seen this somewhere...but where? You gain +5 to future checks involving the GUNK, 'CLEAN THIS PLACE' is reduced to 2 TIME TOKENS, and you get an idea of the origin of the GUNK.

SCRAP GUNK SUCCESS TABLE. DC: 62.
Crits enabled! 1s are for CRIT FAILS, 100 are for CRIT SUCCESSES. Typically reserved for luck-based or high-stakes tasks. This is the former.
CRIT FAIL: You found something you were not supposed to.
0: JACK AND SHIT. Waste of your time.
1: You manage to find one additional airlock. It may or may not have something of value inside.
2: You find one accessible airlock and one airlock you'll need time to repair/pry open. You'll also get some minor supplies that were left behind the one you have access to.
3: You two two easily accessible airlocks with a lot of well-needed supplies hidden inside them. Lucky you!
CRIT SUCCESS: Hoo boy! The last person here left you something REAL useful!

Rolled 75, 98 = 173 (2d100)

>>6276892

Rolled 14, 35 = 49 (2d100)

>>6276892

Rolled 28, 8 = 36 (2d100)

>>6276892

Oops, mixed up the two DCs. WHAT IS GUNK is 62, SCRAP is 60. Not that it matters much since...

WHAT IS GUNK?
THRESHOLDS PASSED: 2/3
HIGHEST ROLL: 96!
You now understand the GUNK. The GUNK understands you.

SCRAP GUNK OFF!
THRESHOLDS PASSED: 0/3
HIGHEST ROLL: 35.
Yeah, no, you found nothing. You're pretty sure there IS something here, the gunk's just making it too hard for you to find it. You'll probably have to wait for tomorrow to try again.

Writing. Update will be a bit slower, cooking myself some rice. Can't write on an empty stomach.

>>6276906
>HIGHEST ROLL: 35.
wdym, we got a 75 for it

>>6276934
Oh, I should clarify. When I meant 'first three', I meant 'the first three d100s rolled" out of the 6d100 that were rolled. The first three dice were 75, 98 and 14. Those got assigned to WHAT IS GUNK. SCRAP GUNK got the other three, 35/28/8.
Not that the first dice is for WHAT IS GUNK and the second was for SCRAP GUNK. Sorry for the confusion

>>6276934
I think OP is taking them in order, not split. So it's 75-98-14 and 35-28-8.

>>6276936
Beaten to it by 12 seconds...

Your hand lingers over one of the gunk-covered walls. What the hell even is this stuff? You ignored it in lieu of doing other tasks but it's like nothing you've seen before.

Every single surface (except your old computer) has been caked in this dry yet sticky crust. It almost reminds you of the shit that caked the walls of your aunt's house. It's probably SOMETHING adjacent to a nicotine stain but your gut tells you it can't just be that.

You scrap off some of the substance with your ID card. You rather not get this shit underneath your fingernails. It almost seems to liquify right in front of your eyes, turning into a sticky paste that clings to your plastic card.
You raise the card up to get a better look at the substance.

It's. It's moving.
It wasn't noticeable at first but you can definitely see some slight movements from the brown, cigarette-smelling paste. It twitches and pulses with an odd, irregular rhythm. Almost like it's alive.
The paste slowly spreads across your ID card like it's jam being spread on bread. You press your finger against it and almost immediately, the spreading stops. The gunk recedes away from your finger until there's an inch of distance between the two.

When you lift it back up, it begins to spread again.
Hm. You take your floppy disk and you press the corner of it against the gunk. It tries to spread onto the disk - Odd. What makes your finger different? You yank the disc away before it can get a solid grip on the disk.

You glance back at the floor you took the gunk from. It's slowly spreading to fill up the hole you left behind. It's taking a lot of time to fill up the gap while, at this point, your ID card is already gunked up.
You easily manage to peel off the still wet gunk from your card before it can corrode.

You plant your foot on the ungunked part of the floor. The gunk's spread is not halted and you have to yank your foot back before it decides your shoe was a prime target to gunk up.

Alright. So it's obvious this gunk is alive. With how it's moving, it most reminds you of slime mold. That weird, sticky shit you'd see clinging to tree bark.
You think you might've seen something that'd fit this better but the memory evades you.

It seems inert until it's damaged and for whatever reason, it's afraid of being directly touched while it's spreading. You're not sure why your finger caused a reaction and not your foot but this is the best you can get with what limited resources you got.

It stinks like nicotine too so something that'd remove nicotine stains would also help to remove it.
You think you heard that vinegar is pretty good at getting mold out of stuff. You do know there's also some cleaning supplies made specifically for getting smoke odors out of things - You'll have to see if you can buy that later.

>You now understand how to clean the GUNK. +4 to all future GUNK checks.
>CLEANING now only costs 2 TIME TOKENS!

Well, you might as well check around to see if there's any other airlocks in this junkheap.
You walk around the perimeter of the lab. Every section of wall looks the same as the last. Brown, inert 'cigarette mold' (name pending) blurs everything into a gradient of light and dark browns. If there was anything underneath the mold, it's impossible to tell. The shoddy lighting in here doesn't help matters either.

You randomly scrap at any oddly dark patches you spot but all you get as your reward is more cigarette mold. You doubt this idea is a complete bust but you just don't have the time to examine it any further. Feh. Maybe it'll be easier if you clean this place up.

Before you think about what you want to do next, something else catches your attention.
The old incandescent light bulbs hanging from the ceiling begin to flicker. You dismissed it at first as nothing out of the ordinary - This place likely has shoddy power given the state everything is in.

That report you read a bit ago makes you second guess yourself. You only grow more suspicious as you hear the computer turning on and off without any pattern or reason.
The flickering stops moments later. Power, for now, has gone back to normal. Is the anomaly waking up? Hm. That's worrying.

What do you do, Vincent? You have four TIME TOKENS left!
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)
>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
>Focus your attention on one task. (Pick alongside the task you want to focus on. Reduces Threshold DC by 3 if it's a skill check, reduces time TOKEN cost by 1 if it's above one.)
>Write in.

"Focus your attention" would make 'check the acdemic books' a 1d2-1, just to clarify.

>>6276955
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)


then

>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)

>>6276955
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL.

Time for introductions. to its new home And we should find out what are "In Limbo" needed and other things. So that we note it down when TIME TOKEN finally runs out.
>Try to find something to clean this place with.

>>6276955
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6276955
>>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
Should probably deal with the assigned anomaly sooner rather than later if the power is starting to go.

>>6276955
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)
Let's just check for resources, no time to clean up today
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
Confront our unit of interest

>>6276955
>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)
>Focus your attention on one task. (Pick alongside the task you want to focus on. Reduces Threshold DC by 3 if it's a skill check, reduces time TOKEN cost by 1 if it's above one.)

>>6276955
>>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)
>>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)

>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. Good for your mental health.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. You're supposed to be studying IN LIMBO but this FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)

>>6276955
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. You should check the anomaly out sooner than later. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>You're probably not allowed to leave until the work day's over but step outside your lab for a moment. Where the hell even are you? (-1 TIME TOKEN, you doubt you're alone here. Maybe you meet someone?)
>Check through some of the academic books. Maybe they can help you with your job. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS, you barely know any science stuff so this might help you down the line.)

LEARN MORE ABOUT GUNK: 04z, T4x, NMz (3)
CLEAN: 04z, y4z, CWx, tbi, olp, NMz (6)
CONTAINMENT: y4z, CWx, T4x, tbi, SXG (5)
STUDY: KOO (Who wants it as his only task), NMz, SXG (3)
LEAVE: SXG (1)

Seems like it's we have a solid majority here. Three anons, roll 1d100+9 (+5 from WAGESLAVE, +4 from GOOD KNOWLEDGE)

CLEANING TABLE - DC 60
0 SUCCESS: You only managed to stain your clothes brown and black from the cigarette mold. Bad for your metal health.
1-2 SUCCESSES: You get a solid headstart on cleaning the room with what limited tools you have. You can breath a bit easier now.
3 SUCCESSES: Along with cleaning the place up, you manage to collect large samples of CIGARETTE MOLD to study later. Reduces LEARN MORE ABOUT GUNK'S DC by 4. You restore more MENTAL HEALTH this turn.

LEARN MORE ABOUT GUNK: 04z, T4x, NMz (3)
CLEAN: 04z, y4z, CWx, tbi, olp, NMz (6)
CONTAINMENT: y4z, CWx, T4x, tbi, SXG (5)
STUDY: KOO (Who wants it as his only task), NMz, SXG (3)
LEAVE: SXG (1)

Seems like it's we have a solid majority here. Three anons, roll 1d100+9 (+5 from WAGESLAVE, +4 from GOO KNOWLEDGE)

CLEANING TABLE - DC 60
0 SUCCESS: You only managed to stain your clothes brown and black from the CIGARETTE MOLD. Bad for your metal health.
1-2 SUCCESSES: You get a solid headstart on cleaning the room with what limited tools you have. You can breath a bit easier now.
3 SUCCESSES: Along with cleaning the place up, you manage to collect large samples of CIGARETTE MOLD to study later. Reduces LEARN MORE ABOUT GUNK'S DC by 4. You restore more MENTAL HEALTH this turn.

Rolled 15 + 9 (1d100 + 9)

>>6277570

Rolled 88 + 9 (1d100 + 9)

>>6277570

Rolled 74 + 9 (1d100 + 9)

>>6277570

THRESHOLDS PASSED: 2/3
HIGHEST ROLL: 97!
You didn't manage to get any worthwhile samples but you sure did clean the FUCK out of the lab.

Writing.

Yeah, no, you HAVE to clean this place up. You may not have many (or any) cleaning supplies to work with BUT! You have to do something. Get a head start. You pray that your lungs aren't already infested with spores.

Wait - No, it's slime mold. Maybe it's different? Hm. Guess you'll have to study that later. You're an accountant, not a scientist, after all.
You scan around the lab for anything that could be remotely useful for this task. You luckily managed to find a discarded broom resting against one of the book shelves. Nothing else - It's better than nothing. That's probably one of the few things this organization bothered to give you.

You aggressively scrap at the floor with your broom. The slime mold is stubborn but friction's a powerful thing. The broom's bristles are rapidly caked in brown, sticky gunk. You shake off what you can into the trash can you found before starting over.

Scrap, shake, scrap, shake. Your mouth forces itself into a grim smile. You get kidnapped by some shadowy governmental branch that apparently deals with the supernatural...
And you're cleaning slime mold off. There isn't exactly any other choice here. You got no clue where you are, what the layout is, how much security it has, etc etc. You guess playing along is all you can do for now.

Scrap, shake, scrap. You wonder why their budget got cut. If anomalies ARE real, wouldn't you want to invest money into counting them?
Scrap, shake, scrap. Fuck. Are you even going to get paid beyond that lump sum of $2000? Are you going to have to do this shit for free?
Scrap, shake, scrap. What a 'promotion' this is, huh? What a fucking scam. You were fine being a wageslave at an accounting firm.

You finish up cleaning before your thoughts could linger too long on your current predicament. The broom is beyond gunked up, you might as well throw it away once you're off the clock. The good news is that the floor is now cleansed of any CIGARETTE MOLD! You even got some off the walls before the broom got too gunked up.

The lab still looks like horse shit. You CAN say that you did the best you could. It was also a good way to relax, really. You hate how much you enjoyed the monotony but it's what you're used to. Day in and day out. That's just life.
>MENTAL HEALTH is now CONTENT
>It'll be easier to check for airlocks tomorrow!

The lights rapidly flicker between on and off. The sharp, electrical fizzle of the light bulb filament struggling to stay on echoes through the lab. The old Macintosh desktop shuts off and, well, it doesn't turn back on.
You expect the light bulbs to fucking explode with how much noise they're making but the flickering stops before they could.

Okay. Yeah. You got to check the anomaly. The file said it messed with electronics. You're like 90% sure that's the source behind this nonsense.
You discard your ruined broom into the trash can alongside with the slime mold. Time to see what's up with this anomaly.

You swipe your keycard in front of the scanner. A light on it turns green and it plays small, pleasant electric chirp.
"ACCESS GRANTED".

The airlock door slowly rises from the ground, creaking and groaning with every small movement it makes. You wait until there's enough clearance before you duck into the containment cell.
The airlock shuts behind you, sealing itself shut to make sure nothing can get out. Luckily there's another keycard scanner on the other side so you're not stuck here.

You turn to face whatever's inside of the containment cell. The cell is a featureless steel grey cube that's big enough for three or four people to stand in comfortably. The walls, floor and ceiling are free of any slime mold (thankfully) but it is pretty damn dusty in here.

The ceiling's overhead lighting keeps the room well lit. It's a nice reprieve from the dank, musty lab you had to work in for the last few hours.

You glance down at the floor.

https://youtu.be/FHtCVu3JYPM - ANOMALY WORK

A large flower bed with flowers of every color you could think of seems to be growing out of the floor. Sunflowers, roses, tulips, pansies and some others you don't immediately recognize.

The first thing that catches your eye is something you couldn't make out from the grainy photo. The stems of the flowers are made out of cabling instead of plant matter. The color seems to match with the color of the flower. Sunflowers get yellow cables, red roses get red cables, etc.

Odd. You step closer to the flower bed and that's when the smell hits you. A sickly sweet rot that slams into your nose with the force of a baseball bat. It's strong enough where you can taste it on your tongue. It's a mixture of flowery fragrance and rotten, moldy meat.

Guess you should've expected that. The photo did show a corpse. Several human limbs poke out of the edges of the flower bed. You do a quick count of how many it has. One, two, three, five, eight...ten, twelve...twenty?
You gulp. You're not sure what kind of corpse has twenty arms but it certainly can't be a human one.

You can't make out anything else about the corpse thanks to the flowers covering it.
The ceiling light begins to flicker. You try to figure out how the anomaly is doing this because this is going to be a pain of the ass if it keeps happening.

Several of its hands clench and unclench as if they're trying to grab onto something. Once the flickering stops, the hands stop as well.
You swore you heard some kind of noise coming from within the flower bed. It was too quiet to really make out over the flickering but you don't think your gut is lying to you.

Hm.

ANOMALY WORK
-Anomalies are all unique and vary from creature to creature but most anomalies share one thing in common. You need to watch their MOOD.

-MOOD determines the anomaly's current emotional state. Anomalies start at a baseline of 0/NEUTRAL that increases or decreases base on what you do to it. Letting their MOOD too high or too low will cause the anomaly to become unstable. Their mood changes depend on what types of work you do on it.
-Anomalies may have unique work mechanics on top of this. Some dislike it if you work on them too often, some dislike it if you ignore them, some require specific rituals to keep appeased, some will interfere with other anomalies, etc. You'll learn these as you work on them.

You didn't find any equipment in here so you're limited in what you can do.
You try your best to ignore the faint, looming gloom you feel in your chest. It's nothing. Right?

IN LIMBO
MOOD: ???%

What do you want to do with the anomaly, Vincent? Pick one or two works to do.
>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has.
>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it.)
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least.
>Hold one of its hands. It was trying to reach something, you think.
>Pluck a flower from the corpse flowerbed to study later. Hopefully it doesn't hurt.
>Just watch the anomaly. Figure out why it's making you feel all emotional.
>Write in.

You likely won't have much time to do anything after this. What do you want to do with your last hour of work? Pick one.
>Focus on working with the anomaly. (Lets you study the anomaly more. This is what you're assigned to do, after all. Works done will offer more information.)
>Cloak out early. Explore the facility you ended up at. (Gives you a head start on meeting your coworkers and finding out where the hell you are.)
>Take some time to study your academic books. (Gets you a headstart on actually learning how to do this 'science' stuff. You're supposed to be a 'researcher' after all.)

>>6277609
>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions.
Are you okay with me taking some of your flowers so I can study them?
Do you need water, sunlight or fertilizer?
>Just watch the anomaly. Figure out why it's making you feel all emotional.
>Take some time to study your academic books. (Gets you a headstart on actually learning how to do this 'science' stuff. You're supposed to be a 'researcher' after all.)

>write in
Go back to the other room and get the broom from the bin, break off the handle. Return to the flower bed. When the hands start clutching, give them the broom handle to hold.

>>6277615
Clever. I'll approve that if people wanna vote for it. (Not like the broom is useful for anything anymore)

>>6277609
Sure I'll support >>6277615
If this works we could maybe request stress balls to use later. I'm also kind of curious how In Limbo would respond to something limke a Rubik's Cube.

>Examine corpse
>Study academic books

>>6277611
>>6277615
+1

>>6277611
>>6277615
+1
We can always buy better cleaning tools. And we should communicate with "In Limbo" first to get its consent first.

>>6277615
+1

>>6276777
+1

This isn’t normal degradation. We need to know if this is a threat or not.

>>6277609
>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has.
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least.
>Take some time to study your academic books. (Gets you a headstart on actually learning how to do this 'science' stuff. You're supposed to be a 'researcher' after all.)

>>6277609
>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has.
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least.

>Cloak out early. Explore the facility you ended up at. (Gives you a head start on meeting your coworkers and finding out where the hell you are.)

>>6277615
+1
Batteries might also be an idea if it needs the energy to grow its flowers--and that's why it drains the grid--but I'm joining this vote a little too late to make it a thing now.
Also: books

Rolled 2 (1d3)

TALK TO ABNO: CWx, 8kG, y4z
WATCH: CWx, 8kG, y4z
EXAMINE CORPSE: ggd, KOO, SXG
EXAMINE FLOWERS: KOO, SXG
BROOM!!!: utV, 8KG, y4z, tbi, OoQ

LEAVE: SXG
STUDY BOOKS: Everyone else.

I'll roll a 1d3 to see what you do alongside the broom then I'll get writing.
1 = TALK
2 = WATCH
3 = CORPSE EXAMINATION

There's way too many options on what you can do with this thing and, frankly, not enough tools to do any of them well. They really left you in the deep end of the pool with no floaties or even a pool ring.

You know this thing isn't going to instantly kill you. They would've shot you in the back of the head if they just wanted you dead. You also don't want to get TOO close to this thing.

Doesn't really help that looking at it makes you feel really, really weird.
Wait! An idea (how rare) manifests inside your grey matter. This might just work.

You exit the containment cell in a hurry. You easily find where you left the bin and cigarette-mold infested broom. The mold has already started to climb up from the bristles up to the cheap plastic handle.
The plastic it touches is already starting to weaken and corrode. It didn't do much to the steel walls and floor but it IS somewhat corrosive, huh? Noted.

You snap the handle easily thanks to the cigarette mold's help. The handle you're left with is long enough that it fit in one, maybe two, of the anomaly's arms. Good enough for you.
You re-enter the containment cell with little to no fanfare. The anomaly didn't notice you were gone at all.

The lights begin to flicker yet again. The hands clasp and grasp futilely, desperately, for anything to grab onto. The light above is starting to make a lot of noises you don't like to hear! Sizzling, crackling, creaking...
The ceiling light is slowly loosening from its frame. Okay, okay, you need to stop this NOW before the anomaly hurts itself.

You gingerly lower it the handle towards one of the anomaly's hands. The hands, you note, aren't rotten in any way. They're slender, pale and pristine. Odd. You wonder where the rotten smell is coming from then.
Two hands weakly grasp the handle.

The other hands begin to slow down. Their grasping, flailing digits are now lifeless. The lights stop flickering and any weird noises you were hearing cease entirely.

IN LIMBO tenderly runs its fingers along the broom handle you gave it. Other hands try to grasp at the broom but there's only so much room its hands can grasp onto.
You count at least four hands all struggling to hold onto it at the same time before it stops trying to add more.

You wonder how strong its grip is but you'll have to test that out later. If a broom handle is enough to keep it placated for now, you're not going to complain.

You lean against one of the containment cell walls. You don't have anything to write with so you might as well commit this to memory. Time to observe the anomaly.
Any movement it makes is slow and subtle. Its hands continue to rub the broom handle that could be described as 'lovingly' if not for. How frankly surreal the gesture is to you.

Its flowers gently sway as if there was wind blowing past them. Without the flickering of dying lights, the containment cell is remarkably quiet. Quiet enough where you can hear your own breathing.

It's peaceful in here.

There's nothing to worry about. No rush to get another form submitted. No rush to get coffee for some boss who doesn't care about you. They probably don't even remember your name.
Wait. Why are you thinking about your old job all of a sudden?

You shake your head in an attempt to clear it of those thoughts. You try to think about something else.
You don't have to work at the popcorn stand again, the stench of butter flooding your nose. You can leave that stupid theater and become a film star.

You shake your head again. You don't remember working with popcorn? But you could SMELL the artificial butter as if it were right here.

Wouldn't it be nice to dream?

You step away from IN LIMBO. Okay, you know those last two thoughts wasn't yours but you understand the emotions behind them.
Your heart twists on itself. There's a heavy, gloomy weight tied to your soul. It's like a hand has wrapped around your heart and it's pulling down HARD.

You take a deep, deep breath of the musty and sickly sweet air filling the cell.
The weight vanishes almost as quickly as it arrived. Your head feels all sorts of funny now.

>-MENTAL HEALTH!
Another flower, a poppy with grey leaves, booms from the flower bed. The other flowers perk up at the brand new flower, welcoming another guest.

Whatever just happened, it seems the anomaly's happy? That weird gloom you were feeling is gone now and the lights are no longer flickering like some cheap horror movie.
The hands holding onto the broom handle cautiously lower it down onto the floor. It doesn't want its new toy(?) to be broken, you guess. The broom handle now rests by the flowerbed, still easily within grasp of the hands.

You don't think you're getting anything else done with this anomaly today. Whatever its deal is, it messed with your memories somehow and you need time to pry that movie theater memory out of your head.

You mutter out a goodbye to the anomaly before stepping out of the cell.
The dingy, musty lab you were working in almost feels like a fresh breath of fresh air after that mindfuck. You think the best thing you can do right now is to study. Not like you can do anything else with what limited time you have.

You pry a few random books you think might be relevant - MacOS for Dummies, Chemistry 101 and Anatomy 101. Those should be good enough for now. You certainly won't get any deep understanding of ANY of these subjects, though.

>Added the three books to your inventory!

The coding book might as well be gibberish to you. It's clearly meant for someone already well versed in coding and, well, you're tech literate but not so much that you understand much of this - if any at all. Doesn't help that this book is older than you are and for a system you never used before.

You are starting to piece something together. Basic bits of code that, at least, could help you understand any bizarre error codes that might show up.

Your temple throbs like something stuffed a hot iron against it. Okay. Next book.

The chemistry book is a lot more understandable, if drab, to you. It's mostly a refresher over basic high school chemistry. Acid and bases, different types of chemical bonding, types of chemical reactions. That kind of stuff.
It was never your favorite subject but you hated others way, way more.

The deeper into the book you go, the more obtuse and esoteric the information becomes. It's really only '101' for the first twenty or thirty pages. There's probably a lot more to this book than you first thought.

It could help you out with having a basic idea on what properties anomalous chemicals have. Maybe if you study this one some more, you could figure out how to make specific mixtures to help you out later. You already know that bleach mixed with ammonia is a bad thing - but what else could you make?

You close that before checking your final book - Anatomy 101.
It's basic information about the human body. The types of muscles and bones you have, what your organs do, physical disorders and their symptoms, etc etc. Nothing too in depth but there's some easily readable diagrams that helps you understand the text better.

It's very likely you're going to be dealing with humanoid anomalies. That OLD MAN anomaly you skipped over was one and IN LIMBO has SOME human anatomy to it. Even if their anatomy is twisted and warped, knowing how the human body works would give you a starting point to help them.

Better than trying to treat any issues they might have blindly, right? You're not sure if there's any medical doctors here willing to work with you. Best to assume the worst.

>You now have a surface level understanding of chemistry, human anatomy and the MAS OC. You gain +1 to all future checks involving those subjects!
>These bonuses increase as you study these books.

You close your books. Right as you do, you hear two sharp digital notes from outside your lab. Ah, guess you should've expected them to have an intercom system.

"Attention, uh, all researchers." A tired, feminine voice crackles over the line. You hear her shuffling through some papers. "The work day is over. Please head to the cafeteria."
The two digital notes repeat before the intercom turns off.

Food. God, you need food.
You never fed yourself well back at home - It would be instant ramen and soda for you. The only reason you don't have a gut is because your metabolism is all kinds of weird. You haven't eaten all day either.

You stumble out of your lab. The hallway you're in is made out of smooth, sleek metal - Looks like something out of a sci-fi set. The constant hum of the white fluorescent light is already getting on your nerves but it's also comforting. It really isn't that different from your office.

The only splotch of color along the hallways is dull blue lines painted alongside the walls, one towards the bottom and two smaller up towards the top.

There's a few other doors in this hallway that seem to lead to other labs. You don't exactly want to stick your nose into them right now, might as well head to the cafeteria. Wherever that is.

You pick a random direction that you think you heard some footsteps echoing from. You'll have to find a map of this place later so you don't have to wander like a chicken with his head cut off.

The place is built like a maze. There's no landmarks aside from the random grey door with an almost illegible placard next to it. You take random turns for what feels like minutes.

The distant sound of casual conversation and forks clattering against metal trays echoes through the hallway. You're close! You're about to head towards the cafeteria but you notice someone leaning against one of the walls.

They're facing away from you so you can't make out much of their appearance. The white labcoat and black dress pants they're wearing are barely hanging on their gaunt, spindly body. Their blonde hair is a shaggy mess stained in a slurry of black and brown gunk.

You swear their skin is about to slough right off their bones. Their skin hangs off their body in heavy, flabby flaps.

"It's fine," You can barely hear what they're saying. They're slurring their words together. "It's worth the price." Their teeth grind together with every word they speak.

You. You're not sure what to do here. This is the first person you've seen here all day that wasn't that smug turtleneck wearing bastard and they look like...this?

What do you do, Vincent?
>Walk past them. You do not want to get ANYWHERE near them. (Soothes your mind.)
>Try to figure out what's wrong with them. Maybe you can help treat it? (DC 60, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)
>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.
>You think they're a researcher. Ask them where you're at and what the hell is going on here. (DC 40)
>Hand them the MYSTERY BAGGIE. Might put some pep in their step. (-MYSTERY BAGGIE)
>Write in.

>>6278203
>Try to figure out what's wrong with them. Maybe you can help treat it? (DC 60, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)

>>6278203
>>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.

>>6278203
>AVOID HIM
Melting from Nuclear Throne. Most important is a piece of mind.

>>6278203
>Try to figure out what's wrong with them. Maybe you can help treat it? (DC 60, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)

>>6278203
>>Walk past them. You do not want to get ANYWHERE near them. (Soothes your mind.)


>on IN LIMBO
So the caressing seems to suggest we'll want huggable, pettable things to play with. Experimenting with textures of various objects might also be an idea. I'm also a bit curious about what it'd do with legos/linkin logs/those modern magnet toys.

The random memories, the loss of mental health and the blooming of a new flower suggest it uses mental energy not anything from the grid; those fluctuations might be signs it's bored or hungry.

>>6278203
>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do
Trying to help him unprompted on the first meeting is stupid. Let's meet him again later after we know him then figure it out

>>6278203
>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.
We are not professional doctors. Wait, do we need to pay to get doctor service here? Is that why he doesn't go to a medical room somewhere here because it's expensive?

>>6278203
>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.
It's only nice after all.

>>6278203
>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.

>>6278203
>Offer to escort them to the cafeteria, no questions asked. They clearly need food more than you do.

>>6278203
>You think they're a researcher. Ask them where you're at and what the hell is going on here. (DC 40)

>>6278203
>Try to figure out what's wrong with them. Maybe you can help treat it? (DC 60, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)

>>6278203
>Walk past them. You do not want to get ANYWHERE near them. (Soothes your mind.)

>>6278694
Goddamn IP change uuuuugh
I'm >>6277617
>>6276645
>>6276631

WHAT'S WRONG?: 04z, T4x, +u7
WALK PAST THEM: oCS, oGi, /JI
ASK IT QUESTIONS: SXG
ESCORT THEM: 8KG, tbi, xFS, JhX, jHo, KOO

Seems like ESCORT THEM wins by a solid majority. Writing.

You keep your head low. Best to avoid whatever this THING is. All you got to do is walk past it. It's probably too slow and weak to attack you.
A faint smile creeps onto your face. Yeah. That sounds like a good idea.

The gaunt researcher doesn't even notice you walking past them. They continue to mutter nonsense, "Just one more day. One more day before I can afford it."
You just have to take the turn around the hallway and you're gone.
You're just about to turn around the corner but you stop mid-step. You turn your head ever-so-slightly to look back at the gaunt researcher.

They're trying to get to the cafeteria. Trying being the keyword. They're sluggishly sliding their body forward with heavy, slow movements. It's going to take this at least an hour to get from where they're at to the end of the hallway.

You peak around the corner. You can see the cafeteria right there. You could leave this reject behind.
Ah, fuck it, fine.

You turn around to check up on the researcher.
You glance down at their legs and, oof, you didn't notice it when you were behind them but their flesh is sticking to the ground. Even a retard could figure out this guy shouldn't be alive.
Or, well, girl you think. Her facial features are already beginning to droop a bit but you think you saw some lipstick on there? Maybe some softer cheeks?

You're not sure if it particularly matters right now. You need to help her if only to appease your conscience. "Uh, look, do you wanna get something to eat?"
She gurgles something. You think that's a yes.

You drape her arm over your shoulder. The wet, sticky sensation of their flabby flesh reminds you of wet modeling clay. You keep your head low to make sure she can't see you grimacing.

The two of you sluggishly head towards the cafeteria. It takes a lot longer than it would've if you just went by yourself but you should still be able to get some grub.

https://youtu.be/u998cggd37M - CAFETERIA

It's about as pitiful as you could expect from a place that kidnaps random people.

About twelve or thirteen bare metal benches are half-heartedly scattered throughout the small cafeteria. Two vending machines, low on stock (say for the occasional 'healthy' snack), rest at the western end of the room. The same blue lines you saw in the hallway are the only splashes of color you see through the whole cafeteria.

Most of the tables are already full but you can spot a few empty seats that you could sit at later. You quickly notice that most of the people here look just as out as place as you do.

A majority are still in their street clothes. A few are wearing what you'd expect of a government-based researcher, and you think you spotted a guard or two, but otherwise? You couldn't tell any of these people are meant to be actual employees here

You spot where the line for the actual 'food' is. You grab a tray for you and your gaunt coworker (you have to help her to get a stable grip on it) before joining the line.

The gaunt researcher stays close to you as you sluggishly move through the line.

The smell of the food cooking from the kitchen is, uh, bad. There's no better way to describe the pungent stench hitting your nose. It's probably better than starving at least.

The two of you manage to make it to the end of the line. The cafeteria lady, a decrepit wrinkled hag who's probably more fat and lard than actual human flesh, points a laddie at the two of you. "Meat slop, rice slop or veggie slop?"

You shrug, "Meat slop?"
"Atta boy. Melty?"
"ric." "Rice it is. ID?"

You flash your ID card at her, so does the gaunt researcher.
"Ah, level 0s. Thought so but I had to make sure, ya know?"

She spoons three scoops of slop onto your tray. Two of them vaguely look like some sort of beef stew if it was left out in the sun while the other is something adjacent to white chicken. It already looks predigested.
The gaunt researcher, at least, gets something resembling food. It's piles on piles of white rice that's already gone sticky and gummy but it's at least FOOD.

Even if both of them smell the exact same. Like mildew, old socks and fish. "Aight. Move, ya two."

"Thanks." Your impassive mask works well enough here. The old lady grunts before gesturing at you and your friend to scram.

You help the gaunt researcher to find a seat amongst the already packed cafeteria. She grabs onto your shoulder right as you're about to leave her be.
"thank you thank you thank you." She gurgles out, muttering the same phrase over and over again.

Your mask tightens. It's hard to be genuine when she looks like she's a post apoc video game enemy. "No problem. Eat up, you clearly need it."
She vigorously nods her head. It makes a sound similar to jiggling jello. Eugh. At least you made a friend today.

Better to find a seat of your own. You might wanna take this chance to build some connections with your fellow staff. You scan around for anyone who catches your attention.

Who do you want to talk to? Pick two.
>A researcher with wild eyes is staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?
>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?
>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.
>Is that a robot? It struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. They have robots here???
>A man in tactical gear is wolfing down some high quality chow. Probably one of the 'ETF' agents you heard about on the dossiers. Could have some intel.
>A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork. She seems to be fun, at least? Could be a fun conversation.
>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.
>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.

>>6278770
>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.
oh no no no
talk to the security guard about this man

>>6278770
>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room.
>A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork.
Casey?

>>6278776
Do ARC maybe recruit anomalies as a employee?

>>6278770
>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.
>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?

>>6278770
>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.
>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.
Ask security about this guy. This can’t be anything good.

>>6278787
The second vote should have been about ratting the “faceless man” out to security.

>>6278770
>TALK TO THE OLD GUARD.
>TALK TO THE FACELESS MAN.
Old Hand and possibly a motherfuck anomaly, haha.

>>6278770
>>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.
>>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.

I doubt the old security guard (probably a high-ranking veteran) and mystery man (anomalies personnel?) will be working with us so soon. They probably have a high standard, low expectation, low respect, distrust, or whatever for anyone that is new here (we are literally level 0 and just arrived here). The only things we'll probably gain from meeting both are probably some advice and simple stuff, but they're not going to be working in our room in the near future. I doubt HandlerQM will immediately hand out a high-quality ally/associate to us so soon. This includes ETF agents as well.

We should talk to people here that are on our level or not too high a level. Like, a security guard with long red hair, crazy-looking researchers, beanie-wearing researchers, gaunt coworkers, and robots.

I doubt the old security guard (probably a high-ranking veteran) and mystery man (anomalies personnel?) will be working with us so soon. They probably have a high standard, low expectation, low respect, distrust, or whatever for anyone that is new here (we are literally level 0 and just arrived here). The only things we'll probably gain from meeting both are probably some advice and simple stuff, but they're not going to be working in our room in the near future. I doubt HandlerQM will immediately hand out a high-quality ally/associate to us so soon. This includes ETF agents as well.

We should talk to people here that are on our level or not too high a level. Like, a security guard with long red hair, crazy-looking researchers, beanie-wearing researchers, gaunt coworkers, and robots. Since they are most likely to help us directly or whatever in our lab when asked. Don't require high-level convincing, expensive pay, or whatever.

>>6278770
>You might as well talk to your gaunt coworker. Figure out what's up with her and all of that.
For now, stick to who we know
>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.
Have you seen this man?

>>6278770
>There's a man here. You can not make out anything else about his appearance.

>>6278770
>A researcher with wild eyes is staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?
>A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork. She seems to be fun, at least? Could be a fun conversation.

>>6278770
>Is that a robot? It struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. They have robots here???

>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?

>>6278790
>>6278800
Anon, In practical, we need types of associates/allies that are not too expensive to hire and that don't require high persuasion to work with us or whatever else. Both seem to be potentially far above our pay grade to be working for us directly so soon.

>>6278790
>>6278800
Anon, be practical, we need types of associates/allies that are not too expensive to hire and that don't require high persuasion to work with us or whatever else. Both seem to be potentially far above our pay grade to be working for us directly so soon.

>>6279214
I don't want associates thoughever
I want information
and hopefully to not be CONSUMED BY A MOTHERFUCKING ANOMALY DISGUISED AS A COWORKER

>>6278946
I must’ve missed the part where we pick two.
>A security guard with long red hair is pacing around the room. She seems to be worrying about something - Lend her an ear?

>>6278770
Several of these choices aren't actually conducive to sitting down and eating.

>>A beanie-wearing researcher is rhythmically tapping on the table with a spoon and fork. She seems to be fun, at least? Could be a fun conversation
>An old security guard watches the room. His face is more scar and burn tissue than anything else. He probably has some stories to tell about this place.

One for during mealtime one for after

Taking a loot at everything, it seems that the MAN and the OLD GUARD win out (with REDHEAD in third place).
You'll have a lot of opportunities to play office politics with these guys and coworkers you haven't seen yet later. I'll keep the interest in REDHEAD in mind.

Writing.

After taking a look at everything, it seems that the MAN and the OLD GUARD win out (with REDHEAD in third place).
You'll have a lot of opportunities to play office politics with these guys and coworkers you haven't seen yet later. I'll keep the interest in REDHEAD in mind.

Writing.

There's a lot of people who catch your attention here. Even if only for a brief second, you wonder if it's worth talking to them.
You quickly dismiss most of them as either not worth your time or someone you could talk to later.

One of the guards is pacing around the cafeteria. She's muttering something under her breath, clearly worried about SOMETHING. Part of you wants to check up on her but...
Something else catches your eye first. The redhead can wait.

There's a man sitting at one of the tables. On closer examination, he is wearing a cherry red labcoat. That's all you can make out about his appearance. The rest of his body is an indistinct humanoid smear that your brain is having a hard time filling in.

You look away. What were you talking about? Something about a man?
Wait-
You snap your gaze back to the table you were looking at. The man is still sitting there. You think he's eating something but you can't make out what's on his tray.

The other researchers, security guards and random oddjob workers sitting at the table don't even acknowledge him. None of them are talking or looking at him. How is no one noticing this guy? There's one spot open next to him - guess that's where you're sitting if you wanna talk to him.

Your first thought is: Is this thing an anomaly? Did it break out somehow? What is it going to do? You need to warn security about this.
You tighten the grip on your tray. You hastily march over to the nearest security guard that would know how to deal with this thing.

The first guard you find looks like he knows his shit. You can't make out his face but, unlike the man, it's not for any possibly anomalous reason. His face is a mangled, charred matrix of scar and burn tissue. Where was once a nose, there's only a caved in hole that he struggles to breath in and out of.

The only parts spared from whatever horrors he has seen is his mouth and his left eye. Flesh has grown over the empty socket where his right eye used to be. Not like the rest of his body is any better. Liver spots and wrinkles cover his body from head to toe.

His body is lightly armored with knee/shoulder pads and a Kevlar vest straight out of police surplus. A subnose revolver hangs on his holster - Okay!

Okay, yeah, this guy can help you! He's clearly dealt with far worse, right?

His one good eye narrows as you approach him. "What's the matter, boy?" A raspy, gravelly voice croaks through his ruined throat. "Lost? Ya sit at one of them there tables and ya eat. Ain't that hard to understand, boy."
Your eye twitches. He did not just call you a 'boy'. Okay, whatever, this is more important. "No, I have something to report."

Now this gets his attention. "Ah shit. Was hopin' I didn't have to do no work. What's the issue, boy?"
"Stop-" You hold your tongue. "I have reason to suspect that there's a threat in this cafeteria." You point to the table where you saw the man.

"Do you recognize that man?"

The old guard squints at where you're pointing. Your hopes of him helping rapidly die as you see his confused expression. The gears in his head are turning in a vain attempt to process what you just said.

"I ain't seeing what ya pointing at."
Fuck, fuck, fuck-
"But. I ain't stupid either. I can tells ya think somethin' is there. Lemme give ya some advice here, boy."

"It's Vincent."
"Introductions, eh? Anthony here. Lemme finish what I was gonna say." "Fine."
"This place probably been here for a good ol' century if the rumors are true. Hell, I've been workin' in this here place for 30 years, boy. One thing I learnt real quick is you learn to stop questionin' shit that happens here."

"If it ain't hurtin' anyone, might be best to leave it be. Did the man do somethin'?"
You check the man again. You think he's just eating whatever's on his tray. "Nothing the others aren't doing."
Anthony nods. "Lots of creepy crawlers can slip through the gaps. Upper Management ain't particularly carin' about things like this unless it hurts their bottom line."

"This probably ain't the first or last time you'll see somethin' like whatever you saw roaming around here. My advice? Better to make friends with them than to have enemies us security folks can't see."
Hm. You suppose that's fair enough. Not like you really have any options.
"Also, ya new here?" Anthony places his hand on your shoulder. "I can tell by the stench around ya. The stench of not knowing how this place works."
"Uh. Yeah. Got ki-" Anthony promptly cuts you off. "Yeah, yeah, heard the song and dance before."

"Here's a word to the wise, kid." Anthony rapidly glances around with his one good eye. He leans in to whisper into your ear. "Be careful who ya associate in this place. Lotta of the people here are under the idea that if ya can climb their ranks high enough, they can get out."

You gulp, trying your best not to flinch at his eye staring into your soul.
"Don't trust people til ya can get a good read on them. That's how I survived this long."

You nod. He pulls back, acting like he didn't say nothing to you.

This Anthony guy, despite sounding like he gargles gravel every time he opens his mouth, isn't the worst to talk to. He seems to have a level head, he's probably seen it all at this point. God knows how much he'd cost to hire, though.

"I'll talk to you later."
"I ain't going nowhere. See ya soon."

Your food is still piping hot but you're not sure if that's a good thing. You did talk to someone for what felt like a good ten, maybe fifteen, minutes. You should probably sit down and eat this before it turns into something inedible.

You approach the table where the man is sitting at. You sit right down by the man. Even this close up, you can't make out anything about his appearance. You wonder why his labcoat is sticking out in your mind.

The man doesn't seem to acknowledge you. Well, at least the man is still here.
"Hey." You whisper to the man. "I can see you."
The man, you think, smiled. He speaks but you can't make out the actual words he's saying. You mostly get what he intended to say.

The man looks at your tray. He wishes you could have something better to eat.
"Yeah, me too."

He asks why you haven't forgotten about him already. Most people already forgot about him, after all.
"Dunno."
He asks why you want to talk to him. He says that not a lot of people bother to look at him these days.
You try to say something but he cuts you off. He's just happy to have someone to talk to.

He asks you what you want to ask him. He claims that it's only fair for the two of you to play a game of questions and answers.
That's a weird way to describe a conversation, you think, but you'll go along with it.

The man says he only has time for three questions. He promises to answer them to the best of his ability.

What do you ask the man?
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?
>What do you know about the facility?
>Does he know anything about the man in the turtleneck sweater? What was his heal?
>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.
>Has anyone else been able to see him besides you?
>Who's UPPER MANAGEMENT? Anthony acted like they're a big deal.
>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.
>Anthony said you should be careful who you make friends with. Do he know anyone trustworthy you can meet?
>You have something else to ask him (Write in.)

The man doesn't seem to acknowledge you. Well, at least the man is still here.
"Hey." You whisper to the man. "I can see you."
The man, you think, smiled. He speaks but you can't make out the actual words he's saying. You mostly get what he intended to say.

The man looks at your tray. He wishes you could have something better to eat.
"Yeah, me too."

He asks why you haven't forgotten about him already. Most people already forgot about him, after all.
"Dunno."
He asks why you want to talk to him. He says that not a lot of people bother to look at him these days.
You try to say something but he cuts you off. He's just happy to have someone to talk to.

He asks you what you want to ask him. He claims that it's only fair for the two of you to play a game of questions and answers.
That's a weird way to describe a conversation, you think, but you'll go along with it.

The man says he only has time for three questions. He promises to answer them to the best of his ability.

What do you ask the man?
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?
>What do you know about the facility?
>Does he know anything about the man in the turtleneck sweater? What was his deal?
>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.
>Has anyone else been able to see him besides you?
>Who's UPPER MANAGEMENT? Anthony acted like they're a big deal.
>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.
>Anthony said you should be careful who you make friends with. Do he know anyone trustworthy you can meet?
>You have something else to ask him (Write in.)

>>6279320
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?
Rapport buildup.
>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.
Self-explanatory. Useful information providers.
>Anthony said you should be careful who you make friends with. Do he know anyone trustworthy you can meet?
Important.

>>6279321
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?
Rapport buildup.
>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.
Self-explanatory. Useful information providers.
>Anthony said you should be careful who you make friends with. Do he know anyone trustworthy you can meet?
Important.

>>6279324
+1

>>6279321
>Please excuse me if this sounds naive but how did you become so... forgettable? Seems like a useful trait to have in a place like this.

>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he
>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.
>Please excuse me if this sounds naive but how did you become so... forgettable? Seems like a useful trait to have in a place like this.

>>6279354
Oops, forgot to include >>6279321

>>6279321
>>What do you know about the facility?
Details or just a good story would do for now.
>>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.
Every office wageslave knows to get a handle on the gossip around the office. That and if he's desperate for people to talk to giving him a low investment opportunity is only polite.
>Write In: Ask if he has any advice for staying alive and in one piece

>>6279324
+1

>>6279321
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?
>What do you know about the facility?
>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.

>>6279321
>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.
>What do you know about the facility?
>Who's UPPER MANAGEMENT? Anthony acted like they're a big deal.

>>6279321
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?
>What do you know about the facility?
>Has he heard any useful rumors? Someone like him is probably a good eavesdropper.

ANOMALY?: y4z, tbi, 9fK, KOO, SXG, CWx
WORK WITH ME?: y4z, tbi, 9fK, KOO
TRUST?: y4z, tbi, 9fK
WHY SO FORGETTABLE?: tXo, 9fK (I'll likely tie this into ANOMALY?, it's a similar enough question)
HOW TO STAY ALIVE?: 5A5
FACILITY?: SXG, 8KG, CWx, 5A5
RUMORS?: 5A5, SXG, 8KG, CWx
UPPER MANAGEMENT?: CWx

Asking if it's an ANOMALY wins out but there's a three way tie between WORK, FACILITY and RUMORS.
I'll be generous and say you can ask all four of them. Mostly because I think it's better in this instance than rolling some dice.

Writing.

There's a lot of questions you want to ask him. He's clearly anomalous in some way and no one else but you can see him apparently! Who KNOWS what this guy has overheard.

Best to keep your scope small, though. You're not even sure if you're going to remember what the man is going to say after this conversation.
You begin to peck away at your slop meal. It tastes as good as it smelled. The only thing that'll help it get down your throat is glass after glass of water.

"So, are you an anomaly?" You pick the most prudent thing to ask right now. "Sorry if that's, like, a naive question or 'rude' but. C'mon. C'mon!"
The Man laughs, shaking(?) his head. He tells you that the question is fine to ask. It's a fair one, he says.

He says that he's not quite sure what he is. He knows that he's certainly not normal. He concedes that 'anomaly' is probably the best title that could be given to him.
He claims that he's 'smarter' than the other anomalies. "Huh, so most anomalies aren't sapient, is that what you're trying to say?"

In his own words, most anomalies have mindsets distinct from ones that humans typically have. In contrast, he clarifies, he's able to talk and think 'like a human'. He admits that he may have idiosyncrasies that anomalies have, though his memory is fuzzy on the specifics.
"Do you know how you became so forgettable?"

He laughs. It's ironic, the man claims, that's the one thing he truly can't remember. How he became so forgettable. All he recalls is waking up on the floor somewhere in the facility. There were a lot of blaring sirens and a lot of people running around in a tizzy. He thought people were too worried for themselves to check on him. He trails off before he can say anything else.

"How long ago was that?" 2 years, he says. Might be useful to look up what incident he could be talking about.

Right. You got a few more questions to ask. "Would you like to work for me later?"
The Man's eyes lighten up - At least you think they did. He rests his hand on your own. You lose all sensation in your hand aside from a staticky tingling like your hand fell asleep.

He would be more than glad to help. He doesn't know how useful he'll be, though. Someone forgettable like him can't really talk or interact with people/anomalies besides you. He won't be too much of an active help but he knows a lot of things from his time eavesdropping around the facility.

He can be your information broker, he says, for a price. $165 per day. He still has to get money to buy from vending machines, he chuckles.
Ah, right, he probably can't get food by asking the lunch lady. "That's fair, I'll think about it. Well, can I ask you somethin' to make sure I can trust you as a broker?"

The Man nods. It's only fair.
"Right. What exactly IS this facility? What do you know about it?"

First, he has some bad news about any escape attempts

The facility you're in is in the middle of an empty desert somewhere in New Mexico. He's been able to sneak to the surface once or twice but he saw nothing but sand for miles. Only way in or out is if you can steal a high-ranking researcher's or an ETF squad leader's vehicle.

As for the facility itself? It's underground with seven layers, each layer getting than the last. An upside down cone with the sixth floor as the base. Correlates with the sixth ranks in the facility's hierarchy - 0 to 6.
Oh. You're REALLY at the bottom, then. "Yeesh. So, what layer are we on?"
The exact layout seems to shift every few years but for now, he says you're on Layer 2. And yes, most of them are as poorly maintained as your lab.

"Wait, how do you know how bad my lab was?"
Hazing ritual, he chuckles under his breath. They pick a lab where someone died in and they throw Level 0s at it.
"I thought so. Wait, wait, Anthony said he was here for 30 years...and that this facility is 100 years old?"

The A.R.C, the Man says, is just the newest name for this branch of the government. The exact details evade him but the US government has known about anomalies for a WHILE. This apparently used to be for a independently backed anomaly research group but they disappeared a while ago.

"Right. Any points you can give me about the layout? This place is built like a maze."
The Man nods. He tells you he leaves maps and caches for himself around the facility. As a freebie, he tells you the location of one map and cache - There's a washroom down the leftmost hallway out of this cafeteria. Check the third stall in the men's bathroom.

"Last thing, what's up with the ranks?"
He doesn't know the exact details but the basics are this: The higher you go, the more freedom you're given in terms of your job and what equipment you can get from the company catalogs. They raise your rank depending on your performance and how profitable your work is but don't expect any promotions any time soon.

They also get better privileges. Like edible food. And decent living spaces. And actual salaries.
"Great. Can't imagine how good my prison cell of a bedroom is going to be."
The Man's face softens. It's more like an army barracks situation for Level 0s. He apologizes for your inevitable poor sleep tonight.

Damnit. Alright, alright, well. At least you got a rough idea of where you're at and how the facility is shaped.
"One last question. Do you got any useful rumors?"

The Man hesitates to answer a fourth question but he's clearly having fun talking to someone who can hear him. He tells you two pieces of information he has heard over the grapevine.

One: He's not the only one who has slipped through the gaps of Upper Management. The excessive amount of anomalous items and phenomena contained in the facility has created small gaps in reality that tend to pop up in abandoned, forgotten places across the Facility.

Some mentally unstable researchers, he claims, believe that there's loot, power and glory to be found in the gaps. He believes, though, this is simply cope.

Two: There's rumors of several rats and snitches working with Upper Management amongst the staff here. They'll backstab anyone to get a higher rank. He heard a lot of names but two pop up a lot - Rex Hoffmann and Elizabeth Baker. Be careful around them.

Hm. Both are good to know in advance. You thank the Man-
Well, there was not a Man here.

Guess you'll have to find him later. You dig into your slop meal, struggling to swallow down it. The amount of effort it takes to eat it probably negates any nutritional value the slop had.
You finish right as everyone else was just finishing up. You make sure you put the tray somewhere where the kitchen staff can clean it. Guess it's time to go to your 'barracks'.

You ask a guard where the Level 0 barracks are and he points you down the leftmost hallway. Lucky you, that's where the bathroom with the cache is as well.
You'll probably check the cache out tomorrow when there's less people moving about. Time to head to your barracks.

It's not a long walk, maybe like a minute tops, so at least you can get some sloppy breakfast first thing in the morning.
You enter the Barracks alongside the rest of your Level 0 comrades - Oh.

Rows of shoddily built beds with paper thin mattresses and pillows line the walls. You can already tell it's going to be like laying on cardboard. Each bed has a small box by the end of the bed where you suppose you can keep your belongings. Luckily for you, they gave each box a bike lock so you can make sure no one immediately steals your stuff.

There's about enough beds in here to house 30 some people. You are immediately weirded out when you see a woman stumbling into the barracks. Oh no. It's mixed. You grit your teeth - That can't be good. That's like baby's first lesson when it comes to this kind of stuff. You don't let men and women sleep in the same room.

Either this is a comedically huge oversight or they don't expect you to live long enough for this to be an issue.
You keep your head low - You do not want to draw any attention to yourself. You look around to find your bed.

You'd guess the box marked with 'VIC-CRU' on the metal box is yours. You remove the unlocked bike lock from the box to see what's inside.
There's a bland grey magazine with 'A.R.C CORPORATE CATALOG - LEVEL 0' scribbled on the front of it. You guess this is how you're going to be spending that $2000 budget you were given.

You sit down on your bed, flipping through it to see what you can buy for your lab.

WEEKLY BUDGET: $2000
THINGS TO SELL: MYSTERY BAGGIE ($100), STAINED COUPON ($50)

Choose what you wish to purchase. The top four choices will be purchased, as long as you have enough funds to get said items, of course.

>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] To keep your lab well maintained! ($100. Useful for repairing mechanical anomalies and to keep your lab in better shape.)
>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)
>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)
>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($300.)
>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - To patch up booboos! ($100. Contains a basic first aid kit, some painkillers and some bandage wrap.)
>[CIGARETTE PACK] - To keep you sane. ($30. Has ten cigarettes. Each one heals MENTAL HEALTH by a moderate amount but damages PHYSICAL HEALTH in return.)
>[SPECIL (sic) REQUEST] - You may enter a keyword to obtain a custom anomaly instead of selecting a premade one. WARNING: The danger level and usefulness of said custom abnormality may vary wildly based on the keyword. ($325)
>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)
>[EXPANDED ROSTER] - When choosing what anomaly to obtain, you pick from 4 instead of 3. ($175.)
>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($75. Good for your body.)
>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($500. Comes with nine bullets. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)
>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)

>SELL AN ITEM (FREE ACTION.)

"$500 for a pistol?" You mutter as you mull over the options. "Are guns normally this pricey?"

>>6279709
>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] To keep your lab well maintained! ($100. Useful for repairing mechanical anomalies and to keep your lab in better shape.)

Good for the lab. The flowers are sprouting from electric wires, so I suppose it might help there too.

>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] Heavy! Keep yourself fit! ($75. Good for your body.)
Maybe we can fit some reps in while the computer loads or tests run.

>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)
>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)

$750 total.

>>6279709
>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE]
Buy 3.
>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE]
>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS]
>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM]
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE]
>[HARVESTING HIT]
>[INSIGHT MODULE]

We are currently dealing with "safe" anomalies, so there is no need to buy guns, medical supplies, risk-level equipment, etc. for now. (Also, just because sapient/sentient anomalies are "safe" does not mean that we can treat them like literal "slaves" or "labrats". this will come back to bite our ass if we do so, turning safe anomalies into hostile or harmful ones.).

>>6279709
>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE]
Buy 3.
>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE]
>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS]
>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM]
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE]
>[HARVESTING HIT]
>[INSIGHT MODULE]

Cost: 1275 total.

We are currently dealing with "safe" anomalies, so there is no need to buy guns, medical supplies, risk-level equipment, etc. for now. (Also, just because sapient/sentient anomalies are "safe" does not mean that we can treat them like literal "slaves" or "labrats". this will come back to bite our ass if we do so, turning safe anomalies into hostile or harmful ones.).

>>6279709
>>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)
>>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)
>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.) For a total of $675

>>6279710
>>6279757
Do you realize that our anomalies can disrupt/absorb electricity (including the INSIGHT MODULE)? It's kind of hard to work harvesting and examining the anomalies while the cell light is flickering (or maybe even off), and especially since we have no experience harvesting. Buy the ENRICHMENT BUNDLE and DAILY FOOD BUNDLE to keep our anomalies from flickering/absorbing light/electricity, calm, and distracted while we work on the anomalies.

>>6279709
Let's get cracking.
>TOOLBOX
>CLEANING
>BASIC MEDICAL SUPPLIES
>CIGARETTES
>DAILY FOOD BUNDLE
100 + 50 + 100 + 30 + 75 = 355
>INSIGHT MODULE
>RISK LEVEL SYSTEM
>ENRICHMENT BUNDLE
350 + 300 + 250 = 900
355 + 900 = 1255 < 2000
Well within the budget. Basic facility and personal maintenance items + INFORMATION GATHERING TOOLS (VERY IMPORTANT SO I USE ALL CAPS)
Let's have enough money left over for the GUN (that better be a really good 9mm) which we don't need just yet but probably will later.

>>6279709
>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS]
Standard tools
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE]
Fuck up that cigarette mold!
>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES]
In case we're hurt or somebody else important is
>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE]
Alternatively for ourselves or paying the Man in food. Must beat vending machine junk, or match it
>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM]
We can also use the weights to fight back against threats or as weapons in general
>[INSIGHT MODULE]
Just sounds mandatory honestly
>[HARVESTING KIT]
Enables us to get material to sell for money, doing our main job and pleasing the Upper Management so they don't fuck us over too hard. Without this, the job they brought us here for will be very difficult if not impossible, and then we're fucked
>ENRICHMENT BUNDLE
This could be useful for IN LIMBO since it's very grabby and very power-drainy by nature. If not, we can always hold onto these as bartering goods or for a future anomaly

I don't really think anything else is important right now

>>6279707
Making a small correction to this snippet here

"As for the facility itself? It's underground with seven layers, each layer getting bigger than the last. An upside down cone with the seventh floor as the base. Correlates with the seven ranks in the facility's hierarchy - 0 to 6."
Was just waking up when I was writing, missed it. Carry on shoppin'.

>>6279709
>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)
We could study the mold/slime thing with this.
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)
Definitely cleaning some more. Don't see a reason to buy everything else, considering how the anomaly isn't violent (for now) and the 2nd day will mostly be focused on studying Limbo or clean the lab even more. When in doubt, we can just buy more next time.

>>6279709
All that, and we didn't even get an egg? Smh.

>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)

>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - To patch up booboos! ($100. Contains a basic first aid kit, some painkillers and some bandage wrap.)

>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)

>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)

>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)

>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] - When voting for an anomaly choice, you'll get a rough idea on its danger level and what kind of damage it can do to you and its surroundings. ($300.)

Three of:
>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)

>>6279709
>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] To keep your lab well maintained! ($100. Useful for repairing mechanical anomalies and to keep your lab in better shape.)
>[INSIGHT MODULE] When first obtaining an anomaly, you'll be given hints about what works it might like alongside hints towards extracting anomalous equipment from entities. ($350.)
>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)
>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - Some anomalies need to be fed to, you know. ($75. Enough food to feed an anomaly for one day. Contains grains and low quality meat.)
>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)
That’s $1000.

>>6279709
>Are guns normally this pricey?
Actually yeah that’s pretty fair. I found a listing for a new G17 for exactly $500… pre-tax, that is.

Our boy could grab a Hi Point YEET CANNON for $229 if he didn’t mind it being a monumental piece of shit.

>>6279709
>[HARVESTING HIT] ($225)
Since we've got a surplus of corpse sludge, might as well study it.
May even be worth something, though storing it would be a problem. Better rob the facility of its trash cans, nobody will miss them anyways.
>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] ($250)
Entertainment to keep it, the thing, occupied, so we don't have our equipment fucked up.
>[INSIGHT MODULE] ($350)
I don't like the idea of our beloved Vincent becoming the last lab tech who didn't purchase the insight module.
Poking an anomaly sounds like a death sentence, and if this (insight module) can tell us what the hell we're supposed to do with it (the anomaly) then we'll be smooth sailing, surely.
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] ($50)
I like free stuff. Do you like free stuff? There's rumour of free stuff behind the sludge-caked walls of our workspace, someone should do something about that.

All this for a grand total of $875 buckaroos, monopoly money, or whatever scrip they have us working for.

>>6279709
>>[TOOLBOX AND SPARE PARTS] - 100
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - 50
>[INSIGHT MODULE] 350
>>[HARVESTING HIT] (Kit?) 225
>>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] 250
>[PROTOTYPE RISK LEVEL SYSTEM] -300
>[A WEIGHT SET THAT WE JUST FOUND IN THE STORAGE ROOM] - 75
>[BASIC MEDICIAL SUPPLIES] - 100
>[CIGARETTE PACK] - 30
>[DAILY FOOD BUNDLE] - 75
TOTAL: $1555

In order of preference. I figure we use this week to get essentials sorted out to do our job (since we're getting another 2k next week) and survive here. Not sure our anomaly even needs to eat (seemed to need stimulation more than food but I suppose time will tell) hence why it's so far down the list.

We'd want to cut that down quite a bit if we wanted to hire the shadow man. 165 x 7 = $1155. Though we could always start that working relationship next week when we get our next payment.

>>6279709
>[CLEANING SUPPLY BUNDLE] - Keep things spotless! ($50. Contains some basic cleaning supplies and tools. Most anomalies like their cells being clean too.)
>[HARVESTING HIT] To extract RAW VALUE from an anomaly! ($225. Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit, beakers, a scalpel and some syringes. Helps you figure out any useful applications of an anomaly's biology.)
>[ENRICHMENT BUNDLE] Anomalies get bored too! ($250. Comes with some random toys, a CD player, some bundles of batteries and some CDs.)
>[9MM PISTOL] For emergencies. ($500. Comes with nine bullets. Adds +7 to combat attack rolls.)
=1,025
Honestly? Idaf about the actual practical use of any of this, I just want to see how our resident grabby girl grabs all of it. (On a more serious note however, it seems stimuli is a worthwhile lead to go with her, giving how she reacted to the broom and she first appeared in a theater of all places)

Alright, let's see.

TOOLBOX: Szu, y4z, t4e, tbi, KOO, 5A5 (6)
INSIGHT: Szu, y4z, CWx, t4e, tbi, 04z, KOO, SqX, 5a5 (9)
CLEANING: y4z, CWx (wanted two), t4e, tbi, wEj, 04z, SqX, 5a5, xnm (9)
HARVESTING 'HIT' (yes, HIT. Intentional typo like SPECIL.): Szu, y4z, CWx, tbi, wEJ, 04z, KOO, SqX, 5A5, xnm (10)
MEDS: t4e, tbi, o4z, 5A5 (4)
CIGS: t4e, 5A5 (2)
FOOD: t4e, y4z (wanted 3), tbi, KOO, 5A5, 04z (wanted 3). (6)
WEIGHTS: Szu, y4z, tbi, 5a5 (4)
ENRICHMENT: y4z, t4e, tbi, 04z, KOO, SqX, 5a5, xnm (8)
RISK LEVEL: t4e, 04z, 5A5 (3)
GUN: xnm

So, tell you what, I'll let you get more than four this time around since there's a lot of things people wanted to get.
I say the ones with a big enough majority (over half or at least 6 votes behind it) to be picked this time around is TOOLBOX, INSIGHT, CLEANING, HARVESTING, FOOD and ENRICHMENT.

Or, in other words, you spent $1050 this time around, leaving you with $950 for future purchases or in case you need to bribe anymore. I think that's fair enough, no?
Writing.

Your face contorts in disgust. This thing was not proofread in the slightest. Hell, you don't think a human ever looked at this.

The kerning is all over the place, the font changes every other page (most of it is COMIC SANS) and most of the products have typos in their name. HARVESTING HIT? SPECIL? MEDICIAL? Most of the product images seem to be AI-generated as well. They couldn't afford to take a PICTURE of something?

Oh and it's only bound together by cheap, shoddy staples you could easily rip out. Correction - One of them already fell out. This is what you're using?
You know what? Whatever. It's not like you can use this money for much else besides hiring people and so far, you only met two or three people. You suppose the vending machines are an option, maybe you can check them out later.

You flip through the pages. They provided you a pencil to mark down what you want. You're stealing this pencil, fuck them, you need SOMETHING to write with. It only takes a few minutes to decide what you want.
>-$1050!

Your low-ranked comrades are also scribbling down on their own catalogs. The barracks door suddenly opens up once everyone is finished scribbling something down on their catalog.
A very rudimentary robot is standing in the doorway. It's a big bulky box rolling around on wheels. The only features on it is a slot on the front of its body. "PLEASE PLACE MARKED CATALOGS IN SLOT. NEW CATALOGS WILL BE DELIVERED TOMORROW EVENING."

Everyone scrambles to throw their catalogs into the maw of the beast. You wait to make sure it's not some cruel joke (like there's a shredder) before you do the same.
Well. You got nothing else to do but to sleep. Your stomach is still fighting for its life thanks to the slop you scarved down.

You throw yourself onto the cheap bed you were 'graciously' provided. You decide it's best to try to get what little sleep you can get. The chittering, mindless noise of inane conversations from your 'coworkers' makes getting any sleep a nightmare in of itself. You can only pray that if you get to Level 1 or something, you can get your OWN FUCKING ROOM.

It almost reminds you of home. Back when you were a kid. You never did have a room to yourself since you had a LOT of brothers and sisters. You don't remember how many, though. Six? Seven? It was a lot at least.
It almost makes you smile but the memory fades as quickly as it appeared.

The chittering and chattering of your fellow researchers is already becoming white noise to you. You'll dwell on your past some time later, you have other things to worry about.

Like getting some sleep. You doubt you're going to get any good sleep either way so why bother getting comfortable? Not like you got any spare clothes to put on, better just wear what you already have on.

There's one thing you can be happy about, at least. You're still alive. That's better than nothing.

Your mind eventually drifts away into a half-awake half-asleep daze. No dreams tonight, just like any other night.

You don't remember the last time you had a dream or, hell, a nightmare even.
Everything simply goes black.

Dreams are nothing more than wishes, after all.
What do you wish for, Vincent?

>You gain a slight PHYSICAL + MENTAL health boost from sleeping.

You wake up in an uncomfortable, sweaty haze. Couldn't get any real sleep. Your clothes are getting filthier by the second - First it was the cigarette mold, now it's your own cold sweat.

You scan around the room to see if anyone else is awake. Seems like you're the only one awake right now.
Well. You can't get any sleep so you might as well get up. You don't think there's a curfew at least.

You get up out of your bed and you quietly move to the exit. Best to be quiet to give your coworkers some bare minimum respect of an extra hour of sleep.
Who knows how these guys would act if you woke them up right now?

You step out into the hallway. You don't hear any loud alarms and you're not being tackled to the ground so! Hey! No curfew! You think. Or maybe you're just being lucky.

You scan the hallway to make sure you're in the clear. The constant hum of the fluorescent lighting above you is messing with your head - Like a set of drums pounding away at your skull. No one else seems to be awake besides you so at least you won't have to chitchat with everyone. You're clear for now.

You sluggishly drag yourself down the hallway with sleep still clouding your thoughts. Before you can get to the end of the hallway, your posture freezes up. There's a security guard standing there. Shit IS there a curfew? You still don't know how this facility works all that well.

Wait, you think you recognize this one. It's that one security guard with the super long red hair that goes all the way down her back. That one that was wandering around, lost in her own thoughts.

She's wearing something similar to what Anthony was wearing. Shoulder pads, a cheap padded vest, and kneepads all lazily thrown on top of some surplus denim jeans and a white dress shirt. She's pretty stocky for a woman, she might actually put up a fight if the worst comes to it-

Your thoughts are promptly interrupted by her turning around and promptly seeing you. "hey."

"you don't gotta sneak around." She grumbles out. Her voice is wispy and scratchy, every word taking effort for her to speak. "you can pass or whatever. level 0s and 1s aren't allowed to leave their barracks for another hour buuutt! i don't care." She turns away from you, mumbling to herself about something you can't make it. She seems lost in her own thoughts.

"Would, uh, the other guards-"
"probably, they probably would've shoved you back into your room but now." She shrugs. "but i get it. can't sleep?"
"Nope."
"yeah, that's fair. there's a lost and found nearby, maybe you can find some new clothes to wear or somethin'."

Huh. She's pretty casual for a security guard all things considered. You suppose you should use this free time you were graciously offered.

>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)
>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?
>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one will be there, after all. (Choose a book to study: ANATOMY 101, MACOS FOR DUMMIES or CHEMISTRY 101. Buffs the bonus to rolls involving that subject from +1 to +2.)
>Try to find the MAN. You wanna talk to him again. (DC 57, -4 PENALTY from FORGETTABLE)
>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100 will determine what category it ends up being.)
>Arrange a meeting with one of your acquaintances. See if you can get them to work for you. (Choose between ANTHONY and GAUNT COWORKER.)
>Write in.

Also made a pastebin for VINCENT, just to make things easier to track.
https://pastebin.com/XjFY90mq

You don't remember the last time you had a dream or, hell, a nightmare even.
Everything simply goes black.

Dreams are nothing more than wishes, after all.
What do you wish for, Vincent?

>You gain a slight PHYSICAL + MENTAL health boost from sleeping.

You wake up in an uncomfortable, sweaty haze. Couldn't get any real sleep. Your clothes are getting filthier by the second - First it was the cigarette mold, now it's your own cold sweat.

You scan around the room to see if anyone else is awake. Seems like you're the only one awake right now.
Well. You can't get any sleep so you might as well get up. You don't think there's a curfew at least.

You get up out of your bed and you quietly move to the exit. Best to be quiet to give your coworkers some bare minimum respect of an extra hour of sleep.
Who knows how these guys would act if you woke them up right now?

You step out into the hallway. You don't hear any loud alarms and you're not being tackled to the ground so! Hey! No curfew! You think. Or maybe you're just being lucky.

The constant hum of the fluorescent lighting above you is messing with your head - Like a set of drums pounding away at your skull.
You scan the hallway to make sure you're in the clear. No one else seems to be awake besides you so at least you won't have to chitchat with everyone. You're clear for now.

You sluggishly drag yourself down the hallway with sleep still clouding your thoughts. Before you can get to the end of the hallway, your posture freezes up. There's a security guard standing there. Shit IS there a curfew? You still don't know how this facility works all that well.

Wait, you think you recognize this one. It's that one security guard with the super long red hair that goes all the way down her back. That one that was wandering around, lost in her own thoughts.

She's wearing something similar to what Anthony was wearing. Shoulder pads, a cheap padded vest, and kneepads all lazily thrown on top of some surplus denim jeans and a white dress shirt. She's pretty stocky for a woman, she might actually put up a fight if the worst comes to it-

Your thoughts are interrupted by her turning around and immediately seeing you. "hey."

"you don't gotta sneak around." She grumbles out. Her voice is wispy and scratchy, every word taking effort for her to speak. "you can pass or whatever. level 0s and 1s aren't allowed to leave their barracks for another hour buuutt! i don't care." She turns away from you, mumbling to herself about something you can't make it. She seems lost in her own thoughts.

"Would, uh, the other guards-"
"probably, they probably would've shoved you back into your room by now." She shrugs. "but i get it. can't sleep?"
"Nope."
"yeah, that's fair. there's a lost and found nearby, maybe you can find some new clothes to wear or somethin'."

Huh. She's pretty casual for a security guard all things considered. You suppose you should use this free time you were graciously offered.

CHOOSE THREE!
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)
>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?
>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Choose a book to study: ANATOMY 101, MACOS FOR DUMMIES or CHEMISTRY 101. Buffs the bonus to rolls involving that subject from +1 to +2.)
>Try to find the MAN. You wanna talk to him again. (DC 57, -4 PENALTY from FORGETTABLE)
>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100 will determine what category it ends up being.)
>Arrange a meeting with one of your acquaintances. See if you can get them to work for you. (Choose between ANTHONY and GAUNT COWORKER.)
>Write in.

Also made a pastebin for VINCENT, just to make things easier to track.
https://pastebin.com/XjFY90mq

>write in
>Or maybe this could count as talk to the guard?
Take out your mystery baggie and ask her what the powder is.

then for the other two,
>Go to lost and found
>start your shift early

>>6280199
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100 will determine what category it ends up being.)
>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)

>>6280199
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
We need stuff this early
>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. A d100 will determine what category it ends up being.)
We need weirdness this early
>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)
We need work this early

>>6279321
>Is he an anomaly? If not, what IS he?
>Has anyone else been able to see him besides you?
>Would he be willing to work with you later? Couldn't hurt to make a new friend.

>>6280199
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)
Let's focus on the important stuff, don't exactly need to make friends yet.

>>6280220
+1

>>6280199
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?

>>6280199
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)

>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)

>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)

>>6280199
>>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
Also a chance to get clean depending on bathroom layout.
As far as the third option I'm torn between chatting with the guard, the cafeteria (gotta grab something to eat), and starting our shift early.

>>6280199
>>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?
>Hey, why not start your shift early? (Grants you two extra TIME TOKENS for your next shift.)
>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)

>>6280199
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
>Go to the cafeteria to study. No one's there yet, it'll be nice and quiet. (Choose a book to study: ANATOMY 101, MACOS FOR DUMMIES or CHEMISTRY 101. Buffs the bonus to rolls involving that subject from +1 to +2.)

>>6280199
>Go to LOST AND FOUND
Vincent only has one set of clothes, lets see if we can't get him another.
I doubt anyone here loses anything they need, and I further doubt any of the characters we met would care to put anything lost in the lost and found. Redhead seems to agree, if telling us to take from it wasn't indication enough.
Its existence in a place like this makes me believe its an anomaly itself, but who knows?
>Talk to the REDHEAD
Not super important, we can always find everyone in the cafeteria afterwards. But since we're already talking I'd like to make the most of it. She probably has (or had) troubles. If she hadn't brought it up to anyone back then, then it seems like somebody needs a friend.
And for us, we could use a friend who can tell us what makes security tick.
>Hey, why not start your shift early?
We have a lot to do today.

I don't worry about the cache, we can always check it on the way back.

>>6280199
>Go to the cache the MAN told you about. (Gives you a rough layout of the layer you're on, opens more places to explore during FREE TIME. Maybe you'll get some supplies too.)
>She's right, your clothes are a mess. Go to LOST AND FOUND to see what you can find. (DC 45 to see what goodies you can get from the LOST AND FOUND.)
>Talk to the REDHEAD SECURITY GUARD. She seems chill, maybe you can make another friend?

>>6280275
Change
>>6280443
+1

LOST AND FOUND: 3hl, CXw, tbi, wEJ, KOO, 04z, 5A5, SXG, SqX
SHIFT EARLY: 3hl, CWx, tbi, wEJ, 04z, 8KG, SqX, y4z
STUDY: SXG
CACHE: wEJ, KOO, 04z, 5A5, 8KG, SXG, g99
WANDER: CWx, tbi
TALK TO GUARD: KOO, 8KG, SqX, g99, y4z, 3hL (I'll count asking about the drugs as a vote)

Seems like LOST AND FOUND, SHIFT EARLY and CACHE won out, with talking to the guard in fourth place. 5A5 didn't vote for a third thing but since I don't want a tie, I'll just go with this.

Three anons, roll 1d100. DC of 45. Success table below
0 = It's mostly trash, gunk and broken scrap in here. You get some scrap to tinker with as a consolation prize
1 = You find some replacement clothes and a labcoat. Now you can truly feel like a researcher!
2 = Same as 1 but you find some personal hygiene products to keep your MENTAL HEALTH stable.
3 = Same as 1 and 2 but you found something actually valuable inside LOST and FOUND! Lucky you!

Rolled 23 (1d100)

>>6280593

Rolled 73 (1d100)

>>6280593

Rolled 27 (1d100)

>>6280593

Wow! Good thing your rolls sucked for a inconsequential check!
Well, at the very least, you got some spare clothes. You got what you came for and nothing else.

Writing.

You cautiously sniff at your shirt. Oof. Yeah, this is too rank even for you. You probably should head to lost and found. "Hey, uh, thanks. Didn't know we had a lost and found."
"i know, right?!" The redhead throws her hands up in quiet frustration. "yeah they don't tell people anything in this place. shit, it took me a day to even get this uniform."

"Really? Wait, did you also get talked at by some weird turtleneck wearing guy? After being, uh, 'promoted'?"
"oh, no, i got transferred here. was already working to guard some IRS place, just got hired here."

"Neat. So, again, thank you. I gotta get going because, uh, you know. Work stuff. Anomalies." Your social skills are rapidly degenerating second by second. "Mystery. Men. Yeah."
The redhead giggles at your floundering attempt at communication. "bro, it's okay. i get it, i get it. just go do your things, uh...whatsyourface?"

"Vincent." "ashton. keep it real." She gives you a peace sign. "alright, go."

You stumble past her and to your first stop - the men's washroom. It's only about twenty feet past her so it's a good place to stop as any.

It's actually pretty similar to a gym's bathroom. There's about six or seven cheap lockers lined against one side of the room and six or seven showers on the opposite side. The cheap, teal-colored tiling scattered haphazardly around the room is clearly growing some kind of mold. There's a small section towards the back where the actual toilets probably are.

There's a mirror next to one of the lockers. Might as well take a good look at yourself.
Eugh. You've seen better days. You know you're in your mid 20s but your face belongs to that of a fifty year old with how tired you look. The five o'clock shadow doesn't help. Your skin is a blotchy pale brown that almost looks grey in the right lighting. You're glad you keep your hair short, at least, one less thing to worry about.

Your left eye is grey and unfocused. You can still see out of it but it's never been as good as your right eye. You don't remember how it ended up that way. You think-
A throbbing pain rushes through your head. Best to think about it later. Might as well take a quick shower.

There's no hot water so you have to deal with the indignity to a freezing cold hell shower.
You feel clean after it at least. You throw your dirty clothes back on before heading to the third stall.

There's a loose panel right behind the toilet. You yank it off to reveal the cache in question. There's a small cubbyhole with a piece of paper and a satchel hidden inside.
The paper has a rough sketch of a map of the layer you're on. There's a lot of labs and barracks scattered around that aren't immediately useful but a few locations do catch your eye - MEDBAY, ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE ('LEVEL 2') and HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE.

You're not sure how immediately useful those three might be but you have a gut feeling HR might have someone familiar waiting inside there.

As for the satchel?

ITEMS OBTAINED!
>LAYER 2 MAP! (Adds +4 to rolls that involve wandering around. Unlocks three locations to explore during FREETIME.)
>POCKET KNIFE ("For safety." Useful for stabbing or cutting a variety of things. Adds +2 to combat rolls. Short and flimsy.)
>ACTIVATED CHARCOAL PILLS (Contains 5 pills. Rapidly absorbs and expunges any toxins from your system, slightly healing PHYSICAL HEALTH in the process.)
>$100 ("For a friend".)
>PPE GLOVE PACK (Contains 8 disposable gloves. Good for keeping yourself clean and safe.)
>EGG? (Hardboiled. Unknown purpose. ???.)

It's not a lot but it's better than nothing. You keep the satchel just to make things easier to carry. You scan the map to see where the LOST AND FOUND is. Luckily it's along the path you have to take anyways to get to your lab.
Passing by the empty cafeteria (there's no food being prepared yet) and down one of the many identical hallways, you eventually stumble upon the LOST AND FOUND.

The door is unmarked and blends in easily with the grey metallic walls. No wonder you walked past it.
You pry it open to see a REALLY small room. It's barely bigger than a broom closet inside here. There's a chute hanging from the ceiling and a large box that's filled to the brim with random junk right below it.

You dig through it to see what, if any, useful stuff you can pry out of it.
Most of it is beyond unusable. Somehow it's already moth-ridden despite this place being underground in the middle of the DESERT.
You do manage to pry out some spare clothes in your size.

You find a spare labcoat and three sets of shirts and pants that look just like your wageslave outfit (purple tie included!)
You change into one of the clean wageslave outfts. You drape your labcoat over it to make yourself look more 'presentable'. This doesn't do anything beyond making you feel better but hey! The little victories matter.

>LABCOAT and WAGESLAVE UNIFORM x3 obtained.

Time to go to work, then.
You exit the LOST AND FOUND and you immediately beeline it to your lab.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cWar-WMYqw - DAY 2
You take in a deep breath of musty but somewhat cleaner air. The lab looks about as bad as it did last time. The cigarette mold still clinging to the walls and ceilings hasn't had enough time to spread to the floor yet.

Everything is as organized as it has been.
The lights are flickering but the moment you step through the entry, it stops. Odd.

You check to see where they left your catalog supplies. Most of them were piled onto the tables you cleared out while you were cleaning up this joint.
You take stock on what they actually delivered.

CATALOG SUPPLIES OBTAINED!
>INSIGHT MODULE INSTALLER (An injector with a set of instructions on how to use it. Grants you the powers of the INSIGHT MODULE.)
>FOOD PACKAGE (Contains 15 cans of processed spam, 5 loaves of processed white bread and 10 bottles of water.)

>HARVESTING KIT! (Contains a microscope, a chemical testing kit with 10 tests worth of supplies, 7 beakers, a scalpel and 5 syringes.)
>CLEANING SUPPLIES! (Contains a mop, a broom, a bucket, two gallons of bleach, three off-brand degreasers bottles and a gallon jug of water.)
>TOOLBOX (Contains a screwdriver, wrench, wirecutters and hammer. Has enough scrap metal, wires, screws and bolts to make about 4-5 repairs.)
>ENRICHMENT BUNDLE! (Toys include a rubix cube, five random stuffed animals and a box of off-brand legos. CD player has one soft jazz CD, one heavy metal CD and one white noise CD. Included with ten AA batteries.)

Finally. You got stuff to work with when it comes to interacting with the anomaly.
Time to start your DAY.

DAY 2 starts!
Due to starting your day early and cleaning your lab up beforehand, you have 11 TIME TOKENS!

What do, Vincent? Pick two.
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC.)
>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)
>Write in.

---
Apparently my pastebin account got purged. Not sure how but I'm just going to swap over to rentry.
Here's the new sheet for VINCENT and his inventory.
Just to clarify, INSIGHT MODULE won't give you any hints for what works IN LIMBO likes but it WILL offer you hints for any anomalous equipment you could get from it.

INSIGHT MODULE will offer work hints for the rest of the anomalies you get this quest, though.
https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEET

>>6280669
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)

>>6280669
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)
Gentlemen, the cleaning will continue. Also, because the computer loads like crap, we could alternate between cleaning and letting the PC load whatever garbage it is processing.

>>6280695
If we clean out all the gunk we might run out of samples to study

>>6280669
backing >>6280675
Learn our workstation, learn about the gunk
Then we can enter the cell and start working

>>6280695
I personally think we should save the cleaning to when we're fucking dirty again. We just took a shower; don't you know cleaning stuff after one feels worse because then you need to clean yourself up again? It's better to do dirty things while still dirty so when you clean up once you clean up for a long while

>>6280699
Actually yeah we could just get one of the beakers and put some of the cigarette mold in it and seal it up, THEN clean up all the rest out. That way we still have one sample we can make more from if we ever need to

>>6280669
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6280669
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)

>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)

>>6280595
>>6280603
>>6280613
I see we'll need a lot of buffs to start having 2 checks on these rolls
>>6280669
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)

>>6280722
Woah, partner, two actions per post here. I'm fine with people picking more if it's for a catalog shopping session or asking someone questions but we're not blitzing through the day in one single post.
especially because I do not want to write 10 post updates like my first quest
>>6280699
I will say that you can collect some as you clean it up, there's no reason you couldn't (especially with the harvesting kit).
You DO know it can spread when in contact with certain surfaces so it's possible to grow more as long as you have some samples

>>6280669
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)

>>6280669
>Try to find something to clean this place with. You are NOT working in a mold-infested pigstay. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +10 to roll from WAGESLAVE and ACTUAL CLEANING SUPPLIES. Good for your mental health.)
>Try to learn more about the GUNK. You know you're supposed to be studying an anomaly but this stuff is fascinating. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 57. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. This stuff FEELS like it's an anomaly too.)
The cleaning of GUNK will continue until moral improves.

>>6280723
>Woah, partner, two actions per post here. I'm fine with people picking more if it's for a catalog shopping session or asking someone questions but we're not blitzing through the day in one single post.
sorry, didn't see it.
>>6280669
>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)

>>6280665
>Your left eye is grey and unfocused
Uhoh. Our anomaly did this to us didn't it (or whatever in our history made us look like the right fit for this place)?

>>6280669
>>Try to find something to clean this place with
>>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab

>>6280772
Vincent had the grey eye and green eye back in CLEANER QUEST too. I wonder if he'll develop an appreciation or passion for art and painting eventually?

>>6280669
>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6280675
+1

>Check out your computer. Maybe there's something useful on it? (-3 TIME TOKENS. It's a slow piece of shit but there has to be SOMETHING on here.)
dont mind what else we do, but we really should check the computer sooner rather than later i think

CLEAN: wEJ, 04z, s90, kOZ
GUNK STUDY: g99, tbi, y4z, +u7, s90
COMPUTER: g99, tbi, y4z, wEJ, 04z, SXG, ET+
SCRAP: KOO, SXG
CONTAIN: KOO, +u7, CWx
REPAIR: kOZ
EAT: CWx

Cleaning until morale improves will be done at a different time.

Three anons, roll 1d100+8, DC 57. Success table below.
0 SUCCESSES: You don't learn anything new. You mostly just collect a lot of samples to study later.
1-2 SUCCESSES: You have a better theory on what lifeform this mold actually is and what properties it has. 2 successes offers more info than 1 success.
3 SUCCESSES: The stench of PROFIT overwhelms the stench of cigarettes and mildew. You find something profitable about the cigarette mold.

Rolled 96 + 8 (1d100 + 8)

>>6281002
Yes valued overseer, if you smoke this mold you can get high. Maybe even see the future.

Rolled 46 + 8 (1d100 + 8)

>>6281002
Rolling

>>6281005
What if that is true but nobody simply ever tried because mold inhalation is BAD? This ain't ergot or LSD

Rolled 33 + 8 (1d100 + 8)

>>6281002

At least you didn't roll NO successes.
You'll get a lot of samples and you figured out some basic facts on the slime mold. Writing.
Being a wagekek doesn't offer much LUCK, huh?

That old hunk of garbage is FINALLY going to get some moment in the spotlight.
You seat yourself by the old Macintosh. You know this thing is going to be a pain in the ass to boot so you'll turn it on while you do other stuff.

You press the power button. The computer coughs and wheezes the moment it starts to power on. A dying man with Stage 4 lung cancer would have an easier time breathing than this computer. The most repugnant stench of burning plastic and dust slams into your nose like a fist.

You hack and wheeze right along with the computer. FUCK. Oh, god, something blasted from one of the computer's air vents got into your mouth. EUGH.
>-MENTAL and PHYSICAL HEALTH!
>MENTAL is now DOING FINE!

The stench dies down a little once the computer starts to actually boot up. You'll come back to this when it's fully powered on.
You get up, ready to start your other project today - The CIGARETTE MOLD HARVESTING! One awful smelling thing to another. Your life's GREAT.

Good thing is that harvesting it is pretty damn easy. You use the scalpel (far sharper than your pocket knife) to slice away thick, heavy layers of mold off. It reminds you of shaving matted fur off of a dog.
You collect it into several of the beakers you have. You manage to fill up two beakers to the brim with cigarette mold. This is more than enough to study.

You place the two beakers on one of the cleared out tables. You need to figure out how this stuff works. At the very least, what it actually eats.
You slice off a small chunk of mold and you place it onto the table. It squirms around on the table, trying to root itself onto the new surface. Creepy. The mold doesn't seem to bother spreading when it's inside the glass beakers but it tries to spread on the table. Interesting.

You grab some food from the daily food bundle you got. You use your pocket knife (to avoid contamination) to slice off small bits of bread and spam to see what the mold eats.
You place the samples right by the cigarette mold to see what happens.

The mold instantly latches onto the bread. It rapidly consumes the soft fluffy bread until there's nothing left.
The spam, on the other hand, seems to actively repulse the mold. It goes out of its way to avoid going anywhere near it. You move the spam closer and it scrunches away from it like it's fire.
You pull it away, it relaxes.

You test one other food source. You drop a random lego from the toy bundle into the mold.
It quickly spreads onto the plastic far faster than the surface of the table. You carefully slice away at small chunks of it to see how it's treating the plastic.

The plastic is corroding underneath the mold. Slowly but it is dissolving thanks to the mold.
Interesting. So, it doesn't eat meat (thank GOD) but it eats grains and it dissolves/eats plastic. It mostly seems to stain metal instead of actually spreading on it.

The most interesting property is that it's actively REPULSED by meat.

It rejected the spam and it actively avoided your finger when you were first studying it.
You do one other quick test on it. You hover the palm of your hand over the clump of cigarette mold you played on the table. You raise it up, ready to slam it on the table.

The mold rapidly squirms away in an attempt to avoid your hand.
Interesting. It didn't react when you were slicing at it with your scalpel.

You walk up to one of the slime mold-covered walls and raise your hand, ready to smack it.
There's a slight movement as if it was tensing up. You wouldn't have noticed if it you weren't looking, though.

Size seems to be an important factor in its behavior. It's far more active when it's smaller, far hungrier as well. It wants to spread across non-flesh surfaces and it corrodes plastic. Hm.
Could it be manmade, maybe? It was found in a lab and, well, making something that hungers for humans is obvious mad science bullshit.

Interesting.
You remove the cigarette mold from the table and you promptly return it to the beakers. You disinfect your scalpel with a bit of bleach so you can use it later.

>+2 BEAKERS OF CIGARETTE MOLD! (Can be studied at a later time.)
You mark your research on the (currently useless) dosseir with that pencil you stole. Keeps your research fresh.

The old hunk of junk you call a computer boots up right as you finish.
Lucky you.

You seat yourself back at the old Macintosh to see what's on it.

Wow. You didn't pay attention to it last time but this thing really is ancient. Everything is so clunky looking - You know the budget for this place is in the shitter but surely they could've gotten something better than THIS by now. You're impressed this thing is even still running.

There's barely anything on this machine. There's two password locked folders with cryptic, garbled names on them - TALFLGGYHPFXBRLHAI and SWZVZEUXAWEUTKXSJK. It's like someone sneezed with typing those but it seems too deliberate to be purely garbage noise. Some type of cipher?
All you know about ciphers is they usually have a keyphrase. Guessing what that is right now is a wild goosechase.

Let's see what else is on here.
There's an icon of a yellow bee. You click the icon and it presents you with a single blank bar on a white screen. You immediately type in GOOGLE.COM
It pops up an error message. 'INVALID DOMAIN'.

Huh. .gov?
'INVALID DOMAIN'.
Ah. Probably no outside internet, you'd guess. You look around the desktop to see if there's any hint on what you can use this search engine for.

You flip through one of the unlocked files and, inside, there's a text document with a few links scattered on it.
"ABNOWATCH.CIC.XYZ"
"FRIENDCHAT.CIC.XYZ"

Weird. You never seen that type of domain before. Some internal facility internet domain? Something else?
You type in the first link and, finally, you manage to get a website to load.

ABNOWATCH pulls up an antique forum that looks as old as the computer you're using.

There's dozens of different boards and sub-boards on here, ranging from supernatural sightings to gaming discussion to scandalously lewd material you do NOT want to be caught looking at.
The last thing you wanna do is to be seen as a pervert by the fucking government.

This could be a GREAT timekiller when you have nothing else to do. Maybe it can supplement your shitty dosseir with actual information!
[ABNOWATCH LURKING option unlocked! You can use this website to look up information about your anomalies or future anomalies or you can shitpost on here to burn time and restore mental health.]

You load up the other website - FRIENDCHAT.
It brings up a small popup that asks you to sign up for the site. You decide to pick a random username from a hat...

CHOOSE!
>VINCENTCRUZ. To the point.
>VC. Short and sweet.
>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!
>RESEARCH042. Only your title matters right now.
>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.
>Write in.

A random password later and you're booted up into an IRC chatroom. There's currently no one online right now. Makes sense, you did start this shift early. You do spot some idle users on the sidebar. There's about seven or eight usernames. You check for any hints on what the chatroom is used for.
"COMMUNICATE TO SOLVE PROLEMS AND TO LEARN HOW TO MAXIMIZE YOUR PROFITS."
"...that's what the bosses want. Free feel to shoot the shit here though!"

Oh shit. You can actually ask for help with some of this researcher shit, huh?
[FRIENDCHAT option unlocked! You can use this website to ask for advice from your fellow researchers and employees. You could share this link to people you wanna be friends with as well.]

The lights flicker yet again. It's not getting bad yet but you know that this isn't just the faulty power grid. You think you still have some time before it gets REALLY bad, though.
Hm. Well, at the very least, you should be able to boot up the computer faster for the forseeable future. You think whatever was inside the case that made that repulsive smell was causing it to boot as slowly as it did.

Maybe you'll get more use out of it once you find more CIC.XYZ links but you'll make due with the two new options.

What do you want to, Vincent? You got 7 TIME TOKENS left.

CHOOSE TWO
>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 67. It's a long short but it doesn't cost much time.)
>Wait for someone to join FRIENDCHAT. You could do with some advice. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Keep studying the slime mold. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)
>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>Make yourself something to eat from the FOOD BUNDLE. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Improves your PHYSICAL HEALTH slightly. Gives you some time to think and plan.)
>Write in.

>>6281085
>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.
>>6281091
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 50 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)

>>6281079
>Interesting. So, it doesn't eat meat (thank GOD) but it eats grains and it dissolves/eats plastic. It mostly seems to stain metal instead of actually spreading on it.
I can see a use for the mold: Trash disposal. No more dumping plastic trash on the seas.

>>6281085
>ANON0425
We can do a namechange later I hope. Right now we need to be careful

>>6281091
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
No need for new books yet, we'll be overwhelmed otherwise
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
Let's finally check on our flower corpse

>>6281091
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
No opinion on name.

>>6281085
>>RESEARCH042. Only your title matters right now.
>>6281091
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)

Just noticed that the pastebin seems to be expired or removed

>>6281221
Yeah, pastebin is a bitch. I just swapped to rentry to save myself the headache.
https://rentry.co/VINCENTSHEET
This is what we'll be using to monitor Vincent's inventory, traits and wellbeing.

>>6281085
>RESEARCH042. Only your title matters right now.
>>6281091
>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)

>>6281085
>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.
>>6281091
>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6281085
>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!

>>6281091
>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6281085
>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!

>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)

>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)

>>6281085
>>ANOTHERDAYANOTHERDOLLAR. Ironic!
That or we make some kind of Hitchhikers Guide to the Universe reference with our researcher number.

>>6281091
>>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>>It is TIME to CLEAN

Might as well see whether our anomaly needs to eat or how effective the enrichment/insight package we got is. No need to put more strain on that computer by letting it get shut down forcefully.

>>6281121
True. There might be some issues though--given that average people aren't going to bother separating meat products from their trash and we aren't sure how it'll react to greens or dairy among other things... that and there might be enough money in waste disposal or government contracts meant to deal with it that would see the discovery suppressed--but there's no harm in offering it up. I'm certain the big wigs can figure it out for themselves.

>>6281091
>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.

>It is TIME to CLEAN.
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL.

>>6281091
>It is TIME to CLEAN. The cleaning will continue until morale does. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 60. +14 to roll from WAGESLAVE, CLEANING SUPPLIES and GUNK KNOWLEDGE. Good for your mental health, reduces the DC for the airlock check.)
>Enter the CONTAINMENT CELL. Time to STUDY it some more. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6281085
>ANON0425. Better to stay anonymous.

Alright, looks like ANON0425 wins out for the name and as for what you're doing?
The cleaning continues until morale improves (then you visit the containment cell)

Three anons, roll 1d100+14
0-1 SUCCESSES: You get some progress in but the cigarette mold is shockingly sturdy. Heals a little MENTAL HEALTH, -2 to AIRLOCK DC, -3 to STUDY MOLD DC.
2 SUCCESSES: The walls are still stained brown and the stench of cigarettes is still in the air but otherwise? This room's pretty damn clean. -6 to AIRLOCK DC, you restore a hefty amount of MENTAL HEALTH.
3 SUCCESSES: It is SPOTLESS. SPARKLING CLEAN. You have never cleaned a room so well until today. -10 to AIRLOCK DC, you restore a LOTTA MENTAL HEALTH.

Rolled 40 + 14 (1d100 + 14)

>>6281559

Rolled 62 + 14 (1d100 + 14)

>>6281559

Rolled 57 + 14 (1d100 + 14)

>>6281559

Through the power of actual cleaning supplies, you managed to clean your room. You got two successes!
Your mother would be very proud.

Writing.

You glance back at the computer. You nod approvingly at your own username - ANON0425. It's best to keep everything close to your chest until you can find some people you can actually trust here. You only met three or four people here and you barely know their names.

But for now?

It is time. To clean. You smile for the first time today. Oh, this is something you actually want to do. Cleaning has always been therapeutic to you. You can't fathom how some people can live like slobs or how they can let their houses get all kinds of filthy.

You pop a few batteries into the CD player. You might as well play some tunes to listen to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv4DvovU9rc - JAZZ
Ah. Yeah, that's the good stuff. Jazz soothes the soul, you know.

You dig through the cleaning supplies to get everything you need to start tidying this place up. You mix up a simple bleach/water mixture to help deal with the mold. One cup for one gallon, that's what your mom would always say.
Time to clean.

>2 SUCCESSES!

It's slow but honest work. This place hasn't been cleaned in ages so most of the stains you see are caked on HARD. You have to put in some real shoulder grease to scrap everything off the walls.
Good thing about the bleach mixture! It rapidly kills the cigarette mold on contact. The mold rapidly desiccates and shrivels up into flaky, dry sheets that you can easily scrap off the walls.

You scrub every surface you can reach. The walls, underneath your computer, moving the tables to make sure you can clean their underside, and what little you can reach of the ceiling.
The mold growing on the ceiling is already starting to dry and peel off. Hm. Just to make sure the cigarette mold samples aren't getting damaged by bleach fumes, you seal their beakers tightly with some covers you found in the HARVESTING KIT bundle.

You stop cleaning after you got all you could off the walls, floor and ceiling. You take a deep breath of that bleach-filled air. The lab has been cleaned to the best of your ability! You can still faintly make out the tell-tale stench of cigarettes and dark, deep brown stains still cling to the walls.

BUT!
You disinfected it of all of its mold AND it actually looks like a lab now. You can see everything in their full glory! Well, 'full' glory. The walls are still a rusty brown from sheer lack of maintenance. There's still large sections with exposed piping and steam blasting out from them at irregular intervals.

It's clean at least. That's the best you can hope for, frankly.
>++MENTAL HEALTH! MENTAL HEALTH is now at SATISFIED!

You'll have to repair the damages to it at a later time. You turn off the CD player before you head to your next task today - Dealing with the anomaly.
You decide this is the time to jab the INSIGHT MODULE INSTALLER into yourself. You follow its instructions and insert the injector into your arm.

A sharp pain flares through you but it stops as quickly as it started.

>INSIGHT MODULE INSTALLED!
>INSIGHT HINTS ENABLED! Whenever you are working on an anomaly, you will be given clues on how to obtain certain artifacts from a anomaly.
>Most anomalies will have at least two artifacts you may be able to extract. Some exceptions may apply.
>Whenever you obtain a new anomaly, you will get a hint on two stimuli it will react neutrally or positively to.

You grab your dossier folder as a makeshift notepad before opening the airlock.

https://youtu.be/FHtCVu3JYPM - ANOMALY WORK

Nothing's changed about the anomaly so far. It's still the same old corpse flowerbed. Only difference is the grey flower that grew yesterday.

The broom handle lays at the side of the flowerbed. The anomaly doesn't seem particularly interested in it anymore. It was a stop-gap measure before you could get better supplies. Must've kept it entertained while you were gone, at least.

Its hands are opening and closing but at a sluggish speed. You know that's tied to the power grid failure at least, so it's not going to freak out yet if you can get it to stop.
The flowers are still moving as if a breeze was blowing past them. The sickly sweet stench of rot hits your nose but it's numbed a bit from all of the bleach you had to smell an hour ago.

You swear you heard a noise from it again. Hm. Well, it's time to do some experiments on it. Choose two experiments or work orders you want to try on it, Vincent.

IN LIMBO MOOD: ???%

>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)
>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it, up to three questions.)
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)
>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (Choose WHITE NOISE, HEAVY METAL or SOFT JAZZ.)
>Harvest some flowers from the corpse flowerbed to study later. Your harvesting kit should make it painless.
>Offer it some food, batteries and water. Figure out how it gets its energy.
>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it.
>Bring in some toys to see how it reacts to them. It liked playing with the broom, yeah?
>Write in.

>>6281607
>>Offer it some food, batteries and water. Figure out how it gets its energy.
>>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)

>>6281607
>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)

>>6281607
>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it.
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)

>>6281669
+1

>>6281607
>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)
>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (HEAVY METAL)

>>6281607
>Examine the corpse underneath the flowerbed to see what other unique anatomy it has. (DC 45, +1 from SURFACE LEVEL ANATOMY)
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)

>>6281607
>>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it.
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)

>>6281607
>Try to communicate with the anomaly. Ask it some questions. (Write in what you want to ask it, up to three questions.)
When were you born?
Describe yourself. (age is most important)
Where are you?
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)

My guess so far is that it appears to generate energy from nostalgia, and takes energy from the surrounding environment when it has a deficit. Best treat it like an alzheimers patient. If we can figure out how well it can remember things, we can optimize energy generation through introducing memes from before it became an anomaly, then cycle through according to this period. Best place to start is to confirm this theory, and although my questions aren't masterfully crafted for it, we ought to start somewhere.
I'd also like to figure out who named it "IN LIMBO", they might know more than we do, considering the state of the anomaly.
Also best be careful with any bad memories, one of those might've been what killed our predecessor. After all, someone had to name it, and this name wasn't for nothing. Likely knew more about it than us, but oversights and complacency are the #1 killers of lab techs who don't die on their first week. Must've thought he had a good thing going till he stepped on an emotional landmine. Or maybe he didn't die in here at all? Best not to be the one to figure out in any case, that's where we'll have to hire someone for a day to test something potentially dangerous for us, obfuscating the finer details of course.
Unless we can get those files on the computer unlocked, get us a better clue about the anomaly's pitfalls & function, or lack thereof.
Or maybe I'm talking out my ass? What do you anons think?

>>6281725
+1

>>6281860
Change
>>6281607
>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom.
>Examine the flowers.

>>6281607
>Examine the flowers. Weird biomechanical flowers could be a novelty to sell at least. How do they work? (DC 40, ???.)

>Offer it some food, batteries and water. Figure out how it gets its energy.

>>6281607
>The room's a bit dusty. Clean the cell with your broom. You think it might appreciate it.
>Play some music from your CD player. See how it reacts to the stimuli. (Choose WHITE NOISE, HEAVY METAL or SOFT JAZZ.)
Soft Jazz

Today's update is going to be a bit delayed on account of my internet being out for hours.
Apparently some jackasses working for another internet company cut some cables or wires by accident. Probably not going to get it back for another 5-6 at minimum and I'm not writing an update on mobile.

Did the count and we're examining the flowers and were cleaning the cell.
Three anons, roll 1d100, DC 40. You can't really know what to expect out of this so you won't get a threshold table ala the other checks.

Rolled 19 (1d100)

>>6282053

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>6282053
WITNESS ME

Rolled 13 (1d100)

>>6282053

>>6282057
I certainly witnessed something from you but the others? Oof.

One success. Will start writing and I'll post when I'm actually able to. Hopefully won't take too long but who knows. Sorry for the inconvenience.

>>6282056
>>6282057
>>6282059
yup, we really need buffs

>>6282062

Couldnt you write it on a word processor or at least notepad while you wait?

Okay! Internet's back up. Update should be out soon.

>>6282102
Yeah? Internet was down, not the power.

>>6282079
Pft. Not sure how much buffs would've helped you here, a 19 and a 14 are pretty bad luck. Don't worry, you'll still learn SOMETHING (it's not like you got 0 successes)

The air's thick with a haze of what assume is either pollen or dust. Your first instinct tells you it's probably not pollen. One, it doesn't smell like anything and two, you're not sneezing up a storm. Though you're not sure if you have a pollen allergy or not. You don't really know a lot about the state of your own body, to be frank, it was all put on the back burner during your job.

Hell, you don't remember the last time you got a check up. Two? Three years ago?

Ah, what the hell, you're stalling for time because you don't want to work. You need to study this thing and nothing about what weird pollen it may or may not have will deter you from that. It's just another obligation you have to deal with.

No point drowning in self pity right now. You got a job to do.
You apologize to the corpse flower bed thing that you'll be RIGHT back but you gotta get a broom. It doesn't respond. Whether it's unable to or it simply had nothing to say, you'll have to figure that out later.

While you're grabbing the broom, you pause for a moment. There's a noise that you couldn't quite make out but it's not inside your lab. It's outside. Probably a few hallways away with how muffled it was. It sounded heavy and metallic, though.

You return to the containment cell.
Cleaning up the cell was far easier and far quicker than you expected. There's not much to clean up in the cell so you're treating this more of a stimuli test. Does the anomaly care if its room is clean or not?
You keep an eye on the anomaly as you clean, clean, clean like the good janitor you are.

About twenty minutes later and this place is sparkling clean.
Its hands have long since gone dormant. It hasn't been grasping for anything ever since you started cleaning up. You wait for a moment and even after a few minutes, there's no sign of it getting impatient/hungry/lonely/whatever causes the electricity to short.

You scribble it down on the papers you stole from the folder. 'Returned to a calm state when its cell was cleaned.'
It made YOU feel better too. All upside here, baby.

You move onto your next bit of research - Its flowers. You hesitated on whether to go with the corpse or the flowers first but you're not sure how it would react to its body being messed with. Probably best to stick with a safer test this time around.

>1 SUCCESS!

You gently wrap your fingers around one of the flowers. The stem feels like any old power cord cable you'd find for cheap at a Walmart. Its surface is rubbery and cold with not much give to it from all of the wiring inside the plastic shell.
The flower, however, looks exactly like any old flower you'd find growing in a field. The base of the flower is merged seamlessly with the power cable with no hint that they were ever separate objects.

The petals feel as soft and fragile as any other flower's petals. There is something odd about the petals, though. When you put ANY pressure on them, their texture changes.

They go from feeling like how a flower petal feels to something metallic and rubbery. You test to see if it's just a surface feel thing and, no, they develop the same property as rubber. You pull on one of the flower petals but it simply stretches and distorts instead of ripping.

Once you let go, it snaps back into its default form without taking any damage from your tampering.
Your fingers are coated in a thin yellow powder. Hm, so it does produce pollen. Or something similar to it.

You brush some of it off onto one of your sheets of paper. You could certainly study this with your microscope later.
>POLLEN SAMPLE obtained!
You don't figure out much about the flowers from this little experiment. You'll probably have to harvest them to learn more about them.

You feel a tingle in your nose, like you're about to sneeze. Ah, some of the pollen must've gotten into your nose.
Instead of sneezing, though, something odd happens. A memory you don't remember flashes through your mind.

You're out in the parking lot with one of your friends. You're holding a camcorder your dad got you as a birthday gift! It's some brand new tech that's like a film camera but portable!
You load a brand new VHS tape into it. Okay, you're going to film your friend doing a sick stunt on her skateboard! This is going to be fun!
What happened after you started filming wasn't pretty. She immediately ate shit the moment she tried doing a trick.
She just laughed it off, though. She wanted a copy of her fuckup later - So she can laugh at it later.
You didn't get why she wanted to remember this but you're more than happy to help her!

As soon as the memory started, it is washed right out of your mind. Your head feels all sorts of fuzzy and foggy like you just woke up from a bad dream.
>-MENTAL HEALTH. Still CONTENT.
Another flower blooms on the corpse bed. A sunflower with bright green petals pops up right next to the grey poppy. The same colors as your left and right eye.

Odd.
You let go of the flower you were examining. It's clear there's some significance between these odd memories and the flowers but the exact details still evade you.
You'll have to study this later once you force that odd memory out of your head.

You promptly exit the room.
[You've interacted with IN LIMBO enough to unlock its MOOD!]
[IN LIMBO MOOD: 85/100. HIGH!]

You place the pollen sample on the same table you're keeping the cigarette mold. You try to plan on what you're going to do next but your thoughts are cut off.
KRRK...KRRK...THUD. KRRRK...KRRRK...THUD.
You hear heavy, thunderous footsteps echoing somewhere down the hallway outside your lab. Something metallic is being dragged against the floor, sparking and scratching the steel floor.

You're not sure what the fuck that is.
[Occasionally, throughout your shift, time-limited encounters may occur. These chances increase as the day goes on.]
[These encounters may be good, bad, weird or neutral.]

[You'll only have the description of whatever you hear outside to gauge what encounter it might be.]
[They'll vanish if you don't pick them the turn they show up.]

...What do you do, Vincent? You got 4 TIME TOKENS left. Pick two.

TIME LIMITED
>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)

RESEARCH
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)
>Keep studying the slime mold. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Head back into the CONTAINMENT CELL. Your head's clear now. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

BUSY WORK/SLACKING
>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 66. It's a long short but it doesn't cost much time.)
>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)

>WRITE IN (What do you want to do?)

-----
I apologize for the delay. We should be back to our regularly schedule wageslaving.

>>6282164
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)

>>6282164
>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)
>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)

>>6282164
>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)
>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)

>>6282180
Actually, scratch that. Changing my vote to this.
>>6282176

>>6282176
+1

>>6282164
>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)
>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)

>>6282176
+1

>>6282164
>>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)
>Check out whatever the FUCK is on the GRIMY FLOPPY DISK. (No TIME TOKEN cost. DC 65 for ??? reasons.)

>>6282164
>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them WTF is in the hallways. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>>6282164
>>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)

>>6282164
>Check what's outside. (-1d2-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS, ???. You don't hear any alarms outside at least.)
Just ETF delivering an anomaly. Go say hi! I'm sure they'll give us another reason to hate the ARC.
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)

>>6282164
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
Botany texts. We need the proper context to analyze the pollen.

>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)

>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)

>>6282335
Shit, I can only choose two. Drop the pollen analysis for now.

Rolled 1 - 1 (1d2 - 1)

Aight, let's see

OUTSIDE: jHo, Szu, KOO, tbi, CWx, y4z, 8KG, SqX
GRIMY DISK: jHo, Szu, KOO, tbi, y4z, 8KG
ACADEMIC BOOKS: CWx, PPH
SCRAP GUNK: jHo, GHI, SqX, PPH
POLLEN: PPH
REPAIR: GHI
STUDY BOOKS: PPH
FWIEND: SV3

Alright. Seems pretty locked. Going to make this a quicker update to make up for the staggered update last time. Rolling to see how many time tokens CHECK OUTSIDE costs.
Three anons, roll 1d100 for the DISK.

0 SUCCESS: ???
1 SUCCESS: ???
2 SUCCESSES ???
3 SUCCESSES: 10000 hours of entertainment!!! Don't you want it? Don't you want it?

Rolled 63 (1d100)

>>6282431
GET THAT FUKKEN DISK
wait we already have it it's right here

Rolled 56 (1d100)

>>6282431
WITNESS ME

Rolled 94 (1d100)

>>6282431
finally I can roll

Wow, two close rolls but only one actual success.
Vincent's luck ain't the greatest, huh? Writing.

>>6282449
basically 90% of our rolls

If your MAC's clock is correct, it's already pretty late into the afternoon. You don't really have much of your shift left before you have to call it quits.
You got some decent progress done at least. You got access to the computer now, your lab is super clean and you studied the two anomalies you have. (The cigarette mold is probably anomaly adjacent at least).

You yank the GRIMMY FLOPPY DISC out of your spacious pocket. This is probably going to take a moment to load so might as well load it up first.
You shove it into the floppy disc tray.

>1 SUCCESS!
The computer immediately freezes the moment it realized what you shoved into it.
A sickening noise emanates from the computer's speaker. Fleshy, wet noises like raw hamburger meat being pushed through a ricer ooze out. Oh, this disc is fucking haunted, isn't it?

You step away from the computer just in case this thing explodes. You really hope it doesn't - You wasted so much time booting this thing up.
Then, as if nothing happened, the computer stops making that god-awful noise.

A new program pops up on the homescreen. "CPPQUEST.EXE". You hesitantly click on what seems like the world's most obvious virus.
The computer loads it up with little to no effort. A garbled 1bit pixel title screen pops up. A low, distorted beep that might've been the game's title music crackles out from your speaker.

"CONTANI PROTTECT PROTECT QUEST."
"PRESS A TO START. 100000 HOURS OF FUN FUN"

Whatever happened to this disc, it seems like it's been severely corrupted. You press A to see what pops up.
It immediately loads into a heavily corrupted and pixelated mess that, if you squint, resembles a random storage room somewhere in a facility just like yours.
"U ARE SOMEWHERE ADKR. WHAT DO?"

There's a portrait of your character but it, like everything else, is corrupted and garbled. The only identifying characteristics of whatever you're controlling is that it has clawed hands.
You quickly turn off the game. You've read enough early internet horror stories to know that thing is probably haunted to hell and back. There's no way it isn't.

...But, you are assigned to study the supernatural and abnormal. Maybe there's some value in playing that game?
>CPPQUEST unlocked!

KRRHH...THUD. KRRHH...THUD.
Curiosity kills the cat but but satisfaction brought it back. You have to know what's out there. You can always deal with your computer later, it's not like that obviously ominous program is going anywhere.

You hesitate right as you're about to open the door. You're not sure if you should bother whatever is out there but, fuck it, satisfaction brought the cat back.
You swing the door open.

https://youtu.be/BglCWYL_1fw - RANDOM ENCOUNTER

Your door opens right as whatever was making that noise was walking past. What in the actual fuck are you looking at, though?
A vaguely humanoid mass of steel stands right before you.

It towers far above you with its head nearly grinding against the ceiling with how tall it is. Its body is made out of a complex mess that was clearly assembled by a schizophrenic. The parts of its body vary in quality from literal garbage to things that'd probably belong to military contract combat models.

Carried in its two claw-like hands is a featureless black box made out of an unidentifiable type of stone that's about the size of a large 24 inch shipping box. A stone box that big is probably way heavier than you are so this robot is freakishly strong.

It gently puts the stone box down with the same care as if it was made out of glass.
"I APOLOGIZE FOR THE NOISE." A heavily compressed, bit-crushed recording of a woman's voice crackles out of the machine's mouth. "I AM TRANSPORTING. ANOMALY CONTAINER. FOR. ETF AGENT. VERY IMPORTANT, AS YOU SEE." It pats the top of the box with its claw-like hand. You're still not sure what that box is made out of. It's almost as dark as that vantablack stuff you saw online once. A shadow given physical mass.

"ANALYZING. YOU ARE LOW RUNG RESEARCHER 'VINCENT', CORRECT?"

"U-uh. Yes." You gulp, hoping you didn't do something wrong. You're still not too sure about the rules here and, well, you rather not piss off a giant robot. "Sorry, I just heard the noise and-"
"IT IS. NO ISSUE TO ME."

It kneels down to get a better look at you. It has a single red lens where an eye might be on a human's face. It looks behind you to check on your lab. It beeps out something resembling a sigh.
"ANALYZING LAB. LOADING EMOTION OF: DISAPPOINTMENT AT: UPPER MANAGEMENT."
"I AM. CARRYING AUTOMATION #821. I CAN. CARRY SOMETHING TO YOUR LAB. FOR FREE."

"Wait, huh?" Free stuff? Offered by a robot made by this facility? This almost feels like a trick but...
"WHAT DO YOU. WANT ME TO CARRY? CAN ONLY CARRY. A FEW THINGS. WITHOUT DETECTION."

Well! You might as well take it (her?) up on this offer. What do you want it to deliver? Choose one.
>Some weapons. A gun would be nice but anything that could protect you better than a flimsy knife.
>Protective gear. A gas mask, a hazmat suit, anything to protect you from contamination.
>Money and valuables. Anything to pay for future supplies or to keep Upper Management off your ass.
>Botanical supplies. Watering cans, plant food, etc. You got a flower based anomaly after all.
>Medical supplies. Bandages, pain killers, drugs, etc. You don't like your odds of dealing with the doctors that work here.
>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)
>Some good luck charms. You've felt pretty unlucky today.
>Write in.

Do you ask it anything?
>Write in. (You may ask it up to three questions.)

>>6282470
HELLO NURSE!

>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)
Honestly I want the botanical supplies more, and we probably won’t even really need her help at all tomorrow, but I really REALLY want to be bffs with a gigantic robot

>So, *point to stone cube* any idea what’s in that?
>Wait-if you’re number 821, does that mean there’s 821 of you here???
>And pardon me for saying this, but are you…huh “up to factory standard?” As they say?
The last one is basically seeing if she needs a hand getting better parts for herself AKA a better opportunity to become stronger allies with her.

>>6282486
+1
I want to associate this robot. It be beneficial in the long-term.

>>6282472
>Botanical supplies. Watering cans, plant food, etc. You got a flower based anomaly after all.

>>6282486
+1
This guy can definitely break into those other airlocks.

>>6282486
+1

>>6282472
>Money and valuables. Anything to pay for future supplies or to keep Upper Management off your ass.

>>6282472
>>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)

>>6282472
>Write in.
A nice bed. I don't wanna sleep in the crowded military bunks.

>>6282163
Hey uh
The flowers seem to contain memories.
A flower based on vincent popped up after interacting.
Did we, forget something? If it's some childhood memory it'll probably be really hard to tell we've lost anything but, I think this is definitely worth keeping in mind with future interaction.
In a similar vein, if this thing can grow more flowers without them ever disappearing, that's its own potential future issue.
This is the sort of fine detail that's not really necessary for making decisions but if you're willing to indulge QM, how many flowers are currently in the flowerbed, and how much room does it look like it has for more?

>>6282649
I'll answer before I go to bed.

1.) To your knowledge, you aren't forgetting anything. Nothing that you can readily remember anyways.
2.) You don't have an exact count but there's about at least 70 flowers on the flower bed. There's enough volume and they're big enough to obscure all but the corpse's arms.
3.) Not accounting for the arms, there is still enough room for flowers to grow. It had enough to grow two, after all.

>>6282472
>>Botanical supplies. Watering cans, plant food, etc. You got a flower based anomaly after all.
Although I wouldn't mind >>6282486

>>6282472
>Ask it for its services tomorrow instead. A robot friend sounds cool. (DC 55.)

Aight. Seems like people are mostly going for Aqy's vote.
Let's get going.

Three anons, roll 1d100+3 (The robot pities you.) Table below.

0 SUCCESSES: It doesn't accept the offer and it'll bring you some botanical supplies instead.
1 SUCCESS: It hesitantly accepts and it'll cost a lot to hire it.
2 SUCCESS: It accepts the offer and it won't cost an insane amount to hire.
3 SUCCESSES: ???. You know it'll be good, at least!

Rolled 50 + 3 (1d100 + 3)

>>6282792

Rolled 71 (1d100)

>>6282792
tfw three coin flips and its pitty is only worth 3

>>6282793
So close but so far

Rolled 89 (1d100)

>>6282792
nat 100

>>6282794
Tell you what. I was hesitant to include another bonus since I didn't know if it applied but.
This thing is probably slightly more respected than you are.

You get +2 from a partial activation of WAGESLAVE. y4z is now 55, right on the money.

>>6282795
>>6282794
>>6282793
And with that last second bonus, that means this is the first time ever you got three successes.
You're certainly getting a new robot friend. I imagine Aqy is very happy at this development. Writing.

>>6282797
WOOOOOOOOO

>>6282797
It's way too early in this quest to be receiving the Pelvis Crusher

Your words fail you. A deep primordial instinct overwhelms the rational part of your brain. A mixture of hormones, opioids and other naturally generated chemicals floods through your bloodstream. There is only one thing on your mind. One thing that matters more than anything else.

waow cool robot vvverrryyy cool.

You immediately force that part of your brain back into statis. You're a professional. You're taking this job seriously, even if you don't want to do it, because it's your obligation to do so.
But.
Cool robot.

"Say, mind if you answer a few questions for me?"
"NO. ISSUE HERE." The automaton struggles to speak through its bitcrushed, poorly-maintained voicebox. "CARRYING AUTOMATION #821 IS. A FRIEND."
"Automation? Not automaton?" "IS THAT DESIGNATION WRONG?" "Not important. Okay, first off, #821? There's 821 of you?"

"YES. TO OFFER A MORE. DETAILED NAME, I AM SUPERNATURAL ARTIFACT CARRYING AUTOMATION #821. SACA FOR SHORT. I USE." A small wisp of smoke leaks out of one of the doll-like joints in SACA's shoulder. "A [DATA EXPUNGED - RANK TOO LOW] MODEL LLM TO. UNDERSTAND ORDERS AND TO. RESPOND LIKE A HUMAN."

"So, does that mean you're the latest one?"
"YES. HOWEVER, ABNORMALITY REGULATION COALATION HAS MADE. MANY OTHER ROBOTS LIKE ME TO. DO OTHER SPECIFIC TASKS. THERE IS MORE THAN 821 ROBOTS OF MY. 'INTELLIGENCE' IN THIS FACILITY."
"Right. If you had to roughball how many robots there are with similar capabilities to you, how many would there be?"
"ROUGHLY. THREE THOUSAND. MOST OTHER AUTOMATION. PERSONNEL ARE NOT. MEANT TO TALK."

Alright, so they apparently have enough of a budget to make robots powered with AI before it got slashed. You're still wondering why and how that budget got slashed to begin with since this job seems REALLY important to fund.
Oh well. You can ask about that later.

"So." You point to the vantablack stone cube it was carrying. "Do you have any idea what's in that?"
SACA snaps its head at an unnatural angle to look at the cube in question. "I AM NOT AUTHORIZED TO KNOW. I WAS TOLD TO CARRY. SO I DO."
"Yeah, that tracks."
"I KNOW ONE THING - HEARD FROM 'EXTRACTION TASK FORCE' ROXXIE. IT WAS A CENTIPEDE THAT COULD TALK. A CENTIPEDE THAT WANTED TO SELL THINGS TO YOU, FOR A PROFIT. THAT IS ALL I KNOW."

Interesting. At least that confirms there are some anomalies that are sapient and/or have the capability for speech besides the mysterious MAN. You suppose you couldn't have expected any more detail from that kind of question. There's only one more on your mind before you shoot your shot.

"Sorry if this is offensive to, uh, robots or something?" You're winging this. You're not even sure if it has the capacity to be angry. "Are you up to 'factory standard'? As they say? I think?"

SACA blankly stares at you with its singular, unblinking red eye. "I CARRY. I AM FUNCTIONING."
"I guess that's true but do you feel like your ability to carry isn't, uh, up to par?" SACA continues to blankly stare at you.

Did you just stuck your foot in your mouth with that question? SACA leans down real, real low to be on eye level with you. You have to lean away to avoid getting blinded by how BRIGHT its eye is.

"YES. I DO NOT BELIEVE YOU HAVE THE EXPERTISE TO REPAIR ME, THOUGH."
"Well, look, I got a toolbox and some spare parts. I could try." "YOU COULD." It bluntly responds. You wait for it to continue speaking but the conversation dies then and there. At least it didn't reject the proposal, at least?

"Look." You decide to shoot your shot. "I would like to hire you for your services. You seem like a very capable robot and, uh." You try to find the best way to say what you're about to say. Your social skills are incredibly rusty outside of basic small talk.

"It's probably better that I work with people instead of working alone, right? So, uh, I think a impressive piece of machinery like you as a friend would be cool. Would you-"
>3 SUCCESSES!
SACA promptly shushes you with a claw-like hand. "YOUR SITUATION IS. PITIFUL. I WAS DESIGNED TO. ASSIST HUMANS IN ANY TASK THEY. ASK OF ME."

"AND. AS YOU SAID. 'TO BE FRANK'." It does its best to make air quotes with its two fingered claw hands. "YOU NEED. ASSISTANCE, NO?"
You rapidly nod your head.
"I WILL. BE WILLING TO HELP. THIS IS NOT AUTHORIZED BY UPPER MANAGEMENT SO I NEED. MONETARY PAYMENT TO KEEP THEM FROM QUESTIONING OUR ARRANGEMENT."

Of course. It's all about money at the end of the day. You sigh, "How much?"
"$100. MY SUPERVISOR IS. EASY TO BRIBE." Okay! That's at least cheaper than hiring the MAN, at least. SACA shifts its head to look at your lab again. It lets out a noise that you think might've been a sigh of disappointment.

"NEED TO GO. HAVE TO CARRY THINGS. WILL DELIVER SOME GOODS TOMORROW. SEE YOU."
"If they can be botanical, that'd be nice!"
"UNDERSTOOD."

>Because you got 3 SUCCESSES, you're getting a small amount of botanical supplies as well. It won't be a lot but it's more than nothing.

SACA picks up the vantablack stone box with as much effort as you'd put in to pick up a piece of paper.
You mull over what value that robot could bring. It's probably not going to be useful for anything that isn't menial labor. Probably couldn't fit into a containment cell either. You're not even sure if it's sapient in the way you are.

But that thing is freakishly strong. It'd probably be real good to help with larger scale manual labor products that would be too much for a human to do. Probably a decent fighter if an anomaly ever breaks out.
Well. You can mull over that later. You promptly reenter your lab.

What do you do, Vincent? You still got 4 TIME TOKENS. Choose two.

RESEARCH
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)
(1/2)

>Keep studying the slime mold. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 55. +8 to roll from HARVESTING KIT supplies and GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Head back into the CONTAINMENT CELL. Your head's clear now. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)

BUSY WORK/SLACKING
>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +4 to roll due to having TOOLS. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 66. It's a long short but it doesn't cost much time.)
>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>WRITE IN (What do you want to do?)

>>6282826
>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope.
>Keep studying the slime mold.

>>6282825
>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)
>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)

>>6282826
>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope.
>Check for any more academic books you could use

>>6282852
+1

>>6282852
+1

>>6282826
>>6282825
>Check for any more academic books you could use. (-1d3-1 (can be 0) TIME TOKENS. Gives you some more books to study to improve your SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC trait.)
>Examine the pollen you have with your microscope. (-1 TIME TOKEN. Reduces the DC of future checks involving the anomaly's flowers, lets you learn about the anomaly.)

>>6282845
Change
>>6282852
+1

>>6282852
+1

>>6282826
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)
>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)

>>6282826
>Check out CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1d2 TIME TOKENS, DC 25. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)
>Study the books you already have. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1.)

Rolled 2 - 1 (1d3 - 1)

Aight, normally I'd let the vote go on longer but uh

POLLEN: CWx, jHo, soe, tbi, KOO, y4z, SqX
MORE BOOKS: CWx, jHo, soe, tbi, KOO, y4z, SqX
STUDY: SXG, XRO
CPPQUEST: SXG, XRO

This is incredibly lopsided. There's no way 6 dudes pop out to vote for STUDY and CPPQUEST to swing the vote. That and I think I can crank out an update before bed.
Two anons, roll 1d6 to see what you get while I roll the 1d3-1 to see how much time this eats up. If you roll the same number twice, the book you find is more indepth about the subject and it gives you +2 instead of +1 on your first read.

1 = BOTANICAL (Grants you +1 to any plant-based knowledge check.)
2 = ENGINEERING (Grants you +1 to repairing and understanding basic machinery.)
3 = ZOOLOGY (Grants you +1 to checks involving animal behavior and anatomy.)
4 = INDUSTRY (Grants you +1 to checks involving repairing your lab or constructing new equipment)
5 = PHYSICAL EDUCATION (Grants you +1 to any check that involves training your body. Helps you to get those GAINS.)
6 = BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE (Grants you +1 to figuring out the intentions of both people and anomalies. Speeds up how fast you figure out their MOOD as well.)

Rolled 4 (1d6)

>>6283070
ok

Rolled 5 (1d6)

>>6283070

Industry and physical education it is.
Entering my writing cage. Update shouldn't take too long.

You should probably study that pollen sample. There's something that's been nagging you about those flowers - Every time you get close to them...

Those memories flash through your mind. Memories that are not your own. Well, two of them weren't, there was that vague memory about your job. Maybe you can figure out something with the new equipment you got.
You try to clean the dust off your labcoat but it sticks to it like tar. You examine your hand and, hm, dust isn't normally yellow is it?

Your head is starting to feel fuzzy again. You're cleaning this labcoat the MOMENT you're done examining the sample.
You unwrap the perfectly packaged microscope that's sitting inside the HARVESTING KIT. It's an old model that you'd see in a public school science lab but it's still usable.

You put some of the pollen you got onto one of its slides. It's not going to be the prettiest image but you're working with what you have here. You fiddle with the microscope's zoom so you can actually get a good look at the pollen.

You narrow your one good eye to make sure you're seeing everything in as much detail as possible. The image begins to focus and focus until you see it! You thought it was pollen at first but hahaha! No! That's not what you're seeing underneath the microscope.

On the slide, the yellow powder is revealed to be made out of staticky yellow balls that reminds you of TV static on an old CRT TV. Their shape shifts and stretches with little rhyme or reason. Sometimes they shift into long thin lines, other times they change into tiny yellow dots. You even catch them moving like waves for a brief moment before they return to their 'default' ball shape.

You'd guess the anomaly's 'pollen' is trying its best to remain in a shape similar to what pollen would look like. Yet, it's as if the pollen itself can hardly remember what shape to stay in.
There's one thing that catches your eye upon closer examination of the 'pollen'. You can make out very, VERY grainy images imprinted on their surfaces.

It's nearly impossible to get a good look with how rapidly they shift but you can make out the imprints of faces and landscapes on the pollen itself. You think you even saw a glimpse of one of the memories you had forced in your head amongst the pollen sample.

You lean away from the microscope after you processed what you just saw. So that's how it forced its memories into your head. The flowers produce pollen that seems to 'contain' the memories inside. You must've accidently inhaled some of it while you were examining the anomaly.

It doesn't fully explain why or how the anomaly grows new flowers after you're done experiencing a memory. You don't understand the mechanics of its...'reproduction' cycle yet. It should be enough to reduce the risk of being mentally assaulted by foreign memories, at least.
You give it the tentative name of "STATIC POLLEN" given its properties. Maybe the pollen itself could be an avenue for profit?

You're not sure how, though. You just have a gut feeling.

You quickly wash your labcoat in some of the water you have left over from your CLEANING SUPPLIES bundle. You might as well do something while you wait for it to dry.

You skim through your organized bookshelves for any books that might catch your eye. A lot of the books are clearly way, way too outdated to be of any use to you. A few of them are even from the 1900s. The only reason they haven't decayed into dust is that, for whatever reason, the cigarette mold didn't feel like eating them.

You manage to find TWO that catch your interest. SWOLENESS: THE MEANING OF MASCULINITY and HOW TO SAVE MONEY: REPAIR YOUR OWN SHIT!
They're clearly cheap, sloppy books bought from the internet. Their covers have poorly edited stock art with garish filters slapped on them. It's about the best you can expect from a facility that misspells stuff all the time in their catalogs and robots.

You sit down by your old struggling PC. There's not a lot of time left in your shift, you'll probably have to clock out soon enough. Best to start reading.

The first book is what you could expect out of a fitness book written by a internet jock. A lot of the advice is clearly nonsense that would do nothing aside from wasting your own time. A few of the lines in it do catch your attention. The actual dietary advice seems remarkably sound and well educated. The more simple, by the books exercises written in it are the type you could actually do while working.

Hell, maybe you can do a few of these before going to bed to help you relax. It might actually help you to get some sleep.
>+1 to future PHYSICAL STRENGTH checks!

The second book is remarkably boring to read. A lot of it is very dry and to the point instructions on how to repair stuff. You were expecting something engagingly bad to read but nah. It's just a basic instruction manual on house repairs. There's only a few interesting tangents in it - Something about the flammability of certain gasses and how to best avoid any potential gas leaks.

Heh. An old memory of you watching a TV show where a bad guy gets killed by a gas leak resurfaces. That would be cool if you could actually set it up if, say, an anomaly breaks out.
You shake your head - No, no, it's probably better to NOT let something break out than to do some TV stunt to subdue them.

>+1 to future repair checks and for creating new equipment!

You check the clock on your Macintosh. 5 PM. Your shift is probably going to end in the next one hour or two. Best to think about what you wanna do. You could either use that time to do one time-intensive project so you don't have to worry about it tomorrow OR two smaller projects to wrap up the day.

You have 2 TIME TOKENS. Choose either ONE 2 token action or TWO 1 token actions.

2 TIME TOKEN ACTIONS
>Start repairing the structural damage to your lab. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 65, +5 to roll due to having TOOLS and some basic handyman knowledge. Lowers the future risk of any anomalies breaking out.)
>Study the books you have. Knowledge is power. (-2 TIME TOKENS, improves the bonuses provided from SURFACE LEVEL ACADEMIC by 1, improves the bonus to either PHYSICAL STRENGTH or HANDYMAN tasks by 1)
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)
>Try to make some makeshift armor out of the supplies you have. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 45, +1 from handyman knowledge. Should help to protect you from the anomaly's spores and from physical damage from any future anomalies.)

1 TIME TOKEN ACTIONS
>Do a surface level playthrough of CPPQUEST.EXE. What sort of secrets does this thing hold? (-1 TIME TOKENS, DC 35. Might not be the healthiest thing for your body or mind.)
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 62. You have a better idea on what keywords to search after studying the POLLEN.)
>There's some people on FRIENDCHAT now! Ask them for any useful advice they have. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Head back into the CONTAINMENT CELL. Best to get the anomaly in a good mood before you clock out (-1 TIME TOKEN.)
>Do some basic exercises. Get those tensed up muscles all nice and loose. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

MISC
>Write in (What do you want to do?)

>>6283144
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)
DC 45 is pretty good.

>>6283144
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)

>>6283144
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)

>>6283144
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN.

>>6283144
>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)
>Check around on ABNOWATCH for any useful information about your anomaly. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 62. You have a better idea on what keywords to search after studying the POLLEN.)

>>6283144
>>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)

>>6283144
>Do some basic exercises. Get those tensed up muscles all nice and loose. (-1 TIME TOKEN.)

>Scrap off the gunk off the wall for any hidden airlocks. Maybe they left something behind. (-1 TIME TOKEN, DC 44 to determine what you find. +4 to roll from GUNK KNOWLEDGE.)

>>6283144
>Try to make some makeshift armor out of the supplies you have. (-2 TIME TOKEN, DC 45, +1 from handyman knowledge. Should help to protect you from the anomaly's spores and from physical damage from any future anomalies.)

>>6283144
>>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)

>>6283144
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)
I’m ready to roll HIGH

>>6283144
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)
We're making good headway here. Once we can figure out how to make money from at least one thing, we'll be more secure in standing and they might not kill us for having nothing to show

>>6283144
>Keep studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and the STATIC POLLEN. (-2 TIME TOKENS, DC 55, +10 from GUNK KNOWLEDGE/HARVESTING KIT SUPPLIES.)

>>6283140
Hm. We probably want to get our hands on a respirator so we can safely study the pollen.

In that vein... >>6283144
>FRIENDCHAT
We can ask for general advice but I'm mostly looking to find a respirator to keep the pollen out.

>ABNOWATCH
And once we've succeeded or failed we might as well see what we can find.

Aight, seems like studying the CIGARETTE MOLD and STATIC POLLEN won out.
Let's get the ball rolling. Would've closed sooner but God sent a storm my way.

Three anons, roll 1d100+10. Table below.
0 SUCCESSES: You learn a little bit more about both of them. That's it.
1 SUCCESS: You learn a little bit about the POLLEN and you have a theory on what you could make out of the SLIME MOLD.
2 SUCCESSES: You learn a decent amount about the POLLEN and you unlock an recipe to create something profitable with SLIME MOLD!
3 SUCCESSES: Same as 2 SUCCESSES but you have a theory on what you might be able to make with the POLLEN.

Rolled 14 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6283425
ez

Rolled 88 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6283425

Rolled 21 (1d100)

>>6283425
C'mon...

Ha. Sorry, sometimes luck just isn't on your side. Sucks to suck.
On the upside, you'll still have an idea what you can craft with the SLIME MOLD later. It's not a total wash.

Writing.

Fuck it - You need to make money off of the samples you have. That's the reason they kidnapped you after all. You don't have a set deadline yet but you have to at least pretend to play by their rules. Your obligation.

Also, the catalog. You can't buy stuff without money, jackass. You can't just steal shit to make ends meet like your grandpappy used to do.

You check the sample of pollen you still have underneath the microscope. It hasn't shown any new properties yet but you got some tests you wanna run on it. The anomaly this came from was able to interfere with the electrical grid. What if that property transferred over to the pollen?

You place one of the batteries by the microscope. If the pollen could mess with electricity, this should be close enough to notice it. The effective range of the anomaly was enough to affect your whole lab after all.

The pollen begins to react bizarrely to the close proximity of a source of electricity. The already unstable shapes twist and contort into smears of yellow static that are impossible to read. It reminds you of those videos of a dude pressing a magnet against a TV to mess with its display.

The distortion weakens whenever you move the battery away from the pollen. You flinch as you move the battery away. It's ice cold now. You quickly test something by loading the battery into the CD player.

It still works but the CD player immediately flashes a "LOW BATTERY" alert on its display. Odd, you were certain it was at full charge when you got it.

You examine the pollen to see how it changed after the current was cut. There's suddenly a lot more staticky yellow orbs floating around in the slide. The images encrypted or 'etched' into them are also a lot clearer now. You can make out distinct faces and backgrounds where you otherwise could only see faint impressions.

Most of the images seem to just be copies of ones you already saw. You somehow cloned the pollen just from having an available power source nearby.
You wonder if this transfers over to the anomaly itself as well - Is THAT what it feeds off of? The lights were flickering whenever it wasn't being directly interacted with. It could've just been hungry. Noted.

That's all you could figure out for now. You try a few other random things but no other object you bring close to the sample brings out any reaction.
You remove the sample from the microscope. You place a new sample of the CIGARETTE MOLD onto a slide to see what it looks like underneath.

At this zoom, the slime mold fades away into small little brown orbs that have sharp, jagged spikes surrounding their spores. Nothing unusual there but you want to see how its plastic dissolving abilities works at this level. You carefully introduce some plastic shavings onto the slide.

The spores immediately swim over to the plastic. A thin liquid is spat out of the holes in front of the spores and onto the plastic itself.

The plastic shaving begins to dissolve into a mush that the spores is able to slurp up.
Interesting. You egg it on to spit out some more liquid before promptly moving to collect the liquid coated plastic.

You examine the liquid with your limited chemical testing supplies. Whatever it just spat out is filled to the brim with digestive enzymes. There's one that dissolves plastic, yes, but there's also enzymes that allow for the digestion of meat, fruits and leaves.

Odd. It can digest meat but it refuses to be in direct contact with it.

You carefully put some of the enzyme heavy fluid onto a small slice of spam you placed on another microscope slide. The fluid rapidly dissolves at the spam until there's nothing left but a heavily dissolved meat slurry.

Huh! You don't really have a good way of producing, harvesting or even modifying this fluid to dissolve other things BUT this is honestly remarkable. An enzyme slurry that's able to digest microplastic alongside food waste?

This could be something you could sell. The issue is finding out how to actually get enough of it to experiment with. You only managed to get a very small amount of it from your quick test - Not remotely enough to dissolve anything of value.

You'll certainly keep that in mind whenever you come back here to do more science stuff.
>END OF SHIFT has arrived!
https://youtu.be/0aLYcW6qM-k - SHIFT COMPLETE!

Two sharp digital notes crackle out from the speakers outside. The same tired woman from yesterday speaks up, "Attention, uh, all researchers." You can still hear her shuffling through some papers. "The work day is over. Please head to the cafeteria. Oh, quick announcement for our, uh, new Level 0 and Level 1 recruits."

"Tomorrow, you will be getting your first sponsorships. For that sick cash money. Not all recruits will get one so, uh, lucky you if you find one. I guess. I dunno." The intercom crackles off.

You re-equip your now dried labcoat. You quickly shut off your computer so it doesn't burn itself out from staying on too long and you spend a few minutes putting everything up. You make sure the CIGARETTE MOLD samples are nice and secure before you exit the lab.

You do some basic stretches now that your shift is done and over with. God, you really do need to exercise. Your body feels like it belongs to an old man. Guess sitting around on your ass like a lazy sack of shit does not do a body good, does it?

You mull over what you'll do now that you're off the clock. You could go directly to the cafeteria, sure, but there's a few locations of interest you could check out instead. You might also wanna use this free time to do personal projects or to, well, unwind.

What do you do, Vincent? Pick the first thing you wanna do - You'll have time to do two, MAYBE three, things before being sent to your barracks to do catalog shopping.

What do you do, Vincent? Pick the first thing you wanna do - You'll have time to do two things before being sent to your barracks.

>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. a d100+4 will be rolled to determine what you get.)
>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies. They might also have some protective gear you can take.
>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they're hanging out there.
>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there.
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)
>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)

>Wander around, see what you can stumble across. (RANDOM ENCOUNTER. Could be good, bad or plain old weird. a d100+4 will be rolled to determine what you get.)
>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies. They might also have some protective gear you can take.
>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they can give some advice.
>Head down to the HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICE. You have a gut feeling a certain turtleneck wearing fucker is there. You got some questions to ask him.
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
>Head back to LOST AND FOUND. Let's see what goodies you can steal this time. (DC 43. You may write in a category of items to look for.)
>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)

>>6283506
>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies. They might also have some protective gear you can take.

>>6283521
I should clarify, you're doing the FIRST thing you're doing. So, you're only picking one thing this vote.

>>6283506
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
Get the grub before they're out!!1

>>6283506
>Head back to LOST AND FOUND
I still want a respirator.

>>6283497
Hm. Seems like it does eat electricity but that we would rather not feed it too often before we get some PPE. I don't suppose any of the batteries included were car batteries were they?

>>6283579
In reflection I'm gonna adjust my vote to MEDBAY.

I didn't see it the first time I read the post (and they'll at least have surgical masks. Unless we can get N95 masks they won't be perfect for keeping the pollen out but it's better than nothing. Though if we score a full hazmat suit I'm gonna laugh).

>>6283506
>MEDBAY

>>6283506
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)

I want to hit up the medbay after.

>>6283506
>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE. You want to talk to some other researchers, maybe they can give some advice.
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)

>>6283579
>I don't suppose any of the batteries included were car batteries were they?
Nope. Only AA batteries. You might be able to get stronger batteries if you're lucky with the catalog, via the lost and found or by asking other employees for supplies.

A car battery would be overkill considering the only thing you need to power separately is a CD player.

>>6283506
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)

>>6283522
My bad.
>>6283521
>>6283506
>Head down to MEDBAY. You want to 'borrow' some medical supplies. They might also have some protective gear you can take.

>>6283506
>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)

>>6283506
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yum yum. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)
Consume the slop.

>>6283506
>Head to the CAFETERIA. Food, yucky. (Improves your physical health, gives you a chance to meet some new people and to catch up with your acquaintances.)

>>6283506
>>Use the map to explore the facility. Best to learn the layout of this place. (Unlocks a new location to explore during FREE TIME before and after a SHIFT.)

I think we should try to find out what happened to the guy in that lab who was there before us. Pretty likely they had some kind of connection to the fact its now covered in slime mold. Not sure where would be best to find out about that though.

>Head down to ABNORMALITY MATERIALS STORAGE
for now

>>6283506
>Head to the CAFETERIA.

The delicious allure of SLOP overrides your brain's higher functions. You didn't eat anything all day. Not that you couldn't but the food at the lab? You already had enough spam, white bread, ramen and ice soup for a life time.

At least the congealed sludge they're serving at the cafeteria is better than nothing. You check your map to remind yourself where it is, hard to explore this maze of a place without it.
The man said something about the layers getting bigger as you get closer to the bottom. If this layer is already big enough that you need a map...

You shudder. Hopefully you don't need to head to any of the other layers any time soon.

You focus on the map as you head down the hallway. A crowd of your fellow coworkers, all getting off their own shifts, brushes past you. All of them clearly have one thing in mind - The allure of the free and plentiful SLUDGE produced by the facility's lunch ladies.

You glance up from your map to see how everyone else is handling themselves.
Oh. They look hollow eyed and dead inside. Excellent, so like you. Eyes back on the map.

You put up your map now that you're probably close enough to the cafeteria to find it on your own. Right as you do, you find yourself bumping int someone you didn't notice in the crowd.

"Sorry-"
You immediately shut up when you see the barrel of a bolt action rifle pointed right at you.

The tall, muscular man holding the rifle is fuming mad at the absolutely minor inconvenience of being bumped into. His wild, bloodshot eyes have narrowed into tiny little red pinpricks. His mouth is twisted into a snarling, seething sneer reminiscent more of a wild beast than a man. You raise your hands up in surrender.
On closer examination, there's something weird about how the man is dressed.

A tattered, ash-stained USA flag is draped over his white labcoat like a cape. His cape is stained in a thin layer of ash and gunpowder that reeks like hell itself. The weirdest part is how no one else notices what's happening between the two of you. As if this was completely normal.

"Don't ever do that again, freakshit. Nearly blew your head right off." He growls with a low, gravelly voice.
"I won't????" You stammer out a confused apology.
"Good. My bullets never miss, gotcha? " "Y-yes, sir?" You really don't want to disagree with the man with the gun.

The rifle-wielding man turns around and continues on his merry way as if nothing just happened. Is there something in the water here??? Shouldn't security be doing something about this guy?
Yet, as you stand there completely disoriented by what just happened, no one bothers to acknowledge what just happened.

You. You better just get something to eat and forget all about this.
The cafeteria is a lot more packed than it was last time. There's a couple new faces you haven't seen before. You mull over who to talk to as you wait in line.

Choose one ACQUAINTANCE to check up with and two NEW FACES to talk to!

ACQUAINTANCES
>Check up with the MAN. You bet he has some information to tell you.
>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.
>Check up with ASHTON. She was pretty nice when you met her for the first time. Might as well get to know her.
>Check up with ANHTONY. See how he's doing and how much it'd cost to hire him. Maybe also ask him about the rifle-wielding man.

Doesn't seem like SACA is here. That tracks, it was a giant shipping/cargo carrying robot. Not like it would be eating here.

NEW FACES
>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?
>MAN IN TACTICAL GEAR. He's wolfing down some high quality chow. Probably one of the 'ETF' agents you heard about on the dossiers. See what intel he has.
>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.
>RIFLE-WIELDING MAN. He's still here, huh? Ignore your better judgement and try to figure out what's up with him.
>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?
>A ROBOT? It's struggles to move its clunky, robotic limbs to eat the food provided to it. Another robot friend couldn't hurt.

As you mull over who to talk to, you remember also have that FOOD COUPON you found at the lab. Wanna use it?
>YES. FOR YOURSELF. (Massively increases how much PHYSICAL HEALTH you restore from your meal.)
>YES. FOR YOUR ACQUAINTANCE. (Increases your rapport with them, lowering how much it'll cost to work with them in the future.)
>YES. GIFT IT TO ONE OF THE NEW FACES. (Gives you a better first impression with them. Write in which one to give it to.)
>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)

---

Would've closed earlier but I had to be in town for a while.
After you chit chat, you'll get to pick your last two locations to check out before CATALOG TIME.

>>6284058
>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.

>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.

>A KID? He can't be any older than eight, maybe nine. Where are his parents?
Damn, they'll hire anyone.

>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)

>>6284059
>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.
Hope they're better compared to collapsing into meat slurry in the hallway levels of "bad"
>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.
Take a short survey? Y/N
>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?
Bad idea, but...
>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)
This is extremely good as a bargaining chip. I wanna clutch cards close until we get a better measure of who we're around and what we're dealing with.

>>6284059
>>Check up with ASHTON. She was pretty nice when you met her for the first time. Might as well get to know her.

>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.
>RIFLE-WIELDING MAN. He's still here, huh? Ignore your better judgement and try to figure out what's up with him.

>YES. FOR YOUR ACQUAINTANCE. (Increases your rapport with them, lowering how much it'll cost to work with them in the future.)

>>6284059
>Check up with your GAUNT COWORKER. She seems a bit healthier than the last time you saw her.

>WILD EYED RESEARCHER. She's still staring at you. This lady looks like a fucking nutcase. What's her deal?
>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.

>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)

>>6284059
>Check up with the MAN. You bet he has some information to tell you.
>BEANIE-WEARING RESEARCH. She's waving at you. She's clearly trying to get your attention for some reason. Check up on her.
>MAN IN TACTICAL GEAR. He's wolfing down some high quality chow. Probably one of the 'ETF' agents you heard about on the dossiers. See what intel he has.
>NO. KEEP IT FOR LATER. (Self explanatory.)
Could be a bargaining chip.