W2 🛸 PLAYER CYOA: HIGH ROLLERS (LOWE) 🚀 CHARLES, LOVELACE, SHOMA

[dropoffs]

Comments

[solesuccess]

And this is why we mind our own business when we have a plan we should be trying to follow! [ but he does immediately move to scuttle over to fetch bandages. listen old man, please assist. are there anything like bandages around or are we going to have to cut up overcoats to stop charles' neck from bleeding. ]

[inequals]

[ You are going through every experience possible, possibly, right off the bat,

but

Yeah between getting shot and getting basically done the equivalent of being run over by a flaming bull condensed into the form of a guy's punch and sword, this Tingtanger is solidly going down. He's yelling indescribably until he's just straight up shot, and all you get is the sound of licking flames and the gun's echo. You can hear shouts all around the alleyway at the commotion, so it's probably smart to get out of dodge.

Shoma can come back in to grab bandages, or what kinda passes for bandages because the pawnbroker doesn't have a medkit but I'm sure you can find some scraps of cloth that are worth more than to be used as bandages but use what you got! The old man is obviously startled at you returning back in but I don't think you're going to exactly stop and chatter.

Notably though, you feel something hot in your pocket. This is not a euphemism or anything. Remember that pocketwatch you got earlier?

Its hands are glowing. ]

[thematics]

[ interesting. she will be ignoring the pocketwatch.

step one is tend to charles so he doesn't die. step two is to get the fuck out of this place that has just heard that gunshot. my bad everyone. ]

They started it.

[riverbeans]

[MINDING HIS OWN BUSINESS? NEVER HEARD OF HER

anyway he is busy being tended to but he will do his best to take out the pocketwatch even though presumably more than one thing feels hot right. if he still has flames.]

[solesuccess]

I literally do not care who started it, this is, like, the worst way to get in unnoticed. [ CHARLES IS BLEEDING? WE JUST ALERTED EVERYONE TO OUR LOCATION???? but he's handing over the bandages and also taking out his pocketwatch to see what the fuck is happening here. hands? you good? ]

[inequals]

[ Yeah Charles will like feel the heat but he is immune to his own flames.

The pocketwatch's hands are glowing and it's almost like, vibrating? Charles's is glowing brightest.

Speaking of Charles. You are actually dying. ]

[thematics]

[ HELLO, DISTRESS?

fine. she will also get out her pocketwatch. fine. FINE. ]

[riverbeans]

[oh. well. that's bad. THE HUBRIS OF HIS OWN ACTIONS, CATCHING UP TO HIM. unfortunately, he is not quite sure how to make himself be less dying.]

Uh... anyone know what to do here? I'm really hoping this has to do with the revive function Gregor's alluded to before.

[solesuccess]

What revive function? [ the problem with everyone thinking he's 12 is that people sure do omit a lot of information that could be real useful right about now. he's just staring at the watch. shaking it? poking it? can he like. move the hands to go backwards? what happens if he touches it and tries to do that actually? ]

[inequals]

[ Shoma can indeed move the hands backwards! Maybe just right as Charles is blacking out from rapid blood loss.

And then they can watch something neat happen, which is that his wound will seem to 'undo' itself. Just the wound -- it's not like Charles himself is suddenly moving backwards in time awkwardly.

He will feel some remnant of the pain but it's more like a lingering ghost, since your death-injury has effectively been undone.

CHARLES

ISABEL

SHOMA

You do NOT all get punted right back to the bus from the very beginning. You will not have to restart this scenario all over again. You still hear shouts from down the street and whatnot, since you're all still here.

Idk if you actually brought Charles back inside or if it was just Shoma but. If it's the former the dude is looking aghast. If it's the latter then well you just witnessed that. ]

[thematics]

Oh, thank God. I was going to scream if it was a timeloop.

[ haha!!!! anyway i feel that were all together, wherever we are. and it is very time to GO. ]

Let's get out of here. Now.

[riverbeans]

[HEY HE'S NOT DYING ANYMORE!! YAY!!]

Wow. And we didn't even need to get our manager, which I think is actually what Gregor was referring to...

[anyway. getting out of here is important, but first, charles has to direct the next bit to the pawnbroker (EITHER ALREADY BEING INSIDE OR GOING IN IG)—]

Old man, you might want to close up shop for the day, to be on the safe side. [and back to the others:] All right, let's go.

[solesuccess]

Timeloop? [ okay he's just. whatever. that's a problem for another time. he's too busy also just being baffled that this actually worked and charles is no longer dying. (hey...can they take these back to the ship with them? what if they could save more people that way?)

he's pocketing the watch and he's looking at their documents again. ] Saude said to meet them over at the car pagodas. Location should be close by. Ready when you guys are.

[ let's gogogogo. ]

[inequals]

[ The old man is just so :man_standing:. Yeah, he figures he should do that either way with all the Tingtangers roaming about. After he gets these two unconscious bodies out anyway, because the only thing worse is them waking up inside and remembering to hustle him.

You guys can flee! And if you do refer to the paperwork Saude and Effie left you with, you can also navigate your way to the 'car pagodas' she mentioned, which is marked as being towards the entrance to the infamous casino.

Once you get through the twisting and turning alleyways to somewhere more open, you can emerge out on an alleyway where you can see... this, basically. Just a lot of towering piles of automobiles and more in almost the mockery of obelisks leading up to the grand target, shaped like a towering pagoda.

You can see some more weirdos in Hawaiian shirts roaming about here and there, not doing anything really all that important. Just checking out some cars, moving stuff, probably playing cards and chips on a hood... ]

[thematics]

Not important right now.

[ cool, we are here! we are all alive and everything is fine and no one was ever Extremely Distressed at all! ... lovelace will just start looking for saude and effie, then. ]

So this place is... a junkyard?

[riverbeans]

[well, that was an interesting near-death experience. charles will lightly touch his vanished neck wound once in a while, as he looks around.

do these weirdos... seem like tingtangers... are they saying anything...]

[solesuccess]

[ he's just sticking close to them for a moment while they look and debate their next move. ]

Gregor told me about these once. He said that the cars in the towers are owned by a gang that deals in used vehicles gamblers aren't coming back for. So...wonder if these are cars people lost bets on.

[ from where they are does there seem to be anything off about the pagoda or any kind of unusual activity around? ]

[inequals]

[ You can tell because they're talking about beans. No I'm kidding. Well, the plans Saude left you with definitely says that this area is generally the Tingtang's base grounds, and they definitely have on Hawaiian shirts.

Nobody seems to be doing anything like, uniquely suspicious or anything. They really are just hanging around! Crushing time, doing their normal squad activities.

Saude and Effie cannot be seen.

Are you guys just standing out in the open staring at them or. ]

[thematics]

[

we're cartooning it. ]

Why is everyone else's world completely insane? And if Saude and Eiffie aren't here, do we just need to find the right clothes on our own?

[riverbeans]

We're not late, are we...? I didn't think saving me from, uh, dying took up that much time.

[peers...]

Maybe they're deeper in? We could just walk with extreme confidence and hope no one thinks we're out of place. [a beat] Not that that went well for us last time.

[solesuccess]

It would've gone well if we didn't stop to meddle with other things. [ friendly reminder. ] We already know Captain's clothes aren't the right uniform, so she might stick out even if we do walk confidently. But we can't keep standing here either. So...we can just walk really fast and hope they're busy? If we don't stop, we might reach the pagoda.

[ ...he will take a few steps forward like he's just passing through and seeing if that gathers attention honestly. he's dressed right? everyone seems busy so don't mind him... ]

[inequals]

[ Well I rolled for Tingtang perception and it's just a 10 so I guess maybe someone sees you doing the cartoon over here but doesn't think it's important enough to investigate. But at least one person does think you're kind of being weird. They're just going about their day, what are YOU doing.

If it helps, the casino is like, right there. It does seem like they just so happen to make their territory right in front of it, but it's not like you can do a big ol' loop around to avoid them just to end up trying to get in through the back end or something, and that would take some time.

When Shoma steps out though, someone calls out to him. It's just some rando Tingtanger. Let's name him Jimmibob. ]

Oi, you back from a job or what? The hell you doing, faffin' around the towers?

[thematics]

[ it's shoma's time to shine! they're talking to him, after all.

lovelace is not going to hide anymore, though. she'll try the 'just look confident and like you belong here' thing and just kind of wander out too. perhaps less effective after just having been spotted being a cartoon but it's. i'm sure it's fine. ]

[riverbeans]

[it's fine. charles will also just casually stroll out and head to the casino with the confidence of someone who didn't just almost die a moment ago (although he'll also look back to make sure shoma isn't about to get into deep shit or anything).]

[solesuccess]

[ hi jimmibob. this is fucking terrible. but he's fine with talking apparently, still continuing to walk to keep attention on him while lovelace and charles stroll over to the casino. goodbye friends. ]

The hell're you doing standin' around playing cards? [ said in a way of "what's it matter, you just asked a stupid question." ] Finished a job and was just headin' to Boss. Should I be explaining I'm late because you got nosy my shoelace came untied?