W6 🛸 MOD CYOA : TOMB OF CONCRETE 🚀 VIRGIN SINGLE DIGITS + CHAD NAT 20

[dropoffs]

Comments

TALK TO IO.

[dropoffs]

[ they're just here going through some data and taking some notes in an old, beaten-up journal, but are available to speak with you should you have any questions. ]

[solesuccess]

Penal colony, huh. [ like. jail? ] Io, do we have any sort of information about what kind of planet Khalkha is? Stats or anything that might help us find a way in as necessary.

[bulls]

Yeah. Sounds real pleasant, doesn't it?

[ popping open his i.r.i.s. he'll project that for all to see. ]

Khalkha, from what I have been reading up on, is a small planet - the population is big, but most of those occupants are prisoners. The rest are either civilians who have thought it cheap enough to live there, or those who believe it to be opportunistic - there's good farm land down there.

My thoughts are, there's a processing plant that also doubles as the living situation for these prisoners. It's the largest building in the area with the most activity - that's where the signature is radiating from.

We do a little investigating on foot around the area at first... might send you four to scope out the area nearby while I try and negotiate a way inside. Once we're in, well. We'll have to play it by ear.

[solesuccess]

Scouting's fine. [ he seems a little uneasy at the idea, but there's four of them and the planet's...simple enough. if the prisoners are all in a processing plant they can at least look around the area for a backdoor. ] If most of the occupants are in the same place then, it might be easy enough to look around and see what can be found amongst the other civilians. Get a read on if anything unusual has happened on-planet because of this reading and stuff.

So...once we pull up the source, do we have any idea what we're going to do with it?

[bulls]

[ nodding. all of that sounds very good to him. ]

My money's on us having to destroy it, whatever it might be.

[ mmmm tapping a couple of things on the screen. ]

Ever since entering comms distance with the planet, I've picked up a few reports of missing persons around the area... so I'm wondering if that has something to do with it. [ the tone of their voice says: likely ] We can maybe pull on that thread to our advantage.

[solesuccess]

Missing persons? [ oh. great. so there's a MEAT PROCESSING PLANT and MISSING PEOPLE and PRISONERS IN THE MEAT PROCESSING PLANT. I WONDER WHERE THIS IS GOING.

unfortunately those are actually shoma's thoughts because aini is what it is sometimes, so he's just. frowning so deeply. ]

Do the reports say how long those people have been missing? Or any other unusual activity surrounding the disappearances?

[bulls]

[ oh shoma what the fuck is aini but the weirdest canon in the world. tiredly shakes hands with.

but yeah, it does sound sussy. eh. probably all above board. people taking advantage of prisoners for cheap-to-free labor is tooooootally normal and fine. ]

Several weeks. One's the son of the plant owner... the other is a young girl from a military family. The reports are... rather old. Normally, I'd expect repeat reports for ones that have lasted this long.

[ sending over two reports that may be shared. there's one older man with a mustache and graying hair. he looks very tired and is wearing a wooly sweater with a high neck in his photo. the second is a young girl, with a short bob and a knit cap with a mischievous smile. io looks at them both with a squint but then just shakes his head. ]

In any case. I think it wouldn't hurt to gently pry about 'em.

[solesuccess]

Huh. Might be worth asking, yeah. See if it's in sync with the timing that the energy read started getting more obvious. [ he's not liking how this is starting to sound. but he will take a look at the reports. do these people have names? or will showing the reports suffice? ]

Interesting that the son of the plant's one of the people missing though, considering what sort of people are housed in the plant. [ immediately thinking it's potentially a hostage situation. ] I'll see what I can find out. With a small population, you'd think everyone would know everyone else.

[bulls]

[ yeah. yeah it doesn't sound great. io's brow is a bit furrowed as well as they look it over, tugging on their jacket collar. ]

It is, isn't it? His father entrusted supervision of the people in the plant to him, while he himself rules over the entire operation.

[ the names aren't important, you will all find that you can show the reports to people and that should suffice! i won't bog you down with that. ]

Everyone should know everyone if it's as small a place as it seems. But with that, there may be people willing to lie about it too. I don't know if the son is exactly endeared to anyone. The daughter, however... well. Who knows.

[inquired]

Io.

[ temenos is coming over once they get settled... hello... he gets a little smile of course, but otherwise he's peering at the projection. ]

A penal colony. I don't suppose we could get arrested to get in...? [ this is a joke

anyway. ] Are we going in to destroy whatever the source is? And will the conditions be similar to the Hanging Gardens...?

[ with a light gesture from his staff... ]

[bulls]

You are a troublemaker, but I wouldn't dare throw you to the wolves. They'd have to arrest me too.

[ paws in lap. my sister loves you. ]

I believe our objective for completion will be different. As far as I'm aware, this planet has nothing of worth to steal, unless you plan on taking over their less-than-pleasant way of making money.

[ eyes staff. ]

So destruction of whatever is giving off these readings. I don't like where it's located.

[inquired]

Haha. Well, I assure you, I am no thief, nor were we any good at it with the heartseed, so you will have no troubles there.

[ we just destroyed it all. as long as there are no demon plants this farmland will be fine, probably. ] But, should my spells work on and off as before, destruction will be a bit easier.

[ as for the rest... he brings a hand to his chin, thoughtful. ] A processing plant, you said...?

[bulls]

[ nodding firmly. ]

I'll see if I can... pick up on anything with my own capabilities. It's a long shot, and I haven't used them in a long time, but I'll offer up what I can.

[ he sits back. ]

A meat processing plant. They slaughter, then process - tanning hides, packaging meat, grinding bones... that kind of thing.

[inquired]

[ not the fucking meat cyoa ]

Perhaps not that different than my last... [ muttered, extremely dryly. ] Are we expected, or shall we be infiltrating? If we're expected to speak with the locals, what sort of story ought we tell them?

[bulls]

[ what's wrong with meat? it's how you can become big strong russian boy! (no stay twinkie) ]

We're "survey scouts" doing the "usual rounds" since there have been a few reports of missing persons, I think we can dip into that and see if it's at all related.

Your suits will have an insignia that will grant you some privileges that should get the locals to talk easily. Whether it's the truth... well. That's up to you to glean.

[inquired]

[ please think about the idea of strong russian temenos. cursed. ]

Hm. Well, worry not, dear doctor - I'm quite good at that.

[ nothing says temenos like coercing information out of the locals! because this went so well for him last time!!! ]

You said that the missing persons might be connected to the disruption of the storm, yes? Do you know if it might be an object, a monster...? The heartseed was the latter.

[bulls]

[ i'm envisioning it................ aaaaaaand i'm scared. ]

While there aren't any monsters that I've heard about from any reports on this planet, it could be a possibility. A distant one, but... mostly the planet's populated by humans, cows, chickens, horses, that sort of thing. No monstrous reports that we've received from any of the previous survey date I could find.

Frankly, I think humans can be monstrous enough. But it's not... completely out there. I'd try and rule out the usual suspects first before jumping to a beast. I'll keep my ear to the ground as well.

[riverbeans]

Beneath the surface, huh? Is this going to be anything like the Core on Volk?

[bulls]

Very well might be. But if we're lucky maybe it's just inside the processing plant and not... well. At the core of the planet. That'd get pretty tricky...

Not that I don't think we couldn't find a way.

[riverbeans]

Haha. All right, I'll hope for the best and prepare for the worst, then.

[bulls]

Isn't that always the way?

There aren't any signatures of intense heat, so... there's that. I don't think we'll be going so subterranean as to deal with the center of the planet. But we may have to scour the area first before heading to the target point, just to get some more information.

[riverbeans]

Any risk of monsters on the planet, or is it just potentially people we'll be dealing with?

[bulls]

Monsters? No. I've only been seeing reports of farmland animals - cattle, chicken, some horses... though small amounts, really. The place isn't crawling with 'em.

As for the people, well. I would just tread cautiously. It's a small planet, they may have odd customs.

[riverbeans]

Got it. We'll do our best.

[shoma don't say anything about charles's behaviour in the last one]

Do you know if they're generally hostile or friendly to outsiders?

[solesuccess]

[ gently sideeyes. ]