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BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#1
BTE TRYOUT THREAD #2
Gearhead and Miranda (Cornflakes and Black--Snow)
You awaken feeling strangled, coughing and choking as you fall to your hands and knees. Your eyes open wearily - and you see nothing. Gasping for air, you glance about wildly, disoriented, and realize to your horror that you're in the middle of a vast, black emptiness. Terrified, you instinctively grasp at the void about you for something - anything - solid. You realize that despite the enveloping darkness, your arms glow with a strange light - suddenly you pause and rack your brain for any hint as to what's going on. The last you remember clearly is being sold to Tartarus Inc. You remember them strip-searching you, your last possessions taken away before the coarse-mannered guards threw you into an empty cell. Everything about it seems a struggle to recall - clouded and fogged as though a distant memory.

Welcome, a cold, hard voice speaks. It's not the infamous SCAMPS of Tartarus - it's a woman's voice: cruel, hard, and utterly devoid of sympathy. You're wondering what you're doing here. Try not to trouble yourself about it.

A glow brightens to your right - in surprise and slight fear, you scoot back across the floor as you try to assess the new threat. A human form, dressed in a Tartarus jumpsuit, appears and crumples to the floor, choking and gasping for breath.

I'm so sorry, the voice says with an air that makes it clear her words are merely a formality. I understand that this experience is mentally agonizing. We're far from perfecting cryotech, you see, but you are here to help us correct that. You are our test subjects. If you ever want to awaken, both of you will cooperate. You've always cooperated with us before, so I have no doubt you'll do so now.

Your mind whirls. You vaguely remember being pulled from your isolation cell - you remember being marched down a hallway, blindfolded, cuffed and gagged - something injected into your arm. That's all you remember. Cryotech? That doesn't even exist...

Then it sinks in: You've always cooperated with us before. "Before???"

It's "brain maintenance," the voice explains in a resigned, curt tone, as though she's said it a hundred times. Cryotech has a tendency to leave one vegetative. Now, the both of you... make your decision, and we will begin.

The void hums, and shivers to life - six pale, golden hexagons of light appear pm the floor around you, spaced well apart. On each: a short paragraph of text.

You feel like you've done this before.


But which to stand upon? And who is this person next to you?



Makeshift defenses
You find yourself fleeing from the authorities, but run out of fuel near a small outworld moon. Forced to land, you take refuge in an abandoned building at the edge of a ruined colony. Either you set up defenses and hold them off, or you die. It's as simple as that.

Ship venting
You're planning on hijacking a gunship, and have made it to the bridge. Your next order of business - vent the ship to kill the crew. It'll sell for an immense profit - but only if none of them remain. They're sure to put up a fight.

Bank heist
A fairly stereotypical bank heist set on an old-fashioned midworld. Hold civilians hostage, get the goods, and get out before the authorities arrive, or you'll have a shootout on your hands.

Artifact theft
Steal an artifact from deep inside an enormous derelict alien spaceship. What could possibly go wrong? Take it and try to escape the wreckage before it decimates you.
This tile has the silhouette of a spaceship underneath the text.

Town search
In a busy marketplace, try to hunt down and question a particular target without attracting too much attention. You're also trying to hide from a group of people that want to kill you, but your disguises work well enough - for now.

Something different
You are thrown into a random mission without any idea of what you're up against. It may or may not suit your abilities and loadout.
A question mark dominates this particular hexagon.

Spoiler:      SHOW
- This is canon, but your character does not necessarily need to remember it. You have the OOC option to have a mindwipe of the experience post-tryout/pre-campaign. Whether your teammate's character remembers the experience is up to them.
- This is VR. You know this, but your character does not necessarily know this. Whether your character can figure it out is up to your discretion.
- A spaceship silhouette means the mission is CASKET-based.
- Your mission selection is quasi-randomly assigned with a weighted algorithm that takes your personalities, stats, skills, and official loudout into account.
- On average, half your tryout points will come from the tryout mission itself. You are being judged from the moment the thread is posted.
- Each team will have their own tryout thread. Do not post in someone else's thread.
- Type in ((out of character parentheses)) in the tryout thread if you feel it necessary. No need to post elsewhere - it's your thread and no one else's, so you needn't feel bad about cluttering it up.
- There are no maps. As this is VR, it uses "fluid space" as REKT VR traditionally has - that is to say, if you imagine something is there, it may well be there (unless I say it isn't). In a forest and need cover? Say there's a tree next to you and duck behind it. This will probably work. Want a bigger weapon? Say you pick up your death ray from behind the counter - but don't be surprised if I say there's nothing there. Use common sense and don't try to cheat the system - and above all, ignore nothing that I say.
- To activate your choice, both of you must stand on your golden hexagon.
- If you die, that's okay. If you die within the first turn or two, that's not okay.
- Don't be surprised if I cut the mission short. I almost certainly will. These are not meant to be full missions - it is merely a sample to judge from.
- Asking for ideas from other people is completely permitted. Offering ideas is completely permitted as well - as long as you don't do it in someone else's thread.
- Poor performance of your teammate does not mean you do any more poorly in the tryout. You are judged separately.
- I will be judging a number of things, but can't give specifics without compromising the judging process.
- Have fun! If it's not fun for you, let me know, and I'll try to switch things around.
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#2
((I assume it's okay to use bold for character actions that do not require a GM??))
Groggily examining the person next to me
"So, do your augmentations make you more useful or are they just for show?"
<Detritus> I went up to my mom and said "hey... do you feel like giving five dollars to black lives matter?" and she laughed and said no :v <Black--Snow> my life does matter though ~~ added by Hema on Jun 11 2020 (2770)
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#4
Cornflakes_91 wrote:"useful? I dont let people cut me apart to make me prettier, poppet."
"Well you know, not everyone has such a high moral compass. Some people like being prettier."
Miranda tosses her hair in a mocking way
"Well then. What do they do?"
"Oh, and what's with the hexagons?"
<Detritus> I went up to my mom and said "hey... do you feel like giving five dollars to black lives matter?" and she laughed and said no :v <Black--Snow> my life does matter though ~~ added by Hema on Jun 11 2020 (2770)
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#6
Cornflakes_91 wrote:"Hah! Now i wonder who of us spent more time being cut to pieces and reassembled differently! There is no shame in that, at least admit it!"

Looks around, reads Hex descriptions

"Seems like those are for chosing on whatever mission they are going to send us in this sim. Getting rid of meatbags by venting the gunboat sounds fun."
"No, that's not right. Never had any surgeries besides purely medical, mostly from accidents with tools and weapons..."

"Might not suit my skill set, but if you say this is a simulation I guess there's no harm in trying something new."
Go to the ship venting hex, activate/stand on it.
<Detritus> I went up to my mom and said "hey... do you feel like giving five dollars to black lives matter?" and she laughed and said no :v <Black--Snow> my life does matter though ~~ added by Hema on Jun 11 2020 (2770)
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#8
TURN 1

Ship venting
You're planning on hijacking a gunship, and have made it to the bridge. Your next order of business - vent the ship to kill the crew. It'll sell for an immense profit - but only if none of them remain. They're sure to put up a fight.


The hexagon below your feet glows to a bright, brilliant gold, shining up around you, casting flickering shimmers across the clothes of you and your companion, rising upwards in a climbing crescendo of light as it drowns out all else - so strong you can almost feel it - almost taste it -

- and then, with a flash... it's gone. There is nothing.

There isn't sound - there isn't light - not even your hands are visible. It's as though naught exists but your thoughts, and that in a vacuum. The world around you darkens even further for a moment - blacker than your mind can even process.

And all is quiet.

It stays that way... but only for a moment.

Suddenly, shouts and sirens blare out from around you - the lights flare to a brilliant shine as your eyes adjust to the modest bridge of a gunship: the Mariana. A navigator and a science officer are rising from their seats as you step inside and smash your hand against the panel on the wall to shut the door behind you. Looking over to the side, you see your companion, weapon in hand, suited up and ready to rumble.

This has been a long time coming.

Your little pirate base has been running low on resources for a while. Nothing has been the same since the rubber chicken incident. You've been waiting for a while for a catch like this. It's not the crew's fault they piloted their gunship so close to your asteroid... but you weren't about to let it slip by. Sure, you had to ram them to break in, but it's been worth it overall. Omar died on the way in. You'll miss him - or, more accurately, his cooking. Fortunately, after this single haul is done, you shouldn't have to worry about cooking for a long, long time.

As the two deck officers start scrambling for a means to defend themselves, you glance around the bridge. The controls all seem fine, which is good - it raises the Mariana's sell value considerably. You see controls for navigation, engines, and the air systems - all in fairly clear, typical places - but the bridge itself seems difficult to defend, with no less than three entrances/exits, and what looks like it could be vent shafts above. This is, of course, assuming they don't have any hidden turrets in the ceiling or something else particularly nasty. Venting the ship shouldn't be too hard. All you need to do is find the airlock controls and open all blast doors - which might require an override of some kind, but then again... there are two people here that almost certainly know the override codes.

You glance back in their direction. One of them seems to be fumbling with a battery for a laspistol, and another seems to have found some kind of heavy metal bar to use as a bludgeoning weapon. Meanwhile, you hear heavy footsteps rushing down the corridor behind: armed guards, if you were to guess. You managed to avoid most of the soldiers on the way in here. You'll have to see if you can wrangle something to keep them out, because there's no way your two-man group can fight all of them off - hence, the venting.

This is a fairly desperate situation you've gotten yourself into, you know. To be fair, you were fairly desperate to begin with. Omar fed you guys the last of the nutrient paste two days ago, and you didn't have fuel to get to the nearest station. If the Mariana hadn't happened by just when it did... well, it's not something you have to think about anymore. Right now, the only thing on your mind - as ever - is survival.
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#9
"So... I never caught your name. But I think I'll call you Robocop for now."
"Do you think you can stop that guy from killing us both with that pistol? Preferably not by killing him?" ((Microwave?))

Raise my weapon and aim at the officer holding the melee weapon
"Move, and I'll shoot you down, I'm sure one of you is enough to keep alive anyway"
If the officer I'm aiming at moves in a manner I determine to be threatening
- Shoot to disable him, attempt to be non-lethal
<Detritus> I went up to my mom and said "hey... do you feel like giving five dollars to black lives matter?" and she laughed and said no :v <Black--Snow> my life does matter though ~~ added by Hema on Jun 11 2020 (2770)
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#10
"most people call me Gearhead, poppet"

use the grav amp to lift the guy with the gun up from the floor and to let him tumble into the guy with the bar
if any of them still tries to attack afterwards
-use microwave amp to fry the hands of the guys, with priority given to the gunner when both valid

"so you two asshats, you have two possibilities: you die by our hands or you may walk away on some nice world after we've taken the ship. because if we die by the hands of your friends, you go with us. you have the choice"
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#11
TURN 2

Gearhead
"Do you think that you can stop that guy from killing us both with that pistol?" Poppet asks. "Preferably not by killing him?"

You lift a hand and try to use the grav amp to lift one guy and smash him into the other, but it doesn't work - the guy falls over, but quickly gets back up with his crowbar. Your force wasn't strong enough.

"Move, and I'll shoot you down," Poppet warns them unconvincingly, holding a pistol. "I'm sure one of you is enough to keep alive anyway."

Poppet's threat is basically useless; both of them start moving to attack - one with a crowbar, the other getting ready to fire his pistol. You don't waste any time and fry the pistol dude's hands (though it takes two tries to hit him hard enough), causing him to shout in surprise and drop his weapon. Meanwhile, Poppet nails the other one in the knee, and the guy goes down with a cry.

You step closer, looking down at them. "So, you two asshats... you have two possibilities: you die by our hands, or you walk away on some nice world after we've taken the ship. If we die by the hands of your friends, we're killing you too."

Pistol Dude glares at you, holding his hands tightly under his arms in suppressed agony. "I'm not helping you kill our shipmates," he spits out.

Just then, the door behind you opens; you spin and see two armed guards rush into the room, with possibly more in the corridor distantly behind them. This could get messy.


Miranda
As Robocop tries to stop them himself (and fails, only managing to knock one of them over), you pull out your laser pistol and ready it. It's much more advanced than theirs is anyway. "Move, and I'll shoot you down," you warn. "I'm sure one of you is enough to keep alive anyway."

Your threat is basically useless; both of them start moving to attack - one with a crowbar, the other getting ready to fire his pistol. You don't waste any time and aim at Mr. Crowbar's knees. He gives a shout of agony as you pull the trigger and sinks to the ground, while Robocop over there manages to toast Pistol Dude's hands.

"So, you two asshats," Robocop says menacingly. "You have two possibilities: You die by our hands, or you walk away on some nice world after we've taken the ship. If we die by the hands of your friends, we're killing you too."

The offer seems to tempt at least one of them, but they refuse. "I'm not helping you kill our shipmates," one of them utters firmly.

Just then, the door behind you opens; you spin and see two armed guards rush into the room, with possibly more in the corridor distantly behind them. This could get messy.
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#12
"Four people against a Mechanist and a robotic wizard? Sounds like Friday games night to me..."
Hide behind cover
Make sure I maintain knowledge of where the two hostages are and what they're doing (To make sure they don't compromise us somehow)

During the following, do not attack enough to incur multi-rolls ((I think it's three times for me?))
If one of the hostages attempts to attack us
- Disable the hostage (Do not put myself in danger doing, however)
Fire at one of the armed guards until they're downed or dead, try to avoid shooting his armour for maximum effect
If I still have shots left before multi-roll and the other armed guard is still active,
- Fire at the other armed guard until downed, dead or I'll incur multi-roll

If all guards are downed/dead:

- "Robocop, you better get on making those two talk, as much as I'd love to do it!"
- Attempt to close and lock the door, weld it shut if possible
<Detritus> I went up to my mom and said "hey... do you feel like giving five dollars to black lives matter?" and she laughed and said no :v <Black--Snow> my life does matter though ~~ added by Hema on Jun 11 2020 (2770)
Post

Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#13
Microwave the face of one of the guards
let both incoming guards float up ((as jerkily as possible in contrast to smooth movement)) to throw off their aim and balance
take cover

if all enemies are neutralised
-hand poppet the blowtorch from the repair kit ((keeping the one i have as extra equipment))
-to the guy who talked back earlier: "so, now that poppet is welding that door shut we can have a nice talk. what was that about "i wont help you"?"
-take blowtorch, burn off a couple of fingers from the hand with which he used the weapon earlier
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#14
((Working on your turn now. For the record, these actions do not work together:
"Fire at one of the armed guards until they're downed or dead"
"do not attack enough to incur multi-rolls"
It creates a paradox I'm unable to easily solve without knowledge of the future. Rolls require knowledge of how many rolls you make, maximum. This turn states two separate maximums. In this particular case, I'm going to make you fire three shots at the guard regardless of whether he dies, because I can't tell which of those shots (if any) will kill him. This may have unintended results for you.))

((edit: to clarify, turns are executed as a block of sequential actions, not separate sequential actions. This is harder to explain, but it's what makes REKT's turn format possible. Rule of thumb: never fire "until something is dead". You don't know if it'll die or not. Expect it not to, prepare for it, and then be pleased when it does anyway.))
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Re: BTE Tryout Thread: Gearhead and Miranda

#15
Turn 3

Gearhead
You spin around toward the two approaching guards, flinging up your arm; a wave of energy causes the air in front of him to shimmer. You'd intended to toast his face, but this was just a total miss - and due to your ineptitude, they both took the opportunity to duck behind a couple of the control consoles. The first one fires at you, narrowly missing, while the second starts dashing to the right around the edge of the bridge, attempting to flank you. You concentrate on him, and with an exertion of your will, the guard floats up into the air - a perfect shot for Poppet. Poppet, however, is too focused on the other guard to hit him.

Sighing, you turn your attention to the first guard and pull him up into the air, too, preventing him from using the consoles as cover. This reminds you that you aren't exactly taking cover, so you move to use one of the consoles as a shield, hiding in front of it (toward the front of the bridge). Poppet finally lands a shot - but so does Guard #2 - the guy that was trying to flank you. It doesn't really matter so much that he can't flank you now - he's got a clean shot from above. His high-power energy shot rips into your left arm (the mechanical one), absolutely decimating it. ((Despite -2 durability, you somehow survived this without passing out. Lucky you!)) The guard then tries to get a good shot in on Poppet, but can't manage.

Without warning, Poppet lunges to the side at the navigator - who has his crowbar again - and tackles him to the ground. She's just in time to keep him from getting a perfect aim; the navigator's crowbar flies past your head as you duck away, just barely avoiding it. That could have killed you.

A voice booms over the loudspeakers in the room. "Intruders on the bridge! I repeat, the intruders are on the bridge!"

The two guards fall to the ground - one of them unconscious - and the conscious one looks like he's going to try to get back into cover. The reddish bar lights around the walls continue to pulsate - a classic "red alert". The other helmsman is nowhere to be seen; you can only assume he fled. You'll need to take care of the last guard before reinforcements arrive, and then seal off the doors. That shouldn't be too hard, right?


Miranda
This isn't your first fight, and your instinct is to duck behind cover - which you do, shielding yourself from incoming fire from the back of the bridge. The two guards lay down some suppressing fire and get into cover themselves, while you return fire with your laspistol. Your first shot only ends up leaving a dark burn across the side of the console, however. In the chaos, you almost miss the fact that one of the two helmsmen - Mr. Laspistol - has just fled the scene, right down the main hallway.

Robocop leaps into action for you, lifting your guard up into the air. You fire at him, managing to wound one of his hands. He drops his weapon - some strange combination of a laser and plasma rifle - and you nail him in the throat with the next shot. Eyes wide, he chokes and clutches at his neck as dark droplets of blood spew out, weightless, into the air around him. Still alive, he tries to "swim" back toward his weapon with one hand on his throat, but to no avail.

By this point, Robocop has managed to get both of the guardsmen floating toward the ceiling, and the last guard is concentrating fire on him. One of them manages to land a direct hit on his arm - specifically, the robo-ish one - before firing at you as well. This is a total miss, and he seems to need to reload his weapon after anyway. You take the opportunity to look around... and notice that Mr. Crowbar has retrieved his weapon and is just getting ready to fling it at Robocop's head. Without thinking, you lunge at him, knocking him down to the ground and wrestling the weapon out of his grasp; it slides just out of reach. The two of you struggle together on the floor, each trying to gain the upper hand, when a voice booms over the loudspeakers in the room. "Intruders on the bridge! I repeat, the intruders are on the bridge!"

Mr. Crowbar smiles. This was his plan all along. (He still really wanted to land that crowbar shot, though.)
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