I refuse to ah, do, er, more, with the transsexual hookers. What kind of guy do you take me for?
I ask Irwin (or his representative) what the extent of the state's case is against me and what our chances are; if it doesn't look good, we should meet with the prosecution and see if we can make a deal.
*A progressive one :P*
*Irwin says they have a uhaul truck full of evidence, eye witnesses, character witnesses, murder weapon with your prints on them, people witnessing you fighting with Yanni the day before. Either you did it, or there is a pretty big conspiracy going on.*
*He looks at you*
"It doesn't look good for even a deal, but I can try.*
Progressive, maybe, make them hermaphrodites and I'm in =P
"Well, definitely try... even if all you can get is them to take the death penalty off the table. As long as I'm alive, they may find out they're wrong. If you hear from Cass or Darla, let them know I've been seriously framed, ok?"
*Your lawyer comes back*
"They will take the Death Penalty off the table if you, plea no contest to all those crimes, and agree to serve all your time in a new project they have in L.A., they have just finished a cryoprison."
*He looks to you, trial starts in three months, that's how much time you have to clear your name.*
"A cryoprison?"
The movie Demolition Man comes to mind, but my greater concern is that if I'm put into cryosleep, I wonder if that's close enough to death that I'll be versing out anyway. Still, I'm not just thinking for myself; I have to consider that Cass and Darla are here still, and I don't want to wrench them away from their lives.
"Fine. I'll abide by their terms."
§
It raises an interesting question I have posed to other GMs and players in the past, and I'm interested in seeing how you feel about it.
((You are not dead, so I do not see how you could verse out from it))
*Do you want Cass and Darla to try to clear your name, or just taking the deal now?*
I'm taking the deal now, before they fabricate more evidence and take it off the table. Of course, if Cass and Darla can prove my innocence, it won't matter much if I'm incarcerated or not.
§
Well, that would be the question at the center of the debate; just how dead are you in cryosleep? Does your digestive system shut down? Circulatory system? Your brain? If it's a complete system shutdown, that basically means you're dead; if not, you need some form of energy to burn, probably fed intravenously, and you may be able to think and feel the passage of time over the years.
*Ok you take the deal, the Judge is happy the taxpayers didn't have to take a trial*
"Cass and Darla are crying, and vow to clear your name, and bring the real perps to justice."
*You are sentenced to 880 years of cryosleep*
*Anything you want to do before going under*
((It slows down your systems to one heart beat a minute, slowing down your systems by about 100x, That would allow you to be under and taken out for parole, given sustenance and put back in. A 27 GE roll at the wrong time really messes with the game))
Yeah, it does... no, nothing I want to do.
§
Well, that's convenient. In that case, I'm progressing at a slowed metabolic rate; given the assumption that everything else is progressing naturally, instead of being given sustenance once every 24 hours, which I would say for argument's sake is carefully planned and administered to keep me from growing undernourished, I'll probably be fed once every 2400 hours, or 1000 days. Meaning I'll have 32 feeding sessions between now and 880 years from now.
Since my stasis essentially means that I'll be spending the bulk of 8.8 years metabolically speaking not moving at all, with the exception of 32 hours for feeding (a small fraction yet probably a generous estimate), my anticipation is that after 500 years of this, I will be facing muscular atrophy similar to that which an individual who had been bedridden for the better part of 5 years would be facing.
Before my sentence is over, I doubt seriously that I'll have the strength to walk.
*You get thawed out ever 40 years for parole, for the first 7 times you feel Cass and Darla, they did find and proved who framed you, but it just wasn't enough, eventually it was ((25 GE roll)), then they decided to take out everyone involved from the gangs to the corrupt cops, to the judges, to the congressmen and senators and drug cartel involved.*
*The eighth time, you don't feel them, you get activated, and you know the routine, you walk slowly with the help of walker to the warden's office for your parole, when you get there, you are greeted with dust and a skeleton*
I sigh.
Am I the only person who was in cryostasis?
I will walk using the walker to the bathroom and evacuate my bowels.
Then, I'm looking for three things;
A weapon
A razor (I can't stand this beard)
and food.
*There are 20 left in cryostatsis, out of 3,500, seems they all went through the same process, the water is stagnant in the bathroom and barley flushes, the cafeteria has been ransacked, you do however feel your items in the evidence chest, which can only be opened with your handprint, so you do feel a bit lucky there. You do find a bag of cheese doodles, snack size in the bathroom towel dispenser*
*You see a lot of skeletons, you check out the opened chests, they are all picked clean, seems every inmate had their items in them*
*You have explored this floor of the facility, you also have a yearning to weave a basket, the computer system does have power, and you have seen the sequence they use to freeze people, you place your handprint on the pad or have it put there, you could put yourself under, perhaps with other things*
That's EXACTLY what I'm going to do.
Program myself with all kinds of crazy crap that has nothing to do with weaving baskets, if you get my drift, and go back under after I munch my stale cheese doodles.
Hopefully next time I wake up, people are repopulating the world.
Bringing my equipment along for the ride.
*Programming roll 70, not in there. The programs are listed, just in code, you know they are there, but you will have to choose them all. There are risks and benefits to this, before I continue, just wanted you to be aware, that this is not all rewards here.*
Great... so it sounds like I'm basically choosing at random.
Okay, I'll go through with it anyway.
Ok good news and bad news list time:
Good: In 40 years till you wake you learn a lot
You Learn 3@10 Wesley Snipes RF 2 Weapon Utilizing Style, +10 to hit, +10 damage
You can choose 20 maneuvers in Body at 3@10 (Just list them)
You know computer programming hacking at 3@10
You know security at 3@10
You know explosives and demolotions at 3@10
You 10 weapon skills tech at 3@10
Bad: You didn't eat before going in, cheese doodles, isn't the 7 course meal you eat before going in, your physical attributes atophy to 1@1, your body was feeding on yourself. Those skills are Strength, Agility, Stamina, Density and Resistance. Your Charisma is also a 1@1, due to the below:
Some of the programs you chose were to cure certain desires of prison population:
You no longer like, want to be around kids
You no longer want to have sex with women or men
You no longer want to steal under any circumstances
You no longer will resort to violence to situations, if once you have tried talking, then you may.
You also want to do the following, knit, sow, crochet, garden, bake, cook, weave, clean, redecorate, plan parties and weddings, and finally train animals to enter shows.
Question 1: For bod skills, I assume you mean human normal. Would a martial arts style qualify?
Question 2: Tech weapon skills, is that limited to weapon use, or does it include design/build/repair/sabotage skills?
Question 3: Only 1@1? I was assuming my physical attributes would be in the level 0@ range after years of atrophy. 1@1 strength and I'm essentially able to walk and run and perform like a normal person.
Question 4: Particularly regarding the second factor on the list. I still have memories of a time when it was not like this? Also, am I still able to ah...
err...
you know...
become aroused?
Question 5: I have the urge to do these things, but what about the ability?
Answers:
Question 1: Yes only human normal, and no the computer program had one style to teach, but maneuvers are fine.
Question 2: You can choose any tech skills someone from 2010 would have, or be able to have.
Question 3: We will stay with 1@1 with a temporary 0@ state, I wanted to be realistic, not mean and cruel.
Question 4: Yes you are, but it's more of an accidental stimulus, like waking up in the morning deal. In game terms, it would be a difficult willpower check to overcome the programming in any situation.
Question 5: You are not chemically castrated if that is what you are asking. They were using these programs to avoid that. They built the programs do deal with rapists, child molesters, thieves and violent criminals that were plaguing the prison system.
Actually, I was asking about the skills at the bottom; training animals, knitting, sewing, baking, etc.
§
Are my surroundings here much of the same?
I'll try to find a way outside.
§
(list of bod skills to come soon)
*Oh yes, you have the ability to do those skills, like in Demolition Man*
*Surroundings are worse, there are no frozen people anymore*
*With your ability of computers know you have a floorplan, and yes you can get out, and you will want to do it soon. The doors outside are controlled by the computer, and it is just about out of power.*
Very thankful to be able to get out of here. Moving outside as quickly as I can with my things, then searching for sustenance.
*You make your way up to the doors, the doors are up some steps, and the metal creeks open.*
*You see a barren wasteland of an Orange haze tinged sky, you see desert in front of you, and the building part of this place has been wiped away long ago, you see ruins of a city to your west, but here, all you see is nothing, no life, no animals, no water, no plants, just desert.*
Tech
T2@1 Use Bow
T2@1 Design Bow
T2@1 Build Bow
T3@1 Design Arrow
T3@1 Build Arrow
T6@4 Design large hand-carried explosive-driven slug thrower
T6@4 Build large hand-carried explosive-driven slug thrower
6@3 Modify large hand-carried explosive-driven slug thrower
6@2 Repair large hand-carried explosive-driven slug thrower
6@1 Operate large hand-carried explosive-driven slug thrower
Bod
These are all listed as if they were 1@ to allow you to decide how they get better with advancement.
4@4 Tumble to Erect Position
4@5 Forward/Backward Handsprings
4@8 Evasive Tumbling RS=SM penalty to opponent attacks
7@2 Quick Stand
7@2 Feint RS=SM bonus to next attack
7@2 Sweep success puts the enemy on the ground
7@2 Spin Pivot success puts the user behind the opponent
7@3 Solar Plexus Strike lethal damage attacks limited to two in the minute, +10 bonus to next opponent attack
7@3 Forceful Push sends opponent RS/2' backwards
7@4 Weaving -10 sm to opponent attacks for the combat
7@4 Attack Analysis -5 sm to opponent attacks for the combat
7@4 Avoid Martial Attacks RS=SM penalty to opponent attacks for the round, uses no attack
7@4 Avoid Ranged Attacks, sm penalty for bullets, energy weapons, and other extremely fast projectiles, otherwise as above but for ranged attacks
7@5 Joint Strikes, -15 sm penalty, success incurs -20 sm penalty to skills which use the targetted joint for RS/10 minutes
7@5 Barehanded Parrying RS=SM penalty to opponent attacks for the round at the cost of one attack
7@6 Improvise Martial Weapon -10 SM to identify a weapon
7@6 Improvise Ranged Weapon -10 SM to identify a weapon
7@7 Paralyzer victim rolls vs will power to act, RS=S/D/N, attacks limited to 2 in the minute
7@7 Defense Analysis +5 sm to user's attacks
7@8 Cause Auto-injury untargeted successful roll deals style level damage to an attacking opponent, uses two attacks (rf=1/2)
*pants* There!
§
And that; that is quite disappointing. Walk til I die, I guess.
*Grins*
"Only took you asking you to create a list for yourself to know what all I should have gotten with martial arts on my first world. That is is I would allow that 7@8, or the 7@4 skills :P"
*Don't you have any food listed in your packs and water?, well it's pretty obvious a nuclear attack happened, and there is ruins*
Not sure whether the area in the quotes means no to the 7@4 defensive skills (which are basically pulled baseline out of the book) and the Cause Auto-injury skill (ditto) or whether it means wow that's a good selection or whether it means both or neither of those things... but, ah, thanks, I think. =P It's probably in response to an earlier mistake I made, and if you want to go ahead and add the similar skills to your character sheet if I vetoed them before, go ahead. I'd chalk it up to a misunderstanding.
Anyway, back to the game at hand.
§
Nope, I disposed of that stuff in Kyler Krusader; specifically said I was getting rid of the food as soon as Cassandra, Jennah, Gelidrasil and I wrestled my equipment from the dryads (for lack of a better word). In retrospect, it's an oh well.
I don't know much about surviving in a desert; you travel at night and find shade in the day, but right now I haven't got much chance of that. Cacti have water in them, but those which it's easy to get at probably won't be around here much; all of them have water in them, but with some, it's kept in the skin, which is very tough to digest even if you can shave off the pricklies. Scorpions are okay to eat, as long as you don't eat the tail; some snakes are, too, but I wouldn't risk it.
Guess I do have a little bit of desert survival ability. But not much that will help me here, sadly.
((GE Roll 11))
((No it was a joke about having to make up my own skills, and if I would have saw them in the book listed as such I would have, so I will add them :P))
*You find a Cactus, green and surviving in the shade of some boulders, I am going to assume you are going to suck out the water, and eat the pulp? So are you heading for the ruins at night and resting during the day? Do you have a tent?*
doublepost
Heyyyy, yes I do have a tent, as a matter of fact! So, I'll be setting up here, taking this cactus's life for my own, and sleeping the rest of the day in the tent, holding my now-gorged tummy that isn't used to having food in it.
Come nightfall, it will be time to venture outward to the ruins and explore a bit.
*Yes you look like Jesus, with your beard and hair, and eating too much cactus. You get up at night still alive, and set out toward the ruins, with luck you will be there by morning*
*Still riding the good GE roll earlier*
*You pass a semi standing 7-11*
I eye the seven eleven momentarily, thinking that there's nothing worth taking inside, and the place is probably structurally ready to collapse, then head in anyway to take a quick look around.
((9 GE roll getting some good ones finally))
*You walk in, the outer shelves have been raided, as well as the back, but being someone who has worked retail, you notice some grey bins in the corner with stuff piled on top of them. You unearth them and open them up. You see restocks for the store, with a lot of things, that are well beyond their expiration date, but in canned form, there really isn't any. There is probably about a hundred pounds of food here, and in the last one you find bottled water, 4 cases worth, you seem to have hit the motherload*
Well, I'm definitely pleased; I'll first take all four cases outside, then take them one at a time back to my daytime campsite. They'll have to wait here for me for now.
Once it's all back, I will eat hungrily but pace myself; eating til you vomit is easy when you haven't eaten for a while, and that's counter-productive.
I'll spend the remainder of the evening (if there is a remainder) marvelling at how weak I've gotten and working out, and sleep again as the sun begins to rise.
*You know for working out you would have to be on a regiment, working out here and there doesn't help.*
*There isn't much of an evening left, so your sleep starts at dawn and lasts till darkness again. Are you packing up and taking all your food and water?*
I'm aware how attribute increases work; if I say I'm working out every night as every night comes and pass a certain amount of hours over a certain amount of day, attribute increases are in order, but such is not the case for working out over one evening and I understand this well.
§
Ah, no. I'm going to leave an article of my clothing here so I remember the place, and I'm taking a couple days' food and water, but I intend to return to the place I know too much food and water to easily carry are. I haven't seen any signs of life other than that cactus, so I'm not really very worried. I will bring my gear except the sock I leave inside the case with the water in it, and head off towards the ruins.
*Ok you head off, in a few hours you see the L.A Colosseum, you hear people there, and see firelight, these are the first signs of life you have seen on your trip out here.*
*You see the ocean further to your West, and other buildings between here and there in various states of disrepair*
*Where will you go?*
To the Colosseum, and people.
I will wear my super cool armor, coat, and hat.
*You walk slowly toward the Colosseum, out of breath, trying to look cool, and as you get close, you see a tent city there, looks like what is left of humanity is reduced to this, there are some guards out front in scrap metal armor, and scrap metal spears, they cross them in front of you*
"Halt who goes there."
I clear my throat, and respond, "I am called Arziay. I have travelled far from my home and can never return. I am weak with malnourishment. I seek food and shelter from the harsh desert; in return, I have several skills I can share."
((GE roll 20))
"We do not give charity, we trade tangible things, if you have tangible things to trade, we can trade shelter, food and water."
*They await your response*
"I apologize, you seem to have misunderstood. I am not seeking charity. I have many skills, I can sew, and cook, and clean, and cultivate vegetables and fruits, and teach fighting arts of an age long past."