Expendable

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

<Snipped quote by Burger>

Reduced the entrances and illusory walls to the limited amount. It's still going to be beyond our reach for now, but maybe one day we can get this, hah.

@Ariamis

Please leave a little room in the budget for signs that say, "This Way to the Big Egress!" that leads adventurers to a trap door that drops party members into an underground river that lets them out several miles away.

I wonder if we can charge admission?

An Idiot's Dungeon Union

@BrokenPromise
Yes, I'm aware. I asked the question regarding how the limited player slots would be handled in the interest check. My comment was the result of having just woken up, seeing the brand new OOC and 4 people already having submitted CS'es, and then mentally panicking internally because half of the "potential" spots to be picked for were "potentially already snagged". I am derp.

@Xaltwind

And I realized last night ERode has a goblin already. Hmmm. Is it a problem if there's two? Or should I try for something else?

An Idiot's Dungeon Union [It's Monster Politik Time]

I'll probably put together a sheet tonight for a goblin.

goblin

Since she's being summoned, she's going to have to go foraging to make herself some Glah.

Starwake - Shadows of the Sphere

Darya

---

"Wow," Darya Evonovich said, taking in the splendor before them as she brushed a few errant strands of hair back into place, "This is better than the Scorpio."

She'd been on board the Zodiac line cruise ship for its maiden voyage, with orders and a ticket for her first duty station as it was cheaper than arranging transport on a courier ship. She wasn't sure what to make of the ingenue actress they had playing her for the mini-series, filmed aboard the ship as part of its shakedown cruise following its extensive repairs. She doubted anyone would recognize her, having been from before her accidental exposure.

She glanced at the nearest reflective surface, blinking her eyes. They'd once been a very bland gray.

Her ulster, a thin membrane clinging to her body that left only her head and hands exposed, was programmed in a professional matte black, concealing more than it exposed. Her polished black leather vest and flats gave watchers something to focus on, yet the vest concealed the revolver, currently loaded with sub-sonic ammunition approved for ship use. Her bodyguard and concealed carry license in her wrist IDENTchip must have been scanned on entry for her and Violet to get so far inside.

And Darya doubted she was the only one armed, even in this crowd.

Being a bodyguard wasn't what she was usually hired for - most of her travels was as a pilot on a tramp freighter who needed a qualified pilot. However, not knowing who was going to suddenly jump out at her with a wooden stake kept her constantly aware of what was going on around her. While it wouldn't kill her, stakes hurt.

Her three AI luggage cases were being picked up by the drones for room delivery. Only the first one held clothes and toiletries, the rest being her medical supplies and ammo. Darya sighs, glancing at the other patrons. She definitely needed to get herself an AnySuit™, the holographic bodysuit that could be programmed with hundreds of different outfits, perfect for travelers. However, glancing around the room, she doubted any of them would blink at the luggage fees.

She watched as Violet selected a mask, her right eyebrow arching.

"Is this required?" Darya demanded sourly, not liking anything that might interfere with her vision.

Starwake - Shadows of the Sphere

Pilot Darya

Name: Darya Igorina Evonovich
Race: Human
Physical Description: This friendly, attractive woman gives you an odd, uneasy feeling of dread. She has wide red eyes the color of blood. Her luxurious, straight, raven hair is shoulder length. She is tall and has a lithe build. She has thin eyebrows and noticeable canines that ever so slightly protrude from her mouth. Her skin is very pale. She has no heartbeat. Her wardrobe is simple and professional, with a lot of black.

headshot

Role Description:
Pilot certification, third class. Certificate from Duskmire Academy - Continuing Education.
General Spacer certification, third class. Certificate from Duskmire Academy - Continuing Education.
Vacc Suit Certification, third class. Certificate from Duskmire Academy - Continuing Education.
Medical discharge, Marine Corps General Infantry. Rank: Lance Corporal.

Not that many jobs out there for vampires.

Racial abilities and descriptions

Medical information - HIPAA warning

WARNING: McLENDON'S SYNDROME
McLendon's Syndrome is a blood-born contagious disease, avoid contact with open sores, cuts or wounds. When treating, wear protective gear and double-glove.

Do NOT provide their blood to an uninfected person. Quarantine all blood samples. Quarantine and sterilize room following treatment.

Initial presentation - headache, fever, pain in the muscles and joints, unconsciousness that lasts several days, excessive sweating, early onset light sensitivity, eye color turns red. Blood circulation without heart beat. Presence of McLendon's microorganism detected in blood.

Symptoms include:

Blood cravings - can accept any blood-type. Cravings can be moderated by chocolate.
Paralytic Saliva - acts as a mild sedative, applied during bite. High risk of blood contact.
Extreme sun sensitivity - Exposed skin will experience almost instant painful burning and blistering, death can result from prolonged sun exposure. Recommend no travel during daylight hours.
Extreme food sensitivity - painful vomiting, cramps, and dumping reported. Patients require special dietary supplement, MLS2 (liquid). Survival ration (paste) works as a viable alternative.
Sensory sensitivity - everything seems brighter, louder, overwhelming taste, smell, or touch. May require wearing of sunglasses, gloves, special ear plugs to filter sound, and a blander diet.
Enhanced strength - strength appears to double or triple, as if they are able to use a greater percentages of their muscles' capabilities. Please use caution around the newly infected.
Enhanced reflexes - Sometimes too quick, can result in damaging equipment / collateral damage to the people around them. Avoid thrown objects whenever possible.

Treatment - There is no cure, attempts to remove the symbiote invariably kills the patient. Provide symptom relief as listed above.

Gear:

EDC

IDENTchip implant
Work utility belt
Gloves
Work hat
Sound-filtering Ear plugs with protective case.
Church Ordinance Judge Pistol (.45 Long Colt / 410 Shotgun) with ammo pouch and holster.
Pocket Pack - a heavy-duty sheath holding a pen light, a Jensen Knives Heavy Duty Pocket Multitool, and a multi-surface pen.

Communications: Seares Omni Traveller

A smart comm with diamond-based architecture for greater resistance to radiation, shock, and heat. Equip with oxygen and pressure sensors. Short-range comm, connects to internal ship networks, can interface with compatible devices. Can install various apps. Data chip slot for programs and storage. SIMM card slot for connecting to planetary communications networks. Uses a commercial charging pad.

Communications (Display): Seares AR Glasses

Shatterproof plastic glasses with built-in heads-up Augmented Reality display, allows for gesture commands. Can also act as a targeting sight and display heat signatures, using the built-in cameras. Can connect to a smart comm or other devices as a dedicated display, or to local communications networks - typically a fee service. Popular for those without implants. Uses a commercial charging pad.

Body Suit: Kingman's Bioplastic Ulster

A programmable self-sealing living membrane undersuit that feeds off the wearer's body heat and secretions. In the event of a sudden decompression, the body suit expands at openings to cover exposed flesh (typically the hand and head), providing protection from the vacuum of space and fifteen minutes of oxygen. Standard oxygen canisters can be attached to extend breathing time. Suits come packaged in a large plastic egg with a battery base. If suit is not going to be worn for a long time, it should be plugged into a battery.

Sensor: Seares Chem Sniffer

this palm-size rod when waved over an object can pick up the chemicals being outgassed by the material, often used by travelers to detect hazardous or poisonous food and displaying a green or red indicator light. When connected to a smart comm device with its database, it can do a basic chemical signature breakdown, allowing it to identify hazardous chemicals, poisons, alcohol strength, Scoville heat units, calorie count, or explosives.

Shipbag

Clothes (various)
Dress shoes
Work boots
Toiletries
Two commercial charge pads
Two data chip cases
First aid kit
Spare Kingman's Bioplastic Ulster egg (Medical supplies)
Sound-filtering ear plugs (Medical Supplies)

Body Armor: Kingsman's Leathers

A double-breasted vest with anti-stab lining and plate carrier, internal tech pockets, and a reflec liner to protect from energy weapons. From their covert protection line of protective clothing, necessary to protect McLendon's Syndrome patients from would-be vampire slayers.

Supplemental Supplies

One ammo can (locked), .45 long Colt
One ammo can (locked), 410 Shotgun
Two cases of candy-coated chocolate buttons (Medical supplies)
Three cases of chocolate chips cookies, two in a package (Medical supplies)
Six cases Special Dietary Supplement MLS2 - 90 day supply (Medical supplies)

An Idiot's Dungeon Union [It's Monster Politik Time]

One of my ideas is that before there were banks, those with money would build a strongroom to hold their treasure. But others broke into their strongroom and stole some of their treasure, so they got the idea to expand the strongroom into a dungeon, with several strongrooms, some empty rooms, secret doors, traps, and monsters added to the mix.

And something to keep in mind is that monsters are also part of the treasure - bring back goblin ears to the local adventure guild to get a silver piece, hides have value, as do other parts.

I remember a fun story where one of the local girls wanted to catch the eye of the local knight, so posed herself next to an Earth dragon - poor thing never had a chance. But the dragon was piled up in front of this peasant's home, and he wanted to know who was going to clean it up - and the knight dismissed it, saying it was the peasant's job.

The peasant comes to a decision, grabs a knife and crawls into the wound on the dragon and cuts some of the lavender dragon meat and cooks it - and it tastes like liver. But he starts selling it - and when someone spills the beans, people start bragging how much they paid for their dragon meat. Peasant is raking in a fortune, but he's running out of sellable parts. When the knight hears about it, he comes to reclaim the dragon - but instead the peasant gets him to go hunt other dragons.

Or go watch the anime Delicious in Dungeon - congrats, you're an orc but you're on the menu.

An Idiot's Dungeon Union [It's Monster Politik Time]

If there's one thing I've picked up from the anime That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime and So I'm a Spider, So What? is you shouldn't go around killing humans - they're vicious creatures. And then there's the bit for this game that we used to be human....

Sounds fun.

Are we reborn understanding both the common languages of monsters and of humans?

Paradise Lost

Billie the Joat

---

Billie burst into her quarters and grabbed her duffle, quickly stuffing clothes into the bag. The room wasn't much - a display dominated the wall to the left, while on the right was a couch that would fold down to make a bed. Behind it was the drawers and cubicles. Past the bed/couch was the private 'fresher, and behind her, beside the door, was the snack and beverage panel. It wasn't much, but it had been her home these last few months, a gift from Uncle Tony.

She was probably going to miss it.

Billie grabbed her tablet and shoved it into her tool bag, hoisted her duffle, then with one look back, she caught the wallpaper changing to purple unicorns with big, big eyes and golden horns. It must have been majestic to see those roaming on Ancient Earth.

The door slid shut behind her as she made her way to the colony ship.

---

Nine

She was just drifting off in her chair when she heard it - footsteps and voices echoing in the passageways. There were people boarding. She glanced at the other burnts in their cubicles, sound asleep.

There was a sudden spike of pain in her head that made her flinch, burying her face in her hands.

Your mission is to secure the ship from all external threats, said the voice. She had a vague impression of a craggy face, a half-smile....

Nine sighs, pressing the release and pushing the padded securing bar up. Climbing out, she went to the broom rack and picked one, and began shuffling out the door.

Time to start cleaning up.

Paradise Lost

"...yeah," Earl yelled, talking over the rumble of the tram as it made its way down the lower deck, carrying its cargo of trained Burnts. "My brother told me, he's in the military. All those clock towers in every town and city? They're all bombs! For the day the Metacer find us!"
"Yeah?" Plant the driver snorted, rolling his eyes. "So what'll the bombs do?"
"They'll explode, take out everything!" Ear grinned from ear to ear. "Metacer, people, towns, nests, everything! Why did ya think I came up here for?! The view?!"

Plant shook his head as the thin man laughed evilly. He didn't see it when Earl turned towards the Burnt beside him, reaching out to grab the woman. Only she grabbed his hand.

"Hey...!" he whines, "that hurts...! Now let me go before I..."

Nine punched Earl's face, knocking him back on the plastic seat. Before he could shake it off, she kicked him off the tram, knocking his head into a column. He collapsed like a rag.

Nine turned to face forward, her face serene. Minutes later, they arrived at the rear loading hatch of the colony ship. Plant brought the tram to a stop, then turned.
"Earl! Get them off the tram while I... Earl?" Of the man, there was little sigh. He turned to stare at Nine, who had been sitting next Earl, but she just sat there, waiting quietly, like the rest. He looked back down the tracks, but of Earl there was no sign.

"Damn it, Earl!" he swore, shaking his fist as he climbed out of the driver's seat. "Of all the times...! I gotta get these people on board and you've gone off someplace!"

He walked towards the hatch, pulling out a flimsy that he held up to the laser scanner. The red beam swept across the bar code, then buzzed. With a loud clink, the massive doors began sliding up. Still grumbling, he walked down the metal ramp and began coaxing the Burnt custodians aboard.

Nine was the final custodian he seated in her chair, her box already loaded, lowering the padded safety bar to lock her in before glancing side to side. He walked over to the hatch, glancing about, then pressed the "close" button and listening to the hydraulics began closing the hatch.
"No way I'm stayin' on the station," Plant scowled, heading towards the front of the compartment and slipping past the doorway into the ship's corridors.

"Wh."
Nine frowned, ever so softly.
"Why..."

Leaning forward, she glanced down the row of booths, spotting a head leaning out, like hers. Another burnt. Simon? "Why did...?"

Nine cocked her head defiantly, then leaned back.

Paradise Lost

Nine

Nine

Name: Jane Doe (0XU-45-ZQ39) "Nine"
Species: Human (Burnt)
Sex: Female
Age: Estimated 25 Terran
Role/Job: Custodian
Appearance: This lady puts you in mind of a deep ocean. She has wide yellow eyes that are like two chunks of aged ivory. Her hair is white, trimmed in a simple pageboy style. She is very short and has an athletic build. Her skin is pale. She has thick eyebrows. While corporate office environments will dress them up as maids and butlers, malls and starships typically assign them dark gray coveralls with black steel-toe chukka boots, a simple cloth cap, and a pair of white gloves.

headshot

Strengths and Weaknesses

Skills: Besides basic custodial duties, she practices kata and plays chess in her head. She thinks she was once security, or something like that. Encrypted burst communications implant - restricted frequencies (not compatible with existing tech).

Weaknesses: Burnts (short for freezer burnt) are semi-successful revivals of bodies frozen in the long-ago past that while alive, appear to be only barely conscious and of limited mental faculties from ice crystal damage, only capable of performing menial work. As robots are banned, they're generally assigned to government and corporate offices as custodians. Burnt-abuse, while illegal, still happens.

Doesn't talk. (Mute?)

Unexplained power dips (lights & displays flickering momentarily) and bursts of radio static around them.

Background:

Major Incident Imari Manufacturing - recovered fragment

"...What we know is that Agent ██████ went to the Imari Manufacturing Complex to investigate some sort of discrepancy in Building 29. We got ██████'s distress alarm and dispatched a Rapid Response team to ██████'s location, only to discover she had been flash-frozen despite numerous safety protocols that should have prevented it from ever happening."
"Industrial accident?"
"Or something hurriedly set up to look like an industrial accident."
"And the discrepancy?"
"...We can't find it."
"So it all died with ██████"
"Not quite. The doc says that recovery is possible, thanks to the ████████████ process. Medtechs have already shipped ██████ up to Tartarus."
"Excellent. How soon until ██████ is revived?"
"It'll be weeks or even months. Even with ████████████ it's delicate work."
"Do keep me apprised of your progress."

Communications Report DD-214A-2B-9A-FF-31-01-AA

"Jack, what's the meaning of these orders?"
"Orders? What orders?"
"About ██████! Got this order stating we're to suspend all treatment and place the body in stasis until further notice. We just got her thawed and began ████████████! It's not good for ██████ if we stop things midway."
"What?! No order like that passed through my office! Where is ██████ now?"
"They're about to put her in stasis. This didn't come from you?"
"No! I think our network has been compromised, send me a hardcopy, understood?"
"Underst...!"
"What's going on?"
"I don't know, the engines are firing, we're moving out of orbit...!"
<<<Communication Loss>>

Secure Channel DD-214A

"Priority override - Authorization:█████-███-██████ I don't know if you'll receive this, but I'm hoping this will be in your buffer when you wake up. We don't know what's going on, but someone is trying to remove you from our records and have overridden the controls for Tartarus. I can't be sure you'll even remember your own name once you read this. Your mission is to secure the ship from all external threats. Good luck, ██████."

Van Baalen Salvage - Comms log

"This ship's been through the grinder, but their reactor's still putting out some decent power. We're going to make a killing salvaging this!"
"Bram! Bram! Get down here, quick!"
"What is it, baby brother?"
"There's a woman down here!"
"A woman? A dried up corpse?"
"No! Alive, unconscious on the deck! She just fell out of a stasis pod! I think she needs help!"
"**** me, are you kidding me? If there's a live person on this hunk of junk, we can't claim it as salvage!"
"I think she needs medical help, right away Bram!"
"Listen, we can't afford to lose this salvage, Gregor! Drag her ass down to one of those cryopods we found in the second hold and stuff her in. We'll claim we found the pod in some other wreck when we turn it in."
"But...!"
"Don't give me no butts! We need the money Eden'll give us for this."
"But...!"
"Gregor, it's either she gets stuffed in a cryopod, or it's out the airlock. I'll let you make that choice."

Revival

She was still sweating as they strapped her down on a table, almost like she'd just come out of a hot bath. Falling...

"W.... this?" someone snapped. Masculine. A bit whiny.
"Uh, Jane Doe," a different voice said. Soprano, harried. "All we have is a number, 0XU-45-ZQ39."
"What? Not even a file for this one?"
"What can I say, Doc, they couldn't find one."

She subtly checked - her limbs and torso was bound. She could feel the hum of a motor for the platform she was lying on. For what?

"Another lost file! Why do I only get the lost ones? Fine. Inject 5 milliliters of Adrenaline, bring her upright and let's wake them up.
First the table moved, then there was the pinch of the needle. After a moment, she opened her eyes.

"BWHAAAAA!" A figure in an Oni mask and a lab coat lurched forward, hands spread like claws. She stared back, unflinching. He took the mask off and leaned in, staring hard at her, then scowled.

"Nothing! No response what so ever!" he said, turning to the woman working at a console behind him. "Another burnt! Get her off to the ward and find me another icicle with at least a spark!"

Two male attendants she hadn't seen before stepped up beside her, undoing the straps, then picking her up and placing her on a gurney, quickly strapping her in. She could hear others approaching with another gurney, but they were already in a hallway.

She could see the ceiling. Oh good. But at some point, they were going to unstrap her again, and then she could escape....

She frowned. Escape... to where? Where was she? Who was she? Was she this 'Jane Doe'? It didn't feel right.

"Okay, boys," a new voice asked, sounding bored. "Who is this?"
"No file," one of the attendants unbuckling her straps said.
"Great, another one. What's the number, then?" he asked, impatiently.
"0XU-45-ZQ39..."
"Nine, perfect. Put her in that bottom bunk. Broom school for you tomorrow, deary. Let's hope you can learn to mop."