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Encounter Conditions
Only if you are not Etheric
Initial Text
(If you have not given her a crate of Eclipse)
You see something that would be perfectly normal in other parts of the city: a college-aged woman wandering down the beach. She definitely seems aware of her situation, carefully avoiding trouble and taking notes as she goes.
(Otherwise)
The young woman you gave that crate of Eclipse to is still wandering the beaches. She seems to be a great deal more confused than before, but perhaps that's to be expected.
Summary of Choices
- Walk up to chat
- Yes, please help me - Heals ?-31-34-? HP if hurt, otherwise get a lukewarm latte
- I'm from Dr. Myers Only if you've talked to Dr. Myers about her
- I'll go - Fight 2 writhing masses, gain 21-40 HP post-fight; if successful complete quest
- Not right now - Nothing
- I'd rather help you - Gain 2 XP, get 2-3 items from the following: lake pearl, anchor chain, damp seaweed, partially digested fish
- What are you doing?
- You need Eclipse (Only if on Dr. Thomas Quest)
- I could sell you some
- Alright, free - lose crate of Eclipse, gain progress in Dr. Thomas quest; changes intro text for this adventure
- Sorry, nevermind - Nothing
- Here, have some - lose crate of Eclipse, gain progress in Dr. Thomas quest
- Have a good day - Nothing
- I could sell you some
- Good luck - Nothing
- You need Eclipse (Only if on Dr. Thomas Quest)
- Found anything out? - Learn recipe for Tendril Ointment or Powerful Acid or Agar Powder or Sheet of Scales or Sushi Nori AND for Slags Roll AND gain Slags Roll or gain 4 XP in Perception.
- About my healing - (Only after she heals you and then ask for help at full HP):
- You needed a sample? - (Only if you haven't given a sample:) Gain 20 energy of Blood Loss
- How's the sample? - (Only after waiting a day) Gain personal serum if not first time
- Any theories? - information
- Any other cases? - Start Cellular Questions quest
- Hand over the papers - (With cellular differentiation papers)
- Give her serum powder - (Only with serum powder) Lose powder
- Nevermind - Nothing
- I brought a specimen - (After choosing "I'd rather help you")
- Here you go - 3-7 XP in Will, possibly a limnology video
- Nevermind - Nothing
- Cheating on Myers's tests? - Information (After learning about people cheating on Dr. Myers's tests)
- Halloween - information
- Gotta go! - Nothing
- Follow her - Gain 4 XP in Strength or Reflexes or Will
- Leave her be - Nothing
Choice Text and Results
Walk up to chat
You come down from the rocks to talk to the woman on the beach. She seems as surprised to see you as you were to see her.
"Hello there, I'm Andrea. Can I help you with something?"
Or, further times?:
You come down from the rocks to talk with Andrea. She waves at you as you approach.
"Can I help you with something?"
Yes, please help me
(If injured)
She shakes her head. "Of course, how rude of me. Let me patch you up."
She proceeds to heal you with an expert hand.
You've regained 31-34? HP
(If uninjured)
"Well, you actually look pretty healthy, which is good. Oh, I know." She fishes around in her pack for a second.
"Here, have this. It's a touch cold, but I won't have time to drink it."
You found: lukewarm latte
(If uninjured and she's healed you at least once (today?))
"Well, you actually look pretty healthy, which is good. Oh, I know." She fishes around in her pack for a second.
She looks you over. "Huh. That's strange."
You wait for a bit, but finally have to prompt her to continue. "Well, I didn't do a great job patching you up last time, but you're totally healed now. There's no scarring or… any trace of the wound. It shouldn't be possible, but I've seen weirder things out here."
"I know you're here for my help, but let me know if you're ever up for a blood and tissue sample."
(Adds the option "About my healing")
I'm from Dr. Myers
"Oh, you must be the one Professor Myers mentioned. I'm working with him on my dissertation." She nods as though this explains exactly why she's standing on this godforsaken beach.
"Well, here's the problem. See that hill over there? There's a nest behind it that I think might have the eggs of one of those huge serpents Myers's been studying."
She sighs, "Problem is this: there's something living in the hill. Tried to get back there before, barely escaped with my life."
"Best shot now is to have you go in and I'll try to make sure you don't die afterwards. It's a really bad plan, but it's what I've got."
I'll go!
You approach close to the nest, glancing around cautiously. Nothing stirs until you reach down, then a mass of tentacles bursts out of the hill behind you.
As you stumble forward and ready yourself, another mass rips itself from the ground, blocking you off from the other side.
(Fight 2 Writhing Masses)
(After the fight if you lose):
You wake up with Andrea over you, expertly patching your wounds. You've healed ?-22-40 hit points since you went under.
(After the fight if you win):
Once you've finished off the tentacles, Andrea patches you up expertly, healing 21-40 hit points of your damage.After she's done with you, Andrea makes her way carefully to the nest. She meticulously pulls out three of the eggs, dusts them off, and stows them for travel.
(Or, if you win at full health):
Once you've finished off the tentacles, Andrea approaches you and checks you over for wounds.Apparently satisfied with your health, Andrea makes her way carefully to the nest. She meticulously pulls out three of the eggs, dusts them off, and stows them for travel.
I'd rather help you
"Oh, fantastic! Thanks for the help! Let's get moving so I don't waste your time!"
She leads you on a merry chase around the lake, pointing out a few interesting sites and asking you to pick up a number of objects along the way.
"Alright, great! You can keep some of this, but if you manage to pull anything… any specimens out of the lake, you should hook me up."
You found: 2-3 of: partially digested fish, damp seaweed, anchor chain, lake pearl
You've earned 2 XP in <random stat(s)>
What are you doing?
If you haven't given her Eclipse yet:
She laughs and looks around. "Not the normal haunts for a college student, eh?"
"Well, I'm working on my dissertation with Dr. Myers up at MU. Studying unique chemical properties of the local wildlife, gathering samples, all that." She looks over the blasted shoreline, almost wistfully.
"Right now I'm looking for some huge serpent a lunatic said he saw. Find one in its native habitat. No luck on that front."
If you've already given her Eclipse:
She looks around cautiously. "Well, I'm watching the serpents now… in their native habitat. Keeping an eye on their habits and their predator-prey relationships. The whole thing."
Then she sighs loudly. "Of course, the horrible part is that nobody will ever believe me. I know they're real, I just need to find some way to really prove it. Better evidence than Myers has."
She wanders off after something only she can see.
You need Eclipse
She squints a bit, deep in thought. "Well, that would match the evidence, I suppose. I would assume the story was a drug hallucination if it wasn't for the scales he brought back."
I could sell you some
"I can see the serpent if I take your magic drug that you'll sell me for some 'low introductory price'? You must take me for an idiot."
She pauses for a moment, then laughs. "Besides, I barely have enough cred to get a latte. Grad student, remember."
Alright, free
She looks thoughtful for a long moment. "I suppose it can't hurt. Seems… implausible but I can't let any stone go unturned."
She accepts the crate from you and heads back towards her basecamp.
Here, have some
She looks thoughtful for a long moment. "I suppose it can't hurt. Seems… implausible but I can't let any stone go unturned."
She accepts the crate from you and heads back towards her basecamp.
Found anything out?
"Hmmmm, well, I did take a look at the half-eaten fish that seem to show up along the shore here. They're a little weird."
"Turns out, they don't rot as quickly because they're highly acidic, almost like they're pickled. Anyway, get a good number of them together and you can process out some pretty strong acid."
You've learned a new quest recipe: Powerful Acid - Refine a flask of powerful acid from the remains of three partially digested fish.
or
"Well, here's something interesting I found out. You can process the seaweed that grows around here into agar. Crazy huh?"
She looks around, conspiratorially, then leans closer. "Mix in some hot water and it's not half bad."
You've learned a new quest recipe: Agar Powder - Reduce a clump of damp seaweed into agar powder.
or
"Hmmmm, well I did find that the seaweed around here makes halfway decent sushi nori. Then you can wrap it around some of the preserved fish you find on the beach here."
She hands you a strange, gooey sushi roll. "Here try one! I call it a Slags Roll. The chemical contaminants are perfectly safe at a serving a day."
You've learned a new quest recipe: Sushi Nori - Process a clump of damp seaweed
You've learned a new sushi recipe: Slags Roll - Carefully roll Partially Digested Fish with Sushi Nori
You found: Slags Roll
or
"Well, I'm not sure if you've see the lurking tentacled… things around here." She rubs a scar running down her arm without seeming to notice.
"Anyway, I was lucky enough to kill one once. Probably injured already or something, I just stabbed the thing and kept trying to get away."
"Sorry, keep getting side tracked. If you dissolve their tentacles in strong alcohol, they make a sort of salve. Sealed the wounds right back up."
(Mildly suspicious second blank line?)
You've learned a new chemistry recipe: Tendril Ointment - Make a healing ointment by dissolving the withered tendrils of a sea creature in grain alcohol.
or
She seems pretty excited, way more so than you've seen her before. "Oh, did I ever find something out! You know how I talked about that crazy ointment?"
She gestures wildly. "It can actually repair dead tissues too! It's insane! All I've figured out so far is how to mend some loose scales back together, but wow."
"Nobel prize, here I come!" Her smile falters a bit, "… as soon as I can figure out how the hell it works."
You've learned a new chemistry recipe: Sheet Of Scales - Reconstruct a scaly hide from loose scales and tendril ointment.
or
She talks about her studies for a long while. Nothing seems terribly applicable, but you learn a few tidbits along the way.
Gain 4 XP in Perception
About my healing
Before finishing the Grad Student Quest:
Her mouth quirks into a frustrated frown. "I'd love to work on that, but I have another project I need to finish up first."
"Just collecting some samples of the marine life here. I… should get back to it."
"Another day, another undifferentiated blob of dissolving tissue, am I right?"
(Ends conversation)
After finishing the Grad Student Quest:
"Thanks to your help, I knocked out that last project. It seems only fair that I help you with this one." She smiles.
You needed a sample?
She perks up. "Sure thing!"
Taking the tissue sample is painful, but you mostly just feel woozy from the blood loss. "I'll get these back to the lab on campus. I'll let you know what we found out tomorrow."
You've gained 20 energy of Blood Loss.
How's the sample?
"Well," her brow furrows in concentration, "I've got good news and bad news… well, normal news and confusing news. The normal news is that I got the results back."
She takes a deep breath. "The confusing news is that I don't understand how you're put together. Just looking at the sample, I… might think it came from a novel form of bacteria. But even then, I can't see a way for its metabolism to work."
"There's almost no differentiation between the cell types I took in the sample. The skin looks the same as the blood, only packed together a little closer. Which is just insane. I can't even pretend that makes sense, although it does explain a little about how you heal like that."
She laughs to herself, sounding slightly unhinged. "Well, at least that's one mystery down."
Lets you give another sample
Or, if you gave another sample:
She shakes her head. "Sorry, I haven't had time to process through those samples yet. I should be able to get you the results tomorrow."
Or, if you gave a another sample and waited a day:
"Hmmm, yes." She nods.
"I couldn't find out anything more, but if you can think of anything to try yourself, I have the sample broken down here."
You found: personal serum
Any theories?
She shrugs. "There's a lot of things it could be. I know a few Corps have been working on cybernetic autodoc systems. And the air and water near the Slags… well, they seem to have certain strange effects on the wildlife. It might be related to that."
"But," she stares off into space for a moment, "if we could replicate it, imagine the possibilities."
Or, after giving one sample:
She shakes her head and frowns. "My working hypothesis is pretty bad. The only thing I can come up with is a sort of biological nanotechnology where most of the upper functions and all of the metabolism are handled by specialized cells that didn't show up in the samples… but that doesn't even match what you look like, let alone explain the fact that your physiology seems basically human… by which I mean normal."
"It's like someone with a layman's understanding of physiology and cellular biology put a body together and it worked. I don't even know where to start with that."
Or, after giving her serum powder:
"Well, I think we're on the right track, but I hate to be speculative at this level." She shakes her head.
"Every crank thinks he's discovered a 'new field of science.' I don't want to be one of them, but… something's going on here that doesn't make sense with what we know."
"I guess you're my fogged photographic plate," she laughs, as though to a private joke. "But once we understand that force, I think pieces will start falling into place."
"Until then, I'm not sure what I can tell you. Your cells are missing several vital components and aren't differentiated from each other in any meaningful way. Yet, you look basically normal and have functional organs."
She shakes her head. "I just don't know what to tell you. Maybe I'm grasping at straws, trying to explain away my failings, but I don't think I could figure this out with all of Midgard's money behind me."
Give her serum powder
"And this is?" She pauses to let you explain.
"So after all the chemical testing, heat, pressure, and radiation, there's still this? Interesting. If I did think you were a swarm of nanites, I'd imagine these would serve as some sort of black box, protecting the data you need to reconstruct the whole."
"I'm willing to guess, though, that that isn't far from the truth. There's a whole mechanism we're not getting here, some way your cells are functioning on a level we don't recognize. I bet these are reactive on that level somehow."
or, after having given her a powder already
She shakes her head. "No, that's fine. I don't think we're going to be cracking that without a huge leap forward in science."
She stares out over the waves for a moment and resumes speaking without turning back towards you. "I think we're there, on the cusp of something huge… I don't know what's out there and I'm not sure we want to find out."
"But," she points to the helidrone buzzing off in the distance, "I think Midgard's ahead of us… I hope they know what they're doing."
(Might be a trigger to unlock this. I had already handed over serum powder when the update rolled out.)
Any other cases?
"I talked to someone who graduated a couple years before me, working at one of the hospitals. He's seen some cases like yours, associated with extremely low cellular differentiation, but doesn't have any records."
She sighs. "He couldn't say anything outright, but it sounds like Midgard's been taking over the cases and the files with them."
"The data's probably on some ultra-secure server somewhere, but it might be worth looking for the paper records. I don't have much idea where to start, but if you manage to find them, I'd be happy to take a look at them for you."
Starts the Cellular Questions quest.
Or, after handing over the cellular differentiation papers:
"Well," she pauses to collect her thoughts, "there do seem to be a lot of cases of this sort of thing, but Midgard's taken an active hand in controlling it and covering it up."
"I'm not even entirely sure if it's a project of theirs or if they're just trying to contain the panic."
"It also explains some other results I've gotten. The new species lurking beneath the beach here… I'm not sure it's a new species at all. It could just be a human with an extreme case of the disorder."
"Either way, your healing is just the tip of the iceberg. If anybody knows more, it's probably Midgard, but I get the feeling even they don't have a handle on it."
Hand over the papers
She looks over the records. "There's a lot of noise in here, but let me see what I can figure out."
A while later, she sends you a condensed report summarizing the information.
You found: cellular differentiation report
I brought a specimen
"Great! Really, anything living in the lake that doesn't already wash up on the beach would be a huge help."
And then, if you don't have anything useful:You don't have anything that seems to fit her criteria.
Or, if you one useful item:
Well, you have one thing that she might be able to use.
<specimen> (see chart below)Or, if you multiple useful items:
Hmmm, you have some things that she might be able to use.
<list of specimens> (see chart below)
Here you go
You hand her your <item> and she starts a careful examination. Well, as careful as she can on a windswept, toxic beach.
"<Message>"
She doesn't do a great job of describing the results, but does do a great job complimenting you on the contribution to her research.
And, sometimes, if you gave enough fish (8 XPs worth, over multiple contributions):
"It'll be easier if you just watch this." She sends a video over to your comm.
You found: limnology video
And, if you gave her a skullfish (and previously gave her a crate of Eclipse above):
She looks down at the meticulously arranged leftover bones and purses her lips. Despite it clearly being her handiwork, she ignores it as she leaves.
You found: fishbone necklace
You've earned X XP in Will
Item (XP) | Message |
---|---|
bait bluegill (3 XP) dock pike (3 XP) freshwater eel (5 XP) lake bluegill (3 XP) lake perch (5 XP) |
"Ah, good. Let's take a look at the toxin levels in this one. Hmmm… not great, but I suppose we were expecting that." |
clam meat (6 XP) eager fish (3 XP) fresh mollusk (4 XP) massive beak (6 XP) massive tentacle (7 XP) octopus eye (2 XP) shark fillet (6 XP) shark tooth (4 XP) silver darter (6 XP) skullfish (6 XP) |
"You got this from the lake? Huh…" |
giant pike (7 XP) mud eel (5 XP) |
"Ooo! This is a rare specimen. We don't have as much comparison data, but it's interesting in its own right." |
lake squid (5 XP) | "That definitely shouldn't have that many eyes. Eugh. That's just too many." |
lake serpent sample (4 XP) serpent venom gland (6 XP) spherical egg (6 XP) |
"Ah, yeah. From the serpents my advisor is so interested in." |
lake gulper (5 XP) | "How very odd… I've seen records of eels with jaws like these before, but they're native to the deepest parts of the ocean. It must be some kind of convergent evolution or… something." |
Cheating on Myers's tests?
She shakes her head. "I haven't heard anything, but it comes up every year. Myers tries so hard to make it impossible to cheat on his tests."
"I'm really not sure if undergrads take it as a challenge or if they're just that desperate to cheat. They always find a way, though."
She shakes her head again and gives you a sad smile. "There's enough money floating around in that student body to turn anyone's head. Some days I think the whole university is there just to extract it from them."
She drops silently into her own thoughts, staring out over the waves.
Halloween
Gotta go!
She nods kindly. "It's alright. Be careful out there."
Follow her
With you following, the woman maintains a healthy jog. It seems like you've gone halfway around the lake before you lose track of her among the rocks.
She must be in great shape. You're actually feeling a bit winded.
You've earned 4 XP in Strength
Or:
The woman moves quickly, darting from rock to rock. She seems aware of the constant danger in this area, but is intent to outrun it.
You're lead over fields of sharp rocks and swiftly down sheer cliffs as she collects samples that interest her.
You've earned 4 XP in Reflexes
Or:
You follow the woman for a few minutes and a sudden squall unleashes a vicious, soaking rain. It seems like nothing will ever be warm or dry again.
She eventually escapes you, probably hiding under shelter somewhere. You're left to your solitude.
You've earned 4 XP in Will
Have a good day / Good luck / Nevermind / Not right now!
She nods kindly. "It's alright. Be careful out there."
Leave her be
See Walk away