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Encounter Conditions
Slags medical ID equipped
Initial Text
You hear screams off in the distance and follow them through the halls to an operating theatre. Through the glass, you can see a number of doctors preparing for surgery.
More striking is their patient, who has dozens of writhing tentacles reaching out of his body and grabbing anything that comes too close.
A small crowd of doctors has assembled outside.
Summary of Choices
- Observe - Gain 4 XP in Perception
- Head In - If you are wearing a full containment suit or doctor outfit
- Observe closely - Gain 6 XP in Perception
- Assist the doctors (evil) - If not holding glass bauble, gain 8 XP, unlocks Freelancer's Paycheck noncombat encounter otherwise
- Release his bonds - Frees captive, allows Abandoned Operating Room noncombat encounter and Tentacled Man choice encounter
- Help the guards - kill him, unlock memento-for-murder noncombat, take 21-28 damage; if you still have hp left, gain 4 random xp
- Give him the bauble (if you have glass bauble) - lose glass bauble, frees captive, unlocks Found Glowing Bauble noncombat
- Run Away - Unlock dreams of Haunting Cries
- Free him - Same as Release his bonds
- Leave - Nothing
- Mingle out here - leads to Scientist Conversation, or Arcane Tongue if etheric
- Leave - Nothing
Choice Text and Results
Observe
You watch from outside as the man is subjected to a variety of chemicals and surgical procedures. It's… informative, although more than a little disquieting.
You've earned 4 XP in Perception
Head in
In a containment suit or doctor outfit (including surgeon's mask or reinforced surgical mask; gas mask does not work)
You approach closer to the bound figure on the table. Perhaps he was a normal kid once, but now he's something else entirely.
A living, blinking third eye stares out of his forehead and tentacles reach out from his body, grasping at the doctors and their equipment.
Otherwise:
One of the doctors waves you over. "Sorry, you really need to be suited up properly. Can't have you contaminating the O.R. and breathing in… well, it'd probably be less scary if I knew what you'd be breathing in."
He shudders and glances into the operating theatre. "You're better off out here anyway."
Observe closely
You observe closely as they test a variety of new chemicals on the bound man. Instruments tick up and down as he screams and writhes.
It doesn't make you feel good about yourself, but you do learn a lot.
You've earned 6 XP in Perception
Assist the doctors (evil)
(If no glass bauble equipped)
You actively move in and help test a variety of chemicals and surgical procedures on the bound man. He writhes and screams, drowning out the myriad instruments monitoring him.
At times, you're even reduced to ducking his tentacles as they reach out and shatter equipment.
It doesn't make you feel like a great person, but you do learn a great deal.
You've eanred 8 XP (data points: 6P 2R / 5P 1R 2S / 5P 1S 2W / 5P 2R 1S / 4P 3R 1W / 5P 2R 1W / 6P 2R / 5P 1R 2S / 4P 3R 1S / 4P 3R 1S / 5P 1R 2W)
Unlocks Freelancer's Paycheck encounter
Does not prevent this encounter from happening again
Otherwise
The man strains against his bonds, reaching up towards you. The broken glass bauble you're holding flickers faintly with a green light as he reaches towards it.
One of the nearby guards screams "he's trying to break free!" and fires a stream of needler rounds into the struggling man. He shudders under the fire and howls in pain.
Release his bonds
You rush up and release the man's bonds. The guards and scientists jump forward towards you, but he tosses them away like rag dolls.
He shatters through the operating theatre window and makes a break for it, leaving you in the silent, bloodied room.
Help the guards
With the help of a team of scientists and a squad of guards with Midgard needlers, you put down the struggling man. Thankfully, being unable to move, he doesn't pose too much of a threat.
Even so, he takes out two of the guards with a tentacle and lashes you badly in his death throes.
(Take x-24-29-x damage)
Give him the bauble
You drop the flickering pendant into his hand and he grins maniacally. The room swims for a moment, lurching from one direction to another in a nausea-inducing fashion.
By the time anyone has recovered, the man is gone. His restraints lie limp and unbroken on the operating table.
Somewhere in the distance, an alarm sounds.
Run Away
You turn and run out of the operating theatre, along with several doctors. The sounds of breaking glass, needler fire, and barely-human screams follow you through the halls.
Long after the noise has stopped, the screams still echo off the concrete walls of the Slags.
Free him
You rush up and release the man's bonds. The guards and scientists jump forward towards you, but he tosses them away like rag dolls.
He shatters through the operating theatre window and makes a break for it, leaving you in the silent, bloodied room.
Mingle out here
Leads to Scientist Conversation, or Arcane Tongue if etheric
Leave
Walk Away text
History
A long time back (date?), the encounter was changed to allow doctor outfit to let you in instead of just the containment suit. Before that, the entry fail text was:
One of the doctors waves you over. "Sorry, you need to be wearing a full containment suit to head in there. Even bound like that, he's dangerous."
He shudders and glances into the operating theatre. "You're better off out here anyway."