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Encounter Conditions
Only while Etheric
Only while dressed as a bum (3 parts)
Initial Text
While wandering Southside park in a chemical haze like so many others, you hear the strange rumble of a vehicle moving through the alleys.
The large, unmarked van stops near you and two armored Midgard security officers step out. These must be the folks Hel was talking about.
They're cautiously approaching you, but still far enough away you can probably make a clean getaway. On the bright side, they seem to have mistaken you for a common bum, so you might be able to get the jump on them.
Summary of Choices
- Turn the tables - Fight 2 Midgard Security
- Surrender peacefully - Take ~55 damage, 10 No Pain, or with Pep in your Step active, unlocks Buried Lab
- Run away - Walk away
Choice Text and Results
Turn the tables
You lunge at the kidnappers, who actually seem a little surprised. Maybe their traditional prey is a little more docile.
(Fight 2 Midgard Security)
And if you lose:
You wake up in a dumpster halfway across Southside. You feel worse than normal after a beating like that.A quick check reveals rapidly disappearing surgical scars on your torso… and scalp, actually. That's distressing.
Surrender peacefully
They drag you into the van and a goggled man injects some clear fluid into your arm. A moment later, the world goes black.
You wake up numb and disoriented in the dark, buried in a pile of garbage. It only takes a second to realize you're in a dumpster and flip open the lid.
In addition to the filth, your body is covered in a network of surgical scars. At least they seem to be fading quickly and whatever they injected you with has numbed the pain.
On the other hand, you're fairly sure that surgery… or possibly dissection, would have killed any normal person.
You take 50-74 damage.
You've gained 10 energy of No Pain.
(Or, with Pep In Your Step active)
They haul you into the van and a goggled man injects you with a clear fluid. Your body goes slack in seconds and you find yourself unable to move.
Your mind is fairly clear and your senses remain sharp, but that doesn't help the growing feeling of panic. Quite the contrary, really, especially as the goggled man begins cutting "samples" out of you.
The two guards stay towards the back chatting about going to the bar after work, apparently used to this procedure. The continue chatting until a machine bings and the other man says something about "cellular differentiation under point five" that seems to catch their attention.
One of them, a barely noticeable edge of concern in his voice, asks "V, J, or E?" The other man replies "not sure, but keep your guns ready in case it goes J on us."
Whatever the hell that meant, it doesn't seem to have calmed the guards down any and they keep fidgeting until the van eventually stops. You're carried out into a tunnel.
Huh. They must have driven you into the Metros tunnel near Southside Park. That would explain why nobody found them, even the maintenance is usually done by drones… Midgard drones at that.
They quickly shunt you down a side tunnel and drop you in a waiting area. The paralysis wears off before anyone comes to pick you up, maybe because of all the stimulants in your system.
You take 10-15 damage.
(Unlocks buried lab)
Run away
You bolt. They follow you for a short ways, but quickly break off the chase.
See Walk Away