Serikbai Struggle: A CYOA

Yarrun XIX

The Serikbai Facility. Once a secret government facility for experiments that the public wasn't ready to know about -- the Area 51 of the East. Then, when the war came and the Chairman was given free reign to defeat his critics, it doubled as a prison facility, where everyone from journalists and politicians to enemy soldiers and mysterious freaks of nature. It was the most controversial part of a controversial reign, and that was before all contact with Serikbai was lost and the government refused to investigate

Now, two years later, you approach the Facility, a dilapidated shell of its former self. The Reformist government has sent you to assess the current state of the facility, extract 12 persons of interest, and get out alive. 

But first things first. What's your name?

Yarrun XIX

(Look, I promise this won't be like last time. Did a lot more preparation this time around)

Salix Babylonika

>Coosje [that's Koozh-yay, you phillistine]

Yarrun XIX

Coosje. Not a very common name around these parts, or even in its homeland to the west, but your mother insisted on it. A name passed down the line of mothers, down from the wife of one of the shipwrights brought to the East by Pyotr Alexeyevich 

You worked hard to get to where you are, especially since you're half-foreign on your mother's side, but you've managed to gain a reputation as a top agent in the Reformist government, especially with your particular skill in...which specialty?

Salix Babylonika

>"Creative Problem-solving", the precise meaning of which is classified. The truth is, we're mostly a tinker, able to take machines and magical devices alike and put them back together in interesting ways. That's not our whole skill-set of course, but that's what the quotation marks are all about.

Yarrun XIX

In some western fields, you would be referred to as an artificer. But in your field of operations, you're something of a...handywoman. The official techs can fix things better, but you can fix them faster and more fantastically. It's something of an inherited skill, Lamarck-style, passed down from a family of ship builders. Your years of experience have given you a keen eye for mechanics of any kind (at the cost of some people skills), and you always carry your MULTI-TOOL around.

CURRENT INVENTORY:

x3 RATIONS

x2 VODKA BOTTLES

x1 EXTRACTION ROSTER

WEAPONS:

x1 MULTI-TOOL

SPECIAL SKILLS:

DISCERN

Your backstory and skillset properly established, you approach the facility.

The gate to the enclosure has been knocked down, and it looks like it's been that way for a while. Still, your eyes can see slight movement in the wreckage and overgrown vegetation separating you from the front door. You know a trap when you see one. You doubt that it's anything you can't handle with a bit of ingenuity, but it might pay to look for an easier route.

What do you do?

Salix Babylonika

>Search the area

Yarrun XIX

A brief look-around outside the enclosure yields two points of interest: a pile of wreckage military automobiles, a different wreck of what seems to be a sort of flying contraption, and a drainage ditch. 

Salix Babylonika

>examine the flying contraption

>>carefully of course

Yarrun XIX

You root through the wreckage with wild abandon, because caution is for people who didn't major in creative problem solving.

Most of the craft is junk. Not even the good sort of junk that's good for repurposing. It's like they tried to make it out of sheet metal and baling wire, and even the sheet metal and baling wire are too corroded to be useful.

You do manage to dig out a SMALL TURBINE that seems to be in moderate working condition. Or at least, it won't explode if you figure out how to power it.

BONUS: Your DISCERNING NATURE also picks up an ENCHANTED BOOST GEM. It's of cheap make, but with the right channeling object, it should greatly increase your mobility

Salix Babylonika

>be smugly self-satisfied

Yarrun XIX

You try your best, but your EGO stat is too low to pull it off. You settle for the natural thrill of discovery.

Tachyon

>recall whatever you know about enchanted boost gems

Yarrun XIX

Vasily Fersman, Professor of Geothaumatology said:

Throughout the history of magic, it has been common to imbue certain non-magical objects with magic through the process known as enchantment. While most of the common objects have obvious attributes that make them conducive to enchantment, such as wands and scepters providing aiming support, the history of gems as magical objects, particularly in the West, has always been masked in mystery. It was long theorized that pre-Hellenistic mages used them as status symbols to symbolize their equality with or superiority over the noble class, but a archaeological study 50 years ago showed that the majority of mages around that period used gems of cheap quality that wouldn't pass as status symbols. The current leading theory, relating to the high rate of pleochroism in magical gems, is that the nature of the refractive index reflects the gem's ability to hold magical power, in line with James C. Young's theory of electrothaumatology, though there is some contrasting research on the use of facets making headway in Japan. Regardless, there is a notable difference in suitability for magic.

Alikhan the Great said:

Celerity spells, commonly referred to as boost spells, include any magical effect that induces movement. Items enchanted with celerity spells can be identified by the buzzing sensation felt while handling them. Celerity spells generally increase the effectiveness of standard forms of movement (i.e. running), but targeted spells can be modified to allow nonstandard forms of movement, such as flight. Traditionally used by scouts, messengers, and other professions that rely on light travel, the advent of the industrial revolution led to celerity enchantments being used to accelerate production and increase the max speed of vehicles, and mages that specialized in them were instrumental in the rise of the Worker's Party, and subsequently the Chairman.

It should be noted that wild celebrity spells are particularly dangerous to use without channeling them through an object. As you know, wild unchanneled spells require focus to ensure that the spell remains under control. Otherwise, they will act in accordance to the most base instruction of the spell. This will, almost always, result in your body being pulled in two directions at once by extreme magical force. That's bad. Very bad. And inconsiderate to anyone who has to clean up your corpse.

One-Winged Eagle

>CHAAAAAARRRGGGEEEEEE

Yarrun XIX

You can't just charge through the front door! Not until you figure out what's guarding it!

...or, do you mean charge the gem? That's a rather consuming process, and one particularly unsuited for a bombed out wasteland. You'd need some privacy and protection before you can pull that off.

One-Winged Eagle

>Look at front door with eyeballs.

Yarrun XIX

You go back towards the broken gate and take a good look.

The door's solid steel. Pockmarked, dented steel, but steel nonetheless. The lock looks weak enough though. A few blows with a strong object will take it out.

You also take a good look at the path leading to the door. You think there are three sentry-bots watching the path. Possibly more. Even with your DISCERNING eye, you can just barely see the gun barrels hidden in piles of rubble and overgrown weeds. Whoever set this up was a professional

One-Winged Eagle

>channel the might of the mystic dragon fist and strike through the lock with a well-placed blow

Yarrun XIX

Your HOODOO level is too low to invoke spirits without assistance, and your SYSTEMA level is too low to allow you to pull that off without breaking a bone.

One-Winged Eagle

>get something heavy so you can attack the lock noisily.

>attack lock noisily

Yarrun XIX

You grab a hunk of rubble, get a running start, and hurl it towards the door. The sentry guns pulverize it into dust before it even gets halfway.

Huh. You were wrong. There were four sentry bots.

One-Winged Eagle

>attack sentry bots

>fearlessly

Yarrun XIX

One, your EGO is too low to allow true fearlessness. Two, the sentry bots are too well-entrenched. You'd need some sort of weapon or tool to get to them. Something a lot sturdier than your MULTI-TOOL

Salix Babylonika

>consider your inventory items, and ponder the possibility of MAKECRAFTING a weapon of some sort.

Yarrun XIX

INVENTORY:

x3 RATIONS

x2 VODKA BOTTLES

x1 EXTRACTION ROSTER

x1 SMALL TURBINE

x1 BOOST GEM (LVL 1)

x1 MULTI-TOOL

It would be possible to make a one-use missile out of the turbine and a bottle of vodka. You will need a power source for the turbine though; boost gems can't power a non-magical machine on their own.

Salix Babylonika

>contemplate electrics

Yarrun XIX

You'd rather not. Every time you contemplate electrics, you flashback to Dr. Mikhail's Intro to Electrics. What a terrible class.

One-Winged Eagle

>contemplate solar power

Yarrun XIX

PRAISE THE SUN

Solar power isn't a particularly effective power source in this part of the world. The detriments of living this far north, after all. Still, the sun stands high in the air today, with nary a cloud. It's worth considering.

You may have some luck finding the necessary equipment in the vehicle wreckage.

One-Winged Eagle

>search for solar power components

>all hail Ignis Divine, the Unconquered Sun

Yarrun XIX

You send a quiet prayer towards Ignis Divine. You don't hear anything back, but the sun does seem a bit hotter. Sometimes you wish you had spent more time studying comparative religion.

You examine the vehicle wreckage. Two personnel carriers, some sort of utility vehicle, and an expensive looking car. At least, you think it used to be a car; looks like it got blown up.

The utility van has been thoroughly ransacked already, but you find an attached WINCH and HOOK, some DUCT TAPE and a RADIO ANTENNA that were missed. The PCs are even more empty, but you do find a forgotten YELLOWED LETTER. The car is absolutely trashed, but your DISCERNING view picks up a BLACKENED TRINKET. 

One-Winged Eagle

>try to build the machine

Yarrun XIX

Which machine?

One-Winged Eagle

>the machine that will give you SOLAR POWER and charge the TURBINE

Yarrun XIX

You still don't have solar panels. Perhaps some other machine?

One-Winged Eagle

>examine the YELLOW LETTER and the BLACKENED TRINKET

Yarrun XIX

The YELLOW LETTER looks like it was left the day the old government left this place to rot. You feel like it might crumble in your hands if you treat it too roughly, or even if you try to open it. It's marked with [TOP SECRET] and the name Madina Jumalieva. The name seems oddly familiar to you.

The BLACKENED TRINKET looks like it's been charred, probably in whatever explosion destroyed the car. It looks like a crude figurine of a bird, and inside, someone's tucked in a...

Is that...a feather? And it's glowing?

Well. If you're right about what you think this is, you can definitely destroy the chokehold at the entrance now. But if you're right, there is so much more you can use it for.

Подробнее: http://beauty-around.com/en/tops/item/1295-beautiful-kazakhstan-women

Подробнее: http://beauty-around.com/en/tops/item/1295-beautiful-kazakhstan-women

Sredni Vashtar

>Recall information on MYSTERY FEATHER.

Yarrun XIX

Even in an age where magic and divinity are taught alongside the sciences, the Firebird lurks right outside of myth. Beings of incomparable majesty, pure conduits of divine power, unbound by allegiance to any spirit or god or demon. There haven't been any confirmed sightings since the founding of thaumatology, despite multiple hunting expeditions funded by the government and wealthy private institutions alike. Some say that there are actually conspiracies intent on keeping the firebird free, as anyone who caught one would have access to unimaginable power (as if the world hasn't had enough mage tyrants in the last century)

Feathers like these are the only concrete proof that the Firebird exists (assuming that this isn't some sort of fake or something because, holy shit, you just don't see this sort of thing at your level of magical competence). A pristine tail-feather from a firebird can power all of Russia for a week. If you used it up in one go, you could grow a small forest in seconds, invoke the power of a thousand spirits, or destroy a small city with the force of a hundred atomic bombs. At least, that's what your teachers would tell you in awed tones. This is a scrap of what seems to be a down feather. You're not certain about how much power it contains, as your HOODOO level isn't quite high enough, but you'll guess that it has enough power to blow the chokehold at the door open.

You try to forget the fact that all the tales about firebird feathers usually end with someone getting screwed over.

Salix Babylonika

>Save the feather, we can use it later

One-Winged Eagle

>consider eating the feather

Yarrun XIX

Various tests on imbuing humans with magic from objects (rather than the other way around, as it is commonly done) have generally ended poorly. Hardness enchantments causing someone's entire skeleton to stiffen. Boost spells that increase metabolism to unmanageable levels. Raw magic just melts the human body from the inside. Best hypothesis is that something about the intrinsic thaumatological field that life projects removes all limiters on magic, which has since dovetailed into theories about the correlation between age and magical power. No one's been crazy enough to try it with a firebird feather, and you won't be the first.

You pocket the feather for later. There' still one area left to explore.