Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 4]

[Neo Emolga]

Time to take a good ol' look at that book.

....

Er... Well, I ain't the best reader on Pokearth. I think I'll get the Lombre to do it.

Action: Escort Remnashi the Lombre, get him to read that vile book.

You track down Remnashi, working at Terr's Delicacies. You can tell he doesn't enjoy being a waiter, but it's what he does to pay the bills. When he's on break, you go up to him and talk him into helping you with the secured metal book at the scholars sleeping quarters. As the day is slow and he figured he won't be missed anyway, he decides whatever this is couldn't possibly be worse than what he's doing now.

He joins you as you follow where Madder's report took him last time he was there. You both come to the small, miniature library at the end of the long hallway. You feel the dark, otherworldly presence that Madder mentioned earlier, and then you find the infernal metallic book itself, shackled down and tightly secured. You too get the idea that this is likely an Enthraller's creation, or was pulled out of the Abyss itself.

"This is what you want broken into?" Remnashi asks, skeptical about the whole thing. "You know what, fine. Whatever. It's probably nothing."

He whips out a set of lockpicks and precision tools and gets to work undoing the heavy shackles and chains, caring not one bit that the scholars here might have tried to keep this dark relic under control in the interest of preventing yet another cataclysmic disaster from this thing being cracked open. Surprisingly, it doesn't even take Remnashi all that long to pry out the locks and undo the shackles, taking it like it wasn't much of a challenge to him and didn't put his skills too much to the test.

{Secured Metal Book: <Security> / <Technical>

He takes the chains and shackles and tosses them aside like they mean nothing to him. Curiously, he sees for himself what all the fuss was about and open it to the first page. He then flips through it. Page by page by page, he goes from looking doubtful, to looking alarmed, to looking sicker and sicker and sicker. Eventually he gives up before he gets to the end, winces, pushes the book off to the side, and starts to look away.

"D... D-damn it, that... wasn't f-funny," he tells you with contempt, looking at you like this was a mean trick. "Pissing hell, don't ever a-ask me to look at that... g-goddamn thing again, okay?"

He slowly walks away, definitely horribly affected by whatever he just looked at. You decide you need to find out for yourself what exactly is within this dark tome that obviously has some connection to the Stalkers. So you flip everything back to the beginning and start on page one, delving into what seems to be dark, shadowy blood-red Abyssal runes, jagged and spidery upon paper that's jet-black. You don't know what this language of evil is describing or instructing, but you almost feel as if your soul can at least sense its evil, and it's warning you that these hellish words are nothing but wretched, wretched evil.

Page by page, you're not sure if your ignorance about what these words describe is a curse or a blessing. Part of you wants to know what dark work is at stake here, but the other side of you is convinced the knowledge wouldn't help and would just make you feel ill. Beside the dark words, there are jagged, twisted sketches. Demonic ziggurats, occult-like symbols that seem to radiate with evil, and depictions of torture, holocausts, and vile sacrifices. You feel as though the only thing preventing you from slipping helplessly into madness is the simple fact that you can't read whatever this darkness is, but the macabre imagery gives you a clear indication it's nothing any sane person would want to know.

You just barely reach the last few pages, but they become oddly vacant and devoid of anything without any warning. Suddenly, the runes and sketches are gone from these last, pure black pages. The writing and the dark images just stop and you can't understand the reason. You see three pages left, but when you flip to the next, you see there's still nothing. You turn to the second to last page... still blank. Then there's the last page, which you turn, but still blank blackness. You can't quite understand why it just stopped like this, but you begin to think maybe it just finished and there was nothing left to write about.

After this comes only the back of this last page and the back cover. You don't even shrug or blink, and turn it, expecting nothing but blackness and blank nothingness.

You turn it over...

...

You turn it over...

...

Ỵ̸͚͔̭͓̤̦̘̝̠̖̝̫͢ó̴̧̢̪͍͎̣̝̟̫͇͢U̮̙̟̟̙̮͜͝ͅ ̲̪͍̮̘͝͝t̴̷̫͔̖͍͎͎̬̹͘͟͟ͅU̺͉̼̬̙̪̼͙͡͝͡͡͡ͅͅņ̵̷̕͏̲͈͓͙̼͚ ̪̖͓̼̝̻̞̘͕̜̮͙R̷̺̣̻̘̣̳̹̣̻̲̯̩̘͓̺̝͡ ̵̴͖͕̰̗͍͚̫̥͉̕͢i̵͏̸̶̤͚͇̩̙͈̝̠Ṭ̗̼͖͇͚̬̜̹̙́̕͟͢ ̸̜̘̮͇̦̭̼͇̦͍̬̭̳̝̝͖̖Ǫ̛̮̹̥̱̘̪͈̙̘v͍̝̠͚̺̻̮̙̬͇͎́ͅE̶̶̻̖̩ ̣͔͓̬̫R̶̵̞̫̹͉̺̯̜̫̙̫̳͜͟



Olď̶̵̗̯̠̖̗͚̖͓̬̳͓̿̿́́ͭͪͥ͑̊̊̀ͅͅ Lace has ta̛̘̦̝̱̬̺͍̳̲̝ͦ̽͛ͫ̃̐͢͝ken 4 Poin̢̳̭̗̲̳̩̤̜ͭ̈́̄ͫ̈́ͮͨ̿ͨ͗ͩ̌̇ͩ̄̈̄͑ͅts of Sanity dama̛̘̦̝̱̬̺͍̳̲̝ͦ̽͛ͫ̃̐͢͝ge.

Your s̈́́̀ͣ̿̋c͎̪̫͗͗̒ͮ͌͛̈r͙͓̼̆̓͌e̳̙̠ͬ̈́â̞̤̤̳̈́͌̑͠m̢̙̳͑ͧ̃ͯ͗ ̮̯̰̦i̖̭͛̿̿̀̐n͍̲̲̐̏g͈̉̈́ suddenly becomes incoherent. Upon the back of that last page, you feel like your memories are suddenly raped, twisted, and gutted beyond reclamation.

HoW MaNY tIMeS HavE YouR MeMorIes bEeN WroNGed? Do yOU RemEmbER HoW iT WaS BeFoRE? Or Is IT HElPleSS to EVer ThInK AboUt GoiNg BacK!?

Is iT heLͫ̃̅ͥͦ̈́ͯ͂ͦ̾͌̔̀́͌ͯ͂҉̸͇̘̥̯̜̰͉̹̝͓̞̫̙̘̤̀ͅpLeSSͤͥ̊ͣ͒̂ ̧̛̤̭̰͔̩͍̓̔ͯͩ͂͞!?

You stop and try to pull yourself together. You look upon it again. How much has it been twisted? How many times has it been afflicted from the way you remember it was supposed to be?

You take a deep breath. You decide to count the differences between what you remember and what is defiled before you now... maybe hoping there's some dark, hidden meaning to that number...

=Spot the Blood= has been noted in the Team Records (=Original Reference=)

Old Lace the Buzzwole (L: Bug/Fighting)

Health: 12/12 | Sanity: 4/8 | Purity: 6/8
Battle Stance: Fight
Perk: Diplomacy | Abilities: Escort/Protect, Rescue/Escape
Trait: Stealthy

(I will openly admit this is one of the most EFFED-up images I've ever seen Xanthe make! It's well-done though! XD)