Stalkers RPG Main Action and Team Status [SEASON 5]

[Neo Emolga]

"Alright... I didn't realize Salio lived so far away from our base, but here I go, out on a home visit."

Nico is going to interview (59) Salio the Murkrow, and use diplomacy to find out where he likes to go, who he hangs out with, maybe if hes seen any particularly horrible or particularly calming things lately.... and if hes sleeping with some item (can I have it?). If hes not going to give it up, at least Nico will try to get his home address to search later.

You decide to head over to Salio, living as one of the Knaves in the Southern Reach. You find out that the young Murkrow lives with grandfather, Jho, in the Alecte Condominiums. Despite the dangers lurking in the Southern Reach, you decide to prioritize meeting with Salio considering it was his name that was written on the wall of the Sunberry Hotel in that twisted and deranged graffiti.

At this point, you fear for the young child’s life knowing a Stalker has their sights set on them…

Despite having to cross into dangerous territory, meeting with Salio might reveal something critical. You decide to head out of the Emissary Base and go south, past all the buildings in the Refuge Area and take your first walk down the lonesome Western Bridge that even Aurorawatch refuse to cross. Before you, you see the ruins of the Southern Reach, with its gutted buildings and rubble strewn about like concrete and metallic entrails. You pass by the badly damaged Jadewater Apartment Complex, but you quickly make your way toward the Knave settlement, which definitely feels safer.

Thankfully, nothing nefarious caught sight of you on your way here.

As you walk into the Knave settlement, you find the Knaves aren’t quite the unruly and disrespectful “filthy rebels” some of the refuge civilians portray them as. They welcome you as you arrive and you can’t possibly understand why tensions exist between these two factions. Meanwhile, they’ve been keeping the Knave settlement in good condition and it’s under decent watch from the Knave Sentries by the Darkwatch Building. The streets are well-guarded and the citizens here are free to move and go about their business as they please, though you can detect the same kind of uncertainty and anxiety exists here, also.

You ask for Salio the Murkrow, and some of the helpful Knaves, a friendly Butterfree and a courteous Marshtomp, help you find him. Outside of the Alecte Condominiums, you find Salio by himself, sorting his collectable trading cards, looking like he’s trying to get his mind off of something. It doesn’t seem to be working, and he looks very anxious while always checking behind his shoulder. You notice the young black bird alone, which is disheartening as it looks like he’s quite lonely, but still afraid someone’s watching him. Carefully, you approach him.

“Hi Salio,” you greet him carefully as you introduce yourself. “My name’s Nico.”

“Nico…” the young Murkrow mutters, looking very anxious, shivering as he puts away his playing cards. “I… don’t want any trouble, Nico…”

“I know, we haven’t met before,” you speak to him peacefully as you sit down on the stone wall by his side, feeling his anxiety. “I’m not going to hurt you. I really have no reason to! Instead, I want to help you. I want to know what’s bothering you so I can help you make it go away.”

He goes silent for a few seconds. He shivers a bit, looks around, sighs, and turns to face you.

“The adults don’t believe me,” Salio tells you, looking downcast. “I’m scared. I… don’t know who you are either…”

“It’s okay to be scared,” You tell Nico, keeping a warm and reassuring smile. “There are things that make even heroes scared. It doesn’t mean you’re weak. Sometimes being in places or in situations we’ve never been in before can make us feel uneasy, but we can always take small steps forward until we’re in a better place.”

“Are you sure?” he asks.

“Of course!” you smile. “Your worries don’t make you less of a Pokémon, and they certainly don’t put down all the great things you’ve done! But even so, you’re not bad at being happy. You need to be kind to yourself and remember that the kindness you’ve given to others is something you can be proud of. They remember those things about you!”

59. Salio the Murkrow has become Compliant.

“Thank you… Nico,” Salio looks up to you, feeling a little better. “You’re right, it’s… not me. Not my fault. But… I don’t want to keep this thing bottled up anymore. It hurts. It just… drains me. Every day. But I don’t want anyone else to suffer with it…”

You have a feeling “this thing” may be in reference to what the twisted wall graffiti was referring to. You feel the sooner Salio gets rid of whatever this thing is, the safer and happier he’ll be.

“Salio, what is it?” you ask him, wondering what’s wrong.

“I… I don’t…” he muttered, looking anxious again.

“Salio, please,” you assure with him a comforting smile. “Whatever it is, I can handle it. You don’t have to do this alone. No one said you had to be stuck with whatever is causing you this pain.”

Salio nods, but shivers. He goes to his small pouch of toys and items, and it looks like there’s something in his possession that he’s nervous to show you, but it seems you’ve been the only one that’s been willing to listen to him and hear him out. He pulls out a rolled piece of strange, thick, leathery paper, and puts it besides you and him. You can tell from the look on his face that this thing bothers the heck out of him and he tries to step away from it.

“I… please, take it,” Salio begs you. “I… keep looking at it, and it keeps frightening me! I don’t understand it, I don’t know why it exists. I’m always so confused by it. I tried, I really tried to figure it out so I could maybe get an answer.”

“Nico, please, let me handle it,” you smile. “I promise, we’ll figure it out.”

You reach for the leathery paper, and just as your paw lands on it, the presence hits you like a ton of bricks. It absolutely reeks with Stalker presence.

#Insanity Presence (5 Sanity Damage)# Trap 40% Evasion Test: 18 out of 100: Failed!

Curiously, you casually unfold and unravel the leathery paper and look upon what’s written upon it to see what exactly t̬͔͎͇͙̹̙̬̜̖̣͇͈̲̮͉̹h͍̙̦̟̲͓͚i̯̗̝̗̘̦͔̰̮͇͚̯͓̖̩͖̜̝s͙̥̝̰ ̠̫͈̹̗͎͉̙͎̫̺̤ͅ ͎͓̩̱̗̯̠͖̦̘̰̱̰͇̬ͅṭ̮̼̩̗͈̲e̱̲͍̪̞̗͍̩͇̼̗̙͚̺̰̪̼͔r̥͔̱͕̯̩ ̘̫̰͎r͍̪̪̠̘̯͚ͅi̻͇̫͙̠̘̳̘̮̝̬b̳͍͇͓̗l͖̹̱̻͖̯̩̣̮͕̜e̫͙̥̻͕̪ ̗͎͔͕̱̰̤̱͖ ͈̟̳͇̬̼͈̙t͈͖͚͉̞̮h̥͚̠̞̪̦̰̦̠̱̺̱ͅi͖͉͍̠̼̘̱͕̣̭̹͉̣̯̺̝̮ͅn̪ ̟͇͔͓̙͍̖̝̦̤g̙̼̖̤̭̫̺̫̬͈̦̻͍ ̹͚̣̟i̟̠̥̮̫͔̻s̠̰͇̫̤̞̗̠͙̗͙̗̫͖̞̪̣̝ͅ.̺̼̲̤̥̼̫̹̲̬̦̞̺͍͎̩̩ ͈

Nico suffers 5 points of damage to Sanity.

It’s not paper. It’s s̻̘̪̳͓ͤͨ̄̇͋k͇̤̥͍̗̖͑͂ͮ̌ͫ̔ͤ̌ḯ̩̳̲̙̀ͮ͒n̫̄̎. It’s the flayed s̱͖̞͔̻̘̥̟̓̔͑͂̿̚̚ͅk̗̮͑ͮ̆ͭͬ͒ͮͣͥì̥͍ͩn͇̙͈̣̿̽ of some Pokémon’s r̪̮̥̐͊̊̈́̋ͭ̄͑o͙̺̠͇̩̹̦̰͗ͪ̉̇͂̚t̞͙̰͛̍ͫ̏ͨṱ͉̫̩͔̬͊ͦͭi̅̎̀ ͇̫́ͮͩn̝͉̫͖͚͛͋̒̊̆g̭͕͉̠̑̽ͭͫ̍ͮ ̮̟̩̙̯̞̯̞̟ͬ̇ͮͥ̈ͥ carcass and what’s written upon it is a chaotic, d͚͖̮̈́ͮ͛̿͂͗ͅe̘͉̯̬͍̼̐̀̾̐̈́͒̊ͅr̮͔͇̝̪̃̂ͬà̭̦̩̫̱̣ͪͪ͗̃ͥͭͯ n͓̻͒̊̋̄g̪̊͌e̠͗d̲̰̄̋ͬͭ, and seemingly mindless swarm of letters and literal abominations with scrambled words that read like a twisted, demonic language of its very own that wouldn’t even make sense to the legions of Abyss.

You can’t even look at it for longer than half a minute before it just hooks into your brain and tries to tw͕̗͖͓̟̘ḭ̖̙̭̱̯s̟̲ṯ ̺͙i͉̣t̬̖̼ ͈a̳̻̰̪p̩̟̺͖̳ͅa͍̞r̘̲͓̙͚̜t. You quickly roll it back up again, almost struggling to maintain use of your cognitive functions as you fight to roll it back up again. Someone… else with analytical skills might be able to make sense of this monstrosity. It tries to drive you to look at it again, preying upon your will to make sense of it and figure out the deranged puzzle, but you let your wisdom, willpower, and determination shut down that dark temptation.

#[Deranged Codec: <Technical>] Insanity Presence – (5 Sanity Damage)# has been added to the Team Inventory.

“Are you okay!?” Salio exclaims, looking at you with horror as he just witnessed your repulsed reaction to the codec…

You wince, shaking your head a bit. After what this poor child’s been through, you decide he doesn’t deserve a lie. You refuse to tell him you’re fine, because after that whole nightmare, you don’t feel fine at all…

“We’ll… get to the bottom of this,” you assure him. “Hang tight, okay?”

“O-okay…” he mutters. “Please… be careful… Nico.”

You nod a bit, trying to reassure him with a smile. But it’s very hard… like a cripple trying to walk…

“Be safe… Salio,” you tell him, preparing to head back. “Okay? Remember… what I said.”

“S-sure, Nico…” Salio mutters, trying to assure you. “You too.”

As you wave him goodbye, you head back through the Southern Reach, once again looking upon the ruined skyscrapers and the massive crater that looks like it continues to voraciously consume them, as if a giant, hellish mouth.

But then you look back to Salio, still looking admirably upon you from a distance. With this codec out of his possession, he already looks a little better, even though you’ve now taken on the burden yourself. Every step you take, it seems to hiss at you, hissing in your ear… in your brain… look upon it and be r̤͓a̹͙̘p̤̤̼̝̘̝t͓̠̦u̗͚̬r̜̹̜̬̥͉̙e͎d. And it’s a mental battle to stop yourself from ripping it open again.

As you walk back toward the Emissary Base, you remind yourself again and again the whole way long… just why. Why you’re doing it for Salio and all the other survivors. You’re doing it…

… you’re doing it for them…

Nico the Cinccino (S: Normal)

Health: 16/16 | Sanity: 15/20 | Purity: 24/24
Battle Stance: Ferocious
Perk: Diplomacy | Abilities:
EQUIPMENT:
Attack Weapon: <Empty>
Defense Armor: <Empty>
Jewelry: <Empty>
Utopian Aspect: <Empty>
MERCENARIES:
#1: <Empty>
#2: <Empty>
PACK:

• [OMEN Sample Collection Jar]