Llyarden

Sorry for the giant delay. One thing I realised I forgot to ask for in the balancing thread - what special senses does everyone have?

The cafe down the street is indeed decent enough, although it's evidently still close enough to the cloister that the proprietor and patrons are clearly still cautious of it - and by extension, a little suspicious of a group of adventurers showing up out of nowhere. Soon enough, night falls, leaving the cloister looking even more ominous than it had during the day. While Altea is never fully silent, not even at night, it's clear that anyone whose paths would take them past the cloister as the shortest route are giving an even wider berth around the cloister than the daytime pedestrians had. This does, of course, have the convenient side effect of leaving you seemingly completely unobserved.

As Adam had expected, he was indeed travelling alone to the Africa HQ, while the other three would, of course, end up travelling together. Zeta Force's planes had probably once upon a time been military jets before being coopted and upgraded (even Zeta Force would not easily be able to have a custom-designed jet plane made for them), so your journey is definitely faster than any commercial travel...although not necessarily as comfortable. November 1st, 1530UTC As you touch down and emerge from your respective planes - meeting in person for the first time in real life in the case of Adam with regards to the others - you are greeted and rapidly shuffled off to your next mode of transport; this one is a rather more normal-looking military transport, with an equally-ordinary-looking jeep loaded inside it. What looks like a full-length mirror is set up in front of the jeep, showing your handler - who has once again managed to acquire himself a Starbucks coffee. Or maybe he's just reusing the mug. It's hard to tell. He doesn't say anything, giving a nod of response if any of you greet him, until the transport's loading door swings shut and you take off. "The information you requested can be found on the tablets by your seats." He doesn't bother to specify that it isn't to be taken with you. "The person who reported the incident is Ivan Vlasic, a Croatian national who experienced the original incident while on holiday. While there were no issues with his debrief, he refused the offers of counselling that we sponsored and returned home, where he subsequently lost his job due to his stress and paranoia. He moved to Cameroon with the last of his savings and has been running a food truck in the town since. It's not clear why he chose the same continent to emigrate to that he experienced a zombie incident in. His call to the police came across as deranged rambling - at least to anyone who didn't know his history - so they dismissed his call. It's also unclear whether he was deliberately trying to warn us, either knowing or guessing that we monitor emergency calls, or if he was actually intending to contact the local constabulary and hoping to be believed." The original incident that Vlasic had experienced, after a brief scan through the files, seems pretty normal - well, normal by the standards of an averted zombie apocalypse, which for y'all is indeed pretty normal. It happened in an isolated (and fairly upmarket) safari camp, so the spread of zombies was minimal; it probably also helped that the camp had a couple of rifles - tranquilisers are useless against zombies, of course, but they had guns that fired actual bullets as well. The zombies were wiped out once the Zeta Force team arrived, and the normal cleanup procedures swept the area, debriefed the half-dozen survivors, and erased all traces of their existence. 'Patient Zero' in that case was one of the guests, who had brought with them some drugs that had been contaminated by Zombie Toxin; given the time gap by the time Zeta Force were investigating, finding the source was impossible.

I'm here, but like Avaday I just have literally no inspiration for anything to do with Bubblegum for some reason. At this point over the past week I've probably spent a good couple of hours just staring at the post window trying to think of something to write.

Valros eventually roused himself from taking care of the little golden kitten - partly because his attention was drawn by the sudden flash of movement of a faerie dragon leaping from Killian's clothes and into the Korova Cream. Please don't get too drunk, little dragon, he pleaded - not intending to be 'heard' by anyone, although Valros wasn't really used enough to telepathy to be entirely sure that he'd avoided broadcasting his thoughts to the golden kitten. He glanced over at Ariand as she introduced herself. "Uh, I'm Valros." Somehow his introduction felt even weaker than it had the first time around, what with Killian and Lucrezia amping up their own introductions, and so after an awkward moment of umming and ahhing he added "I, uh, think my grandpa is an honorary duke, or something? If that helps? It's not exactly royal, but..." Having made a complete and utter hash of introducing himself, he blushed slightly (probably not too noticeable given his red skin, luckily for him) and latched onto the first topic of conversation that came to mind. "So, uh...why did you want to see Humbert?" The question was directed at Ariand, although Valros actually had no idea why any of the others were going there either.

Sorry, I missed the question about the time. I was originally envisaging it being kinda mid-morning, but for convenience sure I'll say it's three hours to sunset, another hour after that before it gets properly dark.

The handler looks away for a few moments, presumably giving instructions to someone who's next to him in real life, before looking back to you. "The information regarding the previous incident will be ready for you at the Africa HQ." You all know from past experience that the full information is almost certainly not going to be made available to you; even within Zeta Force itself, information is at a premium - although you've never been entirely clear on why they're so reluctant to tell you about other peoples' missions. "As for the PMC, if they interfere with the mission, do what is necessary to prevent that interference. If that means killing their soldiers, so be it, so long as you can do so without making the mission harder to complete. If they're stupid enough that they're actually responsible for this outbreak -" various private enterprises around the world have tried to modify or weaponise the Zombie Toxin at various points, usually thus becoming the source of a new outbreak Zeta Force have to fix "- ensure that the soldiers are either dealt with or available for interrogation when the cleanup teams move in. Hopefully, at least some of the soldiers will be opposed to what their higher-ups are doing, and you can treat them as you would any other combat-capable civilian." Zeta Force has a rather...loose...definition of 'civilian,' applying it to almost anyone who isn't a part of Zeta Force itself. "Those that aren't, apprehend them if possible, eliminate them if not." "Obviously, the PMC can also be useful cover for you so long as you don't get caught by its actual members."

More like years of neglect rather than decades (even though the cloister has indeed been unused for a couple decades), but there wasn't any sign of the dust being disturbed.

November 1st, 0340UTC An hour and a half after the four of you had received The Call, you are in the Zeta Force bases in Holland and Kansas. Security was light on your arrival - or, well, it seemed light, although you'd all know that by the time you got to the locker room, you'd already been subject to a half-dozen biometric scans, some obvious (fingerprint and iris) and some less so - voice pattern recognition when you get to the 'reception,' gait matching as you're led through the facility. To say nothing of the psychological checks; while you are escorted through the building you're expected to know the way and keep pace with the guard escorting you, and various high-fidelity scanners will be feeding your movements and even more biological data like heart rate and pupil dilation through an artificial-intelligence-powered scanner (it was a source of great amusement in Zeta Force when 'AIs' became a big thing earlier this year, since they'd been using more advanced versions for a dozen or so years, including a few developmental actual AIs.) In any case, you eventually arrive at the locker room - a term that in no way does justice to what you see before you. One entire wall is taken up with a live feed from the other Zeta Force base, so Edward, Kalee and Uma can all see Adam and vice versa, with a faint Zeta Force logo superimposed faintly enough to not hide anything behind it but visible enough to make it clear that the near-perfect-resolution screen is actually a screen and not just a second part of the locker room. (There may have been one or two issues with green agents faceplanting into the screen.) Laid out neatly on tables and in cabinets in the centre of the room are your respective gear, along with a few more conventional tourist-y possessions, including your fake IDs, and on the far wall are the lockers for your civilian-life possessions. Also present on the live feed, despite not actually being in either locker room, is a man dressed in a dark suit, clutching a Starbucks coffee cup. (How he got a Starbucks into whichever facility he's in is anyone's guess; handlers have strange ways and means). "Welcome," he begins, without much preamble. You all know the drill by now; you change into your ZF-supplied clothes, check and stash your gear, and everything belonging to your civilian life, right down to underwear, is deposited in the lockers. (There are small private rooms for changing arrayed near the doors you came in by.) "We've been alerted to a potential zombie outbreak in a small town in the north of Cameroon. So far we're light on specifics; the call came from a former survivor of another outbreak who evidently knew we have emergency lines tapped worldwide, but the information they provided was limited. The previous incident was #3641, a mission in Kenya that was successfully contained after reaching Beta Phase with at worst a Grade-I mutant zombie. However, the caller claimed it was 'worth than before.'" "Nonetheless, this mission will be beginning in Alpha Phase. Transport has been arranged from the Africa headquarters to the site, and you'll have access to a local jeep once you touch down. A couple of other things to bear in mind - first, the location is near Bénoué National Park, so be cautious of toxified animals. Second, we also believe that there's a private military company in the same area. Whether or not they're connected to the zombie outbreak is unclear, but as they most likely are in control of the town, be careful about engaging them." OOC Feel free to invent your new cover identity along with narrating yourself getting equipped and asking any questions you want of your Starbucks-toting handler.

Okay, from the top: How do these aspects sound? High Concept: High-Minded Goo Hero Trouble: Everyone Deserves A Chance Aspect: Former Sidekick of The Codger [a renowned hero who was retired even before he got a personal forcefield power that effectively manifested as super-strength/speed and flight, only he could exert his powers through his walking cane; he finally re-retired at the age of 92, a couple years before the current in-game time] (so she still has a lot of heroic knowledge from her time as a sidekick, but also Codger's enemies might come after her or she might be taken as being 'just' a sidekick instead of a hero in her own right) Second Aspect: Puts The 'Super' In Superhero (ie, her powers are very strong, but if in a situation where she can't use them she's barely more competent than a random civilian) And...okay I completely misunderstood how many stunts we were getting. In that case... - Telekinesis + Telekinetic Might - 'Energy' Blast - Slowing + Stop And...can I take Psychologist (a non-power Stunt) as well without using up refresh? EDIT: Oh, as for the colour of the slime, I figure it's different colours depending on what properties it has. So maybe the strong bouncy slimes are pink, the sticky slowing slimes are blue, and the hard, compressed slime is green? Or something? Always super vibrant colours though.

Okay, info time! Sorry again for the delay. *hopes he hasn't forgotten any important plot points during the interim...* Velras The response you get from the critters of Altea is...limited, despite the offer of cheese (!). Eventually a couple of rats and a pigeon do make an appearance, but once they hear what you want them to do, they merely snatch the crumbs of food away in exchange for the rather limited answers of "Scary!", "They'd eat us!" and "Nope nope nope nope." (Clearly the pigeon has spoken to people before.) Zella The wall is very well maintained. It's actually probably better, at least in terms of protecting what's inside the wall, than it was when it was owned by the White Doves, when mostly it was just a means to make sure everyone came in the gate so people didn't get overwhelmed. Although as noted before it's only ten feet tall, so while sturdy it probably isn't much of a hindrance...unless there's more to it than she can see. The gate is indeed locked from the inside. Without getting to a higher vantage point, you can't tell whether or not anyone's watching the wall from the inside. You don't see anyone watching from the cloister, though. Khefu Your clairvoyance sensors reveal...not a whole lot, actually. The sensor at the top of the cloister finds itself in a bedroom, with an unmade four-posted bed and a musty bearskin rug the main features, along with a few scattered papers. The middle of the main building is actually also basically where the front door is. It's the main gathering room, which once would've held a number of tables, chairs and the like to enable discussion; nowadays the furniture has long since been removed, leaving it empty, with a couple of tattered white banners the only sign of the Doves Assuming you put your clairvoyance sensor in the other main room in that ground floor, you find the infinite-food magic item still thoroughly emplaced and, presumably, functional - you can't see any signs of damage, at least. Nowhere, however, do you see any people...

Yeah, I've just had a busy/stressful week. I'll try to post later today or tomorrow.

Sorry, the past week has been a bit chaotic for me. I'm going to try to take a look at this when I get back from work today.

Yeah, apologies for the delay, anxiety has been rough the past week or so. Will try to post today or tomorrow.

Never really done the whole Fate thing, so let me know if any of this doesn't work... High Concept: Former Sidekick turned High-Minded Hero Trouble: Everyone Deserves A Chance Aspect: Encyclopedia of Supers Knowledge Approaches: Forceful +3, Flashy +2, Quick +2, Clever +1, Careful +1, Sneaky +0 Powers: Her 'power suite' as a whole is the ability to create super-strong sludge that she can manipulate (which she calls bubbles because it sounds nicer). - Telekinesis + Telekinetic Might (although her bubbles have to be supported by something and can't just float mid-air, but they can stick to other surfaces - not sure if this actually counts as some sort of flaw/drawback that would let me get more enhancements since there don't seem to be rules for that). - 'Energy' Blast - Slowing (via sticky sludge) Refresh 2 (?)