The multiverse beckons you riftwalker. How will you answer its call?

[Hellraiser]

Parallel classification guide – an information brochure approved by the Defense Councilman’s Office

All known parallels are classified using the “Letter1Letter2-Number” system. The number is a catalogue number identifying how many parallels of that kind (including the one in question) were already known at the time it was charted. Due to civilizational progress and random events some parallels may be reclassified or classified wrongly. Please inform the Multiverse Charting Bureau if you found a parallel's classification to be outdated or outright incorrect.

Letter1 is the parallel's technology level category. It can be one of the following:

α - The dominant technology level so far sighted across the multiverse. In the past it used to apply to all industrialized pre-quantumtronic and pre-controlled fusion parallels but now it only applies to those in which the natives managed to: develop atomics, put satellites in orbit or develop basic electronic computers.

β – All parallels that posses significant detectable industry but are not advanced enough to be classified as Alpha belong to this category.

δ – Agrarian civilizations, too primitive to develop industry. Often the most barbaric of the savage parallels.

ε – Posses no civilization, usually post-cataclysm parallels. Occasionally humans never evolved in them. Rare in the known multiverse.

γ – Parallels with advanced technology, still centuries behind Atlantis but highly advanced compared to the typical barbarian civilization. Posses knowledge of advanced robotics, basic quantumtronics or advanced pre-FTL spaceflight. Very rare but present in the known multiverse. Possibly at risk of an automaton uprising. Travel to these parallels is highly unadvised. Anyone found opening rifts larger than a personal RGM one to a parallel of this type will be put on trial for the crime of technology smuggling. The punishment will be death by agonization.

ζ – Machine parallel ruled by automatons, currently none of this kind are known but classification remains in case Atlantis discovers such an abomination. TRAVEL TO SUCH PARALLELS UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES OTHER THAN FOLLOWING MILITARY ORDERS IS CONSIDERED TREASON AND IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH.

ω – UNCHARTED, DO NOT TRAVEL TO THESE PARALLELS UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES. Omega parallels do not possess an environmental influence grade for obvious reasons.

Letter2 refers to environmental influence grade, parallels are classified by how much impact a civilization has had on the earth’s (and beyond) environment with factors such as urbanization, geoengineering, or space colonization capability. Furthermore should the environment be unsuitable for human life or very hostile this rating will show it.

α – virgin world, human presence either limited to cave-dwelling troglodytes or non-existent

β – Low urbanization, common among parallels where just one civilization is industrialized and has not conquered the more primitive or shared the knowledge with them. Consult the technology level category to see if the parallel is industrialized at all or not. High odds of ending up in untamed wilderness.

δ – High urbanization, most of the natural environment has been subjugated. Common among the more industrialized parallels.

ε – Surface shows signs of significant geoengineering in addition to high urbanization.

γ – Post-cataclysm world, environment recovering from asteroid impact, supervolcano eruption, gamma ray burst or large scale thermonuclear war. Warning! Do not travel without sufficient clean water and food supplies. Equipping air filter masks or hazmat suits is highly recommended.

ζ - Environment unsuitable to human life due to toxic atmosphere, cosmic radiation or extreme climate.

ω – Civilization present in this parallel possess significant interplanetary or even interstellar colonization capability with terraforming. Parallels of this type are extremely rare and currently limited to possessing lunar and martian colonies. Native space warships vastly inferior to the even the smallest of corvettes in the Rift Armada. There are no known parallels with FTL technology based on rifts or other phenomena.

VOTING IS STILL OPEN

I'll post another piece of newspaper fluff when I will decide to close voting, but until then your votes do count unlike during the presidential elections in 2000 back in florida

Oh and while this will be helpful when you will be able to vote on the destination you will get some additional information on the parallels you may travel to when the time comes. But not more than you can expect our prestigious plumber smuggler to know.

 

[CappenVarra]

Ah, nice. Having a table naturally means I must roll a few random combinations (excluding contradictory ones, obviously - even if these two don't seem to lead to a large number of viable combinations). Tables that can be rolled on are a thing of beauty

 

[Hellraiser]

Voting closed, update will be posted sometime tomorrow. More on good old Ajax this time, the rest you will have to discover for yourselves unless you get sidetracked and hunted down by atlantean CTPCT agents or other fun people.

 

[Cassidy]

I love how the idea there is a parallel far more advanced than theirs and capable to subjugate them if they wish to is unthinkable to Atlanteans.

 

[Hellraiser]

1.3 Tinfoil hats for all

Fifteen hours left, just fifteen hours before you can finally leave this gods-forsaken parallel. You may return here in the future but for the time being you see no reason to. The best way to utilize your time left here will be to read more on this primitive but still lethal weapon you acquired last night. You head out to the local library reading the issue of “self-defence monthly” in the train along the way. People give you odd looks while others say thing like “The Man lied about 9/11 and Iraq, now he is scared of The Truth”. You ignore them at any rate while focusing on the contents of the magazine.

There are a few articles about weapons that you found informative, now you know what are the weaknesses and the strong sides of guns like pistols, hunting rifles, assault rifles and shotguns. You can use this knowledge to your tactical advantage either when you are being fired upon or if you are shooting at someone yourself. Most of the magazine however seems to be filled with conspiracy theory nonsense, or at least you hope it is nonsense. Even the crooks forming the Great Council wouldn’t create plots as intricate as what the magazine is accusing the ruling classes and elites of this parallel of. Mass genocide of the lower classes using an agency called FEMA which is supposed to help the secret group of men in power establish control and a New World Order. Slavery and the complete abolition of personal freedoms.

All of this is supposedly hid behind the curtains thanks to media controlled by the elite. The Goliath Corporate Group in particular is a target of these accusations since they apparently control the financial system, media and natural resources. All of which are vital to the control of the global population. Frightening and fascinating even if it is all rubbish. Plus you kind of like Goliath News Network, they do not care for the unproductive self-entitled rabble calling itself the lower class. In Atlantis one has to earn his place in society by contributing, if one does not contribute more than a slave’s work one is no more than a slave or “limited citizen” at best. Obviously the spawn of the elites get full citizenship easily but if one works hard and isn’t intellectually deficient one will gain full citizenship eventually.

At the library you easily find an unoccupied computer terminal. First you browse “Homiez ‘n’ Gunz” a message board dedicated to “packin’ heat”. Apparently good old “tomcat” got banned and it caused quite a lot of drama there. The reason? He was “five-o” which is slang for undercover policeman or something. Good thing you never asked him at the “real gangsta” about those guns. Other than that you managed to find some nice tips on concealing firearms there but not much else.

Next you go to realtruefactinfo.org, outside of some very useful information on proper gun maintenance even in harsh environments like jungles or deserts it is mostly filled with more conspiracy theories. One poster “Incognito13” claims Goliath Bank HQ has a secret underground entrance made to look like a street which can turn to liquid allowing suspicious vehicles to submerge themselves. How absolutely ridiculous and unscientific! Another one “3ng1m4” says Men-in-Black are stalking him using mind-controlled bees, you find the mere concept hilarious. There was also an 8 years old ignorance-filled topic in which they discussed alternative universes, one poster “CogitoErgoSum” even mocked the whole subject by saying “maybe there is a universe where honesty is the primary value in life, where nobody lies and there are no secrets or conspiracies just truth and true egalitarianism”, unsurprisingly he got called a “freemasonic marxist zionist” for it by many. A very ridiculous dream at any rate in your opinion, lies, secrets and curtains made of shadow are part of human nature. Not just anywhere in the known multiverse but even in Atlantis. Bah! Especially in Atlantis.

But by far the most interesting was a topic in which “JusticeAegis” claims that he is a police officer from New Port City and that the Department of Homeland Security took over his investigation into the incident at Infinity Apartments. He posted the following: “The whole case was nuts guys, get this cameras go down because somebody dismantled one of them and somehow fried the cables located over 25 feet away without even touching the data hub hidden in the wall behind 8 inches of concrete. Whoever did that managed to open Strelinsky’s apartment door and his strongbox in 3-4 minutes since the cameras went down, because Strelisky was back home only minutes after the cameras went down according to the doorkeeper. That’s just insane nobody can pick locks that fast, furthermore the guy attacked Strelinsky with some sort of high tech cattle-prod or something. Sure Strelinsky was drunk but the concussions and burns he has don’t match any known weapon. Those homeland security guys gave me the creeps, they knew something. Heard them talking about doing a raid on Duganov’s Logistics in the port during the afternoon. Weird shit I tell you, too mysterious.”. It appears your involvement in the Strelinsky case may have been noticed, should you ever return here it may be extremely important to be more covert. You return home and pack your remaining things while Goliath News reports on a firefight at the Duganov Logistics Warehouse on TV.

Now as you are almost ready to leave this parallel you need to make two important choices. One concerns the location where you will open the rift. There are four open air and relatively safe locations you are considering.

One is Blakemore Park in the city center, it is a location unlikely to be anything other than wilderness due to its rough hilly terrain. Furthermore your filtering unit is already there so you can easily initiate transit during the night.

Another location worth considering would be the empty beach on the eastern edge of the city’s port, you can get there easily before sunrise.

The empty fields around Van Buren Airport are also worth considering but getting there before dawn will be difficult.

Finally the vast farmland fields far outside the city but close to Glennsdale National Park are by far the safest but it will take some time to get there by bus. You will definitely be there after sunrise but the risk of being spotted is minimal. Furthermore the distance to the city (if it exists at all) will be far so getting basic information or some transportation may prove difficult.

The other choice is simple, where will you go to riftwalker? Due to the interference you may not transit as far as you would like but access to some of the nearby parallels appears to be available. You can look for buyers in them, especially for those that Maximilian Ajax might have dealt with. Or check if your nearest supply cache is still where it was. The parallels available as listed in your chart of the known multiverse are:

ββ-17: This one looks odd, it is just outside the edge of atlantean patrol routes and it got reclassified from αδ-41 about 17 years ago. You don’t recall this happening to other parallels outside of the ones reclassified to gamma after the natives in them were killed off in a cataclysmic event like asteroid impact. It never got scouted again since because the probe was lost just before initiating transit back but after sending data via the rift. It looks like it was only scouted by orbital probes 3 times. Could be free of agents and full of potentials buyers even if somehow it is less industrialized and urbanized than it was before.

αδ-38: Generic, extremely similar to this one bar some minor differences in political leaders here and there. The local government wasn’t interested in your goods after you sent them your holo-teaser. Still this is where you hid your stash, a 2,2x2,5x6m self-burrowing container full of goods equipped with its own rift generator and fusion fuel supply. Checking if it is still there would be prudent even if it was hidden well under half of a meter of dirt. It has been over 5 years after all.

βδ-6: From what you can tell it seems to be a recently industrialized parallel. Similar to what your current one was 80-140 years ago. Odds are they are in the market to buy thermonuclear warheads, combustion and jet engines along with all kinds of other useful tech. Scouted from orbit only as far as you know.

αε-13: The “closest” parallel to this one, you almost got there during your last transit attempt 4 days ago. Similar tech level to this one but shows signs of geoengineering, it could be a promising market in demand of your services. Visited by pioneers at least once so you may need to watch out for agents. Last thing you need is a luxury cruise on an atlantean dreadnaught straight into an agonization chamber funded by the Rift Armada’s and the Counter Trans-Parallel Crime and Terrorism unit’s budgets. Also there is apparently some kind of political superpower controlling over 68% of the landmass there.

Where will you attempt to open a rift?
1) Blakemore Park, it is close and easily accessible. Night time transit is guaranteed to be safer and few witnesses outside of drunken beggars nobody will ever believe will be present there.
2) The beach near the Port looks safe. That area was unsuitable for industrial development so it should be deserted in most parallels.
3) The outskirts of Van Buren Airport seems safe. Lots of empty space, few buildings and people it most likely will be farmland if the airport does not exists at your destination.
4) Farmland should be a good idea. It is far but odds are the other side will be pure wilderness if not also farmland.

In a way you now stand at the metaphorical crossroads of the multiverse. The paths before you are many, but where will you go?
A) ββ-17, not the most advanced of picks but looks safe as far as the CTPCT agent threat is concerned. You are also a bit curious as to why it was never scouted again.
B) αδ-38, you need to check the goods first. It would be pointless to look for more buyers if you have no goods to sell. Getting another container here could prove hard if the interference persists outside of this parallel.
C) βδ-6, those savages in recently industrial parallels just can’t stop killing each other until everyone gets atomics. And they do posses the necessary industry to mine out your standard payment of platinum, gold, rare earths or uranium. You should capitalize on that.
D) αε-13, it looked good from the blurry shapes of the city you saw just before transit failed the last time. Might as well see what you missed, plus if the city on the other side does not belong to that superpower mentioned the locals might be very interested in hardware giving them the edge.

 

[oscar]

1 - We can't go wrong with anything involving Cleve

βδ-6 - I can't see the point in visiting any world lower in tech too this (though chilling with some bronze/iron age bros could be cool), as how would we receive payment? αε-13 is also tempting.

 

[Kz3r0]

1) Blakemore Park
D) αε-13

 

[Hellraiser]

Hey as long they're not a bunch of half-naked celtic druids running around groves odds are they have some sort of national treasury filled with gold. Although uranium (or even plutonium but don't expect pre-atomic parallels to have that) is the preferable payment since uranium mining and enrichment is tightly regulated in Atlantis which makes the illegal atomics manufacturers not so happy. Thus the black market pays exorbitant sums for whatever quantity you might get your hands on. Far more than for gold or platinum since that stuff is relatively easy to get although it is still valuable. Rare earths are also very valuable since whatever quantumtronics company that currently has the biggest influence in the Great Council gets to hog all the newly conquered deposits selling only some to competitors occasionally but never to a small business that might grow too large. New competitors might upset their oligopoly. The black market either gets rare earths from illegal asteroid mines or illegal mines in other parallels. But both of those have the unfortunate tendency to become targets for warship lascannons or kinetic-accelerator cannons.

 

[Kalin]

1) Blakemore Park
B) αδ-38, check the goods first

 

[CappenVarra]

3) + B)

Library update was pretty fun, if mostly useful to find out about the bullets we dodged so far. ββ-17 sounds the most interesting and quite possibly dangerous (says the guy who voted for a Scout), but any tech smuggler worth his salt would check the goods first and then move on to βδ-6 for an easy sale. αε-13 would be fun for sure (reading about Mother Georgia the superpower etc.), but risky, very risky.

A benefit low-tech parallels have over the more advanced ones: our technological superiority will give us more of an edge. So α parallels are likely to have cameras, special security forces, DNA analysis and other pesky ways to track us, while we're be more godlike in β and lower. Rare earth mining is great and all, but jumping straight for the highest profit before even knowing what caused our inability to riftwalk would be... unwise.

 

[Hellraiser]

A valid observation, also I would like to add that selling less advanced tech like a combustion engine is easier than selling a fusion reactor. But you have to remember that profit is more or less equal to risk/effort here. Oh selling them tech usually means we're giving them at least one working device and a few computations pads with all the necessary scientific documents (in their language or one they know) to use them and build more of their own. Fusion reactors are obviously more expensive than combustion engines.

 

[oscar]

I was going to say something similar (on wondering why one would vote for αε-13). More risk of getting busted and less profitable. βδ-6 sounds like the sweet spot. Capable of providing us with the metals we want at a low price (as mentioned it being cheaper to supply a combustion engine than a fusion reactor). Uranium from βδ-6 is no worse than uranium from αε-13 and a lot cheaper too purchase.

That said, I am considering flipping too αδ-38 as it would suck to have busted our asses to make the deal and then find our stash has disappeared. But still αε-13 sounds by far the best place to actually sell too.

 

[Hellraiser]

Yeah but you have to remember that a pre-atomics parallel will most likely provide you with raw ore rather then enriched uranium or plutonium since they lack nuclear reactors obviously. The more advanced one most likely has a nuclear arsenal and thus a stockpile readily available. Worst case scenario they'll hastily dismantle a few nukes just to grab some quantum computers and fusion reactors if they don't. And you have limited room in the container (which can be used as a rift-cargo truck of sorts) to haul it back to the nearest black market contact.

I think I overloaded echelon with the number of threatening keywords in this topic.

 

[CappenVarra]

Oh well, maybe the secret service will put us in the same prison camp after the initial months of solitary interrogation. I'll bring dice.

 

[Omicron]

1-B, seems a pretty good choice.

 

[Esquilax]

Hellraiser, other than the rift generator, what else do we have in our bag of goodies that we left in αδ-38? , I don't think we should go riftwalking in Blakemore Park. Our little escapade last night caused a bit of a ruckus, and an observant agent within this parallel or otherwise might start to put things together between our robbery and a few witnesses in the area, even if they are homeless drunks. Besides, there's no telling where we'll end up on the other side.

No, I say we look for some place more secluded, but still under the cover of night. The port should fit the bill here just fine.

That said, I am considering flipping too αδ-38 as it would suck to have busted our asses to make the deal and then find our stash has disappeared. But still αε-13 sounds by far the best place to actually sell too.

I agree with this.

2
B

 

[Hellraiser]

Enough spare fusion fuel for 30 transits using your RGM (or 10 of the container, this is the container's fuel supply after all), 10 stun rods, 8 adaptable toolkits and structural scanners, 2 small jet engines, 2 combustion engines, one fusion reactor (in addition to the one powering the container's Rift Generator), 4 handheld industrial laser cutters (too bulky and unwieldy to be used as a weapon), 10 small remote controlled filtering units and 3 large stationary filtering stations, a few plates of advanced composites, sheets of adamantine and as many crates full of cheap quantumtronic computation pads with a ton of engineering and scientific data on them as there was room for. Oh and like 20 miniature holographic projectors you use to display teasers on.

 

[Hellraiser]

I was going to say something similar (on wondering why one would vote for αε-13). More risk of getting busted and less profitable. βδ-6 sounds like the sweet spot. Capable of providing us with the metals we want at a low price (as mentioned it being cheaper to supply a combustion engine than a fusion reactor). Uranium from βδ-6 is no worse than uranium from αε-13 and a lot cheaper too purchase.

That said, I am considering flipping too αδ-38 as it would suck to have busted our asses to make the deal and then find our stash has disappeared. But still αε-13 sounds by far the best place to actually sell too.

Bro I want to count the votes soon (sometime tomorrow GMT) so please specify which one you want to vote for.

 

[Cassidy]

2) the Park may be too exposed.

B) If there is one thing that can't be afforded is to abandon goodies when there is no immediate threat of the Atlanteans finding out.

I hope ββ-17 will become available as an option later too. We'll see.

 

[Hellraiser]

ββ-17 should be available in the future as long as you don't end up too far from it, worse case scenario you will have to make a double-transit to get there using up all the fuel. I'll give you guys a map sometime in the near future roughly showing how far you can transit due to the interference.

 

[oscar]

Yeah I'll flip to αδ-38, just so we can get that out of the way.

 

[Esquilax]

Bros, flop to (2) for where to open the rift. It seems like a safer bet than going through Cleve Park.

 

[Hellraiser]

Voting closed, you had your time to go all John Kerry on your decisions. Expect the update within the next 24 hours. Oh and I made that map of the part of the multiverse you are in. You will get to see it in the update proper.

 

[Hellraiser]

1.4 Through the looking-glass

You lock the door to your apartment for most likely the last time in your life. For some reason you feel somewhat uneasy with that concept. Maybe you developed some kind of sentimental attachment to this barbaric hovel in all the years spent here? Regardless of whatever you are feeling at the moment you grab your suitcase and head out to catch a subway train. As could be expected from a train running at this hour it is mostly filled with natives under the influence of alcohol or drugs they no doubt consumed at the barbaric dens of moral and cultural depravity that are “clubs” as they call them.

The park itself is empty, fortunately ever since the local police force chased away the protesting rabble camping here a few weeks ago you can safely open rifts here. First you locate the lake, as you approach its edge you order the filtering unit to surface. The surroundings are covered in the orange light of lampposts and in silence, it seems that you are alone here. After a brief moment the cylinder shaped device appears on the surface and skims along it in your direction. You grab the unit and after carefully removing the fuel canister you attach it to your RGM’s fuel port hidden inside your utility vest under your coat and hide the filtering unit in your suitcase. Now you pull out the RGM control terminal out of your vest. You gaze upon the displayed map of sector (0;4)/(0;2)/(-2;2)…

The choice has been made, it is time to check if your hidden cache is still where you left it in αδ-38.

The RGM’s display informs you:

“Destination set, fuel reserves at 100% capacity, confirm rift opening. Yes/No?” You obviously pick yes.

“Standby, rift-opening in progress. WARNING: DO NOT APPROACH THE RIFT BEFORE IT STABILIZES!”

It has begun, a small fracture as if in the very fabric of reality itself has appeared a few meters in front of you just a meter above the ground. The hellish-red glow starts slowly illuminating the nearby trees as the event horizon expands changing shape from a small crack to a nearly perfect circle. You see the vortex-like “inside” of the circle rapidly changing from one shade of red to another as if the photons from intra-parallel space itself were caught in some sort of cosmic struggle.

“Rift open, engaging quantum stabilization field, please standby.”

“Done! It is now safe to approach the rift.”

You walk towards the infernal vortex until the display informs you that you can begin transit, the countdown starts.

“Transit initiating in 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...”

“WARNING TRANSIT IN PROGRESS! STAND STILL OR YOU MAY LEAVE THE SAFETY OF THE STABILIZATION FIELD BY ACCIDENT AND DIE!”

The park around you is suddenly covered by a dark-red haze and the shapes of the trees, benches and the lake turn into blurry blobs. Exotic particles flow around the stabilization field changing the haze’s color from dark-red to pink and then suddenly to orange before finally turning into a black color as dark as the empty void of starless space itself. It is as if gazing into oblivion itself, an absolute nothingness, a stark contrast to the flood of vibrant colors you saw a moment earlier. The darkness eventually passes away making room for yellow followed by white, dark blue and finally a turquoise shade of blue. You start to see blurry shapes around you, they look like trees. Slowly the city itself become visible from behind the blue fog of exotic radiation. It seems dark, as if somebody switched all the lights off. Very odd indeed, but it looks like your transit attempt will succeed at last. The haze fully disappears.

“Transit complete! Stabilization field disengaged, welcome to αδ-38 riftwalker. Fuel reserves at 57%.” – the display reports.

The first thing you notice is a putrid odor, the smell of something rotting. It was definitely not present in the other Blakemore Park, so at least you left that barbaric hellhole. Still as you take a look around you notice that there seems to be a power outage since none of the lampposts are working and the park is covered in absolute darkness. You pull a flashlight out of the adaptable toolkit within the suitcase and look around the area. The surroundings seem empty until you see a most disturbing sight. It appears to be a half-decayed corpse, no doubt it is the source of the foul smell you noticed when you arrived. As you walk closer to inspect the remains you hear something moving. You turn around and point the flashlight at the direction from which the sound came.

You notice an odd lizard-like shape, a dog-sized lizard-like shape at that. It swiftly strafes by jumping left and right avoiding the flashlight’s beam of light while still heading in you general direction. You never saw or heard of anything like it. This is definitely not good. Quickly you grab your gun concealed inside your coat and attempt to shoot the animal emptying an entire magazine. Most of the bullets you fired miss the beast but it seems three have hit it. One of them hit the creature in its gecko-like leg slowing it down somewhat. But the other two somehow got deflected. As the beast is right in front of you and prepares to jump again you notice its menacing three eyes one located in the back of its head and bat-like long pointy ears. Gods damn this foul chimera! As the abomination jumps through the air in your direction you drop your empty gun and pull out your stun rod.

The beast knocks you on your back and attempts to chew on your face with its razor-like teeth while you keep avoiding its bites. Its back appears to be covered in an odd scaly plating. While you wrestle with this chimera you start to feel pain as the beast smacks its head against your left arm however this allows you to free your right arm. You shove the stun rod into the beast’s open mouth and shock it thus stunning it. As you inspect the body of your unconscious foe you notice what appear to be bullet marks, at least two dozen of them on its scaly back. As the beast lies defeated you pick up your gun and turn the chimera on its back. Afterwards you shoot an entire magazine worth of bullets into its unarmored underside. Bright-red blood starts flowing out of its wounds, even if the chimera is not dead yet it will be before it awakens. You hear some animal sounds in the distance and a familiar noise coming from above.

“HEY! YOU THERE! WE’LL PICK YOU UP AND GET YOU TO THE FEMA REFUGEE CAMP JUST SOUTH OUTSIDE OF THE NEW PORT QUARANTINE ZONE! DO NOT RUN OR WE WILL ASSUME YOU ARE A LOOTER AND SHOOT YOU AS ORDERED BY FEMA EMERGENCY DIRECTIVE 12 FROM THE 9th OF MARCH 2012!” – a man is shouting over a loudspeaker from a primitive military VTOL aircraft the savages call a helicopter. Its searchlight is aimed directly at you. What is going on in this parallel? It was different the last time you were here, there was definitely no quarantine or military helicopters with loudspeakers and reptilian chimeras roaming around.

The container is located to the north of the city a kilometer away from the local petroleum refinery, it is the reason you are in this parallel. You need to make a quick choice as the VTOL craft is hovering above you. There is no time to open a rift now because besides the pilot you notice a medic and two soldiers in the aircraft. Two soldiers armed with assault rifles that are pointing their guns at you.

1) Try to lose the helicopter by taking back alleys or hiding in the most likely abandoned buildings. You do not trust this FEMA nor people pointing guns at you plus if looter savages are present in the quarantine zone it cannot be that dangerous.
2) Go aboard the helicopter but try to commandeer it and fly it to your stash. Your CQC skills should easily overwhelm the crew and a Glock pistol aimed at the pilot’s head should persuade him to obey you.
3) Calmly board the aircraft and go to the FEMA refugee camp. Whatever FEMA is doing in that camp is most likely better than dodging bullets or wrestling reptilian chimeras.

Vote now.

FYI you wouldn’t encounter the helicopter if you didn’t pick the park.

 

[CappenVarra]

nice update

I support trolling the Cleve-lovers, should've been more careful (only the paranoid avoid agonization).

Will vote later, after checking the FEMA database map in more detail.