Earth 4000 AD, and it is a time of prosperity. War is a thing of the past, and the countries of the world have united under one government. Faster-than-light travel is widely available, and contact with intelligent extraterrestrial life is common.
Time travel has been discovered, and thus a new department, the Timeline Integrity Monitoring Executive (TIME) Police, has been set up to prevent misuse and tampering with the timelines. All time travel technology and information is kept secret from the public eye and managed by the Executive.
You are one of its agents, fresh out of the Time Police Academy, and about to be inducted as a Special Agent of the Time Police.
You are
>Dan Eagleman, all-American cadet with righteous streak (+Strength/+Will/-Intelligence)
>Alan Goodfinger, self-centered Bond wannabe from the British Isles (+Dexterity/+Charisma/-Perception)
>James Jwi, legacy of Pyongyang's pre-unification human experimentation (+Psi/+Intelligence/-Will)
>>43552618
>Alan Goodfinger, self-centered Bond wannabe from the British Isles (+Dexterity/+Charisma/-Perception)
>>43552618
Any other character options?
If not
>James Jwi, legacy of Pyongyang's pre-unification human experimentation (+Psi/+Intelligence/-Will)
>>43552737
I'll take votes until half past the hour
>>43552778
Not for this one I'm afraid.
>>43552618
>Alan Goodfinger, self-centered Bond wannabe from the British Isles (+Dexterity/+Charisma/-Perception)
It's a quest thread, so let's not pretend we aren't playing this regardless of what we actually choose.
>>43552737
>>43552991
Writan
>>43552618
>James Jwi, legacy of Pyongyang's pre-unification human experimentation (+Psi/+Intelligence/-Will)
You examine yourself in the mirror of your apartment. "Damn Alan, looking pretty good today," you think to yourself, silently giving kudos to the designer of the TIME police uniform. Black with red trimming, it's reminiscent of the vintage uniforms of 1940s Germany.
Stepping out of your apartment in Genevapolis, the government center of the world, you make your way to TIME HQ for your induction ceremony. There, you are greeted by your Section Chief, Elyss. "Cadet Goodfinger, it's almost time for the ceremony. Proceed to the Hall of Honours, if you please."
>Yes Ma'am
>Where is the Hall of Honours, exactly?
>Write-in
>>43553523
>>Yes Ma'am
>>43553523
>Yes m'lady
>>43553628
will count votes at 15 minutes past the hour
>>43553650
>>43553523
Writan
>>43553523
>"Yes Ma'am"
>Mutter "You frigid bitch" under your breath
>>43553793
>>43553650
>>43553628
"Yes, ma'am," you smile and say, not wishing to make a scene despite having a smarmy answer in mind. You hurry to the Hall of Honours, where an usher at the entrance directs you to a side room where the other fresh graduates. The four people in the room look up as you enter. None of the faces are familiar to you, as you realize you were the only one in your class who passed the proficiency exam.
>Introduce yourself
>Say nothing and take a seat
>Write-in
Rolled 41 (1d100)
>>43553924
>Say nothing and take a seat
>Do our utmost to look suave
Rolling for Suavenessnot serious
>>43553924
>Introduce yourself
Be as smarmy as possible.
Rolled 90 (1d100)
>>43553958
Well, shit, now I have to roll for smarminess. Smarm. Whatever the noun would be. >>43553978
>>43553958
>>43553978
>>43553996
I'll consolidate at a quarter to the next hour
>>43553958
>>43553996
>over twice as smarmy as he is suave
It begins.
>>43553958
>>43553978
>>43553996
>>43554031
I believe that, at this point, no matter what action he takes, the correct adjective is "smug."
>Introduce yourself
We have high charisma, might as well put it to use
Rolled (1d00)
>>43554049
Rolling smug
Rolled 10 (1d100)
>>43554074
Well, that was an embarrassing fuckup.
>>43553958
>>43553996
>>43554099
>Suave 41
>Smarmy 90
>Smug 10
So, he attempts to act suave and sexy, but comes across as insincerely ingratiating, and is self-aware enough to take a hit to the ego because of it?
>>43554122
Sounds right to me.
>>43554122
How about we not just roll shit to define the character and instead do that by playing him?
>>43554249
There's no reason to assume rolls will be taken unless they're directly called for.
>>43553978
>>43554051
>>43554074
>>43554099
>>43554122I took them into account just this once, but please let me call for 'em next time
You start to introduce yourself. "Greetings, fellow graduates. I'm Alan Goodfinger, and I sincerely hope we can get along as members of Hitler Youth- er I mean TIME Agents..."
You trail off as the others stare at you, unamused. "J-Just my little joke, you know, these uniforms-" you stammer when one of them cuts you off.
"Yes, we know, very funny, ha ha." The girl who spoke rises from her seat and you can see that she is tall, too tall. Easily breaking six feet in height, with long straight black hair, her body is supported by a mechanical exoskeleton. "Now can we just get on with it? I'm Spira, Spira Messier from Ganymede's Ringworld." She nods, then returns to her seat.
Now it makes sense. Humans from the space colonies orbiting the gas giants have adapted to their environment after centuries of living in low-gravity environments.
>>43554122
This was a fun mini game to watch.
Say nothing and take a seat.
>>43554436
The burly young man seated beside her pipes up. "Well, hi there. I'm Dan Eagleman from Texas, pleasure to meet you. Really looking forward to working with y'all." He flashes a grin and shows everyone the thumbs-up. The other two cadets, an quiet Asian guy and a Pleiadean, a humanoid with catlike features and silver hair, proceed to follow suit.
"James Jwi." the quiet guy says curtly. The Pleiadean grunts and says, "Agidy Farrow." Both of them look reluctant to say anything more, and an awkward silence falls over us.
The door to the Hall of Honours creaks open, and the usher calls for Dan to enter. Dan flashes his wide smile again and says, "See you on the other side!" He leaves the room.
One by one, the other cadets are called into the Hall to be inducted, until you are the only one left in the room. Finally, the usher pokes his head in from the other side of the door and calls for you. "Cadet Goodfinger, please enter."
You follow the usher through the door into the Hall of Honours. A solemn air hangs over the grand hall as you walk past the golden colonnades to the stage in front.
Seated at a horseshoe-shaped table are the Four Overseers of TIME. The leftmost figure, an Earth human in a Navy uniform, begins to speak. "Welcome, Cadet Goodfinger. Congratulations on your graduation from the TIME police academy."
>>43554807
If we get a partner, I want the Texan.Mostly because I want to see how QM will portray my kinfolk
>>43554807
The other Overseers, a squat Jovian humanoid covered in black fur, a Ringworld human with the familiar mechanical exoskeleton and perhaps the most bizarre of all, a rather large crustacean with engorged brain sacs floating in a large tank, begin to applaud you, the crustacean creating a splashing noise as it waves its claws.
The human in the Earth uniform introduces himself as Overseer Livingstone and proceeds with the ceremony. The ceremony is brief; you are made to swear an oath of allegiance to the organization of TIME and are duly commissioned as a Special Agent. From now on you are hereby known as Agent Octopus.
>Smile and make a short speech of thanks
>Say something else - write-in
>>43554807
>Dan Eagleman
BROTHER
>>43554999
>Smile and make a short speech of thanks
As formulaic as possible. Probably still embarrassed as hell over the botched introduction to the fellow new agents. Don't want to fuck up in front of the bigwigs.
>>43554999
Votes close on the hour
>>43554999
>Agent Octopus
This makes me far happier than it has any right to.
Let's just go with a simple speech of thanks, for now.
>>43555033
>>43555238
You smile and give your thanks to the Overseers. Livingstone thanks you on behalf of the Council and you leave the Hall of Honours. As you make your way back to your apartment, your holophone beeps. You answer it and a bust of Section Chief Elyss is projected out of the phone. "Octopus, your presence is required. Meet me in my office at HQ. As soon as possible, if you would."
You acknowledge her orders, and slide the holophone back into your pocket with a scowl. Returning to TIME HQ, you proceed to Elyss's office in the Special Agent Section. The doors whirr open and you walk inside. Elyss is seated at her desk, and you notice another figure on the sofa beside it. He is an imposing man of African origin, and you recognize him as Noah from the Monitoring Section.
Elyss looks up and notices you. "Ah, Agent Octopus. I do apologize for calling you back so quickly, but this is a matter of utmost importance."
>What happened?
>Bit early to ask me out to a date at this hour, Ma'am.
>Write-in
>>43555450
>>What happened?
save the banter for when things aren't so serious
>>43555450
>>Bit early to ask me out to a date at this hour, Ma'am.
Okay, we avoided embarrassing ourselves in front of the bigwigs, but if we're going to be a Bond wannabe, we need a Moneypenny.
>>43555478
>>43555483
Gonna need a tie breaker for this.
>>43555547
>What happened?
>>43555547
Yeah, let's go with "What happened?"
We can always hit on her later.
>>43555648
"What happened?" You fight back the urge to be an arse and maintain your professionalism. "Octopus, I know you're fresh out of the Academy but you're the best candidate we've got for this mission. There's been an incident; we've lost an Agent. Bobcat was killed while on active service investigating a timehole disturbance in the timeline of the planet Jökulheim. It seems that he had found out who was responsible."
Noah from Monitoring continues, "His final transmission reported that the culprit was capable of time-travel like us."
"But that's impossible-" you blurt out. It is common knowledge that only TIME has the technology and resources required to travel in time. There could only be one possibility...
Elyss seems to know what you were thinking. "Yes, Octopus. There is a traitor in our midst. Someone has acquired the Variable Drive technology that we have kept secret after all these centuries, and is selling it to the highest bidder."
She continues, "Of course, we can't very well place the entire organization under arrest as the logistics required will be immense, but we must arrest or terminate the renegade Agent before anything catastrophic happens to the timelines. When you have proof, do whatever you deem necessary to take out the target and the stolen technology. Is that understood, Octopus?"
"Yes, Ma'am," you reply.
Noah pipes up, "You have to hurry, Octopus. You may need to deal with an attempt to alter the past within the next few hours. Bobcat had already foiled one in Jökulheim in 2409 AD. It's too late to save him, as time passes in the Timeholes at the same rate as it passes in the present and you would only arrive after his death."
"Your Machine is ready in the Hangar," Elyss tells you. "Now go, Octopus. Good luck."
What do
>To the Time Machine!
>Something else (Write-in)
>>43555878
>>Something else (Write-in)
There is, actually, a second possibility, and one that should be addressed--or at least questioned--before we take any steps forward.
If the culprit is capable of time travel like us, that could mean that the culprit is from a future iteration of TIME, and that Bobcat's investigations on Jökulheim presented a danger to the congruity of the time stream.
We're new enough at this that it's definitely worth asking about this. Are there safeguards in place to prevent this kind of thing from playing out, or are we flying blind?
>>43555878
>>To the Time Machine!
Do we know when in the past they'll try to alter?
>>43556054
>>43556068
Need a tie-breaker. Votes close in half an hour this time.
>>43556131
Well >>43556054 raises a good point, but if there are safeguards in place and there's nothing to worry about, let's hop in the time machine then.
>>43556068
>>43556054
>>43556068
"Just one thing, Elyss. What if the source of the temporal interference in Jökulheim is from a future iteration of TIME? Since we're time travellers and all that."
Elyss gives you a funny look. "Of course we do have safeguards against this. If you'd been paying attention in the Academy, you should very well know that all Timehole trips are recorded in the central computer, thus ensuring that every Agent is informed about any special circumstances pertaining to the Timehole they're about to visit. Time is of the essence, Octopus, you had better hurry."
You nod sheepishly and make haste to the Hangar. Your Time Machine stands there in all its black and silver glory.
A large dome, painted black with silver markings, supported by four extendable hydraulic legs. You walk under the Time Machine and activate the Access Disc. You hear a gentle hum as tractor beams pull your body into the body of the Machine. You look around as the interior lighting gradually brightens. A musical female voice comes from above. "Hello, Octopus. I am the Artificial Intelligence Directive System of this machine. My job is to provide you with information relevant to the Timeholes you'll be visiting and the mission to the best of my ability. But first, would you like to give me a name?"
>Write-in
>>43556514
"Yes because my handler will not be called aids... How about Wendy?"
>>43556514
Epoch.
>>43556514
Kara
>>43556550
>>43556587
>>43556663
Okay, this wasn't such a good idea.
Going with these 3 choices and we'll see which one gets the most votes now
>Wendy
>Epoch
>Kara
>>43556701
Kara. And yeah, never ask for names in an open question. OPs always dig their own grave with that.
>>43556701
Another vote for Kara
>>43556701
>>Kara
>>43556830
>>43556811
>>43556760
"All right, how about Kara, then?" You ask the AI. "That is most satisfactory, Octopus." the newly christened Kara says. "I have pulled up a map of Timeholes currently open and available for travel. Note that the Timehole on Jokulheim is the same one where Agent Bobcat met his untimely demise."
Kara adds, "I have also been fitted with the standard loadout of equipment for TIME Agents. You may wish to review them."
Loadout and other info here: http://pastebin.com/QC7AT6Ez
You ponder your options
>Travel to a Timehole
>Call up a list of recent Timehole trips from the central computer
>Check the locations of other Time Travellers right now
>Other (Write-in)
>>43556877
>>Call up a list of recent Timehole trips from the central computer
>>Check the locations of other Time Travellers right now
1918 looks like a fun place to go
>>43556877
>Travels to a Timehole
>Jumps to Jupiter 3245AD
>>43556919
Sounds nice
>>43556919
>>43557026
I'll give it 8 more minutes
>>43556919
Yeah let's check the listings and follow the most recent lead.
>>43557073
>>43557026
>>43556919
You call up a list of recent Timehole trips. Strange, you think to yourself. It is evident that the local Timehole has been busy but for some reason the information has largely been classified at Theta or Omega, the only Security Clearance Codes higher than yours, held by Section Chiefs and Overseers.
You decide to ask Kara for the current whereabouts of the other Time Travellers.
>>43557281
Well, we were given a mission, so let's follow bobcat.
>>43557281
Man what if the traitor is someone who outranks us?
>>43557281
check out the most recent one
>>43557281
A long list of names flashes across the screen, but the following stand out to you.
Kara says, "It is unusual that access to this kind of information be denied to someone of your level of security clearance. However, I can tell you that your fellow graduands have been given code names as well. Agent Gazelle is Spira Messier, Agent Eagle should be obvious even to you, James Jwi is Agent Mouse, and Agidy Farrow is Agent Lynx." You decide to travel to a Timehole.
Which Timehole would you like to travel to?
>Spain 1918 AD
>Planet Jupiter 3295 AD
>Planet Jökulheim 2409 AD
>>43557426
>>43557300I'll be opening the polls now, please be patient
>>43557460
>Planet Jökulheim 2409 AD
Job
>>43557460
>I'll be opening the polls now, please be patient
just a tip OP, when posting multipost updates, just put a [1/?] or a ">Cont." at the bottom of the post so we know more is coming
So what leads do we have exactly? All we know is Bobcat was on that planet and now he's dead so where to?
>>43556877Correct Timehole map here, wrote France instead of Spain, silly me
>>43557492noted
>>43557460
>>Planet Jökulheim 2409 AD
>>43557492
We could follow Gazelle to see if she's turned up any leads or needs help. We could go to Jokulheim to investigate the circumstances surrounding the agent's death. Or we could be horrible metagamers and go to jupiter on the grounds that it must be there for a reason and we'll be sent there eventually (not actually a good idea).
>>43557460
Spain, 1918. It's our first trip at this rank, and having someone else there will probably be good for orienting ourselves. Bobcat's killer is a priority, but, at the very least, we need to get used to the equipment before jumping into an engagement with a known hostile who may be capable of time travel and may expect our arrival.
Closing in ten minutes, people.
So far, 2 for Jokulheim, 1 for Spain
You tell Kara to activate the Variable Drive to shift you into n-space and to re-engage the Drive as soon as you have finished entering the navigational co-ordinates for the Timehole on Planet Jokulheim, 2409 AD. Your ears tingle as the Time Machine phases into n-space, and everything around you becomes grey and insubstantial. Using your Psychic Awareness abilities, you cast your thought into the void and locate the Timehole on Jokulheim. When you have translated the location into numerical coordinates for Kara, the Variable Drive re-engages once more. The process of re-emerging in real time is instantaneous, but seems to take around an hour for you. You may spend this time on the shipboard Autodoc if you wish and heal any injuries you have sustained.
You rematerialize and your Time Machine engages its hologram to look like a hump of snow. The exterior camera of your Time Machine shows a landscape of snow, broken only by an enormous river of ice dividing the landscape in two. Kara's melodious voice chimes from above. "This is the planet Jokulheim in 2409 AD, a ball of snow and ice. The glacier you see outside, named Styx by its first explorers, spans almost the entire planet, winding round its circumference before emptying into a vast crevasse known as the Pit. The planet is home to the Valviforms, a species of sentient crustaceans of which Overseer Karak is a member of. Their build their cities in the glacier Styx, melting and then consuming the mineral-rich ice at the bottom of the glacier."
[1]
>>43557722
"Well, Octopus, this happens to be a golden age for the Valviform people. Their scientists have sent expeditions to map every corner of the planet, and are just beginning to discover spaceflight. A catastrophe in their research facilities might set them back from meeting humans for years. Remember that their river is a rich source of minerals including a key component in Anagathics, drugs used to extend the lifespan of humans up to 250 years of age. Such a setback would be detrimental to both humans and Valviforms alike."
Armed with this knowledge, you decide to-
>Head out and scan for the presence of other Time Machines
>Try and look for Valviform civilization
>Go somewhere else instead (write-in)
>>43557740
>>Head out and scan for the presence of other Time Machines
>>43557740
>>Head out and scan for the presence of other Time Machines
>>43557809
>>43557867
Writing
>>43557809
>>43557867
Donning your environment suit, you proceed to leave your Time Machine with the holo-detector and a blaster just in case. Finding a suitable vantage point, you run a scan for any holograms nearby which could be concealing another Time Machine. A "ping" sound alerts you to the presence of another hologram a few metres away. You decide to make your way to the hologram when you notice some movement out the corner of your eye. You glance in the direction of the movement and sure enough, you see a figure clad in a similar white environment suit making its way towards the gigantic glacier. You decide to-
>Follow the figure
>Continue on towards the Time Machine in the hopes of finding out something.
>>43557964
>Follow the figure
>>43557964
>Follow the figure
>>43558069
>>43558089
You hurry towards the figure, taking care to keep your distance. When it reaches the edge of the glacier, the figure seems to leap off the bank onto the glacier fifty or so metres below. Rushing towards the edge, you peer over to find that the figure has completely disappeared. You turn away from the edge and are about to walk off when something snags the boot of your suit. Your foot is pulled back and you land facefirst into the snow, the impact strong enough to knock you silly. Dazed by the fall, you are flipped over by the being in the white environment suit. He peers into your visor as you do his, and you recognize the old but still handsome face of Overseer Livingstone.
END OF TIME QUEST PART 1
>>43558276
thanks for the thread OP
you going to make a twitter for this? makes it a lot easier to turn up to subsequent threads
