Translator: Larbre Studio
Editor: Larbre Studio
[Plot: Onwards to the Abyss]
[Number of Players: 5]
[Duration: 5 Days]
[Difficulty: Medium to Difficult]
[Extent of Consequences: Low]
[Rules: 1-5 will be counted as a “Great Success”, 5 will be considered to be slightly better than “Success”, 1 will be considered the “Greatest Success”. 95-0 will be counted as a “Massive Failure”, 95 will add a punishement, while 0 will be counted as the “Greatest Failure”. Total points required in the dice roll will be 50. 51 points is fine too, but that would be risky. 50 points will be counted as success, but only barely.]
After reading each prompt, Yu Yi realised that he was standing on a fairly empty parade square. Before him was a mangled corpse, while his teammates were beside him.
[Luck check has passed… After viewing this tragic corpse, you will not need to go through an SC.]
Damn! A death the moment they entered the game? An SC the moment he opened his eyes? A luck check too! Wait, what did the corpse have to do with luck?
[You two used to be buddies since young. After growing up, you went your separate ways. However, both of you returned home after your family members summoned you. Just as you were relishing the joy of reuniting with one another, a familiar person has died in the streets. Can someone come forward for an inspiration check.]
“My inspiration value is 75, I’ll do it.”
Yu Yi raised his hands and threw out the dice.
[. rd=71]
[All of you attempt to recall his identity as you look at his mangled body. The deceased is a pastor from the church and a benevolent elder. He had protected you since you were young. You have made your decision to find the murderer.]
The plot introduction ended, leaving the five to look at one another.
Not bad. The corpse at the opening scene filled us with determination.
“Let’s report our occupations first. I’m a police detective, ID Yu Xing. Skills wise, I’m good at dodging, inspection, eavesdropping, first aid, martial arts, shotgun kick, and driving.”
They got one another up to date with their names and skills. In the game, it was best to address Investigators by their IDs and not their nicknames to prevent unnecessary suspicion.
“Alright, I’m a doctor, and my ID is Rhudaur, with the standard set of skills. However, I’ve chosen biology and goldsmithing as electives.”
Juzi opened his character card to make sure that he was reporting correctly. He already had his card torn once. However, for experienced TPRG players like them, card tearing was a pretty normal occurrence. It was a part of the game after all. In other words, everyone apart from Yu Yi had torn their cards once. Actually, Yu Yi had torn his card before too. They either tore their cards in an experimental mission, in the first instance mission, or both.
There were punishments for tearing cards too frequently. There were also punishments for starting too many new TPRG games. For example, when a player is wounded in the previous game but managed to survive the game, their disabilities would follow them if they started a second game with the same character card. Some examples included permanent insanity, and the like.
“OK, I’m an archaeologist. You know the drill,” said Fengye, raising her thumb. “My ID is Li Min. Don’t worry, that’s not my real name.”
Fine, she was really out to die. She even dared to play as an archaeologist!
“If I said that my occupation is a radical cult believer, would you guys kill me?” looking at the three men, Lizi raised her hand and said meekly. “ID’s Yue Lian.”
Woah! There was someone even crazier than Fengye!
“We can generate cards for radical cult believers now?”
What was a radical cult believer even! This team had a problem! Doctors, archaeologists, police detectives–fair enough–but why was there a radical cult believer?! This was indeed a Wipe Engine!
“I just wanted to try at the start, but I didn’t expect it to succeed! I’ll initially have psychologically striking magic, which can’t deal damage but can probably confuse them. Moreover, I only have 40 points of sanity value with 5 points of Call of Cthulhu at birth, 50 points of inspiration, and 55 points of luck. I think it’s pretty good.”
We think it’s OK too… After all, it was a character that required a cash purchase.
“I think you, as someone with ‘Oracle’ as a secondary occupation, have no right to criticise someone who chose ‘radical cult believer’ as her occupation.” Huahua looked at Yu Yi’s ID, which notated him as [???’s Oracle]. As compared to a radical cult believer, an Official was much crazier. And not just any Oracle, but the equivalent of a bishop, or a priest. One can even consider him to be a cult leader.
“That’s just a title with no magical powers. But she’s a professional radical cult believer! Let’s just kill her at the start of the game.”
Nice, the snitcher was starting to show her true colors.
“Now, stop messing about. I’m a professional killer, ID Miya.”
After reporting her own occupation, the entire group fell into silence.
What was a killer? That’s an occupation never heard of…
Never mind a radical cult believer, at least it was something seen before on the list of occupations. But a killer… What the heck was that? Was there an occupation for killers?
“I suddenly have an urge to tear the card and generate a magician’s occupation card.”
The female character with the name Rhudaur said.
“Same. I want to try if there’s an occupation for Monster Hunter.”
The female character with the name Li Min nodded her head in agreement.
“Actually, I think we can try to see if there’s a Dark Souls occupation.”
The police detective, who was holding a gun, gave his own opinion.
“All of a sudden, I feel like I’m really weak as a radical cult believer.”
“Among all of us, you are the least entitled to say something like that.”
All four of them turned around to look at Lizi, or rather the character named Yue Lian.
Yu Yi placed his hand on his forehead as he considered his unreliable teammates. At least, the guys were slightly more steady. They chose normal occupations. This meant that although their characters were of a different gender, their IDs seemed like names used by men. However, although the girls had male character cards, their IDs remained as girls’ names. It was so confusing.
So Fengye and I would probably be the most normal in this game?
Yu Yi came to this conclusion while looking at the pistol and the Tai Sword.
“To be safe, I even upgraded myself to 50 points for fishing boat driving.”
After hearing these words from Fengye, Yu Yi nodded his head silently. Good, now it seemed like he was the only normal person in the game.
“The opening plot and introduction have ended. What should we do now?”
Looking at the horrible body before them, the NPCs surrounding it showed expressions of horror.
“Let me handle it. I’m a doctor after all. Although I’m not a forensic investigator.”
The girl named Rhudaur pushed aside the crowd and crouched before the body. She began to inspect him. At the same time, Yu Yi tugged at his clothes.
“KP, I would like to play an inspection.”
Although no orders were given, everyone had done their jobs according to their occupations. As an investigator, Yu Yi had the strongest inspection and eavesdropping skills. Hence, it was the most suitable for him to inspect the deceased. Furthermore, as a policeman, no one would question him.
[. rd=5 Great Success]
After hearing the mechanical prompt from the KP, Yu Yi was stunned for a moment. Wait, didn’t he see the game rules? 1-5 were considered to be in the “Great Success” range, with 1 being the “Greatest Success? So, 5 is slightly better than ordinary? Hmm, this wasn’t the first time he saw rules like these.
As the KP’s voice fell, the expressions of the NPCs began to be magnified in Yu Yi’s eyes. There was horror, fear, sadness, horror, and… delight.
Yu Yi silently remembered the faces of every single one of the delighted expressions. This was a clue that could be used in the future.
After looking around and making sure that there were no other clues, Yu Yi brushed through the crowd and walked in front of the body. According to the plot, he had grown up here, so the NPCs were familiar with him. Everyone knew he was a policeman, so they made way for him.
“So, how did he die?”
After squatting down before the body, Yu Yi looked towards Rhudaur.
“The cause of death was a knife wound to the heart. The other wounds on his body were inflicted after death, but there isn’t much blood. That’s all the information I could glean. I’m a doctor, not a forensic scientist. However, I found traces of anesthesia on his body.”
After revealing the information he got, Rhudaur looked around him, only to discover that his teammates had disappeared.
“Where are they?”
“Three bandits, what do you think?”
“Alright, got it. Let’s go to the church next.”
Obviously, their occupation assigned them with the task of acting directly. In this country, that was definitely not the Huaxia, doctors and policemen were able to gain a fair share of respect. However, for the other three– a so-called archaeologist, a hidden radical cult believer, and a killer… Tsk, tsk…