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Completed [LP CYOA] I'm a High Tech Hobo Who Stumbled into Another World While Out Scavenging For Parts

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Hey dude, have you ever ended anyone before? Hell, how good are you in a scrap?

What the hell, you with the patrol? Trying to get me to incriminate myself? I'm not so dumb as to answer that question.

So it looks like there's more support for the arena, can't say I wasn't curious about it myself. Reminds me of those cockfighting rings Crusty Chez used to run, except the cock's much bigger and powered by magic, I guess I'll let you guys know when I get there, but first I'm going to need to hitch a ride with a merchant wagon. Probably'll need to take a shower before I do, unfortunately.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
Hey dude, have you ever ended anyone before? Hell, how good are you in a scrap?

What the hell, you with the patrol? Trying to get me to incriminate myself? I'm not so dumb as to answer that question.

So it looks like there's more support for the arena, can't say I wasn't curious about it myself. Reminds me of those cockfighting rings Crusty Chez used to run, except the cock's much bigger and powered by magic, I guess I'll let you guys know when I get there, but first I'm going to need to hitch a ride with a merchant wagon. Probably'll need to take a shower before I do, unfortunately.
Don't forget to shave.

Love, mom.
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
It's a pity we never did go through with that. I wonder what would happen if we were ever to do a second run through legend. Would it turn out better or worse? I suspect both, somehow.

First, beg/scrounge some cash and go to a bathhouse to freshen up so you actually look somewhat presentable. Then go to the arena and use your phone's abilities to get a job as a gambling bookie. Show off your amazing "memorization" and "calculation" savant skills (read: use the fucking phone) to get a job. I feel like working the arena's a much better bet than the adventurer guild to get in touch with actually skilled people, and it spares you the indignity of stupid errands like being asked to kill rats in a basement or something. And as a gambling bookie it shouldn't be hard to learn about the various ways people evaluate the capabilities of others.

Alternatively, start a doom cult preaching that the world is corrupt, foul, and sinful, that the day of reckoning shall soon be upon us, and that the demon king is a divine punishment sent to purge an unjust world of its sin. It's time to embrace our inner hobo street preacher and wear a giant wooden sign saying "THE END IS NIGH" and "Ask me about the upcoming end of the world!"
 
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treave

Arcane
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Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Arena City

I’m not sure what good laxatives will do, but I traded for a pack anyway in exchange for patching up the cart on the way. Electronics aren’t the only thing in my bag of skills. When you live in nothing but a cardboard box, you pick up the bare essentials needed. Thankfully, the carts in this world, despite being powered by magic, still operated on the basic principle of the wheel and axle.

The trip was long but uneventful. No bandits stood in our path, no dragon randomly swooped in to attack. I also finished a speech to text engine based on the language samples of the merchant and his crew. Here’s the first test run of the program:

“Hey you. You’re finally awake.”

I opened my eyes and looked around the cart I was riding. A shabby, rather rickety affair, weighed down by the goods that the merchant was ferrying to the arena city of Onmusfall. The city itself could be seen in the distance now, a grey, drab dome dominating its silhouette.

Glancing back at the guard who had spoken to me, I croaked hoarsely, “How much further?” Sleep had left my throat dry, and I croaked not out of any sense of dramatism but from physiological need.

The guard stared at me as if looking at a madman, a gleam of fear in his eyes.

“An hour or so to go. Uh, why are you talking to yourself?” said the guard in a shrill, papery voice.

“My voice is not papery, whatever that means,” he quavered.

“Look, just cut that out.”

The guard made a snort of annoyance at my narration.

“If you want to narrate things, go be a bard.”

Binglebangle banglebingle clop clop clop gzzzzzt.

And there you have it, that is how it works. Still a bit buggy at the moment, but at least it works. Unfortunately it is merely a speech-to-text engine for now. I’ll try hooking it up to the image sensor so that I don’t have to narrate everything I encounter out loud.

The merchant dropped me off at the entrance of the city. I guess this is where I’ll be starting my new life, for now. The first thing I did was to hit up the arena registration counter, since this was why I came here, after all.

As it turns out, I wouldn’t be able to afford to register as an independent entry even if I wanted to. All participants needed to provide a permanent workshop address somewhere in the city, which I don’t have, and needed a license in the operation of one of these magic armors for the arena, which I also don’t have.

Well, I wasn’t really adamant on becoming a robot gladiator anyway. What I want first and foremost is to get my hands on the tech. That’s the fun part, right?

To achieve that, my best bet is to get a job as a mechanic. The workshops in the city mostly belong to a few big gladiator guilds. This is what I found out about them:

Iron Gauntlet. The oldest guild in Onmusfall, whose leader practically founded the city a couple centuries back. They have pedigree and prestige and clout. Which means it’ll probably be hard to accept some random hobo who knows very little about magic armor – although I do know a fair bit about powered suits of the normal, technological variant – walking in and asking for a job.

Demon’s Tongue. The biggest guild in the city, even if it is one of the younger guilds. They own the most affiliated workshops here, and are said to have almost limitless funding. Of course, as with most rich folk, they get badmouthed for their money and are suspected of being wealthy through dubious means. I totally get it. They are big and have standards, but given how big they are, maybe there are a few workshops of theirs which are more lax in their employment criteria.

Divine Hammer. A large guild associated with the church of the land. I haven’t bothered really looking into the religious aspect of this world so I have no idea what they worship. They’re average in size and reputation. It seems that they are willing to hire anyone poor enough, or at least looks poor enough, so I think I might have a good shot.

The Junkyard. A scavenger’s guild that makes its living from cobbling together armors for cheap from the scrapheap, and then renting them out to gladiator wannabes for a fee. Obviously, they are a guild that doesn’t know what the word victory is, even if you pointed it out in a dictionary. They know the word profit very well, though. I should be able to get in just by looking like scrap myself, I think?

Scarlet Queens. A famous female guild, apparently full of pretty women. Boasts of having the reigning arena champion, but they don’t have a lot of workshops around. Hey, maybe they might make an exception for my good hobo looks?

Besides that, there are also quite a number of independent workshops, underdog teams that are of lesser repute. Perhaps I might have an interesting encounter or two if I apply for one of those workshops. It would also help me keep a lower profile. Just in case, you see.
 

Baltika9

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Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
I'd go with the Iron Gauntlet. It would be best to get a formal education before we start innovating in their technology. Just keep your nose clean and show up to work on time. Easy, yeah?

“Hey you. You’re finally awake.”

I opened my eyes and looked around the cart I was riding. A shabby, rather rickety affair, weighed down by the goods that the merchant was ferrying to the arena city of Onmusfall. The city itself could be seen in the distance now, a grey, drab dome dominating its silhouette.
images
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I’m not sure what good laxatives will do, but I traded for a pack anyway in exchange for patching up the cart on the way.
I hope Azira finds a good use for them.

Demon’s Tongue. The have the most widespread network, which means it'd be easier to slip through the cracks, and everyone already half-expects them to be involved in something shady, so you'll fit right in.
“If you want to narrate things, go be a bard.”
Doesn't a hobo fill the same jack-of-all-trades role the bards usually do?
Since our smartphone can play music, I bet we qualify for one.
 

lightbane

Arcane
Joined
Dec 27, 2008
Messages
10,156
I also finished a speech to text engine based on the language samples of the merchant and his crew.

Truly a tech-savvy, multi-purpose hobo. Were you always a hobo, or did you have a job before?

Thankfully, the carts in this world, despite being powered by magic

What a waste of magic.

All participants needed to provide a permanent workshop address somewhere in the city, which I don’t have, and needed a license in the operation of one of these magic armors for the arena, which I also don’t have.

So, power armored gladiators? Cool.

Iron Gauntlet. The oldest guild in Onmusfall

Onmusfall? Don't you mean "one must fall"?

– although I do know a fair bit about powered suits of the norm

how did a hobo get this knowledge?

Demon’s Tongue. The biggest guild in the city, even if it is one of the younger guilds. They own the most affiliated workshops here, and are said to have almost limitless funding. Of course, as with most rich folk, they get badmouthed for their money and are suspected of being wealthy through dubious means. I totally get it. They are big and have standards, but given how big they are, maybe there are a few workshops of theirs which are more lax in their employment criteria.

Isekai worlds are never subtle, so these are bad news for sure. OF course, church-related entities are always evil, especially those with Christian themes (worse, finding a holy church in a JApanese setting that IS NOT vaguely Christian is a hard task).

I vote for:

The Junkyard.

We're here not to win, but to learn how to make these beauties ourselves.
 

Baltika9

Arcane
Joined
Jun 27, 2012
Messages
9,611
The more I think about this situation, the less confident I become in the benefits that the major guilds can provide us. If we start at a big organization, how much and how quickly will they be willing to teach us about making these suits? They are bound to have a rank structure of some sort, as all medieval guilds did, and we will begin as the local equivalent of an apprentice. This means that we will get the most shit jobs and won't be allowed to even look at a manual for a functional suit of armor for quite some time.
I'm starting to think that going unorthodox and meeting Master Zhang free market may be our best bet to learn how to make these things quickly and well enough.
Right now I’m in the capital of this place called the Kingdom (soon to be Republic, if you believe Dirk) of Syagrius.
Did you hear anything about a gentleman by the name of Clovis walking riding about? Or a great empire that fell recently?
 

Azira

Arcane
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Joined
Nov 3, 2004
Messages
8,519
Location
Copenhagen, Denmark
Codex 2012
A hobo who knows to spout religious nonsense is something to watch out for.
I say try your luck with the Divine Hammer.
Also, those laxatives will be useful shortly. I can feel it in my jellies.
 

Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
I mean, come on, guys. Junk will always be around. Pretty women disappear the moment you stop following them around, it is well known
 

Absinthe

Arcane
Joined
Jan 6, 2012
Messages
4,062
Could you gather some information on how the Divine Hammer operates, their religion, how Scarlet Queens treat men, and whether they actually need someone with our skillset? And what can we tell about the underdog teams?

Also, is working as a gambling bookie an option?
 
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Tigranes

Arcane
Joined
Jan 8, 2009
Messages
10,350
Jokes aside, yeah, it'll be easiest to get into less centralised ones that aren't top dog in the area, and could use a hand with whatever.

I actually think Scarlet could be a good pick if they don't haev many workshops around - a stranger with gee whiz tricks would provide them with the technical nous that they clearly lack compared to all their competitors. Junkyard is my second choice, because they would probably take us in, but they also have a lot of folks doing what we do.
 

treave

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Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
The religious freaks? Can't say they look any different from your typical bookhuggers to me. They've got sacred texts, a bunch of gods, that's all I could figure out. Working at one of their workshops is one thing, but going into a temple? No fucking way. I've got enough bad experiences with those.

As for the Scarlet Queens, seems that they have some male workers there, but it's rare. Also they seem to prefer picking ugly men. Guess that rules me out, but no harm trying, eh? Doesn't seem that they're treated badly, though I couldn't really find out more. The men working there are pretty secretive.

When it comes to the small, independent workshops, there's really only one that stood out to me this past week. Some down-on-his-luck former champion running a glory-days-gone-by shack of a workshop. Haven't paid him a visit though, clearly he's not going to be able to pay well compared to the bigger guilds.

I did check out the gambling scene. It's cornered by something called the Nine Toes. Apparently you need to cut off a toe to join or something, I didn't ask that much because I don't want to get close to anything that'll make me lose bodily appendages. Trying to make a nice cybernetic limb in this world would suck so much fucking ass.

As for my previous job? Shit, I'd have to tell you, but then I'd have to kill you. Except I can't, so I won't. Ha. Ha.

Anyway, looks like most people prefer the Junkyard?
 

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