Schlock Mercenary VII: A T.A.D. Too Much Dialogue These Days

[factotum]

I figured that Schlock looked up what chemical they don't like, raided a supply store of that, and injects them on the go.

Why would he have needed to eat four of them to get that information?

[Xanyo]

We know how precise schlock's taste is. He figured out what chemical they react badly with by eating a few, and likely experimenting before digesting. He then just produced that chemical - he is evolved for chemical warfare after all.

[Max_Killjoy]

Schlock ate four of them, analyzed their neurochemistry, and found a compound that knocks them clean out. He's now able to synthesize that chemical on the fly.

If you don't know why he's able to do this, go back to the arc that takes place on his homeworld of Ghanj-Rho and the descriptions and depictions of how his species fights each other.

[Rockphed]

Is it just me, or does more information about Schlock simply make it more likely that we would nuke his planet from orbit just to be sure if we ever met things like him? He can digest things fast enough that within moments he is back to his blobby state, he can produce neuro-toxins at will, and he is practically impossible to kill. He is the grey goo scenario!

[Max_Killjoy]

Is it just me, or does more information about Schlock simply make it more likely that we would nuke his planet from orbit just to be sure if we ever met things like him? He can digest things fast enough that within moments he is back to his blobby state, he can produce neuro-toxins at will, and he is practically impossible to kill. He is the grey goo scenario!

Thus (new)Vog's reaction when seeing Schlock.

[HandofShadows]

he is practically impossible to kill.

With some weapons Schlock is near impossible to kill. With other weapons he dies rather easily. Plasma weapons, napalm or even a good flame thrower can really mess up any of his species.

[guttering flame]

With some weapons Schlock is near impossible to kill. With other weapons he dies rather easily. Plasma weapons, napalm or even a good flame thrower can really mess up any of his species.

What about the miniSchlocks in the coffee cups and of course, the shower heads?

[HandofShadows]

What about the miniSchlocks in the coffee cups and of course, the shower heads?

MiniShlocks have shown themselves not to be overly powerful or intelligent. Still dangerous, but then a person with a simple club can be dangerous as well.

[Ibrinar]

Open combat against Schlock is one thing but imagine if he just was in some city and his goal was simply to kill as many as possible. How would you even find someone who can kill peoples in their bathrooms and disappear again in minutes without ever having to be under open sky?

[Xanyo]

Pump amorph neurotoxins through the water supply, and tossing in some nannies to finish him off.

[Rockphed]

Pump amorph neurotoxins through the water supply, and tossing in some nannies to finish him off.

His death count would still rival all serial killers in the 19th and 20th centuries combined before people figured out what was happening. Remember Colonel Der Haas? The UNS still thinks that Petey killed him somehow.

[Onyavar]

P.S. I garuntee that some humans would go out of their way to work with the hypothetical drider aliens.

Which is why I mentioned 'ugly'. Those airbrush-sexy female driders that adorn the covers of way too many fantasy novels, or fetish ladies like Ursula from Arielle were not what I had in mind when I wrote my post.

In retrospect, I should have stuck simply with spiders to prevent any ambiguity, even though spiders aren't alien+horrible enough in their outlook. Hm maybe the bugs from startroopers.

[tonberrian]

Which is why I mentioned 'ugly'. Those airbrush-sexy female driders that adorn the covers of way too many fantasy novels, or fetish ladies like Ursula from Arielle were not what I had in mind when I wrote my post.

In retrospect, I should have stuck simply with spiders to prevent any ambiguity, even though spiders aren't alien+horrible enough in their outlook. Hm maybe the bugs from startroopers.

There's an internet rule, I'm unsure of the number, but everything is someone's fetish. Everything. Even that.

[Xanyo]

Which is why I mentioned 'ugly'. Those airbrush-sexy female driders that adorn the covers of way too many fantasy novels, or fetish ladies like Ursula from Arielle were not what I had in mind when I wrote my post.

In retrospect, I should have stuck simply with spiders to prevent any ambiguity, even though spiders aren't alien+horrible enough in their outlook. Hm maybe the bugs from startroopers.

There's an internet rule, I'm unsure of the number, but everything is someone's fetish. Everything. Even that.

There's other reasons to want to work with them, you know.
Even if they looked like this:

Spoiler

Show

sheer curiosity would make people enjoy working with them. Why work with boring old humans when you can work with aliens! I know I would seek them out.

[guttering flame]

So what if a few deviant humans are enamoured with the aliens bodies and more are motivated by curiosity and profit to cooperate. There will be plenty others out for their blood sludge. They're devil spawn, they smell funny, they took our jobs, we can't have them near our children. If we barely manage to coexist with our fellow humans we can't possibly peacefully coexist with these aliens.

[HandofShadows]

Ah, Ellen is in a bad way I think.

[PraetorDragoon]

That is not an answer Schlock likes.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

That is not an answer Schlock likes.

No, but there is a horrific kind of logic to it: "I don't want to live without the person I love, so I'll just get myself killed, and when my clone is decanted, she'll be able to be with him immediately instead of having to live like this".

GW

[Xanyo]

And the clone won't feel like their husband is a cheap copy that's missing a vital memory.

[keybounce]

Open combat against Schlock is one thing but imagine if he just was in some city and his goal was simply to kill as many as possible. How would you even find someone who can kill peoples in their bathrooms and disappear again in minutes without ever having to be under open sky?

You've just given me a great villain for the next RPG I run.

In fact, I will need to make him less of a killer; some way for the characters to catch up to him before he has destroyed half of the town/city/spaceport/continent.

[Rockphed]

You've just given me a great villain for the next RPG I run.

In fact, I will need to make him less of a killer; some way for the characters to catch up to him before he has destroyed half of the town/city/spaceport/continent.

Obviously he is killing a very specific set of people. At some point the characters should be able to figure out all the people in that set and put them under guard.

[guttering flame]

Obviously he is killing a very specific set of people. At some point the characters should be able to figure out all the people in that set and put them under guard.

But will they guard their A-holes when they're sitting in the loo? More to the point, Schlock leaves no evidence behind. He's sci fi Dexter.

[factotum]

Obviously he is killing a very specific set of people. At some point the characters should be able to figure out all the people in that set and put them under guard.

I remember playing a scenario like that once in an obscure RPG called Star Frontiers. The original idea was that a creature would escape from the zoo, run across town, and kill its keeper, who was in the local hospital. Myself and the other players didn't realise that, and made such an absolute pig's ear of stopping the creature that the DM seamlessly moved the campaign into a city-wide war.

[Rockphed]

So, who wants to bet that mr Tayler watched "The Princess Bride" right before he wrote this sequence?

[PraetorDragoon]

Schlock is the best asset of them all.

[Xanyo]

Can we have a round of smiles for Teff and Silksilver?

[Onyavar]

Be gentle, troops and doff the helmets.???

Really, after what happened with unexpected revivals on Oisri?

[HandofShadows]

The Red Hack is dead, remember? The new nanites will stop that sort of thing now. The question is why are these people reviving all by themselves? And what will Silksilver do when he/she learns the Mistress is not among the "dead".

[Grey_Wolf_c]

The question is why are these people reviving all by themselves?

Why wouldn't they? There is air and gravity and available materials. The nanites have always tried to bring people back if they could as soon as possible. Or have we been told that the de-weaponized version is not as aggressive at doing its job? I thought that part of the problem here was that a number of dead had been "made sure" and needed help coming back from dead-4 or whatever, but maybe there are people who are only dead-1 and don't need the extra help.

GW

[tonberrian]

Schlock continues to give Elf more assets than he initially said he had.