Psychonauts After: Code Name: Alias Undercover

[LaserShark]

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My second attempt at an adventure. Trying a different style, seeing what works. Any helpful comments would be hugely appreciated.

You wake up.

Well. This is new. You're inexplicably in what seems to be a giant cave filled with glowing pinkish-purple crystals. You can't say you're too pleased with the whole situation, to be honest. It's also frikkin' cold in here, though your despised frog pajamas are holding in at least some heat.



Before you can assess your situation further, a spotlight of some kind turns on above you. It seems to search the cave until it finds you and locks on. Moments later, you hear a loudspeaker crackle to life:

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??: Hey! You there! What in tarnation are ya doin' down there? Ain't nobody supposed to be here!
YOU: I'm... not sure.
??: ...okay, then. For starters, why don't you tell me your name? And, uh... not to be rude or anythin', but seein' as I can't tell because of those adorable jammies... you a boy or a girl?

The twice-damned humiliating jammies. They will pay for this slight. Well... you still have to wear them. Obviously. But still.

Anyway, the unseen watcher, who sounds like an old, old man, is waiting for your response. What do you say?

[Random User]

>Be named Jizmack.
>Be male.

[whatpumpkiin]

>Rali Aquato, Female.

[Andorxor]

>Melinda,female,rock star extraordinary.

[masterblade600]

Razputen The Second

[smuchmuch]

Psychonaut adventure ? Yes just yes

Girl, Carol Stilt and you hate your life (or at least you need to find yourself some new nightwear)

[LaserShark]

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Minor retcon re: protagonist's age. Doesn't really affect anything.

>Be named Jizmack.



Who does this freaky old guy think he is? Engage maximum snark!

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YOU: I am JIZMACK THE INSUFFERABLE, Scourge of the Underpants! Fear my wrath!
OLD GUY: ...now, what would you want to go and say a thing like that for? And here we were havin' a civil conversation and everything. Well! If you're going to be like that...

>Melinda,female,rock star extraordinary.
Girl, Carol Stilt and you hate your life

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OLD GUY: ...I'm gonna take a totally random shot in the dark here and guess... your initials are M. S. Heh. Am I gettin' warm?

...what? WHAT THE JEEBUS?! How did he know...? No, no, he can't possibly know your real name! That was just an incredibly lucky guess! Can't let it faze you... um... UH... PANIC! ALL HANDS ABANDON SNARK! ENGAGE FALLBACK PLAN ALPHA: USE YOUR INCREDIBLY COOL STAGE NAME!

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TOTALLY NOT MELINDA STILT: No! Ice cold! You're way off. My real name's Rally!
OLD GUY: Oh, really?

>Rali Aquato, Female.

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NOT MELINDA: Y-yeah! Rally... Rally Aquato.

...you just have no idea anymore. What kind of stupid name is Aquato? You always use Rally Strife! That's your kickass stage name! Oh, well, no choice now but to go with it.

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OLD GUY: ...well, now. That's a thing and no mistake.
RALLY: Is that good enough for you? Could you help me out of here now? It's freezing!
OG: ...hmm? Oh! Sure, sure. I'll come down and letcha out. May take me a while, though... not as young as I used ta be, heh. Tell ya what! You head towards the door, and I'll meet you there once I unlock it.

More lights turn on, one at a time. The last one illuminates a steel door high on the wall. Between here and there...

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RA: ...you've got to be kidding me.
OG: Oh, pipe down! A spry young lady like yourself should be able to get past all that in no time a'tall!
RA: I'm not even wearing socks, you know! Grr... fine.
OG: That's the spirit! Now to help pass the time, let's talk about how you got in here in the first place.
RA: I told you, I don't know.
OG: Uh huh. So, what do ya know? What were you doin' before you showed up here?
RA: Oh, let's see, no socks, incredibly embarrassing pajamas... what could I have been doing? I wonder!
OG: Respect yer elders, missy! Okay, so you were sleepin'.
RA: Yeah.
OG: Dreamin'?
RA: Uh... yeah, actually.
OG: What about?

Yeah... that was a weird dream, come to think of it. It's getting fuzzy, like most dreams do, but you remember it was in a really strange place... what was it again?

-=-=-=-=-
Author's Note:

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I hope that last picture isn't too ugly to figure out. Basically it's a crystalline obstacle course between Rally and the door.

[Askia]

riding your tricycle down the local highway

[Tren]

Ride your psychic levitation ball across everything.

[Wessolf27]

Rally: Be dreaming about your time with your baking company mogul of a mother.

[LaserShark]

>riding your tricycle down the local highway
>Be dreaming about your time with your baking company mogul of a mother.



{YOU HAVE GAINED : DREAM PROJECTION (Latent)}

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RA: It was... really weird. I was going down this highway, that went into... uh... a giant cake. Except I knew it was really my mom's bakery.
OG: That's not so weird, as dreams go.
RA: Yeah, except my mom never had a bakery. My mom never... well, she never had a bakery. It all felt... I dunno... like I was out of place.
OG: Heh! That's every mornin' when I wake up, for me! Didja go in the cake?

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RA: Yeah... inside it was all roads and cars and factory buildings... but inside a cake. I was going to look in one of the buildings, but this weird little jerk suddenly showed up, wearing a business suit and a chef's hat. For no reason he hit me with this big sign he was carrying around! I thought dreams weren't supposed to hurt!
OG: So whatdja do? Stand there and cry like a big baby froggie?
RA: Hell no! I gave him a taste of his own medicine.
OG: Good for you! How'd you do it?

Yeah, it's coming back to you. That little creep tried to hit you again, so you...

-=-=-=-=-=-
Author's Note:

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Perspective is hard! Let's go shopping! Also I have no idea why the first picture's larger than the second.

[Andorxor]

>Turned into a 30 foot heigh monster and ate him

[Wessolf27]

>and then you explored more of the place as said monster

[smuchmuch]

You brought down the hammer on him !
No honestly, a loaf of bread shaped hammer appeared in your hands all of a sudden, it was weird.

[atomicHonk]

>Used black magic and caused him to spontaneously combust.

[LaserShark]

Working on an update; doing the art's turning out really tiring, at least for right now, and my natural laziness tends to take hold. I'm planning three pics for this one, but I can't really reuse any assets between them so it'll likely be tomorrow. Also, CURSE YOU HANDS, MY ETERNAL NEMESIS.

[LaserShark]

...update will be a little later than anticipated, as I just wiped out a good hour's worth of relatively decent work and must now go bash my head against a wall. (Why does an 'Undo All' button even exist? WHY? And right next to the regular Undo! And without any kind of confirmation! Kill me now.)

[LaserShark]

>Turned into a 30 foot heigh monster and ate him



{YOU HAVE GAINED : AMPLIFY ID (Latent)}

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RA: Well, I... no, it's... it's kinda embarrassing to talk about...
OG: Come on, don't wimp out on me now!
RA: Well... I remembered this trick I learned in another dream... I kind of... concentrated really hard and this huge giant monster thing just appeared out of nowhere! It did everything I told it to, so I had it smash the bejeebers out of that little twerp.
OG: Ah, called in the reinforcements, didja? Bet someone like that would be handy for moving furniture, too!

You brought down the hammer on him !
No honestly, a loaf of bread shaped hammer appeared in your hands all of a sudden, it was weird.



{YOU HAVE GAINED : WEAPONIZE FIGMENT}

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RA: ...sure. Anyway, it was hard to keep concentrating too long, and the giant went away just as a bunch of other little jerks showed up.
OG: Sounds like bad timing. Whatdja do?
RA: I... c'mon, is this really that important? It's just a messed-up dream! Let me just get through this stupid obstacle course so I can get out of here.
OG: Oh, but I'm just a poooor oooold maaaan, I hardly ever get any visitors! Especially such a pleasant and polite young lady such as yerself. Why, if I'm not going to have the pleasure of your company, I may as well go back upstairs to bed...
RA: You wouldn't dare! UGH. FINE. Look, there were these little... pictures floating around, okay? I grabbed one that looked like a loaf of bread... or maybe it was a car, I'm not sure. I figured I'd bean 'em if they got too close. Only the next moment, I was holding it like a real weapon, like a warhammer or something. It had the bread on one side, and... this is stupid... a miniature highway for the handle.
OG: I see... what'dja call it? The RYEWAY? The INTERSTATE FRUITCAKE? Oh, I know! The AUTO-BUN! Hee hee hee!
RA: ...
OG: A-heh... aaahhh... kids these days got no appreciation.
RA: You done?
OG: I guess I am. Oh, and mind the gap up ahead.
RA: The... oh. Wow. That's... that's a long jump. I don't think I can make that.
OG: Sure you can! You just gotta believe!
RA: It doesn't work like that! Gravity doesn't care what you believe! I mean... I'd have to jump... then jump AGAIN just to make it! And nobody can do that!
OG: Just trust me, okay? It's not as far as it looks.
RA: ...you'd better be right... here goes!
OG: There you... whoops, careful.

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RA: Oof!
OG: There you go! See? That wasn't so hard!
RA: Huhhhh... that... did I hit something? In midair?
OG: Come on, down that ladder.
RA: But... meh. Never mind.
OG: And get back to the story! So I guess you beat up the new arrivals?
RA: Yeah, and I found a big door, too. Looked important, so I was going to go in. When I got close, though, a whole bunch more of them showed up, and this time they had cars with guns and cookie-wheels!
OG: Not the cookie-wheels!
RA: The dreaded cookie-wheels!
OG: Save us from the okay, this is gettin' silly. So did you monster out again?
RA: I couldn't concentrate enough, and my bread hammer thing wasn't going to help. I didn't want to get forced away from the door, so I had to protect myself until I could call in the big guy again.
RA: Lucky for me, I knew another trick...

And that defensive, non-mobile ability was...?

[Andorxor]

>Summoning bigger fish

[Wessolf27]

>Creating a giant rabbit hole below the guards with cars and cookie-wheels.

[zyborg]

"trick door". Summon door, enter, close door, have it fall on the ground.

[Lucidity]

>Levitation AoE (things within let's say 25 ft of you are pulled into the air and just held there, unable to move unless they can already fly)

[LaserShark]

>Levitation AoE (things within let's say 25 ft of you are pulled into the air and just held there, unable to move unless they can already fly)



{YOU HAVE GAINED : TELEKINETIC BARRIER (Latent)}

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RA: All I had to do was concentrate... well, concentrate a different way... and I could put up a wall between me and the little jerks. Anything that got too close - like their bombs or the jerks themselves - would get held in midair, or at least move as slow as molasses!
OG: Molasses, huh?
RA: What?
OG: Oh, nothin', nothin'. So, uh... what flavor of molasses?
RA: Huh? Oh, uh... ch... cheese flavored.
OG: Cheese flavored molasses.
RA: Cheese... and... jalapeno?
OG: You have no idea what molasses is, do you?
RA: It's just a saying! Jeez!
OG: All right, all right. Go on.

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RA: ANYWAY, that bought me some time until I could call in help and rip that door open. It was dark inside, though. Real dark.
RA: I could barely make out anything around me. None of those guards came after me, and it was dead silent. The further I went in, the more I started to feel like someone was watching me.
RA: And I was right. Boy, was I ever right.
RA: I couldn't get a good look at it, but it had one giant red eye, staring at me. I just... had to get away from it!
OG: You didn't wanna stand and fight?
RA: I just couldn't! It's dumb, I know, but...
OG: Hey, dreams sometimes have weird rules like that. Nothin' to be ashamed of. So you ran?
RA: Running wasn't good enough. I had to do everything I could just to get away...

That's right. You even did that one thing. You know the thing! The mobility thing where...

[zyborg]

>you used a trick door, like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons where you can put a door anywhere and enter it, but when you close it, nobody else can open it since it OBVIOUSLY LEADS TO THE WALL OR WHEREVER YOU PUT IT, DUH.

[youdont12know]

>you used a trick door, like in the Bugs Bunny cartoons where you can put a door anywhere and enter it, but when you close it, nobody else can open it since it OBVIOUSLY LEADS TO THE WALL OR WHEREVER YOU PUT IT, DUH.

I like this ability, except it'll always put you in an even bigger predicament