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In which the extent of the problem is revealed
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In a pediatrician's office overlooking sunny autumn San Diego, there's a portal.

The DRT agents securing the portal are slightly sweaty and kind of pissed, as they had to walk up three sets of god-damn stairs in battle rattle while also carrying up the standard equipment.  One of them is opining that they ought to have a generator they could use to run the elevator while power's out.

They wind up staging most of their equipment in the hallway outside of the pediatrician's office.  But hey, waste not, want not: instead of a shitty DRT-standard curtain-and-cot setup guiding tent, Overcoat and her local guide get an entire exam room to themselves!  There's still a DRT-standard cot, though.  Some things never change.

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It's better than the exam beds, especially as those are sized for children. 

Marginally better.

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Carol's been dead on her feet since her last dungeon.  She's perfectly happy to flop in this cot and support Overcoat in her role as a buff dispenser.

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It is appreciated. And she's welcome to get some sleep.

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Meanwhile here is another esper to do recon!

What do they have so far from the camera-onna-stick?

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Not much.  They've confirmed that it's safe to walk into, and that it's a very neat and clean, brightly-lit room with several human-sized pods in it.  (No humans, of course.)  They've confirmed via a teleporting sensor that there are no ongoing psychic effects.  They have a partial map(RIP, remote mapping drones, your sacrifice will not be forgotten) available to her here.

The main concern is that there will be psychic issues akin to No-Face, a psychic dungeon that inflicted psychic face-blindness.  This was the early days, and there were several deaths to dungeon monsters and subsequent blue-on-blue incidents before humanity wisened up.

Because of this, they're planning on using a psychic esper, Lampshade, to confirm humanity.  Her partner Stash will assist with evacuation as necessary, and their collective partner, Lancet, will provide security.

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Detecting minds is one of her specialties! And she's already got some experience under her belt now regarding how the knock-off DRT feel different from actual humans, so kidnappees shouldn't be too hard to verify.

Her psychic sensing can cover a decent area, so Lampshade's hoping she won't have to roam too far from the entrance and can stick by Stash and Lancet.

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Stash's area of strength is really more in the "storing and retrieving hand-tool-sized-widgets" domain, but what can you do. He's brought along a whole book of sudoku puzzles, a Rubik's cube, and a jar of toothpicks, in hopes he will have any eyelashes left at the end of this.

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Lancet is honestly more here to keep these two dumbasses on task even while backlashed than she is to stab anything. But if anything needs stabbing, well. She's got that covered too.

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"Right this way, folks.  I assume you're briefed on Overcoat's power and the dungeon in general?"  An apologetic look flickers across the operative's face.  She's doing her best to convey 'I gotta ask this every time, even though you know what you're doing' to the four espers on the team.

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Lampshade gestures to Stash and Lancet alongside herself. "We're up on the basics, but if there's anything emergent in the last hour or so we might have missed it."

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"I've been briefed, yes."

She appreciates having an actual sensor as support on this. She can cheat a little by noticing that something is trying and failing to notice her but that is sort of a hack.

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Cheerful thumbs-up.  "Awesome.  You know how it is...Overcoat's in here.  Just poke her and we'll let you have at it."

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Lampshade appreciates having actual stealth as support on this! She can cheat a little by making herself really hard to notice, but only if she notices them first, so it's kindof a hack.

Onwards to poking!

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She is available for poking espers plus accompanying DRT personnel.

"Good luck out there."

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Carol offers a lazy thumbs-up but doesn't deign to open her eyes.  She had a long day.

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Alright. Now under Overcoat's protection, she heads into the portal and slowly expands her sensory radius.

Anyone paying attention to anything around here?

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There's a few.  It seems that three creatures have heard her and are coming closer.  They're just doing their due dilligence, patrolling their h͇͓̏ͤ͜o̠̼̫̰͐͆̓͌ͯ̿̈́̅͋͢ͅm̸̯͎͎̓́ͬ͡e.

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Nothing to see here folks! Completely uninteresting things going on right by the portal here!

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Stash isn't far behind her. Seeing her alarm, he takes her hand. He can't tell just how many of them she's someone-else's-problem-fielding them from and there's no sense in risking her getting dazed and losing track.

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Lancet, following behind, takes up a guard position. If any of those shits get too close she will rip them a new one. ...do they even have one to begin with? Possibly an entirely new one. She'll rip them, is the point.

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"Right, so how are we playing this? I'm on scout duty, anyone else coming with?"

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"If you want an escort, I think I'm it."

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"We'll stay in touch to try and guide you towards vics and away from monsters. I'll be following your progress on your camera feeds so that I can pull people out once you get to them."

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"Haven't found any humans yet. There's three monsters all within a 60 meter radius of us. If you're okay with it, it's easier for me to ping your attention directly in the direction from you the monsters are, rather than trying to words it."

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"Yeah, if that's easier for you it's fine."

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