Baia pushed the wheelchair with a troubled expression, while Jason looked dazed as she pushed him. To cover up his beautiful tail, his legs were covered with a light brown blanket, making him look like an elderly lady.
"So why not just cover your face too!" Dick raised a mask at one point.
The red-headed merman looked like he wanted to kill someone for a moment, but he just took a deep breath and covered his face.
"Why did things turn out like this?" Baia complained to the system. "Look, we're supposed to go to the bar to gather clues, but we're bringing along a disabled person and a elementary school student. Actually, I think Dick could go alone, after all, he's the most normal one among us."
System: I think the most withdrawn person right now should be Tim... oh, and Bruce too, and Red Hood, and Damian, and you. So it's fine!
The sign of the Emerald Bird Bar also had a green bird on it, and it wasn't too crowded in the afternoon. People whispered in groups of two or three at the booths, and the bartender wiped glasses at the slightly old-fashioned black marble counter.
"Hey, Corkie," Dick greeted the bartender as he walked in, knowing him from the background, "How's it going today?"
"Same old, same old," Corkie raised an eyebrow, "What can I get you?"
"I mainly have something to ask you," Dick said, patting his wallet, only to find a crumpled $5 bill inside, awkwardly pulling his hand back, then casting a pleading look at the others.
Bruce's credit was only 9, as poor as Dick, so he just shrugged. But Baia immediately understood what he meant, taking out a stack of bills from her bag and putting it on the counter. Dick clicked his tongue lightly, and Baia smiled.
Well, she was just an ordinary rich woman with a credit of 60.
Corkie took the money and glanced at the group, visibly taken aback when he saw Jason. Since Damian was too short to be seen over the counter, Corkie only prepared four drinks. He only gave her a glass of milk when Damian protested.
Because of the lighting, various colored liquors floated with a shimmering glow, and Bruce stared at the glass of milk for a while. The faint smell made him frown. Corkie seemed oblivious to the spoiled milk, and for now, he decided not to ask.
Tim: "You guys noticed the milk has gone bad."
Damian: "Is that it?"
"Dick, Bruce, Baia," Tim calmly added, "Now, make an Insight check."
Baia, 64/60, failed. Bruce, 88/45, failed. Dick, 11/80, succeeded.
"So, you notice that the glass of milk is... glowing. It's a color that's hard to describe, sometimes flowing in the liquid, sometimes disappearing, making you wonder if it's just an illusion caused by the light."
Dick finally managed to tear his gaze away from the glass, looking up. He found that something seemed off about Corkie's features, but he couldn't pinpoint where this sense of displacement came from. Everything seemed to be in the right place, but the bartender seemed to be pieced together from something, and that strange feeling made him shudder.
Tim silently conducted the first Sanity check of this game—sancheck, abbreviated as sc. If you lose too much sanity in a short period of time, or if your total sanity is too low, you'll go insane.
"So, due to the strange scene in front of you, you lose 1d3=3 sanity points."
Baia: "Just when I thought only Dick escaped..."
System: Well, it's just a drop in sanity, no big deal.
Baia: "Can Canary recover sanity points?"
System: Of course she can, but don't forget, this is an illusion, and you're not a canary. Just like how Bruce is only a private detective, that would be cheating.
After hesitating for a moment, Baia temporarily gave up on the idea of using skills. After all, if she were discovered by the five-dimensional creature, she didn't know what the other party would do.
"Has anything strange happened recently?" Baia sat down at the bar, while Dick stood still, seemingly still in shock, and unable to stabilize his emotions.
Corkie casually replied, "Strange things happen every day. Do you think he's strange?"
The bartender pointed at Jason.
Jason's anger rose from his heart, and he suddenly stood up from the wheelchair.
"Wow, you're not crippled?" Corkie retreated in fright.
Tim shouted, "Watch your character! Big red!"
Bruce blocked Jason for a moment, gesturing for him to sit back down. After a standoff, Jason compromised with the thought of not arguing with him because Batman had turned into a woman.
"Tim, make a Charisma check."
"Bruce, Bruce, how can you be so depraved? Do you only think of relying on your looks when there's a problem?" Tim lamented.
Bruce: "Yeah."
72/85, success.
Leaning against the bar, Bruce lifted her eyelashes slightly, exuding an innate elegance and charm in every gesture and movement. She flashed a smile that could enchant anyone, "So, what's been happening lately?"
Corkie's gaze became puzzled for a moment. "Well, nothing much, just that the plants on the streets are growing wild, and the animals are unusually large. Although Gotham Harbor is a freight port, there are still some scattered fishermen making a living there. Now... no one goes there anymore because the fish there are all strange."
"What about people?" Baia asked, "How are the people?"
"This is Gotham, everyone is not quite normal," Corkie said, "Just the same as usual. But if you want to know more, go find the doctor at the Emerald Bird Street clinic, maybe he knows something."
"Hey, Bruce, didn't expect to see you here," Baia was lost in thought when a blonde woman approached and greeted Bruce.
"Erika," Bruce checked his character data and found that the other party was an old acquaintance he met during his internship at GCPD, and he relaxed a bit.
"You still haven't given up on the case around here?" Erika asked.
Bruce nodded, "I must find out the truth."
"I've got some clues," Erika smiled, "Let's have a drink, and I'll tell you after we finish."
The few of them looked at each other, but regardless, it seemed like they would have to drink to get the information.
Bruce rolled for Constitution to determine if he would get drunk, 65/55, failure.
After a few glasses of whiskey, the world spun.
"Remember... tell me what you find," Bruce's eyelids grew heavier and heavier, grabbing Erika's hand, then he slumped over the bar and fell asleep.
Erika looked a bit regretful, "But I haven't had enough to drink yet."
"Let me try!" The next one to step forward was Dick.
68/45, failure. The young writer also collapsed on the bar.
Only the weak writer with a Constitution of 45, who gave you the courage to challenge an NPC to a drinking contest! Jason sighed and sat down in front of Erika.
"Wait, you need to roll a credit check first to see if Erika wants to drink with you."
"You've been targeting me from the start, Timothy Drake," Jason called him by his full name, "Just roll."
55/55, barely successful.
"It's time to end this," Jason picked up the glass of vodka and downed it in one go.
Constitution check, 98/75, critical failure.
Jason not only followed in Bruce and Dick's footsteps, but he even fared worse, falling off the seat and hitting his head.
Erika's gaze fell on Baia with a complex expression, "Want a drink?"
"Sure," Baia gritted her teeth, seemingly never having touched any alcohol in her memory.
Constitution check, 19/60, success.
The spicy taste burned her throat, and just as Baia was choking, Erika laughed cheerfully, almost writing "I'm happy to bully you" on her face.
"Alright, little sister," Erika pulled out a folder and handed it to Baia, "Here are all the files I've investigated. Give it to Bruce. But, I don't recommend you continue to be involved in this. The farther away you can get, the better."
"Something's not right," Baia nodded, squinting suspiciously, "Why is she so well-prepared, as if she knew someone would need this information? I thought I could only get some oral information, can I analyze her psychologically?"
Psychological checks are hidden rolls, meaning the GM won't tell you the result whether it's successful or not.
"Okay," Tim said, "You analyzed Erika psychologically, and when you looked into her eyes, she looked away, a bit unnatural, as if she had a heavy heart, but when it came to the information, she wasn't lying."
After bidding farewell to Erika, Baia and Damian decided to take the drunken Batman and two birds out of the bar.
"This is so embarrassing," Damian muttered.
"Yeah." Baia helped Jason, who had a head injury and was still unconscious, onto the wheelchair. Then she stacked Dick and Bruce on top of him. Ignoring the stares of everyone present, she pushed the cart of birds out of the bar without looking back.
Meanwhile, Damian stopped at the door and noticed Erika answering a phone call.
Listening check, 5/80, critical success.
"Let's just go straight to the clinic," Damian folded his arms, "It shouldn't be far from here, and we can see if there's any sobering medicine to wake up my... aunt and these two dorks. Do you speak Spanish? I heard Erika answering a phone call just now, but it was in Spanish. I memorized the pronunciation."
"I speak a little," Baia replied.
"Then help me figure out what this sentence means—"
"You seem to have misunderstood," Baia interrupted Damian, "I said I speak one language fluently."
The initial value was just one language, and Damian went silent.