Entry #1
Dear Diary,
Oh, where should I begin? Well, I guess I should begin with introductions. Hi, New Diary! Old Diary was unfortunately a bit too crumpled to write comfortably in. I'll try to straighten it out later, or maybe transcribe some of the pages here.
As for why poor Old Diary received such a harsh treatment... Well, remember how I said I was searching for a bore crew to take me with them on an adventure? Well, I got my wish, but not how I expected. Instead of finding a bore, a bore found me. By which I mean I was violently kidnapped while wandering around the streets. Haha, yeah, I guess I should be careful what I wish for.
I was ambushed, tied up and beaten rather badly (I'm still sore in places and my head still hurts, but thankfully nothing is broken) and then taken to an unknown location and forced to choose a bore I wanted to travel in. The choices were Industrial Bore (strong, good at drilling), Military Bore (armed and armoured, good at shooting) and Nomad Bore (quick, big and somewhat good at drilling). I chose the Military Bore (because I would prefer to have armour between me and wherever we're going) but it turns out this was a secret vote and I was outvoted. Most of the other abductees (yes, there are others) chose the Nomad Bore. It turns out this was a good idea, since it was the fastest. Because next thing I knew I had an Ethral Explosive Collar around my neck with the timer set to 24 hours.
The feeling of having your life constantly threatened is terrible. Oh, how I would love to be able to just forget about it. But it's so tight and so heavy and I don't know if it's my imagination but I think I can feel it ticking, vibrating. It's impossible to fully ignore it. This trip would have been everything I ever wanted if it wasn't for that thing. But I can't help thinking, "What if I accidentally jostle it while I sleep? What if the mechanism is faulty? What if...?"
<There is a scribble of a cartoonish corven looking at the giant collar around her neck with alarm. Right below it is a cartoonish explosion with a great big boom in its centre.>Our captors explained that the only way to remove the collar was to complete the job before the time limit. And that job was to make our way to some ruins west of Mason and retrieve a certain Relic, a black sphere filled with inextinguishable fire. (I'm pretty sure that means it's an Antediluvian Artifact of some sort. I bet it would make a great Lamp for reading at night, though I'm pretty sure that's not why they want it.). And that if we did anything to displease them, they could remotely detonate our collars.
<There is a crude map of the location of the ruins and its relation to the nearby settlements. There's a drawing of a circle with a stylized flame inside it with 'Objective' written next to it and an arrow connecting it to the ruins. There's also a drawing of a stylized drill with 'Our bore. NAME?' written next to it and an arrow pointing to right below Anvil.>I have no idea who those people are (church fanatics? some kind of cult? pirates?). I guess we'll find out more once we get to our destination. I think that object sounds familiar somehow. Maybe if I examine it it will help shine some light on why they want it that badly and by extension who they are.
However I do have an idea about why they chose us. The most obvious reason would be, they don't want to risk their own necks and want some slaves to take the risk for them, but I don't think it's as simple as that. From what I understand, most of us are people who wouldn't be missed if we were gone or people with very specific skills. (I think I belong to the first category, I don't think anybody from Goldshore will search for me in the other side of the Local Area. In fact, I don't think they even know who I am, they probably just saw an easy mark to pad out the crew.) So whatever that thing they want is, they want it badly enough to abduct people but they also want to hide its existence. (Perhaps to prevent any competitors from reaching it first?)
I mean, they have enough resources to acquire not one but THREE bores and yet with that kind of money they could probably hire a crew to do the job for them. Which makes you wonder what will happen to us when the job is done. Well, there's always the chance they are just using the collars to motivate us to get the job done and will just let us go, but I don't think the odds of that are very high. It's much more likely they'll try to cover their tracks once the artifact is theirs. The question is, what can we do about it? Perhaps we could contact someone who can help? But how to do that without them noticing? They are constantly watching us. Maybe some of the others can help. But first I have to decide who I can trust.
There are a lot of people in our crew. Around 20, by my count, and that's not counting the people our 'Employers' sent to keep us in check. It's a bit exciting, seeing so many people of such different races up close. I've been mostly travelling with Humans and Corven, it would be nice to learn more about the other races from experience. But on the other hand I'm not sure I should get friendly with them or even if I should approach them. For all I know, some of them might be working for our 'Employers' (yes, I'm going to put quotes around it every time until they pay us or let us go!) and secretly watching us to make sure we don't try anything. But, I can't live in fear of that. I have to try to make connections if I am to survive.
<There is text written in large 3d font. 'Golden Rule 4: Contacts and favours can be more valuable than money.' Below it there is more text in normal font 'Corollary: Contacts and favours are a commodity and can be traded.'>My first contact with them went well. I got them to introduce themselves (though I've already forgotten most of their names) and then got them to agree with my suggestion of following Journeyman's Path down to Mason. I'm currently in the bore's Control Room, which is near the top of the bore (woohoo! So exciting!). One of the Abducted called Vikkan (how the hell can humans pronounce these names!?) apparently has some experience as a driver. He's starting up the bore right now and he let me stay here and watch! He seems like a nice guy so far, but I'll wait until I've seen how he drives before I make a final judgement. After all, if I am to survive, we need to reach our destination as quickly as possible while remaining uninjured, so for now that is the highest priority. If he turns out to be icompetent, then I might need to find a way to convince the others to replace him. But I'm pleased with him so far, so that hopefully won't be necesssary.
<There's a crude drawing of a man with a handlebar mustache and a diagonal scar across his face fliping a lever while staring at some control station.>There's also other competent looking people here. There's a moleman called Frax (again with those unpronouncable names!) that looks like a pretty reasonable and pretty tough guy. I feel like I should stay close to him (prefferably behind him
). And yet I've heard the rumors about molement, so I'm not sure how safe getting too close to him will be. If the rumors ARE true, then hopefully he'll at least be wise enough to refrain from doing anything weird while we're on a life or death situation.
And then there's Adam (at last, a name I can pronounce!). He looks intelligent but he also looks like a church follower, so.... I don't know. Granted, MOST humans are church followers, but in this sort of situation being a church follower is somewhat suspicious. Then again, maybe the knowledge of the church will be nough to give us an edge in this situation. After all, their little black book is supposed to have all sorts of advice about the deep. (Note to self: try to get your hands on a black book. Legally, if possible.) I guess time will tell.
Whew! That was a long one, but a lot of things happened so I thought it best to catch you up.
Until next time,
Kara
Author
Topic: DIG: Heresy (Read 386087 times)