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Author Topic: Promontory [4/4]  (Read 14622 times)

Dread

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Promontory [4/4]
« on: July 01, 2019, 05:19:15 pm »

Promontory.
A young world orbiting two suns, its surface a pristine mask of green and blue. Seas swimming with fish, skies flitting with birds, forests rustling with the signs of beasts unseen.

Banded around the equator by an impassable wall of steel, underpinned by the workings of massive gears and incomprehensible mechanics. An artificial world, scarred by war, its natural beauty barely skin-deep and its face ever changing. With the turn of a cogwheel, a mountain falls. With the workings of a piston, an ocean rises. Landscapes become unrecognizable in the space of five years. Ancient cities and ruins, where they remain, lie in rusting heaps. Ghosts of the great war long past haunt the corners of the world. The roar of engines sound through the wilds.

For, in the wake of the war that made and broke Promontory, humanity arose. Carried by ancient, scavenged engines, they roam the surface. To settle means, sooner or later, to find one's home submerged beneath a new-birthed river or consumed by a growing sinkhole. Those that do manage to find refuge do so in the wrecks of ruined cities, left alone by the restructuring programs that render the rest of the world unreliable. Wherever they dwell, humans live on the scraps - scavenging advanced technology from the Arasti that built Promontory, or objects imbued with potent psionic powers by the revolutionary Gedynthis.

It has been hundreds of years since the fall of Promontory and the rise of humanity. Atop a remote hill, days from the nearest city, the sound of engines can be heard.

Four vehicles pull to a stop on the hill. It's early morning, fairly cool, with not a single cloud in sight. Four people step out. None of them have ever met, but they find themselves here for the same reason: The cave at the base of the hill. An unexplored ruin, previously concealed beneath a dense forest. In the last few years, the surrounding land had rose to an altitude too great for the woods to survive and thus, the entrance was revealed.

The roll of thunder sounds in the distant, cloudless east.

The four are scavengers. Treasure hunters. None know for certain what lies within. They hope for riches and glory. They fear subterranean beasts and ancient traps.
They expect a little of both.


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Spoiler: Characters (click to show/hide)

Mechanics: you don't really need to read these. Tl;dr Shooting at something will kill it. Shooting straight at a stationary target will probably work. Shooting at a rabbit out of a moving car or something will probably miss. You get the picture.
« Last Edit: August 14, 2019, 01:22:51 pm by Dread »
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Whisperling

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Re: Promontory [0/4]
« Reply #1 on: July 01, 2019, 06:42:59 pm »

Name: Dominic
Other: A pale man with burn scars covering his hands and arms.

Vehicle: Wasterunner
Weapon: Grenade belt
Mod: Hotwire
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King Zultan

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Re: Promontory [0/4]
« Reply #2 on: July 02, 2019, 01:37:41 am »

Name: Burt
Appearance: A balding man with a scraggly beard.

Vehicle: Scavenged pick-up truck
Weapon: Semi-automatic rifle
Mod: Arasti Monocle
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Naturegirl1999

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Re: Promontory [2/4]
« Reply #3 on: July 02, 2019, 08:06:35 am »

Name: Yara
Anything else you think is important. Appearance?:A short woman with black hair, a gray walker’s eye where her left eye would be, and a green eye.
Starting Vehicle: mag bike
Starting Weapon:Flechette gun
Starting Mod:Gray Walker’s Eye
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Dread

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Re: Promontory [3/4]
« Reply #4 on: July 02, 2019, 11:49:31 pm »

Accepted, accepted, and accepted.
Waiting for one more player, ideally. Starting in ~24 hours regardless.
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Yottawhat

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Re: Promontory [3/4]
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2019, 12:04:14 am »

Name: Turbo
Appearance: A person of indeterminable gender wrapped in several layers of ragged, drab clothes. They wear a metal mask made from scrap metal that covers their face completely, leaving only two bright green eyes. Their right leg has been replaces with a prosthetic version, with two suspension springs and a splattering of green spray paint.

Vehicle: Magbike
Weapon: Double-barrel shotgun
Mod: Prosthetic leg
« Last Edit: July 03, 2019, 12:08:34 am by Yottawhat »
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(1) You start forward with determination and certainty. You carry this determination with you right into the gaping crater that opens under your feet. You fall into a pit. The sounds of combat above dim, along with the light from the suns. In the quiet below, you hear some other noises instead.

Dread

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2019, 01:45:32 am »

Accepted.

############################################################################

The wasterunner arrives first. It comes to a stop on the leeward slope of a particularly large hill, exhausts spilling thick black smoke onto the dew-wet grass. Out from the driver's door steps a pale-skinned man, arms scarred by burns. He hikes a leather pack up his back, adjusts the belt of explosives around his waist, and surveys the ruin before him.

Next is the truck, pulling up beside the first vehicle. Its door opens to reveal a balding man armed with a wood-stocked rifle. He steps down and out, pulling a pack of supplies from the truck bed.

Finally, the magbikes: Two of them, arriving from opposite directions. Covered in dirt and rust as they are, the bikes are still impressive. They hover two inches above the ground at full throttle, slowly descending as they slow.
A dark-haired woman rolls to a stop atop the first bike, detaching a curious black rifle from its mount on the chassis. She flickers occasionally as she moves, as if displayed on a broken screen. The slower her movements, the longer the flickers seem to last. The reason becomes apparent as she looks up, revealing a multifaceted black crystal in place of her left eye. While the rest of her head vanishes the crystal remains constant, seeming to float in the air.
The last scavenger's identity is concealed beneath old cloth and misshapen metal, but the shotgun slung over their backpack is well in view. They dismount and deploy the kickstand on their bike, which makes a sharp clank when struck by the stranger's artificial heel.

None of them were expecting company. The nearest city is days away, and there isn't enough food or fuel in these hilly steppes to attract any nomadic caravans. They're all here for the same reason.

The mouth of the cave looms behind them. Almost perfectly rectangular, wide enough to fit two cars abreast and giving way to a gently sloping hallway. Though obviously not a natural formation, the smell of wet dirt wafts outwards - accompanied by the fainter stench of rot.

The morning sun is on the wrong side of the hill to provide much light, and a foreboding darkness fills the tunnel.

############################################################################

Spoiler: Dominic (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Burt (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Yara (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Turbo (click to show/hide)
« Last Edit: July 03, 2019, 01:54:25 am by Dread »
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2019, 08:13:13 am »

get out my flashlight and ride a few yards n, then stay as still as I can while shining the light farther down into the cave
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Whisperling

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2019, 01:45:20 pm »

Disembark and walk in (behind anyone who is taking their vehicles, it would be unfortunate if one of them were to run me over).
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King Zultan

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2019, 02:30:44 pm »

Lock my truck and walk into the cavern with my rifle at the ready.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Yottawhat

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2019, 07:42:40 pm »

Attach the flashlight to my chest and drive in on my magbike, shotgun between the handlebars.
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(1) You start forward with determination and certainty. You carry this determination with you right into the gaping crater that opens under your feet. You fall into a pit. The sounds of combat above dim, along with the light from the suns. In the quiet below, you hear some other noises instead.

Dread

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #11 on: July 04, 2019, 04:27:47 am »

Yara takes her flashlight out and clicks it on. Recently charged from her bike, the cone of light it casts is bright and strong. With the light awkwardly pinned between her hand and the handlebar she inches her mount forwards.

She descends slowly into the ruin, engine rumbling and filling the tunnel with deep echoes. Small, white objects crunch beneath her wheels - pebbles? No, animal bones. Only a few yards in she shuts off her bike, points the light forwards, and stands still.

Yara and her flashlight disappear while the bike and cone of light remain. Ahead of her the tunnel slopes downwards for another twenty feet before opening into a much larger room. From her vantage point it seems rectangular or square, floored with damp soil and supported by thick concrete pillars. Here and there lie earthen mounds, as tall as she is and twice as long. Near the base of each mound is a round hole wide enough for a man to crawl into - they are, evidently, hollow. From here she can see four mounds, but to get a complete count she would need to move farther in.

Burt locks his truck, lifts his rifle, and advances in after Yara. He soon passes her and arrives at the bottom of the tunnel.
In Yara's light he can see the entirety of the room: All six mounds of dirt, scattered across the room but lined up neatly parallel to each other, the weathered concrete walls and cracked pillars supporting the roof, the gnawed bones and half-rotted animal corpses strewn across the floor, and the two sliding steel doors on the far wall. One of the doors is shut tight, but the other is jammed slightly open.

The engine of a magbike rumbles again as the last scavenger advances down into the room, shotgun balanced between their hands. 

It's hard to say which awakens the wolves first - the vibrations or the light. Regardless, awake they do: from the hole in the nearest mound emerges a gray-furred canine with muzzle streaked in the blood of a fresh kill. Squinting into the harsh glow of the scavenger's  lights, it gives a low growl of challenge.

Several more wolves appear from other mounds - six in total, all smaller than the first but no less angry.

Dominic, now fairly certain that he won't be run over, arrives next to the others.

############################################################################

Spoiler: Dominic (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Burt (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Yara (click to show/hide)
Spoiler: Turbo (click to show/hide)
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Naturegirl1999

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #12 on: July 04, 2019, 06:46:04 am »

Shoot at whatever wolf happens to closest to me with my flechette gun
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King Zultan

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #13 on: July 04, 2019, 11:44:08 am »

Turn on my light and start shooting the wolves that are closest to me.
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The Lawyer opens a briefcase. It's full of lemons, the justice fruit only lawyers may touch.
Make sure not to step on any errant blood stains before we find our LIFE EXTINGUSHER.
but anyway, if you'll excuse me, I need to commit sebbaku.
Quote from: Leodanny
Can I have the sword when you’re done?

Whisperling

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Re: Promontory [4/4]
« Reply #14 on: July 04, 2019, 12:15:02 pm »

Pack one of my aluminum cans with dirt and throw it at any wolf that looks like it's getting too close.
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