"Hey, Spike!"
You scramble after your dog, his black-speckled-white tail taunting you as it...
You scramble after your dog, his black-speckled-white tail taunting you as it...
In Transit [World-Hopping Extravaganza]
- Thread starter fallintolife
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User Total fallintolife 64
001: The Cavern
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
"Hey, Spike!"
You scramble after your dog, his black-speckled-white tail taunting you as it disappears. You've been chasing down this dog for way too long. Normally you wouldn't bother, but Pops says he can feel a nasty storm brewing. Spike's loyal, friendly, and does a great job of keeping pests away, but he's not too bright. If you let him run around in the caves like he wants to, he won't find his way back home before the storm hits.
"C'mere, you jerk!" You head on into the caves, reluctant, but concerned about Spike.
The caves are kinda creepy. There's never anything in them – not that you've looked very hard – but they're just… there's something. Something you don't like.
A bark ahead, and you continue on. It's getting a little too dark to see anything, so you untie the witchlight from your belt, and break it open.
Your sister-in-law is a hedge witch. She doesn't have the time (or the skill, not that anyone will tell her that) to make anything much more powerful, but she makes sure everyone has a little pot of salve, and a witchlight. You try not to use yours too often. They only last so long, and she gets snippy when you ask for another. Spike's taking the blame for this one, though.
"Stay just behind and above," you command the light. With a soft giggle, the little fairy-shaped spirit moves to hover a few inches above your head. Now assured you're not going to trip over anything just because you didn't see it, you keep going, calling after Spike.
He leads you pretty deep in. You know your brothers used to play around in these caves, but you've never liked them. Pops says you've got 'a sense', whatever that means, and that if you feel uncomfortable, there's a reason. You tell yourself not to worry too much, that animals have an even better sense for that stuff and you have a knife anyway, but it doesn't really work.
"There you are!" You scold Spike, after way too long of chasing him down. You can see his tail from just around the bend, and you jog to catch up and grab his collar before he can get running again. "You little—"
You round the bend, and stop in your tracks.
Standing before you, irregularly spaced and sized, are what has to be at least a hundred different doors. They're all freestanding, not a single one touching the walls of this truly massive cavern, and made of different materials, some of which you've never seen before. Spike shuffled to the back of your mind, you step forward, wandering through them.
Every door is at least big enough for you to get through, even if you'd have to stoop a little for the golden one that goes up to your shoulder. You find a lot of wooden ones, made of woods ranging from the ever-common pine, to a dark wood with the kind of luster that any woodworker would kill for. The metals seem to be rarer, and while you recognize iron, silver, and gold, there are some exotic ones that you've never seen before. Then you reach the back of the cavern.
You couldn't see it from the entryway, not with how dim your witchlight is, but the last door is massive. It's bigger than any building you've ever seen, even when you went with Pops to Malach to visit your sister at college. The city's buildings had seemed so large then, but this dwarfs those. The gleaming material of the door swirls under your gaze, changing from deep purple, to a poisonous green, to candyfloss pink, the colors rippling across the surface. When you get close, you can see words engraved on it.
'Gather here ye warriors nine
Your worlds be many
but always, you shine
Prepare ye to fight
to struggle, or die
For here there be dragons
preparing to rise'
"Mother above and Father below," you whisper.
[*]
"You found the risen dragons?" Eren demands, only the weight of Pops' gaze stopping him from a full sneer. "You're a farmer from the West Highlands, there's no way."
"Many heroes have come from humble beginnings," Pops says mildly. It may sound like he's taking your side against your brother, but you know he's not happy about this.
"I believe it," says Tandy, Eren's wife. She rarely gets into the family disputes, though you can see that they bother her sometimes. The only one she really butts heads with is your other brother, but Yale is headstrong and stubborn; everyone butts heads with him eventually.
"Really?" Eren half-deflates, knowing Tandy doesn't say anything she won't defend. "How? Why?"
Thunder rolls outside. Spike buries his head between your legs, whining. It's been raining since you stepped foot in the door. It's the nasty kind of rain that keeps threatening to turn into something bigger and nastier, the kind that ruins farms like yours.
"Give me your witchlight," Tandy says. It's not spoken like a command, but it is. You take the witchlight – sadly almost depleted – from your belt, and hand it over.
Tandy takes the little sphere, cracking it open. The witchlight buzzes out, flitting around the room too quickly to track, then goes to sit on Tandy's shoulder.
"Come here, little darling," she coos, with more affection than you've ever heard her use with a living being.
The witchlight giggles and sits on her hand. Tandy holds it up, and you can't help but stare.
It's blue.
Witchlights aren't blue. They're always a soft white, even the ones you saw for sale at Malach. No matter what the power, background, or training of the creator, witchlights don't change. You don't work with spirits, but you do know that much.
"We'll take a look tomorrow," Pops says, and that's that.
[*]
The rain tapers off by early afternoon, giving everything a clean, loamy smell. The grass seems impossibly green, and Spike is already busy rolling in a particularly spiky patch of it, tongue lolling out.
Eren still doesn't believe you, you don't think, but he's coming anyway. He's got his old set of hard leather armor strapped on his lanky frame, bow close at hand. Tandy looks much as she normally does, with only a small pouch and her staff to give away that she isn't just out for a stroll. Pops has his travelling clothes on but nothing else unusual; his weapons are all mental.
You prepared for this as seriously as you could. You've got a thin set of leather armor on, much like Eren's, and:
[ ] a sword at your hip.
[ ] a set of pistols strapped to your chest.
[ ] your wand.
[ ] a crossbow settled on your thigh.
[ ] nothing else; your body is your weapon.
[x] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
Without another word, Pops leads the way towards the caverns.
On the way, you try to remember as much as you can about the risen dragons prophecy. You never learned any more about your religion than was taught in school, but that part stood out to you.
See, most of the Texts are about how to live, about how to treat people. Stuff like sharing, respecting your parents, all that. But then there's a part filled with prophecies, and a lot of them are scary. Vague, but scary. You don't remember the exact wording of any of them, but you do remember the part about dragons rising and bathing the world in flames, unless they were stopped. The prophecies weren't vague at all about how awful that would be, even though they weren't very specific about when they would rise, or how.
When you get to the caverns, Tandy releases a set of witchlights. They always work better for her, which doesn't surprise you. Only people with the knack can make them, after all.
You don't have any more time for remembering as you lead them through. You followed Spike in here, but he doesn't seem like he's going to lead you again, though he's happy to trot at your heels. You have to backtrack twice after a wrong turn, but eventually you find it.
The silence from your family sends a thrill through you. You'd been trying hard not to doubt yourself, but in the face of Eren's skepticism, and what it would mean if this really were what it looked like, you'd started to believe it might have been a dream. This, with them, the witchlight reflecting off their awed faces, makes it all feel more real.
"The doors…" Eren says, frowning at the nearest one. It's made of one of those exotic metals you couldn't identify before.
"I couldn't open any of them," you tell him. You tried on your way out, tugging on the handles of a few golds and one bronze, but nothing happened.
"Oh?" Pops says, standing in front of a wooden door. It's wide open, the tips of his fingers touching the handle.
The four of you crowd around it – it's maybe six feet tall, and two across – and stare.
It's horrible and beautiful all at once. You can see the sprawling, decayed ruins of what must have been a great city once. A damp salt smell blows in on the breeze, and you can see the barest hint of the ocean on the other side of the ruins. The door must be on the top of a hill, because the ground slopes gently downward for what must be a league before it touches the edges of the ruined city.
You step to the side and around to the back of the door. Through it, you see Pops, Eren, and Tandy, but no ruined cityscape, no ocean.
Pops closes the door, taking a deep breath. "Show us the dragon door."
It doesn't take long to get to the back of the cavern, despite the size of it. Now that you're looking for it, you can see Tandy's witchlights beginning to turn the palest blue. You wonder why that is.
When you get there, Eren and Pops step up, Tandy staying a little behind. You stay back with her, letting them look. The pale blue light, and wonder on her face, turns the normally mousy, cynical woman into something like the girl you think your brother fell in love with.
Pops reaches up and traces the bottom line of the words with the tips of his fingers. The others stretch out far out of his reach, and Pops is not a small man. Eren ticks his head to the side, and you watch them read the poem together. After a minute, they turn back to you and Tandy.
"If this is real…" Eren trails off. He doesn't apologize for doubting you, but you know he's sorry. Neither of you ever apologizes out loud, you just do little things for each other and the problem gets forgotten.
"I have to go through those doors, I think," you say, trying not to let your excitement show in your voice. You do good work at the farm, necessary work, but this is bigger. Better. Important. "That line about 'your worlds be many', I think these doors lead to other places."
"I've never heard of a city that large," Pops admits, reluctance clear in his voice. "And we'd have heard if one was ruined, even in the Highlands."
"The air felt different," Tandy comments thoughtfully, "like they had a different kind of magic."
Eren sighs. "I don't think you should try to be a hero. But I don't think the Senate would believe us, either. I didn't believe it until you showed me."
Your body thrums with excitement. This is going to be one hell of an adventure.
[*]
Before you leave and head back to the farm, the four of you check what doors will open.
There are only four of them, but every single wooden door opens. None of the rest of them so much as budge, though Tandy hisses and swears at one of the silver ones when she touches it.
"It stung me," she says primly, and refuses to try any more of them.
In the end, you have four choices:
The first door that led to the ocean front, which Tandy says feels like it has different magic, and looks out onto a ruined city.
A second door, that opens into what Pops says looks like a dungeon. No one stepped to the other side, but even just from the door you could see a series of barred rooms with rusted locks, and a set of stairs leading upwards. Eren said he could smell old blood, but no one else commented.
The third one leads out into a forest. The trees look more or less like the ones you're used to, but there was a bush with berries of a sort you didn't recognize. Just before the door had closed, you'd seen a little white flying mammal, who had promptly skittered out of sight.
You would have had a fourth choice, except that the fourth door leads to a small square of sand looking out onto an ocean. Pops had stepped out onto that one, swiveled his head, and reported that the 'island' was exactly as small as it looked from the doorway, and all he could see was water in every direction. You know how to swim, but without knowing which direction the land is in, it wouldn't help to use that one.
"So," you say, "I'll need some supplies from the farm, but I'm going with:"
[ ] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
[ ] The second door, leading into a disused dungeon.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
You scramble after your dog, his black-speckled-white tail taunting you as it disappears. You've been chasing down this dog for way too long. Normally you wouldn't bother, but Pops says he can feel a nasty storm brewing. Spike's loyal, friendly, and does a great job of keeping pests away, but he's not too bright. If you let him run around in the caves like he wants to, he won't find his way back home before the storm hits.
"C'mere, you jerk!" You head on into the caves, reluctant, but concerned about Spike.
The caves are kinda creepy. There's never anything in them – not that you've looked very hard – but they're just… there's something. Something you don't like.
A bark ahead, and you continue on. It's getting a little too dark to see anything, so you untie the witchlight from your belt, and break it open.
Your sister-in-law is a hedge witch. She doesn't have the time (or the skill, not that anyone will tell her that) to make anything much more powerful, but she makes sure everyone has a little pot of salve, and a witchlight. You try not to use yours too often. They only last so long, and she gets snippy when you ask for another. Spike's taking the blame for this one, though.
"Stay just behind and above," you command the light. With a soft giggle, the little fairy-shaped spirit moves to hover a few inches above your head. Now assured you're not going to trip over anything just because you didn't see it, you keep going, calling after Spike.
He leads you pretty deep in. You know your brothers used to play around in these caves, but you've never liked them. Pops says you've got 'a sense', whatever that means, and that if you feel uncomfortable, there's a reason. You tell yourself not to worry too much, that animals have an even better sense for that stuff and you have a knife anyway, but it doesn't really work.
"There you are!" You scold Spike, after way too long of chasing him down. You can see his tail from just around the bend, and you jog to catch up and grab his collar before he can get running again. "You little—"
You round the bend, and stop in your tracks.
Standing before you, irregularly spaced and sized, are what has to be at least a hundred different doors. They're all freestanding, not a single one touching the walls of this truly massive cavern, and made of different materials, some of which you've never seen before. Spike shuffled to the back of your mind, you step forward, wandering through them.
Every door is at least big enough for you to get through, even if you'd have to stoop a little for the golden one that goes up to your shoulder. You find a lot of wooden ones, made of woods ranging from the ever-common pine, to a dark wood with the kind of luster that any woodworker would kill for. The metals seem to be rarer, and while you recognize iron, silver, and gold, there are some exotic ones that you've never seen before. Then you reach the back of the cavern.
You couldn't see it from the entryway, not with how dim your witchlight is, but the last door is massive. It's bigger than any building you've ever seen, even when you went with Pops to Malach to visit your sister at college. The city's buildings had seemed so large then, but this dwarfs those. The gleaming material of the door swirls under your gaze, changing from deep purple, to a poisonous green, to candyfloss pink, the colors rippling across the surface. When you get close, you can see words engraved on it.
'Gather here ye warriors nine
Your worlds be many
but always, you shine
Prepare ye to fight
to struggle, or die
For here there be dragons
preparing to rise'
"Mother above and Father below," you whisper.
[*]
"You found the risen dragons?" Eren demands, only the weight of Pops' gaze stopping him from a full sneer. "You're a farmer from the West Highlands, there's no way."
"Many heroes have come from humble beginnings," Pops says mildly. It may sound like he's taking your side against your brother, but you know he's not happy about this.
"I believe it," says Tandy, Eren's wife. She rarely gets into the family disputes, though you can see that they bother her sometimes. The only one she really butts heads with is your other brother, but Yale is headstrong and stubborn; everyone butts heads with him eventually.
"Really?" Eren half-deflates, knowing Tandy doesn't say anything she won't defend. "How? Why?"
Thunder rolls outside. Spike buries his head between your legs, whining. It's been raining since you stepped foot in the door. It's the nasty kind of rain that keeps threatening to turn into something bigger and nastier, the kind that ruins farms like yours.
"Give me your witchlight," Tandy says. It's not spoken like a command, but it is. You take the witchlight – sadly almost depleted – from your belt, and hand it over.
Tandy takes the little sphere, cracking it open. The witchlight buzzes out, flitting around the room too quickly to track, then goes to sit on Tandy's shoulder.
"Come here, little darling," she coos, with more affection than you've ever heard her use with a living being.
The witchlight giggles and sits on her hand. Tandy holds it up, and you can't help but stare.
It's blue.
Witchlights aren't blue. They're always a soft white, even the ones you saw for sale at Malach. No matter what the power, background, or training of the creator, witchlights don't change. You don't work with spirits, but you do know that much.
"We'll take a look tomorrow," Pops says, and that's that.
[*]
The rain tapers off by early afternoon, giving everything a clean, loamy smell. The grass seems impossibly green, and Spike is already busy rolling in a particularly spiky patch of it, tongue lolling out.
Eren still doesn't believe you, you don't think, but he's coming anyway. He's got his old set of hard leather armor strapped on his lanky frame, bow close at hand. Tandy looks much as she normally does, with only a small pouch and her staff to give away that she isn't just out for a stroll. Pops has his travelling clothes on but nothing else unusual; his weapons are all mental.
You prepared for this as seriously as you could. You've got a thin set of leather armor on, much like Eren's, and:
[ ] a sword at your hip.
[ ] a set of pistols strapped to your chest.
[ ] your wand.
[ ] a crossbow settled on your thigh.
[ ] nothing else; your body is your weapon.
[x] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
Without another word, Pops leads the way towards the caverns.
On the way, you try to remember as much as you can about the risen dragons prophecy. You never learned any more about your religion than was taught in school, but that part stood out to you.
See, most of the Texts are about how to live, about how to treat people. Stuff like sharing, respecting your parents, all that. But then there's a part filled with prophecies, and a lot of them are scary. Vague, but scary. You don't remember the exact wording of any of them, but you do remember the part about dragons rising and bathing the world in flames, unless they were stopped. The prophecies weren't vague at all about how awful that would be, even though they weren't very specific about when they would rise, or how.
When you get to the caverns, Tandy releases a set of witchlights. They always work better for her, which doesn't surprise you. Only people with the knack can make them, after all.
You don't have any more time for remembering as you lead them through. You followed Spike in here, but he doesn't seem like he's going to lead you again, though he's happy to trot at your heels. You have to backtrack twice after a wrong turn, but eventually you find it.
The silence from your family sends a thrill through you. You'd been trying hard not to doubt yourself, but in the face of Eren's skepticism, and what it would mean if this really were what it looked like, you'd started to believe it might have been a dream. This, with them, the witchlight reflecting off their awed faces, makes it all feel more real.
"The doors…" Eren says, frowning at the nearest one. It's made of one of those exotic metals you couldn't identify before.
"I couldn't open any of them," you tell him. You tried on your way out, tugging on the handles of a few golds and one bronze, but nothing happened.
"Oh?" Pops says, standing in front of a wooden door. It's wide open, the tips of his fingers touching the handle.
The four of you crowd around it – it's maybe six feet tall, and two across – and stare.
It's horrible and beautiful all at once. You can see the sprawling, decayed ruins of what must have been a great city once. A damp salt smell blows in on the breeze, and you can see the barest hint of the ocean on the other side of the ruins. The door must be on the top of a hill, because the ground slopes gently downward for what must be a league before it touches the edges of the ruined city.
You step to the side and around to the back of the door. Through it, you see Pops, Eren, and Tandy, but no ruined cityscape, no ocean.
Pops closes the door, taking a deep breath. "Show us the dragon door."
It doesn't take long to get to the back of the cavern, despite the size of it. Now that you're looking for it, you can see Tandy's witchlights beginning to turn the palest blue. You wonder why that is.
When you get there, Eren and Pops step up, Tandy staying a little behind. You stay back with her, letting them look. The pale blue light, and wonder on her face, turns the normally mousy, cynical woman into something like the girl you think your brother fell in love with.
Pops reaches up and traces the bottom line of the words with the tips of his fingers. The others stretch out far out of his reach, and Pops is not a small man. Eren ticks his head to the side, and you watch them read the poem together. After a minute, they turn back to you and Tandy.
"If this is real…" Eren trails off. He doesn't apologize for doubting you, but you know he's sorry. Neither of you ever apologizes out loud, you just do little things for each other and the problem gets forgotten.
"I have to go through those doors, I think," you say, trying not to let your excitement show in your voice. You do good work at the farm, necessary work, but this is bigger. Better. Important. "That line about 'your worlds be many', I think these doors lead to other places."
"I've never heard of a city that large," Pops admits, reluctance clear in his voice. "And we'd have heard if one was ruined, even in the Highlands."
"The air felt different," Tandy comments thoughtfully, "like they had a different kind of magic."
Eren sighs. "I don't think you should try to be a hero. But I don't think the Senate would believe us, either. I didn't believe it until you showed me."
Your body thrums with excitement. This is going to be one hell of an adventure.
[*]
Before you leave and head back to the farm, the four of you check what doors will open.
There are only four of them, but every single wooden door opens. None of the rest of them so much as budge, though Tandy hisses and swears at one of the silver ones when she touches it.
"It stung me," she says primly, and refuses to try any more of them.
In the end, you have four choices:
The first door that led to the ocean front, which Tandy says feels like it has different magic, and looks out onto a ruined city.
A second door, that opens into what Pops says looks like a dungeon. No one stepped to the other side, but even just from the door you could see a series of barred rooms with rusted locks, and a set of stairs leading upwards. Eren said he could smell old blood, but no one else commented.
The third one leads out into a forest. The trees look more or less like the ones you're used to, but there was a bush with berries of a sort you didn't recognize. Just before the door had closed, you'd seen a little white flying mammal, who had promptly skittered out of sight.
You would have had a fourth choice, except that the fourth door leads to a small square of sand looking out onto an ocean. Pops had stepped out onto that one, swiveled his head, and reported that the 'island' was exactly as small as it looked from the doorway, and all he could see was water in every direction. You know how to swim, but without knowing which direction the land is in, it wouldn't help to use that one.
"So," you say, "I'll need some supplies from the farm, but I'm going with:"
[ ] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
[ ] The second door, leading into a disused dungeon.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
Last edited:
Character Sheet
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
- Character
- Psionic Disciplines
- Inventory
-
[incoherent screaming noises about how tables work on sufficient velocity]
Salve
A medicinal ointment used for healing.
Has a little bit of magic in it.
Have three, one is half gone.
Eren's knife
A full-size, sturdy hunting knife.
Completely mundane.
Leather armor
Comfortable leather armor.
Completely mundane.
Witchlight
A light made from a minor light spirit.
Entirely magical.
Have two, both fully lit.
Airbending Scrolls
A set of pictoral scrolls showing airbending stances.
- Skill Tiers
Last edited:
Worlds
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
- Map
- Locations
- Characters
- Map
-
- Locations
- Characters
- Map
-
- Locations
- Characters
QM Note: Don't like the world we go into? I will gladly batsignal you when we're out of it.
Last edited:
Worlds On Tap
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
This is the list of worlds on offer, worlds that will be on offer in the future, and those which the QM is looking into. Also features a list of stuff that's not going to show up.
Conditions for new worlds suggested:
-no Black&Grey Morality. IE no worlds like Worm, where finding someone who's trying to help people for a good reason (as opposed to a bad or solely self-serving reason) is like picking a needle out of a stack of identical needles.
-no first-person shooters, or bullet hells
-must be something the QM could reasonably binge in a week
-QM does not have access to the following systems: XBOXONE, Wii U, Switch
-must have something special/magical about the world. It doesn't need to be high fantasy, but if no one can do things that are impossible in the real world, I'm not featuring it as a world.
Currently available
-Diablo (I & II, not III)
-Dragon Age (only DAO/DA2. unless you're gonna buy me Inquisition, it's not happening)
-Harry Potter (canon or Sacrifices Arc)
-Forgotten Realms (Baldur's Gate & BGII; bit of IWD)
-Final Fantasy VII (FFVII & FFVII:AC)
-Final Fantasy X | Final Fantasy X-2
-Naruto
Available in the future
-Marvel Cinematic Universe
-Fallout (probably just Fallout 3/NV, possibly Fallout 4)
-Final Fantasy III (not that I get why people would want to go there)
-Persona 3 (no, not Persona 4; unless you gonna buy it for me. same with P5)
QM is looking into it
-Banshee
-DC television universe [Arrow is a hard no, perhaps one of the others]
-Psyren
-Sands of Destruction
-Fairy Tail Tried it. Too much sexual harassment and Damsel In Distress.
-Hero Union BBS
-Jade Empire
-Atelier Iris
-Mana Khemia
-Codex Alera
-The Seventh Tower
-JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. [Under Consideration]
-Unlimited Blade Works [Under Consideration]
-Katanagatari
-Deltora Quest
-Marchen Awakens Romance
-Rosario + Vampire (manga)
-D. Grey Man
-Letter Bee
-Fate/Stay Night (patch)
Probably never available
-Anything with full galactic travel
-Worm: let's just not
-Akame ga Kill: everyone dies in that bitch why would you ever want that
-Assassin's Creed: I ain't got time to play all those games
-Black Rock Shooter: I don't do shrooms.
-Dark Souls: I break controllers when I play this, and I'm broke
-Fairy Tale: there's a lot of sexual harassment and damsel in distress and I'm not about it
-Diablo (I & II, not III)
-Dragon Age (only DAO/DA2. unless you're gonna buy me Inquisition, it's not happening)
-Harry Potter (canon or Sacrifices Arc)
-Forgotten Realms (Baldur's Gate & BGII; bit of IWD)
-Final Fantasy VII (FFVII & FFVII:AC)
-Final Fantasy X | Final Fantasy X-2
-Naruto
Available in the future
-Marvel Cinematic Universe
-Fallout (probably just Fallout 3/NV, possibly Fallout 4)
-Final Fantasy III (not that I get why people would want to go there)
-Persona 3 (no, not Persona 4; unless you gonna buy it for me. same with P5)
QM is looking into it
-Banshee
-DC television universe [Arrow is a hard no, perhaps one of the others]
-Psyren
-Sands of Destruction
-
-Hero Union BBS
-Jade Empire
-Atelier Iris
-Mana Khemia
-Codex Alera
-The Seventh Tower
-JoJo's Bizarre Adventure. [Under Consideration]
-Unlimited Blade Works [Under Consideration]
-Katanagatari
-Deltora Quest
-Marchen Awakens Romance
-Rosario + Vampire (manga)
-D. Grey Man
-Letter Bee
-Fate/Stay Night (patch)
Probably never available
-Anything with full galactic travel
-Worm: let's just not
-Akame ga Kill: everyone dies in that bitch why would you ever want that
-Assassin's Creed: I ain't got time to play all those games
-Black Rock Shooter: I don't do shrooms.
-Dark Souls: I break controllers when I play this, and I'm broke
-Fairy Tale: there's a lot of sexual harassment and damsel in distress and I'm not about it
Conditions for new worlds suggested:
-no Black&Grey Morality. IE no worlds like Worm, where finding someone who's trying to help people for a good reason (as opposed to a bad or solely self-serving reason) is like picking a needle out of a stack of identical needles.
-no first-person shooters, or bullet hells
-must be something the QM could reasonably binge in a week
-QM does not have access to the following systems: XBOXONE, Wii U, Switch
-must have something special/magical about the world. It doesn't need to be high fantasy, but if no one can do things that are impossible in the real world, I'm not featuring it as a world.
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LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
[X] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
Forests are nice and totally not at all dangerous in any possible way. Yup. Totally.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
Forests are nice and totally not at all dangerous in any possible way. Yup. Totally.
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WanderingEye
smol skeleton
[X] a wand
[X] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
Maaaagiiccccc
[X] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
Maaaagiiccccc
[X] a set of pistols strapped to your chest.
[X] The third door, with the forest.
[X] The third door, with the forest.
grassyhyuuga
ash-hole
- Location
- hasetsu
[x] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
[x] a sword at your hip.
[x] a sword at your hip.
The Grey Mage
Certified Team Flare Hater
- Location
- Parallel Universe 43-j
[X] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
[X] The second door, leading into a disused dungeon.
[X] The second door, leading into a disused dungeon.
[X] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
[X] The third door, with the forest.
[X] The third door, with the forest.
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- Location
- [REDACTED]
[X] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
[X] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
[X] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
- Location
- Australia
[x] a sword at your hip.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
I was gonna close the vote because things have slowed down but the vote's pretty close on the location thing. so I'll leave it open for another couple hours, see what happens.
if it makes any difference to anyone, you'll be choosing if the world in question is an already-established world, or an original one. one of them is either Avatar/Korra (or original, depending on the vote), one is Naruto (or original), and the third is Harry Potter (or original). not necessarily in that order.
if it makes any difference to anyone, you'll be choosing if the world in question is an already-established world, or an original one. one of them is either Avatar/Korra (or original, depending on the vote), one is Naruto (or original), and the third is Harry Potter (or original). not necessarily in that order.
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
Ocean City is Uzushiogakure, so Naruto.
I don't know HP because I avoid that shit like the plague, and Korra could either, so I can't say on the forest or the Dungeon.
I definitely want Korra though, so I'm sticking with my forest vote in hope.
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
[X] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
[ ] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
^Naruto.
[ ] The second door, leading into a disused dungeon.
^Harry Potter.
[X] The third door, with the forest.
^Korra.
Going with Korra, since nearly 80% of Fall's body is Korra Worldbuilding & Lore.
Psionics, because the most original weapon out of the rest. Also the most likely to help with language issues. Also, it'll allow us to step towards guile hero.
I wanna be a guile hero. We've been punchy in a Fallquest, and we're casty in another, but we've yet to be a snarky magnificent asshole who succeeds with cunning.
[ ] The first door, looking out onto the ruined ocean city.
^Naruto.
[ ] The second door, leading into a disused dungeon.
^Harry Potter.
[X] The third door, with the forest.
^Korra.
Going with Korra, since nearly 80% of Fall's body is Korra Worldbuilding & Lore.
Psionics, because the most original weapon out of the rest. Also the most likely to help with language issues. Also, it'll allow us to step towards guile hero.
I wanna be a guile hero. We've been punchy in a Fallquest, and we're casty in another, but we've yet to be a snarky magnificent asshole who succeeds with cunning.
LostDeviljho
Flame Dragon Princess
- Location
- The glorious Pacific Northwest
- Pronouns
- Any
FTFY.
Also, presuming that SV can actually pull off a guile hero? toppest of keks.
(I won't be upset if Psionics wins, though, it's my second choice.)
WanderingEye
smol skeleton
Huh
Changing my vote
[X] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
Changing my vote
[X] nothing else; you've learned psionics from Pops.
[x] The third door, with the forest.
- Location
- Australia
So was the fourth door One Piece or an original?
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
hey now.
hey.
cut that out.
(that's all I got.)
oh sheesh, if MC for Transit is a guile hero, you'll have the holy trifecta of fantasy protagonists. I mean, Jackson is definitely snarky when possible, but is not a guile hero.
I actually hadn't gotten that far in planning yet. I do know it's not One Piece, though, because I don't know One Piece. (and trying to watch it in time for this would be a special kind of hell)
Ridiculously Average Guy
I'm you, but stronger
- Location
-
Am I wrong though
More seriously, I've been dying for a Korra quest, since I love the world (although the show needed work, don't fight me on this).
Yep, what I'm aiming for. We've had fighter, wizard, now rogue!
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Voting closed. Psionics and Forest Door win.
next update (002): MC gets some more fleshing out, blazes a trail, and finds out some of what they're in for.
shhh I may have done some worldbuilding. maybe.
I am the last bro gonna fight you on that.
next update (002): MC gets some more fleshing out, blazes a trail, and finds out some of what they're in for.
Am I wrong though
shhh I may have done some worldbuilding. maybe.
I am the last bro gonna fight you on that.
002: The Forest
fallintolife
the worst vegan
- Location
- Los Angeles
- Pronouns
- They/Them
When you announce your intent to go through the door leading out through the forest, Pops nods solemnly. You're not a woodsman like Eren, but you know enough of the trade to get by.
"First," Pops says, "you're getting a good meal in you."
The walk back to the farm is quiet. The furrow between Eren's brows gets deeper, Tandy quietly observes her now definitely-blue witchlights with an expression you've never seen, and Pops frowns. Spike, oblivious to it all, trots along beside you. It's strange to think that if your dog were more obedient, this would just be another day for you.
Lunch is probably tasty, but you can't focus on it. You hung up your leathers when you came back in, but there's been a buzzing in your head that you thought you left behind when Pops started training you. A still mind is a psion's treasure, but you just can't manage it right now.
When the meal is coming to a close, Eren catches your eye and jerks his head in the direction of his room. You hand off your plate to Tandy – never cooks, always does the dishes – and follow him up.
The room he shares with Tandy feels almost like what you imagine a woodcutter's hut would. Between her herbs and his trophies, it constantly smells like a primal sort of musk, like plants harvested in their prime and left to dry. Now that you think about it, you don't know where the glass for the witchlights comes from; Tandy's never mentioned knowing how to blow glass, and you've never heard her request Pops get any from the market.
Eren moves over to the wall, and takes down the belt he uses for his armor. He pulls off his knife – the wickedly sharp, solidly-made piece that was his manhood gift from Pops – and hands it to you, sheathed.
You take it out of reflex, but almost immediately try to hand it back. "Eren—"
"Take it," he says, crossing his arms. "I know Pops taught you, but someone walking around the woods by themselves with no weapon is asking for trouble. Your little knife is beat-up. This one means business."
You study his face, biting the inside of his cheek. He's as serious as you've ever seen him. He's right in that you'd be inviting trouble dressed the way you usually are; everyone has some sort of weapon at hand when they're travelling, unless something has gone very wrong. You don't want to accept the gift of this knife, but you think this is his way of taking care of you.
"Thanks," you say eventually. Eren nods, and hustles you out of his room, right into Tandy.
"Here," she says, handing you two small globes (fresh witchlights) and another little pot of salve. "Be careful, and come back if you need more."
It's the most sisterly sentiment you've ever had from her. By the time you've opened your mouth to thank her, though, she's whisked past you, and their bedroom door is shut.
"They're not taking it well," Pops tells you from the base of the stairs. "Get ready, and I'll see you off."
"Alright," you say, looking down at the gifts in your arms.
[*]
You feel… older. You wear your leathers enough to feel comfortable in them, but with a pack, Eren's knife (you still have your old one, but it's now stuck in your boot), and a duty to fulfill, everything feels more serious. You look in the mirror one last time, checking to make sure you haven't forgotten anything. You see:
[ ] a woman looking back at you, with an intense gaze much fiercer than you feel right now.
[x] a man just barely over the cusp of boyhood, with the first hints of a beard just growing in.
[ ] someone whose gender you'd be hard-pressed to guess; it's something you work to maintain.
"Alright," you say to yourself, "let's get this show on the road."
Pops waits for you downstairs. He doesn't have his travelling clothes on, so you figure he's not walking you to the caves.
"Eren wasn't here when Yale went on his journey," Pops says. "And his own was short; he came back as soon as he found Tandy. Your mother always said…" he pauses. It's been five years, but he still can't talk about her without it taking his breath away. You're not sure if that kind of love is a blessing, or a curse. "She always said that children all leave home eventually. Some come back, and some don't." He fixes you with a serious look, his dark eyes solemn. "Don't be one of the ones who doesn't."
"I won't," you promise.
He nods. "Alright." A beat. "Look, nothing in those prophecies says you have to be the one fighting the dragons. You could just be the one gathering the heroes. Don't make this into something if it doesn't have to be."
His concern makes something warm in your heart, and you finally reach the mental place between excitement and serenity. You want to be a hero, but he's right: you don't need to be. Just saving your world from the dragons is enough. They'll put you right down next to the heroes in the books, you think.
(A small, dissatisfied place in your heart protests. You can be a hero.)
"I'll come back," you promise again, "and I'll have them with me."
He shakes his head. "Don't wait that long if you need something. I'd rather see you a hundred times between now and then, than have you go without."
You pull him into a hug, and breathe in his warm, familiar scent. If there's tears in either of your eyes when you pull away, neither of you is going to mention it.
[*]
The walk to the caves doesn't take long. It feels like it takes forever, but you know that you're walking a little faster than you were before, a little more eager to get started.
You expected to have to navigate your way through the caves again, but it seems Eren marked the trail when you weren't looking. Nothing overt, just small scratches on the junction walls that might look natural to anyone who doesn't know woodsman's marks. You didn't notice him doing it, but you're glad he did; the caves are a little more familiar now than they were during that first journey, but who knows how long you'll be gone in the forest land?
The cavern of doors is just as awe-inspiring as it was when you first saw it. You think you remember there being more wooden doors the first time you were in here, but shake off the feeling; it's not like they could have gotten up and wandered off on their own.
The forest land door is just where you left it. Now that you're looking a little closer, the wood of the door itself looks a little rougher than the others, a little less smoothed and polished. It looks like it was hewn by someone who was either inexperienced in woodcraft, or didn't care to make it particularly attractive. You may be imagining it, but you can just about smell the faint scent of oak on it.
Nerving yourself, you open the door. Just like before, there's the forest scene: the strange bush, the familiar-but-not trees. Light filters through the canopy, a little dimmer than you're used to from the forest near the farm, but still more than enough to see by. You breathe out, and step over the threshold.
Nothing big happens.
You feel a little silly for it, but you kind of expected you'd have something happen. Some grand swell of emotion, a clap of thunder; something. Instead, your head goes a little quieter – Tandy said the oceanscape felt like the magic was different, maybe psionics are different here? – and you can suddenly smell and hear all the things you normally associate with a forest in full bloom.
It's a little overwhelming, and you give yourself a moment to adjust. It's all just a bit sideways of what you're used to, a hair different on every count, and you crane your head around to take it all in. A riot of green greets your eyes, and distant birdcall echoes in your ears. It's unbelievable, to think that the other side of the door behind you is a cavern beneath farmland.
Speaking of that door: you turn around, half-expecting it to be gone. It's still there, though, a man-sized wooden arch of a door leading back to your own world. You frown.
If you can get through it, does that mean other people can? You'd say no, since no one has come through to your knowledge, but you made it through just fine. You stick your hand back through experimentally, and it goes right back. You reach in for the handle, slowly starting to close it. When the door slides home, the entire thing disappears. You'd be worried, except that there's still wood under your hand. You push it open again, and the door reappears.
"Hmm," you say to yourself, circling the door.
Just as before, it looks like a normal door – as normal as a door in the middle of nowhere can be – from the other side. You shut it again, rendering it invisible, and pull out your boot knife to start making markings on the nearby trees. Putting one on multiple trees might tip someone off that there's something here, but you doubt they'll think to look for an invisible door in the middle of a forest. No one has so far, after all.
Speaking of the forest, you remind yourself to leave markings leading back here every so often. There's nothing but foliage in every direction, and this world is entirely new to you. Moss may not grow on the same side of the trees, and no doubt the stars will be different, but you'll be able to pick out your trail if you leave one on the trees. You think.
When you're sure you'd be able to find the door, you look up to gauge the sun. It's a little dimmer than you'd like, but due to the sunlight filtering through trees, you're not sure if it's coming down or going up. You head in the direction you think is north, hoping to find some sign of civilization.
[*]
It doesn't take as long as you'd feared. For as big as the forest seems, you reach the edge fairly quickly. You see:
[ ] a brightly-colored encampment, buzzing with activity in the fading sunlight. [Original setting]
[x] a wall that seems to stretch out to the horizon. [Avatar the Last Airbender / Legend of Korra]
--
Public Service Announcement: Nobody's gonna hold it against you if one of these choices wins, and you dip out on the Quest for a while. If you want me to Batsignal (/ping/PM) you when we're out of AtLA/LoK (if that wins), let me know. If instead you do not enjoy original settings and would like a Batsignal when we're out of the original setting (if that wins), that's cool too. MC's all set to grab at least eight people to do the fightin'; it's gonna take more than one world to do that.
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