EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] A rather short woman. You can almost feel the focus on her eyes.
The Broken, New World
- Thread starter LancerisDead
- Start date
- Original
Synapse 0.4
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
Synapse 0.4
[] A rather short woman. You can almost feel the focus on her eyes.
The person in the mirror stares back at you. The first thing you notice is how short she is, the waist barely higher than the frame of the hospital bed behind her in the reflection.
"Not any taller. Unsurprising. Still disappointed"
Black, unkempt hair falls shortly before the shoulders. The green eyes that stare back at you have a focused edge to them.
This is you. The reflection following every move and expression you make at it confirms as much.
You also can't recognize the person in the mirror, that uncomfortable emptiness bubbling on the back of your head. There's no memory, familiarity or emotion to the reflection. It can only be you, and nothing else.
The confusion and distress only grow on the corners of your mind. That you're being expected for and the hope for answers is the most you can do to keep it from boiling over.
You have a lot of questions for Adelina, more piling up each second.
---
Moonlight shines from the broken windows. The hallway is on the same state as the room you came from. Glass shards, dried leaves and other dirt litter the ground, along with metal chairs long covered in rust. Plants break through the tiles and water ponds are peppered across the floor.
You find Adelina arguing with someone wearing same uniform as the soldier that came into your room. Said soldier is standing next to a row of wall chairs, speaking with someone covered head-to-toe with a blanket sitting on one of the chairs.
On each side of the hallway stands another soldier. They look out the window, across the hallway then repeat, their eyes lingering on you briefly.
Four soldiers total, that you can count at least, all holding their weapons a little too tightly.
"Hmmm! They sure seem like they're expecting trouble. I'm smelling fun on the way!"
You wait just past the door to your room for a bit, before deciding to approach Adelina.
"-outside their air zone. We run, they're just gonna pick us out one-by-one. It's just not happening Miss" You catch the man saying.
"Going out we have a shot. They're already on their way. You saw what they can do. Last time they didn't expect you, staying here's suicide."
"I'd rather me and my soldiers not die like dogs. The chopper comes here and we get out, we're not moving."
She notices you and she quickly gestures you to stay away.
"She keeps treating us as if we were a child. Such... disrespect!"
Whatever's going on there, Adelina seems to really not want you there.
Slightly dejected, you move towards the window. The outside is an extension of what you've already seen of the ruined hospital: buildings fallen apart and covered in vegetation, what used to be streets and sidewalks now overrun with trees and grass. On the distance, you only see more of the same.
"A-ah, that's not a good idea! Please stay away from the windows!" Says the soldier that was beside the chair, now next to you. She starts dragging you away from the window.
"Why?"
"Why? I-I mean, you could get shot, or be seen and expose us... Just, it's a really bad idea please stay away"
Moving to the row of chairs you pick one that's less ruined and sit, right next to the person covered in a blanket and the soldier.
Moments pass, looking around the room waiting for Adelina to either finish. You feel helpless, letting yourself be ordered around by someone you just met, doing what she tells you because that's the only thing you have to go on.
"Those fucks were more prepared than you promised. I have all the ground to suspect you, doc."
"If they catch us I'm as dead as the rest of you, worse, captain."
The three of you next to the chairs stay in an awkward silence.
You let your mind wander. There's not much you know for certain: these people need you for something, you are in an abandoned hospital in an abandoned city, have spent a long, long time in that hospital bed as the place fell apart around you and are completely healthy despite it.
You don't know how you got here. Nor where you are or when. Beside wanting your help, you have no guarantee that Adelina's people will keep you around after they're done.
You might have even forgotten things you could forget.
"Hello?" The question cuts through your thoughts. It came from the person next to you, a girl on her mid-to-late teens. This close you can make out gray eyes and blond hair from beneath the blanket.
"...Hello" You answer. You haven't forgotten your manners, and you could use anything to distract you right now "What's your. Name?"
She gives you a smile. "Sofia. What's yours?"
Her knees hit the floor, soon after her bowels.
And you're immediately again on the mess of confusion that's your head.
There's not much left of you, is there?
Name. It's something important. Everything has a name, even if you've forgotten it. It can define concepts that have no form and change the nature of things.
A wave that rips through you. Before it passes nothing that makes you will remain rooted.
And you don't remember yours. You feel like floating, as if you looked down and realized the ground you were standing on was nothing but empty black and nothing could keep you standing or stop your fall.
Blinding black, deep endless white.
Like lightning, you realize how deep your ignorance goes.
Too late. It wasn't lack of speed. Or weakness. Just impossible to stop.
The buzzing in your ears you've been ignoring becomes impossible to.
A nameless thing is like a walking void.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say something wrong!" Sofia get closer to you and grabs your hands. She stares into your eyes. You can't imagine what sort of expression you're making.
You focus on the warmth of her hands, and somehow manage to keep the worst of your turmoil at bay.
"I'm okay. Now. I think" You lie.
"I don't believe you" she keeps her hands on you."But it's okay. You're not fine fine, but you're not freaking out."
At some point your breathing had become ragged. You close your eyes and focus, the buzzing ringing somewhere you can't place.
"Man, you really got that handled buddy" The soldier tells Sofia. She puts her hand away from over her left side, where you can see a glint of steel. "I mean, I guess I'd be all freaked out, were I in your shoes."
"Ah, where's my manners? Name's Rose, you've already met Sophie here." She points to the girl in-between you. "You kinda in the same boat as her, I guess."
"What does. That mean?"
"I'm not sure I can tell you yet? I don't know, need to ask the cap'n."
"Of course. Vital information. Can't share freely. Still frustrating. Still suspecting us. Yet need us."
"We've just met them, same as you I guess" Sofia looks towards where Adelina finally seems to be done. "Me and Adeline. We were in- somewhere else until now."
"Adelina is. Not with them?"
"Yes. I mean, we're with them, but we've only known them for a little. It was a rescue"
"A-Are you sure you should tell her all that, Sophie. I mean, no offense to you buddy, but we're not sure where you at, not really."
So. It's not Adelina's people, as you assumed. There seem to be two factions at play here: Adelina and Sofia; and Rose and her comrades.
"It doesn't change much. We're still at their beck and call, just we know that woman and the child are closer to our situation than we thought."
"It's fine, corporal." Sofia cuts the soldier off. "I don't think there's anything of what happened you can't tell her. Like what you did at the lab? Or why your boss is arguing with the Doctor?"
"What happened. Before? Something you should. Tell me?" You ask, both as a chance to extract answers from the soldier and out of solidarity towards Sofia.
Rose's head moves from you, then Sofia and then back at you before finally landing beyond you, where the captain is now approaching you.
"You the person of the hour, I assume" You expect for a while for someone to answer, before you realize he's speaking to you. "Are you gonna be a problem for my people?"
"Will I. Be a problem? You keeping something. From us."
"I'd be an idiot if I weren't. Far as I know, that doctor's just waiting to stab us in the back" He point behind him towards Adelina. "And it just so happens she's the reason we're here. With you."
"She's amnesiac, Captain Delores. You're just wasting all our times he-"
"And I don't know what that woman's thinking. I don't know. For all I know, we're gonna turn around and you gonna blow up on us."
Captain Delores steps closer with each word, now barely half a meter away from you. You find yourself unconsciously pushing back into the chair, tensing up, Sofia's hand still on yours.
"Oh, we gonna fight? We finally fighting? Come on!"
"So. I want to make sure. After the shitshow back there, I don't know what goes inside that psychos head. And that's why I want you to assure me, fucking convince me, you're not gonna fuck me and my people in the back"
What can you even say? What could possibly make him rest assured that you're not going to betray them. You come up blank on anything that could reassure them that no, you're not a ticking time bomb.
"He's distressed. Still not enough information. Whatever we answer won't matter."
You look him straight in the eyes, open you mouth to try and defend yourself before stopping, something catching your attention at the edge of your sight.
Time freezes. The moonlight carves a figure, standing on the glass-less window frame. It has a foot on the windowsill, the other in the air, pushing itself on the air towards you.
The buzzing peaks. Before you or anyone has time to react Delores' head is now pinned to the wall by a steel blade, moonlight reflecting off the steel and blood.
"CAPTAIN!"
Thunder rings, the swordsman throws itself away down the hallway as bullets fly by. The body of Delores drops limp to the ground.
The figure lands on the end of the hallway. Cloth, steel and flesh are cut in half, the soldier falling to the ground in two from the waist.
The swordsman stands and studies your group, eerily still and silent as if it were a painting. In the dark, you can't make out much from it's figure- it's lacking an arm, and is covered in bullet holes and slash wounds, somehow moving as it can in the state it's in. It's body is made of a hard material, covered in blood both dry and fresh; it's own and not.
"This fucking asshole" Rose and the remaining soldier aim their guns down, short moments stretch as both sides study each other, seemingly waiting for something. On the corner of your eye, you see Adelina approaching were you and Sofia are.
"Get ready to run" She whispers, not quietly enough as the figures head shudders suddenly in your direction. It breaks its silence, as a wet, wordless gurgle comes from beneath it's mask.
"OOOOh... Gia.. Aaaaa... Uhhhh"
Two people are dead, and you're just sitting. The swordsman breaks its posture and leans forward, Rose and her squadmate already squeezing the triggers, slowly, too slowly as it's about to propel at you, at Sofia and at Adelina.
It's clear that if someone is going to do something, it's going to have to be you. Your mind speeds up, rushing through something, anything that can save you and the people next to you.
An answers comes, from somewhere in the depths:
[] Meaningless sounds, given power across generations and worship from the people now carved in the space between your flesh.
[] A blunt, indiscreet instrument of violence. The contraptions working within are less important than the battles its wielder has seen.
[] A flash of steel, sometimes a coin, sometimes an edge, always a tool.
[] A rather short woman. You can almost feel the focus on her eyes.
The person in the mirror stares back at you. The first thing you notice is how short she is, the waist barely higher than the frame of the hospital bed behind her in the reflection.
"Not any taller. Unsurprising. Still disappointed"
Black, unkempt hair falls shortly before the shoulders. The green eyes that stare back at you have a focused edge to them.
This is you. The reflection following every move and expression you make at it confirms as much.
You also can't recognize the person in the mirror, that uncomfortable emptiness bubbling on the back of your head. There's no memory, familiarity or emotion to the reflection. It can only be you, and nothing else.
The confusion and distress only grow on the corners of your mind. That you're being expected for and the hope for answers is the most you can do to keep it from boiling over.
You have a lot of questions for Adelina, more piling up each second.
---
Moonlight shines from the broken windows. The hallway is on the same state as the room you came from. Glass shards, dried leaves and other dirt litter the ground, along with metal chairs long covered in rust. Plants break through the tiles and water ponds are peppered across the floor.
You find Adelina arguing with someone wearing same uniform as the soldier that came into your room. Said soldier is standing next to a row of wall chairs, speaking with someone covered head-to-toe with a blanket sitting on one of the chairs.
On each side of the hallway stands another soldier. They look out the window, across the hallway then repeat, their eyes lingering on you briefly.
Four soldiers total, that you can count at least, all holding their weapons a little too tightly.
"Hmmm! They sure seem like they're expecting trouble. I'm smelling fun on the way!"
You wait just past the door to your room for a bit, before deciding to approach Adelina.
"-outside their air zone. We run, they're just gonna pick us out one-by-one. It's just not happening Miss" You catch the man saying.
"Going out we have a shot. They're already on their way. You saw what they can do. Last time they didn't expect you, staying here's suicide."
"I'd rather me and my soldiers not die like dogs. The chopper comes here and we get out, we're not moving."
She notices you and she quickly gestures you to stay away.
"She keeps treating us as if we were a child. Such... disrespect!"
Whatever's going on there, Adelina seems to really not want you there.
Slightly dejected, you move towards the window. The outside is an extension of what you've already seen of the ruined hospital: buildings fallen apart and covered in vegetation, what used to be streets and sidewalks now overrun with trees and grass. On the distance, you only see more of the same.
"A-ah, that's not a good idea! Please stay away from the windows!" Says the soldier that was beside the chair, now next to you. She starts dragging you away from the window.
"Why?"
"Why? I-I mean, you could get shot, or be seen and expose us... Just, it's a really bad idea please stay away"
Moving to the row of chairs you pick one that's less ruined and sit, right next to the person covered in a blanket and the soldier.
Moments pass, looking around the room waiting for Adelina to either finish. You feel helpless, letting yourself be ordered around by someone you just met, doing what she tells you because that's the only thing you have to go on.
"Those fucks were more prepared than you promised. I have all the ground to suspect you, doc."
"If they catch us I'm as dead as the rest of you, worse, captain."
The three of you next to the chairs stay in an awkward silence.
You let your mind wander. There's not much you know for certain: these people need you for something, you are in an abandoned hospital in an abandoned city, have spent a long, long time in that hospital bed as the place fell apart around you and are completely healthy despite it.
You don't know how you got here. Nor where you are or when. Beside wanting your help, you have no guarantee that Adelina's people will keep you around after they're done.
You might have even forgotten things you could forget.
"Hello?" The question cuts through your thoughts. It came from the person next to you, a girl on her mid-to-late teens. This close you can make out gray eyes and blond hair from beneath the blanket.
"...Hello" You answer. You haven't forgotten your manners, and you could use anything to distract you right now "What's your. Name?"
She gives you a smile. "Sofia. What's yours?"
Her knees hit the floor, soon after her bowels.
And you're immediately again on the mess of confusion that's your head.
There's not much left of you, is there?
Name. It's something important. Everything has a name, even if you've forgotten it. It can define concepts that have no form and change the nature of things.
A wave that rips through you. Before it passes nothing that makes you will remain rooted.
And you don't remember yours. You feel like floating, as if you looked down and realized the ground you were standing on was nothing but empty black and nothing could keep you standing or stop your fall.
Blinding black, deep endless white.
Like lightning, you realize how deep your ignorance goes.
Too late. It wasn't lack of speed. Or weakness. Just impossible to stop.
The buzzing in your ears you've been ignoring becomes impossible to.
A nameless thing is like a walking void.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say something wrong!" Sofia get closer to you and grabs your hands. She stares into your eyes. You can't imagine what sort of expression you're making.
You focus on the warmth of her hands, and somehow manage to keep the worst of your turmoil at bay.
"I'm okay. Now. I think" You lie.
"I don't believe you" she keeps her hands on you."But it's okay. You're not fine fine, but you're not freaking out."
At some point your breathing had become ragged. You close your eyes and focus, the buzzing ringing somewhere you can't place.
"Man, you really got that handled buddy" The soldier tells Sofia. She puts her hand away from over her left side, where you can see a glint of steel. "I mean, I guess I'd be all freaked out, were I in your shoes."
"Ah, where's my manners? Name's Rose, you've already met Sophie here." She points to the girl in-between you. "You kinda in the same boat as her, I guess."
"What does. That mean?"
"I'm not sure I can tell you yet? I don't know, need to ask the cap'n."
"Of course. Vital information. Can't share freely. Still frustrating. Still suspecting us. Yet need us."
"We've just met them, same as you I guess" Sofia looks towards where Adelina finally seems to be done. "Me and Adeline. We were in- somewhere else until now."
"Adelina is. Not with them?"
"Yes. I mean, we're with them, but we've only known them for a little. It was a rescue"
"A-Are you sure you should tell her all that, Sophie. I mean, no offense to you buddy, but we're not sure where you at, not really."
So. It's not Adelina's people, as you assumed. There seem to be two factions at play here: Adelina and Sofia; and Rose and her comrades.
"It doesn't change much. We're still at their beck and call, just we know that woman and the child are closer to our situation than we thought."
"It's fine, corporal." Sofia cuts the soldier off. "I don't think there's anything of what happened you can't tell her. Like what you did at the lab? Or why your boss is arguing with the Doctor?"
"What happened. Before? Something you should. Tell me?" You ask, both as a chance to extract answers from the soldier and out of solidarity towards Sofia.
Rose's head moves from you, then Sofia and then back at you before finally landing beyond you, where the captain is now approaching you.
"You the person of the hour, I assume" You expect for a while for someone to answer, before you realize he's speaking to you. "Are you gonna be a problem for my people?"
"Will I. Be a problem? You keeping something. From us."
"I'd be an idiot if I weren't. Far as I know, that doctor's just waiting to stab us in the back" He point behind him towards Adelina. "And it just so happens she's the reason we're here. With you."
"She's amnesiac, Captain Delores. You're just wasting all our times he-"
"And I don't know what that woman's thinking. I don't know. For all I know, we're gonna turn around and you gonna blow up on us."
Captain Delores steps closer with each word, now barely half a meter away from you. You find yourself unconsciously pushing back into the chair, tensing up, Sofia's hand still on yours.
"Oh, we gonna fight? We finally fighting? Come on!"
"So. I want to make sure. After the shitshow back there, I don't know what goes inside that psychos head. And that's why I want you to assure me, fucking convince me, you're not gonna fuck me and my people in the back"
What can you even say? What could possibly make him rest assured that you're not going to betray them. You come up blank on anything that could reassure them that no, you're not a ticking time bomb.
"He's distressed. Still not enough information. Whatever we answer won't matter."
You look him straight in the eyes, open you mouth to try and defend yourself before stopping, something catching your attention at the edge of your sight.
Time freezes. The moonlight carves a figure, standing on the glass-less window frame. It has a foot on the windowsill, the other in the air, pushing itself on the air towards you.
The buzzing peaks. Before you or anyone has time to react Delores' head is now pinned to the wall by a steel blade, moonlight reflecting off the steel and blood.
"CAPTAIN!"
Thunder rings, the swordsman throws itself away down the hallway as bullets fly by. The body of Delores drops limp to the ground.
The figure lands on the end of the hallway. Cloth, steel and flesh are cut in half, the soldier falling to the ground in two from the waist.
The swordsman stands and studies your group, eerily still and silent as if it were a painting. In the dark, you can't make out much from it's figure- it's lacking an arm, and is covered in bullet holes and slash wounds, somehow moving as it can in the state it's in. It's body is made of a hard material, covered in blood both dry and fresh; it's own and not.
"This fucking asshole" Rose and the remaining soldier aim their guns down, short moments stretch as both sides study each other, seemingly waiting for something. On the corner of your eye, you see Adelina approaching were you and Sofia are.
"Get ready to run" She whispers, not quietly enough as the figures head shudders suddenly in your direction. It breaks its silence, as a wet, wordless gurgle comes from beneath it's mask.
"OOOOh... Gia.. Aaaaa... Uhhhh"
Two people are dead, and you're just sitting. The swordsman breaks its posture and leans forward, Rose and her squadmate already squeezing the triggers, slowly, too slowly as it's about to propel at you, at Sofia and at Adelina.
It's clear that if someone is going to do something, it's going to have to be you. Your mind speeds up, rushing through something, anything that can save you and the people next to you.
An answers comes, from somewhere in the depths:
[] Meaningless sounds, given power across generations and worship from the people now carved in the space between your flesh.
[] A blunt, indiscreet instrument of violence. The contraptions working within are less important than the battles its wielder has seen.
[] A flash of steel, sometimes a coin, sometimes an edge, always a tool.
Character sheet, The Castaway has been added to Informational.
Last edited:
NinetyNineLies
Memento Vivere
- Location
- Dreamland
- Pronouns
- He/They
[X] Meaningless sounds, given power across generations and worship from the people now carved in the space between your flesh.
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
[X] A flash of steel, sometimes a coin, sometimes an edge, always a tool.
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Meaningless sounds, given power across generations and worship from the people now carved in the space between your flesh.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Meaningless sounds, given power across generations and worship from the people now carved in the space between your flesh.
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
Bumping this thread to see if we can get a few more votes, otherwise will close it in the next day or so.
- Location
- On Earth
[X] Meaningless sounds, given power across generations and worship from the people now carved in the space between your flesh.
WanderingTwix
Posting something good once in a full moon
- Location
- United Kingdom
[X] Meaningless sounds, given power across generations and worship from the people now carved in the space between your flesh.
The vote's probably already closed with the update in progress, but whatever
The vote's probably already closed with the update in progress, but whatever
Synapse 0.5 (Outdated)
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
Synapse 0.5
You raise your hand and time grinds to a halt. Out of the corner of your eye Rose levels a large handgun at the killer, the latter rushing towards you leaving fresh drops of blood through the air, leaving the soldier it cut in half down the corridor.
In less than a second, your muscles tense and heat pours from within you. Your pulse spikes and your breath catches and all your senses become painfully sharp. Faint murmurs and half formed songs rise from the gaps between your fibers and bones, rising until the droning around you takes form and echoing them.
The buzzing spikes. Time resumes and all the tension and heat built up leaves you at once and it's like lightning rushing through you.
There's a gunshot-like *crack*, and the swordsman is sent flying down the hallway among a cloud of dust and pieces of shattered floor tile.
Dust settles a few meters away from you. The few intact glass windows that remained are now gone, forced and shattered from their frames. In the ground the few tiles that remained are half torn from the ground, half torn to pieces.
Down the hallway and on the floor stairs, the swordsman lies in a heap, unmoving. Tiny cracks run across the wall above it.
It feels like hours pass, you stare not comprehending what happened or what you did or how you did it.
Then a single concept comes back to you like a candle in a dark room.
Magic.
This spell isn't anything special, a source of knowledge deep within tells you.This is just one of countless spells simple enough to do by memory and at will, easy enough that you could recall it from the shadows of your memory.
"Seems we're not completely useless after all!"
"Even basic spells need extensive knowledge. Need to parse through it."
The feeling of helplessness you felt eases just a bit. It may be nothing special, and it may be the only thing you have, but it's far more than the nothing you had not five minutes ago.
"Are you alright?" Adelina shakes you from your trance. You try and turn towards her, only for your legs to fail you and almost falling face first into the ground, if not for Adelina.
With shaky legs you manage to stand up again, with the help of the doctor. You suddenly feel weak and almost dizzy. You can walk, but it feels as if you had ran for hours on end.
Adelina's looks at you as if she's wants to say something, then turns around to Rose.
"Still wanna go outside doc?" The soldier asks Adelina without turning, checking over Sofia for wounds.
"...What's the time until the helicopter gets here?" She looks over her shoulder towards where the swordsman is, still as a corpse.
Rose stands up and gestures at her remaining comrade, who heads towards the end of the hallway opposite where you sent the swordsman flying.
"Say, three to five minutes now? Though, to be honest I'm half tempted to leave your ass here."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Adelina stares the soldier in the eye, not moving an inch.
"It means that half my team's dead, and for all I know the cap was right. You made that thing, didn't you? Why should I think it's not in your control?"
Rose leans forward, her face centimeters from the doctor. You realize at some point during the conversation she had drawn her gun once more.
"Way I see it, my brothers' blood, back there and right here" she waves her arm around" Are aaaall in your hands, doctor"
For the first time since you wake up, Adelina seems shaken up and at a loss for words.
"He doesn't work like that!" She manages to say. "I-I didn't even know he was up. I don't even know what you-"
"Are you two really gonna waste our time? Like this? Here? Now?" Sophia cuts the older woman off, stepping between her and the soldier.
"That's enough." She shoots the doctor a glance before turning to Rose. "I can't promise you Doctor Blois is trustworthy, but even as a traitor it'd be best for the Agency to have her under watch, wouldn't it?"
Rose studies Sofia for a bit, before sighing and holstering her sidearm again.
"Huh? That was… surprisingly easy. Are we missing something here?"
"Haaa, I guess I can't really argue with you, eh?" She gives a flourish towards the girl, before turning towards the doctor, reaching behind her back and throwing something metallic towards her.
"You do gotta put these on, though! It's either steel on your wrists or lead in your brow. Do thank the kid for this:"
"Oh, so she's just a crazy person. Nevermind then."
"I've seen lots of stuff like this. She probably trying and taking her buddy eating dirt on Adeline here."
Adelina catches the handcuffs and quickly puts them on, muttering something under her breath. Rose grabs her wrists and checks them over, then once done steps away.
And turns towards you.
"Now, you." She stares right into your eyes, as if daring you to make one wrong move.
"I don't think you're with that bitch over there; everyone spent way too much just to pick you up for you to be bait. However…" She signals behind her, where the swordsman is.
"It's worth asking again. Are you gonna be a problem for us?"
"With that attitude, what else?"
"I'd say to take her up on it, but we can barely stand! Maybe get a raincheck?"
"Ignore the other two. Idiots. Go along. There's no reason to fight."
Sofia tries to intervene again, but you go ahead of her and speak.
"I'm not… gonna be a problem." Much to your dismay, while your tongue is way less tied up than before you are really out of breath. That simple enough spell seems to have taken a lot out of you.
"The name's ether overextension. The body is saturated with energy before it's properly acclimated or warmed up. An amateur mistake, but it can't be helped "
"I don't know… who you are." You try to straighten yourself, looking her straight into the eye.
"I have no reason to be a problem to you."
"Fair enough!" And just like that, any doubts she had of you seem to be put on the side. "Looking at you, don't think you can pull that trick any time soon, huh?"
You shake your head. She pulls the strap that her rifle hangs at her side from, unslings it from her shoulder and pushes the weapon towards you.
"Have any idea how a rifle works?"
"Yes" You say before realizing. Carefully, you take the rifle from her hands and run your inspect it without thinking, taking care of not touching the trigger and having the barrel pointing downwards at all times. First, you find the safety, then the cartridge release. Your right hand stops for a second at the weapon's side, and you get the feeling there should be something to pull there.
"Semi-automatic. Three-and-something millimeters caliber. No bolt-action. Mild disappointment. Well weighted. Will be serviceable."
Finally, you swing it over your shoulder and feel it's weight. It feels somewhat heavier than what you're apparently used to, but it's not unmanageable.
"I'm feeling a bit better about you, kid" Rose pats you on the shoulder. She stops to look in the direction where Captain Delores corpse is slumped against the wall, his head hanging by a thread of skin and tendon; further away, the bisected corpse of a soldier you don't think you heard a single word from.
Rose starts making her way up the stairs before turning towards the three of you, Doctor Blois quiet and a little ahead of you and Sofia.
"And we've stayed in this garbage dump for far too long. Let's get the hell outta here."
As you start climbing up, Sofia turns to you "Are we… not going to do anything with her friends?"
The thought had not even crossed your mind.
"There's not enough time. Rose knows. She can't do anything. Don't say anything."
"We don't have time to take them with us." You tell her. Sofia bites her lip.
As you reach the landing, you steal one last glance down the hallway. Even in the dark you can somewhat make up the silhouette of the swordsman, still unmoving, head buried on the floor with his legs up in the air, as if he could jump up and at you in any moment.
However, he remains still as a graveyard.
---
Up on the rooftop, the entirety of the ruined city is displayed for you. While it probably once was on it's center, the hospital sits right on a spot where the city is cut of by a massive forest that extends as far as you can see on the dim moonlight.
It doesn't take long until your group starts hearing the sounds of a vehicle approaching.
"Is that an airship of some kind? What in Empress' name is that hellish sound!?"
"Whoa, that thing looks cool! Can we ride it? Can I drive it?"
And this, you assume, is the famed helicopter: your ticket out of here and you hope towards some answers, finally.
"That's what I like to hear! Nautilus, Nautilus this is Nemo… The 2nd? Here!"
On the distance as it approaches, you start to make out more and more of the helicopter. To you, it looks like a giant metal boat with a halo of some kind, the latter you'd guess being responsible for the noise that can almost drown the ever-present buzzing.
"Nemo the 1st is KIA. So is Rivers and Benz. Me and Rubio over there made it, plus we have all VIPs with us. Copy and over."
"Are those safe?" Sofia thinks for a moment before answering you.
"As long as we're not shot, we should be fine!"
"What do you mean, not clear? I don't care if it's-"
"I've never been in one of those, to be honest."
"Are they too expensive to ride?"
"Huh? I… Dunno? I guess, people usually never go around helicopters."
"Why not?"
Sofia shrugs. "Most people try to stay away from irradiated places. They probably just do on foot or by car."
"Okay people! Gather together. You too, Doctor Blois!" Rose calls to you. You realize the doctor isn't beside you, and instead is on one corner of the rooftop.
The noise from the rotors becomes deafening, as it's now hovering some 20 metres from the rooftop of the hospital.
Just as Rose starts signaling the helicopter to land, a loud noise coming from the city ruins catches the attention from all four of you.
You can't quite follow what happens next. You quickly look towards the direction of the noise and see lights illuminating the ruined building, moonlight glinting of a hulk of metal that starts rising over the buildings.
There's a hissing sound, Rose shouts something, the helicopter tries and pull away then just heat, noise and sheer force send you to the ground.
---
You don't spend much time out of it. At most, a few seconds to a minute. You try and take in your surroundings.
What you come to is the rooftop caught almost all on fire, sharp pieces of metal strewn all around it and your ears ringing. The helicopter now lies in a heap of burning scrap.
You look around trying to find the other four. You see Sofia trying to hold up the doctor, broken metal coming from her shoulder. Rose is back towards the way you came, gun once again drawn. Crushed by the burning wreckage you spot what little's left of the last remaining soldier of Rose's company.
The ringing subsides and you can now make out that Rose is shouting. Shouting at you, specifically. You move as fast as possible to her location, only to freeze up.
Face to face, Rose and the swordsman stare each other down, each with a weapon drawn not making any move. The swordsman is now far worse for wear: he's half slumped, as if his spine couldn't hold all his weight on one side, his remaining limbs are at unnatural angles and his almost as if it was hanging by strings, twitching erratically.
Then, he switches his attention. His swivels towards you are, where his eyes would be on you. He moves, far faster than how battered he is should allow.
One, two, three rounds and he staggers. You aimed to shoot but Rose was faster. Two to the chest and one to the head.
The swordsman stops for a second, then rushes towards you again.
Spell: Vacuum Spike (Basi) Unlocked
The Aristocrat: Data Recovery 3% ---> 10%
Vacuum Spike added to the Character Sheet
[] Try and cast Vacuum Spike again (GM Note: High chance of failure, though will still grant data recovery.)
- Data Recovery + for The Aristocrat (Magic Theory/Support Spells)
[] Pick up a piece of metal and stab it. Or just punch it, whatever works!
- Data Recovery + for The Guard (Melee Combat/Offensive Spells)
[] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head
- Data Recovery + for The Rat (Subterfuge/Ranged Combat/Curses)
[] Run Away (Did someone say meatshields?)
[] Write-in (Data recovery awarded depending on the type of action suggested)
You raise your hand and time grinds to a halt. Out of the corner of your eye Rose levels a large handgun at the killer, the latter rushing towards you leaving fresh drops of blood through the air, leaving the soldier it cut in half down the corridor.
In less than a second, your muscles tense and heat pours from within you. Your pulse spikes and your breath catches and all your senses become painfully sharp. Faint murmurs and half formed songs rise from the gaps between your fibers and bones, rising until the droning around you takes form and echoing them.
The buzzing spikes. Time resumes and all the tension and heat built up leaves you at once and it's like lightning rushing through you.
There's a gunshot-like *crack*, and the swordsman is sent flying down the hallway among a cloud of dust and pieces of shattered floor tile.
Dust settles a few meters away from you. The few intact glass windows that remained are now gone, forced and shattered from their frames. In the ground the few tiles that remained are half torn from the ground, half torn to pieces.
Down the hallway and on the floor stairs, the swordsman lies in a heap, unmoving. Tiny cracks run across the wall above it.
It feels like hours pass, you stare not comprehending what happened or what you did or how you did it.
Then a single concept comes back to you like a candle in a dark room.
Magic.
This spell isn't anything special, a source of knowledge deep within tells you.This is just one of countless spells simple enough to do by memory and at will, easy enough that you could recall it from the shadows of your memory.
"Seems we're not completely useless after all!"
"Even basic spells need extensive knowledge. Need to parse through it."
The feeling of helplessness you felt eases just a bit. It may be nothing special, and it may be the only thing you have, but it's far more than the nothing you had not five minutes ago.
"Are you alright?" Adelina shakes you from your trance. You try and turn towards her, only for your legs to fail you and almost falling face first into the ground, if not for Adelina.
With shaky legs you manage to stand up again, with the help of the doctor. You suddenly feel weak and almost dizzy. You can walk, but it feels as if you had ran for hours on end.
Adelina's looks at you as if she's wants to say something, then turns around to Rose.
"Still wanna go outside doc?" The soldier asks Adelina without turning, checking over Sofia for wounds.
"...What's the time until the helicopter gets here?" She looks over her shoulder towards where the swordsman is, still as a corpse.
Rose stands up and gestures at her remaining comrade, who heads towards the end of the hallway opposite where you sent the swordsman flying.
"Say, three to five minutes now? Though, to be honest I'm half tempted to leave your ass here."
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Adelina stares the soldier in the eye, not moving an inch.
"It means that half my team's dead, and for all I know the cap was right. You made that thing, didn't you? Why should I think it's not in your control?"
Rose leans forward, her face centimeters from the doctor. You realize at some point during the conversation she had drawn her gun once more.
"Way I see it, my brothers' blood, back there and right here" she waves her arm around" Are aaaall in your hands, doctor"
For the first time since you wake up, Adelina seems shaken up and at a loss for words.
"He doesn't work like that!" She manages to say. "I-I didn't even know he was up. I don't even know what you-"
"Are you two really gonna waste our time? Like this? Here? Now?" Sophia cuts the older woman off, stepping between her and the soldier.
"That's enough." She shoots the doctor a glance before turning to Rose. "I can't promise you Doctor Blois is trustworthy, but even as a traitor it'd be best for the Agency to have her under watch, wouldn't it?"
Rose studies Sofia for a bit, before sighing and holstering her sidearm again.
"Huh? That was… surprisingly easy. Are we missing something here?"
"Haaa, I guess I can't really argue with you, eh?" She gives a flourish towards the girl, before turning towards the doctor, reaching behind her back and throwing something metallic towards her.
"You do gotta put these on, though! It's either steel on your wrists or lead in your brow. Do thank the kid for this:"
"Oh, so she's just a crazy person. Nevermind then."
"I've seen lots of stuff like this. She probably trying and taking her buddy eating dirt on Adeline here."
Adelina catches the handcuffs and quickly puts them on, muttering something under her breath. Rose grabs her wrists and checks them over, then once done steps away.
And turns towards you.
"Now, you." She stares right into your eyes, as if daring you to make one wrong move.
"I don't think you're with that bitch over there; everyone spent way too much just to pick you up for you to be bait. However…" She signals behind her, where the swordsman is.
"It's worth asking again. Are you gonna be a problem for us?"
"With that attitude, what else?"
"I'd say to take her up on it, but we can barely stand! Maybe get a raincheck?"
"Ignore the other two. Idiots. Go along. There's no reason to fight."
Sofia tries to intervene again, but you go ahead of her and speak.
"I'm not… gonna be a problem." Much to your dismay, while your tongue is way less tied up than before you are really out of breath. That simple enough spell seems to have taken a lot out of you.
"The name's ether overextension. The body is saturated with energy before it's properly acclimated or warmed up. An amateur mistake, but it can't be helped "
"I don't know… who you are." You try to straighten yourself, looking her straight into the eye.
"I have no reason to be a problem to you."
"Fair enough!" And just like that, any doubts she had of you seem to be put on the side. "Looking at you, don't think you can pull that trick any time soon, huh?"
You shake your head. She pulls the strap that her rifle hangs at her side from, unslings it from her shoulder and pushes the weapon towards you.
"Have any idea how a rifle works?"
"Yes" You say before realizing. Carefully, you take the rifle from her hands and run your inspect it without thinking, taking care of not touching the trigger and having the barrel pointing downwards at all times. First, you find the safety, then the cartridge release. Your right hand stops for a second at the weapon's side, and you get the feeling there should be something to pull there.
"Semi-automatic. Three-and-something millimeters caliber. No bolt-action. Mild disappointment. Well weighted. Will be serviceable."
Finally, you swing it over your shoulder and feel it's weight. It feels somewhat heavier than what you're apparently used to, but it's not unmanageable.
"I'm feeling a bit better about you, kid" Rose pats you on the shoulder. She stops to look in the direction where Captain Delores corpse is slumped against the wall, his head hanging by a thread of skin and tendon; further away, the bisected corpse of a soldier you don't think you heard a single word from.
Rose starts making her way up the stairs before turning towards the three of you, Doctor Blois quiet and a little ahead of you and Sofia.
"And we've stayed in this garbage dump for far too long. Let's get the hell outta here."
As you start climbing up, Sofia turns to you "Are we… not going to do anything with her friends?"
The thought had not even crossed your mind.
"There's not enough time. Rose knows. She can't do anything. Don't say anything."
"We don't have time to take them with us." You tell her. Sofia bites her lip.
As you reach the landing, you steal one last glance down the hallway. Even in the dark you can somewhat make up the silhouette of the swordsman, still unmoving, head buried on the floor with his legs up in the air, as if he could jump up and at you in any moment.
However, he remains still as a graveyard.
---
Up on the rooftop, the entirety of the ruined city is displayed for you. While it probably once was on it's center, the hospital sits right on a spot where the city is cut of by a massive forest that extends as far as you can see on the dim moonlight.
It doesn't take long until your group starts hearing the sounds of a vehicle approaching.
"Is that an airship of some kind? What in Empress' name is that hellish sound!?"
"Whoa, that thing looks cool! Can we ride it? Can I drive it?"
And this, you assume, is the famed helicopter: your ticket out of here and you hope towards some answers, finally.
"That's what I like to hear! Nautilus, Nautilus this is Nemo… The 2nd? Here!"
On the distance as it approaches, you start to make out more and more of the helicopter. To you, it looks like a giant metal boat with a halo of some kind, the latter you'd guess being responsible for the noise that can almost drown the ever-present buzzing.
"Nemo the 1st is KIA. So is Rivers and Benz. Me and Rubio over there made it, plus we have all VIPs with us. Copy and over."
"Are those safe?" Sofia thinks for a moment before answering you.
"As long as we're not shot, we should be fine!"
"What do you mean, not clear? I don't care if it's-"
"I've never been in one of those, to be honest."
"Are they too expensive to ride?"
"Huh? I… Dunno? I guess, people usually never go around helicopters."
"Why not?"
Sofia shrugs. "Most people try to stay away from irradiated places. They probably just do on foot or by car."
"Okay people! Gather together. You too, Doctor Blois!" Rose calls to you. You realize the doctor isn't beside you, and instead is on one corner of the rooftop.
The noise from the rotors becomes deafening, as it's now hovering some 20 metres from the rooftop of the hospital.
Just as Rose starts signaling the helicopter to land, a loud noise coming from the city ruins catches the attention from all four of you.
You can't quite follow what happens next. You quickly look towards the direction of the noise and see lights illuminating the ruined building, moonlight glinting of a hulk of metal that starts rising over the buildings.
There's a hissing sound, Rose shouts something, the helicopter tries and pull away then just heat, noise and sheer force send you to the ground.
---
You don't spend much time out of it. At most, a few seconds to a minute. You try and take in your surroundings.
What you come to is the rooftop caught almost all on fire, sharp pieces of metal strewn all around it and your ears ringing. The helicopter now lies in a heap of burning scrap.
You look around trying to find the other four. You see Sofia trying to hold up the doctor, broken metal coming from her shoulder. Rose is back towards the way you came, gun once again drawn. Crushed by the burning wreckage you spot what little's left of the last remaining soldier of Rose's company.
The ringing subsides and you can now make out that Rose is shouting. Shouting at you, specifically. You move as fast as possible to her location, only to freeze up.
Face to face, Rose and the swordsman stare each other down, each with a weapon drawn not making any move. The swordsman is now far worse for wear: he's half slumped, as if his spine couldn't hold all his weight on one side, his remaining limbs are at unnatural angles and his almost as if it was hanging by strings, twitching erratically.
Then, he switches his attention. His swivels towards you are, where his eyes would be on you. He moves, far faster than how battered he is should allow.
One, two, three rounds and he staggers. You aimed to shoot but Rose was faster. Two to the chest and one to the head.
The swordsman stops for a second, then rushes towards you again.
Spell: Vacuum Spike (Basi) Unlocked
The Aristocrat: Data Recovery 3% ---> 10%
Vacuum Spike added to the Character Sheet
[] Try and cast Vacuum Spike again (GM Note: High chance of failure, though will still grant data recovery.)
- Data Recovery + for The Aristocrat (Magic Theory/Support Spells)
[] Pick up a piece of metal and stab it. Or just punch it, whatever works!
- Data Recovery + for The Guard (Melee Combat/Offensive Spells)
[] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head
- Data Recovery + for The Rat (Subterfuge/Ranged Combat/Curses)
[] Run Away (Did someone say meatshields?)
[] Write-in (Data recovery awarded depending on the type of action suggested)
NinetyNineLies
Memento Vivere
- Location
- Dreamland
- Pronouns
- He/They
[X] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
[X] Pick up a piece of metal and stab it. Or just punch it, whatever works!
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Pick up a piece of metal and stab it. Or just punch it, whatever works!
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
I'm not super sure all the voices in italics are distinguishable from one another. Do you all think they're fine as is, or should I add something to make it extra clear who's talking?
Also, I don't know if it's obvious enough but this is my first time writing a quest. Any feedback is welcome!
Also, I don't know if it's obvious enough but this is my first time writing a quest. Any feedback is welcome!
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
there's three distinct voices, right? are we supposed to know who is who just yet?
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
What I'm wondering is if the voices are distinct enough from each other. I definitely haven't written enough for telling their identities even being possible
Also, bumping to see if we can get a few more votes in.
Synapse 0.5
LancerisDead
Definitely not a cat
- Location
- Buenos Aires
Synapse 0.5
The world comes to a halt as you raise your hand. Beside you, Rose is leveling a large handgun at the killer, the latter rushing towards you through the air, fresh blood streaking behind it.
Your pulse spikes. Heat shoots up from within you, every cell and fiber in your body trembling with energy. The air around you starts vibrating with the echoes of unintelligible whispers and your head's filled with half-remembered songs.
There's a flash of light and an earsplitting *crack*, and the swordsman is sent flying all the way down the hallway among a cloud of dust, hitting the wall next to the stairs before falling to the ground.
Moments pass as dust drifts in the air and water sprays down on you, the echo from whatever it is you did still and the sound of shards of tile and glass hitting the floor cutting the silence of nighttime.
A little away from you the dust cloud settles. All remaining tiles and glass in a few meters area have been ripped from the floor and wall, torn to pieces, as if a giant had grabbed that part of the hospital in it's fist and crushed it.
Suddenly, the room spins and it's like someone pulled the floor from under you. A torrent of information washes over your brain, too much to even understand, completely disrupting your stream of thought.
When it's over, it's like a single candle is now lit in a dark room.
Magic.
This spell isn't anything special, knowledge deep within tells you. This is just one of countless spells simple enough to do without much preparation,
"Seems we're not completely useless after all!"
"Even basic spells need extensive knowledge. Need to parse through it."
The feeling of helplessness you felt eases just a bit. It may be nothing special, and it may be the only thing you have, but it's far more than the nothing you had not five minutes ago.
"Are you alright?" Adelina shakes you from your trance. Turning towards and up to her, you realize that at some point you had fallen to your knees.
The doctor stretches her hand towards you. On shaky legs and with her help, you stand up and gather your surroundings. Sofia seems to have jumped to the back of the chair row, and is just now coming out of hiding, tightly wrapping her coat around her. Rose is still looking away towards the end of the hallway, weapon trained towards it. She glances quickly towards you. She fires her gun and you jump. With each shot the swordsman twitches, but ultimately remains unmoving.
"That fucker's done, right?" The remaining soldier approaches Rose, who cracks open her weapon's barrel, pulls the spent cartridges out and begins slotting in new ones.
"God knows. If you wanna get close and find out, be my guest." She tells him before turning towards Adelina. "Still think going through the woods is gonna work out, doc?"
Adeline looks her in the eye with a grimace, then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"No, it would seem it's not."
Rose closes the gun's barrel and turns toward you and Sophia. "You guys okay? None of you are looking too good there."
Sophia hesitates, then nods. She gets beside you, trembling slightly.
"The cavalry should be getting here quick enough, so we all should hurry up the rooftop" Rose points to the stairs the other soldier has gone through.
"You're coming with us, but don't think you're out of the hook just now" she point her finger towards the doctor.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that half my team's dead, and for all I know the cap was right and it is aaaaall you fault. You made that thing, why should I think it's not in your control?"
Rose leans forward, her face centimeters from the doctor. The grip on her pistol tightens, she never reholstering it.
"Way I see it, my brothers' blood, back there and right here" she waves her free arm around" Are aaaall in your hands, doctor".
"He doesn't work like that!" Adelina snaps back "In case you didn't notice, that thing was going after me! What would I get from setting it against myself, you imbecile?!"
"She's lying. Something she is not saying."
"Eh? How could you even tell? I didn't notice a thing?"
"Tone of voice. Facial expression, mostly."
"Are you two really gonna waste our time? Like this? Here? Now?" Sophia steps between the two, finally recovering from her shock.
"I'm not going to tell you that Doctor Blois is trustworthy, but even then it'd be better for your people to have her under control, wouldn't it?"
The soldier thinks for a few seconds, then nods. "Fine, that makes sense. The higher ups wouldn't be too happy if I just shot her outright. But…"
Rose reaches behind her back and pulls a pair of handcuffs then throws them at the doctor.
"Just so there's no misunderstandings" Adeline catches them, glaring back at her all the while she puts them on.
And then Rose turns towards you.
Sofia tries to intervene again, but you go ahead of her and speak.
"I'm not… gonna be a problem." Much to your dismay, while your tongue is way less tied up than before you are really out of breath. That simple enough spell seems to have taken a lot out of you.
"The name's ether overextension. The body is saturated with energy before it's properly acclimated or warmed up. An amateur mistake, but it can't be helped "
"I don't know… who you are." You try to straighten yourself, looking her straight into the eye.
"I have no reason to be a problem to you."
The soldier mulls it over for a bit before nodding.
"Far as I know, you just saved us from ending like…" She trails off, and you notice she's standing away from where her comrade and superior lie dead. "Looking at you, don't think you can pull that trick any time soon, huh?"
You shake your head. She pulls the strap that her rifle hangs at her side from, unslings it from her shoulder and pushes the weapon towards you.
"Have any idea how a rifle works?"
You're taken aback a little due to how forward she's being with putting a weapon on someone she has no way of knowing she can trust. Hesitatingly, you reach out your hands and take the rifle from her.
Slowly your hands inspect the weapon. Caliber, weight, type of loading. It's familiar but wrong, like a song with the right rhythm but the wrong lyrics.
Finally, you swing it over your shoulder and feel it's weight. It feels strangely heavey, but it's not unmanageable.
The soldier pats you on the shoulder and nods. She stops at the foot of the stairs and points up. "You three start making your way up. We're about three floors down from the helipad."
"There's something I've gotta finish first, so I'll be right behind you."
As Sophia, Adelina and you begin climbing up you look back and see Rose making her way towards where her captain lies with his head hanging by a thread, kneeling next to the corpse and searching for something. After a moment passes, she stands up and starts towards the other end of the hallway.
You lose sight of her when you reach the first landing, and keep going up.
---
It's a few minutes before you hit the rooftop. It would've been faster if not for having to stop every few steps to regain your footing, your legs still shaky from sending the swordsman flying, Sofia stopping alongside each time to help you regain your footing. The doctor doesn't pay you any mind, giving the blonde girl a glance before leaving you behind, handcuffed and fuming.
The cold wind of night brushes against your skin. On the farthest end of the roof, the surviving soldier is pacing back and forth across a wide hexagon of cement, occasionally stopping and kicking the ground lightly. On the cement surface from the worn white paint and patches of grass you can make out what once was a large "H".
Next to you, the doctor is leaning towards a rusty fence, looking out. While you can't see past the night to discern details, there's enough moonlight and you're now high enough that you distinguish more of your surroundings than from the hallway window.
On the side you looked at before, ruined buildings and trees and plant life growing around and from them go for barely a block from where you are, suddenly interrupted by a treeline that goes side-to-side as far as you can see, as if the forest had been dropped on top of the city. Away from you the forest seems to go on forever, the trees' shapes blending together in the dark.
On the opposite side, moonlight glints from the puddles of water accumulating on the street and the remaining windows of buildings in various states of decay: while some seem to have been simply abandoned others have had their walls torn wide open, debris littering the sidewalks and rebar jutting out from the concrete.
Paying attention to the buzzing that's accompanied you since your awakening, it feels as if it has lessened somewhat, if anything because out in the open the sounds of your surroundings are more clear than when inside the hospital.
The sound of a steel heartbeat calls your attention and you look up: in the distance a pair of lights is moving towards the hospital at a fast pace, it's sound growing louder and louder each second.
"Is that an airship of some kind? What in the Empress' name is that hellish sound!?"
"Seems like we're right on schedule!" Rose says from behind you, crossing the rooftop entrance and walking into the rooftop.
As she begins making her way towards her comrade and turns towards Sofia, Adelina and you. "I'm gonna need you to group up and wait over there!" she points near the hexagon.
She raises her voice, the noise from the approaching vehicle starting to drown all other "If everything goes well we should be outta here in a minute or two, so Imma need you to be all ready to go!"
Rose walks into the platform and takes out a device from a pocket and begins talking into it. It doesn't take long before the aircraft is hovering a few meters above from the ground, it's propellers making the air rush past you, it's lights cutting the silhouettes of the soldiers into shadow.
"Whoa, that thing looks cool! Can we ride it? Can I drive it?"
As she keeps talking into her communicator, while you can't distinguish the words you notice that her voice is getting more agitated as it goes on. Each time she turns to look in your group's direction you expect the signal to approach, but a pit forms in your stomach as it never comes.
Finally, she turns and begins gesturing to you. You almost begin going towards her when you realize that she's the one approaching you, and the aircraft starts raising into the air once more, and you can't make out the words but you hear the desperation in her voice.
"Something's wrong. Run. Now!"
As your eyes dart all around you, you catch a flash metal from among the ruined buildings. There's a hissing sound, shouting and for a split second you see something crash into and crumple into the aircraft.
Then heat, noise, force and pain. Finally, black.
---
The first thing you notice is the pain at your side and your throbbing forehead. Then, the ringing in your ears that even surpasses the everpresent buzzing.
Fresh blood drips over one of your eyes. You check your side, but despite the pain persisting your hand comes back dry. The rifle remains slung over your shoulder, it probably digging into your guts as you were shaken around by the explosion.
Most of the rooftop is now on fire. That you didn't fall into it feels like a coincidence that you should be grateful to something for. Carefully, you steady yourself and stand up, looking around you.
Sofia is trying to hold up the doctor, broken metal coming from Adelina's shoulder. Rose is back towards the way you came, gun once again drawn. Crushed by the burning wreckage you spot what little's left of the last remaining soldier of Rose's company.
The ringing subsides and you can now understand that Rose is shouting. Shouting at you, specifically. You make your way to her as fast as possible to her location, then freeze up.
Face to face, Rose and the swordsman stare each other down, each with a weapon drawn not making any move. The swordsman is now far worse for wear: he's half slumped, as if his spine couldn't hold all his weight on one side, his remaining limbs are at unnatural angles and his almost as if it was hanging by strings, twitching erratically.
Then, he switches his attention. His swivels towards you are, where his eyes would be on you. He moves, far faster than how battered he is should allow.
One, two, three rounds and he staggers. You aimed to shoot but Rose was faster. Two to the chest and one to the head.
The swordsman stops for a second, then rushes towards you again.
Spell: Vacuum Spike (Basi) Unlocked
The Aristocrat: Data Recovery 3% ---> 10%
Vacuum Spike added to the Character Sheet
[] Try and cast Vacuum Spike again (GM Note: High chance of failure, though will still grant data recovery.)
- Data Recovery + for The Aristocrat (Magic Theory/Support Spells)
[] Pick up a piece of metal and stab it. Or just punch it, whatever works!
- Data Recovery + for The Guard (Melee Combat/Offensive Spells)
[] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head
- Data Recovery + for The Rat (Subterfuge/Ranged Combat/Curses)
[] Run Away (Did someone say meatshields?)
[] Write-in (Data recovery awarded depending on the type of action suggested)
-------
Ooops, not a new chapter but a reworked one as I wasn't super happy with how it came out.
Fixed somethings that I didn't like how exactly how they came out and expanded on others that came up a little short.
Hopefully next chapter takes me a little less to make!
The world comes to a halt as you raise your hand. Beside you, Rose is leveling a large handgun at the killer, the latter rushing towards you through the air, fresh blood streaking behind it.
Your pulse spikes. Heat shoots up from within you, every cell and fiber in your body trembling with energy. The air around you starts vibrating with the echoes of unintelligible whispers and your head's filled with half-remembered songs.
There's a flash of light and an earsplitting *crack*, and the swordsman is sent flying all the way down the hallway among a cloud of dust, hitting the wall next to the stairs before falling to the ground.
Moments pass as dust drifts in the air and water sprays down on you, the echo from whatever it is you did still and the sound of shards of tile and glass hitting the floor cutting the silence of nighttime.
A little away from you the dust cloud settles. All remaining tiles and glass in a few meters area have been ripped from the floor and wall, torn to pieces, as if a giant had grabbed that part of the hospital in it's fist and crushed it.
Suddenly, the room spins and it's like someone pulled the floor from under you. A torrent of information washes over your brain, too much to even understand, completely disrupting your stream of thought.
When it's over, it's like a single candle is now lit in a dark room.
Magic.
This spell isn't anything special, knowledge deep within tells you. This is just one of countless spells simple enough to do without much preparation,
"Seems we're not completely useless after all!"
"Even basic spells need extensive knowledge. Need to parse through it."
The feeling of helplessness you felt eases just a bit. It may be nothing special, and it may be the only thing you have, but it's far more than the nothing you had not five minutes ago.
"Are you alright?" Adelina shakes you from your trance. Turning towards and up to her, you realize that at some point you had fallen to your knees.
The doctor stretches her hand towards you. On shaky legs and with her help, you stand up and gather your surroundings. Sofia seems to have jumped to the back of the chair row, and is just now coming out of hiding, tightly wrapping her coat around her. Rose is still looking away towards the end of the hallway, weapon trained towards it. She glances quickly towards you. She fires her gun and you jump. With each shot the swordsman twitches, but ultimately remains unmoving.
"That fucker's done, right?" The remaining soldier approaches Rose, who cracks open her weapon's barrel, pulls the spent cartridges out and begins slotting in new ones.
"God knows. If you wanna get close and find out, be my guest." She tells him before turning towards Adelina. "Still think going through the woods is gonna work out, doc?"
Adeline looks her in the eye with a grimace, then closes her eyes and takes a deep breath.
"No, it would seem it's not."
Rose closes the gun's barrel and turns toward you and Sophia. "You guys okay? None of you are looking too good there."
Sophia hesitates, then nods. She gets beside you, trembling slightly.
"The cavalry should be getting here quick enough, so we all should hurry up the rooftop" Rose points to the stairs the other soldier has gone through.
"You're coming with us, but don't think you're out of the hook just now" she point her finger towards the doctor.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that half my team's dead, and for all I know the cap was right and it is aaaaall you fault. You made that thing, why should I think it's not in your control?"
Rose leans forward, her face centimeters from the doctor. The grip on her pistol tightens, she never reholstering it.
"Way I see it, my brothers' blood, back there and right here" she waves her free arm around" Are aaaall in your hands, doctor".
"He doesn't work like that!" Adelina snaps back "In case you didn't notice, that thing was going after me! What would I get from setting it against myself, you imbecile?!"
"She's lying. Something she is not saying."
"Eh? How could you even tell? I didn't notice a thing?"
"Tone of voice. Facial expression, mostly."
"Are you two really gonna waste our time? Like this? Here? Now?" Sophia steps between the two, finally recovering from her shock.
"I'm not going to tell you that Doctor Blois is trustworthy, but even then it'd be better for your people to have her under control, wouldn't it?"
The soldier thinks for a few seconds, then nods. "Fine, that makes sense. The higher ups wouldn't be too happy if I just shot her outright. But…"
Rose reaches behind her back and pulls a pair of handcuffs then throws them at the doctor.
"Just so there's no misunderstandings" Adeline catches them, glaring back at her all the while she puts them on.
And then Rose turns towards you.
Sofia tries to intervene again, but you go ahead of her and speak.
"I'm not… gonna be a problem." Much to your dismay, while your tongue is way less tied up than before you are really out of breath. That simple enough spell seems to have taken a lot out of you.
"The name's ether overextension. The body is saturated with energy before it's properly acclimated or warmed up. An amateur mistake, but it can't be helped "
"I don't know… who you are." You try to straighten yourself, looking her straight into the eye.
"I have no reason to be a problem to you."
The soldier mulls it over for a bit before nodding.
"Far as I know, you just saved us from ending like…" She trails off, and you notice she's standing away from where her comrade and superior lie dead. "Looking at you, don't think you can pull that trick any time soon, huh?"
You shake your head. She pulls the strap that her rifle hangs at her side from, unslings it from her shoulder and pushes the weapon towards you.
"Have any idea how a rifle works?"
You're taken aback a little due to how forward she's being with putting a weapon on someone she has no way of knowing she can trust. Hesitatingly, you reach out your hands and take the rifle from her.
Slowly your hands inspect the weapon. Caliber, weight, type of loading. It's familiar but wrong, like a song with the right rhythm but the wrong lyrics.
Finally, you swing it over your shoulder and feel it's weight. It feels strangely heavey, but it's not unmanageable.
The soldier pats you on the shoulder and nods. She stops at the foot of the stairs and points up. "You three start making your way up. We're about three floors down from the helipad."
"There's something I've gotta finish first, so I'll be right behind you."
As Sophia, Adelina and you begin climbing up you look back and see Rose making her way towards where her captain lies with his head hanging by a thread, kneeling next to the corpse and searching for something. After a moment passes, she stands up and starts towards the other end of the hallway.
You lose sight of her when you reach the first landing, and keep going up.
---
It's a few minutes before you hit the rooftop. It would've been faster if not for having to stop every few steps to regain your footing, your legs still shaky from sending the swordsman flying, Sofia stopping alongside each time to help you regain your footing. The doctor doesn't pay you any mind, giving the blonde girl a glance before leaving you behind, handcuffed and fuming.
The cold wind of night brushes against your skin. On the farthest end of the roof, the surviving soldier is pacing back and forth across a wide hexagon of cement, occasionally stopping and kicking the ground lightly. On the cement surface from the worn white paint and patches of grass you can make out what once was a large "H".
Next to you, the doctor is leaning towards a rusty fence, looking out. While you can't see past the night to discern details, there's enough moonlight and you're now high enough that you distinguish more of your surroundings than from the hallway window.
On the side you looked at before, ruined buildings and trees and plant life growing around and from them go for barely a block from where you are, suddenly interrupted by a treeline that goes side-to-side as far as you can see, as if the forest had been dropped on top of the city. Away from you the forest seems to go on forever, the trees' shapes blending together in the dark.
On the opposite side, moonlight glints from the puddles of water accumulating on the street and the remaining windows of buildings in various states of decay: while some seem to have been simply abandoned others have had their walls torn wide open, debris littering the sidewalks and rebar jutting out from the concrete.
Paying attention to the buzzing that's accompanied you since your awakening, it feels as if it has lessened somewhat, if anything because out in the open the sounds of your surroundings are more clear than when inside the hospital.
The sound of a steel heartbeat calls your attention and you look up: in the distance a pair of lights is moving towards the hospital at a fast pace, it's sound growing louder and louder each second.
"Is that an airship of some kind? What in the Empress' name is that hellish sound!?"
"Seems like we're right on schedule!" Rose says from behind you, crossing the rooftop entrance and walking into the rooftop.
As she begins making her way towards her comrade and turns towards Sofia, Adelina and you. "I'm gonna need you to group up and wait over there!" she points near the hexagon.
She raises her voice, the noise from the approaching vehicle starting to drown all other "If everything goes well we should be outta here in a minute or two, so Imma need you to be all ready to go!"
Rose walks into the platform and takes out a device from a pocket and begins talking into it. It doesn't take long before the aircraft is hovering a few meters above from the ground, it's propellers making the air rush past you, it's lights cutting the silhouettes of the soldiers into shadow.
"Whoa, that thing looks cool! Can we ride it? Can I drive it?"
As she keeps talking into her communicator, while you can't distinguish the words you notice that her voice is getting more agitated as it goes on. Each time she turns to look in your group's direction you expect the signal to approach, but a pit forms in your stomach as it never comes.
Finally, she turns and begins gesturing to you. You almost begin going towards her when you realize that she's the one approaching you, and the aircraft starts raising into the air once more, and you can't make out the words but you hear the desperation in her voice.
"Something's wrong. Run. Now!"
As your eyes dart all around you, you catch a flash metal from among the ruined buildings. There's a hissing sound, shouting and for a split second you see something crash into and crumple into the aircraft.
Then heat, noise, force and pain. Finally, black.
---
The first thing you notice is the pain at your side and your throbbing forehead. Then, the ringing in your ears that even surpasses the everpresent buzzing.
Fresh blood drips over one of your eyes. You check your side, but despite the pain persisting your hand comes back dry. The rifle remains slung over your shoulder, it probably digging into your guts as you were shaken around by the explosion.
Most of the rooftop is now on fire. That you didn't fall into it feels like a coincidence that you should be grateful to something for. Carefully, you steady yourself and stand up, looking around you.
Sofia is trying to hold up the doctor, broken metal coming from Adelina's shoulder. Rose is back towards the way you came, gun once again drawn. Crushed by the burning wreckage you spot what little's left of the last remaining soldier of Rose's company.
The ringing subsides and you can now understand that Rose is shouting. Shouting at you, specifically. You make your way to her as fast as possible to her location, then freeze up.
Face to face, Rose and the swordsman stare each other down, each with a weapon drawn not making any move. The swordsman is now far worse for wear: he's half slumped, as if his spine couldn't hold all his weight on one side, his remaining limbs are at unnatural angles and his almost as if it was hanging by strings, twitching erratically.
Then, he switches his attention. His swivels towards you are, where his eyes would be on you. He moves, far faster than how battered he is should allow.
One, two, three rounds and he staggers. You aimed to shoot but Rose was faster. Two to the chest and one to the head.
The swordsman stops for a second, then rushes towards you again.
Spell: Vacuum Spike (Basi) Unlocked
The Aristocrat: Data Recovery 3% ---> 10%
Vacuum Spike added to the Character Sheet
[] Try and cast Vacuum Spike again (GM Note: High chance of failure, though will still grant data recovery.)
- Data Recovery + for The Aristocrat (Magic Theory/Support Spells)
[] Pick up a piece of metal and stab it. Or just punch it, whatever works!
- Data Recovery + for The Guard (Melee Combat/Offensive Spells)
[] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head
- Data Recovery + for The Rat (Subterfuge/Ranged Combat/Curses)
[] Run Away (Did someone say meatshields?)
[] Write-in (Data recovery awarded depending on the type of action suggested)
-------
Ooops, not a new chapter but a reworked one as I wasn't super happy with how it came out.
Fixed somethings that I didn't like how exactly how they came out and expanded on others that came up a little short.
Hopefully next chapter takes me a little less to make!
Eternal_0bserver
(Unverified Bookworm)
- Location
- Earth, Northern Europe
[X] Pick up a piece of metal and stab it. Or just punch it, whatever works!
So, I'm not sure if this is necessary, but I will confirm my previous choice.
So, I'm not sure if this is necessary, but I will confirm my previous choice.
Solarstream
It's all in the cards
- Location
- Zombie World
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head
EternalObserver
eYe Gaze baCk
- Location
- The Void
[X] Shoot it. A lot. Specially on the head