Spector29
It Only Gets Worse From Here
Pfft, I remember the original competition between Aria and her father.
By comparison this is a treat.
World of the Dead
- Thread starter Spector29
- Start date
- Original
By comparison this is a treat.
Dark Ness
Rises Where Silence Dies
- Location
- The Primordial Soup
Damn it.
Spector29
It Only Gets Worse From Here
To mollify the Aria voters, I'm giving a bonus to Sam. After all, technically you were unanimous in Stats and role.
--
Trait Gained:
The Spirit is Willing...
(-1 Strength, +1 Spirit, Bonus to Resolve)
Trait Gained:
Dance For Your Life~
(No cross-disciplinary Skill penalty)
[X] One dark night, you stumbled upon a record player covered in sinister runes, and your powers awakened to the pulse pounding electronic beats of MAGIC!
You were once a survivor. Dependent on others, huddling in the dark like vermin hoping not to be noticed. The thought of death frightened you, as it should, but the idea that death wasn't the end, the idea that you would rise from eternal slumber and drag your loved ones kicking and screaming into death's cold embrace...it resolved you. You would not fall. Death was not an option, so you would not die.
That's why, despite your light frame, you were always the first to volunteer for scouting missions for your Settlement.
That's why you were on the front lines when you heard it.
Location City's wealthy districts were always a mixed bag. Either they were nigh-impenetrable fortress-communities controlled by a Cult's Hermitage, which is what the corpse-screwing scum called their Settlements, or they were abandoned and left bare by the opportunistic and desperate.
However, your three-person team managed to find one of the former, rapidly being turned into the latter. Lord Oculus was through this area recently, and while your Settlement managed to avoid the hurricane of dead that heralds his arrival, clearly this former Hermitage did not. From what your team gathered, this community had been slaughtered to the man and rose again to join Oculus's fleshy tidal wave.
Which made it the perfect looting opportunity.
Your team was not alone, other survivors were poking around the freshly vacated manor houses as well. From a glance you could tell what they needed; tattered clothes and wild, hopeful eyes meant someone searching for a day's meal missed prior. Cold, stone set eyes and carefully maintained clothes meant other Settlement's scouts. You ignored the former, and there was enough to loot that you thankfully did not come into conflict with the latter. Indeed, with everything so freshly abandoned, you spent much of your time alone with your team.
Which may have lead to their unfortunate demise, come to think of it.
You were in the lobby of a particularly fancy house. There were corpses here; unusual, but explained well enough by the seemingly self-inflicted head wounds. You elected to poke around amongst the bodies while your teammates explored upstairs together. Eventually, looting petty trinkets and varying sizes of knife (someone even lodged a machete into their own skull, somehow!) got boring, and you looked around the house proper. There, in the corner of the room, stood an old-school gramophone. It was covered in sinister markings, and the record that sit atop it glowed a pale and unsettling purple. This was clearly powerful Artifice, Necromancers binding their dark magic into regular items and enchanting them.
You couldn't place it then, but a powerful urge inside of you wanted it.
So you touched it.
Like a static shock, you recoiled sharply when you touched the record. You felt something in your body open, just now...
That's when the music began.
The first thing you heard were screams from above you, but then...it felt as though you were captured in the music's thrall. You felt each beat in your heart, the music bending until it matched the music of your soul.
And you mastered it.
You predicted every dip and peak of the notes, celebrated the climax and relished the fall. Just as the song would end, you turned.
You were face to face with a zombie. There was fresh blood and tissue around its mouth. You knew, instinctively, that this zombie murdered your friends.
It waited.
As the song died and another took its place, and you felt the swell of the music in your soul again...
...you commanded it.
[X] You seek to bring not just the dead, but the whole world to life with music of magic!
That was three days ago. Your friends' supplies, as well as the manor house's, have run out.
Yet the music continues to play. You haven't found a means to transport your device yet, but you will.
You will bring the music and your magic to bear against anyone who would stop you, after all.
[Gained 40 Madness]
One Zombie stands with you, swaying to the beat of the song. You are hungry and worried about the future, but filled with purpose.
What do?
[x] Prepare an Ambush. Eventually, scavengers will come to sweep the neighborhood one last time. Though it pains you to turn on your fellow man like this, you will be ready for them. This is who you are now.
[x] Openly search for and assault other survivors. With luck, the perceived danger will get most of the organized ones to back off.
[x] Search for Supplies.
-[x] ...With your Zombie. It wasn't uncommon to find lone Necromancers out in the city, looking for food like the rest of you.
-[x] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
[x] Leave, heading back to your Settlement and forsaking this magic business No. You will not abandon the Music.
[x] Attempt Diplomacy
-[x] With?
[x] Write In.
--
Check the Character post for your possessions, skills and stats. This turned into the first story post as I was writing it, so nevermind about the monday thing.
--
Trait Gained:
The Spirit is Willing...
(-1 Strength, +1 Spirit, Bonus to Resolve)
Trait Gained:
Dance For Your Life~
(No cross-disciplinary Skill penalty)
[X] One dark night, you stumbled upon a record player covered in sinister runes, and your powers awakened to the pulse pounding electronic beats of MAGIC!
You were once a survivor. Dependent on others, huddling in the dark like vermin hoping not to be noticed. The thought of death frightened you, as it should, but the idea that death wasn't the end, the idea that you would rise from eternal slumber and drag your loved ones kicking and screaming into death's cold embrace...it resolved you. You would not fall. Death was not an option, so you would not die.
That's why, despite your light frame, you were always the first to volunteer for scouting missions for your Settlement.
That's why you were on the front lines when you heard it.
Location City's wealthy districts were always a mixed bag. Either they were nigh-impenetrable fortress-communities controlled by a Cult's Hermitage, which is what the corpse-screwing scum called their Settlements, or they were abandoned and left bare by the opportunistic and desperate.
However, your three-person team managed to find one of the former, rapidly being turned into the latter. Lord Oculus was through this area recently, and while your Settlement managed to avoid the hurricane of dead that heralds his arrival, clearly this former Hermitage did not. From what your team gathered, this community had been slaughtered to the man and rose again to join Oculus's fleshy tidal wave.
Which made it the perfect looting opportunity.
Your team was not alone, other survivors were poking around the freshly vacated manor houses as well. From a glance you could tell what they needed; tattered clothes and wild, hopeful eyes meant someone searching for a day's meal missed prior. Cold, stone set eyes and carefully maintained clothes meant other Settlement's scouts. You ignored the former, and there was enough to loot that you thankfully did not come into conflict with the latter. Indeed, with everything so freshly abandoned, you spent much of your time alone with your team.
Which may have lead to their unfortunate demise, come to think of it.
You were in the lobby of a particularly fancy house. There were corpses here; unusual, but explained well enough by the seemingly self-inflicted head wounds. You elected to poke around amongst the bodies while your teammates explored upstairs together. Eventually, looting petty trinkets and varying sizes of knife (someone even lodged a machete into their own skull, somehow!) got boring, and you looked around the house proper. There, in the corner of the room, stood an old-school gramophone. It was covered in sinister markings, and the record that sit atop it glowed a pale and unsettling purple. This was clearly powerful Artifice, Necromancers binding their dark magic into regular items and enchanting them.
You couldn't place it then, but a powerful urge inside of you wanted it.
So you touched it.
Like a static shock, you recoiled sharply when you touched the record. You felt something in your body open, just now...
That's when the music began.
The first thing you heard were screams from above you, but then...it felt as though you were captured in the music's thrall. You felt each beat in your heart, the music bending until it matched the music of your soul.
And you mastered it.
You predicted every dip and peak of the notes, celebrated the climax and relished the fall. Just as the song would end, you turned.
You were face to face with a zombie. There was fresh blood and tissue around its mouth. You knew, instinctively, that this zombie murdered your friends.
It waited.
As the song died and another took its place, and you felt the swell of the music in your soul again...
...you commanded it.
[X] You seek to bring not just the dead, but the whole world to life with music of magic!
That was three days ago. Your friends' supplies, as well as the manor house's, have run out.
Yet the music continues to play. You haven't found a means to transport your device yet, but you will.
You will bring the music and your magic to bear against anyone who would stop you, after all.
[Gained 40 Madness]
One Zombie stands with you, swaying to the beat of the song. You are hungry and worried about the future, but filled with purpose.
What do?
[x] Prepare an Ambush. Eventually, scavengers will come to sweep the neighborhood one last time. Though it pains you to turn on your fellow man like this, you will be ready for them. This is who you are now.
[x] Openly search for and assault other survivors. With luck, the perceived danger will get most of the organized ones to back off.
[x] Search for Supplies.
-[x] ...With your Zombie. It wasn't uncommon to find lone Necromancers out in the city, looking for food like the rest of you.
-[x] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
[x] Attempt Diplomacy
-[x] With?
[x] Write In.
--
Check the Character post for your possessions, skills and stats. This turned into the first story post as I was writing it, so nevermind about the monday thing.
Last edited:
- Location
- St. Petersburg
I'd like to try and remain a bit more sane this time. At least for a little while.
Tht probably excludes the murdering spree, because what the hell are we thinking, stealing supplies from people who came to loot supplies from the neibourhood, instead of taking them from the neighbourhood ourselves?
However, there are plenty of other scavengers, and I don't really trust a single zombie with our protection just yet.
[x] Search for Supplies.
-[x] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
Hide him somewhere so that we could call upon him if things get sour, but don't parade him around. We aren't very powerful for an open show of strength like that. Besides, if we survived without Necromancy all these years, I don't expect things to change all of a sudden.
@Spector29, can we release the control of our zombie to take control of another, if need be? Or is he bound to us until his death?
Edit:
Tht probably excludes the murdering spree, because what the hell are we thinking, stealing supplies from people who came to loot supplies from the neibourhood, instead of taking them from the neighbourhood ourselves?
However, there are plenty of other scavengers, and I don't really trust a single zombie with our protection just yet.
[x] Search for Supplies.
-[x] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
Hide him somewhere so that we could call upon him if things get sour, but don't parade him around. We aren't very powerful for an open show of strength like that. Besides, if we survived without Necromancy all these years, I don't expect things to change all of a sudden.
@Spector29, can we release the control of our zombie to take control of another, if need be? Or is he bound to us until his death?
Edit:
Ok, then.
Last edited:
Spector29
It Only Gets Worse From Here
The Music will take a toll on that idea. It won't make you hit the magic one hundred madness by itself, but boy golly this is some Madame Red level craftsmanship.
If you remember her, she's not exactly thinking parallel with reality.
Well, part of the reason the world collapsed as fast as it did was because the Sparking of Aptitude tends to induce massive egomania.
You just found out you could control death, after all.
Keep in mind, you did have two teammates. You were a Survivor, but not a lone wolf.
Incidentally, the music only accounted for 25 Madness. Finding your teammates accounted for 10, while looting them took 5.
@Spector29,
You can release him, although you'd have a devil of a time figuring out how. No reading material around, sadly.
Ok, then.
Consistent Scavenging. Pocketing fifty pencils, while impressive, is not rank-worthy.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Still more stable/grounded than anyone else in that family.
So... are we constantly dragging the Gramophone with us? Did we find a way to keep the damn thing always on? Do we get a penalty for stealth rolls for trying to sneakily dance our way in?
Spector29
It Only Gets Worse From Here
Out of the three, I'd say Aria was the most stable one. She could've been brought back to sanity. It would be some doing, but she'd get there.
Ava was insane, but stable. Adam is nither.
So... are we constantly dragging the Gramophone with us? Did we find a way to keep the damn thing always on? Do we get a penalty for stealth rolls for trying to sneakily dance our way in?
The Gramophone is right where you found it, lacking wheels and such. It stays on of it's own volition, you didn't notice any wear-and-tear from overuse.
Night_stalker
Slava Ukraini!
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[x] Search for Supplies.
-[x] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
-[x] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
I think the more subtle approach is needed here. Getting Sam's friends and family in on the dance party (alive, Sam's not a monster, well, yet at least) can come later.
[X] Search for Supplies.
-[X] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
--[X] If possible, you'll keep it out of sight, but nearby. Just in case you run into the wrong sort.
[X] Search for Supplies.
-[X] ...Without your Zombie. Just because they were, did not mean they were spared.
--[X] If possible, you'll keep it out of sight, but nearby. Just in case you run into the wrong sort.