Lets Play - Falcon 6: At The End of Time

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Thaluikhain
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Lets Play - Falcon 6: At The End of Time

Post by Thaluikhain »

And now for the sixth and final Falcon book. First, much the same as the last one, again no scoring:

Earth 3034 AD
A third of the land's surface is populated with cities which stretch miles up towards the Ionosphere and are also tunnelled deep into the Earth's crust.

The world is united - war within the atmosphere of a single planet can only lead to total destruction. Government is carried out by Executives, each having full powers within a certain area. The Food, Health, Pleasure and Enforcement Executives are centred in Alpolis, a city covering what was once an independent country - Switzerland - and it is here that the most recent Executive, TIME, exists.

People live for fun, not to work. Most tasks are performed by robots, so life is quite easy. Only 10% of the population still works, and then only for fun or out of a sense of social duty. Food is plentiful, the main source being a fungus grown in huge vats under artificial light. Luxury foods, such as meat, are a rarity. Communications have improved so as to transform society: holophones connect all homes across the Space Federation so it is possible to be in direct contact with many alien species light years across space. Travel on earth is done by hovrail, jetcopter or stratocruiser, so that the longest journey need take no more than an hour.

The average Earther lives for two hundred and fifty years and the ageing process only begins during the last fifty years of life. Life-prolonging drugs, called Anagathics, are freely available, and transplant surgery is now a simple operation. Unfortun- ately, because people live longer, there are many problems. There is overcrowding and very little to do which has resulted in a rapid increase in violent crime. With so many people needing new hearts, lungs and other organs there is a shortage of spare parts for use in transplant surgery, so the Enforcement Executive has passed a Termination Code. All violent crimes are punishable by painless death. The Enforcement Executive has had sensors set up to catch criminals, especially Bodybrokers who deal illegally in organs for surgery. If Energy Weapons are used by criminals, for instance, a police jetcopter will be there in seconds.

Earth, using Hyperdrive, faster-than-light travel, has established itself as head of the Space Federation, which includes all the earth colonies and alien planets. The Navy patrols the colonies: Lastlanding, Proxima Centauri, Ascension and so on, as well as the alien worlds: Kelados, Sundew, Dyskra, Clyss, Rigel Prime, the Hive and others. Contact with alien life forms is commonplace and the colony ships of the twenty-fourth century are still approaching the centre of the galaxy.
How to Travel in Time
Travel through time involves crossing a fourth dimension, 'Null-space' or the 'Void' as it is known. This dimension joins all points in time and space from the beginning of the universe to its end. Imagine time as a cable. Earth's Timeline (or past, present and future) is a single strand of this cable stretching from Earth's beginning to the end of time. The timelines of other planets run alongside this and weave around each other, because events on one planet affect things on another. These strands, or Timelines, are insulated from the fourth dimension in the same way that an electrical wire is insulated. At certain points there are holes in the insulation allowing travel from one point on the wire through this hole to a different point on this or another wire. In this way a Time Machine may move from one 'Timehole' to another and from one point in space to another via Null-space.
The Timeholes are formed when the fabric of time is damaged by unknown forces. They can be larger, but are usually less than five miles across. Timeholes come and go as new damage occurs and older Timeholes close up naturally. The Monitoring Section is responsible for keeping the map of current Timeholes. Your up-to-date map is at the beginning of the book. At least one hole has been there for a long time - the Eiger Vault, near the TIME Building in the Alps. It is thought to be a permanent Timehole and your Time Machine, Falcon's Wing, is kept there along with those of the Lords of TIME and other Agents. Some Timeholes are safer than others and it is possible to go back in time only to find that the hole through which you travelled has closed up, trapping the unfortunate traveller in the past. Time passes at the same rate in all Timeholes as on Earth. If you begin a journey to a Timehole ten minutes after somebody else does you will arrive ten minutes later than them. Only those with Psychic Awareness can navigate across Null-space.
Game Rules
ATTACK
In certain paragraphs you will have the chance to attack an enemy. When you choose to do so, you will be asked to make an Attack Roll. To do this, roll two dice and add the numbers together. You will be told which paragraph to turn to next, depending on your score. In all combats you are more likely to succeed if your score is high than if it is low

ATTACK MODIFIER
Whenever you make an Attack Roll you must add or subtract your Attack Modifier to the dice score. Your Attack Modifier may change as the adventure unfolds and you should keep a note of this on your Agent Profile (at beginning of adventure). To begin with your Attack Modifier is zero.

EVASION
In certain cases you may need to avoid the attack of an enemy or escape from a difficult situation. You will be asked to make an Evasion Roll, to which you must add or subtract your Evasion Modifier. This works in the same way as the Attack Roll and Attack Modifier as described above. Your initial Evasion Modifier is also zero.

POWERS OF THE MIND
Some paragraphs will offer you the chance to make a mental attack, either a Thinkstrike or Power of Will. Make an Attack Roll, just as if you were attacking normally, but add or subtract your Thinkstrike or Power of Will Modifier, not your Attack Modifier. In all other ways mental attacks work in the same way as a physical attack. To begin with your Thinkstrike and Power of Will Modifiers are zero, as noted on your Agent Profile.

PSYCHIC AWARENESS
Your Psychic Awareness operates at all times and you will be told when you have discovered anything of interest.

ENDURANCE
You, Falcon, start the adventure with 20 points of Endurance. If you are wounded in combat, suffer something unpleasant such as an acid atmosphere without a space suit, or become exhausted, you will lose Endurance points. A running total of your Endurance should be kept on your Agent Profile. If at any time you fall to zero Endurance or less you are dead and your adventure is over. Endurance points can be regained by visiting the Autodoc in your Time Machine (see equipment list) and you
will be told when you can use your Autodoc.
Equipment
Standard Issue for TIME Special Agents
ITEM i: MODEL A3 TIME MACHINE [see accompanying specifications]
Your own Time Machine, Falcon's Wing, is silver with bright scarlet markings and is the eleventh machine capable of travel through time ever built. Its cost cannot be computed, since it involves the use of certain materials and scientific skills which are priceless. The silver and scarlet hull will withstand enormous pressure, heat and exposure to harmful gasses and liquids, as .well as providing protection from radiation. The six hydraulic legs which support the machine are extended when it aterialises in a new Timehole, to provide stability on uneven ground. The Main Access is operated by invisible Tractor Beams (energy beams that can be used to grip and lift) that will draw the Time Traveller up into the cabin, to rest on the Access Disc. This disc is matter but is changed to air as you move through it by the Molecular Converter (see Item 4). The pressurised cabin is lined with instruments and gadgets. The crash couch is moulded to fit your shape and can be moved up to the command console or up into the Flyer (see Item 6). The air inside the machine is kept pure by the life support unit and can be flushed out and replaced within ten seconds. The
Main Access will work only when its Memory Scanner recognises your own brain patterns. Specially sensitive cameras and power floodlights are mounted on top of the Machine. The Variac Drive, which forces the Machine into null-space, is housed beneath the deck and is controlled through your computer (CAIN, see Item 7).

ITEM2: HOLOGRAM GENERATOR
Each Time Machine is equipped with a Hologram Generator - very important if the First Law of TIME is to be obeyed. The Generator changes the appearance of the Machine by casting a hologram around it, so the computer can make the Machine look like a small wood, hayrick or grassy hill etc, which is very lifelike unless you are within two metres of the Machine itself. This stops people in history being curious at the sight of a highly technological machine.

ITEM 3: HOLO-DETECTOR
Due to the existence of Hologram Generators you may find it difficult to see other Time Machines. As a member of the Time Police you have been given a Hologram-detector which is portable and operates to a range of fifty metres. This will reveal the presence of a hologram and therefore another Time Machine.

ITEM 4: MOLECULAR CONVERTOR
Each Time Machine is equipped with a Molecular Converter, a device which uses the rarest of all elements, Polybdenum, as its fuel. Small articles, placed in the Converter, are transformed into whatever the computer decides. In this way, Time Travellers have disguises which allow them to pass undetected amongst the intelligent beings of other times. CAIN, your computer, carries information about the Timeholes shown on your map, so that the blueprints required by the Converter to make the disguises accurate, are usually available. Your Psionic Helmet, for instance, can be turned into a legionary's helmet, while keeping its modern powers.

ITEM 5: AUTODOC [see accompanying specifications]
This is a couch-like device which has needles, a drip, a blood supply and surgical robo-arms. You may lie in the Autodoc during the time taken to travel from one Timehole to another, for instance, and come out healed, restoring your Endurance by up to twelve points. You will be told when you can use your Autodoc.

ITEM 6: FLYER [see accompanying specification]
Your crash-couch swivels up onto the platform of your flyer when you wish to use it. The flyer is a small hover-raft which is catapulted out of the Time Machine through the Launch Doors, two sections on top of the hull that slide apart. Once safely away from the Machine the Ion Drive can be cut in, giving the flyer a top speed many times the speed of sound (Mach 6). It can hover which allows you to use it as an observation platform, but it is too small to carry a Hologram Generator and should only be used when strictly necessary. Fortunately, its Ion Drive is almost soundless. You are also issued with a Homing Beacon, which, when activated, will make the flyer move to its location as quickly as possible. The flyer is then piloted by its micro computer. The Beacon is magnetic, and about the size of a die.

ITEM 7: CAIN [Cybernetic Artificial Intelligence Nexus]
CAIN is one of the most advanced computers known to man. Its data banks offer information on all subjects and historical data on all Federation and alien planets. Its memory banks are continuously updated with information concerning the Time-1 holes and it is able to link with the massive memory banks of the TIME Service Computer at the Eiger Vault. A holophone, through which you can contact any other holophone in the Federation, is built into CAIN and you also have access to most of the files kept by TIME. CAIN answers to your spoken commands and runs the Time Machine for you. It can display information visually, via the terminal screen, or verbally, using its melodic chimes.

ITEM 8: BLASTER [see accompanying specifications]
This is your Standard Starship Trooper issue Plasma Pistol. It fires superheated plasma to a range of 100 metres, and the Energy Pack is sufficient for ten minutes continuous use. You have more Energy Packs in your weapons locker. Your blaster is labelled, 'For use in exceptional circumstances only'.

ITEM 9: PSIONIC ENHANCER [see accompanying specifications]
This helmet helps your Powers of the Mind by damping all other thoughts. It senses when you want to use your power and activates automatically.

ITEM 10: ENVIRONMENT SUIT [see accompanying specifications]
A light, pressurised suit for use in vacuum, inhospitable atmospheres and extreme ranges of temperature which monitors your life signals such as pulse and temperature. It is compatible with your Psionic Enhancer.
Personal Background
Special Agent (TIME)
Codename: Falcon
For three years you have studied at the Academy as a cadet attached to TIME: the Temporal, Investigative and Monitoring Executive, and you have passed the difficult training pro- gramme with flying colours. You have been selected from the Academy to be a Special Agent because of your unusual talents, having been born with Powers of the Mind: you can sense things that others can't and even influence their actions through thought alone. These powers have been strengthened and focussed during your training and you have been issued with a Psionic Enhancer, a helmet which increases these mental powers. You have been taught to attack the minds of others with a blast of mental energy you call Thinkstrike. Your Power of Will allows you to control the minds of those weaker than you, and your Psychic Awareness allows you to sense things that others cannot, including the presence of another with such mental powers. This Psychic Awareness also lets you navigate your Time Machine through time and space. Few have such powers and even fewer are trusted with one of the small number of Time Machines in existence. You are expert in survival - including combat — armed and unarmed. History and detective powers of deduction have also been major subjects of study. You are now an Agent in the Time Police, whose job is to guard the Timelines of the past and to ensure that no-one tampers with past events in any way that would change things as they are now.

TIME, the Temporal Investigative and Monitoring Executive, was set up in Alpolis forty years ago shortly after Time Travel was discovered. The realisation that anyone with access to Time Travel could change the past so that the entire human race might cease to exist was worrying, so Time Machines were built for the Time Police in their crystal domed TIME headquarters, in order to stop this. TIME is headed by five Lords, representing the most powerful groups in the Space Federation. Each of these has Powers of the Mind, and their own Time Machine. The Executive is divided into four sections: Administrative, Research, Monitoring and the Special Agent Section (or SAS). The Monitoring Section, headed by Section Chief Jobanque, is responsible for noting any disturbances in the past, or Timelines, of the planets in the Federation. The Research Section, headed by Section Chief Skirrow is responsible for all equipment used by Special Agents and is also examining the possibilities of travel into the future, as yet impossible. Your own Special Agent Section is- headed by Section Chief Agidy Yelov, a Siriun humanoid from the Federation member planet, Sirius Secundus. Agidy Yelov and others have told you the importance of the First Law of TIME when on active service: 'A TIME Agent must, in all cases, act naturally according to the time in which he is currently operating, thus minimising any disruption of the Timelines his or her presence might be causing'. As Yelov once said to you: There's no point in coming back to 3033 if you have left an atomic hand gun near Hitler's bunker, because this would change the present - in fact, you'd probably find you had never existed!' As with all Special Agents, your bloodline has been traced back, in your case to the French Revolution in 1789 AD. Should any one of your ancestors fail to produce the next in line it would be as if you had never existed.
The rules are very simple - you could almost play this book without reading them at all. But reading the Personal Background and, of course, the Mission Brief will help you to understand what is happening as you begin the adventure. If you come across something you don't understand, don't worry, check the Equipment List and this may give you a clue. If not, carry on anyway, it will probably become clear later.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Mission Brief
You are at your desk in the high security wing of the TIME building. As Chief of the Special Agent Section, you should be reading the status and liaison reports from the Monitoring Section, and the heap of paperwork from Research, Admin and so on. But you are gazing into space, thinking about your friend and subordinate. Agent Bloodhound, and the adventures you shared when you were also a field agent.

He has disappeared, vanished without trace just before a mission to find Agidy Yelov began. Not even Po-Ling of the Monitoring Section can offer a clue. Bloodhound was last seen in the Eiger Vault, setting out on a routine time trip to the timehole on Earth 1485 AD.

A loud bleeping sound interrupts your thoughts. It is your secretary, Ameena. 'Lord Jobanque has agreed to see you, Falcon.' Some time later you are seated in Jobanque's office. 'Well, Falcon, what can I do for our renowned Section Chief?' he asks cheerfully.

'I would like to take the mission to find Bloodhound, Sir,' you state bluntly. Jobanque frowns, pursing his lips, then he sighs resignedly: 'I'm afraid I cannot allow you to do that, Falcon ...' He pauses and then continues quickly, There is to be no attempt to find him.' He puts up his hand in a gesture of appeasement as you start in anger and astonishment. 'Hold on. Let me explain. Skirrow of Research has found something very unusual about the timehole Bloodhound visited. It is not as other holes, Falcon. He wants time to examine it closely - its abnormal nature is almost certainly the cause of Bloodhound's disappearance. Skirrow's theory is that Bloodhound is either trapped for ever in null- space or was simply atomised the moment he engaged the Variac Drive of his Time Machine. For all intents and purposes, we must assume Bloodhound is dead.'

You stare at Jobanque for a moment. 'I cannot believe that,' you reply.

'Look, Falcon, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but we cannot risk another agent, least of all you. Going after Bloodhound is too dangerous. It's as simple as that -I forbid you to go. That's all Falcon.' And he begins officiously moving holovid tape reports about on his desk. You get up and leave in disgust.

1
Seated back in your office, you must decide what to do. Will you:

Go along with Jobanque's orders and forget about Bloodhound?
Decide that Jobanque can stick his head in a vat of fungspread and go after Bloodhound?
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Post by SGamerz »

I would assume going after Bloodhound is the whole point of this book so do so.

Although I'd be tempted vote the other way just to see if it's an insta-game-over.
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Post by Pariah Dog »

Yeah, fuck that guy. Go do it anyway.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

20
You will be acting completely unofficially, illegally in fact.
However, you give your clearance code to the Service Computer and give orders that your Time Machine be readied for immediate use, knowing that no-one is likely to question the orders of the Section Chief of the Special Agent Section.

An hour later you are disembarking from the hovrail at the entrance to the Eiger Vault. The mind scan affirms your identity and the titanium, plasma resistant, personnel security door slides open. You step through and are about to proceed to the Eiger underground hovrail that will take you to the new bay that now houses Falcon's Wing when a TIME security guard in power armour steps out of the Security Control Dome. Another guard watches you from inside. A Security Droid rests motionless nearby.

'Ah, excuse me, sir,' the guard says, his voice hissing through the air ducts of his armour, 'I'm afraid we can't let you through, Section Chief. Um, er, we've been told not to allow you into the Eiger Vault.' The guard is plainly embarrassed. Will you:

Try to bluff your way past saying authoritatively, 'Don't be ridiculous, man, you must be mistaken. I am Section Chief Falcon of the Special Agent Section and I order you to get out of my way or face two hours inside the tank of a starving Keladi.'?
Draw your blaster and tell the guard to let you through?
Try to Thinkstrike him and then the guard in the Security Dome?
Try to control the guard with your Powers of Will?

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Post by SGamerz »

Pull rank on him and bluff. It should be a less serious offense than actually attacking him. Besides, he's just doing his job and hasn't done anything to warrant an attack, physical or psychic.
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Post by Pariah Dog »

Yeah. I think trying to shoot or thinkstrike will end badly.
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Imma go one step further and say if we can't bullshit our way in and the game lets us decide boss had a point, we decide boss had a point and hope there's an option to delegate finding Bloodhound to our minions.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Thaluikhain »

The guard steps back, cowed by your commanding tones - you are after all a Section Chief of TIME. 'Er, yes, sir, of course it must be a mistake. I'm sorry sir, please go through.'Boldly you walk on to the hovrail car, but you can sense that the guard is having second thoughts, remembering his orders. An alarm shrieks and a voice booms out, 'Intruder alert - apprehend or disable. Do not kill, priority A1, repeat, Do not kill.' The noise fills the vault with a cacophony of echoing sound. At least Jobanque isn't going to have you terminated over this, you think to yourself. You hurl yourself into a waiting hovrail car as a beam of emerald energy from a droid's stun lance flashes through the spot you have just moved from. Quickly you insert your identity chip into the hovcar guidance computer, praying that your Security Clearance hasn't yet been revoked. You heave a sigh of relief as the doors hum shut and the hovrail shoots forward like a bullet to maximum speed in seconds, the acceleration slamming you back into your chair. You are propelled deep into the Eiger Vault.

116
The hovcar comes to a gut wrenching halt at the bay where Falcon's Wing, your Time Machine, is housed. Looking out of the car you can see two Security Droids waiting for you. Will you:

Dive out of the car and come up firing?
Walk out and say, 'I am Section Chief Falcon - use voice verification. The intruder is in Section P - Storage 5, proceed there immediately.'?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Again, avoid shooting.
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Post by SGamerz »

Keep bluffing.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

178
The Droids seem to hesitate. One of them grates, 'Voice identification verified. Section Chief Falcon - you are under arrest ... Prime Directive dichotomy - must obey verified operatives of TIME with clearance code Theta or higher.'There is a moment's silence as the two droids wait motionless, whirring and clicking. The other says mechanically: 'We will proceed to Section P - Storage 5 as directed. Please place yourself under arrest and await our return. Thank you, sir.'The two droids rise up on their hovpads and glide away. Smiling to yourself, you run towards Falcon's Wing which stands in its bay, its bright silver and red markings gleaming in the lights of the Eiger Vault.

Hurriedly, you ascend into the cockpit of Falcon's Wing where CAIN welcomes you cordially. Not wishing to spend anymore time in the now hostile Eiger Vault, you instruct CAIN to set co- ordinates for the timehole on Earth 1485 AD, the last place Agent Bloodhound was known to be heading for. Soon Falcon's Wing has shifted into null-space but something seems wrong. Instead of the familiar grey nothingness of 'The Void', you find yourself surrounded by a mass of coruscating colours that make your head spin and your stomach churn to look at. Nor does it take any time to travel either for, seconds later, CAIN informs you that you have materialised - somewhere. 'My instruments cannot pick up a time or location,' chimes CAIN. 'It is as if we were outside normal space time, yet not in null-space.'

As soon as Falcon's Wing has come out of null-space you look at the digital read-out to check what time you are in. To your horror it reads 99,999,999 AD. You ask CAIN to confirm this date and the computer responds: 'My sensors indicate that the read-out is incorrect. There are not enough digits to represent the correct date, Falcon.'

'Do you mean that we're further into the future than a hundred million years AD?'

That is correct, Falcon.' Then lets jump back.'
'Before examining our surroundings?'

'Remember the Medawar syndrome, CAIN, it doesn't affect you, but there is no knowing how quickly I will age so far out of my own time. Every minute may put a year on my age.' You set the co-ordinates for a return to your own time and engage the Variac Drive, but nothing happens. CAIN does not report any malfunction but when you try again there is the usual whine of the drive but the read-out still shows 99,999,999 AD. 'Can we be moving backwards in time in small steps towards 99,999,999 AD?'youask.

'My sensors indicate that we are not moving at all, Falcon.' You grimace at the console which houses CAIN and decide to take a look at whatever is outside.

111
CAIN turns on the outside scanner for you which pans slowly round in a circle. Falcon's Wing stands in the middle of a depression filled with fine silt which forms small whirlpools in the wind. It is quite dark outside and there are no signs of life, save for a great crumbling edifice that rises above the lip of the depression in the far distance. It looks like a high-tech building put something is not quite right. You can't be sure but there is a suggestion of decay and desolation about it as if the architects had returned to dust aeons ago. You stare at the featureless landscape. Reluctantly you decide to explore the inhospitable environment. CAIN advises that the air is breathable but that the oxygen content is slightly below that of Earth. The gravity is almost identical to Earth's. Note on your agent profile whether you are wearing your environment suit or not. Will you:

Use the flyer?
Or do you prefer to explore on foot?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

See how far we can walk first.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

That, but put on our environmental suit first.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

131
It is a difficult climb to the lip of the depression and you find yourself slipping backwards in a small avalanche of fine silt several times. When at last you crest the lip a wide vista lies before you. For the most part it is a featureless plain stretching towards the great edifice. Everything has been worn down. The mountains which rise purple in the distance are high but they look more like gently rolling hills, their crags eroded over the aeons. The dust which lies everywhere underfoot is multi- coloured, grey, red, yellow and many other hues, as if all of the compounds and elements on the surface of the planet had been rubbed off and mixed together. You have been walking for some time when you come to a set of tracks, hoofprints, crossing your path at right angles. Will you:

Follow the hoofprints?
Walk on towards the decayed high-tech building?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

Proceed to building. We aren't catching up to anything with hooves on foot.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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Post by Pariah Dog »

Building. If we are catching up to anything with hooves, it will not end well for us.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

13
Something catches your eye as you trudge across a field of loose pink and grey grit - even the granite has weathered into tiny chips. The object glints in the sombre light - it is a sword with great iron hilts that has been driven point first into the gravel. A split skull has been driven onto the hilts and a grey metal helmet rests on top. There is a black swastika on one side and two black letters: SS. A wooden post has been driven into the gravel nearby with a board on which is scratched the words: 'Achtung Gefahrlich.' The sword seems to have kept its edge. Will you:

Grasp the sword and shake off the skull?
Ignore it and walk on?

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Post by Pariah Dog »

Hey, free greatsword.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

A sword that kills Nazis is probably good for us. Take it.
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Post by Thaluikhain »

You gingerly grip the flat sword blade with both hands and wrench it backwards and forwards. The skull topples off and fallsto the ground where it splits apart. Inside is a piece of red and white cloth. You try to let go of the sword to examine it but your hands have gone numb and the sword sticks to them. If you are wearing your environment suit...

153
The metal blade of the sword is so cold that it is eating into the palms of your suit. It takes all of your strength to wrench the sword out of the gravel and strike it against the ground until it falls free, but the sword takes the palms of your suit with it. The cold has stopped the suit sealing automatically and it is no longer air tight. The effort of moving inside it in the low oxygen atmosphere is great and you decide to leave the suit behind. Note that you are not wearing your environment suit on your agent profile. The red and white piece of cloth is made of natural fibre, it is coarse and seems to have been hand made, but is otherwise uninteresting. Will you:

Examine the sword once more, this time lifting it by the hilt?
Continue on your way?
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Post by Omegonthesane »

No "fuck this return immediately to Falcon's Wing and refuse to interact with the world other than through a flyer until our envirosuit is fixed" option?

And unless we've started believing in magic swords the hilt should be about as cold as the blade. Continue without it.
Kaelik wrote:Because powerful men get away with terrible shit, and even the public domain ones get ignored, and then, when the floodgates open, it turns out there was a goddam flood behind it.

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SGamerz
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Post by SGamerz »

I say go for the sword. We've already taken the penalty. Might as well take a gamble to see if we get something of this encounter after all.
Pariah Dog
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Post by Pariah Dog »

Grab the sword. Lets get those deaths in early.
Thaluikhain
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Post by Thaluikhain »

Gingerly touching the hilt reveals that it is insulated. Though cool to the touch it is not painful, but the blade is extremely cold, moisture condenses on it and turns to frost even as you watch. You may carry the sword if you wish, being careful not to let the blade touch you, or you may drag it along behind you using the piece of red and white cloth, or you may simply leave it behind. Note what you choose to do and continue on your way.

The gravel gives way to a featureless dusty plain once more and you make towards a low pock-marked hillock. After a while you cross a set of tracks which stretch towards nothing to either side as far as the eye can see. They remind you of fish bones, a series of parallel indentations made by a very heavy vehicle, but there is no indication as to what drove it or whether it is a robot. You trudge on towards the hillock and realise that you are growing thirsty.

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At the hillock you pause and survey the scenery. A steady chugging of heavy machinery causes you to turn and you see a large metallic vehicle lumbering towards you on caterpillar tracks. A turret on top of the main body carries a large projectile weapon, a barrel which locks onto you as the machine moves. A second and a third appear over a low rise. You recognise them as Tiger tanks, from a 20th century war, known as WWII. Their markings would seem to indicate an SS battalion. There is nowhere to hide out here in the open. Will you:

Go for your blaster?
Await developments?
Run down the other side of the hillock?

There is a picture here
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