[Desolation] Chapter 1: Digging In

Ryoma


He pulls you in and wraps his arms completely around you. Pulling you back, he touches your face.


Gently. So gently.


Then he lets go and steps back. Looks at you a long moment, then turns to leave.


What do you do?
 
Hooper


As you draw his blade into you, take 1-harm, your armor applies. Then, your machete slits Dig's throat with ease, like a hook through a squirming worm. Blood gurgles and gushes from the new opening in his neck, painting his body a thick dark red. He looks at you one last time as the life drains from his eyes, his neck bubbling in panicked blood-filled breaths. His legs give out, finally, and he collapses to the ground. You still hold a tuft of his hair.


Now the comparison: He's dead, you're alive. Not the same.


Suddenly, you hear the "click" of a hammer being pulled back on a pistol and feel a barrel pressed against the back of your head.


The voice of an old man breaks the deathly silence. "I don't know what the fuck you think you're doing or who the fuck you think you are, but you can go to hell, devil-bitc—." Another sound, the sound of a shotgun being pumped cuts him off.


Another voice behind you. "Pull that trigger, old man, and I'll splatter your guts all over the dirt. What'll it be?"


What do you do?
 
Let him go.


Be content in the knowledge that the dharma lives in him as a seed, even if he knows nothing now.


Now, to find out of that merit she just earned will translate into gainful employment or not... sutras do not feed an empty belly, after all! Slipping her sword through her stash she sets out.


Surely, this will be a perfectly ordinary day and nothing unpleasant will greet her eyes as she ventures out.
 
Hooper


Hopper casually drops the hair, watching it float slowly. The barrel digs in to the flesh of her head as she plots the next four steps.


Shotgun pump momentarily distracts pistol holder


Drop and spin hard to the left


Spinning machete catches gun hand


Kill as needed


The other voice was confusing. Not often did people care to help. It was nice. A simple nice thought as her knees bend as gravity takes hold and she enacts her plan.


She twists away well enough but knows her machete is coming slow
 
Ryoma


Love it. So, where are you headed and what are you doing? I didn't want to assume too much, but I figured out to the yard?


Hooper


Awesome. That would most likely be a seize by force, but what are you seizing? Pistol-holder's life? Or just the upper hand? Or a better position on him?
 
Out to the yard, yeah. Perhaps visit one of the stalls that sell food (volekabob is very good this time of year), and to see if any contracts are available for a woman with her particular skillset.
 
Hooper


Looks like that's an 8. On 7-9, choose 2:

  • you take definite hold of it
  • you suffer little harm
  • you inflict terrible harm
  • you impress, dismay or frighten your enemy


Ryoma


Hahaha.


You head out into the yard, the sun shining on your face. Looks like it will be a beautiful day. That's about the time you notice the blood-bath. You see two mangled dead bodies in pools of blood at the feet of Hooper. An old man has a gun to her head and another wiry guy has a shotgun the the old man's side.


What do you do?
 
I freeze. Last thing I want is for him to pull the trigger. Especially if it is at me.


This adds up too easily, and I have tried my best at working in the real world. Maybe it is time to throw more variables into the mix. I need to know more and I need to now more right now.

roll +weird, so I get +3 to my roll. Total is 11 and mark experience.
 
Graves


Shotgun over his shoulder, Graves strolls into the market on his way to the wall lookout post - and comes upon a mightily displeasing scene.


So he's going to read the sitch, because he'd like to know what the hell is going on here.
 
Ryoma keeps her distance, keeping a wide birth around the ongoing massacre... most curious. Time to order up the armadillo special and see how this places out.


On top of that, I think I'll read the sitch. Sharp is +1.
 
Red Bean


You open your brain to the maelstrom. The world begins to fade and it swallows you ...


What is the maelstrom like? Describe what's happening.


Hooper


You're pretty damn quick. Quicker than the old fuck with the gun to your head. But even in his poor state, he's not incapable. You have to give him that.


So, you reach back and grab the man's hand holding the gun. He struggles with you as you turn toward him. In an instant of desperation, he pushes with all his might then pulls the trigger. His bullet grazes you but you couldn't care less. You just keep coming. You bend his arm, aiming his pistol at his own head. He's not strong enough to stop you or struggle. Realizing this, he pisses himself and starts sobbing. "Please. Don't kill me. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Don't."


Now that you're turned around, you can see a hooded dirty kid holding a shotgun to the old man's side. Seeing your new position, he eases back and lowers his weapon.


Also, you take 2-harm from the graze. Armor and your Rasputin move apply since he's scared shitless. Now, roll+harm. We have to do the harm move. You get a -2 for that, right?


Graves


It's actually 2d6+sharp. I rolled your second die and got a 6. So, a hit. Good work. On a 7-9, you get to ask 1:

  • where’s my best escape route / way in / way past?
  • which enemy is most vulnerable to me?
  • which enemy is the biggest threat?
  • what should I be on the lookout for?
  • what’s my enemy’s true position?
  • who’s in control here?


What do you do?


Ryoma


A 6 is a miss, sorry to say.


You don't know what the hell is going on out here, but you do spot Skags in the market. Unlike everyone else cowering, he seems to be buying an SMG ...


What do you do?
 
Well. Who knows why Hooper does anything? She'll just sit back, enjoy her dead desert rodent, and perhaps follow Skags.


Maybe he understood. Maybe he did not. But a man who buys a gun after a religious experience is never boring.
 
Hooper doesn't even say a word in response. Her entire life had been about being safe with her face. Being safe didn't involve giving second chances to harm her. She puts a finger on a weak tendon, applying pressure and watching his finger pull tight on the trigger.


Armor of two plus Rasputin +1 should negate damage right?


If not harm is at -2
 
Hooper


Oh! Woops! You're right. It was only 2-harm. Forget the Harm roll.


So, I just want to make sure, you're using his finger to pull the trigger and kill him, right? I just want to be sure.
 
Hooper


The trigger depresses. The hammer slams forward and the shell ignites. As the slide on the pistol recoils backward the bullet leaves the barrel and blasts out the opposite side of the old man's head, spraying red mist and grey matter in a cone upward. Skull fragments spin through the air as the now dead body crumbles to the ground, his eyes wide open with desperation. The empty shell clatters with a distinctive metallic CLINK CLINK CLINK.


He's a sight to be seen, his ruined brain hanging out the hole in his head, blood oozing underneath.


A young woman (in her twenties) takes one step, then another out from behind one of the merchant's stalls. Everyone else is hiding and quiet, but she steps out and falls to her knees at the side of the dead corpse. Her face is twitching with shock and her eyes are wide as saucers.


She whispers something. You barely hear it. "Grandpa ... Grandpa ... "


What do you do?


Ryoma & Graves


You both witness Hooper turn and old man's pistol on himself and pull the trigger. His head explodes and he's dead. Alls quiet in the market as everyone looks on silently, fearful for their lives.


What do you do?
 
Only a fool would give Hooper a chance to fight back -- to kill her would be to come up behind her with the heaviest gun you could find and fire one right in the back of her spine. The man would go on to his just desserts, reborn, his body absorbed into the earth: nothing is created, nothing is destroyed.


What is Skags doing?
 
Find him. Leave Hooper and her victims to their respective fates.


Graves can deal with this... right?
 
Hmm... any high ground I could reach? She could probably spot his tall, lanky frame in a crowd. Maybe climb on a stall.
 
Hooper


She shrugs and tugs out the old knife from her gut. Throwing it down into the body. She takes the gun and pockets the remaining shells before bending the gun's barrel. No using it on her.


The bodies around her stare at her. Locked in their deaths for eternity.


Hooper looks at the girl. Shrugs and turns to the man with the shotgun. "Thanks. Who are you"


She does note the arrival of Ryoma. A sudden flush of the oh so uncommon emotions. Such pretty colors. She makes eye contact, a longing stare before looking back at the new man.
 
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