This thread continues Robert's game from his initial thread, Not in Nebraska Anymore: Robert Begins. The story here begins with a raft, a raptor, and rappelling; I'll let Robert tell what he can before I say any more.
Raptors and Shotguns: Robert meets Turok
(11 posts) (3 voices)-
Fri May 8 2009 1:00 am #
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I've been wracking my brain for the last two weeks trying to remember what happened, and I can give vague impressions of what I met, but I have no idea what order things happened in. Take all of this with enough salt to kill a moose.
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I awoke on a raft with a Native American-looking man who introduced himself as Turok and, after interrogating me for a while, accepted me as someone who had just fallen into his world, which seemed to be a common occurrence. However, he also expected me to know a hell of a lot more about his world than I did. He gave me a knife, and a shotgun. We were attacked on the river by something aquatic, and defeated, or at least escaped, it. Later we were attacked by raptors, one of which I killed with a headshot, and soldiers from the Other Team, who were apparently looking for me and/or Turok.
Sun May 24 2009 12:13 am # -
A good effort! Let me supply a smidgen more detail for the titular Raptor and Shotgun encounter. Turok was away slaughtering soldiers from the Other Team (which I think he called the Combine), but he had first given Robert a brief tutorial in the delicate art of self-concealment:
1@2 Ambush (Hide) T0@3 W2
However, his effort was not sufficient to fool a wandering raptor. With ridiculous luck, Robert evaded its initial attacks, landing on his back holding his shotgun, looking up at the raptor at point blank range. His shot - the first one he'd ever fired:
1@3 Operate Shotgun T6@1 W2
took the raptor's head clean off. (Of course, anyone who's watched Jurassic Park knows raptors don't hunt alone, but the other was taken down with bow and arrow by the ever-punctual Turok.)
The encounter with the Combine came soon after, and Turok gifted Robert with a weapon taken from one of the fallen. Total additions to Robert's equipment:
· Combine Rifle w/thong (tracking disabled)
· whittling knife w/sheath
· double-barrel 12-gauge pump-action shotgun (fully loaded) w/thongOur heroes have reached a cliff overlooking a valley, in which Turok claims his allies' encampment may be found. He produced synthetic ropes significantly shorter than the drop, and I believe we left off as I was asking Robert about his pre-versing experience with rappelling.
Turok, as he secures the cords to protruding rock: "Have you done this before?"
If your answer differs from the truth, I'll need to know the truth as well. Also, if you've anything else to add (or anything to contradict or modify), now's the time.
Wed Jun 3 2009 5:59 am # -
I answer "No. And I'm a bit afraid."
Thu Jul 2 2009 5:16 pm # -
"Swallow it. You can cough your fear up again later. For now, you are going down a rock face. Hold your cord thus, and let it feed out this way . . ." He gives you a very rapid lesson in how not to fall to your death. You're on the same cord, and he's going down first.
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Learning roll is 20, easily granting a 1@1 SAL in Rappel T2@1, an application of T2@1 Operate Rope/Cord. Turok's skill roll is 05, a weak success. We'll pick up the pace soon.
Wed Jul 8 2009 5:20 am # -
I follow.
Thu Jul 9 2009 2:10 am # -
I figured. Usually I'll try to leave you more to work with, but I was trying to do everything at once when I posted.
You follow Turok's lead, and before long you've reached the end of your tether - and, fortunately, also arrived at a ledge just large enough for the two of you to stand on without fear of knocking each other off with a careless movement. There is also a crevice here in the cliff face, large enough for a grown man to squeeze through if he had a mind to. You're only perhaps halfway down the cliff; the trees below still look terrifyingly small.
As Turok helps unhook you, there is a blinding blue flash from the valley below. A half-second later, a deep bass thrumm assaults your ears and vibrates in your chest, and the whole earth seems to shake. A coruscating pillar of blue light now reaches up from a point on the valley floor, extending endlessly into the sky.
Turok curses under his breath. "They've already activated the gate device. We have less than an hour. Fate permitting, we can make our way to the cliff base through these caves."
He knocks an arrow to his bow. "Keep up." And he slips into the crevice.
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It would be nice to know what precautions you're taking and/or what dangers you expect (surprise in this game is partially determined by what threats you anticipate, whether implicitly by your actions or explicitly by telling me). I'm emailing you your character sheet to help with this.
Sat Jul 11 2009 5:52 am # -
I'm keeping the shotgun ready in case any dinosaurs are in the cave and moving carefully to avoid slipping and falling. I've had some bad experiences with that in the past.
Wed Jul 29 2009 5:55 pm # -
Rapid-fire summary:
Turok and our hero are separated by a cave-in, Robert tries to find a route around and eventually succeeds, shooting two dinos on route (one raptor, one spitter). (Yes, my dino inventory is drawn mostly from Jurassic Park. Lawsuits welcome.) They reunite in time to take down an ankylosaur fitted by the Other Team with particle-artillery. Turok shot off the artillery and finished the beast with his hunting knife - elapsed time five minutes. Upon exit at the base of the cliff, ambushed by a half-ring of Combine goons. Turok held his own, even ceded Robert the best cover; however, Robert was right soundly battered by this point, and a Combine rifle shot took him down.
Post-verse-out summary in the next post, which will bring Robert up to the point where he joins James's scenario.
Sat Apr 3 2010 2:19 am # -
Robert woke up in a clearing in a forest. He had a vector on me in some direction, and decided to walk that way for lack of anything in particular to do. At some point, he found a crippled robin who introduced himself as Robin Strange. Robin said that he needed to take a crystal to somewhere (Can't recall if he specifically said a witch or if he said he needed to go to his home city) in order to heal his family from a deadly disease. Robert agreed to carry Robin and gathered materials to assemble a bird's nest so Robert could carry Robin without hurting his wing. They walked for the rest of the day, and had an encounter with some small predator who wanted to eat Robin. At night, Robert suddenly woke up and felt a need to go in the direction of his vector. Robin decided he'd rather get carried along than be left alone.
Robert walked in on my conversation with the witch at the point where I cut my summary. During the resulting conversation, Robert told Robin and the witch that we were brothers, ( Despite starting play at different times, our characters looked about in line with what the other would expect, so nothing seemed particularly off) , Robert failed his check to avoid acting stupid because of a pretty girl, it turned out Robin needed to give the crystal to this particular witch to get her to remove the curse she'd placed on his family, (I can't remember quite what the first incident of the story was, I think it might have involved Robin making the wrong sort of deal, or at least the witch may have claimed that) The witch got the crystal, Robert resisted a mind-control attempt while pointing his shotgun at the witch, then lowered the gun anyway and promptly failed to resist a second mind control attempt. I ended up sitting in a tree with the witch, who may have been named at some point, and asked some question about local politics, which isn't really important to remember on account of live play ending right then.
Sun Sep 5 2010 9:41 pm # -
I have very little in the way of contributions and corrections; I think on the whole you remembered more than I do.
Robin said that he needed to take a crystal to somewhere (Can't recall if he specifically said a witch or if he said he needed to go to his home city)
There was no mention of a witch at this juncture; Robin was purportedly heading for Sparrowhome. (A reminder: Robin is neither a robin nor a sparrow.)
They walked for the rest of the day, and had an encounter with some small predator who wanted to eat Robin.
If a wolf counts as a small predator, yes.
(I can't remember quite what the first incident of the story was, I think it might have involved Robin making the wrong sort of deal, or at least the witch may have claimed that)
This was never clear, even if decided to believe one of them over the other. The dialog was not expository; the only certainty is that there had been some nominal accord, and neither party felt the other (had to date) / (could be trusted in the future to) uphold their end of it.
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If there are no further corrections or contributions, we can resume play in James's thread, Dragons Welcome: James in a New World.
Mon Sep 6 2010 11:01 pm #
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