Sunday, November 5, 2017

Solo Gaming Appreciation Month #4

The Hermit. Looks like it’s a contemplation and exposition scene. The Bundle of Holding included an RPG called The Nightmare Underneath, which also has a free version. The idea of spawning dungeons with anchors and such kind of fits this Dark City-esque setting.

Scene 2:

It’s just past midnight as Wendy approaches her bike. The light buzz of her drone comes from high above. The coordinates of the location are received by her wrist comm.

Wendy pulls up the details, tapping her wristband and scrolling through the holographic display. Is it nearby?

Loom of Fate result: To conflict, 93. Yes, and…

The updated map provided by Whiskey Actual shows a ping just ahead of her. The cul de sac’s manhole cover.

This appears to be easier than Wendy had expected. She calls down her drone as she pulls on a ballistic jacket over her shirt. Wendy pulls the sword free from its underslung position on her drone, sliding it into the scabbard attached to a baldric. A separate compartment opens where Wendy grabs her secondary North American Thunderbird pistol. She always carried one .50 strapped to her thigh; the second went under her arm.

She flexes the fingers on her left arm, the cybernetic enhancement making whispering clicks and whirrs. Wendy taps the wristband again and sends the drone skyward. If she was going into a sewer, explosives might be a bad idea.

Wendy easily pulls the manhole cover open. The ladder leads down into the dark underground tunnels.

She presses on her wristband, and the band illuminates like a flashlight. This wasn’t going to be pleasant, but some of the work a Fox had to do could get messy. She had about 23 hours to complete this, so she may as well get on with it.

A notification comes up on the wrist comm: it’s a pic of a sock monkey.

The target is a sock monkey…? I hate sock monkeys.

Well, seeing as the target is a sock monkey, you’ll be killing one, too.

Sounds good.

While Wendy climbs into the tunnel, create an early memory for Wendy by rolling on the tables in BOLD.

  • (1, 0) from Waylay Noun: weather
  • 28 from Waylay Modifier: corrupt
  • 3 from Waylay Solution: act of nature

Wendy found her ability to manipulate lightning when she was eight. She recalled the storm that had quickly appeared overhead. It was an unnatural storm: green sheets of lightning traced paths between the clouds. Instead of a single strike, a tendril of energy would touch the ground and carve a path like a pillar of destruction. One of those pillars had come toward her.

The bolt was wide, almost as wide as a pair of cars, and it moved with a speed she couldn’t outrun. Outside, among the trees a couple of miles from The City, Wendy had nowhere to run. She had watched as the lightning approached, feeling the build of static grow stronger as it got closer. That was when it touched her.

The pillar of green paused and warped. Unlike the trees that had fallen beneath its wake, the lightning curved and wrapped itself around her. She was enveloped within the energy, a bubble as wide and tall as she provided shelter from its reach. The bolt paused, and she looked up; she could see the heart of lightning resting above her, a core of pearlescent white that the green clung to.

The white heart pulled away then drove down through the protective bubble. It punctured its way to Wendy and touched her. It was warm. Not painful. Just a thread of energy that merged with her. Something awoke inside; somehow she knew that lightning wouldn’t hurt her. Her young arms spread skyward, fear turning to joy, and the lightning played around her, with her. Whips of energy cracked and moved in response to her requests. Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the storm left, but a small core remained within.

Wendy reached the tunnel under the street, a small rivulet of water moves away from her. Behind her is a wall lined with damp bricks, marking where the cul de sac ends. The flashlight on her wrist shows a wide tunnel leading to the center of The City.

The next card: The Empress.

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