SepticGentleman

Undiscovery

Hey, don't mind if I drop in.

@Civetta

Just park your airship in the nearest smoking ditch, friend.

Undiscovery

Theresa ot an Bol'hjar, Benedict Kaspin

---

A good number of the bodies littered around the city streets were gigantic, human-shaped amalgamations of flesh and metal. Their designs were so alike to each other that it seemed they were manufactured.

"Ben, you know machines." Theresa said, looking at one of the dead flesh golems as the duo passed by. "You ever seen anything like these before?"

"Never." He said, "This is some strange combination of metalwork and... I honestly don't even know what to call the other half. Some kind of organic coating. Never heard of machines and flesh working together like that."

"It looks... complicated, to me." Theresa replied, "More so than normal machines, even."

"It's nasty is what it is."

As they walked, Ben's eyes shifted towards a somewhat larger building to the left. Above the sizable door frame was a sign that read 'WORKSHOP 49'.

"This looks interesting." Ben said, approaching the workshop. It surprised him that the door was large enough to let him inside - perhaps it'd been meant for the flesh golems. Theresa followed him inside. The interior was unlit, but they could see enough. A grand, spacious room with tables and bins stocked with scrap metal, spare parts, strange tools, and jars full of various organic materials. A large, circular platform sat in the center, with a lever nearby - an elevator, looked to be. The building was not free of damage, with bodies and bullet holes abound, but it was free of rubble, thankfully.

Ben approached one of the bins. This place was practically a goldmine for someone of his profession. He sifted his hands through the metal bins, picking out pieces and examining them. "There's so much here!" He said, "Scrap and assembled pieces... half this stuff is familiar but, other half I'm not sure of..."

"And this?" Theresa said, holding up a jar full of little, wrinkled strips of flesh, pulsating softly.

"Yeah, let's... let's leave that kind of stuff alone." He continued sorting through the bins. "Gotta get a bigger bag or something... Hey Theresa, can you-"

A loud thump came from a door in the back of the workshop, behind a desk.

"O̕P̴E̵N, ̨DAMN IT̸.̸"

A scratchy, mechanical, angry voice accompanied the beating down of the door. The duo turned their heads to see it. It swung open, and in barged another figure in a flesh robe, like the one before, in the streets. Only it seemed much more hostile. The light coming from under its hood was a flickering yellow.

"I͏ ͘HEAR̵D S͟OM͞ETHIN̨G..̧." It said, before turning its vision towards Theresa.

"Ş̵T͝҉A͜R͝͠T̨͏ ͘P͘͠R͢͝͞A̢Y̴̨̛Í͏͜NG̡.͢͜"

Its light turned stark red, and it lunged.

Undiscovery

<Snipped quote by luclovers>

oh yeah sorry, busy running my own rp and kinda losing interest in this one as I'm doing alot for a single one right now. I'll get a post up.

@Cuccoruler

You don't gotta contribute more to mine if you'd rather focus on your own. Pretty common reason for adjourning.

Undiscovery

Our IC has swelled to a decent size, so it may be a good idea to provide some indicator to potential new members that they don't need to read all that to begin. Otherwise, we may start losing roleplayers faster than we're getting them.

@Empour

Guess I'll put a notice up.

Undiscovery

Heyo, life's starting to pick up a bit, so I'm gonna have to drop out of this. No more time left for it.

@Azereiah

Ah well. The life of a pygmy eldritch god is always a doomed one.

See ya man.

Undiscovery

Keeper Julian

---

Julian turned his head and pointed to an ornate, well-kept wooden door. "Through there." He said, "Though I don't believe it will be of much help to you."

He turned back to Piper and said, "After all the years I've been here, no one's ever bothered writing a book on the Continent's Curse. Certainly not before they ended up here, at that. Just not possible." He upped himself off the rock and began walking towards the path to the cave-inn, turning back towards the duo as he did.

"Whatever you two end up doing... it's not my charge to interfere. But as I warned you before Piper, the Vigils will not stop pursuing you until their mark's on your skin. You should go prepared."

He turned and began walking away once more, passing a quick glance at the tunnel leading to the Vigils' Wharf.

Expecting something to stumble out of it, almost.

@Empour

Undiscovery

<Snipped quote by SepticGentleman>

I was thinking of eventually adding an explorer character that wants to map the continent

@luclovers

They'd be at it for quite some time then.

Undiscovery

Keeper Julian

---

"Well..." Julian began, readjusting his position atop the rock.

"Those keys are... how do I say this... like needles. The Junction is a lumpy knot, and all these tunnels and doorways are... strings, I suppose. The needles help you find your way through the knot, to and from the Junction to other parts of the land."

They both looked somewhat confused at the sewing analogy he was attempting to make.

"Perhaps a better way to say this would be... the keys are like, beacons. The Junction senses these beacons, and whoever is carrying them, and grants them full access to its pathways. A dead end cave becomes a tunnel leading here, or a closet door in an abandoned house... so on. And the Junction does these things on its own bodiless whim. Sometimes it transports people without keys, it's... random. Been like that for as long as I've been here."

They seemed slightly more pleased with that answer.

"And as for your second question..." He began again, "I don't know the origin of the curse. Vorris might, but... we don't say much to each other anymore. You're not the first to ask, many an intellectual has attempted to uncover its mysteries. Break it, even. But the lot of them eventually gave up, or... perished, searching."

He sighed.

"Some part of me thinks it's not so much a curse as it is a... a net. A net that... catches these lost pieces of the world, and keeps them from falling into nothingness. And I don't know who or what could have made that net... but I wouldn't question their actions if I were to stand before them. I wouldn't wish the net to be torn."

He gave Piper a bit of a concerned look, shrugging.

"How could anyone?"

@Empour

Undiscovery

Fun fact. I was considering drawing a map of the Continent a while before I started this, something everyone could mark down on where their locations were. Then when I began implementing all of the non-Euclidean bullshit, I realized what a contradiction it'd be.

Undiscovery

Theresa ot an Bol'hjar, Benedict Kaspin

---

The robed figure was mumbling to itself.

"Retreating... I'll get- Horris is dead... Supply..."

There was something rather mechanical about its voice. The duo approached it cautiously. Theresa kept her hand on the grip of her sword. She stepped toward the figure ahead of Ben and called out, "Excuse me?"

"Hands... not coming... west dis- blocked... where... supply..."

"Excuse me!"

"Baldwin is go- back... workshop..."

"We're not getting anything out of him." Ben said, eyeing the figure with curiosity. "He's lost his mind."

"I just want to know what it is." Theresa replied, "Definitely not human. Not now, at least. But it's wearing the same flesh robe as some of the bodies around here."

"The Keeper mentioned something about the masters of this place. Engineers. Maybe this is one of them. Or... what's left of him."

They both watched as the Engineer stumbled away, still muttering to itself. "Clinic... Kan- use those... no... underground..." It said, moving further away.

"The old district is supposed to be on the other side of town. Guess we'll just have to climb over the rubble if he can't tell us the quickest route."

"It said something about the underground? Maybe the place has tunnels we can use."

"Keeper told me that's a bad idea. Stuff down there we shouldn't mess with. And judging by what we've seen so far, I trust him on the notion."

"Fine. Let's head up that way."

Theresa pointed towards the only open street not blocked by rubble or the body of some kind of horrendous being, and the two were on their way.