SepticGentleman

Undiscovery

Theresa ot an Bol'hjar, Benedict Kaspin

---

"Good, good..." Theresa replied. She looked down at the body of the deformed Engineer and said, "Wonder how many more of these things are-"

A sound. Light footstep on a creaky wooden floor.

At the doorway the Engineer barged in through, a tiny being was peeking its head around the frame. Ben and Theresa both stared at it as it waddled into the main room. It was, as stated, small. Only around two feet in height. The best way to describe it would be a metal skeleton resembling a human infant's, interwoven with the same meaty tendrils seen on the flesh golems outside. Its head was a large lump of flesh, lightly freckled and with a dark spot appearing to be its mouth. Wrapped around its neck area was a battered red cloth, tied and clung very affectionately.

"What." Theresa said, watching the little being step further. "Is that."

"It's..." Ben said, mouth agape, looking down at the being stepping towards the body of the slain Engineer. He seemed speechless as it scanned the remains, and from the dark spot on its blob-head, three little black tentacles emerged and began feeling over the corpse.

"Adorable."

"Wh-... what?" Theresa replied, shaking her head slightly. Ben was just stuck watching the little thing feel under the Engineer's coat with its tentacles, looking for something it seemed.

"I can't explain it, I just..." Ben said, kneeling down to get a closer look. "I love it. So much."

"What the hell is it, even?"

"I don't know. I don't care. It's great."

The little being retracted its tentacles from under the Engineer's coat, revealing what it'd been searching for. A badge, in the shape of a II. It pinned the badge to a section of its chest, and then stepped away from the body.

"Well it's a scavenger, to start." Theresa commented. The being turned its attention towards her, waddling in her direction. She stepped back, apprehensive, but it didn't seem like it was going to do anything warranting a good stabbing. In fact, it approached her leg... and hugged it.

"He likes you!" Ben said, suddenly very happy, and grinning. Wasn't a pretty smile with his damaged teeth but, still.

"Alright, I'll admit..." Theresa replied, "It's kind of cute."

It detached itself from Theresa's leg and turned towards Ben, who promptly held his hand down for it to climb upon. He held it up and wagged his other finger near it, looking very amused.

"I hope you're not planning on keeping that thing." Theresa said, looking up at the two.

"You just try and stop me, woman." Ben replied, shooting Theresa a quick, halfway serious glare.

Theresa just smirked, and made her way to the workshop's entrance. Ben placed the scavenger upon his shoulder, following behind her.

"I shall call you... Potato."

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.