Eye of the Maelstrom [Apocalypse World 2E] (Main)

[queanbean]

One of you was once kind and unafraid towards me. Who and why?

Well, if it's such a rare occurrence you should've remembered the time Pepper welcomed him right on in to her sweet establishment. The lady's seen just about everything there is to see and, honestly, a customer's a customer. Even though he couldn't pay for more'n a snack she gave him a meal. Pepper's real big on recruiting some regulars.

 

[Demose Fumetsu]

Ralin would not have something horrible with you, but as for kind and unafraid. Ralin is the type of person if you have something to offer him the you are welcome. If not he will dismiss you. Race, looks, outfit, exetera, he will not see. If you talk with respect, Ralin will do the same. He would not be afraid of Nobody and he would have treared him as he treats everyone. Kind is perspective on this. He would never insult him though.

 

[cran]

Dero has the reasonable suspicion of you that any wastelander tends to possess, wary of the mask you wear as much as the promise of what might be underneath, but a job is a job is a job and the last time you crossed paths you took on a job together that turned into something Dero would quite rather put behind them. They hadn't expected to ever see you again after that...

 

[NorthOfOrdinary]

Interesting you would say that... We all know for a fact that Nobody's strange in the strangest sense. The fucked in the head sort of strange. Talking-with-the-voice-in-my-head sort of strange. Perhaps the sort of strange that you would rather stay away from.

Now, Let's get onto some grisly details.

One of you once helped me do something horrible. Who was it, and how'd it happen? Unless you'd rather not say...

One of you was once kind and unafraid towards me. Who and why?

It wasn't Filly, either of them. She lives by a code that typically stops her from doing things of the more heinous type and well, if it looks like a beast, acts like a beast, and talks like a beast...Filly once saw a rusty sign that said 'Dont feed the animals'. She paid attention.

 

[cran]

Is it my turn? :0 Alright I'm gonna ask:

• Which one of you got me out of some serious shit?
• Which of you have I caught sometimes staring out at the horizon?

 

[Demose Fumetsu]

Is it my turn? :0 Alright I'm gonna ask:

• Which one of you got me out of some serious shit?
• Which of you have I caught sometimes staring out at the horizon?

Ralin likes to wonder alot and as he was out one day he came across a band of bandits ruffing up a Volkswagen being destroy and looted. He shot a few of them and the rest scattered. After fixing the vehicle he asked Dero for a return favor of keeping his eye out for anything worth Ralin's attention. (AKA anything strange that may or may not be of value.) Ralin often thinks about the Golden City and the Light from Far Sibiria and he stares out to the mountains and towords the light wondering and thinking.

 

[NorthOfOrdinary]

Is it my turn? :0 Alright I'm gonna ask:

• Which one of you got me out of some serious shit?
• Which of you have I caught sometimes staring out at the horizon?

Filly got you out of some serious shit, yeah, but to be honest it was kind of mutual. After slipping her bonds, this battlebabe kicked the asses of the thugs holding you both up, and you had the decent gratitude to give her a crisco cooking ride down the road before they kicked their wounds. Does this count? You decide, but one thing's certain, you two made a hell of a team for about fifteen minutes before she tried to steal your car and ended up bailing into a tuck and roll ditch. Who could have known you'd ever meet that giggling, cussing, and all around smack talking brunette desperado again?

 

[queanbean]

• Which one of you got me out of some serious shit?
• Which of you have I caught sometimes staring out at the horizon?

Nah, Pepper's perfectly content right where she is... mostly. The Seven Sins is her home n' she'd never try to betray its hospitality. Plus, the people need 'er. Though, maybe sometimes she'd look all lonesomely out her window when the shining lights keep 'er from sleeping, wondering what the hell kind of place it must be to have enough power to keep all their lights running all the time. That shit's expensive.

 

[ThaDruid]

Is it my turn? :0 Alright I'm gonna ask:

• Which one of you got me out of some serious shit?
• Which of you have I caught sometimes staring out at the horizon?

After that one job turned into sour and bloody tragedy, you haven't seen them again. Nobody didn't show their mask around Dero, and you're pretty sure that they did that purposefully. So even if you got into some serious shit, they weren't there to see it.

Who doesn't stare out at the horizon in this blasted landscape? We got two big shinin' crystals in the sky at all times of day and night. But a true survivor does not focus on the world outside. A true survivor focuses on the raider holding a gun at your head. A true survivor scalps the raider and puts his head on a pike. Anybody can be a survivor, but Nobody's a natural.

 

[WlfSamurai]

And so, we have our allies. You don't need to be friends. But you need to start this as allies. How it changes as we tell our story is up to us and circumstance.

But that's for then.

Now, we need a clearer picture of here. Of this broken world.

Pepper, tell us about the Seven Sins. Tell us the atmosphere you chose (from your sheet). Name your regulars, and tells us about them (where you put their names on the list).

Filly, what has happened to the land here?

Dero, you've been the farthest out. Tell me what you have found out there in the wooded wastes the others don't know yet.

Nobody, you all live somewhere near the Seven Sins. Tell me about this community and what it's like.

Ralin, what has happened to the weather and sky?

cran , Demose Fumetsu , queanbean , ThaDruid , NorthOfOrdinary

 

[queanbean]

The Seven Sins prides itself on its anonymity. The atmosphere is shadowy with plenty of places to hide your faces, intimate and delicious. Better watch what you say though, you never know who's might be listening in (eavesdropping) on a conversation you think is lost to the ears of others amidst the dim tunes of the room.

As for the regulars... well, don't tell 'em I said this but Toyota does a hell of a job keepin' things under control. I'd say he's her favorite in terms of loyalty, despite being just a tad of a creep - hey, nobody likes an old man hangin' around with a permanent scowl on his old wrinkly face. Nonetheless, Pepper likes to think of him as a bit of protection, kind of like a dangerous gramp.

On the flip side, Lamprey's got no business coming around these parts, not after comin' around Pepper's parts, no sir. Still he'll slip his way inside the dim place, trying to stir up any trouble at least a few times a week.

 

[Demose Fumetsu]

The orange and white clouds float close together so there is an overcast against the deep red sky.
A storm on its own is flowing around as if it had no real direction or speed, all around the globe.This magnetic, swirling, pitch black phenomenon is about 10 miles(16 kilometers) in diameter with the eye of the storm that only spans 1 mile(1.6 kilometers) that contains a peak at the once blue sky that was before. The closer you get to the eye, though, the stronger the black storm gets.
With the lightning strong enough for when it hits the ground it cracks the ground creating a shock wave 10feet(3 meters) strong enough from beginning to blast a car to role to it's side the outer foot only strong enough to make your hair fly up. This blast leaves a whole big enough for a grown man to lye in. The rain is an on and off with no real warning, sometimes fading in/out or sudden stopping/going, a black oozy substance covers the ground making it feel like mud. The oozy dries up quickly and is like dry mud once it does. So be careful not to be caught in it or you may be stuck for a while.
It seems though that the weather can't make up it's mind. It would be warm for a few hours/days/weeks and then a cold front would move in for a few seconds, dropping it to the point of water freezing, then the warm would come back. The rains come two to three times a month. The world temperature though, stays mainly at 76○ degrees F(24○ C). The air seems to have some stagnant pockets of pure oxygen as well as pure methane and Carbon Dioxide. These pockets range in size but are very, very rare to find any of them.
The sun still burns its bright yellow during the day, but the moon has a dim glow even the nights the new moon would have taken place, Light from Far Siberia being reflected into it.

 

[NorthOfOrdinary]

It started with an explosion...the power plant or the bomb...no one is sure of what caused the big bang except for one fact, it happened. They say the sky was red for days and the horizon burned for a week.

Soon the ashes caused a change in the weather, the heat dissipated and was replaced by a constant coolness. The sun was all but blocked by clouds. Storms of radiation and pestilence caused mutations the likes of which no one had ever seen. The land had died, but was reborn in a manner so twisted that it resembled nothing of the time all have now forgotten.

The forests became cruel and alive, the plains and hills unforgiving, and the cities reduced to a feeling of evilness that some deduce as dark magic. The land some say, will kill you just as fast as those that roam it.

 

[cran]

When things well and truly went to hell on the homefront, Dero hit the road and didn't stop until there was no more road to hit-- where sprawling grassy flats gradually gave way to hills and mountains and forestation too dense to navigate through blindly. Now, they're by no means a cartographer, so the map they've pieced together while scouting the wooded wastes for a safe(ish) route is more like a composition of rough landmarks depicted by doodles and hastily scribbled down notes, but here are some interesting little tidbits they've stumbled across in the less-traversed areas.

"Last Hope" Reserve: A once-abandoned First Nations reserve that, as far as Dero can put together, has only recently been reclaimed by its displaced people after the apocalypse. A weary traveler can grab some shut eye and a hot meal or two there, but not much more than that. The residents are strictly against doing business with wanderers and can only afford to give so much charity. Still it's a worthwhile stop for the stories alone. If you're in search for relics of the world before, Last Hope may be your only hope.

The Folk-Hackers Trading Post: About the last thing you'd expect out in the wilderness, but here it is. Once upon a time it was an exclusive deep woods retreat for tech geniuses from the up-and-coming cities of Alberta, now it's a secret scrapyard; the place where technology of the old world goes to spend its final days, before being repurposed into something new. An excellent place to barter for information, a new identity, or in Dero's case some freshly 3-D printed parts to modify their ride with.

Astral Rock: As far as they know, this discovery is completely their own, untouched by any other at least within the last fifty years. A sharp outcropping of rock like a cliff laid on its side and staring straight up at the sky. Dero named the unusual landmark "Astral Rock" for that same skyward proclivity, and because it provides the perfect spot to sit and look at what little of the night sky is still visible through the swirling celestial storms above. For reasons unknown, the view above remains untainted through it all. However this also means that whenever such a storm passes overhead the surrounding area is always caught in its deadly eye, making it terribly difficult to reach.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Excellent. I like where this is going already. We’ve got answers to some for the questions posed.

One more thing to add to the expectations:
Your characters don't have to be close friends, but they do have to know each other and work together, and they should be allies. They might become enemies in play, but they shouldn't start out enemies.

Session 1

Now, let’s start small. My setup is a bit more involved, so I may take a whole session to do it. I want to see where we go with our story. I want to give it legs and let it breath. To do that, we’re going to start small. Let’s take some time and follow you through your normal day.

First things first, you all have a spot here, Pepper most of all. But this little community, is run by Foster. And her Army of Skanks. It’s call The Camp. And she runs it with an iron fist. Anything goes as long as she’s aware and on-board. Otherwise, the Skanks’ll come for ya.

So, The Camp. Not just tents and stuff. Buildings too. A town. Some spots are from Before: rubble with tarps for a roof, ramshackle rebuilds, or just straight up with added layers. Some spots are new. Simple, usually. Lean-tos, shacks, or trailers converted. But there are a few new construction sites—if you can call it construction—mostly for Foster and hers.

It’s morning. Cold. But the sun is here peaking through that damn storm that threatens to the north.

Give us a little intro of yourself. Your name, look, and outlook on things here. Then, tell me where you wake up and what you do first.

Also, we have to highlight stats. Find who knows you best, the person with the highest Hx on your sheet, and ask them to choose a stat to highlight for you. Mark that on your sheet. You get XP when you roll that stat. I'll be choosing one for you also after the others.

I'll keep track here for you.

Highlights:

• Dero: STAT/STAT
• Filly: STAT/STAT
• Pepper: STAT/STAT
• Nobody: STAT/STAT
• Ralin: STAT/STAT

cran , Demose Fumetsu , queanbean , ThaDruid , NorthOfOrdinary

 

[cran]

Should we contact each other privately for highlighted stat or just @ each other?

 

[WlfSamurai]

Should we contact each other privately for highlighted stat or just @ each other?

Just @ each other.

 

[cran]

Okay highest Hx.. Demose Fumetsu for Dero that's Ralin.

 

[Demose Fumetsu]

cran Highlight Weird +1 for my stat. Dero seems to be Ralin's highest Hx as well.

 

[cran]

cran Highlight Weird +1 for my stat. Dero seems to be Ralin's highest Hx as well.

Nice! I think I'll choose for you to highlight Cool.

 

[NorthOfOrdinary]

queanbean That'd be Pepper for Filly

 

[queanbean]

NorthOfOrdinary let's have you highlight Hot.

It's a tie for Pepper but hey, we girls need to stick together in this big, scary world, huh? I'll also get my highlight from Filly.

 

[ThaDruid]

Dero's the one who has to grace me with their highlight. Be gentle por favor cran

 

[cran]

Ooh I get to pick another. I'm gonna highlight Weird this time. ThaDruid

 

[NorthOfOrdinary]

NorthOfOrdinary let's have you highlight Hot.

It's a tie for Pepper but hey, we girls need to stick together in this big, scary world, huh? I'll also get my highlight from Filly.

Living in a big scary world means having the lady balls to tell all those scumbags whose boots were made for walking. Let's have Pepper highlight Hard.