Warpland Fantasy

[Taria]

Crake informs Scarlett about his plans to create a crude sleeping apace, and Bean falks very quiet and unresponsive for the time being as she seems to take in this new information. Nova is able to locate some fibrous leady material that sge can fashion into a makeshift top as much of the team winds down for a well deserved rest.

Everyone is able to rest and recover their dice

[jondude]

Bean seems to take all their words in but go silent for a bit, clearly needing some time to contemplate things. Nova gives her a gentle pat on the head then, though she doesn't seem to reach much. "Probably just needs a little time to process.", she says quietly to the others, not whispering mind you. "Why don't we try to use what light we have before we lose it?", she then adds. Crake could watch Bean for now, and given that she too was a cute girl who was currently bottomless, he shouldn't struggle to keep his eyes away from her.

It gives time for Nova to be able to turn some thinner vine like plants into crude twine and let her weave it through a couple a few decently large leaves she finds on some kind of tree to make a decent top. It wasn't anymore durable then the rag top she had earlier, as it could just as easily be torn off, but it definitely looked a little nicer! Now dressed in a simple leaf bikini top though she decides to also make a simple grassy skirt for Bean. Like Nova she didn't seem all that concerned about nudity, but best to keep her cute butt under some kind of cover. Mitch and Crake might be rather decent as guards as it was, but if they met anyone else out here well... might not be able to count on them being civil out here in this lawless land. Best to keep the temptations down if they could. Even if it was only a little bit, it was better then nothing right?

She manages to finish it a little after some rest and food, and soon presents it to Bean. "Hey Bean. I know it isn't much and this kind of thing isn't exactly my forte, but I made you a grass skirt of you want it.", Nova offers her.

[Kuragari]

Kayin doesn't know much in the way of survival skills, and so isn't too sure how much help she'd be on that front as Crake and some of the others get to work. But she has no problem keeping an eye on Bean and keeping her company. Her invitation to go over what she knows of the world's history (or even just her home city state) remains open, and if Bean does inquire for such she shares what she can. It takes a fair bit of effort to keep from asking all the questions she has, though after a bit, she does ask something else.

"By any chance... do you have uhm... any kind of telepathy?" She asks softly. "Cause uh, when you were transformed and things got..." She tries to think of a way to describe it, and settles on, "Kinky, afterwards you seemed to impart some knowledge of the taint to me and a gift of sorts. Though ah, I haven't tried to use it yet." Though part of that was not being sure if it'd work on the one who gave it to her. After a moment of thought, she does try to go ahead and use it on any of the others nearby, not really focusing on anyone in particular...

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

LEave it up to Taria how successful or not such is

[Taria]

Bean smiles warmly at Nova's gift and slips on into the skirt. "Thanks, this reminds me of the trinkets the kobolds would make for me. I wonder what's become of them now.. and I guess everyone else in the world. They must all be gone. After resting for a while, Bean does seem up to figuring out more about the current state of the world and listens to Kayin's descriptions of her home city, and generally getting caught up on the greater state of the world. Bean expresses how strange it is not to immediately know what's happening world-wide via comlinks and datanets, something she lost access to when originally separated from her team during a dangerous skirmish. From Bean's perspective she has only been missing in action for around 6 months, although clearly that's not the case.

"Telepathy? What like mind reading? No I've never heard of something like that being done outside of large medical scanners, and even with that it's guesswork at best." Bean listens to Kayin's mention of previous events with a serious expression. "Look, whatever I was doing to you or effects I had was purely the warp. I am not even in my right mind during those moments. My condition or transformation, whatever you want to call it, has different stages of severity that onset more rapidly with a heightened state of arousal. I know it's destructive and dangerous, but other than that I can't really tell you what to expect, as the more it takes over the less I'm aware of what's going on."

With that explanation Kayin decides to try some explanation of her own and focuses inwardly into that pool of power she had mentally preserved earlier. When she closes her eyes and concentrates she can 'see' the others of her group around her, each with a slightly different aura that can then be tasted when she moves closer. In this state it feels like the distance of any mind is controlled by thought and intention, and since she's focused on no one in particular, different people keep moving closer and further away arbitrarily. One thing of note, however, is that there feels to be more presences here than the people who are accounted for. The thoughts of everyone come through as static tinged with emotion, kind of like music, but she feels as though she probably can't go any further without more effort and potential risk.

Scarlet

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

It suddenly occurs to you that slipping something shiny into someone's pocket might help grant you a wish. After all, every thief knows that if you think of something while planting things secretly on someone's person, it is said to help you find that thing.

[Kuragari]

"Understandable." Kayin said to Bean, even though she was a little disappointed. Still, at least Bean was a good listener. And seemed to have good questions when she did ask them about the state of the world. Once Bean seems to have her fill of such though she focuses on trying to use her new power. It is... an interesting experience. She gets the sensation that if she wants to know more, she'll need to focus on someone individually. And that could have trouble, so without a reason or cause...

But, the feeling that there are more people here than there appear? That interests her quite a bit. After a moment, she gets up and tries to focus her thoughts towards any of those extra presences. See if she could figure anything out about that (Bid 1 Telepathy)

[jondude]

Nova is happy to see Bean smile as she takes the grass skirt, as the girl had definitely been lost in thought for the last while, even as she had spent that last hours talking with Kayin about the state of the world. Nova lets the two of them talk for a bit undisturbed, content to simply lay in the grass and play the looking game with Crake as usual, while also keeping an eye on the Bean and Nova. She has her own thoughts as they talk though, wondering why someone would go through the effort of artificially creating someone like Bean. She seemed like a nice enough and sweet girl, but if her transformation was an effect of warp taint then... well certainly there must be more to this girl then meets the eye right?

It was something to consider asking Bean about later. As Kayin starts talking about telepathy and gifts though, well... Nova focuses sharpens a little more, curious as to what Kayin was concentrating on and how it would go.

[Soru]

As Scarlet ponders the gem a bit she remembers this old tale she heard back in her home city, about how if you slip something shiny into another's pocket you might have you find something. She never really believed it though nor did she try. In her current situation though, a little miracle might be needed. However she didn't know what to wish for and that at least half of the people here didn't exactly have pockets to slip things into. Tucking the gem into a part of her outfit she decides she'll put that thought into the back of her mind before trying to help Crake set up their little camp.

[Taria]

Kayin rolls: 5 (diff 4)

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

You push yourself closer to the unknown presence and suddenly feel familiar chills going down your back. You remember looking into the deep red eyes, but with your own powers you manage to anchor yourself so that you aren't sent falling down into the depths of that sensation. It also helps that the bestial presence appears to be asleep in a sense, you don't feel any intention coming through from its mind. The desires are still there however and flow over you with a familiar heat; the desire to claim, to rut, to feed. It would seem that whatever has happened with Bean, the transformation is an entirely different being with different thoughts and feelings and memories. Besides just the beast, you also "hear" something whispering that feels like it's coming from far away, which you are learning means you have too little understanding of who or what it is in order to bring it closer to you; for now the only sense you can make of it is the request for a wish.

Scarlet and Crake begin setting up things around the camp a little more, Crake making small talk and being friendly as she helps him get a fire pit set up in the center area as well as constructing some rudimentary lean-tos for people to lay or sit under. While they are working, Bean, Nova, and Kayin are all sitting together off to the side. Bean is asking Nova about her previous home curiously and huddling close for warmth; Kayin appears to beep deep in thought or meditating about something.

[jondude]

Sitting underneath a lean-to with Bean, Nova has an arm wrapped around the smaller girl's shoulders, holding her close as the two kept each other warm and talked. Unfortunately Nova couldn't really tell her much of history after global civilization had basically collapsed, but she could ell her about her home of Thunder City though. Given that this girl was pre-collapse however, even the stories Nova has to tell can paint a larger picture of how much society and the world had general had changed after the collapse. She seems to show genuine interest and curiosity as Nova tells her story of how Thunder City came to be out of the ruins of an old military base, and how it turned it sort of techno Roman empire, complete with an annoying love for latin words, toga, and naturally the arena where Nova had made a name and living for herself. Given what Bean had said earlier about trying not to excite her though, Nova lives the more racy details of the submission circuit out of it, instead focusing on the fights and how society and culture in Thunder City functioned.

"I think one of crazier fights I had was with a bunch of things called Crocbeasts. Which was basically a armored crocodile but in gorilla form. Where they came from I don't know, no one cared what I thought about it. Maybe genetically modified, maybe warp tainted though they would never admit that if they were. I had to fight about a dozen of the things alone, but it was one of the few matches where I actually got to wear my exo frame too, so that was exciting. I took a pneumatic pile driving spear and a high cycle laser into that match. Laser didn't end up doing much though. I think it's original purpose was being part a computerized system meant for shooting down large amounts of low altitude drones so it didn't work so well against their thick hides. The spear was fantastic though!", Nova says, finishing up a story.

With that said though Nova decides to ask a question herself, "Hey you said something about Kobolds taking care of you before. How did you come to meet them? Surely you must've spent a lot of time with others like yourself right? Presumably at some MARC facility?"

[Kuragari]

Kayin rocks back briefly when she pushes closer to that presence and gets a familiar feeling. Images of the creature flit through her mind even as she manages to anchor herself in place. She pushes herself up though as she gets more of a read, and though a part of her feels like she should keep this to herself... another part says aloud to Bean and Nova, though well, she wasn't being quiet so the others could hear her easily enough.

"I... I sense two other presences here with us. One is... the creature Bean transformed into. It is its own, different being. Its not a part of her. I think its... attached or riding along with her?" She flounders a bit and adds, "This sort of stuff feels more like something out of an old occult book, but I never really studied that much..."

Shaking her head, she says, "There's something else as well. But its... distant. Or feels distant. It has a desire for... a Wish?" She shrugs after a moment more of trying to make sense of it, but rubs her temples. Even if it hasn't proven draining, its still a weird experience to feel. "I think if I had a better idea of whatever the other presence was, I'd be able to figure out more. As it is, that's all I'm getting with this new, uh, gift, power, ability, curse?" She offers up with an unsure grimace. "Guess it depends on your point of view whether its good or not?"

[Soru]

Scarlet smiles some as she and Crake make small talk as they get the camp together, not much more than a firepit and some small shelters at the moment but it was something till they get moving again. While she is helping Crake though she wasn't paying attention to the others and isn't listening when Kayin was talking to the others. "Not bad, especially since is temporary for now." She says to Crake as she sits down to rest under one of the small lean-tos they made.

[Taria]

"Hey you said something about Kobolds taking care of you before. How did you come to meet them? Surely you must've spent a lot of time with others like yourself right? Presumably at some MARC facility?"

I was grown and trained at MARC headquarters that was run by a multi-national program. My team was 3417, which was an experimental team of fully engineered humans. I was never really given an official name, just a designation, but the person I would approximate most to what you might considered a mother nicknamed me Bean for how I looked growing inside a vat. Apparently the Alpha trial was unsuccessful, so I was the template for the others on my team to follow. After bootcamp, we were eventually deployed to this continent in order to conquer the area and reestablish civilization, while rescuing whatever could still be recovered. For the most part though, this place was a no-man's land. I never saw many humans compared to the swarms of... other things. There were signs of certain tribes and groups that may have once been human, but our orders were to either exterminated or contain. My team, we ended up attracting something big at some point, something intelligent. It seemed to have control over much more advanced warp creatures and started sending them to assault us. During one of our skirmishes, I stayed back to ensure the remaining members of my team were able to retreat and find reinforcements. That's when something.. weird happened. All I remember is blacking out and waking up completely alone; I think that's when I first was infected with whatever thisis.

"I... I sense two other presences here with us. One is... the creature Bean transformed into. It is its own, different being. Its not a part of her. I think its... attached or riding along with her?" She flounders a bit and adds, "This sort of stuff feels more like something out of an old occult book, but I never really studied that much..."

Shaking her head, she says, "There's something else as well. But its... distant. Or feels distant. It has a desire for... a Wish?" She shrugs after a moment more of trying to make sense of it, but rubs her temples. Even if it hasn't proven draining, its still a weird experience to feel. "I think if I had a better idea of whatever the other presence was, I'd be able to figure out more. As it is, that's all I'm getting with this new, uh, gift, power, ability, curse?" She offers up with an unsure grimace. "Guess it depends on your point of view whether its good or not?"

Before she can get to the part of her story with the kobolds, Bean overhears Kayin's comments, listening intently with narrowed eyes. "So it really is something else that comes into control. In a way that's both a relief and frightening. Maybe if I were able to be in control some way this power might be nicer. Maybe it would be best to be severed of it completely." Bean turns back towards Nova to wrap up her monologue, "Basically I ended up separated and on my own for something like 6 months. In that time I ran into a relatively friendly group of small, reptilian, humanoids. I had started to feel lonely after all that time so it was nice to just have some kind of company; even if we couldn't communicate very well. I think they realized I was a danger though and locked me away for either my own benefit or their own."



Crake smiles warmly at Scarlet after a job well done. "It's better than being exposed, with enough time it could probably get built up into something downright livable." Crake lies down nearby her as he continues to say, "You're pretty good with your hands, regardless. I wonder what we should try prioritizing next. Going to need some food at some point, or maybe some better defenses. Withe the river nearby water shouldn't be too big of a concern, especially with that purifying gadget. Assuming that things is safe."

[Kuragari]

Kayin gives Bean a sympathetic look. "I'd help you get rid of it if I knew how. But uh, then again, it was what gave me this gift, so that might not work out all that well." She said as she rubbed her head sheepishly, then got up and headed over to join the other two since she had a question.

"So, is this our stopping point and we just... try to make a new life here? Or is where we're going further away?" She'd heard bits and pieces of Scarlet and Crake's chatter as they worked, and was wanting to be sure she understood what the plan, if there was any, was.

[Taria]

“This is the place we were supposed to leave you.” Crake replies as he pulls off his mask to relax. “What you make of it from here’s up to you. Mitch is going to work on us getting picked back up with our crew. Until then I guess we’re stuck here too.”

[Lazy Kitsune]

"There must be others out here, somewhere." Vale says, moving towards Kayin and Crake as they discuss how soon the two men will leave the rest of them to fend for themselves. She mainly addresses Kayin, sharing her concern, but also knowing the other woman must feel it far more so. She had been left on her own for a while by that oasis before we came by, to have the suddenly arriving armed protection leave so soon can't be good to hear. "The cities have been exiling enough people suspected of being tainted for a while now. Long enough that they might have set up their own settlements."

What Vale left unsaid was the risk that people she played a personal hand in exiling might be out here. Though the odds of running into someone like that were slim, it would be troublesome. Not only would there be a chance they would seek revenge, but they might cause the others to turn on her as well. Despite her usual talent with people, under these rougher circumstances she had hardly been the best at making new friends. She felt too out of her element to really relax and let her talents shine.

[Soru]

"Wait, I thought you guys were bringing us to some sort of exile camp or something. We were just... supposed to go out from the forest and move on?" Scarlet was a bit surprised at this. "Well then... Know of settlements out here? At least a direction you can point us in?" She asked as she realized that the bits of precious metal she found won't do for trading if there's no one to trade with. There has to be something out here though; with all that have been exiled there must be settlements of tainted out there. Well fuck... guess she better work better to make this camp more livable then.

[jondude]

"Oh, so we're active in combat then trying to contain warp creatures. I can only imagine what the equipment you had was like when it was brand new! Maybe if we're lucky we might be able to find some old MARC facilities in the Hinterland woods somewhere? As far as I know most of the land away from the city states is pretty much barren but... well like I've said before. History and state of the world beyond the walls is pretty much a mystery for most people from Thunder City.", Nova says, hoping to distract Bean away from her missing comrades a little. Granted she didn't seem all that torn up about it, maybe because of her apparent artificial origins and all, but it seemed to Nova that reminding her about them made Bean come across a little wistful and forlorn.

Before Nova can think of a way to keep the conversation going though Kayin suddenly brings up that the creature that Bean transformed from, or rather, could turn into. Nova isn't sure super sure that Kayin freely using her telepathy was a great idea at the moment, considering Mitch's and to a lesser extent Crake's squirreliness about it, but what was said was said now. She instead listens as Bean tells her about the kobolds and what she could remember before blacking out again after another transformation. Given that Bean had earlier implied that she thinks she transforms when excited though... well sort of made Nova wondered what Bean might have been doing with these Kobolds. Several months of being on your own can make the mind think in funny ways after all. "Well... no need to worry about that hopefully. I think we'll be able to calm you down again in the future, if it comes down to it."

Listening a little to the group though Nova overhears what Vale says about there being others, and has to agree. "Yeah It's been happening for a while now. But if there is the point where they were supposed to drop us off and the convoy isn't here... or is long gone. Well... that might... be bad for them.", Nova says, not wanting to outright state that she thinks that Mitch and Crake's merc company might've ditched them. "Have you guys managed to make any radio contact since we left that oasis where we found Kayin?"

[Kuragari]

"O~Oh... f-fair enough I suppose." Kayin said after a moment, caught somewhat offguard by how simple it was. Still as she looked about, she found herself figuring that this wasn't too much better than the oasis she'd been dropped in. She supposed it was just a case of the City states sending tainted folks far away and then hoping they died in the wastes.

Which means I'm not of much use. Kayin thought with a frown. She'd need to try and figure out some way she could be of more help. Course then Vale comes over and suggests there may be others. Trying to find them would be a good idea. "Mitch mentioned a village, so that's different from the City States... Maybe we can find one?" After a moment of thought she said, "I'll be honest, I'm more of a book smarts sort. The only camping I've done was in a park within the walls of the city with my family. I~I'd be happy to learn any skills any of you can teach me though!"

When Nova suggests the rest of the convoy that had been carrying ditched the others... That... Wouldn't surprise her. They'd probably consider them dead, and have just headed on off. She glanced over to Mitch, to see how he was doing.

[Taria]

Crake is standing amongst the group with the girls, glancing back and forth as each person says their piece and discusses their plan. "Yeah, I suppose it's possible that there are exile camps out there, all we ever do is drive by with the convoy and drop people off and those trips take anywhere from months to a whole year apart. We've seen nomadic camps like ours during our trips here and there, temporarily set up in different places. Rarely, you can find a village that's just been living peacefully near the wilderness, somehow protected without the safety of city walls or armed patrols; honestly though, I've only ever heard stories of them, never seen one myself. The people in our convey stay safe by constantly moving and avoiding the taint. They'll pick up new people if they seem sane and clean, but they've always steered clear of any weirdness, much like most civilized people. Mitch says it will be a while until they come back around, but they've heard about us getting left behind."

While everyone is getting up and becoming active, discussing plans for the future, Mitch is off in his own space, taking care of his gear, cleaning his gun, counting inventory, but otherwise looking to be taking it easy. If he's worried or troubled by anything, it's hard to tell.


Outside of the groups troubles, the place they are in seems almost idyllic. The signs of taint, destruction, an abandoned world, are nowhere to be seen. Fish skirt through the river, small critters flit secretly through the underbrush and trees, and the background is filled with the chirps of birds and the braying of larger game like deer. The forest is full of life and nature, almost in defiance of the great desert they crossed and the horror stories about the warp and the old world ruins.

[Kuragari]

Crakes words again set the desire for knowledge and new sights alight in Kayin. She again reminds herself that this might not be so bad. Maybe she could become an explorer of sorts, chronicling all she sees, finds, and learns out here in the wastes. Perhaps if she could even gain more of an understanding of the taint, she might be able to make folks back home, or the other city states, less fearful of those who become tainted.

For now though, she seeks to make herself useful however she can, while also seeking to learn any new skills from the others. She finds herself wishing she followed one of her cousin's advice on reading up on survival stuff too, rather than sticking to much more of the academic stuff as she had. Even if it let her know what Bean was and where she was from, that didn't necessarily help the lot of them much further at the moment.