We mingle among the masses of those who live the lives we wish we had, in constant fear that they will find us...
The alleyway was very dark, except for the tiny fire in its cavernous depths. It could scarcely be seen; the shadows of the people huddling around it overcame its fragile rays of light.
"How long have they been after you?"
"Three months."
He can't be much older than 17, thought the grizzled old man, stroking his thick facial hair, deep in thought. "And you?"
"A couple of years now, give or take. And the two of you?"
"A while now. I think it's been...what, a decade now? Is that about it?"
"Yeah," said the man next to the bearded old man. He looked to be in his 40s, but he could have been younger. The weight of the world had a way of making you look older, and wiser if you were lucky. The woman's voice came up again.
"Lucky...considering the average expectancy is a year after discovery."
"Those bastards always manage to get you somehow...find some way to get your DNA. They got me after arresting me for parking in a no-parking zone and forcing me to get a breathalyzer because those dips**ts thought I was drunk."
An uneasy silence followed. Suddenly the old man raised his head.
"You hear that?"
Nothing. Then a faint tone. Then louder, and louder, until it was loud enough to wake the terror in their hearts.
"S**t. They're onto us."
"This way!" The deceptively young man sprang to his feet, leading the way. All of a sudden the dark alleyway seemed to light up. There were no photonic manipulators among the four, which could only mean...
"Freeze! Surrender or we'll shoot!"
"Get away! I'll hold them off!" the woman shouted to the others. As the others ran the soldiers opened fire with expert bursts. The woman extended her hands towards the soldiers as they fired. One bullet, two bullet...soon a wall of bullets could be seen suspended in front of her. Abruptly they seemed to reverse, then speed the opposite direction, taking out the squad with their own bullets.
She didn't hesitate, running forth down the alley and out the end, to see an armored half-track right on the street. She dived and rolled out of the way just in time, running away as fast as she could and rounding the corner, with the halftrack in hot pursuit. Seeing an old metal fire escape connected to the building on the side of her, she worked quickly, tearing the stairs off with a sort of telekinetic force and crunching them into a massive metal spear. It stayed suspended by her side just as the halftrack popped into view, and then she willed the spear to go right where the engine was. It punched a hole through the vehicle, crushing its inhabitants.
Turning around she found herself surrounded by personnel. Armed personnel. She smiled as they opened fire, knowing that their bullets were useless. Her smile fell as her last thought flashed through her head: The bullets were plastic...
The boy, the man, and the old man ran through the alleys, scaling chain-link fences and braving enemy fire in their direction, running zigzag in order not to keep in one position. Finally the man lost secure footing, falling hard. The boy slowed down momentarily to wheel around and help him.
"No! He can take them on by himself."
They reached the end of the alley to find an opening surrounded by multiple vehicles and armed personnel. The two stopped.
"Leave it to me," said the old man.
He thrust his palms outward, and a blue glow seemed to emanate in from of them. Suddenly it blasted out in a wide arc, freezing everything solid in a 50 foot radius. Even before this was done the old man was running, then sliding on the ice in front of him.
"Can't do it like I used to...still got most of it though," the old man said as they ran into another alley, climbing another fence--but it was his last. The bullet hit him solidly in the back, puncturing his lung. This time the boy stopped.
"Go..." the old man gargled, as his lung started to fill with blood, "save...yourself..."
The boy was gone, terror rising in his heart.
I must not panic, I must not panic, I must not panic, I must not--
The clearing was full of them. His terror enveloped him. The pain and the panic merged, and then all of a sudden he couldn't hold it in anymore.
I never wanted this!
The frustration burst into insanity, and the subsequent explosion instantly incinerated the troops there and left a smoldering crater and several collapsed buildings where there had once been a cursed child and the force sworn to purge him of his sin.
----
Author's note: Just a teaser into the universe of a new RPG...been a while since I last ran one. More to come!
Name: Aaron Yaveron Age and Race: 19 and Russia Type: Phycological, Psychic(Level 1),Illusionist(Level 0) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Good Luck Charm Skills: Super Lucky
Name: Gabriel Ross Age and Race: 25, American Type: Water, Aqua (level 1), Ice (level 0) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Water Bottle Skills: Drawing, Writing, and Computer Programming. (If I can only have one, I want drawing.)
Name: Gabriel Ross Age and Race: 25, American Type: Water, Aqua (level 1), Ice (level 0) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Water Bottle Skills: Artistic (good at drawing)
Okay, three people have officially joined (still pending Moat's decision). If you were too late to enter, no worries. Just comment me a character sheet and I'll compile a waitlist. I'll get to work on writing the beginning for those who are in.
Name: Moat Age and Race: 15, American Type: Fire-Pyro(Level 0)Electric(Level 1), Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Fire Axe Skills: Acrobatics(Good at jumping, climbing, and running)
Name: Storm Age and Race: 20 American Type: Air: Windlevel 1) Cloudlevel 0) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, a scimitar(a curved Arabin sword) Skills: sword fighting(knows how to fight with a sword of any kind, how to take care of swords and the basics of treating a wound caused by a sword)
Name:greg Age and Race:20,chinese Type Zoological(lvl 0) Botanical(lvl 1) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40,seeds Skills:skills with plants,knowing what is poisonous and what can cure what
Name: Kooch Age and Race: 21, Latvian Type: Air, Wind (level 1), Cloud (level 0) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Umbrella!? (lol i dunno xD) Skills: Floating (Can float in air, when there is torm, by using an umbrella...)
GM note: Sorry I seemed to drop off of the face of AG all of a sudden. I had a really bad cold, and whatever time I didn't spend sleeping it off I didn't want to mess things up. So let's begin!
----- Moat, Gabriel Ross, and Aaron Yaveron
Night is a time of mixed refuge. The shrouds of darkness that conceal can also yield the most fatal of traps. Although the Manipulators are mobile, and capable of living on the streets, such a life cannot be sustained indefinitely. So the Manipulators have what they call the "Safehouses," apartments scattered throughout the city, stocked with first aid kits, food, clothes, etc., and all paid for by pools of cash chipped in by Manipulators. Although all this is free, as an unspoken rule they can be only visited at most once every 10 days, to conserve resources, and no powers can be used in them, not even if the fuzz show. Suspicion must be kept at a minimum.
The three of you are in a Safehouse. It's a dimly lit apartment. There's a table and several wooden chairs in the kitchen, along with a fridge. The living room has several dusty couches, good for taking a rest on. There's a bathroom, and then a bedroom with a few small personal safes.
There's plenty to do here. You can grab some food or drink (Inventory: +Bread, +Coke) from the kitchen, take a nap on a couch (+50 psyche), grab a first aid kit (Inventory: +First aid kit) from the bathroom, or deposit something from your Inventory into a safe for safekeeping.
After you're done with that, you should choose a place to go to. The city is a sprawling port metropolis, and there are many places to go to:
Docks: Plenty of water here, and lots of shipping containers. Cargo comes back and forth very often, so there's quite some activity. On the other hand, it's easy to come across cash and food here. Park: A large central park with a lake and plenty of foliage. A lot of civilians here during the day, so it's not hard to blend in, but at night, there's always the police searching the premises. Alleyways: Dark and dank, and the police don't usually go around here unless backed up very strongly and with confidence that there are Manipulators here. Many mysterious personalities around here... Zoo: The fences are easy to hop, and animal food is edible...right? Shopping District: Plenty of civilians to mingle with, but enforcement there goes way past your average mall cop. Industrial District: Factories contributing to that wonderful layer of smog. Lots of steel and fire around here. Not so much enforcement around here.
Name: Moat Age and Race: 15, American Type: Fire-Pyro(Level 0)Electric(Level 1), Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Fire Axe, First Aid Kit Skills: Acrobatics(Good at jumping, climbing, and running)
I'll grab a first aid kit and go to the docks, asking if any of the others want to come with me.
Name: Gabriel Ross Age and Race: 25, American Type: Water, Aqua (level 1), Ice (level 0) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Water Bottle Skills: Artistic (good at drawing)
I too shall grab some food and drinks, and I agree with Moat, we shall head to the docks.
Under the cover of darkness you head to the shipping docks. Just a few fences in the way, but the three of you climb them easily. There are a few guards ahead, but the three of you stealthily bypass them. Suddenly you hear several barks. The guards have brought dogs with them... It appears a confrontation is imminent.
The scene: In a maze of shipping containers. The dogs are barking behind you, probably leading the guards. Judging by what you saw they are lightly armed guards with pistols, but the dogs are known for being especially fast and vicious. There are a few ladders leading on top of the shipping containers themselves.
Items that can be Manipulated: The floor is wet from a recent rain (20 psyche). There are several electric wires leading into some machinery nearby (15 psyche), and the shipping containers are metal, meaning that they are quite conductive (10 psyche). Dogs are immune to psychic Manipulation, but the guards seem pretty weak-minded. (15 psyche)
Name: Gabriel Ross Age and Race: 25, American Type: Water, Aqua (level 1), Ice (level 0) Status: Healthy Experience points: 0 Psyche: 100 Inventory: $40, Water Bottle Skills: Artistic (good at drawing)
I motion for Aaron and Moat to climb up the ladders.
Manipulation: I use my powers to boil the water, and create a scalding hot floor of water. After the floor is a proper deterrent for the dogs, I climb up the ladder with Moat and Aaron.
