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[IC] Apocalypse World: Welcome to the Jungle
TheySeeMeRollin
The MCRegistered User regular
The MCRegistered User regular
Nobody really knows what went down. Communications broke down early, so the story goes, so there’s probably bits and pieces of the truth floating around, if you can find them. Lots of bullshit too though. Whatever happened, though, one thing’s clear:
Mother Nature was pissed.
You hear stories about volcanoes and earthquakes and shit. Superstorms that lasted for years. Forests turned to desert overnight by fire or toxic rain. Whole cities swallowed by fissures or buried in ash or just plain bombed into ruins, because when stuff gets scarce people fight over what’s left. Lots of people tried to run; most people didn’t make it. Hard to find a safe place when everything’s gone to hell, I guess. But people did survive, by stubbornness or divine providence or just plain luck. Now their kids and grandkids - that’s us - sometimes try to rebuild something resembling civilization, but mostly we just try to get by.
Nobody remembers who started calling this place Paradise City, but the name stuck. It’s the bones of an old downtown. Couldn’t tell you which one; the maps stopped making sense a long time ago. A lot of it’s just fields of rubble, but then again a lot of the big buildings are in surprisingly good shape. By which I mean: they won’t keep out the rain, but they won’t fall on your head today either. Probably.
People have cleared the old roads and made new ones, and then put up walls and barricades and shit to keep safe from each other. There’s building material aplenty, so you get little towns that sprung up in the shadows of the old giants, and then you get people who nest in the buildings themselves. Those wrecks are all dangerous in some way or another; but then, so is living on the ground, right within reach of everything from rats to raiders to floods, not to mention the weird stuff.
To the east is the Jungle, or the Green, or “those fucking trees.” Stuff grew back with a vengeance, apparently. It’s slowly eating the buildings, taking the city back. Real dense in there, gloomy even when the sun’s out. There’s meat, if you’re brave or crazy enough to go get it. Other stuff too, but… look, the Green doesn’t like people. Supposedly there’s mountains on the other side somewhere. Beyond that nobody knows.
To the west is the Strip, basically a stretch of hard-packed dirt a couple of miles wide running up the coast. It makes a passable road, if you want to leave for some reason. I’m not saying it’s great here; I just don’t know what people think they’re gonna find that’s better. Beyond that is what’s left of the ocean. The water’s no good: for one thing, it’s salt; and for another it’s got this gross film on top. Sometimes it turns weird colors for days, weeks at a time. Nothing much lives in there anymore, but junk washes up all the time, particularly after a storm.
I dunno what’s north and south. There’s people, I guess, but what kinda stuff they got I don’t know and I don’t care.
Welcome to Paradise.
ooc: post your characters here, and then we can assign Hx.
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Posts
ooc: I'm a man, always seen in immaculate whites. Something between ceremonial robes and a business suit. I have an expressive face, mischievous eyes, a lean body, and quick hands. I run the Canopy. Currently it's like a Roman Colosseum on the top of a tall building. The arena is the building, the audience sits in the tree branches above and around the arena. Far enough away they shouldn't get hurt, but close enough to see the action. My crew and I really make it a show. We're talking music, spectacle, and violence. Anyone can fight. Sometimes we get beasts in there. Most fights are to knockout or tap out, but some we let go to the death. Depends on what the fighters agree to. We can build the arena up into whatever stage we need to, with trap doors and stuff in the building below. We stay and sleep in the building, which is a maze of dead-ends, hideaways, and boltholes. Folks that want to see the show need to take a rope elevator to either get to the stands, or to get to the building where we live. If you'd like you can be a part of my crew. Always looking for new talent on and off stage.
still ooc: My best regular is Lits. He's got more jingle than I've ever seen and he loves my shows. The worst is his brother Lamprey. Little bastard is always trying to get with some of my girls. Thinks cause his brother is a big shot I can't touch him, but he can touch my girls. I'd throw him from the arena if his brother didn't pay us off all the time. The girls can take care of themselves. We're all packing, but it's always a fucking pain when he shows up, especially without Lits. Gams wants in on my operation. He thinks he can bring something to the table. Odds are he just wants a slice of the pie. We'll see. Been (that's a name) got me set up a while ago. I owe her. BIG. Then there's Rolfball. She wants the Canopy gone. Bad.
ooc: I'm a big grey haired man with a worn face and cold eyes and despite my age i keep a strong body. I'm usually wearing unzipped coveralls smeared with grease and the sleeves cut off. I drive a 4X4 ORV, its fast, off road worthy, in pristine condition and has power to spare. Its only drawback is that the stereo is broken and its always blaring the same CD.
In an occupation where most die young. Fear the old.
ooc: I am a woman, in casual wear, smooth face, frosty eyes, and gorgeous body. 2 custom weapons: first is handgun that is silenced and hi-powered ; second is chain with spikes on it. wearing light armor (not body suit).
Which one of you has been with me for days out on the road? And which one of you do I catch starring at the sunset?
Which one of you do I find most attractive (for one reason or another)?
Which one of you is my favorite?
Which one of you trusts my character?
ooc: man, open face and dancing eyes, wiry body, and utility wear with tech
ooc: Which of you is the most strange?
ooc: @PandaDad That would make a lot of sense, ok we road trip'd together.
@Aladorn @dragonslayer0429 Sorry mate i'm actually going to give this one to Amber
I would say you find Amber the most attractive. Not because of her sheer beauty but that she is strong both physically and emotionally. She has been through a lot and can hold her own. She is a woman with goals/dreams and determination. She won't let anyone push her down.
ooc: Come on i'm your fav
Ooc: which of you is the biggest potential problem?
I doubt Spanner is anyone's favorite person.
Ooc: which of you is the biggest potential problem?
I think Amber may be biggest potential problem. With her past she may be a volcano ready to erupt. At that point no one is safe, even friends if she that mad.
Highlighted stats, from chat:
Additionally:
Spanner rolled 6 for Bonefeel here.
Spanner, Amber, and Maw: are you spending 1, 2, or 0 barter on lifestyle this session?
RP stuff:
The rulebook suggests following you guys around for a bit, so that's what we're gonna do. It's a fairly typical day in Paradise City: sunny and humid with a persistent haze that's part water vapor, part smoke. It's been about a week since the last good storm. There's a steady wind from the west that carries the smell of chemicals and rot. People are doing whatever they think they gotta do: trading, hiding, fighting; getting stoned or jacked or fucked; riding or working or scrounging or watching the horizon. What are you doing today to keep body and soul together?
Like today. Like, in fact, right now. Because nothing whatever could go wrong with a little professional spelunking through the techno-necropolis that used to be a major telecom center before someone dropped most of a skyscraper on top of it, right? Totally freaking pancaked most of the building, but the guts and the infrastructure were underground in the first place, so theoretically are mostly intact and kind of safe-ish, for a given value of both.
ooc: spending 1 barter on lifestyle, already marked off
That's what Graves keeps telling himself. The crew is looking to him for direction, and jingle, to keep them going. On any given day Graves works on setting up the Canopy for the next big night. His crew takes care of the tedium, tossing out rubbish, scrubbing the blood out of the arena, things like that. Grave's job is to find something that will bring people in.
He visits some of his usual fighters. Spaz and Dink always put on a good show. He keeps the jingle lubed for them. Maybe today Grave will visit Lit. See if he'll sponsor a fight or two. What better way to make jingle than to use someone elses. Then of course there's the debtors.
I have vision. They can't see that. They lack Respectacle.
Graves didn't build the Canopy on his own, and debts will come due. Been has been good to Graves, but Graves wants to make the Canopy his own. All his own.
Gotta be a way out from under her.
Then there's Rolfball. Bastard has been trying to kill the Canopy for a while now. He's still salty because Grave beat Rolfball something fierce a while back. Little misunderstanding about the crew, what's owed who, and keeping your damn hands to yourself. Didn't help that Rolfball has some say with the big shots of Paradise City.
ooc: I spend nothing on Barter because the Canopy provides for me. I drink pure Aqua-Cola and eat mostly non poisonous plants and critters.
Maw was contracted/stiffarmed by the Dutchman (the leader of an oil gang, from the Way Up North) to help him establish trade routes and eventually a foothold in Paradise. So Maw spends some days doing various jobs for the Dutchman, hauling weapons, scouting, tracking convoys ect.
bum...bum...bum... another one bites the dust!
I'm a workamahallick see, gotta stay busy, busy, bu... Whats that? No i don't have time for that! Yes I'm serious! You said pay me in what? That much eh?... Well I think we can find time for you in our little day.
FLASH! dun.dun. AHHH AHHHHH
An unmistakably loud camouflage ORV can be seen tearing ass all over paradise lately, sometimes all day and other times gone for weeks, but two things you can count on about that truck. It always comes full and leaves empty, an you can almost always count on finding it is at the Canopy.
ooc: I spend 1 things, Maw has a steady enough income to trade for eats if he is feeling fancy. Or if hes feeling thrifty he'll eat the maggots out of roadkill.
OOC: Amber spends 1 barter.
The old building's nethers are pitch-dark and damp, and they smell like mildew and dust. There's debris and worthless junk all over the place. Your light makes huge, black shadows leap whenever you move, but it's quiet, except for the usual noises the broken structure makes as it shifts and settles. There's a sound of trickling water coming from somewhere too.
The easy-to-reach parts have been picked clean, but there are a few places where massive, now-rusted beams - what's left of the skyscraper's bones - have torn clean through the floor. At one such spot, the end of the beam disappears at an angle into a pile of rubble that's fallen into the pit, but there's an even darker gap underneath it that a person could wriggle through, if a person were crazy or dumb enough to try it. There's a very slight breeze coming up from the hole. It smells like stagnant water.
(What are you using for a light source, anyway?)
@Gnashing Maw
New player in town, bringing in all kinds of stuff from who knows where, you can bet that doesn't go unnoticed. Anything that changes the balance of power in Paradise is either a threat or an opportunity, and which it is mostly depends on who gets there first. When you pull into your usual spot near the base of the Canopy, there's a woman waiting for you. She has gray hair cut no-nonsense short. She's small, and her face has laugh lines, but the look she's giving you is sharp as broken glass. There are two other people with her, a man and another woman. Both are openly wearing holstered guns, and they both look like they could eat rocks and shit diamonds.
"I'm Nix," the gray-haired woman says as soon as you exit your vehicle. "Can I buy you a drink." It isn't a question.
ooc: for my own curiosity, is the Dutchman stuff in spoiler tags because you don't want the other players to know? Could give some neat hooks for people to build off of.
@Aladorn
Today is mostly a good day. The crew gets the place looking span with a minimum of griping. Spaz's shoulder is mostly healed up and won't keep him out of the ring. Lit agrees to your usual arrangement; he likes having his name associated with the Canopy.
Shoulda known it wouldn't last.
"Boss, we gotta problem." One of your maintenance guys finds you late in the afternoon. He's looking worried, which is never a good sign. Seems the main raincatch tank sprung a leak and most of the water is gone. You're not in dire straits yet, but you figure you have a day or so at most before things start getting uncomfortable.
(What are you getting from Maw, and what are you giving him in return?)
@dragonslayer0429
No hook for you, but a question: You could probably make a good living working for Graves as an entertainer at the Canopy, but you're not. Presumably, you have your reasons. What are they?
I sit in my ORV for a moment listening to the Queen. Who the hell is that, had I met her before, did I owe her money. Sucks getting old.
Geth roll 2d6+1 Read a person(Sharp)
My voice came out hoarse and dry, "Your detail will have to wait outside" I made a sound clearing my throat. "Sorry boys." My back popped several times as I emerged from the ORV and strided over to Nix.
OOC: That roll should be a 9
As far as communication goes, when he needs me he sends a runner or something. Regardless of how frequently he reaches out to me we meet up once every new moon for preformence evaluation/ operations plans.
She would give us all sorts of Respecticle.
Clank and Ding are twins who do most of Grave's black thumb work (mechanical). They can put up a bit of a fight sometimes when they want something, but they generally follow Grave's leadership. They do everything together.
Esco and JD are two of Grave's promos. The ones that really get the crowed going before the main event. It helps that they wear some fetish wear for their performances and are built like a Greek goddess and god. They are also very flexible, agile, and good at forcing attention where it needs to be. Some of the stunts they do between the fights are almost as dangerous as the fights themselves. They have a way of getting people to talk.
Maw needs Graves for safe(r) passage through the Canopy. Grave vouches for Maw and gets him into Paradise with a minimum of fuss, and Maw drives Grave out and about when Grave needs to find the next big thing, or when Grave needs something valuable or dangerous hauled to the Canopy.
Nothing wrong with Grave other than him being unusual. But Amber is not much for being an entertainer. Not sure what kind you may have been thinking but she will do her part to get money. She is tired of being "entertainer" especially since her father used her for that to get money/food. She wants a better life even if it doesn't come with a whole lot of pay.
Nix stands unmoving as you approach. When she hears your response, her eyes flicker as she looks you up and down. She nods once, sharply, and motions to her two bodyguards to stay where they are. Then she meets your eyes - she's shorter than you, but somehow manages to make it a level look all the same - and waves her hand in a clear 'after you' gesture.
@PandaDad
The hand crank sounds very loud in this otherwise mostly-silent place, but so far the only disturbance you hear is you. Through the narrow gap, your light falls on damp concrete and what looks like pipes or conduits running along a wall. Some are corroded; others - presumably not metal - look intact.
@Aladorn
For game purposes I'm treating this as Grave acting through his crew. If I'm reading you right, and you're putting out feelers for water on the down-low, roll+Sharp for going into a holding’s bustling market, looking for some particular thing to buy (barter move). Otherwise, roll +barter spent (max 3) to make known that you want a thing and drop jingle to speed it on its way - but word will spread that you're looking to buy water.
ooc: Does the Canopy sell snacks to spectators, or just water? Just curious
@dragonslayer0429
There's no shortage of work available for a person who knows their way around a fight. You can hang around one of the more-or-less neutral market blocks and advertise your services as a bodyguard or hired muscle. There are a few gangs that trade in meat and fertile soil from the Green, and they're always looking for new blood. Hit up the right lube joint or glory den, and you'll find people wanting to pay for murder. Or, if you're not looking to wreck someone's shit today, you can join a burn crew in the never-ending slog of keeping the jungle's creepers in check. Just depends on what you're in the mood for.
ooc: I meant "entertainer" as in gladiator, for what it's worth.
I give Nix a moments glance then stop. Hold the fuck up there Maw. I back up to my Red ORV reach in through the drivers window and remove the fuses from under the steering column securing them in a zipper pocket on my person. I walk back to Nix and her goons looking into the middle distance, walking while talking. "Right, either of you fucks, fucks with the Steel Steed, i'll use yer hides for a seat cover." I itched my nose and sniffed, turning to Nix extending a hand dipping my head slightly as if to say "No, after you."
Amber will walk around to see what her prospects are for a job. She would prefer getting a job near the market blocks as bodyguard but it all depends on who she is working for. She will just observe at first to see who she would be working for and how they interact with others. Amber is kind of picky, which given the state this place is in, she really shouldn't be.
Geth, roll 2d6 for Rolling Sharp to find someone trading water.
Nix hesitates for a fraction of a second, then gives you a cordial nod of acknowledgement. She leads you maybe half a block to a wooden building leaning up against the wall of a decapitated ruin: the first three stories are still there, sort of, but above that, naked, twisted girders poke into the sky like broken bones. Inside, a vendor sells water and gas tank beer. Once you're settled, Nix gets right to the point.
"I look out for my people," she starts. "We do okay and we keep our hands to ourselves. We don't want trouble. Someone comes in and starts rolling around day and night, piling hardware, doing brother knows what with it, that looks more than passing like trouble." She looks you in the eye. "I want to know what you're doing and who you're doing it with, and then maybe I want in."
ooc: I took the liberty of moving this along so it wouldn't drag, but if you want to do something before she starts talking, we can retcon.
@PandaDad
It's a tight fit, but you manage to squeeze through the gap under the fallen beam. A shower of dust follows you down, and you hear a few chunks of debris roll to the floor, but nothing load-bearing seems to have shifted. The space you find yourself in is a surprisingly intact corridor or tunnel. It's blocked in one direction by the beam and wreckage, but in the other direction it stretches away from you into the dark at least to the limits of your light - which, admittedly, isn't saying much. The air is cool and smells like water and dust.
The metal pipes on the wall are too corroded to be of any use, but a few of the others are apparently conduits for cables or wires. The severed ends are pretty mangled, but after that they look to be in pretty good shape.
ooc: is a clicker bug anything like a cricket?
@Aladorn
People sell water all the time, but usually to small-timers, not places big enough to have their own supply. Still, accidents happen, and where there's misfortune there's opportunity. There's a bigshot, calls himself the Rainmaker, who owns what you might almost call a water factory: not just the usual raincatch barrels, but fog nets and passive condensers, all spread out on three of the tallest roofs still standing. He makes mad jingle selling cola - and spends most of it on paying around fifty of the meanest gutter dogs in Paradise. JD tells you he might be willing to help you out, but he wants to talk to you directly first.
ooc: *looks at roll* Oh, dear :biggrin:
@dragonslayer0429
Most of the "bodyguard" jobs are for petty warlords looking to replace dirt fodder. There's always a few pimps hiring, of course, but even in Paradise City people tend to step wide of them. You're resting under an awning, sizing up the prospects, when a man slides up next to you. He's an inch or two shorter than you and has salt-and-pepper hair, a short beard, and deep laugh lines. Like most people here, he's wearing nondescript clothing that's been mended more than once. "You've been here all day," he says conversationally. "You're not offering work and you're not selling, which means you're looking, but you don't want to be meat for... them." He gestures dismissively at the market in general. Then he leans closer, lowers his voice. "You're looking for something more, yes? A righteous cause."
edit: spelling
Maw Swallowed his grub and looked at Nix half cockeyed. "Right, so..." He re-positioned himself siting upright, his voice came out low and harsh. " I'm hearing a lot of demanding. Now think hard about what you say next. Okay." He shifted forward putting his elbows on the table with his hands open. His voice became softer and more friendly. " What the fuck? Are you bringin to the table Nix?"
OOC: If its alright i'll read the sitch, if i'm rolling too often let me know.
Geth roll 2d6+1
Whats my best escape route?
What should I be on the lookout for?
Who is in control here?
OOC: Thanks for moving it along actually, I did all the things i wanted to.
OOC: I would like to spend my hold/free question . "How can I get Nix to Do what I want Whenever I want?"
OOC: oh how I wish those little fuckers were as pleasant and innocuous as crickets! They're bigger, more beetle-ish, and eyeless. They hunt by sonar. That's the 'clicker' part: snapping their jagged mandibles together to generate a sound wave. They'll eat just about anything organic, including meat that isn't dead yet. Only two good things about clickers is, they aren't also venomous...oh, and they're not the fastest things out there. If you can keep away from them, or if the environment is noisy enough, they're not so much of a problem. Down in the guts of a Before labyrinth of concrete tunnels? That's another story. Like hell I want to run into them now.
"Great, just what we need. To go to Rainmaker. Fine, I'll do what I have to." Grave gets himself in order, puts a knife in that familiar pocket on his clothes. The weight of the blade is a small comfort to him. Grave hates owing favors and jingle. "Maybe I can give him some free seats to the next respecticle," Grave says to himself and he descends the tower of the Canopy. He knows these dark and winding halls so well he doesn't even look up for the clues he left for his workers to help them come and go. "The crew is counting on me. No water and they're going to need more jingle, and I can't afford that right now." Grave thought he was being clever when he set up his own rain catchers and water grabbers. Made paying his crew a bit easier since jingle was falling from the sky. Folks had asked for food or drink to be served at the Canopy but that's not what Grave is about. No, he's about the show. The aqua cola was for him and his, but now it's gone and the debt is coming fast now.
Grave heads to the Rainmaker to barter.
Nix meets your stare without blinking. Moving slowly and deliberately, she reaches into a pocket on her vest and takes out a tiny flask. From another pocket she pulls out a small, slightly dented green fruit. She sets both the flask and the lime on the table between you.
"That there is powerful medicine. My folks don't bleed or lose their teeth or turn yellow and rot from the inside. It's way better than the other crap people sell here, but I can't trade it in Paradise. Too many people jealous of the competition." She leans forward. "I'm thinking we could help each other. You take this stuff and trade it on the outside, and you get a cut. I get the jingle to buy better living for my people. Interested?"
ooc: Honestly, you can just leave. Nix either can't or won't stop you. Nix isn't telling you everything. You are. Agree to help her out by trading her lime hooch.
@PandaDad
There's more co-ax here than you can easily carry, so you can basically take as much as you want.
A side passage joins the corridor maybe ten-fifteen yards down from the collapse. When you shine your light in, you see a sudden flurry of motion accompanied by the soft clicking of hundreds of chitinous feet. Once your heart and your balls have both returned to their proper place, you recognize the source as a swarm of dirt fish chilling out on the walls and ceiling of what turns out to be an alcove a few feet deep.
They're not really fish, of course; they're just called that because of how they taste. They're black, six-legged things a little longer than your hand. Despite the wicked looking spike on the back end, you know they're basically harmless. You also know they're attracted to EM fields.
There is a solid-looking door at the back of the alcove. It is covered in dirt fish.
@dragonslayer0429
The man looks genuinely delighted to hear your answer. "Unfortunately I can't stay and discuss it right now; I have another meeting to get to. But if you're interested - or even just curious - come to the Beetle tonight at sunset, give 'em this, and tell 'em Winder sent you." He hands you a small, polished disc of wood with a simple spiral scratched deeply into it. He gives you directions to a building on the edge of the green, and gives you a smile and a firm handshake before walking purposefully away.
@Aladorn
The Rainmaker's toughs spot you well before you reach the entrance of his main nest. One of them holds a gun on you while two others pat you down. They take anything that looks remotely threatening off you (you can get it back later, they say). They reluctantly agree to let you keep your shiny white robe, once they've determined to their satisfaction that you're not hiding anything unexpected under there.
You are handed off to another pair of guards who take you up six flights of cramped, dingy stairs and down a clean hallway. As you walk, another guard emerges from a perfectly functional elevator and passes you in the other direction.
The Rainmaker's "office" is an open space that must take up a good chunk of this floor. To one side is a bank of floor-to-ceiling windows, a few of which still have glass in them. The rest are either boarded over or covered with plastic tarps. The man himself sits behind a heavy wooden table, obviously made post-Fall, with a stack of ledgers at his left elbow. He's a little overweight, balding, with a grey mustache waxed into a style that was old-fashioned when your great-grandfather was a kid.
Your guards stop a handful of steps away and let you approach the table by yourself. There is no chair on your side.
The Rainmaker makes a show of looking you up and down and then looks at you with a jaded expression. As soon as you open your mouth to speak, he cuts you off in a smug tone. "So, little Grave needs water." He grins like he's just said something terribly funny. "I could sell that trivia and eat melons for a week. What're you offering me that's better?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
general ooc: let me know if my attempts at post-apocalyptic slang are confusing :P
Maw couldn't help but grin. He pulls his chair in a bit closer lowering his voice, "May I?" (I'm going to assume Nix obliges.) Maw takes the flask and pours a little of the contents into an empty cup, then produces a lighter and lights the fluid, Maw nods a little in approval and says. " Alright, so we got business, but i'm gonna need to know every little detail about everything. If this deal gets to hot. I'm out. If you withold need to knows. I'm out. You try to fuck me. I'm out. Thats terms, take'm or leave'm."
Wait.
Shouldn't be anything live down here. The grid's deader than the man on the kryptonite throne. So whatever's in there is real valuable. And probably guarded.
I move forward, taking great care and keeping my eyes peeled for booby traps. Might be nothing, but there was that one time Randy and Chuch-head swore the way was safe right before they tripped a live wire and cooked clean through. Couldn't eat any meat for a couple of weeks after that without...anyway. Caution keeps you alive.
I wade in, planning on sweeping the dirt fish aside gently. Just a big moving bit of furniture to them. I hope.