get weapon and peer outside.

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/03(Sun)16:04 No. 237931 ID: 813d92
File 128614704026.jpg - (25.46KB , 400x254 , pernach.jpg )

>>237921

You sit up as quietly as you can, reaching across your tiny room to grab at your 9x19mm Pernach pistol. It's not loaded, but it might be good for getting a less-than-observant person to stand down, at least.
You continue your ascent until you're on your knees. You open your squealing, corrugated door just barely enough to look into the hallway, where you see Mr Pasha, your neighbour, walking by in the dirty grey formal shirt and slacks he always seems to wear. He looks determined as he strolls quickly past your room.

What's this guy's deal? Is it safe to make yourself known to him? If it is, call him over and ask what's going on right now.

Speaking of which, what IS going on? You don't have amnesia or anything, do ya?

>>237931
So I guess no cause for alarm, then?

Anything you should be doing right about now?

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/03(Sun)20:00 No. 238019 ID: 813d92
File 128616123610.jpg - (530.25KB , 2632x1724 , Model_Palace_1.jpg )

>>238016

Of course you don't have amnesia. You live with about a hundred or so other people in the ruins of an ancient palace. You weren't born here, but you've lived here as long as you can remember.
Your job in this collection, known as the Refuge, is basically what amounts to a scavenger. You're part of a scouting party that commonly explores the ruins of the City for food, fresh water, or anything else that might be useful to the Refuge. In fact, you've got a mission scheduled later today.
It can be a dangerous job, but it's necessary.

>>238017

Oh hell, what time is it, anyway?

>>238016
>call him over and ask what's going on right now.

"Mr Pasha!" He turns. His face still has the look of hard determination, but it softens a bit at you. "Yes, Umit?"
"What's the time?"
"Err..." He checks his watch, a nice silver piece, "Quarter past eight."

You're due to report for an expedition fifteen minutes.

What sort of dangers are there that you have to watch out for? Just other people? How many people are part of the scouting party? Also, looks like you'd better get ready!

>>238019
You'd better get going!

Anything you need for this expedition?

>>238019
Is Mr. Pasha headed in your general direction? If he is, tell him to wait up while you get your shit together so you can walk and talk with him while you go. Then pack your scavenger-stuff into your scavenger-bag.

What sort of gear do you need to investigate this city, anyway? Do you just need standard rope and kit type exploration stuff, or is the city not as abandoned as you might want it to be?

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/03(Sun)20:14 No. 238024 ID: 813d92
File 128616208590.jpg - (805.23KB , 2632x1724 , Model_Palace_2.jpg )

>>238021
>dangers

Mutants are an occupational hazard in your line of work, but you can often go days without seeing a single one.
There are also a few bandits who sometimes make it across the river. They're never very friendly.

>How many people are part of the scouting party?
Six, including you.

>looks like you'd better get ready!
Very true.

>>238022
>Anything you need for this expedition?

You need to stock up on ammunition at the armoury. Your combat vest and your rations are already in your room, as is your pack.

>>238023
>Is Mr. Pasha headed in your general direction?

"Where are you headed this morning?"
"Out to the library. I've got to see your father."
"Could you wait a moment? I'd like to talk to you."
"Sorry, Umit. I have to get news to him immediately. How about when you get back tonight?"

Okay, well, let's suit up and get to where we need to go!

>>238024
Okay. Get stuff from room, get ammo, go to site of expedition. We'd better hurry.

Suggestion 2010/10/03(Sun)20:20 No. 238028 ID: 4f6e37
File 128616243438.jpg - (167.56KB , 1280x720 , dcmod13[1].jpg )

Grab the vest and the rations. Got a sweet-ass fedora? Bring the sweet-ass fedora. Mr. Pasha here is in formal wear and has a solver wristwatch. It is up to you and he to bring the style back to the wasteland. Just because you're out killing mutants doesn't mean you can't look damn good doing it.

Make yourself look as stylish as possible, then let's hit up the armory.

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/03(Sun)20:32 No. 238030 ID: 813d92
File 128616314834.jpg - (791.20KB , 2632x1724 , Model_Palace_3.jpg )

>>238025

You hurriedly dress yourself in your worn (and slightly torn) camouflage uniform, carelessly stuffing supplies into your pack, which is bulging with various books. Scouting the City is a boring job most of the time.

You rush to the armoury and take the two clips allotted to you before finding your way through the waking Refuge to the second courtyard, where the rendezvouz for the scouting party is.
You arrive two minutes late. Your commander, a tall man with a greying beard named Hayretin, stares at you unemotionally. He's generally a pretty cool guy, in more than one sense of the word.
"Now that everyone is here, I assume we're all ready?"
The squad mutters their affirmatives and begins to set out without another word. The large iron gates of the first courtyard open and you're thrown into the neglected, overgrown ruins of the city you were born in. Time for scavangan.

>>238030
How far from the refuge are you comfortable going? Obviously the places close by will be the safest, but there's not much stuff you haven't seen already lying around. Maybe suggest you go out further, see if you can find an old grocery store or supermarket or something.

As you walk, tell us: what exactly happened to make everything so shitsacked?

>>238031
>How far from the refuge are you comfortable going?

The most popular place for your squad to pick over is the Great Market for the simple reason that it's so huge. The most likely reason it's been largely ignored by whoever's left outside of the Refuge is that the place is one giant maze of streets and back alleys. To make matters worse, it's almost completely covered; you can't climb your way out.
But for people who know the Market, it's prime scavenging ground. And Hayretin knows the Market.
Overall, it's not your place to suggest anywhere to go. Hayretin is the leader and you follow him.

>As you walk, tell us: what exactly happened to make everything so shitsacked?

From what you've been told, the world changed a little over twenty years ago now. There were two great nations, the Soviets and the Americans, who brought all the other nations to their side for the purpose of fighting the other. In 2016, the Soviet king was killed by an American. According to your father, this sparked a fight with weapons so deadly that they brought civilisation to an end. You've read about the time before in your books, but it's a bit hard to imagine people living in any of the buildings of the City.

>>238034
Follow 'im, then, I guess.

>>238077

The walk is short, only twenty minutes, but it's enough time for you to imagine and re-imagine the time before. As you enter the Market, you're struck as always by the sheer silence. The place was obviously made to be a bustling communal hive, but all that's left are still, quiet stalls filled with everything from glassware to cigarettes, the occasional mouse or rat, and even one or two cats hunting after them.
There's plenty here to salvage for your own purposes, even though the current mission is to help the Refuge.

>>238089
Well what does the Refuge have need of? Whatever that may be, make it first priority to find and secure.

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/04(Mon)07:52 No. 238199 ID: 813d92
File 128620395765.jpg - (260.43KB , 1200x769 , Market_3.jpg )

>>238134

The same as ever; the candies known as lokum are a favourite, as they never go bad. Canned foods are another, but they're definitely more rare in the Market. Scrap metal, cigarette lighters, papers and wooden objects to burn...
As for more personal items, you do smoke from time to time, but you've been considering quitting. You also have a love of books and chess. Maybe some new silverware would be nice, too.
Any of these items would be useful, but the best thing to bring back would be ammunition; it's in horribly short supply in the Refuge.

Would you like to look around for any of these objects in particular, or would you like to let your fellow scouts do the work while you catch up on a very interesting piece of fiction you recently acquired? Keep in mind that typical procedure in the Market is to spread out over several hundred meters when searching, and in a market made up of corridors it can be hard to hear anyone in trouble. A risky system, but it's worked when it comes to finding supplies quickly.

As you consider your next action, your idle imagination fills the Market's hallways with the now-dead going about their business like they would in the time before. It's somehow both fitting and extremely unsettling at once.

>>238199
So, uh, ammo.

Where would that be? You've been here before, right?

>>238228

Ammo was never sold in the Market, but you've happened across some in the past all the same. A number of merchants also sold antique flintlocks as well as powder and shot for them, if you're feeling desperate.
Another thing worth noting about collecting wood: Refuge engineers have been making crossbows and the like for when ammunition finally runs out, and they need as much wood as they can get for bolts.

I wouldn't think there would be all that much ammo around here. Why don't we look for food?

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/04(Mon)11:57 No. 238259 ID: 813d92
File 128621867655.png - (18.96KB , 924x802 , map1.png )

>>238242

Hayretin stops the squad by a small marble fountain in a five-street intersection. This is standard; each group member will either ask for or be assigned a direction to search and something specific to search for. You ask to look for food, and are sent down the western road on your own. The rest of the squad leaves and will split up in the side roads.

(post one of two)

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/04(Mon)12:11 No. 238262 ID: 813d92
Audio Ghost_Tunnel.mp3 - (3.20MB , Ghost Tunnel.mp3 )

>>238259

As the footsteps of your comrades fade away, the silence returns. All you can hear is your breathing and the nails in your own boots clacking on the stone foor with every step. After some cursory glances at stalls filled with souveniers, you determine that there's no usable food in any of them. You continue until you come to the nearest side street.
In your imagination, the dead are back. They make no sound. They never do.
The bright sunlight filtering in from the windows high above seems to highlight falling dust as it seems to gather on transparent shapes. Human shapes. You can hear them talking, but it's just a loud buzzing in your ear. One or two turn to stare at you.

You can't make them go away this time.

>>238262
Try to ignore it for now. If it gets worse you might need to do something, but I don't know what.

try to understand what they are saying

>>238264

It's impossible. The buzzing has just become a low groan, it no longer sounds like conversation.

>>238263

You try to push the strange figures from your mind even as more turn to stare at you. You've got a mission to do, after all, there's no sense getting afraid of imaginary monsters.
...
That is, until one of them grabs at you. His face, outlined by the dust, is formed into a horrifying, silent scream. A torrent of dust hits your combat vest as his arm slips into you. You feel nothing. He falls past you and onto the ground, where he curls into a ball and shakes violently.
More of them are staring as they walk past. The moaning becomes louder.

>>238270
Ooooookay. This is a bad place to be.

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/04(Mon)12:42 No. 238274 ID: 813d92
Audio Boiler.mp3 - (1.43MB )

(mp3 that wouldn't upload until now)

>>238259

(I should also mention that in that map, any two lines a thin line is between is a road.)

I'd say ignore them for now, but move outside of the area. Does this sort of thing happen to other people, or just you?

>>238319

Though you do have chronic nightmares, you've never heard of this actually happening before. It seems like something out of a bad ghost story.
Another grabs at you and falls through your body. You're now covered in dust.
The moaning has changed into a piercing shriek, but you can just barely some faint sound behind it.
It sounds almost like a heavy drumbeat and electric guitar.

You begin to retreat from the advancing figures, but they seem to slow as the music becomes louder.

If they're retreating from it, better go towards the music.

>>238450

The music is behind the gathering of ghosts, if that's indeed what they are.
Wait. It's not getting louder. It's getting closer. You can dimly make out a bright light past all the dust.
You feel very warm all of a sudden. Strange, given that it's turning to late autumn.
The light and the music continue to approach. The apparitions seem to melt and become more transparent, and the dust that was hanging off them looks to be falling through their bodies.

>>238450

You decide it's safe to approach anyway. The things look like they're in pain as the music gets closer.
You're still feeling warm as you stare at the light. The sound of heavy rock music blurs together in your ears with the sound of a motor and the shrieking, which has yet to quiet.

You feel faint, and you collapse just as a four-wheeled ATV screeches to a halt next to you. You can hear two voices; one female and one male, but you can't really distinguish anything they're saying. It sounds like a foreign language.

>>238769
Uh oh.

Still conscious, right?

>>238772

Just barely. You don't feel any pain, and you're sure you could move if you wanted to.
It's just that this stone floor is so much more comfortable.

>>238773

So comfortable, in fact, that you happen to fall asleep despite all the noise blasting away at your eardrums.

You wake up in unfamiliar surroundings. You had a dreamless sleep.
There's almost no light. Would you like to investigate this place with your other senses?

Yes, and check self for equipment.

>>238785

You're laying on something soft. It feels like a cotton mattress--no springs.
You pat yourself down carefully. You're wearing your buttoned shirt, but nothing beneath that. Your combat vest is gone, as is your pistol, though the holster remains on your belt. Your pack is also missing, but that's to be expected.

You reach around and your right hand brushes up against a plywood wall. The left stretches into the darkness and comes into sudden and somewhat unexpected contact with a wooden table. Some glassware on it wobbles.

You listen carefully, and can just barely make out the strains of what sounds like a waltz.
It also sounds like there's someone moving around nearby, though not necessarily in the same room as you.

Saying that there is almost no light implies that there is some light. What is the source/direction? Does it sound like people are moving around in the dark room or in an adjacent room?

>>238814

>light?
There's a tiny sliver of yellowish light coming from under what looks to be the opposite wall.

>people?
It doesn't sound like there's anyone else in the room you're in.

You'd try to investigate more, but you suddenly feel very nauseous. As in, about to lose your ration pack kind of nauseous. You decide it's probably best not to vomit all over yourself, and so instead decide to kneel on the edge of your mattress and vomit all over the floor.

The noise you make seems to have attracted attention; a previously-unseen door bursts wide open and a tall figure stands backlit heavily. "Chrissake, what've you done?" She groans in a heavy accent.
You are semi-aware that you're naked from the waist down.

>>238826
"Sick, couldn't hold vomit. Where are my pants."
Cover your shame too this seems to be a woman.

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/05(Tue)15:12 No. 238862 ID: 813d92
Audio waltz1.mp3 - (2.40MB )

>>238855

The waltz is now clearly but quietly sounding throughout your small room. The record it's playing on crackles and hisses, but it's an interesting tune at least.
You recline to rest on your haunches, pulling your shirt down over your shame while you stammer out your short explanation.
"Yeh, well, can't say I blame y'. We gave you some antirads, but the Shades don't mess around, do they?" The woman pulls a cigarette out from between her lips and exhales the smoke in your vague direction. As your eyes adjust to the light, you think you can make out an amused smile on her face.

>>238861
"No I guess they don't. Thank you for the help, I guess. But, uh, you still haven't told me where my pants are and why they are off in the first place. This isn't some sort of rape thing, is it? Also, where am I and what's your name? Mine's Umit."

>>238864

The smile is still there. She has a sense of humour, at least. "'Fraid not. Sorry to disappoint your sick fantasies, kid, but y' messed yourself pretty bad. Yer pants had the legs cut off for other use. The messier bits got sent to the burners. As for where you are..." She replaces the cigarette and takes a long drag as she leans against the doorframe, "You're in Encampment territory. 'Sif y'couldn't tell by our anthem playing back there." She nods to the brightly-lit room behind her before exhaling again. She ignores your request for a name, strangely.

>>238870
"Well it seems shame has just flown out the window, hasn't it? And you really gotta imagine my thought process here, I wake up half-naked in a dark room without my gear, seemingly kidnapped by people I don't know. Not getting angry or anything just so we are clear, I really am grateful for the help."

Ponder what you know about these Encampment folks. If you do know anything, maybe tell us little voices in your head. If you don't, respond with...

"'Fraid I don't recognize it at all. What is the Encampment? It sounds like there is some sorta militaristic edge to the name there."

Also check and see if there is a blanket to wrap around your waist. If not,...
"Oh and uh...Is there something I can cover myself with so I'm not flapping in the wind when and if you let me leave the room?"

HERR CAPSLOCK !wyk4XmcO7w 2010/10/05(Tue)15:44 No. 238889 ID: 813d92
File 12863186522.jpg - (194.70KB , 1280x960 , Room.jpg )

>>238874

You know nothing about the name Encampment, but you knew there were other living people in the City. After all, you've killed a few of them before.

The woman takes a long drag before responding to your question. "I'm not one of the propaganda folks. If you want some speech about ideals or what the fuck ever else, I can arrange it with someone else."
She takes a few steps toward you, allowing a bit more light into the room. You can now see your surroundings. It seems the pack of cigarettes you brought along has been looted, though why they left the empty carton is a mystery.
"Look in the crate. Don't worry about yer modesty or whatever, 'cause I saw everything when we brought you in."

>>238889
well i don't really have to tell you what to do here, but inspect the crate.

>>238915

You hesitate momentarily, but stand and open the crate. Inside are your books, as well as a somewhat fresh (though slightly worn) pair of jeans, which you slip on. Your pistol is still missing, but at least now you have some reading material.
"Have t'say, y'did yerself a favour just now. You're a little less unattractive when you aren't covered in yer own shite." The smile returns as she adds, "A little."