Area 0: The Cages
Dawn Blair was hauling ass through the rocky twisting tunnels, as the many limbed creature remained in hot pursuit, and at this point was, in fact, gaining on her. She looked to the black orb that floated to her side, keeping pace through her magical bond to it, barely visible in the tunnels. “Okay, work with me here, buddy… [UNLEASH THE DRAGON]”
The orb simply hummed in soft disagreement, to which Dawn tried to suppress her rage at it. The magic of her world was a temperamental thing, you couldn’t directly ask an orb for a particular spell, and annoyingly, hers enjoyed song references. “Come on!” As she reached a long straight within the tunnels, she looked back, getting the best look since she appeared here. A snarling human-headed centipede made of bone. “I do NOT want to get close to that thing! So just [UNLEASH THE DRAGON], damn it!”
Another unconcerned hum. “You know if I die, you do too! We ain’t home any more!”
It hummed again. “Fuck it, fine! We’ll do it your way!”
She stopped running and started turning as she spoke the next spell ‘[AND HE NEVER HAS THE SAME PROBLEM TWICE]!”
The orb made a happy chime and began to change, two grips rushing into her hand, going from weightless orb to hefty chunk of machinery in her hold, and just as the creature was upon Dawn the teeth of it’s blade appeared, and the enchanted chainsaw form the orb had taken began to tear into the beast’s maw, shredding open its head and splattering the poor woman with what smelt like rotten gore…
When it was all over, Dawn slowly made the trek back to where this began, the largest room in the set, only real part she’d call a room actually. As she arrived another figure faded into existence before her eyes. “And my new prospect succeeds.” The image spoke, it was a familiar sight, the man had blue skin, brown well coiffed hair, slender effeminate facial features, and was dressed in high value casual clothes, his light scarf in particular felt exactly like what you think a person wears while ‘Glamping’ “And other handlers were worried I made a poor choice.”
“Right, so you could have warned about the necromancers wet dream!”
“Even if I knew what they were going to make your initial test, which only the elders do as they pluck them from their worlds, I’m sure it would be against the rules for me to do that.”
“Yeah, I guess as the guy that brought me here, you count as playing the game.” Dawn made the statement to a curt nod from the man. “So, Elathiel, can I finally know more of the details, I know it’s some sort of… Hunting dealio, the most dangerous game and all that, but like, you did appear to me in a dream. It’s a little foggy.”
“Of course! I’ve been wanting to give the old spiel… The Hunt is a game of death, you are a piece of the newest collection of players to join,” As he says this, he takes out a book and hands it to the young woman. “This tome will be your record, as you slay competitors, your name and influence will grow, all in pursuit of our greatest weapon… An ancient device older than time itself, that is said to grant ultimate power to the twisted being it deems worthy!” He spoke with a flourish then settled down. “...Long story short anyway.”
Dawn started to flip through the pages. “There’s nothing here.”
“Doesn’t work like a normal book.”
“...You know what, I just fought a bone monster, I’ll bite. What's the catch?”
“There are certain functions of the books, profiles, area information such as maps and descriptions of plants that wont turn your insides into outsides, but most importantly there’s profiles.” He left out a few details, but figured Dawn needed some stuff to figure out. “Close the book, and think of yourself, your profile, while holding it.”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
Dawn followed those instructions, the book flipping open to reveal a page about her
NAME: DAWN BLAIR
TITLE: NO TITLE EARNED
OVERALL SCORE: 25
SCORE BREAKDOWN
SMARTS: 0
STYLE: 5
SAVAGERY: 20
REPUTATION BONUS: 0
“Uh, well that’s fucking rude book.” Dawn then closed it. “Will I get these on other players?”
“Only their identity, title, and overall score, up to you to figure out where their combat style lies. And don’t take this one personally, you just chainsaw’d it’s head open.” Elathiel laughed.
“Yeah fine, so it’s these categories and my rep? I can work with that.” When she said this, Elathiel gave a gesture that seemed polite but completely foreign to her, and soon enough the gate opened.
Elathiel led her out and Dawn found herself, and her handler, standing on a stone balcony as others emerged into the light, on their own ones. Her eyes gazed around, only for the Denizen (as Elathiel said his kind were called when they first met) to hand her a set of binoculars. “Can’t let you keep those once it’s time for you to go, but it can't hurt to let you scope out some of the other fresh meat.”
And Dawn did, making note of a few ones she noticed. A woman about her age, maybe a year or two older, looked to be dressed up as a biker, though there were burn marks on her leather vest, and from the little glimpse she could see when the woman adjusted her sunglasses, the eyes were pitch black. “Well, she’s unsettling…”
Skimming over a few more, a woman in robes that went passed her hands, with a strange purple tube-like mask. A dark-skinned man of unimpressive physique, despite the massive metal container strapped to his back. An older man whose body was covered in tattoos of what appeared to be religious symbols, some Dawn recognized, most she did not.
Dawn nearly dropped the binoculars when she saw a shark-toothed shadow creature staring back at her…
But something else caught her eye, on the balcony next to the creature. “Uh, Elathiel, is that a group of soldiers?”
“Some sort of elite black-ops unit, apparently.” The Denizen answered, rather casually. “Such things are… Allowed, though one handler for several is a waste of time, but Marlainus loves her little experiments. I'm betting they’ll turn on each other within a month. No group formed outside the games survives them. Once a married couple tore each other’s throats out, over who deserved more of the points for a kill.” He sighed. “And they seemed so happy.”
“Riiiiight.”
As Dawn lowered the binoculars, that’s when a large image appeared to the players forming in the massive space. A female Denizen, she didn’t look much older than Elathiel, though the way she carried herself spoke of an ancient age. “Greetings, mortal beings, I am the Elder Gamekeeper Ridion. Congratulations on passing your first tests, though understand my dear players, from now on you face each other, far more cunning monsters than the ones we gave you.”
“And don’t forget, you are only our newest players,” She continued “You will face those that have been hunting for years, decades, and in a couple cases, since the game began 200 years ago.”
Dawn shuddered at the idea of living that long, let alone being in the game that long. Ridion’s speech went on. “There are only two ways out of this game, death or being the victor, claiming our greatest weapon.”
“Take one last look around, this may be the last time you see some of these people, by virtue of either their demise, or the sheer vastness of the nexus of all things…”
She then gestured to the abyss beneath her. “Take the plunge mortals, and see what lays in wait, or who…”
With that Ridion’s image vanished, many of the chosen players looking down from their balconies, the soldiers coordinating with each other, as Dawn put a foot on the edge getting ready to jump. Elathiel whispers something into her ear, to which she nods, and then takes the plunge to begin her quest…
It felt like the drop never ended, but Dawn found herself resting on the wet rocks at the side of a river, but as she sat up, she heard someone behind her yell out. “No movin’ missy! Sorry to cut your game so short, but I love easy prey!”
She didn’t even look towards the man, he was a decent ways back, some sort of gunslinger most likely… Dawn’s eyes moved to the orb. “There enough space here?”
It chimed.
“[UNLEASH THE DRAGON]”
The orb split into a toothy maw, and a jet of flame rushed out, she heard the man’s screams for a short while but… Well, it was a hot enough flame that his guns would melt a bit so he didn’t exactly last long.
Dawn stood with a smirk, before walking along the riverbank, not even bothering to look at the man’s burnt remains…
OVERALL SCORE: 35
SCORE BREAKDOWN
SMARTS: 5
STYLE: 5
SAVAGERY: 25
REPUTATION BONUS: 0