dance macabre

let us have this dance of macabre!

strums of lullaby accompany our steps

spectators of all kinds eagerly waiting in silence 

people of all race, of all ages

humans and fae alike, mingling into one

isn't this what you always long for, my dearest?

rub away your tears, if you would

look above, my dear!

look how the ceilings crumbled, 

forging a path upon the starry skies

under the sea of stars shall we waltz with grace

one step forward, two steps back

a tango everyone desires

now then, don your brightest smiles!

as we are the prima donna of this palace 

knightly boots replacing glass slippers

briars and thorns, prettier than roses

mere infatuations and lust desist,

only loyalty alone shall exist

hush now, dear

do not loathe me amidst parada

cease your sadness at once

bury your soul deep within one’s eyes

never let those speckles of aurora

be tarnished by the mere sight of carcass 

for I have bestowed you the honor

of taking my hand for this dance

moving in front ochos,

I whisper to you eternal happiness

a promise that’ll never go unkept

holier than the eternal slumber

oh, if only the crowd would cheer!

rather than rotting beneath our feet 

but fret not, my dear 

as we have a long night ahead of us!

FO76 Character Description

Name: Jolyne Orpheus

Age: 25

Alignment: Chaotic/True Neutral

Preferred Factions: Free States, Cult of the Mothman

Canon Weapons: Cultist Dagger, The Fixer, Flare Gun

Actual Weapons: Deathclaw Gauntlet, The Fixer (can’t find a good 3 star modded dagger currently, and rifle was better than revolver, will update)

Gear: Binoculars (Pearly Peepers), ProSnap Deluxe Camera, Backpack, Nuka T-51 Power Armor (dangerous missions/radiation)

Chems/Food: Salted Brahmin Meat, Pemmican, Purified Water, Toxic Goo, Stimpaks, Radaway, Radshield, Vintage Nukashine, Phantom Devices

(i actually use ribeye steaks for food most of the time but i hc it as like salted/preserved meat)

Outfit: Surveyor’s Outfit, Black-Rim Glasses

Cultist Outfit: Ritual Outfit, Imposter Sheepsquatch Helmet, Wasteland Trapper Mask

Backstory: One of the first children born in the Vault, her parents passed away from radiation poisoning while repairing the Vault's generators.  She grew up isolated from most other Vault Dwellers except a rare few.  Her parents were high ranking members in society, having ties to major corporations such as RobCo and Dunwich Borers.  She never took pride in her family's richness and denounced the values of capitalism that she was taught by them, but still loved them nonetheless.  Upon going through her parents belongings, she came across many cryptically worded files and notes, strange symbols and talk of things that were supernatural.  A note about a coming flood and the need to go to an abandoned mine for survival, Lucky Hole Mine specifically.  After going through a half written note written by her mother, she found out the reason that her parent's chose to come to the Vault, they found out they were pregnant with her.  Determined to find out who the people who knew her parents were and what their goals were on that day, she left Vault 76, learned and joined all the remnants of the factions of the Wasteland, all in hopes that it could lead her to the long forgotten mine.

Story: Along the way, she learned of a group, no, a cult, that worshipped the mothman, and even came to see it face to face after hearing a radio transmission about summoning it.  She had only assumed it to be myth, as it had been pre-war, but as it landed with a thunderous thud she approached it, dumbfounded.  There was no clear way of telling where the creature looked, but Jolyne knew that it was looking at her and acknowledging her.  She pressed her forehead to its own, and it flew back off the ground, hovering briefly. Jolyne experienced a splitting headache which stunned her, and open recovery the creature was gone, but a message was left in her head.  A way to the mine.  She trekked across the region, through the forest, the savage divide, and finally into the cranberry bog, she felt a pull, something bringing her to her destination, an unseen force that was overwhelming to no end.  And she finally found the entrance to the mine, but not before a scorchbeast could find her.  Exhausted from her journey, she knew this was a fight she could not win and rushed into the mine.

Entering Lucky Hole Mine: Upon entering there was a chill in there, vastly different than that of the outside temperature.  All throughout the mine there were effigies, skulls, horns, and gas masks mounted upon twisted branches, and mole miners patrolling and grunting, almost guarding the area.  After some rest and refreshment, she proceeded into the mine, silently killing as many miners as she could, until shotgun shrapnel pierced her side.  She quickly drew here revolver and killed the miner, holding her side.  She was bleeding out, but trudged on, jamming a stimpak into herself to at least hold back some of the damage.  She found what looked almost like a church, pews, a stand for a preacher, and a coffin, with the remains of someone still lying inside.  Her heart was racing but she had to know what this place was.  Eventually she found multiple notes and holotapes, combined with those she had found while exploring Appalachia, she was given the knowledge of what happened here, the remnants of a cult, having been told by the mothman supposedly of the great war, had come here to survive.  A man spoke of how he lead them here, and how he had not truly been told by the mothman, but a higher power still.  Jolyne could only wonder what her parents were into before the war, but not long into this thought did she feel faint, the stimpak had helped mildly, but not enough to truly stop the wound, she would have to find a place to operate and remove it.  She slowly searched for a safe spot, and while using the wall as support, nearly fell as she entered a strange passageway, hidden by vines.  As she proceeded, she found a near complete chem lab built into a secret chamber of the cave.  With her water reserves empty, she had no choice but to gather water that was dripping into a nearby puddle.  It seemed clear enough she thought, as she proceeded to remove her clothing and armor, and reached into her backpack to remove her surgery tools.  Her training with the responders was finally paying for itself.  She removed each piece of shrapnel, numbing the pain with a syringe of med-x left on the chemistry bench nearby, as she washed away the dirt and blood with the water, she watched in surprise as the wound seemingly started to heal faster.  Was it one of her mutations, or something more?  After patching everything up and re-equipping her armor and clothing, she proceeded deeper into the mine, hand to the wall, just in case another passage was there.  And to her surprise, there was.  She proceeded deeper, a gut wrenching feeling growing inside her, she drew her gun.  She finally found it.  Whatever it was.

Meeting the Interloper: A large.. tree lying on the ground, but not truly.  As she looked more and more, it was almost human like, it had legs, appeared to have the torso of a malnourished human, strange arm-like appendeges on its back, and its head... an open maw, shooting out what looked like tentacles.  To either side of the creature were a number of statue heads, similar to many she'd seen at corporate headquarters in her travels, and on the other, a tall effigy, with rotting and decayed corpses around it.  Out of curiousity, and a need to know more, she approached the creature slowly.   As soon as she was within range of the tentacles, they proceeded to shake and wiggle, startling her enough to misfire her gun at the creatures leg, which caused a spurt of strange liquid to come out.  The creature grew still.  She then ran up to where she'd shot, the creature's skin was like bark, but the interior was fleshy, she slowly pulled the bullet from its leg causing its tentacles to writhe.  She suddenly had a thought.  She ran back to the previous chamber and collected the pooled water that had been dripping, and came back, slowly putting it over the wound she had inflicted.  To her joy, the wound started to heal, and the tentacles stopped moving.  She approached the head of the creature slowly.  She spoke to it.  She said "My parents.. they never came here, they were part of a cult before the bombs... they didn't come because of me."  She paused. "They would have died here like everything else, but they died in the vault instead, because they wanted me to live.  I don't know what I wanted to find here.  Answers I guess. but all I have is more questions."  One of the shorter tentacles slowly approached her hand, and wrapped around it.  Everything was quiet... until her hand began to burn.  The tentacle crawled up around her arm, and she felt a pain like being dipped in powerful acid or intense radiation burns, she tried to escape, she screamed, but its grip only became tighter.  Her whole body felt pain, it grew and grew until she passed out.  Once she awoke, she was lying away from the creature in the entranceway to its chamber, out of its reach, she gathered her strength and ran out, but tripped on a branch on her way out of the chamber.  In front of her lied a set of clothing, and a mask, made of a human skull, twigs, and other materials.  She looked back at the creature.  It's tentacles moved gently.  She looked back at the clothes.  It wanted her. "What do you want?" she choked out, she didnt notice she was almost crying until now. She got the headache again, but less painful.  She couldnt understand the words she was hearing in her mind, but she felt their meaning.  It wanted her to serve it.  In return it would keep her alive.  She looked back at the creature, The Interloper.  She remembered the man from the holotape had called it that.  She nodded, and its tentacles moved one last time.  She turned around, looked into the eyes of the skull mask, and grabbed the outfit on her way out of the mine.

What Comes Next: Jolyne embraced the lifestyle of the cult and learned all she could of it.  She occasionally summons the mothman for it’s wisdom, or any messages that the interloper may have for her that need to be conveyed if she is unable to make the pilgrimage to it’s cave.  She will occasionally visit the interloper and rest with it.  She does reconnaissance on wastelanders actions, and only intervene if they are going to die.  She usually keeps a distant eye with her binoculars, and stays atop roofs to avoid much interaction with those she watches.  She holds meetings in her mini-church, to provide other followers of the interloper and mothman with information and spread word to those who do not yet worship. Plus the occasional sacrifice or two ;)

Plans: Going to join cultist/communist factions.  Probably gonna side with raiders, but it depends on the loot.

Fun Facts: Nuka-Cola Dark is her drink of choice.  She can play the banjo.  She’s bi!  She got annoyed by her Collectron so she ripped out its voice module.  She also tried to do this to the Grafton Mayor, but to no avail.

Most Recent Edits: 10/15/2019