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baronobexi-blog · 1 year

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On The Radar -- Guns Blazing by Basheer Ghouse

Game Title: Guns Blazing

Genre(s): Tactical/Alt-history TTRPG

System: Ahadi (inspired by Genesys, Storyteller, Blades in the Dark, and wargaming)

Format: PDF/Hardcover

Campaign Start: March 28th, 2023

Campaign End: April 27, 2023

Campaign Goal: $10,000 (Current Pledge Amount: $18, 001)

Campaign Team Size: 26 (Note: Certain parts of this post will occasionally be updated to reflect the progress of Guns Blazing such as the pledge amount, met stretch goals, or the addition of new stretch goals. So, if you’re interested with the campaign then please make sure to check back.) --- --- --- Game Info: So, what exactly is Guns Blazing about? – Guns Blazing is a tactical, alt-history TTRPG that takes place in an alternate 1920’s of Jinn, diesel powered mechs, and anti-colonial revolution. In the world of Guns Blazing, Europe’s once powerful hold on lands not their own are now waning, declining colonial empires on the brink of collapse. The twilight for European empire has come, it refuses to listen. Challenged by revolutionaries, colonial subjects seeking freedom, or fledgling ideologies wishing to remake the world. Like a dying beast holding stubbornly to its final breath. The old order of Europe refuses to acknowledge its colonial deathbed even if it ends in blood and fire for all. Villages are burned. Ancestral homelands are broken. Families are torn apart by unflinching, unfeeling colonial bureaucracy. This is an old order that does not care about people. It does not care if innocents are harmed by malice or incompetence. It does not care if cultures are destroyed, distorted, or hollowed out. You are either subject, victim, or threat to It. Yet there are even worse things than man’s cruelty. The fungal horrors that are the Iram march side by side with the colonial garrisons. It's a simple relationship. The Iram are fed those that the empires do not care for, the empires receive loyal beasts along with grand treasures unimaginable. Then there are the Ma’ Jooj. Carrion prophets of the industrial charnel house that is the modern battlefield. The Ma’ Jooj take the dead and turn them into reanimated cannon fodder known as the Resitched. Finally, there are the Atom Unborn. They pursue the distant, nascent dream that is nuclear power. And it is a dream pursued even if it ends with the world burning in nuclear fire. It is a dark time to live in. It is a time where the old and new ways clash with each other. It is a time where the old order is on its deathbed. It is a time where monsters, whether they be colonial administrator or fungal horror, walk the world. Yet it also is a time of heroes. The rallying cry of rebellion, revolution, and liberation is on the air. No longer. No longer will the horrors of the old order be allowed to fester unchecked. No longer will homes burn. No longer will stolen land be occupied. The world is entering into a twilight. It may either end in a twilight of hope or a twilight of despair. It is up to you and countless others to decide how this twilight finally ends. Who am I playing as? – You take on the role of an international volunteer in Guns Blazing. There are six playbooks for the game that can offer you a variety of ways to shape your volunteer along with how you approach the game in combat and in narrative. And we’re able to see what four of those playbooks look like in the quickstart preview. With their names being: Butcher, Vanguard, Hunter, and Artillery. Who am I fighting? – As an international volunteer in the struggle against Europe’s waning but still powerful colonial empires. Your enemies will range from the mundane to the eldritch. You will resist the colonial garrisons of the European empires. You will clash with the fungal horrors that are the Iram. You will face the carrion prophets that are the Ma’ Jooj and their reanimated Resitched soldiers. You will fight with the nuclear dreamers that are the Atom Unborn. Is there a preview of the game in play? – Yes! The campaign page for Guns Blazing helpfully offers a link to a two shot actual play that shows what the game is like in play along with an introduction to one of its scenarios. --- --- ---

--- --- --- Campaign Info: What’s the campaign funding? – The campaign for Guns Blazing is funding the following: art, layout, editing, and printing costs. Additionally, the funding will also ensure that everyone involved is paid at fair rates. Are there shipping costs? – Yes, there are shipping costs for Guns Blazing. They are the following: US $13, US Non-Continental $30, Canada $23, United Kingdom $25, European Union $34, Australia $41, Rest of World $54. However, the campaign page does say these shipping costs are estimates for a single hardcover. And also says that means to reduce international shipping costs are currently being looked into. When will the game come out? – April 2024. --- --- --- --- --- --- Pledge Info: * Financial Hardship PDF ($10) – Pledgers at this level get a discounted copy of the core book PDF. However, please only pledge at this level if you need the discount due to financial hardship. (28 of 50 left) * Core PDF ($25) – Pledgers at this level get a core book PDF copy along with access to playtesting copies. * Hardcover ($50) – Pledgers at this level get both a 6″ x 9″ hardcover and PDF core book copy along with a choice of starter scenario. * Complete Edition ($65) – Pledgers at this level get both hardcover, PDF, all three starter scenarios, and STL files. * Retailer Bundle ($100) – Pledgers at this level, whether for retail or just wanting to introduce the game to their friend group, get five hardcover copies of Guns Blazing at a very deep discount. However, this pledge level does not come with any additional stretch goals or PDFs. It is primarily intended for retailers and will result in higher shipping fees compared to a single copy. * Volunteer Edition ($200) – Pledgers at this level get the hardcover, PDF, all three starter scenarios, and the opportunity to create a character who will be featured in the game art of Guns Blazing. (All gone.) * Hosti Humani Generis Edition ($250) – Pledgers at this level get the hardcover, PDF, all three starter scenarios, and the opportunity to create either a foe or vehicle. This foe/vehicle will have rules, art, and writeup. (All gone.) * Band of Misfits Edition ($350) – Pledgers at this level get the hardcover, PDF, all three starter scenarios, and the opportunity to create an organization/faction. This organization/faction will get art, a logo, and writeup. (All gone). --- --- --- --- --- --- Stretch Goals: * VTT (Virtual Tabletop) Integration ($17,500) – This will result in Guns Blazing having full VTT integration for all its starter scenarios. VTT integration will consist of the following: maps, tokens, and free VTT copies that have the appropriate tiers and add-ons. * Expanded Core Book ($25,000) – This will expand the budget for art, writing, layout, and editing. Additionally, this will also provide more funding to expand the role of guest writers. * Expanded Starter Scenarios ($30,000) – The starter scenarios will receive a core book treatment. This means that the starter scenarios will get an expanded budget for art, writing, layout, and editing. * Guest Writer Program ($35,000) – This will allow the campaign to bring on more writers for the project. And every additional $5,000 dollars over the $35K goal will result in even more writers being hired. --- --- --- --- --- --- Add-ons: * Starter Scenarios ($10 each/$25 pack) – The starter scenarios PDF’s for Guns Blazing can be added to a pledge for $10 each or can be bundled together as a $25 pack. * Stream Kit ($10) – This is a stream kit that has the following: pre-arranged layouts for 3-6 players, a GM, map, caption box, be right back screens, and materials to create your own stream kit. The stream kit was created by Brandy Rose (Cutestpatoot Games) * Guns Blazing: The Wargame ($15) – A wargame set within the setting of Guns Blazing. Guns Blazing: The Wargame makes use of the Riposte! System by Erika Chappell (Flying Circus, Blackout, The Flesh Is Weak). This add-on adds the following material to a pledge: basic rules PDF and army lists for the Republic of Mysore and the British Empire. * Core Rules PDF ($25) – Adds another core rules PDF to a pledge. * Additional Hardcover ($45) – An extra copy of the hardcover at retail price added to a pledge. This add-on however will add additional shipping costs to a pledge. --- --- ---

#Indie TTRPG #tabletop games #alternate history #diselpunk #BaronObexiWrites

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gizzardscrolls · 11 months

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God of Machines: Wayland's journal

Chapter 1: Butterfly's Dream

“Wayland, wake the fuck up! It’s past dawn!”

The booming voice of my father Boromir blew through the once-silent house,

“Twenty-four, and still sleeping through the day?”

I tried to think of something to say against him, but I finished my hunt last week. I needed to get another request, or worse, become a gunsmith like him.

I retorted, “How many men have you had to pull out of the guts of beasts?”

He said “You chose to be a hunter! I chose to be a gunsmith so I don't have to fight! You could have been a farmer…”

“Then I wouldn’t have to worry,” He mumbled.

I couldn’t argue with that, “but fighting’s all I’m good at pops, ‘sides… you know why I do this.”

I didn't hear what he said if he said anything at all. I want to get my own place, but moving into a city and dealing with the risk of cult attacks or getting shot in an alley?

Fuck that.

Maybe I could get some guys and build my own house in the village. The beasts are better than cults any day anyways. That’d have to wait until after my next few jobs at the very least.

Finally awake enough to get out of bed, I slide forward and shamble my way to the wardrobe having yet to recover from last week's stint of pulling some Carn soldiers' tags out of the mouth of a venir. I start by putting on the usual tan linen undershirt, pants, and thick leather hiking boots, sighing as yet another week of fighting demons and beasts alike all without properly healing from the last fight.

The new rune carved into my back just finished healing, the scars of magic being put into a human body are a relatively cheap price to pay for the power they provide.

“How unfortunate that I couldn't be a caster," I think to myself as I walk over to the mirror.

As I sit in the worn chair of my mother's old vanity, the same black hair and bright red eyes she once held are looking back at me now, features of the eastern countries that sealed off their ports and borders over a century ago... These are a rare sight to see on this side of the ocean. My mother was the only person of Eastern heritage I have seen. I tie my long hair in two sections at the base of my head with the tiny gold hair clips my mother left for me upon her death. A constant reminder that death does catch up to all.

Yet another sigh later, and I'm putting on my holsters, one on the back of my waist for a dagger and one on the right side for my handgun. A custom-made .45 by my father, I bring with me two mags, the chances of being attacked in the village are low, but never zero.

Stepping out of the longhouse I'm greeted with the smell of sulfur and molten steel, thanks to my father being a gunsmith even in winter it wasn't that cold. It appears he was already working on a gun no later than ten in the morning, I guess work never ends for some.

“Father, I'm going off to the post office!” I shouted. He merely grunted and went back to hammering.

After a week there was sure to be an emergency request, if not I could always go to the city, it's not a long drive. A few hours in the old engine wouldn’t be much trouble considering I have to pick the new one up anyway. The post office was run by a nice old lady.

“Hello Wayland, it's always nice to see a young man still in the village.” Mrs. Paige said, a sweet older widower with ash gray hair and dark skin.

Her son is what could be considered my boss, Eddie Paige, a pain in my ass with the amount of work he gives me. Being the busiest bee is not a good thing in this line of work. Some days I think that ball bastard wants me dead, but he’s always nice so counts for something right?

“Hello Mrs. Paige, before you ask, your son is doing fine, even if he does bust my ass at work.”

She smiled “Oh you know my boy, Eddie, always took a shine to you as if you were his brother. I wouldn’t mind having a kid like you”.

Chuckling, I replied, “Tell that to him next time I end up with a broken arm, any letters for me?”

“Yes, just one second.”

She rummaged around through the post boxes, most were empty at this point as people kept moving from here to Ullya or a Carn city.

“you know Wayland, I heard something interesting back when the trains were still around there were creatures called deers, like venir but less vicious, their horns weren't straight or too sharp, their mouths didn't open like a hound’s, here’s your mail”.

As I look through the letters I don’t see an emergency request, looks like Eddie actually does want to give me a break.

“Mrs. Paige, you really believe that?”

She looked a little sad. “Honey, I just want to believe at one point this world actually wanted us human’s around.”

She paused for a moment “You make sure Eddie is eating well, okay?”

“Yeah Mrs Paige, I got it. I gotta go in today anyway.”

She told me to take care and go on with my day. I returned home to finish getting set up for a trip to the city. Going outside the small village and its log walls was always a gamble if a beast was close enough to the wall to be my problem. At home my father was still hammering away at some custom order, the factories' large-scale productions in recent years made guns and bullets easier to obtain, but there was something better about the private from-scratch craftsmanship, perhaps it's because the gun is truly meant for you.

“Wayland, I took a look at your armor, you should get to an armorsmith sooner than later, it's starting to rust. I swear you don't know the first fucking thing about metal”

Yet another sigh from me, his worry was admirable for a grown man who kills for a living.

“Yeah yeah, it's just the bracers, nothing to worry about.”

This made the old man a bit upset, to say the least.

“Nothing to worry about? Boy, that's how you lose an arm. You should know better than me how much armor you need, and if you didn't need it to be in good shape you wouldn’t have bracers.”

It seems everyone is right but me with how little I can say against them, perhaps it's because it’s my hometown. I entered the longhouse barely big enough for 2, let alone the 4 that once lived here. Leaning out the door I yell so he can hear me over the hammering and roaring engine that is his forge.

“How come you never worry about Jacob this much?!”

“That’s because he takes after me, boy! Smart enough to be a merchant and not dumb enough to put his life on the line for a few coins! His job doesn't require him to stick his hand in the mouth of a howler!”

Before Jacob was a merchant he was just the guard for a caravan who worked his way up, good at fighting and good with numbers, but I'd still beat him to the ground in any fight. I walked back to my wardrobe, put on my padded leather on top of my undershirt, then rest the chainmail on top of that. I had been warned the new rune on my back was experimental strength magic, I don't know what’s so experimental but this armor doesn't feel nearly as heavy as normal. On top of all that I put on my kevlar vest, bullets don't get stopped by chainmail after all, then slip my chest rig atop to carry the many mags for my three carrying weapons.

The pistol my father made has a fairly long slide and square profile, a slightly angled grip, glow in the dark sights and the rather large mags give this black handgun an imposing profile to the average bandit in our little ‘negotiations’. On the other side of the coin the average beast doesn't care about looks and most demons won't be taken down by a smaller cartridge. A modded factory-produced lynx, made primarily for the Empire of Carn’s soldiers, a sleek, fully automatic firearm that feeds from a helical mag with a large capacity. It had a thumbhole stock I removed and replaced with a more conventional one but not the grips, so they’re still curved. Firing a high penetration round it’s perfect for dealing with many humans at once. The last of my weapons is Thunder, it’s based on a widely available blueprint so my father recreated and improved this one for me when I was first starting out as a hunter. Almost 4 feet long and weighing 20 pounds, this thing puts demons and beasts down alike, it’s 20 round mags angle downward at the bottom, and this thing isn’t pretty. A large chunk of steel and wood with a sound like actual thunder, and can shoot through 3 or 4 men.

I put on my helmet. It's got one large horizontal slit where my eyes are, the rest of my face is covered though, leaving just the bright red of my eye and the very top of the bridge of my nose. On the one hand, my eyes are less protected, on the other what’s the point of having eyes if you can't see? I put on my unremarkable knee and elbow pads, you would be surprised by the amount of things I have elbowed that make those worthwhile. As I put on my shin guards and bracers I take a look at the left one, deciding that yeah the old man’s right, this thing’s not worth very much right now. It's got chunks missing and bad rusting, probably because it's the first thing I offer to shove into the mouth of whatever the hell is trying to eat me.

The last piece is surprisingly important: a rather large and thick black cloak made from linen and cotton, it’s one large piece of keeping you warm and hiding you from the men and monsters that lurk in the forest. No grenades or potions left, but it doesn't matter, after all, I'm heading to Ullya, one of the few non-Carn cities that actually have civil protection that isn't secret police breaking and gunning you down.

Grabbing my keys and emergency bag I head out the door, Father is still working as usual. I make my way to the first gate. The way my hometown Argarth is set up, we have a normal center where we all live, it's the heart of the village. Surrounded by a log wall that’ll keep most things out. Farmsteads have the best fencing they can but are usually relegated near the coast to keep the costs of making full surrounding walls down since nothing too bad is in the water. Livestock farmers are marginally luckier as they usually live in the center, there are two entrances, one that leads to the cold northern seaport, and one that leads to a smaller wall that covers a decent portion of the wall with its second half, it even has an enclosed ceiling, how nice. This is the garage where most vehicles reside.

The guard at the gate recognizes me and tells me to stay safe as he opens the first gate,. I walk up to my rusted-up shitbox, or Cobblepot as I call it, (because it’s cobbled together out of metal barely better than what you’d find a pot made of), but it does get me from place to place. The lightweight metal lets the powerful engine in this thing loose. My car is rounder than most. Instead of the usual rectangular shape with sharp angles throughout the entire thing, my car has a rounded pipe frame at the top that continues to the back exposed engine. Except for the side doors, the front trunk, and the windshield, the frame of this piece of crap is simply exposed to the elements.

Though it’s a shitbox through and through, it does have two seats so I can do some escort missions. I mostly ride solo, however, I think it might be the eyes that scare people off, or maybe the fact I'm always wearing a helmet. I get it, I wouldn't trust a guy with no face either. I put Thunder and the emergency bag in the front trunk next to the airbow and gas can. Grabbing the top bar and climbing through the window I get in the front seat, the passenger seat is a normal door but with the number of gunshots that go through the driver's window and door, it was smarter to make it one piece of strong metal and not even bother with the glass. I turn the key the first time. Absolutely nothing. I turn it a second time and the engine growls. The third time it finally kicks off.

“Sorry old gal, you’ll get a new engine soon I promise.”

The guard opened up the final gate, I make my way down the dirt path. We were going to get gravel before the factories started offering good pay and ‘safer’ working conditions. Now the town sits still, not quite a ghost town, but it’s not quite alive. A few too many monster attacks and people would rather choke to death on the smog of the city. A few miles out of Argarth, I look at my fuel gauge.

Fuck.

The rune carving hurt so bad I forgot to get gas on my way out. Beyond a rookie mistake, ten taels if you guessed what comes next, I sigh. Luckily I'm about to pass by a hunting trailer and no one uses this road. I pull over, hiding the car with tree branches, and in a hard-to-see spot, I grab the emergency bag, air bow, bolts, and gas can. It's time to hunt.

I make my way down the trail, although it’s quiet it's always foreboding. No matter how long I've been in these woods, it never gets any more comfortable. The constant fear of something coming to get you only gets worse when your job makes you encounter worse and worse monsters. There are enough trees to block out the sun almost as if it was night.

I take a look at the airbow, the giant tank full of air on the left side, the monstrous piece of steel and iron with a wind magic crystal ensures the tank is always full and always silent. The grip on the right side has a button on the top that fires the bolt, pulling the grip towards my chest to prepare the mechanism for firing. I pull out a bolt from the quiver and nest it securely in the opening, luckily or rather unluckily Argarth is next to a large population of venir. I walk for a while before I finally find the tracks, with footsteps bigger than my head. I know an alpha venir is nearby.

Pulling out the jerky I have in my bag, being a carnivore, venir are always looking for meat, and the easier the hunt the more likely it is to go for it, it’s why they attack humans so often. I wait and wait, and wait. A few hours pass and finally, I see it, nearly 7 feet tall, with a skull that looks nearly skinless, and 4 horns sharper than swords that point forward. It goes in for a bite. Shouldering the large air bow as best as I can, I take aim, it looks directly up and at me, and as its cat-like yellow eyes pierce my soul I press the fire button without a second thought knowing damn well this thing’s going straight at me. The airbow releases with a sound like a missile flying overhead, the airbow continues its hissing for merely a moment but it feels like forever.

Since it decided to look at me instead of going for the jerky I wasn't able to hit its head. the arrow Instead went through the big bastard's shoulder and through the large oak tree behind it. As the hissing of the airbow was finishing up, the venir took a deep breath in, I quickly rack back the air bow and put another bolt in as fast as I can. The Alpha venir screams like a dying child, it rushes in to attack as best as it can, thankfully missing one of its shoulders I narrowly jump out of the way, and with a thud I land on my back, the quiver of bolts and the bag digging into my back through the armor that split second of discomfort reminds me that I'm alive, I half-ass aim the airbow as the venir’s horns got stuck in the oak behind where I was standing, and fire another shot, this one pierce’s the chest probably hitting a vital organ as it starts moving and kicking every last muscle in an effort to get loose. I rack another shot, and this time finally hit my target, blasting through the skull and brains of the sorry creature.

I hurry as best as I can to get up and grab the rope and the bowl from my emergency bag to get as much as I can. tying one end of the rope to the legs of the no longer struggling alpha venir, I tie the other end to the bolt I loaded in the air gun, firing high into the tree the venir was lodged in, I take out the dagger on my waist and get to bloodletting. Unlike the normal venir, the alpha venir’s blood is straight gasoline, while factories can process oil, natural gasoline is good for emergencies even if using a gun would cause it to blow up.

Thankfully the meat of an alpha venir and other creatures with the same gas for blood is inedible, to all creatures. So I don't have to worry too much about another venir or a howler to get me as I wait for the gas to finish filling the bowl to funnel into the gas can. After about 3 hours I get the last of the gas out of the venir into the 5-gallon can, this is enough to get me to the nearest carn checkpoint 130 miles out. I start my way out of the forest I came in from, the sun had already set, it's pitch black. I turn on the light mounted to my chest carrier, an unfortunate beacon to whatever the hell is lurking, but better than being lost here all night without shelter, as I turn on the unnatural light, behind a tree I see a tall shadow figure that the light goes through, fuck. Fuck. Demons are out. I fire a bolt at it, it darts behind a tree almost faster than I can see.

I hear a weird noise, that sounds like laughing, I hear scuttling and shifting of leaves branches whatever else is on the ground right now all around me. I start sprinting. Tallmen can only be hurt by magic weapons, and if you recall I never once mentioned fucking having one. The cost of a new airbow greatly outweighs my desire to rip the wind crystal from it to use on the Tallman. I decided to use the strongest solo hunter technique I know, I run as fast as I can. I need to get to a more open area to try anything against it, running won't let me survive but it does buy me some time. I still hear its odd cackle and the kicking up of leaves, nearly through the most dense part of the forest. I can see my car all the way at the end. Just a little farther and then the blurry shape of its featureless face peeks out through the trees next to my car. It grabs some of the branches near the car and throws them at me, unable to stop my momentum and dodge properly, I try to lean back and lose my footing. Another laugh from this fucking thing, and as I'm almost on my feet, a tree branch crashes into me with the force of an avalanche. I go flying through the air and slam into an oak tree, what hurts worse than getting thrown into something is the fall, a heavy thud as my large mass of iron and steel hit the ground, my vision is blurry I struggle to move, I have fractured ribs and most likely some hairline fractures in my legs. I see it stand over me. The fresh strength rune in my back starts burning as the use of my limbs returns, berserk as the shaman called it. Now close enough to use the magic wind and with no other option, I use my right arm to lift and aim the large air bow. I press the launch button, and the loud hiss of the air bow is drowned out by the screech the Tallman let out. It looks like someone took a bite out of its shadowed body. It quickly brings its arm down and blows a hole through the air tank and shatters the crystal into smaller bits. It clearly didn’t think about the consequences of doing so, as now its hand was gone too. I get up as fast as possible, it’s wailing sounding like a strange mix of a dying child and a kicked dog, I have a few seconds before it refocuses on me. I grab the shards of the magic crystal a faint draft can be felt from the leaking magic, the only idea I can manage to think of in the little time I have, I plunge the shard’s into the palm of my left hand, I can only manage a few in the right hand due to the restriction having long shards in my left. The feeling in my body is numb, I assume because of the berserk rune I close my hands into fists as best as I can. I hear the cracking of the shards and the tearing of the flesh in my palm but that’s much better than the Tallman ripping my body in two. I punch at its leg with my right hand. At first, my finger goes through but the crystal shards pull at the demon’s shadowy leg. It stumbles down onto the ground

“Aw, what’s wrong the little baby can't handle it?” I shout at the demon, it no longer screamed in pain, but instead in anger.

It attempts to strike me with its right arm, the severed one, I counter back by using the back of my palm to stab into its forearm, the wind crystal thankfully throwing its limb back immediately allows me to easily recover without having to rip my hand’s back out. Its left arm and large clawed hand come at my head, and it starts crushing my helmet, The flesh in my palm and fingers tearing more as I open my hand’s again I grab the arm, my fingers and hands slipping into its shadow, the magic crystals stab into its arm I start pulling with all the force I can muster. Its scream sounds like a man burning alive as I start to pull its arm from where the socket would be on a human, I can hear the wind from the crystal stop howling as the magic dissipates the crystal shrinks I pull even harder than before and, it sounds like velcro ripping as I pull off the Tallman’s arm. The shadow figure starts to fade as if it was never there, all that’s left behind is a shadow crystal. My hand is full of holes from where the crystals punctured. I can feel the strength from the rune going away, I grab the emergency bag torn from the sliding down the tree, grabbing the health potion with my right hand using only my fingers as the palm is thoroughly destroyed. I chug it down. It tastes foul as if it were mold, a single potion costing 4 silver taels the average price of one request from the hunter’s guild, and enough to feed one for a month, it will fully heal any injury over time, depending on the severity it can take a week, what it doesn’t stop is blood loss however. With the last of my strength, I bandage my hands as best as I can, the strength from the berserk is gone I can tell I have a concussion, and too many injuries to count. I pass out.

I briefly woke up to two men dragging me, “oh shit he’s alive” I heard from one of them, the other said probably the worst thing you can hear when being dragged half-conscious.

“Good, put him with the others, maybe the camp will reach its quota.”

They throw me into the back of a transport truck and before I pass out I see some other’s get a winch out and secure my car to the back of it. I get a good look at my savior's before I pass out, Reavers.

“Fuck,” I manage to mutter before slipping back into my dreams.

#creative writing #long post #long reads #diselpunk #fantasy #gore trigger warning #dark fantasy #webnovel

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rancid-references · 1 year

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Carl Zeiss anti-aircraft binoculars used by heavy Flak crews during World War II

Hoth-rebels-looking-ass-gear

#world war two #WW2 #world war II #binoculars #star wars #rebels #hoth #diselpunk #equipment #gear #military #starwars #scifi

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cepegalaz-blog · 2 years

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Reinterpretation of Ilya Repin painting "barge Haulers on the Volga" #art #ussr #communism #scifi #environmentart #landscape #painting #conceptart #russia #diselpunk #2d #3d https://www.instagram.com/p/CcnCl2-KVAX/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

#art #ussr #communism #scifi #environmentart #landscape #painting #conceptart #russia #diselpunk #2d #3d

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tionitro · 1 year

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DIESELPUNK. ARQUIVOS CONFIDENCIAIS DE UMA BELA ÉPOCA - Gersi-Lodi Ribeiro (Org.) | Nove Noveletas Dieselpunks cheias de Ação e Aventura e com temática Brasileira e Lusitana! NITROLEITURAS #dieselpunk #steampunk

Uma coletânea sensacional de nove noveletas Dieselpunks com temática brasileira e lusitana, repletas de ação, aventura, mistério e até erotismo! DIESELPUNK. ARQUIVOS CONFIDENCIAIS DE UMA BELA ÉPOCA – Gersi-Lodi Ribeiro (Org.) | 384 pgs., Editora Draco 2012 | Lido de 20/04/23 a 25/04/23 | NITROLEITURAS #steampunk #dieselpunk SINOPSE Dieselpunk é o sucessor cronológico do steampunk, gênero…

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#Diselpunk #Editora Draco #Gerson Lodi-Ribeiro #Nitroleituras #Resenha #Steampunk

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yurious-george · 2 months

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rankings of the paul shapera's new albion series

steampunk opera/dolls of new albion: fuck yes no notes. has anabelle mcallistair in it

diselpunk opera/new albion radio hour: FUCK yes no notes

atompunk/new albion guide to analouge conciousness: starting to get confusing but pretty damn good once you sit with it for a while

the room beneath new albion: alexander is a bit of a nothing character but his songs perform their intended function extremely well. alice's character & the coal that sings hosanna are highlights of the series as a whole.

weird west cabaret: extremely interesting conceptually, best in the ballad of lost hallow series. ending WILL leave you legitimately lightheaded

happy funtime carnival: lore that recontextualizes the original new albion series in a really cool way. worth it for that alone, even if the lore is starting to get real messy

gabriella gadfly+: yeah i have no idea what's going on anymore /neg

#paul shapera #shaperaverse

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acecroft · 1 year

Photo

Noir

#gamingedit #spidermanedit #peter parker #spider-man #spider-man game #marvel's spider-man #noir #diselpunk #virtual photography #myps5shots #vg #myedits #usermichi #dailygaming #gamingnetwork #really loved that look

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jazz-dude · 7 months

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What men really want

#jazz-dude #plane #vehicle #scifi art #diselpunk #?

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atomarium · 3 months

Note

Love how quantum computers have a steampunk esque aesthetic.

It looks like the generator from frostpunk.

Yep

The more complex and detailed the better

I'm just a fan of diselpunk or hard sci-fi tho

Steam punk is like at the edge of that's I like

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my-little-girlboss · 2 years

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Airships & Arcana: A Dieselpunk Campaign for the World's Greatest Roleplaying Game

SYSTEM: Homebrew DnD 5e PLATFORM: Discord DATE/TIMES: Play by Post PARTY SIZE: 4 or 5 players would be ideal

In the grim past of the 20th century, there is only war.

Two decades ago, the Empire of Germania won the Weltkrieg, the Great War, since then revolutions and social upheaval have rocked the world as we knew it; advanced technology such as airships and gigantic mecha and ancient powers of magic rediscovered have changed the face of life and war forever. Now, we stand at the precipice, anticipating what will set off the next Weltkrieg and drag the world into war once more…

Weird War

By homebrewing DnD 5e and combining it with the lore featured in the Kaiserreich universe (though altered a bit) along with other dieselpunk shenanigans, I hope to have an explosive sandbox to play in. This will be an extremely player driven game with the GM mostly just reacting to the players' actions and using the grander world to highlight the personal stories of the PC's. I'd rate it as a PG-13 to R, it's a war story.

If you're interested, please DM with the following information

Name: (First or just nickname is fine)

Pronouns:

Age: (I'm an adult that just wants to game with other adults, sorry)

Experience with DnD/TTRPG's:

Favorite Class or Subclass:

Favorite piece of Diselpunk / alt-history media:

Favorite color:

#dnd #d&d #dungeons & dragons #dungeons and dragons #5e #fifth edition #pbp #play by post #campaign #ttrpg #rpg #dieselpunk #weird war #science fantasy

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gizzardscrolls · 11 months

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God of Machines: Wayland's journal

Chapter 3: Left in the Dark

“Now that they have thoroughly ruined the entertainment, the last group gets number 2. You are free to go. No catch, go back in with the fold and mingle or whatever you folks do.”

They look just as shocked as I do even with blindfolds on. After that display who the fuck knows what’s going to happen to these people. He continues onto the singular man.

“This is for the guards, not the prisoners but I wish for you all to see it as well. This man had damaged the cultist on the transport here. Costing me 4 silver taels in the health potion alone, due to his recklessness, I have decided to take his gear and let him loose in the mountain ranges. Prisoners and guards come closer to the fence”

Some other guards bring out a ladder. We are all corralled up to the front. Oswald looks like a walking corpse already. The former guard after climbing up the ladder is told to jump from the 15-foot fence. He hit the ground with a loud thud. He gets up and starts limping. Matthais, clearly bored, fires a shot from his handgun at his feet.

“Go on, run! Make this fun for us!”

The man starts panicking and goes as fast as he can with the fractured leg.

“No one looks away from this, I took time out of the work day for this show!”

a few more seconds pass before he speaks again “Does anyone find this cruel?”

Oswald mumbled, “I do.”

Matthais heard that, but instead of getting mad, he seems kinda happy. “I agree Oswald,”

he then pulls out a radio from the inside of his coat. “ Tower, come in.”

The man on the other side simply said “Roger that”

. Matthais was pleased by the guard in the tower knowing his orders without question. I heard a loud thump, I turned around and saw the missile’s launch sequence. The round container it was in launched all at once with a wind crystal. The container splits into three pieces and falls off almost as fast as you see the missile launch. The actual payload activates, fire comes out from the bottom and it goes straight into the sky, presumably while it loads the coordinates. A few more seconds pass when I turn back almost instantly, it comes from the sky as if the machine god Jaena themself killed him. I feel a tiny spec of blood hit my cheek. Nothing but silence from the crowd.

Matthais asks, “Everyone please have a good night, and remember the old and weak will die.”

I don't know how having a good night would be possible for any of us.

As the prisoners all clear out, Oswald says to me “Alice can help you from here, she’s been here longer than any of us except for the warden. I'm supposed to show you around more sir, but I'm just.”

He stops talking and walk’s away, can't say I blame him. I make my way across the courtyard to the only other person in the room. Alice, Her jumpsuit doesn’t have sleeves, she has long red hair and freckles all along her arms leading slightly up her neck covered in rune scars and then some freckles on the bridge of her nose. She looks up at me as if seeing a lifelong friend and break’s into a mile-wide smile despite the last 5 minutes

“Hey, Wayland.”

I’m pretty sure I’d recognize her since she knows my name. I know she’s not a past client.

“Haha, real fucking funny. Who are you?”

The runes on her throat start to glow, her voice suddenly gets many times deeper “How’s Cobblepot doing?”

sighing I say “Fucking Wellerman.”

Wellerman was a mysterious mechanic that lived in our town for a few years, they never said much, and completely covered themselves head to toe in a black robe but were always helpful when working on cars. She basically kept our convoys afloat before the town’s decline. I was the only person to really talk to her, I think. I was always telling her about my jobs and hunts, it’s kinda embarrassing to know I was showing my battle scars to a woman

“You should speak with a better tone. how’s that any way to treat a girl as cute as me” she chimed in, back into her normal voice.

Sorry for being cautious after being thrown into a prison run by a lunatic. “Sorry, what the hell are you doing here?”

She looks at me like I just had a brain hemorrhage. I know why she’s here. “So I'm supposed to show you around a little more, according to that kid from earlier.”

she wraps her arm around my neck and bring’s my head down to hers. “We’re going to bust out in a few weeks' time. Your strength is gonna help us stay out unlike the ones today.”

“And how do you propose that we do that Wellerman?”

She pouts “You have a proper name for me, use it.”

Demanding. I might be happier to see someone I vaguely knew if I actually did vaguely know her. Who’s to say Alice is her real name? She seems to have a few screws loose, but to be fair, she left the village about 4 years ago and never came back, I assume she’s been here since. She led me through the hallway the fire caster came from. The ceiling was curved and the walls were cinder blocks and chain link fencing. The ground in this section was just packed together with sand better than the gravel of the courtyard. Well for me anyway because I still don't have my nice fucking boots.

“This is the residential area, we all sleep here, guards, doctors, captives.”

She pulls my head down again. “Except for the warden and the caster, they sleep underneath the camp. In the tunnel system that splits off from the mine. There are rumors that he has a machine guarding the entrance from the mines”

This is going to be a headache. The offspring of jaena the unfeeling cold machines that predate man. They like to pretend to be human and attempt to live among us, most of the ones who attempt to integrate with humans pretend to feel pain or other emotions. Maybe they can feel some but there are no souls in their sensors. Alice let go of my head and kept leading me down the halls. The ground shifted from the packed sand to rough concrete, probably part of a renovation to move carts easier.

“This is the dumping zone for the carts, from what the last group gathered the dump leads very close to the garage.”

Puzzled, I asked, “Why didn't you go with the last group when they broke out?”

She responded pretty fast “Keep your voice down.”

she pulled my head down to her yet again “I'm not talking in your ear for no reason dumbass, We can’t really go anywhere with the warden still around. The Reavers will relay information to each other. We take care of Matthais, they won't report us as gone. The last group wouldn’t listen to my advice.”

The intercom crackled with the familiar voice of Reed. “Tomorrow will be a hard work day, for your sake and mine, mostly yours. Please do not get injured. We are low on supplies, You will clear the abandoned shaft. Please do not fire at guards with loaned weapons. we don’t want a repeat of today.”

Alice lets out a heavy sigh, which is my thing to do. “We gotta kill the pests in the mine tomorrow, have you ever been in a mine wayland?”

“Of course. Are we dealing with overgrown spiders or Nidskr?”

She chuckled. “I have no idea, probably both. Here catch”

she throws me a key with a tag reading R-083 on it, “This the room key Alice?”

“Yeah, you remember your way to the room right?”

“Why do we get our own keys, that’s not like any prison I've been a part of,” I ask.

she responds simply “You've already seen what happens to people who aren't where they’re supposed to be when they need to be. Be nice to your roommate Wayland.”

she walks away pretty quickly, I start walking around, no intercom has stated a bedtime, and even then I’m alright at sneaking around if I stay out too long. I see Reed talking to an inmate, the inmate is a fairly large well built man, he’s wearing the normal pants of the jumpsuit but a tank top instead of it being zipped up all the way, it looks torn up.

“Hey new guy, I don't bite, promise!”

He doesn’t seem like a bad actor, so I go over to the two of them.

Reed opens up with “Don’t let big man scare you, he’s just as nice as big bear”

the other guy introduces himself. “The name’s Brad, I saw you walking with Alice earlier, most I've seen her talk. ‘Cept for the last uh, group.”

he whispers, “We’re all in on the plan. Even Reed over there, we’re going to make it this time. If you’re as strong as she said. You’ll probably figure it out tomorrow but Alice made you sound like a legend, for our sake please live up”

Reed added “Hey kid, if fail. Don’t feel bad. We tried, no? Like say in Carn, better to die man than live like dog”

Shit if that ain't the truth.

“Well guys I'm going to my room, I don’t know what you heard but I'm just a man, same as you.”

Brad laughs “Humble, are we? Well good luck tomorrow, hopefully we get in the same group.”

he slaps me on the back as I walk past, I can’t say I dislike them but I fear they expect more out of me than I can actually give. I get lost in the hallway and wander back to the two still talking.

Reed sees me and starts laughing, Brad joins in too. “Lost one! I go with you to find your way.”

Reed leads me down the same hallway, I swear it’s the same route I went but we actually go down the hallway leading to rooms 70-90 the floor’s back to packed sand here.

Reed breaks the silence “What do you call a flat tail that’s mad? A brat tail!”

his own shitty joke sends him into the greatest fit of laughter. A happy man despite being probably under the same threat of execution as the rest of us, he keeps making similar jokes the entire way down until we get to R-83.

“Okay Reed, thank you for the directions. I’ll pay you back somehow.”

He simply smiles waves goodbye then is gone as soon as I blink. I unlocked the door with the key Alice gave me. Inside the room is actually better than I thought, there is carpet on the floor, a bunk bed on the right side, a desk on the left, and on the back is almost a bathroom, with that same concrete floor as the nicer parts of here. On the right side is a sink and on the left is a shower with a closed door. Someone’s in it, my roommate I imagine. The top bunk look’s untouched but the bottom appears to have been slept in recently. So I take the jumpsuit off and get on the top bunk, whoever is my roommate I hope isn't mad about me taking the top bunk. I hear the shower turn off and the door open.

I turn and say “Hey sorry but I'm taking the top b-”

Well, it turns out the rooms are not separated as I see Alice. I instantly roll over praying to Jaena, I don't end up with my eyes ripped out. Alice starts laughing, not in a nervous or flirty way but in a laughing at seeing someone fall on their ass kind of way

“I'm glad I didn't say anything when I threw you the keys. Your reaction is priceless. Never been in a girl’s room before?”

She gets in the bottom bed. “After all, you were always telling me, or should I say Wellerman? About how the girls in the village broke your heart”

Cheap shot, it’s not like I knew you weren’t a 50-year-old man. “Fuck you, Alice.”

Poor choice of words unfortunately as she responded with “Keep wishing Wayland.”

The lights go out automatically around 9pm, and with the light’s going out, my lights too went out exhausted from the beating in the forest and what I saw in the courtyard today

The intercom cracks itself and I came to life at the start of the morning. Instead of Reed’s calming voice, it was Mattihais, “I hope everyone is prepared for a productive day, as our old friends have finally returned. I've decided to open up another abandoned mineshaft. Meet in the courtyard in 5 minutes"

I sit up fully awake after that last statement, looking over to the ladder I see the bright green eyes of Alice staring at me.

“Uh, good morning?”

She just smiles at me and then jumps off the ladder. She throws the jumpsuit at me.

“You sleep silently. I thought you were dead.”

I respond simply “It’s a skill you learn out there, either you do or you die. Is that why you’re so happy to see me?”

Alice just keeps smiling, “Good to see an old friend.”

I slide the jumpsuit back on. It’s not as comforting to me as armor but for general wear it's serviceable. Leading back to the courtyard, on the stage is the warden.

“Good evening, as you can see we skipped breakfast today, due to the dangerous nature of today's work, we will only make enough for those who survive. You will be provided weapons and ammo before you go in, we will provide armor for those who take the initiative and go in first, due to the small nature of the mines, we can’t send you all in at once please make groups of three and one guard.”

Over near the pit in the center, I see Alice, Brad, and Oswald. Brad waves me over, Oswald still looks sick. Alice look’s same as ever. Oswald leads us to the guns

“Since Alice volunteers you guys to go in first you get some armor, and first grabs on the weapons.”

He mumbled fuck under his breath. I take it he thinks he’s going to die today. I look at my hands now, the flesh fully healed from my brief stint, it still hurts when I breathe, however. I decided to take a spear so I don't have to fight anything up close, and for firearms, I take this large automatic belt-fed 8 gauge shotgun. I have no idea what madman in the base cooked this thing up but it looks useful. Brad grabs a carn mt-lion SMG from the war days. Its mag is in the stock and goes in the top the bullet’s eject out of the bottom it has a small profile but seems useful. He also grabs a shield and a mace for melee combat. Alice brings along a breznov and a dagger. Oswald has a Carn standard rifle, a midsized rifle with a carrying handle on top, wood stock, and foregrip. The armor is just leftovers from the war. Bargain bin shit for beginner hunters but it’s better than getting your lungs blown out with the exception of the armor from the transport guard. Full heavy carn armor from the war. I immediately start putting it on, thank Jaena that guard beat the cultist. Starting with the thick jumpsuit-like base that has armor plating on its arms and throughout its legs, I put on the equally thick boots. It has two spikes on the steel plate above the toes, and the dense segmented chest plate covers are so thick, I'm virtually immortal. I finally put on that reflective dome helmet. It's weird how empty the inside is; it doesn't obstruct my field of vision at all. No wonder Carn won, I look over at Brad and Alice. Brad’s armor still leaves his arms past his shoulders exposed but I guess it’s more coverage than his usual attire. Alice’s armor cover’s her fully; she has a padded leather undersuit, a normal Kevlar vest, elbow and knee pads, and a full helmet.

“Come on snake eyes, let’s go” She taunts me with the nickname the hunters guild gave me

“So where's the entrance?” I ask over the speakers inside the suit.

Brad says “In the pit, there’s an entrance.”

“Wait, the one they threw that cultist in?” I asked.

Oswald responds with “Yeah they didn’t bother cleaning it out beyond what Roderick burned.”

We climbed down a ladder placed where the spikes used to be before the flame pillar. We walk across the pit, and upon closer inspection, I see much more ashes and bones than those poor souls could have left. This is not the first time they’ve done that. I see the unmistakable bones of the cultist, starting to crystalize with the raw mana that was going through it, what an unsightly being even in death. Its skull at least shows it was once a human, I step on the skull of the cultist crushing it into pieces under my heavy boot.

“Let’s roll everyone,” Brad says, taking the lead into the gaping maw of darkness.

The first 5-10 minutes of walking is fine, silent but fine. After about 20 minutes we finally end up at the blocked-off tunnel. I bash the wooden barricade down just fine, It only takes a few more minutes before we encounter the first few nidskr. Big scally beast’s the size of an older child, they eat minerals and magic crystals, but are very territorial and routinely fight humans. The first one lets loose a hiss, it raises its long neck upwards, I stab it in the throat with my spear. Nidskr aren’t difficult by themselves, but what you have to really look out for are the ones that breathe fire, or worse acid. This one has no markings and is a standard gray one.

Oswald says “Thank god it’s not one of the acid ones, I saw one melt a guy’s face off one time.”

Alice probably doesn't like being jinxed and says to him “Hey Os, if you don't shut up right now, I'm using you as a meat shield first one we see.”

Oswald straightens his back up “Sorry ma’am I didn't mean to curse us”

After a few moments of silence, he starts talking again. “Do you guys believe in the legion?”

This piques Brad’s interest “What, the boogiemen demons that take corpses and turns em into more legion?”

Oswald nods as Brad keeps talking “No way they’re real, people say that venir used to be these small nice things called deer. And that vatador never existed either, you really think some demons out there are playing god?”

“Better than thinking Jaena abandoned us” I add.

Brad seems to disagree. “How’s that not saying Jaena abandoned us? That the demons just walk around?”

Alice seems uninterested in the conversation. “The demons came through from out of this world. How would Jaena have control over that? Now if Jaena placed the venir themself then I’d say Jaena did.”

Brad just says “Mmm” and that was the end of that conversation, we keep walking through the abandoned tunnels and don't seem to find anything.

“Guys, why do you think this tunnel is shut off?” Brad asks us.

Oswald replies “It’s marked off the map, we have no idea what’s down here and didn't want to risk it until now.”

Alice states rather sharply “Who’s we? I didn't agree to be here.”

Well, she’s not wrong. We continue in silence after that. The minecart track suddenly disappeared for a few steps then we saw train tracks.

Brad stunned said, “Here be dragons”

The dragons of the old west, trains. Before Jaena gave us automobiles, they gave us trains. Their horn was a roar and the smoke they produced gave them the name of dragons. At least according to the few machines left who were around at the time. Trains were mostly hidden away and rare to be seen. Left in the dark ages back when the mystic races were still around, the machines refuse to talk about the mystic races. The first car we enter appears to be a workshop on the table, a spearhead more like a trident. There are no magic crystals but rather just raw mana in the blade itself, the rest go on a head but I decided to keep it to see what could be done with it. After about 20 minutes of work, it’s done and they’ve completely explored the dragon. The train goes over a ravine and we can use it as a makeshift bridge, I go out to look from the vantage point of the dragon’s car, the cave is a beautiful place lit by fluorescent fungi with a pit of water underneath there is a single stone path, and in the center is a large structure, a design I have never seen before, it appears to be a massive castle of smoothed stone. Up the smooth pillars that rise from the water-filled bottom, are runes or perhaps letters I have never seen before, the rest of the group behind me says we should go back for reinforcements, and as I turn back to go and join them the train car we’re in start’s to slip, naturally I'm in the heaviest armor, it starts to slip more, brad reaches out and I grab his hand. The car falls. It hit the ground with a heavy thud throwing me off my feet. Brad and I are stuck down here. The car’s not so far that we couldn’t get up with some equipment. Alice and Oswald are up above us.

Oswald calls out to us “Sir are you alive?”

Brad replies first “Yeah kid we’re alive, go back and get a ladder and maybe some more people. Pff Shit just try and get Reed at least so we can explore deeper. Kid these are relics from the dark age, I'm seeing them even if Matthias tortures my ass”

I ask “Hey Os, Alice! You guys okay?”

Os said, “Yeah I'm fine I was almost out of the car anyway when it fell.”

Alice, clearly injured in her voice, said “I'll manage, I think I just fractured my arm. Worst case they put me back in the mechanic’s again. Luckily I'm worth enough to keep around even when injured.”

I tell her “Don't go missing on us again Alice!”

Alice I think slightly happier said thanks then they left.

Brad is still inspecting the train car. “Do you know how fucking big this is Wayland? The elves and dwarves. We can find out more about the progenitors of humanity”

My reply was very simple. “If it mattered they’d still be here. I can theorize all I want but if there’s no way to understand a single damn thing they wrote, then who cares?”

He didn't seem as bothered by my comments. “No Wayland, someone out there has the answers. I'm sure we can find something in there.”

Brad points to the large structure across the stone bridge, a foreboding mass of stone stretching all the way to the water at the bottom, it’s thicker at the base and thins as it goes to the top leaving a slanted appearance in its rectangular design. I can see flag’s from this distance. It looks like a true fort, there is still light on the inside in most rooms. I assume it’s magic crystals, there’s not much to do but wait. Reed and Os come back.

Awe-struck at the sight Reed just says “Where was this hiding?”

“underground probably sir” Os said rather straight forward.

We walk down the stone pathway to the fortress, no one says anything, the door is a large and rotted piece of wood, Mold and holes as if chewed through by rats and other parasites. As I push it open the hinges groan as if to signal its dying breath. The first hallway is a rather extravagant foyer with two large stairways in the center that splinter off, a door directly in front of us, and two door’s on the left and right. Above us hung a chandelier dimly lighting the room with magic crystals. The mana was dissipating slowly over the years, underneath that was a large engraved circle, the runes more common than the ones on the outside, the rest of the floor was a pattern of smooth tiles.

Brad asked reed, “Can you read these runes? Or should we explore more first.”

Reed taking a closer look, “I am shaman does not mean I know every rune. These runes are very old, ancient. From what I can read with a glance it wants some kind of orb. I’ll need to study further.”

“I think we should go have someone stay with Reed while he tries to figure that out” I add.

Brad seems to agree and adds “we should have whoever's staying swap out and rest for each room. There’s no telling what monsters lurk in the dark, since you have the most armor wayland I don't think you’re going to be able to switch out "

Of course it’s me "I was already expecting that, it is my first day after all. Come on Os, let’s go through that center door, I trust Brad and Reed have the entrance.”

Os seemed a little frightened but I just assume that’s his state of mind. Opening the door in the middle we’re greeted with the very faint flow of wind and light water droplets as if it was raining. It's a bridge that connects to another door. At the end this bridge has a nice arch to it and pillar’s connecting the guard rail to the top. Looking up I see this is probably the midpoint of the fort, the upper part a massive room glowing orange that emanates magic, it seems to connect to the top of the mountain.

Interrupting the tranquil scenery Os says. “Sir watch your step, the bridge seems to have chunks fallen out.”

I see what he means up ahead there’s a large chunk of missing stone you can see the faintly blue glowing water at the bottom, i can’t quite make out what the chunk of stone landed on but it seems to be a tunnel, onward we continued to the door on the other side, smooth steel with no handle or markings completely smooth. I figure using berserk to bust this door down would be a waste of time, we make our way back to the center.

Brad asked “why are you guy’s back so soon?”

I told him “Door’s locked and has no way to open.”

Reed looked up and said. “Mmm, strange runes and contraptions underground. I think this is ruin of dwarves.”

I said “the bridge gave us a good view, this place is much larger than we first thought.”

Os and I both decided to go to the door that was on our left when we entered, a long spiral staircase folding into itself down to the pitch black below. The stairs leading upwards had all cracked away, with no choice we decided to descend into the darkness. As we walked down the stairs the light slowly started to bleed away, the faint orange of the outdated fire crystal lantern’s above stopped giving off enough light to see about halfway down. I turned on the flashlight mounted on the suit mounted next to the speakers, the pale light bleached the colors from the wall making the stone gray look more ashen. There was water down at the bottom of the stairs reflecting the light back at us as we made our final steps. Not taking the risk of there being no final step and falling I jumped into the water that had been still for who knows how long, thankfully the undersuit for the armor is mostly water proof. The water went up to my thighs. At the bottom there’s a hallway that leads to the direction the bridge was going.

“Hey Os!”

he went into the water more carefully then i, slowly sinking his feet in.

“Yes sir?”

I sigh “Stop calling me that i'm older than you, the name’s Wayland. I assume this water got in here somehow, this suit has maybe a minute of oxygen in it when I shut the air vent’s so if we get somewhere we have to go underwater you have to go back.”

He just nodded. We go through the hallway, untouched by anything for who knows how long? I can see the piece of the bridge from earlier i can hear water trickling in slowly, this section is almost above the water so i assume that’s why it’s only thigh deep, i pull at the section of bridge that’s in the hallway and pull loose some rotted chunks of stone enough for me to move it into a better position, i jam the blade of my spear in between the wall and the chunk of bridge, i lift it up enough for us to crawl through. I prop the spear up using the wooden shaft, After Os goes in, I crawl in after on my knees, the water is up to my shoulders. I look up and through the chunk of bridge that’s out I see the cave walls yet again. How was this place hidden for so long? I stand up on the other side, there are stairs that lead above the water and into a doorway on the other end look’s to be the remnants of a moon pool. It uses water and air pressure to have an exit to the body of water that’s inside it without the water getting in. Looking around more it seems this moon pool was used as a sort of bath house for the dwarves. There’s towels and clothes around but no corpses, The pool in the center glowing blue with plenty of the fluorescent mushrooms below. there’s a much shorter straight staircase case in front of us, climbing up it I can feel the water draining out of the spare ammo boxes for my shotgun. Stepping up the wooden stairs I can feel them creak beneath my weight, at the top is what appears to be a locker room, instead of normal metal locker’s these were intricate safes with number codes required to open them. The exit of the room was a metal ladder, the safes that were open didn't have much in them, some gold trinket’s and magic crystals that were already halfway bled out. There was a messenger bag on one of the many bench’s in the room, i put it over my shoulder and put the spearhead from earlier in so i no longer had to carry it, i threw in all the magic crystal’s i could carry, Os just seemed content with a few ring’s he found. After all, the dead can't use any of this so we might as well. I cared more for the practical items but every kid wants to be rich. I only found a few useful magic crystals. They were all nearly empty but a few lightning one’s still had charge in them.

While climbing up the ladder Os asked me “Wayland, what do you think happened to the dwarves?”

An interesting question to say the least.

“Well Os I think an entire race disappearing over a few dozen years would be a pretty hard thing to do. So my theories are, the legion is real and dismantled them turning them into some foul beast. Or the only other and more likely answer, Jaena is the only being powerful enough to wipe out an entire race.”

Os was thinking pretty hard about my answer as he said. “If Jaena created life then why would he take it away.”

“I don't know Os, I don't know.”

Opening the trap door at the top of the ladder we are binded with a bright light and a room with a heat like the sun. Once my eyes are adjusted I realize this must have been the large room we saw above us on the bridge. Its ceiling leads up higher than I can even see, with weapons and armor all around us, before the time of gun’s this armor would have been the best money could buy, all the equipment around us has a faint feeling of mana, but the most would be in the forge itself. A substance I could only call raw fire magic. In a large basin above which hung a metal shaft. There was a swirling pool of fire mana so dense even through the suit I could feel pins and needles throughout my skin. Opposite of it was two large chains and an intricate mural behind them. Os starts to cough pretty bad, with the armor he’s wearing he’ll be getting magic sickness in no time

“Os we gotta get out of here fast, if you don't want to start puking up blood for the next two weeks”

He just said okay weakly, i start to look around the room. I see a button in front of the forge, Above the long shaft of what appears to be a spear, i take out the spearhead to inspect them closer together when the shaft starts to vibrate, i can feel the spear head in my hand shake violently, i let go and it flings itself into the pit of magic. I press the button in front of me figuring no harm can be done at this point. The shaft drops into the pit as well. I can feel the mana concentrate on the spear and I no longer feel the mana on my skin. Taking this as our opportunity to leave, I check the other side of the room. I see stairs but the bottom few are broken. Enough to the point where I can lift Oswald over but I won't be able to get up myself. At the end of the stairway there is a ledge overlooking the forge and the two large chains between it, there’s a door up there I figure he can leave from. I figure that won't be locked, so I pick Os up and throw him onto the stairs.

“Ow, what'd you do that for?” I can hear it in his voice a few more minutes in here and he’d be out for about a month if not longer.

“Go through that door up there, i'll be with you as soon as i can.”

The kids scared or much better of a person then I thought “I'm not going alone sir!”

I reassured him as best as I could, “I'll live kid, just go”

he shambles his way up the stairs coughing every few steps, I start to pull on the chain closest to me. I can move it but not by much. This is the best time to use berserk. I pull the chain up and it does nothing. Using my increased strength I throw it down as hard as I can. It only moves a few links at a time but I hear gears turning. After about 30 seconds of doing this the mural start’s to split open as it appears to have been hiding a giant gate. Suddenly I hear a loud growl as if an ancient evil had awoken. A few seconds later I hear quick steps, heavy enough to move mountains. When i think it’s over i hear a howl so loud it shakes my vision, and with it the gate blasts open snapping both the chain i was holding onto and the chain opposite sending me off my feet and a few feet back, in front of me is the unmistakable yellow, rocky flesh,of a vatador. Its giant 5 eye’s stare at me with rage, it raises its two large shield-like front arms, it stands on its hind legs and lets loose one more howl with its sunken in mouth, this one declaring war.

“Watch out!” Os yells out.

Thanks for the warning I had no clue this thing was coming. I lift up my shotgun and fire off into it, The front arm’s hard as stone take very little damage as if i just shot a man with a slingshot rather than a automatic shotgun that blows through cars, the high cyclical rate of the shotgun and the large cartridge makes the recoil hard to control, my fire goes up its left leg and hits the unguarded center eye as it charges forwards. It roars in anger swinging its left leg wildly and missing me by a hair as I leap out of the way. It raises its right leg and thrusts it in the ground attempting to skewer me and instead breaking a hole through the floor, I use this to my advantage as it won't be able to move for a while. I run underneath the vatador and lift up the shotgun again and let loose this time on its softer belly. I fire the rest of the ammo belt into its stomach this time to much greater effect. It can hit me with its left arm because I'm hiding underneath its right arm trapped in the floor. Before I can finish reloading it rips its arm from the floor bringing with it many stone brick’s, the room can’t handle this fight for much longer being suspended above nothing but the water. The vatador slams its arm into me throwing me across the room and right next to my helmet cracking against the stone basin the forge no longer overflowing with mana. It takes a few steps closer before the ground collapses and with it the room that overhung the water. Luckily the vatador fell first, i see it flailing through the air, it hits a stalagmite impaling it through the chest, then the forge basin no longer glowing slam’s into its head. If it wasn't dead before it’s dead now. I hit the arm and bounced off falling into the dark below.

#creative writing #long post #long reads #diselpunk #fantasy #gore trigger warning #dark fantasy #webnovel

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