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[malkomk]

Welcome to L-space, the Final Frontier...

It is a well-known fact that books exert a far stronger pull on the fabric of spacetime than any other object. (The relevant equation is B=K=P=M=D.) In libraries and bookstores, and in large private collections, spacetime is distorted, which accounts for all the times you've come home with far fewer books than you had in the library, or spent hours in the shelves when you thought you were spending minutes, or got lost between sections.

In the largest libraries, space-time is wrapped and twisted so hard that, in the far corners of the stacks, you can step into L-space. It's a weird place, but it's the glue that holds the infinite multiverse together. And the spacetime outside of the spacetimes, where the Jumpers move between the worlds.

Jumpers are people who have drifted into L-space and gotten hopelessly lost. In the process, they lost their fundamental anchorages to any one reality, and now they drift erratically through the could-haves, should-have-beens, what-ifs, and alternative histories that make up the Infinite Multiverse, slipping in and out of worlds, unrestrained - sadly - by any lack of books or knowledge.

You are one of them. There's only one goal in this game, where the only winning move is not to play...

Survive. For as long as you can.


There are five spots in this RTD, and to get things going smoothly I've pre-defined the characters. The first five people to post actions are automatically assigned one of the characters, according to how appropriate their action is for that character.

I'm also not maintaining a waitlist, since I want to keep this reasonably short. Once your character has died, you're out of the game.

Spoiler: The Characters (click to show/hide)

Rebecca Harmsworth: Steam engineer, comes from W531.443153152. +1 to all rolls to understand or manipulate steam-powered or steam-power-esque devices, or build such devices.
Friddo: Half dwarf, comes from W00919.53133440. +1 to all rolls requiring physical agility or acrobatics.
Lady Angela Vesper Kensing: High-class artist, comes from W4434.44444444. +1 to all rolls for sketching, drawing, seeing and replicating patterns, and so forth.
Darlok: Sorcerer, comes from W00921.5500351. +1 to all rolls requiring understanding of arcane runes, dimensional engineering, planar transportation, and the like. Can perform magic.
Sherry Hawser: Lady sailor, comes from [UNREPRODUCABLE]. +1 to all rolls requiring physical strength.

Turn 0

You're tumbling through L-space. The familiar feeling of vertigo and seasickness is accompanied by the ever-shifting blur of letters, numbers, signs, syllables, strange-shaped, far-off doorways, and distant shadows that, along with the ubiquitous pale tan fog, make up your path between realities.

The tug comes suddenly, letters and syllables blurring into a blue-and-brown whir. You feel yourself yanked towards a frame of truth, feel borders closing down around you, the laws of physics coming into play.

Everything goes bright white, slowly fading down to a scene composed of greys: you're standing on a rock-strewn surface, staring across a vast desert under a black, starry sky with only a few wisps of green. There's no sun that you can see, only seven moons scattered across the sky.

With a jolt, color returns, and you can feel the ground under your feet. Once more, you're able to move your fingers. The gravity is low here, but not nonexistent. You could probably jump twice as high as normal.

Glancing around, you catch sight of a large level area downslope of you. Minute figures move about, and dark green, angular shapes are tied down here and there, or move slowly through the air between two points. As you watch, one of them rises, a flare of red igniting from its rear end, and accelerates rapidly away to dwindle and vanish above the horizon.

NOTE: Only characters who start with magic (Darlok) or acquire it reasonably (magical device, gemstone, food/drink, etc.) are allowed to cast spells or create extraphysical effects. Please post in first-person perspective.

[SeriousConcentrate]

(Interesting concept for an RTD and for assigning characters. ^^^)

I look up and study the stars and moons in an attempt to figure out where, exactly, I am. Failing that, I head towards the shapes to study them.

[Noodlerex]

Gazing around I try to find anything significant in the landscape, and then I head towards it to study it further.

[lawastooshort]

I creep forward as stealthily and as far as possible towards the minute figures, to see if I can work out what or who they are.

[Tiruin]

I muse to myself on how I got here, I looked down to inspect myself for any scratches or bruises, or how I looked like at all. I then gazed outward upon the land, seeing everything as it should be, detailed and beautiful as they should be. It gave me time to think.

If nothing comes to mind, I move downhill to examine those strangelings, while whistling a merry tune.

((Also, this seems very interesting. Never seen an RTD that had pre-defined characters before.))

[Sinpwn]

I inspect myself to see if I am in possession of anything useful, then I make my way to the figures.

[malkomk]

I should mention that the ideas I used for the premise aren't all mine. L-space comes from the wonderfully inventive mind of Terry Pratchet, and the concept of Jumpers from a free RPG of the same name. I simply shoved them together for this RTD.

Spoiler: Characters (click to show/hide)

SeriousConcentrate is playing Darlok, the sorcerer. Congratulations! [You are unwounded and hungry.]
Noodlerex is playing Friddo, the half dwarf. [You are unwounded and thirsty.]
lawastooshort is playing Sherry Hawser, the lady sailor. [You are unwounded and hungry.]
Tiruin is playing Lady Angela Vesper Kenning, the high-class artist. [You are unwounded and hungry.]
Sinpwn is playing Rebecca Harmsworth, the steam engineer. [You are unwounded and hungry.]

Turn 1

I look up and study the stars and moons in an attempt to figure out where, exactly, I am. Failing that, I head towards the shapes to study them.

[clatter] You study the configuration of the stars and moons scattered above you. Being unfamiliar with the country's geography, you aren't able to determine your physical location, but a few quick computations tell you that if this reality has any thaumic energy associated with it, then there should be a medium-level source within less than a mile.

Gazing around I try to find anything significant in the landscape, and then I head towards it to study it further.

[clatter] You catch sight of a very interesting mountain formation beyond the strange camp, and you start down the hill towards it.

I creep forward as stealthily and as far as possible towards the minute figures, to see if I can work out what or who they are.

[clatter] You drop into a crouch and start carefully inching down the slope, but you soon find your way, and your view, blocked by a very large boulder and its very large friends.

I muse to myself on how I got here, I looked down to inspect myself for any scratches or bruises, or how I looked like at all. I then gazed outward upon the land, seeing everything as it should be, detailed and beautiful as they should be. It gave me time to think.

If nothing comes to mind, I move downhill to examine those strangelings, while whistling a merry tune.

[clatter] You feel yourself all over, then drink in the landscape and especially that beautiful mountain formation. Then you start down the hill.

I inspect myself to see if I am in possession of anything useful, then I make my way to the figures.

[clatter] You check your pockets and your tool belt. Yep, your varied collection of mismatched but highly functional engineer's tools is still in evidence. Starting down the hill, you notice Sherry the Sailor frustratedly glaring at a large heap of boulders, and bypass them, giving you an excellent view of the figures and their angular things. [clatter] You see that there seems to be some kind of project going on to one side. Several of the angular flight machines are drifting around a number of boxes of various sizes, tweaking them with manipulators as people on the ground wave their arms and presumably yell commands. The boxes each have about the capacity of a small apartment.


With a loud roaring noise, a dark green vehicle seems to come rocketing out of nowhere, accelerating at speed over the hilltop you materialized on! You get a front-row view of the antennas and other protrusions that rush past a foot over the hilltop.

[Darlok/SConcentrate] Absorbed in your star-viewing, you don't manage to get quite out of the way in time. An antenna slams into your left hand with enough force to break several bones and numb your whole appendage.
[Friddo/Noodlerex] You duck at the roar, covering your head with your arms. Good job! Fortunately, you were already too far down the hill to be in any danger.
[Sherry Hawser/lawastooshort] Hearing the roar, you instinctively fling yourself to one side in a near-instant dodge, albeit an unnecessary one. Unfortunately, you crack your head on one of those boulders, dazing yourself and blurring your vision.
[Lady Angela Vesper Kenning/Tiruin] You duck, overbalance, and fall forwards, breaking your fall with your hands. Your left hand is cut by a sharp rock. The ship roars overhead.
[Rebecca Harmsworth/Sinpwn] You shift your weight to one side at the roar, and a rock slips under your foot! You overbalance, and start tumbling painfully down the hill, fetching up against Sherry's boulders. You're bruised all up and down your body and you have a cut on your nose.

The machine roars away, banking towards the clear area and slowing. It appears to be performing touchdown procedures.

Spoiler: Status after the turn (click to show/hide)

SeriousConcentrate is playing Darlok, the sorcerer. Congratulations! [You are wounded in your left hand, which is unusable and hungry.]
Noodlerex is playing Friddo, the half dwarf. [You are unwounded and thirsty.]
lawastooshort is playing Sherry Hawser, the lady sailor. [You are cracked on the head, dazed and hungry.]
Tiruin is playing Lady Angela Vesper Kenning, the high-class artist. [You are cut on the left hand and hungry.]
Sinpwn is playing Rebecca Harmsworth, the steam engineer. [You are badly bruised with a slight cut and hungry.]

[SeriousConcentrate]

(I knew about L-Space, I just thought it was interesting no one ever thought of basing an RTD around it before. It seems like an obvious good idea in retrospect, but I guess that's always just the way it is. ^^^)

I grit my teeth against the pain in my left hand and try to find the source of Thaumic energy, in hopes of casting a healing spell on myself to cure the wound.

[Sinpwn]

"Ugh, not exactly the best way to start this out."
Follow Angela and Friddo, as they seem to know where they're going.

[Noodlerex]

Continue on towards the high-ground.

[lawastooshort]

I'll also follow Angela and Friddo, hopefully into some kind of cover. They don't seem as immediately hostile as the craft does. I'll also check about my person to see if I have any useful equipment of any kind.

[Tiruin]

((Eep, timezones! Anyway, even if this is still based on something, it is nice that someone made an RTD about it. So it's first person from here on?))

I felt the wound on my left hand, trying to stifle the bleeding by pressure with my right. It didn't hurt much though, other than it hurting in the first place. I looked around, and decided the best course to find where I was was to follow other beings I recognize, or search this area.

Continue towards high-ground, greet the other sentients.

[malkomk]

Turn 2 - low ground, high ground

[[You are on high ground. The figures are on low ground. I'm assuming everyone meant low ground when they said high ground.]]

Spoiler: Character Status (click to show/hide)

SeriousConcentrate is playing Darlok, the sorcerer. Congratulations! [You are wounded in your left hand, which is unusable and hungry.]
Noodlerex is playing Friddo, the half dwarf. [You are unwounded and thirsty.]
lawastooshort is playing Sherry Hawser, the lady sailor. [You are cracked on the head, dazed and hungry.]
Tiruin is playing Lady Angela Vesper Kenning, the high-class artist. [You are cut on the left hand and hungry.]
Sinpwn is playing Rebecca Harmsworth, the steam engineer. [You are badly bruised with a slight cut and hungry.]

I grit my teeth against the pain in my left hand and try to find the source of Thaumic energy, in hopes of casting a healing spell on myself to cure the wound.

[clatter] Grinding your teeth against the pain, you painstakingly draw a standard arcanocurrent detection pattern in the air in front of you. Unfortunately, the aura of thaumic power you've been maintaining (it makes the air around you throw off purple sparks now and then) doesn't catch. You must have made a mistake from all the pain.

"Ugh, not exactly the best way to start this out."
Follow Angela and Friddo, as they seem to know where they're going.

[clatter] You painfully pick yourself up and start around the boulders after the others, leaving Darlok behind on the hill drawing occult signs in the air.

Continue on towards the high-ground.

[clatter] You start down the hill towards the high low ground where the figures are.

I'll also follow Angela and Friddo, hopefully into some kind of cover. They don't seem as immediately hostile as the craft does. I'll also check about my person to see if I have any useful equipment of any kind.

[clatter] You follow the artist and the half dwarf, checking your pockets. You find a spring-loaded steel dagger, a miniature monkey wrench you bought from the Mad Toyshop, and a spool of strong cord.

I felt the wound on my left hand, trying to stifle the bleeding by pressure with my right. It didn't hurt much though, other than it hurting in the first place. I looked around, and decided the best course to find where I was was to follow other beings I recognize, or search this area.

Continue towards high-ground, greet the other sentients.

[clatter] Pressing against the wound in your hand, you are unable to stop a thin trickle of blood from leaking out. Gritting your teeth, you stroll downhill.

As those going down the hill reach the bottom, where the ground levels off, a purple searchlight snaps on from somewhere in the darkness where the scattered lights aren't illuminating the source. It begins slowly sweeping through the 180 degrees opposite from you.

At almost the same time, there is a commotion among the figures, and you hear several high-pitched zapping noises. A figure, only vaguely visible by one of the lights, is fleeing the other figures. He's coming in your direction.

As you're pondering what do do, an eerie flash of violet light near the edge of the cleared area momentarily illuminates a cloaked silhouette.

Spoiler: Character Status after the turn (click to show/hide)

SeriousConcentrate is playing Darlok, the sorcerer. Congratulations! [You are wounded in your left hand, which is unusable and hungry.] Carrying nothing.
Noodlerex is playing Friddo, the half dwarf. [You are unwounded and thirsty.] Carrying a short sword belted to your waist.
lawastooshort is playing Sherry Hawser, the lady sailor. [You are cracked on the head, dazed and hungry.] Carrying a spring-loaded steel dagger, a miniature monkey wrench, and a spool of cord in your pockets.
Tiruin is playing Lady Angela Vesper Kenning, the high-class artist. [You are cut on the left hand and hungry.] Carrying a grease pencil and a bag of cheap popcorn.
Sinpwn is playing Rebecca Harmsworth, the steam engineer. [You are badly bruised with a slight cut and hungry.] Carrying steam engineering equipment.

[SeriousConcentrate]

This figure is none of my business. In fact, it looks like trouble - trouble that I'm ill-equipped to deal with given my broken hand, which is impeding my concentration. I'll try to hide somehow, preferably by turning myself invisible, and watch events unfold until I can make an informed judgement about the proceedings.

[lawastooshort]

I'll search for a ditch or a large boulder to provide cover, veering left if at all possible. Then I hide.