The two guards watched the group gather the gear and nodded as they saw them reach a conclusion. The terse guard motioned for the five to follow him as he moved down the right pathway, not looking back to see if they're following him.
The other guard nodded at Marion.
"This way to the outskirts Ma'am." The guard followed Marion down the central corridor.
[I'll be splitting up the update into two sections, one for the five heading towards the commerce district and the sixth towards the outskirts.]
[Commerce District]The guard was silent for almost the very whole of the trip, simply staring ahead as the group passed light after light in the long hallway that soon slanted upwards. The silence seemed oppressive, the group accompanied with no noise beyond that of the occasional creak of settling steel and the omnipresent hum of the ship's breathing.
After a while however the guard finally stopped, as the end of the hall was in sight. An almost impossibly large steel door with an even thicker frame stood at the end of the hall, daring any to step forward and to challenge it for entry. On the left side of the hall there was a more humble door that the guard moved towards. "Commercial district ahead. Remember your objectives. Don't die." The man intoned in his monotonous voice as he closed the door behind him.
After a short minute there was a loud hiss that came from the overbearing steel portal. Visible steam erupted from vents along its frame as the door shifted slightly with a loud creak, before sliding inwards very so slowly, inch by inch. The cacophony loud, it was monstrous, deafening even, a standing retort against those who've managed to find the key from the door. Eventually the door finally stopped, then shot downward quickly into the ground with a loud clang. What lay behind the door was simply a smaller room and another door much alike to the one that just opened.
Silence again. A voice crackled into thin air from around the group, it was the guard's voice. "Inside the decontamination room." With a click the voice was gone and the silence resumed.
[I'm just going to push you guys ahead here, seeing as I'm pretty sure 'walk into decontamination room' is assumed. If you had any questions/comments you wished to ask/say before heading in, I'll just retcon them in.]
As the group entered the room the door swung upwards again, catching onto a heavy latch onto the ceiling and started to slide inwards. Surprisingly it was much quieter in here, less a metallic screech of rage as before and more just a loud scratching noise as the door slowly shuffled into place. With a loud, final click the door shut and hissed again. Before silence could take up its crown again and reign once more, the door ahead of you shuddered and started its slow march backwards making only a little more noise than the previous door closing.
When it stopped however there was a loud clang. Then several clangs quickly ensued from top to bottom of the door until the final one resounded. The door finally opened to the outside.
And the room was flooded with a bright light so intense that it would be difficult for most to see, much less bear the invasive brightness that so suddenly replaced the dim gloom of the bunker. Slowly your eyes adjusted and you could see outside and saw that it was day. Large buildings scrapped the sky, frames of steel and glass that stretched upwards further and further into the sky, a good number of the windows cracked or shattered. A short distance from the door were a set of stairs that led into a sidewalk that was covered with refuse of all kinds, old pieces of paper, cans, broken glass, there was even a chunk of concrete although where it came from isn't present. A short walk from that a large road with multiple lanes, cars littered the road making it appear utterly congested, many of the sleek colored frames covered with a thick layer of dust, most of them broken in some way or form.
Before you could investigate any further however a notification appeared from the upper left corner of your view, the previously initializing map blinked and flickered before finally saying 'initialized' in its bright electric blue color. It wormed its way into your main view showing a very large picture of a ship before zooming in almost nauseatingly quickly until you got a picture of a street with a small concrete building amongst several huge monolithic buildings. There was a small dot that flashed on the screen in the building with small words 'you are here' appearing above them with four other dots flashing alongside it.
It didn't stop there though, soon it zoomed out a bit showing a portion of the city that you're in, and suddenly hundreds and hundreds of nodes showed up, thousands maybe, each vying for your attention as words covered your sight until you almost couldn't see anymore, occasionally a voice yammering in your ear about this deal or that sell or this discount or some other form of advertisement. Then as soon as they were there they all disappeared before a small text boxed showed up with a prompt inquiring of you. 'What is your destination?' It softly blinked awaiting input, an iconic minimize and exit button just below the text box.
What do you do?
[Outskirts]The guard walked beside his envoy, looking ahead as they traveled forward and soon upward. "We haven't actually seen anything outside before today, the big heads made their guesses though. They think the ship was attacked you see, because of the hull breaches in maintenance and so such, you know the parts closer to the hull. You'll know out of the best of us though as the outskirts is the closest to maintenance." The soldier cheerfully commented as he walked along.
"I can't help but wonder how things are out there, do you think it was an attack? A virus? Asteroid impact? I bet it's--OH, there's the door!" The guard raced ahead as you see the towering door. A large steel contraption that takes up the whole of the wall taunting any who might seek to go past it, unbelievably huge and with a frame even thicker than that. The guard opened a smaller, more humble door off to the left hand side of the passage, pausing as he was about to pass its threshold. "I'd cover your ears, I hear this door makes an unholy hell of a racket." The man commented before closing the door behind him.
Almost a minute passed with nothing however, no loud noise nor guard coming back from the room. Just a second more however there was a loud crackle. "Oh dammit, that's not the right butt--" The guard's voice, seems he activated the comm. Another second later however any thought was drowned out by a very loud hiss that radiated from the door, a stream of steam escaping its confines within the frame from vent flaps that clinked open as the giant steel portal shuddered.
A mighty metallic roar issued forth from the door drowning out all other noise as it slowly slid backwards into its frame, a final challenge to whoever dares pass its threshold, creeping forth inch by inch, meter by meter until finally it stuttered to a halt and paused. Then there was a loud clang as it smashed into the ground resolutely. And then, silence. What lay beyond the giant door was simply a small unadorned room with a similar door beyond it.
Another crackle as the guard's voice appeared again from the air. "This thing work--Ah, it is. Alright, hopefully I didn't deafen you with the door, I heard that damn thing from in here. Anyway, just enter the decontamination room and I'll shut the door behind you and let you out. This place wasn't built without being careful, huh? Best of luck Ma'am!"
[I'm just going to push you ahead here, seeing as I'm pretty sure 'walk into decontamination room' is assumed. If you had any questions/comments you wished to ask/say before heading in, I'll just retcon them in.]
As you entered the room the heavy steel door flung itself upwards, catching onto a heavy latch attached to the ceiling and slide inwards. It was thankfully quieter in here than outside however, less of an eardrum shattering cacophony of steel rage as before, more just as a still-relatively-loud prolonged scratch as the door slowly moved until it was closed. With a loud, final clink the door declared itself closed and hissed once again. Before silence could invade however, the door ahead of you shuddered and started its slow march backwards towards you, sadly louder than the previous door closing but at least not as loud as it opening.
When it stopped however there was a very loud clank as if a latch was moved swiftly aside. Then several other clanks quickly followed, making a path from top to bottom until the final one resounded loudly and clearly. The door finally opened to the outside.
Eye burning light flooded in swiftly taking claim of this realm of dim light and darkness, showing all its majesty and luminosity. Few could see anything in this kind of bright light, much less withstand it with their eyes open against this, but slowly however your eyes adjusted to see that it was day. Relatively large buildings stretched out before you looking like they've seen many better days with many windows shattered and the steel and stone framing of the homes looking old, rusted, and chipped as if no one has even so much as looked at them for a good while. Directly outside of the door way was a small set of stairs that led into a sidewalk that was completely littered with all sorts of garbage and trash, scraps of paper and plastic, there was even a traffic sign that was somehow rooted from its standing and laid on the ground defeated, removed from its post.
Before you could investigate any further however a notification appeared from the upper left corner of your view, the previously initializing map blinked and flickered before finally saying 'initialized' in its bright electric blue color. It wormed its way into your main view showing a very large picture of a ship before zooming in almost nauseatingly quickly until you got a picture of a street with a small concrete building amongst several larger buildings. There was a small dot that flashed on the screen in the building with small words 'you are here,' alone.
It didn't stop there though, soon it zoomed out a bit showing a portion of the city that you're in, and a few nodes appeared, each wishing to display what information they held as words popped up around them. There were motels, hotels, bars, apartments, condominiums, even a few stores, each with their own advertising showing either vacancy, no vacancy, free drinks for women on Fridays, or some sale that might be going on. They soon vanished as quickly as they appeared however and a text box showed up in their place, prompting your attention as sharp blue words appeared in the box. 'What is your destination?' It softly blinked awaiting input, an iconic minimize and exit button just below the text box.
What do you do?
[Ho man this was a huge update. Blerg. Also welcome to Act 1, tell me if I was confusing, hopefully I didn't get any of the two mixed up.]
************
Name: Freddie Firenzo
Gender: Male
Attribute: Inspiration
Short Description: a somewhat small man, balding, wears glasses and possesses a pencil mustache. Covers up encroaching baldness with a clearly stolen trilby and hides rather unimposing physique behind a somewhat oversized pastel blue tuxedo.
Short Biography: despite the rather dire nature of the situation, Freddie is quite glad, all in all, that whatever happened happened. He was in the middle of contemplating suicide when the sirens came, trying to decide upon a good method to carry out a deed. However, evacuation put a stop to that kind of thinking, and Freddie rather appreciates the circumstances due to this. Why, he could make off with an entire tuxedo and hat in the chaos, and nobody noticed. For him, this whole apocalypse thing is kind of a definite improvement, really. Certainly an opportunity to reinvent himself, find some sort of track to get his life onto at last.
Inventory: AFU,
Comm,
HUD,
Metal ClubHealth: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Frogdo Badtirigidon
Gender: Male
Attribute: IRONMAN
Short Description: He's a short dude with curly brown hair, spiky stubble, and heterochromatic eyes - blue and brown.
Short Bio: Maaaaaan, he was a dude who came from the streets, maaaaan, and he was angry and resentful and stuff, maaaaan. He's a survivor because he, like, KNOWS da streetz, maaaaan.
Inventory: AFU,
Comm,
HUD,
Metal ClubHealth: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Randall Steward
Gender: Male
Attribute: Intimidation
Short Description: a short and filthy dark-haired individual. His back is always slightly bended fowards, which gives him the impression of being a hunchback. Actually, he stays like that to remain unseen.
Short Biography: Randall's parents abandoned him when he was but a a kid. He survived in the streets pretty much as a rat, stealing food and hiding. Treated by everybody as scum, he never found a way to integrate into society and kept living with low standards.
Inventory: AFU,
Comm,
HUD,
2 Knives Health: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Inspector Marion Dupont
Gender: Female
Short Bio/Description: A tall, commanding woman, previously an investigator in Ship Enforcement. After the warning sirens she moved in an orderly fashion to the nearest bunker. Her goals are: A. Find out if her daughter is safe. B. Get to the bottom of what's going on.
Attribute: Hammerer
Inventory: AFU,
Comm,
HUD,
Metal ClubHealth: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Harvey
Gender: Male
Attribute: Hammerer
Description: Fairly tall with a lean but muscled body, long black hair and bright blue eyes.
Background: Winging it.
Inventory: AFU,
Comm,
HUD,
2 Knives Health: Nominal
Wounds: None
Name: Samuel Allworthy
Gender: Male
Attribute: Inspiration
Short Description: A tall formally dressed man with a conductor's baton
Short Biography: An orchestra conductor who managed to get to the shelter on the way to a concert.
Inventory: AFU,
Comm,
HUD,
2 Knives Health: Nominal
Wounds: None