Update: The Silver City
The room quickly becomes chaos as the group all begins to morph at once. Everyone is a mess of eyes and skin and color and clothes as they struggle to figure out just who, and what, they want to be. The first to settle on a form is ((NUKE9.13*)), as she calls herself**. She is a five and a half foot dull green humanoid. High cheekbones, thin eyebrows and pointy ears make for a rather regal looking face, surrounded by shoulder length, almost wavy, black hair. A stretch band pops out of her palm and she ties it back in a ponytail. Last of all, an old grey suit forms around her and she dons a pair of shades over red cat-like eyes. As the last details sink into place she is struck by the knowledge that this is it. There is no turning back from this. She can no longer change. "Hello world" she whispers.
With the first fully formed the rest begin to follow suit, choosing forms of their own. ((NUKE9.13)) watches in amusement as the others struggle. Someone forms into a mousy brown haired girl in a yellow dress. Her friend forms into a dog and seems to immediately regret it, letting out a series of frustrated barks at its inability to change back. A young man in some sort of military uniform forms to her right. "Postman" her mind supplies.
The next interesting form comes from ((Soshoku 234*)) who seems to be getting creative. He starts off forming a turtle shell around his back and torso, but decides to add a bit more over his head like a helmet as well. His arms elongate and split into another pair leaving them rather skinny, but he makes up for it with an extra large mouth. Instead of making clothes, he opts to turn himself dark blue, with deep green colored swirls like some sort of tattoo woven over his skin. He turns to ((NUKE9.13)) with his neathers dangling proudly in front and flashes his cheshire grin. "Hi!" he says enthusiastically. "Do you like it?"
The last of the group are forming now. A completely normal, albeit naked, man forms near the stairs. He informs the dog that he made himself as average as possible so that he could fit in no matter what. The dog sneezes and shakes its head. Another one seems to seize on to ((Sosoku234's) idea of multiple limbs, creating about 6 pairs of ams for itself, and creating a custom suit alongside it. Some sort of emaciated black figure with rows of sharp teeth that no one seems to have seen form is talking with the postman. Someone gets stuck halfway through as his shoulder is still fused to his face, and he lets out a disturbing sort of moan. Seeing this, the group almost starts a panic to check that no-one else is still forming. Only one is though, and you all wait in nervous silence as he ripples and features begin to appear. First is color, peachy skin with a slight tan. Sandy brown hair forms on top, and a short beard as well. He swells with muscles as best he can, before giving up and moving on to clothes. Checkered flannel shirt, and a thin overcoat are first. Denim joggers, goth boots, and a beanie hat soon follow. He even adds an eyebrow ring to finish up. He smiles up at the group with grey blue eyes as you all breathe a collective sigh of relief. "Perfect" he says.
Facing the back of the room as you are, the sound of the trapdoor banging open takes you all by surprise, and ((NUKE9.13)) even jumps slightly. An old woman in heavy clothing is hurrying down the stairs. She speaks in a heavy ascent that your instincts do nothing to place. "I am late, I am late. I am so sorry, it is Virskas fault. Not mine." She pauses for a moment when she sees the dog and the half-formed man "You are Virskas fault, not mine" she says, making a disappointed sound with her mouth. She motions at the group to circle with her arms. "Come, Come. I will tell you what you need to know. Here, sit. Before the stairs" She insists. "Sit, Sit. Please, Sit. Even the dog." And slowly, with shuffling and murmurs you all do. "You are like me" she begins "but new. Young." she looks down at the dog "and stupid" The dog huffs. "We are not them, the people we become. They do not like that we become them. They hunt us. They root us out and burn us, but they do not scare me. I have my children anyways." She smiles at herself. "You are born right in the midst of them, yet they do not know." She says, gesturing upwards. "I will set you out to the city soon, and you will all go and do me proud. Some of you will die, but it is the way of things. You must never come back here though, or back to my shop. You must be on your own. I will burn you out if you bring them back to me, children or no." She turns abruptly. "Come! Come! I will put you out now, there is no time. Blame Virskas if you must!" She says starting up the stairs. the six armed woman starts behind her "You must tell us something about..." but the older woman cuts her off. "No, no. You do not need to be told. You will know. It is our nature. I have been many places. You will know."
You all follow her out into another windowless room, this one carpeted and well lit with many bulbs. Brass pipes run along one of the corners to the ceiling, and piles and shelves of fabric seemingly hastily pushed aside crowd the room. "Virskas!" the old woman calls, as a burly man with arms as thick as logs enters the room by a doorway from behind you. "Virskas, come! put them out. You cause this trouble for me. Put them out!" He glances over your group apathetically, before calling in a gruff voice "Come, I will put you out in alley. No one will see there. It is through back room." "Not you!" the woman says, seizing the arm of the naked man. "You are too stupid, naked man. You as well." she adds, gesturing to ((Soshoku 234*)). "You can not be naked!" she explains. "here, put on clothes" she says thrusting what looks like a worn out t-shirt and pants at the naked man. "You will need something different though" she says contemplatively, before seizing a roll of fabric off a nearby shelf. "Here, yes. Tuck it here. Over your shoulder, like so!" She says wrapping you in a thick red cloth with golden borders. "oh!" she exclaims "It is nice. I am not smart to give away such cloth, but it is nice" ((Soshoku234)) is left wrapped in a manner somewhat like a loose fitting Sari or a Kasaya. She shoos you now into the back room where you rejoin the group just in time for Virskas speech. He speaks curtly with one hand already on the door knob. "This is ally. Left is poor people. If you go there you will die." He punctuates with a single gruff laugh here. "I put you out now. You probably die anyways." and with that you are all put out into the stale air of the ally.
You stand there in the ally, the whole group a little shocked by the expediency of it all, trying to orient yourselves. The ally is covered with thick cloth stretched between the rooftops, and it dead ends into a brick wall behind you. The cobblestones are slick, not from rain but from condensation that seems to leak off of a pair of brass pipes that line the base of the old womans shop. You patter out towards the light, only the sound of bare feet and a single pair of goth boots. ((Roboson)) wonders why no one else thought to make shoes. Here at last, you step out into the light of the street and finally take your first view of the city.
You are, most definitely, on a hill. The highest one around as far as you can tell, and the whole city spreads out before you. The City of Silver, you mind supplies. The City of Silver is in a cave.
Massive walls of dark rock arch up over the city on the horizon, leading upwards to a single crack of brilliant light. What must be truly massive metal chains drop from the roof to dangle lamps that must be the size of buildings so that they spill light over the city. Each lamp is a different color, bathing whole city blocks in different hues. As you watch, the lamp most directly above you flickers and changes all at once from dull blue to a brilliant yellow white, forcing you attention down to the city itself. It is awash with a riot of colors! Every wall is painted some brilliant hue, every market stall covered with thick colorful cloth. Everything is lined in a silver that catches the light and reflects it back. Mirrors cleverly set on rooftops reflect spotlights down onto street signs. Murals of fantastical creatures or dramatic battles dot every open wall. Even the stray animals seem to be splashed with color.
And then, of course, there are the people. Oh the people. People of every size, shape, and color. Your street alone is alive with activity. A gang of small albino gremlins are careening down the street rattling instruments of some kind. A golden man on the corner sells fruit in pitch black robes. A seemingly regular tortoise the size of a small car is being carried down the street borne on the shoulders of starving men. A girl in blue with silver thread woven into her braid carries a sword and a smile, and she walks with a purpose. Two pale men in purple turbans are questioning an angry red faced fat woman with what looks like a screaming loaf of bread tucked under her arm. Everywhere are voices, colors, and people of all types. Just above your head swings a sign reading "Alyona and Virskas. Quality fabrics. Entrance in front." Just as Virskas said, in the distance to your left are what appear to be less permanent homes. You think you can even see smoke rising from a few disparate points. Down the street to the right are a few more shops, selling various things from "Kalains dueling instruments" and "Borgos glassware" to the more esoteric "Richard Barblacks Southern Cavern Specimen Procurement (Custom orders encouraged)" One shop in particular stands out to you given you current predicament. A simple wooden sign reads in jade colored letters "Employment".
Without a pause the previously naked man takes off walking to the left. "Where are you going?" calls ((Roboson)). "Virskas said we would die if we went that way." "Those idiots?" he laughs back. "They also told us we can't be naked. They haven't got a clue" he says, wrestling off his shirt, and the six armed lady joins him laughing. "Idiots!" she calls back to the group.
The City is open before you. The street goes left and right, downhill either way. There is a turnoff to another street that takes you around to the front of the clothing shop as well. Far to the left are the slums. People and shops dot the street. Where do you go? What do you do?
((*Please decide on a permanent name for your character
**Since you didn't specify, I flipped a coin for your pronouns. Let me know what you would prefer.
Also, let me know if you guys want a different glow color for your text. It's currently
Nuke9.13 = Green
Sosoku234 = Navy
Roboson = Maroon.
NPC's are a random text color.
Player cap was reduced to 5 after I realized how much writing this would be. Crazyabe and SuperNeard have priority.
Please bold your actions, and place your character's name at the beginning of every post you make.
Thanks! I hope you guys like the first update!))