voidtreckerexpress | A new platform [intro post September]

A new platform [intro post September]

For those on the train

“Good morning passengers, it is day one of the month of Bassoon.” The train announces the morning the month changes. It seems the train counts months in days of thirty. Team Points have been updated on the system.

The day continues as most days do, chores, eating, getting ready for another day. But those who suspect that a change of month may bring something else are correct. It is only an hour or two later that there is another announcement.

“Shortly arriving into a designated void platform. Exit from void imminent.”

By now they should know to hold on as the train jerks and jolts. There is only fog outside the windows but the train soon comes to a stop. The doors hiss open.

As they exit into the fog they may notice Evie exiting from the luggage carriage door. Much like Hibiki the last time they were on a platform. She leaves the train, backpack on her back as she walks through the station. She heads no call, reacts to no words and cannot be stopped as she walks to the ticket barrier and disappears through it.

Strange. But even stranger still is that there on the platform that whole time is Evie. Dressed in purple, backpack on back, with her are others. Waiting for the train.

For new arrivals

At first all they can see if steam. Billowing around them as they come to their senses. They are standing, in clothes that are not their own, styles they might not even recognise. They are carrying a rucksack on your back. For a moment it seems to just be them, alone in the white haze but then the steam begins to fade and they realise they aren’t alone.

The platform is not very large, but it hold twelve figures all facing the tracks, all wearing similar clothing. The tracks stretch left and right into steam, or perhaps fog. Nothing can be seen to either side. There is a wall around the platform and the only entrance is a ticket barrier. It cannot be open, nor do there seem to be any staff.

What there is, is a train. Jet black and gleaming where it stands on the rails.Voidtrecker Express is emblazoned in the engine in gold. There is a hiss as the doors slide open.

Out step a selection of people, some less human than others, wearing clothes just like those worn by those on the platform.

The Train

The doors hiss open. Those from the train may encourage those on the platform to board. It’s not like there is anywhere else to go and even if there was, you feel a pull. A need to board, a feeling that staying on the platform would not be a good thing.

Once on board there is lots to explore. Passengers both old and new will hopefully be delighted to see the boredom of this train journey is somewhat alleviated by the introduction of a game carriage. Plenty of games, both familiar and new to play with your new travelling companions.
Each ICP shows the same message. If Red team go and look they will find a box in the luggage compartment that contains their prize. A dralite themed cake lolly each. There are enough for the new members of Red team too, share in your teams previous success!

The food stores have been topped up with new fresh food. Salmon has taken over as the primary ingredient of choice. Hopefully everyone likes fish!

New passengers will find their tickets allow them into their cabins. They may need to negotiate for beds, especially if they want a top bunk!

Room is tight but there are storage cubbies at the head of each bed, beds fold up and the bottom bunks double as benches for the small table. There is storage under those benches and you will hopefully find a pillow for your bed if it has not been nabbed by a roommate, there are also spare blankets for if it gets cold.

Departure

A second horn sounds to encourage any stragglers and the doors slide shut. For those who boarded two weeks ago they will know what is coming next.

The train sets off, the fog obscuring the view as it picks up speed.

"Welcome aboard, passengers of the Voidtrecker Express.” A female-coded artificial sounding voice echoes throughout the train. "Please take the time to read the passenger information displayed on the Information and Communication points and familiarise yourself with the layout and emergency exits."

The train begins to tilt, leaving the ground and rising up into the fog filled sky.

"Entrance into Voidspace imminent. New passengers are advised to remain seated."

Hopefully someone warns you that you really want to heed that warning because a moment later there is a shudder, a jolt, a lurch to the left. A flash of light, colourful and blinding.

As quick as it happens it is done. The train seems to steady. The fog from the windows is gone now, replaced with a kaleidoscope of ever changing colours.

Welcome to voidspace.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Yes sir!" Romeo grinned and took the die, rolling it after shaking it in his hands. It rolled along the table before landing. On the number one. Romeo sighed slightly. "That's not very good, is it?"

"Remember what I said, that is only one measure of strength. Besides, you're just learning." He tossed his own die. Two. He burst out laughing. "Guess the Darkness wanted me to teach that by example. Alright, you have a White Jeweled Queen who can move one space at a time, I have a Yellow Jeweled Queen who can move two. Mine might be twice as strong, but they're both so light as to need extra protection from their stronger male pieces."

"We can both learn all the other ways to be strong then sir!" Romeo grinned and tried to remember that. White jeweled queen who could move one space. Lord Khardeen could go twice as fast but that meant Romeo needed to be twice as smart!

"So now we put all the other pieces in the best places?"

(since you did.)

He nodded. "Exactly right. Since this is your first game if you need help, let me know. We'll discuss placements before we actually start."

"Okay sir!" He grinned, "I probably will need some help to start because you only get good at things if you learn them and practice lots!"

But he tried to remember all the things he had been told so far and think of the best places to put his pieces. Castles couldn't move so they were probably the most important to put somewhere good.

He nodded. "Of course I will help, boyo." He gave him a big smile, then started setting his own pieces.

"Thank you sir!" He grinned and began setting his pieces up, glancing over at Khardeen every so often to check that he was doing it right. He didn't really know what he was doing but he did try to think about where would be the best places to put things to best protect his queen.

Khary kept a half eye on the boy while he set up his own pieces. If he wasn't asked a question, he would finish his own set up and then wait. Since he used more or less the same layout whenever he taught a male who wasn't an actual puppy, he didn't have to put much thought into it; but he still did move slowly and deliberately, knowing that there would be moments when he would be watched.

He finished setting up too, some of his pieces were very similarly arranged to Khardeen's, some were more sporadically scattered. But he had tried his best and thought lots! This game was tricky and they hadn't even started playing yet!

"Okay Lord Khardeen! Done!"

He looked it over and pointed to the Queen. "Why did you choose to place her there?" he asked. His voice was still light and pleasant, no judgment or criticism, just the start of conversation and an attempt to learn how the other male thinks.

"Um... Well there's lots of other pieces close to her to help if she gets into trouble and she can see them all too so she can help them back. Even if she can only move one place a turn it's still good to be close to all your teammates!"

He hoped it was right, or sort of right. This game was very tricky indeed.

He grinned. "Very good thinking," he said, ruffling his hair.

Romeo grinned back, glad that he had got this right! "Why did you put yours there, lord Khardeen?"

Asking questions was a good way of learning, after all.

A very good way indeed!

He gestured, inviting the young boy to look. His Queen was behind two Castles with a Warlord Prince flanking her on either side. The rest of his stronger males were out near the front, the rest of the females and weaker males gathered near the Queen like a shield.

Romeo peered at the placement, the queen was behind the castles to keep her safe with two of the warlords looking out for her and then a whole bunch of people around her and some of the stronger ones at the front.

"There's lots of people to keep her safe!"

He nodded. "The Queen is the heart of the Land. Without her a Territory will fall and the people will suffer."

"So because she keeps everyone safe they all keep her safe back! Like a bit team!" Teamwork he understands and keeping your friends safe so they can keep everyone else safe. It was a good strategy!

He nodded. "Exactly." No point in telling the kid yet that women could be a **** of a lot scarier than males when they walked the Killing Edge, so that it behooved all males to keep them from every getting quite that ******ed.

"And make sure when serving a Queen you say it just that way. Females tend to get hissy cat about being protected at the oddest times," he said with an amused grin.

"Okay sir." He grinned though he had never met a queen. He understood the feeling. "Sometimes I get mad when people try to protect me. Like when mister Zetta tried to make me and Elfnein go away from the cultist place because we were little even though we could help! Working together is much better I think!"

He nodded. "But sometimes the best way to work together is to help clear the field. Think about it this way," he suggested. "Some people are always going to feel protective of those who are small. Doesn't mean the small people can't fight, or aren't strong. I have a friend back home who is about the size of my hand. Usually rides on people's shoulders when she visits us. Jaenelle is friends with the Arachnians. Now the Arachnians are small spiders. The largest I've ever seen is their Queen, and she is the size of two fists together. She is also one of the strongest Black Widows to have ever existed. But there are those who will always worry about her, for various reasons." And sometimes the worry about her isn't about her safety, but that of the one worrying. And when people worry about her, sometimes she stands for herself and aids, but sometimes she understands that founded or not, the worry itself is a distraction. Whoever was fighting would be worried about her and thus not paying as much attention as they should be to the people they are fighting. Sometimes the best way we can help is to let those who love us feel easy knowing we are safe. Sometimes it is easier to fight when you know that no matter what happens here, there are others, those you are fighting for, who will survive. It isn't always that they think you can't help, in fact it is rarely that. It is that they need to know, for themselves, that no matter what happens, you are safe. Can you understand that?"

"I understand sir." He did. He knew that sometimes when people got very worried about others it was distracting. Ginia had given him a similar lecture once and Joss had made it clear that he'd rather Romeo be out of the fighting because he was worried about him.

He understood even if he didn't like it, because he worried about his friends too. He wanted to make sure they were safe and even though he was small and would always be small he wanted to help. But he didn't want this man to be mad at him, especially since he didn't know him that well so he just nodded and didn't argue.

It helped that there had been lots more things in Lord Khardeen's words to distract him! "You had a friend who was a spider? Was she always a spider or did she turn into one?"

"Turn into....?" Was that a thing built into this odd web? "No, they are always spiders. They are the first Black Widows, except maybe the Dragons. Jaenelle would know better than I would about that."

Khary, as an adult in his prime, had been one of the ones tucked away to be safe, and he had argued and raged too, kid. He gets it.

"Okay sir!" That was fine, he knew lots of non human people, but also some people who could look like different things. So either would have been pretty normal.

"What's a black widow?" He knows what a dragon is, they are big monsters that breathe fire and eat people, but he is not sure how they are connected to spiders.

"Black Widows are perhaps the most feared caste of witches. They have virulent poison and most of them tend more to the tart than the sweet, personality wise. But more than how easily they could kill, even without a weapon or how strong you have to be to deal with one as a friend, it is their webs that makes them dangerous. Black Widows are the only ones who can survive weaving Tangled Webs." Like the one they were trapped in. "Tangled Webs can be used to learn what happened in the past, to see what might be in the future. But they can also be used to entrap minds. Make you think you are wherever they want you to think you are, doing and seeing what the web lets you see. There are all sorts of ways this can be used," he said. "One Black Widow I knew wove a web around some very bad men who used to like to hurt little kids. She set it so that if she was hurt by one of them badly enough it would trigger the web. All of them suffered what they had done to the children." And it killed them. Every last one of them. "But I also know a Black Widow" same woman, actually, "who used a series of webs to end a war and save everyone" who still honored the Darkness.

He gave him a grin. "A few of my best friends are Black Widows. They're fun to rile up, so long as I can aim them at someone else. Karla especially." He did so love winding Karla up and then pointing her at Yasi. Having been trained by Yasi for too many mornings there was zero guilt about throwing the other man under the proverbial carriage.

Scary witches? Who could kill and you had to be strong to be their friend. They could make tangle webs which could show you the past and the future and trap your minds.

They sounded bad but also the examples he gave was them doing that to bad people. A person who hurt kids. Or saving people. So they had a lot of scary powers but could use them to help people.

And if Khardeen was friends with some they must be nice people. "Is Karla your best friend?"

rng was ruuuude

Mine wasn't much better... Of course somehow they're supposed to roll dice that go to 13 somehow....

ah the d13 a perfectly logical dice....

LOL my guess is that they use 2D6 and the weakest and strongest are just impossible. Went with 1D6

Re: LOL my guess is that they use 2D6 and the weakest and strongest are just impossible. Went with 1

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CW spiders

Re: CW spiders

Re: CW spiders

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