Friday, January 27, 2012

Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter IV: Captive Audience

"Look," said Lyta, dangling a leg off of one of Feller's packing crates, "it's nothin' personal."

Sun Fau and Francine said nothing.

"I mean, it serves you right for trying to take advantage of a poor, defenseless, underage girl like me."

Sun Fau and Francine continued to say nothing.

Lyta looked down at the slumped-over woman. "Sorry ‘bout your ribs," she said apologetically. "That'll probably hurt like hell when you wake up." She shrugged. "I thought you were wearing armor."

Wordslingin'

Who you gonna call? Gangbusters! Yesterday's session saw Our Heroes (tm) beat up a local gang who were terrorizing some townsfolk and narrowly avoided a firefight with the gang leader's robber baron uncle. In the end, we came away with a little more money, one extra jeep, and no extra wounds! Huzzah!

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter IV: After the Storm

The climate control of the longrunner was a welcome change, a relief from the oppressive heat of the late-spring sun and the even more oppressive presence of Ti Corovan. Lukas glanced up from his siesta as Lyta entered their shared cabin and flung her cloak down on her bed. Something in her expression alerted him, and he woke up fully and maneuvered to sit cross-legged. "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Lyta muttered as she sat down across from him.

Lukas waited. He'd seen Lyta in moods like this before and knew it was only a matter of time before the emotional dams burst and it all came out in a torrent of words.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1925, 02 Spring

He could clearly make out the white tail of the bird as it took flight. In its beak he pictured the outline of the futile struggles of a tail struggling -- the prey was sure to die, even if it escaped -- and the sound of the wind echoed in his ear as it gave the bird lift.

The waves lapped rhythmically onto shore, driven by that same wind. Small white curls of surf gave relief to the expanse of water which had a grey-green colour. This was the image of a world at peace, the shores of tranquility a perfect moment.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1919, 22 Autumn

"Are you looking to sell the place?" The broad man in his fifties asked the slender gentlemen who was a little too finely dressed to be packing boxes in the half emptied apartment. The younger man turned to confirm what his ears identified as a friendly voice and found a friendly smile as well. Tom put down the books and crossed the large living room to take Lenny's hand.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1916, 36 Summer

The sound of the distant wind grew like a crescendo of whispers. The dull sound of waves on the shore became more brittle, like the sound of slaps. The trees rustled and bent from side to side, solid but flexible, twisting above where the wind held sway, but firm and resolute beneath where the roots held them firm against the onslaught. As the noise of crashing waves and white frothy surf competed with howling winds the image remained a beautiful one. Even in fury, nature brought him serenity.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1916, 38 Summer

Helios' radiance was sprinkled across the body of water in a thousand thousand puddles of explosive light, each one a bright microcosm that sparkled and danced. Even as the warmth of the afternoon hit its peak, he knew that soon the sun would dip behind the hills, casting shadows and plunging the waters into darkness so complete it would swallow the world.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1921, 06 Summer

"You want to run an orphanage?" Doc Chambers asked, his voice betraying surprise and disappointment. After Chambers had helped get him out of New Baja and away from prying eyes, the doctor had hoped the young man would come work for him. When Chambers received notice that Ti Corovan had emerged from his cycle-and-a-half-long disappearance and wanted to meet him, he hoped, as usual, that it was an opportunity he could exploit. His expectations were being dashed.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1922, 12 Spring

She was annoyed that Sister Matya Verhovan had called assembly. She hated going to the main hall and being bored by the talk of religion and ethics at the best of times, but her nose was itchy because she had just pierced it herself the night before. Worse than the irritation of the itch was the puss and blood still oozing from the wound. She would have preferred another couple of days for it to heal before facing the other kids at the orphanage and subjecting herself to their ridicule. Not that she really cared what they thought, not really.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1925, 28 Spring

“Katchelli will be moving soon, which means we’re finally going to see what’s going on behind the veil. NorthCo, the NGIS, they’re going to make their moves in the next couple of days, so I need you all to be focused and ready.” Ti was gently smiling. This wasn’t a pre-game pep speech, this was his way of calming nerves. “Let’s wrap this up, make it count, and make sure no one gets hurt.” With this, his team set about their tasks.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1925, 39 Spring

The shorefront was the same as it had always been, framed on both sides by pines Across the dark body of water, the other shore was a shaped shadow outlining a hill. The irregular ridgeline painted ink-black treetops against a navy blue sky. High above, the perfect sphere of a moon shone brightly, its doppelganger turned the world upside-down in the glass-still lake. If you gazed long enough into the water, your senses would trick your mind: that which was reflected became reality and the real world, its otherwordly counterpart.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1921, 16 Spring

The lake was completely becalmed. Not a trace of wind appeared, and beneath the apparent tranquility one could sense distressing stillness. This was not peace, but death. No fish jumped, no skimmers skated across the glassy surface of the water. In the still air, no birds hung. Stagnation was death.

Koreshi Chronicles: Titan's Tale - TN 1913, Summer 38

The lake was a darker blue than the sky. Puffy white clouds hung lazily in the sky. A few seagulls squawked. The distant shore contrasted with rich forest green trees. The image was idyllic.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter IV: Unrequited Trust, part 2

Lyta spurred her beast forward, launching it into a sprint to keep her face and tears out of Ti's sight, willing herself to stop crying.

Ti followed suit and charged past her armadillo. He brought his own mount to block her path, turning in his saddle so they were face to face. Ti wished he could reach out, wished he could cradle her crying figure, but more than physical distance separated them. He knew that touching her would make this harder for him.

Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter IV: Unrequited Trust, part 1

The armadillo rocked under her, its hooves clattering on the stone ground while the desert stretched out around her on all sides. It was almost like old times, she reflected, except for the choice of company.

It had taken nearly three days to find a caravan headed in their direction with a fully-equipped med bay, and another full day of negotiations to figure out the terms of their travel. Todd would spend the time on the road recuperating, but the less-injured members of the group agreed to take shifts as outriders to offset some of their costs.

The going was slow. The caravan wasn’t in a rush to get anywhere, and they didn’t want to overtire the animals. They were informal enough that they drew lots for outrider shifts, and by the fourth day, the lots had fallen to Lyta and Ti.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Wordslingin'

What's that distant creature on the horizon? Quietly, now, so you don't startle it. Could it be...? Yes! Downtime! Vovelle is rescued, the NGIS agents Summers and Kohl are dead, and Our Heroes (tm) are in desperate need of some healing. Time to spend some xp!

Friday, January 6, 2012

Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter IV : The Turn




The air was cooling down as the rays of Helios wained. The empty hangar in the industrial quarter was large and open but sufficiently isolated. Ti stood over the rotund form of Harry Bonds, bound and unconscious on the sandy floor. Lukas, Lyta and Torgath were about 10 meters away, Ti could feel their eyes on him. Lukas was probably already judging, Torgath looked mildly curious and Lyta, Lyta just looked pissed. Ti decided it was futile to try to figure her out, futile and far too distracting. He concentrated on the task at hand and slapped Bonds hard on the cheek.

Koreshi Chronicles: Chapter IV - Negociations

Harry Bonds steped out of the WestEx warehouse in the industrial quarter of Port Arthur and made his way to his waiting car flanked by his two bodyguards. Once inside his vehicle he pulled his phone from his jacket. There was something amiss about the meeting he had just concluded with the young man with the face mask, he felt it. His hands gripped the phone tightly, an outward display of an internal struggle. Finally, he started punched numbers, slowly, as if still weighing his options.

Koreshi Chronicles – Chapter IV: Exposed

32 Spring, 1925

“Take off your pants.”

“What?!”

O’Kang, Ti Corovan’s medic, stared at her like she was an infant having a temper tantrum. She couldn’t deny that he was skilled – the fact that Todd was still alive at all, after everything they’d been through, was a testament to that. Her brother was still sedated and his bandages already had spots of red, but he was alive, and that was the important thing. Of course, that meant that she now had O’Kang’s full attention.

“You took a bullet to the leg. I can’t work through a layer of fabric, so take off your damn pants.”

Wordslingin'

Though things looked grim at the beginning of last night's session, by the end of it all Our Heroes (tm) were in stable condition, and not only had we managed to reacquire our lead on Harry Bonds, but we'd managed to kidnap Bonds himself and drive him off to a secluded location for interrogation. Now, if only we could find the kidnapped Professor Vovelle, we'd be set.


 
Hermes 72 - Heavy Gear RPG - Most artwork Copyright 2002 Dream Pod 9, Inc.