RATATOSKR

[soulping]

[ The Traveler steps in front of all of you, her arms raised dramatically! ]

Today, we take the first step of a very, very long journey together! This dream belongs to a young man, a criminal and his gang who on an otherwise normal heist has gotten in way over his head! Normally, this would be a nightmare, full of blood and death and abject horror!

Fortunately, I have taken the liberty of altering this dream so that it is completely safe and above all, fun! It would not do to have your first foray into the world of unreality to be so unwelcoming! The goal of this game is to survive, reach the end, and solve the mystery...

The mystery of the Train Tracker!

Comments

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[A FUN CRIME THING, YOU SAY?]

A mystery, huh? Sounds awesome.

[chuggachuggasnoozesnooze]

[ eee you're still doing the thing ]

It is!

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[:)]

Excellent! So, is it a roleplay? Do I get a role, or do I just get to decide?

[chuggachuggasnoozesnooze]

It is an adventure. You are just a passenger.

[soulping]

[ A young conductor ushers you aboard, his frumpy red hair gleaming beneath his hat.

You're in the dinner car of your team's train, where some very clearly high-class people are mingling...for the most part. There's some people up at the bar that you can tell are LESS THAN SCRUPULOUS. Also, one of them is apparently a cowboy? It's 1931, for godssakes.

The cowboy appears to be telling the young nervous man a story. Something about a TRAIL TRACKER, that appears on trains to murder everyone, at which point the train vanishes...obviously a urban legend, but the nervous man proceeds to FLIP THE FUCK OUT ABOUT IT, and runs off out of the car, insisting that he needs to find the young conductor to warn him that everyone on the train is going to die.

The moment he vanishes, you hear the sound of a pistol firing, and people start to panic. Welp.

OBVIOUS EXITS ARE EAST.

> ]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[Such pretty red hair, really.]

[Ooooo, what a styling young man. Approached the CLEARLY LEGIT PEOPLE by the bar, listening to the story. My, my, how grim! Would it kill people to have more cheerful stories, JEEZE.]

[Poor guy is really far too tense though.]

[Is about to talk to cowboy man, but then there's pistols?! I know a gun when I hear one!]

[Which way is the pistol being fired?]

[soulping]

[ East! ]

[soulping]

[ As you leave the dinner car, you see a group of people in black suits, carrying cases for musical instruments, running into it. The nervous man seems to have stopped for a second, watching them as they file in, wondering what the christ they're doing when someone just fired a gun.

OBVIOUS EXITS ARE WEST, EAST, and NORTH.

> ]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

Hey, nervous dude, head back. Get the people in that car as far back as possible and barricade the place. No reason to let people with guns run around willy nilly!

[soulping]

What?! No, you gotta head back! Everyone on this train's in great danger, and I gotta tell the conductor!

CAR 3

[soulping]

[ As you enter this car, you hear MACHINE GUNS firing back from where you came. There's nothing in here but a few crates, which if you wanted you could probably climb up to the HATCH on the roof.

SUDDENLY, a man in a white suit carrying a pistol walks in. The nervous man cries.

OBVIOUS EXITS ARE EAST, WEST and UP.

> ]

Re: CAR 3

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[Hello pistol.]

[ABSCOND TO BEHIND THE CRATES.]

[Can I use them as cover to get behind the man in a white suit?]

Re: CAR 3

[soulping]

[ You can! He fires a shot that impacts against the crate, but now he's walking towards you... ]

[soulping]

[ You go up through the hatch, to find yourself on the roof of the train. There doesn't really seem to be much up here, and if you could find another hatch it might be a easy way to get to the conductor's cabin!

...Seems really hard to climb across, though. One wrong step would mean death.

OBVIOUS EXITS ARE DOWN and EAST. ]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[Okay, be smart. Gun in the jacket and she is staying low to the roof. We are HEADING EAT in shirt of another hatch. Not gonna rush this.]

[soulping]

[ Advance to CAR 5 - ROOF. ]

CAR 5 - ROOF

[soulping]

[The winds are picking up! You can just barely stay atop the train...but there still seem to be no ACTUAL OBSTACLES in your way.

HOTTUB BLEMISH informs you that the next car should be the conductor's! ]

Re: CAR 5 - ROOF

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

Got it!

[We are going to keep up this roof crossing until we get to the Conductor!]

[Though I will take a moment to see if I can see where this train is headed. Just in case.]

Re: CAR 5 - ROOF

[soulping]

[ it is headed towards nowhere interesting

and by nowhere interesting I mean there's literally not anything in the distance.

Advance to CAR 6 - ROOF.]

[soulping]

[ You reach the CONDUCTOR'S CAR. This is it! You've finally made it!

Except, looking over the edge, you can see A RED-HAIRED FIGURE COVERED IN BLOOD, GRINDING A BLACKSUITED MAN'S HAND AGAINST THE RAIL.

The BLACKSUIT is SCREAMING. The figure has SPOTTED YOU and drops him, leaving him to be crushed by the train. He is now climbing towards you, incredibly fast.

Obvious exists are WEST and DOWN. ]

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[...I'm going to hope that stuff in the distance is just the whole being part of unreality thing.]

[WELP.]

Shit.

Back up, nervous dude!

[She's backing up, but it's more to get distance because hey, dudes in suits have been the ones with guns. At least guys with instruments and then suddenly machine guns seems AWFUL SUSPICIOUS, so who knows. Psychopath might not be totes unreasonable.]

[Either way, she's probably not moving fast enough to get off the roof before the guy is on the roof, but some space is good! Gun is still tucked away because if she has to do crazy diving, she wants both hands free.]

Hey there! Names Robin Hood!

[soulping]

[ He does not answer.

He only advances. ]

CAR 6 INTERIOR

[soulping]

[ You have reached the FRONT OF THE TRAIN. Here you spot A DEAD, HORRIBLY MUTILATED RED-HAIRED PERSON. There is a PRISTINE CONDUCTOR'S HAT on the ground.

The NERVOUS MAN is staring in ABJECT TERROR. ]

H-he's dead! I'm too late! You were wrong, the Train Tracer already got him!

[ HOTTUB BLEMISH CRIES. ]

Re: CAR 6 INTERIOR

[thevoidsdarkhorse]

[-erk.]

[Deep breath. Deep breath Robin.]

[Leaning over and picking up the conductor's hat. Putting it on and just....not looking at the body.]

But it's a mystery. Things are supposed to make sense. He didn't go for you, so it's not a gender thing. Why go for a conductor.

And why the only other red head I've seen, woulda sworn...

Re: CAR 6 INTERIOR

[soulping]

...What?