Geography (Sturm)

[Courage Wolf]

And there it was, sitting in Claire's mailbox as she wandered out to check, the invite to test the EGG system, something she had applied to out of a mix of curiosity and boredom. It had only taken a week to get the reply back and it clearly stated the date and time of the indoctrination... which was amusingly, or annoyingly depending on how you looked at it, in a few hours. The invite itself said that EGG would provide transportation for her to the facility and that everything would be taken care of, all she had to do was meet the car and start the program that had awakened her curiosity in the first place.

It seemed she had also been asigned a specific technician and that due to unforseen circumstances, that she would not be joining a larger group as was usually the case so the process was a little more streamlined for her, that there would be mandatory physical checkups between sessions in the program, and that she would be given a thorough screening before and after each period of play. Nice and simple, good and straightforward, which was probably all to the better to the shy girl. She still had a few hours to get things settled, the car would be coming at 11:30, it was now currently 9:00 AM.

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Finding the letter from the EGG corporation, Claire did a little jump for joy. She was very excited for the opportunity. Claire quickly ran back into her apartment and excitedly paced around for a few minutes, just trying to get her thoughts together. She enjoyed a good videogame, probably more so than most people due to her reserved nature and preference for less-crowded environments. The fact that she wouldn't be participating with a larger group was an unexpected plus.

When she noticed that her pickup was coming in a few hours she facepalmed. She hadn't expected them to be coming so quickly, maybe a matter of days after receiving the letter, not hours! Her landlady was coming by to inspect the property today and make sure she was taking good care of it, and right now it looked like a tornado had come through her house!

Claire set off like a tornado herself, this time going on a massive cleaning rampage so that she would be ready to go when her pickup arrived. The vehicle arrived just as she was finishing. She took a deep breath to calm herself down, then stepped out of her apartment, locking the door behind her. Quietly walking up to the vehicle, she glanced curiously at the driver, non-verbally making sure this ride was in fact for her. Receiving some sort of confirmation, she stepped into the car, taking her first steps toward the virtual adventure of a lifetime.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

The car was an unassuming black sedan, albeit a very nice one and as she approached, the driver, a middle aged man in a suit rolled down the window and checked a picture she had sent in before smiling. "Welcome aboard Miss Claire, please step inside and we'll be on our way." He was a kind faced man and he opened the door for her to step inside.

The drive to the complex was almost a half hour and thankfully, although quiet, the driver had good taste in music and was happy to point out the complex as they approached. The building itself was a towering white affair with several floors and large pane glass windows, shining in the morning sunlight. As they pulled up, a tawny haired man in a labcoat and thick glasses walked up. "Welcome Miss Claire! I'm Dennis, I'll be your technician, if you'll just follow me we'll get you set up and squared away" He said cheerfully, opening her door and offering his hand.

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

While shy, Claire was also rather polite, and knew that sometimes being shy could be confused for arrogance if she didn't respond to someone. She would nod enthusiastically and give a somewhat reserved smile to the driver's remarks, especially when he pointed out their destination, but she didn't make conversation of her own.

When they pulled up to the building and a nice man who was apparently her technician let her out of the car. She quietly said "Thank you" to the driver before stepping out of the car. She didn't notice the offered hand until she was partway out. Shy as she was she definitely wasn't going to take his hand. Not out of a dislike for the man or anything, he seemed like a nice enough person, but she wasn't comfortable holding the hand of someone she just met.

"Oh, um, thanks...but um....I've got it... Sorry." She stuttered out the awkward desire to walk on her own, with a characteristic apology. She blushed, she couldn't wait to get into the game, that would be way better. Gaining a little more confidence she looked at Dennis and smiled, trying again, "Thank you, Dennis but I'm fine, just lead the way please." She followed him, eagerly awaiting her chance in the EGG.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

The driver smiled and waved good bye and Dennis wasn't put off in the slightest, probably dealing with many people much like herself since the program had started. Guiding her into what looked like a tiled lobby with the company logo on the far wall, and several pictures of their more prominent testers, several of which had made the news, Claire couldn't help but notice a rather large portrait of a blonde woman as they headed down a hallway. The name under the painting read "Helena"...

The walk was short and the trip itself fairly uneventful, Dennis simply being quiet until they had reached the room, showing several large silver pods that were heavily padded on the interior and slid up to admit entrance. Walking over to one, Dennis hit several keys in quick succession on a nearby terminal, and a pod opened. "Go ahead and get on in, you'll be asked a series of questions while we take some preliminary information, and then off you go." He said grinning, gesturing towards the pod rather then offering to help her in.

Inside, the pod was both comfortable and relaxing and as the door slid down, Claire noticed that what was a transparent sheet of glass from outside, was actually a screen for her displaying several options.

Spoiler

Monster Girls: (Y1-Y5, Usually denotes monsters in the form of attractive women, for example a mermaid or minotaur)
Monsters: (Y1-Y5, denotes non-humanoid monsters like tentacle monsters or slimes)
Mechanical Constructs: (Y1-Y5, denotes robotic constructions like milking machines or even mechanical enemies)
Egg Laying: (Y1-Y5, denotes the laying of eggs in yourself or enemies, usually done by insect monsters)
Yuri: (Y1-Y5, denotes sex with people of the same gender)
Hetero: (Y1-Y5), denotes sex with people of the opposite gender)
Futa: (Y1-Y5, denotes girls or women with dicks) ((While I allow it, it's still fairly rare))
Slavery: (Y1-Y5, denotes enemies that may make you a slave upon defeating you or you defeating them)
Corruption/Redemption System: (Y/N, denotes a morality system)
Unbirthing: (Y1-Y5, denotes being forced into a enemies womb)
Vore: (Y1-Y5, denotes being swallowed whole by certain enemies, this is classed as soft vore as in you are not digested)
BDSM: (Y1-Y5, denotes bindings and bondage)
Body modification: (Y1-Y5, denotes changes to your body like breast expansion etc.)
Transformations: (Y1-Y5, denotes changing into a different species)
Roughness: (Y1-Y5, denotes how rough enemies are when they defeat you)
Anything else?: (Specify something we missed)

Settings!

Spoiler

I like my demon spicey. A trip through hell and back
Tarzan and Jane, welcome to the Jungle.
To the Moon. Space and aliens and WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!?
SubTerra. The world has gone underground, a post apocalyptic setting.

Difficulty. Easy, =Normal=, Hard, Insane.

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Claire followed Dennis through the building, taking a moment to admire the picture of the woman apparently named Helena. When they reached the actual egg machine, aptly named, she eagerly sat in and gave a friendly nod to Dennis. When the settings came up, she immediately began blushing, wondering just what she had gotten herself into.

Spoiler

Monster Girls: 5, Usually denotes monsters in the form of attractive women, for example a mermaid or minotaur)
Monsters: 3, denotes non-humanoid monsters like tentacle monsters or slimes)
Mechanical Constructs: 2, denotes robotic constructions like milking machines or even mechanical enemies)
Egg Laying: 3, denotes the laying of eggs in yourself or enemies, usually done by insect monsters)
Yuri: 5 denotes sex with people of the same gender)
Hetero: 1, denotes sex with people of the opposite gender)
Futa: 2, denotes girls or women with dicks) ((While I allow it, it's still fairly rare))
Slavery: 2, denotes enemies that may make you a slave upon defeating you or you defeating them)
Corruption/Redemption System: Y, denotes a morality system)
Unbirthing: 4, denotes being forced into a enemies womb)
Vore: 3, denotes being swallowed whole by certain enemies, this is classed as soft vore as in you are not digested)
BDSM: 2, denotes bindings and bondage)
Body modification: 2, denotes changes to your body like breast expansion etc.)
Transformations: 2, denotes changing into a different species)
Roughness: 1-4 (contextual by enemy and circumstance I suppose), denotes how rough enemies are when they defeat you)
Anything else?: Regarding slavery, nothing too hardcore, maybe just a mistress or something as opposed to a pack of ruthless slavers. And whatever works for body mod/transformation, just so long as there's an option, or quest, to get reverse.

Still sporting a blush from the sex settings, Claire didn't know what to pick for the environmental setting, they all looked really interesting. It was a very tough call, but in the end she decided on the Tarzan and Jane. She didn't know a thing about the game, but from her history with videogames, she knew that definitions of normal and hard differed wildly between developers. She decided on the normal difficulty level, just to be safe. She could always go higher if she felt it wasn't challenging enough.

Settings in place, Claire set back and relaxed, though still a little red. She was so ready for this!

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

As soon as the settings were in, the screen blacked out and Claire was left in complete and total darkness for a moment, and then.. She didn't feel anything.


It was several moments before Claire woke up, wearing what appeared to be khaki shorts and a tank top with heavy hiking boots and a pair of black leather fingerless gloves each sporting a crystal across their backs. And she started to remember what was going on. Looking around into the dense jungle, she remembered being seperated from her research team awhile back and was on her way to rejoin them, as best she could. Moving in the direction of their next stop. The jungle itself, known as the Herelest, was a chittering squaking tangle of life and undergrowth, the plant life dominating the world around her in a heavy coat of green and brown, shadows dark between the few rays of light that penetrated the canopy. She knew she was bout 2 days behind, and that if she kept moving she should make the ruins they were going to investigate just in time.

Her destination was due southwest and her gloves, which gave her better control over her own budding magical ability seemed to be just fine. each set of gloves, or even just the crystals allowed for a different minor ability on top of her regular power, these allowed her to use the wind to cut things, and were the perfect thing for slashing her way through the thick underbrush to keep moving, working a lot like a magical machete. All she had to do was want it, and extend her will, and her power would react accordingly. It was more complicated then that of course, but once you had the formula and technique down, it was like riding a bike, just a simple exercise.

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Claire took a moment to marvel at the new world around her, as well as the new knowledge she had. She briefly flexed her hands, getting used to the gloves, and started moving in the direction of the ruins. She was surprised at how natural the movement felt, it was as though she was actually here!

She decided to try out the magic-enhancing gloves, eager to gain a little experience now so she would be more comfortable with them when it counted. Though she wasn't sure how the magic system worked, and decided to be careful to not exhaust her magical ability on inanimate objects.

After a moments thought she decided to work her way to the ruins, best to meet up with what the rest of her team, who knew, maybe she'd beat them there.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

It was exactly as she expected. If she knew what she was doing, then simple things barely drained her at all, simply a manipulation of the natural forces around her. Although now she instinctively knew that more complicated things would drain her quickly. Slashing her way through a particularly nasty set of vines, Claire started towards her destination through the trees.

With every moment that passed, she seemed to be heading deeper into the jungle, moving slowly because of the plantlife in her way until she found a wide fast moving river, a fallen tree providing a natural bridge over the muddy brown water. Looking down, Claire could see the forms of several large reptiles moving through the water, but they didn't give her a second glance.

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Seemingly getting the hang of basic magic, Claire continued her descent into the jungle. When she came to a river with a fallen tree forming a bridge over it. Even before she saw the reptiles, she knew it would be better to cross using the tree.

Still, seeing that the large reptiles weren't all that interested in her, she gave a few moments to observe them curiously before trying to make her way across the tree. She had to be careful, she really didn't want to fall in the river, if she got swept away, there was no telling where she would end up. Claire anticipated the tree being slippery, growing over a river, it was probably wet and moldy, she just had to hope it could bear her weight as well. Swallowing nervously, she started across the fallen tree.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

The tree was indeed a little slick, but entirely navigatable as Claire found out, it only taking maybe a minute or two for her to safely cross, although there were several near misses and a moment or two where she let out a rather embarrassing squeal and almost fell in. Making it to the other side, Claire was once again in a thick jungle, because jungles were large, and thick, and if that wasn't obvious by now then the world had been thrown into a strange and degrading chaos the likes of which no mortal soul could escape.

Regardless, continuing through, Claire was starting to notice that the underbrush was getting thicker, the trees closer together, and the vines hanging down and along the ground were driving her crazy.

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Making her way carefully across the log, Claire's breathing began to relax as she neared the opposite side. Then her foot slid on a patch of moss. She didn't lose her balance, but it did cause her to look down. That was a mistake. Seized by nervousness again, she started to get sloppy in her attempt to cross the tree, misplacing her foot several times. In fact, she very nearly fell in, letting out a frightened cry as she waved her arms frantically for balance and just barely managed to push off the fallen tree and onto the opposite bank. A close call indeed.

With the river crossed, Claire continued her journey, or rather, she resumed slashing her way through the apparently endless growth. She loved nature and everything, in fact she was a big fan of the woods, but this much underbrush was just obnoxious! And the heat, it was certainly rather oppressive in the jungle, what with the high temperatures and the humidity. Sure made her glad she was wearing light clothing, a sheen of sweat glistening on her chest. She sighed and shook her head, continuing forward. It was a jungle, this just came with the territory. As she pressed onward, she wondered how the rest of her group was faring. She hadn't noticed any signs of their passage, and she felt like she would have noticed the swath of plant trampling and slashing a group of people would have made. Still, it was an awfully big jungle, they had probably just taken another route.

Claire was pulled back to her present situation as the underbrush became somehow even thicker, if that was even possible, vines and brush tangling everywhere, making it easy to lose her balance here as well. Having read The Hobbit recently, she found herself reminded of the stretch where the diminutive adventurers had gotten hopelessly lost in the seemingly endless woods. Hopefully that wouldn't happen here. Thinking about the book, Claire neglected to watch her footing, and tripped over a vine, falling forward and clutching another vine hanging from a tree to stop herself from falling down. She held onto the vine, trying to catch her breathe before continuing her march through the jungle.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Tripping in the jungle proved to be a rather severe mistake. As Claire reached out to catch herself on another vine, it almost seemed like it was connected to the one that had snagged her ankle, and her weight proved to unbalance her and leave her hanging at an odd angle slightly above the ground. Struggling around only proved to get her a little more tangled in the growth. Although such things came with the jungle, that didn't make them any more annoying, and this moment was no exception. Sighing, Claire had a choice, to try and extricate herself the hard way, or to just blast the vines and fall to the ground. It was only a few feet, but it was still going to sting, and the ground looked kind of muddy...

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Finding herself suspended above the ground, her struggles only seeming to get her in a worse position, Claire huffed for a moment. The ground didn't look too far away, and heck, maybe the mud would cushion her landing and help cool her down.

Admittedly, she was a little hot under the collar, the onerous task of slashing through wall after wall of growth making her frustration build to the point where she rashly decided to just cut her way out with wind magic. Maybe it would have been wiser to just untangle herself, but she was in no mood for such tomfoolery from a vine. She set to work cutting the vine apart with her wind magic, readying for the fall back down to Earth.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Spoiler

Claire 16 Entangled 1. -1 to rolls. (17)
???? 15
Free
???? 4
Claire 9

Claire's seemingly tangled situation became very strange very quickly as her magic tore through the vines holding her up, the blade like maelstrom that burst from her palms severing the vegetation. As soon as the first of several vines were cut, she heard an odd screeching sound as the severed vines flailed around in several directions before a few on the ground shot up to try and grab her again, now actively seeking her. With a surprising amount of skill and agility, Claire cast again at the ground, using the burst of air to spin her out of the way as she landed on her back, thankfully not entangled once again. The problem she was having now, was figuring out which vines were her enemy, and which to attack...

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

"The hell?!" Claire shouted in surprise as the vine began flailing and screeching. There weren't any screaming vines in The Hobbit, so she felt she could safely conclude she wasn't in Middle Earth. But now things seemed to have taken a surprising turn. Now her earlier inability to get out of the vines made sense, at least she could take solace in the fact that her earlier entanglement wasn't because of complete ineptitude.

As she managed a magically-enhanced acrobatic maneuver, seemingly out of reflex, that surprised even, or especially, herself, she could see that there were more vines, and they were definitely trying to get her. Still, once she landed, she found it very hard to distinguish which were these strange, aggressive, apparently sentient vines, and which were normal annoyances.

Still hot under the collar, and more than a little freaked out from the sudden attack, she started using her wind power to slash at any vine that seemed to be coming towards her. Her blind frustration and fear doing nothing to help her. She would probably need to calm herself down or she would find herself in real trouble.

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Spoiler

Claire Nat 1
Vines 18 Entangled 2. -2 to rolls

Vines 16
Claire 17-2=15
Entangled 3. -3 to rolls, must escape before being able to attack properly.

Her own emotions seemed to heavily affect the element of wind, and a short flash through her mind told her why, each element had a key, and that key was a place in her own mind. Wind was a fickle element, either a gentle breeze or an enraged hurricane that could topple cities.

However, such a powerful gust rather then a focused blade did her little good in this situation against something as insubstantial as a vine with so many anchor points to withstand the force, the blast simply peeling around the plant life as they shot forward and grabbed her wrists, roughly ranking her arms upwards again. Things only got worse as more vines came from below her in the mud, or were they roots, it was hard to tell. With all 4 of her limbs now ensnared, Claire was going to have to do something to get herself loose quickly because the situation was only getting worse...

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Unleashing the powerful blast of wind was rather cathartic for her, serving as an outlet for her frustration. Unfortunately, that was about all it was good for. It did nothing to stop the vines, which had her bound up within moments. She couldn't even tell if it was vines, roots, or something else entirely binding her limbs, all she knew was that she needed out.

Her furious struggling and hot-headed actions hadn't really helped her out so far. Taking a breathe, she tried to calm herself down, and she did manage to relax herself a little. Well, relative to her position of being ensnared by strange vines anyway.

Finally starting to use her head, she didn't really have enough muscle to use her brawn, she started trying to escape her bindings before things became even more dire. She knew her best bet was her wind powers, that was the only way she would be able to fight this thing off, and she knew she would have to fight it. Her chances of escaping the vines on foot seemed poor indeed in such thick undergrowth where the enemy could be hiding almost anywhere and she wouldn't have a clue until it was too late.

For her escape attempt, Claire tried to bring her wrists together so that she could rub at the vines binding her and try to get them up onto her palms so she could slice them away with her wind magic. If she couldn't get her wrists together, she would just have to try to wriggle her hands independently and hope she could get her palms lined up with the vines extending away from her body so she could try to slice them instead.

Spoiler

I am only surprised that it took this long for me to get a 1 haha.
Also, I am just assuming the wind is focused through her hands and that she can actively focus through specific parts of it (I would say she tries some sort of wind blade extending from her fingers, like an extended karate chop/slash move made of wind, but I think I've been just using a wind slice coming from the palm so I will keep it consistent). If my assumptions are too high, just wave the magic nerf stick and see what happens!

 

[Courage Wolf]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Spoiler

Claire 6 -3 =3
Vines 8 Still stuck at -3

Vines 8
Claire 19-3=16
Crit fail on the vines, Entangled 2

Claire's attempt at lining up her hands for an attack was proven to be far more difficult then anticipated as they seemed to be trying to reposition her body in the air, however between her flailing around and their movement, one of the coils on her wrist loosened just enough for her to slip a hand free. She was still stuck and in trouble, but now she had better options. She could still fight now, and hopefully, this plant wasn't as tough as it seemed... Hopefully.

 

[sturm]

Re: Geography (Sturm)

Despite her failure to break free, Claire knew her strategy was sound. Well, at least there was no other strategy she could think of so at the very least it was her best plan by default. Happily, it seemed fortune smiled on her, as the plant-vine-thing lost its grip on one of her wrists while trying to reposition her body, though what it was currently trying to accomplish was a mystery to her.

Still, she had the presence of mind to realize a golden opportunity when she saw one and was intent on taking it. With one hand now free, she immediately tried to reach over and grab the vine that extended from her still-trapped hand and focus her wind magic into her palm to slice through it point-blank.