Play Testers Wanted: Part 7
All characters are 18 years old or older. 46,000 words long. It is a bit of an adventure to be sure. If the length is too much perhaps read it in segments. The time portal has sent our hero back in time but where and when. An ancient evil on a world coursing with darkness. What's an adventurer to do? Grab all the X.P. He can and level up like a champ, that's what!
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Time is On My Side:
I woke in the middle of the smoldering crater. I was naked and pissed off. Try as I might I couldn't remember much of my passage through the portal. I was tumbling ass over elbows and then nothing. I stood and looked around. My surroundings were quite otherworldly, and my gut told me that this was neither ancient Latveria nor mysterious Wakanda. So, where the hell was I? I waited patiently as the first of seven moons began rising.
"Definitely... not Earth." I muttered as the realization of my situation became abundantly clear. "Need to fix this naked situation." I mumbled as I walked out of the crater. I pulled down my HUD and nearly screamed in shock. "What the holy fucking hell is going on?!" I shrieked.
Most of my possessions were greyed out. I had access to only a scant few of my belongings. This had to be Doom's doings. He rigged the gate somehow. He and his crew had something that sent them to the right location and year. I didn't have it and I ended up here, wherever here was. I also guessed that the lack of that device left me in the dire situation I was in. At least I still had all my skills and abilities. The only clothing I had was the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, and a new garment marked dark robes. I activated the robes, pulled up the hood and decided my appearance might draw unwanted attention. I cloaked myself in shadows and felt the ease a bit alarming. It took no effort or energy to hide my passage. I didn't trust anything at this point especially something as basic as using my powers.
"That's damn strange." I growled still pissed at my unavailable equipment. "First my lightsaber and now this shit!" I cursed. "Let's see if I am sitting on top or near a power source. Maybe that is why I am not burning points to maintain my shadows." I ranted trying not to lose my temper.
I closed my eyes and reached out and felt the pulse of raw power. It was far away, so it didn't make sense that I'd be drawing on it from this distance. I stopped and decided to make sure I could access any and all my abilities. I went through them in alphabetical order. I was relieved to see that I could do them. The unnerving part was that I barely scratched either my stamina or magic pool to perform that many abilities. If I could do that, then others could it as well. I was going to have to choose my battles wisely. I checked my quests and I couldn't help but laugh when I saw the only one currently active.
'Time on my hands.'
"No shit." I grumbled as I headed in the direction of the power source for lack of anything else to do for the moment.
I began singing old songs to pass the time and comfort myself. As I walked, I looked at my environment. There was plant life in abundance and like Ossus they were utterly alien. Where I passed small animals would scurry and seek shelter. I had become the predator. My anger washed over the landscape heralding my approach and signaling my departure. The sky darkened and I felt a second rush of power as my vampiric blood pulsed and called out to be fed. I had no weapons I could use save my bare hands and of course my fangs. If I was to survive long enough to discover a way off this world and back to Earth. I needed to feed.
I sensed it at the edge of my being. It was out hunting now that night had fallen. I paused and reached out to touch its mind. Unlike the Exomorph, this beast was starved and in a near rage to feed. Its empty belly made it dangerous and impatient. The wind suddenly shifted, and it caught my scent. I prepared to defend myself as it came quietly to find me waiting. In form it was heavily armored with a spiky exoskeleton, short stubby legs, and a wicked looking tail. It charged my position and I unleashed a single blast of Force lightning into it. The ebony lightning lifted it off the ground and upended it. I watched it's helpless form with its six legs that it wiggled in the air. I heard its twin hearts pounding in terror and racing in rage. I plunged my hand through the thin skin of its underbelly. I ripped out one of its hearts and drank straight from it.
"So much rage." I gasped surprised at my own actions. "Rage comes easily here. Power and rage in great abundance."
I left the remains of the beast for others to scavenge. With lips stained with fresh blood I raced through the forest towards the source of power I had detected. I stopped when I reached the edge of the cliff. The land beyond was dominated by scrub grass, queer looking fungi, and a graveyard of wrecked starships. That is where the power was coming from. I glanced for a way down and found a path half a mile from my current location. Intoxicated by the fresh kill still working its way through my system I laughed as I launched my body off the side of the cliff. The shield formed around me with barely a thought. The ground rushed up as I plummeted towards the ground. A dozen yards above the floor of the land beyond I shoved downward with the Force and slowed my body so that it floated like a leaf from a tree. My feet touched the dry earth and I resumed my journey for my destination.
I crossed the enormous distance in just a few hours. I felt like a grain of sand compared to the dead hulks before me. The engines of these once great ships were ten stories tall and just as wide. I couldn't tell what brought these ships down, but they had all gathered here to die. My HUD chimed and when I checked a new quest was available, it was entitled Rakata Requiem. I took up shelter within the nearest derelict and removed the holocron from my inventory. The cube rose up on its own and activated. The image of strange hammer headed alien hovered over the cube. It spoke in its native language and when I didn't respond it switched to English.
"Pitiful slave, you don't even know the language of your betters." It scowled at me displaying his razor-sharp shark teeth.
"Forgive me," I replied deciding subservience was the only way of getting anything out of this gate keeper. "Your race has been dead for centuries and passed into legend."
"Fear not slave, I am a patient Master and I will instruct you in my language so that you can raise yourself up from nothing." He replied grinning, I think.
"Master is kind." I stated and smiled back.
It would reveal nothing until I had a basic working knowledge of its alphabet and spoken language. I spent weeks under my Rakata Master's tutelage. When I wasn't practicing the Rakatan language I was searching the ship for supplies, tools, and a means of repairing the ship's power plant. Without power I was vulnerable. Enter Traci. She was about to double my learning burden. With her help I got a crash course in engineering. She dumbed it down and to my surprise I understood it. Each day was a lesson on language and how to read and interpret schematics. Eight weeks into my exile I powered up the first small power plant that wasn't beyond all hope.
My next self-appointed task was to create a helper. During my wanderings I found numerous disabled droids in various stages of destruction. While my Master taught me language, I erected a pile of metallic corpses. When I had enough parts I began taking them apart. I sorted them by function and tossed the obvious damaged bits away. All I needed was a single droid at the end of this mission. By the time I had stacks of individual parts I had also collected and put together a tool kit. I had a nice selection of tools that I needed to take apart and now assemble a companion. I laid out the skeleton first and worked from there. There were flashes of the Numenor robots in my head and I used that as a plan for my creation. I charged the droids power cell from the power plant I had repaired. As it charged, I began assembling the torso. It was a hybrid of a dozen different manufacturers and droid types. Traci walked me through the work and never failed to explain what to do but also why I was doing it. The arms and legs followed suit over the next few days. The head took nearly as long as the torso. I was particular about the sensors it would possess as well as its processing power. I managed to create a rather impressive neural relay that was scattered within the head and chest of the droid. So that even if the head were damaged it had a backup protected by the torso's armor. I was equally proud of the sensor array which reminded me of a cluster of spider's eyes that gleamed a bright red in the dim lighting.
"Well?" I asked Traci as she scanned the inactive droid and declared it fully functional. I placed the power pack into the torso and closed it.
"Here goes nothing," Traci declared as she cloned herself into the main memory core of my creation.
The limbs of the droid twitched a few times as the eyes lit up. It sat up, looked around, and announced that it was fully functional in Traci's modulated voice. She held up a hand and wiggled her fingers. I helped her to her feet and she eagerly awaited orders. Now that she was up and running, I was ready for the next phase. We went about repairing some of the ships systems and computer network. I learned how to 'slice' the ship's security protocols. Thanks to the holocron I was able to read the ship's coding language and bypass it, eventually. While I tried different passwords, it hit me that the current races were using the Rakatan alphabet as their own. They weren't completely forgotten after all.
Traci did the heavy lifting and I left her on autonomous mode. I figured she knew how to attack the repairs far better than I did. My third month was the most rewarding to date. I was able to finally slice the inventory of the ship and found where the cargo was being held and what it carried. I levitated the holocron with me and as I worked passed frozen bulkheads, and ruptured blast doors. It took three days to make my way from the power plant to the cargo hold. It was worse off than I feared, but not without hope. I scavenged to my heart's content and found the makings of a ground vehicle. There were three repulsor engines, two were small and one was rather large.
I made my second base camp within the stadium sized cargo hold. I piled things in groups of weapons, repair and tools, and raw supplies. The most amazing find were the bolts of what the manufacturer called solar cloth. Imagine something as thin and smooth as silk and as tough as adamantium. It could collect and store solar energy and release that energy in a variety of ways. With it I had the means of making a solar sail. I imagined a floating catamaran soaring over the surface of this world to the nearest town or city. First, I had to discover whatever training the holocron held.
"You are ready to begin." The Rakatan declared later that week. "Let us see what meager talents you possess."
I began with levitation, Force push, and then moved onto Force lightning and my mastery of shadows and invisibility. I ended with manifesting other elements and waited for his reaction.
"Can you influence others?" He asked and I nodded. "Can you drain the life out of your victims?"
"Not with the Force, no." I said and revealed my fangs.
"Good! Let me instruct you in the ancient art of life stealing." It informed me in a low chilling voice. "Summon a beast and we will begin."
I was hungry so it wasn't difficult for me to want to feed from some of the local wildlife. I reached out and felt the presence of what turned out to be a wild herd mammal. On Earth it would have been the equivalent of a cow or bull. Summoning it was simple. It lumbered into view and my Master guided me through my first attempt to extract the life stuff of the animal. My vampiric nature made it more natural than it would have been for others. I closed my eyes and felt the very life force of the animal. It was strong, healthy, and had it in abundance. I was told that there were several ways of initiating the contact so that the extraction could occur. I had to choose an emotion to inspire in my prey and the stronger the better. I could pick panic, rage, or even lust. Any strong emotion was a viable candidate. I didn't want the beast to suffer so I chose fear.
