Catch Hollow Stairs

Reaching out quickly, you try to grab the creature with both hands. The branches shift slightly under your weight and, as you hands close around the scaly creature, you slip and fall. Your fall is arrested by vines and you hang there for a moment swinging. The creature in your grasp is almost calm, looking around with its eyestalks and purring softly. Using one hand you haul yourself onto a large branch.

Inspecting the creature, you find that its skin feels like rubber. Beneath the skin you can feel a whirring sensation as it moves quite unlike bones and muscle. The eyes of the creature regard you with glassy impassiveness as they scan around. A second creature, like the one in your hands but a different hue, lands upon a near branch. Then a third, and a fourth, landing just out of reach.

Your fall has taken you deeper into the crown of the tree, all around you is a network of branches forming a hollow. You subconsciously let go of the creature as you take in the grandeur around you. The hollow is large, lighted by scattered pinpricks of sunlight and glows a living amber. The air is crisp and clean with only the faint whisper of a breeze. At the center of the hollow is a naturally formed stair leading down into the great oak.

-Rest a while.
-Go down the stair.
-Try to climb out.
- ?

This is a post in response to Porky's "Blogging Our Adventures", which is an amazing project so far. If you want to start at the beginning, or figure out what this is all about, click.

Runes Tunnel

Leaning over the hatch you search it for anything that might open it. As your hand traces the engraved rectangle it begins to glow with a bluish light. Pulling your hand away, you see a growing bar of light appear in the center of the rectangle. The bar of light stops and then disappears.

Runes appear in descending bars across the glowing rectangle. There are four of them, each containing a half-circle and a line in different positions. As the runes light up you have the distinct sensation of being watched. Looking around you can see nothing but steel in all directions, the city, tower and flame.

With a determined shrug you press one of the four runes at random.

The rectangle and its runes disappear.

A minute goes by and nothing happens. You reach out and touch the hatch again and the rectangle activates. The runes reappear.

You take a cursory glance around and press a different rune.

The rectangle disappears, and the hatch opens. A humming sound rises out of the hole vibrating the ladder attached to the side. It feels warmer down there compared to the cold of the surface. As you descend you find that the ladder is oddly proportioned, the rungs are too far apart.

The bottom is not far down, and upon reaching the tunnel floor, you hear the hatch slowly closing above you. The tunnel looks to be made of the same metal as the surface, with the walls curving up to the ceiling. One wall of the tunnel looks to be made of pulsating blue light. On closer inspection they are actually metal things, the height of the tunnel, speeding along a blue band of light.

Do you:
-Go towards the city.
-Go towards the tower.
-?

This is a post in response to Porky's "Blogging Our Adventures", which is an amazing project so far. If you want to start at the beginning, or figure out what this is all about, click.

Lost Desolation Rust

You continue along the stream bed, away from the shambling corpses, up into the mountain. The stream, now a dry path, winds between the stones splitting and joining again in a dizzying maze. You realize that you have become lost in the mountains.

The sun dips below the horizon and the sky turns red and begins to darken. All around you the trees are burnt husks which offer no refuge. After the day's events you grow weary and in much need of rest. You scan the mountainside for a cave or any suitable place to rest a while but see little other than desolation.

Then you spot a red glint of metal a little further up the slope. It is egg-shaped with three legs sprouting from the larger end, one leg has broken off. A large oval hole sits in the side large enough to fit through. The shell is covered with rust but inside sits the leather cushions of a seat.

Do you:

-Take a seat.
-Keep going.

This is a post in response to Porky's "Blogging Our Adventures", which is an amazing project so far. If you want to start at the beginning, or figure out what this is all about, click.

Walk Glass Hatch

You begin to walk towards the city, seeking answers. Traversing across the flat metal, the city seems to stay on the horizon, never getting nearer. The solid metal rings through you steps, dulling your bones and slowing you down. After what feels like hours you spot something.

A glass path was set into the steel surface, curving towards the city. The path is a meter wide, glossy and made with very thick glass. You can see a dark current running beneath the glass running towards the city. The other end arcs towards the tower.

You look around the area, for anything else that wasn't the same unblemished metal you have been walking across. Further ahead, you see a small dome, perhaps a hatch. With renewed steps you go to inspect it.

It is clearly a hatch, for it has a hinge on one side, and it sits near the glass pathway. Made out of the same metal it is set it, it bears no handles or locks, only a rectangle traced onto the surface.

Do you:
-The tower is closer...
-Try to open the hatch.
-Follow the path to the city.

This is a post in response to Porky's "Blogging Our Adventures", which is an amazing project so far. If you want to start at the beginning, or figure out what this is all about, click.

Amber Waves Ascent

The tower seems to be the nearest, you start walking towards its twinkling lights which can be seen clearly in the darkness. With each step it becomes taller and its base grows wider. It almost seems to grow from the metal landscape with twists and curves in its architecture. Soon other, smaller, towers can be seen rising from the base curving around the main structure. It glistens a dark amber under the stars.

As you approach the base of the tower the metal under your feet becomes progressively warped. It bends back like frozen waves by the rising force of the tower. It reminds you of an uprooted plant with its roots rising into the air. The 'roots' are solid and easily climbable with many hand and foot holds. There is no apparent doors or stairs, that can be seen, but lights do shine in the highest spire.

Using the roots, you pick a path upwards. The climb begins to get steeper and the roots fewer as you rise. It gets harder to breathe in the thinning windless air and the spire still looks impossibly tall. Far below, the metal landscape curves to either side like a chrome moon, the city and the fire the only blemishes.

Close by, you can see an alcove in the roots and you are very tired from the climb. Although, the lights do seem closer, one could press on...

Do you:
-Climb onwards.
-Rest.

This is a post in response to Porky's "Blogging Our Adventures", which is an amazing project so far. If you want to start at the beginning, or figure out what this is all about, click.

Stars Lightning Metal

You begin climbing down, swinging your feet over the edge, gingerly placing each foot upon the nearest pipe. The pipe is steady. You exhale in relief and your eyes are caught by the void below. Each point of light beckoning you with endless possibilities, the vastness, the beauty.

Like a thunderclap you it the field. Blue lines of energy flash, burning themselves into your retinas. The discharge renders your body numb, throwing you into the void itself. Your lungs become iron, breathing is impossible. Dark shadows fight with the lines for your vision. The starlight fades.

Waking. Cold. The darkness returns.

You are dreaming of stars. No, you are awake looking at stars. You look around you, at the cold metal landscape beneath the stars. A tower, a city, a fire.

Where do you go?

The Tower
The City
The Fire
Back to the Hole

This is a post in response to Porky's "Blogging Our Adventures", which is an amazing project so far. If you want to start at the beginning, or figure out what this is all about, click.