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I asked in the official Kenshi thread if people would be interested in my let's play and I was surprised to see some show legit interest. What is Kenshi? Kenshi is an open world sandbox RPG on Steam that was officially released in December 2018. What is the gameplay like? As described above it is a "sandbox RPG". To explain what that means to a layman, it is basically a real RPG as the game has no narrative or quests to speak of. You start off on the map with no goals and have to make your own quest. The game gives you all the tools to almost anything you want whether that be a drug lord, bounty hunter, John Brown style anti-slaver, or a just someone having a nice little shop and loving a calm life. Similarly you can also be the exact opposite of these things. You can hunt down drug dealers, work up to have the highest bounty possible in a region, hunt down any escaped slaves, or loot all shops blind to fund your own little outlaw base. In Kenshi you can do almost anything you want. When you add in mods you can do virtually anything you want. Want to have your own entire army? You can do that. Want to have your own entirely fully functioning city? You can do that. Want to have your own zoo? You can do that. But of course things can get interesting in how you can mix and match things. Want to have your own army of T-Rexes and highly aggressive mutant gorillas rampage across every city so you can have dinosaurs once again rule the world? You can do that. Want to then watch the dinosaurs and gorillas battle it out to see who's the true king of the realm? You ca- get the picture. Add in the fact that the game reacts to whatever you do as different factions and cities respond accordingly to what occurs around them, and the fact that the game does many things at random, and you have a very unique experience. One could argue that Kenshi is a "true roleplaying game" while something like say Fallout is "an elaborate choose your own adventure book". What is the world like? Imagine Mad Max meets a ronin samurai film. Now imagine that it takes place on another planet with robots and "aliens" living alongside humans. Holy poo poo this game sounds awesome! What do I have to do to able to play it? You can buy it on Steam here. You can also download the demo here. The demo is essentially the full game, it just caps all your attributes at level 20. Before I start, I’m going to clarify some things: - My goal here is to have “organic storytelling”. I do not have a set script for this. I’m pretty much improvising the story as I play the game. - Every event that I describe happens actually happened in game. At no point will I describe a character doing an action or something happening to a character that didn’t happen in-game. - However, I feel no shame in resetting the game the game to get a desired outcome if possible. If my characters manage to run into an army of bloodspiders accidentally and all die, then I will simply reload the save prior to this happening so this event doesn’t occur. This is not a full commit one save playthrough. So if you find something odd such as “how the gently caress did they get out of that one?’ well it was probably using every video game player’s super power of the quick save and quick load button. Though you might be surprised what did not require this. - All the in-game dialogue I will screenshot. If I say that the character said something or had a certain emotion then that is me making it up. Kenshi’s avatars and even NPCs rarely react and this is a double edge sword that I will try to use to my advantage. This may not always be the case and I may forget to catch something when playing it, but seasoned players should have an idea. - Also, I apologize for the first character profile for being so wordy but he is the “protagonist” after all. punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 04:04 on Jul 28, 2021 |
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Jul 21, 2021 06:33
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Chapter 1 ~It’s Over 100 Degrees and Everyone Hates You ~  [New Character Profile -> Bone: A mid-twenties young male Scorchlander who grew up in a tightknit nomad family. Like most nomads on the planet, they weren’t nomad by choice, but more so due to how difficult it is settling on land that isn’t threatened by erratic weather, dangerous creatures, bandits, or an oppressive government. His nomad family consisted of his father, uncle, grandfather, and two cousins who were a dozen years his senior. There were no women in the group but not by choice. Bone’s mother died when giving birth to what would be his younger sibling (who died in the womb). His grandmother passed when he was six due to being an unheard-of old age of 94. While his aunt died trying to protect the family’s crops from bandits. She succeeded (she knew how to use a metal pipe) but at the cost of her own life. Bone spent most of his life taking care of his grandfather who became paralyzed from the waist down, due to events with the bandits described above. This occurred when Bone was only 11 and he has been taking care of his grandfather ever since while his father worked as a trader and his cousins tended the croups. His grandfather was also his primary “father figure” because of this. He taught Bone well. To be honest, to never steal, and to never hurt. Unfortunately, his grandfather passed away a week ago. Before passing he was sure to tell Bone over the course of his life how important it was to see the world and live life on your own terms. “What we nomads do we don’t explore, we don’t experience, we merely scavenge unwanted lands. Go to the city, explore, find yourself, and find your passion.” A little on the nose for sure, but it got the job done and would leave an impression on anyone hearing the same thing since they were a pre-teen. Now that his grandfather has passed, Bone feels no obligation to stay with the family. Despite the protest of his father, uncle, and two cousins, Bone decided to leave their camp in Stenn Desert and head out for the closest city. “You’ll be dead in a week”, his father said.] The hot sun directly overhead bakes Bone’s skin as he enters Admag. It would bother him more, but his focus is mainly on the people. Being the capital of the Shek Kingdom almost everyone is Shek. They are at least seven feet tall and make Bone seem like a small child in comparison. And not only are they imposing, but they also give unwelcoming stares to Bone, sometimes even comments. The city is growing and its economy is booming and with that comes people looking for opportunity, and with that comes jealously, especially if they don’t share your face. He overhears a comment being made toward him.  He turns around to see a big figure, even by Shek standards. He seems to be at least around 8 feet tall and has the strength of three large men.  Knowing to pick his battles, Bone continues into the one place he knows he will be able to find work, the bar.   Bone finds the Shek dialect very difficult to understand. But he makes out that he will get a “job” from a “client” wandering around town. He just hopes that whatever it is it isn’t something that could land him in a cage. As he leaves the bar, someone gets his attention.  She’s a young woman who calls herself “Nodo”. She is one of the “JRPG races”. [-Lore Note-: “JRPG races” (nominally “Starlanders”) refers to a relatively unique sub-species of Greenlanders and Scorchlanders who tend to have very similar facial and physical features. Particularly large eyes, big breasts, thin eyebrows, and an overall petite figure. While not exactly being a “rare” subrace, they are less common than Greenlanders and Scorchlanders. Due to the sub-species being virtually all women and their features meshing well with the standards of beauty in several areas, they are often referred to as “Just Really Pretty Girls” or “JRPG” for short.] While Bone would love to strike a conversation, he declines as he is still figuring things out on his own. Plus being by only men and alone most of the time means he doesn’t have best social skills, especially among females. But still, why in the world is a JRPG in Stenn Desert of all places? Despite the city’s relatively small area it is absolutely packed with buildings and people.  As he approaches people he gets responses but not the ones he wants:   Bone continues searching through the crowds.  As he roams around he sees someone in the distance who looks familiar.  It’s the same large intimidating man who shook Bone earlier.  Without Bone even opening his mouth, the large Shek, who doesn’t even bother making eye contact, speaks to Bone and gives him three choices.  Finding the dialect difficult to understand, Bone choose the safest sounding option. “Securing Human Resources” can’t be that bad can it? When Bone asks more questions, the “Client” simply responds “Entrance” and picks up his pace. Bone proceeds to make his way to the city gates. It’s populated with only with guards who either ignore him at best or scoff at him at worst. All except one.  Still not understanding what this random string of words means, Bone presses the towering Shek to elaborate.  It all makes sense now. While Admag has seen much economic growth lately, that isn’t saying much considering it wasn’t anywhere near a powerhouse to begin with. In fact, the economy could at best be described as “average” when holding it to United Cities or Holy Nation standards. To combat this the city has been hiring “private recruiters” to convince desperate wanderers to settle in. Once in Admag the government assigns them to menial jobs such as mining resources miles away during the day or working storage at various shops. The idea is to “keep them out of sight” so Shek doesn’t lose its “cultural heritage”. The locals hate it, the government hates it, but it is necessary to have the city stay relevant as well as take potential settlers away from competing factions. Hence why it’s done “under the table” in some sort of weird gray market kind of way. Unsurprisingly, Admag has notoriously low retention rates. Sure, it may not be under a totalitarian government like the Holy Nation, or essentially be an open-air prison like places in The Great Desert, or be a Judge Dredd style crime ridden slum like the Swamp. But at least in those places if you look hard enough you can find people who will accept you, even if most don’t. Before leaving, the Hundred Guardian tells Bone that the most successful pitch is to tell people that Admag has ‘food and shelter”. Bone ventures out to the desert. All he has to do to start making his living is to find someone he can convince to settle to Admag.  How hard can it be? punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 05:36 on Aug 3, 2021 |
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Jul 21, 2021 06:33
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Jul 21, 2021 07:14
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drat, barely any responses. Maybe my storytelling sucks? Or people may be sick of Kenshi Let's Plays? Yeah. It definitely gets interesting.
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Jul 21, 2021 18:15
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Reading this between work calls today-- definitely down for more Kenshi narrative LPs, don't feel discouraged.
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Jul 21, 2021 20:04
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Oh, I'm definitely happy to see where it goes.
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Jul 21, 2021 20:19
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I realized today that I could actually turn off the UI in-game so I can get great pictures without the ugly UI in the way. Eventually you'll be seeing images without the UI but not for a bit. Anyway, here is Chapter 2: Chapter 2 ~Alive is Alive…I Guess ~ It’s been less than half an hour and already Bone is about to die.  Somehow while trekking the desert, he failed to notice a giant spider until it was right in front of him. And with it heading towards him, he knows it can’t end well. As the large spider approaches Bone and opens its mouth, Bone closes his eyes and accepts his fate... ... ... ... …nothing. Bone turns around.  “It..IT…IT TALKS!?!?!?”, Bone says to himself. He proceeds to turn around and run in the other direction as far and fast as he can. Four hours pass and literally nothing happens. Bone doesn’t manage to see another soul in the desert, neither person nor animal. At this point he wishes that for even another a giant talking spider to keep him company. I mean thinking about it, telling someone to “stay safe” is by far the nicest thing said to him since he’s set foot in this desert. He’d take horrifying but pleasant giant spiders over the tall racist Shek any day. It’s not like he wouldn’t be at the mercy of either anyway with his skills and stature. Bone manages to pass through the Stenn Desert in its entirety and enters Vain. The rainy and marshy biome that contrasts so much what he’s been used to the past few days he feels like he has entered an entirely different planet. He finds himself in a predicament. It’s about to be nightfall and he’s starting to get tired and hungry, but he also definitely can’t go back to the city empty handed. While debating in mind, something catches his eye in the distance.  It looks like a large red boulder, except that it’s…moving! Bewildered, Bone cautiously takes a closer look.  It looks like a large red boulder, except that it’s…moving! Bewildered, Bone cautiously takes a closer look.  The “boulder” is no boulder but instead a living creature, and a particularly mean one judging by all the blood and bodies nearby. As Bone slowly backs away, he notices one of the faces. It’s “Flick” an outlaw who is part of a notorious bandit group who that robs people, particularly in the Eastern Stenn Desert. Fatigued, hungry, and know that that he has to have something valuable, Bone gets closer to Flick’s corpse and loots it. Food to eat, bandages to heal, expensive armor to sell? Bone feels he’s hit the jackpot. After grabbing these items, he gets ready to leave when he recognizes the body beside Flick’s. “Harlo”, another member of the trio. But unlike Flick with his caved in chest, he sees Harlo’s moving up and down. Sure, his head looks like a dented blueberry with much of the juice squeezed out of it, but he’s alive! And one thing everyone knows about bounties is that they tend to be worth more being brought in alive, than dead. In most cases at least. Bone inches closer to Harlo.  He picks him up and lunges him over his shoulder before making his silent get away. “That was easier than expected”, Bone thinks. Maybe the creature isn’t so menacing after all?  Once far enough, Bone takes off and sprints as he’s never sprinted before. He has no idea where this energy has come from but it’s possible that his instincts are kicking in. Maybe it was due to feat since he’s too afraid to look behind to see if the creature is following him, maybe it was due to him carrying his only hope for a next meal on his shoulder, or maybe it was something else. But something was driving him. As he was leaving Vain and saw the familiar Stenn Desert in the horizon, Bone noticed that Harlo’s breathing became fainter and fainter. His abdomen was no longer moving as much, and he was gradually exhaling less air and more blood. It was clear that he was dying.  Bone was in a fight against time. An hour and a half pass by and he is still hours away from the Admag, and Harlo keeps getting worse. Particularly his head.  He tries to push things a bit longer but realizes that Harlo has to be stitched up now or he dies. While having experience as a caretaker, Bone was hesitant to treat anybody. He’s used to providing care as in making breakfast and wiping asses, not urgent care like bandaging over someone’s brains. Nevertheless, something had to be done, and Bone sets Harlo down and tries to treat him the best he can. He only has enough knowledge to simply wrap Harlo’s head in the bandages he’s got. This seems to have helped his head but not fully, and his chest is completely untreated.  As Bone picks Harlo back up, he wonders if he will make it in town before the afterlife takes him. It’s past midnight and Bone finally manages to make it back into the city. As he passes by the gates the guards give him a brief glance before staring back in the distance. Bone immediately heads to the constable building.  Accepting his reward, the guardian grabs the body and quickly heads upstairs. Multiple other guardians quickly follow. Curiosity getting the best of him, Bone decides to follow them all the way up to the third floor.  Despite being surrounded by cages, what Bone sees seems less like a jail and more like a hospital. Nearly half a dozen guardians were all giving intense medical attention to Harlo. Judging by their expressions it seems like he’s going to make it, but there is no guarantee. Harlo’s head was bashed in, with his chest partially ripped open. And he’s being saved just to rot in a cage. “Oh well, alive is alive…I guess”, Bone thinks to himself. punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 16:39 on Jul 22, 2021 |
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Jul 22, 2021 03:29
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Hell yeah, keep these coming. I'm curious how committed to bounty hunting and 'human resource' accumulation you'll become.
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Jul 22, 2021 08:43
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Chapter 3 ~ Liar Liar ~ Waking up early in the morning, Bone steps outside to start his search early. He is greeted with an unusual chant.  Bone is confused. What does “Fists of Justice” mean? He responds with a “Huh?”  “Slavery?”, Bone is certainly familiar with the concept. Everyone knows that the United Cities “progressive” façade accepts slavery in the argument of “tradition” and separating the lowest of classes from the nobles. While the Holy Nation is rumored to have an entire army of slaves working in the mountains. It’s one of the reasons why Bone’s family rarely ever went to the northern half of the continent. Within the nomad community there are rumors of bandits kidnapping random people on the roads to sell them off. Thinking of it makes him shudder. That there are people who would allow others to be enslaved, let alone someone who goes around trying to make a living on doing such a thing. Regardless, Bone has no time to entertain himself with such thoughts. Now is time to focus on his original mission. To find people to recruit to Admag. He needs to improve his standing with the city, as well as make some serious cash. He begins exploring Stenn Desert where on the horizon he sees a group walking along the hillside. Excited, Bone rushes toward them, only to have a very familiar scene play out to him.  They are nomads, and from the looks of it they are currently in the process of finding camp. And if there is one thing someone has to understand about nomads its that they do not like to settle around a lot of people. And judging by them being near cooper resources, it seems that they may have just found their spot. Figuring that it’s time to look elsewhere, Bone makes his way to Vain. Not long after stepping foot in the territory he discovers something interesting.  It’s a ruined city. Sure “ruined” means that it was once thriving but now destroyed, but “ruined” is also synonymous with squatters. People who live here solely for food and shelter, the perfect candidates for his mission. As he gets closer to the ruins, he hears signs of life. Footsteps and shuffling in the buildings, and what sounds like crackling, likely from a large bonfire. With a smile on his face Bone enters the ruins prepared to give his pitch.  No! No! Nooooooo!!! Bloodspiders! Bone runs as fast as he possibly can. He does not dare look back as he can’t handle knowing how close the spiders are to ripping him to shreds After running for a bit, he notices that he is still unharmed and no longer hears the army of multi-legged monsters. Turning his head around he sees nearly all the spiders chasing him gone.  Taking a brief glance at all of the dead bloodspiders surrounding the floor of the ape, it was a reminder of how extensive the hierarchy of the outside world is. No matter how well prepared you are or the advantages you give yourself, you always run the risk of running into something more threatening than you. Easily losing the last two or so bloodspiders following him, Bone tails it back to Stenn Desert. On his way he discovers a caravan.    Frustrated, Bone continues back to Stenn Desert. “Is this a fool’s errand? Are these people just playing games with me?”, Bone says to himself. It’s completely possible that the bartender just merely disliked foreigners and led him on a goose chase through the badlands to get himself killed. What the gently caress does “securing human resources” mean anyway? Entering back in the desert Bone begins to make money the best way nomads. There is a saying among Bone’s people, “If you can’t farm…  ...you mine.” At this point, he’s not sure if he should go back to the city or not. If he tells them that he couldn’t find anyone to settle in the city it’s likely that they’ll just ignore Bone. Thinking of it further, why would he want to stay in Admag? A city that doesn’t allow you to work is a city that doesn’t allow you to live. There are certainly alternatives he could go to. He recalls hearing lots of opportunity for work in the Border Zone. But there is the tradeoff of crime. That’s one thing about Shek territory, crime is (relatively) low. Twenty minutes past by and Bone decides to take a quick break. He hears a fair bit of noise to his left side.  Taking a closer look, it turns out they are caravan of traders! Traders are an ideal candidate to want to move to cities, particularly booming ones. Their main goal is to sell things. They typically are found roaming around deserts in search of either greener pastures or desperate wanderers looking to buy any of their stuff (which the traders tend to price accordingly).   With the sun about to set, Bone breathes a sigh of relief. He’s done it. With only an hour of daylight left to spare, Bone takes this “Huft” back to Admag.  After two and a half hours they reach the capital. However, it seems that there are people who beat them to it. There is skirmish between the gate guards and…some group. Bone never really found it much importance to care about politics. Nomads simply see everyone as a potential threat, except other nomads (for the most part). As Bone leads his settler to the gates he is greeted by the guard.   Six hundred cats….SIX HUNDRED CATS!?!?!??!? This could at best be stretched to buy a meal for a day and a bed for the night. The bare minimum to survive. He’d be better off just mining copper.  And judging by his interactions with the guardians, his relations with the city have barely improved, if at all. He also notices that Huft is nowhere to be seen as well. It’s as if once he entered the gates, he turned back Bone does what he does best whenever he is disappointed in his outcomes. Wander and sulk. As he walks the city streets an hour and twenty minutes passes. He comes across several people huddled in front of a door, trying to pick it open.  Such a blatant break here? In Admag? Before Bone can think of doing much of anything, the guards intervene.   The ensuing fight is brutal. The bandits display good combat skills, but it’s hard to surpass a Shek. All the bandits are dead but one on top of the hill, a Shek one at that. The guardians pay him no mind as there is even more commotion elsewhere. As they leave, Bone sees an opportunity. What if he takes him over to the constable building and simply states that I found him in hiding somewhere in the city? They certainly won’t know as there is so much chaos happening. Bone picks up the bandit and heads over to the constable building.  One thousand cats? It isn’t much, but it’s far better than spending two days looking for random assholes to bring into town. After turning in the bandit, Bone decides to head upstairs and take a closer look at his capture.  It turns out the bandit was barely hurt; he just got winded with a very good blow to the head. Observing him further, Bone notices something. That the bandit, including all the others like him, was wearing caravan trading clothes. Was “Huft” and their group really just a band of traveling traders? Doing his best not to overthink things, Bone heads back to the bar. He thinks to himself of how he’s had enough of this city. The main thing the Shek Empire offers over other territories is safety. And even that no longer seems to be the case. While hunched over on a table, Bone notices the cute JRPG again. He debates whether or not to try and take her up on her offer to band up. While he ponders it, he sees her leave the bar. It’s then that Bone approaches her.   Doing his best to win her over, Bone tells Nodo that he is an accomplished bounty hunter, with him averaging a bounty a day since arriving in the city. Not technically a lie, but certainly a stretch of the truth.   “Make it up to me?”, Bone thinks. He does his best to hide his blood rush to his heads. He can’t believe it. Not only did he manage to get a partner to leave the city with, but a JRPG as well…in STENN DESERT! Surely the odds of something must be one in a million. “This must be a once in a lifetime opportunity!”, Bone thinks to himself. Oh, wait there’s another one right over there!  Bone immediately approaches her in this once in a two million chance moment! Erm…or at least that’s how Bone thinks the math works.  Just like with Nodo, Bone explains to Aranita that he’s an accomplished bounty hunter looking to form his own little posse to take down high scores.   “W-what!?” Bone says out loud as he’s shocked to see her walk away. He didn’t believe his tone implied that he no longer wanted to speak with her. He approaches her once again.    Bone can hardly believe it. He’s gotten two After delivering payment to both of them. They decide to rest up for the upcoming day. Sleep was short as Bone was too excited for his upcoming travels. All three waking up early, they head to the shop where Bone purchases medical supplies to hold for the group. Unfortunately, he once again encounters some racism as a parting gift from Admag.  No matter. Bone and his two partners are about to set off into the world.  “So where are we going?”, Nodo asks. Bone fumbles his words a bit as he tries to think of somewhere. “West”, Aranita blurts out. “West?”, Bone asks. “That’s where all the people are moving to these days. There’s sure to be bounties there.”, Aranita responds. “You didn’t have a destination in mind?”, Nodo asks Bone. “No, it’s not that, it’s just…I’m a…freebird!”, Bone confidently exclaims before blushing from earned embarrassment.  As the group passes through the gates, they see a Shek who has clearly seen better days, as he limps back from the desert. It’s then that Bone wonders to himself, “Maybe I’m a bit over my head?” punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Jul 25, 2021 |
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Jul 25, 2021 02:53
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The saga continues. Whichever graphic overhaul mod you're using is pretty tight. Don't let your waifus get eaten by beasties!
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Jul 25, 2021 06:54
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Does anyone find it difficult to read what characters are saying in the pictures? Things look crisp and clear on my computer but on my phone it is hard to read the text even when zoomed in. Maybe it's because my phone is just cheap crap.
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Jul 26, 2021 17:26
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I just read your LP on my computer op
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Jul 26, 2021 19:39
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I haven't had time to read an update yet, but you might want to put some info on what Kenshi actually is in the OP, because for some folks, like me, this is gonna be their first exposure to the game. I have no idea what this game is.
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Jul 27, 2021 08:13
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I have never heard of this game. I have no idea what is going on. I am finding this completely fascinating. I am amazed Poser art is in an actually competent story.
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Jul 27, 2021 16:14
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Commander Keene posted:I haven't had time to read an update yet, but you might want to put some info on what Kenshi actually is in the OP, because for some folks, like me, this is gonna be their first exposure to the game. I have no idea what this game is. Updated the OP. Thanks for pointing this out. Humbug Scoolbus posted:I have never heard of this game. I have no idea what is going on. I am finding this completely fascinating. I am amazed Poser art is in an actually competent story. I assume this is a complement on my story telling skills, and if so, thank you.
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Jul 27, 2021 17:21
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punk rebel ecks posted:Updated the OP. Thanks for pointing this out. It is a compliment.
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Jul 27, 2021 21:54
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I'll try and see if I can roll out the next chapter either tonight or tomorrow.Humbug Scoolbus posted:It is a compliment. Yeah, I figured "Poser art" was a typo?
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Jul 27, 2021 22:48
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punk rebel ecks posted:Yeah, I figured "Poser art" was a typo? The Kenshi character graphics do look very Poser-like. It's probably largely due to the basic lighting.
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Jul 27, 2021 22:55
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Before I post Chapter 4, I want to apologize for the lack of pictures. This was still relatively early on in my playthrough and I was new to doing specific type of sequences so many of the things described are missing. I apologize if there is too much text as (even if there was a high picture count) there is a lot of it. If you are all fine with this style, then great. However, if you aren't please let me know.
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Jul 29, 2021 04:20
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Chapter 4 ~ Test ~ Approximately two hours have passed since the trio have left Admag. They are currently exiting Stenn Desert and entering Vain.     [New Character Profile -> Aranita: A JRPG in her early twenties, she spends her days wandering from town to town partnering up with others more to “couch surf” than for employment prospects. Being of JRPG background makes it easy for her to find others (particularly men) who want to team up with her, but due to her bizarre personality and highly erratic behavior they all tend to drop her fairly quickly. In between partnering up with others she survives by scavenging or flat-out dumpster diving. She often has her own saying with food of “If it doesn’t smell, then you can eat it.” And even then, she occasionally breaks that rule (“moldy rice ball”). It wasn’t always like this though. She used to live in a good home. But due to her shenanigans causing problems in the community, as well as her being terminated from every job she’s ever had, she stained her family’s name to the point where they felt they had no choice but to kick her out. Just over a year later she has now found another person to potentially torment, Bone.]  [New Character Profile -> Nodo: Another JRPG in her early twenties. She seems calm on the surface but in actuality has quite an attitude. She’s been living on the streets since she was fifteen due to her getting kicked out of her house due to her poor conduct. She primarily survived by working random stocking and retail jobs, while stealing and reselling the products to black market traders. It was through the black market that she inevitably met the Shinobi Thieves. Seeing the appeal of “free” shelter, she applied for membership. However, the shinobi weren’t keen on her using their hideouts as a hotel rather than a place to improve and hone her skills. They also noticed that she would never come to the aid of other shinobi when needed. She was swiftly kicked out of the clan not long after she joined and has since traveled to city to city trying to create money making opportunities.]  The crew continues on for a bit longer. In the distance they begin to notices the wildlife. Bone and, especially Aranita, seem taken by these unique beasts, while Nodo seems disinterested.  After passing by the animals, they see another herd further up front. Since it was “on the way” the group sees no problem checking them out.  This was a very very very poor choice. [-Lore Note-: “Beak Things” are the official name (yes believe it or not) of an animal that is found primarily throughout the regions of Gut, Bonefields, and Vain. They have the title of “one of the most dangerous animals in the world” due to there immense strength, persistence, speed, and tendency to gather in groups. Beak Things actually hold the record of the highest annual casualties to any intelligent species. This is despite the fact that they tend to inhabit areas without a major city. Due to all of this, Beak Things spike fear in even the most seasoned traveler due their immense threat. There are those who aren’t aware of their danger due to them not being present in high population regions, but those who don’t respect the Beak Things always perish. Once they notice you, chances are you are already dead.]  Bone runs. He runs for his life leaving Nodo and Aranita to defend themselves. Despite this act of cowardice, one Beak Thing turns its attention to Bone instead of the two ladies. Resulting in Bone highly vulnerable to death as well. “poo poo! poo poo! poo poo! poo poo! poo poo!”, Bone screams as he is being chased. It’s all he can think and al he can communicate. Despite being a nomad, Bone has never heard of these “Beak Things”. His family primarily kept south of the equator, and these monsters inhabit regions in the north. He knew some creatures could be aggressive and dangerous, but he thought “kill on sight” was something limited only to bloodspiders. He has yet to even acknowledge his partners and is only thinking about his own survival as the persistent creature doesn’t stop chasing him. “poo poo! poo poo! poo poo!”  As Bone runs for his life, it seems that both Nodo and Aranita have already given theirs. Or so it seems.  With a loss of blood, a battered right arm, and a broken right leg, Aranita manages to keep her senses after being attacked. However, she is absolutely too terrified to move or really do anything but breathe as she is surrounded by Beak Things.  Throughout Aranita’s life she’s always had a problem of always being noticed. Whether it’s due to her shennigans or her outlandish personality, where Aranita is, others tend to know. Yet now she’s doing her absolute best to not catch any attention whatsoever, as doing so will cost her life.  “Get to the boulder. I need to be out of sight”, she repeats this in her head over and over as she finds the courage and begins to move inch by inch away from the Beak Things. She is by no means an expert in covert operations, but she at least knows that her best course of action is to move under thick grass and make as little sound as possible. Unfortunately, she does not make it far before she surrenders to her wounds.  Luckily, someone else has also founded their courage and made it back to the site of chaos.  After spending what felt like an eternity trying to lose the Beak Thing, Bone not only manages to do so, but also manages to make his way back to Nodo and Aranita. He sees both of their still bodies from afar. He’s sure that they are both dead, but feels that if there is even the slightest chance theat they, or at least one of them, are alive and he fails to rescue them…well he couldn’t live with himself. HE was the one who convinced both of them to come with HIM. HE was the one who boasted about being a fearless and experienced bounty hunter. HE was the reason why both of these women were in this situation in the first place. If they died, the blood will be on HIS hands. Over the short amount of time he has been in Stenn Desert, Bone has developed up his sneaking skills. Between picking up the bounty from the red monstrosity and taking the bandit from the skirmish, he’s learned the first rule of the art of stealth. Pay attention to your threat’s senses The animal in Vain may have been ferocious, but it was faced away from Bone, those not being able to have him in its line of sight or smell. It also seemed to lack any noticeable ears indicating that its hearing was lacking. During the skirmish between the guardians and the “traders”, there was so much happening in the heat of the battle and the guardians were pumped with so much adrenaline that they couldn’t have begun to notice Bone scurrying off with a body. Now this leaves the Beak Things. What are their senses? What is their situation? You don’t have to be a zoologist to just simply look at the Beak Things and learn some basics. The first is that they have extremely long necks, giving them a heightened view and likely abnormally strong vision. They have large nostrils indicating that they have a strong sense of smell. There also their reasonably sized ears leading them to having above average hearing. And they tend to be huddled closely in a group while making little noise, so if one is alerted, all are alerted. Add in their large razor-sharp beaks, and it was as if these creatures were design to be killing machines. But, Bone notices one critical flaw. Their eye placement. Their eyes are facing front forward and are caved in, far more than human eyes. This must mean that they have poor peripheral vision, or at least Bone hopes so.  Bone makes his approach downwind, as he takes cautious step by step toward the beasts. His eyes are solely focused on the monsters ahead. He briefly looks down and notices something obvious. As of now he cannot save both of his members. Nodo is right in front of the herd of Beak Things. But Aranita, she is just far enough to the side that she can be saved. As Bone approaches them further, he notices the Beak Thing off to his left. He sees a figure right beside it and focuses on it.  It’s a fresh dead body. A scorchlander at that. Facing forward, Bone sees something he can’t believe.  Aranita standing upright. She begins to hunch over, with a bloody right arm and her stomach twisted and flattened as if she was gutted. Her eyes have a dark and soulless look to them.  “I trusted you. I trusted you and yet here I am.”  “You aren’t a bounty hunter! YOU AREN’T EVEN A MAN! YOU’VE LED TWO FAIR MAIDENS TO THEIR DEATHS! ‘You’ll be dead in a week’, your father said? EVEN HE COULDN’T IMAGINE THAT YOU’D DRAG UP CASUALTIES WITH YOU!” Bone covers his eyes and shakes his head. When he removes his hands, he sees that Aranita is back on the ground. He presses on. Every fiber of his being is focused on taking the most precise steps as possible. He has no idea how he has managed to get so close. It’s as if he has entered some sort of matrix where he is in some specific reality in which he is taking the exact correct steps in the exact correct time. Suddenly, Bone stops. He looks over to the Beak Thing far to his left. He realizes that if he takes even one step closer, he will likely be in its peripheral vision. Again, he’s not a zoologist, but he is pushing the limits as is.  He stares at Aranita and notices that she is still breathing. He also notices that the tall grass is bent behind her. “She’s alive…she’s awake”, Bone says to himself. Maybe she stopped moving because her nerves got the best of her? Maybe she heard Bone approaching her and was afraid that he was an animal? Bone knows that he cannot reach her. And he knows that if he leaves her, it’s only a matter of time before the Beak Things beside her turn around and notice her. Bone comes to realize that the only way one of them was going to survive was if one was going to hold and keep these beasts’ attention. If there was only some way that Aranita could get a medical kit, she could then heal herself and then heal Nodo. However, there cannot be any of these beasts nearby. “I led them in this situation”, Bone says out loud. “The blood they’ve shed, is on my hands. But I won’t let them shed their lives!” Bone proceeds to grab the first aid kit and throw it on the ground besides Aranita. These noises get the attention of the Beak Things. Bone runs. He runs as fast as he can. He knows that he can’t outrun these creatures. The only reason why he survived his previous encounter was due to a fatal flaw in the Beak Thing’s attack. It attacks by swooping down its long neck for a fatal peak. The issue is that its long neck is a double edge sword. On one hand the length leads to an enormous reach preventing any prey from escaping. On the other hand, it leads to a near few seconds delay from action to execution as the predator has to physically stop to perform the attack, making it easy for prey to dodge and maneuver around. This is large part of why Beak Things are almost always in groups. It’s possible to sway and dodge your way in an escape with an encounter, provided you have enough stamina. But when being chased by multiple predators this isn’t an option. One can dodge a single attack, but several at once is a different thing entirely. As Bone makes the final run of his life, he thinks of his father’s words, “You’ll be dead in a week.” But at least this way his death won’t be in vain…but except it will be since he is literally in Vain. “gently caress!”, Bone shouts.  Do you believe in miracles? Bone’s family is hardly the most religious, like most in the in the Southern providences, but they do believe in miracles. To them a “miracle” is a brief struck of extreme luck where the odds are so rare and the timing is so perfect, it was as if the event was crafted by the hands of God. Bone prays. Prays to whatever god is out there to hear him. He wishes for a miracle. He wishes for extreme luck. The thing about “luck” however, is that it involves winners. And typically, where there is a winner there is also…a loser.  Up ahead there is another traveler who is currently fighting with a group of Beak Things. Surprisingly he is fairing up better than expected. While he is doomed to lose, he isn’t going down without a fight. It will take at least some time, and that’s time that Bone needs to close the distance. Bone passes right beside the traveler foolishly engaging in combat with the beasts. He prays that their instincts will take over them and they will choose to follow the stationary prey.  All but one takes the bait. “One”, Bone thinks to himself.  “I can do this. I’ve done it before. We can make it. We can all get out of here alive!”  Sometime later, Aranita regains her consciousness. She turns around and notices that the monsters that once surrounded her are now gone.  She sees the first aid kit mere feet from her, and crawls toward it.  With her wounds now stitched up, Aranita crawls her way back to her previous intended destination. She doesn’t know where she is going to end up, she just knows that she has to get far away from this spot before the creatures return. As she continues her slow crawl, she notices a figure in the distance.  They both move toward each other as fast as they possibly can.  Bone picks up Aranita and says that he is sorry. Aranita is simply relived that she no longer has to crawl.  As Bone begins to approach Nodo, he notices another Beak Thing not too far off. But what stands out is where it is facing.  Directly. At. Nodo. Bone has proven that he could handle escaping from one Beak Thing, but not while carrying one, let alone two people. He could also try diverting its attention away again while leaving Aranita here, but if it just showed up here, others are likely not far behind. The answer is simple...there is no saving her. With Aranita over his shoulder, Bone makes his way west hoping to find some sort of town or village to rest at and give Aranita proper care. As the sun sets Bone keeps saying to himself, “Please Aranita, survive.” 
punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 19:44 on Jul 29, 2021 |
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Jul 29, 2021 04:21
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loving Beak Things. I hate them almost as much as blood spiders. One of my must-have mods is the one that reduces blood spider attack range.
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Jul 29, 2021 13:48
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Empytquote this post if you cry every time... 
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Jul 29, 2021 18:59
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Chapter 5 ~ Lanterns of Radiance ~ Almost four hours have passed.  Bone finally found a village, a Hive Village at that. He also quickly found a bed to lay Aranita on, so she could finally get some real rest. Aranita seems fine. Her breathing is good and her wounds seem closed. But Bone is no doctor, and he doubts that any of the Hive are familiar with human anatomy. Glancing at the exit, he notices how much the rain in Vain looks like blood. Aranita might have chance to make it, but Nodo…Nodo’s dead. Less than twenty hours had passed since Bone truly set foot out of Admag and he already has blood on his hands. He walks over to his bed and collapses. But he does not close his eyes. He just stares at Aranita, hoping that this stranger he recently met will be okay. Inevitably the passage of time does what it does and Bone’s fatigue gets the best of him, and he falls asleep.  [-Lore Note-: The Hive (or “Hivers”) are a race of insect-like humanoids who live a collective life in “hives”, which are giant paper mache-like structures typically made out of mud, hiver vomit, and other natural materials. They are born from and ruled by a queen who passes along some of her duties to her princes. The hive is very big on a collective “one mind” mindset in which all hivers act as one unit. One could think of them as “human ants” in this regard.  That said, there are some Hive who defect and live an independent life similar to that of the Shek or ‘landers. These are referred to as the “Hiveless” and they are severely shunned by other Hivers to the point of them being banished from entering any hive village regardless if the Hiveless have a previous connection with it or not. While some Hiveless enjoy their freedom, it is often paired with serious bouts of depression and other mental issues. Whether this is primarily due to physical factors or is purely sociological is debated. The Hive are generally peaceful, especially compared to other races. Though Southern Hivers are known to be far more aggressive. There are also some practices that are seen as mean-spirited by some such as the treatment of Hiveless previously described, or the rumor of Hives who lose limbs being put to death. In the modern world, the Hive are seen as the “weak” race as they come across as relatively primitive and frequently lose land to other races, especially the Shek. Most of their economy is propped up by travelers or drug smugglers. The former is due to the fact that the Hive have been kicked out of their original settlements and have been placed in remote areas far from any major city. This makes it difficult to attract tourist but it is a godsend to any travelers undergoing cross-continental travel. The latter revolves around how the Hive have no problem with drugs, particularly Hashish. It’s speculated that nearly half of all Hashish world-wide sales are to Hiver villages, surpassing even the Shinobi Thieves.  While impossible to confirm, it’s widely speculated and assumed that Hivers resell the drugs in order to pay “tribute” to other races so they aren’t driven out of their land. This is further supported by how despite the massive profitability of the drug trade, it has led to zero improvement in Hive living standards.] Bone wakes up just before noon. He sees Aranita still resting so he decides to pace around outside a bit. He is desperate to kill some time. Entering back into the building he’s shocked to see Aranita gone.  “Bone!”  Turning toward the voice, Bone sees an energetic Aranita limping toward him.  “Aranita! I’m so sor-“, before Bone can finish his sentence Aranita embraces him. “You saved my life!”, Aranita remarks. “I was thinking that you were full of poo poo when you claimed that you were an accomplished bounty hunter. ‘Man of the Wildlands’ and all. I mean who heads to the West coast to hunt bounties?” “Um..well..uh”, Bone fumbles his words as Aranita interrupts again. She perks up. “You wanted to get us all a Lantern of Rivers huh? As some sort of good luck charm to start things off?” “Umm…of course! I may not look it but I’m very superstitious!”, Bone answers. Aranita smiles, “Thought so. I just asked the guy shopkeeper and he said he had no idea what a ‘Lantern of Rivers’ was. So, we probably need to go further west to find one.” As Aranita limps to the exit, Bone blurts out, “Nodo’s dead!” Aranita turns around. “Well, duh, she wasn’t getting out of that situation.” Bone responds, “But…she was…” Aranita cuts Bone off, “-she was aware of what she was signing up for. This is the wasteland, it’s always a huge risk to leave the city. We only knew her for half a day anyway.” Aranita limps through the exit, as Bone follows her. He insists that he picks her up. As they head west, it appears Aranita prefers to be held in a…strange manner.  “Why do you insist on being held like this?”, Bone asks. “Aren’t you uncomfortable?” “Nah”, Aranita responds. “I like looking at the world upside down. Makes everything look trippy. Would you prefer if you held me up in a more traditional way?”  “I mean, I’m not complaining”, Bone answers. Hours pass by until they find another settlement of some kind.  The high walls don’t make it come across as the most welcoming place, but it’s the only sign of life they’ve come across in hours.  Despite the intimidating exterior and well-guarded gate, they have no problem entering. Inside it looks just like any other village. Bone decides to do what he always does to learn about a town he enters, he goes to the bar. Stepping inside, the barkeep seems to be in the middle of conversation with his patrons.  However, once Bone and Aranita are visible, the vibe drastically changes.   The entire bar falls silent. When Bone tries to strike a conversation with the barkeep, they simply ask Bone what he will be buying. Absolutely zero chit-chat. In the hopes that the atmosphere will be different upstairs, heads up there and gets his wish…but not exactly in the way he wanted.    Being taken aback, Bone continues walking but accidently does a quick glance at the other person on the table.  Too afraid to respond, Bone turns around and begins to head out of the bar.  “Gee, you really seem to have a knack with making friends”, Aranita playfully says to Bone. “This town is so weird!”, Bone remarks. “These villagers make the Shek look like masters in etiquette.” Desperate to lay low until the two patrons leave so Bone and Aranita can sleep, Bone enters the building adjacent from the bar.  Once inside many of Bone’s questions are answered.   The entire town is a Hash Village. While the United Cities and Holy Nation do not have jurisdiction out here in the far west, it’s clear as day that these people aren’t making all this hash to sell locally. If he had to guess, many of the “villagers” here work in the drug trade and likely move the hashish from city to city. Neither empire has jurisdiction here, but if they find out exactly who and when is smuggling hash into a location that Is under their umbrella, they’d have no problem busting it. Despite this, the village is open to the general public. Maybe that is so they don’t draw the ire of bigger players. Or maybe it’s to downplay just how much of the town’s economy relies on the drug trade. Regardless, it means that Bone and Aranita have a place to sleep tonight. It’s the middle of the night and Bone can’t sleep. He keeps imagining hypothetical situations where he fails to protect Aranita and himself. Logically, he decides to do some training. There are practice dummies on the roof of where he is sleeping. They may be open to customers or they may not, but nobody is watching so nobody must care.  As Bone gets more swings in, Aranita appears. “You sure you don’t need some rest?”, Bone asks. Aranita does not answer.  “Don’t think you’ll always be the one saving me.”, Aranita states with her eyes locked on the training dummy. “I pull my weight.” After a few hours of training, both Bone and Aranita return to bed. They wake up a couple hours later and set off further west in the hopes to find a hive village. In the afternoon, they get their wish.  But unfortunately…they have company.  Lucky for them, it seems that the Hive were used to travelers bringing bandits into their village, and thus were well prepared.  With both Bone and Aranita safe, Bone comments, “Looks like you’re going to get your Lantern of Rivers after all.”      Bone has no idea if this "Lantern of Radiance" is what Aranita was referring to. But it seems to be the only special lantern they have.  Now that the purchase has finally been made, only one question remains. “So where should we go next?”, Aranita asks Bone. “Let’s keep heading west.”, Bone responds. “We need to figure out the best route to get to the cities up north. Being so close to coast now surely there must be some towns with seasoned travelers.” Aranita nods. They continue their journey west. Two hours later a small town appears in the horizon.  Bone and Aranita enter the town  As oppose to the previous village, everyone here seems friendly.     “How do the slaves even know about this place?”, Bone asks.   Bone had absolutely no intention of leading former slaves here. He simply wanted to be friendly to the locals in hopes of them steering him to his next destination. Besides, knowing his luck, he’d end up blabbering about the camp to some slave hunter who’d nab the runaways up as they cross the route. Deciding to lay low for a bit, Bone reapproaches Alinius, and asks him about the surrounding area.   After thanking Alinius, Bone, with Aranita still over his shoulder, leaves the village and heads north. While he appreciates Alinius’s directions, Bone can only think of one thing.  “There is no way in hell I’m going anywhere NEAR spiders.” punk rebel ecks fucked around with this message at 01:11 on Aug 2, 2021 |
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Aug 2, 2021 01:08
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Chapter 6 ~ The Night Sky ~ Noon approaches and Bone and Aranita arrive in yet another village.   The town is filled with animals. Goats, spiders, garrus, bonedogs, crabs, etc. Observing the locals, it becomes clear that this is an animal vendor town. Any nomad has heard of these. It’s common to see a caravan of traders who have various animals to protect them. They are domesticated at birth and prove a very useful deterrent to bandits. However, due to most cities being warry of people housing such animals, domesticated or not, the vendors are forced to do business either in small settlements or their own traveling caravans. “It is there!”, Aranita exclaims. Before Bone can respond Aranita hops off of him and limps here way toward the shore.  “Wait!”, Bone yells. But Aranita keeps going. Bone rushes in front of her and blocks her path. “Where are you going?”   “Raptor Island”, Aranita calmly responds as she passes by. “Raptor…Island?”, Bone says to himself.  Almost everyone has heard stories of the infamous “Raptor Island”. It’s said to be a small island that houses a ton of raptors that are far larger and aggressive than any native to the continent. There have been rumors of the island, including these larger and more threatening raptors appearing on the continent, but these are often dismissed as tall tales at best. Bone rushes to Aranita again. “You don’t actually believe that place exists, do you?” “Sure do”, Aranita replies. “I was here before with a friend who told me all about it.” “Look, Aranita, we have to get to the Forest first. We need to head north.” “What’s a little detour?”, Aranita responds. “Besides the island is technically located to the north, we just have to swim to it.” “SWIM!?”, Bone exclaims. “No, no, no, no, noooooooo. There is no way we are swimming to Raptor Island!”  The trip takes six hours. They finally reach shore.  An overly excited Aranita pushes herself off of Bone and makes her way up the small hill.  Once they both reach the top, they can hardly believe their eyes.  ...  “Raptors” the size of a house are prevalent through the island. Bone can’t believe it. The stories, they were all true. Instinctually he wants to get the gently caress out of there quickly as possible, but Aranita, she has different plans. “Let’s get a closer look!”, Aranita exclaims. Before Bone can protest, she once again makes her way toward these giants. Bone wants to shout out for her to stop, but is too afraid that the raptors may hear him. He begrudgingly follows her. She makes her way to a “wall” so she can get cover while she makes her way toward the raptors. Bone follows but keeps at a much further distance.  They both eventually reach the end point and peak around the corner. Getting a good view of these majestic beasts. After an hour of admiration, the sun fully sets. Aranita’s attention turns to a tower to their left-hand side. She once again makes a break toward it.  “Aranita, we really should get out of here”, Bone tells her. “Look, Bone.”, Aranita exclaims.   “A hat! I want that hat!”  Bone protests, but there is not stopping Aranita. She makes her way toward the hat, barely making a sound.  “Doesn’t this make me look like a tough samurai?”, Aranita asks. “Please, Aranita, come back”, Bone pleads. Aranita looks around. “Bone there is so much stuff here.”, she points out.  She was right. This tower has several weapons and pieces of armor scattered about. It’s likely this from previous adventurer’s who tried to test themselves against the raptors here and failed. A graveyard of sorts. Why here though? It’s impossible to pin down the exact reason. But maybe the creature guarding this place enticed hunter looking for a trophy and their demise left more and more curious? But as previously stated, it’s impossible to say for sure. Seeing that some stuff is located outside the rubble and the giant’s vicinity, Bone helps himself to some weapons and gear. While doing so, he sees Aranita come out but from the complete opposite side where the giant raptor was.  “How the-…how are you alive!?”, Bone asks. “Oh, easy”, Aranita responds. The raptor is busy with a friend.  Now that they’re both safe and together, they begin to look up at the night sky.  “When I was younger, I had a friend back home who wanted to become a ‘monster hunter’”, Aranita states. “She wanted to travel the world slaying various beasts that terrify villagers.” Aranita turns to Bone. “You’re a nomad. You have heard of these things happening right?” Bone nods. “One of the first things nomads do when we get to a place is to scout the surrounding area for monsters.”, Bone states. “I assume you lost touch of your friend and hoped to find her here?” Aranita shakes her head.  “No”, she responds. “One day she left to visit a nearby village and never came back. I’d like to think that she ran off and became a monster hunter, but in reality, she was probably kidnapped by bandits for God who knows what.” “So, you felt that you should honor her by coming here?”, Bone remarks. Aranita doesn’t respond. She proceeds to take her helmet off.  She puts the helmet on Bone, and then begins laughing.  “You look ridiculous!”, Aranita exclaims. “But those hornbrows look threatening.”  The two stare at the stars for quite some time. There isn’t much conversation going on, but it’s clear from Aranita’s expression that she is happy Bone brought her here. They then leave as Bone carries Aranita again and swims back to the continent.  While they are followed, they get such a distance ahead of the giants that by the time they reach land, the giants are completely out of sight. Now back on land Bone travels through the day and night toward the forest.  He does his best to avoid the monsters of the night.
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Aug 7, 2021 22:50
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