So hey! This is an instance of Vincent Baker's game THE SUNDERED LAND: A Doomed Pilgrim in the Ruins of the Future which was designed for play on social media platforms. I'm making little tweaks to fit with Steemit, but mostly it'll play as written. It's a role-playing game where you all are the GM and I'm the only player! Game play will take place in the comments.
I’m a warrior seeking peace and an end to bloodshed. I’m on pilgrimage to the Temple to No Gods in the distant City of Gulls. My pilgrimage has brought me to The Quivering Dunes, inhabited by animate shadows, hungry for souls. My goal is to pass safely through and continue my pilgrimage. I have the wisdom of the ancestors who guide me and the ability to ignore discomfort even unto death.
You, my friends online, play the world. Your goal is to see me to my doom, instead of safely on my way. You’re allowed only to directly answer my direct questions, though, so you might not be able to do it.
The rules:
1. Only answer my questions.
2. If you don’t already know the answer, make something up.
3. Keep your answers short.
4. If your answer’s disruptive, I’m allowed to flag it.
5. Otherwise, I have to go with the first
answer somebody gives. I’ll upvote it!
Steem-specific things: I'm new here and trying to figure out how to engage with the community. I think it would be ideal if when you see someone contribute to the game in a way you particularly like, you'd upvote their comment. But I've been analyzing the way things work here and that seems idealistic. So, on top of me urging you to do that (vote for others' contributions!), I'm also going to evenly distribute any SBD this post sends me in seven days to all the participants in the game. So if you're playing -- or just want to incentivize this use of the medium, you should vote for this post here.
The comments in this post should be reserved for game-play. But I've created a meta/chat post where anyone should feel free to comment on the game, the structure of play, the developing fiction, or whatever they like. That thread is here.
I've been walking through the Quivering Dunes all night, trying to stay cool. I'm approaching a rocky ridge emerging from the sand, flanked by grey scrub, hoping to get a better view of the path ahead. Something warns me of approaching danger. What warns me? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The knotting of your empty belly intensifies for a moment.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I lie back down and wait a bit. I try to release some of the stress and consider the feeling of cold that the thing is causing. I still the raging torrent in my head and listen. What are the ancestors telling me? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The ancestors tell you that the shadows here are hungry for souls. There may be other voices telling you to lie still, that your soul has been tenderized long enough, but those probably aren't the ancestors.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Not sure how I missed this...sorry!
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The knotting of your empty belly intensifies for a moment.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
This is unexpected and I'm not sure what to think. I'm prepared to leap up and bolt, but should I? Does this feel dangerous? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Definitely dangerous, but perhaps leaping up would be worse. Perhaps you need to do something other than hide!
From some distance away, you hear the man you met among the shadows moving around. It's not clear what he's doing.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I try it! I lie flat and start to wiggle my way into the sand, forming a depression. What does my shadow do? Does this seem to disarm it? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
It does, with almost no surface area exposed to the sun you cast no shadow capable of attacking you. Furthermore, as you wriggle into the sand some of the sun seems to be blocked out by one of the human shapes that isn't there -- it seems to have taken this opportunity to move up and stand at your feet, and its shadow now stretches out to cover you, almost matching your exact position and completely covering any of your own shadow that might have been left. You feel cold to your bones.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Well I don't need the ancestors to tell me I don't want to be surrounded! I'm moving back, out of circle they're trying to form. Then I'm going to put a little distance between myself and their current location. How aggressively are they responding to me? Do I need to run for serious or do I have the leisure to examine them in relative safety? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As you try to put distance between yourself and the encircling shadows, you realize there is one shadow you cannot avoid-- your own. It lunges at you.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Yeah, OK...it's worth the risk of glancing up. So I bend at the waist and crane my head around, trying to spot the stranger and see what he's doing. He said he came to commune with the shadows, but there's more going on, I think. What's he doing and how can I use that to my advantage? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The stranger seems to be using a stick to draw lines into the sand in an elaborate pattern, perhaps with religious or mystical significance. If you had some plan that involved needing a stick perhaps you could take his, but it's unclear how you could turn lines in the sand to your advantage. As you sit in the shadow of the... shadow, you continue to feel extremely cold.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I wonder only briefly about the man's future -- these must be the Quivering Shadows I was told about, and they demand my full attention. What behavior are the shadows exhibiting? I've been told that they are animate; surveying these several, can I quickly learn anything of their intent? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
They're moving toward you. The shadows move as if they're being cast by people striding purposefully. Unless you miss your guess they're trying to encircle you.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I nod and smile, coming closer. "Perhaps, but I have no choice. My will to continue warring has fled and I must find some sort of peace."
Looking around the darkness and toward the lightening horizon, I ask him for more information: "No one lives here -- what's your destination, friend?"
How does he respond? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As you turn toward the light you start to see long shadows projecting from the rocks and withered plants that dot the landscape. But also human forms, extending from where no one stands. Perhaps a half dozen of them arrayed in a semicircle between you and the rising sun. The stranger replies, "This is my destination, the shadows told me to come here and wait. I wasn't sure why until you turned up. It's true that no one lives here, at least not for long."
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
And so I move! I'm up and running, moving along the path of my original quest. Hopefully I don't need to be sprint because I'm settling in for a long, hard run. Can I outdistance the shadows as I run into the sun? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You jog towards the rising sun, quickly outdistancing all but your own shadow, which obviously keeps pace with you, step for step. It's unknown if you're now safe from your own shadow, or if it might betray you again. When you glance back, you only see the strange man, slowly walking in your wake, further and further behind you, the dim red coal of his cigarette against the lightening dawn sky.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
"I seek peace and an end to bloodshed. I’m on pilgrimage to the Temple to No Gods in the distant City of Gulls. My travel has brought me through this place. Do you not have ancestors with whom to commune?"
Are this person's intentions here evil? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
His scoffing laugh tells you what you need to know about how he regards his ancestors. He takes another drag of the cigarette, sizing you up carefully. "The Temple of No Gods," he mutters, "is a fool's errand."
Not evil, perhaps. But cynical.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Well that's excellent -- they aren't weighed down by a guilty conscience. I stride across the sandy gap between us. When I reckon I'm close enough, I speak out to them.
"Well met, stranger! What brings you to the Quivering Dunes?"
How do they react? I'm keeping all my senses alert. Do I sense any hostility? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
"I've come to commune with the shadows," they say. "Isn't that why you're here?" From the stranger you sense mainly amusement, although there's a harder edge to it than you'd expect from a friend.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Oh man! My own? My instinct tells me to outrun it. But...it's my shadow. I guess I have to try. I leap from its lunge, dodging to the side. Is there a way to get away from it? Maybe if I could stay in the shade cast by something else, but the sun is rising. Are there any options that I'm missing? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
If you were to lie flat on the ground you'd cast virtually no shadow at all.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
A fresh track?! This could be excellent news. A traveling companion creates safety in numbers. I stand from the shrub and look in the direction the track takes. The stars are out and the first blush of morning is on the eastern horizon, but it's dark enough that if they're hiding, they'll be hard to spot.
Can I find this other traveler? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As you consider this, a light flares in the darkness about a hundred yards away. It dims down to a red coal, about head-height, then moves downward, deliberately.
Whoever they are, they aren't afraid to be seen. Or smelled. They're smoking.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I could ignore the sensation, and I will if I have to, but I also have to be careful to shepard my strength. Approaching the shrub, I sniff at its leaves and scrutinize the bark. I scoop dirt away from its bough, and I break off a bit of the root I expose. The ancestors know all the edible plants in our homeland, but here, I'll have to rely on the methods they developed for investigating new flora. Does this remind me of any plants I already know? What part of this shrub seems like the safest bet to consume? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Digging around the roots, which release a pungent scent as they break under your hands, you see something potentially more dangerous than a poisonous plant.
There's a bootprint in the sand, about six inches from your position, and another beyond it. Someone was here, nearby. Someone is nearby.
The wind is at your back, putting the creator of those footprints downwind from you. Perhaps the stink of the shrub will mask your presence, if you do not dare to approach.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
As I take in this new reality, I begin edging to the left, trying to put distance between myself and the cave. Does it feel like the predator knows I'm here? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
A low whine from deep within the cave answers you. It-- whatever it is-- knows you are there.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
You don't see or hear anything that looks like an animal, but a prickling on the back of your neck gives you the sense that there's something behind you, watching you.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Congratulations @clweeks! You have completed some achievement on Steemit and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
Click on any badge to view your own Board of Honor on SteemitBoard.
For more information about SteemitBoard, click here
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPDownvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The knotting in my belly is surly a sign; the ancestors reach me through multifarious gestures and I know enough to attend! I slow in my approach to the ridge and adopt a crouch. Is the scrub ahead thick enough to give me cover? Or worse, provide cover for something else? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The scrub partially conceals the entrance to a small cave that cuts into the ridge, the den of a desert predator that's hungry after a long night with no prey.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I speak it again, aloud to the night breeze this time, "I am a warrior seeking peace and an end to bloodshed." Why is it no one believes me?
But if they think this should be a fight, maybe they have their reasons. As I continue my movement up to the ridgetop, I'm casting about for the right stones, sharpend like a knife or perfect for throwing. I'll want the elevation either way.
How long will it be before the creature comes for me?
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The whine turns into a snarl or growl. Long experience tells you that it will be mere moments before it charges from the cave.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
With stones in hand, I crouch and wait, considering my options. I'm still hopeful that the thing in the den can be avoided, but unwilling to turn my back to it. Is there a way that I can escape its attention until it becomes safe to move off? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
The beast is hungry. If you gave it the dried meat that makes up the last of your rations it would likely be distracted for a time.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
OK, what's my best escape route -- if anything presents itself? My first inclination is up over the ridge and into the brush on the other side, but maybe my ancestors have alternative guidance? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
"Some warrior," the ancestors whisper deep inside you, "to flee at the first sign of danger."
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Acting quickly, I toss down the tendenous remains of the beast I killed five days earlier -- it was a small and goaty deer, the meat dried over a lakeside fire of driftwood. After that I slip away, in a direction designed to keep the meat and its downwind smell between me and the predator. As I make distance, do I hear the animal find my pile of food? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
No animal sound reaches you, just the rustle of leaves. When you peer through the brush, you see the meat is gone.
From deep within the cave, you see a pair of eyes reflecting back at you, green-blue in the blackness. They blink.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
I continue along. I estimate that I'm halfway through the Quivering Dunes. I'd like to be done with this place but I probably have another twelve hours of walking. A few hours later, I get that feeling again in my gut and begin to look around. Has that predator tracked me or is this a new threat? Anyone should answer.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Ah, no, now you recognize that sensation. You're hungry. Unfortunately, the Quivering Dunes is notoriously inhospitable. Very little prey, and most of the plants are toxic or even venomous. Ahead, you see a small shrub, low and close to the ground.
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
My current thinking is that I've got this shadow stuck to me, but it doesn't seem to be gnawing at me just now. I can run until sunset and rest while the shadows seem quiescent. Eventually I'll leave the Quivering Dunes and be free. But, If I haven’t gotten away, I’ll have to fight. Have I gotten away? Anyone should answer
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit
Downvoting a post can decrease pending rewards and make it less visible. Common reasons:
Submit