Zhul

The Mountain - Part One

The rain began slowly at first. The drops quickly soaked into the cracked cement of the sidewalk. More began to fall, faster and faster, until the cement could no longer drink up their moisture. They joined with one another to run along the surface of the pavement and splash out from under the boots of the hulking figure that strode through the storm.

Pedestrians huddled under their umbrellas and scurried away from him as he marched down the middle of the sidewalk. Bran did not take offense. He was used to inspiring fear in both enemies and allies, being over a head and a half taller than a normal man and twice the bulk. The few that glanced up at his weathered face were inevitably drawn to the long scar that ran up from his grey mustache over his cheek and underneath the eye patch over his right eye. Though some had the courtesy to remain nonchalant and nod to him as he passed, most just uneasily averted their gaze.

The rain quickly soaked into his flack jacket, causing its brown and green camouflage to take on a dark, almost black appearance. His green beret became plastered to his head, with water running from it freely over his right ear. Uncomfortable as it was, Bran kept his back straight and his eye forward as he continued resolutely toward his destination.

He had been given an anonymous tip about a warehouse that a gang had taken over on the outskirts of Atlas Park and he was determined to convince them that their new choice of lodgings was unwise. His long, precise strides did not falter on the slick pavement. It was not the first time he had marched through the pouring rain. But in the past he had been marching on his way to war. I suppose in a sense I’m doing the same now, he thought grimly. The villainous elements of Paragon City never seemed to rest.

The rain was now falling in heavy sheets and Bran noticed that almost all of the pedestrians had disappeared from the streets. He caught a glimpse of a dark figure stepping quickly out of sight down an alley. His shoulders tightened reflexively but he walked onward. If I’m being followed, better not to tip them off. Half a block later on the other side of the street he heard the clatter of a trash can being tipped over and a muffled curse. Knowing that whoever was following him should attack or flee after ineptly blowing their cover; Bran broke his stride and sprinted into the nearest alley.

Additional curses followed behind as he leapt between the buildings. Obviously his pursuers had no intention of leaving after revealing themselves, so he jogged further down the alleyway, looking for a place to ambush them. Spotting a side alley up ahead, he made his way around the corner - straight into a waiting gang of thugs.

Malice twinkled in their eyes as they readied grips on knives, baseball bats, and pieces of broken pipe. One particularly arrogant hooligan stepped forward from the rest, but remained a safe distance from Bran’s long reach.

“What terrible weather to be running around in,” he said with a sneer. “Shouldn’t you be inside somewhere, keeping your little beret dry?” A smattering of laughter arose from his comrades. Each one of them was also soaking wet.

“I could say the same for you lot.” Bran growled, trying to sound as intimidating as possible. Cowards like these only attack in numbers. This arrogant one is probably the leader. If I can scare a few off before the fighting even starts I’ll have a greater advantage.

“He’s a Brit!” a gang member wearing a red bandana exclaimed. He elbowed the person next to him and spoke in a poorly imitated British falsetto. “Blimey! He’s come to join us for a spot of tea!” That got several of the other gang members chuckling, but Bran could see the tension in most of them. Running footsteps came to a halt behind him, but he didn’t turn to look. He knew it had to be the “clumsy” ruffians that had chased him down the alley.

“Good work you guys. You lead Mountain Beret straight to us.” The arrogant one said to the gang members that had just arrived. They just huffed and puffed and did not respond. “Not so tough without your buddies are you?” He was obviously trying to show his cohorts he was not afraid of the huge hero, but was making sure he kept at a safe distance. “Now, let’s teach this Limey that this is our turf.”

Bran tensed and shifted his immense weight to the balls of his feet as they attacked in a rush of punches, kicks, and flailing weapons. His dodges were slow but effective, enough to redirect most of the force behind his attacker’s unskilled blows. His huge fists lashed out among the sea of foes and soon several had crumpled to the ground. Unfortunately his vision, bad enough with only one eye, was becoming impaired with the rain and blood from a cut he had taken on his forehead. He paused to run a fist over it to wipe it clear.

His foes were taking advantage of his blind spot and he could feel a series of heavy blows coming from that side. His hip, ribs, and shoulder ached fiercely, but he whirled to face the cluster of gang members that had moved to concentrate on that side.

Suddenly he felt a searing pain in his side. Turning to look he saw blood running off an upraised knife. If he had not just spun to his right the knife would now surely have been planted in his back. Enraged, Bran grabbed the knife-wielding thug by the head and lifted him off the ground, his vast hand covering his unlucky adversary’s entire face.

With a roar of fury he slammed the villain into the nearby building’s wall. The bricks gave a loud crack from the force of the blow but did not do much to cover the sickening crunch of breaking bones. The knife rolled to the ground from the thug’s limp fingers and his head hung from his shoulders at an unnatural angle as he slumped to the ground. That caused several of his attackers to pause, and a few ran. The gang leader, incensed at seeing his companions fleeing, screamed something about bloody vengeance before their will was completely broken. They quickly renewed their attacks with even greater fervor.

Bran didn’t bother trying to dodge anymore, the attackers had him surrounded and had so many weapons that dodging one only put him straight into the path of another. He swung furiously at them, and blow after blow connected, but he was starting to tire. A metal pipe caught him in the back of the knee and his leg buckled beneath him. A knife slashed out across his chest, but luckily did nothing more than split cloth. Kicks and punches rained down on him from every side. He tried to stand, but they were jumping on his back, pummeling at his head and shoulders. Bran saw the gang leader take a bat from one of his comrades. Unable to move quickly enough, Bran caught the swing under his empty eye socket and he heard the wood crack as his cheekbone shattered.

It seemed like he was falling in slow motion. The raindrops almost appeared to be hanging lazily in the air. The blinding pain of his shattered cheek had caused his eye to tear - or perhaps was it the rain. He heard a strange buzzing noise and thought he saw the gang leader’s victorious grin melt into to a howl of fury, but he wasn’t sure. He caught a glimpse of a flash of light and then darkness swept over him.

Happy Anniversary!

I'd really like to thank the Devs for making such a great game. I may take a break here and there, but I know it's one that I'll always be able to come back to.

I'd also like to thank the rest of the community too. All of you guys make this game worth playing. CoH doesn't have a third of the whiners and morons I've seen in most other games. I hope it stays that way!

I know this belongs in sreenshots (and I will post there too) but I thought everyone would get a chuckle out of this...

Nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!

((h8 teh d00d sp34k!))

[ QUOTE ]
You mean the request, broadcast, and team channel AREN'T channels on my hero's transciever radio? I thought that was why I had throuble sending and recieving to anything but my team when I'm in tunnels and shielded buildings!

The tell channel clearly interpenetrates vast distances and any obstacle, so I thought I had that wired to my beamed neutrino communicator. Frankly, I'm surprised so many people are capable of sending and recieving information that way... I didn't think it was a common technological item yet. I suppose those radiation generators can innately produce tight neutrino beams, but what about everyone else?

Maybe I'll have to re-check my set-up. <grin>

[/ QUOTE ]
Gosh. I thought the communicators were handed out with your Hero ID. That's how I got mine.

I treated the ID space as a character background summary. The big stories, which are much more involved and in-depth, will be posted at a later date someplace everyone has access to (like this forum).

Nice thread! I like getting a glimpse of other people's inspirations. Here are my 3 main characters (I'll try to keep it short).

Character Name: The Biker
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Fire/Fire Blaster
Inspiration: Biker was as much spur-of-the-moment as he was conscious forethought. I had an idea for a Fire/Fire Blaster, relating to a favorite character in a previous game. Doing a black leather with red and orange flames motif, I decided to go with the bandana (hat) and the goggles that pass for decent looking shades. Since I wanted his origin to be from Texas, I thought of ZZ Top and thus chose the long beard.

Character Name: The Mad Welshman
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Stone/Stone Tanker
Inspiration: Honestly, TMW had 2 sources of inspiration. His costume is based on the Welsh flag (as seen in my avatar). His personality (when RPing) is based on the Jeff character from the British TV show Coupling - Jane's line from one episode, "Did I win the insane Welshman?" being the initial spark.

Character Name: Doktor Love
Server: Pinnacle
Archetype: Empathy/Radiation Blast Defender
Inspiration: Doktor Love is my bow to the ridiculous. I followed The Tick for several months when it first came out and loved the whole silly and off-the-wall angle it took on super heroes. So taking inspiration from the Kiss song “Calling Doctor Love” which had been on the radio on my drive home from work - I chose the goofy-grin face and made a suit with a big, red heart on it.
(What's amusing is that I’m finding him the most fun to play as well.)

Nice write-up! And for those of you that don't like clicking links:

QUOTE:
There is a widespread misperception in the MMORPG community that roleplayers are folks who run around saying things like” Forsooth, M'Lord. Might thou sparest a cup of soup for this, thy unworthy page?” That, or they play the game without making any effort to advance their characters or participate in the mainstream activities that games offer. For this reason, role playing has become stigmatized and roleplayers written off as oddwads.

This is simply not the case! And it's past time that “RPG“ make a comeback in MMORPGs. Now I realize that some folks think that roleplaying is too much of an effort, or believe they don't know how, or feel awkward doing it. Relax! Role playing is like riding a bicycle. There is a moment of truth when you get your balance, and then it's something you can do with ease for life. The following tips may help with that.

1. You are already a roleplayer, even if you haven't realized it. When you made your character, be it a mutant spaceman, a knight, or a cowled user of magical damage, you took leave of the real world and became something you are not. That is roleplaying! The people you play with don't see you sitting in your computer room eating cheetos, drinking root beer and shooing the cat away from the keyboard. They see you as whatever character you made. In a world in which communication is 80% non-verbal, you are almost home. Now all you need to do is say some things that would be “in character” for the avatar you made.

2. Decide who your character is. In order to roleplay, you need to take a few moments and give your character an identity. Where did he come from? What has his life been like? What are his likes and dislikes? What does he want to do? Imagine you had the opportunity to learn more about someone you really admire by asking them questions. Think of what questions you would ask, and now ask them of your character. How did he become a hero? Did he always want to be, or did something trigger it?

3. Take a moment and fill out your bio. Now that you know who your character is, write out a little bit about him in your bio. You don't have to be Steven King to jot down “X-tar was found in the woods after a meteor struck the Earth. He was raised by a farm family and found he could control fire. Now he uses his power to protect the city.” That wasn't hard, was it? Now X-tar is someone. He has a past, and he has a future.

4. Now all you have to do is talk. Does this mean that every word you say has to be translated into something else? Of course not. Think about a character you have seen in a movie, and what gave them their personality. Let's take Gimli in Lord of the Rings. What do we most associate with him? He likes: his axe; killing orcs; beer; underground places. He dislikes: orcs; elves (until later in the trilogy); anything fancy; and too much exercise. Gimli is not a complex character. But these 8 traits make him a little different than the rest. If Gimli is exposed to something he likes, he will react one way (ahh, good beer), and if he is exposed to something he dislikes, he will react another way (sneaky elves). That makes him real. So use those likes and dislikes you came up with, and make a remark now and then consistent with them. People will remember these things as they get to know you and appreciate that your character has a personality!

5. Avoid discussions of real life things when you are in character. Unless you are roleplaying that your spaceman X-Tar is a Lakers fan (he could be), then you don't need to be talking about the game last night. That is an immersion breaker. Now people are thinking of you as the guy with a six pack of Miller and a bag of cheetoes, instead of X-tar. You don't have to be in character all the time though. It's up to you how much of it you do. But if you flip in and out with no consistency, then it will not be as fun or as effective. If there is something in real life you really like to talk about, say, pretty girls - no problem. Make your character a bachelor on the prowl and give him that trait. That way, you can be yourself and compliment your roleplaying, not interfere with it.

That's all there is to it! Give it a try. You may find it adds a whole new dimension of fun to the game for you.

UNQUOTE

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I rested, weak and weary,
After trouncing scoundrels and letting go a great Herculean roar,
Came Immortal with a kitten, of which he was clearly smitten,
To kill me thrice with his big mitten, dripping with odious gore,
So Mad Welshman kills Immortal just to even out the score,

Only this, and nothing more.

In retaliation The Mad Welshman kills Calash with a kitten.

The poor, poor kittens!



Let the kittens be avenged!

The Mad Welshman jumps into the fray and kills all nearby onlookers with a gallon of jello and 14 triscuits.

Always good to see another RPer. Look me up if you're ever on Pinnacle.

I would suggest you use Villains and Vigilantes, but that would be showing my age a little too much.

Seriously though, Champions and GURPS Supers are both fine systems. Can't say anything about the d20 M&M system, since I haven't played it. ((You young whipper-snappers and yer newfangled gaming systems!))

Congrats Mykroft! It's always nice to find someone who is interested in trying something new, especially when it's roleplaying!