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 Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:17 pm
Considering most of the island was rebuilt, Wilson figured he could devote less time to rebuilding and use more time doing the things he was supposed to be usually doing—training. Goggles dangling around his neck like always, he walked toward the training fields, except unlike most people he walked backwards. For the people that knew him well enough it was a pretty common sight. For everyone else? Not so much. The death hunter appeared completely at ease as he strolled backwards, occasionally looking back to avoid any surprise obstacles or other hunters. Usually a few glances were enough to keep Wilson out of trouble, but he also had a book in his hands.
He had a book and he was reading it while walking backwards.
Another look over his shoulder. Everything seemed clear except for the blonde. Wait, what? Wilson stopped abruptly, just a few feet away from the other hunter. “Sorry about that—hey, have we met before?” Not really, because the face and clothes were quite foreign to Wilson.
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 1:59 pm
Quirky did not even begin to explain the characters he was meeting here in Deus Ex, and he was starting to think that most of the budget was being spent on reconstruction and maintenance rather than, say, counseling and physiological help. If he wasn't being pointed out as the new guy, he was usually introduced to some strange personality. Considering he met a few character in college, these freaks really topped the metaphorical cake.
Case in point, this guy.
Melvin had noticed someone walking on the field and at first thought he was just very hairy, sporting sideburns, a bear, and a mustache. It wasn't until he got closer that he noticed he had no arms, and then saw he was walking backwards. This alone hurt his head, making him pretty sure this guy had more than just a walking backwards quirk.
When he came close enough to greet him, he paused, just about to say something in response, before he shook his head. "I'm not talking to your back."
He walked around to face the man like a NORMAL person. "We haven't met. I'd think I'd remember a guy who walks backwards." Should he really introduce himself to a lunatic? Well, if he started being picky now, then he'd meet no on here just on the bases that they were crazy. "Melvin Wood. I'm new." He decided to get out of the way too since it usually came up right after introductions.
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 4:28 pm
Fortunately for Melvin, the extent of Wilson’s quirkiness pretty much stopped at the walking backwards. Smiling, he gave Melvin a curious look before he realized what the other trainee was referring to. “Oh, sorry about that! Usually I would’ve already…” He would have turned around to face him properly, but Melvin had already walked around to amend the problem. Wilson nodded. “Nice to meet you. I’m Wilson Hopkins.” He offered the other man a hand for a handshake.
“What do you think of the island so far? If you have questions I can try to answer them.” He looked down and tugged at his coat to brandish the twin scythes. “Deathies are supposed to gather information and all that. Ah, I’m also on my way to the training fields. Have you tried any of the division courses yet?”
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2012 4:36 pm
"I don't think I've met anyone from Death yet." He was wondering where they were hiding, but everyone seemed to be all over the place that he guessed they were still building this place up before going to their special hangouts. He noted the scythes on his jacket and made a mental note to look for those if he ever had to flag down someone in that division.
"I haven't been to a training course yet. Just dummies and some sparring." He looked at the book and back where the man had been walking from. "Do you...always walk backwards?" It was just one thing he couldn't just dismiss. The guy was nice, but walking backwards rose up a flag that something wasn't right with him.
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 1:03 pm
“Until now.” Wilson grinned and motioned for Melvin to follow him. He began to stroll backwards again, making sure to walk in front of the life trainee. “Cool, then I’ll show you the training courses, well, one of them at least. Going through all of them would take a while and I don’t think you’d want to try all of them in one day.” He leaned over to get a better look at the emblem on Melvin’s coat. “Alright, so we’re going to play jenga. You know how to play that, right?”
“Oh! No, not always. On missions I run like normal.” Running backwards was inefficient anyways. Once he spotted the portal, Wilson spun around and hopped through it. The pair found themselves at the top of a long set of stairs. “Welcome to the life training course.” Life Hunter
BATTLE ARENA
The portal opens up into an observation room, and down the stairs, an odd chamber for something like hunter training. At the center of a piranha-filled pool stands a solid stone table and several chairs. The Life Arena was built underneath the demolitions and ballistics testing areas, and the chamber rumbles with the occasional explosions above. Pinpoint red lasers sweep across the room regularly, as if hidden snipers are searching for a nice target. In the center of the table sits a wooden tower, made up of smaller wooden blocks. Yes. That's right. The Life Hunters prefer to train via Jenga.
Note: Distraction techniques and Yo Momma jokes are considered viable weapons when playing competitively.
If you fail: you have knocked down the tower! A small dart hits the back of your neck. You come to several hours later, and hope Dr. H didn't do anything to your body while you were unconscious. When you look into the mirror...
If you win: you have reached 50 points! You get a sharpie marker to do with as you please. peen points go to those with the highest scores.
Mechanics
- by carefully removing pieces of the tower, you earn points and advance to the next round. As the rounds continue, the odds grow steadily against you. Rolling a 1 at any point means you have knocked down the tower. Please do enjoy your mystery dart. Anything after reaching 50 points is purely for peen.
- you may roll pieces individually (suggested for group play) or in batches of 5 (basically, a full round.)
Round 1
Pieces: 5
Points per piece: 1
Trainee Roll: 1d10
Life Trainee Roll: 1d12
Hunter Roll: 1d12
Life Hunter Roll: 1d20
Round 2
Pieces: 5
Points per piece: 3
Trainee Roll: 1d8
Life Trainee Roll: 1d10
Hunter Roll: 1d10
Life Hunter Roll: 1d12
Round 3
Pieces: 5
Points per piece: 4
Trainee Roll: 1d6
Life Trainee Roll: 1d8
Hunter Roll: 1d8
Life Hunter Roll: 1d10
Round 4
Pieces: 5
Points per piece: 10
Trainee Roll: 1d4
Life Trainee Roll: 1d6
Hunter Roll: 1d6
Life Hunter Roll: 1d8
Bonus Mechanics
Life Hunters train for precise hand eye coordination and exceptional judgement, thus they have a slightly lower chance of knocking down the tower.
Status Round: (current round number)Pieces Taken:Total Points: [quote="Status"]
[size=14][color=#00BFFF][b]Round: (current round number)[/b][/color][/size]
[b]Pieces Taken:[/b]
[b]Total Points:[/b]
[/quote]
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 6:05 pm
Melvin really wasn't getting why this guy was walking backwards in the first place if he knew how to walk normally, and it was somewhat distracting walking behind the man who was talking to him, worried that gravity would take over and trip the man up or that he'd bump into something. It made him nervous as he tried to look up ahead to warn him, but Wilson's system worked in a lunatic way (where luck favored the dumb), and a gaping portal glowed up ahead.
Melvin wasn't all that sure about portals yet, but he'd seen enough Stargate to find it both strange but also strangely alluring. He could USE a PORTAL! What sci-fi geek didn't glee inside just a little bit when seeing one.
Wilson hopped in easily as if he was just using a normal door, but Melvin waited a few moments, and like a idiot, held his breathe before stepping in.
When he jumped out the other end and took a breath, he looked at Wilson and the the stairs. "When did they install an aquarium?" He joked, following the man down the steps and seeing little fish move about. "Well this is relaxing." Not like sparring with was nerve-wracking and almost always made him want to scream.
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Syusaki rolled 5 10-sided dice:
7, 6, 9, 2, 1
Total: 25 (5-50)
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 9:39 pm
The secret to walking backwards and not falling over? Walking in a straight line and glancing back to double check your surroundings.
It took the other trainee a few moments before he appeared beside Wilson, but he couldn’t blame Melvin. After a while, walking through portals would be a piece of cake.
“Don’t know, but it’s always been here,” he answered and then looked back at Melvin. “Try to stay away from the piranhas, alright?” He pulled out a chair for Melvin, then another for himself. “Take a seat, we’re going to play jenga.” [Didn’t you say that already?] Yeah. “Guess I’ll go first?”
The first piece was easy. So was the second. It was going pretty well so far, but then again it was only the beginning. Then came the final piece of the round. Something made him hesitate, but it was probably nothing. Wilson leaned forward to grab the final piece.
[HEY YOUNGSTER, MESS UP!!!]
“GRAMPS, SHUT UP!” Wilson clenched his fingers as the tower fell. “Oh come on—“
Somewhere from within the room, a dart shot out and got the trainee perfectly in the neck and he fell over onto the table.
Maybe Melvin should wake him up.MoonKitsune Great way to start the course amirite
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2012 11:00 pm
Melvin moved down the steps, jumping back when Wilson mentioned piranhas. He thought they were pretty fish, but piranhas?!! "Why would they put killer fish in the water? Why not koi?" Fish in general were rather disgusting, but what was the point of putting killer fish in here. It made it feel like the room a evil villan would create then a training course. If he had to dodge killer fish, he was out.
Luckily, jumping in the water didn't seem to the case, and Melvin took the offered seat with a bit of a glance at Wilson. Pulling out a seat for a guy? That was a tad strange, and made Melvin feel a bit girlish, but he sat slowly anyways. Considering this guy walked backwards, pulling out a seat for a guy probably was normal for him.
Then he saw the tower and gave a short chuckle. "Wait. We're actually playing Jenga? I thought you were joking." How exactly was this training? His eyes looked around and he saw many little laser lights about them as if this place had snipers or was just about to entertain some dumb cats. Maybe the fish liked it, but the piranhas didn't seem to care. Why the weak rave?
Shrugging it off, he did feel jumping when the lights fell on him, but as long as there was no shooting or alarms going off, he guessed they served some purpose.
He watched as Wilson started, and indeed he wasn't pulling his leg. They were actually playing Jenga, a game which he hadn't even played since he was a kid. Even then it hadn't been all that exciting.
He watching the Death Hunter play, and looked around until he noticed the man jerk, then the tower tumbled. "Well, bad luck that." Then a quick sound cut through the air and Wilson smacked on the table.
"Holy hell!" Melvin shot down under the table, now even more concerned about the lights, but despite a few trailing about his body, none targeted him. He waited there a good minute, waiting. "Please don't shoot me! I didn't do anything!"
No one answered.
"I'm coming out now!"
He eased out from under the table before moving over to Wilson, reaching out to pull the dart out and look at it. Setting it on the table, he then shook the man, wishing he could get some water to splash on him but not wanting to touch the filthy and piranha infested water.
"Hey! You okay? Wilson!" He pressed two fingers on the man's neck. Still breathing. Good. He was not about to drag this man out of the portal to explain that Wilson got hurt playing Jenga of all things.
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Syusaki rolled 5 10-sided dice:
1, 4, 9, 3, 1
Total: 18 (5-50)
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2012 11:12 am
There was a faint voice. Gradually, it grew loud enough to finally stir the death trainee awake. He sighed and shook his head. Gramps, try that again one more time and I’m going to give you an earful next time. The catoblepas quietly snickered in return. Wilson winced. He rubbed the back of his head before reluctantly moving to rebuild the tower for another try.
“This is a training course you realize that, right? And this is Deus you’re talking about. The piranhas don’t surprise me at all. In fact, you should try out the death training course sometime.” Wilson managed to smile sweetly. “I think Clarice really enjoys adding new traps to that one.”
Once the tower was set up again, Wilson breathed a sigh of relief and leaned back in his seat. “Sorry about conking out so suddenly, I didn’t expect to lose so early on.” He grimaced when he heard his weapon laugh again. Hands folded together, he observed Melvin. “I should probably tell you that the loser always gets hit with a dart. It’s perfectly normal; you just need to shake the other person awake when it happens. Here, let me show you.” As much as he didn’t want to, the man reached over to casually knock over the tower a second time.
He was out like a light.
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MoonKitsune rolled 5 12-sided dice:
1, 5, 1, 9, 6
Total: 22 (5-60)
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:12 am
Syusaki Wow they really suck at this game!
No one answered, and he sighed again. How was he supposed to play Jenga with darts being aimed at him and man-eating fish swimming about?
Standing up, Melvin shook Wilson awake again, pulling out the dart again and really hoping this dart mixture didn't have any side effects. This boy probably couldn't live with less brain cells as it was.
"Wilson? I get it. You okay?" He waited, sitting back down as he looked around. If he didn't play, Wilson was just going to keep knocking over this tower until he didn't wake up again.
"This is the craziest idea I've ever heard of." He admitted, before he slowly started to assemble the tower. "Someone had to be high to think this was a great training idea, and then someone had to be drunk to approve it." Melvin was more or less mumbling to himself before he looked at the new tower.
He hadn't played this game since he was a kid, and he reached out to slowly play. "Just ridiculous."
The moment his hand went out, he noticed it was shaking from stress alone, and once his hands took a bit of wood, it started to wobble. "Oh shi-" And the tower fell.
He felt a sudden pinch on his arm and then his face fell on the table. Melvin was out.
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Syusaki rolled 5 10-sided dice:
6, 8, 10, 8, 5
Total: 37 (5-50)
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Posted: Mon Aug 20, 2012 4:03 pm
The sensation of someone stirring him awake was familiar. Wilson opened his eyes drowsily before sighing and sitting back up. He rubbed his eyes for a bit before he leaned into his chair and weakly smiled at Melvin. “I’m alright. This course is nothing compared to a couple others.” Specifically, this was nothing compared to Deathsweeper. His smile turned a smidge mischievous. “Someday, I hope you really do the death training course. It’ll be a real shocker for you, I think.”
Wilson gestured for Melvin to take a shot at the tower. It would be ridiculous for the death trainee to not let the life trainee try at least once, especially at the horrible rate he was going. He shrugged as the other trainee began to make the tower. “In a way, I think this entire place is ridiculous,” Wilson admitted. His eyes widened when Melvin took a piece and the tower began to shake dangerously. “Careful—“ The wooden pieces clattered to the floor.
Sighing, he leaned over to shake the other man awake. “Nice try.” He grinned and began to reassemble the tower. “I guess Jenga teaches you to think your actions carefully—because you have to be careful about which piece to pick—plus you get better hand-eye coordination and….yeah I can’t think of anything else, but those are pretty useful skills, right?”
Once the tower was remade, he swiftly pulled out five pieces. “Your turn.”Status Round: 1 Pieces Taken: 5 Total Points: 5
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MoonKitsune rolled 5 12-sided dice:
1, 5, 6, 10, 4
Total: 26 (5-60)
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 12:27 am
Syusaki Melvin really sucks at this.
Frowning, he tossed the dart aside and stared at the ridiculous Jenga tower. Maybe he was just a bit too wound up to play this sort of game, as while took out his blocks and it was his turn. "Something tells me I don't want to try that death course." If they were all as stupid as this, he wasn't going to bother.
He was halfway pulling out a block when the tower shook, and he stared at it, willing it to stay still. That was when an explosion from upstairs surprised him, sending the tower crashing down.
Before he could even finish a swear, he was out cold.
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 9:50 pm
Wilson shrugged. “Basically,” he agreed at the comparison. “But I’m afraid that’s how the course is set up. Since this is the life course and you’re in the life division, I’m guess you’ll want to attempt this specific one at least a few times during your stay on the island. I don’t know how beneficial it’ll be, but it’s a training course for a reason, right?”
He pressed his back against the chair when his turn was over. He kept his hands away from the table while Melvin began to take a piece. Wilson frowned when the tower toppled into another pile of Jenga pieces. The hunter sighed when he heard the inevitable sound of a dart shooting out.
His chair screeched against the floor as he slid it back and stood up. He walked over to Melvin and pulled out the dart before he shook the trainee awake again. “I’m going to say that’s enough trying this course for today. How about we go back and rest?”
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MoonKitsune rolled 5 12-sided dice:
8, 4, 1, 7, 6
Total: 26 (5-60)
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Posted: Tue Aug 21, 2012 10:22 pm
He woke up, and felt worse for it. To see the Jenga pile, and then to know that he hadn't even managed one block was disheartening, especially since this was his division's course. Even if it was a joke of a course, it shouldn't have been THIS hard. Then again, explosions, piranha, lasers that could shoot a dart at you any time you ******** up, and then add the simple task in the middle of it, who was expected to even get through this test.
Despite how insane it seemed, Wilson had managed not to get it, proving that even if it was insane and seemed impossible, Wilson managed it.
That alone hurt his pride, and his own sense of competition to prove he could at least manage something so simple as taking one block from the tower rose up in him.
At the suggestion to rest, he only felt like taking the table and throwing it for the fishes to eat. Adjusting his glasses, he glared at the blocks. "I rested twice already." Was Wilson showing pity on him? Probably just caring, but damnit! He hated this course now! He wasn't going to let it win! He could solve both complex math and chemistry equations. THIS SHOULD BE SIMPLE!!!
"Just....Let me try one last time. ONE last time and that's it. Okay?" He looked to Wilson, knowing that his chance relied on someone being able to wake him just in case he.....well, kept with his current score of 0.
Reaching out, he set up the tower again, not wanting to take up too much of Wilson's time. Then again, for a man who read backwards, he seemed laid back enough anyways.
Once done, he breathed out, and slowly started to pull blocks, slowly at a time. This method did not work too well, as determined as he was, with a bead of sweat falling down his brow, his determination and strong glaring did nothing to keep the tower steady. It tumbled again, and another dart was sent.
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Posted: Fri Aug 24, 2012 4:07 pm
The frustration on the other trainee’s face wasn’t difficult to see. Wilson smiled softly then slid back into his seat. “Alright then.” He gestured for Melvin to have a go at the tower before he crossed his arms and made himself comfortable in the chair. Jenga was not difficult, especially in the beginning, but it was easy to let the darts and fish make you nervous. It was even easier to have your opponent attempt to distract, but Wilson was too nice for that.
He nodded his head. “One last time.” Idly, he watched Melvin rebuild the tower. Once it was reconstructed, Wilson’s gaze shifted back to Melvin himself. He did not begin at first—being hasty would have surely messed him up somehow. Lips curled into a tiny smile when Melvin pulled out his first piece, then his second; however, it wasn’t long before the blocks began to wiggle. His mouth formed a tiny ‘o’ as he reached for the tower, but it already crumbled into another pile. “Ah—“ Melvin fell forward, the dart faithfully stuck in his neck. Sighing, Wilson leaned over the fallen blocks to grab the dart and pull it out. Once it was out, Wilson began to shake Melvin awake.
“Alright, you had your try. I know you must be annoyed and want to keep trying, but I think we’ve had enough for today. You can always try again tomorrow.”
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