adventures of aspersion

[gothica132]

welcome to my first interactive adventure story! here you will be in charge of where the story is taken, i may even somewhere down the line let other tcp's in and turn is into a role play! 

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click on the picture above if you want to get a closer look!
cloud gazes out on the scenery of aspersions tundra, an icey wind  glides by, almost feeling like a sharp grazing on the skin it was that cold. Standing under a now vacant cave entrance, cloud grasped her arms and sighed through her shivers. She was cold, alone and her spirit drained. A scavenging jackel lay behind her with a lifeless glassy expression of shock still on its face, evidence of clouds handy work in her werewolf form.
Walking back into the cave, cloud sits down by the fire. Her expression twists from grumpy to concentration as she hunches over her ripped clothes trying to salvage what she can with a sewing kit.
“Stupid moon, stupid night, stupid everything!” cloud pricks her finger which causes her to yelp.
“Why can't people just leave me in peace, I don’t want to fight, I don’t want my curse to be used by the military. Why have you forsaken me Verity..” her mumbling echoes into the cave. Cloud ears flick and twitch to the sound of falling condensation.
Being present always seems to bring her back in times of doubt, sometimes she thinks its verity’s doing.
“Ok, I need to eat.” Turning towards the fresh Jackle carcass with dilated eyes.
Without a second thought cloud starts to disassemble what was once breathing and beating. Her claws unsheathe and slice through skin, each rip becomes harder and harder. The muscle and flesh part with each pull and tear. With aching joints and stained hands, the fattiest chunk is placed onto the fire.
Natures sounds flow through the cave, the winds are starting to pick up and cloud catches the barking of jackles. And.. beeping?? Maybe they are tagged by the local scientists, in any case the thought of tagged jackles makes cloud nervous, causing her ears to draw back. She listens closely to the patter of paws on crunchy snow.
It gets louder. Then stops above the cave, barking turns to sniffing and cloud realises the meat is still cooking!
“Dam it, what should I do? Face the jackles or put the fire out with the last of my water? If I don’t deal with them now, they may come back, but who knows how many there are out there.”
this is where you guys come in, what should cloud do?
A – face the jackles
B – put the fire out and wait to see if they pass
C – go further into the cave

(sorry for the wait guys! there is mentions of gore in this just a warning)
   
click on the image to get a better look!
Cloud thinks quickly, getting cornered isn’t the most favourable of situations, grabbing her trusted combat knife and pistol she creeps outside. Her ears twitch to the slightest sound causing her to swivel, pistol pointed above the cave where sounds were first heard, but not a scavenger in sight? She lowers her weapon in a state of confusion.
Suddenly, Guttural grumbles are heard from behind. 3 sets of Drool ridden teeth smack against bare gums, cloud turns sharply just as the first jackel pounces, missing her eye by an inch. In the process her gun is knocked from her hand. Adrenalin courses through her veins as she Shakely retrieves the combat knife from her belt. With weapon in hand a coordinated swipe to the neck is delivered, the jackle pauses not really understanding what just happened, suddenly the contents of the neck burst like flood gates. A cocktail of bile and blood pool on the stone which makes cloud grimace.
growling turns to panicked yapping behind her, but they stand their ground. Cloud bares her teeth in response, but this isn’t as effective as it would be under a full moon, the older jackel suddenly charges forward and pushes cloud to the ground, gravity forces the air out of her lungs as she fights the mass of fur that is now digging into clouds chest. A mixture of pain and urgency encourages cloud to push back, putting pressure on the windpipe. The jackel flails harder and harder and harder. Then weaker and weaker and weaker, then limp. With a grunt Cloud hauls the dead weight to her side.
Silence fills the air. Cloud stretches for her pistol and shoots clean into the head of the last scavenger, causing it to jump. Then drop. Cloud collapses to the floor drained, the pain of the wound starts to become more intense now her adrenalin starts to come down. Shuffling towards the fire for more light, cloud notices the skin around the wound has turned red and puffy.
The beeping has now stopped and the light on said collars turns a concerning red, clouds attention snaps back to her wound as her skin twitches in pain.
“agh… I need to get this treated” cloud thinks about her options and remembers there is a village to the south that makes its income on combat tournaments, it’s a very rough place both they may have some basic medical care there. Another option is to the north, this goes more into the heart of the tundra and gets much colder, there is also a scientist’s base camp there. They will most likely have more advanced medical care there, but there’s also a good chance those are the scientists which tagged those jackels, and I don’t think they will be to happy to see you.

Another question coming up!
Which way should we go?
A – north
B – south
Is there anything we should say to either the scientists or locals, let me know!

   
click on the image to get a better look!
Cloud rests by the dwindling fire, eating a fill of her victory for energy. She contemplates which way to go and suddenly thinks about the discontent of the scientists, as opposed to the town who may be having trouble with the beasts aswell. Theres a chance bringing a trophy to the town will impress the locals, there may be a reward in it aswell. Cloud turns to the lifeless jackles, there expression is hauntingly tense.
“maybe if I take some teeth and parts of there fur markings?” cloud ponders for a minute, then crouches down infront of the biggest one, pointing and snarling.
“if you clamp down on my fingers.. I will break you jaw.. im threatening a corpse, what am I doing. Whats It going to do? Talk back? My god..” she shakes herself out of this ridiculous banter and grabs a hefty stick from outside.
Cloud wedges the small log into the jackles mouth, wood splinters at the weight and reaction of the jaw muscles pressing down. Cloud knows she must work quickly on the teeth before they shut tight, with her knife cloud digs into the gum of the biggest tooth. Her knife wriggles its way to the root as the jaw starts to tighten, with a tear and pop the tooth darts to the floor. The same tense process is done for the next two, it only takes 20 minutes. The furs markings are much easier to skin, with some thread cloud rolls up the pieces of small pelt and ties them with said thread. Both pelts and teeth fit snuggly into her compact side bag.
She uses half her water to put out the remnants of the fire, then looks into the cave one last time thinking “I wonder what would be down there...? oh well I should really get moving in case those scientists decide to track down their specimens.” Cloud starts her long trek through the bitter tundra south, the ground becomes swampier. Moss surrounds the now flat land; two hours have passed, and cloud is starting to waver. She scans the tepid climate for shelter, there seems to be history on this land. Flags with opposing symbols dot the plains, an abandoned tank is planted in the middle halfway into the mud. Cloud strolls through rotting spiked barriers to see an old shack emerging behind a boulder.
“Perfect!” she chimes and marches towards it without even thinking about the consequences.
The door swings open which causes cloud to jump back and reach for her gun, out comes a plump figured guidance type, meekly standing in the door frame smiling softly. Cloud is taken aback by this.
“Who are you. Answer now or leave.” Cloud is sharp with her words.
“m-my name is apollo... I came here to find you.” Apollos voice fits her submissive posture.
“Me? Why. How do you know me? Iv never seen you before in my life.” Clouds tone is guarded, and she still has her gun cocked ready for betrayal.

“Im not here to trick you honest, do I look like the cunning type?” apollo is slightly put out by the sight of weapons, glowing in response.
 
“fine. Say what you have to say then I will be on my way.” Cloud snorts
“ok ok, look I know your going to the town to the south, show your strongest self to them and you will have a much easier time getting there respect, the locals respect power in all forms.” Apollo quickly spits out her sentence before cloud starts to walk, which stops cloud in her steps.

“how did you know I was going to the south town..? did the military send you?!” clouds guarded and aggressive, snarling.

“n-no! im not from around here, im from hoopla. P-please im a guidance type only here to help..” apollo is backed into the door frame by cloud, there is a silence in the air.

“thanks for the advice, ill be on my way now.” Cloud once again starts to walk away, but apollo starts to trot after her.

“please! Take me with you, I can be of big assistance to you.” Apollo sounds like a lost child, cloud sympathises with this in her own cold way.

Cloud thinks hard about her next choice, “what should I do? Trust apollo to act on her guidance instincts in my favour or carry on alone and leave her behind?”


This is where you guys once again come in, what should cloud do? Bring apollo with her or leave to fend for herself? You never know, she may be working for someone else. Do you want to take that chance?

Let me know if there is anything else you think we should consider!  

story will be continued in the comments!
 

[Wilds]

A. Face the jackals. You could probably put the fire out by smothering it with dirt rather than using the last of your water, but you need to eat and your food is worth defending - especially since you don't want to be cornered in there, and if they can smell the meat there's every chance that just putting the fire out won't dissuade them.
Maybe we can use the fire to our advantage...

[skinstealer]

A, face the jackals for sure, gotta defend your base

[skinstealer]

B, they'll probably respect your combat wounds more there

maybe ask if they have issues with jackals themselves?

[Ignispark]

definitely B. no idea if those were a protected species or not, and its probably best not to find out. and maybe try to take some jackal teeth or something so you have something to show for your story. Might help gain respect/sympathy because, you've done combat and won.

[Ignispark]

apollo seems cool! a lil suspicious, but cool. take the chance. you don't get the chance to make friends every day.

[gothica132]

   
(so its been a while, apologies for that, family issues have me feeling abit uninspired, but I wanted to pick this back up again, so heres part four!)
Cloud takes a big sigh and mumbles under her breath, but she accepts the fact that taking a chance may be good, having company will help soothe these rough lonely nights anyway.
“fine. You can tag along” cloud gestures to apollo to follow, apollo’s face lights up and she skips forward.
“the names cloud by the way.” She grips apollos hand for a moment as a greeting, then pulls her closer.
“but know this” with one hand cloud grabs apollos cheeks between her sharp claws, causing apollo to yelp and freeze.
“if you cross me. I will make sure you don’t wake up..” with a grumble cloud pushes apollo back and begins to walk briskly into fog, across moss covered mushed ground.
Apollo is taken a back by the hostility, and wondered if there is a reason for it. The pair trecked across a land of dead battles and bone, cloud isn’t so phased by the scenes but apollo is saddened by such sights as she stares into the sockets of a skull.
A rusted metal bucket of a caravan emerges into sight, this looks like a good place to rest for the night thinks cloud.
A soft yellow hand grips clouds shoulder which causes cloud to jump slightly.
“we must be careful here cloud, I don’t know why but the place stinks of a trap.” Apollo sounds concerned and is insistent on moving along rather than approaching the caravan.
Cloud is slightly discruntled but understands that a decorated metal caravan in the middle of otherwise barren moors is beyond suspicious. She nods to apollo and they both start to give a wide berth to the caravan. As they start to walk around apollo spots something strange, black veins cover the back, and there.. pulsing?
“apollo come on! We don’t want to wait around here to long.” Cloud starts to trot back towards apollo, then pauses. The grounds rumbles under them, vibrations bring out all manner a bugs. Apollo slowly looks up, black veins twitch and spread across the metal.
Apollo is frozen in fear as a mass of bright veins rise from the earth, bringing the caravan with them, it seemed to almost be apart of the biology of this creature.
“apollo!!! Move now!!” cloud tackles apollo into a bush out of sight.
Such a tackle causes cloud to wince in pain, remembering that she still has a fresh wound that has most likely opened up slightly from the impact.
“im sorry cloud, im so so – “ cloud clasps apollos mouth with her hand.
“don’t move. Don’t speak. This mimic means to end us.” Cloud speaks in muted tones, keeping her eye on the mimic, she then notices the moon is out shining brightly. If cloud can get in view of the moon this will trigger a transformation, her werewolf form will be equipped to deal with the mimic. The other option is to sneak through the bushes past the mimic.
What should cloud do?