[Prelude] Game Master's Challenge: Matthew Beckett

[Shurijo]

The Game Master's Challenge: Let the games begin!

You awake to find yourself lying on the floor of a cold, dark room. The small ten-by-ten room contains a single door. As you regain consciousness, you begin to hear a voice. You cannot tell if the voice is coming from a speaker or is somehow being directly placed into your head.

"Welcome to the Game Master's challenge, Matthew Beckett." The distant voice sounds almost electronically generated as best you can tell, but also rings somewhat foreign or alien as if it may be using software to convert its speech to English. The name 'œGame Master' does not hold any special meaning or reference to any work or group that you're familiar with.

As the voice talks, you notice that you're wearing clothing and carrying your pistol along with all of your personal equipment excluding your vehicle. The small room has a high ceiling and sheer walls covered in smooth metal panels. The floor is much the same, making the room almost featureless, save for the single door in the middle of one of the walls.

"To survive this challenge, you must pass each of the tests set forth in the next rooms. Each room will have a single door to enter and a single door to exit. The challenges will test your abilities, skills, and powers along with both your physical and mental capabilities. Yes, I know about your so called special powers. Your petty human fears about being discovered as a genetical anomaly are of no concern to me. Furthermore, escape from this challenge is futile and will only prolong your tests."

OOC

Welcome Hayabusa with your character Matthew Beckett! This story is going to be light role played, feel free to add flavor text along the way or role play as much as you like in order to get into character or even discover your character's voice/personality within this story. Feel free to describe yourself, but no other players will be joining and I, as GM, don't really need it now. Just so you know, there's no way to escape the challenges other than completing them, but plenty of ways to win or lose. I expect there to be more than 5 but less than 20 rooms, depending on time and various character specific decisions and characteristics.

I'll try to do passive notice/well informed rolls for you, but in case I forget just let me know. That will be more of importance in the real story than this warm-up, but if I miss something just let me know.

Passive Rolls
Notice: 1d20 + 5 = 25. Rolled 20, noticed things (included above post)
Well Informed roll: 1d20 + 3: 5 + 3 = 9. Not heard of Game Master before.

Your character will begin with 2 HP. Each successful test will grant you 1 additional HP. At the end of the challenge, your Hero Points will be reset to the standard HP per PL setting. So if you have HP here, might as well as make use of them since they'll be reset at the end of the challenge.

This thread is for Hayabusa only.

[Hayabusa]

Tired and annoyed Beckett looks up checking the smooth walls and tries to figure out where the voice is coming from. He doesn't like that he's trapped, but he has learned that you have to adapt to certain conditions and it doesn't look like resistance will be of much help. Whoever want him to cooperate seems to know more than enough since only very few people know that he is indeed a mutant. Even if the voice only gained that knowledge by a complicated DNA-check it is more than enough to bring harm to others.

"I do not fear the discovery. At least not for my own sake..." Beckett says, running a hand over the short, black stubs on his chin as he stands up. "So when you say human fears do you mean you're not a human? In any case you should explain who the hell you are and how I got here, because I'll show you 'human fears' as soon as I'm finished with your challenges."

He picks up his pistol, pulls back the slide and makes sure that a bullet is already in the chamber. "So I just walk through the door and the challenge starts," Beckett states and takes the safety catch off.

M. K. Beckett

[Shurijo]

The Game Master's voice beckons once again. "Why must humans be so annoying?" The strange voice pauses for a moment after his rhetorical question.

"When you become the Game Master then you may set the game's rules as you wish. Today, you are the challenger and do not get to ask questions."

Without answering Matthew's question about whether or not walking through the door starts the challenge, the room begins to fill with water. A slow stream of water appears from the high ceiling and in a matter of moments, there's an inch of water that is quickly rising. It appears that the challenge has already begun.

[Hayabusa]

"You don't have to drown me, I already agreed to play your stupid game," Beckett says wading through the rising water towards the door. Yeah, I'll certainly beleive you're not a human. Damn sick psycho, he adds in his mind.

As soon as Beckett reaches the door he looks for a mechanism to open the door and keeps his gun ready to be prepared for a surprise on the other side of the door.

[Shurijo]

Beckett inspects the door and find that it has two hinges that swing open when pushed. Pushing the door open, he finds a long corridor with another door on the opposite side of the room.

This hallway appears to have the same floor and walls as the first room making this room as featureless as the previous room. It's ceiling is not as high as the initial room and you estimate it to be about 15 feet high.

As soon as Beckett steps forward, the door closes behind him and soundly locks. The door fits perfectly into the wall making it very difficult to locate, if Beckett hadn't just walked through it. The closed door to the first room does not open when pushed or pulled.

OOC

forgive crude maps, but its just a long hallway

Code: Select all

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Notice: Hidden roll
HP Remaining: 2

Please note that notice skill lets you pick up on immediate things, search skill means you actively make an effort to search. I'll be rolling passive notice skill for each room and mark the rolls as hidden.

[Hayabusa]

OOC

The crude maps are alright. I guess that if he has noticed something it would have been in the post. And maybe it is and I just don't recognize it as such.

Beckett grabs his weapon with both hands and slowly walks down the hallway. As long as there's no one else inside the room he assumes that the supposed challenge is something that is not yet recongizable. It could be a simple trapdoor, or someone or something just pops up from a hidden panel in the wall, ground or ceiling. The room might also be filled with a scentless gas.

Taking care that he doesn't step in a trap like a cautionless moron, Beckett makes one step after another and his green eyes scan the surroundings for anything suspicios.

Action

Search for traps.

[Shurijo]

Beckett searches the hallway for traps as he meticulously moves forward towards the other door. It doesn't take more than a step or two, before the floor suddenly falls away under his footing.

OOC

Search Roll: 1d20 + 5 = 16 vs Trap 20 DC, failed

Reflex saving throw: 1d20 + 4 = 16 vs DC 15, passed

Beckett falls a short distance, but his keen reflexes kick in and he quickly grabs for the edge of the trap door. Below, he can feel flames erupt and warm his boots. The man slowly pulls himself back up and collects his pistol.

OOC

Climb check: 1d20 + 2 = 20 vs DC 15, pass

As he stands once more, hidden panels slide open along the walls, floors, and ceiling of the hallway. From the floor to ceiling and wall to wall, a series of bright laser beams form a shifting grid, a wall of moving lasers coming between Beckett and the door. There's no way around the laser net, the only way is straight through.

OOC

laser net requires acrobatics roll to get through them, I'll roll and post result after you post. Just wanted to give you a chance to post.

[Hayabusa]

If it weren't for the moving lasers, Beckett would have checked the flaming abyss, but right now his eyes are focused on the grid in front of him. He tries to make out a pattern that might work to his advantage.

"Lasers? Really?" Beckett asks. He cannot keep the comment in his mind. "Am I trapped in the mind of a fifteen-year-old video gaming nerd?"

The former agent also considers to holster his gun, but decides against it, because he doesn't know what will surprise him when he has passed the lasers. Or rather IF he passes the lasers. Taking a deep breath, Beckett takes one, then two steps towards the shifting grid before he hurls himself through an opening.

OOC

Thanks for the opportunity.
Somehow I'm thinking of the Resident Evil movie. I hope this won't have similar results...

[Shurijo]

Beckett scoffs at the laser net, but takes the time and presence of mind to avoid touching them. The man skillfully steps over the first laser as he ducks and moves methodically over and under the next several lasers. The laser net moves in a consistent manner and Beckett must have noticed, it as he deftly makes his way through the net without being harmed.

OOC

Acrobatics check: 1d20 + 3 = 20, passed

Didn't think you'd make it

Don't forget to use your HP, next challenge might be a bit more fun for you

Matthew Beckett reaches the end of the challenge in one piece and with only minor scratches from falling into the initial trap door. He's unhurt and stands ready for the second room.

Pushing the door open, he finds a much bigger room with what appears as concrete buildings. There is a marked path way that moves through the buildings as appears to lead to the other end of the room.

"Matthew Beckett," the voice booms once again. "You have successfully survived the first room. In this room, you shall be presented with targets that you must quickly identify and shoot. If you take too long to identify the targets, then you may need to dodge their shots."

OOC

This room is much like the shooting range test with pop-up targets. I'll roll a notice check, if you pass then I'll say "target is enemy" or "target is friend." If you fail, then I'll just say "target is unknown". If you want to shoot at the target, just shoot normally. If you don't shoot at an enemy target, then they will get a chance to shoot at you.

You have 2 HP remaining.

A few paces ahead, there's what appears to be the start of the shooting range course. The voice has ended it's short speech and, from the last encounter, it doesn't appear to be taking questions regarding the challenges.

Off to the right of the starting point, there's a handful of example targets showing enemies dressed in black wearing ski masks and holding weapons at various angles. These enemy targets appear very lifelike, much more realistic than store mannequins. The friendly targets appear much the same illustrated by innocent bystanders.

[Hayabusa]

Beckett wastes a few seconds and scans te example figures. He wonders why someone should have put up a shooting range course for him. It doesn't make sense that whoever it is knows if and how he can shoot. Regardless of his doubts and thoughts he steps to the start of the range. Beckett checks any clips for the weapon and opens the pouches so he'll save a little time in case he has to reload. A moment later he raises his pistol and takes another pace, starting along the marked path.

He has a very simple tactic: identify and shoot or not shoot. And for good measure he's going to put another round in his targets, just to be sure. Beckett isn't overly concerned with incoming fire when he needs too long to recongize the targets, because he will just activate his power when any indicator of a threat, like the muzzle flash of a fired gun, shows up. He'll try to dodge and opens fire himself, just in case an incoming projectile won't be caught in the small radius of damage of his power. For a second he wonders why an alien lifeform should care about his performance and why he doesn't gun down any target that pops up, regardless if it's an enemy of friendly target. It just doesn't make sense.

OOC

I'm kinda surprised that he made it. But that's cool.

Anyway, Beckett would put two rounds in anything that looks like the enemy targets. And as I said, he'll wait for a response and shoot if something shoots back at him.