Let's Play (by Post) STALKER - The SciFi Roleplaying Game

This place... it's as if the black were painted on the walls.... I'd like to come back here someday and take a bit of time to get a close look. For the moment I settle with examine the walls inside the metro exit building we are in, rubbing my fingers over the surface of the window sill.

Slightly later than I had intended, but here we go. Slight re-ordering as usual to make a better narrative flow.

"Alright then, lass, up the street you go," Birch gestures off to the right, clearing his throat. Fixer additionally takes note that the scene isn't just black, but completely devoid of vegetation.

You proceed down the road, flanked on both sides by stoney apartment buildings many floors high (you count what you believe to be between about 6 and 12 in some variance). The road ahead becomes increasingly pitted and the sun begins to rise higher in the sky as the muscles of your back begin to burn with the repetetive motion of stooping down to pick up the tailed nut. Advancing one nut at a time is slow and tedious work, and the tension is thick enough to cut with a knife. To think: there are satellites, gps, and cars, but you're navigating by foot and pathfinding by throwing something you could pick up for a quarter from a hardware store!
Breaking the silence after a couple hundred meters of distance, suddenly, is Birch: "Road ahead is starting to get pitted," and removing your attention from the nut to the road surface you can see he's correct. "Don't like the look of that, but if we leave the road we're going to slow to a bloody crawl as if this wasn't bad enough already. Guess it's your call since you're in front."

Haddock would also note that there are still power lines running through this area parallel to the road, though one would doubt (for good reason!) that they still have any juice left in them.
Just then, Mr. Smith responds to Birch: "Road seems fine to me."

I follow without talk, my presence denoted only by sound of footfalls.

Black. Everything black and upon closer inspection, charred and black. So.... fire. Or not. No vegetation, however, structures intact. An airborne virus/anomaly that produces heat? And feeds off plant life? Madness. Clearly, I need more information. Too many conclusions to be drawn with so little. I will be patient. Perhaps....

I walk over to Birch, 'What do you make of this Birch? The Zone is a pretty big place when you're on foot - how much of it looks like this?'

While L'Esprit decides what to do Fixer asks this question of Birch. He turns to look at his addresser and replies:

"This place? It's the soot quarter. Whole square kilometre of the city looks burnt to an absolute cinder, but absolutely no fire to be seen except that damn hell gel. It stops around E80 to the south and Mediterranee to the east with the river bordering it to the west and the Zone border itself to the north."

He gives the place a look.

"Fucking horrible place. Can't see for shit."

He seems to consider this previous statement, and nods in self-approval before finishing with "but not much looks like this. Zone's about twen'y-five thousand square kilometres, so you ain't seen nothin' yet."

"How bad is this? Relatively?"

How bad is what?

. . .

"This area of the zone?"

L'Esprit turns back to face the others, and briefly stretches

"Well unless one of you 'ave any disagreements, I would rather go off ze road, I would always rather be safe zan sorry. Although I don't like being out in the open either"

She gives a magnificent Gallic shrug

"Of course, if someone else wants to take a turn at ze lead for a bit..."

(IC)Haddock declines a turn at leading, citing his poor fitness. He continues to take occasional radiation readings, and takes notes on the anomalies so far.

'Not up to me to second guess someone when I don't have any better ideas. Lead the way L'Esprit.'

The lass seems to be handling herself.

"All right zen. If no once else 'as anything to say I suppose zat we should start moving again."

"Fine by me, L'Esprit," Mr Smith says. He gives Fixer a speculative look, having noticed the man's excitement upon coming into the zone, and the speculative way he's been studying their surroundings.

(IC) Haddock trudges along, reassured that leadership remains in the hands of the party member who seems most competent at it.

I wait for all to be moving again and bring up the rear. This will also allow me to take in the surroundings just a little more than I would near the front.

Leaping super server trouble, Batman!

"Relative to what? The rest of France? Bloody horrific. The rest of the Zone? Could be worse."

Speculative speculative speculative!

The group resumes its journey and L'Esprit chucks a nut across the road in order to cross safely. About halfway across, however, the pits of your stomachs seem to believe you're experiencing vertigo and everybody stops for a moment.

It takes every ounce of willpower to resist the urge to throw up. The fading effects of the alcohol and sleeping pill mix returns with a vengeance. I turn my head away, not wanting anyone to see my discomfort. After a few moments I manage to steady myself, finally ready to take a look at how everyone fared.

Haddock attempts to regain his composure and flees back the way we came, emitting a rather perturbed yell of alarm.

Mr Smith tenses, flinches at Haddock's outcry (what's up with that; Haddock had struck him so far as a reliable bloke) and glances at Birch, ready to key off him.

L'Esprit stops and backs up a little bit

"I think it is a good decision to not be traveling down the road right now"

She then points up.

"Does anyone else see something on zee power lines? Zey seem a bit too shiny"

Haddock is the first to run, and after a mere moment's pause and L'Esprit's query Birch seems to agree with him.

"Back now!" Birch yells as he whips around a hundred and eighty degrees and bounds back across the street. The keen eye of L'Esprit, pinned to the scene, notes the nut she just threw beginning to drag across the road as if by an invisible hand towards the power lines...

L'Esprit decides that it probably isn't a good idea to hang around any longer; so she turns around and bolts off after the others

Haddock continues running for around 50 meters (with remarkable enthusiasm for someone who hasn't done so for some time), trying as much as possible to go back the way we came to avoid anomalies and emitting an uncharacteristic stream of German profanity throughout. He pauses to glance around nervously, and then looks back to ensure that everyone else made it.

Once we are all free from the clutches of this invisible 'enemy' I stop to look around at the others.

'Is everyone okay?'

Ironic question, considering I almost threw up.

The per day posting stuff is getting really cumbersome to enforce so I'm just going to lift it for now. If I notice somebody being all shy sammy up in here I'll have to get tough(tm) though. If I need a stooge and you don't post a lot expect it to still be you

As Haddock turns around he sees nothing... and then... a lot of things. Many of the cars in the street begin to lurch towards the pockmarks in the road further up ahead, and all manner of metallic debris on the ground flies through the air towards the powerlines in the same direction. The cars' trajectory of motion begins to accelerate in speed as it becomes more and more perpendicular to the street itself.

Fixer finds his day pack attempting to relieve itself of him, and his boot gets a mind of its own, with his flask and knuckledusters flying from their places of concealment and hurtling through the air towards the power lines. Mr. Smith is somewhat more fortunate, but he can feel his gun straining at its holster in an attempt to break free above the cacophany of metal-on-metal from the cars and debris scraping along the street or flying through the air.

This will have to wait until you actually get free

L'Esprit slows down near to Haddock and turns around to look back, prepared to keep running if necessary