Tom:

You are heading toward Galaxicon, and hopefully a good time.   The trip is long, but the music on the radio is good.

Once there, you get signed in, check out a panel, and wander by the computer games before heading to the dealer's room...or such is your plan.

There's a new game, Vivid X, which purportedly has holographic qualities, although most of the reviews pan it results, although lauding its boldness.  The general sum-up by Gamer Review.com is "Technically brilliant, story is adequate, but the chief problem is the technology is not quite good enough for the general public.  If you buy one of their special screens for five thousand, though, it rocks the house."

You see one of the 'special screens', and indeed it does look spectacular.

Near the base of it is an insignia "Scriff enabled."

You're standing nearby, getting ready to play, and then someone tries to cut in line, holding a giant cup of coke, and when the demo guy tells him to get to the back of the line, he has a hissy fit, and throws his coke down...

Sparks fly everywhere....

==========================================================================

You wake up. You're laying on your back. Its cold. Very cold.

PT

I've been transported to another dimension! This is his first thought.  This, of course is immediately suppressed given the fact that when he was 12 years old he wandered outside onto the patio in the dark of night and saw something stir.  At first he didn't know what it was, and crept towards it.  It was an alien!  Desperately trying to decide how to react, he had said, "What are you looking for?"

When it did not reply, he moved closer.  It was a fern.  The same one he'd seen every day for the last 5 years that they had owned the house.  Since that time, he had a healthy sense of skeptism towards anything...well...fantastic...to put it bluntly.  His 'flexible thinking' still allowed him certain perks, such as the belief that one must treat any reality perceived as if it was real until perceived otherwise, but there was also Occum's Razor.

Occum's Razor told him that he was jacked into a video game.....although the mention of holographic technology hadn't mentioned anything about a touch interface, which wasn't to say it wasn't possible.  Temperature sensors were quite easy to simulate actually.  There were...other things that would indicate flaws if that were the case.

Right.  So we're in the game.  You can't get stuck in the game....that's only on television shows and in the off hand chance that such was the case, he was a very rich man.  Assuming he didn't die.  Then again, what if that insane 'Stay Alive' game was actually connected to a government experiment to do the same?

Great.

What he didn't understand was what he was thinking to sign up to play this.  Usually RTS or TBS type games were his forte...then again, his insatiable taste for new experiences and new technologies answered the question for him.

All of this flashed through his head in a very short period of time, more a connection of disparate thoughts one answering another rather than any kind of internal monolog, though he was certainly capable of such.

What the heck was a scriff anyway?

First thing to do in a video game.....learn the controls.

He tried moving his hands, arms legs etc.

Second thing to do in a video game....know your surroundings.

He carefully and quietly looked at his surroundings.

Third thing to do in a video game (assuming it wouldn't be problematic from the other two)....check your inventory.

You've heard a little about 'scriff'.  Its some new computer break-through material, supposed to yield increases in speed.

You wiggle your hands and legs in a soft, yielding powder, which is quite cold, and then your hands are wet.

No control message pops up, or life counter.

You are laying on your back at a thirty degree angle in about a foot of fresh-fallen snow.  Snow flakes drift down and land on your chest which is covered with a couple millimeters of the stuff.

The sky is gray and overcast for as far as you can see.

The air is cold, and ...thin. Clear and tangy with a piercing cleanliness that seems to purge some of the crud from your lungs with each breath.

You see what could be a range of mountains in the distance, but with the falling snow, and pearlescent light, and the snow-covered mountains, its hard to be sure.

Still laying on your back, you see your backpack about five feet down the slope from you. Funny thing is, thats the first place you looked for it.

Off in the distance, you feel a sense of 'familiarity' as if you had left something out there.

PT
OOC: 1)Very good writing. 2)Your backpack will contain reasonable things for you to tote to the con, like maybe one gun, and a knife.  The rest will be at 'home'.  3)Welcome to the game.

Tom slowly stands up, but carefully.  If this is a video game then there is probably something horrible lurking nearby.  If this is something more fantastic, then it is probably still lurking nearby.  In his sad experience...something horrible was always lurking nearby...even if it was only metaphorically speaking.

Keeping an ear out he slowly moved toward his backpack.   He checked his inventory.  Some of it useful some of it not.  The first thing he does is put on the black monk robe. He keeps his boots on.  The LARPing costume was lined with a cotton inner layer that was designed to keep at least a little warm....in fall type weather.  It wouldn't do much good in this.

The more he thought about it, the more the rational part of his mind told him that this was not a game.  Tactile sensors were simply not that good, but on the off hand chance that they were, AIR QUALITY was not something that they could easily simulate.

If this was a computer simulation, it was in a direct nueral link to his mind somehow, and if that was the case than this might as well BE reality, even it was a simulated one, because while he might not die, he could almost assuredly feel pain and any other 'realistic' sensation that he could manage.  However, given that there had been an accident, he really didn't think it involed any kind of neural connection.  Gamers were a savvy lot, and would pick up on small details like tactile sensation.  They would ask how they were able to feel the game without a full immersion encounter suit, and if they were trying to hide the game in the first place, why would they open it up so anyone was able to see it?

He might be second guessing himself, but he didn't think so.

That meant two likely possibilities, both completely odd.  The first was that he had simply been knocked unconcious and left for dead in the middle of the wilderness somewhere.  Given the air quality, that meant it had to be someplace VERY remote indeed...given the shape of the mountains that meant the Rockies if he was still in North America.  But that leant the question....WHY would anyone do that to him? Especially after an erstwhile video game accident?

The second possibility was the 'fantastic' one.  He knew he possesed no supernatural powers himself, which  more than likely meant an external entity of some sort.  Either a wizard, god or alien.  Given that he was out here in the middle of nowhere, it wasn't an all powerful...whatever it was, if that was what was happening to him.  Combined with the air quality, that could very well mean some kind of primitive culture...either far into the future or far into the past.  Then of course, the question remained...WHY?  He didn't have many skills that he could think such a society would want.  There were a few obscure possiblities but they were unlikely.  No, the far more likely scenario in such cases was that they had accidently summoned him....

He was unsure what this 'familiarity' was, but that was most likely the direction to go.  He would trust his instinct on this, but given the various unknown factors at this point, he did so as quietly and stealthily as he could.

OOC: Thanks :)

You get to your feet, which slip slightly under you.  As you walk, you note spots where there is slippery rock under the surface, and you are grateful for your caution.

Stepping through the murk, you realize there is something large and box-like ahead.  Getting closer, you see the outlines of a Humvee take shape.

On its side is imprinted "Cana xxxx  xMpexxx Forces" but with the snow you can't see more clearly.

However, the fifty calibre machine gun on the top stands out very clearly.

You see a man in the back area, fishing around inside a trunk space.  As you shiver, and force your teeth not to chatter so as to avoid noise, you see with envy that he has a fur-lined green artic wear jacket on his back.

PT

"This bodes not well" he thought, but realized this increased the more realistic explanation that he had simply been transplanted somewhere on Earth.  On the other hand, the lettering was clearly roman, but the language was odd...almost latin.  What he did know was that if he didn't get that coat or something like it soon he would die.

There were multiple ways to handle this situation.  He could assume hostility, neutrality or benevolence.  Benevolence was a good thing since it would mean an ally here, wherever here was. Neutrality would mean suspicion since whoever this was would almost assuredly be as suprised to see him as he was, and outright hostility was dangerous, because he held heavier weaponry and his only real advantage was surpise.  However, he had neither the time nor luxury to wait for the individual to show his true colors....

Which meant negotiation unless he was prepared to commit cold blooded murder.  But still, better to be prepared in case he was hostile...

Tom carefully removed his pistol and VERY carefully loaded it.  He set it down on a rock next to where he was, out of sight of the gentleman rifling in the trunk.  In the event that he proved immediately hostile, Tom could duck for cover behind it and grab the gun.

He then stood, raising his hands above his head to indicate he was unarmed and said, "Hello?!"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:36, Thu 30 Mar 2006.

The man looks up, nods, and goes back to fishing in his trunk.  He brings out a small heater, which he clicks on.

"My name is Michael. Di Vars."  The words come out of his mouth like he has to force them out, like a man who hasn't talked in a long while, and forgotten what its like.

He walks around, climbs into his Humvee with the portable heater in his hand, and then remembers, and turns back to you.

"I've got a passenger seat. The wolf won't mind, he likes the back seat."

Its an invitation, of sorts.

By this time, you've noted that he has a metallic hand on his right, and a long knife strapped to his cavalry style boots, and some sort of gun in a holster on his left.  Plus, despite the awkwardness of his manner, he steps with a grace like oil rolling down a mirror, and while he's not especially tall, he is broad.

PT

Sane.  Thank heavens.  Or at least somewhat good at faking it.

" I'd be glad to join you.  I'm going to bend down and pick up my weapon but I'll unload it in front of you.  Much obliged....the name is Tom Day.  Pleased to meet you.  What brings you out here? Not that I'm complaining mind you..."

Tom will VERY slowly bend down and pick up the gun and unload it unless it looks like Mr. Michael. Di Vars has issue with that and then puts it in his pocket and the clip in another.  After all, this is a weird situation and no matter how friendly he may or may not be.....he thinks it is probably a very good idea to ensure that he can be armed in case something ELSE comes by.

"I wouldn't unload it.  A warrior should keep his weapon ready."

You climb into the cabin, and a wolf rises from the back seat to sniff your face.  Its a gray wolf, and its eyes are disconcertingly aware.  But thats nothing compared to the way its fangs hang near your throat for a full second.

"No, Wolf, you can't kill him. That's final."

A pause.

"If you keep badgering me about it, I'm going to take your flea-ridden carcass and toss it out the door.  Besides, there wouldn't be any left to eat, so whats the point, ya' dumb dog."

The wolf clacks its jaws, and Michael raises a hand.  It subsides, and sits down in the back seat.

There is a lot of gear stowed in boxes of cardboard, and metal in the Humvee, and so you're a bit crowded.  Still you recognize the words imprinted in the front dashboard.

"This vehicle is property of the Imperial Canadian Expeditionary Forces."  This is followed by a vehicle ID number.

PT

So its an alternate timeline.

This is NOT a video game, no matter how realistic.  The narrative is simply something that would be too boring for the average game player....not to mention the line outside.  This removed essentially any doubt in his mind that THAT particular thing was going on.

His casual acceptance of someone completely unprepared to be like this in the middle of nowhere told him that he probably knew who he was, or at least had some idea what had happened to him, but he wasn't stupid.  Assumptions could kill.

It was also obvious that he had an empathic/telepathic bond with the wolf...and that he didn't want to be alone with it until he'd learned to trust the thing more.

"Do you work for the Imperial Canadian Expeditionary Forces or just using their jeep?"

"Picked it up about ten worlds ago. Worked for them a bit in their Siberian Invasion. Was kicking the Commies all the way back to Moscow when a land mine took me, Wolf, and Betsy here out of the game."

He looks outside, squinting into the snow murk.

"I've been here before, I think. Thing is, I've never survived getting down to the bottom of the mountain, not all the way anyways. Did one time make it down to the tree line, or was that two times? A pretty lady helped me.  Lot easier on the eyes than you. So long ago, I can't hardly remember for sure which way we went."

He looks over at you.

"Because I'm fresh out of strategies except drive down the mountain, and hope we don't hit a cliff. So if you have any bright ideas, now would be a good time to spill them."

PT

"What other worlds have you visited? So the Communists staged an invasion here over the land bridge? To what extent did they use nukes?"

A few statements he was able to peice together immediately were

A)This gentleman was originally human, just by his general demenor, or had spent so much time with them that he considered himself such.

B)He died and came back on a regular basis.

C)He visited multiple worlds.

D)This place was an extremely unpleasant place to be.

"Well I always have ideas, but they're usually limited to the extent of my information.  I don't know much about this world.  Are there any supernatural elements here, things that defy the usual laws of normalacy? What is it exactly that makes the mountain so dangerous...is it just lots of mines and passive defenses or are we in the middle of a war zone?"

"Worlds? I lost count a long time ago."  He then laughs heartily. "Oh, no. The Commies would never have invaded. Too terrified of the Canadians. Man, I loved those guys. You know, all you had to do to be safe in the meanest, darkest streets of some city was to wear a t-shirt with a maple leaf on it, and speak a few words of Quebecois. No, the Canadians invaded them. And the Canucks used tactical nukes, but told the Commies that if they dared reply, the Canucks would nuke Moscow with city-busters.  Thing is, the Canucks had like a ten year lead on Moscow in nukes, and whenever they found one of the KGB's moles, they just took him out in front of the Gov't Bldg. in Ottawa and hung him, and then left his body there for the ravens.  Man, I loved those guys.  They took garbage from no one."

He pauses to wipe a tear from his eyes.

"I was a Light Bird in their Force."

He thinks about your next question.

"No, the reach of Odin is thin in this world.  What makes this mountain dangerous? Its cold, there's no food, and its steep. I think we are a couple thousand feet below the Death Zone for unmodified humans.  Personally, I'm not sure there is any sentient alive in this world but for us two."

PT

"I'm sorry.  I think I blurred the two worlds together.  The world that this Jeep came from is from another world....as in ...you brought it here.  That's a pretty impressive feat.  As for food, I've got some with me, but not much.  Con Food is rediculously expensive so I was able to pack enough to get through the weekend." He ponders, "What other abilities do you possess besides being able to travel from world to world?  The more I know about what our obstacles are and what is in our inventory, the more I can try and think of something.  My first reaction is skis actually, but that would mean abandoning the jeep.  I'm not sure if you hold a sentimental attachment to it or not.  I also think that we should try to take the long view of survival here if time is not an issue...specifically find a cave if we can.  If we can't I know how to make a snow shelter.  We definately want to conserve fuel as much as possible, both driving and the fuel that you're using on the heater.  If there are animals besides your wolf friend here we're going to want to kill them for food and fur....though judging by what you're saying that is unlikely.

The biggest concern for me is going to be the ice and snow.  Specifically, driving is going to be very trecherous since we could drive over a covered ice patch....in truth, driving off of this mountain is just all kinds of a bad idea....we either ski or sled down.....because unless there are specific roads this thing is going to get us killed...course then again without a jacket its going to kill me too....I have a spare set of clothing in my pack, two actually....but that won't help us for long.

What else do you have in the humvee by way of supplies? Is this world a post apocalyptic one or did it never develope technology? I have a computer with a GPS sensor that might be able to tell us where we are if it is close nough to my world...."

"Sorry.  One more thing.  You mention Odin in a singular fashion as if he's a bigger deal of supernatural power than others somehow.  Does he travel or govern from world to world?"
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Fri 31 Mar 2006.

"The longer you do this, the more you'll be able to take with you. Now, I don't have ski's, but the Humvee will follow me to a new universe even if I'm not in it.  But then I've been doing this a long time."

He hunts around for some food, and finds a leg of lamb in a cooler, along with some cheese which smells...very fragrant.

"I have a laser, but its down on its charges, and I don't see how clairvoyance is going to help us that much.  Right now, I wish I knew pyrokinesis.  I have a disintegrator, and an M-16 rifle. A Tachyone grenade, and a fire stick, but that last is magic."

He points you to some spare clothing. Its a wide variety of clothes ranging from dessert robes to Elizabethan velvets to some plastic thing that unfolds from a ball the size of a marble to a full body suit.  But, he's got the only heavy jacket on him now.

He studies his hands for a while as he thinks how to respond.

"Odin is my God. I ask his blessing in every world. I am an Enjherar, and will one day fight at Odin's side at Ragnarok.  This all is merely the preparation for that fight.  Some people might tell you of other gods, fine for them.  But in the end, the Jotunn will triump, and the Universes will be destroyed in fire, but I don't care."  His words come out of his mouth like hammer blows on an anvil. "I'm still going to fight, even if its the losing side."

"Actually this is good, very good.  We have a lot more resources than I'd initially thought.  Clairvoyance is actually MORE valuable than Pyrokinisis unless you are powerful enough to melt rock.  How reliable is your clairvoyance?  If I drove the jeep, could you use clairvoyance to scout ahead and around us to watch for danger with the ice and/or mines? We'd still have to go slow but the farther we can go the better....

My plan is this....we try that and go as far as we can.  We take it careful and slow and then find a snow bank and make a snow cave.  We spend the night there and let the humvee rest (making sure to prep it for the freezing night so we can get it active the next day).  Once we reach a rocky bank or such that will no longer allow us to drive, we use the disintigrator to cut the roof of the humvee such that we make ourselves a sled and a pair of ski like edges.  Then we use the limited charges on the laser to make a limited heat burst to turn the edges.

Then as counter intuitive as it may be, we stay another day at the snow cave.  That's because we need to pour water on the bottom of the sled and invert it so that the skis and the sled are iced up.  This makes it infinitely faster (its how the eskimos do it).  I have a compass so we basically head as much towards the south and down as we can.  If we find a stream or river bed, we follow that until we get to someplace where we won't automatically freeze to death....We also make sure we stop at least once every half an hour so you can scout ahead with Clairvoyance.

As for the triumph of the Jotunn....well, all I can say is that as of 30 minutes ago, I didn't think it truly possible to be transported to another world....so comparitively speaking, finding a way to break that which is destined to pass seems rather simple to me.  And if it comes to that, I'd be right there along side you, though not necessarily as a worshiper of Odin.

I don't like to lose.

You should probably know...that this is my 'first' world.  I'm not going to waste our time by denying that I'm some kind of world traveler...simply because you obviously are one and say that I am.  Though if I am, I don't know how.  You should also probably know that at some point I'm going to have a nervous breakdown as the part of my brain that gets up and brushes my teeth in the morning realizes that this all can't be happening, but fortunately I'm able to put that on hold when I have to....like avoiding death by freezing."

You had him up until you said 'cut the roof of the Humvee'.

"Whoa, wait up a second there. Cut the roof of my Humvee. Since you're a first-timer, I'll cut you a little slack, but I think you need to realize, I intend to keep this thing for a long time. Take it with me, its comfy. If I have to die to preserve my Humvee, well, then, so be it."

Its a very odd viewpoint for you to wrap your head around. An item, or more precisely part of the item, is more valuable than his life, in his view.

As you discuss these things, he pushes  a button on the steering column, and with a low whine, the vehicle starts. He then begins creeping it forward, and downhill.

"Ok. It works.  You've got an electric engine, powered by a mini-fusion reactor. So it feels a bit different."

He and you exchange seats, and he drifts off for a few minutes.

"I think the next couple hundred yards are clear. There's a cliff fifty feet ahead, and twenty feet to the right, though."

PT

"Sorry.  For some reason I figured if your body resets every time you die, your objects would do the same.  Don't suppose you ever heard of a series of books called Riverworld?"

Tom drives like a grandma for now, following the compass in the ice, making sure to clear the cliff and getting a feel for the vehicle.  He has lots of questions he wants to ask this person...information he is sure he is going to need to know, but he has not yet reached the point where death is easier than getting a new car.  Not by a long shot.

He focuses his entirity on driving across the ice, watching for the cliff.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:24, Wed 05 Apr 2006.

"Its tricky. Last stable form, I've heard it called.  I mean I've had the humvee blown up, and it came along fine.  But, then I got this dent in the door about a year before a mugger capped me in the back of the head in this one world, and the dent is still there."

He shrugs.  You get the feeling he's not overly into logical speculations.

You drive forward, stop. And he looks again.  And over and over again.  You seem to have found a large glacier with few crevasses in it, and it takes you down at least five thousand feet before the pearlescent whiteness begins to fade to gray.

He pushes on, and then has you stop.

"Ice Cave to your right, about ten yards."

He hops out, and begins to fix up his Humvee for cold weather, and ...

PT
OOC: A general events roll for the day of '5' which is really, really good for you.  This means your day went astonishingly well.  Better than you had hoped for.

OOC: General Events roll of

OOC: I don't understand that last part.  The daily roll I do, but not the "General Events Of"...am I supposed to use the dice roller or something?

Tom immediately begins to dress in as many layers of clothing as he can.  The key here is going to be heat retention to survive the night.

"Last stable form.  Interesting.  I'm sure there is some way to exploit that but I can't think what right off the top of my head.  Maybe it means the state of the thing right before ti gets blown up.  How long is your average time in a world? This might sound odd...but....it almost sounds like the universes you are going to are deliberately trying to kill you....do your odds of death increase no matter what you are doing when you become someone who travels worlds?"

Tom will share one of his MRE's. "They're not the best in the world but they're designed for survival which is what we want to do right now.  My question is this...if we're the only sentient life....is there any place on this planet that is warm?"

OOC: It was a typo.

IC:

He and you get dressed in layers.  And then get into the ice cave. An Igloo brand ice chest, plus some snow on top of it is a good insulator.  LED lights provide light inside.

"Average? I don't know. I tend to seek combat, in preparation for Ragnarok. But I've met people who claim to have been on a world for a thousand years or more.  But it is true that a lot of universes are really hostile places.  Its an interesting idea, the Universe out to get ya'...mmmh."

He yawns, and raises himself up.

"Only sentient life I've met. Could be who knows what over the mountains.  Perhaps its a tropical resort with beautiful babes."

He falls asleep, and starts snoring.

PT

It is at this point that Tom finally has a brief, but very needed mental break down.  He doesn't outwardly cry....because it is wimplike in general, but primarily because he's got Jaun Claud Von Thor as a cave mate, and somehow he thinks that this activity might be frowned upon.  Somewhat harsh for a person he just met, but given what he knows about the Norse mythology (and thus anyone who followed it), they were a harsh lot.  Better safe than sorry.

Thus, within the chasms of his own mind did he wrestle with the idea that he was potentially dead, potentially something other than human and potentially never going to see his friends, family or fiance again.  Indeed, that he quite probably wouldn't.

Tom keeps first watch for about four hours...sleep would come with difficulty anyway.  After four hours he VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERY carefully wakes Mike up and tells him he's got second watch....if he ignores Tom then Tom goes to sleep anyway, since he has to sleep sometime.

Michael wakes with his knife out, and halfway to your throat before he pulls himself up, shrugs an apology, and takes watch.  He's got the knife back in his scabbard quicker than you have time to say more than "Whaa!"

Considering next time just letting him sleep, you drift off to a wide array of nightmares.  Most of them feature you sliding down a mountainside away from your fiance', but one features Michael going nuts, and deciding to make kebab of Tom, and you arguing with him about the proper cooking technique as he chops you up.

You wake murmuring "Onions!" and look over at Michael who's giving you a bemused glance.

"Its morning."

PT

"How far can you see with your Clairvoyance? What is the upper range?"

"Not sure.  I've looked down from orbit once."  He studies you.  "Keep in mind a few facts.  I could look out, but my speed is relatively slow.  I move my viewpoint at about fifty miles per hour, and at that speed, I can hardly see any detail.  Or I could decide on a random distance, and try to jump to that.  Thats trickier.  But even if I jumped to orbit, all I would see would be a big ball of white, probably."

He then adds.

"I don't instinctively know exactly where my body is when I'm clair-ing."

PT

Tom ponders, "Well there are two very important questions for us....the first is....is there ANYONE else on this world....we really need to know that if we're heading for civilization.  The second is, is there any place warm.  Fifty miles an hour is probably too slow to go all the way to the equator, BUT if you go up say...about 5-12 miles somewhat slowly (if you can slow your perception down) that will at least tell us if there is anything green within sight of your vision.  If there isn't....it will be much more difficult."

He sags back into his seat, and you can hear his breathing slow, and its almost like you're in a room with a dead body.  There's little feeling of presence.

He comes back about twenty minutes later.

Shakes his head.

"Multiple cloud layers.  At twelve miles, I saw some breaks in the cloud cover way, way far away, but nothing green.  Actually got my best view about a quarter-mile up, I'd guess.  Lots of snow and ice.  Now, if we can manage to survive, if there is an ecosytem for us to feed ourselves on, and its not some bizarre left-hand protein garbage, or something, the mini-fusion can drive us around the planet..unless it breaks."

He hammers the dashboard with his human hand.  The compartment rings.

PT

"Do you have any explosives? We might need it at some point to clear the way if we run out of glacier....Well, keep looking ahead and lets get in the car and give it another go.  I'll drive, you scan."

He giggles, and fetches a milk carton from the back.

Its full of dynamite sticks; grenades both incendiary, fragmentation, and tachyonic; electric resistance explosive cord; a mass of C-4; and a stick which glimmers in the light, and seems to shadow the cabin at the same time.

"Photonic explosive.  It absorbs the available light in an area, and builds up a charge."

You drive on for several hours getting to the end of the glacier.  From here for the next half-mile, its steeper and more likely to be problems at least until you finish getting off the glacier.

PT

"Where does he get these wonderful toys?  Well, nice to see you have a proper appreciation for explosive ordinance.  So just out of curiousity, is it possible to go from one universe to another besides dying? Are there organizations of Versers? Is there any power besides Versers that travels from place to place, supernatural creatures etc?"

[after driving]

"Alright.  I think this is gonna be quite a feat here but if we're careful we can pull it off.  We'll have to place the explosives rather carefully....but I'm assuming if you have them, you know how to use them....but that will only solve some of our problems because we don't want to die in an avelance.  How much rope or cable do you have?"

He shrugs in response to your first question.

"Yeah sure. Gate spells are one way.  Organizations, well not really, but there are groups that tend to meet up with each other, and help each other out.  I've met one group of wizards, the Explorer Corp of Magi, who seem to make a point of world-travelling.  Met a lot of others, but I think they were the biggest."

He pauses.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

PT

"Are there magic items or scientific devices that let you travel from one world to another?"

[later]

"Well, we have to get down this thing somehow.  The Humvee is invaluable to our survival.  I'm thinking we use the explosives to create an avalance of snow to smooth things out, an artificial ramp as it were, but we're gonna need rope to climb up there."

"Sure."  He shrugs.  You can tell its not a big concern to him.  "I've seen some, but never got into fixing one.  If you want such, you could talk to 'Terry', he's a Martian Terraformer from the 25th century, or John aka The Walking Man.  Mmmh. I think the Alchemist might know of some things too.  Also, that prig Tadeusz, I think knows how to create a psi-gate."

You and he get out, and he produces a grappling hook, and a line of gengineered spider silk rope.  Its climb, and step, and slide in the loose snow.  Its judge, and juggle data, and flat-out guess in the swirling low visibility.

Without the clairvoyance, this would be impossible.

You get through the day with no more troubles than a small fall, and a shirt full of snow and rough ice.

You soon learn because of this not to follow Michael.  When he walks it looks like a martial artists, and his climb more closely resembles a monkey.  You followed him onto a ridge which supported his greater weight, but it collapsed under your footfalls.

And night comes shortly after you are finished setting the charges.

PT

"We'll probably want to bring the Humvee back up the glacier a bit just in case it gets caught in the tail end of the avalanch.  Digging it out would be a pain.  I don't suppose there is any way you can teach me that clairvoyance....that or the martial arts looks like really handy stuff to have around....I'm not sure what skills I'd have to exchance....a lot of history that isn't applicable any more....a few other skills."

"Sure, I can teach you.  Clairvoyance, not martial arts.  Martial arts would take too much of our body energy right now."


"Ka-boom!"

The avalanche comes down, and the ice under your feet rumbles, and then you see crevasses forming under your feet.  You're dancing, trying to find a steady spot, as it gets worse.

PT

Tom's theory that the universe is trying to kill them seems suddenly justified.  If Mike seems to have an immediate plan, he follows his lead, otherwise contrary to common sense, he runs FORWARD toward the ice cracks.  He figures if he is going to die at this point, he's at least going for a million to one shot of riding an ice chunk down the mountain, because trying to avoid them isn't going to happen.

You dive, and hit a slab, and then it breaks in two.  You plummet into a crevasse, flailing at the walls, for a handgrip, and then a flicker, and it seems the walls are heading your way....

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Go to the next "Day and XXXXXX" thread as soon as I figure out a world to drop you in.

PT