I sigh. Pray silent and quick. 'Lord help me understand.'

I take the single bench near the garden, and plop down.

"I am sorry for scaring you, but I do not know what you are talking about.  Would it be too much to ask your daughter to get me a glass of water?"  I'm thirsty and maybe getting the kid out of the way might be a good thing.

I sit there patiently showing with my demeanor that I'm not talking anymore or moving.

They're obviously awe-shocked that at your brazenness. The mother crosses herself and prays silently for a moment.



But she sees you're considerate and kind. She says "Laura, fetch this versersc----gentleman a glass of lemonade."

And the girl without the necklace runs into the house. She returns a moment later carrying a glass of a cold, yellow, lemonade smelling beverage.



It doesn't take long. You hear them whispering about how verserscum were supposed to kill people on sight. They decide you're at least worth the benefit of conversation.

The mother approaches. "It was just after Laura was born. He arrived. Sparks and fire surrounded him, every step he took. He wanted to rule us and we wouldn't let him. So he hurt people. Lots of people. He burned crops and fields because people wouldn't do what he said. Finally they raised an army to fight him."

She gestures back towards the city in which you started.

"My husband, their father, was killed in that battle."

Pause, crying, getting herself back together.

"His name was..... Hammer.... Something. I can never remember. He wore a trenchcoat and a huge backpack. He had a hammer that could throw lightning and fire and clouds of acid. There's an asylum where they took his victims."

Gestures in the same direction as the verser scriff sense.

Then Mary, the older girl with the glowing necklace says "Don't forget about the little girl verser. They say she lives in the woods outside Walnut Grove. Nasty Nellie stole her coat."

Laura says "No she doesn't!! She's not real. Nasty Nellie got that coat in Mankato!!"

Mother "Girls, girls, calm down!!" Then to you "Is there anything more we can do for you?"

OOC) In the world as written, the other verser here is an eight year old girl. If you would prefer, we can make her an eight year old boy. I dunno. I just thought I'd mention it.

(Doing Therapy)
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 07:23, Thu 07 May 2020.

Two Posts



I know you don't really keep track of gear. So here's my proposal. If you all of a sudden want to say "I whip out my Mossberg 500 12 gauge pump shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot." I'll probably allow it. You've had plenty of opportunities to acquire such a weapon. I would totally believe you've been carrying it this whole time and never used it.

Just wanted to let you know that. You've got a four dimensional, infinite storage hypercube on your toolbelt. You can pull out any weapon or item you might need, within reason, at a moment's notice. Cool?

And, to be honest, I expect the same in return. :)

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 10:44, Fri 08 May 2020.

Three Posts

You've got a backpack or something that you acquired in Verser World. It's a four dimensional, infinite storage hypercube. It was invented by a verser named Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius.

The hypercube you've got will allow you to pull out any item you might reasonably need. Roll of duct tape, first aid kit, an AK-47, etc. The stipulation is that the item would have to fit inside the backpack.

What do you think Tadeusz?

(Doing Therapy)

I'll take that backpack. Thanks. And same for you.

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

I sip the almost lemonade to find if its good, and then gulp a bit, and slow myself.

"Thank you."

I shake my head, and stare into the distance.

"that's terrible.'

When I hear that her husband died, I put my hand on my face, and after a moment quietly pray for her and and her children's peace of heart.  It has to rip her to shreds at times.

I almost say 'magehammer'  hoping I'm wrong, but then realize telling them I know of their tormentor is not a good idea.

"No, thank you. I wish this verserscum had not done this." I get up, nod, and leave.  I go off to track down Nasty Nellie, the girl.  Maybe later I can  help the people in the asylum.

OOC) You've not picked my game up, but that's cool. I'm fine with just running you for now if that's how you want it.



It's not bad. It tastes almost like lemonade. They're not trying to poison you or anything. Worthy of note though, the glass is ice cold.



OOC) No comment.....



OOC) Nasty Nellie is not the verser girl. She's an indig girl that those two attend school with. Didn't you ever watch Little House on the Prairie? I watched every episode of it and a couple TV movies before I wrote this world.

So you bid them farewell and you're walking along. Down the old dirt road. You pass by a large mountain off in the distance. Burned into the hillside, as big as the Hollywood sign are the words:



You might recall him. You met him briefly in Verser World. Krillis spent a whole world with him. He's a former student of Magehammer's. Powerful Chaos mage. Wears a white trenchcoat instead of a black one.

(Doing Therapy)

I can try to pick up your game.

Interesting about the glass and the glowing crystal that detects versers.

I've seen a tiny bit of Little House, but I think I remember Nasty Nellie's face.

Ah, Slidehammer. Thats better.  Still...oh well.

OOC) It's fine that you're not. Really, if you did pick it back up, I might not reply to it. But if you insist...



Are you doing anything else with that? Did you take her crystal to study?



She's cute, really bratty. Daughter of the richest family in town.



OOC) Yeah, Krillis' world before this one was the world where Slidehammer got his powers. Krillis had acquired an Order hammer and would have become almost as powerful. I wrote this world for Krillis. Honestly, I'm just running out of worlds to run you in!!!!

So you're walking along down the dirt road. You pass farms and farm houses. You also pass one house and field which have been burned to the ground. Slidehammer was here!!! burned into the hillside behind it. Eventually you come across a sign which reads:

Welcome to Walnut Grove, Minnesota.

Lars Hanson, founder, 1840.

It's a wood and brick shanty town. There's a blacksmith shoppe, a barber, the bank, and in the center of town, the largest building. Olsen's Mercantile.

There is a sign in the window reading "New Shipment of Verser Detection Crystals in!!" And there's about two dozen necklaces hanging on display, all glowing.

The Olesons are a family of four. Mother, Father, Daughter, Son. The Daughter is wearing a bright blue coat at least two sizes too small for her. It looks like polyester or nylon. About a hundred years more advanced than the cotton and wool clothing you've seen.

The father is complaining "Nellie, I wish you'd give that coat back. It's too small for you anyway!!!"

And the mother pipes up "You hush Nels. It's the most attractive coat around. Stupid verserscum girl hit your daughter, don't forger."

And the husband cowers and says "Yes Harriet."

Nellie is a young blonde haired girl of perhaps 11. You notice she's got a black eye which looks a few days old.

So you're at the edge of town. Nobody's spotted you.

The alternate verser sense would take you through but mostly around the town. Are you going that way?

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:40, Thu 14 May 2020.

I left her with the crystal.  I wanted a positive impression of me, and taking her crystal would not do that.

I back off until I'm out of sight.  Those glowing crystals are a Big Red Sign to anyone noticing them.

Then I go through the woods outside of town.

OOC: As to worlds, you can use some of mine if you like.  Or you can just steal from a book or TV show.  DnD dungeons.  Historical pieces.

Actually you're far enough away that they're probably not glowing because of you. Probably they glow when it proximity to one another.



So you go around the town. Still tracking the scriff sense. About a half-mile into the woods you see her. A young girl of perhaps eight. (We can change her to a boy if you'd prefer) She's wearing filthy dirty bib overalls over about 4 or 5 short sleeve tee shirts. All just as filthy. Her face is completely covered with dirt, save for a pair of lines underneath her eyes, where her tears have washed the dirt away. Her hair is grimy and matted to her head. It almost looks like you could plant seeds in her hair and get them to grow. She's thin and emaciated. The picture of the starving abused orphan girl.

She's sitting on the ground staring into a campfire, and crying. Next to her is a yellow plastic bow and arrow set. The kind of you would get in a toy store. Blunted tips on the arrows. But good enough to take down a rabbit. There's also a Swiss army knife and a magnifying glass sitting next to her. She's got a pile of arrows that she made. The tips look like they were cut from old tin cans. There's a small pile of empty tin cans sitting away from her. There's a number of stuffed animals sitting nearby. Most of them are riddled with arrow holes. She was practicing with her bow.

There's a metal can sitting in the fire with some kind of liquid in it. It's got a meaty smell coming off of it.

And she's just sitting there on the ground, crying, waiting for whatever is in the can to heat up. She doesn't seem to notice you yet.

OOC) I'd like to point out that you are under no obligation to help this girl. You could verse her out or you could leave her here to die. You are under no obligation to help her.



OOC) I've already used two worlds you ran me in. You just got out of one of them!!!

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 13:34, Wed 20 May 2020.

Hmmm, how to approach a girl child who is no doubt justifiably paranoid and hungry.

I walk away, and once I get half a mile away, I start hunting.  I'm looking for deer, but will settle for rabbit.  I look for vantage points, and wait, and look for hoof prints in soft mud, and animal paths.  I try to avoid poison ivy.

GE 19

You don't see a rabbit or a deer. There's ample fish to be caught in small ponds which dot the area. In one particularly swampy pond, you spot a couple of four foot long alligators which could be caught easily enough. Your favorite superverser would have told you that "All meat is meat."

Don't get me wrong, there are rabbits out here. You're just not seeing them today.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 16):

Do some fishing until I either catch a string of five small ones or a couple large ones.  Spy on a gator, make sure he's alone, make sure I've got land with visible roots in it to stand on, if I can.  If not, take a deep breath, tport above gator, and stab, stab, stab.

GE 23

Fish are easy to catch. You improvise a fishing line out of something and you catch a couple of rather large fish. Enough to last you for a day or two.

The alligators are practically begging to be caught. You just just walk up and grab one out of the water and break its neck with your gauntlets before it can even react. It's like catching a pigeon with your bare hands......

But then you hear the growling behind you. Turning, there's two 20 foot long alligators on dry land, ready to attack you. Mom and Dad you would guess.

They start charging at you.

(Doing Therapy)

Teleport. Teleport again.

If I get clear, start cooking the fish.  I wish I had salt or herbs or even a lemon, but they do say hungry is the best spice.

I hang the gator in a tree, after cutting its throat to drain it of blood.

Once one of the fish is done, I stealthily slip back to the child.

So you do.

OOC) Are you doing anything to hide your armor or would she be right in saying "You look like Iron Man."?



Your favorite superverser taught you how to identify wild, edible plants. So you've got some spices and you dig up a couple of wild onions to cook with it.


So you do.


You sneak up on her. She doesn't appear to have moved. The can that was being used to cook is out of the fire and empty. She apparently ate whatever was in it. Other than that though, she's still sitting in the same spot, staring at the fire and crying.

When you make yourself known to her, she clumsily leaps to her feet and grabs the bow and an arrow. She shakily gets the arrow into the bow and pulls it back and levels it at you.

She screams "YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME!!!! I KNOW HOW TO USE THIS!!!!"

She's terrified and shaking to the point that you doubt she could hit anything if she let the arrow fly. However, you do not doubt that she would try to kill you if she felt she had to.

(Doing Therapy)

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 20):

I will look like Iron Man so she knows I'm not from around here.  And yes, I spice it up mildly because I want it to taste good, but not upset a fragile stomach.

I sit down, and as good as I can, which is not much, cross my legs.  I give her a small smile, and hold out the fish on a bit of bark to serve as a plate.

"Its an honor to meet you, sister verser.  My name is Tadeusz." I pull my hands back and nod at the fish.  "its yours, and I won't move.  I don't want you to shoot me.'

Its true i don't want her to shoot me, not because of fear of the bow, but because it would mean I was failing at winning her over.

I sit there and wait for  her to calm down, and then I sit there some more.

Charisma check 3

I don't know if I mentioned this, but you are sitting next to a small stream. About 2 feet deep. You could step across it. She's getting her drinking water and small fish from it.

She drops the bow and takes the piece of fish gingerly. She smells it and then proceeds to gobble it up piece by piece. All the while mumbling.

"Was my birthday...... Was playing........ New video game.......... Shocked me........ Woke up over there (Pointing).......... People threw rocks.......... girl took my coat......."

Finished the fish, gulps some water out of a plastic cup she's got.

Then she rears back her head and flat up demands:

"HOW DID I GET HERE??!?!?!!?!?!?"

You're sitting down. She throws herself at you, embracing you around the neck and crying uncontrollably.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 21:58, Wed 27 May 2020.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 22):

I let her cry.  I try to pat her back, but then realize an iron gauntleted hand is ill suited to the task, and so I stop.

Once she's stopped crying, I sit her alongside me, and build up the fire a bit.  Lord help, I pray.

"It was wrong of that girl to steal your coat.  it doesn't even fit her.  She's being silly and greedy."

Deep breath.

"Have you heard of the idea of other dimensions, other worlds?"

She's happy to be with somebody that isn't throwing rocks at her.

OOC) I've seen how you are with children. I thought this would work for you.



She takes a deep breath and says proudly "I hit her!!! I socked her a good one right in the eye!!!!" and mimes throwing a punch.

You may recall, Nasty Nellie had a black eye.

"Her Papa is really nice. He never throws rocks at me. He gave me candy once and sometimes he leaves cans of food out for me. That's how she stole my coat. She caught me getting them."



She thinks for a minute then says "You mean like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Rabbits? Kring and the Slicer were always trying to get back to Dimension Y? That's just a cartoon!!"

But she's listening intently.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 24):

OOC: Children are great.  I try to be patient and calm and listen to them.

I think about it a moment, and then nod.

"Well done, young one.  You gave her a well deserved black eye."

"Yes, I saw her father, poor man is ruled by his wife.  But he seems a good man for all that."

"Yes, like that.  Thing is, this is a different dimension than the one you came from.  I don't think they have the technology for video games here.  My world, my dimension did, but not all worlds I've been too have that technology."

"I can still feel my coat though. I can feel it wherever she goes. She's right over there." And points in the direction of the town. "I could feel you too. But I was too scared to do anything."



She just agrees with you.



Failed Check.

She doesn't understand. Finally she asks "Am I ever gonna get to go home?"

Then after a pause, she looks you over and, observing your armor and weapons "Are you a knight? Like Lancelittle of the Cube table? I wish I had a sword....."

She also tells you that her name is Samantha. She's eight years old. It was her birthday when she versed out. The bow and arrows and the Swiss army knife were birthday presents.

Two Posts

Samantha has as possessions:

A few changes of clothes, she's currently wearing bib overalls and about 4 or 5 tee shirts. Bow, arrows, Swiss Army knife, magnifying glass, several stuffed animals and other various toys, and a muddy blanket and pillow from her bed. She's got a plastic cup, plate, knife, fork and spoon from the restaurant where they got birthday dinner.

(Doing Therapy)

I tell her how I arrived in a collapsed America with a dictator, and took care of him (I gloss over the assasinate him in his bed bit).  Of how I led the people for years, and eventually froze to death.

Of how I fought an evil woman dictator with my telekinetic powers I had learned.  And failed.  Of how I freed human slaves from alien elves who lived in a jungle.  Of how I had met other versers, and some of their stories.

"I've learned much.  We travel from world to world after being nearly killed.  So near as to make no mind.  Some worlds, you can learn to do stuff you can't do  on Earth.  Some worlds, they can't do stuff we did on Earth.  But I've never heard of anyone getting back home."

And I cry.

OOC) Lying to a child Eric? I realize you have played many different characters but this character never did most of that. The Tuatha I'd count as alien elves and meeting other versers, but you know nothing of psionics.

So I think you mean you tell her about landing in Verser World where you met the jagoff who is responsible for this mess. (It seems I can't remember any good stories either....)

To which she says "I hope you beat him up next time you see him!!!!"



She still doesn't understand. But when you say that she cannot go  home, she breathes a sigh of relief.

"My father.... he's a bad man. He liked to hurt me..... When I grew up I was gonna shoot him with this bow while he was sleeping...."

She's happy that she cannot go home.

(Doing Therapy)
This message was last edited by the player at 11:56, Thu 04 June 2020.