Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
Playing the Game
Play by Post
Mutants & Mastermind Presents – “Astonishing Tales of Centropolis”
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="KahlessNestor" data-source="post: 6873339" data-attributes="member: 6801311"><p><strong>The Shadow</strong></p><p></p><p>Millionaire’s Pavilion</p><p>Monday, April 11, 2016/10:49 AM</p><p></p><p>“Okay, try it now, Alice,” Caleb said, stepping back from the car.</p><p></p><p>The pretty blonde inside cranked it over and the car came to life.</p><p></p><p>“There you go,” Caleb smiled as he disengaged the jumper cables from her car and his truck. “Let it run for about fifteen minutes to charge,” he told her as he tossed the cables into the storage box in the back of his black Dodge Ram 3500 extended cab pickup.</p><p></p><p>“Thanks so much, Caleb!” Alice said as she got out of the car. “I can’t believe I was so stupid to leave the lights on. I didn’t mean to ruin your break.”</p><p></p><p>“Not a problem. Easy enough to fix,” Caleb told the younger security guard as they waited while her car charged. “And I’ve still got some break left, so no worries.”</p><p></p><p>Caleb pulled his truck back into a space. As he was climbing out again there was a large BOOM, and even from this far out they could hear the windows of the Millionaires Pavilion rattling.</p><p></p><p>“What was that!” Alice asked with surprise.</p><p></p><p>Caleb turned to look across the canal. Nothing could be seen past the high rises of Main Town, but that was where the boom had originated, he was sure. “I don’t know,” he said as Alice shut down her car.</p><p></p><p>“We should get inside,” Alice told him. “They’re going to want to lock down the Pavilion. Maybe something will be on the news.”</p><p></p><p>“Maybe,” Caleb allowed, glancing back at the Pavilion. Indeed, the red emergency light was flashing, indicating the building would be going into a security lockdown in a minute.</p><p></p><p>“C’mon! We gotta go!” Alice said, already taking off at a jog. The employee lot was quite a ways away from the building.</p><p></p><p>“Right behind you,” Caleb assured her. But he went to his truck and opened the back door and pulled a black bag from beneath the rear seat. Then he took off for the Pavilion.</p><p></p><p>Alice was already inside when Caleb saw the security door start to lower on the rear entrance. He pushed his speed and tucked into a roll. sliding underneath just before it crashed down and locked.</p><p></p><p>“Jeez, what are you, some kind of superhero?” Alice asked with tense amusement as she helped him up.</p><p></p><p>“Hardly,” Caleb said, wiping off his uniform. His boss would get pissy if it was dirty. “Let’s go check in.”</p><p></p><p>They were in a rear service corridor that was not too far from the locker rooms and the security center. They entered to find the place in a frenzy of activity, though not panicked.</p><p></p><p>“What’s going on?” Caleb asked.</p><p></p><p>Josh, the dispatcher, shrugged. “Don’t know yet,” he said. “Just that there was some kind of explosion in Main Town.” He gave Alice a shy smile, which she returned.</p><p></p><p>Caleb nodded and switched on the police scanner. “Farmer’s Market got hit by...something,” Caleb deduced from the emergency services chatter. “I’m going to change my uniform and make the rounds,” he said.</p><p></p><p>The locker room was empty, so Caleb flipped off the lights. The darkness meant little to him, at least since that fateful mission his team led against a V’sorri ship five years ago. Since then he’d always felt more comfortable in the dark.</p><p></p><p>As he started to pull off his security uniform his cell phone rang. Digging it out, he saw KIM on the screen and gave a sigh of relief. He knew his daughter was safely in South Haven High School, but it was a relief to know she was alright.</p><p></p><p>“Daddy? Where are you?” Kim’s voice said when he answered.</p><p></p><p>“At work,” Caleb replied, pulling out his fresh uniform.</p><p></p><p>“What’s going on?”</p><p></p><p>“Some kind of explosion in Main Town, at the Farmer’s Market. Just stay where you are and you should be fine.”</p><p></p><p>“Yeah, we’re okay here,” she said. “We went into emergency lockdown.”</p><p></p><p>“Same here,” Caleb said. “It’s well away from me, so don’t worry.”</p><p></p><p>“I’m not worried. You should go help.”</p><p></p><p>Caleb paused. “Help?” he asked.</p><p></p><p>“Yeah.” Kim’s voice lowered. “You know...the Shadow…”</p><p></p><p>“No, I got what you’re implying, Kimmy, but it’s in Main Town. I don’t operate there. Besides, there’s not much I could do but get in the way.”</p><p></p><p>“C’mon, you’re supposed to be some kind of hero,” his daughter whispered.</p><p></p><p>That hurt. “I’m not a hero, Kim. I just protect the people in Red Haven.”</p><p></p><p>“Yeah, well, lots of people from Red Haven shop at the Farmer’s Market,” Kim shot back. “Gramma does.”</p><p></p><p>Caleb sighed. “What do you want me to do?” he asked. “We’re on lockdown here. I’m at work.”</p><p></p><p>“Just go and see what you can do,” Kim said. “If nothing, then they’ll hardly miss you!”</p><p></p><p>Caleb rubbed his eyes tiredly. Between his day job and his night job, he knew he didn’t get enough sleep. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll check it out. It’s probably nothing. Gas main or something.”</p><p></p><p>“Good!” He could hear the pride in his daughter’s voice. “Oh, and Auntie Virginia called me last night,” she said. “She wants to know what you’re planning for my coming out party.”</p><p></p><p>Caleb blinked, and his voice grew cold. “I told her I don’t want her in contact with you. And...what coming out party?”</p><p></p><p>Kim sighed as the old debate over her mother’s side of the family threatened to rise up again. “Sweet sixteen. She...wants to throw a debutante ball…you know, for her niece...”</p><p></p><p>Caleb’s fist clenched. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths. “You don’t turn sixteen for months. I hadn’t thought about it.” He didn’t want Virginia Diamond anywhere near his daughter, but he knew the mafiosa had lost a sister when his wife died.</p><p></p><p>“So no plans?” Kim had slipped into sarcastic teenage mode. “Great. So I can tell Auntie Ginny to go ahead?”</p><p></p><p>“I...no...just…” Caleb said, flustered. “Look, we’ll talk about this later. If they let you out of school, go to Gramma’s house and stay put,” he told her. “I’ll check in.”</p><p></p><p>“Okay.” Kim’s voice deflated a bit.</p><p></p><p>Caleb sighed. “Kimmy...I’ll...I’ll consider it. Truly.”</p><p></p><p>“Thanks!” Kim said, brighter. “Daddy...I love you. Be careful.”</p><p></p><p>“Love you too, Kimmy.”</p><p></p><p>Caleb hung up and stared down at the black bag he had brought from his truck and put in the bottom of his locker. He sighed and picked it up, opening it, and pulling out his other uniform. It was a fairly simple affair. Black combat boots, black combat pants, a black t-shirt and tight long sleeved shirt. They were left over from his Army days. In the hectic aftermath of the V’sorri invasion when he’d been mustered out with an honorable medical discharge after massive exposure to exotic radiation, he had inadvertently neglected to turn them in, and apparently the paperwork had fallen through the cracks of Army bureaucracy. Developed for the Army by Human, Inc, the material was made of an experimental kevlar weave, light and supple like normal combat fatigues, but offered some moderate extra protection against harm. The Army wore them under their usual combat armor.</p><p></p><p>Caleb buckled on a utility belt. It had some zip restraints and bolos hanging on it. He pulled out a small metal cylinder and tested the release mechanism, letting it extend out into a full staff, then broke it apart into two batons before returning it to full and collapsing it again. He slipped it into a holster on his hip. Over the weapons and costume went a long black heavy leather duster that had seen better days, another bit of protection. He had added a hood that he pulled up, which would leave his face in deep shadows. The coat was loose enough to allow plenty of freedom of movement, swirling around his legs.</p><p></p><p>Caleb paused to estimate the distance he would need to travel to get to the Farmer’s Market. His motorcycle that he used to patrol was in Red Haven. The streets were likely clogged, so his truck would be useless. That left his...alternate method. Fortunately Caleb had grown up in Centropolis and knew the city quite well. He estimated it would take about a dozen jumps before he reached the Market two miles away.</p><p></p><p>With that decided, the Shadow wrapped the darkness around himself and faded away. He slipped from shadow to shadow, jumping across town, a dark closet here, the shadow of a shade tree there, even the trunk of a car, before he appeared in the shadow beneath a fire engine amidst the commotion in the Farmer’s Market.</p><p></p><p>Emergency services swarmed the area. Shadow rolled out from beneath the truck, blinking against the bright spring sunlight. This was not exactly his element, not conducive to his prefered methods. He darted along the edge of the area of destruction, spotting a partially collapsed storefront. Moving closer, he thought he heard yelling from beneath the debris. He reached out with his senses, feeling the darkness beneath the pile. </p><p></p><p>Shadow focused, touching the dark energy in his body. His skin blackened past black and became the stuff of shadow itself. He slipped into the debris, passing through it as easily as a shadow, and emerged beneath where the debris had fallen, propped up by some furniture. From the sounds of things, it didn’t appear to be that stable. A little girl sobbed in the darkness beside him.</p><p></p><p>“It’s going to be all right,” the Shadow’s baritone voice spoke from the darkness.</p><p></p><p>The little girl shrieked, looking around and trying to push away, which only caused the debris above them to shift dangerously.</p><p></p><p>“Stay calm. Don’t move.” Shadow pulled out his cell phone, using the light app to show the girl she had nothing to fear, though his face remained hidden in shadow. “It’s all right. I’m here to help. Are you hurt?”</p><p></p><p>“M-M-My leg…” the girl said through her tears. She couldn’t be more than ten years old. She reminded Caleb of his daughter.</p><p></p><p>“Let me look.” Laying the phone down, he gently probed her leg. He had basic field medical training from his Army days. She squealed in pain. “It’s broken,” he told her. “And trapped under something. But I’m going to get you out. Just hold on to me.” He moved closer, putting the girl’s arms around his neck.</p><p></p><p>“What’s your name?” the Shadow asked.</p><p></p><p>“Jenny,” the girl sniffed.</p><p></p><p>“Okay, Jenny. Here’s what I need you to do. Close your eyes and don’t open them. It’s going to be cold, and you’re going to hear...whispers and things, telling you to do things. Don’t listen to them. Just concentrate on holding on to me. Can you do that?”</p><p></p><p>Jenny nodded.</p><p></p><p>“Okay, here we go.” Shadow held the girl tight. Then he wrapped the darkness around them. Faintly, as if from a distance, he heard the debris give way, crushing the small protective space where they had been.</p><p></p><p>And then Caleb was blinking against bright sunlight as he stepped from the shadow of a building with little Jenny in his arms.</p><p></p><p>[sblock=Rolls]</p><p>Not sure what you might need, but here’s a stealth roll for sneaking around.</p><p>[roll0]</p><p>[/sblock]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="KahlessNestor, post: 6873339, member: 6801311"] [b]The Shadow[/b] Millionaire’s Pavilion Monday, April 11, 2016/10:49 AM “Okay, try it now, Alice,” Caleb said, stepping back from the car. The pretty blonde inside cranked it over and the car came to life. “There you go,” Caleb smiled as he disengaged the jumper cables from her car and his truck. “Let it run for about fifteen minutes to charge,” he told her as he tossed the cables into the storage box in the back of his black Dodge Ram 3500 extended cab pickup. “Thanks so much, Caleb!” Alice said as she got out of the car. “I can’t believe I was so stupid to leave the lights on. I didn’t mean to ruin your break.” “Not a problem. Easy enough to fix,” Caleb told the younger security guard as they waited while her car charged. “And I’ve still got some break left, so no worries.” Caleb pulled his truck back into a space. As he was climbing out again there was a large BOOM, and even from this far out they could hear the windows of the Millionaires Pavilion rattling. “What was that!” Alice asked with surprise. Caleb turned to look across the canal. Nothing could be seen past the high rises of Main Town, but that was where the boom had originated, he was sure. “I don’t know,” he said as Alice shut down her car. “We should get inside,” Alice told him. “They’re going to want to lock down the Pavilion. Maybe something will be on the news.” “Maybe,” Caleb allowed, glancing back at the Pavilion. Indeed, the red emergency light was flashing, indicating the building would be going into a security lockdown in a minute. “C’mon! We gotta go!” Alice said, already taking off at a jog. The employee lot was quite a ways away from the building. “Right behind you,” Caleb assured her. But he went to his truck and opened the back door and pulled a black bag from beneath the rear seat. Then he took off for the Pavilion. Alice was already inside when Caleb saw the security door start to lower on the rear entrance. He pushed his speed and tucked into a roll. sliding underneath just before it crashed down and locked. “Jeez, what are you, some kind of superhero?” Alice asked with tense amusement as she helped him up. “Hardly,” Caleb said, wiping off his uniform. His boss would get pissy if it was dirty. “Let’s go check in.” They were in a rear service corridor that was not too far from the locker rooms and the security center. They entered to find the place in a frenzy of activity, though not panicked. “What’s going on?” Caleb asked. Josh, the dispatcher, shrugged. “Don’t know yet,” he said. “Just that there was some kind of explosion in Main Town.” He gave Alice a shy smile, which she returned. Caleb nodded and switched on the police scanner. “Farmer’s Market got hit by...something,” Caleb deduced from the emergency services chatter. “I’m going to change my uniform and make the rounds,” he said. The locker room was empty, so Caleb flipped off the lights. The darkness meant little to him, at least since that fateful mission his team led against a V’sorri ship five years ago. Since then he’d always felt more comfortable in the dark. As he started to pull off his security uniform his cell phone rang. Digging it out, he saw KIM on the screen and gave a sigh of relief. He knew his daughter was safely in South Haven High School, but it was a relief to know she was alright. “Daddy? Where are you?” Kim’s voice said when he answered. “At work,” Caleb replied, pulling out his fresh uniform. “What’s going on?” “Some kind of explosion in Main Town, at the Farmer’s Market. Just stay where you are and you should be fine.” “Yeah, we’re okay here,” she said. “We went into emergency lockdown.” “Same here,” Caleb said. “It’s well away from me, so don’t worry.” “I’m not worried. You should go help.” Caleb paused. “Help?” he asked. “Yeah.” Kim’s voice lowered. “You know...the Shadow…” “No, I got what you’re implying, Kimmy, but it’s in Main Town. I don’t operate there. Besides, there’s not much I could do but get in the way.” “C’mon, you’re supposed to be some kind of hero,” his daughter whispered. That hurt. “I’m not a hero, Kim. I just protect the people in Red Haven.” “Yeah, well, lots of people from Red Haven shop at the Farmer’s Market,” Kim shot back. “Gramma does.” Caleb sighed. “What do you want me to do?” he asked. “We’re on lockdown here. I’m at work.” “Just go and see what you can do,” Kim said. “If nothing, then they’ll hardly miss you!” Caleb rubbed his eyes tiredly. Between his day job and his night job, he knew he didn’t get enough sleep. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll check it out. It’s probably nothing. Gas main or something.” “Good!” He could hear the pride in his daughter’s voice. “Oh, and Auntie Virginia called me last night,” she said. “She wants to know what you’re planning for my coming out party.” Caleb blinked, and his voice grew cold. “I told her I don’t want her in contact with you. And...what coming out party?” Kim sighed as the old debate over her mother’s side of the family threatened to rise up again. “Sweet sixteen. She...wants to throw a debutante ball…you know, for her niece...” Caleb’s fist clenched. He forced himself to take a few deep breaths. “You don’t turn sixteen for months. I hadn’t thought about it.” He didn’t want Virginia Diamond anywhere near his daughter, but he knew the mafiosa had lost a sister when his wife died. “So no plans?” Kim had slipped into sarcastic teenage mode. “Great. So I can tell Auntie Ginny to go ahead?” “I...no...just…” Caleb said, flustered. “Look, we’ll talk about this later. If they let you out of school, go to Gramma’s house and stay put,” he told her. “I’ll check in.” “Okay.” Kim’s voice deflated a bit. Caleb sighed. “Kimmy...I’ll...I’ll consider it. Truly.” “Thanks!” Kim said, brighter. “Daddy...I love you. Be careful.” “Love you too, Kimmy.” Caleb hung up and stared down at the black bag he had brought from his truck and put in the bottom of his locker. He sighed and picked it up, opening it, and pulling out his other uniform. It was a fairly simple affair. Black combat boots, black combat pants, a black t-shirt and tight long sleeved shirt. They were left over from his Army days. In the hectic aftermath of the V’sorri invasion when he’d been mustered out with an honorable medical discharge after massive exposure to exotic radiation, he had inadvertently neglected to turn them in, and apparently the paperwork had fallen through the cracks of Army bureaucracy. Developed for the Army by Human, Inc, the material was made of an experimental kevlar weave, light and supple like normal combat fatigues, but offered some moderate extra protection against harm. The Army wore them under their usual combat armor. Caleb buckled on a utility belt. It had some zip restraints and bolos hanging on it. He pulled out a small metal cylinder and tested the release mechanism, letting it extend out into a full staff, then broke it apart into two batons before returning it to full and collapsing it again. He slipped it into a holster on his hip. Over the weapons and costume went a long black heavy leather duster that had seen better days, another bit of protection. He had added a hood that he pulled up, which would leave his face in deep shadows. The coat was loose enough to allow plenty of freedom of movement, swirling around his legs. Caleb paused to estimate the distance he would need to travel to get to the Farmer’s Market. His motorcycle that he used to patrol was in Red Haven. The streets were likely clogged, so his truck would be useless. That left his...alternate method. Fortunately Caleb had grown up in Centropolis and knew the city quite well. He estimated it would take about a dozen jumps before he reached the Market two miles away. With that decided, the Shadow wrapped the darkness around himself and faded away. He slipped from shadow to shadow, jumping across town, a dark closet here, the shadow of a shade tree there, even the trunk of a car, before he appeared in the shadow beneath a fire engine amidst the commotion in the Farmer’s Market. Emergency services swarmed the area. Shadow rolled out from beneath the truck, blinking against the bright spring sunlight. This was not exactly his element, not conducive to his prefered methods. He darted along the edge of the area of destruction, spotting a partially collapsed storefront. Moving closer, he thought he heard yelling from beneath the debris. He reached out with his senses, feeling the darkness beneath the pile. Shadow focused, touching the dark energy in his body. His skin blackened past black and became the stuff of shadow itself. He slipped into the debris, passing through it as easily as a shadow, and emerged beneath where the debris had fallen, propped up by some furniture. From the sounds of things, it didn’t appear to be that stable. A little girl sobbed in the darkness beside him. “It’s going to be all right,” the Shadow’s baritone voice spoke from the darkness. The little girl shrieked, looking around and trying to push away, which only caused the debris above them to shift dangerously. “Stay calm. Don’t move.” Shadow pulled out his cell phone, using the light app to show the girl she had nothing to fear, though his face remained hidden in shadow. “It’s all right. I’m here to help. Are you hurt?” “M-M-My leg…” the girl said through her tears. She couldn’t be more than ten years old. She reminded Caleb of his daughter. “Let me look.” Laying the phone down, he gently probed her leg. He had basic field medical training from his Army days. She squealed in pain. “It’s broken,” he told her. “And trapped under something. But I’m going to get you out. Just hold on to me.” He moved closer, putting the girl’s arms around his neck. “What’s your name?” the Shadow asked. “Jenny,” the girl sniffed. “Okay, Jenny. Here’s what I need you to do. Close your eyes and don’t open them. It’s going to be cold, and you’re going to hear...whispers and things, telling you to do things. Don’t listen to them. Just concentrate on holding on to me. Can you do that?” Jenny nodded. “Okay, here we go.” Shadow held the girl tight. Then he wrapped the darkness around them. Faintly, as if from a distance, he heard the debris give way, crushing the small protective space where they had been. And then Caleb was blinking against bright sunlight as he stepped from the shadow of a building with little Jenny in his arms. [sblock=Rolls] Not sure what you might need, but here’s a stealth roll for sneaking around. [roll0] [/sblock] [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
Playing the Game
Play by Post
Mutants & Mastermind Presents – “Astonishing Tales of Centropolis”
Top