Bounty Hunters of the Apocalypse second arc: The March of Mephisto

Yeah, and he's probably required to have a patch on his wife beater or something that signifies him as such.

Edited what you told me to edit. So are you going to have Earl, Shay, and Gil arrive at the next in-game day I'm assuming?

Might as well have a second character for some point down the line.

• Name: Orion Slade
• Gender and age: Male, 24
• Occupation: Trader
• Appearance: Like this.◊
• Personality: While he is loyal to humanity, and ultimately wants humans to beat back the forces of hell, there's no reason he has to be poor when that day finally comes. Also five years really gets to you, so he began to crack a bit, and started taking on a few quirks to cope, such as a somewhat assertive attitude and conversational tone, and insistence on presenting a calm, collected, and smooth front in conversations. He believes that he should always get something out of a deal, and dislikes doing something for nothing.
• Backstory: Growing up in a bad neighborhood on the east coast, Orion joined a gang and started working in the chop shop, boosting cars, the whole nine yards. When the apocalypse struck, he was in the back seat of a police cruiser, about to be taken in for questioning and processing after being caught stealing a Lexus. Fortunately for him, and unfortunately for seven billion other people, all hell broke loose. When the cops were busy, he broke out and eventually found some cuff keys on a dead officer, and got the hell away. After the initial chaos, he turned his life around and went 'straight', starting out small time on a trade caravan, but eventually becoming a trader in his own right.
• Equipment:
  • Smith & Wesson Model 629 Classic: Has the 8.375" barrel, and fits on a nice holster on his right hip. He has a box of .44 Magnum rounds (20 count) in his trunk since having ammo is always wise, but he's got no speed loaders or moon clips because in his line of work, if he needs to use more than six shots, it's probably because everyone else already died.
  • Cane: 37.5" in length. It has a 22.75" blade inside that's exposed when he releases a secret mechanism in the handle. Kinda looks like (this◊ and this◊). The blade is made of Damascus steel (not the real Damascus steel, mind you. I'm talking about the pattern-welded stuff they make nowadays, which is just steel that 'looks cooler') with a silver-lining. Was custom work and real damned expensive, so he pretty much never uses it, and keeps the fact that it's a sword completely secret.
  • A silver necklace dangling around his neck, consisting of a chain and a blinged-out crucifix.
  • 1987 Chevy El Camino Conquista: Where he keeps his stuff, thanks to the big cargo tray in back. Black with white trim, and the chassis is lifted about a foot. Like this◊ plus five years of apocalyptic wear and tear, and minus the vertical exhaust pipes. Manual transmission, of course.
  • Miscellaneous trade goods. (I don't know what's good amount, and since he probably can't join in for a long while, I'll just leave it up to you at that point whether he's got tons of cash and guns and shit, or just some trinkets. But if possible I'd like a box of cigars. If not, I'd just give him a single cigar he keeps around. Oh, and a lighter, of course.) Lighter in his pocket.
    • Box of high quality cigars (7 count)
    • MP5 Navy, one 30-round magazine
    • 9mm Colt 1911, five 15-round magazines
    • Double-barreled sawn-off shotgun, 17 buckshot shells, 4 solid slugs
    • Briefcase with 8 pieces of silver jewelry
    • Stun Gun
    • 50 rounds of hand-loaded 9mm
    • Trench Knife◊
    • 47 money points
• Skills:
  • Alive: He's survived five years of the apocalypse, so he's reasonably fit and won't complain if he has to walk all day, or run for a while.
  • Car Guy: Knows his way around a car and can fix just about anything on them (Given proper equipment, of course. Though for some small things, he can settle for less). Also has experience in performing less than legal operations on them, but you didn't hear that from me. He can drive a stick, for sure.
  • Trader: He can do the stuff with the money.

edited 6th Oct '14 12:03:18 AM by nman

(Little busy with friends right now hence no main post, but we're having a quick "everybody get drinks and such" break so I'm stopping in here.)

@Fantasy: Oh no, I mean getting them into the current battle; I even know how already. Tricksen could start posting tomorrow while I'd still like you and Desden to hold off on those character entries until Saturday or Sunday, in case there's going to be any more U.N.A.M. characters. Desden pretty much just needs to change the end of Gil's back story to say that he wasn't the only survivor.

@Nman: If you're willing to forgo the truck (and most of his goods) you could enter with that character now. Otherwise he'll have to wait, which I think you were expecting. Did you want him to be a "bit of everything" kind of merchant or specialize in one category of goods specifically?

edited 20th Feb '14 10:56:21 PM by FirockFinion

Oh, I didn't realize I could bring a trader in without waiting. Though I think I'll just wait anyway. He's a trader, not a bounty hunter, so I wouldn't really be sure what to do with him now. I'd guess that since he'd be a penniless merchant with no merchandise, and then he'd probably just wind up shooting things for money.

And I overlooked what he'd trade in. I'd say silver and firearms and accessories. Those seem like they'd be the more reliable things to sell these days.

@ Firock: Made the relevant edits. As for his money points, he started off with money from the VHG but most of the money he has now is from successful vampire hunts.

@Firock: edited accordingly.
@Fantasy: I don't think Gil would've been assigned as Earl's minder de jure (he's a signal operator, not a grunt), but he would've definitely taken that responsibility when the need arose.

Okay. Maybe Gil was just told to just generally "keep an eye on that one." Not really an official guardian but knows enough to watch out for him.

Makes sense for him to have been told 'look out for this one', yes, and it's something he'll gladly do despite it not being his official duty.

Alright, in case either of you aren't keeping up with the discussion thread yet-

@Tricksen: The post to get your guy in is up. (Specifically, the third part of the post.)

@Desdendelle: I plan on my next post being the one to get your character and Fantasy's in, along with any other U.N.A.M. characters that sign up in that time which I doubt. Said next post will be sometime tomorrow, probably. (Note that when I say "tomorrow", I mean after I go to sleep and wake up, not after next midnight. I almost always mean it that way.)

edited 22nd Feb '14 7:11:11 AM by FirockFinion

Well, I've been binging the main thread, starting on the start of the last day, in the meantime. And I'm in no hurry whatsoever.
BTW, what's you're time zone^note That'll help me get an idea what you mean by 'tomorrow', since I'm in GMT+2?

I think I'm in mountain time, (It's about 7:47 PM sending this post right now.) however I'm pretty much nocturnal, hence why I usually specify my difference between "tomorrow" and "after midnight". Because for me, midnight comes in the middle of my "day".

It is now my tomorrow, from the last time I posted. However, I don't know how soon I'll be posting.

edited 22nd Feb '14 6:48:08 PM by FirockFinion

• Name: Isreal Garcia “Pyro”
• Gender and Age: A male of about 35
• Occupation: Bounty, former Bandit.
• Appearance: Pyro is a hispanic man who stands six foot, with long greasy black hair which he ties back into a pony tail. He wears a pink Hawaiian shirt under a mostly empty bandolier holding ammo clips and elbow length grey woolen fingerless gloves, he wears a harness with a holster at his hip and holds his two bottles at his side, He wears green sneakers and ripped up jeans, however, what is most noticeable about him is all over the top right quarter of his body are horrific burn, however they mostly look worse than they actually are.
• Personality: Pyro is foul mouthed, and abrasive, a side effect from the constant painhe is in from the burns, in battle, he possesses a bit of a brutal side. However, winning his respect means having his life long presence. Whenever he has down time, he often spouts philosophical nonsense, he also has a rather understandable need for painkillers, often asking if someone has some.
• Back Story: Pyro was a former gangbanger, grew up in a bad neighborhood, abusive father, drug addiction, and generally a bad life, when the apocalypse happened, nothing really changed until he became part of a group of bandits. However, when Pyro decided to kill a woman before they tortured her for fun, they handcuffed him to a pole, splashed him with gasoline and set him on fire, leaving him to burn to death. However, Isreal was saved by a caravan, who, nursed him back to health and in return he served as a guard for several weeks until he realized when they came to green fields that being a bounty hunter had more perks, such as a place to stay, a roof over his head and less of a chance of being attacked in the night by Bandits. However, it also carries a possibility of revenge on his former bandit gang. He just has to help stop the world from ending to actually get it.
• Equipment: Pyro carries a Fn-Fal assault rifle, with about three clips full of ammo which he has in a bandolier, along with a M1911 Pistol with about two clips, he also carries binoculars, and two bottles full of a rag and gasoline which he uses with his lighter for molotovs. He carries a shiv he made out of a piece scissors and duct tape.
• Skills: Pyro is a skilled singer though since his voice is now a harsh growl, he's not as good as he was, actor and is skilled at playing the banjo. He is an above average shot and has a skill at throwing things, mostly molotovs, he is a decent at making deals and is skilled at hand to hand Combat, he also has a knack for intimidating people. Pyro speaks English and Spanish.

edited 5th Oct '14 11:53:10 PM by TroyandHawk

@Troy: This guy sounds a little too unhinged for my liking, also there's parts that simply don't work. Any wound that goes down to bone would mean the muscle around the bone is gone, thus Isreal's right arm would probably be useless. A trade caravan would be lucky to have a healing spell at all, much less one that makes the recipient no longer feel pain from fire; especially because such a healing spell wouldn't exist in this setting.

Also, he's carrying way too much ammo.

@Desdendelle: The post to get your guy and Fantasy's second guy is up. Ended up being... A lot bigger than I initially thought it would be. ಠ_ಠ

Got it, I'll fix him, though may I ask you to elaborate on the whole unhinged thing? I think I know what you're talking about but I'd like to hear it from you.

And how common are painkillers?

edited 22nd Feb '14 11:46:54 PM by TroyandHawk

Medical painkillers are in short supply since production pretty much tanked in the apocalypse, but in the middle of combat it doesn't matter much, as adrenaline takes care of pain so long as fight or flight instinct is in effect.

As for the unhinged thing, I'm not sure how well I could quantify it well, but I'll give it a shot. The biggest issue is how downright sociopathic to the point of being evil he sounds; like, if he had literally no compassion or empathy, would he even see a reason to pick a "side"? Killing Humans would be the same as killing monsters to him. Like, I know I said in the OP that characters could be a little messed up in the head, but I more meant unbalanced tendencies and behaviors, not psychotic sociopaths.

There's two things that I think would need to be resolved with him before I can accept him, at least in regards to his personality/back story. One is that, as he is, he sounds to me like a character just as likely to attack the other Player Characters as he is to attack the monsters. While I might be able to accept a character like that, they probably wouldn't last long, because the other Player Characters might just kill them instead of deal with their backstabbing. Now maybe you weren't planning on playing the character like that, but that's what he looks like to me currently.

Second is that I can't think of any reasonable motivation for him to go along with the current adventure. If what he wants is revenge on his former bandit comrades, why go after Mephisto? He wouldn't have any reason to expect that following the demon would lead him to his former comrades; in fact it would most likely be taking him far off track of that goal.

Edited. Not sure if I got the unhinged part fixed though.

edited 23rd Feb '14 12:35:33 AM by TroyandHawk

A "standard" amount would be one loaded plus 2 or 3 more per gun, but that's given current, real life limitations. In setting it would be completely normal to see someone who only had one or two magazines for their gun, counting the one in it, since you can't just custom order the exact magazine you need through the internet or whatever anymore. On the flipside, some people stock up on more than they reasonably need because of the previous reason, grabbing magazines for their gun whenever they can and holding on to them all. But that said, the most I would accept would probably be 6-8, and that would depend on how many other guns + magazines for them the character had as well.

Without being a U.N.A.M. or NCC character, or having the justification of someone who made equipment for you like Recon, I would say that if the total number of magazines between all his guns, including the ones in them, came over ten, it's probably too many. So it kind of depends on the justification of why the character would have that much ammo.

That and magazines and ammo aren't weightless here, so carrying upwards of thirty of them would be quite the load.

(On a semi-related side note, I just noticed that you listed binoculars twice in his first draft.)

Double post as it seems I've been ninja'd by edits.

The matter of him seeming too unhinged seems fixed now, though I'm still not certain on the part about his justification for joining. "however he realizes that Mephisto's plan would make his chances for vengeance." doesn't mean anything to me; in fact it looks like a sentence that ended too suddenly, like there was meant to be more words at the end that got cut off.

The ammo looks fine now though.

However, I'm not sure if I didn't notice it before or it got added in after, but the part about him having a heat aura makes no sense. Even if it's for no mechanical effect at all, just interaction flavor, it still makes zero sense in setting; there's no reason he would have an aura.

Alright,while I have a reason for him being a bounty hunter, I can't really think of a reason for him to go after Mephisto aside from. "The end of the world is bad."

edited 23rd Feb '14 12:53:05 AM by TroyandHawk

For some people that may be enough. I mean, the end of the world is generally considered to be a bad thing, by most people.

If you still wanted that revenge angle, I suppose he could realize that the world ending means he wouldn't get his revenge by merit of the world ending before he could. (I half suspect that's what you were going for before and just didn't word it right.) On the other hand for some characters knowing that the world's going to end and take the people you want revenge on down as well also counts as revenge, but that's going down the slippery slope of changing sides to help Mephisto, so yeah.

On the other other hand, he might realize that if the world's going to end, he would be better off just going after the people he wants revenge on and trying to take revenge before the world ends, but that involves him going off on his own completely separate from the campaign. Which I mean, you could have him do that, but I wouldn't run that; he would effectively be leaving the RP doing that.

edited 23rd Feb '14 1:05:53 AM by FirockFinion

Okay, thanks and yes, that was what I was going for. Edited and hopefully we can get on with our lives.

edited 23rd Feb '14 1:24:28 AM by TroyandHawk

Well, he's alright mechanically, but the character still makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I mean, his group crucified and set him on fire, which is getting into pretty hardcore territory, even for bandits; and even worse they did it because they were denied the chance to torture someone, for fun?

It's not so much that that happened to him; it's just, what does that say about him that he was a member of that gang to begin with? What kind of person is he that he would want to join, and be accepted into, that kind of group?

I suppose I should ask: How are you intending to play him? Did his experience being nearly killed by them then rescued by the caravan make him change his disposition?

Also I dunno, but from the previous version of the post mentioning him enjoying more or less torturing his enemies, (Or something along those lines, I think. Can't entirely remember.) and the current version mention of him having a brutal streak, I can't help but get the impression that you may be intending to go super dark, gruesome, and visceral with this character, or were before. Now I'll admit that I run this RP a bit dark, gruesome, and visceral, (One need only know the premise and look at part of the linked post up the page where a whole military squad gets pretty much slaughtered by demons.) but there's still a point where I'll go "dude, too much".

Maybe that sounds stupid. I'm not entirely sure how to word the way I feel about it. Just like, remember before when you mentioned wanting to have Molly/Anarchy torture someone for information at some point in the RP? (Which I still don't want to have happen, by the way.) I can't help but think back to that.

I may just have to sit and think on this one.

edited 23rd Feb '14 1:55:59 AM by FirockFinion

Actually the whole crucifixion thing was me thinking of a way to keep him in one spot, it could easily be changed to"Handcuffed to a building, hell would explain the lack of crucifixion wounds.

If you want I can pm you on how I intend to play him.

Handcuffing/tying him up would also probably be a lot easier.

Anyway, after thinking about it, the character certainly isn't the type I'd like to play, or even root for in a movie/show/book/whatever, but that alone isn't worth me saying no; hell if it was, half the Player Characters from act one wouldn't be in the RP and it would be dead. I felt some paranoia about you going over the line with graphic descriptions, but then I reminded myself that you've been alright so far with Anarchy/Molly; as long as you don't get more graphic with this character, I think you'll be alright. The only part from your PM which worries me is the notion of him burning people alive. (By the way, your PM looks like it got cut off at the end, since it ends mid-word.) The act alone I could possibly allow in the RP, but not if you went into disturbingly high detail about it.

So I suppose he's accepted, despite some small part of my mind still feeling apprehensive about it. As for getting him in, probably just say he went to look for pain killers when the fight started. Maybe have him run into the scene at the helicopter on the way back, too.