The Desert is Cold in the Dark [Dark Data]

[Nebula]

After a minute of chasing bugs, it became apparent that they were wasting their time. “Come on,” grunted Raynor. “Into the portal.”

They piled in, disappearing one after the other …

… Into a new world. The heat hit the party almost immediately. Even Jim’s nicely air-conditioned CMC didn’t help. The air wavered and sizzled, bright to the point of making it difficult to see.

“Blazes,” Raynor choked out. “It’s like bein’ in an oven.”

Ogong wafted at his face with both hands, tongue out and hopping. “The floor!”

Somerled stepped after them, assessing the monkey’s bare feet. “Bad luck. Should’ve brought shoes.”

They were in a tight corridor of stone, running about thirty metres forward before splitting in two. There was no sun, no lights – yet the air was bright, as though it itself was emitting heat and light.

Before any of them could so much as step forward, a figure stepped out of the corridor ahead of them.

Stepped out onto the ceiling.

Somehow, despite the angle, his wide-brimmed hat didn’t fall off. A leather mantle sat above two sets of arms, adorned with a shrunken skull and small bone trinkets. Beneath – or rather, above – the hat, his face was an off-white skull, fixed in a perpetual grin.

He didn’t say a word before aiming two pistols forward and opening fire.

The group ducked, but they couldn’t dodge in such tight quarters. The bullets ricocheted off the walls, denting Jim’s suit and grazing the other two.

The skeleton gunslinger laughed, and it was a hollow, mocking thing. Then he turned and ran, long strides carrying him quickly back the way he’d came.

“Why you …!” Ogong rushed forward, only to find the ground beneath him fall away.

Luckily, Jim was on hand to snatch the monkey back before he plummeted into a pit of spikes. “Careful!” yelled the ex-marine. “He’s baitin’ ya!”

You find yourself in a booby-trapped labyrinth, harassed by the Dusted Gunslinger. He’ll pop up frequently and generally try to make your lives a living hell, never letting you get close enough to hit him. You can try to attack him, or ignore him and try to progress through the labyrinth – either way it’s going to be annoying.

The labyrinth isn’t strictly Euclidean and designed to be as confusing as possible, including making its non-Euclidean nature not immediately apparent until you find yourself coming back to the same room despite walking in the same direction. You may find yourself going upside down across the ceiling of rooms you’ve been in before.



Proficiencies: Physical Strength, Ranged Proficiency, Area Attack Proficiency
Powers: Survival, Burst Movement, Basic Enhanced Senses, Super Speed, Stealth, Advanced Super Jumping
Moves: Revolvers, Mirage, Sand Toss, Caltrops, Wall-Walk
Super Moves:
Base stats
ATK: 3
DEF: 1
SPD: 4
TEC: 5

Pistols: The Dusted Gunslinger holds a seemingly endless supply of six-shooters, which he discards after use, and may throw at you just to be a bitch.

Mirage: The Dusted Gunslinger can create illusory images of himself, that look and act real until you make contact with them. He’ll frequently leave one of these behind while stealthing away – the only telltale of which is a slight shimmer around his appearance. Difficult to distinguish when the air is already shimmering hot, but not impossible.

Sand Toss: A dirty move, the Dusted Gunslinger tosses or kicks sand at your eyes. He’s a sonovabitch.

Caltrops: The Dusted Gunslinger drops caltrops. Sometimes these stick to the ceiling before falling.

Wall-Walk: The Gunslinger can move on walls and the ceiling, ignoring gravity.

Feel free to make up new moves! These are just some examples.

You have 8 days and up to 2000 words each, which may be split into any number of posts (though I recommend two posts each of around ~1000 words).