He Who Saves Lives
reformatted from a quest done between 5/9 - 5/25, 2017
It was the graveyard shift at your hospital. Most of the lights were already dimmed for the night. As a Medical Intern there was not much for you to do except check on sleeping patients and make sure everything was set up for the doctors tomorrow. You take a shortcut through one of the old wings of the hospital as today and tomorrow we're becoming one and the same. A few more hours and you’ll be on your way home.
Suddenly you're in the basement levels. You don’t remember coming this way and you can’t find a way out. A song you can’t fully recognize starts to play as eyes opened all around you and you find yourself being sucked into a great maw that looked like both a massive mouth and the crushing, tearing blades and smashers of a trash compactor. As you struggle to fight your impending doom you rip a medical kit off the wall. What happened next is unclear as you fell unconscious.
Part One: The Blood Marsh
You find yourself covered blood on a mound of muck and rotting corpses. All around you is a great marsh of blood, bile, and flesh enclosed in a great chamber of rusting steel and pipes barely illuminated by red industrial lights. You hear the cries and screams of the injured as they drown or are eaten by larger creatures that look like the cross between a tick and a squid.
Except for the medical kit you dragged with you, you only have what was in your pockets, including your wallet, phone, a bottel of water, and a knife.
You struggle to get up, hurting, panicked and wet. As one of the tick things heads your way, you run with no clue where to go, slipping up to your waist in blood and rot. Just as the creature closes in you hear the sound of a airboat and two spears pierce into the side of the beast, spilling crimson and yellow fluids.
Two people riding up in the airboat brandish spearguns and are covered in plates of bone-like armor. The Woman jumped off and begins to pick through the bodies and putting things from them into a blooded sack. The Man comes over to the beast and starts to hack away its corpse when he spies you.
You struggle to get up, hurting, panicked and wet. As one of the tick things heads your way, you run with no clue where to go, slipping up to your waist in blood and rot. Just as the creature closes in you hear the sound of a airboat and two spears pierce into the side of the beast, spilling crimson and yellow fluids.
Two people riding up in the airboat brandish spearguns and are covered in plates of bone-like armor. The Woman jumped off and begins to pick through the bodies and putting things from them into a blooded sack. The Man comes over to the beast and starts to hack away its corpse when he spies you.
“ Hey babe we got ourself a survivor over here. Looks intact too.”
The woman looks up and at me.
“I told you the thing it was chasing looked too big to be a mite.”
The Man looks at me.
“So what is your name mister…?”
“ Its Oliver” You say after some hesitation.
“ Well you’re not going to last long by yourself in the Blood Marsh against the Lurchs. How about you come with us?” Asks the man.
“Um.. yes, but who's 'us'? What's going on? “ You ask.
“That is ok, Mr. Oliver, I’m guessing you just got swallowed am I right? Names Frank and welcome to the Blood Marsh, stomach and first stop in the Devourer. Me and the Lana over there are Fishers. You see, most people are not as lucky as you, most get chewed up and are dead at arrival, or at least soon will be. Well, no point letting Lurchs have their stuff am I right, so we take it. Don’t worry we are go take anything from you, but you should hop on, the City of Faces is much safer than here."
You get up and start heading to the boat. Your body almost turns numb to the overwhelming sensation of blood and decay. Lana and Frank finish their ghastly work and get back on the boat. The boat sails over the pipes and gore, heading to one of the brighter lights in the distance.
Oliver: "What's a good place to go to/sleep for a, potentially broke, newcomer with some medical skills"?
Frank: "The Green Cross are always looking for help. Probably give you a bed to sleep on too."
Oliver: "Was everyone here taken from outside/the same region/country as me?"
Frank: "Ha, no some of the people here are not even from the same TIME or even UNIVERSE. Don't worry too much however. The Devourer seem to mostly follow linear time when eating, so the majority of people you meet are still from the same time as you."
After a long ride you reach a makeshift dock built into what looks like a massive sewer pipe. The ‘water’ of the marsh flows into the pipe and passes a metal grate. Only a few others were there, loading their airboat or unloading their … goods. Lana and Frank ask you to carry some cargo as payment for the ride.
You do so willingly
He explained to you on the way to the dock that the City with a Thousand Faces (or the City of Faces) is the largest city in the Devourer and surrounds the Blood Marsh on literally all sides - even up and down.
You are currently near the West Block. Following the Fisher’s Tunnel will lead you straight to the west market. The two small ‘arteries’, as they call them, will lead to the north and south blocks but are more dangerous. There is an elevator a little ways down the Fisher’s Tunnel that leads to the Dry Block (up) but the operator will charge you for the ride. There is also a hatch that lead down to the Wet Block but Lana suggest against going that way.
When you ask about the blocks they give you the basic run down. The Dry Block is a center of the art and occult power directly connected to the ethereal land of Annwn which is seen as the mind of the Devourer. The South is called the garden block do its artificial sunlight, parks, and connections to the the Plane of Winds. The North is nicknamed the village of eyes do to the many tvs and radios in the block that show random glimpses of the outside world. The West and East blocks are mostly unremarkable, manly acting a midway points between blocks. Laastly the Wet Block is filled with flooded tunnels, monsters, and mutants. It is however the only ‘exit’ from the city and way deeper into The Guts.
Act 2: City of a Thousand Faces (Southern Artery)
You say goodbye to the fishers and head into the Southern Artery. Before you leave, they give you a small axe for your help (Item Get: Hand Axe). The metal tunnel is small and filled with brass pipes dripping a viscous gold fluid that smells almost pleasant. After a hour of walking you enter a large chamber. Inside is the burned corpse of a massive bus-sized centipede and the shredded cadaver of a human.
You investigate the explosion and find its source to be a shattered handgun. However, the explosion is much too big to just be a misfire chain reaction. Moreover, the burns sharply cut off at certain points, as if there were walls there that no longer exist nor ever existed. Also, most of the damage seems to be fire based, not concussions based. There is nothing worth saving except a gold coin.
You continue down the tunnel, hearing the creak and groans of industrial equipment. The path twists and turns in unnatural and illogical ways. Sometime you swear the tunnel behind you is different to where you just were.
You come to a split in the tunnel. There is a crude sign saying “south block gate” pointing to a tunnel heading down and back to the general direction you came from. The straight path is labeled “Warring: This way to The Ichor Lake”. There is also a bulkhead door like one would see in a old submarine with the words “DON’T OPEN” written in large red letters.
When you reach the split in the path you decide, out of insanity or curiosity, to open the door labeled “DON’T OPEN” .
You try to open the door but are meet with higher than expected resistance. Eventually you open it enough to see … nothing. No, less than nothing. The void itself. The void tries to suck you in. The door slams shut, crushing your left hand in the process.
You spend the next hour in pain treating you broken hand, get increasingly thirsty and hungry.
Once you're done to head down the tunnel with the south block sign. After only ten minutes of walking you find yourself in a massive, white gold tunnel the size of an aircraft hanger, lined with bright lights, strange plants, and water works. Turning around you find the ramp down you just walked replaced with a silver tree and two sets of stairs; one going up to the a place called the ”Planes of Wind” and the other going down to the “Atrium”.
You drink the bottle of water you had with you and put the empty bottle back in your pocket. You decide to continue forwards eventually reaching a another massive silver tree with black-crimson leafs. It acts as the centerpiece of a crossroads of tunnels. The left and right look to be housing whereas the square itself and the forward tunnel look to be shops and businesses.
You were so wrapped in looking around you did notice all the people staring at you and whispering. You suddenly remember that you are covered in dried blood. A black woman wearing chainmail and a police helmet walks over to you carrying a mace and a small metal shield.
“ You, sir, stop where you are!” yells the woman.
You stop.
“Good, now do you speak english?” that woman asked carefully getting closer to you.
“Yes” I reply
“Good now just put the axe on the ground.”
You put it on the ground, she takes it from you
“Ok, so what is your name sir.”
“Oliver, mam.”
"Ok Oliver mind telling me why you're covered in blood in the middle of town?”
“I just got here from...th..e” I start taking some deep breaths.
“Ok, ok, just got swallowed did we? Normally you people come from the dock but I am guessing you took the southern artery?”
I nod yes
“Ok, I am Officer Alexis, Follow me.”
Officer Alexis takes you to a small guard post, made from a what looks to be a cross between a tree and a cold war bunker, and sits you down with a strange tea-like drink.
“So just out of the belly huh? Can’t say that I would understand how that feels, was born and raised here in the southern block. I guess you have questions, so go and ask away.” She says sitting into her seat to drink her not-tea.
Oliver: Can you tell me more about the Green Cross? So far I only know they might be a chance to get some work, given my medical talents and would like to know more.
Alexis: "The Green Cross? o they are just a coalition of old world medical aid groups like the red cross and the red crescent, I think green part in fact represents the later I think. Anyway they got a center in the Atrium near the black road docks. Always good to have a doctor."
Oliver: Is there a library to get general information? Or some way to connect to other people taken from the same area/world/time? Or some old geezers that like to talk about old times, at least?
Alexis: "I think the Green Cross have a introduction program for new arrivals, otherwise there is some bookstores in the market and the Grand Library the northern dry district."
Oliver: What are the rules regarding weapons? I'll likely need to go into places that might be dangerous, but don't want to scare people again. Also I'll need that axe back, because even if I'm not allowed wearing it, I'd at least would want to sell it.
Alexis: "Here you go (give back Axe) Your bloodstained clothing was more the problem then your weapon, as long as you keep it holstered we'll be fine; However firearms and bombs are strictly banned, and must be turned over at once."
“So where will you go from here?”
You ask where the Green Cross is.
“Here you go,” Officer Alexis hands you a cleaned uniform and your axe.
“As for where to go, the green cross would be in the Atrium” she pulls out a small book and flips through it.
“Ah, here we go. Seeing as it is May and the pressure is low, I say the way to the Atrium would back the way you came and down the stairs, after that just go to the black road and look for the green cross.”
Heading out and returning to the stairs, you head down to the Atrium. The atrium itself is a massive garden park the size of central park in NYC with what looks like sunlight pouring out of a glass ceiling. Much of it seems to be farm land with small plot of trees and flowers alongside the path. A sign points you to the black road.
The smells of strange plants are both intoxicating and alarming. The more you walk the more dream like the place becomes. You feel both nostalgic and like you’re out of body. You drift to a small pond and drink of its glimmering water.
Before you know it, you're on the other side facing a building with a green cross on it and a tunnel marked “black road”.
You head inside.
A lady in a blue robe with a green cross underlaid by a red crescent on her shoulder walks up to you.
“Hello. Patient, Volunteer, or New Arrival?”
“New Arrival, but I am looking for work and medical training.”
“Really? That is great news,” Said the nurse “But first come this way.”
She leads you down a hall of dull hospital rooms, many with severely injured patients, to a small meeting room. She sits you down and turns on a very old looking projector.
“So welcome to the Devourer. I am Nurse Stonehearth, what is your name?”
“Oliver Smith.”
“What is the Year?”
“2016.”
“I see, well as you are aware you have been eaten by a being only known as the Devourer and woke up in the Blood Marsh. We will be avoiding that topic for now, however we do have a support group for new arrivals if you want to join.”
“Ok.”
“You are in the southern block, also know as the garden, it is part of the much larger City of a Thousand Faces or just The City of Faces. You will find this one of the nicer, more stable blocks of the city- however rent is high.”
“Ok?”
“I would discourage trying to leave the city however. If you are looking for a way out, then this block connects to the Plane of Winds, the wet block leads to the Guts, and the dry block leads to Annwn. As far as getting ‘home’, I’m afraid this is your home now- the only way out of the Devourer is in the Soiled Necropolis, and there is no proof that it will lead to your time and place.”
…
“Ok, I understand that can take some time to get used to, but we can talk more after the presentation. As for the city itself, there is no central authority, at least not a human one, as the city and its ‘agents’ …” She hit the projector button to move the slide to one of a strange being resembling a cross between a beetle and a centaur “Mostly keep the city working, as the mind of the Devourer itself. Don’t approach an agent or any other creature of the Devourer. If you need help, find the nearest green cross outpost.”
“Ok.”
“Also DO NOT use firearms or explosives at all.”
“Ok?”
“Lastly you will need a guild book as the passageways are constantly shifting- they will give you one up front.”
“Ok.”
“Any Questions?”
Oliver: “...do I say Ok too much?”
Nurse: “No, you're fine"
Oliver: “Are there any factions or gangs that I need to be on the lookout for?"
Nurse: "Each block has its own local governments, I stay away from any of the gangs, especially the Cult of Blood, I also stay away fro, Parasites, um... they're people to strange powers and black eyes."
Oliver: “Are those the only type of "agents" ? Or are there more? And do they attack on sight or when you get to close?”
Nurse: "There are many hostile native lifeforms, but no their only one type of agent and they only attack if you get in their way or are a threat to the Devourer"
“Ok, I see you’re injured, so we can take you to the clinic. However I know many new arrivals are poorly fed on arrival, so if you what to go to the cafeteria first I will understand.”
“Sure, it is just this way.”
She takes you out of the room and to a strange, diner-like room with booth tables.
“A diner?”
“Yes, it was here before we came. The city creates a lot of odd rooms. Just head to the counter and make your order,” She hands you 2 small gold coins. They feel weird, like plastic or rubber, but are still shiny. “When you’re done the clinic is down the hall and to the left.”
And with that she leaves out the door. You go up to the counter where an older black gentleman in a gray uniform stands.
“What will you have?” He asks.
“Um…” You say looking at the menu.
The meat tastes weird, like a spicy mix of apple and bacon.
After the meal you head to the clinic. They fix up your arm, however you feel too loopy to ask any questions. They tell you that they have a bed for you but the room is cramped and you may not get the best sleep. You could rent a cheap room for a coin down the block. You can also go to sleep in one of the parks, but that is risky.
Unfinished
