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Story a Day May 6 - Glowing Frock Coats (Reckless Deck day 2)

Today's my second day with the Reckless Decks, and I decided to use both volumes of the character builder along with the world builder. I shuffled each deck and drew three chards from each, just to try for a little bit of chaos.


This one gave me some trouble, probably because there were so many parameters, and none of them were related to plot. Plot is where I tend to have the hardest time coming up with ideas, so I'm hoping some of the later devices will give me a little help there.

Character traits:

Costume: Victorian frock coat; accessories: gas mask, breathing apparatus; weapon: hammer; reinvention: sci-fi hero; modification: bioluminescence

World: salvaged/recycled material, statue or monolith feature, rainforest or jungle biome

It had been ages since Amara had taken a day off, but when she saw the kind of planet was on the ship’s itinerary, she booked herself for an off-ship excursion. “After all, if I tell my patients they need to take time to rest and recharge, it only stands to reason that I do so, too, right?” she said to her nurse, Gene, as they left the medlab.

He grinned at her. “Absolutely, Doc. They always says that doctors make the worst patients, so you might as well try to avoid the stereotype for once.” He ducked as she playfully swatted at him, then, laughing, turned down the corridor to his quarters. She continued down to the lifts to go to her quarters and gather her things for the next day.

There was a box waiting for her on the table by the door, and she nearly squealed when she saw where it was from. She’d requested something special for the excursion, having heard there would be some kind of elegant dance happening the night she planned to be planet-side, and she had given the ship’s laundry team some drawings based on the ancient historical costumes she’d always loved. Amara pulled the garment out of the box and held it to herself, turning to the mirror to get a first look.

It was more of a coat than a dress, which suited her just fine - she’d never been one for the kinds of dresses that had been common in her grandmother’s days. She rummaged in the box and found a pair of tight-fitted pants to go under the coat-dress to make sure she was appropriately covered, since, according to the guidance related to the planet, it was considered exceptionally rude for people to reveal too much skin. The coat-dress had long, belled sleeves, with lace at the edges. The center was buttoned to about her waist, and the rest of the coat would flow around her hips and down to her knees when she put it on. It was a rich maroon color with black trip, and the fabric felt much softer and more expensive than any uniform she’d ever worn. Well, it was worth it - she’d not had to spend money on anything in ages, since she’d gotten the job on the ship, and so she’d ended up with a tidy nest egg that she could spend without feeling too guilty now and then.

Carefully, she put the coat-dress down and hung it inside the bag she would carry with her to the planet the next day. She wouldn’t wear it on the transport - the last thing she needed was for her coworkers to see her dressed up in such a way - but Amara was going to enjoy her time on the planet, no matter what.

#

Amara was not enjoying herself.

It was only supposed to be an overnight trip, with a silly costume dance before she went back to her ship and her work and her real life the next day. Instead, she was pinned down in the exquisitely-decorated hall that had hosted the dance, a gas mask put on so quickly she hadn’t had a chance to get her hair out of the way of the straps (it was going to be a nightmare to take off, if she ever had the opportunity), and she was tearing the bottom edge of her lovely coat-dress to create a bandage to help the young girl at her feet, who had been hit in the head by a falling branch. Once she got back on her ship, Amara was never leaving it again, she vowed.

The girl pointed a finger behind Amara, her eyes wide with terror behind her own gas mask. (It should have been a sign, the fact that everyone on this planet was carrying a gas mask. But had Amara read the signs? Of course not.) Amara focused on putting pressure on the girl’s bleeding cut first, then glanced over her shoulder and froze. Something was glowing behind her.

The room was dark, with only a few lights left lit after the initial…attack? Earthquake? She still wasn’t entirely sure what had happened, just that one moment she’d been dancing, the next there were branches coming through the ceiling, everyone was putting their gas masks on, and most people had fled. The few that remained were either like the young girl Amara was treating, and not able to move anywhere at the moment, or trying to help, like Amara herself. The important thing was that none of them was glowing, and yet, there was something glowing behind her. And it was moving towards her. Not quickly, not sneakily, but coming towards her in a straight line.

Amara closed her eyes. This was not on her list of ways to die, but sure, it made sense. Decided to go to a fancy dress ball and died from a glowing jungle animal in a ballroom, that somehow made sense. She turned back to the girl and looked her over to see if there were any other injuries to attend to. The girl batted her hands away and pointed back to the glowing thing again, more insistently this time. Amara hung her head in defeat, then stood and turned to fully face the glowing thing.

It had moved close enough that she could see it was human-shaped, and roughly her size. It looked like it was standing and facing her the same way she was facing it, though Amara couldn’t be sure if that was just how she was interpreting something she didn’t understand. “Well?” she demanded, putting her hands on her hips and trying to make herself look bigger. “What do you want? Did you do all of this?”

  • Glowing shape mimics her, doesn’t make any noise but gestures the same way
    • Injured girl explains that it’s one of the spirits of the jungle, belongs in the stele in the clearing nearby
    • Recent earthquakes have cracked the base of the stele, glowing shapes have been seen ever since
    • Amara needs to help the people repair the stele, get the glowing shapes back into their homes

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