1 Hello World
A young man found himself standing on a rocky outcrop, staring into the darkness of a cave. He ran his small hands through his long hair, frowning. The youth had several of the more obvious questions in his mind. His blue eyes flashed, wondering... how had he gotten here, of all places? Where even was here? What was the noise coming from in the cave? Who was responsible for bringing him here, of all places? When could he go home? Oh, actually there was another... What the hell had happened to his luggage this time?
Well, there were some questions he could find an answer to, readily enough. First, the youth checked himself out. He was on the muscular side for his age, dressed with chain mail over padded leather, leather gloves, steel toed work boots he'd picked up for a construction job some time back, a new pair of jeans, heavy socks, and the trench coat he'd thrown on to help hide the fact that he was, ah, one of them live action role-players.
He was carrying his backpack at the moment, which might have been for the best all told, and had two long knives on his belt. They were gaudy things, more useful for show than for combat, but they were better than nothing. If he was lucky, there was something useful in his pack. The youth wasn't sure if he'd cleaned it out before the tournament or not. Said pack was on the ground in front of him, right beside a sturdy quarter staff, that he'd been carrying until a few minutes ago.
The youth closed his eyes a moment, considering his situation. He wasn't in immediate danger, at least, though he had his doubts about whom or what had summoned him. There were disappearances every day in his world, perhaps this was where some of them went. He recalled walking along just fine, first moving his trunk of weapons and gear to the back seat of his teacher's SUV, then he'd gone back for his pack, staff, and an honest to goodness old-fashioned feast. He liked hanging out with the SCA people, they were genuinely fun to be around... unlike his school life.
He was a social outcast, that kid on the news everyone looks at and says, "Oh yeah, I can see why he went full on psycho." Well, looks aside, he wasn't that bad. He'd been getting better as he grew and a couple of girls were even looking him over on a regular basis. All that hard work might have been paying off, but it wasn't like he could magically summon up the courage to just talk to them. He almost preferred a book to real people every time. If it weren't for the internet, he'd still probably have failed to actually enjoy conversations... though it was different in the SCA. Here, he was a completely different person, both a nobleman and a swordsman!
At any rate, that might be the upside to the whole blinking and finding himself somewhere else bit. He'd been getting better at fighting because of a small group of assholes from a nearby high school choosing to pick on him for whatever reason. It had all happened randomly. Walking home from school, the bullies' leader bumped into him and forced an apology out of him. Then they'd beat on him until they felt he'd 'earned forgiveness'. To the boy, they were nothing more than small minded morons. He sniffed disdainfully as he thought of them, then sighed. At least they weren't his problem anymore.
Kneeling for a moment, the fair-skinned boy began rummaging through the backpack. He retrieved his phone, easily enough, as well as confirming that thing he shouldn't be carrying was there. Legally speaking, children weren't exactly allowed to buy firearms. There are a number of steps involved to get one, but it ultimately depends on where you live at the time. Today wasn't the day to run into bullies, but he had a ride. It should be fine.
If he had been picking it up for his father and it was only intended to be hung on the wall, well, then it was theoretically okay for him to be carrying a Colt 1849 presentation revolver. Granted, this was more a matter of having taken it down from the wall to have it inspected, repaired, cleaned, and test fired... That said, however, him carrying bullets was kind of another story and, if he'd been caught, it wouldn't have been a slap on the wrist and a night in jail. He'd have to test it later to be sure he could actually make the thing work as advertised, but the threat of it might be enough to scare off the more gullible of enemies.
There were a couple of schoolbooks in there, some candy, emergency cash in both bills and old coins, even enough MREs to last him about a week or so. This pack was his go-bag, though he usually just carried it around with him back and forth to school. Well, at least it was stocked... There was an empty canteen in there, which he removed and attached to his belt, as well as a battery pack with solar charger, a change of clothes, and... Well, it was a list of things. It was worth looking through, but he'd survive a few days in the mountains at least.
The blue-eyed boy nodded firmly to himself, then tucked most of the stuff back into the pack, which he chose to wear for now. He picked up the staff, taking a few practice swings. It was a little awkward, but it wasn't like he couldn't fight if he had to. Not like it'd help against anyone with a gun... though firing one off in a cave might lead to cave ins. The youth thought he'd read about a few of those happening at one time or another. As ready as he could be, the brown haired youth turned on the flashlight feature on his cell and carefully made his way into the cave.
His first thought was that the interior was brighter than he'd expected. Granted, the entry was just a bit behind him, but the youth had thought the place looked dark and gloomy from out there. Here and there in the ceiling were cracks where sunlight pierced the darkness like long spears of light. He could see dust here and there, as well as a tunnel leading further in. The walls seemed to be rock, though the green look of oxidized copper could be found here and there, as well as a smallish vein of quartz and a white or maybe grey substance on the walls.
Hmm... the last might be niter... He couldn't be sure at a glance, but if so it could be important. Niter was useful for making gunpowder, along-side charcoal and sulfur. Broken stone littered the floor here and there, though the youth was easily able to make his way further in. It seemed obvious that this particular section of tunnel wasn't used often. Something shiny caught his attention for just a moment...
Walking over, the youth knelt, picking up a piece of quartz with a bit of what might have been gold running along the side. It was just a little bit longer than his hand. Hmm... On second thought, it might have been pyrite... fools gold. It looked rather worn, perhaps from water over the course of years? Most of the rubble seemed smooth, though he didn't know enough on the subject to swear by it. He shrugged, tucking it into a pocket for the moment, then the sharp-eyed youth headed toward the far end of the tunnel section.
The sounds he'd heard even from outside had started to get louder as he progressed, becoming more distinguishable. Granted, it wasn't like he instantly knew what it was... The sound of something hitting something else, maybe metal on rock... miners, perhaps? There was a loud grunting voice shouting something incomprehensible as well as, every so often, a shout of what might have been pain or joy.
Seeing as there was some kind of lighting ahead, he turned off the flashlight feature and tucked his phone into a pocket as well. Really, the mildly annoyed youth was starting to think he didn't need to bother with it at all. Well, he might not have seen much in the tunnel section, but it wasn't like it was pitch dark. Our would be hero began to pout, doing his best to quietly get closer to the noise. Civilization was surely close to hand, so, the impatient youth forced himself to be just a little cautious.
He hadn't gone far... Maybe ten minutes of power walking would take him from bend just ahead all the way out the entryway, but it felt like he'd been underground for hours. It was always nice to have an exit, just in case. Maybe he would thank those bullies one d-hah, as if. At last he rounded the corner... the first thing he noticed was the smell. It reeked of stale sweat, rotting meat, and things the youth hoped to never be able to properly identify... And just ahead were a few short, stout people, chained together, digging into the rock. Back turned toward him at the moment was a large, ugly, green skinned something or another with slimy looking skin wearing a loincloth and holding a whip!
