City of Heroines ~ 01 ~ Saved Game

[Kitten]

[quote Background Information]Going to try something different, made a series of renders, and writing a story to go with it. The story hops right into it, so i suppose i should explain some stuff.

City of Heroines, is the fictional sequel to the game known as City of Heroes. It take place in the future, when virtual reality technology allows you to 'enter' the game and experience things as if it were real. So while the player knows that it's only a game,everything feels very real.

Star Lady, is actually a character that is going to appear in Giga videos soon, i took a liking to the look of the character and decided to make my version of her in render. I know nothing about the Giga Character so i've decided to make stuff up as i go. While the character looks like a mix of Supergirl and Wonder Woman, she follows Wonder Woman's powers much more closely, though the orgins of her powers comes from Sun or Star Light. I'm going to presume that those little stars on her costume are made of 'Star Ore' and provide her with steady energy, so that even in the pitch dark she can gather energy. (All roleplaying fluff).

Her life is measured in 'stars'. Each one equates to about 100% life. Her Powers are equated to the 'S' emblems, each one allows her to doa 'super move'. That's about all you need to know at this point. I don't make any serious efforts to write stories. Serious attempts can be counted on one hand, so please be kind.[/quote]

The mission was a real bear, and Dawn was starting to wonder if she was under powered for the mission to solo it. She had done all the other missions just fine, but this last one was a bear. She had lost track of how many times she had made an effort to complete the mission. Her superheroine alias, Star Lady, was tank tough and with her super move able to put down anything quickly that was a real threat to her.

She had gotten pretty far on her last run, and wisely saved her progress. Her progress was not flawless, she had lost half of her health to get this far. This was an accomplishment since she still had all three of her super moves, and had not gotten this far before. She was going into new territory and was concerned about her ability to continue successfully from here.

Saving the game and logging to take a moment to clear her head were all good things to do.

That was then... this was now. She was ready... eager even, to load the game and get on with it. There was nothing like the excitement of working your way through new territory in the game. The thrill of the unknown and the sweet taste of triumph when victorious.

To keep her optimistic attitude, she pushed away memories of her more numerous recent failures.

It took a moment for the equipment to sync with her brain... to sync with her senses... to slowly rezzed the world in around her. The dark space around her slowly lit into view as if a dimmer switch was slowly being slid brighter. Dawn shook out her arms and made an effort to relax. Tensing up was always a mistake '... no, not Dawn. ' She reminded herself.

The room started to brighten and the action began, her last thought before the game started was, "I am Star Lady."

[Kitten]

The game wasted no time.

Another one of those damn Fem Bot appeared, carrying a blaster that quickly swung in Star Lady's direction.

"Not this time.", Star Lady declares defiantly crossing her bracers.

Fem Bots were a boss on the first level, but as she cleared the levels of the missions they were quickly demoted to major thugs, and now almost felt like common mobs.

Suffice to say, Star Lady had dealt with them before and knew what needed to be done to take them out.

There was a flash of pulsating light, and a sound of special effects of something out of a sci fi movie. Pulses of light lanced out at her, faster than thought, her arms moved on their own to block and deflect the burst of energy. Her life bar would blink a few time with each burst but return to normal quickly.

She was a tank, when she was prepared and in defensive mode, she was capable of fighting them to a stalemate all day. Earlier mistakes were painful. Impatience and a sloppy guard had been painful lessons. While you couldnt win with defense alone, you couldn't win without it either.

Another three round burst of fire snaps in her direction. A quick tally of the mini Bullets and Bracelets game had her deflect them all away leaving her untouched. Any moment now, the computer AI would tire of the stalemate and close with her to engage in hand to hand combat.

Star Lady was a Tank. That was an encounter Dawn was looking forward to. While it cost her a 'supermove' to make any sort of ranged or area effect attack, her one on one physical damage output was at least as good as the dedicated DPS archetypes, that had to win quickly or they were derezzed. Those Archetypes were prone to lots of painful derezzing, and Dawn was glad that she had settled on the slower, less powerful, but sturdy Tank Archetype.

"C'mon! Is that all you got!", Star Lady taunted the Fem Bot. Since she was soloing, there was no agro to 'hold'. The effect was still useful to increase the aggressive nature of the mobs, to entice them to close with her where she could do some damage.

"I beat you plenty of times, this time will be no different.", Star Lady taunted again in response to another burst of fire that was easily deflected with the blurred motions of her bracers.

It was... maybe a taunt too many.

The Fem Bot's sensory visor brightens red for a brief moment, as it's aggression mode responds to the taunting.

"That's what i'm talking about!", Star Lady encourages the Fem Bot to close into melee range with her.

[Abductorenmadrid]

Interesting proposition to have some of the detatchment of playing a game while still being able to feel some (all) the consequences in reality.

I appreciate your efforts to mix in the renders to your story which must be some work of its own. Please continue ....

[Kitten]

I've been mulling over various versions of the concept...

ie... What if Super Heroines existed in a Tron like Universe? (Spamgirl)

ie... What if things were a Net Runner like world, and the Net Runner was using a Comic book sort of interphase for the run?

ie... Current story incarnation follows some Jap Anime called Sword Art Online, which is a story about a MMORPG, that strands all the players in the game, so that they cant get out. They 'live' the game knowing it's a game, but everything feels real.

So different inspirations from different places. I havent decided what sort of person Dawn is, a 'normal' person or maybe one that likes this sort of stuff. I'm thinking it 'feels' more heroic if she's actually trying and not a willing participant to peril.

[Centurion]

This is nice, and different. I especially like the pictures. I wish that I could do things like that.

[Kitten]

Yeah, it's a theory concept i wanted to pitch at Don for a potential graphic novel/story type thing to market.

The project is bogged down and doesn't seem to be going anywhere.

I thought it had promise, but the concept has too many moving parts to negotiate through that it's probably going to end up dead in the water.

[Kitten]

The Fem-Bot's blaster rifle snapped to a ready fire position, and Star Lady felt more than ready to block the follow up burst of fire that was sure to follow.

She wasn't disappointed, a full auto onslaught was triggered off. As predicted, Star Lady was up to the task of deflecting each and every round. While the the duration of the attack was longer than expected, the difficulty to block and deflect them was not. Halfway through the attack, Star Lady notices that the munitions used were different. With each block, parry and deflection she made, the blast seemed to 'pop' and burst into a small burst of fine powdery mist. Slowly starting to cover her bracers... costume.. and exposed skin.

'What the...?'

Towards the end of the attack, the area around her was a hazy fog, saturated with the stuff. Star Lady felt short of breath and lightheaded.

'Oh no... could it be?'

A quick check of her stats showed that she was being debuffed. Dispite blocking all the attacks perfectly, 20% of her life and one of her Supers had been disabled. The effects were lingering, and starting to reduce her ability to defend herself. The fresh snap of a fresh clip being loaded bought Star Lady's attention back to the room.

'Time to go.'

With her vision blurred, and her sense of balance off, Star Lady staggers out of the room.

'If... If i can get out of her to fresh air, i should be able to shake this off... I hope.', at least that's what Star Lady hopes, with her senses reeling, she couldnt be certain. Fem-bot were sleek and slow, but dogged. She would have to deal with the Fem-Bot. Just, not right now. A quick check of her status should that her offensive strength was down by a third and her defensive abilities were down a staggering 50%.

Dawn wasnt concerned though. She had dealt with worse to get this far, and while unpleasant, this was only a minor set back. A quick 'rest' should shed the debuff status, and recover all her lost strength. Then she would teach that Fem Bot a lesson.

[Kitten]

Star Lady retreats from the encounter, with over two thirds of our life down and a super move disabled, it's time to withdraw from the encounter. Once out of the room and away from the Dark Matter, she should be able to shake off the effects. A little rest and Star Lady would be able to recover, things wont look so bleak.

'Dark Matter', Dawn thinks bleakly. During character generation, she was offered the chance to use more character points for an 'intermittent' vulnerability or weakness. It had seemed like a good idea at a time. She had taken up both options and selected 'Dark Matter' as her 'Bane'. The extra points gave Star Lady an over powered feel and allowed her to solo missions that had been rated for multiple Heroines. This was actually the first time she was suffering the effects, and she had to admit, it sucked... literally, the Dark Matter was sucking the Star Energy out of her. Dawn didnt want to think about what prolonged exposure might feel like. This was quite enough to sample.

Staggering out of the room, Dawn's vision was blurred and her actions were sluggish. The hallway pivots and pitches about making it challenging but not impossible to navigate. 'A half minute in rest mode and Star Lady will be as good as new and ready to take on the mission again.', Dawn thought to herself. Bane effects could be crippling but she had read up on the game forums, that the effects could be shed with a brief 'rest'.

[Kitten]

30 Seconds may not seem like a long time, but in a real time video game, it can feel like forever.

Anyone that has plays these games knows that when you go into 'rest mode', you best do it someplace safe.

In City of Heroines, while in rest mode, the character can quickly recover temporary damage, as well as some permanent damage. All power are turned off to help while in this mode including defensive powers, as well as any damage that the character suffers will do double.

Star Lady's debuff status have left her blind to her surroundings. To wander around when you're blind is a sure way to trigger wandering mobs and she really needs to shed the status debuff. As soon as she exits the room she goes into Rest Mode.

It's unfortunate for Star Lady that she's triggered a wandering mob while in such a vulnerable state. Star Lady passes an intersection where she triggers another Fem Bot. Caught unaware, the Star Lady goes into Rest Mode at the worst possible moment. The ruthless Fem Bot targets Star Lady's most vulnerable point and goes to work on the unaware Heroine.

"AGGHH~!!!", Dawn empties her lungs with an ear piercing wail of agony as mind numbing agony explodes from between her legs.

Star Lady is forced out of Rest Mode by the attack and will have to deal with this encounter quickly. Unable to block, and in rest mode, the damage she takes is staggering. Still suffering from the effects of Dark matter, she now has to contend with the brutal agony radiating from between her legs.

[Kitten]

Uh Oh. Star Lady suffers one of the nastier debuffs in the game.

* Stunned *

Dawn can mash those buttons all she wants, Star Lady is unresponsive to the commands as she tries to execute her actions. Things start to look bad as the mobs of Fem-bots come together for the encounter. Not that she has much more on her mind than pawing her girl parts at the moment.

Real or virutal, superheroine or not, the pain felt very real to her at the moment, and all she could do for the moment was try and ease the throbing pain from the mind numbing blow she's been dealt.

Can Star Lady shake off the stun effects to fight back, or is she in for a Gang Beating?

[Mr. X]

Taunt! Taunt!

[Kitten]

The fembots take positions around Star Lady. Two of them each take her arms and haul her upright. The throbbing between Star Lady's legs was starting to fade.

'Oh no, i have to act quickly', Dawn thought with great desperation. She was a fool for trying the mission alone and needed to change that, quickly consults her friends list and dials for help. It was no accident, that Dawn ran missions solo. At this hour there were very few people around that were awake. She got a hit on her friends list, from around the other side of the globe.

"Moshi moshi?", she calls out as the last Fem-bot grabs a hand full of her hair and guides it towards her other hand. Very clearly, Star Lady could see the vents for the Fem-Bot's gas attack. Maybe too clearly for her liking.

[Kitten]

Star Lady finally manages top make the connection to her sometimes hunting partner, Spandexer!

Dawn was overjoyed at the prospect of potential help. As the connection was made, she was flooded with relief, "Spandexer! I'm in deep deep trouble i need you to come help me, like.... NOW!"

"D.... Dawn...?", there was a groggy response on the other end, "Dawn... So... weak."

Dawn's felt as if her blood had turned to ice, as a feeling of dread started to take root and grow. "Nonoka, what's happening?!?", Dawn put as much urgency as she could into her voice to stir some life out of Spandexer.

"D...don't do missions... something ... wrong... th-the... new ... patch...", Nonoka manages in a strained voice before the connection is broken leaving Dawn talking to dead air.

Half way across the virtual city, Spandexer was having her own problems. A 'routine' mission she had 'farmed' solo, dozens of time had turned tragic. The mobs were acting differently with new tactics and a lot more malice than ever before. Her little seen bane had surprised her and prolonged exposure had already sapped all her Super Moves away and was now in the process of disabling all her life. Several thugs were restraining her arms, while another was keeping her exposed to her bane. As her strength slowly fades away, her struggles weaken. As her legs start to give out her body slowly sinks down. On her knees now the two thugs holding her arms, pull back forcing her chest to jut forward. The thug holding her bane pulls the waistband of her costume out and drops her bane into her costume. Spandexer cries out as the bane touches her skin, the last of her active health vanishes. Her eyes flutter and roll up as her body tenses for a moment before going slack. Spandexer wont be coming to anyone's rescue for a while.




Anyone that plays these games, knows that you get comfortable with the way things work, and then the programmers roll out a new patch and everything changes, requiring you to have a period of adjustment to the new rules, that often involve a few deaths along the way. It's becoming clear in the story now that Dawn didn't read the most recent patch notes...

Unrelated to this, i just want to note, that i have been thinking about this for a while now and wanted to put it out there in this forum, that I'm investigating a potential writing project, but sadly my skills are under developed and my time is limited for such a project, so i'm hoping to find a writing partner to work with. Not looking to clutter up the story thread with my pet project, so If you've got the time, energy, and interest, please drop me a private note, and we'll discuss it further.

[Blx]

I follow you on deviantart. I think your writing is cool, but your art is really, really good. Whatever you decide to do, I'll keep following anyway.

[Kitten]

Nice know i have support on whatever i pursue.

^.^

That said I'm still hoping to find a writing partner for a pet project i want to try.

[Abductorenmadrid]

I've enjoyed this concept a lot, mere mortals playing as heroes and heroines with feedback induced peril. Being able to toss in your own art to support your story is great, what I'd give to be able to draw!

[niko999]

Neat idea - lots of scope for bouncing back between the real world and the game.

[Kitten]

Thanks,

I'm not done, just on a little summer hiatus.

I'll probably be adding to this story shortly is the tentative plan.

[Kitten]

Dawn wonders at the information her friend had given her.

So it was a patch for City of Heroines that was the cause of her situation?

Dawn's plea for help had fallen on dead ears. The silence on the other end left her shocked. Patches were released all the time, and Dawn had a tendency to gloss over the notes on the changes. They were long, and boring, and the prospect of playing always seemed much more attractive than reading. In the past little nerfs and tweaks were part of playing the game after a patch. They were more interesting to discover in game than learning from a boring patch note.

When ever they rolled out patches there were always tweaks and changes to the game. Something popular always got 'nerfed'. What had changed in the patch. What was happening to Spandexer, what would happen to her.

All good questions that her frazzled attention considered over that last few seconds of consciousness she had. Dawn doesn't have much time to dwell on this. A small puff of gas burst before her which was almost a blessing. The Fem-Bots gas starts to take affect, her senses slowly dim and fade to black. While she was technically not out of life, and even had a super move left, surrounded by Fem Bots, she might as well have been out of life. She was helpless.

'Not... good...', were her last thoughts before everything started to fade..

If only she were not alone, she might recover from the encounter but she had foolishly attempted to solo the mission. Dawn felt some comfort that she had the game saved, and would definitely read the patch notes before attempting the mission again, perhaps finding Spandexer to 'duo' the mission next time. Her senses dim to a dark vague awareness and she waits for the failed mission to end, so that she can try it again. For now, it looked like this was Game Over.

[lionbadger]

Was looking through your Deviantart (which for some reason I always say as Dave Ian Tart in my head), you've got a lot of great OCs Kitten, will we see some in the future and thus that City of Heroines might become a serial?

And also can I put in a vote for Honey Bee

[Kitten]

Thank you.

I actually like most of the characters that i've made up. That's the problem. It's hard to focus on any particular character when you like them all.

City of Heroines is a nice storyline that lets me flit about and render what i feel like rendering as the mood suits. A year ago, that was Star Lady.

If you've browsed my galleries, you know things wont end well for her, and when it wraps up, maybe i'll start a different heroine.

I do like Honeybee. I just havent found the time to give her any attention. Maybe I'll make a Hero Clix for her to dim some of the guilt i feel for neglecting her. Its hard (for me at least) to contemplate serious peril for a tiny heroine, at least peril that translates into a nice render at any rate.

^.^