AUGUST 23RD, 1994The beating hot, summer atmosphere is suffocating in this area of the woods, the brightly lit greenery surrounds your family. The occasional squirrel or chipmunk pauses in the background, only momentarily before escaping your sight. The family picnic is today! You walk happily along the trail, your hand in your mothers, followed by your dad and your brother moving side by side in front of you. Looking up at your mom, she's so pretty. Your young eyes focus on her features, her short, curly, dark hair sits perfectly on her. "Mom!" You cry out excitedly, escaping her grip for just a mere moment.You don't waste any time, your little feet pound the dirt at a near rapid pace. Yeah, you found the perfect spot just now.Mom sighs, "aren't you a little too young to be this competitive, Alex?" She asks, before giving your head a rub. You laugh in response, you love going out with your family on these days, school is nearly about to start, summer is almost over, your first year of school at Rickmond Public Elementary school is about to begin. You shyly and secretly vow to yourself you're going to have the most fun on this trip in the world!Some time passes, the sun narrows on the horizon. Your older brother and dad have done most of the work on setting up camp, your mom spends her time keeping her eye on you as they work away during this time. He's a sight to behold, your brother is much older than you are, he has such a broad stature. His physique is comparable to one of the superheroes from your books! Your father puts his hand on his shoulder and an appreciative nod."Thanks for making this old man have to work," your dad jokingly says to him.Your brother, James, shakes his head. Mom and dad tell you he's quieter and more isolated than he once was because he's started something called 'Poo-berty' the name makes you giggle a little."There's my little monster!" Your dad yells and points at you, causing you to scream! You run in opposite direction of him. This is it.. a true test of your speed!ROLL A 1D20DC IS 18
Rolled 7 (1d20)>>6416902
>>6416914I can't believe our dad is gonna kill us in the first roll of the game...
>>6416914>>6416902[red]Rolled 7: FAILURE[/red][red]Your insecurity has slightly increased![/red]You tuck tail, running as fast as your little legs are able to take you. It's little use however, your dad catches up to you in just moments and has you trapped within his arms. You scream, the terror coming over you, you know what's about to happen.Your dad sighs, half out of breath. "HERE COMES.. THE CLAW!" He musters up the strength to yell. His hand draws a looming shadow over your face before utterly consuming it within its grasp.You kick and scream, until eventually the hold gives way. Your father lets out a triumphant laugh, you huff in response. Next time you'll slip away for sure.. right?Setting up the rest of the smaller items for camp has consumed quite a bit of time. The once overarching, yellow sun now dims below the treeline, giving way to the coming nighttime atmosphere.Sitting around the campfire, your family goes about their usual chatter. Asking if you're excited for school, what's going on in your brother's life. It's all very warming. You eat s'mores and hear stories of life with your parents before you were born. Eventually, it gets to be very late. Your tent is shared with your brother, leaving your parents to their own private quarters. You're both laying there, your brother scrolling through his phone, that is until theirs a strange noise outside. Some bushes nearby, rattle, a little too lively for any animal. >Ignore it and stay inside your tent>Try to wake up your brother>Go out and see what it is
>>6417068>>Try to wake up your brother
>>6417068>Try to wake up your brotherDestroy it with your puberty powers, bro
There's no way you're going out there by yourself! That would be crazy. "James.." you say with a hushed tone, it doesn't draw his attention enough away from his flip phone. It's not until the noises become louder, that James attention seems more focused with what's happening outside. He closes his phone and looks at you, confused. Footsteps, doesn't sound like any kind of animal stomping around either. The horror of your suspicions are confirmed when you hear whispered exchanges between two men out on your campground. "C-can you do something with your poo-berty?" You ask James, the worried expression on your face nearly matches his. He shrugs his tensed shoulders in response. Shakily, your brother draws his hand towards the zipper of your closed tent. There's a pause from the noise outside when your brother begins opening up the entry point of your setup. His eyes are half closed, this is the first time you've seen your brother be scared of something, or have an explicit expression of any kind really. The entry point is open and the material of the tent plops on the ground when fully unzipped, your brother jumps out of the tent, not a moment later and the footsteps from earlier draw a rushed pace towards your brother outside, you hide within the tent and your eyes shoot open. Your brother screams, "What the fuck?! Dad, hel-" he's cut off. A naked dirty man with some sort of makeshift weapon quickly overpowers him and scurries off. His cries and pleads for help slowly disappearing in the distance. Your tent flap is fully ajar, you want to cry out, to scream. You hear rushed noises within your parents tent. Your dad trying to hurry up and get out of his own confines. Off in the distance, another man peers at you. His vision fully focused on you, he waves.The man has very long, brown hair and a dirty, unkempt beard. He has very impressive musculature, and his endowment is stiff. He's breathing heavily.[red]Your insecurity and fear has raised exponentially![/red][red]You feel something in your mind break![/red]>Warn your dad>Hide in the tent>Run out and do something.. anything
>>6417086>Hide in the tent
Fear has hijacked all responses for control over your body. Though.. perhaps that's not always a bad thing?Gained the passive: Like A RatYou now gain a permanent +2 to any roll requiring an AGL or MND checkYou scramble in a panic on your feet, a primal survival instinct you're simply unable to understand takes control of you. Zipping up the flap as fast as possible, the last thing your eyes caught sight of was the scary, naked man. His eyes locked on where your tent is, a smile is all you see on his face as the flap finally closes.After some time has passed, you realize.. something seems different about youTED ALSONThe scream from your boy outside is enough to stir anyone. Your aged body jerks slightly from the sudden tension of you getting up. You'll be goddamned if something happens to your kids. Kim is up beside you, frozen with fear, for a moment you can tell the pleading look on her face wants you to stay. The mother in her forces a tear from her, realizing you're doing the right thing."Please, please just be careful.." she says near silently, choking back on tears. Only for a moment, you rest your hand on her shoulder and give her a serious and stern glare. The pistol you keep tucked away in your tent rests by the flap closest to your side. You don't bother wearing anything beyond your plaid pajama pants. Rushing to the guns place, you keep a tight grip on it. You spare no expense on the speed of your actions, quickly unzipping the tent flap and rushing out into the wilderness."James! James, where are you?!" You yell, you realize the flap to the boys tent is closed. Is Alex safe? There isn't much time to lose here.>Check the boys tent>Wait and see if James responds>Try and look for a clue as to what happened to James>Other (write your option)
Welcome to 'I Dream Of Brighter Skies'. In the summer of 1994, your family went through a haunting tragedy, changing the trajectory of their lives forever. In this quest you will be navigating Alex Alson, and his father Ted, two survivors of the horrible things that took place that one night.I will try to be steady and flexible with updates, as well as write-ins. Apologies for the text color mistakes from earlier, I am known to phonepost once in a while if I have time to update from work. So some mistakes or strange minor inconsistencies might happen due to auto-correct problems.This is a bit of a different one that I've wanted to do for a long time, I hope you enjoy the ride.
>>6416902>AUGUST 23RD, 1994>>6417068>You're both laying there, your brother scrolling through his phone,Immersion ruined!>>6417086>it doesn't draw his attention enough away from his flip phone.Nice try.>>6417331>Try and look for a clue as to what happened to James
>>6417331>Check the boys tent
>>6417331>Try and look for a clue as to what happened to James
>>6417331>Try and look for a clue about JamesRoll a 1d20DC is 10
Rolled 20 (1d20)>>6417517HEH
ROLLED 20..A HUGE STEP FORWARDAdrenaline kicks your body into overdrive, this isn't just your kids playing some kind of game, this is someone fucking with your family. Taking a deep breath in, your eyes focus and adjust from the dark lighting in no time. You spot James flip phone around the center of the campground, picking it up and pocketing it for safekeeping. "JAMES?!" You cry out, trying to get anything at all from the darkness around you.Quickly scanning the perimeter of the woods, you spot something strange. Is that a.. naked man retreating into the woods? "Hey, you bastard!" You scream out at him, he only turns back slightly to get a look at you, quickening his pace. Based on nothing but a primal instinct, you follow the man, retreating deeper into the woods. The chase lasts for what feels like hours. Long enough to keep you worrying more, and more about your son. It's then that you see something off in the distance, all this running and chasing this rabid man has led you to a dilapidated, wooden cabin. Inside you can hear the muzzled, pained crying of your son. It stirs a rage in you like nothing that came before it. You stop, aiming your handgun at the still retreating man and firing off a round, you hear a cry of pain escape his mouth as he's limping now, you managed to clip him in the leg. For a moment you feel time freeze, the noise around you has stopped, this is it. This is where your boy was taken. There are no cries anymore from the boy, no noises from the wildlife around here, just the residue sound of a lucky shot from a gun, and the pained grunts of the man who most likely took him. He escapes inside, hobbling and almost falling over himself multiple times.The door is left ajar slightly, the closer you get to it, the more you feel some instinctual need to turn around. You got a huge break spotting the very man who's responsible for this, why is it when you get closer to your boy you get a bigger, and bigger feeling like you aren't so lucky after all?You're as close as you can get without being inside. The rank smell emanates from the cabin, a musty, sour, metallic scent. There are no noises inside, not even from the wounded man. SOMETHING FROM WITHIN YOU IS DOING EVERYTHING IN IT'S POWER TO TURN YOU AROUND>Go inside, my boy needs my help>Turn around, go back to camp, and get Alex and Kim out of here>Investigate the perimeter of the cabin, the loss of time could be devastating but you need to be careful
>>6417915>Go inside, my boy needs my helpMUH BOYYYY
>>6417915PART 1/2Despite it all.. you press forward.The door creaks from the strain of sudden entry, you push your way past it quickly, not wanting to waste any more time than you have. When you enter the main space of the cabin, you're greeted by the wounded, naked man. His haggard breaths uneven, rapid, and the blood spilling out of his leg paints the floor around him red. You raise your arm, aiming the handgun right for his head. "Tell me where he is, I'll finish this quick if you do," you tell him. A tear of rage streams down from your one eye. The nude, wild man grows more pale with each second. He just lets out a shrug and taps the floor beneath him, "down.. go down," he says. BANGDespite the adrenaline rushing through your veins, your body despite it's shaking manages to fire off a clean bullet through this sick bastards head. You take a look at your gun, not too many rounds left in it, what is that? Maybe another 3 shots..It doesn't take you long to find the stairs leading to the basement of this cabin, takes even less effort to hear the ragged breathing of another man, and the muffled crying of James. You try not to focus on his hushed wails, the distorted noise like an animal slowly dying. Bracing yourself for what's ahead, you cautiously make your way down the steps. The creaks are driving you mad, it doesn't take any sharp senses to be able to tell whoever else is down here with you is shuffling around, trying to find an advantage and jump you. You make it down, the other man tries to surprise you, but it's too late for him.BANG, BANG, BANGYou empty the rest of your gun into that son of a bitch. Some blood flecks across the skin of your face and arms, the only thing you feel is relief that these assholes are dead.There crying grows louder, and louder, the closer you get. You open a door and find James..
>>6418036PART 2/2You fall to your knees, you're face to face with your boy, or, what's become of him that is. He's alive and still breathing, though just barely. Stripped completely free of his clothes, his body is bruised and beaten nearly beyond recognition. His shoulders are pulled from both their sockets and his face is lacerated with different strange fluids coating it. dad.. he says weakly, passing out after.The muscles in your body tighten and strain from the anger circulating inside of you. "I'm so sorry, James," you tell him, embracing his broken body with a hug. You go to lift him up, only for his limp body to struggle breathing as you assist him. The boy is tortured, broken, nearly dead. Something in you tells you that there's not much hope of him making it out of this, is it worth bringing him all the way back to camp? How would Kim and Alex react to him this way. Trying to cope with the reality of the situation, you try to muster the best course of action.>Carry James back to camp>Come back empty handed, tell them you never found anything>Go back by yourself. Be truthful of what happened>Write-in
>>6418037>Carry James back to campIf there's a hope... even a small one... we gotta try
>>6418037>Carry James back to camp:(
