X Crawl
X-Crawl!
This game is dungeon crawling. The setting is unique and the trappings different, but if you love a dungeon crawl keep reading. If you love for there to be a story behind the story, keep reading. If you like something a little out of the ordinary... keep reading.
You are subjects of the Empire, loyal and hopeful. For you there are two worlds. During the week you work in an office, at construction site or on a farm. But on the weekends you live for the training, for the workouts and for the Crawls! You are an X-Crawler.
An alternate Earth, an alternate America. The North American Empire spans from the arctic to the Panama Canal. The state religion is the Roman Pantheon. The old races are in decline and humanity has asserted itself as the dominant lifeform... mostly. Though the Subterranean Wars have ended in treaty, the Underdark spans across the world and there are still untold numbers that have never seen the light of day. The wilds outside of the various city states still teem with monstrous horrors and the world sits in uneasy peace. Some say that war is still being waged but in secret... a cold war.
But that's not important. Because, the X-Crawl is on!
X-Crawl is a bloodsport; the most popular of all sports and has been for years. Five years ago the Emperor endorsed the burgeoning sport by creating a national league and the Emperor's Cup, an annual event. A DJ (Dungeon Jockey) hosts the event, building rooms, corridors and stocking it with exotic monsters and deadly traps. The goal is to defeat the monsters and traps, get the treasure and survive. There are live audiences but the events are broadcast across the Empire, sold on video tape and rerun in highlight clips. Division III is where people start to go pro, where talented amateurs mix with practiced veterans. Things get deadly and live death is the big draw for many. It always get bloody.
| Vector rubbed his hands together while practicing his deep breathing. Above and around him the stadium crowd could be heard cheering and stomping their feet to the rhythm of a badly dub-stepped version of the Imperial March, all while food vendors waded through the crowd hawking T-shirts, beer and bobbleheads. He massaged his hands since they still burned from earlier when a lock he was working on had slipped a false tumbler and sprayed acid over his hands. His gauntlets had caught most of it necessitating him having to replace the MasterGard logos from his sponsor (If you don't have MasterGard, I'm inviting myself in was the tag line beside his endorsement ad), but he still got first degree chemical burns on his fingers. It might not be life threatening, but it could end a career if it didn't heal properly so he had paid for a magic salve in the green room while he reviewed his notes on the lock he had missed. He locked eyes briefly with Lorna the Mage who was also trying to find her calm. She was relatively green and didn't even have a sponsor yet, but had come recommended by their agent to replace Argent Orange, the sorcerer that had done three runs with their group until he met an unfortunate end with a troll wielding a sledgehammer. She smiled briefly and then looked askance at the source of their disquiet; Ragnar the Barbarian. Ragnar (whose name was Barry and was originally an accountant from DesMoines) was hopping up and down and slapping his fiberglass armor while whooping and cawing trying to work himself up into a fury. The guy was tall and well built, blond and square jawed and nothing short of an insufferable ass since he scored that deal with Aquinix Banking that significantly increased his lifestyle. The jerk showed up in an Italian sports car to last practice half drunk and left early for whatever party he has been invited to. Victor (Vector's real name) blamed him for Argent's death since the guy had been stomping around and mugging for the cameras when the troll caught Argent on the backswing. But that didn't matter right now. He could look for a new team after the Crawl was done. Right now they had to survive and hopefully pull a win on this one. The stomping and the music reached a crescendo. Horns sounded and the gate opening from the starting room lifted and the producer with the clipboard did the circling motion to go. The level had begun and the first room lay before them. Lava... Why was her always a lava room? Why? |
