A Randomizer in the Forever War (SI-OC in THE FOREVER WINTER; multi x-over later)

[Trieze]

A Randomizer in the Forever War (SI-OC in THE FOREVER WINTER; multi x-over later)
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1.1 - First Steps

A violent headache snaps me awake, and that's how I found myself in what looked like some underground complex. Stabbing pains lanced behind my eyes, bright spots bursting in my vision as I gasped quietly, wincing as I tried to nurse this God-awful pain in my head. Finally, I managed to blink away the bright spots in time to notice a blinking dot of light in front of me.

Spoiler: TAILS

3 - N/A

Due to this unexpected failed roll, you are awarded one free series of rolls.

Rolls? What is this, all of a sudden? For that matter, where in the Hell am I? Why is it so damn cold?

...looking down, I find myself relieved that I have my clothes on, plus the feel of the thermal underlayers under my shirt and jeans. Fortunate, considering that the last thing I remember was going to bed in my underwear as usual, and that there were ice-cold winds whipping up a bunch of SAND in my face at that very moment! Can't I get a break?!?

Just like that, a new window pops up, and the blurb read;

Spoiler: TAILS

15 - 16

Roll for permanence: 1d20 (18)

The poisoned shoreline that was once beachfront property for the city of Lost Angels has now been transformed into the Emerald Hill Zone,

Because of this high roll, this effect stretches from Crystal Cove to Topanga Beach and will permanently be unaffected by any ecologically-devastating weaponry or industrial pollution from this point forward. Not that you know where exactly those specific locations are placed...

The offshore waters will remain eternally pure and uncontaminated, but a nat20 roll would've allowed the water-purification effect to eventually spread across the worlds' oceans.

And with that, the beachfront seemed to ripple before taking on a distinctly tropical look, with coconut-bearing palm trees growing at accelerated time-lapse speeds until fully fruited. The sky was now bright and sunny, and the climate was pleasantly warm and balmy, but more than enough to get me to start sweating in my clothes. Summer clothing, they most certainly were not.

With that, another window appeared. With one glance, I could tell whatever was happening to me decided to add a feature that directly attacked my fragile self-esteem.

Spoiler: ATTENTION IN HIGH PLACES

Achievement unlocked!

Reward: one (1) roll series

Congratulations, dillweed, you've officially managed to get the attention of figures that no one with any brains wants to draw. Get out of there, stupid!

And so I ran. Into the underpass behind me, and on and on until I reached what was left of a parking lot. But I was never in any good shape, and it showed as I nursed a stitch in my side, wheezing as I found myself maybe twenty-five feet away from the transformed beach, and the weather was the piercing cold that I had initially experienced upon waking up.

I ended up taking in the stereotypical post-apocalyptic feature of burnt-out cars, with one or two of them even featuring a skeleton or two. More alarmingly, there were corpses that seemed fresher by comparison scattered all over the place. These bodies drew my gaze, considering they looked a lot like soldiers from two distinctly different polities.

I couldn't help but say the Simpsons line, "Jeez... what's with all the death?" (Hey, I love that show, sue me.) This, even though I had a pretty good idea of what had happened at some point in the past. But I didn't recognize the soldiers off-hand, and the strange-looking designs on the flag patches didn't twig my memory, either. It reminded me of that old Eighties movie with that terrible remake, but the bodies were numerous enough that I couldn't count them off-hand at a glance. Tropes being what they were, however, I reached down to pick up what looked like some random AK-type from one of the soldier corpses before reaching out to paw at the body itself, looking for supplies and extra ammo.

I got lucky, considering that the soldiers' combat webbing had specific pouches containing the AK's equally iconic sickle-curved mags and that my puffy jacket had some pockets big enough to hold them. I ended up stripping nine full mags from three different soldiers before the big pockets felt full to bursting, not counting the AK mag already loaded in place that I had filled up from other half-spent mags. I could be a bit obsessive about that sort of thing, even though I'd never shot a gun in all my life.

As I worked my way through the pockets of the other dead soldiers, I found a box of cookies that I scarfed down, followed quickly by two bags of potato chips and a half-full canteen that I quickly drained.

Then, as I was inspecting my new weapon, my head flared with another splitting headache, and that familiar text window opened up in my mind's eye. God help me, was the pain going to be a feature of this strange new power of mine?

Spoiler: HEADS

4 - 7

Roll for permanence: 1d20 (11)

A book written about the history and members of the long-extinct French noble House of Châtillon of Champagne. Because of the middling roll, it's in worn condition. Besides, you can't even read French!

True to the window blurb's word, a book suddenly popped into existence. It looked well-read, and the title on the cover was a long string of French that I couldn't translate, only recognizing the name "Châtillon" in it . But, having no use for the book, I simply slipped it into some random burnt-out car husk on a whim. I mean, what the Hell was I gonna do with some book that I couldn't even read?

This post-apocalyptic world that I'd been isekai'd was just raring to kick my teeth in, though. I hadn't gotten that much further away from the beach, and while it was nice to load up on supplies and a much-needed weapon and ammo, I really had to get moving.

So I squared my shoulders and started walking up the closest path. Ultimately to where, I still hadn't figured out yet...

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TBC...

 

[GooseElite]

Have never heard of forever winter but it looks promising.