DustyDunes: Welcome to Hard Times

[Eversor]

-Insert CD, Please do not remove your memory card-



Let's start a new game, shall we?



Alright, onward!




















Why hello thar pardner!



It's been about about week since you left Iowa from train: your father paid for the entire trip but everything was done in a hurry, and you only left with the shirt on your back.

Ever since that...incident back in New York, things have been problematic for you. Your father needed you out of the public's eye since his political campaign was starting up, and your last goof-up you had nearly cost him everything. So he sent you out to your old uncle's estate out in California until things blow over.

Its alright though, city life was getting boring you tell yourself!

You are going to make a name for yourself out here, make your dad proud, and maybe have fun while you are at it. No more newspapers, no more journalists, just the sun, the sand, and a lavish estate with plenty of gorgeous women waiting to bow at your feet!

You are just minutes away from entering the city of Dusty Dunes, the old boom-town which your uncle owned. The dust kicking into your face as you peer out to get a glance of the view, your driver seeming half-asleep concerns you but its a straight road so you are not to worried.

You were also told by your father's brother in a telegraph to think of a new name while you are in the town, to keep word spreading that you were in the area.


==>

[Eversor]

For the next few days, I am going to be posting updates from my original source, I was doing this on facebook, but I wasn't getting much fish with such a small hook. So I figured I would try this avenue. Feel free to chime in with ideas. But when I catch up to where I am, I'll tell you all.

[Eversor]

Buster Backflow...



The sand grating at your face, you decide to slide back into your seat. Spitting a bit of the dust away, you begin ponder about the name best suited for a new start in this town. Buster Backflow comes to mind, a name of one of the satirical characters the newspapers had for a politician back home. It had a nice ring to it, but you didn’t want to think about that part of home while you were here.



No, you needed something debonair, striking, and above all else, enchanting to the ladies. You didn’t have to much time to ponder, so grinding your gears you looked around, you notice the dark red felt in front of you…Crimson, like blood…or fine red wine. It sounds dangerous and defined…But you can’t just call yourself Crimson, that’s just asking to be scoffed at…No you need a good first name as well.



You remember back in the days when you are gallivanting from soiree to soiree. At one such occasion where you telling a group of lady friends your classic story about how you fought that bear one time. Along came a striking gent who rudely interrupted your glorious tale.

He spoke of finances and business acquisitions like they were war stories, you had nothing to compete against his immense charisma! His tales finally complete he turned and walked away with a woman in each arm. He swept all the ladies right from under you and you were in sheer awe of his performance.

He went by the name “Dexter Rocker” and you never forgot that dastardly name.

You know what though, Dexter had a good ring to it. Dexter Crimson, yes that will do!



Well...that name decision went faster than you thought Mr. Crimson. You still got a bit of time to kill, what the heck will you do entertain yourself while you wait for this bumpy ride to come to a halt?

==>

[Chwoka]

Dig through that bag.

[Eversor]

What…your Louis Vuitton custom ordered carrying case? No man with atleast an inch of class would scoff at its quality and beauty.

You did not have time to bring much with you but that bag had to come with! It would have been foolish to leave without it; otherwise, you would have had to walk around with what, a sack of your possessions? Preposterous!



Anyways, carefully leaning up, you grab hold of your carrying case. Sudddenly a heavy jerk of the carriage throuws you temporarily off balence.The roads were just plain terriblel! You would make a complaint to your father's brother later. However, for now, you decided to peer into your case and make sure everything was in order.

Well…it is all here, you had more food and beverages when you last remembered back on the train. But all that’s left are 4 pieces of candy corn, you hate candy corn, why did you even buy the junk?!

But anyways, you still have the “Good Book” to keep by your side, as long as its near, everything will be all finnnnee.



...And ah yes, let us not forget your trusty King Chess Piece, white too, as it always goes first. While you were not necessarily “good” at the game, it was a stress reliever, and your father loved the game as well.

The King was a sign of strength, but he was only as strong as his surrounding pieces, without them, he was a slow moving piece of junk with a existence to lose. This piece of marble was a good luck charm, and out here in the scorching heat, you felt you would certainly need as much of it as you could get.

==>

[Eversor]

Gazing into the chess piece, you drift into your thoughts...

...

...

...

...

...



Okay so you were actually TERRIBLE at the game. Beyond terrible actually, it was quite a sight to see how hard you could fail at this sport.

Your father played the game with you whenever he had free time, it was the only time you actually chatted with the old man. You couldn't resist putting a little cash into the games, and you are proud to say you are still only $19 in dept with your father.

(FUN FACT: $19 is roughly $400 in the 1890s, The more you know!)



You slide your king snugly into your left pocket, and block out the nagging thoughts of ingesting the vile candy, but...blocking out those thoughts only furthers your thoughts...for World DOMINATION!



Yes, Yes, You feel it...the power and sheer destructive powers you have built up in you, the world will is ill-prepared to deal with the tyranny of Dexter Crimson!



You will start by peeling the flesh off those town's folk in this barren waste land, where you build a cocoon to house your true form, there your carapace will form over your back, and your eight rows of eyes will spawn forth to allow your scything talons to strike furiously and accurately at any fool attempt to get in your way as you rampage across the country side.



The militia will try and stop you, and fail.

The army will rally forth and succumb at your feet.

The Nation will unite, only to be slaughtered.

Only then will the planet know your true powers and then...and only then will Judgement be made on the world!

You will deem them, unworthy..



You pause and think...

...

You don't want to do any of that! Mostly the domination part, the scything talons thing did sound...alright. But you will leave all the conquering to the politicians. Your aspirations lie elsewhere anyways.

Carousing more than anything else.

==>

[Eversor]

Anyways, you wonder if you are even close to the town ye...



Oh...

==>

[Eversor]

Alright guys, almost half way there, then you fine gents and ladies can jump on in! Hope it catches your eyes guys!

Ill chug the rest out tommorow hopefully.

[Eversor]

You bumped your head pretty bad, but you are quite sure nothing was jostled that was too important.



You would love to throw your fathers power and influence on that horrid driver to utterly erase him from the map right now...but remember, you are trying to be inconspicuous and that is NOT the way to go about it.

No, you are going to have to do this on your own if you want to take the driver down a peg.



Fake a injury? You won't be needing to "fake" anything... Apparently this carpet is made out of something similar to coarse grit sandpaper, because your forehead and hands look a bit gristly.



You exit the carriage, feeling very sore, and immensely grumpy. This inept driver doesn't deserve a mule to ride, let only a horse and carriage.

You gaze down the road, the fool didn't even stop you inside the town, does he want you to walk the rest of the way?!

He seems to be in that half daze still, you decide to confront him.



You begin the beration.

He doesn't seem focused on you, as you belt out some of the sickest burns, that even the most coldest of foes would melt to.

After questioning the sexual habits of his mother, and bringing forth the theory of where he could put a cactus on his persons you decide to ask why he seems so uninterested in your abuse.



You notice as he takes a big puff of his cigar, that he raises his tanned, calloused hand.

He grumbles out something along the lines of "Stopped before we hit that."



What...oh fuck.

Oh FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK!

==>

[Eversor]

You glance at the vivid gory mass in front of you.

A flood of thoughts runs through your mind, half of them of any use at all. You don’t take well under pressure, and it is getting a bit to you.



No! None of these thoughts are helping, you are really bad at this!

You think you wet yourself a little bit.



A Sensible Idea! Finnaly those gears in your head were working.

The idea of lifting the limp body perturbs you, what if you end up touched her gooey innards, or worse, you might accidentally cop a feel, and you don’t want to present THAT type of image to the driver, think of the rumors he may tell!

No sir, you are going to have to be careful with this situation indeed.



Now that you are closer, the blood does seem a bit more...darkish then you'd expect it to be.

Maybe it isn't so bad as you thought, it sure did pour out fast too, unless she hit something important...something doesn't make sense, but you'll think more about it when you get her in the carriage.

She sure does feel soft...

==>

[Eversor]

OH GOD, RIGHT IN THE SQUISHY PARTS!

Shes alive! ...or maybe a undead abomination!?

Either way, your kidneys may have just collapsed.



She seems upset, and begins to rattle off some unkind words your way. They seem rather slurred, as she leans off the dusty road. She asks why you were getting friendly with her clothing.

You reply in a shocked state that you thought she might have been harmed and wanted to get her out of the road. To her response, she belts out why you thought the need to assist her any bit at this junction.

Should you explain to her what you thought? Help her? Leave her rude rump on the road and continue on?

==>

[Eversor]

Well then, we are caught up, so at this point, just to be a bit transitional, ill be using my old suggestion box on fb. But as well as taking your suggestions as well. Enjoy!

[Chwoka]

She's probably, like, the unruly governor's daughter or something, and taking her back gives you automatic prestige. Or if she isn't, hey, you made sure they didn't starve in the desert.

[Eversor]

She was still belting up a barrage of uncouth words; you have clouded the little Calamity Jane out for a moment to settle into your thoughts. Standing up though has surprisingly winded you.



That fist of hers certainly held a lot of weight...



...So much so that it seems to have confounded you something fierce. You decide to take "pause" to collect your self.

It's something you haven't done since back in Iowa, so it seems about a right time to check how you are holding up.



Well, it looks like you are doing quite worse for wear…

Ornery!? You do not remember when you got that condition, but it explains your overall attitude to the driver.

That Gut Punch is going to be a problem though, it will chip off some Vim over time before it wears out, and you can blame that one on the lush laying on the trail for that one.

Everything else is fine though, you chose your “Specialty Skills” back in Iowa, the Barter, Speech, and Unarmed. You did not want to be unprepared so it was good to make sure your fists were somewhat acceptable. But mostly you’d rather talk your way out of situations.

You have that one asset they forced you to take back in Iowa, you hated these things, you get one good bonus, and one bad bonus, at the time you didn’t want to bothered with any of them, since they were so random, you never knew what they did until you took it.

[

Fortunate Son, you took it, since you met the very specific perquisites it needed. You figured it would have less chance of screwing you over. But in the end, all it did was increase the chances of hobo’s stabbing you in the street. Great…

You decide to look out of sheer painful curiousity at the other assets you can obtain right now. You never gave them more than a once over, and you got a little more time to kill.



You have about 30 assets to choose from, each more mystifying then the other.

They gave you 3 spare asset points to spend...maybe it couldn't hurt to push your luck and use them up?

Since you decided to be Dexter Crimson, a change might be worth it, who knows, maybe something will make hobo's like you more? Or atleast wine covered, She-Devils?

==>

[Eversor]

I'm sorry what are you referring to? This menu screen is highly original and would never take nods from other games.

That would be a total fallout on someone's part

==>

[Copygoo]

>Educated, Cast-Iron Stomach, Cool As A Steer's Nose

Loving it so far.

[Eversor]

Thats great to hear, I was beginning to wonder if anyone was reading this! I want to push this over to a forum style, but I think the conversion to it was a bit tough for you guys to jump into? Anyways, I hope I get some more choices, theres alot of interesting picks I wrote up!

[MedicInDisquise]

> Pacekeeper, Cast As An Iron Stomach, Ace in thehole

[Navigatorblack]

Skilled, Educated, Cast Iron Stomach. Because you need to prove your essential manliness by drinking some people under the table, and those flighty broads love a "skilled" and "educated" man

[AsuraChaos]

Skilled, cool as a steer's nose, fisticuffs extraordinaire! You simply never know when those fisticuffs skills might come in handy!

[Eversor]

VOTES ARE IN AND THE ASSETS ARE CHOSEN
RESULTS(Both fb and forum results):
Cast-Iron Stomach=5
Educated=4
Cool as a Steer's Nose=3
Fisticuffs Extraordinaire =2
Skilled=2
Ace in the Hold=2
Nine Day Wonder=2
Pace Keeper =1
Hat Bender=1
Galavanter=1
All Hat no Cattle=1
Forked=1
Equalizer=1
Thief=1

[Eversor]

Of the group of assets, right now you think Cast Iron Stomach may come in most handy, hopefully it will remedy that whole “GUT PUNCH” Status too.



You feel a little stupid now. It was in regards to eating? You should have put one in one together. You do not think the benefit will come in handy that often, you tend to avoid meats that lie out in the sun for too long. The VORACIOUS status is not going to be a classy moment for you when it comes up, oh well, maybe the next Asset will fair better.


Educated, okay this is a nice safe, neutral one. The “vanilla” of assets if you had to had to say.



Well finally a benefit you can get behind, a couple of important skills get increased, and more potentially in the future, this will help out! The downside is not too bad either, who cares if your arrogant if you know you're pretty great.

Well you got one more to use, might as well just go for the gold and get it out of the way. Thief…nope, Loco Gringo…pass, oh okay here is a good one. Cool as a Steer’s Nose.



Hey not too bad, avoiding common conditions like these helps you control yourself in social situations…you rarely get the downsides, but…damn it looks a bit scary, you have no idea what it will be like till it comes up. Looks like the ORNERY condition is still running its course, but it won’t come back up again in the future, that’s swell.



*UNPAUSE*

Anyways, where were we again?



Oh yes. Her...

Shes still going on, it would be pretty impressive if you weren't the target of her slurred rant.



You don't say a word, and turn to get your carrying case.

She seems to have hushed up now, and is waiting for a response back.

...Honestly, you haven't listened to a single word she has said.



The awkward silence is deafening. You ponder for a moment what to do.



Decision made! You flip her off and decide to walk the 5 minutes to get into town.

Screw her, and screw the driver! Everyone today has been incompetent!

You whistle a little ditty as you stroll by her calmly.



Where do you want to go, you could take a lay of the land and see the townspeople before you meet up with your uncle.

==>

[Copygoo]

>Sheriff's office. Report that a drunk flighty broad has collapsed in the middle of the street.

[Eversor]

Oh hey! They let me out of the cradle, thats fantastical!

Well just to give people heads up, I usually update every Sunday with 5-9 pictures, so if i go dormant, its because I am working on your suggestions.

[AsuraChaos]

Trip to the sheriff's office seconded!