Riftgod Tournament

Jackie sat dormant in the dark, empty restaurant, her head in her hands. It had been 3 months, and no sign of him. Howard, her adopted father, had gone missing. She knew he was getting old, but this wasn't that. It was almost like he'd warped into thin air. Gone. Nobody recognized his face on the missing posters. It was like he never existed. She lived in Hagerdsford, which was classified as a rouge city, meaning they were independent, and they fell under no nation. That meant no police were available to search for him. Jackie tied her messy, red-dyed hair into a ponytail and stood up to walk out of the restaurant, drained and sapped of energy, in turn filled with despair. She looked up to see a poster. She immediately assumed it was one of the missing posters she'd put up, until looking at it again. It was something else.

The Riftgod Tournament is here!

Fight hundreds for your chance to win one wish, granted by the three Riftgods!

The entirety of Rifthelm Capital will be used for this event. It will take place on May 13th. Don't be late! See the registration points below.

One wish? She could wish for anything? Perhaps this could offer some solution to the mystery of her father.. She looked at the registration points, and one was in a small city called Uinobo. With lack of a better option, she decided to investigate this tournament. Hagerdsford was a brutal place, so Jackie wasn't without combat ability, despite her 4'7 stature. She even had practice with firearms, and kept a pistol on her for emergencies, a pistol she had on her even now. This meant she may have a chance, depending on the circumstances of the event. She hailed a cab, without even packing any of her belongings. Not that she had any. It was a surprisingly short trip to Uinobo, and as soon as she entered the city gates, she saw many signs pointing to the registration point, signs that stood above a long line, everyone waiting to register. She was about to get out of the car when the cab driver spoke.

"Hey lady, I'd be careful. Rumor has it Mainstay Bulwark is hiding out in this city." Jackie tilted her head.

"Mainstay Bulwark?" She asked.

"Yeah. Outlaw with a ten million dollar bounty on his head. Killed his own daughter. And a queen, mind you. Since then, he's killed more than 17 hunters, all trying to claim his bounty. Dangerous lad, he is." He reached under the console of the car. "Here. We're supposed to hand these out." He gave her a wanted poster of the criminal in question. He had huge, bat-like, fleshy, greyish purple wings sticking out from his back. He was a very menacing character.

"Thanks." Jackie said, though somewhat uninterested. She didn't plan on staying long enough to come in contact with any outlaws. She wanted to get in, fix her problem, and get out. Once she pushed through the disorganized line and to the front, she spoke with the man at the registration point.

"Hi." Jackie said. "I'd like to regist-"

"Name." He said blankly.

"Uh- Jackie?"

"What's your loadout?"

"Loadout?" The man squinted at her condescendingly.

"The weapons you're using?"

"Oh, I... I don't know... can I fill that out later?"

"No."

"Well... can I put something down now and change it later?"

"No."

"You know, you could stand to be a bit nicer. There's no reason to be so mean." The man squinted again at her, silent for almost 10 seconds.

"Next!" He said shouted abruptly.

"No- no wait!" Jackie said. She was promptly pushed out of the line by those behind her, and was now standing outside of the crowd. "Hey! I was there first! Get out of my way!!" She quickly began trying shove her way back into the line, to no avail. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jerked around to see a man. He was wearing a mask that covered his face from nose to chin. He also had a cloak that concealed his body, but it was clear that he was incredibly, unbelievably burly. It was almost as if he had the mass of two people under the cloak. Despite this, he was perhaps slightly above average height.

"I couldn't help but overhear what happened." The voice that came forth was unexpected. It was somewhat calm and kind. "I've done a few of these, and I could help you build a loadout." Jackie was obviously hesitant. A strange figure appears and offers help to a stranger at no aid to themselves. But something about him seemed trustworthy, and it somehow overcame what about him appeared untrustworthy. It isn't like she had many other options. She had little to no knowledge of weaponry, despite her competent handling with it. And, judging by the prize of the tournament, it wouldn't be far-reaching to assume that the other contestants were professionals, or at least did their research. Going in blindly could lead to her death. She still had her pistol on her, and figured she could whip it out should she need to fend off against this guy.

"Sure. Thank you."

"No problem." He said. "Come this way." He walked away from the crowd, and she followed. He led her to a place called Arsenal Center. As they entered, she quickly came to recognize the form of a large mall. It was astounding to see such a large space dedicated to equipment like this.

"Now, um, I don't mean to be rude, but I'd imagine you'd be more comfortable with a... lighter build." Jackie was initially offended, until she realized that, not only was he perfectly just in making such an assumption, given her appearance, but he was also likely right. Not that she was weak or unable to carry heavy gear, but she would rather avoid being encumbered with equipment, if it could be avoided that is.

"So," He continued. "I'd recommend an SMG. Here." They entered a store that was lined with guns, most of them hanging by rope rather haphazardly from the ceiling in a way that they looked like ornaments. He grabbed an SMG from the wall.

"This is a DirtShark m92. It's a very balanced gun, decent statistics all around. Shooting range is in the back if you want to give it a test run."

"Oh, really?" Jackie said. "Yeah, I'll try it out."

They walked to the back of the store, and he gave her the gun. It was surprisingly heavier than she expected. The figure of it looked so light. It wasn't anything she couldn't manage, she just had to get used to it.

"Now, here's the key with the DirtShark." He said. "For an SMG, it has really great accuracy. But the way to take advantage of it is firing it in short bursts. Give it a try."

Following his instructions, Jackie fired at the target in short bursts. Almost each bullet hit the center circle area. The gun was indeed very accurate, and she attributed her success to that fact. But that was proven false when she turned toward the guy who was helping her, his face, though still mostly hidden by the mask, clearly shocked with such a result.

"That was amazing! You've done this before, right?"

"Fired a gun? Yeah."

"Well, you definitely have a knack for this."

"Uh, thanks? I guess... so, what's next?" Jackie asked.

"Hmm. You probably don't need a secondary."

"Don't need one? Why not have one?"

"Well, in the tournament, you get refills. They're basically care packages. If you don't have a secondary, you'll get more ammo for your primary. Plus, no point in having extra weight on you that you're not gonna use."

"Oh... that's a good point."

"I would equip you with a knife though. As far as throwables go, some shrapers would probably suffice." Jackie tilted her head. "Oh- shrapers are just a type of frag grenade."

It was interesting how much he knew about the topic. She was thankful to have someone to help her, even if she was still a tad suspicious. He took her from store to store, until they finally had finished the loadout. They left the mall and began walking without aim.

"Hey- I have to stop at a saloon. You're welcome to come."

"I guess I don't have much better to do." She shrugged. She followed him as he walked, supposedly toward the destination.

"I just realized, I haven't told you my name..." Jackie chuckled. "I'm Jackie. You are?" He abruptly stopped walking. Jackie took a second to realize, and when she did, she was ahead of him. She turned around. "Um... are you ok?" He had no response. Suddenly, he reached for Jackie's shoulder and pulled her toward him, wrapping her in an aggressive bear hug. Then, multiple gunshots sounded from behind. Jackie could feel as he took the recoil of the automatic bullet fire. It seemed like an entire magazine was emptied on his back, and when the rapid fire stopped, he let go of Jackie. She stumbled backward, and could see the attacker behind him. He was currently reloading. Her friend grabbed his cloak and ripped it off of his back, letting it be carried away by the wind, revealing what was underneath.