(A bit of a test RP between three friends, closed indefinitely. The other participants and I would greatly appreciate observations and criticisms, so PM them as you see fit. )<br/><br/>God (and participants) willing, this story will possess five acts, each with an accompanied Borderlands-esque song that it is named after. I will link the pages of each of the chapters when (if) they should begin.<br/><br/><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #00BF00">Act I - <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w65B2DlpEe0">Mansion on the Hill</a> (Alabama 3) <a class="postlink" href="https://creativefreedomrpg.com/viewtopic.php?f=17&amp;t=46890">Page 1</a></span><br/><span style="color: #0040FF">Act II - <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwoNQvSOxM8">What It's Like</a> (Everlast)</span><br/><span style="color: #8000BF">Act III - <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ijk4j-r7qPA">Take Me Out</a> (Franz Ferdinand)</span><br/><span style="color: #FF40FF">Act IV - <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9AjsA-w48Y">Fury Oh Fury</a> (Nico Vega)</span><br/><span style="color: #FFBF00">Act V - <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmWF1p68nIc">Walking in My Shoes</a> (Depeche Mode)</span><br/><span style="color: #00FFFF">Epilogue - <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mItuZ8i4wH8">Invincible</a> (Ok Go)</span></div></span><br/><span style="color: #00BF00"><span style="font-size: 200%; line-height: 116%;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold">OF VAULTS AND THOSE WHO SEEK THEM<br/>ACT I - <a class="postlink" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w65B2DlpEe0">Mansion on the Hill</a></span></div></span></span>FFBF00<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Pandora. A planet of nearly unparalleled danger and equally unparalleled opportunity. Colonized by a human corporation called Atlas during its winter months many years ago, the coming of summer spelled disastrous. The incredibly lethal Pandoran fauna came out of hibernation, slaughtering the settlers en masse. Atlas fled the planet only to be replaced by Dahl Corporation, settling under the pretext of harvesting the planet's considerable mineral resources. Years later, Atlas invaded the planet again, making another push for Pandora's resources, forcing Dahl to make a messy withdrawal. Atlas survived for a time before being pushed out yet again. Hyperion is only the latest to come and try and open a vault. <br/><br/>All of this was done in an attempt to seek out the Eridian Vaults, hidden locations that are said to contain advanced technology and untold wealth to those who open them. Three Vaults have been opened since Hyperion's arrival: The Vault of the Sentinel, the Vault of the Destroyer, and the Vault of the Warrior. Only time will tell how many more Vaults exist on Pandora and beyond, and there is no end of audacious Vault Hunters who are willing risk life and limb to find one.<br/><br/>An unknown messenger with hidden intent has contacted five such individuals. Five Vault Hunters who have yet to find a vault, each with their own goal and interests in their contents. He states that he knows both the location of a fourth Vault and a key with which to open it, but he needs individuals to retrieve the key and open the Vault without allowing Hyperion or any other competitor to find out and get there first. The reward: 12.5% of per individual of whatever is contained within the vault, enough to set up an individual for life with sold technology alone.</span><br/><br/><div style="text-align: center;">────────────────────</div><br/>Pandora's Surface<br/>The Highlands<br/>Overlook<br/>Day 1, 19:12<br/><br/>Morning light bathed the picturesque town of Overlook in warming rays. At least, it would've been picturesque had it not been for the town's architecture looking like a ramshackle mishmash of scavenged metal and prefabricated constructions. The precarious location didn't help, either. If a fat person jumped up and down at the far end of the Overlook precipice, the whole city was likely to experience a short existential journey of being a flying city for a few meaningful seconds before resting forever in the water below in a million shattered pieces.<br/><br/>Luckily for the city and its inhabitants, Vic was neither fat nor prone to jumping in a suicidal manner. In truth, he was a rather thin, gaunt man of about twenty-two years of age. He was clad in a makeshift hooded green cloak, armored with brown scales and shards of metal. His pale, angular face was hidden behind his hood; only his shifty, olive-green eyes were clearly visible. On one hip he wore a bladed Jakobs revolver in dire need of repair; the other, a bone dagger made of animal parts. His friend and dear companion, Blood, followed him closely at the heel.<br/><br/>Also, Blood was a stalker. The animal kind, not the mal-adjusted kind. The creature's namesake crimson scales glistened in the morning light, ruby-like in their brilliance, and, of course, the scales were eerily similar in color to fresh, aerated. human blood, giving him the appearance to being soaked in it. But that's only when he's not actually soaked in blood. Vic had raised the creature since its youth, and he was one of the few individuals he has ever trusted. The unusual sight of a human and a stalker walking down the street together brought more than a few confused glances, but neither paid much attention to the one or two onlookers.<br/><br/>Vic and Blood were what Pandorans called "Vault Hunters," aggressively foolish individuals who sought out the famed Eridian vaults for profit. The two had come to Overlook after receiving a mysterious message on their ECHO devices from an unknown contact, who stated that he had a big lead on one of the vaults and was hiring a group to acquire a vault key. The message said that if they were interested, they were to go the town of Fyrestone and meet with three other of their kind for more information. Vic wasn't keen on trusting the words of strangers, but this was the only lead he'd had in months, and he wasn't about to let it go to waste.<br/><br/>The pair walked (or, in Blood's case, crawled) up the slope of Overlook's main road, engaged in what they might consider typical discourse.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008000">"Don't look at me like that. You know full well that I don't enjoy traveling either."</span><br/><br/>Blood continued to stare up at him unflinchingly with his steely blue eyes, skittering alongside Vic and matching his pace exactly.<br/><br/>Vic let out an melodramatic sigh, a hint of an affectionate smile peeking through.<span style="color: #008000">"Alright, alright. if you must force my hand..." </span>Out of his pack he produced a slab of a raw meat and threw it into Blood's waiting maw.<span style="color: #008000">"Happy now?"</span><br/><br/>Blood made a low growl that could be translated as either assent or the intent to immediately consume someone.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008000">"Good!"</span><br/><br/>Vic stopped to check his credit balance to see how much he would have left after paying the Fast Travel Network kiosk.<span style="color: #008000">"Blood, my friend, this better end up with us getting damn filthy rich. Too many dead ends have left us with nothing to show for them. I'm almost out of money. You hear that? We'll be back to hunting for food and living in caves."</span><br/><br/>Blood made a noncommittal gesture that vaguely resembled a shrug.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008000">"You have a point. I guess it wouldn't be so bad. It'd be like old times. You and I, gathering our own food and sleeping in our own den. None of this traveling."</span><br/><br/>As they approached the Fast Travel Kiosk, the conversation stopped. The pair had gone far across Pandora together, seeking what the vaults contained behind their mysterious gates ever since the Vault of the Sentinel was opened and its guardian slain by four bloodthirsty Vault Hunters. This, however, felt different. More important. Perhaps this trip to Fyrestone marked the beginning of a new chapter of an old tale?<br/><br/>Vic glanced down at his friend, an uncertain smile trying to take hold on his dirt-smeared face. Blood returned the gaze and bared his innumerable sharp teeth in a manner that was probably supposed to be reassuring. As the Fast Travel Kiosk powered up and they felt their bodies disintegrating, an unusual thought crossed Vic's mind, surprising in its surety:<br/><br/><span style="color: #008000"><span style="font-style: italic">This is it.</span></span>