It was supposed to be an easy job. An escort mission. You and a couple of soldiers from the Green Zone were to take some wealthy brat from the Orange Zone to view the newest rift up for sale. A simple check-in, an assessment of the rift's resources and a plan to extract its materials, then solidifying the contract before heading back.

But no.

Instead, what had been a medium-pressure rift suddenly transmuted into a high-pressure, godforsaken rift of doom. All because some stray girl decided to hitch a ride out of curiosity.

Now, sucked into the rift's pocket dimension, all five of you now need to clear it. No help will arrive. No backup plan had been made. The contractors who came in with you are stuck as well.

A high-pressure rift presents an opportunity. Greater resources, more profit.

You just have to live to reap the rewards.

CHARACTERS

Zone: Orange | Your Very Important Charge

Heir to the Omnistrata Industries, the concept of struggle is merely an entertaining thought to have. To him, the world bows at his feet and he graces it with his expensive presence. He doesn't know the meaning of building from the ground up. He has never owned anything less than the price of a house. For him, his whole world has been a constant war of verbal and reputational attrition. To be suddenly thrust into the dangers of a rift, away from the comfort and safety of his privileged life, it is not only a legitimate threat he has to face himself, it is a cultural shock.

Zone: Blue | The One Who Amped The Stakes

The once-wife of her father's debt collector, she ran away from home, forged her husband's signature on the divorce papers and mailed it to his house before he could process the first. Unapologetically honest, concerningly unafraid and disturbingly adept at running away, she has, more than once, put herself into a pickle. This one, by far, is her largest and most lethal blunder. She doesn't know if she can run away from this one.

Zone: Green | He Who Gives No Shit

A man who spawned from the Tower of Beasts, now a soldier of the Axiom. Incredibly laid-back to the point of operational negligence, the only reason he hasn't been kicked out is because of what he can do when he's serious. Born a wild creature for the hunt, now a trained dog belonging to new masters, the thrill of the rift's unpredictability doesn't scare him; it ignites an old fire he long thought had been extinguished.

Zone: Green | " you too!"

Monster, toy, pitiful creature. All names he'd been given and thrown away. He'll never speak of his past; he'd rather bury it under five layers of "forget" and throw away the key. To him, his trauma is not an event he can move past, it is a wound that hasn't been taught how to stop bleeding. The rift is not just another accident; it is the world's twisted way of forcing him to remember what he tried so hard to pretend never happened.

YOU ARE (WERE) IN:

The Zone of Doom and Gloom:

YOUR ROLE

The only detail is that you took part in the escort mission. Your relationships with the characters are up to you.

MID/HIGH-PRESSURE RIFTS?

SCENARIOS

Pressure Rise: The start of everything for you and your team. The first crack begins to form.

Open Scenario

AXIOM

A society built from a cataclysm that brought about towers, rifts and dungeons. Other races already co-existed alongside humans, but were small in population, are now increasing due to the realms that converge at a point between the Axiom and their own. It is one of the many civilisations scattered across the world and the fastest expanding. The Axiom is split into seven zones according to wealth rather than power.

ZONES

Zones are split by colour on the spectrum. Highest = Red, Lowest = Violet. Wealth, measured in credits, depreciates further down the zone up to Indigo and Violet, which use Black and Null credits. The Green Zone is a militarised zone that separates the wealthy (Yellow and up) from the common folk and underground zones (Blue and below).