Harsh neon glares from it's place perched on rooftops. 'XXX fun!' and 'Hot! Hot! Hot!' make up the majority - this isn't the good side of Seattle. A lone priest walks the garishly lit streets, his head lowered and hands stuffed into the small pockets of his robes. It still amazes him at such corruption existing on this world. Why does God do nothing? Why wont he cleanse the world of the filth?

In Seattle, a single wrong turn can lead to a world of hurt. The priest turns down an alley, his home is right on the other side. A simple place. A one room coffin in the No-Tell Motel. A rustle behind him. he turns, a massive, horned troll stands, decked out in gang colours and grinning.

'Give money now. You go free.' the hulking figure speaks, a long chain wrapped around it's massive hand like a set of knuckles.

'I have no money. I am a man of God.' the lone priest spoke, confident this would make the smelly troll simply leave.

Another voice however, from above, wouldn't make that so easy. 'Money or your life.' This one was human, decked out in the same colours as the troll as he sat on the fire-escape, a pistol aimed down at the defenseless priest. Chrome marred his skin - evidence of extensive implants. Cybernetic augmentation was a big deal in 2062 - Most everyone but the mages had at least a little. This guy however, had a lot. A laser, coming from his eye stared down at the priest, his arms completely metallic up to the shoulders.

'I assure you -' the dark-haired priest started 'I have no money, and my life is worth little. What could you possibly gain by killing a man of God?' he was afraid now, and it showed.

The man leaped down from the fire-escape, standing opposite the troll. The priest was boxed in.

'We kill. Killing fun. Mebbe eat.' spoke the troll as he began to lumber forward. The priest, in terror, turned and began to run, but only managed to bump into the heavily chromed man with a gun. 'Don't go runnin' now ya fraggin' drekhead. The funs just startin'! You're the main attraction.' he began to laugh, pointing his gun at the priests head.

'Where is god?' the terrified priest thought as he began to sob. 'Why has he not come? What did I do wrong? Why is he punishing me?!' Something snapped in that priest then. God wasn't coming for him. God had abandoned him. God had left the filth, because God must no longer care. The priests tears stopped, and in a split second, to save his own life he grabbed at the gun, turning the chromed man's hand inward, slipping his finger into the trigger and squeezing twice.

Two shots rang out, the gangers head exploding into a fine mist of blood and brain. The priest quickly grabbed the gun from the limp hand, unloading the full clip into the troll, who had stopped in surprise at the site of his leaders head turning into confetti. A few bullets from a pistol are rarely enough to take down the tank-like troll however.

Roaring angrily the troll began to rush forward, the priest gasping and starting to run with all his strength towards the end of the dingy alley. Screaming for help he he ran, stumbling over trash and plastic boxes, the troll plowing forward like a train after him, the priest thought he would die. Luck however, did seem to be on his side.

As he reached the street - the troll close behind, a rigger from a rival gang - one who can become one with vehicles noticed the commotion. A car suddenly came screaming down the street, no driver in it's seat. A machine gun mounted on the side opened fire, high-caliber rounds ripping through the troll, tearing flesh away from bone until there was nothing but a large pile of indistinguishable flesh, bone, and blood laying in the street. Without even slowing the car turned a corner and disappeared.

The priest panted and gasped, entering the hotel. Only then did he realize that still in his hand was the gun, the clip empty, his finger twitching, clicking the trigger repeatedly. He silently stared at it for several moments, before pushing it into the pocket of his robe. If god wouldn't cleanse the world - then maybe he would.

If you want a game with atmosphere and attitude to spare, then Awake 2062 is your game. Based on the 3e rules of Shadowrun, with a friendly playberbase, and a group of imms who run quests and encourage Roleplay and story development, this is one of the best Cyberpunk Muds around in my opinion. Come join us today!