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Get away for sure, weren’t we on our way to the seaport town anyway? Enough of this distraction.
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Mar 23, 2019 07:02
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Reality has taken enough of a pounding today; let's avoid the rift
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Mar 23, 2019 08:21
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Let's go find a friendly town and see if we can barter our stuff.
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Mar 23, 2019 08:30
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Tree Bucket posted:Reality has taken enough of a pounding today; let's avoid the rift Since we didn't have a chance to get a refill from the dimensionally-misplaced waiter bot, we should throw in an empty bottle, just in case it gets the hint.
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Mar 23, 2019 08:38
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Tunicate posted:Since we didn't have a chance to get a refill from the dimensionally-misplaced waiter bot, we should throw in an empty bottle, just in case it gets the hint. super sweet best pal posted:Let's go find a friendly town and see if we can barter our stuff. Tree Bucket posted:Reality has taken enough of a pounding today; let's avoid the rift new friend from school posted:Get away for sure, weren’t we on our way to the seaport town anyway? Enough of this distraction. "Hey! Maurice! What in the Arc are you doing?" says Baradas. You snap out of your reverie. You were wandering towards the rift. Why would you do that?  "Sorry," you say, shaking the image out of your mind. "It was just so... beautiful in there." "There's no telling where it leads." says Adanios. "Could be Throughspace, could be another reality in the Alltogether, could even be another multiverse. Only a complete idiot would blithely wander in- hey, excuse me, what are you guys doing?!" There's a large contingent of the cultists who are moving toward the rift.  "We were promised an exodus by the Prophet Whorst. This must be the manifestation of His Promise. We're going to escape the Constructors!" replies the man leading the group. "What? Don't you get it yet? Whorst was a puppet of an evil extradimensional monster! He was going to kill you! And this? This has nothing to do with him! This is an accident!" you yell at them. You can't conceive of such foolishness, yet here it is. "You are not a true believer." says the leader. They again walk to the rift. Adanios is extremely upset. "I don't know what to do!" He looks through his book of illustrated cards, hoping for something that will fix this. "It's our screw-up that caused this rift, and now these people are just going to wander into it and die!" One-by-one, the few dozen people following the leader file through the rift and vanish into the contorted patterns of light. Adanios closes his book, and looks downcast at the stony earth. The rest of the disenchanted dome-dwellers begin to wander away in columns, headed for whatever community on the Beaten Lands would take them in. And still, the refugees from Port Pondskipper come streaming in, blinking in confusion and upset at the absence of dome.  You pitch your empty liquor bottle through the rift, angrily. "Let's get the thox out of here." you mutter. Everyone silently agrees. "Although, do you think you could stop saying the thet word so much?" asks Vihrau. "What, 'thox'? Is that worse than I thought?" "It's- uh, it's not a gentle term." she says, and leaves it at that. "C'mon, Goskit." says 'Oost. "A'ltakeya 'ome affer we drop dese folx off a'Ponskipper." "It'll be nice t'see Home a'er all t'is time." he says, gratefully.  The gun-box is getting crowded, but the ride isn't too much longer. You feed little moistbread crumbs to Suvram as the gun-box trundles along. "[So, those cards.]" you ask Adanios. "[What's going on with that?]" "[Oh, er, well... I'm an Interpreter, you see. So I take the readout from the Ourosat, which is a sort of- um. Imagine a book that is writing itself continuously, based upon- uh- based upon the acts and actions of- of what we call "The Morality Play.]" "[...and that is?]" "[This is all very abstracted, mind you, he's dumbing it down significantly to the point where he may as well be talking about something else-]" says Baradas. "[-but the Morality Play is a group of entities who inhabit a plane comprised elementally of macroverses at the- er, basest of levels. The Ourosat "orbits" this plane, giving us uhh reconnaissance as to their actions and statements. We then interpret these for the, uh, purposes of strengthening the Moral Fabric protecting our own Manifest, here in the Alltogether.] "[Clear?]" says Baradas, tongue firmly in cheek. "[So you, what, write and draw these beautiful pictures, and they have powerful properties?]" "[Another form of willbringer, yes. There are many ways to bring about effects, this is one of the more powerful. It draws from greater sources than mere wires or intersyncs do. I prepared this book of cards, each of which has its own ability, without knowing precisely what I'd be facing. They're the only weapon and armor I have against the dangers of the Manifest.]" His tone suggests he wasn't super excited about this fact. "I'm hoping there's still food available when we get to Port Pondskipper, you three are making me hungrier than a bolt-goat." says Vihrau, holding her stomach. It's growling loudly enough to be heard over the bellowing engine. "Speaking of which, I can see the city up ahead." There's a growing jumble of towers and scaffolding. The horizon beyond turns into endless shining water. You are entering Port Pondskipper.  "Wow." you say, impressed. It's one of the bigger conurbations you ever remember seeing, and even struck by terror and bleeding population it is a buzzing hive. Every walkway is a train of people going to-and-fro from the cities' hotels, bars, and brothels and the docks. Great ships are hurriedly taking on passengers and product alike, while fewer are disgorging people onto the docks. The atmosphere is a bizarre mix of panic and daily business. 'Oost lets you out. "Awas intendin' on 'elpin' but amgonna bring Goskit to 'ome. 'E's 'ad a rough time o'it, nawmean? But yi'kin 'ave a couple mekanism guns if you want, an'athink agot coupla bombs'r'grenades'n'therr 'swell. Take a look."  Vihrau selects a scary-looking mekanism gun, and throws the strap over her opposite shoulder. "Don't mind if I do." she says, seeming all-too-excited at the sudden new power to kill. You select a pair of (what 'Oost tells you are) remote activation bombs and a mekanism pistol not unlike the one Laceruro used back at the Oasis.   You, Vihrau, Adanios and Baradas are on the walkway of main commercial avenue of Port Pondskipper. Dozens of vehicles, from animal-drawn to pedaled to powered mekanism, pour along the avenue. There are a number of clustered buildings made from a jumble of materials; fabkrite, old brick, scrap wood, ply-reed, N-mesh, tile, etc. all vie for visual attention in the space. "Where to first?" asks Vihrau. 1.) Mad Morbon's Armory 2.) Pondskipper Pub & Eatery 3.) Skrivv's Skraps 'n' Mekanisms 4.) Doctor Larid'n'm's Clinic (Yog algino Doraldnki!) 5.) Donwa's Thrifty Fashion 6.) The First Bank of Moran 7.) Wixlett's Fortunes & Prognost. 8.) Gugt's Thugges 4 Hyre 9.) Yumpot's Instrument Explosion!!! Keep in mind, you also have 127.40 drenkmar you took from Laceruro's study! Inventory Characters Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 01:27 on Mar 24, 2019 |
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Mar 23, 2019 23:52
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2 Food first, plus it's a chance to listen to the local gossip and learn about the nearby Construct
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Mar 24, 2019 01:07
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 A curiosity for your enjoyment. I will be updating later tonight if anyone has another location in the city they'd like to visit. Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Mar 25, 2019 |
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Mar 25, 2019 01:24
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vortmax posted:2 Food first, plus it's a chance to listen to the local gossip and learn about the nearby Construct You decide to grab a bite to eat, so you begin walking towards Pondskipper Pub & Eatery, which is near the waterside. On the way you pass the window for Yumpot's Instrument Explosion!!! and see a beautiful, luxury-model bass whistlehorn. Tempting, very tempting!  The restaurant is dark and reeks of tobacco smoke and vhuka vapor, plus fish--both cooked and un-.  The bartender sizes up your group. "Tar-jars?" "The Squ- beg you pardon?" you ask. "You want a round of tar-jars?" "Can I say no?" "You can, aye. Just you look Morani-ish, and they drink tar-jars round those parts." "Then in that case, gimme a tar-jar." you say. He pours a viscous black beverage from a tap into a glass, and slides it over the bar to you. "4 drenkmar."  "Do you have loma nectar?" asks Vihrau. "Loma nectar, that's from your reality isn't it, iO Shiamara?" says the bartender. "Yes; so I take it you don't have it?" "Oh I've got loma nectar, it'll just cost you a little more." "You've got me covered, don't you Maurice?" she asks, smiling sweetly at you. Sigh. "Yeah, yeah I'll get you a drink." "And food?" "And food, fine." "And if there's something sweet-" "Just try not to go overboard." LUNCH MENU posted:Ⓣ The Ogrithek "Dokionudko" Plate (Ogrithek Roast Game Bird).....❧12.00 "I've never heard of any of this." you say. "How am I supposed to decide?" "Well, there's five specials, four of us. Let's each just get something and try each others'." You order the tasting plate of cheeses, the crisp bowl with salad, the 6-spice stew and the roast game bird. You avoid the loose myot sandwich, mostly due to the phrase "loose myot" which is both meaningless and yet viscerally unappealing to you. You sit back and tune in on the hubbub around you, trying to hear if there's any juicy information floating about. An excited young man's voice catches your ear. "Did you see that there's a transworlder over at Thugges 4 Hyre? They say they've been to four different realities, and even managed to destroy a Construct in one of them." "How the san'bar they do that?" coos their companion, impressed. "They didn't say. Beats me, too. I've only ever heard of the one getting destroyed, and whoever did it ain't telling how." "Won't happen again, if my luck's any indication. Just when I start up my jewelry shop of course a sinking Construct pops up in the bay." "Ooh, I think that's our food- aw no, what? We were totally here before those guys." "Vuldon's rear end, did you see the cranemy menadly all of the aisad gasd?" You can't focus anymore. Something is bothering you.  This man has been giving you the stink-eye at least since you first noticed him. You give him a rather reeky glare in return. "You're a sinking Morani, aren't you?" says the man. "What's it to you? And what do you mean 'sinking'?" "It's slang around Port Pondskipper. Which is where I've been stuck since you bastards took over my family's ancestral city and exiled us all on pain of death." "I'm afraid I don't know anything about that." The man looks even more incensed. "Oh, you don't know about that, huh? Not worth talking about, driving out the Cariti family from their home and shattering their legacy forever. Not a big topic of conversation at the Citadel, huh?" "I'm not particularly interested in what they say at the Citadel." you reply. "What's your sinking problem, Morani?" "My name's Maurice, and I suggest you calm down." "Calm down? Calm down?! That's easy for you to say, has anyone screwed you over for everything you've got?" "Yes, in fact, they have! Just very recently, thank you for reminding me! And I don't have anything to do with my family anymore, so you should direct your ire somewhere more productive." "Is there a problem here?" says Vihrau, stepping in-between the two of you. "This Morani here is just getting a lesson in consequences." spits the angry Cariti man. "For R'as' sake, look at the man. Does he look like he's not experienced consequences?" she says. She gestures to your tattered, blood-stained clothing, your copious bandages, the slight limp to your step and pained movement of your arm. "This man turned against the Morani for their deeds, and he's suffered beyond measure for it. For all of our sakes!" she continues, passionately. The man steps back and and looks at you, appraisingly. "I guess a Morani wouldn't go out like that, certainly. I wouldn't go out like that and I'm in dire poverty." "Yes, well, thank you-" you say. "Yes, and the dirt and stink on his face! Unshaven, uncombed, unkempt. This is a man who paid a price for something he believed in, and it shows." says Vihrau, putting a bit fine a point on it. "Squiv, man. You're an inspiration to all of us, for giving up so much. I apologise for causing any trouble." He looks you over one more time, pity in his eyes. "If you need anything, I'm over at the Tidepool House off Glurgeway Catwalks, Level four. It's the one with the great arms of Cariti on the door, you can't miss it." He puts money on the bar. "I'll cover whatever they're having." he says, and walks out the door. "Well, that worked out well!" says Vihrau, cheerfully. "...yeah." You respond, quietly affronted. The food arrives. The server identifies them helpfully for you as she sets each plate down. "Drejj stew!"  "Doraldnki crisp bowl and salad!"  "Cheese and moistbread tasting plate!"  "Ogrithek roast game bird!"  Oh my Squiv, if you weren't so hungry you'd happily starve. The mix of smells is overpowering; your eyes water. Who eats this stuff? "You eat some really odd foods in your reality." says Vihrau, looking uncertainly at the spread before you. "I could go for a roast beef and a tallow pudding, some hot spring peas with butter." says Adanios. "Oh yes, or pigeon pastry pie, brown gravy, and a pint of sour cider." responds Baradas. "What are you two talking about? My Prophet's tongue isn't working for some reason." "We're talking about all the foods we'd rather be eating than this." says Baradas, matter-of-factly. She scoops some pungeant stew up into her mouth; her eyes look dead inside as she swallows. You decide to give them a wide berth for now. "Bartender," you ask. "Did you happen to see three young-ish women, crazy-colored hair, weird clothes? Would have come through yesterday, midday?" "You're looking for the iO Shiamara girls. Yeah, I've seen 'em. They had a quick meal and went straight on to the Construct, at least according to them. Is this one here a friend of theirs?" "Thanks for the information." you say, slipping a few drenkmar his way. "Sure thing. Another tar-jar?" 1.) Oh, that sounds lovely! 2.) Love to, but we'd better take out that Construct. 3.) Love to, but I still want to hit up: > Mad Morbon's Armory > Skrivv's Skraps 'n' Mekanisms > Doctor Larid'n'm's Clinic (Yog algino Doraldnki!) > Donwa's Thrifty Fashion > The First Bank of Moran > Wixlett's Fortunes & Prognost. > Gugt's Thugges 4 Hyre > Yumpot's Instrument Explosion!!! Inventory Characters Map Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 21:26 on Mar 26, 2019 |
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Mar 25, 2019 21:32
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3: Let's go to Donwa's, see if that ugly coat's worth anything.
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Mar 26, 2019 02:54
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super sweet best pal posted:3: Let's go to Donwa's, see if that ugly coat's worth anything. "Love to, but I'd stillllllike to hhhit up-" oh Squiv, that tar-jar is stronger than you thought it would be. "-uh I'd still like to hit up Donwa's. I got an ugly coat I'm hoping might be worth something." Everyone is finishing up eating, looking a bit queasy. The Ogrithek game-bird is barely-touched, being only partially-cooked and covered in charcoal dust. "Hhheeyyy gang, you ready to hhead off?" you ask, tipsily. "Stop calling us 'gang', Maurice." says Vihrau. "First Donwa's thrift shop, and then we're gonna strike that Construct in the bay." "So, listen about that: I've poked around at this portal device you picked up, and I can program it to get us inside the Construct. But we're going to have to be a lot closer to it." "So we're gonna need a boat." She nods. "Yeah." "That'll be cheap, I'm sure. Okay, two stops: Donwa's, then the docks."  Donwa gives you quite a look as you wander into her shop. "Wow. Oh my. Wow. This Morani ruffian look you've got going on? I love it! I love everything about it. Can I just buy the clothes right off you? HA!" She throws up her hands and looks to the sky as if shooting off invisible fireworks.  "Ha! Yeah! No. You can't. But I was hoping you could appraise something for me." "If it's more of what you've got going on here, SIGN. ME. UP!!!" she shrieks. A long peal of laughter almost makes you want to spin on your heel and walk out.  "Right. Well, it's some sort of purple fur, although I don't think it's fur- it smells really musty. It almost feels like moss-" "Oh, my. This isn't from our reality, is it?" Donwa asks, awe in her voice. She runs her hands over the fabric, and it shimmers with purple opalescence under her fingertips. "I have no idea." you respond, honestly. "I... inherited it." "It's unique, that's for certain." she says. She sniffs it and wrinkles her nose. "Whoof. May I try it on?" "Knock yourself out." She pops the fur over her shoulders and immediately becomes blurry, her edges vague and indistinct. It seems as though you can see the hazy suggestions of objects behind her, although they're extremely low resolution. Baradas says "hm." "It seems like a sort of camouflage. Is this a willbringer from your own reality or from the iO Shiamara's?" "It's like nothing I've seen." says Vihrau, impressed. "Nobody from my reality has invisibility cloaks." Baradas scoffs. "It's hardly an invisibility cloak. If you were looking for her, you'd definitely know she was there. It's camouflage at best." Vihrau shoots Baradas a dirty look and flips her off iO Shiamara-style with her absent hand. "I saw that." Baradas says. Shock and confusion flicker across Vihrau's features: did she see the dirty look, or the- "I love love love love love love LOVE! This! It's perfect! No matter where I go, my coat will fit right in! Ha! How much do you want for it?" "That sounds pretty useful," you say. "I may hold onto it." Donwa looks irritated. "Tell you what, I'll give you fifty drenkmar for it." "I'm about to do something dangerous, not being seen might be a goo-" "I'll give you seventy-five drenkmar! Thats as high as I can go, I'm trying to run a business here! Ha!" "Tell you what," you say, "I'm going to be coming back this way. Let me just cogitate on whether I want to sell this." She looks unsure, but also doesn't want to fight her way out of a sale. "I'll get my cash ready. See you soon!" she says, hopefully. "You got it!" And now it's down to the docks to pick out a boat.  "Ahoy there, landlubbers!" says the man at the docks. "Lookin' to rent ye a boat?" "Uh, yes, actually." "Good time for it. Ain't nobody goin' out on account o' the Construct. Nobody knows when it'll kill us all. Plus the sea is mighty choppy out around it." You squint into the horizon. "Can you see it from here?" you ask. "Ar no, thar's a shroudin' mist it forms about itself. Ye almos' don' know yer approachin' it until yer atop it nearly." "Excellent, good to hear. Do you have a good seaworthy boat for me and my crew? We're actually looking to take out the Construct, so we'll need one that can survive plunging straight into the heart of the storm." The man laughs for a moment, then sees you're serious and begins to laugh harder. "Oh laird Vuldon, yer a sinkin' fool. 'Ow in san'bar ye think yer gwine take out a Construct?" "None of your business." you say. "Boat. Now. Each moment you jerk me around I pay less." "Ye pay less ye get a worse boat. I've got three boats, one at 50 drenkmar, one at 75 drenkmar, and one at 100 drenkmar. Price is out of the docks, take what ye get, and bring back by sundown or I append a fee." "Fine, whaddya got?" you say. "Here's the PPSS Better'n'Nothing, a strictly seaworthy vessel with, like, one square sail. It gets an average of 4 knots. Leaks a fair bit, so you'll need someone to man the bilge bucket."  "Here's the PPSS Quantitative Improvement, two masts and foresail. Gets about 6 knots with a strong wind. Bit of a smell belowdecks, we think someone spilled milk down there."  "And this beauty here is the PPSS Foamy Queen. four masts and foresail, aft lateen. Gets eight plus knots on a good day, and's broken plenty of records. Also there's a bar."  Which ship do you choose? 1.) The PPSS Better'n'Nothing (50 drenkmar) 2.) The PPSS Quantitative Improvement (75 drenkmar) 3.) The PPSS Foamy Queen (100 drenkmar) And also, would you like to sell your purple camouflage cloak for 75 drenkmar? Inventory Characters Map
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Mar 27, 2019 02:15
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Does it come with a crew? Take the big boat if it does, but the middle one if we have to do it ourselves. Keep the cloak for now, but maybe sell it if we survive this.
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Mar 27, 2019 18:48
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Aye, there's some hands aboard.
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Mar 27, 2019 18:50
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The cheapest boat is probably fine. We need the cash for strange food and drinks, damnit!
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Mar 27, 2019 18:56
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Pawn the stealth suit for funds and buy the medium boat.
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Mar 27, 2019 20:38
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Large boat best, also it has a bar so we can restock our booze supplies by looting it.
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Mar 27, 2019 21:02
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So far votes are in favor of the big boat (PPSS Foamy Queen) and split 50/50 on selling the purple fur cloak [before heading out of port.] Anyone else want to weigh in? Buy/sell purple cloak? There's a couple hours to go.
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Mar 28, 2019 00:59
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The cloak is rad and being stealthy like a ninja is also rad, keep the cloak.
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Mar 28, 2019 03:36
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Welcome aboard. I'm Cap'n Ayleot Strickle of the "Foamy Queen". Where'ld you like to go?"  "First, to the bar. Then, to the Construct." you respond. "Ah, lovely. Well the bar's in the aft castle, but how are you planning on getting out to the Construct?" "That's what the boat is for, isn't it?" you say, fixing the captain with a dominating gaze. "Ha! Hahaha, good one sir. No, we're not going out to the Construct. No no no no." "I hired this ship, so take it to the Construct or I'll take it there myself." "Can you even sail a ship?" "I'm sure you'll yell out instructions from the bowsprit, where you'll be tied." Captain Strickle stares you down and you stare him back up and down again on his side. He gives in, reluctantly. "I'm not getting any closer to it than I gotta. You'd better have good range on whatever it is you're using to get inside." "Whatever, deal. Let's just get going." you say.  After a few minutes of the crew running about making preparations, the PPSS Foamy Queen pulls away from the slip and begins cutting through the choppy waves on the way out to the Construct.  "Drinky drinky drink drink drink drink!" you sing to yourself, as you pour yourself some of the nicer alcoholic drinks available at the bar. After a pleasant tipple, you play a jaunty sea shanty on your whistlehorn.  Vihrau happily jumps and stomps around, and clearily wants to clap but--well. "Oh hey hey hey, I was thinking um, earlier-" you slur after your shanty comes to a close. "Is that rift gonna be a big prollem? Y'know?" "Difficult to say," answers Adanios. There's something blue-ish in a thin fluted glass in his hand. "If you can, and if you like, picture the Manifest as a very large crystal suspended in a fluid of amorphous possibility; stresses within the crystalline structure can naturally produce fractures--where realities divide--or fusings--where realities are merged together. These are natural. However, there are unnatural fractures or fusings, caused by something like these Constructors, or the cracking event we caused back at the dome." Baradas pushes in. "Of course it's bad news. Fissures like these reach further than the boundaries of your universe, and can even affect us at the Basilica. A fissure exactly like that is exactly the reason my friend Euclidia is dead!" she barks. There's a creak and the room shifts to the side. "Is it tippy in here?" asks Adanios, now gingerly sipping at a ruby liquid in a cordial glass. You look about. The ship is definitely leaning very heavily. "Strickle!" you shout. No answer. You run out the door from the aft castle to amidship. "Strickle!" you call out. You can see the vague outlines a huge Construct through the mists. It flickers, suspended between realities.  "This is madness!" he shouts at you. "I'm not getting any closer to the Construct!" "You have to! It's not close enough!" you bellow over the heightened winds. "It has its own weather, dammit! Never sail towards something that controls the weather, that's beginner's sailing!" "I need at least thirty spans closer, Strickle!" you fire back. "Thirty spans or we're out here for nothing, get it?" "Go sink yourself, you labber!" he screams, tightly gripping the wheel. 1.) Try to talk Captain Strickle around. 2.) Threaten Captain Strickle with a weapon. 3.) Knock Captain Strickle aside and take the helm yourself. Inventory Characters Map Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 05:44 on Mar 28, 2019 |
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Mar 28, 2019 05:40
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Ah dammit, I was hoping we'd go rendezvous with brother cold before hopping on a ship. 3. Take the wheel. He just invited us to do it ourself, said he didn't mind if we sank the boat even!
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Mar 28, 2019 08:41
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Yeah take the wheel! And considering that action officially makes us a pirate, put suvram on our shoulder as a makeshift parrot. Request some rum/grog from the bar as well, while we're at it.
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Mar 28, 2019 08:56
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Mar 28, 2019 09:12
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1.) Tell the captain that we are gonna attack the Construct, so odds are we die horribly, which should appeal to him. If he doesn't submit we may never leave the ship in which case he is suck with us... and our music, forever.
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Mar 28, 2019 10:22
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simplefish posted:Ah dammit, I was hoping we'd go rendezvous with brother cold before hopping on a ship. HermanCain posted:Yeah take the wheel! And considering that action officially makes us a pirate, put suvram on our shoulder as a makeshift parrot. "Strickle, you idiot! You told me you'd get close enough for us to use the portal!" "I changed my mind! I don't want to die!" "I'm considering killing you myself!" you snap, frustrated. "Get the Squiv out of the way!" You brusquely push the Captain aside and take the wheel. At once, the thing wrenches you hard to the side; it's all you can do to bring it back to equilibrium. "Oh Vuldon, Vuldon, you don't know what you're doing at all, do you?" says Strickle, panicked. "You had your chance to be in control, Strickle!" you say. You guide the wheel steadily port, trying to maneuver a large spiral around the Construct.  The Construct begins emanating a deep, low bass sound. It's overwhelming in its totality; you can feel it in your bones. The note echoes in your skull. The waves begin to form strange patterns which dance around the Construct. The pulsing tones change, the patterns change, knocking the Foamy Queen about like a toy. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?" shouts Strickle, cowering and covering his ears. "I don't know if this is a defense mechanism or what, but it's really hard to sail around." you say, gritting your teeth with concentration as you nudge the rudder about with the wheel. "WHAT?!?" screams Strickle.  Suvram crawls out from your knapsack and perches upon your shoulder, blinking in the salty gale. "WE'RE CLOSE, VIHRAU! ARE YOU READY WITH THAT PORTAL DEVICE?" "YES! I'M PRETTY SURE!" she replies, bracing herself against a mast. Adanios and Baradas hunch nearby, looking extremely sea-sick. You're not sure what kind of circumstances they're used to, but a boat being tossed around is not it. Suddenly, the sea begins to disappear on your port side, dropping away like a cliff. The ship begins a spiral, like you'd hoped, but a fast one into a funnel. "I think it's now or never!" you shout to Vihrau. "What?!? You're going to leave us to our doom?!?" demands Strickle, angrily. "Nobody's saying you have to stay on the ship, dude," you reply, "you can go through the portal too, but it's going to be in a Construct!" Vihrau activates the portal device.  "Come on!" you shout. You step through the portal.   hello / i told you it would not be a long distance of time before we met again Oh, hey Shrunken Head Guy! How's it been? "What's going on?" asks Baradas. "It appears we've stopped in Throughspace." answers Adanios. "Which means this must be a Dweller Without." and you must be Interpreters / you are a very long way from the Basilica "Tell us about it." replies Baradas, snarkily. Adanios motions to her. "We have a problem." He says, and shows her his book. The two begin whispering back-and-forth rapidly. So I'm going to come right out and ask, what's this whole Throughspace thing about? you know the lives of thinking beings are but a series of choices / paths taken between oblivions I don't really like thinking about it like that, but, eh. It is what it is. precisely / you recognize the ultimate futility of choice / as you are ultimately faced with oblivion Weren't you explaining Throughspace to me? of course / i suppose your own death might be difficult to consider-- THROUGHSPACE. Tell me about Throughspace. Please. these choices are always all made / whatever set of options a thinking being can choose from it chooses all in the Overall / every new moment bears facets of possibility / upon these facets grow more new moments / so all the possibilities of all the beings in your reality grow like a single great crystal / infinitely and unceasingly Wow. That's some scale stuff for you. And these other realities I've encountered... they're just the result of different choices made? But some of them are so bizarre-seeming, so alien. what neighbors your reality has within the Overall can be unexpected / the growth of the crystal twists and bends in accordance with laws above my understanding / a very meandering path may have led back close to your world in the Overall / it is unknowable / but exploitable So what is Throughspace in all this? Throughspace is an aggregate of the gaps / as vacuums of negative space amid the realities they are unified by their nonexistence / as such you can move through them in unexpected ways / portals exploit this / as do many other of your peoples will manifestation devices Will Manifestation Devices? I'll have to tell that to the Drejj, they'll get a kick out of their little desert community being feared for its WMDs. But who are you, Shrunken Head Guy? Why are you in Throughspace every time I come through? i live here / i am a dweller without / and i am a watcher / i enjoy observing the events within the Overall Oh. So why do you speak to me, interact with me individually? Are you trying to affect events? not at all / you are simply the only one who has perceived me / who speaks to me as they pass through Throughspace / well until your companions here Are you alone out here? there are many of my kind / very few are watchers however / it is considered the activity of children and the very stupid to watch the Overall / there are much more important things in their estimation More important than the entirety of every reality? Like what? "Sorry to interrupt your chat," says Baradas, "but there's a problem." "Has someone touched your back?" asks Adanios. The thox kind of question is that? "Not that I recall, why?" you answer, baffled. "There's a device, it has been placed on your back. It has woven its way into the fabric of your cloak, and is acting as a tether to another physical location." "What?" you ask. "Someone put something on you that's pulling you out of Throughspace, to another place." says Adanios. "Do something about it!" you shout. "Don't just tell me, get it off!!" Adanios and Baradas look at each other, lips pursed. "We cannot. We don't know how to sever the link. It's a willbringer I've yet to encounter." You think loudly at Shrunken Head Guy: Help me! i am unable / i cannot manipulate such things You feel yourself being yanked back. You try to take your cloak off, but it's woven into your shirt by the device. Desperately, you try to remove your shirt-- You stumble out of the portal.  You're in a small, dark room with narrow windows high up on the wall. You look around; there's bars on the door. Thox. This looks familiar. Thox. Thox! Could this be...  "Pleased to see you again, Maurice." says Eye Guy. 1.) Player input: _____________ Inventory Characters Map Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 21:08 on Mar 29, 2019 |
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Mar 29, 2019 06:32
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"Kia ora, eyeguy" Just play it cool, he is our friend even if he can't remember it right now
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Mar 29, 2019 11:07
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Just to check, you're the version of yourself that i met earlier right? Because it turns out there are actually a shitload of parallel universes and i dont want to find out some alternate version of you pulled me out of a construct i was in the process of destroying because your uncle or nephew or whatever died. Would make the conversation really confusing and unproductive.
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Mar 29, 2019 23:43
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It's eye guy! Let's ask him about his...i wanna say uncle? It's been a while! Mention we're a pirate on the sea, fighting constructors (insert jaunty tune on whistlehorn). While we talk, if it turns out that the what-if machine was right about him hating us for our heritage then use the digress device to get right in his face, take out the jecta gun and make it clear to him that we will take custody of suvram. If he doesn't hate us, invite him to the constructor (where we will surely get somehow?)!
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Mar 30, 2019 00:12
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simplefish posted:"Kia ora, eyeguy" You sincerely, literally don't know what that means. It's no language you've ever heard of, but it's bouncing around in your head so maybe there's significance to it buried in your neurons. "Kia ora, Eye Guy." you say. "Pardon?" he replies. Tunicate posted:Just to check, you're the version of yourself that i met earlier right? Because it turns out there are actually a shitload of parallel universes and i dont want to find out some alternate version of you pulled me out of a construct i was in the process of destroying because your uncle or nephew or whatever died. Would make the conversation really confusing and unproductive. "I dunno. You look like you've been well! Life treating you good? Staying healthy? Actually, just to be absolutely certain, you're the Eye Guy that I know from earlier, right? I'm finding out about all these crazy parallel universes, so if you're some alternate version of Eye Guy you'll have to tell me--I'm pretty sure that's the rule." "What?" says Eye Guy. "You're even more insane than when I last spoke to you. Of course it's me! How else did I know you were called Maurice? In fact, how do you think you ended up here in the first place?" "Right. You decided to stick a device to me, huh?" "I realized late in the game that the only way to get you where I needed you to go, was to let you go where you wanted to go. Since there was no controlling you, I decided to just put a transponder on you and wait until you went through a portal of your own volition." "Very clever." you say, begrudingly. "Let me guess, that slap on the back when we hugged good-bye at the cache?" Eye Guy nods in the affirmative. "Sorry, Maurice, but it had to be done. I have to have your memories. They're too valuable to the operation." "I'm not exactly inclined to have my memories back, Eye Guy. I like myself better as Maurice, without any of the history. I've spent these three days as a hero, something which I doubt I was as a Morani. Wouldn't you agree?" "I definitely agree, Maurice. Which is why I promise you, if you do this, I can remove the brain patterns to the infobanks and not put the resulting complete memories back into your head. We both get what we want, Maurice! You get to stay a blank slate, a new man, and we will get the valuable information from your old life." He looks hopefully into your eyes. "I know I've done nothing, absolutely nothing, to earn your trust. I can only beg you to extend me that modicum of faith." "You know I can walk out of this cell and kill you at a whim, right?" you say. "Just checking." "Yes, I know you have a bunch of fancy gadgets. And no, I don't have any mekanical ways to shut them down. You have more power over me than I do over you." "Until I get in that chair." you say. "And you strap me down." Eye Guy looks at you, squinting curiously. It's yet another unfortunate expression on his ugly face. "How do you kn-" "I'm guessing that's how it works." you cut him off. "Mad scientist poo poo like that." "I have no intention of hurting you, Maurice. You've paid your debt, as far as I'm concerned, if you help me here, now. I can't forget what you've done, myself, but I can learn to forgive. Grofar, unlock the door, release our guest."  The horrible man-creature shuffles over. "gooooommoooo" moans Grofar as he unlocks the door. HermanCain posted:It's eye guy! Let's ask him about his...i wanna say uncle? It's been a while! Mention we're a pirate on the sea, fighting constructors (insert jaunty tune on whistlehorn). You follow Eye Guy as he walks towards the archway door at the end of a long stone corridor. "So, long time no see. How's the uncle?" "It's been a day." replies Eye Guy. "The Earl is recovering well--Laceruro's men really did a number on him. A little more brute-force than the Morani treatment, but effective." "It's only been a day, huh? Well, I just portalled off of a ship that I pirated, and I was about to take out a second Construct. I even played a jaunty sea-shanty and sailed my ship around a big whirlpool!" You pull out your whistlehorn and toss out a small sailor's hornpipe, much to Eye Guy's visible chagrin. "I'm sure my companions will come back for me any moment--when they do, you're welcome to come with, if you don't have anything too pressing here in your creepy basement." "A ship?" Eye Guy says. "You're coming out of Port Pondskipper, aren't you... so the ladies failed their task, eh? Probably being tortured in ways only Constructors could conceive of, our nervous systems are undoubtedly like musical instruments for them." You see the laboratory full of buzzing mekanisms, including the flashing infobanks which take up a whole wall.  "What's your decision?" Eye Guy asks, gesturing to the strange, lobed helmet you'd seen in the "What if?" device.  1.) Fine, I'll help you. Take my memories. 2.) No, I won't help you. Please release me at once. 3.) I will help you, but I've changed my mind: give me those memories. 4.) Player input: _________ Inventory Characters Map (By the way, adventure friends: if for some reason you want more of this sort of thing, I have another CYOA just getting off the ground in the Game Room. It's in the same Beaten Lands setting, following a character elsewhere in the world. Check it out if you want! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3885639 ) Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 00:44 on Mar 30, 2019 |
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Mar 30, 2019 00:40
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4) Look my friend (and you are my friend right?), if you've waited this long, you can wait a bit longer. Come back with me to destroy this latest Construct at Port Pondskipper, or at least let me go back, and I'll let you put my memories into your infobanks after. It's your fault I had to leave the Weird Sisters to their fate this time and last time, so you owe me. You actually probably owe me a lot more but we'll call it even after this.
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Mar 30, 2019 03:26
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Use the emergency beacon when he's not looking
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Mar 30, 2019 11:12
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vortmax posted:4) Look my friend (and you are my friend right?), if you've waited this long, you can wait a bit longer. Come back with me to destroy this latest Construct at Port Pondskipper, or at least let me go back, and I'll let you put my memories into your infobanks after. It's your fault I had to leave the Weird Sisters to their fate this time and last time, so you owe me. You actually probably owe me a lot more but we'll call it even after this. simplefish posted:Use the emergency beacon when he's not looking Anyone want to put some weight on either one of these options? Or one of the original options? I'll be drumming up an entry after 10pm eastern, so VOTE my friends! Edit: although I suppose nothing prevents us from doing both! Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Mar 30, 2019 |
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Mar 30, 2019 15:30
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To clarify, I also meant not giving up the memories,while we buy time waiting for the xavalry to arrive
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Mar 31, 2019 00:00
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Understood!
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Mar 31, 2019 00:24
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Both!
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Mar 31, 2019 01:13
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simplefish posted:Use the emergency beacon when he's not looking vortmax posted:4) Look my friend (and you are my friend right?), if you've waited this long, you can wait a bit longer. Come back with me to destroy this latest Construct at Port Pondskipper, or at least let me go back, and I'll let you put my memories into your infobanks after. It's your fault I had to leave the Weird Sisters to their fate this time and last time, so you owe me. You actually probably owe me a lot more but we'll call it even after this. "Surely if you've waited this long, you can wait a little longer." Eye Guy looks irritated. "What do you mean?" "What I mean is, this is the second time you've pulled me away from helping the Weird Sisters, and I'm getting pretty tired of it. So if you want to make it up to me, you'll help me get back to where I need to be inside that Construct." "But your memories-" "You'll get them when we return. IF we return." Eye Guy locks eyes with you for a long moment, then paces along the front of the infobanks, prodding at buttons and flipping switches. "I strongly suggest you reconsider." You take the opportunity to slap the Call-dot Amonolee gave you up against a random mekanism. It blinks a short sequence and then subtly disguises itself against the metal. "I'm afraid I must insist. If you want my trust, you do this one thing for me. Help me save my friends. Then you get my memories." "I told you we should have knocked him out the moment he came through the portal." said a deep, dark voice from the shadows.  "I wasn't done talking to him, Stilkar! You don't know him like I do!" "You were getting nowhere with him; he'll never give up his memories willingly!" Stilkar sifts out of the dark corridor, a small crossbow aimed at you. "Marquess d'Morani. What a treat to see you again." "I have no idea who you are." you reply. "Yes, I know. We all know, your memory is gone. Your friend the Viscount did that to you, don't you recall? He tracked you across the Morani hunting grounds, held a memgun up to your head, and flashed your brain." "What's going on, Raggart?" you hiss. "This wasn't meant to happen, Maurice. There's been some changes to the Scuumi family political situation in my brief absence-" Stilkar scoffs. "While Raggart was out gallivanting about the Beaten Lands with one of our sworn enemies, the rest of the family decided to find some real solutions." "Ha! A solution!" laughs Eye Guy, bitterly. "You brought the murdered Duke d'Scuumi back as a Semblance! That solves absolutely nothing!" "It gives us back our patriarch, to lead us once again! No more of this aimless casting about against the indefatigable Morani! No more of your petty attempts at leading the Scuumi, either!" "It's not him, you idiot! It's just the mind of some other poor soul that just happened to be him in some other reality, being forcibly pumped into a dead man's brain! Look at him!" Eye Guy goes over to a metal cabinet of some sort, and turns a key. A window on the front slides open, revealing the lifeless features of a man behind the glass. Suddenly, the man's decaying eyelids flicker open, and a look of unwanted awakening crosses the corpse-like countenance.  "wh- what..? why do you keep me here..? return me to oblivion i beg of you." "Is this your great patriarch, Stilkar?" snaps Eye Guy, furiously gesturing towards the macabre figure. "His Semblance grows stronger each day, don't worry. It will be as if the Duke were among us again, soon. And then we can go about regaining the glory of the Scuumi name!" spouts Stilkar, looking nuts. "Enough of this beastbeast-poo poo, strap the Morani in the chair and let's get his memories out of there!" After a moment's silence, Stilkar starts to giggle. "I'm a poet and I didn't even know it." Eye Guy holds his hands up in an entreating gesture, when suddenly Adanios and Baradas are standing behind Stilkar. "Please lower your weapon, sir. You're threatening a friend of ours." says Baradas, in a lethal tone. Stilkar whips about to face her and she grabs his wrist; his crossbow fires off impotently, ricocheting off the vaulted ceiling. You bring the butt of your Jecta gun down on Stilkar's head, knocking him out cold. "Excellent timing, guys." you say to Adanios and Baradas. "We simply walked into the portal after you did. Any timing was purely the natural affects of the portaling process." says Adanios. You sigh inwardly. "Nevertheless." Suddenly, there's a bright light, and two people stumble out of a portal entrance, which swirls then anti-swirls shut behind them. They drop into a tactical squat and aim Jecta pistols.   "iO Shiamara Resistance! Who dropped the Call-dot?" shouts the woman. "Um, I guess that's me." you reply. "Do you need an extraction?" she asks. "Actually, yeah, I suppose we all could! Eye Guy, you coming?" He considers for a moment. Then smiles. "You know what? I am coming. But there's one thing I need to do first." He picks up a large wrench from a workbench and sets about destroying the Semblance of the Duke. The thing doesn't scream or fight, but stares blankly, a grateful look on its face as Eye Guy demolishes its mekanical prison around it. You whistle softly as Eye Guy returns to your side. Yowza. "Alright, guys. What's your names?" "I'm Tisshst." says the woman. "Yor." says the man. He takes your hand in a strange way, pinky bent under. Somehow, it makes a snapping sound. "Where are we extracting to, mate?" "There's a Construct in the bay at Port Pondskipper. Four of your resistance members are already there, three of them-" you pause awkwardly. "-taken by the Constructors?" offers Eye Guy, shrugging. "We have no time to lose, then." says Tisshst. Your heart lifts. "So you think they might still be alive?" "Oh, no. I meant- There's no time to lose if we want to help that fourth person." "Yeah," confirms Yor. "There's no way those other three are still alive. Sorry." Sadness washes over you, but also--surprisingly--relief. Their deaths were somehow much less horrifying than what you'd worried could be happening to them- Oh, no, my friend. says the Constructor partition within your brain. I will freely share with you that they yet live; and I will happily share with you their agonies as well. "I have reason to believe they're still alive." you say. "Let's go save them." "Do you have, like, actual coordinates?" asks Yor. "Allow me." says Adanios, placing a hand on the portal device. The portal appears, a door that flickers on like a projector screen. You step inside and- -you hit the ground and roll twice before you stop on the Construct's spongy floor. Yor and Tisshst emerge and drop into their ready squat, Jecta pistols at the ready. Adanios and Baradas stride out calmly. You look to the left.  You look to the right.  "Okay, which way?" you ask. "And where the Squiv is Vihrau?" 1.) Go left. 2.) Go right. 3.) Player input: _____________ Inventory Characters Map Elsewhere in the Beaten Lands [A concurrent CYOA] Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 23:35 on Mar 31, 2019 |
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Mar 31, 2019 06:36
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Go left!
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Mar 31, 2019 06:52
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Left looks fun
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Mar 31, 2019 06:59
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When in doubt, go left. Virhau's priority was rescuing her comrades and she's resourceful enough to find them, if we can find them too then she'll be nearby.
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Mar 31, 2019 07:01
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super sweet best pal posted:Go left! new friend from school posted:Left looks fun HBar posted:When in doubt, go left. Virhau's priority was rescuing her comrades and she's resourceful enough to find them, if we can find them too then she'll be nearby. "Shall we try the left?" you suggest. Yor and Tisshst examine the area. "Looks like some sort of resonance thrumma." "What the thox is a 'thrumma'?" you say.   They look at each other and laugh. "What's a thrumma?" asks Tisshst. "You've never heard of a thrumma?" "You know, the other Resistance members were very patient about explaining things to me." That wasn't true at all, but you're hoping to set a precedent of less unsolicited snark. "No way they did." giggles Yor. "Not if you're coming at things asking what a thrumma is. You had to be quite the thoxin' weight on the operation." "Actually, we only succeeded because of me." "Oh, is that the case?" asks Eye Guy, sardonically. "Did you identify the target? Place a bomb of your own design in the optimal spot? Teleport yourself safely out of the Construct with a portal device you had provisioned for your egress?" You give Eye Guy a furious look. "No, but I did defeat the Orthemka!" Eye Guy opens his mouth as if to object, then thinks and makes a weird face. "I... guess." "And I saved Vihrau by cutting her arm off- twice!" Eye Guy appears amused. "You know what? You're right. It's all because of you we succeeded." "And so just because I don't know what a thrumma is doesn't make me some sort of drooling moron. I come with my own skill-set." you say, triumphantly. "You're certainly adept at pettiness." comments Baradas. You have the worst teams. The WORST teams. "Quick run-down on a thrumma. For the beginners amongst us:" begins Tisshst, smarmy as thox, "it concentrates and amplifies the resonant frequencies of our own universe-" "-that being the reality of the iO Shiamara-" clarifies Yor. "-which begins the process of 'tipping over' the symbolcountalogical basel-" Adanios speaks over her. "Blah blah blah, the structure vibrates his reality until it becomes yours." "Thank you, for Vuldon's sake! Just say poo poo straight!" you exclaim. "So do we destroy it?" Yor scoffs. "There's gonna be at least sixty of these structures arrayed throughout the Construct, if it's anything like the patterns we've noted so far in Constructs. Do you want to go and destroy each one?" "Then what's your great idea, you neon-haired prick?" you respond. You stride off in the direction of the thrumma. The closer you get to the huge--what the Squiv was it, some kind of house-sized moss-covered pod-shape--structure, the worse you can feel the vibration in your bones. Nausea begins to overcome you, and you throw up unexpectedly. Adanios reaches down to lift you up. "Are you unwell?" he asks. "I feel awful." you say. "Like my whole body is vibrating." "This frequency may have unusual effects on you, being a Bridger. You have lifecode elements from both your own reality and the Constructors'. There's a good chance this is doing some damage to you at that level." "What can I do?" you ask. You're certain you can feel each of the tiny bones in your ears buzzing. "I can't-" you retch again. "We have to get to another area, away from the thrumma. Hopefully that will ameliorate your ailment." Adanios helps you walk. "Yor, Tisshst; would you mind taking point? Find us a way out of here." requests Baradas. You stumble along, feeling drunk--in a bad way--and fighting your gag reflex. "I don't understand, this shouldn't be a dead end." says Yor. "This doesn't fit any of the patterns." confirms Tisshst, anxiously. "I mean, there's variations, but-"  "There's a console." says Yor, cutting her off. "I wouldn't do that-" you say, lurching woozily and ineffectively towards him. Yor walks over to the console and presses a few button-analogues, which look more like patches of bioluminescent moistbread mold than anything. Nothing seems to happen to him. "If what I'm seeing is accurate, this design is all over the place. Not only is it constructed in both realities, the structure seems to differ between the two." He sighs. "I don't think this place will be navigable in a single reality." "I have a digress device." you offer, wiping dry-heave mucous from your lips. "That'll come in very useful." says Eye Guy. "Can you at least tell us where to go?" "It's all very weird." says Yor. "I can't tell what's what-" Baradas looks at it, but with her eyes closed. She stays like that for nearly 45 seconds. At last, she opens her eyes. "I think I have a good idea of where to go. There are many possible paths, however, and they're, uh, changing." You moan. "What do you mean, changing?" "It's not a static Construct. It's evolving. I don't think they're taking any more chances with you, Maurice. One destroyed Construct is more than they're willing to tolerate in terms of resistance." "We're gonna thoxing die, aren't we?" you say, laughing. "Well, I guess I'm putting this lens on for a while." You put the Drejj lens onto your eye, and feel the mildly-uncomfortable squishing sensation of your eyeball changing metaphysical shape.  "Yep, there's a door here." you say. "It's closed right now and, oh, good, there's a couple of iO Shiamara guards with Jecta guns."   1.) Get the door open, digress the group, fight the guards. 2.) Go back to where you started and see if there's a path through the way you didn't go. Inventory Characters Map Elsewhere in the Beaten Lands [A concurrent CYOA] Brawnfire fucked around with this message at 05:56 on Apr 1, 2019 |
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Apr 1, 2019 04:57
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Ask Yor and Tisshst for advice on getting past the guards, they should know some things about dealing with other iO Shiamara.
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Apr 1, 2019 06:22
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I was going to suggest a plan, but instead had a brief, vivid and extraordinarily unpleasant mental image of what happens when you vomit while playing a whistlehorn.
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Apr 1, 2019 06:42
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