❧ Life's An Adventure

[luministimods]

[surprisingly, a private text message is sent not to the device Nathan left behind but to all of the residents' CATs. it reads:]

Get to the nearest door and wait. When the alarm sounds, immediately go through the door and await the next signal.

[surely such a text is confusing, but the sender hopes those words are heeded. ten minutes after it's sent, all vidscreens in the town begin to flash red, and a wailing siren breaks the din. the only word that flashes on screen is:]

EVACUATE

[similarly, back in the spacestation, red flashing lights drop down from the ceiling and a constant, beeping alarm begins to ring. over this, a pleasant and feminine automated voice says:]

Please find the nearest exit and evacuate the station via escape pod. A distress signal has been sent to the closest galactic space authority. Those with small children are asked to--[but this message is interrupted with another]

Life support systems in sectors A through L are at 80%--65%--50%. Life support failure in sectors A through L is imminent. Warning, please evacuate sectors A through L immediately. Warning...

[the automated voice continues with warnings about those sectors--but oddly enough, nothing is wrong in the spacestation itself. no one is evacuating, and in fact, no one can be seen fleeing from the town. the only people who should be in the station are the residents, if they all heeded the text message's warning and went through their respective doors at the right time. all doors brought everyone back to the observation deck, near the first hallway that used to lead to the Mayor's house.

suddenly, Nathan's device begins to chime and an audio message from him begins to play. (oddly enough, the automated voice's warning messages soften, like the volume's been turned down.]

Oh good, you made it out safe! I didn't think that person would...[he trails off] Anyway! I've had a bit of help and I think I can finally get you out of there. I'm sorry though, but I can't get you back into town. I had to shut off life support there to distract those in charge, but I also managed to open up access to the lower level. I can't find the staircases, but the elevator should be working now, so you'll have to use that. This is your chance, everyone! Find the one responsible for this mess and find Lab #3. Contact me if you need me.

[the audio transmission ends. a moment later, there's a soft "ding" as the elevator set behind the Maintenance door in the nearby hallway opens, ready for occupants to board it.

shame it won't be a simple elevator ride.]


❧ Plot Details: Life's An Adventure **Quick-time Event**

Thank goodness everyone (hopefully) got out in time! Staying in town during that life support shutdown would have been...unfortunate (and if anyone DID want to stay behind during that? Let me know.) But who sent that helpful text if it wasn't Nathan? Was it Audrey? Was it someone else? Was Nathan just pulling a fast one? In any case, now everyone can move on to, well, the final level if we take it in RPG terms.

Funny that though...

For this quick-time event, we are going to keep things to this entry. You'll be given a choice of going up or down in the elevator. Actually...just about every action in this plot is based around choice, and fittingly too. Depending on how much you discover during this plot--there are four objectives that can possibly be fulfilled (and they don't all have to be by every person)--the outcome will shape the end of this plot, the game, and next season as well. I'll have a list at the bottom of this entry so people can easily see how many objectives have been completed. You'll only have a week! Keep in mind that only one objective--the main one--has to be accomplished by week's end and things will not progress until it's accomplished. (If we accomplish the main one before the week is done, I will still wait the full week before going ahead with the second half of this plot.)

So what are we doing in this mad week-long event? Like I said before, you'll be given a choice of taking the elevator up or down. From there, you'll be given the another choice via vidscreen about which direction you want to go in. Sometimes it'll be two choices, other times it'll be three. But nonetheless, you'll have to make a choice--and you'll have to make the choice in the style of a text adventure. This is a bit of a hybrid rather than a straight text adventure, though. You can talk to people normally and interact with them as you would do in a normal action thread, but when you go to make your choice or wish to interact with the environment (you don't have to do it for every single step or anything), you'll basically be inputting your command to help the adventure to progress. If you don't ever interact with the environment or make a choice, well, you're stuck in that room. Kind of a boring adventure, being stuck in a room.

If this explanation isn't quite making sense, I did a mock-scenario of this to illustrate the hybrid/pseudo-text adventure I'm talking about. Head here! Hopefully that helps explain things? If it didn't, please, please don't be afraid to ask me. The first two comments to this entry will be for the IC interaction, and any additional ones can be for OOC comments/questions.

I do advise that while you can go in groups, please keep them small so we can go through things at a steady pace. Heck, if you want? You can even solo this and interact just with, well, me as the text adventure prompts, and then contact people if you find something. I just ask that if you want to solo it, that you indicate your intentions in the subject line to whichever direction you wish to go in the elevator.

Threadhopping via the CATs can still happen, especially if you or someone else learns something that might be important for the others to know. (Of course, if you want to join in physically, you can do it like this.) Also, I do recommend tracking your threads, especially when I pop in with prompts and disrupt the notification process. (And let's hope varnish errors are few to none!)

So...that's it! If you have any questions/comments/etc, leave them here or get a hold of me through the normal channels! And before I leave, here's our handy objectives list!



Objectives! Objective #1 = Completed! Objective #2 = Completed! Objective #3 = Completed! (Also here and here.) Objective #4 = Completed!

Comments

[luministimods]

> You have activated the VIDSCREEN! Congratulations. You win the following text:

Choose your destination! If you wish to go to the botanical gardens, please press the "A" button. If you wish to go to the town hall, please press the "B" button.

> You see TWO BUTTONS appear on the screen below the text, one below each choice and labeled as indicated above.

> What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie hardly lets the message appear this time before she pokes at the screen]

>You press the "A" button.

[luministimods]

> The NORTH DOOR ("A") opens all on its own! Congratulations! Do you go into the DOORWAY? It is pitch black and...doesn't show what lies beyond. But you trust that it really does lead to the BOTANICAL GARDENS...right?

>What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[misgivings about where it might actually lead aside, there's certainly no point in staying where she is. although if it turns out to be the lift again, she and the doorways around here are going to have words]

>You step into the doorway.

[luministimods]

> For a brief second, you can't see. Damn the BLACKNESS! However! The blackness immediately goes away to show that you have entered the BOTANICAL GARDENS! You notice...A SHIT TON OF TREES and thick, tall BUSHES. And white WROUGHT IRON STAIRCASES, one to the WEST/LEFT and another to the EAST/RIGHT. And to the NORTH is...a lot of TREES. But is there more beyond the BUSHES and TREES?

> What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[she has a rather unsettling feeling that the staircases might lead back to the lift somehow]

> You walk past the staircases, NORTH toward the TREES.

[luministimods]

> As you walk, you will notice the trees slowly moving away, as if they are parting to make the way easier for you. How courteous of them!

> As they part, you see a SIGN that reads: "Luministi Research Labs" hanging on a WALL that looks like it's been painted to mimic the rest of the PALM HOUSE. below it are HANDWRITTEN WORDS in black that read: "The past is the road to the present and onwards to the future."

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie watches the trees, curious and a bit wary. she's seen what the trees in the town's actual Botanical Gardens can be like, after all. they seems harmless enough at the moment, though, so she continues on as she is. but she stops to read the sign, frowning]

It's still about the past to them, isn't it? How very silly!

[she continues walking along the path that the trees are showing]

[luministimods]

> That path eventually leads you right back to the WROUGHT IRON STAIRCASES. Hope you had a nice walk!

> Do you go up the EASTERN or WESTERN STAIRCASES?

[fortune_sought]

Gah! [Sophie clenches a fist, waving it at the staircase] Now this is just ridiculous! What is it even for!?

>Exasperated, you run up the WESTERN STAIRCASE.

[luministimods]

> Congratulations, you see a DOOR to your left! But look to your right and you see that the landing you're on also wraps around to connect to the EASTERN STAIRCASE where there is, surprise! Another door! But between them at the NORTH end of the room is a blank VIDSCREEN covered in VINES.

> What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

>You stalk over to the VIDSCREEN and talk life into the VINES, of course.

Really, this behaviour is just disgraceful! How is anyone meant to see the screen with you like that? Not to mention you'll look much more elegant in your place around it. Go on, shoo, move where you should be! Clear the screen!

[luministimods]

> The VINES straighten and immediately move out of the way to allow her access to the VIDSCREEN. The VINES even hit the VIDSCREEN to activate it for her. On-screen appears the following text:

Choose your destination! If you wish to go to the malt shop, please press the "A" button. If you wish to go to 'The Chrysalis', please press the "B" button.

> You see TWO BUTTONS appear on the screen below the text, one below each choice and labeled as indicated above.

> What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie nods approvingly. all vines should be so obliging] Much better.

> You consider for a second before you reach forward and press the "A" button. After all, Verita has always been a friend to you all.

[luministimods]

> The WEST DOOR ("A") opens all on its own! Congratulations! But do you go into the DOORWAY? It is pitch black just like before and still doesn't show what lies beyond. You trust that it, hopefully, really does lead to the MALT SHOP.

> What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie peers curiously into the darkness of the doorway as she steps closer to it]

> You go into the doorway and hope, yet again, that it isn't the lift on the other side.

[luministimods]

> You enter BLACKNESS for a mere second before the BLACKNESS is gone! Yeah! The moment it does, you see that you are back in the ELEVATOR! But the ELEVATOR is still on the same FLOOR you originally went to.

> Do you stay on this FLOOR and go through the DOOR again?

> Or do you go want to go to the OTHER FLOOR?

[fortune_sought]

Gaah! [Sophie shoots the lift a hateful look and stomps out of it]

> You march right up to the VIDSCREEN in the fake Town Square and press the "A" button. Then you rush in a slightly waddling way up the WESTERN STAIRCASE, all set to give the vines a piece of your mind only to find they're still where you left them. So you press the "B" button, looking ready to give the VIDSCREEN a piece of your mind instead if it isn't quick about its response.

[luministimods]

> Everything you encounter immediately obeys you, sensing your complete--yet understandable--rage. When you press the "B" button, the EAST DOOR ("B") opens all on its own! Congratulations! But do you go into the DOORWAY? It is pitch black just like before and still doesn't show what lies beyond. Hopefully, you trust that it really does lead to THE CHRYSALIS.

> What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[clearly this place has more sense than it seems to[

> You stomp into the doorway.

[luministimods]

> For a brief second, you can't see. Curse the BLACKNESS! However! The blackness immediately goes away to show that you have entered "The Chrysalis". You notice a few TABLES and CHAIRS set out for a dinner party, and FOOD of the highest quality set upon SERVING PLATES in the center of the TABLES, surrounding a blank VIDSCREEN lying flat on the CENTER TABLE. But is the FOOD real? It definitely smells like it is. To your LEFT/NORTH, STRAIGHT AHEAD/EAST, and RIGHT/SOUTH are THREE DOORS set into the WALLS near the end of the room. The placement of the DOORS doesn't jive with the original shape of the RESTAURANT, making the irregular shape into a square. Like previous rooms, you see that the WOODEN SLATS, BRIGHT BLUE SKY, and FOREST are merely painted on.

> Are you hungry? Why are there three doors this time?

> You also see an OPENED BOX on the ground, a NOTE sitting on top of a SET OF HEADPHONES. Do you read the note? What are the HEADPHONES there for?

> What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie steps into the room with purpose, half-expecting to see the lift again. when she doesn't, she raises an eyebrow and begins to look around. she is hungry, but she certainly doesn't trust any of the food in this place enough to eat it. that's just asking for something to happen--and she can't risk putting her precious passenger through that]

> You walk over to the curious BOX and read the NOTE on it.

[luministimods]

> You see that the NOTE is plain and small, and has the following words scrawled on it:

"Wear these. These should help you navigate the rooms easier.

--N"

>What do you do?

[fortune_sought]

[Sophie frowns at the note. she picks up the things that look like some sort of earmuffs and looks at them dubiously. but considering how things have been going so far, they're unlikely to make her navigational abilities any worse...]

If you can really direct me, then do it directly, do you understand? No more of this going backwards nonsense.

>You slowly slip the headphones over your ears.

[luministimods]

> You don't hear very much right off the bat. If you're looking to your LEFT or RIGHT, you don't hear anything, but if you're looking STRAIGHTAHEAD, you hear a faint hint of music--the soft lilt of a violin.