❧ 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

[bonnypiperlad]

But we might find something important, too. Don't worry, Fuu. I'll take precautions.

> You pull out your dirk, and go to open one of the DESK DRAWERS, using the blade as a buffer - if you can slip it into the handle, you feel confident you can pull the drawer open without directly touching it. And we luck if something comes out of it you'll be far enough back that you'll not get whatever it is in your face.

[bit_impossible]

[arches an eyebrow as he watches Jamie do that] Jamie, sometimes a drawer is just a drawer.

> Without fear of anything happening to your hand, you yank open the other DRAWER.

[luministimods]

> All that caution on, well, one of your parts is for nothing. The DRAWERS hold nothing of interest as they hold nothing at all. Not even a dust bunny.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Wow, it's been really cleaned out!
Ahh, how unsporting of them to not leave any clues!

[bonnypiperlad]

Aye, so it has. Well, let's go then, Doctor.

[He wanted to go through the door anyway, if Jamie didn't miss his guess. Might as well go see what there is that way.]

> You walk back over to the door and the darkness, once again stepping through. Maybe the next room will have something more useful in it.

[bit_impossible]

[he frowns at the drawers, very disappointed in their vacancies, but then again, he's of the opinion that drawers are meant to be used, not kept empty--unless they are for a reason. that little mystery is enough to keep part of his mind occupied, at least.]

> You head over to the blackened DOORWAY but manage to slip in ahead of JAMIE this time.]

[luministimods]

> After you go through the DOOR and see absolutely nothing for a second, the blackness immediately goes away to show that you have entered the Janus Theatre ARCADE! You see a bunch of prize-filled grab machines, and other fun GAMES in there--but no people. Yet the GAMES all continue to make their victorious noises as games are won and disappointing failure noises as games are lost. Will you have to play a game? If you look STRAIGHT AHEAD/WEST and RIGHT/NORTH, you see two door. And...you see a VIDSCREEN on your RIGHT...but it's set within a GRAB MACHINE as a prize. A GIANT GRAB MACHINE. The GAMES all look playable and fun. Do you stop to have a bit of fun before continuing on?

> What do you?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu sees that giant grab machine with the Vidscreen in it and...]

Wow. You've got to be kidding. ...I kind of wish I could play that.

[bonnypiperlad]

Och, they must be having us on. How are we supposed to get at the screen in there?

[Well, there is that whole playing the game option, which he's quick to realize they might have to do. However, he doesn't seem think the odds of actually getting the vidscreen out with that claw are very good - well, not and having the thing still be intact, anyway.]

Hmm. I wonder if there's some way to get the screen to work without having to try and get it as a prize.

[bit_impossible]

I'm betting--[immediately starts to walk over to the controls]--we'll have to play to win.

> You press your face against the glass, trying to see what could be used to activate the screen without having to win it.

[luministimods]

> All you see are BALLS! Huge balls, small balls, medium balls--it's like the AC/DC song, but not at all. Plus there's the VIDSCREEN inside there as well, but you have already seen that.

> However, when you press against the glass, you notice the glass...can bend. Exert little force on it, and the glass doesn't move that much, but the more you put on it, the more it'll move. And also notice that the balls move when the glass hits them.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu chuckles to herself softly when the Doctor presses his face against the glass - he seems so enthusiastic!]

I'm sure he can get it, Mister Jamie.
Good luck, Doctor!

[bonnypiperlad]

[Jamie moves closer, studying the game as well. As he notices one of the balls moving, the beginnings of an idea come to him.]

Hey, I wonder if we couldn't use this glass to move things somehow. Maybe if we press it the right way...

> You experimentally press the glass in enough to see if it'll move one of the balls in a certain direction, rather than just randomly.

[bit_impossible]

[don't look now, Jamie, but the Doctor's got that mischievous sparkle in his eye]

Press it? Nah, haven't you ever used a slingshot before?

[he starts looking around the arcade for something to throw at the glass]

[luministimods]

> The glass bends, pushing and pressing against the ball, and it goes forward a bit--but then rolls off to the side.

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

A slingshot? Are you thinking of breaking the glass, Doctor?

Are you on to something, Mister Jamie?

[bonnypiperlad]

Of course I have. What are ye on a....hey, that's not a bad idea. Might work better than just pressing on it, that's for sure. What do ye think, Fuu?

> Encouraged by the Doctor's suggestion, you too start to look for something (other than the CAT) to throw at the glass.

[bit_impossible]

Break it? Naaah, ever hear of conservation of energy? Energy can be transferred from one object to another, so the greater the energy transferred, the more that other object is effected. [which is...a very, very, very simplified explanation of it!]

[luministimods]

> Looking around, you see other grab machines with different toys, balls, and so on inside, but look back towards the entrance, and you'll see other games, like Ski-ball, a vintage Pac-Man arcade machine, and Pong. It also looks like everything is free to play, as is the giant grab machine.

>What do you do?

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

Oh? Well, yes, I understand the principal of the conversion of energy, but... what are you meaning to transfer your energy to?

And I'm not too sure, Mister Jamie. Did I see the glass bend when you pressed on it? Maybe you should see how far it will bend before trying to break it? Maybe you won't have to go so far...

[bonnypiperlad]

> Your eyes alight on the ski-ball machine, and you go over to start it. As one of the small spheres tumble down the chute, you pick it up and heft it in your hand experimentally.

Well, aye. But if that glass bends, maybe it can't be broken. And if that's the case, if ye throw something at it, then maybe it'll just bend more and cause the balls to move a bit better. Is that what ye meant, Doctor?

[bit_impossible]

[he taps his own nose, grinning] Exactly!

> You grab up a couple of the balls, then head over to examine the inside of the machine again. Satisfied with what you see and after figuring out which balls you need to hit, you start running over different calculations in your head, like how much speed, how far away you need to be, etc etc. In the end, you've formulated different scenarios and outcomes depending on how you and Jamie throw and the possible directions the balls could go as a result. Bit of light thinking, really.

Okay, Jamie, what I need you to do is throw your ball hard--but not too hard--at that big green ball right there. See it next to the yellow, and blue polka-dotted ones? [points at said ball!] After you do that, I'll throw mine and hopefully make a choice. If this screen is anything like the last one, we'll have to choose between A and B. Which do you think we should go through?

[ooc: Skipping the mod tag! There's nothing different about the ski-balls.]

[wind-of-reason.livejournal.com]

[Fuu watches the proceedings with interest. They are going to use the balls to make the selection? This she's got to see!]

[bonnypiperlad]

Aye, well, choosing B's not gotten us very far. [At least, he doesn't think so. Not from what they've seen so far.] Maybe we should try A instead.

[He looks at the screen, fixing the position for the big green ball in his mind.]

Right. Here goes nothing.

> You take aim and throw the skee-ball at the larger green ball the Doctor's pointed out, doing your best to throw it hard without throwing it too hard. With luck it'll be enough to trigger the screen and let the Doctor make the choice.

[bit_impossible]

Oh good, I was hoping you'd say "A"! Most of my calculations worked best with it, and the one for "B", well, it was quite the zinger.

> Timing it just right, you throw your ball at your own appointed spot, hoping to knock that ball at the screen to make your choice. It should work; after all, you're a genius.