❧ 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

[grandbellknight]

[He looks up at it, considers... and nods.]

I could get to it. Do you have a plan?

[Wait. ... Waaaait. .... He frowns.]

You're not... considering playing this game, are you? [dskfjasdkl] Can't I just climb out of the prize claim? [He sloshes through the balls over that way to investigate for himself. :|! ]

[vengefulagent]

[lightly] Well, I could. But I don't think it's exactly something you'd want to happen, is it?

[grandbellknight]

Not really. [Though he does crack a faint smile and shake his head.

Hatch examined. Yeah, he's not getting out that way. Dammit...]

Alright. What should I do with the claw?

[vengefulagent]

Maybe it can be used to break the glass? Or be used to break through the roof? [he's not so certain about that second one, though] What I remember about this game, once it's started, the player only has a certain amount of time to do anything--and that time is always too short. So if I activate the game, you'll have to think quick.

But then again, if I activate the game, I don't know what will happen to you. You might be able to break the claw away from the crane.

[grandbellknight]

[He's already thinking on how best to do this - maybe holding onto the claw and swinging with it? Maybe just detaching it and throwing it at the glass? Then again...]

Well, if the glass is solid from this side... [He pulls out his lance] Maybe I could try this first. [Paaaause.] Unless the glass is somehow selective and would react poorly to that. It's a possibility, unfortunately.

[vengefulagent]

I think the worst it could do is give you the same amount of recoil as you put into your swing. I think it's worth the risk. But nonetheless, I'm getting out of the way.

[he really doesn't want to risk glass shards lodging themselves anywhere in him]

[grandbellknight]

[Same amount of recoil means rocket is a bad idea. Noted. He nods at Washington, then steps forward.]

> You swing your LANCE at the GLASS, hoping for the best.

[luministimods]

> The lance swing is super effective!!! But like WASH said about the recoil, you do find yourself thrown backwards as the glass bursts out of the machine.

> And you both might...want to run. The CLAW starts to move on its own once that happens, clacking its metal claw-things together as it moves closer towards you...

[grandbellknight]

[Croix stumbles from the force, and falls backwards because it's just that much harder to keep your balance amidst a whole bunch of round objects. It means he gets a good look at the ceiling. Including the claw. ... Well, shit. At least it's attached...?

He quickly gets back up, pushes (or rather, wades) through the balls and climbs out of the machine, ready to run.]

Come on!

> You waste no time in running for the open DOOR, though you periodically look back to make sure WASHINGTON is on his way too.

[vengefulagent]

[he only glances in once for a moment to see that claw beginning to extend towards them before he takes off in a run, coming up fast behind Croix, his armored feet crunching the glass beneath them.]

> Needless to say, you get the hell out of there.

[luministimods]

> After you go through the DOOR and see absolutely nothing for a second, the BLACKNESS immediately goes away to show you have entered the MAYORAL MANSION, or more specifically, a vast ballroom. It should look familiar to you; it's the room set before the one leading out to the spacestation--but that door, set to the NORTH/RIGHT is closed. As is the one to the WEST/STRAIGHT AHEAD. In this very, very big room, there is a VIDSCREEN set on the SOUTHERN wall of the room. There are random COUCHES, CHAIRS of very high class set around the room, and a large FIREPLACE with a blazing FIRE set inside. The windows where there WEST door seems to be situated into, however, are mere paintings.

> What do you do?

[grandbellknight]

[Croix slows when he's safely in the room and takes a deep breath. Thank the Goddess...! He looks around, and while he's tempted to take a seat, he also is at the point that he's not trusting a damn thing in any of these rooms. Ever.]

It's like there's no end to this place...

> You are PREDICTABLE and approach the VIDSCREEN, per usual, to activate it.

[vengefulagent]

Is it just me, or does it feel like we've gone in a giant circle?

[he starts looking around the room, not liking the distance to the other doors, especially if something happens.]

[luministimods]

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

Choose your destination! If you wish to go to the lower level, please press the "A" button. If you wish to go to the upper level, 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?

[grandbellknight]

[He thinks back on it. North, east, north, west...]

Something like it, yes. At least we're not back where we started.

[He frowns at the vidscreen.] Upper or lower level... The message did mention a lower level, so maybe... [But in the meanwhile, it'd be nice to know which door corresponds to which button.]

> You look toward the NORTH DOOR to see if it has either A or B written on it.

[vengefulagent]

[turns to look at Croix] You're thinking of the lower level? We originally went up in the elevator before. Why not continue in that direction?

[luministimods]

> When you look at the NORTH DOOR, you see that it has a shiny gold "B" on it.

[grandbellknight]

[He considers this. In the end, he's nearing the conclusion that it's a 50/50 shot anyway. From his conversation with Mu, he can assume that there's at least one person investigating the lower level already, also assuming it's as interconnected as the level they're currently on. That, and if memory serves, the door that stands out the most does have that B on it...]

Yeah. ... We've come this far, we may as well proceed.

> You push the B button.

[vengefulagent]

Good thinking.

[he watches which button Croix hits before he heads over to that door]

[luministimods]

> The NORTH DOOR ("B") opens all on its own! Congratulations! A shit ton of confetti even shoots into the air this time! 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 UPPER LEVEL.

> What do you do?

[grandbellknight]

[Confetti, what. ... Croix shakes his head and heads for the door.]

That's... technically a good thing, right?

> Into the pitch black DOORWAY!

[vengefulagent]

[at first, the burst and pop of the confetti surprises him; so much so that he instinctively points his gun at the ceiling, looking for the source of the noise. and then he lowers it again, feeling foolish when he sees it's only confetti.]

In this place? I don't know anymore.

> You shake your head, sure that bits of confetti are stuck all over your armor now despite brushing a good amount of it off--there are--and proceed through the doorway.

[luministimods]

> When you go through the door, you are met with the same blackness as you've seen the entire trip. Only this time is different. It takes a moment longer for the darkness to dissipate, and just before it does, you begin to hear music, but from where you are standing, it's faint. With each step you take, however, you'll notice it becoming gradually louder.

> Once the moment of darkness passes, you'll find yourself in what might be a familiar stark, bright hallway, or at least it should be to some. You'll also notice that the door you came through is closed, the doorknob removed. Nothing you do will get this door open. Looks like you're stuck here now. So why not walk ahead? The corridor, though bright and devoid of anything interesting on the walls to keep your interest (or mark your progress) is fairly long, with doorknob-less doors every fifteen feet. At the end of the hallway (at least a hundred feet down from where you arrive), you can see three doors that do have doorknobs, but none are labeled. However, there is a compass painted on the ground, with the western, northern, and eastern hands pointed right at their respective doors. And set upon that compass is a folded, embossed golden card.

> What do you do?

[grandbellknight]

[This... is vastly different from the other rooms, and Croix is on his guard and on edge. Especially with the mysterious music... He stays quiet as he walks down the hallway, examines the compass painted on the floor...]

> Hesitantly, you reach down and pick up the golden card, and examine it.

[vengefulagent]

[Wash, too, is on guard as he heads down the corridor, his muscles tense with anticipation and the sheer adrenaline rush of being in some place new. he definitely remembers this place from that transmission, and he doesn't like the lack of cover in the hall. traversing corridors of any kind makes him feel like a sitting duck for what awaits him at the end.]

I don't see any movement beyond the doors. Whoever put that card there has either gone or is just waiting for us on the other side.

[while Croix does that, he keeps his rifle trained on the doors]