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Post by HG on Jul 9, 2015 19:32:19 GMT
AmyYou hear a non-diegetic "whooom" sound and your vision flashes black for a moment. You see movement stirring, very far away. The furthest you can imagine, in fact. Falling stars dot the blackness, and you can feel the presence of a terrible and beautiful truth behind you, stretching out like a swan rearing to attack. A ring of CRESCENTS suddenly glows dark blue against the blackness, and you are flung backwards.You open your eyes, and you seem to have fallen over. On inspection, your hair is now a little shorter, but much neater than before, as though you'd magically cut your hair. You can either form a new intention at 5+, or take a surface wound of being overwhelmed and retreat to your SECRET PLACE for a while. This will result in your body being unconscious if you do. ZorroYou start up gristTorrent. Most of the tabs are still GREYED OUT, but the developers promise that those features will be ready soon. You nevertheless start downloading a version of SBURB. The wi-fi here is incredibly fast, which confuses Edony as she normally has to go downstairs and sit in the corridor outside the lawyer's offices to reach the internet. At the mention of a mystery to solve, she perks up, and begins rummaging in her desk. She hands you a NEWSPAPER ARTICLE about a METEOR IMPACT six years ago. It destroyed the building on the site of what is now SKAIANET LABORATORIES. This is clearly a KEY ITEM; you need to find who to give this important information to! She gracefully lets you keep the clipping. AllMatt, Zeto, Amy: You're near enough to talk to each other. Matt and Zeto might have seen Amy fall over just now.
Zorro, Aki: You're now in pesterChum range of each other. Zeto: You can probably pesterchat with them if you want via J3-NNY.
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Post by estantia on Jul 11, 2015 17:36:36 GMT
At a loss for things to do while loading the game, Aki curls up in her chair and reads the GAME MANUAL. It looked interesting certainly, and her inner geek was far too happy at the prospect of getting a Sims game without having to worry about looking after the family, everyone knew that the house building was the most interesting bit. She frowned at a later portion of the manual, then the discs she had. So she needed to choose whether she wanted to be a CLIENT or a SERVER first? She'd need the others online to organise that. Not to mention she needed to check everyone was okay after that DISTANT EXPLOSION. She opened PESTERCHUM as soon as her computer let her. Aha! There was someone online!
aridFirefly began pestering nibblingQuestant
<aridFirefly> yo, you around?
<nibblingQuestant> yes.
<nQ> sorry downloading something and talking
<aF> eh, I'm distracted myself, reading the manual and making lunch.
<aF> you managed to get your sburb copy yet?
<nQ> just downloading it. might not get a chance to try it for a while because of investigating the meteors
<nQ> which reminds me
<nQ> do you know anything about meteors? and is space a Thing?
<aF> meteors?
<aF> was that that boomy thing I heard earlier?
A meteor? Oh drat it Zorro chose the worst times to be slow to respond. Patience, patience, do not throw - she'd already thrown her stress ball at the wall. Well it was better than throwing the manual. She settled down to read again. When she next looked up he'd replied.
<nQ> it was indeed the boomy thing
<nQ> and a previous boomy thing many years ago
<aF> a fucking *meteor* though?!
<aF> where'd they hit?
<nQ> according to amy, the cake shop
<aF> ... please don't tell me she was bloody there
<nQ> she was, but escaped miraculously unscathed
<aF> fucking assbadgers
<aF> so I guess that explains the cryptic bullshit I got told earlier
<nQ> she sounded a little shaken but insisted she was fine
<aF> right... believing it?
<nQ> cryptic bullshit? oooh! tell me! I am all about the cryptic bullshit in the early stages of an adventure!
Amy was fine, and talking if not actually fine, that was better than nothing. That said she had an EPIC STORY of CRYPTIC BULLSHIT to deliver. Aki cracked her fingers, this was gonna be good, he loved things like this.
<aF> okay you'll like this one
<aF> so I was going to the post office to get my game (because it got stuck in the fucking post machine. zeto will be so proud I managed to fix the fucker)
<nQ> well done 
<aF> and there were a load of fortitude rats just standing on the edge of a rooftop staring out at the sunrise over the lake with their cloaks rippling in the wind
<aF> just completely silent and still
<aF> so I stopped too and the moment caught me too
<nQ> ^^
<aF> but I just... it felt foreboding and sad
<nQ> like some sort of note of desolation was reverberating through your very soul?
<aF> no it was like... you know at the beginning of a game it starts in this little idyllic village and you know it's gonna be destroyed or something?
<aF> it felt like that, like the last time I'd see it
<nQ> oh no I hope that's not true.
<aF> I bloody well hope not
<aF> but then the angel showed up
<nQ> like, I know its an entirely necessary part of the hero's journey to cast off the trappings of normality, but id hope it'd be less literal than that
<aF> completely fucking cool as all hell, pulled up on his motorcycle
<nQ> yes?
<aF> I say "something's coming, isn't it?" and ask why I felt like crying (also without looking at him, plus two coolness points)
<aF> and he goes "because we won't be able to protect everyone. say your farewells while you can." and then guns off into the sunrise (which I don't even fucking know how he did because the sunrise was over the fucking lake, but it looked so fucking cool)
<aF> (bloody bastard always managing to be cooler than I am)
<aF> as stated, cryptic bullshit
<nQ> that is pretty cryptic
<aF> so what's that other meteor you mentioned?
<nQ> we found a newspaper article about it , landed here in horizon
<aF> weird, what did it hit?
<nQ> somewhere called skaianet labs
<aF> isn't that the place which made sburb?
<nQ> is it?
<aF> think so, mentions skaia in the manual too, apparently getting there's the goal of the game
<aF> well, the mcguffin is there anyway
<nQ> weird
<aF> yeah
She looked sideways at the discs again. A meteor on the day somewhere struck by a meteor (had skaianet been built after the impact? Or just rebuilt?) released a game. That seemed like a hell of a COINCIDENCE. Nevertheless, perhaps she could direct the conversation to the game while he was still around?
<aF> oh yeah I remembered something I wanted to ask
<nQ> oh?
<aF> it says in the manual that each person needs to be a server and a client, did you want to set that up? It'll give me something to do while we wait for the others to come back
<nQ> uh sure I guess
<nQ> which one do you want me to be?
<aF> I want to play with the server side, mind being the client?
<nQ> sure.
<nQ> just let me check out the meteor impact site then ill head home
<aF> thanks! say hi to the others for me, k?
<nQ> will do!
aridFirefly stopped pestering nibblingQuestant
Booya! She was going to start being a server and get to build stuff! All he needed to do was get home and they could get started. She eagerly flipped through the MANUAL to see if there were any instructions on what the server player had to do. Does mobius double reference apply to COINCIDENCE? It might be a bit of a stretch for references though. |
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Post by darkshoal on Jul 15, 2015 18:05:10 GMT
"Mlerh." Amy stirs briefly, sitting up in the crater and rubbing the back of her head. "Stupid, impolite swirly thingum and it's really rude Truth concepty-thing." She mutters glaring at the center of the impact crater. "I should totally go over there and give you a lecture on manners. Buuuut..." She checks her hair, noting it's sudden neatness. "Fuck." She swears, going uncomfortably serious. Getting slowly to her feet, she scans the impact crater and those nearby, letting some of the tenseness drain out of her as she spots Matty. " Hey!" She yells to get his attention. "I think the meteor brought a link to the Outside with it, can you purify that or something because er..." Amy blinks a couple of times. "I think I'm going to pass out." She takes a step forward and sways slightly. "Yep, I'm about to pass out. Have fun~" Matty might or might not have had the oppertunity to reply before Amy slumps down unconcious. She snores. Cutely. > Amy: Recover in SECRET PLACE. This is almost certainly the xp action Retreat to the Secret Place. This sequence may have also have fulfilled, or be about to fulfil the (Be in) Trouble genre action. |
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Post by HG on Jul 31, 2015 20:21:49 GMT
Amy: You have indeed fulfilled that quest condition, and can also take the Be In Trouble action. I'll add an XP to the pot. You awaken in a familiar green chamber. This room is near the top of the dream-place, though "top" is a not-exactly-defined term when some of the stairs up lead to lower floors. There's a bed here, which SOMEBODY keeps moving your sleeping dreamself back to whenever you leave this place. There's also a green TRAY with a FULL ENGLISH BREAKFAST on it, still steaming with warmth. The door is closed, but you know from past experience it won't be locked. There are many places in this retreat you know about, and many more you haven't explored yet. You know how to get to the OBSERVATORY, LARGE TEMPLE-Y CHAMBER and SITTING ROOM/KITCHEN easily, but some of the more interesting rooms like the LIBRARY seem to move around when you're not in them. *BONGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG*That's new. There seems to be a huge bell ringing somewhere above you. The GREEN PLACE has the following Bonds: - You must be an excellent host to your guests.
- You must manipulate people, but never lie to them.
Aki: "Coincidence" on its own isn't enough. Though with enough repetition (in IC threads/narration) then it might be strong enough to count; you'd probably want a phrase to fit with it though. You finish the installation and it presents a screen saying "Enter Client Code: _______ [CONNECT]" and three little bars indicating a good connection. Underneath, in slightly smaller letters, it says "Your client code is: 0AC1D1C0". As you're sitting at your desk, waiting, you notice that the strings of your DREAMCATCHERS are vibrating like strummed guitar strings. Zorro: The download completes, and with a "pop" sound a SBURB icon appears on your device's home screen. If you open it, you will see much the same as Aki, except that your client code is B1735123 |
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Post by darkshoal on Aug 7, 2015 17:52:36 GMT
Amy shoots out of bed, blinking slightly before absently reaching for a piece of toast and munching on it before the bell rings again and make her jump half a foot into the air.
Anime physics means she hangs there for a moment, blinking in the realization that yes, that did just happen, before falling back down onto the bed. A ringing gong means there may be people, for it is new, and curious. And possibly shiny. Checking her state of dress, Amy will search for clothes if she is not appropriately attired for venturing forth, grab the remaining toast, sandwich bacon between it and nom quickly.
Then she will take the tea and VENTURE FORTH in search of the source of the noise!
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Post by bennbtmn on Sept 1, 2015 21:25:58 GMT
Zorro lets Aki know his client code, while heading in the direction of Skianet.
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Post by cattigan on Sept 1, 2015 22:15:36 GMT
Matty had started to wave in response to Amy's greeting, but when she crumples to the floor his brow wrinkles with concern and he rushes over to make sure she is alright. His GRIN returns though when he hears her cute snores, and he turns to the crater. "If there is indeed Outside taint here, it must be purified before it corrupts any of the LOCAL TSUKUMOGAMI. They make enough mischief already." Matty takes out a box of matches and a cluster of incense candles, and places them down at the edge of the crater. He then spectacularly fails to light them, each match flame guttering out before it reaches the candles. In the end, he gives up in disgust, tempted to say some of the rude words Rinley taught him.   trying and failing to burn things, to light them on fire XP? He sits down crosslegged, controls his breathing (distracted a little by the fact he has apparently sat his butt right into the edge of a chocolate puddle), and furrows his brow in concentration as he focuses hard on his surroundings, the Outside taint and the whole terrible situation with the chocolate shop, because experience has taught him there is no situation so bad that he cannot make it better. Forming an Intent of 7 (3 Superior Holiness + 4 Will) to Dissipate any Outside Taint, Calm the Masses and Clear the Messes! Hoping to just have soothing presence waashing over populace, maybe healing grazes, and cleaning up stuffs, but Outside Taint is focus of power. Rest would be fallout from it, as would be pulling other things back to normalcy too.
Remaining will 2/8 I believe
Italics are due to fact that that is his Affliction.
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Post by Entimix on Sept 1, 2015 22:46:04 GMT
"Hey, you need a hand with that?" Zeto asks, a wisp of FOX-FIRE appearing in her open hand. Not waiting for an answer, she dismisses the fox-fire and crouches down, each CANDLE sparking to life at her touch. "See? Helping." Not being too versed in the Outside, or meteors, or first aid, she starts looking around for any MACHINERY that might need some attention. Fox-Eared Magic 2 + Will 1 for an Intention 3 to light the candles for Matty |
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Post by estantia on Sept 1, 2015 22:56:48 GMT
Aki frowns at her DREAMCATCHERS. She'd never seen them react like this, even on that day when the wind had howled with outside it had been a violent rattling, but this? This was tuneful, like someone was PLAYING THEM like a harp, or really old speakers. Could you play music with the Outside? That was a dangerous train of thought, but possibly not quite as dangerous as this game if that was causing that. A few minutes and a short e-mail was on its way to everyone.
<aridFirefly> hey guys, put dreamcatchers near your computers, mine's bloody humming and there's nothing that could be causing it but sburb. Ah! Client code. Now she could get started. She should probably sort out the dreamcatchers, but they could wait a little while longer, right..?
Is this applicable? - Claim XP - Chores pile up while you figure out what to do.
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Post by HG on Sept 3, 2015 20:02:33 GMT
Aki: Yup, that counts. Claim a quest xp. You type in Zorro's client code - 0x07A11E57 - and a window opens, showing a picture of ZORRO as though shot from a helicopter. It follows him and his noble steed as they bounce across roofs, presumably on a QUEST. An achievement window pops up! Getting started! 1/514
Welcome to SBURB! +50 Build Grist A few blue blobs that look like raspberry Fruit Gushers spray out of the achievement window, and fly into a box in the top-left corner of the screen, which now displays an icon of one of them - a BUILD GRIST, you suppose - and the number 50. An array of what look like building designing tools from The Sims appear in a left-hand pane, while the menu at the top has an array of bewilderingly named options, only one of which isn't greyed out. The PHERNALIA REGISTRY contains a few items which seem to cost no Grist - a CRUXTRUDER, an ALCHEMITER, a TOTEM LATHE, and a PRE-PUNCHED CARD. Also greyed out is a PUNCH DESIGNIX, which seems to cost five units of a strange black Grist. You can take a DISCOVERY XP Action here to play around with SBURB; if you do, you'll end up accidentally ripping someone's bathroom fixture through a wall because Zorro is moving. Zorro: Your DEVICE pings with a notification to let you know that Aki has connected to you. At about the same time, you come into sight of the SKAIANET LABORATORIES building. There is a TALL WIRE FENCE, with a WHITE BUILDING with a large GREEN SYMBOL on the side inside. The windows are a shiny blue, making it almost impossible to see in, and the doors and walls are a smooth white. On top of the building, a few AIR VENTS sit, as well as a TELESCOPE that is constantly swivelling. There's also a KEYPAD by the FRONT DOOR, with a small blinking light. "Wow. How are you going to get in there?" Edony asks. Describe how you break in, if you're going to - it'll be an Obstacle 2. You might be able to take a Discovery XP action looking at the stuff inside, as well. Matty: Yup, gain that sweet sweet Quest XP. Also, Intention 7? Whoa. A burst of power noticeably rolls off Matty as he sits there. People turn and look, but they seem calmed by the presence he exudes. The smoke from the crater dissipates, blown away on the wind, and people start as a small flock of TSUKUMOGAMI descend -- but then they start chipping away at the chocolate and moving rubble aside, and generally helping people deal with the aftermath. A pair of sandals kicks stones out of the way; a kettle with the letter "聖" on the side starts pouring tea for people. Zeto: The candles light, and then when Matty starts his meditation, they suddenly burn high and gold. This is a side of him you'd never seen before - a strange and powerful side, and slightly alien in its purity. J3-NNY, meanwhile, is looking at the impact crater with a look you recognise as "Processing, CPU at 100%." Curious. There Is No Sign Of The Impactor In This Crater. Evaluating Hypotheses.You can take a FORESHADOWING XP action here, maybe? There's also an (Obstacle 1) chance to do science to the crater. Amy: You search the room for a while, but don't find any clothes other than the GREEN PAJAMAS you're already wearing, with a stylised SUN emblazoned on their front. You set off through the hallways of the place in search of the source of the sound; it seems to hang in the air still. Eventually, you find the source: a room that contained a broken ORRERY. However, the sound appears to have been something in the mechanism shifting, because it's now moving again. The planets and other bits float in the air, about a metre above the floor, rotating slowly. Below the floating planets is a green stone slab, with a huge amount of scratches in the centre as though someone had tried to erase what was there. The note still hangs in the air as you look, a lonely note that seems to need no source now. It is the sound of wind skimming a cut reed, or whistling through a plundered mailbox. You recognise the note. It's the one Desolation plays to keep its instrument in tune. You are being subjected to an environmental hazard - you'll need to form some kind of Intention; or maybe (Be In) Trouble XP Action; or both! An Intention of 2 will suffice to stop it causing a Wound. |
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Post by estantia on Sept 4, 2015 17:13:40 GMT
Discovery XP taken! She could deal with the DREAMCATCHERS in a minute, right now she just wanted to get used to the controls. Firstly she tested how far she could move her camera away from Zorro before it snapped back. The result was around the distance of a large house, which seemed reasonable. She couldn't really deploy anything yet though, she'd have to put it on someone's roof and re-finding it would be difficult to put it mildly. An accidental movement of the mouse wheel caused her viewpoint to zoom down unexpectedly, leaving her staring at someone setting their pancakes on fire. So... she could see through walls and this 'camera' wasn't actually a camera. So what was it? MAGIC at a guess, but what kind, could anything bar WISHES even do this kind of stuff? And wasn't it horrifically privacy-invading? Her view jerked back to Zorro as she whizzed her viewpoint around a little more, this time finding herself looking at a (thankfully) unoccupied house. She could get used to stuff in here, but she had to be quick. Okay, let's see what clicking does... nothing by itself, but she'd managed to move the TOWEL enough for it to flop somewhat pathetically on the floor. Next step, would plumbing automatically adjust like in the Sims? She experimentally picked up the SINK just as the screen jerked back to Zorro, a crash of flying brick telling her that no, no the plumbing didn't move with the sink, or at least not when your sink is flying across Fortitude taking out the occasional chimney pot or rooftile when the camera bounces. So. Um. +1 SINK. Maybe she could pass it off as a TSUKUMOGAMI? Hey could she poke Zorro with it? May as well do that before she tried investigating the building, maybe Zorro would have a use for it. |
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Post by Entimix on Sept 5, 2015 0:37:20 GMT
Zeto blinks. "Hm? What? Oh! Goodness! You're right! That is interesting! A crater this size... Hm." She looks up at the sky for a moment, contemplating the meteor's descent trajectory, then ducks as a particularly enthusiastic TSUKUMOGAMI whistles past and interrupts her train of thought. One thing is certain, though. This will require SCIENCE!Claiming that tasty  Foreshadowing XP |
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Post by darkshoal on Sept 5, 2015 18:23:05 GMT
As this is a Dream I ignore the 'hazard' part of environmental hazard with Intent: 3 (Superior Dreamer 3 + 0 Will), as such I can't claim the Be in Trouble XP action as it's not really a threat. Amy spends quite a bit of time staring at the display of planets in puzzled confusion before darting around to see if there's any remaining inscriptions or similar that could help to make sense of this. Maybe she can line it up with something she's studied before... the 4 planets and the possible purple Sun on the outside of the system sure do look interesting. Maybe it's a really strange map of the Outside? Intent: Gain A Clue 4 (Teenage Shrine Maiden ( Dream Lore) 2 + 2 Will) |
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Post by bennbtmn on Sept 23, 2015 20:29:01 GMT
Zorro is about to repy to Edony, but is distracted by the sink flying through the window. After conferring with Aki, he asks begins to wonder weather he can fit in the sink and be lifted with it...
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Post by Entimix on Sept 23, 2015 20:29:47 GMT
"Ah, if only I actually had a PORTALAB... hm..." Her eyes drift across a nearby row of shops, untouched by the blast... and light up as an IDEA crystallises behind them. "See what you can find, Jenny, I'll be right back." She disappears into one of the SHOPS, emerging a few minutes later carrying a bundle of apparatus awkwardly under her arm. Returning to J3-NNY, she begins unfolding and setting up the CONTRAPTION - an odd-looking three-legged device with various gauges and lights adorning it and a pair of adorable ANTENNAE protruding from the top. "Found anything yet?" she asks as she wrestles with it, pulling out the AutoSpanner to help her with a few of the trickier joints. Everything in place, she points it at the crater and flips a SWITCH. "Right, let's see what this thing can do!" Science! 3 + Equipment 2 + Will 1 for an Intention 6 to find out as much as I can about that crater! |
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