  
 
The idea behind ClubFloyd is that each week at a pre-arranged time, a group of people meet online to cooperatively play a game of interactive fiction. Below is a transcript of The Mage Wars: Statue, written by Jim Fisher. The Mage Wars: Statue was originally released as part of the 2003 IntroComp, where it took first place. You can learn more about the game, including how to download it, by visiting the ifWiki.WARNING! Below you will find a transcript of people playing this game, and it goes without saying that the transcript is full of spoilers. So, if you've never played this game, and think you might like to at some point, I do not recommend reading any further. Instead, you might want to return to the interactive fiction page. |
 | ||||
| | |||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | I N T R O D U C T I O N Floyd | (circa 9243) Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | "Daddy!" Floyd | Floyd | "Daddy!" Floyd | Floyd | You are accosted by two gleeful children as you walk into their dimly Floyd | illuminated bedroom. They bound up in unison and leap on you from their Floyd | respective beds. You first catch Kylina -- your six-year-old daughter Floyd | -- then immediately pick your four-year-old son -- Mathen -- out of the Floyd | air. Both children hug you tightly making you smile, comforted by this Floyd | familiar nightly ritual. You squeeze both of them together in your Floyd | arms, enjoying the sensation of your two children. You've always loved Floyd | this moment -- the embrace before you put them to bed. Floyd | Floyd | Children's Bedroom Floyd | A small bedroom with two beds, one for each of your children. The Floyd | illumination spell, a common casting available these days in every home Floyd | in Darisia, is set very low so as to facilitate their falling asleep. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x kylina" | ||||
Floyd | Kylina, your six-year-old daughter, has your eyes and Cylest's long Floyd | dark hair. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I should admit that I have played this game before, but not since it originally came out." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | Starting to grey, but still in excellent health. If not for your fame, Floyd | no one could possibly guess your real age. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I do remember that the game is structured in chapters, each with a different region of locations." | |||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x Mathen" | ||||
Floyd | Mathen, your four-year-old son, has short blonde hair. His smile is Floyd | missing his two front teeth. Floyd | Floyd | Kylina kisses you on the cheek then smiles a contrived farce of a smile Floyd | at her brother. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "hug kylina" | ||||
Floyd | You pull your daughter close and give her a hug then kiss her on the Floyd | forehead. She smiles and gives you a kiss on the nose. Floyd | Floyd | Mathen gives you a hug, squeezing tightly around your neck, and crosses Floyd | his eyes at his sister. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gerynar says, "I have no parenting experience, so someone else ought to get them to bed" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "heh" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Let's try the natural way and see if it works." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "put children in bed." | ||||
Floyd | Kylina : You put Kylina on the bed. Floyd | Mathen : You put Mathen on the bed. Floyd | Floyd | "Would you tell us a bedtime story, Daddy?" Kylina asks. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes! Tell us a story, Daddy! Please?" says Mathen, thinking this a Floyd | good idea. By his enthusiasm, one would think that you hadn't told them Floyd | a bedtime story last night, or the night before, or each and every Floyd | night for the last several years. Floyd | Floyd | "Please, Daddy?" Kylina has no reservations about begging for bedtime Floyd | stories. Floyd | Floyd | "Pleeeeeease?" they plead in unison. Floyd | Floyd | You laugh. "Okay, okay." Floyd | Floyd | "Yay!" They cheer, and the two children begin to jump on their beds in Floyd | excitement, each bobbing up and down in alternating intervals. Floyd | Floyd | [In addition to the traditional Ask/Tell method of speaking, Floyd | menu-based conversation is available using "MENUSPEAK" when the Floyd | "MSpk" indicator appears on the status line and the input prompt is Floyd | doubled (>>). Alternatively, the "MENUSPEAK" command can be Floyd | abbreviated as "MS" or "MSPK."] Floyd | Floyd | >> | DavidW says, "yay, that worked!" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "yay indeed" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "so, very unlike the real world, from how I understand it" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Interesting that there are two ways to converse." | ||||
| Nitku asks, "What does menuspeak mean? Should there be options there?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Gerynar), "ha" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Also, I -- not sure, Nitku. Not sure if it'll work on here, but we should probably try both." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I've seen this >> style prompt before. It was popular with a handful of games. But it never became universally admired." | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Children's Bedroom Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 5 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | >What story would you...< Floyd | Once upon a time, there were three little pigs... Floyd | Captured the conquering lord... | Nitku says, "oh ok" | |||
| DavidW says, "oh. I don't remember this." | ||||
| Gerynar doesn't remember which button does what for space/enter/etc... | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Children's Bedroom Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 5 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | What story would you... Floyd | >Once upon a time, there were three little pigs...< Floyd | Captured the conquering lord... | Nitku says, "I misread and thought >> meant that we're already in the menuspeak mode" | |||
| DavidW says, "ah. P for previous. N for Next." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think >> is for typing in topics." | ||||
| DavidW asks, "Shall we ask them the 1st option?" | ||||
| Nitku says, "No, I think it means that when the prompt is >> the MS command is available" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Nitku), "at least in this game" | ||||
| Nitku says, "right" | ||||
| Jacqueline waves and makes an isquiesque departure for home. | DavidW says, "ack. We lost Jacqueline." | |||
| Nitku says, "Maybe we should wait for a while" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "shall we wai....timing" | ||||
| DavidW says, "yeah." | ||||
| DavidW says, "It'd be a shame if she got back and we were fighting Sith Lords or whatever all of a sudden." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "shh...she's back" | ||||
| DB arrives, ready to play with the toys. | Jacqueline says, "heh" | |||
| DB asks, "Have I missed much?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "hi DB" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "not really" | ||||
| DB asks, "What are we playing today?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to DB), "Not much at all. We paused for Jacqueline to get back online." | ||||
| DB says, "Oh, alright. So my timing is still good." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Today's game is The Mage Wars: Statue." | ||||
| DavidW says, "An INTROCOMP game. Written for INTROCOMP." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Sorry about that - I must have dropped offline at somepoint shortly after I stepped outside. Maga just got back from fishing and, um, he's not in very good shap." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "er, shape, even." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "p" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Children's Bedroom Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 5 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | >What story would you...< Floyd | Once upon a time, there were three little pigs... Floyd | Captured the conquering lord... | Gerynar asks, "did he forget to "Slap that fish" first?" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I guess the bugs were the worst his fishing buddy has ever seen (and that person has lived here for 15(?) years. Maga's face is literally polka dotted." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We're about to tell a bedtime story to our two kiddies." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I, um, hope he lets me take a picture." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Anyway, the game." | ||||
| Jacqueline arrives, ready to play with the toys. | DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "ack." | |||
| DB says, "This is from the 2003 IntroComp, I see." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Yes, IntroComp." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Gerynar), "He was actually so busy slapping that fish that he forgot to slap those bugs" | ||||
| DB says, "Neat." | ||||
| DB says, "Sorry to hear about Maga." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Anyway, I propose we choose 'What story would you...'" | ||||
| DB asks, "Did he catch anything? I mean, any fish?" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "I suggest we ask the kids what story" | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | >>ask about their preferred story Floyd | "What story would you like for me to tell you?" you ask, already Floyd | knowing the answer. Floyd | Floyd | "Tell us about when you were young!" answers Kylina decisively. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes! Tell us the statue story!" Mathen agrees, clapping his hands Floyd | together. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Children's Bedroom Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 6 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | >Where do I begin...< | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | >>tell statue story Floyd | You smile, and take in a long breath. "Let me see, where do I begin? Oh Floyd | yes... Floyd | Floyd | "It had been three weeks since my spirit had died, three weeks since Floyd | all the color had drained from the world, three weeks since..." Floyd | Floyd | "No. Don't start there!" Mathen interrupts. "Start before that, when Floyd | Mommy was a little girl!" Floyd | Floyd | "That's not before, you dummy!" scorns his sister. "Mommy was after, Floyd | while Daddy was sleeping!" Floyd | Floyd | "Nuh-uuuh!" Floyd | Floyd | "Yes she was!" Kylina glares at Mathen. Mathen retorts by sticking his Floyd | tongue out at her. Floyd | Floyd | "It's okay," you say smoothly. "We can start with Mommy. Maybe the Floyd | story goes better that way." Floyd | Floyd | Mathen smiles smugly at his sister, who decides to ignore him. Floyd | Floyd | You think for a moment about where to begin. "Okay," you start. "Mommy Floyd | -- that is, 'Cylest' -- had wandered away from the others..." Floyd | Floyd | --- Floyd | Floyd | Press SPACE to continue | ||||
| Gerynar pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | P R O L O G U E Floyd | (circa 9223) Floyd | Floyd | Cylest had wandered away from the others. The museum was amazing and Floyd | she wanted to see all of it, but the statue -- THE statue, was too Floyd | captivating. She had listened to the stories all of her life. It was Floyd | the statue made by the ancients, the only remnant of a civilization Floyd | before recorded history. None knew how the statue had been made or how Floyd | the ancients had managed such realism. No one could even guess about Floyd | what it was made from. The mages claimed that it was immune to most of Floyd | their magiks and what little they could find out about it raised more Floyd | questions than answers. Floyd | Floyd | Cylest had always been enraptured by the mystery surrounding the Floyd | statue. Although most thought it to be simply a statue of amazing Floyd | detail, many believed that it was once a real man. It was a commonly Floyd | told children's story that the statue was truly a dark mage who slept Floyd | until his chosen time to rise again and enslave the world. It was said Floyd | he was a mage of powerful evil -- more evil even than Noric the Dark Floyd | who had been exiled with great difficulty into the Thanatos desert for Floyd | leading an insurrection against her father. But Cylest secretly Floyd | believed the statue was an ancient hero, captured by an evil mage of Floyd | great power and made to suffer for all eternity. The statue was the Floyd | single interest that she could always remember having, so she had Floyd | jumped at the chance to visit the museum where it was housed. After the Floyd | museum guide had led her party by it, she had taken the first Floyd | opportunity to sneak away and return. Floyd | Floyd | Now, as she stood knee-high before the statue of the ancients and Floyd | stared up into its heart-wrenching expression, she was ensnared by the Floyd | romance of it all. The tall, mysterious, ancient man -- unloved, Floyd | rejected, and distraught by loneliness -- stood waiting only for Floyd | someone to love him. Yes, she thought as she peered into his sad, Floyd | distant eyes. I do love him. And she always had, for the entire seven Floyd | years of her life. He needed her love and she could not deny him of it. Floyd | The grownups would not understand, but it didn't matter. She would Floyd | prove her love... Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Statue Exhibit (in the glass case) Floyd | Floyd | From within the case, sharing space with the statue, Cylest felt like Floyd | an artifact herself, looking out into the empty museum. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says (to DB), "Yes, he brought home 8 salmon (this is subsistence, not sport fishing)." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x statue" | ||||
Floyd | The statue was of a tall, handsome man, brimming with mystery and Floyd | otherworldliness. The man held a strange box in his left hand, his Floyd | thumb pressed against it purposefully. An ancient coat covered the Floyd | man's torso and extended down to his knees. A small aperture in the Floyd | coat, just within Cylest's reach, was visible. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | Cylest was carrying: Floyd | a promise pin (providing light) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "talk to statue" | ||||
Floyd | [You can only do that to something animate.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x aperture" | ||||
Floyd | She looked closely at the small aperture in the statue, a gap in its Floyd | strange ancient garb. It was a pocket. A perfect place to put the Floyd | symbol of her love! Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x pin" | ||||
Floyd | Cylest opened her fist and looked down at her promise pin. The pin, Floyd | adorned with a glowing crystal, was symbolic of eons of Darisian Floyd | tradition and her father would be livid when he found that she had Floyd | taken it. It was to be given to her betrothed when she was old enough Floyd | to make the decision. Well, she was old enough. She was seven years old Floyd | -- almost eight -- and certainly old enough to love. After all, she Floyd | loved this statue and the mysterious man that it represented. And the Floyd | statue -- she was sure -- returned her love. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "look in pocket" | ||||
Floyd | Cylest jumped several times, bobbing up and down just enough to see Floyd | into the pocket. It was dark, but appeared to be empty. Not for long, Floyd | Cylest told herself. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "enter pocket" | ||||
Floyd | The pocket was not something Cylest could enter. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put pin in pocket" | ||||
Floyd | Cylest reached up above her head and dropped the pin into the open Floyd | pocket. There was a metallic tinkle as the pin slipped down the gap in Floyd | the stone. She was certain that the statue would awaken for her now. It Floyd | would come to life since she had proven her love for it. The ancient Floyd | man would embrace her and sweep her away from her terrible life. Any Floyd | moment he would open his lips and speak... Floyd | Floyd | "Cylest!" cried a stern voice from behind, making her jump. "What are Floyd | you doing in there?" She turned to see her father's aide staring at her Floyd | from outside the glass casing. "Those display cases are meant to keep Floyd | people from touching the artifacts! Get out of there, now!" he Floyd | commanded. "That is no way for a princess to behave!" Floyd | Floyd | Princess Cylest nodded at his reprimand, and silently followed him as Floyd | he led her back to the group, relieved that he had not seen what she Floyd | had done with her pin. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | --- Floyd | Floyd | Press SPACE to continue | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | C H A P T E R . I Floyd | (circa 1997) Floyd | Floyd | It had been three weeks since my spirit had died, three weeks since all Floyd | the color had drained from the world, three weeks since the horror had Floyd | visited and marred me forever. I had knelt amidst the wreckage of glass Floyd | and metal. I had held Karen's limp form upon my lap. I had closed her Floyd | unseeing eyes. It had been three weeks since my reason to live had left Floyd | this world and I had kissed my wife's cold, bloodied lips goodbye. Floyd | Floyd | The loss was unbearable, the pain beyond measure. I had emerged Floyd | dreadfully intact from the wreckage that had once been my automobile. I Floyd | was unforgivably unscathed. To those around me, I seemed healthy and Floyd | vibrant. Yet I was but a shell; dead in all ways that mattered. Floyd | Floyd | From my reflection, only an obscenity glared back. The perversity of it Floyd | all taunted me. Not a scratch upon the killer who drove his love to her Floyd | death. Not a bruise for the driver whose very reason to live was Floyd | crushed in his passenger seat. Floyd | Floyd | And so it was that three weeks -- or minutes, or decades -- after the Floyd | accident, I included myself in the secret. As I stared at my reflection Floyd | in the coffee pot, I let myself in on the plan. As I did, I knew at Floyd | once that I had made the decision weeks ago -- in the midst of the Floyd | wreckage -- and kept it secret even from myself. Floyd | Floyd | Teresa had said that it was too soon for me to return to work, but I Floyd | had dismissed her concerns. I needed to immerse myself, I had said. But Floyd | it was a lie, and Malcolm had known. He watched me closely, Floyd | scrutinizing my actions. He was as suspicious as any partner and friend Floyd | of twenty years would be. But today was the meeting, and he could not Floyd | be in two places at once. Floyd | Floyd | Today would be the day that I would realize my plan and put an end to Floyd | this lifelessness... Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | The Mage Wars: Statue Floyd | (INTROCOMP 2003 version) Floyd | Copyright (c) 2003: Jim Fisher Floyd | Release 100 / Serial number 030321 / Inform v6.21 Library 6/10 Floyd | ORLibrary release 1.0A (2003.03.16) Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Coffee Nook Floyd | The coffee nook was nothing more than a recessed counter top with a Floyd | sink, providing easy access from the Northern boardroom. The office Floyd | coffeemaker rested on the counter. Floyd | Floyd | In the empty coffeepot, which I still held, my refracted reflection Floyd | returned my gaze, reminding me of the perversity of my existence. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku says, "Well that seems a nice story to tell your kids" | |||
| DavidW asks, "How I met your mother?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I was just thinking exactly the same thing." | ||||
| DavidW says, "(and stole company-owned time traveling equipment, I'm guessing.)" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | I was carrying: Floyd | a white lab coat (being worn) Floyd | a coffeepot Floyd | a coffee mug Floyd | some coffee Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "drink coffee" | ||||
Floyd | I downed the coffee. It was not entirely pleasant having the Floyd | after-taste that coffee has after it has sat too long after brewing. Floyd | Still, it was remarkably warm and fresh for a cup of coffee that was Floyd | possibly ten-thousand years old. Floyd | Floyd | The meeting was progressing in the boardroom to the North. Malcolm was Floyd | showing the two investors one of the petra-eikons. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "what is petra-eikons" | ||||
Floyd | [That's not a verb I recognize.] Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "I say! What game are we playing?" | |||
| DavidW says, "darn. Not many games understand 'what is ...' commands." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Cheddarius), "The Mage Wars: Statue by Jim Fisher." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "fill mug" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Nitku), "The pot's empty too, now." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put pot on coffeemaker" | ||||
Floyd | I returned the coffeepot to its place in the coffeemaker. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "Ah" | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "drink coffee" | ||||
Floyd | I did not see anything like that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | I was carrying: Floyd | a white lab coat (being worn) Floyd | a coffee mug Floyd | Floyd | "As soon as Dr. Philbrook rejoins us," Malcolm was saying, "I can give Floyd | you a demonstration of the device. I think you will be quite Floyd | impressed." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x coat" | ||||
Floyd | White and long, the coat came down to my knees. It had a single pocket Floyd | at the bottom which I seldom used. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "What are we trying to do right now?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Cheddarius), "Escape the memories of our dead wife Karen by doing something drastic at work that'll let us meet a princess a zillion years later." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "8000" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Gerynar), "picky picky" | ||||
| DavidW says, "7236 years, it looks like." | ||||
| Gerynar asks, "shall we head north and demonstrate?" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "and you said I was picky" | ||||
| DavidW says, "We should explore, yes." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Gerynar), "feel free to drive." | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Coffee Nook Floyd | The coffee nook was nothing more than a recessed counter top with a Floyd | sink, providing easy access from the Northern boardroom. The office Floyd | coffeemaker rested on the counter, cradling the coffeepot. Floyd | Floyd | From the boardroom I could hear one of the two investors ask a Floyd | question. Malcolm murmured a vague reply, and cleared his throat in a Floyd | private, unspoken inquiry as to my well-being. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "put mug on counter" | ||||
Floyd | I put the coffee mug on the counter. Floyd | Floyd | "The Petrian device is really something of a..." I could hear Malcolm Floyd | beginning one of his sales pitches. They weren't too bad, but they Floyd | weren't what investors wanted to hear. It was apparent that he was Floyd | stalling until I came back before delving into the details. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gerynar asks, "shall we then?" | |||
| DavidW says, "I guess we're _supposed_ to enter the meeting." | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Floyd | The boardroom was elegant and lavish. The East wall was comprised of Floyd | windows framing a scenic view of the cityscape. Light shined through, Floyd | distilled by tinting, and illuminated the room's centerpiece, a large Floyd | marble table. A windowed wall and door exhibited the hall to the West. Floyd | To the South was a small coffee bar. Floyd | Floyd | Two investors sat at one end of the table, their backs to the windowed Floyd | door and hall. Floyd | Floyd | On the marble table was a cage (which was closed). Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm, dressed in the sleek office attire he wore on such occasions, Floyd | sat at the head of the table; a deep concern for me shown on his face. Floyd | Floyd | "It is real?" asked one of the two men. He was holding the life-sized Floyd | statuette of a turtle in his hands. The other man looked at it over his Floyd | shoulder. Both seemed to be scrutinizing it for some flaw. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," responded Malcolm with a chuckle. "It is as real as this one." Floyd | Malcolm pulled the cloth from the cage, revealing the kitten within. It Floyd | had been sleeping, but awoke at the light. The kitten began to mew as Floyd | Malcolm opened the cage and reached for it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x kitten" | ||||
Floyd | The fluffy white kitten mewed happily. Floyd | Floyd | Both men's eyes widened as Malcolm attached the Petrian device's Floyd | electrode to the purring kitten's paw. It began to lick his right hand Floyd | and he stroked the kitten playfully. In his left hand, he held the Floyd | Petrian device. Floyd | Floyd | "Will it hurt?" the first man asked with a mixed expression of horror Floyd | and fascination. Floyd | Floyd | "Not at all," replied Malcolm smiling. "The effect is instantaneous. Floyd | The kitten will experience no sensation and will be unaware even of the Floyd | passage of time." Floyd | Floyd | "How much time?" asked the second man. Floyd | Floyd | "Whatever we choose," replied Malcolm. "For this example, I've set the Floyd | device for thirty days. I could just as easily have set it for thirty Floyd | millennia." Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "eep" | |||
| Gerynar says, "oh, so it's kind of a suspended-animation thingie" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x device" | Jacqueline says, "Poor kitty" | |||
Floyd | It was partially obscured as Malcolm held it, but I had seen it many Floyd | times. I did, after all, help invent it. There was one more, partially Floyd | damaged but still functioning in the testing lab. I had plans for that Floyd | one. It was small, about the size and shape of a portable stereo. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm moved his hand from the kitten to the Petrian device. The Floyd | kitten jumped playfully and tried to pursue his hand. Floyd | Floyd | Then Malcolm pushed the button and the kitten froze, turning instantly Floyd | to a colorless grey stone material. It fell off the table, having been Floyd | frozen in mid leap, and made a loud noise as it hit the floor. The two Floyd | men gasped at the fallen kitten, paying no attention to the electrode Floyd | which automatically retracted to the device. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm reached down and picked the newly created statuette up from the Floyd | floor and set it on the table. "If you have any questions," said Floyd | Malcolm with a smug smile. "Dr. Philbrook and I will try to answer them Floyd | as best we can." Floyd | Floyd | For a moment, both men were speechless. They looked at the stoned Floyd | kitten -- a newly created eikon -- with obvious wonder. It was always Floyd | the same with these investors. This was the calm before the storm of Floyd | questions. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "With a preset time of suspension, I guess." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "yeah" | ||||
| DB says, "That's pretty neat." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "They should have set it to a minute or something" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Then, later, the kitten would come back" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "And everyone would ooh and aah" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x kitten" | ||||
Floyd | The kitten, neither fluffy nor white any longer appeared to be a small Floyd | statue chiseled out of stone, a petra-eikon. Floyd | Floyd | "Can you bring the kitten out of this stoned state early?" one of the Floyd | investors asked Malcolm. Floyd | Floyd | He shook his head. "Once the Petrian energy imbues the subject, it Floyd | dissipates at a constant rate. We've had no success at either speeding Floyd | up or prolonging its effect." Floyd | Floyd | As he spoke these words I realized that they weren't entirely true, but Floyd | he didn't know yet. I had meant to tell him when I first made the Floyd | breakthrough... but that had been just three weeks ago. All meaning in Floyd | my life had been taken from me the very next day. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Cheddarius says, "And they would make ludicrous quantities of money" | |||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x investors" | ||||
Floyd | Wearing almost identical black suits, the men were as two peas in a Floyd | pod. I had participated in dozens of meetings exactly like this, and Floyd | the investors were always the same. Karen and I used to joke that there Floyd | was a cloning laboratory somewhere from which all investors came. I Floyd | smiled at the fond memory of us joking, then winced at the pain of the Floyd | realization that there would be no more of that happiness. Floyd | Floyd | "And prolonging? What about trying to stone a statue that's already Floyd | stoned?" The man looked at Malcolm, a curious expression on his face. Floyd | Floyd | "No," He answered. "In the Petrian state, the subject no longer Floyd | exhibits any of the qualities of organic matter and the process only Floyd | affects the living." Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "ask inventors about petrian state" | DavidW asks, "oh. It doesn't work on keeping food fresh?" | |||
Floyd | (Asking investors) Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," The investors said. Floyd | Floyd | One of the men looked at me with a quizzical expression. "It only Floyd | affects living matter?" Floyd | Floyd | Suddenly the ache in my heart was too extreme. I could not endure this Floyd | meaningless drivel which was once so important to me. An urgent desire Floyd | to leave came over me. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Cheddarius asks, "Should we leave?" | |||
| DavidW says, "Unless we have questions of our own." | ||||
| Gerynar asks, "we've got the nenuspeak prompt, should we try that first?" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 27 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | >I believe I have discovered a way to revive... [Malcolm]< Floyd | Yes, and minimal inorganic material. Floyd | Please excuse me. | DavidW says, "But it is hinting to leave, yeah." | |||
| Nitku says, "whoops too fast" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "n. n." | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 27 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | I believe I have discovered a way to revive... [Malcolm] Floyd | >Yes, and minimal inorganic material.< Floyd | Please excuse me. | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 27 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | I believe I have discovered a way to revive... [Malcolm] Floyd | Yes, and minimal inorganic material. Floyd | >Please excuse me.< | Gerynar asks, "this one?" | |||
| DavidW says, "ah. That lets the coat come with us (minimal inorganic material)." | ||||
| DavidW says, "yes, that one." | ||||
| Gerynar pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | >>tell excuse to leave Floyd | "If you will excuse me," I announced to the room. "I have something Floyd | that I must attend to." Malcolm looked at me, understanding the excuse; Floyd | pity showed plainly upon his face. I felt a passing twinge of guilt for Floyd | abandoning him in a meeting of this importance, but apathy overwhelmed Floyd | it. Floyd | Floyd | For a dizzy moment my vision blurred and I saw Karen's lifeless face Floyd | staring into nothingness. I scrunched my eyes closed, prepared to wait Floyd | until the vision passed, but it never did and I was forced to open them Floyd | again and wipe the tears from my cheeks. "Excuse me," I repeated, not Floyd | knowing what else to say. The two investors looked at me strangely; Floyd | Malcolm smiled sympathetically and nodded, telling me without words Floyd | that he could handle the investors. He turned his attention back to Floyd | them. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," Malcolm replied. "And a very small amount of inorganic matter in Floyd | close proximity to the subject." Floyd | Floyd | The man thought about this silently, obviously not convinced. Floyd | Floyd | "What happens if you break the statue?" one of the men asked. Floyd | Floyd | "We know of nothing that can damage an eikon," Malcolm said. "The Floyd | Petrias energy affects the subject on an atomic level, filling the Floyd | space between the atoms themselves. Our testing indicates that these Floyd | stoned statues, or petra-eikons, could easily survive unscathed upon Floyd | the surface of the sun." Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "Oh man. Did we freeze Karen?" | |||
| Gerynar says, "she died in a car wreck" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Oh." | ||||
| DavidW says, "No. She died in an automobile accident." | ||||
| DavidW says, "You missed that part." | ||||
| DavidW asks, "Where's the exits from this room?" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Coffee Nook Floyd | Floyd | On the counter was a coffee mug (which was empty). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "verbose" | ||||
Floyd | [The Mage Wars: Statue is now in its "verbose" mode, which always gives Floyd | long descriptions of locations (even if you've been there before).] Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "Where's this Petrias energy? Did we take it from aliens?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Coffee Nook Floyd | The coffee nook was nothing more than a recessed counter top with a Floyd | sink, providing easy access from the Northern boardroom. The office Floyd | coffeemaker rested on the counter, cradling the coffeepot. Floyd | Floyd | On the counter was a coffee mug (which was empty). Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "Or rather, the Petrias technology?" | |||
| DavidW says, "Our company developed it, I believe." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "something we seemed to have invented" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Ah" | ||||
| DavidW says, "No aliens." | ||||
| DavidW says, "This is circa 1997." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Ah" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "the game starts far in the future, we are telling our children the "statue" story. About how we came to meet their mother." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "I see" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I don't think this is the exit. I wanted to exit in a different direction from the boardroom." | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Floyd | The boardroom was elegant and lavish. The East wall was comprised of Floyd | windows framing a scenic view of the cityscape. Light shined through, Floyd | distilled by tinting, and illuminated the room's centerpiece, a large Floyd | marble table. A windowed wall and door exhibited the hall to the West. Floyd | To the South was a small coffee bar. Floyd | Floyd | Two investors sat at one end of the table, their backs to the windowed Floyd | door and hall. Floyd | Floyd | On the marble table were a stone kitten statuette and a cage (which was Floyd | empty). Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm, dressed in the sleek office attire he wore on such occasions, Floyd | sat at the head of the table; a deep concern for me shown on his face. Floyd | Floyd | "It could survive the surface of a star?" asked the other investor. Floyd | "You could leverage this technology to build spacecraft out of cheap, Floyd | flexible material such as plastic, then?" Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm shook his head. "The Petrias energy only affects living Floyd | matter." Floyd | Floyd | "Oh yes," the man said. "You said that." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Floyd | The boardroom was elegant and lavish. The East wall was comprised of Floyd | windows framing a scenic view of the cityscape. Light shined through, Floyd | distilled by tinting, and illuminated the room's centerpiece, a large Floyd | marble table. A windowed wall and door exhibited the hall to the West. Floyd | To the South was a small coffee bar. Floyd | Floyd | Two investors sat at one end of the table, their backs to the windowed Floyd | door and hall. Floyd | Floyd | On the marble table were a stone kitten statuette and a cage (which was Floyd | empty). Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm, dressed in the sleek office attire he wore on such occasions, Floyd | sat at the head of the table; a deep concern for me shown on his face. Floyd | One of the investors mumbled a pointless question. Malcolm gave a Floyd | generic response. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "west" | |||
| Cheddarius asks, "Then we just have to make a bacterial shell and use the Petrias device on it, no?" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | (first opening the hall door) Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | It was a short hallway connecting three doors to the open Southern Floyd | lobby. To the East was a glass wall and door dividing the hall from the Floyd | boardroom. The mahogany door of Malcolm's office lay closed to the Floyd | West. The door to the North led to the development lab where we Floyd | performed all research on the Petrian device. On the wall, mounted next Floyd | to the door was a security scanner. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku asks, "bacterial shell?" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Like a shell of bacteria, or slime molds, or whatnot" | ||||
| Nitku says, "uh" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "that would be affected by the device" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Yeah" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "That's the point" | ||||
| Nitku asks, "why?" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Then you use the device on them, and it becomes an invincible spaceship hull" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "So you can make cheap hulls, like they said" | ||||
| DavidW says, "If you covered a spaceship with kittens or other creatures, then the device would work." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "You could leverage this technology to build spacecraft out of cheap," | Gerynar says, "just don't be on it when time's up" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Hah, yeah" | ||||
| Gerynar asks, "so, malcom's office?" | ||||
| Nitku says, "We meet our future wife in the future, not on another planet" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Cheddarius), "We need idea people like you. You're hired." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "I thought about kittens, but I don't know how we'd plug the holes in between the kittens, even if we jam other kittens in there really tight" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x mahogany door" | ||||
Floyd | The door to Malcolm's office, like the door to my office, was made of Floyd | solid, rose stained mahogany. Intricate designs were etched into the Floyd | wood in various places adding a touch of elegance. Karen had picked out Floyd | the two doors when we had first opened the office. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "snrk" | |||
| DavidW says, "There was a strong hint that we want to repair a device in the testing lab. Also, Malcolm will see us through the glass wall." | ||||
| Cheddarius asks, "Should we go to the lab, then?" | ||||
| Cheddarius asks, "And, uh, wave at him or something?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think we should go to the lab, if we can. The scanner bothers me." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x scanner" | ||||
Floyd | It was a semi-flat rectangular box, mounted on the wall. It produced a Floyd | very small, almost insignificant hum as it waited patiently for a Floyd | security badge to be passed over it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "fix scanner" | DavidW says, "I don't remember seeing a badge, unless it's part of the coat." | |||
| Cheddarius asks, "Huh... why isn't Floyd responding?" | ||||
| Nitku exclaims, "Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Bah" | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "We haven't saved, either, have we?" | DavidW says, "no" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Ohhhh man" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Sorry guys" | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | DavidW says, "Actually, I meant to suggest saving at the beginning of each chapter." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "/undo" | Gerynar exclaims, "Cheddarius broke Floyd!" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Aw, he did not." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "I thought it was funny" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "WHAT HAVE THESE HANDS WROUGHT" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Have paged Jota for help." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "q" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "%quit" | ||||
| Floyd says, "game ended by request of Jacqueline." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "load statue" | ||||
Floyd | Welcome to the Cheap Glk Implementation, library version 0.9.0. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | [pausing to show unread error message] | DavidW says, "hm. So Floyd didn't lose his connection." | |||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | I N T R O D U C T I O N Floyd | (circa 9243) Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | "Daddy!" Floyd | Floyd | "Daddy!" Floyd | Floyd | You are accosted by two gleeful children as you walk into their dimly Floyd | illuminated bedroom. They bound up in unison and leap on you from their Floyd | respective beds. You first catch Kylina -- your six-year-old daughter Floyd | -- then immediately pick your four-year-old son -- Mathen -- out of the Floyd | air. Both children hug you tightly making you smile, comforted by this Floyd | familiar nightly ritual. You squeeze both of them together in your Floyd | arms, enjoying the sensation of your two children. You've always loved Floyd | this moment -- the embrace before you put them to bed. Floyd | Floyd | Children's Bedroom Floyd | A small bedroom with two beds, one for each of your children. The Floyd | illumination spell, a common casting available these days in every home Floyd | in Darisia, is set very low so as to facilitate their falling asleep. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Evidently not." | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "put kids in bed" | ||||
Floyd | Kylina : You put Kylina on the bed. Floyd | Mathen : You put Mathen on the bed. Floyd | Floyd | "Would you tell us a bedtime story, Daddy?" Kylina asks. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes! Tell us a story, Daddy! Please?" says Mathen, thinking this a Floyd | good idea. By his enthusiasm, one would think that you hadn't told them Floyd | a bedtime story last night, or the night before, or each and every Floyd | night for the last several years. Floyd | Floyd | "Please, Daddy?" Kylina has no reservations about begging for bedtime Floyd | stories. Floyd | Floyd | "Pleeeeeease?" they plead in unison. Floyd | Floyd | You laugh. "Okay, okay." Floyd | Floyd | "Yay!" They cheer, and the two children begin to jump on their beds in Floyd | excitement, each bobbing up and down in alternating intervals. Floyd | Floyd | [In addition to the traditional Ask/Tell method of speaking, Floyd | menu-based conversation is available using "MENUSPEAK" when the Floyd | "MSpk" indicator appears on the status line and the input prompt is Floyd | doubled (>>). Alternatively, the "MENUSPEAK" command can be Floyd | abbreviated as "MS" or "MSPK."] Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "tell children about story" | ||||
Floyd | Which do you mean, the three pigs story, the conquering lord story or Floyd | the statue story? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "tell children about statue story" | ||||
Floyd | You smile, and take in a long breath. "Let me see, where do I begin? Oh Floyd | yes... Floyd | Floyd | "It had been three weeks since my spirit had died, three weeks since Floyd | all the color had drained from the world, three weeks since..." Floyd | Floyd | "No. Don't start there!" Mathen interrupts. "Start before that, when Floyd | Mommy was a little girl!" Floyd | Floyd | "That's not before, you dummy!" scorns his sister. "Mommy was after, Floyd | while Daddy was sleeping!" Floyd | Floyd | "Nuh-uuuh!" Floyd | Floyd | "Yes she was!" Kylina glares at Mathen. Mathen retorts by sticking his Floyd | tongue out at her. Floyd | Floyd | "It's okay," you say smoothly. "We can start with Mommy. Maybe the Floyd | story goes better that way." Floyd | Floyd | Mathen smiles smugly at his sister, who decides to ignore him. Floyd | Floyd | You think for a moment about where to begin. "Okay," you start. "Mommy Floyd | -- that is, 'Cylest' -- had wandered away from the others..." Floyd | Floyd | --- Floyd | Floyd | Press SPACE to continue | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | P R O L O G U E Floyd | (circa 9223) Floyd | Floyd | Cylest had wandered away from the others. The museum was amazing and Floyd | she wanted to see all of it, but the statue -- THE statue, was too Floyd | captivating. She had listened to the stories all of her life. It was Floyd | the statue made by the ancients, the only remnant of a civilization Floyd | before recorded history. None knew how the statue had been made or how Floyd | the ancients had managed such realism. No one could even guess about Floyd | what it was made from. The mages claimed that it was immune to most of Floyd | their magiks and what little they could find out about it raised more Floyd | questions than answers. Floyd | Floyd | Cylest had always been enraptured by the mystery surrounding the Floyd | statue. Although most thought it to be simply a statue of amazing Floyd | detail, many believed that it was once a real man. It was a commonly Floyd | told children's story that the statue was truly a dark mage who slept Floyd | until his chosen time to rise again and enslave the world. It was said Floyd | he was a mage of powerful evil -- more evil even than Noric the Dark Floyd | who had been exiled with great difficulty into the Thanatos desert for Floyd | leading an insurrection against her father. But Cylest secretly Floyd | believed the statue was an ancient hero, captured by an evil mage of Floyd | great power and made to suffer for all eternity. The statue was the Floyd | single interest that she could always remember having, so she had Floyd | jumped at the chance to visit the museum where it was housed. After the Floyd | museum guide had led her party by it, she had taken the first Floyd | opportunity to sneak away and return. Floyd | Floyd | Now, as she stood knee-high before the statue of the ancients and Floyd | stared up into its heart-wrenching expression, she was ensnared by the Floyd | romance of it all. The tall, mysterious, ancient man -- unloved, Floyd | rejected, and distraught by loneliness -- stood waiting only for Floyd | someone to love him. Yes, she thought as she peered into his sad, Floyd | distant eyes. I do love him. And she always had, for the entire seven Floyd | years of her life. He needed her love and she could not deny him of it. Floyd | The grownups would not understand, but it didn't matter. She would Floyd | prove her love... Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Statue Exhibit (in the glass case) Floyd | Floyd | From within the case, sharing space with the statue, Cylest felt like Floyd | an artifact herself, looking out into the empty museum. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline clears the save counter. | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x statue" | ||||
Floyd | The statue was of a tall, handsome man, brimming with mystery and Floyd | otherworldliness. The man held a strange box in his left hand, his Floyd | thumb pressed against it purposefully. An ancient coat covered the Floyd | man's torso and extended down to his knees. A small aperture in the Floyd | coat, just within Cylest's reach, was visible. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | Cylest was carrying: Floyd | a promise pin (providing light) Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "We put the pin in the pocket here." | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "put pin in pocket" | ||||
Floyd | Cylest reached up above her head and dropped the pin into the open Floyd | pocket. There was a metallic tinkle as the pin slipped down the gap in Floyd | the stone. She was certain that the statue would awaken for her now. It Floyd | would come to life since she had proven her love for it. The ancient Floyd | man would embrace her and sweep her away from her terrible life. Any Floyd | moment he would open his lips and speak... Floyd | Floyd | "Cylest!" cried a stern voice from behind, making her jump. "What are Floyd | you doing in there?" She turned to see her father's aide staring at her Floyd | from outside the glass casing. "Those display cases are meant to keep Floyd | people from touching the artifacts! Get out of there, now!" he Floyd | commanded. "That is no way for a princess to behave!" Floyd | Floyd | Princess Cylest nodded at his reprimand, and silently followed him as Floyd | he led her back to the group, relieved that he had not seen what she Floyd | had done with her pin. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | --- Floyd | Floyd | Press SPACE to continue | Jacqueline says, "Right" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I just wasn't sure if I had to know about their existence first, but perhaps not." | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | C H A P T E R . I Floyd | (circa 1997) Floyd | Floyd | It had been three weeks since my spirit had died, three weeks since all Floyd | the color had drained from the world, three weeks since the horror had Floyd | visited and marred me forever. I had knelt amidst the wreckage of glass Floyd | and metal. I had held Karen's limp form upon my lap. I had closed her Floyd | unseeing eyes. It had been three weeks since my reason to live had left Floyd | this world and I had kissed my wife's cold, bloodied lips goodbye. Floyd | Floyd | The loss was unbearable, the pain beyond measure. I had emerged Floyd | dreadfully intact from the wreckage that had once been my automobile. I Floyd | was unforgivably unscathed. To those around me, I seemed healthy and Floyd | vibrant. Yet I was but a shell; dead in all ways that mattered. Floyd | Floyd | From my reflection, only an obscenity glared back. The perversity of it Floyd | all taunted me. Not a scratch upon the killer who drove his love to her Floyd | death. Not a bruise for the driver whose very reason to live was Floyd | crushed in his passenger seat. Floyd | Floyd | And so it was that three weeks -- or minutes, or decades -- after the Floyd | accident, I included myself in the secret. As I stared at my reflection Floyd | in the coffee pot, I let myself in on the plan. As I did, I knew at Floyd | once that I had made the decision weeks ago -- in the midst of the Floyd | wreckage -- and kept it secret even from myself. Floyd | Floyd | Teresa had said that it was too soon for me to return to work, but I Floyd | had dismissed her concerns. I needed to immerse myself, I had said. But Floyd | it was a lie, and Malcolm had known. He watched me closely, Floyd | scrutinizing my actions. He was as suspicious as any partner and friend Floyd | of twenty years would be. But today was the meeting, and he could not Floyd | be in two places at once. Floyd | Floyd | Today would be the day that I would realize my plan and put an end to Floyd | this lifelessness... Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | The Mage Wars: Statue Floyd | (INTROCOMP 2003 version) Floyd | Copyright (c) 2003: Jim Fisher Floyd | Release 100 / Serial number 030321 / Inform v6.21 Library 6/10 Floyd | ORLibrary release 1.0A (2003.03.16) Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Coffee Nook Floyd | The coffee nook was nothing more than a recessed counter top with a Floyd | sink, providing easy access from the Northern boardroom. The office Floyd | coffeemaker rested on the counter. Floyd | Floyd | In the empty coffeepot, which I still held, my refracted reflection Floyd | returned my gaze, reminding me of the perversity of my existence. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Okay, for this part I was attending to my polka-dotted husband. Someone else..." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "drink coffee" | ||||
Floyd | I downed the coffee. It was not entirely pleasant having the Floyd | after-taste that coffee has after it has sat too long after brewing. Floyd | Still, it was remarkably warm and fresh for a cup of coffee that was Floyd | possibly ten-thousand years old. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put pot on maker" | ||||
Floyd | I returned the coffeepot to its place in the coffeemaker. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Floyd | The boardroom was elegant and lavish. The East wall was comprised of Floyd | windows framing a scenic view of the cityscape. Light shined through, Floyd | distilled by tinting, and illuminated the room's centerpiece, a large Floyd | marble table. A windowed wall and door exhibited the hall to the West. Floyd | To the South was a small coffee bar. Floyd | Floyd | Two investors sat at one end of the table, their backs to the windowed Floyd | door and hall. Floyd | Floyd | On the marble table was a cage (which was closed). Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm, dressed in the sleek office attire he wore on such occasions, Floyd | sat at the head of the table; a deep concern for me shown on his face. Floyd | Floyd | "It is real?" asked one of the two men. He was holding the life-sized Floyd | statuette of a turtle in his hands. The other man looked at it over his Floyd | shoulder. Both seemed to be scrutinizing it for some flaw. Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," responded Malcolm with a chuckle. "It is as real as this one." Floyd | Malcolm pulled the cloth from the cage, revealing the kitten within. It Floyd | had been sleeping, but awoke at the light. The kitten began to mew as Floyd | Malcolm opened the cage and reached for it. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf1" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x kitten" | ||||
Floyd | The fluffy white kitten mewed happily. Floyd | Floyd | Both men's eyes widened as Malcolm attached the Petrian device's Floyd | electrode to the purring kitten's paw. It began to lick his right hand Floyd | and he stroked the kitten playfully. In his left hand, he held the Floyd | Petrian device. Floyd | Floyd | "Will it hurt?" the first man asked with a mixed expression of horror Floyd | and fascination. Floyd | Floyd | "Not at all," replied Malcolm smiling. "The effect is instantaneous. Floyd | The kitten will experience no sensation and will be unaware even of the Floyd | passage of time." Floyd | Floyd | "How much time?" asked the second man. Floyd | Floyd | "Whatever we choose," replied Malcolm. "For this example, I've set the Floyd | device for thirty days. I could just as easily have set it for thirty Floyd | millennia." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x device" | ||||
Floyd | It was partially obscured as Malcolm held it, but I had seen it many Floyd | times. I did, after all, help invent it. There was one more, partially Floyd | damaged but still functioning in the testing lab. I had plans for that Floyd | one. It was small, about the size and shape of a portable stereo. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm moved his hand from the kitten to the Petrian device. The Floyd | kitten jumped playfully and tried to pursue his hand. Floyd | Floyd | Then Malcolm pushed the button and the kitten froze, turning instantly Floyd | to a colorless grey stone material. It fell off the table, having been Floyd | frozen in mid leap, and made a loud noise as it hit the floor. The two Floyd | men gasped at the fallen kitten, paying no attention to the electrode Floyd | which automatically retracted to the device. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm reached down and picked the newly created statuette up from the Floyd | floor and set it on the table. "If you have any questions," said Floyd | Malcolm with a smug smile. "Dr. Philbrook and I will try to answer them Floyd | as best we can." Floyd | Floyd | For a moment, both men were speechless. They looked at the stoned Floyd | kitten -- a newly created eikon -- with obvious wonder. It was always Floyd | the same with these investors. This was the calm before the storm of Floyd | questions. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell investors about kitten" | ||||
Floyd | That did not seem to be an appropriate topic for the given context. Floyd | Floyd | "Can you bring the kitten out of this stoned state early?" one of the Floyd | investors asked Malcolm. Floyd | Floyd | He shook his head. "Once the Petrian energy imbues the subject, it Floyd | dissipates at a constant rate. We've had no success at either speeding Floyd | up or prolonging its effect." Floyd | Floyd | As he spoke these words I realized that they weren't entirely true, but Floyd | he didn't know yet. I had meant to tell him when I first made the Floyd | breakthrough... but that had been just three weeks ago. All meaning in Floyd | my life had been taken from me the very next day. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "tell investors about device" | ||||
Floyd | That did not seem to be an appropriate topic for the given context. Floyd | Floyd | "And prolonging? What about trying to stone a statue that's already Floyd | stoned?" The man looked at me, a curious expression on his face. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "answer the investors" | ||||
Floyd | (to Malcolm) Floyd | There was no reply. Floyd | Floyd | "No," Malcolm answered. "In the Petrian state, the subject no longer Floyd | exhibits any of the qualities of organic matter and the process only Floyd | affects the living." Floyd | Floyd | One of the men looked at Malcolm with a quizzical expression. "It only Floyd | affects living matter?" Floyd | Floyd | "Yes," he replied. "And a very small amount of inorganic matter in Floyd | close proximity to the subject." Floyd | Floyd | The man thought about this silently, obviously not convinced. Floyd | Floyd | Suddenly the ache in my heart was too extreme. I could not endure this Floyd | meaningless drivel which was once so important to me. An urgent desire Floyd | to leave came over me. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "leave" | ||||
Floyd | [You'll have to say which compass direction to go in.] Floyd | Floyd | "What happens if you break the statue?" one of the men asked. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 14 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | >I believe I have discovered a way to revive... [Malcolm]< Floyd | Please excuse me. Floyd | We know of no way to damage an eikon... | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Boardroom Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 14 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | I believe I have discovered a way to revive... [Malcolm] Floyd | >Please excuse me.< Floyd | We know of no way to damage an eikon... | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | >>tell excuse to leave Floyd | "If you will excuse me," I announced to the room. "I have something Floyd | that I must attend to." Malcolm looked at me, understanding the excuse; Floyd | pity showed plainly upon his face. I felt a passing twinge of guilt for Floyd | abandoning him in a meeting of this importance, but apathy overwhelmed Floyd | it. Floyd | Floyd | For a dizzy moment my vision blurred and I saw Karen's lifeless face Floyd | staring into nothingness. I scrunched my eyes closed, prepared to wait Floyd | until the vision passed, but it never did and I was forced to open them Floyd | again and wipe the tears from my cheeks. "Excuse me," I repeated, not Floyd | knowing what else to say. The two investors looked at me strangely; Floyd | Malcolm smiled sympathetically and nodded, telling me without words Floyd | that he could handle the investors. He turned his attention back to Floyd | them. Floyd | Floyd | "We know of nothing that can damage an eikon," Malcolm said. "The Floyd | Petrias energy affects the subject on an atomic level, filling the Floyd | space between the atoms themselves. Our testing indicates that these Floyd | stoned statues, or petra-eikons, could easily survive unscathed upon Floyd | the surface of the sun." Floyd | Floyd | "It could survive the surface of a star?" asked the other investor. Floyd | "You could leverage this technology to build spacecraft out of cheap, Floyd | flexible material such as plastic, then?" Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm shook his head. "The Petrias energy only affects living Floyd | matter." Floyd | Floyd | "Oh yes," the man said. "You said that." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | (first opening the hall door) Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | It was a short hallway connecting three doors to the open Southern Floyd | lobby. To the East was a glass wall and door dividing the hall from the Floyd | boardroom. The mahogany door of Malcolm's office lay closed to the Floyd | West. The door to the North led to the development lab where we Floyd | performed all research on the Petrian device. On the wall, mounted next Floyd | to the door was a security scanner. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "show badge to scanner" | ||||
Floyd | I could not see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x coat" | ||||
Floyd | White and long, the coat came down to my knees. It had a single pocket Floyd | at the bottom which I seldom used. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look in pocket" | ||||
Floyd | The pocket was empty. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x badge" | ||||
Floyd | I did not see anything like that. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "okay. I guess (for some reason) we don't have our badge." | |||
| Nitku says, "Let's check Malcolm's office" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Nitku), "Feel free to try." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think Malcolm's gonna notice." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | (first opening Malcolm's office door) Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm's office Floyd | Malcolm's office was clean and well organized, much as the man himself. Floyd | His desk, a polished cherry wood, commanded all attention. Floyd | Floyd | On the cherry desk was a mailing package (which was empty). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf2" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "Several questions: What happens if you try the other story to your children? What is a promise pin? Are we married to Cylest? What's she the princess of? How did we drive Karen to her death?" | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x package" | ||||
Floyd | A white shipping carton, open and empty, with an excessive amount of Floyd | postage affixed. It was addressed to Malcolm's son, Brandon, who lived Floyd | on campus at Dartmouth. Malcolm and his son were very close. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "We don't know, the promise pin is what you give your betrothed to tell them you'll marry them, we are I think, we're not sure, and we're not sure but we're real sad about it." | |||
| DavidW says (to Cheddarius), "I think the children don't want to hear the other stories or they'll not go to sleep until they finally hear this one. A promise pin is a promise of marriage to whoever we give it to." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Cheddarius), "Answers, not in order: Yes. 19. Some dude. A platypus. Not that often." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We didn't drive Karen to her death. Another vehicle plowed into us." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Nitku), "yay" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "Oh, true." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We don't know what Cylest is a princess of." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Hah, Nitku" | ||||
| DB goes home. | Cheddarius says, "I see" | |||
| Gerynar Nature, in fact, abhors a lot of things, including vacuums, ships named Marie Celeste, the chuck keys to electric drills, and at this moment, Gerynar being in the lounge. | ||||
| Gerynar has disconnected. | DavidW says, "And we're not married to Cylest in 1997 or 9233, but possibly earlier or inbetween or after." | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Why do we feel at fault for Karen's death, though? It says we're a "killer" and "drove her to her death"" | ||||
| DavidW says, "(We haven't heard the entire story ourselves yet. That's kinda the point.)" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Ah" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Sorry" | ||||
| Jacqueline asks (of DW), "We're not? I figured we were. Or, at least, she's the mother of our children, right?" | ||||
| DavidW asks (of Jacqueline), "well when is 'are'?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Also, just to warn you, Ched, in case you didn't know, this is an unfinished game we're playing. Lots of meat, but no, um, integumentary system." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Oh" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to DW), "I wish I'd take then blue pill." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Currently the game is in 1997. We are not married to Cylest in 1997." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "No, that's true." | ||||
| Gerynar arrives, ready to play with the toys. | Cheddarius asks, "Do you mean unfinished as in unpolished, or unfinished as in the plot is literally not finished and you can't win it yet?" | |||
| DavidW says, "It's a game from IntroComp. The game is unfinished." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Right. It's an introcomp game that wasn't finished." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Timing." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Oh" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "How unfortunate." | ||||
| Cheddarius asks, "Shall we forge on, then?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "So I imagine there will be plenty of questions unanswered when we get to the end of the intro." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Please. Someone continue." | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "open package" | ||||
Floyd | No. The package was Malcolm's and I wasn't in the habit of using his Floyd | things. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x desk" | ||||
Floyd | Polished to a glassy smoothness, the desktop had been carved from a Floyd | single piece of cherry wood. Floyd | Floyd | On the cherry desk I could see a mailing package (which was empty). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x in package" | ||||
Floyd | I did not see anything like that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look in package" | ||||
Floyd | No. The package was Malcolm's and I wasn't in the habit of using his Floyd | things. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "I'm afraid I need to reboot. Don't worry, Perry will keep logging." | |||
| Jacqueline waves and makes an isquiesque departure for home. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x desk" | ||||
Floyd | Polished to a glassy smoothness, the desktop had been carved from a Floyd | single piece of cherry wood. Floyd | Floyd | On the cherry desk I could see a mailing package (which was empty). Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open desk" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "open desk" | ||||
Floyd | No, that was Malcolm's desk and I wasn't going to riffle through his Floyd | things. Floyd | Floyd | > Floyd | No, that was Malcolm's desk and I wasn't going to riffle through his Floyd | things. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "read package" | ||||
Floyd | No. The package was Malcolm's and I wasn't in the habit of using his Floyd | things. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x malcolm" | ||||
Floyd | I did not see anything like that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "think about malcolm" | ||||
Floyd | [I only understood you as far as wanting to think]. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look under desk" | ||||
Floyd | I found nothing of interest. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm's office Floyd | Malcolm's office was clean and well organized, much as the man himself. Floyd | His desk, a polished cherry wood, commanded all attention. Floyd | Floyd | On the cherry desk was a mailing package (which was empty). Floyd | Floyd | > Floyd | The door to Malcolm's office, like the door to my office, was made of Floyd | solid, rose stained mahogany. Intricate designs were etched into the Floyd | wood in various places adding a touch of elegance. Karen had picked out Floyd | the two doors when we had first opened the office. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x designs" | ||||
Floyd | They were small elaborate designs etched into the door, of no real Floyd | significance. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku says, "Looks like there's nothing here" | |||
| DavidW says, "It would appear there's nothing for us here. Unless something's revealed on the back of the door when we close it." | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "close door" | ||||
Floyd | I closed Malcolm's office door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||||
Floyd | The door to Malcolm's office, like the door to my office, was made of Floyd | solid, rose stained mahogany. Intricate designs were etched into the Floyd | wood in various places adding a touch of elegance. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Right. Nothing." | |||
| Cheddarius says, "I was thinking... we could have used the device to save Karen. Put it into the airbag or something, and have her freeze for one hour upon impact. Maybe that's why we blame ourselves. Also, with a little more research and modification, we could become an Oppenheimer, seeing our device used for war... but I guess it wouldn't be that bad, since nobody is harmed, not like people actually die." | ||||
| Nitku asks, "Did we try the lab door?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Head to the lobby. Maybe Theresa will help us." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Nitku), "Actually, we didn't." | ||||
| DavidW says, "We assumed the scanner would prevent us." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | (first opening Malcolm's office door) Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "verbose" | ||||
Floyd | [The Mage Wars: Statue is now in its "verbose" mode, which always gives Floyd | long descriptions of locations (even if you've been there before).] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "open lab door" | ||||
Floyd | There was no handle on this side of the door so it could not be opened Floyd | in the conventional manner. Having been through it a thousand times, I Floyd | knew that the door would open automatically when I slid my ID badge Floyd | through the mounted security scanner. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x badge" | ||||
Floyd | I did not see anything like that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | I was carrying: Floyd | a white lab coat (being worn) Floyd | a coffee mug Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x coat" | ||||
Floyd | White and long, the coat came down to my knees. It had a single pocket Floyd | at the bottom which I seldom used. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x pocket" | ||||
Floyd | Just a single pocket, sewn into the lab coat. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "look in pocket" | ||||
Floyd | The pocket was empty. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Please. Go south. Let's see Theresa." | |||
| Cheddarius exclaims, "Gar!" | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Lobby Floyd | The lobby was a clean, almost sterile room that greeted people when Floyd | they stepped off of the elevator. It hosted a large, wooden desk behind Floyd | which sat our receptionist Teresa, who greeted everyone with a pleasant Floyd | smile. There was a small slot which opened to the mail chute located Floyd | conspicuously against the South wall. My office door lay to the West, Floyd | the rest of the office resided down the short hallway to the North. Floyd | Floyd | Teresa ruffled through the papers on her desk, performing her duties in Floyd | a neat and efficient manner. Floyd | Floyd | "Hello, Doctor Philbrook," greeted Teresa. She smiled brightly, but it Floyd | was an artificial smile. I could see the concern reflected in her eyes, Floyd | a concern reflected in the eyes of everyone I worked with. Floyd | Floyd | I knew I should be appreciative for their concern and that it was Floyd | rooted in caring, but I despised it. I grew weary of their sympathy for Floyd | a pain that would never heal, and tired of people tiptoeing around me. Floyd | Floyd | It will soon be over, I thought. Floyd | Floyd | >> Floyd | The only exits lay north and west. Floyd | "Is everything going all right with the meeting?" she asked. Floyd | Floyd | I nodded, putting on a good face as I forced myself through this Floyd | excruciating exchange of small talk. Floyd | Floyd | >> | DavidW says, "We checked the coat and pocket earlier." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Lobby Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 41 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | Hello, Teresa. Floyd | >I've left something in my office...< | Cheddarius says, "Sorry, didn't know" | |||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "say I've left something in my office" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Lobby Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 41 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | Hello, Teresa. Floyd | >I've left something in my office...< | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "p" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Lobby Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 41 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | >Hello, Teresa.< Floyd | I've left something in my office... | ||||
| Nitku presses the yellow enter button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | >>tell Teresa hello Floyd | "Hello, Teresa," I said and smiled a lifeless veil of a smile, trying Floyd | to mask my despondency. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Lobby Dr. Marcus Philbrook [MSpk] 42 Floyd | ----------Press X to exit---------- Floyd | >I've left something in my office...< | ||||
| Nitku presses the yellow enter button. | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | >>tell Teresa about meeting Floyd | "I've left something in my office which I need to get. Malcolm can Floyd | handle the investors for awhile." It was a lie, but sounded better Floyd | than: "I'm going to my office to cry and stare out the window in Floyd | misery. Malcolm can handle the investors for awhile." Floyd | Floyd | "Yes sir," Teresa said, seeming satisfied, at lEast for the time being, Floyd | with some personal assessment of my well-being. She turned her Floyd | attention to the papers on her desk. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius presses the yellow enter button. | ||||
Floyd | [I beg your pardon?] Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW asks, "Teresa, have you thought about death? I mean, really thought of it? Death forever and ever?" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Ooops, sorry" | ||||
| Jacqueline arrives, ready to play with the toys. | Nitku says, "I'm having about 5 second lag" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Me too" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "What you're missed: we've gone south." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Give us a few more minutes and we'll go west into our office." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Ah, okay." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Is Teresa giving us the badge or something? She's just shuffling papers..." | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | [There are no conversation topics currently in the menu system.] Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "(headdeskthump)" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Eh? I thought we needed a badge to enter the office" | ||||
| Nitku says, "The badge is probably in our office." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Cheddarius), "Tell you want. I'm not answering a single more of your inane questions." | ||||
| Nitku says, "now now" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Ah. All right." | ||||
| DavidW says, "It's too bloody exhausting." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x mail chute" | ||||
Floyd | It was a typical mail slot, built into the wall and just large enough Floyd | to put small mail packages in. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | (first opening my office door) Floyd | Floyd | My Office Floyd | Karen had been gifted at interior decorating and she had put a great Floyd | deal of effort into my office. The room was exquisite; the view of the Floyd | city from my window was breathtaking. Everything in the room had been Floyd | hand-picked for its elegance, from the gorgeous mahogany desk to the Floyd | cherry wood Venetian blinds. What had once filled me with pride was now Floyd | an excruciating reminder of my lost love. Everything in this room we Floyd | had picked together, Karen and I. Floyd | Floyd | There, in my home away from home, I sank deeper into the depths of Floyd | despair. Floyd | Floyd | On the mahogany desk were a stone rabbit statuette and a picture frame. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "cry" | ||||
Floyd | [That's not a verb I recognize.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x statuette" | ||||
Floyd | It was one of my most prized, yet gruesome, statuettes. The rabbit had Floyd | been the prey of some small predator. It had been partially mauled and Floyd | its side slashed open by the attacking animal's talons. I had stumbled Floyd | upon the scene at the last possible moment and the attacker had fled, Floyd | too late to save the rabbit. Fear showing in its eyes, its entrails Floyd | exposed, the rabbit had been eikonized the instant before death. Floyd | Floyd | Tears filled my eyes as I looked at the frightened rabbit that stared Floyd | forever into Death's face. I cried for my rabbit that had been mauled Floyd | and taken from me in my passenger seat. Floyd | Floyd | Karen! Open your eyes! Karen! Please wake up! Stay with me, sweetheart! Floyd | Karen... Floyd | Floyd | For a time, I was overcome with remorse. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x frame" | ||||
Floyd | It was a picture of me and Karen during our vacation to Cancun the Floyd | previous summer. Floyd | Floyd | We had solicited a stranger to take our picture for us and had been Floyd | unable to contain our laughter long enough for the solemn poses we had Floyd | tried for. Karen, joy blazing from her beautiful face, clasped her arms Floyd | tightly around my waist. A snapshot of my loss which now twisted my Floyd | innards and wrenched from me any pretense of healing. Floyd | Floyd | Almost, I could hear her laughter. Tears flowed freely down my cheeks. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x desk" | ||||
Floyd | It was an elegant desk of polished mahogany which I had made efforts to Floyd | keep clutter free. It framed a single drawer. Floyd | Floyd | On the mahogany desk I could see a stone rabbit statuette and a picture Floyd | frame. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "open drawer" | ||||
Floyd | I opened the drawer, revealing my ID badge. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "open drawer" | ||||
Floyd | The drawer was already open. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "get badge" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "take badge" | ||||
Floyd | I had that already. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gerynar says, "stupid lag" | |||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Lobby Floyd | The lobby was a clean, almost sterile room that greeted people when Floyd | they stepped off of the elevator. It hosted a large, wooden desk behind Floyd | which sat our receptionist Teresa, who greeted everyone with a pleasant Floyd | smile. There was a small slot which opened to the mail chute located Floyd | conspicuously against the South wall. My office door lay to the West, Floyd | the rest of the office resided down the short hallway to the North. Floyd | Floyd | Teresa ruffled through the papers on her desk, performing her duties in Floyd | a neat and efficient manner. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "Yeah. Maybe we should designate a driver. How about Nitku?" | |||
| Nitku says, "IF characters always keep their IDs in convenient places like hidden inside drawers" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heh" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "And if we have time, we could put that package in the mail slot" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "I second the nomination" | ||||
| DavidW says, "It's surprising how effective it is, though." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Though I'm not sure what that would do" | ||||
| DavidW says, "The f**king package isn't takeable." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "...okay. I guess not." | ||||
| Nitku says, "yeah, I can go for a while" | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | I stepped into the hall, facing the lab door. Out of the corner of my Floyd | eye, through the window, I could see into the conference room. Malcolm Floyd | was trying futilely to put the design principles behind the Petrian Floyd | Device into layman's terms for the investors. He took notice of me with Floyd | a quizzical expression on his face, but seemed to have his hands full Floyd | answering questions. In a few moments, when he realized my intent, he Floyd | would do anything to stop me. Floyd | Floyd | Hall Floyd | It was a short hallway connecting three doors to the open Southern Floyd | lobby. To the East was a glass wall and door dividing the hall from the Floyd | boardroom. The mahogany door of Malcolm's office lay closed to the Floyd | West. The door to the North led to the development lab where we Floyd | performed all research on the Petrian device. On the wall, mounted next Floyd | to the door was a security scanner. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku asks, "So to the lab?" | |||
| DavidW says, "Perhaps.. no, I'm not answering." | ||||
| Nitku says, "Maybe a plot twist will make some use of the mail chute and the package" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "I say yes...time for the lab" | ||||
| Nitku says, "Otherwise they wouldn't be there" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Nitku), "Maybe. But that plot twist hasn't occured yet." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "show badge to scanner" | ||||
Floyd | [You can only do that to something animate.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | (first opening the monitoring lab door) Floyd | There was no handle on this side of the door so it could not be opened Floyd | in the conventional manner. Having been through it a thousand times, I Floyd | knew that the door would open automatically when I slid my ID badge Floyd | through the mounted security scanner. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "slide badge through scanner" | ||||
Floyd | I slid the card over the scanner. Floyd | Floyd | "Authorization granted," chimed a melodic female voice. There was a Floyd | brief beep and the monitoring lab door opened. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm visibly started as he heard my badge run through the scanner. Floyd | He stopped talking in mid-sentence and turned to face me through the Floyd | window. Both men turned too, to see what he was looking at. I had to Floyd | act, I knew. There would be no second chance now. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "cf3" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "show malcolm the finger" | ||||
Floyd | [You can only do that to something animate.] Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "haha" | |||
| Gerynar says, "go into the lab before he stops us :)" | ||||
| Nitku exclaims, "oh no, Malcolm has already been petrified!" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "heh" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Oh noes. Malcolm has been petrified!" | ||||
| DavidW says, "timing! (curses)" | ||||
| Nitku says, "yeah, let's see what happens if we go there anyway" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Monitoring Lab Floyd | The monitoring lab consisted of an instrument console and a large Floyd | window into the testing lab. It was from there that all tests of the Floyd | Petrian device were observed. The door to the testing lab lay North. Floyd | Next to it, mounted on the wall was a security scanner, exactly like Floyd | the one in the hall. The lab exit, leading to the hall, lay to the Floyd | South. Floyd | Floyd | The hall door swung closed with a click. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Okay, my haha was not about Malcom being petrified, it was about the only being able to flip off animate things." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Sorry." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Poor timing for my haha" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "slide badge through scanner" | ||||
Floyd | I slid the card over the scanner. Floyd | Floyd | "Authorization granted," chimed a melodic female voice. There was a Floyd | brief beep and the testing lab door opened. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "look through window" | ||||
Floyd | The glass exposed rooms in two directions: The testing lab to the Floyd | North, and the hall to the South. Floyd | Floyd | The testing lab door swung closed with a click. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Monitoring Lab Floyd | [Previous turn undone.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Testing Lab Floyd | White and clean, the testing lab was where all real testing was done on Floyd | the Petrian device. Calibration, adjustments, repairs -- it was all Floyd | done in this lab where every detail could be observed through the Floyd | window from the monitoring lab to the South. Even the exit -- also on Floyd | the Southern wall -- had a glass window. A workbench was centered Floyd | neatly in the room. Floyd | Floyd | On the workbench was a Petrian device. Floyd | Floyd | Through the window, I could see into the monitoring lab. Beyond that, Floyd | visible through the door window, was Malcolm in the hall. He pressed up Floyd | against the glass and peered in, obviously panicked. Our eyes met and Floyd | he yelled something to me. I couldn't hear him through the lab's sound Floyd | proofing, but I didn't need to. We knew each other too well. He knew Floyd | what I was up to, I knew how he felt about it. Floyd | Floyd | The monitoring lab door swung closed with a click. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku asks, "So, petrify ourselves?" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Yup" | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "x device" | ||||
Floyd | One of only two prototypes, this Petrian device was damaged. The other, Floyd | which Malcolm had been demonstrating to the potential investors, was Floyd | the only one that worked completely. This one would do everything that Floyd | I needed it to, though. It was small, hand-sized, and if not Floyd | scrutinized, it could easily have been mistaken for a portable stereo. Floyd | What looked like a single headphone was actually an electrode which Floyd | retracted automatically into the device when not being used. There was Floyd | a dial, broken and spinning freely. There was also a small, red button Floyd | used to initiate the process. Floyd | Floyd | Past the monitoring lab and into the hall, I could see Malcolm swipe Floyd | his badge. The hall door opened giving him access to the monitoring Floyd | lab. I needed to act. Malcolm would already have stopped me save for Floyd | the single glass door that stood between us. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Nitku), "Yes, if we can do it in time." | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | I tried to push the button to no avail. Because of the curvature of its Floyd | casing, the Petrian device kept tilting preventing me from making an Floyd | adequate press. I would need to be holding the device to push the Floyd | button. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm rushed into the neighboring monitoring lab, followed by Teresa. Floyd | The look of worry, showing plainly on their faces. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "get it" | ||||
Floyd | The red button was hardly portable. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm knew what I had in mind. He shook his head vigorously at me, Floyd | and screamed silently for me to stop. Floyd | Floyd | Teresa reached the console and turned on the audio system. "Marc! Don't Floyd | do this!" she pleaded. "I know this has been horrible for you, but what Floyd | you are trying do... this is not the way!" Floyd | Floyd | I gazed without reaction at the red button on the Petrian device. It Floyd | was as red as my beautiful wife's blood upon my shirt as she died in my Floyd | arms that wretched night. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "And we would have gotten away from it, if it weren't for those meddling coworkers" | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "get device" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | Malcolm was fumbling with his badge and the scanner on the outside of Floyd | the test lab. I had only a moment to act before it was too late. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | I pushed the button, testing the devices usability. It made a short Floyd | low-pitched buzzing sound. Nothing else happened of course. The Floyd | electrode would need to be attached to a suitable subject for the Floyd | device to actually function. We had designed it that way. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Ellison arrives, ready to play with the toys. | Nitku says, "hmh" | |||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "attach electrode to me" | ||||
Floyd | I attached the electrode to myself, making sure that it was affixed Floyd | tightly. Floyd | Floyd | There was a brief click from the door as Malcolm passed his badge Floyd | across the scanning device. The security lock released and the door Floyd | opened. "Authorization granted," spoke the door. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | I positioned my thumb against the blinking red button and looked at Floyd | Malcolm. We faced each other, separated by the panes of glass. He had Floyd | been my business partner and friend for two decades and he knew me Floyd | better than anyone left alive. Floyd | Floyd | I smiled at him and let the unspoken words say everything I couldn't. I Floyd | would miss him, but there was nothing left in this world for me. I told Floyd | him so with a shrug. Malcolm nodded in response, a look of sad Floyd | resignation on his face as he realized he was too late to stop me. Floyd | Floyd | And with that last farewell, I pressed the button. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | I'm not exactly sure what I was expecting to happen, but for some Floyd | reason the lights going out took me by surprise. At first I thought it Floyd | to be a quirk, a misalignment in the Petrian device that affected the Floyd | building's electrical systems. Then came the frightened -- almost Floyd | shrieking -- voice. Floyd | Floyd | I knew at once that it was not Malcolm. Floyd | Floyd | "Ezechrial!" The voice seemed to originate from just inches before my Floyd | face. I blinked for a moment, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness Floyd | before I could make out the teenaged boy, standing too close to me. Floyd | Floyd | "Morchulius nor! Morchulius nor!" A look of panic in his eyes, the boy Floyd | leapt back, away from me. There was a crash then, followed by falling Floyd | shards of glass, as the glass case -- apparently in which I had been Floyd | standing -- rained down upon me. I covered my eyes, dimly aware of the Floyd | electrode automatically rewinding itself. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | ||||
| Nitku pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | The gruesome package had been a heavy burden as Puck lugged it down the Floyd | long, steep staircase. He paused at the bottom to catch his breath and Floyd | admired the vast, mirrored hallway which stretched before him. At the Floyd | other end of the hall, he could just see the silver door, made small Floyd | from this distance. On the other side of that door the master waited Floyd | for him, waited for the grisly delivery that Puck carried over his Floyd | hunched shoulders and balanced on his twisted spine. Floyd | Floyd | Puck was jittery with anticipation. He had served the lord faithfully Floyd | for decades. He had given himself over entirely to the labor despite Floyd | his malformations and the additional deformities he incurred. Almost Floyd | since the beginning -- since the exile from Darisia -- Puck had served Floyd | him. Now it would pay off. The master had noticed him. Floyd | Floyd | Puck had been summoned specifically for this task. His reward awaited Floyd | just down the hall. Floyd | Floyd | Mirrored Hall, Bottom of Stairs Floyd | Puck stood at the foot of the tall staircase which spiraled up to the Floyd | palace proper. This was the South end of a long, mirrored hall. To the Floyd | North lay the door to the master's inner sanctum, reflected without Floyd | end. Floyd | Floyd | Puck admired the single file line of clones which stretched to infinity Floyd | in the opposing mirrored walls. Each malformed doppelganger, hunched Floyd | over, bore a weighted bag upon his shoulders. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "x clones" | ||||
Floyd | The opposing mirrors were clean and glassy, but tinted so as to reflect Floyd | a gloomy reality. Puck's endless line of reflections faded to darkness Floyd | as they stretched into infinity. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Shame this isn't finished. It might be up for a Xyzzy nomination or two if it's completed." | |||
| Nitku asks, "Did this win the IntroComp?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "It did that year, yes." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm pretty sure." | ||||
| Nitku says, "someone else drive now please" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bag" | ||||
Floyd | Gray and well-used, the rough bag was marred with grisly stains; its Floyd | seams pulled tightly around its ghastly contents. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Mirrored Hall Floyd | It was the North end of the mirrored hall. Far to the South, a Floyd | strangely unbalanced distance away, loomed a line of countless towering Floyd | spiral staircase. Immediately to the North was the imposing silver door Floyd | to the master's inner chamber. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||||
Floyd | Large and imposing, the door was brushed silver, textured in a manner Floyd | which repressed reflection. Floyd | Floyd | > | Nitku says, "Or just free for all, looks like the lag is better now" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "knock on door" | ||||
Floyd | The door was opened by a large guard. Puck recognized him from the Floyd | common grounds. Siedmeur was his name. He looked down at Puck and Floyd | opened the door wider, motioning for him to enter. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | The guard closed the door and Puck's eyes adjusted to the darkness of Floyd | the inner chamber. On the far side of the room, covered in robes, sat Floyd | the master! Although he knelt upon a dark pallet and faced away, Puck Floyd | immediately diverted his eyes. Puck was not worthy to look even upon Floyd | the master's back. Floyd | Floyd | Then came the soft, gentle words: "Good evening, Puck." Puck's heart Floyd | leapt. The master knew him by name! He could not believe his ears. Floyd | "Please be so kind as to remove Mage Limech from the bag he currently Floyd | rests in and place him upon the altar." For a moment Puck almost forgot Floyd | what he had been carrying. Floyd | Floyd | Altar Room Floyd | It was a dark room covered in dark drapes. The pungent stench of decay Floyd | was overwhelming. It wafted throughout the room with an almost tangible Floyd | presence, like a wraith of Death. Distant murmuring drifted in from Floyd | beyond the drapes, a rhythmic whisper of anguish. Centered in the Floyd | chamber was a large stone altar set only a few feet off the floor. A Floyd | dull silver door lay to the South. Floyd | Floyd | Siedmeur, part of the master's elite guard, stood at attention next to Floyd | the Southern door, watching silently. Floyd | Floyd | The dark master was there, only partly discernable from the shadows. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says (to Nitku), "Just reconfirmed, yes, this won the IntroComp that year (2003)" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open bag" | ||||
Floyd | Puck opened the bag revealing the dead traitor, the mole. Limech had Floyd | been one of the mages that had served the master. At lEast he had Floyd | pretended to. But the master had known him for what he was. Limech had Floyd | been a spy for Darisia, a spy for the jealous mages that had exiled the Floyd | master. So Limech had earned his own death. And those that received his Floyd | reports had finally received his severed heart as a reminder of who Floyd | they dealt with. Floyd | Floyd | But that had been weeks ago, and Limech's corpse was badly decomposing. Floyd | Why did the master again desire the dead mage? Why was Puck to deliver Floyd | the heartless carcass of a dead spy to the master? Puck did not know. Floyd | Perhaps it had something to do with the rumors of the supreme one's new Floyd | work. Perhaps the master would find it in his heart to show him, Puck, Floyd | what the entire kingdom wondered about. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "put corpse on alter" | ||||
Floyd | Puck could not see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "o altar" | ||||
Floyd | [Think nothing of it.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put corpse on altar" | ||||
Floyd | He needed to be holding the mage's corpse before he could put it on top Floyd | of something else. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take corpse" | ||||
Floyd | Puck struggled for a moment, pulling the rotting carcass from the bag. Floyd | Limech's head flopped limply to the side, his mouth open. Puck held him Floyd | in both arms, letting the bag fall to the floor. The pungency of death Floyd | was about. Floyd | Floyd | The master spoke again, annoyance resonating in his voice. "If it is Floyd | not too much of an inconvenience for you, please put the body on the Floyd | altar." His gentle words were a mockery, spoken in the most menacing of Floyd | tones. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put body on altar" | ||||
Floyd | Puck laid the long dead mage upon the altar. Limech's joints popped and Floyd | cracked gruesomely with the action. His chest, visible now, had been Floyd | ripped open, his heart cut out; a chilling reminder of his gory demise. Floyd | Floyd | It was only for a moment that Puck was lost in the horror of it. For Floyd | just an instant he stared at the macabre delivery, then he again heard Floyd | the master's voice: "Levios!" Puck was startled by the proximity. The Floyd | master had moved quietly to the altar and stood next to him. Puck tried Floyd | to step back and give the master space to do his work, but found that Floyd | his feet no longer touched the floor. He was floating! Panicked, Puck Floyd | flailed his arms around him. "Strictum," the master said, and Puck's Floyd | arms snapped to his sides. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Crucio!" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | [There are no conversation topics currently in the menu system.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "l" | ||||
Floyd | Puck was paralyzed and floating in mid-air. He was unable to do Floyd | anything. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | From his black robes, the master pulled out a long silver blade. It was Floyd | a sacrificial dagger. "It seems," he spoke in a ghastly tranquil tone, Floyd | "that I have misjudged the importance of the heart. I have need of a Floyd | replacement." Floyd | Floyd | "But my Lord," the ensnared Puck murmured. "I have sacrificed Floyd | everything for you." Floyd | Floyd | The dark mage nodded grimly. "And so you have earned release from your Floyd | suffering existence." Floyd | Floyd | And with that, the master casually thrust the blade into Puck's chest. Floyd | A gurgling cry escaped Puck's lips as he died. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Siedmeur tried to stare at nothing and let his eyes lapse out of focus, Floyd | but it didn't help. His peripheral vision was too keen and his eyes too Floyd | well adapted to the darkness. He had no choice but to observe with Floyd | complete awareness as the master cut the heart from the deformed little Floyd | man's floating cadaver. The guard swore that he would never get used to Floyd | this no matter how many times he had to witness it. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "So, we're Siedmeur now, I guess." | |||
| DavidW says, "Which means our options are to run, close the door, observe, or interfere." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf4" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Or save." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "But I've done that." | ||||
| DavidW says, "heh" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Also, I'm ever so slightly laggy." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Everyone is laggy today." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I think we ought to watch what the 'master' does. We know little about the Mage part of the story." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Or the Wars part." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x master" | ||||
Floyd | No, he would not dare to gaze directly upon the master. It was best to Floyd | keep his eyes averted. Floyd | Floyd | Although he avoided direct eye contact with the master, Siedmeur was Floyd | nevertheless aware of what Noric was doing. He was aware of the organic Floyd | sucking sound as Noric pulled the heart from the little man's chest. He Floyd | was aware of the master turning his knife on the aged cadaver on the Floyd | altar. He was aware of the constant dripping as a pool of blood formed Floyd | under Puck's floating corpse. Floyd | Floyd | Siedmeur wanted to vomit. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "mmkay" | |||
| DavidW says, "Although running *is* sounding attractive too." | ||||
| Nitku asks, "Organic sucking sound? Did he remove the heart with his mouth?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "But we've saved, so let's watch." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Nitku), "I think the author's trying to get us to imagine all the other organs in the body moving in response to the heart's removal." | ||||
| Nitku says, "hope so" | ||||
| DavidW says, "The sound of the lungs and stomach and so on moving to fill the cavity." | ||||
| Nitku says (to Floyd), "vomit" | ||||
Floyd | [That's not a verb I recognize.] Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Not that I know if it makes any noise or acts like that." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x corpse" | ||||
Floyd | (Puck's corpse) Floyd | Siedmeur glanced at the little man's disfigured corpse and tried to Floyd | hide his revulsion. Puck's chest had been cleaved open. The warm blood Floyd | was beginning to congeal around the empty, gaping lesion. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | After an endless span of time, Noric lifted his hooded head from his Floyd | work and looked at Siedmeur. The guard shuddered. Who knew when the | Gerynar carefully steps away from DavidW | |||
Floyd | master might need another heart? Floyd | Floyd | With a flick of the master's wrist, the little man fell to the floor. Floyd | "Put him in the bag and take him away," Noric ordered, then he resumed Floyd | his work on the dead mage. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take puck" | ||||
Floyd | The dead, little man was a light burden in Siedmeur's strong arms, but Floyd | a heavy burden to Siedmeur's fragile spirit. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put puck in bag" | ||||
Floyd | Siedmeur dumped the carcass into the blood stained bag, drawing it up Floyd | by the sides so that the body settled in the bottom. Floyd | Floyd | "Be quick about it," Noric commanded. "My patience thins." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take bag" | ||||
Floyd | Siedmeur had that already. Floyd | Floyd | > | Ellison says, "oops, have to run already" | |||
| Ellison goes back to Squeamhurst.. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | (first opening the mirrored hall door) Floyd | Siedmeur managed to close the door behind him before he vomited. A Floyd | chill ran down his spine and he broke out in a cold sweat as he dropped Floyd | the little servant's remains. The guard knelt in the corner and closed Floyd | his eyes tightly, unable to escape his own reflection. It was several Floyd | minutes before his retching subsided. Floyd | Floyd | Siedmeur had witnessed scenes such as this more than a dozen times in Floyd | his years of service, but this one affected him more substantially than Floyd | the others. He couldn't say why for certain. Perhaps it was because he Floyd | had known of the little man. Their paths had crossed on a number of Floyd | occasions. But they never would again. Floyd | Floyd | The guard shivered and stood. He took deep, controlled breaths, trying Floyd | to calm his nerves. The master's projects had grown darker and more Floyd | frightening. Though he would never dare speak such blasphemy, in his Floyd | mind Siedmeur questioned Noric's sanity. What could he do? The guard Floyd | shook his head. There is but one thing to do, he thought to himself as Floyd | he bent to pick the servant's carcass from the floor. Obey. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche stood, shrouded in darkness, on the front steps and faced the Floyd | closed museum. It was locked by this time of night, many hours past Floyd | closing. Of course, he wouldn't have been there if it were open. Those Floyd | that worked the museum by day would frown upon what he intended to do. Floyd | Not that his intentions were bad. Floyd | Floyd | When Cylest, his beloved, was a child, she had taken her pin -- her Floyd | PROMISE pin -- and hidden it in the statue! He had laughed at her when Floyd | she first told him the story. It was just one of those crazy things Floyd | that little girls did, he supposed. Floyd | Floyd | Cylest's father could certainly have managed its retrieval through the Floyd | proper channels but she was set against this, claiming that it would Floyd | bring her dishonor. Nortoche didn't really understand what she was Floyd | talking about, but as their relationship became more serious, he began Floyd | to have a vested interest in recovering the pin. Floyd | Floyd | So there he was, in yet another compromising situation, this time in Floyd | the name of love, preparing to break into a museum and take back a Floyd | promise pin, which no one knew was there, from an ancient statue which Floyd | had possessed it for almost a dozen years. Floyd | Floyd | He shook his head at the craziness of it all and toyed with the globe Floyd | which Cylest had procured for him despite its extreme rarity. The Floyd | princess was not without her resources, he thought to himself. Nort Floyd | tossed the orb playfully into the air meaning to catch it, but missed. Floyd | The orb landed at his feet with a metal clink. Floyd | Floyd | Museum Steps Floyd | It was the front steps of the Ancient Artifacts Museum, which was Floyd | pretty ancient itself. The imposing front door stood locked and closed Floyd | to the North. Although it was dark, small garden trails could still be Floyd | seen winding through the bushes, one to the NorthWest, the other to the Floyd | NorthEast. Floyd | Floyd | Nortoche could see a golden orb there. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf5" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "take orb" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Upon contact with the golden orb, Nortoche felt a surge of energy Floyd | resonate through his body. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x orb" | ||||
Floyd | Perfectly round, about the size of a large walnut. The small globe was Floyd | smooth and Nort could see his distorted expression in it. This was Floyd | anti-magik, he knew, and it could be used just once. When he threw it, Floyd | all magik in a small diameter would disappear, the globe included. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "I don't want him to succeed, since she's supposed to be with our initial protagonist." | |||
| DavidW says, "maybe. We assumed Cylest = mother of our children." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Well, I know." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "But he sure wants to make us think that, it seems." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Jim, I mean." | ||||
| DavidW says, "This is probably also the 'teenaged boy' that we saw earlier." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "mmhmm" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x me" | ||||
Floyd | Nort checked himself over, running his fingers through his frizzy hair Floyd | and pressing out the wrinkles from his expensive new robes. Cylest had Floyd | given the robes to him, and after he retrieved her promise pin she Floyd | would be his forever, despite what any other Darisian thought. As she Floyd | always told him, he was more stylish than most Dars could recognize. It Floyd | had to be true, how else could he have captured the heart of the Floyd | princess? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||||
Floyd | The museum entrance was oversized and quite imposing. It seemed to be Floyd | carved from a single block of hardwood. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "I think what happens is that the anti-magik sphere wakes up the statue" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bushes" | ||||
Floyd | Well tended, the plant life was thriving. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Cheddarius), "Maybe. But caution on that. The museum may have several magik items." | |||
| DavidW says, "We can't know yet what needs doing yet." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "It all depends on what a "small diameter" is" | ||||
| DavidW says, "One room, I would think." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | West of Museum Floyd | This was a small walkway, winding through the shrubbery around the Floyd | museum. The imposing wall, fashioned from cobbled brick was an arm's Floyd | reach away to the East. The thick bushes made straying from the trail Floyd | from the trail impractical. The trail itself encircled the museum, Floyd | disappearing around the corners to the NorthEast and SouthEast. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "Hmmm" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bricks" | ||||
Floyd | Simple and unadorned, the wall was made of plain, earthen bricks. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "climb bricks" | ||||
Floyd | The brick wall were not significant. (It is not necessary to refer to Floyd | them in the course of this game.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x bushes" | ||||
Floyd | Well tended, the plant life was thriving. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ne" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | North of Museum Floyd | Behind the museum amidst trees and bushes. It was quite dark and the Floyd | crescent moon above provided only minimal light. The trail continued Floyd | its encircling path around the museum, leading SouthEast and SouthWest. Floyd | Due South was the museum's garden and beyond would be a wall of Floyd | windows, provided so that visitors within the museum could admire the Floyd | aesthetics without. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "s" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Garden Floyd | A pungent scent swept across Nort's nostrils in a tingling rush. This Floyd | garden hosted an army of extravagant flowering plants. The museum Floyd | windows formed a glass wall to the South through which visitors could Floyd | admire the floral display. The garden was renowned for its beauty and Floyd | many came simply to view the flowers and had little interest in the Floyd | museum's archeological treasures. Floyd | Floyd | Nort considered the bottom window, trying to see the inner latch Floyd | inside. Cylest had assured him that she had pulled some strings and Floyd | that the bottom window would be unlocked, but he hesitated. If she was Floyd | wrong and the window was still locked, then the museum's security Floyd | spells would trigger when he tried to open it. That would summon the Floyd | mages and he definitely didn't want to face them. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cf6" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open bottom window" | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche opened the glass window. Cylest had been right -- no alarm Floyd | spell. Being a princess obviously had its advantages. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter it" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Peace Exhibit Floyd | This was a peaceful, organic section of the museum. Potted plants Floyd | rested in every corner and climbing ivy worked its way over various Floyd | crevices and ledges giving a warm, natural feeling. The Northern wall Floyd | was made up of sections of glass, providing a scenic view of the Floyd | gardens outside. The loWest section was actually a window with a handle Floyd | that could be opened. A glass display case containing an open book was Floyd | featured in this area. An engraved silver plaque on the case glistened Floyd | in the dim luminosity. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "words like lEast and loWest are amusing me." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Yeah, those are a touch odd." | ||||
| Nitku asks, "Does it convert compass directions to links or something?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "obviously the author did s/east/East/g and s/west/West/g" | ||||
| Nitku says, "ah right" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Nitku), "I think this is a z8 game, although I may be wrong." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "read plaque" | ||||
Floyd | "The Book of Rehsif" Floyd | Floyd | "Little is known of the person named Rehsif-Mij other than the fact Floyd | that he was an ancient historian. This so-called book of Rehsif, found Floyd | long ago, is the last remnant of his work and is believed to be between Floyd | three and four millennia old. Only a few paragraphs in the book, on a Floyd | single page, are still legible and are believed to have been written in Floyd | Rehsif's native language called "Anglosh." All knowledge of "Anglosh" Floyd | and the ability to translate it has been lost to modern scholars for Floyd | hundreds of years. The only remaining vestibule of knowledge concerning Floyd | the language is the translation of the few readable snips of text from Floyd | this ancient book into a once common Darisian dialect. The translation Floyd | itself, which appears below, is close to a thousand years old and bears Floyd | only a vague resemblance to modern Darisian: Floyd | Floyd | "...a fresh weapon unlike the collective had sight of in the previous. Floyd | The weapon potentialed caustic, and when the caustic was unconstrained, Floyd | there ushered not alone the departing of the Great Battle, but Floyd | desolation in the escort..." Floyd | Floyd | "...freshly made was the All..." Floyd | Floyd | "...potential saturated the All in the infinitesimal and unioned Floyd | within. Yoked the All to the whim of the minor count who arrayed the Floyd | saturated by will; a fresh aristocracy approached..." Floyd | Floyd | "...aged magiks of sionce were mislaid and overcome by the approaching Floyd | of the fresh magiks arrived by the saturated All. Sionce reduced, to Floyd | depart yet. The All conformed to the decree of the wyzurds..." Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "Haha, "Anglosh"" | |||
| DavidW says, "Rehsif-Mij => Jim Fisher" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "And Anglosh=>English" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x book" | ||||
Floyd | The book, which lay open within the case, was obviously very old. Parts Floyd | of the hand-written text appeared to be legible and could possibly be Floyd | read, although the book itself was in such poor condition that touching Floyd | it directly would probably render it dust. Everyone knew that this was Floyd | the state that the book had been found in almost two thousand years Floyd | before. Owing to the miracles of modern magik, the book had not aged a Floyd | day since. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "close window" | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche closed the glass window. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "exits" | ||||
Floyd | Exits lead in all directions. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "afk for a minute or so." | |||
| Jacqueline is fine with waiting, now that she's caught up on reading. | ||||
| DavidW says, "back" | ||||
| DavidW asks, "No decision on which direction to go?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I'll suggest exploring the place clockwise." | ||||
| Gerynar suggests s for no particular reason | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm good with whatever." | ||||
| DavidW says, "sorry. Roommate interrupted me." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, War Exhibit Floyd | Ancient weapons adorned the walls. The metallic gleam in the dim Floyd | lighting furthered an ambiance of war and desolation. The single glass Floyd | case, centered in this section, contained a large, box-like device the Floyd | purpose of which was mysteriously non-obvious. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "x device" | ||||
Floyd | The artifact was large and square with symbols printed on the side. It Floyd | had an opening, a gap in the metallic skin, which revealed its inner Floyd | workings. Atop the artifact was a vertical stem, hosting a plug, that Floyd | was obviously designed to interface with another object. There was also Floyd | a panel on the side of the artifact (which was closed) and a solitary Floyd | square button on the front. Floyd | The artifact was currently switched off. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x symbols" | ||||
Floyd | The ancient symbols were beyond comprehension; their meaning lost in Floyd | time along with all the knowledge of the ancients. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x gap" | ||||
Floyd | The opening in the side of the machine was simply a missing cover, torn Floyd | off and lost at some point in history. It revealed the inner guts of Floyd | the machine, complex electronics and moving parts that made the machine Floyd | function. The most prominent of the inner parts were three gear pegs Floyd | arranged in a precise pattern: two upper pegs, one lower peg. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x stem" | ||||
Floyd | It was a short, swiveling stem which rose out of the machine. On the Floyd | end of the stem there appeared to be a plug of some kind. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "Is this the device?" | |||
| DavidW says, "uh, it's a device, not "the" device." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "*the* device was small, right?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "We don't know what it is yet. That's why I'm examining its parts." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "and in our hand" | ||||
| DavidW says, "And held by the statue. This is not that device." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Our device had a broken dial which this doesn't have." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x panel" | ||||
Floyd | The access panel was closed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x plug" | ||||
Floyd | It was a short, swiveling stem which rose out of the machine. On the Floyd | end of the stem there appeared to be a plug of some kind. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "Also this device is meant to connect to something else." | |||
| DavidW says, "which, in IF tradition, is bound to be elsewhere in this very museum by astounding laws of coincidence." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x pegs" | ||||
Floyd | The two upper pegs, unlike the lower peg, each supported a small gear. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "So, we don't know what this thing does, but it needs a gear and something plugged into its plug, AND there's an access panel to open." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "exits" | ||||
Floyd | Exits lead in all directions except the North. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Industrial Exhibit Floyd | Manufactured paraphernalia bejeweled the brushed metal walls. A Floyd | plethora of ancient metallurgical tools and gear fed the industrial Floyd | motif of this section. The central artifact, encased within glass was a Floyd | large box-shaped machine. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "(By the way, photo of maga's insect bites that were mentioned earlier: [LINK] )" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x light" | ||||
Floyd | It was a fluid, moving field of energy, a semi-transparent plasma, Floyd | which surrounded the glass case and radiated a meager blue luminance. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I assume the lights are anti-theft magik wards." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Hm, yeah" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Our orb can take out one (1) of them." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf7" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x machine" | ||||
Floyd | It was a strange, boxed mechanism about waist-high. There was a funnel Floyd | at the top next to which was an engraving which depicted a hand Floyd | throwing in some unidentifiable object. At the bottom was a tray or Floyd | some kind. On the side of the artifact was a closed panel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x funnel" | ||||
Floyd | Affixed to the top of the artifact, the funnel receded down into the Floyd | artifact's internals. It was relativly small, about the size of a fist. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x engraving" | ||||
Floyd | The engraving depicted a hand throwing some unidentifiable object into Floyd | the funnel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x tray" | ||||
Floyd | A simple metallic tray located at the bottom of the machine. From the Floyd | looks of it, items dispensed from the machine ended up there. Several Floyd | holes lined the bottom of the tray. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x panel" | ||||
Floyd | The panel was closed. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "ah. I think I remember what this machine does." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "uh-oh" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "exits" | Jacqueline says, "That means if you know then I have to figure it out." | |||
Floyd | Exits lead in all directions except the North. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "Unless... is anyone else still playing?" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "x holes" | ||||
Floyd | A simple metallic tray located at the bottom of the machine. From the Floyd | looks of it, items dispensed from the machine ended up there. Several Floyd | holes lined the bottom of the tray. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I'm confused by the map so far." | |||
| DavidW says, "well, the machine is obviously designed to manufacture something. Raw materials go into the funnel. The finished product is dispensed onto the tray." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Yeah. And possibly they're sorted by size." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "This is behind the light, though, right? We can't reach this yet." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Yes, we can't deal with this yet." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Art Exhibit Floyd | The exhibits in this room were all of an artistic nature. Ancient Floyd | sculptures stood proudly erect upon elegant marble pedestals. Colorful Floyd | oil paintings adorned the walls. Sprawling across the ceiling was a Floyd | vast and expansive mural, a lasting memorial to a long dead master Floyd | painter of exquisite skill. In the corner, seemingly out of place yet Floyd | encased in glass, was an assortment of rubbish arranged in a bizarre Floyd | fashion. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "I'm still playing, kind of" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Also, that is a lot of bug bites" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x paintings" | ||||
Floyd | The pieces of ancient art were everywhere, including the ceiling. They Floyd | appeared to stem from a variety of historical timeframes. Individually, Floyd | they each tended to portray some element of their times. Viewed Floyd | together, the formed a menagerie of color and culture. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x mural" | ||||
Floyd | The pieces of ancient art were everywhere, including the ceiling. They Floyd | appeared to stem from a variety of historical timeframes. Individually, Floyd | they each tended to portray some element of their times. Viewed Floyd | together, the formed a menagerie of color and culture. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x rubbish" | ||||
Floyd | It was junk art -- a little scene fashioned by welding together Floyd | discarded pieces of machinery. This scene seemed to depict a man (or Floyd | was it a frog?) sitting at the base of a strange, metallic river Floyd | holding an umbrella over his head. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "exits" | ||||
Floyd | Exits lead in all directions except the North. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "yow, that is a lot of bites." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Sigh. Modern art persists into the future." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Yeah, I realize the photo is totally off-topic, but I was so shocked and wanted to follow up on why I'd been away earlier." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Don't worry. It might not persist for much longer if it fits in that funnel." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Lobby Floyd | The museum lobby was large and spacious. There were delayed echoes of Floyd | footsteps resounding from the lofty walls and vaulted ceiling which Floyd | drew a direct contrast to the quiet calm of the rest of the museum. The Floyd | building's large, decorative entrance lay closed to the South. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x ceiling" | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche could not see anything in that direction. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I'm thinking that the direction northwest can't be entirely trusted in this museum." | |||
| Jacqueline asks, "Is this going to be an issue if we have to high-tail it out of here later?" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Somehow, we entered from the northern garden, stepped east once, then northwest three times and reached the southren lobby." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I suggest we stick to north, south, east, and west while in here. I no longer trust the diagonals to be coded correctly." | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "Oh, so you don't think it's a feature?" | ||||
| Jacqueline asks, "You think it a bug?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "I think it's a bug, yes." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I was thinking it was part of the magik bit." | ||||
| DavidW says, "That's possible, I suppose. I doubt it, though." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | A row of miscellaneous artifacts and displays blocked travel in that Floyd | direction. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "exits" | ||||
Floyd | Exits lead in all directions except the North. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Statue Exhibit Floyd | This was a prominent section of the museum, near the front entrance. It Floyd | was home to the museum's -- no, the world's -- most prized Floyd | archeological artifact, known by no other name than the "ancient Floyd | statue." Like all large artifacts in the museum, a glass case had been Floyd | erected to house it. Within, standing upright, the statue stared Floyd | unseeingly at Nortoche. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x statue" | ||||
Floyd | Grey and cold, the ancient statue stood in the same stance that it Floyd | always had. It was a sight familiar to everyone in the world and Floyd | Nortoche had seen it dozens of times in the past. As he looked at it, Floyd | however, Nort realized that the glass case blurred the statue somewhat. Floyd | To truly appreciate the amazing detail of the statue, he would have to Floyd | look at it from within the case itself. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says, "I suggest holding off on entering the case until we've explored all of the museum that we can first." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm good with that." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | No, there was no time to wander around further. Nort had to get Floyd | Cylest's pin from the statue's pocket and get out. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gerynar says, "me too" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I appreciate you driving, btw." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "n" | ||||
Floyd | A row of miscellaneous artifacts and displays blocked travel in that Floyd | direction. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "exits" | ||||
Floyd | Although the exits led in all directions, Nort had already located what Floyd | he came for and had no further need to wander around. The only exit Floyd | Nort had already traveled lay west. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gerynar says, "I think we might not be able to explore" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "ah" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Well, we could undo and then explore, but yeah" | ||||
| Fang arrives, full of fun and funk. | DavidW says, "well, I strongly suspect that Mr Statue there will be the PC next and will be able to continue the museum tour in Nort's place." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter case" | ||||
Floyd | No, Nort recognized the glowing auras for the security spells that they Floyd | were. Not only did they protect the artifacts, but they also triggered Floyd | an alarm when intersected. The mages were very thorough. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x orb" | ||||
Floyd | Perfectly round, about the size of a large walnut. The small globe was Floyd | smooth and Nort could see his distorted expression in it. This was Floyd | anti-magik, he knew, and it could be used just once. When he threw it, Floyd | all magik in a small diameter would disappear, the globe included. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "throw orb" | ||||
Floyd | Dropped. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take orb" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Upon contact with the golden orb, Nortoche felt a surge of energy Floyd | resonate through his body. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "throw orb at case" | Cheddarius asks, "Maybe throw orb at X?" | |||
Floyd | Nortoche threw the orb at the glass case as hard as he could. Floyd | Momentarily, the museum was illuminated by a bright shower of sparks as Floyd | the orb met the surrounding blue aura. Floyd | Floyd | The blue energy dissipated into nothing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x orb" | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche did not see anything like that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter case" | ||||
Floyd | He could not get into the closed glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open case" | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche opened the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter case" | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche got into the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x statue" | ||||
Floyd | Nortoche looked at the statue in wonder. The smooth jaw bone, the Floyd | tapered nose... he could see the detail for which this statue was Floyd | famous. The realism was phenomenal. Nortoche looked into the unfocused Floyd | eyes... even the ring around the iris was distinctive and clearly Floyd | visible after all these thousands of years. It was amazing that any Floyd | sculptor could... Floyd | Floyd | Nortoche frowned. For an instant, he could have sworn that the statue Floyd | had blinked. Silly, he thought. Alone in this dark, closed museum, his Floyd | mind was playing... Floyd | Floyd | No. There it was again... It WAS moving! Panic instantly welled up Floyd | inside of Nortoche as the statue exhaled. The myths were true! This Floyd | dark mage from ancient times had awakened! He would devour the children Floyd | and enslave the world killing all who displeased him! He would destroy Floyd | all in his path, and Nortoche was just inches from his face! Floyd | Floyd | Fear griped Nortoche and he cried out in a fanatical scream, "Mercy!" Floyd | But at this the dark mage only took notice of him, his eyes focusing Floyd | for the first time in millennia. "Don't kill me!" he cried. "Don't kill Floyd | me!" Nortoche leaped away from the mage in a frenzy and smashed into Floyd | the casing which surrounded him. He fell to the floor as the glass Floyd | shards rained down. Floyd | Floyd | His life was over, Nortoche knew. He would never again see Cylest. He Floyd | would never again walk through the bazaar with his peers. He had only Floyd | seconds before his life came to an end, moments before the dark mage's Floyd | wrath came upon him. Floyd | Floyd | And it came with a blinding flash. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | Cheddarius says, "/me gasps" | |||
Floyd | There was a flash of light. I didn't see it directly since my eyes were Floyd | squeezed shut, but the light was so bright that it penetrated my Floyd | eyelids and I felt the pulse on my skin. When I opened my eyes the boy Floyd | was gone. "Hello?" I called. There was no response. Floyd | Floyd | I ran my fingers through my hair, trying my best to brush out the tiny Floyd | shards of glass, then I looked around me, taking in my surroundings. Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Statue Exhibit Floyd | I could see glass cases in every direction. This was obviously a closed Floyd | museum, although this particular section seemed to have showcased only Floyd | one exhibit. From the remains of the glass case that I stood in, I Floyd | suspected that I had been that exhibit. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exit not barred by light lay west. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "I say! That didn't seem to work." | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Meaning /e" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | I was carrying: Floyd | a Petrian device Floyd | my ID badge Floyd | a white lab coat (being worn) Floyd | a coffee mug Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Lobby Floyd | The museum lobby was large and spacious. There were delayed echoes of Floyd | footsteps resounding from the lofty walls and vaulted ceiling which Floyd | drew a direct contrast to the quiet calm of the rest of the museum. The Floyd | building's large, decorative entrance lay closed to the South. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cf8" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open door" | ||||
Floyd | The museum door was seemed to be locked. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "kerazy" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "unlock door" | ||||
Floyd | [What do you want to unlock the museum door with?] Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline exclaims (at Cheddarius), "Try ;:gasps!" | |||
| DavidW asks, "'was seemed to be'?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | (first taking the west wall) Floyd | The west wall was not available. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | That way was barred by a floating beam of light. The only exits not Floyd | barred by light lay south, east, and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "*shrugs*" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Art Exhibit Floyd | The exhibits in this room were all of an artistic nature. Ancient Floyd | sculptures stood proudly erect upon elegant marble pedestals. Colorful Floyd | oil paintings adorned the walls. Sprawling across the ceiling was a Floyd | vast and expansive mural, a lasting memorial to a long dead master Floyd | painter of exquisite skill. In the corner, seemingly out of place yet Floyd | encased in glass, was an assortment of rubbish arranged in a bizarre Floyd | fashion. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius gasps! | |||
| Jacqueline says, "There you go." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I'm betting *we* can read the Rehsif-Mij book." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Indeed." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Industrial Exhibit Floyd | Manufactured paraphernalia bejeweled the brushed metal walls. A Floyd | plethora of ancient metallurgical tools and gear fed the industrial Floyd | motif of this section. The central artifact, encased within glass was a Floyd | large box-shaped machine. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, War Exhibit Floyd | Ancient weapons adorned the walls. The metallic gleam in the dim Floyd | lighting furthered an ambiance of war and desolation. The single glass Floyd | case, centered in this section, contained a large, box-like device the Floyd | purpose of which was mysteriously non-obvious. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay west and northwest. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Anyway, I must say I've never been a fan of the shifting protagonist." | |||
| Gerynar has disconnected. | ||||
| Gerynar has connected. | ||||
| Gerynar gets bored and wanders off to the Toyshop. | ||||
| Gerynar arrives, ready to play with the toys. | DavidW says, "hm. I'm guessing that the museum's layout is based on whatever directions I chose, whether or not the group of them make any sense or not." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Peace Exhibit Floyd | This was a peaceful, organic section of the museum. Potted plants Floyd | rested in every corner and climbing ivy worked its way over various Floyd | crevices and ledges giving a warm, natural feeling. The Northern wall Floyd | was made up of sections of glass, providing a scenic view of the Floyd | gardens outside. The loWest section was actually a window with a handle Floyd | that could be opened. A glass display case containing an open book was Floyd | featured in this area. An engraved silver plaque on the case glistened Floyd | in the dim luminosity. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exit not barred by light lay east. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | DavidW says (to Jacqueline), "aw" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "read book" | ||||
Floyd | I looked at the pages of the open book. Through the glass casing I Floyd | could make out snatches of text, but most of it was faded or smeared Floyd | beyond recognition. What I could make out was in English. It seemed to Floyd | be a historical text, though I couldn't be certain. It could just as Floyd | well have been a work of fiction: Floyd | Floyd | "...a new weapon unlike any nation had seen before. It held vast, Floyd | destructive power, and when the destruction was unleashed, it brought Floyd | about not only the end of the Great War, but desolation..." Floyd | Floyd | "...changed forever was the world..." Floyd | Floyd | "...power permeated all matter on the atomic level and bonded with it. Floyd | Matter became subject to the whim of those few that could bend the Floyd | power according to their will; a new aristocracy came about..." Floyd | Floyd | "...old magic of science was forgotten, replaced by the coming of the Floyd | new magic brought about by the permeation. Science dwindled, all but Floyd | lost. The world rearranged itself at the commandments of the Floyd | wyzurds..." Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "What do you mean? That the directions don't matter, and it just sends you to the "next room" whenever you try to move?" | |||
| Jacqueline shrugs. "I'm just not. I find it a touch jarring." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Cheddarius), "I think that's what he means, yeah." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Ah." | ||||
| DavidW says, "I'm saying that the directions do matter, that it remembers which I picked and made them official." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Oh, I see" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Oh, huh." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "That's a pretty interesting system indeed" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I am not mapping, so that part is hard to follow." | ||||
| DavidW says, "If I had known, I would've picked a more sensible layout." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x plaque" | ||||
Floyd | It was a copper plaque, sharply engraved with a fair amount of text. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "read plaque" | ||||
Floyd | I looked closely at the text. It was incomprehensible, obviously a Floyd | language, but containing characters that I had never seen before, in Floyd | English or any other language I had studied. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "read plaque" | ||||
Floyd | I looked closely at the text. It was incomprehensible, obviously a Floyd | language, but containing characters that I had never seen before, in Floyd | English or any other language I had studied. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "Strange, that the future-people think Jim wrote this" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Jim must have been long frozen, for millenia even, by the time it was written" | ||||
| DavidW says, "no, it's an in-joke." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Oh." | ||||
| DavidW says, "Reshif-Mij was around only a thousand years ago by this future's time." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "I see" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open case" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | I opened the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take book" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | A small edge of the ancient book broke off in my finger tips. It was Floyd | just too brittle to touch. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "Think we've sounded a silent alarm?" | |||
| DavidW says, "hm. No. I think we -- somehow -- are immune to the wards magik." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Or the sphere disabled it." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Though I'm not sure how it would have such a huge radius of effect." | ||||
| DavidW says, "No, the wards are there, you can see their light." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Ah" | ||||
| EmacsUser arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | Cheddarius says, "But anyways, if they affected us, we wouldn't be able to touch it in the first place, probably" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Hey Emacs" | ||||
| DavidW says, "But we might've become dyed in the wards' magiks because of our long time in the case." | ||||
| EmacsUser says, "Hello. I'm very late and have a slow connection, but if you don't mind I'll watch the end of this." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "That sounds reasonable" | ||||
| DavidW says, "It's like having the smell of the hive." | ||||
| EmacsUser says, "(As soon as I'm caught up.)" | ||||
| DavidW says, "We're not registered as an intruder but a valid exhibit." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "I think I agree Jacqueline, I think the alarm's been sounded" | ||||
| Ellison arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, War Exhibit Floyd | Ancient weapons adorned the walls. The metallic gleam in the dim Floyd | lighting furthered an ambiance of war and desolation. The single glass Floyd | case, centered in this section, contained a large, box-like device the Floyd | purpose of which was mysteriously non-obvious. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay west and northwest. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open panel" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | The glass case was not open. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open case" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | I opened the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open panel" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | The rusted panel creaked opened revealing a compartment. It was divided Floyd | into three sections. Within two were batteries leaving room for one Floyd | more. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take device" | ||||
Floyd | (the large machine) Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | The large machine was hardly portable. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "Basically: Magic technology freezes people, the inventor's wife was killed in a car crash, he froze himself in despair. In the future: girl falls in love with the frozen statue, gives a pin to it, later sends her boyfriend to go get it. Statue wakes up! We are the statue." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm sure that helps him a lot." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Also, there's some stuff with some evil wizard cutting out hearts. But I'm not sure what that's about." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "look in pocket" | ||||
Floyd | In the pocket was a promise pin. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, ">_> I'm not that good at summarizing" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x pin" | ||||
Floyd | A pin with a faintly luminous blue stone which glowed ever so faintly. Floyd | It was small, but its considerable value was obvious. I looked at the Floyd | pin, trying to place it. It was of a very strange design and I was Floyd | fairly sure that I had never seen it before, but doubt lingered. Floyd | Perhaps it was Karen's. Some piece of exotic jewlery that had somehow Floyd | worked its way into the pocket of my labcoat. Strange that I would Floyd | discover it now, possibly thousands of years after her death. Floyd | Floyd | > | EmacsUser says, "Hehe...awesome summary, but I'm going to read it anyway." | |||
| DavidW says, "Or maybe this pin is the reason why we can manage." | ||||
| Cheddarius asks, "Wait, you can read previous text? How?" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "I was only able to read text from after I entered" | ||||
| EmacsUser says, "@recap #toy = all" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Industrial Exhibit Floyd | Manufactured paraphernalia bejeweled the brushed metal walls. A Floyd | plethora of ancient metallurgical tools and gear fed the industrial Floyd | motif of this section. The central artifact, encased within glass was a Floyd | large box-shaped machine. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius exclaims, "Ah, okay. Thanks!" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Art Exhibit Floyd | The exhibits in this room were all of an artistic nature. Ancient Floyd | sculptures stood proudly erect upon elegant marble pedestals. Colorful Floyd | oil paintings adorned the walls. Sprawling across the ceiling was a Floyd | vast and expansive mural, a lasting memorial to a long dead master Floyd | painter of exquisite skill. In the corner, seemingly out of place yet Floyd | encased in glass, was an assortment of rubbish arranged in a bizarre Floyd | fashion. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open case" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | I opened the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take junk" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | The junk art scene was hardly portable. Floyd | Floyd | > | EmacsUser says, "@recap #toy = 5000" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x junk" | ||||
Floyd | It was junk art -- a little scene fashioned by welding together Floyd | discarded pieces of machinery. This scene seemed to depict a man (or Floyd | was it a frog?) sitting at the base of a strange, metallic river Floyd | holding an umbrella over his head. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take umbrella" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | I pulled gently on the umbrella. It came free with a soft metallic Floyd | sound. Floyd | Floyd | > | EmacsUser says, "Ach." | |||
| EmacsUser says, "Sorry." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take man" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | The little man was not significant. (It is not necessary to refer to it Floyd | in the course of this game.) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x river" | ||||
Floyd | The river was contrived from a series of hundreds of washers, several Floyd | rows across, arranged in such a way as to suggest movement. I wondered Floyd | at the effort the artist had put into the alignment of these washers. Floyd | Surely they could not all be so firmly affixed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take washer" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | There was a whole river of washers to choose from. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "search river" | Cheddarius exclaims, "Take all the washers. All of them! AHAHAHA! WE WILL BE THE WASHEREST MAN IN THE LAND!" | |||
Floyd | I ran my hand along the rows of washers and heard a metallic clinking Floyd | sound. One of the washers seemed to be loose; perhaps the welding that Floyd | kept it in place had weakened over time. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take washer" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x umbrella" | ||||
Floyd | It was a small satellite dish, about the size of a large bowl. What it Floyd | was originally designed for I could only guess at, but there was a Floyd | small socket on the bottom where a plug of some kind could be inserted. Floyd | Floyd | > | Gerynar says, "aha" | |||
| Cheddarius exclaims, "Hoho!" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x device" | ||||
Floyd | It was small, hand-sized, and if not scrutinized, it could easily have Floyd | been mistaken for a portable stereo. What looked like a single Floyd | headphone was actually an electrode which retracted automatically into Floyd | the device when not being used. There was a dial, broken and spinning Floyd | freely. There was also a small, red button used to initiate the Floyd | process. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open device" | ||||
Floyd | The Petrian device was not something I could open. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x dial" | ||||
Floyd | If working, the dial would have adjusted how much energy was channeled Floyd | into the subject. This translated exactly into how much time it would Floyd | be eikonized in statue form. In this broken modal, the charge was not Floyd | being regulated appropriately. The result was that the subject might be Floyd | frozen as a statue for an hour or ten-thousand years. There was no way Floyd | of knowing. It didn't matter. A hundred years, a thousand years -- Floyd | there would be no difference. I sought only to leave this world and its Floyd | constant reminders of my lost life, my lost love. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "But it only works on living matter, so... not sure what plugging it in would do" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Industrial Exhibit Floyd | Manufactured paraphernalia bejeweled the brushed metal walls. A Floyd | plethora of ancient metallurgical tools and gear fed the industrial Floyd | motif of this section. The central artifact, encased within glass was a Floyd | large box-shaped machine. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open case" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | I opened the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "We could plug in that thing, though, yes." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "We could save and try refreezing ourselves." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "open panel" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | The panel was spring loaded and opened with a click revealing a Floyd | compartment. It was divided into two sections. Within one was a battery Floyd | leaving room for one more. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, War Exhibit Floyd | Ancient weapons adorned the walls. The metallic gleam in the dim Floyd | lighting furthered an ambiance of war and desolation. The single glass Floyd | case, centered in this section, contained a large, box-like device the Floyd | purpose of which was mysteriously non-obvious. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay west and northwest. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take battery" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put umbrella on plug" | ||||
Floyd | I plugged the satellite dish into the machine. It clicked into place. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "nw" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Industrial Exhibit Floyd | Manufactured paraphernalia bejeweled the brushed metal walls. A Floyd | plethora of ancient metallurgical tools and gear fed the industrial Floyd | motif of this section. The central artifact, encased within glass was a Floyd | large box-shaped machine. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put battery in panel" | ||||
Floyd | (the metallic cube in the panel) Floyd | I put the metallic cube into the panel. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put washer in funnel" | ||||
Floyd | The washer disappeared down the funnel. A light flickered on the box Floyd | for a moment and there was a momentary grinding sound followed by a Floyd | clink as it reappeared in the tray. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x tray" | ||||
Floyd | A simple metallic tray located at the bottom of the machine. From the Floyd | looks of it, items dispensed from the machine ended up there. Several Floyd | holes lined the bottom of the tray. Floyd | Floyd | In the dispenser I could see a washer. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take washer" | ||||
Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x it" | ||||
Floyd | Having been through the serration machine, there were now several Floyd | notches equally spaced around the circumference. It was now more a gear Floyd | than a washer. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Several serrated groves line the washer. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take all from panel" | ||||
Floyd | 2 metallic cubes : The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I Floyd | came in contact with it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | Removed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, War Exhibit Floyd | Ancient weapons adorned the walls. The metallic gleam in the dim Floyd | lighting furthered an ambiance of war and desolation. The single glass Floyd | case, centered in this section, contained a large, box-like device the Floyd | purpose of which was mysteriously non-obvious. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay west and northwest. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put gear on lower peg" | ||||
Floyd | The small gear slipped onto the peg perfectly and with a click, its Floyd | teeth interlocked with the teeth of the upper two gears. A perfect fit. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "put batteries in panel" | ||||
Floyd | 2 metallic cubes : Done. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cf9" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push button" | ||||
Floyd | (the square, blue button) Floyd | The glowing blue energy tickled momentarily as I came in contact with Floyd | it, but there was no resistance. Floyd | Floyd | When I pushed the button, lights all over the machine lit up. The gears Floyd | inside spun continuously, first in one direction, then in the other. Floyd | The dish atop the machine spun around too, driven by the gears and Floyd | seeming in search of some signal. Then the dish stopped, having Floyd | apparently found what it was looking for. Floyd | Floyd | There was a chime then a woman's voice from the machine: Floyd | "Initialization of the Spatial Point-to-Point Unity System successful. Floyd | Positioning system found no working positional nodes. Defaulting Floyd | destination point to project headquarters at coordinates Floyd | 000-000-000..." There was a pause then, "Warning! Diagnostic systems Floyd | indicate markedly low power levels. Unity space will exist only Floyd | momentarily." Floyd | Floyd | Then the noise levels produced by the machine increased. There was a Floyd | rhythmic throbbing sound, felt through vibration more than heard. I Floyd | could feel a tingling sensation in the air; pins and needles. It was Floyd | obvious that the machine was powering up for some task, and for a Floyd | moment I thought that the aged device might explode. Then, a burst of Floyd | sparkling blue light appeared and expanded. In a moment the blue light Floyd | formed a doorway which floated in mid-air attached to nothing. Floyd | Floyd | The computer's voice came again. "Unity space achieved," it said. Floyd | "Doorway will remain open for two seconds before power is exhausted." Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Jacqueline waves and makes an isquiesque departure for home. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter doorway" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | The hair on my arms and legs stood on end as I stepped through the Floyd | fluid, plasmatic doorway and emerged into darkness. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline arrives, ready to play with the toys. | ||||
| DavidW pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | The green mage surveyed the museum from the lobby. It was active, and Floyd | bright. Mages from nearly every order wandered around performing Floyd | incantations and collecting various pieces of information. Dunamei saw Floyd | immediately that the ersatz mages had been included in the Floyd | investigation. Floyd | Floyd | Anger flared within the green mage and showed plainly upon his face. It Floyd | was an affront to bring the pseudo mages -- the "siontysts" -- into an Floyd | investigation as delicate as this. They were not mages in any sense of Floyd | the word. The All did not bend to their will. They were commoners Floyd | seeking to be equal to mages, nothing more. Why the Overseer chose to Floyd | back the King's decision and recognize them as a true order was beyond Floyd | him. Their newly created order of silver was blasphemy. For a fleeting Floyd | instant Dunamei considered turning all of the charlatans into slugs to Floyd | make a point. Instead, he made a show of smoothing out wrinkles in his Floyd | emerald robes while he took several deep, slow breaths to calm himself. Floyd | Floyd | To the matter at hand then: the statue. The boy, Nortoche, had tripped Floyd | a security spell after breaking into the museum. During questioning he Floyd | had told a bizarre story of the ancient statue coming to life. It was a Floyd | story that he continued to tell even after being subjected to truth Floyd | spells. Highly improbable, but mages had been dispatched only to find Floyd | that the ancient statue was indeed gone. None of the pieces to this Floyd | puzzle fit together and there was disagreement between the Floyd | investigating mages as to the true events. Floyd | Floyd | Well Dunamei would put an end to the doubt. He held his position as Floyd | Principal Mage for good reason and he would uncover the fate of the Floyd | statue. Perhaps the walls had something to say about it... Floyd | Floyd | Museum Lobby Floyd | The museum lobby was large and spacious. There were delayed echoes of Floyd | footsteps resounding from the lofty walls and vaulted ceiling which Floyd | drew a direct contrast to the quiet calm of the rest of the museum. The Floyd | building's large, decorative entrance lay open to the South. Floyd | Floyd | Numerous other mages were here, busily performing various castings in Floyd | their uncoordinated investigations. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "I find it very depressing that science has died out." | |||
| olethros arrives, full of fun, but no funk. | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "i" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei was carrying: Floyd | a robe (being worn) Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "heh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | A pseudo mage made eye contact with Dunamei as he left. Dunamei grit Floyd | his teeth and glared at the audacious little worm of a man. Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Statue Exhibit Floyd | This was a prominent section of the museum, near the front entrance. It Floyd | was home to the museum's -- no, the world's -- most prized Floyd | archeological artifact, known by no other name than the "ancient Floyd | statue." Like all large artifacts in the museum, a glass case had been Floyd | erected to house it. All that remained of the case was a collection of Floyd | glass shards that littered the floor. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. It was a Floyd | minor spell, probably cast to preserve the crime scene by the museum's Floyd | security mage once the break-in had been detected. The only exit not Floyd | barred by light lay west. Floyd | Floyd | Numerous other mages were here, busily performing various castings in Floyd | their uncoordinated investigations. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| Cheddarius says (to Floyd), "put on robe, wizard hat" | ||||
Floyd | [You can't use multiple objects with that verb.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x case" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei did not see anything like that. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "spells" | ||||
Floyd | He had the following spells at his disposal: Floyd | thespia (Communicate with the inanimate world about recent events) Floyd | dysparsen (Dispell magik) Floyd | frerquoe (Cast fireball) Floyd | Floyd | > | Gerynar asks, "I guess we should ask the walls then, eh?" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Communicate with the inanimate world about recent events seems like a pretty useful spell here." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "thespia walls" | ||||
Floyd | [Thespia can only be cast. No object for this spell need be specified.] Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "thespia" | ||||
Floyd | The lighting dimmed and a foggy mist formed. Shapes coalesced in the Floyd | vapor and appeared to solidify. The real world, in turn, became Floyd | translucent and strangely dim... Floyd | Floyd | The vision that formed was sharp and clear, as Dunamei expected it Floyd | would be. Interesting things had happened here of late, things even the Floyd | inanimate would find interesting. Floyd | Floyd | The missing glass case formed. It contained the famous statue, frozen Floyd | and lifeless as it had been for all of recorded history. After a few Floyd | moments someone entered the room. It was Nortoche, whom had just been Floyd | interviewed. Dunamei was extremely interested in what would happen Floyd | next, the boy's story had been fantastic and implausible, yet spells Floyd | had ensured that it was the truth as far as Nortoche believed. The mage Floyd | fully expected to find some sign of trickery, perhaps an involvement of Floyd | magik which the boy would not have recognized. Floyd | Floyd | Nortoche pulled out a golden orb. Dunamei recognized it as a magikal Floyd | artifact. They allowed even commoners to cast spells, but were Floyd | extremely difficult to come by. Princess Cylest could perhaps come by Floyd | one, as Nortoche had said, but for political reasons her involvement in Floyd | this would simply disappear as the orb did when Nortoche threw it, Floyd | dispelling the ward. Floyd | Floyd | The mage watched closely, now, as the boy opened the glass case and Floyd | entered it, wanting to miss nothing. But Dunamei saw no sign of magik Floyd | as the boy looked into the statue's face. The spell responsible for Floyd | turning the statue from a grey stone color to a pink fleshy color was Floyd | not obvious. The mage rubbed his eyes as the boy smashed through the Floyd | glass. What had happened? Floyd | Dunamei couldn't believe it. The ancient statue -- alive and mobile! Floyd | Floyd | What sort of spell could have done that? Floyd | Floyd | It didn't surprise Dunamei in the lEast that the statue lived after Floyd | being transformed into flesh, he had long suspected there was more to Floyd | it than just the unclassified rock it was made from. What few spells Floyd | could provide information about the statue suggested the presence of Floyd | stone organs within the stone statue. What did surprise Dunamei was Floyd | that someone had been successful at transforming it into flesh. Floyd | Hundreds of mages from all the guilds had tried in vain to affect the Floyd | statue in any way. It had stood, impervious to magik, since it had been Floyd | found, millennia ago. Floyd | Floyd | Then came the security spell, triggered by the smashing of the glass Floyd | case. It was a flash of light which transported all living creatures Floyd | from the museum and secured a perimeter around the crime scene until Floyd | the mages could investigate. When the flash faded, the boy was gone, Floyd | transported to a holding cell, but the statue -- the man -- remained. Floyd | Even in life, the statue remained impervious to magik. Dunamei was Floyd | shaken by this revelation. Floyd | Floyd | As he watched the statue walk -- without even a cramp after being Floyd | frozen for thousands upon thousands of years -- Dunamei could only Floyd | think of Noric the exiled. Was he behind this? What evil purpose could Floyd | he accomplish with this? A minion that was resistant to the mages... Floyd | Dunamei shivered. Floyd | Floyd | The lighting brightened and the shapes faded as the mist vanished. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum Lobby Floyd | The museum lobby was large and spacious. There were delayed echoes of Floyd | footsteps resounding from the lofty walls and vaulted ceiling which Floyd | drew a direct contrast to the quiet calm of the rest of the museum. The Floyd | building's large, decorative entrance lay open to the South. Floyd | Floyd | Numerous other mages were here, busily performing various castings in Floyd | their uncoordinated investigations. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "thespia" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei cast the spell, but nothing happened. The inanimate world had Floyd | nothing of interest to recount at that location, it seemed. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Art Exhibit Floyd | The exhibits in this room were all of an artistic nature. Ancient Floyd | sculptures stood proudly erect upon elegant marble pedestals. Colorful Floyd | oil paintings adorned the walls. Sprawling across the ceiling was a Floyd | vast and expansive mural, a lasting memorial to a long dead master Floyd | painter of exquisite skill. In the corner, seemingly out of place yet Floyd | encased in glass, was an assortment of rubbish arranged in a bizarre Floyd | fashion. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | Numerous other mages were here, busily performing various castings in Floyd | their uncoordinated investigations. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "thespia" | ||||
Floyd | The lighting dimmed and a foggy mist formed. Shapes coalesced in the Floyd | vapor and appeared to solidify. The real world, in turn, became Floyd | translucent and strangely dim... Floyd | Floyd | The vision was incomplete, depicting only the man leaving the room. He Floyd | seemed to be carrying an ancient bowl. Floyd | Floyd | Dunamei shook his head. The "evil mage" as he was depicted in so many Floyd | children stories seemed to know what he was doing with these ancient Floyd | artifacts. What other lost knowledge did he know? Floyd | Floyd | The lighting brightened and the shapes faded as the mist vanished. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius asks, "We could dispell the yellow light, maybe?" | |||
| DavidW says, "I don't think that will help us just yet." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Industrial Exhibit Floyd | Manufactured paraphernalia bejeweled the brushed metal walls. A Floyd | plethora of ancient metallurgical tools and gear fed the industrial Floyd | motif of this section. The central artifact, encased within glass was a Floyd | large box-shaped machine. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay northwest and southeast. Floyd | Floyd | Numerous other mages were here, busily performing various castings in Floyd | their uncoordinated investigations. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "Yeah. Probably thespia would be a better choice at the moment" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "thespia" | ||||
Floyd | The lighting dimmed and a foggy mist formed. Shapes coalesced in the Floyd | vapor and appeared to solidify. The real world, in turn, became Floyd | translucent and strangely dim... Floyd | Floyd | The glass case was open and the awakened statue worked on the artifact, Floyd | completely unaffected by the glowing blue ward. Floyd | Floyd | What lost magik did this ancient mage wield? Could he be in league with Floyd | Noric? Did he play some part in Noric's plans? Perhaps. No intelligence Floyd | had been gathered about Noric's latest works, and many spies had lost Floyd | their lives while attempting to find out. All indications were that it Floyd | was a perversion of the arts, something unspeakable, something to be Floyd | feared, and something that had never been done before. Awakening the Floyd | ancient statue had certainly never been done before, but hardly seemed Floyd | perverse. Perhaps it was only part of Noric's larger plan. Floyd | Floyd | Something had happened in the scene, what was it? Dunamei had almost Floyd | missed it, lost in his own thoughts. The statue mage had put items in Floyd | and retrieved items from the ancient artifact. Dunamei shook his head Floyd | in wonder. These visions of the past did nothing to clear up what had Floyd | happened. Floyd | Floyd | The lighting brightened and the shapes faded as the mist vanished. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "If this short game is the intro, I wonder how long the full length game is." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "se" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Museum, War Exhibit Floyd | Ancient weapons adorned the walls. The metallic gleam in the dim Floyd | lighting furthered an ambiance of war and desolation. The single glass Floyd | case, centered in this section, contained a large, box-like device the Floyd | purpose of which was mysteriously non-obvious. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exits not barred by light lay west and northwest. Floyd | Floyd | Numerous other mages were here, busily performing various castings in Floyd | their uncoordinated investigations. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius says, "Heh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "thespia" | ||||
Floyd | The lighting dimmed and a foggy mist formed. Shapes coalesced in the Floyd | vapor and appeared to solidify. The real world, in turn, became Floyd | translucent and strangely dim... Floyd | Floyd | The statue made flesh walked into the room, unaware of Dunamei and the Floyd | present world, which had faded visibly. He walked purposely over to the Floyd | case, surrounded by the glowing blue aura, the protection ward. He Floyd | opened the glass case, passing through the ward effortlessly, then Floyd | reached in and opened the panel on the contained artifact, something Floyd | the siontysts claimed endowed the ancient's with great power. They Floyd | called it a "kompeutre," a type of "ma-sheen." Dunamei always Floyd | considered the talk rubbish, an attempt to elevate commoners to Floyd | equality with true mages. He ground his teeth at the their impudence. Floyd | Floyd | There was disruption in the vision, like the blowing of vapor. It Floyd | reformed, but differently. The man had split into three or four Floyd | duplicates of himself, but Dunamei recognized it as a nuance of the Floyd | Thespia spell (the inanimate had little understanding of linear time, Floyd | and often replayed separate, closely related events simultaneously). Floyd | Each of the statue doppelgangers seemed to be attaching items to the Floyd | artifact in the display glass, sometimes overlapping each other like Floyd | spirits. Dunamei had difficulty following what was happening. Then the Floyd | duplicates united again and for just a moment, the man stood there Floyd | clear as day working in some un-guessable fashion on the artifact. Floyd | Floyd | Then the doorway appeared and Dunamei jumped. A collective gasp came Floyd | from the mages and the pseudo-mages alike. The man had spoken no Floyd | incantations. He had cast no spells. He had simply worked the Floyd | "kompeutre" and the spell had been cast. Dunamei frowned. This was a Floyd | disappointment. It could only serve to feed the growing insurrection of Floyd | the siontysts. It could only reinforce their demands for equality. They Floyd | were an enigma, these commoners who presumed themselves equal to the Floyd | mages. Floyd | Floyd | The lighting brightened and the shapes faded as the mist vanished. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "w" | ||||
Floyd | A pseudo mage made eye contact with Dunamei as he left. Dunamei grit Floyd | his teeth and glared at the audacious little worm of a man. Floyd | Floyd | Museum, Peace Exhibit Floyd | This was a peaceful, organic section of the museum. Potted plants Floyd | rested in every corner and climbing ivy worked its way over various Floyd | crevices and ledges giving a warm, natural feeling. The Northern wall Floyd | was made up of sections of glass, providing a scenic view of the Floyd | gardens outside. The loWest section was actually a window with a handle Floyd | that could be opened. A glass display case containing an open book was Floyd | featured in this area. An engraved silver plaque on the case glistened Floyd | in the dim luminosity. Floyd | Floyd | Several paths had been blocked off by beams of yellow light. The only Floyd | exit not barred by light lay east. Floyd | Floyd | Numerous other mages were here, busily performing various castings in Floyd | their uncoordinated investigations. Floyd | Floyd | A glowing blue field of light surrounded the glass case. Floyd | Floyd | The air crackled with energy and a sharp and sudden breeze swept the Floyd | room. A single silvery door appeared. It shimmered and wavered in the Floyd | air for an instant then solidified. The Principal Mage recognized the Floyd | Thurais spell and frowned. This could not be good. Thurais was a Floyd | complex casting that opened a doorway between two locations. The burden Floyd | upon the caster increased exponentially as a function of distance so Floyd | the cost usually outweighed the benefit. It was used only in the direst Floyd | of circumstances. Floyd | Floyd | A messenger mage, clad in a scarlet robe, stepped from the door making Floyd | the required, continuous gestures to keep the door open. He looked to Floyd | Dunamei at once. "My lord," he began. "The council has urgent need of Floyd | you. There has been an occurrence." The red mage paused, lost for a Floyd | moment in concentration on his gestures, and then continued in a soft, Floyd | secretive manner. "It concerns Limech," he whispered. Floyd | Floyd | A prickle went up Dunamei's neck. Limech had been a friend, if mages Floyd | could have friends, and a fellow member of the green order. He had been Floyd | Darisia's last mole in Noric's faction, the one remaining spy. News had Floyd | come of something building. Noric the Dark had apparently made a Floyd | breakthrough in his forbidden works, something big. The hope of the Floyd | council had been upon Limech's intelligence as to the nature of Noric's Floyd | new, evil casting. Instead, they had received Limech's heart, cut from Floyd | his body. Dunamei had delivered the news of Limech's demise to his Floyd | widow. Her pathetic, sobbing cries continued to haunt him weeks later. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline says, "Interesting premise." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "thespia" | ||||
Floyd | The lighting dimmed and a foggy mist formed. Shapes coalesced in the Floyd | vapor and appeared to solidify. The real world, in turn, became Floyd | translucent and strangely dim... Floyd | Floyd | Through the window crawled a dark figure. As the figure stood and Floyd | stepped into the light, Dunamei recognized the boy, Nortoche. Events Floyd | had certainly seemed to play out as he had described them, the Floyd | protection ward had been missing from the window. Dunamei suspected Floyd | that Princess Cylest truly was involved, as the boy had claimed. Of Floyd | course there would be no mention of that when this was made public. Floyd | Nortoche had a history of trouble and would be held solely responsible Floyd | for this break-in. It was always so when royalty's indiscretions came Floyd | to light. Floyd | Floyd | The lighting brightened and the shapes faded as the mist vanished. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | [There are no conversation topics currently in the menu system.] Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius exclaims, "Fireball the sciontyst scum! Shun the nonbelievers!" | |||
| Gerynar says, "we need the >> prompt" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter silvery door" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei could not see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x door" | ||||
Floyd | The frameless doorway floated in mid-air, a shimmering silver glow. Floyd | Dunamei recognized it as the Thurais spell. It was an impressive Floyd | casting, beyond all but the most advanced of mages. Dunamei knew Floyd | intimately of its intricacies and the toll it took upon the caster's Floyd | power. It was used only in the most urgent of circumstances. Floyd | Floyd | As he pondered it, Dunamei's mind was drawn to the Thespia images. The Floyd | awakened statue had cast a similar spell, seemingly based upon Floyd | principles of the ersatz mages, the "siontysts." Dunamei grit his teeth Floyd | in disgust. Floyd | Floyd | Sweat dripped from the Messenger Mage's forehead. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter doorway" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei could not see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline exclaims (at Cheddarius), "And then shun shunning!" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "enter door" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei closed his eyes tightly and braced himself for the predictable Floyd | tingling as he stepped into the silver spell. As he passed through it, Floyd | the Thurais casting overwhelmed his tactile senses with prickling Floyd | sensations over his entire body. The pins and needles subsided as he Floyd | stepped out on the other side of the door. It was substantially warmer Floyd | in this new location than in the museum and the floral scent in his Floyd | nose told the mage immediately that he was outside. Dunamei opened his Floyd | eyes and looked around to get his bearings. He was in the outskirts of Floyd | Darisia which bordered the Eastern wastelands. Floyd | Floyd | Behind him he could feel the Thurais spell intensify as the messenger Floyd | mage followed him through. The doorway vanished then, taking with it Floyd | most of the light to see by. "The rest of the council awaits you this Floyd | way, my lord." The envoy's voice quivered slightly as he wandered off Floyd | to the East. Floyd | Floyd | Outskirts of Darisia Floyd | This was a dark copse of trees near the edge of Darisia. Little was Floyd | visible, but a small trail led Eastward. Line of sight was obscured by Floyd | trees, but a commotion of voices indicated a sizable gathering in that Floyd | direction. Floyd | Floyd | > | Cheddarius exclaims, "Indeed!" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "e" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei stepped into a small clearing next to the iron fence. It was Floyd | illuminated by some minor casting. The entire council was there Floyd | already, obscuring what they crowded around. Nearest to Dunamei was Floyd | Caulor the brown, his face pale and disturbed. He gnawed reflexively at Floyd | his fingernails and sweat beaded across his pudgy brow. Caulor's empty, Floyd | horrified eyes met the Principal Mage's. Several seconds passed before Floyd | recognition was reflected in his expression. There was no smile, no nod Floyd | from his friend. Caulor simply stepped back giving Dunamei room. The Floyd | other mages, faces drained and vacant, did the same revealing a scene Floyd | which both repulsed and horrified the green mage. Floyd | Floyd | It was Limech, rotting and decomposed yet standing before them, a Floyd | mocking affront to Death. He seemed not to take notice of the Floyd | trembling, imperial guard who held him at sword point. Floyd | Floyd | "My lord," croaked the undead mage, seeing him. Limech took a hobbling Floyd | step forward. The mages, all save Dunamei, recoiled. Taudorn retreated Floyd | to the tree line and doubled over, vomiting. The other mages also Floyd | withdrew then, most retching, leaving the lone commoner guard. Even Floyd | Bremech the grey, Dunamei noted to himself with delight, bore a pale, Floyd | sickly hue. The stench of decay waft across Dunamei's nostrils, turning Floyd | his stomach, but the Principal Mage stood his ground staunchly before Floyd | his dead friend. Floyd | Floyd | Fringe of Darisia, behind gates Floyd | It was the line between hell and paradise. On this side, aided by mage Floyd | works, the land gave forth grass and trees, life in abundance. But just Floyd | to the East, on the other side of the ancient iron fence, was a barren Floyd | wasteland. The Thanatos desert stretched as far as the eye could see. Floyd | Those banished by the council were sent out into the desert to die by Floyd | the elements. No creature could survive there, no life whatsoever, or Floyd | so it was once thought, before Noric. Floyd | Floyd | Limech the undead mage stood there, decay-ridden and held at sword Floyd | point by an imperial guard. Floyd | Floyd | "My lord," hissed the rotting mage. "It is I, Limech." There was a note Floyd | of anguish in his voice, as if every moment of his lifeless existence Floyd | was agony. "I bear news from the dark one." Upon his chest, Dunamei saw Floyd | the clumsy suture of twine and remembered the heart the courier bird Floyd | had delivered to the council weeks ago. Attached had been a note Floyd | scrawled in blood indicating the heart had belonged to Limech. Dunamei Floyd | had little doubt that it had indeed. Floyd | Floyd | "You are NOT Lord Limech!" shouted the wide-eyed soldier, hysteria Floyd | cracking his voice. "You are a vile imposter! A profanity!" The long Floyd | sword quivered in the guard's grip but it remained erect, pointed at Floyd | the dead mage's torso. "Say the word, Lord Dunamei and I will slay this Floyd | wicked devil!" Dunamei appraised the soldier for a moment, impressed. Floyd | He was rightfully terrified, yet this commoner had remained when even Floyd | mages fled. He thought for a moment, trying to recall the guard's Floyd | name... Cedreght. Yes, that was it, Cedreght. Dunamei had a new Floyd | appreciation for this imperial soldier. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Jacqueline says, "It's because he put in that other guy's heart." | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ms" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | ...[MSpk] 213 Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | DavidW says, "Puck's heart." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Right" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "push space" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | ...[MSpk] 213 Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "undo" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | ...[MSpk] 213 Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "q" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | >> | Jacqueline asks, "We saved recently, right?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about noric" | ||||
Floyd | "And what news of Norioure do you bring, mage Limech?" The animated Floyd | corpse smiled toothlessly at Dunamei's reference to his mage status and Floyd | his lip split up to his nostril. Dunamei suppressed a shudder. He could Floyd | not blot out the memory of the last time he had seen Limech. The mage Floyd | had been promising. Young and strong, teeming with pink life and Floyd | energy... it was a striking contrast to the green pallor of his rotting Floyd | skin now. Floyd | Floyd | "The dark master..." a chill went up Dunamei's spine at the hoarse Floyd | words. There was no doubt that Noric was indeed Limech's master now. Floyd | "He is raising..." Limech hunched over here, seized by a fit of Floyd | coughing. It was a deep, wheezing cough and when it subsided green Floyd | mucus oozed from Limech's nose and crusted, broken lips. It dripped off Floyd | of his chin. "He raises an army." Floyd | Floyd | Raises indeed, Dunamei thought to himself. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Cheddarius says, "I think so... and even if not, we probably just have to do a bunch of thespias, which should be quick" | |||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf10" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about noric" | ||||
Floyd | "And what news of Norioure do you bring, mage Limech?" The animated Floyd | corpse smiled toothlessly at Dunamei's reference to his mage status and Floyd | his lip split up to his nostril. Dunamei suppressed a shudder. He could Floyd | not blot out the memory of the last time he had seen Limech. The mage Floyd | had been promising. Young and strong, teeming with pink life and Floyd | energy... it was a striking contrast to the green pallor of his rotting Floyd | skin now. Floyd | Floyd | "The dark master..." a chill went up Dunamei's spine at the hoarse Floyd | words. There was no doubt that Noric was indeed Limech's master now. Floyd | "He is raising..." Limech hunched over here, seized by a fit of Floyd | coughing. It was a deep, wheezing cough and when it subsided green Floyd | mucus oozed from Limech's nose and crusted, broken lips. It dripped off Floyd | of his chin. "He raises an army." Floyd | Floyd | Raises indeed, Dunamei thought to himself. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about army" | ||||
Floyd | "Tell me of this army," said Dunamei. "How large is it?" Floyd | Floyd | Limech did not answer at first. His empty unfocused eyes stared at Floyd | nothing. Dunamei looked to see that one of the eyes was twitching Floyd | spasmodically. He stared at it, a morbid curiosity seizing him. "He Floyd | raises them all," rasped the dead man. Dunamei froze in place, unable Floyd | to look away as the vibrating eye was pushed aside by a large, Floyd | oversized maggot. "All who have died in the wars past are his, now." Floyd | Limech continued in a hoarse whisper, taking no notice as the worm fell Floyd | from his eye and disappeared into the foliage. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Gerynar says, "ich" | |||
| Gerynar says, "ick*" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about limech" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about dead" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about message" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about demands" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about army" | ||||
Floyd | "Tell me of this army," said Dunamei. "How large is it?" Floyd | Floyd | Limech did not answer at first. His empty unfocused eyes stared at Floyd | nothing. Dunamei looked to see that one of the eyes was twitching Floyd | spasmodically. He stared at it, a morbid curiosity seizing him. "He Floyd | raises them all," rasped the dead man. Dunamei froze in place, unable Floyd | to look away as the vibrating eye was pushed aside by a large, Floyd | oversized maggot. "All who have died in the wars past are his, now." Floyd | Limech continued in a hoarse whisper, taking no notice as the worm fell Floyd | from his eye and disappeared into the foliage. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about kingdom" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about heart" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about death" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Cheddarius asks, "Try ms?" | |||
| DavidW asks, "Weren't you watching?" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "This is a good game to eat while eating lunch." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "no it's not" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "SAVE" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "cf11" | ||||
Floyd | Enter saved game to store: [Ok.] Floyd | Floyd | >> | DavidW asks, "Did you not see me try ms already and see that there were no options?" | |||
| Gerynar says, "well, not if lunch is pizza" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "I didn't see that, no" | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "I must have missed it" | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Gerynar), "itym not if lunch is worm pizza" | ||||
| DavidW says, "ask limech about statue" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about statue" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Floyd), "ask limech about statue" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Jacqueline says, "Sorry" | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Timing" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about plans" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about magik" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x limech" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei looked into the rotting face of his old friend. Black fluid Floyd | dripped out of the corners of his crusted maw. His chest exposed a Floyd | crude surgical gash, sewn back together with thick rope or twine. The Floyd | stench of death was strong. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "ask limech about past" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Jacqueline says, "hrm meh" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "x cedreght" | ||||
Floyd | Dressed in imperial armor, Cedreght was the finest example of a royal Floyd | soldier. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cedreght, cut gash" | ||||
Floyd | There was no reply. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Gerynar asks, "not to sound blood-thirsty, but how about "cedreght, kill limech"?" | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Sounds good" | ||||
| DavidW says, "Unless we have more topics to try, we should probably try either disspelling the magic or fireballing Limech." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cedreght, kill limech" | ||||
Floyd | The lifeless spy was in agony. Limech had been a good mage and deserved Floyd | better. It was an atrocity and needed to be corrected. Dunamei looked Floyd | meaningfully at soldier and nodded. "Kill him," he ordered. Floyd | Floyd | The guard hesitated, assessing the dead mage who ignored him entirely. Floyd | Then he thrust his broadsword into Limech's side. The zombie didn't Floyd | even flinch. Cedreght pulled his sword free and stepped back, shaken by Floyd | how little Limech had been affected by his attack. The broadsword was Floyd | covered to the hilt in black ooze. Floyd | Floyd | Cedreght cast a disturbed glace at Dunamei, awaiting further Floyd | instructions. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Cheddarius asks, "Stab him again? Fireball?" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cedreght, remove heart" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Cedreght has better things to do. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "ask limech about heart" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Jacqueline says, "aw" | |||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "cedreght, cut heart" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Cedreght has better things to do. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "cedrecht, cut twine" | ||||
Floyd | [You seem to want vv to talk to someone, but I can't see whom.] Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "spells" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei had the following spells at his disposal: Floyd | thespia (Communicate with the inanimate world about recent events) Floyd | dysparsen (Dispell magik) Floyd | frerquoe (Cast fireball) Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "dysparsen" | ||||
Floyd | [The dysparsen spell needed to be cast upon another spell.] Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| Gerynar says (to Floyd), "ask limech about spell" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "dysparsen limech" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei mouthed the incantation and cast the dysparsen spell upon Floyd | Limech. For a moment there was a visible reaction to the casting, as Floyd | though the two spells were competing for dominance. Then the spell's Floyd | potency left, leaving Limech the undead still undead. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Gerynar says, "not good" | |||
| DavidW asks, "I suppose it'll have to be the fireball. Do we have any more topics to try first?" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about wife" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about loyalties" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about spying" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about undead" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "search limech" | ||||
Floyd | Dunamei found nothing of interest. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about war" | ||||
Floyd | "I don't know anything about that," Limech said. Floyd | Floyd | >> | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "ask limech about news" | ||||
Floyd | "And what news of Norioure do you bring, mage Limech?" The animated Floyd | corpse smiled toothlessly at Dunamei's reference to his mage status and Floyd | his lip split up to his nostril. Dunamei suppressed a shudder. He could Floyd | not blot out the memory of the last time he had seen Limech. The mage Floyd | had been promising. Young and strong, teeming with pink life and Floyd | energy... it was a striking contrast to the green pallor of his rotting Floyd | skin now. Floyd | Floyd | "The dark master..." a chill went up Dunamei's spine at the hoarse Floyd | words. There was no doubt that Noric was indeed Limech's master now. Floyd | "He is raising..." Limech hunched over here, seized by a fit of Floyd | coughing. It was a deep, wheezing cough and when it subsided green Floyd | mucus oozed from Limech's nose and crusted, broken lips. It dripped off Floyd | of his chin. "He raises an army." Floyd | Floyd | Raises indeed, Dunamei thought to himself. Floyd | Floyd | >> | Cheddarius says, "I'm fine with a fireball" | |||
| DavidW says, "yeah, I'm running out of ideas and no one's suggesting anything new." | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "frerquoe limech" | ||||
Floyd | Accompanied by a single gesture, the word sizzled into existence as a Floyd | blazing fireball which leapt from his finger to Limech. Floyd | Floyd | Limech deserves better than this atrocious waking death, Dunamei said Floyd | to himself as the fireball spell enveloped the dead mage. The heat Floyd | burned brightly for a moment cooking the rotten flesh, then subsided. Floyd | Limech's blackened carcass fell crumbling to the ground. Floyd | Floyd | Dunamei turned to face the Thanatos wasteland. "Message received, Floyd | Noric." He murmured softly. Then, "Inform the Overseer," Dunamei Floyd | commanded loudly to all hiding mages. "I am certain he will convene the Floyd | council." He turned then, without waiting for a response, and stalked Floyd | down the path to Darisia. Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | Jacqueline says, "eep" | |||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Conrad the Dark was standing on the terrace watching Noric work far Floyd | below in the volcanic basin. Floyd | Floyd | He was simultaneously horrified and elated. It was appalling to think Floyd | that Noric had accomplished it, a casting so unimaginably ghastly that Floyd | it was beyond all the forbidden arts. Yet to watch him actually raise Floyd | the dead as fast as the servants could bring them... It was Floyd | exhilarating. Floyd | Floyd | The courier arrived then, flapping its wings and hovering just out of Floyd | reach. In its beak it held a folded piece of yellow parchment, news Floyd | from the spies within the empire! Floyd | Floyd | Stone Terrace Floyd | Like most of Norioure, the city of the exiled mages, the terrace was Floyd | carved directly from the stone of the mountain. This was Conrad's Floyd | personal balcony and it provided a splendid view of Noric's dark Floyd | castings far below at the chasm bottom. Drapes covered the doorway into Floyd | Conrad's quarters to the South. Floyd | Floyd | A messenger bird, gripping a yellow parchment in its beak, hovered off Floyd | the terrace edge, just out of arm's reach. Its wings were beating as Floyd | rapidly as a bumblebee's. Floyd | Floyd | > | Jacqueline asks, "Man, how many characters ... ?" | |||
| Gerynar says, "hopefully no more than Wheel of Time" | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "spells" | ||||
Floyd | Conrad had the following spell at his disposal: Floyd | maesmur (Mesmerize a creature) Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "maesmur bird" | ||||
Floyd | Conrad spoke the word of power and make the appropriate gestures. The Floyd | messenger bird's eyes glazed over as the casting came upon it. Floyd | Floyd | Conrad had been interested in the actions of the newly undead and had Floyd | watched them for many days. Many retained memories of life. Some even Floyd | understood that they were no longer numbered among the living. All were Floyd | in despair. They cried out, those that yet retained their voices. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "bird, give parchment to me" | ||||
Floyd | The bird stretched out its neck, trying to obey the command in its most Floyd | literal form, but could not. Hu mrv c Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "bird, come" | ||||
Floyd | The messenger bird came to rest upon the ground. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take parchement" | ||||
Floyd | Conrad could not see any such thing. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take parchment" | ||||
Floyd | The parchment was held firmly in the beak of the messenger bird. The Floyd | couriers were bred with beefy muscles to keep possession of their Floyd | messages and would not allow them too simply be taken from them. It was Floyd | instinct. Floyd | Floyd | Cries of agony echoed up from the basin. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "bird, drop parchment" | ||||
Floyd | Floyd | Dropped. Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "take parchment" | ||||
Floyd | Taken. Floyd | Floyd | For a moment, Conrad took notice of an animated corpse far below. It Floyd | croaked indistinguishable cries of anguish. At first, it seemed to the Floyd | mage that the undead man might be weeping but no, he was not. Decay had Floyd | washed over his face some time ago, so how could he have been crying Floyd | with no eyes? Floyd | Floyd | > | ||||
| DavidW says (to Floyd), "read it" | ||||
Floyd | The mage opened the parchment and looked at the three words it Floyd | contained: Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | It took a moment for him to wrap his mind around the statement. It was Floyd | uncanny. Conrad had been quick to dismiss the initial jumble of reports Floyd | that the ancient statue had awakened, but now he had received Floyd | confirmation. It was unbelievable. He furrowed his brow, trying to Floyd | calculate any affect upon the plan. His eyes wandered to the Floyd | proceedings below. Floyd | Floyd | Conrad watched Noric's pale face fixed in a scowl of determination. He Floyd | had worked tirelessly for weeks, breaking not even for sleep from his Floyd | necromancy. There was little doubt that Noric had lost his mind; the Floyd | madness shown unmistakably in his eyes. Each casting seemed to take a Floyd | toll upon Noric's lucidity, as though each new zombie required a Floyd | sacrifice of sanity; but what Noric had achieved! Floyd | Floyd | Conrad admired the moving mass of the risen decaying, the mementos of Floyd | countless wars with Darisia brought forth to do Noric's bidding. It was Floyd | a massive army that stretched as far as he could see. The power of this Floyd | military force was immeasurable, the risen soldiers were innumerable. Floyd | No, he decided at once. It didn't matter that the ancient statue had Floyd | awoken. Nothing could protect Darisia from this army of rot. Soon the Floyd | empire would fall and Darisia would see the triumphant return of the Floyd | exiled mages! Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | DavidW says, "I didn't seen any three words. Perhaps they were in a quotebox." | |||
| Jacqueline says, "Hm, yeah" | ||||
| Jacqueline pushes the green 'space' button. | ||||
Floyd | Congratulations! You've just completed the first six chapters of "The Floyd | Mage Wars: Statue." Look for the completed game sometime before March Floyd | 2004! Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | Floyd | | DavidW says, "Is everyone still with us? Let me know when we can press on. Or press space." | |||
| Cheddarius says, "Pretty ambitious." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "it probably said "the statue's awakened" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "That was quite well written, IMO" | ||||
| DavidW says, "ah. We reached the end. huh." | ||||
| Cheddarius says, "Yes, I liked it" | ||||
| DavidW says, "I liked it too, and yes, very ambitious." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "I'm here, yeah" | ||||
| Gerynar says, "makes me dispare at my WIP, I need to work on my writing skills a lot" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "It seems like there were an awful lotta text dumps, but that was probably necessary." | ||||
| Jacqueline says (to Gerynar), "Hm, all it did was make me want to work on my WsIP." | ||||
| EmacsUser says, "Aw, I finally caught up, and it's over." | ||||
| Gerynar says, "I have found that updating your computer is a plausible excuse for not working on it." | ||||
| EmacsUser says, "Though I enjoyed reading what I could." | ||||
| DavidW says, "It" | ||||
| DavidW says, "It's a very long bedtime story, though." | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "heehee" | ||||
| Jacqueline says, "Yes" | ||||
[ TOP OF THIS PAGE | MORE CLUBFLOYD TRANSCRIPTS | HOME ]
