Eventide Again

[Quakerlol]

==> Go over what you think about the game so far. How have your perceptions changed? If not, why do you like strategy and prediction and logic so much?

[salientStrategist]

==> Go over what you think about the game so far. How have your perceptions changed? If not, why do you like strategy and prediction and logic so much?


You decide that nothing is to be done and you will just sit here and watch the pretty lights.

After a few minutes, you get fed up with the pretty lights and choose instead to think about what you know about the game so far. So: it is either proprietary software or simply obscure, since the program must be initiated by a sent program rather than a bought disk or in a browser window. You know that there are two people involved at any one time: a server and a client player. Both need separate software. In addition, a thing called a kernelsprite comes from a thing called a… You find yourself in defeat: you will have to go read the walkthrough.

Several minutes later, you are sadly confused. But still: you persevere. Even if it doesn’t make sense now, it may come in handy later.

While your subconscious sorts a few things out, you guess you could reflect on things. What do you think of the game so far? Well, so far it’s boring. See, that was a joke, because it hasn’t started for you yet. Haha. But really, you think that so far the game is intriguing but somewhat meaningless. What purpose did the swirly have? You don’t have a clue, since Aruale was distracted by some element of the so called prototyping. What did the prototyping do to the swirly? Similarly, no answer was forthcoming. Oh well.

One aspect of the game has changed a slight bit. While at first you had mistrusted Lerena, you were appeased by her decision to have you as her server player, and also by her correct prediction of the meteors’ arrival. Though she was far from friendship, you were no longer predisposed to automatically discount anything she said.

Oh, strategy and logic. Logic was after all the weft of the universe where the weave was emotion. You of course knew that one can never master both fully, so you chose to stick with logic. Logic was poetry in the same way that music was good, and strategy only a natural application of logic to planning. Also, it was fun just to watch people run around and follow your behavior model precisely.

---

Boring. The streaks are still getting bigger.

[Quakerlol]

==>Get pestered by Lerena!

[salientStrategist]

==> Get pestered by Lerena!


Well you certainly are getting bored again. Idly you think about doing another form, or perhaps repeating the one you completed just a while ago. Maybe you can practice that use-staff-as-pole-vaulting-pole thing you learned a half-perigee ago—But alas, you are pestered by Lerena. Hey, at the very least you get to enter the game now.

herobound.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=pester&action=display&thread=41

That was exceptionally informative. You had only known in an abstract sort of way that the game affected the real environment, but now you knew for sure. This unsettled you deeply. You had a sneaking suspicion that you would never get to weed your grain field.

You also had a sneaking suspicion that your lusus might die. After a quick check, you found him carving swirly decorations on a branch with his teeth. Idiot. He was stupid, but at least he wasn’t dead yet.

You suppose you ought to troll Isaard and inform him that he is the next player in the chain, but you are currently feeling passive.

---

Mayhaps you will do something silly.

[Radiodragon]

==>Contact Isaard, those meteors are getting uncomfortably close.

or

==> Do something... um ridiculous sorry the command console is not very creative right now.

[salientStrategist]

==> Contact Isaard, those meteors are getting uncomfortably close.


You do not do this. Wait, look, Isaard did it for you!

-- eldritchTransmission [ET] began pestering salientStrategist [SS] at 20:03 --
[08:03] ET: Greetings.
[08:03] SS: Hello, Isaard.
[08:03] SS: YYou are myy server playyer, yyes?
[08:04] ET: Correct, I'll assume y(..)u have already d(..)wnl(..)aded the client pr(..)gram then?
[08:04] SS: YYes, but it is not open yyet. Do I need to send yyou the server program?
[08:05] ET: That w(..)n't be necessary.
[08:05] SS: YYou got it from Lerena?
[08:05] ET: F(..)r all intents and purp(..)ses, yes.

For all intents and purposes? What does that even mean? Did they have a spat?

[08:06] ET: I am (..)pening up the sessi(..)n n(..)w.
[08:06] ET: I suggest we pr(..)ceed with all p(..)ssible haste
[08:06] SS: Alright, I'll connect to yyou when the client runs.
[08:07] SS: And that would be suuitable, there are meteors about to impact down here.
[08:07] ET: I n(..)ticed.
--salientStrategist connected to eldritchTransmission--
[08:08] SS: Not here quuite yyet, but coming...

For a while now, you had been aware of a low rumble off in the distance. It was almost like a very distant thunderstorm, but even lower in pitch then that, barely able to be heard. It was exceedingly disconcerting.

[08:08] SS: So mayybe yyou should deployy the free items?
[08:09] ET: Underst(..)(..)d, d(..) y(..)u have a preferance as t(..) where they are placed?
[08:09] SS: Probablyy in the front room, if yyou don't mind, there isn't much space otherwise.
[08:10] ET: (..)k, depl(..)ying cruxtruder n(..)w.
[08:10] SS: Excellent!
[08:11] SS: Now, after the others have been deployyed, the top needs to be knocked off the cruxtruder.
[08:11] ET: T(..) what effect?
[08:12] SS: Well a flyying spinnyy swirlyy thing comes out, and yyou have to throw a dead thing in it.
[08:12] ET: I see...
[08:12] ET: Anyway the T(..)tem lathe is up.
[08:12] SS: So far it's been lusi, tragicallyy.
[08:13] SS: Good.
[08:13] ET: Hm... Speaking (..)f lusi I w(..)nder where mine has g(..)ne (..)ff t(..)...
[08:13] SS: Mine as well seems to have disappeared.
[08:14] SS: Probablyy choking on a treenut or something, let me go see.
[08:14] ET: (..)k, I will c(..)ntinue w(..)rking.

You were very apprehensive about what you would find as you searched the side porches. You knew that both clients so far have had their lusi die, and that was enough of a coincidence to not be a coincidence. You had made the choking comment as a joke, but you knew how real the possibility was: nutbeasts in general had a very strong tendency to fit too much in their mouths and you had found a few bodies that had no cause of death but asphyxiation…

And so you found your lusus. Flailing about on the side porch, he was scrabbling with his forepaws at his neck. Thankfully, his claws were retracted or else he would have torn out his throat. You had encountered this situation before: the only way he was going to live was if he got the nut out himself.

You ran to the side of your lusus and tried to stroke his head and tail, but he writhed out of the way. He was in serious pain, and beginning to run out of air. Coming to an abrupt decision, you ran to get your staff and waited impatiently by his side.

As his flailing grew weaker, you stood up and gazed in the eyes of your lusus. He was dying, but would live for a few more minutes if you did not do anything. His flanks were heaving, but in an odd way because he could not draw breath. He was in pain. He was dying. You knew what to do.

With a very precise strike, you euthanized your lusus.

[08:16] SS: Well ok.
[08:16] SS: Dead lusuus it is.
[08:16] SS: Have yyou set everyything up yyet?
[08:16] ET: Um... yes but I think y(..)ur plumbing may be (..)ut f(..)r a bit.
[08:17] SS: Oh jegus what did yyou do with yyour little cursor thing?
[08:17] ET: I ran (..)ut (..)f space f(..)r the alchemizer and I am still learning the interface.
[08:17] ET: P(..)int is the alchemizer is up.
[08:18] SS: Ah. Well I suuppose I will live.
[08:19] SS: Ah, swirlyy deal!
[08:19] SS: Well then, I'll be just a moment.

The green object was curiously flat and yet also three dimensional. It flashed and oscillated in an even more annoying way in person than over a video feed. Well, only one thing to do. You walked onto the side porch while the kernelsprite followed. Keeping a steady eye on the flashy thing, you lobbed to body of your lusus into it. With a blinding flash, they combined, and a green nutbeast hung in the air.

SPRITELOG
Nuttysprite: WOOOOOO I CAN FLYYYYYYYY
Kyanas: I noticed. We’ll talk later, I have to enter the Medium now.
Nuttysprite: OK!!!! THAT WILL BE GOOD! YOU WILL LOVE THE MEDIUM I THINK!!!!
Kyanas: If yyou saayy so.

You stop by your computer to finish your conversation with Isaard before entering the Medium.

[08:20] ET: The number (..)n the side is c(..)unting d(..)wn fr(..)m 10 minutes.
[08:20] SS: I can see that.
[08:20] SS: I suuppose that it is counting down to the first meteor impact?
[08:21] ET: (..)h, sh*t.
[08:21] ET: I think we sh(..)uld m(..)ve quikly, what next.
[08:21] SS: Umm, well, I think all that is to be done for now has to do with me, and yyour assiistance is not needed.
[08:21] SS: YYou deployyed the card, correct?
[08:22] ET: Yes it is in the fr(..)nt r(..)(..)m.
[08:22] SS: Alright. Well I'll be in there momentarilyy.
[08:22] SS: Everyything has been deployyed?
[08:22] ET: Affirmative.
[08:23] SS: Excellent. Well I have a few minutes left, so I'll leave yyou. Keep watching though, so yyou will know what to do when it is yyour turn.
[08:23] ET: Underst(..)(..)d
[08:23] SS: Byye then.
[08:23] ET: I'll c(..)ntact y(..)u agian after y(..)u enter, we need t(..) discuss s(..)methings.
[08:24] SS: Ok, ok, alright, let me be. Goodbyye.
-- eldritchTransmission [ET] ceased pestering salientStrategist [SS] at 20:25 –

You knew what to do, and you had a good five minutes to do it. You snagged a dowel from the cruxtruder and the prepunched card. Inserting both in the totem lathe, you had a moment or two to wait for the lathe to finish. Reluctantly, you captcha’ed your computer. You ran upstairs and got the cord as well, and the miniature solar power converter just for good measure. You made special note of where you placed the card in your modus (not like it would stay there, but you can always hope).

The lathe was done. You carried the carved dowel over to the alchemiter. The machine scanned it, and a greenish mist appeared on the pad. Unsure what to do, you opened the door and let a breeze waft through. The mist did not move with the wind as it ought to have. Confused, you approached the mist and tried to touch it, but your hand was stopped abruptly. It was not a mist; it was a sphere that was colored so oddly that it looked ephemeral. You thought you should probably break it.

With a smack from your staff, the illusory mist broke and left a little round blob of something. It was cool and damp, and with a start you recognized it as a young nutbeast. It appeared to be dead, or possibly was never alive.

You grieved for the creature. Leaning down, you planted a kiss on its tiny little head, and at that moment you were transported to the Land of Coruscation and Ten Immense Opulent Newfoundlands.