BubblegumcAndi: Stithis added some information about weapons, and also that he only had 7 minutes. That was disconcerting. Bubbles replies a quick thanks, and then begins to look around for some sort of weapon to use. She needs to have
something by the time she enters the game. Rereading that section of the manual, she remembers that she is going to have to be careful, because once the card is used, only items like that can go on there in the future.
Fortunately, looking around the props and equipment in the studio isn’t quite as difficult, since most of her peers are or already have left. If the sight of the meteors didn’t scare them away, the enlarged room, new machines, and blue floating orb around Andi was generally enough to do the trick. One of the guys, a nicer fellow named Luke, asked what he could do to help. He seemed to gather that Andi was more in-the-know, or at least had more going on at the moment than the others. Andi felt a little bad for brushing him off, but it was for the best. She told him to get out, and that she would be fine. She was a little tempted to follow him out, and just leave this building to become ruins, but she had already started a group chat, and she needed the equipment to help them succeed. She wasn’t going to let down the team.
Now mostly alone, Andi decides to tackle the matter of the orb thing first. She needs to combine it with some object that can or could vocalize. She goes upstairs to her teacher’s office, the area now void of people. She lifts the snake gently out of the tank and drapes it over her shoulders when she gets another group message. This one is from Baker, who seems to have a similar difficulty with a living creature.
Andi gets downstairs and then responds, laying the snake on one of the computer tables for now.
BubblegumcAndi →
Group: It seems cruel, but whatever animal you have wouldn’t live through the meteor attack anyway. Try to think of it like you are giving it a new kind of life…
She hopes that her message helps, but she doesn’t know what else to say to coax this guy into doing the hard stuff. Firelord responds a short while later with the fact that strapping something to the creature will be accepted as one thing, as long as it is attached. She looks at the snake, and the hat that is strapped to the top of his head. Her professor loved his hats, and today George is wearing a sombrero. She could replace it with the top hat or even the birthday hat for special occasions, but George looks content, and she doesn’t want to take that away from him.
She picks up the snake slowly and turns to face the glowing light. “Sorry George. I hope this doesn’t hurt.” She says softly, stroking its back before putting him into the kernel.
With that task done, Andi goes back to finding some sort of weapon. It’s the last thing she needs, and she is running out of time. She picks out a few things that might work. First, the airbrush tools, which she can convert into some sort of projectile. Or she could fill it with something more dangerous, like pepper spray. But the airbrush only works when it is plugged in, and that won’t be helpful in the long run. So she needs something easier. She finds a bow in the makeup area, in the fantasy section, but there aren’t many arrows, and she doesn’t think she is terribly good. Putting that to the side for now, she finds numerous blades, but most of them aren’t sharp, since they are just for show.
She comes across a box of lighters, and an idea comes to mind. While Andi doesn’t feel like she would ever really want to set someone on fire, it would be a good way to keep people…or things…back. She grabs the lighters and a few extra cans of hairspray, shoving them in her bag. Since she doesn’t know what she will still have when she enters the game, she grabs some scissors and blades as well, wrapping them up. She takes whatever she can think of, including two bottles of water from the fridge upstairs. As the load begins to get heavy, she remembers the cards she has to hold these items and chuckles.
For now, she summons her Chapalog deck and puts her entire backpack into it, keeping the flamethrower materials out so she can put them together. She fabricates a quick lever, using the template for sci-fi guns, and has the aerosol weapon functional in about ten minutes. It is good since she doesn’t have a whole lot more time than that. The weapon goes in her strife deck, and then she does another quick lap to make sure that she doesn’t
need anything else. When she feels pretty good, she checks her phone once more, and messages the group.
BubblegumcAndi ->
Group: I am going in. Haven’t heard from Stithis since he entered. Good luck all. Please get this chain closed.
She looks at her computer one more time to check on Fire Lord, and sees him still standing in his room, looking out his window. It is dark outside, and while she thought it was still day for him, she can’t be sure of the time difference, and chalks the weirdness up to that. With everything else done, she takes the aquamarine daisy she made with the equipment, and pulls off a single petal.
I will live through this… She thinks to herself, the natural follow up statement coming to mind instead of wondering whether some man has affections towards her. She is enveloped in a white light, and closes her eyes tightly for a few moments before she dares to open them again.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Baker: Timothy had returned to the workspace to see Zorro lounging as usual. “Oh, I’m so sorry. Just know I do think you’re a fantastic cat and the coolest one eyed one I’ve ever seen.” He didn’t even realize the floating ball of light that was hovering nearby. The cat had no clue what Tim is doing, but he accepts being picked up, nonetheless because it usually meant food was near. There was a confused mewing sound as Tim set Zorro inside. The sound of hissing died down as the flashing lights fade. When Tim opened his eyes, that dark blue ball of light was hovering next to him. Oddly enough, it looked like Zorro’s head, with scar and all- just blue. In fact, the orb was pretty much a cat.
“This game is so creepy…” He peeked inside the Crux, but didn’t see his stray cat. Maybe this orb was is cat. He remembered reading something about a sprite… “Come on, we don’t have that much time!” Tim was now running to the dining area. Thankfully everything was close- relatively speaking. He needed to get the card into the totem and then he needed to get to the Alchemiter, however he stopped to check his messages.
A weapon?! He couldn’t fight! Once more, he was running back into his workspace. What could be useful as a weapon in a kitchen?! “Oh, duh.” Tim opened the drawer of knives and hesitated. Could he really stab someone? No of course he couldn’t. He was too kind-hearted. But he did need something to protect himself with. Turning, he looked at the metal rolling pin he used. It was expensive- really sturdy. He supposed that would work… Still he wasn’t fond of the idea of fighting. Then again, it probably would be best to take his kitchen knife too.
’Strife?’ The items disappeared onto cards.
Before he left, he remembered to grab one of those colorful pipes in the Cruxtruder. Thank goodness for good memory. Back next to the Totem Lathe he followed the instructions, putting the dowel inside. In the process, he picked up the totem lathe and placed it in the same area as the Alchemiter. That saved him a lot of walking- unless he had to run back downstairs to the Cruxtruder. It took him a second to get the mechanism to work, but he when he managed it, a blue oven was created. This thing had a knack for making everything his favorite color. Was that on purpose? He then collected the muffin that popped out of it. It was the item on his card. "This game is weird..."
Baker →
Group: Heading in now. Godspeed to all of us.
He didn’t trust eating the creation, so he tried breaking off a piece of it however it wouldn't let him. "Huh?" It was soft and supposedly edible, why couldn't he break it? With a deep sigh, he decided to take the risk of a poisonous muffin and bit into it. Well, that worked- and it didn't taste too bad. His hand went over his eyes as a sudden bright light engulfed him. “What have I gotten myself into…”
_+_+_+_+_+_
Stithis: When at last the light fades Marcus opens his eyes and looks around. His house looks basically the same except the light outside his house is no longer red and angry. Instead it seems kinda like a cloudy day, but instead of going to check, he looks at the words that flash before his eyes. 'Land of Wires and Steam' they read, and he blinks a few times trying to process them. “Land of Wires and Steam, what the heck?” He speaks softly, looking about slowly. He quickly spots his Kernel which seems to be doing something weird. It wriggles and flashes and then without a sound two additional orbs seems to tear themselves away from the Kernel, identical in every way but the color. One appears to be pure black, while the other is pure white. The black one flies out the window while the white one vanishes through the roof. He flinches as the black one shatters the glass and is grateful that the white one doesn't leave a trace.
“Well, thank god for small favors. . .” he murmurs, looking as his Kernel morphs into a sprite. Still in his favorite shade of red it now looks basically like a ghost with a deer skull for a head. Noting that it doesn't have any arms he makes note of the fact and begins planning on getting him some with his second prototyping. His phone goes off again and he finally gives it a look, his feet still firmly planted on the Alchemiter as he tries to get he bearings. He sees that Fire Lord followed him in, and that Baker and Bubbles are both working on it. With a sharp nod he smiles, putting it away without responding. “Might as well find something useful out before contacting them. . .” he muses, finally managing to get off the large equipment and move around his apartment.
Flicking on and off his lights he notes they still work and he sighs. “Well, one good thing I suppose.” Still rather dazed that all of this is real he wanders a bit aimlessly, winding up near one of his windows. As he gazes out, all he can see is fog. “Thick stuff. . .I can't even see the ground. . .Wait, not fog. . .Steam.” His eyes widen a bit but he's startled out of his musing by two pings in rapid succession. Pulling out his phone he notes that Bubbles and Baker have both entered the game. He quickly types out a message.
Stithis →
Group: I got in all right. Sprite did a weird thing, let me know if you guys' do odd things too. Electricity still works and pay attention to the words that pop up. They seem to be a clue. My land is the Land of Wires and Steam. There's a crap ton of steam out there, and I think my apartment is getting a little warm. I'ma flick on the AC.
Moving over to his AC he does exactly that before sitting down at his desk to check on Bubbles.
Stithis →
BubblegumcAndi: Hey chika, let me know if you need anything. I think it said something about there being new equipment eventually, so let me know if you want me to drop you anything. Good luck girl.
As he does so however, he gets a message from, of all people, Sandro, the guy who wrote the Game Bro Guide to SBURB. Pulling it up he finds the guide in digital form, along with an update. “Well, this is. . . .Odd, but then again, what
hasn't been odd today?” Keeping half an eye on Bubbles he begins reading the new information.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Fire Lord: The light eventually fades, but James is still quite upset at the cruel joke the game decided to play on him. “Making my father, of all things. . .Bastard. . .” With a huff he looks around, hoping there will be something to kill right away. However all he spots is his Kernel doing something strange. He watches as the thing splits into three part, the white one floating gently out of sight while the black one smashes through a window and vanishes in a general downward direction. He scowls at the broken window, the sight not enhancing your mood any. His phone and computer both go off and instead of looking he ignores both and press your face to the window pane next to the broken one as words appear before his eyes. 'Land of Swings and Blood' The words drift there for a moment before vanishing and he gets a good look at what's outside his house.
His house seems to be settled in the middle of a large red lake on an island. He can't see the far shore, and he shares his island with a giant tree. The tree seems to have several chains hanging from it which, upon further inspection seem to have broken bits of things dangling from them. He makes not of all this before stepping away from his window and sitting down on the edge of the Alchemiter and resting his head in his hands. “I did it. . . .I got away from it all. I am. . .Somewhere else. No more familial obligations. No more long nights spent crying over my father's foolishness. . .None of it. . .” He doesn't bother to worry about the fact that he will likely still have to keep his secret around his fellow players since he plans on spending as much time as he can NOT communicating with them, or at least not in person.
'Speaking of' He muses, pulling out his phone. He reads through all the postings and scoffs at Baker. Then he shakes his head. “No, I don't need to be that way any more. It was not silly to fear for the animal. . .” With a sigh he leaves a message.
Fire Lord →
Group: I am in the game. 'Land of Swings and Blood' for me. Seems a little grim, but I will manage. I am going to find something to kill.
With that he looks over at his Sprite, the scissors now strapped to the ghosty bird's side like a katana in an obi, the bird's wings buzzing softly as they beat, his head tilting this way and that as it looks at him. “You need hands. . .” he murmurs and the bird lets out a string of cheeps. He sighs. “Looks like you'll need your second proto-typeing before you can talk, huh?” it chirps again and he nods, going to his large pile of junk to find something suitable. His phone goes off as he's doing this and he winds up simply laying on the pile as he reads the newest Update from Sandro.
_+_+_+_+_+_
GM →
BubblegumcAndi: When the light fades you are in the same place as before, the flower gone along with the flower box that had appeared with it. The view outside your window has changed dramatically, many hills and a stream can be seen from the nearest one. Oddly, the hills look almost like they are painted instead of actually being grassy with flowers, and the stream seems to be rainbow like in color as it flows past the window. The words 'Land of Light and Paint' flashes before your eyes. This -
mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002151 happens to your sprite, leaving behind a Sprite with a snake head, topped with a sombrero, and a ghost body that ends with a point as shown in the guide, still in Aquamarine. Your phone pings. You receive a digital copy of the booklet you revived with your game that can be accessed any time from any computer, along with an Update -
roleplayerguild.com/topics/85163-sburb.. to read at your leisure.
_+_+_+_+_+_+_
GM →
Baker: When the light fades you are in the same place as before, the muffin gone from your hand. The view outside your window has changed dramatically. Instead of the streets and buildings that where there before you see open sky high above and a wall of stone. Stretching of in either direction. The stone is light brown, and the sky seems to have a green tint to it. The words 'Land of Rain and Thought' flashes before your eyes. This -
mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002151 happens to your sprite, leaving behind a Sprite with a kitty head on a ghosty body with kitty paws and forelegs resting along the sides almost like human arms, still in blue. Your phone pings. You receive a digital copy of the booklet you revived with your game that can be accessed any time from any computer, along with an Update -
roleplayerguild.com/topics/85163-sburb.. to read at your leisure.
_+_+_+_+_+_+_
BubblegumcAndi: Andi gets the group message soon after she enters the game. Her own sprite has split, with the black and white flying off quickly. George stays, though she notices that he looks…a bit different, with his tail fading into a blue smoke, like a genie. It seems that Stithis’ sprite did something similar a few moments before. She begins to type a message back when she gets another one from Stithis, a private one, checking in on her.
BubblegumcAndi →
Group: My Sprite did the same. Land of Light and Paint for me. I wonder if it has to do with my job…
Since she works in painting make-ups, and they are photographed upstairs, it makes sense to her that she would start in some sort of twisted version of that. After she writes the message, she takes some time to read the new information sent to her from the game, as well as Fire Lord’s message that he is in the Land of Swings and Blood. Creepy. That is…much creepier than her land, or Stithis’. Maybe she was wrong about the location having something in common with her. Or Fire Lord is more off-center than she had realized.
After browsing through the beginning of the information, Andi takes a break to learn a bit more about her new surroundings. Remembering the blurb about low-level imps, she gets her gun from her strife deck, and carries it in her hand as she leaves the computer lab. She is a bit surprised to be in the studio at all, but it is a grateful sort of surprise. At least she has some sort of familiar surroundings. It is eerily quiet, though, without the sound of traffic outside, and machinery whirring.
Andi walks around the sculpture tables, looking beneath them, and making sure to look up as well. She has seen Gremlins, and doesn’t know if these things can climb. It is different, going through this in real life, rather than in a game. The biggest difference for her immediately is the quiet. There is no music to cue her that there is going to be some sort of battle, and her own breathing sounds deafening. She sees…or rather hears, the first imp in the accessory room. There is a crashing noise as one racks falls, and Andi steps in the doorway to see two imps, one looks a bit like a bird, wearing a Mexican poncho and the other looks like a cat sporting a rather odd looking mustache. The second one has also seemed to find a bright pink boa.
“Hey, I really don’t want to have to kill you…” She takes a step back,
but I need to in order to get through this game. She thinks.
The one in the poncho runs, or more so waddles, towards her, and Andi jumps back and yelps. She takes a few steps back, waiting until the imps have cleared the accessory room—because the last thing she needs is all of that catching on fire—and presses the trigger once more. The flames don’t go quite as far as she expected, but the poncho catches fire, and the imp turns and runs the other direction, waving its arms a bit before it explodes, and some gems are lying on the floor in its place. The other imp wasn’t close enough to get caught on fire, and it has run under one of the tables.
Andi bends down and gets the imp just before it reaches her. When it, too, pops, she takes a few moments to look around and listen for other potential imps. With nothing else close by, she reaches out to the coins, touching them before they disappear. After clearing the workroom, Andi sits on one of the tables facing the closed doors, weapon beside her, and pulls up the update, reading through the Grist thing again. Then she sends a message to the group.
BubblegumcAndi →
Group: Killed two imps. I think they have some qualities of our sprites. They looked a bit like animals, and one looked…Mexican. For reference, my sprite is a snake wearing a Mexican sombrero, because I couldn’t make George part with it.
The door creaks open, and Andi is suddenly glad that they never put WD-40 on the thing. She grabs her can, and pulls her legs up so they aren’t dangling as an imp rushes in with scissors. It is dispatched with more fire and another ‘pop,’ and Andi gets the Grist before typing another quick message.
BubblegumcAndi →
Group: Fire Lord’s plan about taping scissors was well and good, but the imp I just killed looked like Edward HISS-orhands.
With the message sent, she resigns to go take a look around upstairs—assuming that upstairs came with her. She slips her phone in her pocket, and then goes to the door, opening it slowly to peek outside before she continues.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Baker: The light faded and Tim rubbed his eyes to adjust. “All that just to be in the same spot?” He turned in a full circle, seeing that his living room looked exactly the same. Simple and tidy. “What was that even- whoa.” He made his way to the nearest window, staring at the huge wall that looked endless on both sides. “Okay so maybe I’m not home…” There was nothing but sky and a huge wall. “Land of Rain and Thought? What’s that supposed to mean?” A sudden flashing made him glance over at the sprite floating near him. “What’s wrong?” Instead of an answer, the sprite split in three. Black, white, and blue. Only the blue one stayed, in fact the blue one had a more ghostly shape. “Zorro you’re a ghost cat?” He only received a mew. “Hmm, there was something about prototypes. I have to find that manual.”
Conveniently, his phone ‘pinged’ with a message. “Oh. The manual great.” He realized he had other messages too. A sigh of relief washed over him when he realized the others were okay. The others had similar things happen to them too.
Baker →
Group: I made it too. My sprite split into three, have no idea what that’s about. I got Land of Rain and Thought.
He assumed everyone was out exploring the “new world’ of theirs. He thought that was a terrible idea. Finding trouble? No way… But he was sure he’d probably have to do some sort of searching in order to get out of the game. He just hoped it didn’t require him to kill things. Which reminded him,
Baker →
Stithis: Hey, let me know if you need something okay? I’m still going over things, but I’ll try to help out.
He wandered his house, skimming through the guide. “Better to understand some of this stuff before I even attempt to go outside…And I should check my shop.” Maybe he’d find clues if he looked around enough...in the safety of his home...Sort of home.
_+_+_+_+_+_+_
Selendri: The young woman was still not entirely sure that someone had not slipped something very dangerous into her drink at the bar last night. Nor was she sure that she was not dreaming, or that there was not some reasonable explanation for all of this madness. But as she inspected the machines, running her fingers across the cold metal, she had to admit that this was, at a minimum, the most vivid dream or hallucination she could imagine.
After a few moments of quietly amazed inspection, Sophia heard the notification beep on her computer, and flew back to the screen, assuming it was just Fire Lord being a slight prick again. Instead, it was a different friend who had apparently just installed the game. She barely knew the guy, but they had done some decent multi-player matches before, and hosting anyone seemed fun right now. So, she quickly replied to the message.
Selendri →
Skip: Sure. Um… how much have you heard about this game, by the way?
_+_+_+_+_+_
Skip: “Finally!” Laurra shouts to herself, setting her pistol aside and pulling the laptop closer. She’d been polishing it as she waited for someone to agree to host her, the raging fireballs falling from the sky outside the window doing nothing for her nerves.
Skip →
Selendri: I’ve heard plenty, now, if it’s not too much of a bother, I have fireballs raining from the sky over here and would like it very much to survive this apocalypse. Now, if you please. User name Skip, obviously.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Selendri:
Selendri →
Skip: … Meteors?! And your concern is a freaking game?! Shouldn’t you be getting to safety or something?
Shrugging, Sophia inserted the second disk, installing the host program. In two minutes, she was sending the invite to this stranger, offering to host him.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Skip: Laurra rolls her eyes at the message, pressing ‘Y’ when the prompt for accepting a host pops.
Skip →
Selendri: Yeah, meteors, they are part of the game genius, and guess what, you got one with your name on it too I’m sure! Now drop me my machines so I can get to work!
_+_+_+_+_+_
Selendri →
Skip: ... There’s no way… But all right, give me a sec.
But even as Sophia typed that, she looked at the machines around her, the same machines that she thought could not possibly come from a game either. She bit her thumb, just hard enough to hurt. “There’s no way this shit is real,” she muttered, even as she felt the digit throbbing with pain. Fortuitously, she had received the exact instructions needed from Bubble, and she quickly jumped into action.
Moments after the invitation was accepted, Skip’s hotel room materialized onto her screen. She noted a large bed, and a woman dressed in a skintight black bodysuit, a black leather cutoff jacket, and fiery red hair. She looked almost like a stereotypical hit woman, not that Sophia was going to point that out at a time like this. Noting the gun on the desk, she wondered vaguely if her assumption was somehow right.
Looking at her interface, she navigated to the drop-down menu in the corner and quickly deployed Skip’s Cruxtruder, Alchemiter, Totem Lathe, and the pre-punched card. The Cruxtruder was placed behind the desk. Noticing that the table was in the way of her placement, she quickly moved the table over to the wall, stacking the chairs neatly on top of it, and marveling at how well this interface worked. With the space she had acquired, she squeezed in the Alchemiter and the Totem Lathe, dropping the Pre-punched card on the desk.
Selendri →
Skip: I think it’s all deployed now. I moved the table for you.
Quickly, she pulled up her browser on her phone, checking the current news reports, and sure enough, there were reports of meteor sightings all over the world. “This is not so fun anymore…” she muttered, as news of a few scattered deaths started rolling in.
Selendri →
Fire Lord: Sorry to keep you waiting, was starting my host setup. Looking for my hammer to open this thing now...
She typed to her own host quickly, and then stood and began searching in the closet for her toolbox. Soon enough she had found the tool she wanted, a particularly heavy hammer. As instructed, she hit the cap of the Cruxtruder’s pipe with all the strength she could muster. She was quite strong for her size, thanks to her job as a fireman, and so the pipe popped open, revealing the time left, 57 minutes to be exact.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Skip: Skip watches bemused as suddenly large things begin appearing in the room. She waits until the last one is placed before getting up and giving them a once over before going over to her computer and typing in a quick message to the group chat.
Skip →
Group: Okay, I have Selendri on me. Seems this chain is complete. You fuckers better survive this. I don’t want this game killing me off just because one of you dicks got yourselves killed. This is all insane, and new, so yeah, don’t fuck up.
She’s completely given up on being polite now. She’s normally not so vulgar, but under the circumstances she’s understandably impatient. Picking up her phone she’s almost not surprised to see it automatically logged into the kid’s account. A string of group messages appear and she looks them over before shaking her head and getting to work. “We’ll just save the group hug team BS for later then, shall we?” she murmurs to herself, heading into the bathroom and pulling down the heavy metal shower curtain rod, tearing it from the walls with little difficulty. With rod in hand she heads over to the Cruxtruder and, running the directions through her head once more, she brings one of the heavy ends down hard on the lid of the pipe at the top.
Tossing the rod aside she waits for the flashing to stop, her eyes locked on the little display. When at last the numbers pop up she curses. “Ten fucking minutes. . .” Looking around the room she tried to find something, anything, that once had a voice but finding nothing she decides to do the weapon thing first. The royal purple Kernel follows her around the room as she picks up and places in her strife deck both her pistol and her sniper rifle. Glancing at the clock she curses and climbs atop the Cruxtruder to retrieve a dowel before finally looking at her card. She has to smirk at the picture displayed however, breaking her from her single minded actions for a few seconds to marvel in the games insights.
“Bullseye huh?” She chuckles at the picture, it’s color matching her Kernel’s color. Back on task she places the dowel where it belongs and inserts the card. In no time she has the totem, but she hesitates to place it on the Alchemiter. Looking over at her Kernel she once more looks around the room, even going so far as to look through the boy’s things before giving up with a sigh and putting the totem in place. Before she presses the button however she pauses. Her fingers hover over the button, now glowing green, and her hand goes to her chest. There, beneath her skin tight clothing, the firm press of metal reminds her she does have
one thing.
Pulling the chain around her neck a locket slips out from beneath the pliant fabric and she stares at it for a good long minute. The silver device is rather plain and she’s unsure of whether or not she even wants to attempt using the object inside. “What the hell. . .” she murmurs after the minute is up, he choice made quite a bit easier as she feels the floor shudder beneath her feet forcing her to plant them a little further apart in order to keep them under her. With a sigh she pulls it open and gently lifts out the lock of red hair that matches her own from it and before she can stop herself tosses it into the Kernel. It flashes brightly and a moment later she stops breathing.
There, in the middle of the floating ball of light, is her little brother’s head. True, the head is about the size of a couple watermelon, but it is undoubtedly her dearest little brother who’d died years ago at the age of twelve. When she remembers to breathe again she smiles back at his grinning face then slaps her fingers down on the glowing green button. The Kernel float around behind her and she watches as a group of people appear on the Alchemiter with a flash. She’s confused at first, wondering where that bullseye is, then with a twitch she stops it. It’s hovering in front of one of the people people’s heads. The hesitates for half a second, her mind going to her brother’s watching eyes. Then looking at the time left on her Cruxtruder she lets out a long breath, pulls her pistol, and an instant later the bullseye shatters into a million pieces.
She has just enough time to thank her lucky stars that the person’s head - it looked to be a woman - did not follow suit before she is consumed in white light.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Fire Lord: James has just finished reading his new information when he receives another message in the group. Smirking at it he feels that he's gotten the coolest name thus far. Having read the new information he types a message to his host.
Fire Lord →
BubblegumcAndi: Hello again. Good on you for getting into the game as well. I was wondering if, once I get the materials for it, you would be ever so kind as to drop me the new Host Equipments available? I would very much appreciate it if you would.
Letting out a soft sigh he begins once more hunting through his pile of items until at last he finds something suitable. One of his dorm mates had had a large collection of figurines, and among them had been a decent sized ninja complete with little utility belt and little ninja knives and throwing stars along with a small blade strapped horizontally across the back of it's belt. Looking over at his sprite he smiles wickedly. He'd wanted to see if he could convert the little things into people sized things at some point in the future, but as he looks at his sprite he knows that this is more worth it.
Making sure everything is strapped on tight he tosses the figurine at the sprite and with another bright flash it changes. The bird's head is now in a hood and it's upper body seems to have the ninja top complete with chain mail like mesh shirt. The utility pouch is attached to the opposite hip of the scissors, which are still there and huge, and most important of all, it has arms and hands now, along with still having the hummingbird wings. “To cool. . .” he murmurs, grinning happily.
Nintorisprite: "I think so as well."
Fire Lord: His eyes widen for a moment before his smile widens. “I am glad we can agree on that then. Now, let us go find something kill, shall we?” The sprite nods, somehow looking rather humanly calm and collected despite having a bird head.
'I think it has human eyes now, which is weird, but understandable I suppose. . .' As his hand lands on his doorknob he receives another ping from the group. Reading it quickly he pouts at it. “I wanted to be the first. . . .Well, at least I did the second proto-typing first. . .And I was the first to accessorize my sprite. . .” Letting out a sigh he messages the group back.
Fire Lord →
Group: I have finished my second proto-typeing. My sprite is now outfitted like a ninja, though is still has bird wings and head. . .I think it has human eyes too, which is creepy, but I am glad to report it now has arms to use it's weapons with. Very useful if I do say so myself. Congratulations on the first kill BubblegumcAndi. I am off to go do some killing myself now. Talk to you all later.
His phone pings again as he finishes typing and he has to giggle at the joke, his heart racing at the though of the imps actually being dangerous. Slipping out of the room he pulls his sword – his book not really weaponized yet – and begins stalking the halls. About fifty feet away the hall opens straight into the open evening air and he sees several imps slowly making their way down towards him. Nintorisprite floats along behind him as he stalks closer. Feeling very much like an action hero with his sidekick coming along for the ride he puffs up and lets out a shout, catching them off-guard. He takes down the small group, four in total, with Nintorisprite taking out the last one with a slash of it's small blade.
Breathing hard James places a hand over his chest, marveling at the fact that he feels invigorated rather than tired. He's not one for physical activity beyond his morning calisthenics to stay in shape, and a fight like this should have exhausted him. But instead he feels none of the wear from battle. Letting out a happy shout he punches the air and begins looking around for more imps in the surrounding rooms, Nintorisprite following along silently. He checks his phone as it pings again with a group message from Skip, but with a look of disgust he simply puts it back. “Such a vulgar person. . .Not worth my time.”
_+_+_+_+_+_
GM →
BubblegumcAndi: You may notice that physical tasks are easier than they used to be. Such as, jumping on to the table took very little effort compared to how it would have been normally. Outside your door you see no foes too near to you, but you can hear sounds of them in other parts of the building. You also hear, from the direction of the room you started in, the sound of large things being moved around. Georgesprite is following you around, his tongue flicking every so often.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Stithis: New messages pop up while he's reading and Marcus reads them all, making note of them before going back to reading the new information. He wants to make sure he understands it as well as one can without actually doing it before moving on to the next stage in the game. He can hear the imps downstairs in the shop but he ignores them for now. He'd locked his door at one point and he figures that other than climbing through the windows the weak, first level monsters will be unable to get into his apartment. He reads for a good long time before at last switching over to the chat to address everyone.
Stithis →
Group: Okay guys, I've read this a few times now, and I think I get it. Seems like we won't be able to meet up for a while so until then we gotta use this Host/Player thing to help one another out as much as we can while progressing with out own games. That being said, we all need to get those first few necessities in place. That being the Punch Designix and Grist Torrent. The sooner we get those things, the sooner we can actually begin outfitting ourselves to actually survive this madness. No time to stand on ceremony. You need something, ask for it, you get a request, don't get all huffy if you weren't asked nicely. I'm not accusing anyone of this, but I only know half of you and want to cover all my bases. Anyways, let's all stay in contact, frequently, and let's all be courteous, no spying on bathroom and changing times, got it? Good.
With a sigh he pulls up Bubbles' window and after checking her Grist Cache he places her Punch Designix beside a sculpting table near the Alchemiter. Seeing that she can not afford the CD yet he quickly sends her a message.
Stithis →
BubblegumcAndi: I put your Designix down near your Alchemiter. I'll keep an eye on you, but I'm gonna go see if I can earn me some Grist too. Keep it up Chika and we'll have that nice Grist Torrent CD in no time!
Standing up he checks the new messages that pinged while he was typing. Rolling his eyes at Skip's words he scowls. He doesn't sound like himself. The next message however makes his eyes go a little wide.
_+_+_+_+_+_
Sandro →
Team Shenanigans: Congratz, your chain is complete!
Stithis →
BubblegumcAndi →
Fire Lord →
Selendri →
Skip →
Baker →
StithisThat is your order of operations, don't forget it! As the first to enter, Stithis is your leader. He dies, you all fail, remember that! Other than that, good luck and watch your backs!
_+_+_+_+_+_
Stithis: “The world is going to hell, and no one is going to survive, so. . . .Who the hell is this guy!?” He wonders at what point this guy will bite it, since apparently everyone but the players will, and then he wonder how many other players made it in. Then he just shakes his head and prays that “Team Shenanigans is simply something he typed for fun, and not their official title. With a deep breath he pulls out his scythe, ready to take down some imps. Pulling up his phone he sends a personal reply to Baker before making his way over to his door.
Stithis →
Baker: Once I get some materials for it, could you drop me my Punch Designix? Until then, you're gonna hafta suck it up my friend. I know you're not a violent guy, but please, don't just lay back and let these suckers eat you?
He doesn't know why he enters that last part about fighting for his life, but it just felt like the right thing to do.
_+_+_+_+_+_
GM →
Baker: You can hear noises downstairs
iFain
Merule