Sverse

Capchalogue... by the context of it she could only think that would mean storage... She smiled and set the prayer card appart. She looked at Gol's message and entered into a conundrum; what with? she could use the other machines but they looked too important to risk getting broken... if she had another mouse she could probably hold it down and yank the cap out... that's an idea. "Smashing coming right up, Miss Gol!" She sent as she promptly lifted the machine, allowed it to fall and tried to catch it by the lid.

edited 12th Oct '15 1:22:35 PM by Sanojutsu

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.

It works, with the possible side affect of spooking Miss Gol. As soon as it lands a bright purplish cylinder pops out of the device, landing near Gol. A thingy resembling the circular thingies in the loading screen also flies out of the machine. Oh also a timer on the machine starts ticking down from 10 minutes and 6 seconds.

edited 12th Oct '15 1:37:21 PM by StarBee

Gol wasn't quite sure what Thalla did, as the machine's motion looked awfully strange from their end, but it seemed to work.

"Thanks."

As Gol picked up the purple cylinder, completely ignoring the floating spiral, they noticed the timer.

"Well. That certainly isn't ominous at all."

They looked around at the other machines and weren't quite sure what to do. Both other machines could hold the cylinder - the thin one looked like it had a suitable clamp, while the platform had a small pedestal. Maybe the cards held a clue... Except that they had left those downstairs in a pile of books.

Gol rushed back down into the study, talking into the disc as they went.

"OK, we're on a deadline and I'm kinda stuck. You got any ideas?"

They tumbled into the study again and back to the pile of books which still lay strewn across the floor. They pushed the assembled textbooks aside and retrieved the strange card/game deck. This time, they looked closer at the "bubble" function.

On closer inspection, you notice the following description in small text:

"After capatchaloging an item, the card will change into a bubble. If the player pops the bubble, they can receive the card and retrieve the item normally if they so wish. If anything else pops the bubble, the item will be ejected immediately as if it fell from the bubble. See backside for settings"

Hm. The cards look like they'd fit into the thin slot on the thin thing or the keyboard thing. Wait. Didn't your server player deploy a card like these?

Thalla pondered a little and sent "Perhaps the cards, they seem important... Otherwise I can't tell Miss Gol"

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.

Gol moved to go back up, a plan forming slowly in their mind, but ended up running directly into the table in the center, spilling scales and medical waste over the room.

"You saw nothing."

Gol once again awkwardly stood up, not noticing that a scale had lodged itself in their hood. Once again, they sped up the staircase and onto the roof, skidding to a halt as they reached the top and barely avoided smashing into the pipe-machine. As they did so, the wind and momentum sent their hood flying up and the purple luminescent scale flew straight into the floating spiral.

"Huh. Maybe I shouldn't just run about on the roof."

They looked around the machines and found the pre-punched card sitting on top of one, having neglected it previously. They deposited the cylinder and clamped it in place before slotting the card in. Then, they just waited to see what would happen.

The spiral accepts the scale and, after a flash of light changes from a spiral thing to a circular thing with a silhouette on it of... you? Weird.

When you insert the punched card, some things pop out of the slot near the top. The machine activates almost automatically after you place in the cylinder, carving it into a different shape.

You're doing good on time, still having about 4 minutes and counting left, not that we'd want to pressure you or something.

"Well, that's weird."

Gol observed the strange transformation but didn't dwell on it; they were running out of time and creepy silhouettes probably weren't helping.

"Right, two machines down so probably one to go. Makes sense."

Gol grabbed the now-carved cylinder and the card used to make it and took them over to the final machine, the platform one. Its little pedestal looked roughly the right size but there was no slot for the card so it probably wasn't needed. Gol pushed the cylinder onto the machine and, as there were no visible controls, waited for something to happen.

The arm gadget thing on the machine scans the carved cylinder, and a small cage atop a table appears on the platform, also purple in color. The cage hosts a small mouse, which knocks over the cage and begins to escape and runs off. The desk and the cage then disappear.

---

A communication device goes off. Veto pulls it out of a pocket on his suit and reads the message.

"Ah! it seems like one of the players is already about to enter! I better go catch up before they get in... Miss Theodora, I wish you luck."

Before you can get barely a word in, Veto has already teleported off.

edited 13th Oct '15 8:50:28 AM by StarBee

Gol observed the mouse as it escaped its temporary cage.

"Sure. That makes perfect sense."

As the creature ran off, Gol leaped after it as it left the creation platform and landed almost on top of the creature, trying to dig their claws into it.

edited 13th Oct '15 9:01:52 AM by TenebrousGaze

After a bit of fiddling around Rifa desides to place the long, thin sewing machine whatever just outside Alex/Ingru's room. There's enough room to enter/leave at will, but if there's a door directly across from Alex and Ingru's bedroom then they'll have a bit of trouble getting into there. (This is what happens when you don't rotate the camera, people.)

"Okay, I found a suitable place to bless you. It's right outside your door."

In the meantime, Rifa looks over the cards again- the one labelled Mine in particular.

🏳️‍⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse Alberia

After catching the mouse, it flashes with a bit of light, and the scenery around the house changes. The household now sits atop a hill, overlooking an ominous forest. The sky is pretty gloomy, and some of the trees even appear to be dead.

The circle silhouete thingy splits into three pieces, a white one that rises ahead of you towards something in the sky that doesnt quite resemble a star, while the other flies off on the other end of the horizon. The third piece has now transformed into some kind of purple fish person ghost.

Veto enters just in time to enter the game along with the rest of the house, reaching the main room before the house teleports.

---

In small text reads: Capchalogued items become buried in stone or soil. The player needs to dig out the items to retrieve them, though the cards can still be read for captcha code related reasons. See backside for settings.

thanks....? hold on ill go check it out in a minute

So how do we do this? We can't just carry the laptop around while we walk throughout the house.

<Why not?>

Our arms will get tired, and we might need them for other things.

<Pff, whatever. I'm the pilot here.>

You'll regret it...

Getting up, Ingru carries the laptop in one arm and heads out into the hallway.

Hey don't forget the cards.

<Right...> Turning back around, he picks up the cards from the desk. <What are these things anyways?>

Iunno. Alex inspects the cards further, particularly the one that says Locked, as they step out into the hallway.

i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apart

The blank cards automatically shuffle themselves into some sort of abstract game mechanic as soon as you grab them.

The one reading Locked has on it written in small text the following: Captchalogued items are locked in their cards. You'll be given a key to unlock them in order to retrieve the item. See backside for settings. Switch to Locked Modus? > Y/N

Locks and keys?! FUCK YES DO IT DO IT DO IT

<Okay already.... We don't even know what any of that means but whatever....>

Ingru selects Yes, then takes a look at the strange contraption - Rifa's "blessing".

<The hell is this thing.>

Dunno, but it looks like we can give Theodora one of our own. See if you can set it down anywhere conveniently and quietly.

Ingru drops it loudly in the middle of Theodora's hallway.

heads up i gave you a thing

i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apart

"Alright, I am... somewhere else, now. Like I just warped directly into some horror movie or dark fantasy."

Gol looked around, observing the gloom and death. It felt thematically appropriate for their purpose; they were pretty fond of doom and gloom and preferred a more poetic darkness, although the strange ghost did creep them out a bit too much.

"Now, do I go explore that cool-looking forest or help my client out? Can't even remember who that was."

Gol contemplated as they walked back down the stairs into the penthouse - although now it was really just a house - but was shocked out of the contemplation when they saw Veto.

"...You're new. You a game thing too or with the production people?"

edited 13th Oct '15 11:14:00 AM by TenebrousGaze

"I- oh." He was already gone. Great. Suddenly-

BANG
bing!

Cursing in her limited Turkish, Theodora rushed to the nearest hallway, only to see some huge contraption blocking it.

She stormed over to the computer, and after reading Alex/Ingru's message, typed back quickly I thought I said to be quiet! Are you trying to wake up the whole of Nicosia?!

Then, as an afterthought:

What the hell is that thing, anyway?

edited 13th Oct '15 11:38:41 AM by Tojin

“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert

The purple ghost thingy seems to follow you around, as if unsure what to do with itself.

"Hello there Gol, it's me, Veto. I just came to congratulate you on getting into the game first is all. You remember those spiral things in the loading screen? There should be another one above your house. If you can reach it before the others, both you and your server player will get a reward. You'd like such a reward, yes?"

Gol just stared blankly at Veto for a second.

"O...K..."

Gol turned to move back up the stairs and found that the ghost had followed them.

"Begone, eidolon, or else make yourself useful!"

Gol squeezed past the strange glowing figure and went back up to the roof. The atmosphere was rather different now. For one, the wind had calmed down a bit as even on a hill the altitude was notably reduced. And there was no longer the noises of polluting vehicles and excitable neighbors, just...this place. As they dwelled on this, they looked up and observed their gates, present as they had been told.

"I've gotta ascend. You made my study bigger; any chance you can make a new room, or a staircase I guess? Apparently something good happens if I get to the glowing things way up there."

Fishghostsprite begins to speak. "Hmph. Well, I can tell you that the bug dude was right. You wanna go to the first gate. That's the spirally thing."

edited 13th Oct '15 2:08:07 PM by StarBee

Thalla simply observed, marveled at the changes on her screen waiting for her client to request any help "Im not sure, wait..." It hits her; what if she dragged the roof up with the space creating cursor. She promptly selected it, then through clicking and dragging experimentally expanded a section of the roof to the side.

edited 13th Oct '15 5:27:40 PM by Sanojutsu

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.

Dragging part of the roof up only a few feet seems to consume about 4 build grist, leaving you about fourteen left. If you're going to get all the way to the top, you might need to either find more of this grist stuff or be careful and creative with your building.

---

Meanwhile, a scream can be heard downstairs. It's probably just the camera crew.

Okay that's it, gimme back my arms, I'm doing this shit.

<I'll do what I want! I'm the pilot, you're just the->

Navigator, I know. Which means I'm good at this, right? I'll navigate things for Theodora, you pilot us through the game with Rifa's help.

<...........................>

.............................

<Okay...>

sorry about that, my hand slipped
i dunno what this is, but my own server gave me one too
it seems i can deploy a few more of these contraptions. your house have any more big, empty spaces?

After sending the message, they take a look at the contraption in front of them. Ingru takes back Alex's free arm and pokes around to see what it does.

i think i mostly want to see what happens when this whole place breaks apart

Digging is something Rifa is pretty good at, but he has no idea what the hell it means to captchalogue something. Ah well, anything to sharpen your claws.

"Any idea what the hell the blessing does? That's why I gave it to you, actually."

edited 13th Oct '15 6:32:32 PM by NesClassic

🏳️‍⚧️she/her | Vio Rhyse Alberia

"hmmm" would murmur Thalla. She wasn't good at design or architecture, she could run and get someone but she was doing enough heresy as it was. She attempted to draw a square in the rooftop's floor and raise it into a cube.

The graceless warrior, wielder of the edgeless blade, prophet of the old religions, writer of fluent nonsense, saviour of soul and song.