END OF YEAR 4
20/04/09 - 20/04/13
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF ANY NOTE OCCURRED
A CRASH COURSE IN COMPLEXITY - The necessary basics (PLEASE READ)
This is not so much an adventure as a vehicle for a series of increasingly nefarious and horrendously entangled puzzles, held together with an unimaginative mechanic and a filmsy, oft-forgotten plot. Said plot runs roughly as follows: you, the nameless protagonist, awake with trite amnesia in a complex of complexity, a cube of cubic rooms containing enigma after baneful enigma, which you explore in the name of unravelling the absurd and mysterious circumstances under which you found yourself here, seeking a way to the very centre of the structure in the hope that there you might well find your escape. On the way you've encountered badly-behaved pillars, an inexplicable band of incomprehensible interlopers who you fear might just be a figment of your overworked imagination, a computer network so ramshackle yet so infuriatingly abstruse, and all the materials and miscellaneous appurtenances required to make a nice cup of tea.
If you want to be especially up-to-date, well, last I checked you've spent two and a half years stuck just outside an elevator. That's two and a half real life years, just so we're clear. This "adventure" is such a sporadic shambles it's frankly surprising it's sufficiently alive for you to have stumbled across it. Turns out, however, that I'm somewhat attached to it for sentimental reasons, hence why I drag its corpse out occasionally for a good and proper flogging. I don't entirely know why.
As for the aforementioned connecting mechanic, I refer you to the following image, made by the wonderful whoosh! and used with retrospective permission:
The complex overall is defined as a cube, split into ten smaller cubes along each side for a total of 1000 possible areas. Each individual cube is designated by a 3-digit XYZ co-ordinate, using 0-9, where the bottom south-west corner is 000 and the top north-east corner is 999. Furthermore, the complex is split into octants, one for each corner, which are labelled in a similar fashion but using only 0s and 1s; the 125 rooms in the bottom north-west corner comprise octant 010, whilst those in the top south-east corner make octant 101, to give two examples. As a rule, if the value for one dimension of a room is between 0 and 4, the octant it lies in will have a 0 as its value for that particular dimension - between 5 and 9, the octant's designation takes value 1. Each octant possesses a single teleport point, called either "hotspots" or "nodes", five of which have been visited so far. Yes, that's right, teleportation. You snagged a curious device off of aforementioned interlopers that permits such madness. Anyway, beyond the five nodes you've identified, you know the co-ordinates of one more, but its signal is too weak to permit safe travel. They are as follows, in case you can't see the image for whatever reason:
000 - 334
001 - 226 - currently unreachable due to weak signal
010 - 274
011 - ???
100 - ???
101 - 847
110 - 683
111 - 768
I'm simply going to hope that that's clear and shall now move on. There's only one more think worth covering anyway, and that's the mainframe. It's a series of staged puzzles, presumed to be highly important. Just getting into it was tough, and the first level took about two years worth of on-and-off grappling by some very fine minds. That was m_i - m_ii appears to be even harder, and goodness only know how far they go. With any luck, you'll find that out... eventually... I mean, if this blighter's ever going to come to its conclusion they're all going to have to be worked through... right up to m_[REDACTED], and at this rate that'll take a fair while indeed... mainframe puzzles are always open to solving, as opposed to the generally quite bizarre puzzles in the adventure itself that might require you to have some knowledge of the story so far. Feel free to take a stab at them.
tl;dr - everything's shenanigans
THE STORY SO FAR - Highly uninformative, likely to confuse
Upon waking up with the trite trademark amnesia, you find yourself marooned on a pillar in the middle of absolutely nowhere. The only embellishment to your world is a small brass plaque, onto which 334 is etched. You then declare yourself to not be a platypus and proceed to jump off into certain oblivion.
It all goes downhill from then on in.
Waking up for the second time, you find yourself in a series of bland chambers, seemingly very different to the vast emptiness you left behind... until you find another plaque, 847. You soon come across a long-haired man, who declares you to be a "live one" down a walkie-talkie and offers to rescue you. Naturally, you follow his lead, but then stuff starts going all wibbly-wobbly. As in, the rooms decide to stop existing. Your saviour is forced to jettison you, leaving some enigmatic device in your possession and your head full of questions as you fade to incorporeality again.
Take three. You wake up in an actual bedroom this time, which you explore before moving on to a room with a hole in it. It turns out to be bottomless. That shock pales into comparison when you emerge into the corridor beyond, however, for past the long window is naught more than pure chaos, by which I mean pretty fractals that hurt your brain. Weird puzzle shit has begun in earnest; after some shenanigans involving pneumatic delivery tubes, a set of scales set up for electrocution and a devious keypad code, you arrive in a room with an elevator.
The rooms it makes accessible are even weirder - there's a power supply and a block, a room devoid of anything bar the message "DANGER!" scrawled in bright red ink, an octagonal plinth and a pulley system, to which you attach a bar magnet and winch it up in order to acquire a key, which in turn opens up yet more rooms... you could go on for some time. In one of these, having rolled away a giant orb full of dirt, you discover an arrangement of arcs and spheres on a pedestal that come to be known as the Orrery Rose - it poses another puzzle, along with an irksome lever that won't stay down and a series of access cards of all the rainbow's colours.
Then you make yourself a cup of tea and go to sleep.
An interlude is triggered, in which a young woman, frightened by a power cut in a friend's apartment, ignores the cryptic messages appearing on the walls and seeks solace in aforementioned friend, who, by her boyfriend's reckoning, has vanished into thin air... except she hasn't, for haloed with light from a window in the corridor she stands, beckoning.
You wake up, having dreamed of weasels, and get back to puzzle solving. In a room with yet another plaque, 274, you discover a tablet computer and log into a network where you find password-protected mainframe access and a message from the guy who found you earlier... and his cohort, it seems. According to them, the device you were given needs to have several thousand volts across it before it'll start working again. You're blessed with a map of the handful of rooms you've been running around which hints at yet more, some beyond a door required a red access card... but that falls by the wayside when you realise some of the equipment you've been collected can be used to make a Van de Graff generator, and before you know it you've got a working teleporter in your hands.
It turns out that the plaques you've been finding all over the place work as co-ordinates for the teleporter, so you head off to 847 and are only slightly amazed to discover that the place is rather different to the one you remember. The rough layout appears to have been kept, however. Intrigued, you decide to teleport to 334 - and emerge in mid-air, with a pole thing just about in reach to slow your decent sufficiently to allow you to flee. Despite that experience, when you recall that the guy from earlier had mentioned 768, you dash off without delay.
You are greeted upon arrival by a caring, concerned lady named Liz, who is soon joined by Sam, the assertive chatterbox who "rescued" you earlier, the bubbly computer geek called Bill and Rob, the taciturn giant. Sam has a crack at explaining everything to you... well, not exactly everything, but rather whatever he can. It seems their memories held up far better than yours...
Sam recounts how he vaguely recalls a normal life, once upon a time, before a flash of light led to him coming to on a series of floating orbs, labelled for convenience place #1, from which he eventually escaped into a grey void, at the centre of which lay the body of a dead woman and a few possessions of hers; #2. It "kinda caved in". So followed many similar locations, until #17 when Liz materialised. Bill and Rob were picked up in #42 and #63 respectively, then it was all quiet until #101 - you.
All these strange locations have worked under a set of immutable rules; though the locale is produced pretty much randomly, detail is added based off of facets of the instigator's mind. Furthermore, stuff isn't spread evenly, leading to "hotspots" - clumps of energy which the teleporters can lock onto for travel purposes. Finally, experience suggests that something significant lies at the centre of each world, capable of bringing about great changes to them.
You ask a few nugatory questions, then proceed to return to 847 to resume tackling the conundra. Escapades ensue involving a remote polystyrene cup, ready abuse of the periodic table, troublesome anagrams, some very precise poking and revenge on potted-plant-kind. It's then recommended by Liz that you all get some sleep, so you're led to a room decked out with sleeping bags and, having asked where the nearest toilet is, you're more than happy to have a snooze.
A second interlude occurs in which an increasingly exasperated secretary makes a paper plane, bemoans the absence of one half of the company's financial department in light of their approaching scheduled meeting, searches for a mobile phone number she probably didn't even have, becomes unjustifiably irked by the constantly changing arrangement of the office's prints, irritates a carpooling colleague, is plagued by an abrupt headache, takes a most unsettling phone call and finally experiences something almost otherworldly.
Then something abstruse happens for no apparent reason.
Returning to your normal protagonist, you wake up dying for the loo. A little light exploration leaves you wide-awake, so you go on another puzzling spree involving sliding blocks, a device which shoves several slides of pure perplexity directly into your face, mirror malarkey and a brain-breaking attempt at working out the co-ordinate system employed by the complex for the purposes of opening a smug safebox.
During the above adventures, you realise that the gang of intrepid travellers supposedly sound asleep a few rooms over have vanished, leaving their empty sleeping bags and another room open. There you find a couple of taped-up crates, containing clothes, not-exactly-food and computer parts, but most interesting of all, an additional, recently used sleeping bag and an empty CD case. You remain stoically unfazed by this teaser of a scenario.
Anyways, your efforts switched on a computer in a room near 847, presenting you with not only its protected network, but also another access point to the stubbornly inaccessible mainframe. And then you crack its passcode and open the floodgates to another slew of puzzle stupidity. In a desperate act of escapism, you take what appears to be another teleport co-ordinate from the mainframe and jet off in search of action... wherein you are buffeted by the contents of a recreational book of riddles, the eye-straining nature of some psychedelic paintings and a devious set of dials on an antiquated facsimile of a computer. Some escape.
Some ingenious sleuthing lays bare the computer network associated with 847; some implausibly ancient audio files, a picture of a thing, a wordy puzzle, a chat client and, most crucially, an .exe file that opens the trapdoor at the top of the staircase a few rooms over because... because. You then proceed to slide some massive spheres around and encounter a locked chest to which a key has been attached. Naturally, it won't reach that particular lock, but with some effort you lug the damned thing over to another, this one on a door, and open up a library full of blank books. Splendid.
Antics resume; a rug is shredded, bedsheets are sacrificed in the name of a tightly shut drawer and disfigured cartouches are interpreted to reveal a reading room off of the library, where there's a padlocked grating at the back of the fireplace and one of the beheaded chairs has an incomprehensible printout stuffed down a supporting tube. To complicate matters, in the process you acquire a wrench with which you detach the hexagonal plinth in the room above 847 - this activates a machine you'd failed to notice before on the ceiling above it to no noticeable consequence. Things do keep getting weirder, huh?
You manage to worm your way into 110's computer network, finding another equally impossible chat client and a curious panel that appears to muck around with some rooms; it opens up the next one, at any rate, allowing you to access a finicky elevator, an obstinately non-functional computer terminal, an interesting setup with a grating and two doors that refuse to budge.
Having thought things over, you finally come up with the password for m_i... only to be presented with the equally obtuse m_ii. A fake book in the library also turns out to hold a PDA, the screen of which displays little more than a suffusion of yellow.
CHAPTER LIST - Now with pretty pictures!
PROLOGUE: YOU ARE NOT A PLATYPUS
You... are a person. You think. Well, you are not a platypus, that's for sure.
Scenes Missed = 0
Bonuses Found = 0/0
CHAPTER 1: WELL THIS IS ALL VERY NICE
Well, this is all very nice. Yet another blank roo... wait, hang on...
Scenes Missed = 0
Bonuses Found = 0/0
CHAPTER 2: PRONE TO DEVASTATION AND GENERAL STUPIDITY
This really is weird puzzle shit; the sort, you expect, that is prone to devastation and general stupidity...
Scenes Missed = 1
Bonuses Found = 1/1
CHAPTER 3a: FIZZLING UNCO-OPERATIVELY
There are two cables hanging from the ceiling, each fizzling unco-operatively on occasion.
Scenes Missed = 0
Bonuses Found = 1/1
INTERLUDE i: BEST FRIEND PARANOIA
Quite how you're going to do so in this darkness, you've no idea. Your best friend paranoia is not going to help...
Scenes Missed = 2
Bonuses Found = 0/2
CHAPTER 3b: THE APPLIANCE OF SCIENCE
A new development, to say the least... the appliance of science to the situation has done you good...
Scenes Missed = 2
Bonuses Found = 0/2
CHAPTER 4a: INSOMNIA HAS ITS UPSIDES
"Hmm, well, that computer's gonna still be here when you wake up, right?" "Yeah, but I dunno if I could sleep until I'm done..." "It's best to, really. Last time you stayed up..." "Insomnia has its upsides, Liz..."
Scenes Missed = N/A
Bonuses Found = 1/2
INTERLUDE ii: WELL THERE GOES THE DAY JOB
Well, there goes the day job. And here comes the floor...
Scenes Missed = 0
Bonuses Found = 0/2
CHAPTER 4b: KNEE-DEEP IN THE PUZZLE SEA
Yeah, you're knee-deep in the puzzle sea, that's for sure...
Scenes Missed = N/A
Bonuses Found = 2/5
CHAPTER 5: A SUFFUSION OF YELLOW
Its screen displays little more than a suffusion of yellow, a pattern which you can only presume holds some deep cosmic significance and isn't just an indication that the damned thing is broken.
Scenes Missed = ???
Bonuses Found = 1/?
USEFUL POSTS - It's a bit of a mess in here, but by all means, go hunting for pearls...
Your first encounter with a computer, investigating the 010 Network, begins here and continues until around #490.
The message left for you on said network by the enigmatic gang of explorers.
A map, found on the 010 Network, showing the rooms of that particular octant.
Your return trip to 334, which was quite the failure.
PLOT HO! Your arrival in 768, the base of the exploratory gang, and the priming that follows.
My first attempt at collecting all the mysteries so far together, from Nov '09. A few remain potentially pertinent, but most have been "solved"…
The point at which you notice the disappearance of the previously mentioned gang, who seemingly vanished in the night.
A particularly provoking scrap of red marker pen scrawl prompted a recollection of all such messages you had seen to date (that is, Nov '09).
My ridiculously out-of-date (Dec '09) and painfully optimistic attempt at cataloguing the adventure's chapters and, maybe more importantly, bonuses.
The auspicious occurrence of two simultaneously discovered bonuses shortly afterwards.
This post of mine and this post of Sayu's gathered together several maps of the complex as of Jan '10.
A potentially informative scrap of paper and your first encounter with an open network.
The first level of the mainframe, generally referred to as m_i.
The "hotspot" 683, the contents of which were foolishly hidden away in a spoiler.
This room of the complex, very close to 683, has the most unresolved elements in it by my reckoning...
mysteriousBenefactor's original post in which m_i is practically solved and other trifles are dealt with.
mysteriousBenefactor's second post, where they solved the puzzle preventing you from getting into 101's computer network.
Investigation of the 101 Network begins here and continues till the top of the next page.
Your first encounter with the infamous Word Puzzle on the 101 Network.
An interesting analysis by Tahg concerning the co-ordinate system and the locations of things.
Your introduction to the library.
The clue to the nature of the Word Puzzle, as found in the library.
This post has three rather significant things in it, one per spoiler; a conversation log, a curious device above the now detached hexagonal plinth and 110's computer network.
The second level of the mainframe, best referred to as m_ii
ONGOING ENIGMAS, UNSOLVED MYSTERIES & THINGS THAT ARE STUBBORNLY LOCKED (updated 18/05/13)
In the first spoiler, you'll find all the puzzles that people could arguably be working on right now. In the second, you'll find a list of all the locked containers, secured rooms and password-protected files that solving puzzles might give you access to. In the third, I've collected together all the various curiosities you've encountered so far; whether they'll eventually resolve themselves or will require some thought on your part is entirely up in the air. Finally, I think I might just start listing all the things that have been solved as of late...
PUZZLES TO SOLVE
The U-Tube: As shown (and described) here, there is a curious contraption in 593 that has yet to be put to any meaningful purpose, although you can't help but think that you might be on to something with this particular action. There is also still a panel on the larger machine that is screwed down exceptionally tightly...
The Second Set Of Dials (NEW): Well, this had slipped my mind, I can tell you that much, but on the larger machine described above, there were two panels, each with a screen above; the first was turned on long ago and it divulged its secrets upon the correct arrangement of its dials. But hang on - there was a second panel, and a second set of dials...
The Puzzling Printout: The message you can read in the first spoiler of this post was found in the library's reading room very recently. It appears to be a conversation between two parties in the complex, but quite what they are blabbering on about is anyone's guess, although there is the sinister notion that the blanked-out word may perhaps be somewhat important later on...
The PDA (NEW): This strange device found in a fake book in the library has seen better days. Maybe you could get it working again...
Mainframe ii (NEW): Just, well, good luck.
Navigating 110 (NEW): From cryptic clues to curious computer programs, to stubborn doors and awkward elevators (plural presumed), getting through this particular series of rooms is proving to be intractably tough...
THINGS WITH LOCKS OR PASSWORDS
Doors: Currently, there are three steadfastly shut doors (excluding the one in 683 for REASONS) - the one on the east wall of this room and both the northern and the southern doors in the second room explored in this post.
A Cabinet Compartment: In the room with 101's computer terminal, there was a cabinet with two doors; the right door was opened with a six-digit combination lock and was found to contain various fuses. The left door required a keycard (not one of the ones you currently have) and to this day hasn't been opened.
The Briefcase: In the mists of time, you collected a briefcase locked up in a rather fiendish wall safe in 101. You still haven't found the key that opens it...
The Lofty Cabinet: High up on one of 683's walls lurks a locked cabinet. It'll be opened at some point, assumedly.
The Metal Chest: Despite having a key attached to it, the padlock on this chest, found in the 101 octant, has remained resolutely shut (admittedly it wasn't the key that opened it, but still...).
A Locked Library Drawer: As its title might suggest, there exists a locked drawer in the library...
The Sealed Compartment: On a wall in 110, there's a locked compartment which brought your total number of keys to find to five...
CURIOSITIES
A Fan Duct: Admittedly, this was a very long time ago, but worth noting even now is the presence of a shaft in octant 010 with an unopenable trapdoor and a partially-destroyed ladder leading up to goodness knows where (see my next post after it for more).
The Octagonal Plinth: Back in octant 010, there was a green octagonal plinth. Your recent experience with the hexagonal one in octant 101 shows that things can be done with them, but this one didn't have any obvious attachments to the floor and yet remains immobile...
The CD: Heck, even I had forgotten about that moment months ago when we picked up a CD. I suppose at some point we're going to have to find a CD slot and stick it in so we can see what's on it...
The Red Door (NEW): Also in octant 010 was a well sealed door, requiring both an access card, level red, and some way of removing the planks covering it before exactly what's behind it is revealed... though perhaps you might have a vague inkling already...
Sleeping Bag Number Six (NEW): Does anyone even remember the motley crew you met that had a crack at explaining things to you back at the start of chapter 4? They vanished without a trace whilst you slept, after all. A little while afterwards, though, beyond the room in which they were last seen you encountered an extra sleeping bag, apparently recently used. Come to think of it, there was an empty CD case with a blank sheet of lilac paper in it beside the bag...
683's South Door: It is what it says on the tin. It is also shut. Very, very shut.
The 32,000 Hour Old Audio File: It's not actually the fact that it's three and a half years old that's the problem; the main point of concern is that it and the other audio file in its folder have yet to be heard since you haven't come across a decent pair of speakers or headphones as of yet...
The Reading Room Fireplace: Who in their right mind slaps a padlock on a fire grate? Why, someone trying to make your life a misery, that's who...
110+ (NEW): As can be seen in the third spoiler of this post, 110+ is most definitely a thing, but a boot disk is required to access it? It's not like there was a slot on the computer for the insertion of such a disk...
Decidedly Dodgy Code (NEW): As a fair few forays into the complex's computer networks have shown, a lot of their programs aren't too well written (for example, the "Help" section of this chat client) - what's that all about?
An Empty Conversation Log (NEW): Whilst at first glance this barren archive simply implies that the computer's owner wasn't very talkative, knowing that inter-octant communication was once very definitely a thing makes it seem rather weird...
STUFF THAT'S BEEN SOLVED
The Word Puzzle: From the catalogue of information on the puzzle in the first spoiler of this post, to whoosh!'s initial breakthrough to her eventual solving... well, it was quite a while, let me tell you... it turned out to provide you with the password for the chat clients found around the complex.
INVENTORY (updated 18/05/13)
New items are added to the bottom of their relevant column in purple, fading to black over time. Items in bold are rather more useful than average, and for some, like the hammer and the scissors, I may very well let you use them to do things without you having specifically equipped them in a command.
USEFUL & UNUSED USEFUL & USED USELESS & UNUSED USELESS & USED All of Douglas Adams’ books
Drawing Pins (x4)
Chocolate Wrapper
CD (contents unknown)
Toothbrush
Briefcase (key-locked)
AA Battery
Red Napkin
Mysterious Note
Puzzle Sheet
Empty Cotton Reel
Hand Mirror On String
Leftover Plywood Pieces
Linen Tote Bag
Roll of Clingfilm
Long Plank
Broken Lever HandlePencil
Hammer
Bar Magnets (x2)
Electrical Tape
Bedsheets
5L Bottled Water (x2)
Soap (x2)
Scissors
Access Card - Orange
Paperclip
Tube Of Adhesive
USB Stick
Mirror On String
Reading Lamp
Black Lightbulbs (x6)
EraserMarble Orb
Wooden Puzzle Cube
Clockwork Key
Ring Binder
Ball Bearing IX (copper)
Ball Bearing I
Ball Bearing VI
Curious Book JacketNotebook
Science Textbook
Long Plastic Pipe
90-degree Pipe Connector
Red blocks (x7)
Alcove Covers (x2)
Plywood Boards (x2)
Large Safe
Metal Box (5-letter locked)
MAP! (perpetually updated by the magic of Dropbox)
Currently, the maps below show only octants 010 & 110, floors 2, 3 and 4. North is at the top of each, such that the top-left corner of each map is the room 09z, the bottom-left is 05z, top-right is 99z and bottom-right is 95z, where z is the floor in question. Co-ordinates for other rooms may be inferred through basic arithmetic and strategic use of the floor plaques. For rooms/co-ordinates of which you have little knowledge, the following key applies:
Beyond that, thick lines denote the boundaries between octants (a few rooms seep into places they technically shouldn't, for reasons) and areas which are transparent mark elevators. Credit for the general style goes to Tahg, who put together the original versions of these maps before I got frustrated at their scale and redid them to make my life a tad easier.
These are rooms that you'll be able to get at if you can unlock or otherwise open the door highlighted in thick white along one of its walls.
You know absolutely nothing about what's happening at these co-ordinates.
This presumably denotes places where rooms aren't
Goodness only knows what this shade implies: these co-ordinates are noted as darker because they were on this map here.
xy2
xy3
xy4
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
10/4/09 - Sruixan: Decide you want to make your own MSPA, but have no inspiration. You proceed to wait 'till it hits
15/4/09 - Sruixan: Have bizarre dream. Fail to recall hardly any of it
18/4/09 - Sruixan: Become 100% certain about what you want to do and start to design a tad
19/4/09 - Sruixan: Finally remember dream and use napkin and sheet stolen from notepad to flesh idea out into full blown story
20/4/09 - Sruixan: Post story.
PROLOGUE: YOU ARE NOT A PLATYPUS
You... are a person. You think. Well, you are not a platypus, that's for sure. For some rather absurd reason, you are standing on a pillar in the middle of nowhere. This disturbs you somewhat, especially since you have no clue as to how you got here. Ah well.
You resolve to find a way off here, so you can get back to what you were doing. Well, now you come to think about it, you have no clue what you were doing a few minutes ago. This disturbs you even more. For all you know, you could have lived your entire life on this pole, even though that seems highly unlikely. Ah well.
Now what?
(WARNING: MAY CONTAIN WEIRD PUZZLE SHIT LATER ON) (future me says: wow, what an understatement! - 12/11/09)
(Note: I'm starting this now, despite the fact I know I won't be able to update it at all tomorrow and not that much tonight. I just want to get it started so that the creative juices get mixed with pressure and anxiety)
Results 1 to 25 of 1371
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04-20-2009, 11:04 AM #1everything you do is a balloon
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- Apr 2009
- Location
- Dorset, England
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- 1,871
Complexity 101 [happy birthday, you wretched shambles]
END OF YEAR 4
20/04/09 - 20/04/13
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OF ANY NOTE OCCURRED
A CRASH COURSE IN COMPLEXITY - The necessary basics (PLEASE READ)
THE STORY SO FAR - Highly uninformative, likely to confuse
CHAPTER LIST - Now with pretty pictures!
USEFUL POSTS - It's a bit of a mess in here, but by all means, go hunting for pearls...
ONGOING ENIGMAS, UNSOLVED MYSTERIES & THINGS THAT ARE STUBBORNLY LOCKED (updated 18/05/13)
INVENTORY (updated 18/05/13)
MAP! (perpetually updated by the magic of Dropbox)
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
10/4/09 - Sruixan: Decide you want to make your own MSPA, but have no inspiration. You proceed to wait 'till it hits
15/4/09 - Sruixan: Have bizarre dream. Fail to recall hardly any of it
18/4/09 - Sruixan: Become 100% certain about what you want to do and start to design a tad
19/4/09 - Sruixan: Finally remember dream and use napkin and sheet stolen from notepad to flesh idea out into full blown story
20/4/09 - Sruixan: Post story.
PROLOGUE: YOU ARE NOT A PLATYPUS
You... are a person. You think. Well, you are not a platypus, that's for sure. For some rather absurd reason, you are standing on a pillar in the middle of nowhere. This disturbs you somewhat, especially since you have no clue as to how you got here. Ah well.
You resolve to find a way off here, so you can get back to what you were doing. Well, now you come to think about it, you have no clue what you were doing a few minutes ago. This disturbs you even more. For all you know, you could have lived your entire life on this pole, even though that seems highly unlikely. Ah well.
Now what?
(WARNING: MAY CONTAIN WEIRD PUZZLE SHIT LATER ON) (future me says: wow, what an understatement! - 12/11/09)
(Note: I'm starting this now, despite the fact I know I won't be able to update it at all tomorrow and not that much tonight. I just want to get it started so that the creative juices get mixed with pressure and anxiety)Last edited by Sruixan; 05-18-2013 at 04:45 PM. Reason: another well-intentioned tidy-up, part three
[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-20-2009, 11:16 AM #2heavy heart
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- Apr 2009
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- In front of his computer
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Re: Complexity 101
>Peer over edge of POLE.
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04-20-2009, 11:23 AM #3everything you do is a balloon
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- Apr 2009
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- Dorset, England
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Re: Complexity 101
>Peer over edge of POLE.
You tentitively peer over the edge
You are now very, very scared.[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-20-2009, 11:26 AM #4heavy heart
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
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- In front of his computer
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Re: Complexity 101
>Examine OBJECT in center of POLE, being careful not to fall off the edge of the POLE.
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04-20-2009, 11:30 AM #5everything you do is a balloon
- Join Date
- Apr 2009
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- Dorset, England
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- 1,871
Re: Complexity 101
It reveals itself to be a small brass plaque, embedded in the pillar.
The number "334" is written on it, much to your confusion.[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-20-2009, 11:31 AM #6
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Re: Complexity 101
>Realize that if you look at it upside-down, it looks like the word "hee".
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04-20-2009, 11:33 AM #7
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Re: Complexity 101
> Jaunt around the pole with reckless abandon.
Alternatively:
> Examine the pole itself.
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04-20-2009, 11:37 AM #8
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Re: Complexity 101
>Poke around the pole.
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04-20-2009, 11:39 AM #9everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
> Jaunt around the pole with reckless abandon.
Determined to keep youself sane, you do a quick skip around the pole. Feeling better, you do it again...
...and almost career off the edge. What? You swear the pole was smaller than it was earli... oh dear.
>Realize that if you look at it upside-down, it looks like the word "hee".
You have no desire to play silly games. At this moment, getting off this damned thing is of the utmost priority!
>Poke around the pole.
Nothing really happens, even if you pole the plaque really hard.[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-20-2009, 11:40 AM #10
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Re: Complexity 101
>Attempt to remove the plaque; maybe there's something underneath
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04-20-2009, 11:45 AM #11everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
Try as you might, you cannot remove it. It is firmly stuck in position
You realise you are really, really screwed.[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-20-2009, 11:50 AM #12
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Re: Complexity 101
Jump off the side, there's probably a mattress down there.
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04-20-2009, 11:58 AM #13everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
>Jump off the side, there's probably a mattress down there.
As the pillar grows smaller, you decide there's nothing for it. You are going to go out in style, whether you like it or not.
You leap off the pillar, flailing wildly. You optimistically pray that there is a matress or something down there.
...
...
You fall for quite a while.
...
...
...
... er... oh dear...
...
...
END OF PROLOGUE. CHAPTER ONE COMMENCES AFTER SRUIXAN HAS HAD HIS DINNER AND HAS WATCHED TELLY FOR A BIT[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-20-2009, 02:51 PM #14everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
CHAPTER ONE: WELL THIS IS ALL VERY NICE...
Ugh... are you dead? That's a question and a half. As far as you recall, you never hit any ground. Hmph.
Ah... bliss... you can't feel your arms or legs, but, hey, they never did anything for you. They just hung around a lot. At least this is all very calming, almost heavenly perhaps...
Mmmm... maybe you are dead. Maybe this is heaven. Funny heaven, though. You would kinda expect it to be white, not an off-white beigey colour.
Maybe... just maybe...
(you will now be very lucky if you get an update in the next 24 hours...)[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-22-2009, 10:05 AM #15everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
UNPAUSE
[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-22-2009, 10:12 AM #16
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Re: Complexity 101
> Call out into the ether.
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04-22-2009, 10:24 AM #17everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
> Call out into the ether.
"Hello?! Is... is anyone there?"
Hmph... your throat hurts a bit. Come to think of it, your head hurts a bit too. You think you can feel your neck pressed against something...
It is around about this point in time that you realise you've spent goodness only knows how long staring at the ceiling of a room. Stupid. You hasten to scramble upwards and survey your surroundings...
Well, what do we have here...?
... a wall, that's what. There appears to be a doorway in front of you. If there are any side walls, they are outside your current vision.
You are now exceedingly confused, but decide that thinking too much about it would only make things worse...[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-22-2009, 10:28 AM #18
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Re: Complexity 101
> Go through door.
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04-22-2009, 10:36 AM #19everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
> Go through door.
Uhuh... as far as you are aware, the room on the other side is completely empty. Great. Really, really useful.
A small plan view of the room appears for the reader's benefit. It is rather spacious, but presently devoid of anything as far as you can make out.
So... yeah, excellent. Now what?[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-22-2009, 10:39 AM #20
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Re: Complexity 101
> Go back to the other room, I guess.
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04-22-2009, 10:41 AM #21
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Re: Complexity 101
> Look at thing on wall.
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04-22-2009, 10:44 AM #22
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Re: Complexity 101
I think that's the mini-map.
Originally Posted by KetchupApple
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04-22-2009, 10:56 AM #23everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
> Go back to the other room, I guess.
Yeah, fair enough.
When you re-enter, you survey your surroundings. It appears that all four walls of the room have a door in them, leading to exotic destinations like your previous venture, you presume.
Your minimap updates, showing a red door where you've been been before. Quite why it decides that's east you have no idea. You can't see the map, naturally, since you are merely a person, not a character in a game. Right?[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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04-22-2009, 11:02 AM #24
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Re: Complexity 101
Oh, that it is. Originally Posted by MultiFunctional
I think that's the mini-map. Originally Posted by KetchupApple
>Go through the apparently North door.
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04-22-2009, 11:11 AM #25everything you do is a balloon
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Re: Complexity 101
>Go through the apparently North door.
Well, this is all very nice. Yet another blank roo... wait, hang on...
Argh... your brain now hurts a fair bit...[12:39:21] Sruixan: But I'm not a person.
[12:39:23] Sruixan: I'm a cicada.
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