===\> Aarann: Enter

You notice a change of lighting outside your respiteblock. When you look out, you discover that it is a little more literal than that.



You are now in a strange land. Rather nice grass plains extend all the way into the horizon, accompanied by all sorts of giant cables brimming with electricity running here and there.

You are both extremely curious and extremely concerned

What are you going to do now?

===/> Explore your Hive
===/> Check for damage

CN: Aarann?_Ar3_y0u_4lr1ght?_
CN: Wh3r3_ar3_y0u_3v3n?

CN: 1_l00k3d_ar0und
CN: th3r3_s33ms_t0_b3_a_v1llag3_0f_s0rts_n3arby

Your hive does not seem to be damaged at all, and everything inside of it looks normal.

You decide to check if your basement stayed the same way. Your basement is the land of nostalgia. You use it to store all manner of old games you are no longer playing, or valuable collectibles you have amassed over the years. Maybe something useful will manifest itself down there.

You are relieved to see that your basement is still intact. You rummage around all your old possessions. After going through a literal nostalgia trip, you stumble upon the MEGASONAR 43200, a headset awarded to you at the very first gaming tournament you've ever won first place. The game was an one-on-one fighter named FLASH MOTHERS. It was pretty fun, but the competitive scene died a long time ago. The last balance patch made GRUBINETTA too powerful. Everyone was playing her and eventually the scene became boring...

In any case, this headset holds a very high sentimental value for you. Maybe you should wear it for old time's sake. It is not super good by today's standards, but it is so sturdy it almost works like a helmet!

You get back to the main floor and notice Mykran's messages

RB: Understood, @Mykran! I will go there immediately! I am kinda scared, but excited at the same time. This game is rather amazing. #MysteriousGame

You head towards the village

===> Wear the headset

You see some silly looking silver coloured critters in the village
They don't seem to be threatening
What's more, they're looking kind of jolly

The headset fits like a glove

You approach the weird critters cautiously, but it soon becomes apparent they are very friendly beings. One of them urges you to follow it. It leads you to a small metallic hut with a sign on it reading "SHOP". Looks like this is the starter town of the game. So this is more like an RPG, huh? You still don't know what to think about the consistenty of the mechanics...

In any case, you check the shop

JACK TOWN SHOP

Metal Headset --- 1000 Boonbucks
Spiked Headset --- 5000 Boonbucks
Laser Headset --- 8000 Boonbucks
Fraymotif: Electrobeat --- 10000 Boonbucks
Fraymotif: Technorain --- 20000 Boonbucks
Fraymotif: Gamedley --- 30000 Boonbucks

All of those items look really appealing! Looks like the game is tailored to the user's strife specibus. You're impressed by this incredible technology. You are also curious about those things called fraymotifs. Are they special attacks of sorts? In any case, you don't think you have any boonbucks at hand, so you ask how to get some. The critter points towards the outskirts of the town. Looks like some small impish creatures with barkbeast features and metal armor are walking around. Low level enemies? You wonder how does combat work in this game

===/> Acquire boonbucks
===/> Cut all the grass, destroy all the pots
===/> Strife?

You decide to walk up to the low level enemies with a certain sense of confidence. They should not be much of a problem right? They are the intro enemies after all.

You pick one of them up with your psionic powers and smash it straight into your headset. The enemy pops out of existence, leaving behind a bunch of weird objects

+100 Build Grist
+100 Boonbucks

Interesting.

The other enemies notice you and go after your life. It is not until one of them scratches you that you realize this is more real than you ever thought. Now a little fearful, you repeat your strategy until no more enemies are nearby

+2000 Build Grist
+2000 Boonbucks

Tired, you go back to the shop and buy the Metal Headset. You promptly wear it

-1000 Boonbucks

Some of the locals tell you of an Inn. You decide to rest there for a while

-100 Boonbucks

===> Explore Inn

The inn is a very simplistic building. It has only two rooms: A lobby with a neat help desk and the bedroom where you slept at. Looks like this whole world is really optimized to suit you

===/> Aarann: smash all the pots
===/> Aarann: gather all the boonbux
===/> Aarann: collect all the items

You vandalize the town in search of treasure, as it is customary in these games. The townsfolk seem delighted you are doing this, for some reason

+1000 Boonbucks
+3 Lizard Spit
+100 Flux Grist

===> Upgrade your gear
===> Ask villagers for quests

You don't have enough money to buy new gear yet, but perhaps you could use some of the machines in your respiteblock...

Before doing that however, you ask the villagers about any quests you could partake in.

One of them tells you something interesting: Apparently a great master of wisdom and courage is asking for the help of a mighty hero. He is trying to communicate by using a special communication device located at the end of the biggest cable of them all.

The villager points to this cable: it is as wide and tall as one of the houses, and it extends pretty far into the horizon. Looks like you just need to follow it! Pretty easy quest if you say so yourself.

You go back to the respiteblock and figure out the alchemiter's intricacies using your gamer's intuition

You combine the MEGASONAR 43200 with the Metal Headgear to build the HEAVYMETAL 63200, a sturdy headset with sentimental value. You promptly equip it. You also combine your plain clothes with a collectible FLASH MOTHERS card, specifically of one of your favorite characters: AFFIL the fairy hero. The resulting outfit is a marsh-colored tunic with a funny hat. The hat would interfere with your headset, so you decide against wearing it.

Now you're ready to go!

-100 Flux Grist
-400 Build Grist

===> Follow the cable!

You do so. It does not take long before you reach a section where the cable starts going underground. A small screen is attached to the cable here. It looks like it is a chatroom of some sort

MASTER: Hello. I was waiting for your arrival
MASTER: I am the master of this world. I have been wrongly imprisoned by the evils that be.
MASTER: You are one of the heroes destined to help me, and at the same time gain glory and riches
MASTER: But first, I must test you

Suddenly an Ogre appears in front of you. It has a doggie face. Looks like it is time to strife!

===/> Strife

The ogre runs at you surprisingly fast for something of its size. You brace yourself for impact, but the ogre decides to lay on his belly and wag his tail.

Does...it want you to pet it? What a weird challenge

You approach to pet the dog-ogre, but then it "playfully" slaps you with its paw, sending you flying a short distance. Your headset protects you, but it still hurts like hell. The ogre attempts to keep "playing" with you, even it is has to be with your lifeless body.

Not content with being killed like this, you use your psionic powers to slightly deviate the ogre's course, making it crash against one of the big cables passing through. You then prepare yourself and run headfirst into the ogre's back, successfully stabbing it with your metallic headgear. The ogre whimpers and explodes into grist

+1000 Build Grist
+500 Flux Grist
+200 Tar Grist

===/> Mourn the loss of dogre

You create a makeshift grave for the dogre using your psionic powers and some nearby debris and cable pieces. The grave reads: "Here lies dogre, who played too much for its own good". You spend 1 minute in silence

===> Explore surroundings
===> Find more things to do

You keep exploring the landscape. You walk around, seeing nothing but empty plains and more cables. Eventually, you reach an interesting place.

It is some sort of building where many cables enter. You can hear the sound of electric currents running on the inside. Since you're feeling adventurous, you decide to enter.

The first thing you see once inside is a masive network of interconnected cables going across the ceiling, as well as many small cables along the floor and walls that seem to be carrying electric energy. You don't have much time to appreciate all of this, as suddenly a bunch of doggoImps appear from the other side of the room

===/> Strife head on
===/> Run towards another room