Interstice

Originally posted on MSPA by PepperYena.

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SpoilerOh my, how could this have faded my memory? Perhaps now, the fun will begin.

That hydra is amazing..[img]images/smilies/icon_heartbeat.gif[/img]

Originally posted on MSPA by Psychout.

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The Hydra argues amongst itself where to go, before Indra tries to grab the empty bottle, Agni heads South to the other sector, and Kali heads down the beach. This leads them to not moving much of anywhere, and just doing an awkward shuffle around in a circle. Indra does manage to catch the bottle in his teeth though, but he won't exactly be able to open it without some help.

Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.

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"Alright, that's enough of that."

Cor claps her hands twice to get the attention of the 'mortals' and then clears her throat. "Alright you five, I don't know why we are here. I don't know who any of you are. I don't know where we are. But I feel that something bad or weird is happening so as the only people here, in this area, right now, we are going to fix it."

Cor does not wait for any responses to her bossy bossitude and continues with her tirade, "First things, first, I, your new leader, am Cor, Spirit of the Currents. Now, let us each introduce ourselves before deciding where to go."

Cor floats a bit higher, to be above everyone else, and then awaits.

Originally posted on MSPA by Psychout.

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"You five? I count 8 here. What? We're separate people! And who put you in charge?" Kali roars at Cor, and then spits a burst of Ice in the air as a sign of power. On that note, Agni speaks up too.

"Will you calm down? It's always go, go, go, with you. Let her talk." Kali stares him down, making him act a bit nervous until he just slinks down and stops talking. Meanwhile, Indra tries to give his two cents, but with the bottle in his mouth, it's too muffled to hear anything.

Originally posted on MSPA by Palamedes.

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Kimberly doesn't immediately notice what's going on, too engrossed in her latest meal. It is only once she's finished the hapless human's arm when she finally realizes something's wrong.

A) It's too damn bright all of the sudden. Wasn't she in a cave?
B) Something's still bleeding. Oh god it's her own arm oh god where did it go.

Kimberly proceeds to flip the fuck out a little as she realizes that her wings and tail have also been mysteriously cut off. It takes her some extra seconds to realize there's a group of something or others, and when she does she looks around for her ragged cloak. It's a few meters from her, and she dives for it, covering her grotesque, half destroyed body as quickly as she can. She then warily looks out at the others gathered, hoping that none of them saw her before this exact moment.

They most obviously did as Cor is still glaring at her waiting for a response.

"This one is - I mean I am Kimberly. Does anyone know what's going on?"

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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"Hey that's my bottle. I saw that first!"

Eh. The hydra won't bother to listen anyway. Or give the bottle that Svedberg totally found it first. They are too busy doing...whatever the hell they are doing. Some sort of mating dance? Who knows. Svedberg was a nurse (serious business) not an ecologist. That was for the other department to handle but unfortunately, Svedberg was not exactly home anymore.

Of course, currently (ha ha ha) a particular spirit was demanding introductions from other people. Also claiming to be leader for some reason. Well, she could be whatever she says. Back in his hometown, people were easily promoted as they were easily retired (i.e. killed) so to Svedberg, a leader is honestly no different from a lowly soldier. It's just life. Plus, the Nurse was pretty confident that the floaty Cor can't really be a leader unless she had credentials. I mean, she doesn't even have the nice hat.

"I am Svedberg." The Nurse brought a hand up. "Of the Intensive Care Unit."

Then, he made a little curtsy. It was very delicate and could be constrained as adorably appealing except for the fact that Svedberg looks like a hypothetical offspring between a suit of armor and a sea urchin.

Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.

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Note: I have set up an IRC channel for this game. It can be accessed by clicking on the following link:

THE FOLLOWING LINK

or by connecting to irc.esper.net on your IRC program of choice and joining #interstice.

Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.

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As the hydra jerks around erratically, a rolled-up, yellowed piece of paper is jostled out of the bottle Indra has in his mouth, and falls into the sand. Apparently the bottle wasn't sealed at all.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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"DIBS."

Like a metaphor of a cat pouncing on a mouse, Svedberg dive drops onto the message and reads the shit out of it because initiative that is why. He looks pretty stupid exerting all that effort on obtaining a single piece of paper, but does he care.

No.

Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.

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Cor snatches the parchment from Svedberg's hands, as she is the leader, and she is going to make all the decisions. As she lifts to read it, she lowers her sunglasses to glare at the plant and lady that neglected to introduce themselves, but nonetheless addresses them all once again. "Ahem, well, it is very nice to meet most of you, I'm sure the rest of you will catch up, and I expect you all to be much more timely in the future. Now I suppose that I apologize to your three," she points to the hydra, "for my assumption in regard to your personhood, but that does not change what I meant. As for you Svedburg, and you Kimberly, it is a pleasure to meet you, as I am sure it is a pleasure for yourselves."

Cor has forgotten about the paper that she is holding tightly in her hands and is more or less enjoying the sound of her own voice at this point.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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"It's Svedberg, not Svedburg," the Nurse growled, "Get your pronunciation right, also give back my paper."

Svedberg immediately snatched the paper back. Considering the Nurse saw he and the Current Spirit on equal grounds, one might said it is kind of rude on his part to claim ownership and snatch it so quickly from a stranger. However, he was not going to wait for a reply - because one, it was his paper (he got it first). Second, he was pretty sure that Cor was going to say "no." Because she was still talking.

As you can see, Svedberg is slowly starting to see Cor as kind of a contemptuous bitch.

Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.

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Like before, Cor squints in contempt, although this time she does not lower her sunglasses. "I apologize for the mistake, it will not happen again Svedberg." Cor opts not to continue the passive-agreesive funfest, though she will note for anything that may be capable of reading her thoughts that she is not quitting, she is adapting. "I suppose that if you are so intent on keeping that piece of parchment, I will appoint you as the Official Reading Person, you are to share any written down information with the rest of us for however long we are going to stay together. Is that clear Svedberg?"

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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"Sure whatever. Be that way." Svedberg gave a triumph sniff and daintily walks away - well as daintily as a person with sorta-hooves can walk. He was feeling rather secure in his small victory over a small scrap of paper. So naive of him. Little did he know the true intentions of the Official Unofficial Title So Bequeathed By Her Majesty. He just does not know.

Of course, Svedberg reads the note too.

Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.

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After a brief squabble, Svedberg is able to read the contents of the paper uninterrupted. Strangely, it seems to be written (or typed) in his own language (though no stranger than the fact that everyone can understand everyone else's language anyway).

YELLOWED PAPER

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SpoilerTo whomever finds themselves in this place:

I must be brief. I do not know who any of you are, what you are, what your motivations may be. I do not know if you will be able to cooperate. But you must try.

The place you stand in now is what remains of the Interstice. An experiment by my associates and myself. Our own pocket universe, stitched together from fragments taken from across the multiverse. For many years it held together - the population of the Interstice once numbered in the thousands, people willingly taken from a vast number of universes. We thought we had created a perfect utopia. We thought ourselves the gods of this land - for we held as much power over it as any god could.

We were wrong to think so.

Look over the ocean. Do you see the blackness? The floating bits that remain of a once-great mountain range? This blackness surrounds us now. 13% of the Interstice remains unconsumed. I do not - cannot - know what is out there, what is happening. I am the only one left. My associates have been lost in that darkness. I will soon meet the same fate.

Unless, that is, the six of you are able to stop this corruption. I wish I could tell you more, but time is short. My control station is the only one that remains, and this force of corruption is slowly approaching it. I am almost out of power - if I cannot restart my station's stabilizers, all hope is lost.

I have time to say no more. Hurry to the control station in Sector 16. I am sorry to say that this is roughly two days away from your current location. I had no control over where you materialized - you seem to be in a low-corruption area right now. I have attached a map - it is on the back of this paper. The map will update to show your location accurately. Please hurry.

The message is unsigned. There is definitely a map on the back though.

MAP

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Spoiler

Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.

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Cor nods as Svedberg finishes, "Well then, it seems we have a destination! Once we finish up with the introductions, we can go through the hills to this control station with ease."

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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Meanwhile, Svedberg makes a rude gesture (bringing his hand up, tapping his thumbs aganist his fingertips to roughly symbolize an opening and closing mouth) in the background.

Originally posted on MSPA by BlazerC.

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"Ahm..."

Eidell continues to pick up her various belongings from the sand, a small metal drum labeled "peaches" and two loaves of spiced bread, the bread was already unappetizing enough to her but the fact that they were now covered in wet sand made them even less so. Her metal drum idea for her peaches was a brilliant invention however, but she still hasn't figured out the part where she opens it, at least it's working as intended so far.

Also that thing is eating a human arm what the fuck oh my god what in the mother of everything holy is that thing.

She scoops it all up into her hands and stands upright, somewhat wishing she wasn't wearing something so fancy and attention grabbing. She notes she is getting a bit of a glare from some floating magic lady with some odd glasses, she had been rather ignoring most of the others recently, was she asking something? She was most definitely saying something important and Eidell was too busy checking her Magic Cannon, brillant. A bit oblivious to what exactly is going on, she careful extends a hand to the spirit and introduces herself as formaly as possible.

"Oh! Ah, sorry, you were talking were you? I was... Sorry. My name is Eidell, pleasure to meet you miss."

She really hopes someone announces her name a second time, really.

Originally posted on MSPA by ProfessorLizzard.

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Herbert floats near. "Greetings everyone! I am Herbert the Magneficent! Curer of Illness! Banisher of Pain! Negotiator of Reasonable Prizes!" He tries to perform an impressive sommersault, but all he manages to do is to wobble in the air a bit.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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"Yaaaaaaaaaaay!"

Svedberg does an itty bitty Dance of Victory (which consists of daintily clapping his hands and skipping in place like the transgenic bioweapon schoolgirl he is). It's kind of painfully embarrassing to look at, but he just looks too happy. He is so happy that he delicately folds the map exactly on its creases (to do otherwise is to ruin the paper and how could Svedberg do that) and stores it in his Gross Pocket on his back.

"I think we should go to the 'Destination' on the map," Svedberg declared as he picked up his things that he almost forgot about and shoved them into his sufficiently deep pockets. "It would be a bit of walk but we would have a place to stay. We could even make it homey, if we wanted to."

There was an awkward pause. It lasted for like 2 seconds.

"I mean, if that is okay with you guys."

Originally posted on MSPA by Palamedes.

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"I... agree."

Kimberly, finally getting her robe on to the point where she feels safely disguised, walks up to join the discussion.

"The sooner we find this destination the sooner we can start learning what's going on. Also, I think we might die if we don't."

Originally posted on MSPA by Psychout.

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Kali lets out a loud roar before speaking. "I'm Kali, and I'll be leading the way. Any complaints? No? Good." Kali tries charging forward, but the other two seem to be holding her back, so she just ends up stretching her neck out in exasperation.

"Now sister, no need to get ahead of yourself. I'm Indra." The head on their left speaks, before talking to Kali again. "That other creature will lead us, lest you run us into some battle and get us killed."

"Oh, I'm, uh, Agni." The third head talks, acting much more of a shrinking violet compared to the other two.

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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"Aw, you are too cute, Agni," Svedberg giggled. "Anyway..."

The Nurse clapped his hands together in sort of an optimistic gesture of planning. "If we are going to our said destination, I think we should go over Sector 23 or K-A-V-L-E-N Hills, as it says so from the map. I guess we could stop by the Forest if we must but I think it's more prudent to make a beeline to our goal for now! Got it?"

Originally posted on MSPA by Solaris.

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Content enough, Cor smiles, "Alright, good to see we are all in agreement on where to go and whos in what!" She floats behind Svedberg and starts to push him in the direction they are supposed to be going, "Alright Svedberg, navigate, everyone else behind me, single file, no need to make this complicated or difficult."

Originally posted on MSPA by Pharmacy.

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"Oh yes, I will totally lead!" Svedberg covers about three feet before turning back because as much as he wants to be the head Nurse he doesn't want to lead the group too far ahead, I mean what if they got lost. What if he got lost. What if everyone gets eaten by Space Wolves that would be terrible and not very nice.

"Okaaay, we are going to Sector 23 'Kavlen Hills.' If anyone has any objections, they may speak so. Otherwise, we are a GO!"

Originally posted on MSPA by Anomaly.

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Onward!

Appropriate music:

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Spoiler

Following the map, the six/eight of you travel across the Kavlen Hills until sundown. You are more than halfway to your destination, it seems.



The journey is an uneventful one. Nothing but hills and grass as far as the eye can see, unless you look to your right. The Kavlen Forest spans just as large an area as the hills. Though your journey is slow due to the terrain, you can at least take comfort in the fact that there doesn't seem to be any life out here. There's probably all kinds of nasty things waiting to kill you in that forest.

But those of you who are capable of growing tired are beginning to do so. You've been walking for hours, and it's getting dark. You are slowly becoming aware of how utterly unequipped you are for the journey you didn't know you'd be taking. Most of you don't even have any food, and none of you have eaten since you got here. You hope you can last until you arrive in the habitation zone. But it's doubtful that you'll be able to continue through the night without rest.



Without warning, there is another blinding flash, similar to the one you arrived in. A small box of some sort has been deposited on the ground in front of you.

Character Statuses:

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SpoilerCor

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SpoilerHealth: Normal
Hunger: N/A
Thirst: N/A
Fatigue: N/A

Injuries/Afflictions:
none

Bonuses:
Levitation - intrinsic
Ascetic - intrinsic
Current Control - intrinsic
Tireless - intrinsic

Inventory:
Sunglasses x1

"Herbert the Magnificent"

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SpoilerHealth: Normal
Hunger: N/A
Thirst: Low
Fatigue: Slightly tired

Injuries/Afflictions:
none

Bonuses:
Levitation - intrinsic
Curing - intrinsic
Telekinesis (poor) - intrinsic
Negotiation - intrinsic
Photosynthesis - intrinsic

Inventory:
Flowerpot x1
Credit Card x1

Agni, Kali, Indra

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SpoilerHealth: Normal
Hunger: Hungry
Thirst: Thirsty
Fatigue: Tired

Injuries/Afflictions:
none

Bonuses:
Acid spit - intrinsic
Elemental breath - intrinsic
Regeneration - intrinsic
Head doubling - intrinsic
Defensive scales - intrinsic

Inventory:
Barrier liquid (10 uses) x1
Amulet of Medusa x1
Bubble Amulet (30 charges) x1

Svedberg

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SpoilerHealth: Normal
Hunger: Hungry
Thirst: Thirsty
Fatigue: Tired

Injuries/Afflictions:
none

Bonuses:
Biological Backpack - intrinsic
Shark mouth - intrinsic
Spikes - intrinsic
Hooves - intrinsic

Inventory:
Damp towel x1
First-aid kit x2
Healing apparatus x1
Helmet x1
Interstice map x1

Eidell

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SpoilerHealth: Normal
Hunger: Hungry
Thirst: Thirsty
Fatigue: Tired

Injuries/afflictions:
none

Bonuses:
Mana generation (slow) - intrinsic
High intelligence - intrinsic
Engineering aptitude - intrinsic
Firearms aptitude - intrinsic

Inventory:
Glass mask x1
Cloth mask x1
Magic Cannon x1
Mana Canister x1
Magic Bracelet x1
Red Dress of Warding x1
Tough Pants x1
Shoes (well-worn) x1
Tin of Peaches x1
Spiced bread loaf x2

Kim

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SpoilerHealth: Normal
Hunger: Slightly hungry
Thirst: Thirsty
Fatigue: Tired

Injuries/Afflictions:
Left arm missing - will not regenerate (loss too significant)
Tail partially missing - time to regeneration = 12 hours
Wings missing - will not regenerate (loss too significant)

Bonuses:
Chimeric processing - intrinsic
Regeneration (minor) - intrinsic
Durable - intrinsic
Highly agile - intrinsic

Inventory:
Cloak x1