The doctor's office is hardly the funnest place in the world to be. Children crying, adults bickering in hushed, stressed tones, the receptionist looking incredibly bored...
Wait. How did you get here? Weren't you watching a powerpoint a second ago (or enjoying your time in your cozy apartment in Cerealia)? Well, now you're in ViViD, and in an attempt to concentrate on healthy living, CERES has released a new level: Health and You: A New Way to be Healthy. Sure, you could log out at any time if you're a ViViD pro and used to this whole experience, but now that you're here, why not sit back and enjoy it? Indulge in some easy level grinding or something. Besides, it'll take a little while for the game to let you log out without calling you a spineless quitter, and who wants that added to their ViViD rep?
So instead, take a look around the tiled hospital. Visit the receptionist and say hello (she ignores you, go back to your seat). Pick up a snack at the vending machine (except every single one only has these gross things in stock). Maybe you should just test the truth of that old idiom, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away", especially with that weird doctor over there. Is he staring at you? He might be staring at you.
Seriously, go find an apple before he comes over here.
 Well,
well,
well...
isn't it time for your c h e c k - u p?
|
PHASE I [ 08 00 ] If you're a new arrival to this fine city, you will find yourself waking up in a bed after suffering through that unfortunate powerpoint. The sun streams through the window, the bed is uncomfortable but not terrible, and everything is quiet and idyllic... wait. Where are your clothes? You'll suddenly find yourself dressed only in a medical gown (yes, complete with back open) and you seem to be... in a hospital? That's new.
If you take a look at the medical chart attached to the bed, you’ll even find your chart, name on it and everything. That can’t be right, can it? You're the picture of health! You're welcome to wait around for the doctor to dispute these claims but no one's showing up anytime soon (aside from the possible roommate you might have, in the same situation as you). There’s nothing stopping you from leaving the room or looking around at least (except for the lack of clothes), but it’s all hospital as far as the eye can see. Try and be careful what rooms you poke your head into; there are some strange aliens getting their check-ups in there. They don't seem like they want to be bothered.
If you’re not a newcomer, and go into ViViD searching for riches and grand prizes (or just stumble in there by happenstance), the receptionist will stop you and hand you a stethoscope, lab coat, and name tag. Congratulations, you’re a doctor now, and you have free reign over the hospital. Go nuts. Or don’t, because there are still those aliens waiting for their check-ups. Now it’s your turn to get dragged away by a frazzled nurse to administrate a tentacle massage to a patient, as she's now on break! Have fun and don't get the hospital sued.
PHASE II [ 1000 ] Just don’t end up in the basement.
If you end up in the basement by some weird twist of fate (or via trapdoor, which could happen because let's be honest, this is ViViD), you’ll find yourself in a long, empty, blindingly white hallway. The floors are white, the walls are white, the ceiling and the flickering lights are white, and you have the odd feeling you're being followed.
If you turn to see who it is, you’ll find that it’s your younger self. They’re not solid. They’re not real. You can stick a hand through them, and it will go right through. But they are you, whether age 4 or age 14 or anywhere in between, and they’re covered in blood and holding an equally bloody knife. Quietly, as they follow you, they'll mumble, over and over and over again, “It was you, you did it, you killed them, you’re the murderer.”
And they will follow you until you get out of that blindingly white hallway, and away from those blindingly white lights, and if you tried to touch them, there will be blood on your hands. The younger you won't respond to anything you say, just following behind you like the frightening apparition they are. At least nothing else is stopping you from returning to the main hospital, no matter how surreal this experience might be. Just find the stairs.
PHASE III [ 1200 ] As soon as you’ve managed to escape the clutches of that frazzled nurse who still refuses to come back from break, you’ll find that the atmosphere has turned very dark indeed. There’s rain pounding against the windows, and as lightning flashes and thunder booms (it’s all ambiance, you see), there’s the tell-tale Mwahahahaha of an evil, mad doctor at work. What a sinister guy.
Turning a corner will lead you right to his very, very evil doctor's office. He's repurposed one for his sinister deeds and some nurses are looking very put out about it. There's someone attached to the medical table who might need some help and of course, it could be one of your friends that he’s snagged. You might want to help them before that very evil mad doctor tries to add an extra limb or two to your poor friend. Honestly, who needs three elbows?
Or maybe it’s you who’s been grabbed by him and attached to the medical table by strong, metal restraints. Hopefully someone follows the “Mad Scientist: This Way” signs all over the hospital and saves you because really, three elbows?
PHASE IV [ 1400 ] Of course, while the ambiance is still dark, grim and creepy, and the rain still beats upon the glass of the windows, there is a murder...because why wouldn't there be?
The director of the hospital has been found murdered, slumped in a seat in his office, hand in hand with his secretary. Oh no! You’re welcome to investigate the crime scene if you want, but it’s not a very good one; there aren’t any clues, and the director and his secretary actually seem to be alive if you prod them hard enough. They're a bit put out by your interruptions and might ask you to "go solve this somewhere else" the more you bother them. How rude of you to muck up their death scene.
But there’s a new quest for you, and it says this: Pursue Justice or Pursue the Truth?
If you choose to pursue Justice, you will find yourself dropped into a new ViViD level, this one a straight hospital hallway with no doors and alternate routes. Some posters line the hallway but most of the detail is lost in the dim light. Not far ahead of you, The Suspect can be seen running away. (Naturally, you can tell that they are The Suspect by their poorly scribbled out face and black silhouette.) If you should follow them all the way to the end of the hallway (and it is a long, long, long hallway), you can grab The Suspect. Of course, that's if you make it there without falling through any of the trapdoors, tripping over medical supplies or stumbling into less fortunate player characters. If you're successful, you’ll hear a jaunty tune and you’ll receive a bonus of 50,000 ViViD points. Congratulations! You may now log out and continue with your daily life.
If you choose to pursue the Truth, you will find yourself dropped into another ViViD level. This level is a maze; there are filing cabinets stuffed full of papers making up the walls (though the papers are all blank) and they seem oddly impossible to move. You will need to find your way through the maze while avoiding more trapdoors, more scattered medical supplies, the occasional angry cthulhu patient and the occasional player character who has been grabbed by the occasional angry cthulhu patient. Eventually you will be able to find the end of the maze and there you will find a scrap of paper with a clue on it, signed Bellona Recreare. You may now log out and continue with your daily life.
Strangely enough, you can’t seem to access that quest again once you’ve completed it once. Oh well.
BONUS [ xxxx ] There are plenty of sexy nurses wandering the hospital (yes, everywhere) and they know your shots aren’t up to date. Should they manage to catch you and jab you with one of their needles, you’ll have some of the following side effects:
➟ Unstoppable urge to hug the nearest person
➟ Unstoppable urge to kiss the nearest person
➟ Unstoppable urge to dance with the nearest person
➟ Hiccups that last for 20 minutes
➟ Uncontrollable laughter that lasts for 20 minutes
➟ Hallucinations that everyone around you is dead, which also lasts for 20 minutes
You may pick and choose which effects happen at which times or if there is a combination of them. Have fun!
[ Remember to apply proper warnings on threads with sensitive or inappropriate material and do let a mod know if your thread careens off into maiming or canoodling so we can lock the log. ] |
Welcome to Cerealia's July intro log! For your convenience, we have compiled the characters' arrival experience here, and should you have any questions, feel free to ask them here! You can also check the FAQ for more general inquiries. Should this event log hit Captcha, there is an all-purpose overflow here.
Regarding phase IV, should your characters tackle the alternate ViViD levels and make it all the way through, please PM the mod account to let us know if they picked Justice or the Truth, as that will have an overall impact on the game! You will also receive your plot clue at that time, should your character have gone down the Truth path. Please PM the mod account by July 29th with the decision your character has made; the thread does not have to be completed, that just will allow us to tally up the choices for August's event.
Thank you! |
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no subject
Resisting the urge to pull away, he chuckles, dryly. ]
I don't know if you've got up to speed on the history of this place, but the current CERES CEO isn't the first. Bellona Recreare took over from Julius Vincere — who was found murdered, by the way. Just like this. Hand in hand with his secretary.
no subject
[Kazuya suddenly appeared thoughtful, and he cast an eye over the scene once more. 'Justice' or 'Truth', this game was offering them, and considering that this mirrored a real life crime, then was this someone's way of trying to reveal the truth on that past murder? It sounded bizarre, but honestly, Kazuya dealt with weirder, off the wall methods]
Was anyone ever arrested for that CEO guy's death?
no subject
[ He pauses, his mouth twisted into an ironic smirk. ]
And now this. I'm not sure what to make of it all. Is it a deliberate poke in the eye? Or is this just a sop to the people who wanted to investigate? Or is this... not something that came from above? Did someone else at CERES program this? The artificial intelligence behind ViViD was a "friend" to another artificial intelligence, who has since disappeared. No one knows why or how, but CERES is the obvious suspect, as she and they were at odds.
So — is ViViD trying to tell us something? If so, what?
no subject
[It seemed pretty straight forward to Kazuya. He doubted CERES would do a parody of their past CEO's murder, especially if the current one was determined to stop anyone from looking into it - plus, with these options; 'Justice' or 'Truth', it was clear that someone was trying to tell them something, and that something would be "the current CEO is an ambitious, murdering scumbag". If that wasn't true then Kazuya would eat his own headphones]
But as to who's behind it exactly, well, we won't know until we look, right? Let's pick 'Truth' and see what happens. [He clapped his hands together] Ah, I'm getting excited! I love murder-mysteries...
no subject
[ He's of the opinion that the chances of finding either truth or justice in this place are infinitesimally close to zero. However, Kazuya's effervescent enthusiasm has an effect upon him, and he smiles in spite of himself. ]
All right. "Truth" it is.
[ As soon as he agrees, everything changes: the floor drops out from under them, the walls disappear, and the planes of their reality shatter all around them, like a funhouse mirror hallway exploding.
...
Slowly the shards reform, and light and air and reality (virtual) return. The light has changed; it's a sickly green, like fluorescent lights shining through moss. They're standing at the threshhold of a door that leads into a featureless hallway. It's a maze. ]
no subject
[Kazuya was rubbing at his eyes, obviously displeased about how ViViD decided to create their fun level of funness. He squinted them open after a moment, his expression falling at what he saw. Well, he shouldn't be surprised, looking for the truth did mean lots of dead ends and such, but... an actual maze? He hated mazes!
There better not be teleporting segments. He'd just blow the whole thing up, otherwise]
Of course it'd be a maze level. Of course... [he sighed and looked upwards] Is it too late to switch over? Maybe Justice would be a chasing one...
no subject
[ He squeezes his eyes shut and opens them again. The featureless walls of the hallway pixelate, turn grey, and then slowly begin to resolve details: they're actually filing cabinets, stuffed full of papers. ]
I wonder if the "Truth" is in there somewhere. There was a CERES tour recently; somebody found a library, that was subsequently burned. Perhaps some of the documents are replicated here.
[ With his hands stuffed in his pockets, Hyoubu approaches one of them, forcing a drawer open with his telekinesis. ]
no subject
Well, you have fun with that, nerd. I'm gonna go on ahead and see if this 'Truth' is an actual, tangible thing that I can steal and win.
1/2
[ ...
he's the guy who runs off and lets other people do the boring things!!! ]
2/3 actually
no subject
...
They're blank. He looks at them from all angles, even using his psychometry. No dice. Nothing. He throws the papers on the floor and grabs another handful. It's all the same. Annoyed, he makes all the drawers nearby open, and spew their contents. Reams of papers flutter to the ground around him, all blank. ]
Tch! Whoever wrote this game was pretty lazy about the details.
no subject
He returned to the sight of Hyoubu throwing down blank pieces of paper looking slightly frazzled. Kazuya tried to play it cool, despite having practically fled back here in minor distress]
Hard at work, I see. [Kazuya stared pointedly at the blank paper] Find anything interesting?
no subject