estoria | //EVENT033.EXE

//EVENT033.EXE

//event033.EXE

What new and wonderful and exciting ViViD level awaits you today? What fun time will you have in ViViD this time? Surely it will be a work of art that CERES has been working on for months and months --

Actually, wait, CERES isn't even around, are they?

Uh oh.

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzt.

Error: Files Not Found

//SCENARIOS.EXE

PHASE I

[ ???? ] This time, ViViD is a deathtrap.

There is random magma everywhere, monsters will spawn at random, and at some points, the game is entirely unplayable. It’s like the dev team totally disappeared mid-constructing the level.

Oh wait, that’s exactly what happened.

Monsters may spawn on top of you, you may suddenly be standing in a poisonous bog, you may suddenly lose your powers, or your senses, or so many different things --

It’s time to get out of here, ASAP.

Thankfully, the exit is obvious. Like. Blindingly obvious. It’s got a big sign over it that says EXIT

And just like that, you’ll be out of ViViD and --

PHASE II

[ 0830 ] When you wake up (and it’s strange, because you were sure that you were logging out just a second ago), it’s in a pile of bodies.

They’re cold, but not in the same sense that a dead body would be cold. While they are lifeless and look incredibly real, they don’t feel real. They feel like dolls, mannequins, empty models and nothing more. Their code doesn’t seem to be functioning right.

And what some characters may realize upon looking at this pile of bodies is that they are all of the characters who were sacrifices before. Any character that was dropped who had a high magical or spiritual affinity is there in that pile of bodies, lifeless and eyes blank and vacant. Even you might be there, staring at your own dead body -- but it isn’t real It can be touched, but it’s really nothing more than a lifeless body.

You’ll have to crawl out of that pile of bodies to get anywhere, and then you’ll realize -- you’re in the Sanctuary, a building built by the characters as a safe place from CERES. And it’s looking pretty run-down at this point. The technology in it no longer functions, there is no security on it whatsoever…

Oh, and now there’s a pile of bodies. Great.

PHASE III

[ 1000 ] There’s also a robot.

It’s wandering from place to place, though it’s impossible to follow. One second it’s there, the next it’s just gone.

Also, it’s wearing this. Weird.

But even with that on its face, the robot seems focused on one thing in particular. In fact, it has a sign, and it says:

Down with CERES. Up with Robots.

That’s a happy, cheerful message. If you try to go up to it to talk to it, it will look at you before...bonking you on the head with the sign and running off. That’s incredibly rude.

Alternatively, you may be safe and sound in your home, but then the doorbell rings, and there’s the robot again. The duck mask is gone, but now instead it has a pin on his fake lapel, and then he’s shoving a pamphlet at you.

He tips his hat, and then he’s gone. Weird.

(Also, if you hold onto the pamphlet, it will lead you directly to the person whose picture is on it, and you’ll feel like you’ve known them and have loved them for years.)

PHASE IV

[ 1245 ] But not all is fun and games and shenanigans. There is something...well, strange happening, and the first real realization of that will be when it starts to rain. More than just the localized rain that a few unfortunates have dealt with -- no, it’s raining completely and totally, and that’s when it might hit you.

For the first time in Cerealia, there’s weather.

It’ll rain for a few hours, and then it’ll stop and become hot and sunny. It may get humid, considering it’s a jungle planet. At night, it’ll get rather cold.

Seems like whatever was keeping Cerealia’s atmosphere stable is now gone -- which also means that characters may start to occasionally experience headaches, nausea and dizziness if they go too close to the walls. It seems safer in the center of the city, and the Residential District is still okay, but… there’s no doubt that the planet’s atmosphere is starting to encroach on the city.

BONUS

[ why o'clock ] But who cares about all of that? More importantly, you are here in this… totally not shoddy city to have fun, and it’s still being advertised as a pleasure colony. Or, well, it would be if, you know, CERES was still around.

But close enough.

And as a pleasure colony, it would figure that the first robots to really get fixed are...well, the Pleasure District robots. Unfortunately, the Pleasure District is still a nice big mess, so now they’re wandering the entire colony, looking for people they can hug, massage or...try to drag into more explicit activities.

Welcome to Cerealia!

[ 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. ]

//RUN.EXE

Welcome to Cerealia's September 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. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

-phase ii-
[ Okay, Nagasone probably should have gotten his ass out of the Sanctuary the moment he saw so many of those lifeless bodies, heck he had to pull himself out of the heap. But there's something about just leaving ones that are so familiar behind in that state that leaves a bad taste in his mouth. At the moment, he's setting down two bodies who look like young kids, looking at them with a grim, but calm expression. ]

This looks about big enough to cover them-- Please lend me a hand.

[ Under his arm is a mostly undamaged sheet he managed to find in this abandoned... shelter? Despite all the death he can tell from the furniture here and there it's meant to be a place to stay. Creepy. There are a lot of his comrades here, he saw an arm or maybe a leg sticking out, but man it doesn't feel right to let Hakata and Imano be crushed under other bodies when they're small. He's an older brother, so it's a soft spot... ]

[ ((For strangers, he'll say under his breath:)) ]

Who would do something like this? It's like a terrible grave.

[ ((For castmates:)) ]

They're fakes, right? I'd rather this be a stupid trick than the real thing.

-phase iii-
[ No one takes getting smacked to the face by a sign very well. By a robot with a duck head makes it bizarre especially with a weird message on his sign to begin with. Nagasone will always have bad luck with rebellious sorts, it would seem… That doesn't mean he'll take it though, and here we have a futile pursuit of a duck headed robot by an annoyed tsukumogami with a sword. ]

Hah! …Damn.

[ Unfortunately that means at one moment for some poor fellow's life, they'll have said sword pointed at them because he was certain that the asshole was just around the corner of a street or behind some obstacle. Not that he actually strikes, it was meant to be more of a threat to begin with… It's a rough day. ]

Where did it run off to...?

-phase iv-
[ HE THOUGHT THE POWERPOINT SLIDESHOW THING SAID IT WAS AN INDOOR PLACE, WHY DID IT LIE. Fuck technology. It's not the most horrible of things to happen so he walks through it like the stubborn man he is. Well as long as he would like before it's way too much water and he finds a place to duck under, probably with other folk who are waiting out the downpour.

In the meantime, he's going to strip off his soaked haori and wring it out. Something to note is that he wears just that haori normally, with little else underneath like a harness and a scarf. He's also a very muscular guy… Some sword spirits happen to have little sense of shame? Anyway, since there's little else to do, he sighs and decides on making small talk. He doesn't find the point of it usually, but the atmosphere is really dreary. ]

Is everything normally this… Out of hand? The welcome said otherwise.

[ First day here and he's 75% done with it. Also a little cold. ]

[ When confronted with a sword, one should always be ready to react. Chihiro jerks back, eyes wide, staring first at the sword, then up its length to the person holding it. Her heartrate's elevated from the surprise, and she probably has something to say about all this: ]

... It's rude to point.

[ ... well, technically... ]

[ Good news is that he realizes his mistake quickly, dropping his sword. He's annoyed but not bloodthirsty, that's for another time whenever this pace gets really dangerous. ]

Yeah, it is. My mistake, there was this robot and--

[ Wait, this girl... She was the sweet, thoughtful kid who helped him with his haori. Small... world? He sheathes his sword properly, looking a little guilty for, well, pointing a sword at her. ]

...It's Chihiro, right?

Nagasone Kotetsu | OTA

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