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Posts : 169 Join date : 2012-12-14 Age : 27 Location : Contemplating the Nature of the Universe
Subject: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Tue 03 Mar 2015, 12:36 am
The Nexus, a Classic Text Adventure
"The eye by long use comes to see even in the darkest cavern: and there is no subject so obscure but we may discern some glimpse of truth by long poring on it." -George Berkeley
It is dark as pitch, and you feel as if you are dead. Or perhaps simply asleep: you feel as if you are drifting through a sea of gelatin, calm and at peace. You open your eyes, and you see nothing. If you concentrate hard enough, you can see numbers scrolling endlessly upon the abyssal blackness, black on black. You wonder what they are and why they are here. Suddenly, you wonder what you are and why you are here. You close your eyes and think, but no coherent thought comes to mind. Your memory is like a blank canvas, and words seem to escape you.
What is memory? What are words? Why are you here? Who are you?
The gelatin void ripples with your displeasure. What is displeasure?
Suddenly, you hear a voice echoing through the void, as if it hails from far away through the blackness. It is deep and booming, like the voice of God.
What is God?
"What is your name?" the voice asks. The question echoes several times, overlapping slightly with the one preceding it. Without thinking you answer:
"My name is ---." There is silence once more, and you close your eyes.
What are eyes? What is vision? Who are you? What are you? Why are you here? Do you exist?
Your mind is a firestorm of panic, but the voice calls out again and you are calm.
"Interesting." it says. Suddenly, the scenery changes and you open your eyes.
"What do you see?"
Spoiler:
So this is going to generally be a classic text adventure kind of thing, where I present a situation/question, and you, the player, suggests a possible option for what is next. I pick one of the suggestions made by a player, and then the story continues. Have fun!
Last edited by GreatSocrates on Tue 03 Mar 2015, 3:12 pm; edited 5 times in total
JazzTap User
Posts : 322 Join date : 2013-08-13
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Tue 03 Mar 2015, 4:44 am
"A burning tundra. Sinners, strewn about.
"My words are these. What are yours?"
Szemetlada Contributor
Posts : 2334 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : Where the wind comes crashing down the plaaains
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Tue 03 Mar 2015, 2:51 pm
"A... A green grassy outcrop, and in the distance there are... Buildings? Buildings that move? What is going on here? Who are you?"
GreatSocrates User
Posts : 169 Join date : 2012-12-14 Age : 27 Location : Contemplating the Nature of the Universe
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Tue 03 Mar 2015, 3:09 pm
JazzTap wrote:
"A burning tundra. Sinners, strewn about.
"My words are these. What are yours?"
As you open your eyes, you are assaulted by a wave of fiery heat and harsh light. You are standing in the middle of an ashen tundra, with fires blazing across the landscape. The sky is a sickly shade of red veiled in the haze of smoke from the wildfires. In the distance, you hear screams of agony. You are horrified, and you feel you hands and feet go numb and cold as sweat drips down from your forehead; you wonder if this is what Hell is like.
What is Hell? What is death? What is God? Who are you? Why are you here?
Suddenly, you feel the ground under your feet quiver, and cracks form in the dry earth. The ground becomes hot underfoot as it begins to crumble.
Why do you care? Is this real? Are you real? Who are you?
The thought strikes you that this may all be an elaborate illusion. Perhaps if you stand here, you will awaken from this terrible nightmare and escape. After all, doesn't dying in a dream make you wake up?
"What do you do?"
Patches Advisor
Posts : 2050 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : PA, USA
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Tue 03 Mar 2015, 8:30 pm
Despite being aware of the possibility that perhaps all of this might be fake, my instinct of self-preservation gives me the overwhelming urge to run for dear life.
JazzTap User
Posts : 322 Join date : 2013-08-13
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Wed 04 Mar 2015, 1:39 am
"I am a painter, who longs for ---." The memory of green grass fades away.
"I am an enigma," I shout, scrabbling to flee. "You are not real!"
Spoiler:
I feel our suggestions should be combined, though I feel presumptuous doing so myself.
Szemetlada Contributor
Posts : 2334 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : Where the wind comes crashing down the plaaains
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Wed 04 Mar 2015, 2:02 am
Pinch myself! Failing that, take a peek into that crack. I remember the surest way to wake from a dream is merely to throw myself into the grasp of the monster and let the panic wash away into wakefulness... For this must be a dream!
GreatSocrates User
Posts : 169 Join date : 2012-12-14 Age : 27 Location : Contemplating the Nature of the Universe
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Wed 04 Mar 2015, 3:54 pm
Szemetlada wrote:
Pinch myself! Failing that, take a peek into that crack. I remember the surest way to wake from a dream is merely to throw myself into the grasp of the monster and let the panic wash away into wakefulness... For this must be a dream!
While you begin to back away from the crumbling earth, the possibility of this all being a dream convicts you so much that you shrug off ideas of running away and let the earth take you. A flash of white light confounds your eyes, and you feel yourself falling through a blanket of warmth. The smell of sulfur assails your nostrils as you tumble headlong into the blackness. You feel your head strike something hard.
You awaken moments later in a long, dark hallway. The walls are grey stone, carefully chiseled as if by hand, but the floor upon which you lay is waxy and obsidian in color. Two channels of molten rock run along the edges of the floor, and its dim whitish glow is your sole form of light. Besides this, the hall is empty and silent as the grave. You think that you can hear a whisper farther down the corridor, but you’re fairly certain that it’s just your imagination. As you rise groggily from the floor, a stabbing pain in the back of your head drives you to your hands and knees.
Where is this? What is this? Why are you here? Who are you? What is going on? Is any of this real?
As you rise once more, your head still throbbing, you catch sight of a glittering object only a few feet away.
What is it?
Szemetlada Contributor
Posts : 2334 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : Where the wind comes crashing down the plaaains
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Wed 04 Mar 2015, 4:34 pm
Diamonds and riches! Perhaps you may stuff your pockets with a fair portion, and come out of this ordeal none the worse for wear!
JazzTap User
Posts : 322 Join date : 2013-08-13
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Wed 04 Mar 2015, 5:38 pm
A diamond pillow! Such mockery.
But I could wrap its sharp edges in clothes-fabric, and take it.
Spoiler:
The new little +/- icons are not, in fact, expand/collapse quote buttons! And there's no undo button. My apologies. Maybe someone else can fix this.
GreatSocrates User
Posts : 169 Join date : 2012-12-14 Age : 27 Location : Contemplating the Nature of the Universe
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Thu 05 Mar 2015, 1:27 pm
Szemetlada wrote:
Diamonds and riches! Perhaps you may stuff your pockets with a fair portion, and come out of this ordeal none the worse for wear!
As your vision comes into focus, you realize that in front of you in the hall is a small pile of gemstones and gold. While you have already questioned the physical existence of this place you have found yourself in several times, something in the pile of riches prompts you to pick one of the gemstones, a diamond about the size of a golf and examine it in the light of the molten rock. The diamond is slightly warm to the touch, and holding it in your hand you feel a joy well up in you unlike any other. The voices in your head seem to fade and become distant, like someone shouting from far away. You place the diamond in your pocket and then take a few of the gold coins, as well as a fine pearl necklace. Afterall, who would miss it down here?
Not knowing what to do next, you decide to carry on down the hallway and see where it will take you. Coming to the end of the hallway, you find that there is a fork in the road, with one corridor heading to the left and one to the right. Each corridor is rimmed by an old stone archway. You inspect what you can see of both corridors and they look about the same, with the exception of a stone placard which hangs above each corridor. The placard to the left has a picture of a scorpion on it, with its claws outstretched and its tail raised high. The placard to the right has on it a picture of the head of a dog, staring down the hall from whence you came.
Which path do you take?
Szemetlada Contributor
Posts : 2334 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : Where the wind comes crashing down the plaaains
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Thu 05 Mar 2015, 1:56 pm
Does the scorpion have thick claws? A stab of old memories washes over you, and you recall that the larger the claws, the weaker the poison. You think.
Better take the dog path instead...
Patches Advisor
Posts : 2050 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : PA, USA
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Thu 05 Mar 2015, 2:22 pm
A wave of thoughts wash over me. The scorpion or the dog? Does the scorpion represent the western horoscope, and the dog, the eastern? Bah, to hell with that horoscope bologne. Certainly it'd be easier to squash a scorpion than to wrestle a dog, right? Scorpion path it is.
GreatSocrates User
Posts : 169 Join date : 2012-12-14 Age : 27 Location : Contemplating the Nature of the Universe
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Thu 05 Mar 2015, 4:44 pm
Patches wrote:
A wave of thoughts wash over me. The scorpion or the dog? Does the scorpion represent the western horoscope, and the dog, the eastern? Bah, to hell with that horoscope bologne. Certainly it'd be easier to squash a scorpion than to wrestle a dog, right? Scorpion path it is.
After a few moments of considerable deliberation, you turn down the scorpion path, surprisingly clear of any kind of burning existential questions which plagued you before. You feel the diamond still warm in your pocket; it fills you with a sense of confidence and an assurance that no matter what, you will find your way out of this place and back to your home, whatever it was. You still can't remember.
You continue walking down the hall, the lava lighting your path. You begin to realize that you are not the first to travel here; lying on the side of the path in several spots are skeletons, some charred black by the lava and others old and grey. One skeleton lays in the middle of the path, ominously laying in two parts. Still, though, you feel no fear.
Spoiler:
Soon the hallway begins to twist and turn in several directions, and you continue to follow it. After about four turns, you hear something in the background. At first, you hear it as a faint scratching in the distance, but as you feel it come closer...is that...scuttling? You grab for the gem, but it seems to have grown cold. You are alone.
Why do you care? Is this real? Are you going to die? Are you dead? Are you hear? Where is God? What is God? WHO ARE YOU?
There is something at the end of the tunnel. You can see it dimly in the light of the lava farther down the path. The scuttling is intensifying as it approaches, and you hear a faint hissing whisper. As the fear strikes you, you feel your skin grow cold and pale. It is a scorpion, at least twenty feet long, with giant crushing pincers and a long tail ending with a spike. Upon closer inspection, you realize that it has a human face that looks old and somewhat leathery. It stares at you with clear black eyes, like the eyes of a spider. Your first instinct is to run, but perhaps the creature is intelligent and can be reasoned with. Or maybe you are still of the belief that none of this is real, and you are simply trapped in a fever dream.
What do you do?
JazzTap User
Posts : 322 Join date : 2013-08-13
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Thu 05 Mar 2015, 5:12 pm
'Aren't you rather large, for lacking an endoskeleton?,' I think of saying. I think better of it.
"Distinguished... gentleman, I seem to have taken a wrong turn at 'classics' and stumbled into 'horror'. Perhaps I can pay my passage with something other than my flesh?"
Septic Gentleman Refugee
Posts : 1 Join date : 2015-03-05
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Thu 05 Mar 2015, 5:22 pm
"Absolutely not." I mutter to myself, before turning right around and sprinting in the opposite direction of the man-scorpion. If it's friendly, it will take my fleeing as a misunderstanding. If not, then I'll have gotten a head start anyway.
Patches Advisor
Posts : 2050 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : PA, USA
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Thu 05 Mar 2015, 5:24 pm
Perhaps I can blind it by using my diamond to refract the light into its eyes. And then maybe it will fall into the lava.
GreatSocrates User
Posts : 169 Join date : 2012-12-14 Age : 27 Location : Contemplating the Nature of the Universe
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Fri 06 Mar 2015, 3:47 pm
JazzTap wrote:
'Aren't you rather large, for lacking an endoskeleton?,' I think of saying. I think better of it.
"Distinguished... gentleman, I seem to have taken a wrong turn at 'classics' and stumbled into 'horror'. Perhaps I can pay my passage with something other than my flesh?"
Despite your terror and the throbbing of your head, you somehow manage to speak in a coherent voice towards the creature. You realize soon that the monster is beginning to slow down, and upon its approach you get a better look at it. It is enormous and wide, with a waxy tan exoskeleton the color of sand and two massive claws for crushing. While it has a tail, it seems much smaller compared to the crushing claws, though instead of a stinger the tail seems to end in a knife. The normal arachnid face of the scorpion is not present, and instead it has a human head with the old, leathery face of a woman on it, with white hair that seems to be shedding and black eyes like that of a spider. Inside of its mouth is a set of teeth, as well as scorpion-like pincers. The creature looks you up and down, and then emits a creaking, screechy noise which resembles a laugh combined with the creaking of a rusty hinge.
"Now why would I want to kill you?" the creature says in an old, strained feminine voice "You have done nothing to me as of yet. I am Vulta, a spirit damned to wander this pitch dark labyrinth for all of eternity." The creature begins to circle you in the narrow corridor, riding up against the wall to fit in the space between you and the magma. As it circles you, the hairs on your neck stand up and the diamond begins to heat rapidly.
"I wouldn't dare harm you, my pretty." the scorpion says. You begin to move around in an attempt to keep it in your vision, but when it does evade your sight you can feel its ice cold breath on your neck "Especially one such as you with so beautiful a...face." As the scorpion reaches the front of you once more, you realize that you might be able to make a run for it. Perhaps if you threw something, the creature would be distracted long enough for you to evade its crushing pincers. Or maybe this fiend really is a friendly demon and means you no harm.
What do you do?
Spoiler:
Quick note, I will not be able to write here again until Sunday evening, so this will be the last post until then.
Last edited by GreatSocrates on Sun 08 Mar 2015, 3:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
Patches Advisor
Posts : 2050 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : PA, USA
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Fri 06 Mar 2015, 3:56 pm
'I've watched enough Avatar: The Last Airbender to know where this is going,' I think to myself. Having been cautious of giant old-lady-faced scorpions surrounded by lava straight from the beginning, I've already prepared myself with an escape plan! I conjure up my diamond and refract the light emanating from the lava and focus it into the demon's eyes in an attempt to blind it.
Szemetlada Contributor
Posts : 2334 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : Where the wind comes crashing down the plaaains
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Fri 06 Mar 2015, 4:05 pm
Faces are overrated. "It's yours if you can show me the way out of this forsaken pit, Ma'am!"
GreatSocrates User
Posts : 169 Join date : 2012-12-14 Age : 27 Location : Contemplating the Nature of the Universe
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Sun 08 Mar 2015, 4:06 pm
Patches wrote:
'I've watched enough Avatar: The Last Airbender to know where this is going,' I think to myself. Having been cautious of giant old-lady-faced scorpions surrounded by lava straight from the beginning, I've already prepared myself with an escape plan! I conjure up my diamond and refract the light emanating from the lava and focus it into the demon's eyes in an attempt to blind it.
You produce the diamond from out of your pocket and hold it towards the lava in an attempt to reflect the light into the demon's eyes, but nothing seems to happen. The diamond has turned a red opaque color and has grown quite hot. It nearly burns your hands to hold it and no longer reflects light. At the sight of the diamond, the monster's black eyes look over and fill with greed. She becomes transfixed, as if in a trance.
"Why, where did you find that, my dear?" Vulta asks you "That is a beautiful gemstone. Might I see it?" You realize now that this could be an excellent opportunity to escape. Perhaps if you throw the diamond, you can get the demon to go the other way and escape. Yet at the same time, the diamond gives you solace and whisks away your fear when you touch it. You feel as if it has extremely powerful magic hidden within, and getting rid of it could very well destroy the only ally that you have around you.
In addition to this, you suddenly begin to feel as if you are being watched. You quickly turn your head, keeping Vulta and the diamond in your field of vision, and realize that the skeletons strewn across the ground are all now staring at you. They make no other attempt to move, and you're not sure if this is anything more than your own suspicion; maybe they all just died that way?
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Mon 09 Mar 2015, 10:37 pm
Ooh, dark magic! Apparently we do have something the nice old lady wants.
"Sure. Especially if you'd be so kind as to show me a way out. Not in the extended sense, either. A struggle, after all, would be... chaotic." I hold the diamond out over the lava (a little precariously, on account of my hand being further cooked by convection), my body interposed to impede her line-of-sight.
Szemetlada Contributor
Posts : 2334 Join date : 2011-09-29 Age : 28 Location : Where the wind comes crashing down the plaaains
Subject: Re: The Nexus, a Text Adventure Tue 10 Mar 2015, 12:19 am
"You want this shiny?" Flip the diamond nonchalantly in my hand. "Or do you want those ZOMBIES to have the shiny? Well, I won't lie or nothin, so I'll tell ya I aim to hand this shiny over to the first pers- err, entity, that shows me the way out of here! Or must I best you in a riddle contest first...?"
Subject: The Nexus, a Text Adventure 
Tue 03 Mar 2015, 12:36 am
