[DAY 17.1] The Artifact - Multiverse Mayhem!

It's old but gold. If it could help you out we've probably chucked it in here.
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Re: [DAY 14] The Artifact - Act III (It's back!)

Post by minnerthecat » 04 Jan 2014, 15:06

I voted not to shoot. There's too many to fight alone, may as well hear what they have to say. If they don't kill you, that is...
Orange and white, but not quite right.

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Re: [DAY 15] The Artifact - Act III

Post by haxxorzd00d » 06 Jan 2014, 10:15

Day 15

The crystals! The enderdragon itself was likely too strong for my arrows to even scratch it, but if I could eliminate its power source…

I took aim, and fired.

My arrow sailed to the top of the obsidian pillar and struck straight and true, piercing the crystal and shattering it into a million glittering shards with explosive force. The curious beams of energy and strange glyphs radiated in all directions, then dissipated. The enderdragon howled in pain as if it itself had been struck. It quickly scanned the island with its wild, violet eyes, searching for a target to vent its rage upon - and settled on Sneaky and Mountbatten. Spreading its vast black wings, the dragon let out a fearsome roar that seemed to resonate in the air itself, and lunged.

Though the dragon was some distance from Proz and I, we ducked for cover regardless. Sneaky and Mountbatten, however, were not so fortunate. Despite their best efforts to scamper away from the dragon’s charge, they were hit head-on by its mighty wings and knocked straight over the side. I could only watch in horror as Wokka and the dragon dived after them. I ran toward the edge to watch their descent, and then - a flash of light, and silence. I peered into the pitch-black void below the island, but all was gone. Sneaky, Mountbatten, Wokka, the dragon, and of course my artifact - had all completely vanished.

I stood, dumbstruck, at the edge of the abyss. Everything I had fought for, all I had travelled across Escapia to save - was gone.
“What… how… what happened!?” Proz asked, incredulously.
Then it hit me. They were gone, the artifact was gone - Sneaky must have activated it! He opened the portal, and through they all went… There was nothing I could do now.
Then something else hit me. Not a realization, but a blast of air that knocked me flat onto my back. Winded and stunned, I looked up and saw the dragon once more, a flash of wings and Ender energy high above the island. But something wasn’t right.
“Look!” Proz yelled. “The artifact!”
I scrambled to my feet and sure enough, there it was: wedged onto - or into - the dragon’s head like some sort of perverse helmet. The dragon’s body flailed and buckled; it seemed to be out of control, and spiralling towards the ground.

“Oh, gods!” I cried. “It must’ve gotten stuck halfway through the portal!”
“Well, what the hell do we do!?” Proz replied frantically.
“MOVE!” I commanded. We dived in opposite directions, away from the plunging dragon. Mere moments later, it impacted the ground with a sickening thud, sending dust and debris flying. I moved cautiously towards the body to survey the damage. The dragon’s wings flapped feebly, its body writhed in slow and steady suffering.
“Ugh, this is horrible,” Proz muttered.
“Come on, we’ve gotta get the artifact.”
The two of us tugged at the cube, but it was stuck fast.
“Crap, now what?” Proz asked. I shot him a grave look, and his face blanched.
“No way, that’s too awful.”
“There’s nothing else we can do, Proz. It’s already dead.”
Grimly, he lit the TNT he’d been clutching, and placed it at the dragon’s neck.
“Get back!”
We beat a hasty retreat and barely had time to shield our eyes before the explosive detonated. The artifact came free of the dragon’s head, skidding across the island. I quickly caught it before it tumbled over the edge. Though I tried my best to avoid glancing at the violet blood gushing from the decapitated dragon, I couldn’t help but steal a look, and felt the bile rising in my throat.
“Ugh. Poor beast.”

The dragon’s corpse suddenly began to glow, the strange symbols and bizarre energy that had radiated from the crystals cascading and spiralling from its body. It grew brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding, and with it grew a deafeningly resonant rumbling sound that seemed to come from everywhere. In that moment, it was as if the world itself had been slain.
Then there was a burst of brilliant light, and the dragon was gone.
In its place, a portal had opened, atop of which sat a jet-black egg, speckled with purple markings.
“A dragon egg!” Proz cried. “Quick, let’s get it!”
We approached the portal and found that the egg sat upon a column, too high for either of us to reach alone.
“Dammit,” Proz said. “Hey, put down that box of yours and I’ll give you a boost.”

- "Sure thing, Proz."
- "...How about I give YOU a boost?"

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Re: [DAY 15] The Artifact - Act III

Post by haxxorzd00d » 03 Jul 2014, 05:19

More Artifact on the way today! I've overcome my writer's block and it's time to pick this up.

Here's a rundown of our hero's exploits.

Your Allegiances
Mountbatten is distrusting of you. Your wavering loyalty and stubborn defence of the artifact left him unimpressed.
Wokka is your enemy. You've always felt he was up to something; rational or not, your suspicions put you in his bad books.
Sneaky fears your intentions. You were unwilling to trust him, and now he's on the run.
You have allies in Steve and Deri. Your stalwart support for them may prove useful.
Proz's motives are unknown, though at present he is your ally.
Beltom is a kindly acquaintance. He may be willing to aid you in pursuit of the truth.

Your Tendencies
You are generally distrusting of others.
You'll do whatever it takes to protect the artifact.
You're really just looking for answers - anyone that won't tell it to you straight is suspicious.
You're not above causing chaos to get your way.

Where is everyone?
Sneaky, Wokka and Mountbatten are gone, presumably through the artifact portal.
Proz and our hero are in the End.
Beltom is (probably) back on Sneaky's island.
Steve and Deri are in the burning forest. They've called in a favour from someone.
The artifact is safely back in our hero's hands.

Stay tuned for Day 16, coming shortly!

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Re: [DAY 16] The Artifact - Act III

Post by haxxorzd00d » 03 Jul 2014, 11:42

Day 16

"Uh... why don't I give YOU a boost?" I replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Proz retorted. "Don't you trust me?"
"It's not that, I just-"
"You think I'm gonna grab the artifact and run? Is that it?"
"Well, uh..." I stammered. Proz had hit the nail on the head.
"Come on, man. If I really wanted that box of yours, there are far more... EXPLOSIVE ways of dealing with you."
Proz advanced on me, gesturing as if to light a block of TNT.
"Whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed. "Calm down Proz, I didn't mean-"
Proz suddenly sparked his flint and steel in my face, sending me reeling backwards from the shock. A devilish grin crossed his face and he laughed.
"Relax, bro! I'm just screwing with ya," he chuckled. "C'mere and gimme a boost."
Profoundly relieved, I braced myself and boosted Proz atop the column of creamy white stone. He snatched up the jet-black dragon egg and promptly leapt from the pillar into the swirling portal below.
"Proz, wait!" I yelled, and dived after him.

I tumbled from the portal and flopped onto soft grass dappled with dewdrops. The rosy glow of the rising sun caught my eye; I was in the middle of an open plain, a sea of verdant rolling hills and pretty red and yellow flowers. To the west, a slowly dissipating column of smoke marked the helicopter crash site.
I clambered to my feet and saw, to no surprise whatsoever, that Proz was gone. The sneaky double-crossing bugger had probably been after the dragon egg all along! A rare item like that would fetch a small fortune on the black market.
After the ordeal I'd been through - exploding choppers and raging dragons - I was grateful for this brief moment of tranquillity. I sat down to watch the day begin, artifact in hand.
Then I noticed it wasn't glowing.

My heart skipped a beat. Was it over? Had the object of my obsessions lost its innate energy and become nothing more than a worthless trinket? I breathed deeply and gripped the dormant cube, hoping to channel its power as I had done within the padded cell back at CUT HQ. There was nothing. No visions, no hallucinations, no faint spark of life. This otherwordly object, single-handedly responsible for plunging Escapia into conflict, had become a finely chiselled, perfectly inert lump of uselessness.
I felt sick to my stomach. My quest for answers had been brought to an abrupt end. This extraordinary voxel of secrets had swallowed up our nation's greatest leaders, then snuffed itself out.

I was snapped out of my despondent stupor by a rumbling tremor that shook me into action. It lasted mere seconds, but seemed to have originated from the crash site. I scooped up the inert cube and set off at a brisk clip towards the charred treeline. I emerged into the woodland clearing to find a Nether portal had appeared amidst the debris. Beside it stood Steve, with Deri propped up on one shoulder, as well as a third person I didn't recognise.
"Hey, you're back!" Steve called to me. "And you got the box back- what happened to it?"
"It's dead," I replied grimly. "It's out of energy or something. I don't know."
"Wait, what!?" Steve cried. "How... how did that even-"
"It's a portal. Sneaky opened it and the dragon flew through and-"
Steve cut me off.
"Whoa, slow down. Portals, dragons - this sounds like a long story. I'm sure it can wait until we're back."
"Back?" I asked. "Where are we going?"
"Oh, right." Steve gestured to the third man in their party, who was hurriedly tapping away on a tablet.
"Meet Derek."
Derek remained engrossed in whatever he was doing.
"He, uh... he likes Facebook. Anyway, I messaged him and had him spawn us a portal from the Nether-side."
Derek revealed an obsidian device similar to those I'd seen before - they vaguely resembled the dial on a safe - and slotted it into the portal, twisting and turning it until it let out a satisfying "ka-chunk" and the deep indigo portal flushed a familiar scarlet.
"How do those portal key things work, anyway?" I asked.
"Oh, the Gatekeepers?" Steve replied. "Wokka had them commisioned to manipulate portals - his response to an alarming rise in portal-based breaking and entering incidents. These things love to spawn in people's houses."
"And CUT repurposed them for its own ends, I assume?"
"It's what we do!"
As we readied to step into the portal, a disturbance in the undergrowth behind us caught our attention. Suddenly, Beltom burst through the brush, his face a tapestry of physical exertion.
"Hold on, chaps! I can't run like I used to!"

CreepsUTrust HQ had undergone a remarkable rejuvenation since I had previously escaped from its decrepit shell. The tower itself looked good as new; the last few pieces of the netherbrick bridge were being maneuvered into place by a mysterious hovering figure, cloaked in red.
"How's it coming, Numbers?" Steve called to the figure.
"Meh," he replied.
"That's one of the admins," Steve explained. "He's been using his time-reversing powers to undo the damage to our HQ."
"I call it 'rolling back'," Numbers responded nonchalantly.
We crossed swiftly over the bridge and proceeded to the back door, as before. The elevator rushed us to the executive floors, and we stepped out into an elegantly panelled boardroom. Steve approached the head of the table and opened a concealed drawer, revealing a shiny red button banded with striped warning tape, labelled "Employee TP".
"You might want to stand back," he warned.
Steve hit the button and within seconds, an assortment of CUT employees began phasing into the room. The higher-ranking board of directors appeared at the table, and numerous lesser peons materialised around it. The room became a hive of flustered activity; clearly this mass teleport didn't give people much warning.
"Hey, I was about to get the high score-"
"Wha-huh? I was asleep..."
"How about a heads up next time!"
The crowd of assembled CUT employees chattered away in frustration.
"Shut up!" Steve yelled. The throng fell silent.
"We've got an update on the Mountbatten situation. The rescue party ran into... well, difficulties. TL;DR - shit's hit the fan, and we need your help."
Steve gestured towards me. "This guy here - I don't believe I caught his name - holds the key to resolving this crisis. Or at least, I think he does. He says it's broken. Anyway, I'll let him speak."
I placed the artifact upon the table with a heavy thud, took a deep breath, and began to tell my story to the CreepsUTrust congregation.

"...and that's it," I concluded. "They're all trapped Notch-knows-where, and this cube may be their only hope."
"Except it's dead," a red-headed scientist piped up. "Great, that's just great."
"Pipe down, Beard," another employee replied, with a thick German accent.
"So the way I see it," one of the directors began - I recognised him as Tyrese, Escapia's premier spin doctor - "we need a plan of action. We're lacking information and we need a way to get it."

"Information?" asked another admin, clad in some sort of power-suit and grasping a mining laser. "We need action! If what this guy's saying is true - and I'm inclined to believe him - our so-called 'glorious leaders' are nothing but dangerous maniacs! We don't need them back! We should cast that cube into the End and be rid of it for good. Losing Mountbatten is a worthy sacrifice for the safety of our nation. We don't want a war, people."

"Spy, don't be ridiculous," the instantly recognisable Kindy retorted. "We can't afford to lose them. If anything, we should be figuring out how to power this thing up so we can get them back! You say it's a portal, right? Well, there's one guy that knows more about inter-dimensional travel than anyone. After all, he built the Hub."
I'd heard stories of the Hub's grand architect - a man named Lionheart, who ventured into the wilds to work on a mega-project and was never heard from again.
"I'm sure we can dig out our old maps to Imperial City and find the guy."

"This all seems too convenient," a director named Sti interjected. "Wokka's a powerful man - some revere him as a god - getting himself trapped in another dimension isn't exactly his style. I reckon he'll have a backup plan. He does have subordinates, after all."
"Subordinates?" the group asked. "Who?" "What could they do?"
"Eggy and Tulon, Wokka's loyal cronies. No doubt they've already learned of his disappearance and are enacting his pre-arranged contingency plan. We need to track 'em down, and hit 'em hard, before Escapia gets the royal screw-job."

"There is... one other option," a voice remarked from the back of the room. Beltom stepped forward. "It's clear that Sneaky has some history with this artifact. And if it's history we're after, there may be a man that can help us."
Bemused expressions crossed the faces of the assembled employees.
"The sole inhabitant of Genesis... Sneaky's brother, Collin. If we find him, he may just provide us with the information we need."

The crowd mulled over these options for a few moments, before gradually turning to me.
"Don't look at me, I just want this whole ordeal over and done with," I said wearily. "You guys take a vote."

DECLARE A PLAN OF ACTION!
- Take the artifact to the End and destroy it. It's nothing but trouble.
- Seek out Lionheart. He may know the secrets of inter-world travel.
- Track down Eggy and Tulon, Wokka's henchmen. They must have a plan.
- Travel to Genesis to find Sneaky's brother Collin. Those two go way back.

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Re: [DAY 16!] The Artifact - Act III

Post by haxxorzd00d » 07 Jul 2014, 04:25

MOAR CHOICES FOR YOU!

Day 16.5

After much deliberation and debate, the assembled CUT employees came to a decision.
"We feel our best course of action," Steve said, "is to travel to Genesis and find Sneaky's brother Collin."
"I'm sure he can provide us with valuable information concerning Sneaky's past," Tyrese stated.
"Yeah, and if Sneaky can activate the artifact, maybe he can too!" Vallorn pointed out.
"Worst comes to worst, we can take him hostage and use him as leverage," Beard exclaimed.
Beltom spoke up.
"Alright, so it's decided. There is, however, a small problem."
He had the group's attnetion.

"Genesis is a distant land, fondly remembered by the old guard but largely shrouded in mystery. I can guide us once we get there - but getting there is the hard part."
"But wait, isn't there a gateway to Genesis at the Hub!" Sti asked. "What's wrong with that?"
"Wokka's agents will surely be hunting the artifact; they'll probably have put a bounty on the head of anyone even remotely associated with it," Kindy explained. "The Hub is about the highest-profile place we could go right now."
"Who said we have to be high-profile?" Beard said. "There's no reason we can't sneak in... with SCIENCE!"
"I'm not even sure why this is an issue," Spy piped up. "Beltom's been there before, he can just conjure up a teleportation spell and whisk you guys back there."
"Not so, my young admin," Beltom replied. I'm more than a little rusty with these things, and the efficacy of the spell dwindles with distance and time - not to mention the constant shifting of worlds could set my co-ordinates way off."
"But there's still a chance, right?"
"Of course. But is that really a risk you want to take?"
"I don't see any alternative," Spy replied irritably. "The CUT chopper's out of commission, and we can't exactly hop on a boat and sail over there; that could take weeks."
A thought suddenly occurred to me.
"Genesis had Nether portals, right?"
"It may have had one or two," Beltom responded, "why d'you ask?"
"Travelling on the surface may take weeks - but through the Nether, we could get there in days... or less!"
"It's a long shot, but it just might work," Vallorn remarked. "Apart from the inherent risk of getting lost or melting in lava or getting murderlized by scary things, of course."
"Well?" Steve asked me. "What's it gonna be?"
Something seemed a litle off about all these choices, as if they were being shoved down my throat to give me a greater sense of investment in the story. Couldn't someone else decide all this stuff so I could just get on with things? Regardless, I had to make a choice.

GENESIS OR BUST!
- Ninja your way into the Hub.
- Take a chance on Beltom's teleport spell.
- Venture through the Nether.

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Re: [DAY 16.5] The Artifact - Act III

Post by RobipodSupreme » 07 Jul 2014, 05:38

Ninja
I'm like 80% gayer than when I was on here last
I was a mod once
my discord is Ryin ❄#4444 if you wanna hmu fams
Miss you :(

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Re: [DAY 16.5] The Artifact - Act III

Post by haxxorzd00d » 07 Jul 2014, 05:58

RobipodSupreme wrote:Ninja
You know there's a poll at the top of the page, right

YOUR A POLL

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Re: [DAY 16.5] The Artifact - Act III

Post by Josh349 » 07 Jul 2014, 07:37

haxxorzd00d wrote:
RobipodSupreme wrote:Ninja
You know there's a poll at the top of the page, right
Heuuuuuuuuur Yah!
Image
Image

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Re: [DAY 17.1] The Artifact - Act III

Post by haxxorzd00d » 07 Jul 2014, 14:34

Day 17
Beltom & Friends in “Multiverse Mayhem”

Adventure time! Come on, grab your reading glasses!

“...I like Beltom’s idea,” I decided, after some deliberation.
“Really?” Beltom exclaimed, quite alarmed. “You mean the one with the rather high risk of trans-dimensional displacement and subsequent shenanigans?”
“Yeah, let’s do that. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
“Alrighty then! Anyone else up for coming with us?” Beltom asked the assembly, only to be met with a deafening silence. What? It’s a figure of speech. Don’t judge me.
The doors to the boardroom suddenly burst open, and an immediately recognisable figure traipsed into the room.
“You gents goin’ on a wacky adventure to Version One without me?” the man cried.
“Blackadder!” Beltom replied. “I’ve not seen you in yonks!”
The two retired Operators shared a bromantic embrace. Blackadder craftily lit Beltom’s coat on fire behind his back as they hugged.
“...You’ve set me on fire, haven’t you?”
“Of course!”

After a short while to make travelling preparations, Black and I arrived at our pre-arranged meeting place on the netherbrick bridge outside CUT HQ, Beltom was waiting for us, and had drawn out a series of rings and symbols in redstone on the ground below him. As acting head of CreepsUTrust in Mountbatten’s absence, Steve had opted to stay behind to try and maintain some semblance of order, while Derigin’s fractured mind was being examined by the admins.
“Ready, chaps?” Beltom asked. I nodded, and Black gave a thumbs up.
The three of us stood within the redstone circle.
Beltom shut his eyes and raised his arms, and the redstone dust began to glow. The mystical illuminations grew brighter and brighter until they were a brilliant ruby-red, and an ethereal wind began to swirl around us. Suddenly a great flash blasted my retinas, and Beltom’s closed eyes opened with bright white fire. The swirling winds reached hurricane force, and I felt my senses overloading. I squeezed my eyes tight shut, and when I opened them…

“I knew this would happen,” Beltom mused anxiously. “What did I tell you? I’m all kinds of rusty at this!”
We were stood on a bright, sandy beach in what I could only assume was not Genesis.
“Hmm, I don’t recognise this place,” Beltom continued. “What say we have a look around, see if we’re anywhere near the Old Kingdom.”
We didn’t have to travel far before things started to seem… out of the ordinary. As we trekked through a sheltered stretch of woodland, I noticed discoloured trees with bizarre markings unlike anything I’d seen before. Beltom came to a sudden halt, holding up his hand for us to do the same.
“Listen,” he uttered. Sure enough, I could make out sounds up ahead. They sounded… mechanical?
Then we saw it. Through the leafy canopy, an enormous redwood tree was visible a hundred or so metres away, reaching high into the air. As we emerged from the woods, I noticed various pipes, tubes and mechanisms protruding from the tree; the strange mechanical noises originated from here. As we approached, a hidden door in the tall tree’s thick bark swung open, and a familiar face emerged.
“What brings you folks to Beard-Tec?”

To be continued...

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