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A Wandering Esper generated a random number between
30 and 90 ...
68!
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 Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 11:18 am
At last, Joshua made his way to the enlightened path. He seemed to be doing good... at least he hoped. It wasn't like he could mentally keep track of his time, but no trapdoor had opened to throw him out and no doors had locked before him. This was a good thing, right ?
There was an high door, and the goal was obvious - climb your way up there, with whatever you could.
The base had to be the strongest, and yet the most stable - it would have to support both his weight and the weight of the other objects combined. The broken statue was fitting enough, massive and heavy (it seemed to take him forever just to get it into position) and the break was more or less horizontal - stable enough for an the bottom of an old bookshelf to be put on top of it.
Next came a broken stool, with only three of it's four legs left. The stool wasn't as stable as Joshua would have liked, but it stood upright - it would have to do, just long enough. The stool was topped by a pillow Well, No one was likely to be missing it.
He just needed a little more... there was a large dictionary (seriously, the thing was massive - getting it up on the heap was a struggle) and, finally, a small cushion, which had probably once adorned a chair.
Well. Joshua figured he probably only had one go at this - he took a few steps back, and ran - leaped on the statue, climbing on the stool.
The stool didn't hold his weight long - just enough to get on top of the pile - and he clung to the top when the upper part of his ladder went down into rubble.
Oh god oh god oh...
He pulled himself up, stumbled into the door, and pretty much let himself fall down, taking a moment to catch his breath once it seemed that he had realized the impossible.
Joshua had made it to the end of all the three challenges.
((Time Spent - 48secs + 34secs + 68secs = 150secs
Time left - 180-48-34-68 = 30secs))
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Pyry generated a random number between
20 and 80 ...
28!
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 12:30 pm
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Pyry generated a random number between
30 and 90 ...
50!
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 12:31 pm
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Pyry generated a random number between
30 and 90 ...
46!
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 12:32 pm
[3/3]
[28+50+46 = 124
Time left = 56 sec.]
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shibrogane generated a random number between
30 and 90 ...
40!
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:10 pm
Compose a poem to the lost kingdom of Aquarius?
Well, she'd been living there for the past five weeks, but that didn't mean she necessarily understood much about them. There were labs, but all she could think of was the impromptu rhyme from Willy Wonka--in her years in Meadowview she'd heard it jokingly repeated during poetry assignments ad nauseum...
Maybe if she just talked?
"The Aquarians as a society
were full of a great sobriety,
which forced all others to acknowledge
they had the greatest stores of knowledge
Their skills did not end there;
artistic skill couldn't be called rare.
Athletic skill also had value,
but all three were for Aquarians to pursue."
Marienrode wasn't quite sure if Value and Pursue were actually rhymes, but they were slant rhymes which was good enough for high school Language Arts and Literacy. Apparently it was also good enough for the Echoes of Home, and she bolted to the next section.
[Time spent: 40
Time remaining: 180 - 40 = 140]
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shibrogane generated a random number between
20 and 80 ...
70!
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:11 pm
The next obstacle she encountered was a handful of tiles on the floor. A word search! Easy enough, except... Those weren't letters. Marienrode spent a good amount of time just staring, trying to match the letters to the next; but eventually, she got a move on and started finding the small group of what she guessed were words on the floor. It made a weird pattern, sort of like this. [Time spent: 40 + 70 = 110 Time remaining: 180 - 40 - 70 = 70]
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shibrogane generated a random number between
30 and 90 ...
58!
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2011 1:13 pm
In the next section, Marienrode had to tip her head back to look at the door set high in the wall. How in the world would they get up there?... There was a whole lot of clutter set around, and she considered it for a long moment...
Finally she grabbed hold of an oversized wooden box, shoving it over under the door. That first, then, maybe... a chair? She added that on top, shoving it way back so she'd have the space to climb onto it. A bookshelf wouldn't fit, but there was a stool that, though it looked worse for wear, fit pretty well. She wedged something that looked like an unabridged atlas on top of the stool...
A little more space! And she knew she was running out of time.
Another oversized book, and then she tucked a medium-sized box under her arm.
Perhaps that'd overcomplicated it some; she took a good while to get up the makeshift ladder, partially because things kept breaking. But finally, she reached the door and threw herself through it. It was a red-faced, panting Marienrode who progressed into the darkness on the other side of the Enlightened Path with only a few seconds to spare.
[Time spent: 40 + 70 + 58 = 168
Time remaining: 180 - 40 - 70 - 58 = 12 seconds to spare]
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Posted: Thu Oct 13, 2011 7:47 pm
At the end of the gauntlet, past the final door, was yet another set of stairs. Unlike the others, these led upwards, and only briefly before opening onto a spacious room, far more cozy than any of the others. There were chairs and tables, clear spheres that served as lamps scattered plentifully, and the ubiquitous bookshelves found in the main outpost. None of these were the focal point of the room- not even the books, for a change.
On tables and shelves, chairs and ledges, were cups. Thick ceramic cups glazed in various colors. Thin glass cups with delicate etching. Heavy stone cups, cups decorated in tiles, metal cups studded with polished gems. Some had handles, or stems, while others were plain. There were even a few that were too large to be properly called cups, and others far too heavy to lift.
For a moment, it appeared that they had only stumbled upon Aquarius' secret storeroom of dishes. But wait- was that a letter? And a whole sentence on this one. While the cups were all made from different materials and in different styles, they did have one thing in common: they all bore a word, or words, somewhere on their surface.
There is another door at the back of the room, but perhaps it would be best to linger for a while, looking at the numerous works of art. If they were important enough to require such a heavy guard, they must have held some sort of significance. Maybe it was too soon to write it off as a wild goose chase?
[PLAYERS: You may each select one cup from Aquarius' storeroom to bring with you- any more, and you risk dropping what you carry. You may describe the cup your character chooses in as little or as much detail as you would like: is it light, or heavy? A cup, or a mug, or a glass? What is it made of? How is it decorated? These are all up to you, with the following two stipulations: all of the cups must be able to hold water, and they all must have some form of writing on them. You can decide where and how much, but the writing itself is unreadable. Characters who have studied the books at Aquarius Outpost may recognize some of the symbols, but their meaning is still a mystery.
Once your character has made their selection, they may exit through the door at the far end!]
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 9:56 am
When Callum entered the new room he was a bit startled to find dishes. Judging by the décor, it was a bit like a lounge. That is definitely not was he expected to find. How disappointing. But, there was a door… maybe there was more beyond that door.
Callum couldn’t, or really just wouldn’t wait. He was going to move on. However, he was a little parched. So he picked up the first wine glass he saw; maybe there'd be water in the next room. The glass was a crystal clear, and around the rim was a string of etchings vaguely resembling those from the floor of an earlier room.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 3:17 pm
This wasn't really what Joshua had expected.
He expected a place full of books, perhaps - ancient, hidden secrets. Well, there were definitively books here, but they very clearly weren't the focus - which was odd in itself.
No, the glasses clearly were. Uh ? All those challenges, all that work... for glasses ? Yeah, Joshua wasn't sure what was going on here at all, but one of them caught his eye. It was an highly ornamental cup decorated in light and dark blue tiles, with a thick handle - onto said handle were etched symbols that looked similar to those he'd seen in one of the last challenges, a sentence or two worth if Joshua tried to make an educated guess. The rim was plated in what looked to be real gold.
Uh... He had a feeling he should take it along - he didn't know why, but... He did, in fact, take it, and move to exit the room.
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Posted: Fri Oct 14, 2011 6:22 pm
Marienrode didn't actually feel that thirsty; she just felt anxious, and worried. What had happened to the children who had failed the second and third challenges? Hopefully they got back to the original layers of Aquarius Outpost alright... She looked up and around the room, crossing to examine what looked like, to her, a pitcher-like cup. If she didn't know it obviously came from space, she would have placed it as one of the stoneware pieces of the Abbasid dynasty; as it was, she knew it had to be Aquarian of some kind. That didn't explain the pure white sheen on the jar or the clear blue designs in some ancient calligraphy--the same symbols from the crossword puzzle? She couldn't tell--written upon it.
"Are you feeling quite well," she asked the boy looking at a crystal-clear wine glass. He seemed to be slumping a little?... But he had already exited the room.
She peered inside uncertainly, but only got dust in her eyes for her trouble. The white-haired woman sneezed into her elbow, only holding onto the glass through sheer luck. As she exited the room, she rubbed her eyes under the half-moon glasses and sighed.
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Posted: Sun Oct 23, 2011 8:45 am
Who was really proud of herself? Flannery was! So the room of dishes didn't faze her at all; why wouldn't Aquarius have lots of cups here? It didn't matter, anyway, because Flannery was awesome and surely any cup she chose would be equally awesome. She didn't waste much time, grabbing a piece that was fairly plain except for a ring of blue and teal stone fragments around the base. A message was carved on the inside, and Flannery imagined that it promised her treasure beyond her wildest dreams. Or something.
And then she skipped out of the room, humming some ridiculous tune about amazing pirates.
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Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:05 pm
Through the door was... another staircase. It was hardly surprising, considering how far below ground level they had to be, but the sight of yet more stairs was a poor reward for the victors. This staircase climbed for a few minutes before ending abruptly. There were no rooms or doors at the top. But those who were familiar with Aquarius Outpost might know to look in the ceiling, and sure enough, a moderate amount of force would succeed in lifting the stone enough to wiggle through.
The stone slammed down after the last person passed, becoming indistinguishable from the rest of the floor, and the rest of the hallway they found themselves in. One end was collapsed, large blocks of stone and quantities of sand making it impassable. The other end led up one last, short flight of stairs, to another trapdoor. This one led aboveground at last; light streamed in through a hole in the mirrored wall behind them. Through the open door they could see the atrium of Aquarius Outpost, where this whole crazy endeavor had started.
Sitting on the edge of the fountain, leafing through a dusty tome, was Aquarius herself. She looked up at the noise, then broke into a grin. "Fantastic! I knew some of you would make it through! I was going to send a search party out if it got any later... but never mind that. What happened? What was it like? What did you find? Man, I should have gone after you as soon as I got back, but I thought I should wait here in case... well, never mind. Tell me all about it!"
[PLAYERS: Well, what are you waiting for? Do what Aquarius asks, and maybe she'll reward you!]
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Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 9:05 am
More stairs ?
Yeah, Joshua was pretty certain he wanted nothing to do with stairs for a little while after this...
Too bad there were no elevators in space. Eventually, through, the stairs ended, abruptly.
...And the only way was up - sure enough the tile easily lifted with his push, and Joshua climbed out, followed by the others.
"Well..." He figured Aquarius knew what the challenges were like. "We ended up in a room full of cups." He held out his own for emphasis. "Like these..."
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Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 4:16 pm
Stairs! They were going to the bane of Callum’s existence. Climbing up them, Callum was surprised, even more than he was at the room of cups, to come back to very place everyone had started.
“What did we find?... what did we find!?” The game wasn’t exactly how the young man thought his day would pass. Nor did they find anything that he thought much of. He had survived crossing that gross looking sand pit, and moving through a jumble of nonsense words. Decorating a tile was all well and good, there was no errant danger in doodling. But still! He had done all that, and what did he have to show for it!
“You sent us on that crazy errand, and all I got was this cup!” Callum huffed, as he showed the wine glass he carried. After all that, he held onto the thing like it belonged to him now.
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