Damn just finished reading it and holy fuck I really did just take the absolutely safest route possible. I'm excited to see your commentary in the later parts as I really enjoyed reading what had happened and what your general thoughts were on it. It was also really interesting to see the unknown items, npc's, etc. Also, Voltage funny to see that you and I are kindred spirits.
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FOR THE GUYS todd bonzalez's... smogoff rpg [postgame]
- Thread starter az
- Start date
i used to like you earl.
also, for the viewers: stay tuned! there's an incredible arc coming up soon. one user in particular will be either more or less surprised than the general public.
I still like you
*anxiously awaiting the commentary of my absolute fucking blunder at the key at A1*
Re: fleeing, yeah I though I couldn't flee past the daemons in any direction besides the previous square, but also I figured it was better to flee back to a familiar place than try to gamble on a square I didn't know. Also the framing of the page made it seem like fleeing towards A1 wouldve been not possible based on the way the 3 daemons were positioned and where phive was. Worked out alright in the end
Re: fleeing, yeah I though I couldn't flee past the daemons in any direction besides the previous square, but also I figured it was better to flee back to a familiar place than try to gamble on a square I didn't know. Also the framing of the page made it seem like fleeing towards A1 wouldve been not possible based on the way the 3 daemons were positioned and where phive was. Worked out alright in the end
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mid game, pt 1 (cycles 10-17)
new players enter the game, powerful treasure awaits, and the killing begins...
cycle 10
xzern and phoopes join the game. this was the only time more players joined the game, and i think any later than this and it would have been a problem, but at cycle 10 it felt like a sweet spot where hopping in at full health after everyone else has been trading blows and picking up Status effects was still balanced out by not having knowledge of the map or the benefit of items looted, while still being possible to get into the game and be competitive. phoopes was supposed to be in the original line-up but had to drop out and (with Mathy taking that spot), so it was great to be able to get him in again, and i just had an inkling that the game would be a good fit for xzern, who just missed signups. i tried to use this window of opportunity to get dave back in the game, but i couldn't get a confirmation in time
another big change this cycle: new treasure. in the cycle announcement map which previously has only lit up white and red there were now golden flashing tiles, which observant players realised were tiles they may have previously looted. from now on up until a late-game trigger, treasure chests would refresh every 10 cycles, giving players another bit of intel to plan around. some players will beeline for these over the next few turns
Lady Salamence discovers chimp's corpse and the goon squad in new personae, and an ominous discussion ensues:
this bluff successfully spooks her off, buying them another cycle to rest. earl has rested three times since being afflicted by Burned, and so recovers from it
Voltage comes across the Filthy Lurker shop, and buys himself a Bookmark, saving it for later
BIG ASHLEY narrowly avoids behind battered by a Flame Troll, and flees
cycle 11
ThatOneSpork gives up on the key at H8 and carries on around the perimeter, leaving pop culture references as they go
Drifting veers off from heading for the key at A1 to grab an adjacent treasure, the extremely powerful Redirect Page
Voltage also comes across a powerful item, the Doubleposter's Doublet, on his way to A1, with Albatross still convalescing just one move away. all the while, her Alert Bell is pinging, showing her people moving around close by...
BIG ASHLEY and Lady Salamence run into one another once again, competing for the treasure chest at G7. they finally resolve to form party number two—Rock Anthem
for the entire tenure of this party i would continue to misimagine their name as Rock Mafia. they share maps; while BIG ASHLEY has mostly been in the South East quadrant, Lady Salamence has come from much farther afield. They loot the chest to obtain a Hyper Quill, a replacement for the Feather Quill that still allows the user to post, but will also allow them to create a Hyperlink—a reusable one-way teleporter to another location the map of the author's choosing. there's just one catch: it requires Blue Ink to do so
Rock Anthem resolve to split up briefly; BIG ASHLEY will go scout out the key at H8, while Lady Salamence sits still to recover from her Poison ordeal. they agree to swap items: BIG ASHLEY leaves her Ring of Refreshing with Lady Salamence while taking the former's Firewall armour in case of trouble. this makes some sense; Lady Salamence will now be able to recover 2 HP per cycle spent resting, but it will ultimately be a costly move
elsewhere, at F5, monkfish loots the very item Rock Anthem need, Blue Ink, from the chest there
the now very worse for wear grape tylenol runs into xzern at the treasure chest on G2. she makes an attempt at haggling for him to leave the treasure to her, but xzern informs her he is out for blood, and will give her one chance to flee. she takes it, leaving xzern to loot the Redirect Page. he then opts to close the now-empty chest again, as a kind of low-stakes practical joke. why not?
Mathy and phoopes have an awkward meet-cute over a treasure chest, trading blows in between words as they figure out how to resolve this impasse. eventually they stop fighting and agree to team up, forming the game's third formal party: The Math Professors
fitting that phoopes and phoopes' replacement should form an alliance. they grab a Doubleposter's Doublet of their own, but now they have a new problem: Mathy is moderator-aligned, but phoopes is fresh to the game and so has the default win condition. they resolve to head back to The Last Moderator at B6 to get phoopes all straightened out
cycle 12
CryoGyro has a near-miss with Drifting and loots the Old Crest from C4, a low-level piece of armour. Brambane also comes across a treasure chest uncontested at D2, but apparently forgets to loot it, and leaves
Voltage makes it to B1, meaning he and Albatross are both a single move from A1. he leaves this post, giving us ~xtreme xclusive~ look at the inner workings of his mind and how close he is to claiming the key adjacent:
Drifting is still on his way up there, but since he sidestepped to get to the chest at B5, he's behind, and misses out on A4. more on A4 later
grape tylenol finally resolves to sit still and heal up, posting up on G1. she will be here for several cycles curing her Poisoned status, and then for several cycles more to get her HP back.
with grape tylenol on G1, Albatross on A2, and BIG ASHLEY on H7, all three members of this as-yet informal party are just one move away from each of the three unclaimed keys, which is an incredibly strong position to be in. oh, that's right: BIG ASHLEY has been leading Lady Salamence along, pondering how best to lure her into an ambush with her other two True party members. this may in part be behind the risky gear reshuffle in the previous cycle, but it will have consequences for BIG ASHLEY, too
speaking of Lady Salamence, she has finally recovered from being poisoned, but she is still at half HP when her solo meditation is rudely interrupted by the arrival of the goon squad, who have rested up a little and detected her with an Alert Bell (actually, this isn't quite right, because the Alert Bell was used last cycle after Lady Salamence fled, and can't show you an update mid-cycle like that. the player they actually detected was BIG ASHLEY, but Lady Salamence is headed that way, anyway). after a brief skirmish, she flees, tails between her legs, and very low on health
The Math Professors arrive at The Last Moderator, and phoopes is officially initiated into the order, complete with badge andgun Bookmark
cycle 13
Drifting arrives on B3 just in time for a Spambot to spawn there, which he defeats. it drops a Trojan Egg, and he chooses to spawn a Spambot with it right away on A1, presumably to slow anyone else that gets there down with it since he's been waylaid. i like this play a lot
Voltage finally arrives at A1, but is still stumped by the password. he scans the tile just below his, to spot Albatross, and then hops back over to B1. i'm not 100% sure on what the motivations were here—i know that Drifting had been in contact with some players and there was some cagey distrustful half-reveal of information going on around this part of the game, so it's possible this is related to the Spambot spawning—i got the impression that Drifting may have directed Voltage to stand by but not revealed the password trick to him at this point
The Math Professors stumble into C6, and receive the Frozen status. this will slow them in any combat encounters. cryogenics is a suitable place for moderators, i think
CryoGyro picks up the Poisoned status for visiting C3, but their Ring of Refreshing will nullify its effects while they travel; they will take 1 damage for moving while poisoned, and recover 1 HP at the start of each turn from the ring, so it isn't much of a hindrance
Troubadour1 briefly steps off D4 to do battle with a Toxic Troll, before returning to D4. this will result in another near-miss next cycle. the more i look it over, the more tragic the tale of the D4 poster becomes!
xzern becomes the first to discover the Editor, a very handy shop and dark souls blacksmith-style NPC. he has no Likes to buy or upgrade anything with, but this forms a kind of miniquest for him. he sets off to make his fortune, with the intention of coming back here
monkfish wanders into the Flame War Battlefield at F6, and picks up a burn
Lady Salamence arrives at H7 where BIG ASHLEY waits for her, with goon squad hot on her heels. Rock Anthem is hastily reformed and they quickly reshuffle their equipment before the game's first instance of party vs party combat begins
because of the varied statuses of the respective participants, this was a curious fight: earl and Blizihguh are only at about half health each, with one of them afflicted by Burned, so a lot of damage on one of them in one round could be disastrous for them. BIG ASHLEY is at full health (if Burned), but goon squad of course know that Lady Salamence must be at least somewhat low, because they attacked her previously, and that makes all the difference. after a decent hit from BIG ASHLEY on earl, Lady Salamence doesn't even get a hit in—she's mercilessly focused down, giving goon squad their second kill. outnumbered, BIG ASHLEY resolves to flee, but not before witnessing the horror of the power of the Quote Bubble:
and with that, the short-lived Rock Anthem is no more
cycle 14
a fully rested Albatross finally arrives at A1 to discover the key, and the Spambot left for her there by Drifting. she defeats the Spambot, receives a Trojan Egg of her own, enters the correct password, and claims the key. this is significant more broadly, too, because Albatross was working on a theory espoused (not to be confused with edating or thai brides) by grape tylenol on the nature of the passwords, disseminated to her fellow girlbeese remotely. they've now confirmed that they know how to access each of the keys, and they are in the strongest position to claim them all, with grape tylenol still healing on G1, and once-again-free-agent BIG ASHLEY newly fled to H8
Albatross is not done, yet, though: before moving on she will leave a post suggesting she couldn't figure out the password, in a bid to throw any pursuers off the scent. this may be somewhat confusing for Voltage in a cycle or two's time, as he spies on Albatross's encounter with the Spambot with his Search Lens from B1
BIG ASHLEY gets the password for her key on the very opposite side of the map, and claims it. ostensibly, this unofficial party is now in a really strong spot, with just grape tylenol to claim a key for them to have one each. unfortunately, being separated from each other is going to make things very tricky, especially with other players partying up
Drifting is again waylaid, now by a clutch of Daemons. he opts to rest, which will make player positions next cycle very interesting
goon squad head back the way they came, to G7. it looks like BIG ASHLEY has given them the slip, for now, but it's also worth pointing out that amidst all of this no-one loots Lady Salamence; her powerful Quote Bubble trinket and Firewall armour will sit unused for the remainder of the game, and her corpse will never be discovered
monkfish discovers the Assassin at F7, and so also chimp's corpse. like others before him, monkfish is pretty creeped out after talking to the Assassin. he goes over the corpse for anything of interest, but goon squad picked it clean
as previously forecast, CryoGyro misses Troubadour1 at D3, skirting around the centre of the map
cycle 15
Voltage returns to A1, only to find the key, the Spambot, and Albatross all gone. i'd love to hear from Drifting and Voltage about what they thought was going on here, because i know Albatross was worrying about how to get out of this situation
Drifting is just below her, and she knows it (or at least knows that a potentially hostile player is there) thanks to her Alert Bell. i suspect that Voltage told Drifting he'd been to the key and that he had seen Albatross was there, and so Drifting finally resolved to reveal the gimmick to Voltage in order to make him a teammate and let him get the key, hoping Albatross wouldn't have figured it out by now. they were too late, though, and what will follow is a really good juke by Albatross and great use of her items and intel
The Math Professors (Mathy and phoopes) come across and finally put down the Flame Troll at E6 that a handful of players have had a go at before them. they're struggling to find players to attack, but they aren't flying blind—@Mathy is searching tiles ahead as they go, and they've spotted an unlooted treasure chest at E7. phoopes embraces the moderator brand:
BIG ASHLEY opts not to risk going back for Lady Salamence's gear, which seems a fair call; it was reasonable to imagine goon squad were there resting, or lurking nearby
goon squad were in fact lurking nearby, just one tile over on G7, when monkfish arrives
earl and Blizihguh make no response except to attack, and monkfish is forced to flee. this is monkfish's last cycle before his postman's holiday. earl proposes that instead of chasing after players blindly, they ought to return to the locks (or 'mystery cube'/'puzzle box' as he variously refers to them as) at the centre of the grid in order to catch players exploring or interacting with that puzzle. it's a good instinct and a reasonable plan that will work out for them
Troubadour1 hops over to E4, parallel with CryoGyro who does the same to E3. so close, yet so far. CryoGyro loots a Bookmark from a chest
ThatOneSpork is making decent progress along their side of the perimeter, encountering and defeating a Crawler
cycle 16
Drifting and Voltage run into one another on A2, and form the party Cycle 16, A2 (parties are named for their time and location of formation by default)... they do not name this party until the lategame but because that title is terrible and confusing, from hereon they will be referred to by their eventual title: Deep Vein Thrombosis.
after some planning and inventory shuffling, they scan H1, confirm the key there is untouched, and resolve to move after Albatross. it's worth noting that this point this is still being discussed as meeting up with her—it is understood that she will wait for them, and Albatross has opted not to reveal that she has other allegiances. she is of course not waiting for them, and begins sprinting down row 2 to meet up with grape tylenol and BIG ASHLEY
The Math Professors loot an Alert Bell from the chest on E7, which will help them hunt down players
Troubadour1 once again expertly dodges an encounter, scouting out the lock on E5 just as CryoGyro steps onto E4. angels weep. noting this is an object of some importance, CryoGyro marks the location with their Bookmark, and can now return here at will, once
goon squad arrive back at the Assassin. they're just passing through, but they let him know they've scored some kills, anyway. he is pleased
at monkfish's request, he is godkilled. it's a shame, but what are you going to do? i opt to have him petrified as he arrives at G6. this may not have been that much of an upset; as well as a Flame Troll, xzern is here, who has made it clear they are out for blood. there might have been something poetic about monkfish leaving Lady Salamence for dead against a troll, if xzern had double-crossed him in turn, here, but instead xzern dispatches the Flame Troll, gains the Firewall armour for themselves, and has a rifle through monkfish's things
he also leaves a post, etched upon monkfish's remains:
with Likes in hand, xzern is back off to the Editor
on G2, Brambane discovers xzern's handiwork—they open a chest to discover... nothing
cycle 17
Deep Vein Thrombosis discover the post left for them at B2 by trickstrix supreme, Albatross, who is nowhere to be found:
and, presumably, understand that they have been had. they check that the key at H1 is still there (it is), and give chase
Albatross arrives at the Filthy Lurker's shop at C2, and confirms she is being chased (or perhaps just followed, at this point) with a ring of her Alert Bell. she then spends a small fortune on items, with the forethought of equipping not just herself but her soon-to-be teammates:
... and then deviously uses her Trojan Egg to incubate a Spambot here for the next cycle. i loved how these uses of the Trojan Egg turned out: Drifting spawned one to slow her down, and in turn Albatross spawns one (its child?) here to slow them down. very good
with both the Alert Bell and Search Lens at her disposal, Albatross is able to plan her moves very carefully, checking for anyone adjacent while scanning ahead for danger. she sees that D2, ahead of her to the South East, is clear, and even has a treasure chest to be opened
Troubadour1 arrives on D5, the last of the locks for them to discover, and now has the centre of the grid mapped out
CryoGyro battles and defeats the Spambot that Brambane gave up on on F4, and claims another Trojan Egg
BIG ASHLEY may have gotten a little confused about which direction she was supposed to be heading in, or perhaps was aiming to juke goon squad further, and does not begin heading up towards grape tylenol and Albatross, but instead carries on along the South West edge of the grid, and runs into two Scrapers there. she resolves to flee instead of fighting, farther along the perimeter
goon squad, having both healed off their burns previously, step back on F6. with their masks taking up the armour slot Firewall could have taken up, they are both Burned again. they follow through with their plan, anyway, to make for the centre of the grid
ThatOneSpork makes it to H2, and is just one move away from the key at H1. grape tylenol is still resting up on G1, and Brambane has wandered into G2. with these players clustered together here, and Albatross bringing Drifting and Voltage this way, too, a clash in the East is inevitable...
new players enter the game, powerful treasure awaits, and the killing begins...
cycle 10
xzern and phoopes join the game. this was the only time more players joined the game, and i think any later than this and it would have been a problem, but at cycle 10 it felt like a sweet spot where hopping in at full health after everyone else has been trading blows and picking up Status effects was still balanced out by not having knowledge of the map or the benefit of items looted, while still being possible to get into the game and be competitive. phoopes was supposed to be in the original line-up but had to drop out and (with Mathy taking that spot), so it was great to be able to get him in again, and i just had an inkling that the game would be a good fit for xzern, who just missed signups. i tried to use this window of opportunity to get dave back in the game, but i couldn't get a confirmation in time
another big change this cycle: new treasure. in the cycle announcement map which previously has only lit up white and red there were now golden flashing tiles, which observant players realised were tiles they may have previously looted. from now on up until a late-game trigger, treasure chests would refresh every 10 cycles, giving players another bit of intel to plan around. some players will beeline for these over the next few turns
Lady Salamence discovers chimp's corpse and the goon squad in new personae, and an ominous discussion ensues:
Masked Figure 1 said:
this bluff successfully spooks her off, buying them another cycle to rest. earl has rested three times since being afflicted by Burned, and so recovers from it
Voltage comes across the Filthy Lurker shop, and buys himself a Bookmark, saving it for later
BIG ASHLEY narrowly avoids behind battered by a Flame Troll, and flees
cycle 11
ThatOneSpork gives up on the key at H8 and carries on around the perimeter, leaving pop culture references as they go
Drifting veers off from heading for the key at A1 to grab an adjacent treasure, the extremely powerful Redirect Page
Voltage also comes across a powerful item, the Doubleposter's Doublet, on his way to A1, with Albatross still convalescing just one move away. all the while, her Alert Bell is pinging, showing her people moving around close by...
BIG ASHLEY and Lady Salamence run into one another once again, competing for the treasure chest at G7. they finally resolve to form party number two—Rock Anthem
for the entire tenure of this party i would continue to misimagine their name as Rock Mafia. they share maps; while BIG ASHLEY has mostly been in the South East quadrant, Lady Salamence has come from much farther afield. They loot the chest to obtain a Hyper Quill, a replacement for the Feather Quill that still allows the user to post, but will also allow them to create a Hyperlink—a reusable one-way teleporter to another location the map of the author's choosing. there's just one catch: it requires Blue Ink to do so
Rock Anthem resolve to split up briefly; BIG ASHLEY will go scout out the key at H8, while Lady Salamence sits still to recover from her Poison ordeal. they agree to swap items: BIG ASHLEY leaves her Ring of Refreshing with Lady Salamence while taking the former's Firewall armour in case of trouble. this makes some sense; Lady Salamence will now be able to recover 2 HP per cycle spent resting, but it will ultimately be a costly move
elsewhere, at F5, monkfish loots the very item Rock Anthem need, Blue Ink, from the chest there
the now very worse for wear grape tylenol runs into xzern at the treasure chest on G2. she makes an attempt at haggling for him to leave the treasure to her, but xzern informs her he is out for blood, and will give her one chance to flee. she takes it, leaving xzern to loot the Redirect Page. he then opts to close the now-empty chest again, as a kind of low-stakes practical joke. why not?
Mathy and phoopes have an awkward meet-cute over a treasure chest, trading blows in between words as they figure out how to resolve this impasse. eventually they stop fighting and agree to team up, forming the game's third formal party: The Math Professors
fitting that phoopes and phoopes' replacement should form an alliance. they grab a Doubleposter's Doublet of their own, but now they have a new problem: Mathy is moderator-aligned, but phoopes is fresh to the game and so has the default win condition. they resolve to head back to The Last Moderator at B6 to get phoopes all straightened out
cycle 12
CryoGyro has a near-miss with Drifting and loots the Old Crest from C4, a low-level piece of armour. Brambane also comes across a treasure chest uncontested at D2, but apparently forgets to loot it, and leaves
Voltage makes it to B1, meaning he and Albatross are both a single move from A1. he leaves this post, giving us ~xtreme xclusive~ look at the inner workings of his mind and how close he is to claiming the key adjacent:
phive here again, I am making my way about the perimeter, time to see if my theory Bout the corners hold. I'm certain it will but I am not sure what the passwords could be... is it those 7 numbers? Are they related to posts on the forums? I suppose time will tell |
Drifting is still on his way up there, but since he sidestepped to get to the chest at B5, he's behind, and misses out on A4. more on A4 later
grape tylenol finally resolves to sit still and heal up, posting up on G1. she will be here for several cycles curing her Poisoned status, and then for several cycles more to get her HP back.
with grape tylenol on G1, Albatross on A2, and BIG ASHLEY on H7, all three members of this as-yet informal party are just one move away from each of the three unclaimed keys, which is an incredibly strong position to be in. oh, that's right: BIG ASHLEY has been leading Lady Salamence along, pondering how best to lure her into an ambush with her other two True party members. this may in part be behind the risky gear reshuffle in the previous cycle, but it will have consequences for BIG ASHLEY, too
speaking of Lady Salamence, she has finally recovered from being poisoned, but she is still at half HP when her solo meditation is rudely interrupted by the arrival of the goon squad, who have rested up a little and detected her with an Alert Bell (actually, this isn't quite right, because the Alert Bell was used last cycle after Lady Salamence fled, and can't show you an update mid-cycle like that. the player they actually detected was BIG ASHLEY, but Lady Salamence is headed that way, anyway). after a brief skirmish, she flees, tails between her legs, and very low on health
The Math Professors arrive at The Last Moderator, and phoopes is officially initiated into the order, complete with badge and
cycle 13
Drifting arrives on B3 just in time for a Spambot to spawn there, which he defeats. it drops a Trojan Egg, and he chooses to spawn a Spambot with it right away on A1, presumably to slow anyone else that gets there down with it since he's been waylaid. i like this play a lot
Voltage finally arrives at A1, but is still stumped by the password. he scans the tile just below his, to spot Albatross, and then hops back over to B1. i'm not 100% sure on what the motivations were here—i know that Drifting had been in contact with some players and there was some cagey distrustful half-reveal of information going on around this part of the game, so it's possible this is related to the Spambot spawning—i got the impression that Drifting may have directed Voltage to stand by but not revealed the password trick to him at this point
The Math Professors stumble into C6, and receive the Frozen status. this will slow them in any combat encounters. cryogenics is a suitable place for moderators, i think
CryoGyro picks up the Poisoned status for visiting C3, but their Ring of Refreshing will nullify its effects while they travel; they will take 1 damage for moving while poisoned, and recover 1 HP at the start of each turn from the ring, so it isn't much of a hindrance
Troubadour1 briefly steps off D4 to do battle with a Toxic Troll, before returning to D4. this will result in another near-miss next cycle. the more i look it over, the more tragic the tale of the D4 poster becomes!
xzern becomes the first to discover the Editor, a very handy shop and dark souls blacksmith-style NPC. he has no Likes to buy or upgrade anything with, but this forms a kind of miniquest for him. he sets off to make his fortune, with the intention of coming back here
monkfish wanders into the Flame War Battlefield at F6, and picks up a burn
Lady Salamence arrives at H7 where BIG ASHLEY waits for her, with goon squad hot on her heels. Rock Anthem is hastily reformed and they quickly reshuffle their equipment before the game's first instance of party vs party combat begins
because of the varied statuses of the respective participants, this was a curious fight: earl and Blizihguh are only at about half health each, with one of them afflicted by Burned, so a lot of damage on one of them in one round could be disastrous for them. BIG ASHLEY is at full health (if Burned), but goon squad of course know that Lady Salamence must be at least somewhat low, because they attacked her previously, and that makes all the difference. after a decent hit from BIG ASHLEY on earl, Lady Salamence doesn't even get a hit in—she's mercilessly focused down, giving goon squad their second kill. outnumbered, BIG ASHLEY resolves to flee, but not before witnessing the horror of the power of the Quote Bubble:
and with that, the short-lived Rock Anthem is no more
cycle 14
a fully rested Albatross finally arrives at A1 to discover the key, and the Spambot left for her there by Drifting. she defeats the Spambot, receives a Trojan Egg of her own, enters the correct password, and claims the key. this is significant more broadly, too, because Albatross was working on a theory espoused (not to be confused with edating or thai brides) by grape tylenol on the nature of the passwords, disseminated to her fellow girlbeese remotely. they've now confirmed that they know how to access each of the keys, and they are in the strongest position to claim them all, with grape tylenol still healing on G1, and once-again-free-agent BIG ASHLEY newly fled to H8
Albatross is not done, yet, though: before moving on she will leave a post suggesting she couldn't figure out the password, in a bid to throw any pursuers off the scent. this may be somewhat confusing for Voltage in a cycle or two's time, as he spies on Albatross's encounter with the Spambot with his Search Lens from B1
BIG ASHLEY gets the password for her key on the very opposite side of the map, and claims it. ostensibly, this unofficial party is now in a really strong spot, with just grape tylenol to claim a key for them to have one each. unfortunately, being separated from each other is going to make things very tricky, especially with other players partying up
Drifting is again waylaid, now by a clutch of Daemons. he opts to rest, which will make player positions next cycle very interesting
goon squad head back the way they came, to G7. it looks like BIG ASHLEY has given them the slip, for now, but it's also worth pointing out that amidst all of this no-one loots Lady Salamence; her powerful Quote Bubble trinket and Firewall armour will sit unused for the remainder of the game, and her corpse will never be discovered
monkfish discovers the Assassin at F7, and so also chimp's corpse. like others before him, monkfish is pretty creeped out after talking to the Assassin. he goes over the corpse for anything of interest, but goon squad picked it clean
as previously forecast, CryoGyro misses Troubadour1 at D3, skirting around the centre of the map
cycle 15
Voltage returns to A1, only to find the key, the Spambot, and Albatross all gone. i'd love to hear from Drifting and Voltage about what they thought was going on here, because i know Albatross was worrying about how to get out of this situation
Drifting is just below her, and she knows it (or at least knows that a potentially hostile player is there) thanks to her Alert Bell. i suspect that Voltage told Drifting he'd been to the key and that he had seen Albatross was there, and so Drifting finally resolved to reveal the gimmick to Voltage in order to make him a teammate and let him get the key, hoping Albatross wouldn't have figured it out by now. they were too late, though, and what will follow is a really good juke by Albatross and great use of her items and intel
The Math Professors (Mathy and phoopes) come across and finally put down the Flame Troll at E6 that a handful of players have had a go at before them. they're struggling to find players to attack, but they aren't flying blind—@Mathy is searching tiles ahead as they go, and they've spotted an unlooted treasure chest at E7. phoopes embraces the moderator brand:
Trolling is a 3 point infraction |
BIG ASHLEY opts not to risk going back for Lady Salamence's gear, which seems a fair call; it was reasonable to imagine goon squad were there resting, or lurking nearby
goon squad were in fact lurking nearby, just one tile over on G7, when monkfish arrives
earl and Blizihguh make no response except to attack, and monkfish is forced to flee. this is monkfish's last cycle before his postman's holiday. earl proposes that instead of chasing after players blindly, they ought to return to the locks (or 'mystery cube'/'puzzle box' as he variously refers to them as) at the centre of the grid in order to catch players exploring or interacting with that puzzle. it's a good instinct and a reasonable plan that will work out for them
Troubadour1 hops over to E4, parallel with CryoGyro who does the same to E3. so close, yet so far. CryoGyro loots a Bookmark from a chest
ThatOneSpork is making decent progress along their side of the perimeter, encountering and defeating a Crawler
cycle 16
Drifting and Voltage run into one another on A2, and form the party Cycle 16, A2 (parties are named for their time and location of formation by default)... they do not name this party until the lategame but because that title is terrible and confusing, from hereon they will be referred to by their eventual title: Deep Vein Thrombosis.
after some planning and inventory shuffling, they scan H1, confirm the key there is untouched, and resolve to move after Albatross. it's worth noting that this point this is still being discussed as meeting up with her—it is understood that she will wait for them, and Albatross has opted not to reveal that she has other allegiances. she is of course not waiting for them, and begins sprinting down row 2 to meet up with grape tylenol and BIG ASHLEY
The Math Professors loot an Alert Bell from the chest on E7, which will help them hunt down players
Troubadour1 once again expertly dodges an encounter, scouting out the lock on E5 just as CryoGyro steps onto E4. angels weep. noting this is an object of some importance, CryoGyro marks the location with their Bookmark, and can now return here at will, once
goon squad arrive back at the Assassin. they're just passing through, but they let him know they've scored some kills, anyway. he is pleased
at monkfish's request, he is godkilled. it's a shame, but what are you going to do? i opt to have him petrified as he arrives at G6. this may not have been that much of an upset; as well as a Flame Troll, xzern is here, who has made it clear they are out for blood. there might have been something poetic about monkfish leaving Lady Salamence for dead against a troll, if xzern had double-crossed him in turn, here, but instead xzern dispatches the Flame Troll, gains the Firewall armour for themselves, and has a rifle through monkfish's things
he also leaves a post, etched upon monkfish's remains:
Beware Beware to all of ye Beware to all who cross X.Z. |
with Likes in hand, xzern is back off to the Editor
on G2, Brambane discovers xzern's handiwork—they open a chest to discover... nothing
cycle 17
Deep Vein Thrombosis discover the post left for them at B2 by trickstrix supreme, Albatross, who is nowhere to be found:
|
and, presumably, understand that they have been had. they check that the key at H1 is still there (it is), and give chase
Albatross arrives at the Filthy Lurker's shop at C2, and confirms she is being chased (or perhaps just followed, at this point) with a ring of her Alert Bell. she then spends a small fortune on items, with the forethought of equipping not just herself but her soon-to-be teammates:
... and then deviously uses her Trojan Egg to incubate a Spambot here for the next cycle. i loved how these uses of the Trojan Egg turned out: Drifting spawned one to slow her down, and in turn Albatross spawns one (its child?) here to slow them down. very good
with both the Alert Bell and Search Lens at her disposal, Albatross is able to plan her moves very carefully, checking for anyone adjacent while scanning ahead for danger. she sees that D2, ahead of her to the South East, is clear, and even has a treasure chest to be opened
Troubadour1 arrives on D5, the last of the locks for them to discover, and now has the centre of the grid mapped out
CryoGyro battles and defeats the Spambot that Brambane gave up on on F4, and claims another Trojan Egg
BIG ASHLEY may have gotten a little confused about which direction she was supposed to be heading in, or perhaps was aiming to juke goon squad further, and does not begin heading up towards grape tylenol and Albatross, but instead carries on along the South West edge of the grid, and runs into two Scrapers there. she resolves to flee instead of fighting, farther along the perimeter
goon squad, having both healed off their burns previously, step back on F6. with their masks taking up the armour slot Firewall could have taken up, they are both Burned again. they follow through with their plan, anyway, to make for the centre of the grid
ThatOneSpork makes it to H2, and is just one move away from the key at H1. grape tylenol is still resting up on G1, and Brambane has wandered into G2. with these players clustered together here, and Albatross bringing Drifting and Voltage this way, too, a clash in the East is inevitable...
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i was going to never ever do one ever again bc this one went on forever and took a billion hours daily to maintain, but for you, sala? say no more
So from my perspective, Drifting and I had been chatting since pretty early on when I messaged about a number string, based on the clues that we had posted in the the group DM for the game. The situation at A1 was that I had figured out the trick with the forum post IDs as I left in my post, but I couldn't figure out how to like active find the post until like one cycle too late (shoutouts to snake for making me realize how big of a doofus I was). I moved away from the tile because I usually didn't like to rest on tiles for one reason or another. That was an obvious mistake in hindsight even if I did dodge the spambot.
I figured out the password exactly one cycle too late and confirmed with Drifting that the password he used was based on the post-ID. I was a little leery at first that Drifting might just try and kill me, so I was trying to talk about how we could meet up with alba and instead form a power party of three since then there'd be less of an incentive to kill me if I knew where the key was. Once we met up, we obviously formed a team, but we had more or less formed a team when we started trying to figure out the password meanings together. Once I had figured it out, Drifting had figured it out like a few rounds prior and since we both knew we figured that we could try to get a party of three and run the table (which we ultimately managed to do).
The reason I felt confident that alba would be interested in joining us was because alba and I had also done a bit of discord DMing. I had asked her if she got the A1 key but she had lied to me there saying the tube was empty (I won't post our DMs for privacy reasons, but it's like the first thing I DM'd her). From those DMs, and how I had seen the key vanish in two cycles, I knew she was lying and that we'd have to take her out for that key if she wasn't going to team up with us. It was a serious blunder on my end not getting that key the round I was there, but that's how the game goes. It made me see that I couldn't trust alba and that Drifting, despite being the major power player, was someone I should try to link up with as soon as possible since he already had a key advantage and knew what to do with the others. As the rest of the game plays out, you'll see how this sort of conflict comes to a head.
Oh and it wasn't until I teamed up with Drifting that I revealed to anyone that I had the [Search Lens], and that was how I was able to check on what alba was doing in A1 since iirc I scanned that one and saw Alba with a spambot on the one turn I wasn't there.
All in all, I got really lucky starting one space away from a tube and moving in the correct direction and made some silly moves, but hey, that's smogoff RPG.
(fuck I should've kept a confessional, shoutouts to ORGs)
I figured out the password exactly one cycle too late and confirmed with Drifting that the password he used was based on the post-ID. I was a little leery at first that Drifting might just try and kill me, so I was trying to talk about how we could meet up with alba and instead form a power party of three since then there'd be less of an incentive to kill me if I knew where the key was. Once we met up, we obviously formed a team, but we had more or less formed a team when we started trying to figure out the password meanings together. Once I had figured it out, Drifting had figured it out like a few rounds prior and since we both knew we figured that we could try to get a party of three and run the table (which we ultimately managed to do).
The reason I felt confident that alba would be interested in joining us was because alba and I had also done a bit of discord DMing. I had asked her if she got the A1 key but she had lied to me there saying the tube was empty (I won't post our DMs for privacy reasons, but it's like the first thing I DM'd her). From those DMs, and how I had seen the key vanish in two cycles, I knew she was lying and that we'd have to take her out for that key if she wasn't going to team up with us. It was a serious blunder on my end not getting that key the round I was there, but that's how the game goes. It made me see that I couldn't trust alba and that Drifting, despite being the major power player, was someone I should try to link up with as soon as possible since he already had a key advantage and knew what to do with the others. As the rest of the game plays out, you'll see how this sort of conflict comes to a head.
Oh and it wasn't until I teamed up with Drifting that I revealed to anyone that I had the [Search Lens], and that was how I was able to check on what alba was doing in A1 since iirc I scanned that one and saw Alba with a spambot on the one turn I wasn't there.
All in all, I got really lucky starting one space away from a tube and moving in the correct direction and made some silly moves, but hey, that's smogoff RPG.
(fuck I should've kept a confessional, shoutouts to ORGs)
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im lucky n bad
it was the former.............sometimes gorgeous gorgeous girls forget how to read the minimap!!
oh, sala.
i must confess -- yes, i was in cahoots with scary users grape tylenol and albatross from very early on. i really liked the idea of meeting up with other users and luring them to a grisly end at the combined hands of the girlboss coven. i made envoys to miscellaneous other users (including, among others, drifting, attempting to play on a perceived friendly(?) rivalry between the aussie and the aforementioned ms. tylenol), but none were quite so successful as team rock anthem. our pre-existing friendship(?) (presumably sundered now, at any rate) likely helped here. it was useful to have you around anyway, to be honest -- two is better than one, after all, and you were an excellent bad-luck magnet, absorbing the more malicious whims of the dice.
however, as we schemed and adventured together (of course, any information you gave me was swiftly forwarded on to my co-conspirators), i began to question myself, and regret my ulterior motives somewhat. our quest to the edge of the map was somewhat spurred on by this -- it was no coincidence that we weren't heading straight towards my devious compatriots -- although i did genuinely want to investigate the corners anyway. anyway, i came to the conclusion that, actually, i didn't really want to lure you into a trap and have you stuck like a pig. after a certain point, my reassurances of loyalty were genuine... i don't know how i would've dealt with the fallout from my change of heart, but sadly i never had to find out.
so, i can only apologise for my ill intentions. ultimately i don't think any real harm came about (apart from the obvious, but that was really out of my hands -- maybe if i'd been slightly less insistent to push on for the side & let you rest more?); we could debate utilitarian/kantian/whateverthefuckian ethics here, i guess, but really all i think i'm guilty of is unrealised conspiracy. apologies, though. was a blast adventuring with you, and cruel that you got taken out by the toddgod so soon.
i'm not sorry for rock antheming.
ashley xox
p.s. that was meant to be an lmfao (the band) gag but it's quite weak tbh.
p.p.s. i think any (justified) bitterness you feel will get a good kick out of some of the upcoming turns...
me...
please! i miss those <3
this is a truly demented plot twist
can confirm - he is a doofus
I am absolutely the luckiest person here. I end up staying entirely safe along the edge, meeting up with probably the only group that wouldn't outright kill me, etc. Also az did you ever personally change something, or was it all entirely random? The first time I got an item it felt like I had been given a gift from god so I was just wondering if it was a gift or a small coincidence.
this is so insane hahahaha
alba asked something similar and i told her that i hadn't changed a thing since the game began, which is a little white lie i suppose because i made a conscious decision to add phoopes and xzern to the game, but no, i didn't tip rolls or item drops. i am glad it felt like a gift from god!
i definitely had notes on at least two occasions that said "god it would rule if this person got a Search Lens because they seem lost" etc, but i didn't action them; they resolved themselves
there was even a time i felt guilty at the rolls lining up exactly as another player had theorised them as a worst case scenario, but i couldn't bring myself to fudge it to make it seem less suspect
Also TLDR for what I did this entire RPG: I went south to d4, waited there for like a billion turns, went off of it and back on a few times, then made a circle around the middle before dying. Never saw a single person. What great entertainment