Hello? I Guess?

[arcaneAnima]

So, as I sit here - typing this on my laptop atop a massive spire of rock, cyclonic wind currents screeching in my ears yet somehow never touching the frail rope bridges that tie one towering pinnacle of stone to another - I have just passed through my first gate.

My FIRST first gate; if I am to understand what I have just read correctly, it will likely not be my last. During the frenetic escape from my house as I found it overrun by the strange creatures I now know to call imps and ogres, I somehow came into possession of a piece of paper smeared in what I am deluding myself into believing to be ketchup.

It contained a string of nonsensical characters that I only guessed to be a web address by the unlikely inclusion of ".com" at the end, as well as a short message: "Read this. It will save all of your lives. -tricksyGremlin". This is not the chumhandle of one of my coplayers; I have never heard it before.

The web address, despite consisting of characters so strange I literally had to write a program to make my computer type them, worked. It linked me a fascinating FAQ by "grindinglyGodliest" which cleared up a considerable amount of confusion regarding what just happened to me (shit got real), where I am (hell), and what I am expected to do (resist the urge to curl up in a ball and sob for an hour straight). Unfortunately, the FAQ is ~extremely~ incomplete (although apparently only in my timeline? Whatever that means?), and has probably caused as much confusion as it resolved. Oh well.

It did, however, contain a link to this forum. So here I am, introducing myself to strangers that apparently aren't even in the same universe as me in the vague hope it will somehow improve my predicament. At least it will give me someone to talk to, since I haven't heard from aggrieveTwilight since she finished building my house up to the first gate.

tl;dr: Hello. Shit sucks. Damn it's windy here.

[tenaciousTheseus]

Wow, you made the jump from pre entry to "Fuck this place, this is hell" in record time. It usually takes a few more months.

Anyways, welcome to the fora. Sburb may suck but we're here to help. Ask any questions that you may have and we'll do our best to answer them.

[knowthyself]

Hello! Your lucky that you found the guide. Good Luck- your going to need it. Find out what class you are as soon as possible.

[arcaneAnima]

In the few hours since I last posted I have done my best to make progress in exploring my land, which I understand to be called the Land of Towers and Zephyrs. An appropriate name - the entire place seems to consist of enormous towers of rock connected by terrifyingly frail-looking rope bridges. It is incessantly windy - even now I can make out what appears to be a tornado or two lazily mucking about in the distance. Everything is lit to full daylight, but I don't see where the light is coming from - the big blue sun above (Skaia, according to the FAQ?) doesn't seem bright enough.

I don't know if there is solid land at the bottom of the rock spires - all I can see is an impenetrable layer of clouds far beneath me. Strangely the wind currents don't seem to touch there.

Anyway, yes, exploration. I found a village of strange creatures best described as vaguely humanoid puppy dogs with bat wings. Kinda creepy at first but they seem to be friendly. I also found some kind of ruin nearby - a tall and unstable looking tower, kinda Leaning Tower of Piza-ish in architecture. At the top of the tower, after strifing my way through a number of imps - it didn't help that halfway through my climb everything seemed to randomly sprout wings at the exact same time, freaking cheaters - I found a room with a dozen strange symbols writ large around the room.

I don't recognize all of them, but I can pick out a few as Aspect symbols from the guide. Most of the symbols were faded and cracked and almost illegible, but four of them were in perfect condition; luckily all four I recognize. Considering I have three coplayers, I'm guessing that the non-damaged symbols are the aspects in my session: Rage, Heart, Breath, and Doom.

Or maybe not, and Sburb is just screwing with my head.

Anyway, that's my story so far. You know what, writing this has been a bit cathartic - maybe I'll start keeping a log of my session. Where should I put such a log? In the First Session Stories section, I guess?

Oops, got to go - a flock of those stupid winged imps is heading this way. Talk later, strife now.

[cannonOverload]

STATEMENT:
WELCOME TO THE CORPSEPARTY, GET READY FOR SHIT TO HIT ALL THE FANS. ALL OF THEM.

OH, AND THE TIMESTAMP THING ON THE FAQ? DON'T ASK, ITS TIME TRAVELING BULLSHIT, ONLY OTHER TIME ASPECT PLAYERS CAN UNDERSTAND IT, APPARENTLY. I CERTAINLY CAN'T, BUT I KNOW IT INVOLVES STUFF LIKE PARADOX LOOPS AND SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECIES.

THE BRIGHTNESS IS DETERMINED BY HOW TIRED YOU ARE, THE MORE EXHAUSTED, THE DIMMER YOUR LAND BECOMES, UNTIL YOU SLEEP, AT WHICH POINT IT TURNS NIGHT. THE CHANGE IS GRADUAL, TAKING ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES TO GO FROM DAY TO NIGHT.

AND SCREWING WITH HEADS IS THIS GAMES BREAD AND BUTTER, SO DON'T EXPECT ANYTHING TO NOT GO HORRIFICALLY WRONG.

[unreflectingKaleidoscope]

Oct 29, 2012 10:36:23 GMT -5 arcaneAnima said:

Considering I have three coplayers, I'm guessing that the non-damaged symbols are the aspects in my session: Rage, Heart, Breath, and Doom.

Or maybe not, and Sburb is just screwing with my head.

Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but your session could be rather fucked if those are your Aspects. Their usefulness aside, Time and Space are pretty much the compulsory Aspects for a session. Unless you have some kind of surrogate Lands for the Frogbreeding and such (like I did in my first session), you can't win.

Anyway, don't feel helpless just yet. Have a look around and see what you can find on everyone's Lands. If you need a hand, we're here to help.

Good luck out there, that Land of yours sounds horrific.

[arcaneAnima]

Future posts will be in the first session stories section, since technically this is a first session story... even if I'm posting about it as it happens... >.>