Really Bad Cataclysm (Waste and I are only ones left)

[sputteringSurveyor]

So I'm in the middle of my first session and things have gone pretty wonky and I guess we're just stuck now?

I'll try to keep this short (trigger warnings for manslaughter, starvation)

We started out as a six player session (that compared to some of the things I've heard wasn't even all that glitchy) with a Ward of Time, a Rogue of Fate, a Waste of Rhyme, a Smith of Space, a Mage of Sand and me the Knight of Flux

Our Rogue had an issue almost immediately and got overrun by the imps in his house but our leader (Ward of Time) found his pendant and finished our server chain so everyone else made it through that and there weren't prototyping problems or anything (even though that was such a wake up call to what this game was like and the rest of us definitely didn't want to play)

I'm not sure how far everyone made it into their maturity quests and stuff (I was doing denezin quests at the time) but our leader (who was a Derse dreamer) apparently got Other corrupted? and attacked the Waste and our Space player who were doing stuff together on his planet (Land of Spires and Frogs [we never figured out what the other part of his land name was supposed to be]) and apparently our Waste freaked out (which is super weird like she's a Rhyme player I have never seen her "freak out" or show much exaggerated emotion at all) and I guess she must've casted [Winter Is Coming] or something like it because LOSAF is pretty much frozen over now (I don't think that forge is getting lit) and that's where the whole cataclysm thing comes in

Our Smith of Space managed to survive (he learned to teleport pretty fast) but the Ward of Time didn't so our Waste of Rhyme picked up her pendent and became defacto leader after that

Here's where things get pretty weird

I think the cataclysm had some kind of effect beyond just freezing the planet because after that the rest of us were super lethargic

Our Smith was the worst (probably because he was in proximity when the whole thing went down [or maybe because he kept hanging out on his permafrost planet]) and after a few weeks (maybe it was months?) of radio silence I finally got up the motivation to go check on him and I found him just

laying there

It took me a little while to realize that he'd starved to death (without any consorts that weren't frozen to take care of him when he passed out from hunger [it took me even longer to remember that I'd been passing out from hunger regularly too {probably the scariest moment of this whole game for me}])

Something else happened to our Mage of Sand more recently (I don't have a single clue what it was he just disappeared ) but I did a heart check and he's definitely gone for good

He'd been hanging out with our Waste of Rhyme a lot(watching movies and stuff together) so since then I've been making every effort to avoid her (I don't think she did anything on purpose or maliciously but [you know]) which pretty well sucks since we're the last two players

When I started to think about things I realized it was super weird that our Reckoning hasn't happened yet (since one of the two remaining players [the Waste] wasn't really doing anything and the other [me] wasn't much better) but I've figured out that whatever happened has also affected the enemies and npcs

Like our lands are super quiet and inactive and the war on Sakia's pretty much at a standstill just no one wants to do anything

One more thing

I never got much of a chance to get in tune with my Whisperings because ever since the cataclysm they've been nearly silent (it took me so long to notice I'm so ashamed) and I'm not sure if that happened to all of the aspects or just to mine because mine was the Story and at this point that's pretty much not doing anything

I still know next to nothing about Flux or my role as a Knight (I've been making an effort to get out and go on quests but my consorts don't want to give them, the underlings can barely be bothered to spawn and the hidden dungeons refuse to reveal themselves (or maybe my mental state can't get focused enough to decide that they're there)

So if anyone has any advice about any of this please please give it because I'm at a complete loss for what to do and I'm kind of worried that we're all just going to fade away

Thanks for reading at least

[aberrantAnthology]

babe.
chill the hell out.
what even is the deal.
seriously.
i cannot believe.
you are.
avoiding me.
what even.
hurts my feelings.
i shoulda known.
anyways.
what you are saying here.
is that our session.
is giving us a frickin break.
you are being.
so lame.
come hang out with me.
i've been rereading good fanfics.
i need a bro.
to appreciate these masterpieces with me.

[sputteringSurveyor]

Oh my God

Okay Willa first how did you even find this forum? (like seriously I just found it are you stalking my computer?) and also I know for a fact that you've been reading the same fanfiction over and over for days because you keep leaving me messages about it seriously at least mix it up little

And another thing we've been in this stupid game for over 2 years that is not a "break" and I'm sick of feeling lethargic and tired all of the time but I can't even work up the energy to be properly terrified about what could happen to us if things don't change

Seriously I'm sorry to break it to you but things are not okay and I know that you're fine with it but it's not healthy to feel like this

We have got to get out somehow

I still care about you and I wish that we could hang out but that's too risky for me right now (but when I figure out what to do that plan is going to involve you we are both going to make it out of this okay? [even if I have to drag you with me])

[aberrantAnthology]

why the hell would it not be safe to relax for a sec.
com'on what happened to steve'd never affect you.
dude was a mage of sand that's like asking for a problem.
and weirdness.

[sputteringSurveyor]

Willa

What happened to Steve?

[aberrantAnthology]

ugh.
i'm done with this.
whatever.
avoid me.
really don't care.

[sputteringSurveyor]

YOU TELL ME WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM RIGHT THE HELL NOW

[horrorTerror]

I have some suggestions, but horrorterror mental plurality is taking a toll on Our ability to speak coherently.

First, fix your starvation issue. Alchemize some food if you have the code of anything edible. Dying of starvation is not fun. Your dream moon might be able to help with this as when your dreamself eats it fills you up. Prospitians will literally give Prospit dreamers free food if they're in need and you ask, and Dersite buffet security might not be at their best with the lethargy going around.

The Knight title has enough FAQs lying around that you might be able to piece together something that the game will accept from a single reading session.

Flux is one of the two aspects (along with its twin Ploy) that does the narrative thing. If the story is paused, you can do what we like to call a 'filler episode'. Less narratively and more Sburby, if you can't get your consorts to quest, that means you go messing around in general ruins (There should be a few that are not associated with quests sitting in general sburban jungle) on your lonesome (bring a follower or three if anyone's willing) and see if you can get any of the lore out of the writings on the wall and whatnot. With the Underlings lethargic and slow to even spawn you should be fine. Comment a lot to nobody in particular (or perhaps your exile) about how everyone's so tired and how you're feeling, because acting like you're a character in a story and you're being railroaded along by the plot (not all that different from the truth) is an acceptable Flux interpretation.

It's easier to get in tune with Flux if you break the fourth wall. Realize that all reality is but fiction under the pens and keys of countless masters real and fake and whatever it is fluxy people do.

If you can manifest your aspect at all, try to kickstart the narrative by using the basic ability [==>] to exile-style command somebody to DO something, preferably in a way that syncs with your interpretation of Knight. Some fourth wall breakers like to go all Pinkie Pie and work up people, so if you haven't cemented your interpretation you might be able to try that, but if you can't do it even through energy boosting effects just try something else that breaks the fourth wall a lot and leans on narrative abstractions.

If you can't do that, try to give yourself some energy if nothing else. The Veil has coffee makers, or you could try to alchemize some. Caffeine can help. If you can get anything with a Flow charge that's safe to eat or carry around, it'll accelerate things nicely. Energy drinks and pluckshakes (the focus boost tends to help with flagging energy a little bit) work wonders. If the lethargy is less of an issue for your dreamself simply because you're supposed to be asleep when it's awake and therefore its energy reserves should be separate when you're well-fed, you should be able to keep it fairly focused with coffee and a good sleep ratio (land beds and pillows and protection blankets work wonders). If your house has a mailbox, you can try to mail some pluckshakes to your dreamself. Parcel Mistress and Overworked Deliverygirl will not let the mail fail unless they're both dead or at least exiled, and I doubt even a Rhyme cataclysm will do much more than slow them down. I'd recommend PM as a follower but you're in no shape for something as prone to killing players as the mail quests.

[The Huss] or [Hussie] or whatever 'might' be helpful in your situation, but I don't know how it works. Apparently it either has a special extra effect or this IS the effect, when it's cast in the Skaian Magicant in proximity to your Session Disc, or sometimes when it's cast anywhere ever sometimes at random by the game I have no idea all data on it is apocryphal and by proxies??? It counts as 'interference' or something stupid, and summons the special game abstraction that looks like an orange guy in a Waste of Space (invalid title) godhoodie designed to defend the disc...then promptly subverts/activates/??s/something like half his alleged programming when compared to him being invoked in any other situation and forces him to either help you in the form of advice, narrativey things, and/or actual combat assistance, or just wander around your session and its host universe dancing like a silly moron and probably killing the First Guardian by accident with a broom and flailing dancing or something else stupid and overpowered that could kill an immortal omnipotent debug NPC or something. Probably best to find out now as you'll be way more in tune with your aspect during your native session.

Also, watch out for a noirjacking, however unlikely. Jack Noir's stabbing scripts are virtually impossible to override except with more Purple Prose and have like backups for everything, and the Black Queen does not have that advantage, so she might get stabsploded in a fit of stab trigger related activity. Not likely to happen any time soon since delaying the execution might not set off a red flag. However, you might be able to team up with him in his less-stabby state and depose the BQ, then take her ring and have her exiled.

With the Space and Time players gone you might have to use the backup method of lightning the Forge by chucking one of the Queens' rings in the big volcano thing, especially since the Space denizen has probably despawned by now. Since the frogs are all frozen you'll probably be able to just locate their frozen bodies, then use the frogbreeding ectobiology set (while wearing the Space player's pendant and preferably having a copy of Advanced Frog Breeding For Dummies from one of the Prospitian or Battlefield libraries on hand for as many proficiency bonuses as possible)

Denizens are like the living embodiment of the game being an asshole and try to fix its bugs so that they can dick around with you more and do that 'personal growth' bullshit they blabber on about. Luckily, that latter bugfixing application might be helpful. Since you're already doing denizen quests, try asking your Denizen for help. They might offer a Deal to fix everything. Try not to die.

EDIT: It is quite possible abberantAnthology has constructed a dongle or otherwise temporally synced themselves here in the time it took for you to do so.

Additional thought process occurred. If AA is a player killer, we have a problem. If they are actually the Sand player, also a problem (since they shouldn't be THAT good at disguise). If they just got corrupted from sheer overflow of corruption depending on how bad the Ward was, they need a hug. If you'd rather just quit the game and sacrifice yourself to the Others in the Furthest Ring, go on to Derse and find out what your Ward learned before they died.

EDIT 2: Wow, 2 years already? Not the longest session time (not anywhere near, in fact) but how long has it been since the cataclysm? If it's much longer, I'd begin to guess Rhyme is getting sick and tired of Sburb's shit and is breaking free violently to wreck the place or something weirdly cosmology like that.

Also, one of Our slower-acting minds churned out the idea of trying to get one of the more energetic followers to follow you in hopes the Rhyme stall might only slow them into an only slightly tired follower, thus giving you someone who can at least try to keep active. The dersite engineer follower might be spirited enough to work up the effort to follow you, as should the consort hero guy. Dishonored Consort maybe if your consort type is one that was active before the cataclysm.

[sputteringSurveyor]

Thank you so much for all of the advice!

I'm so sorry I disappeared suddenly (I had some things to sort out with AA [I'm really embarrassed by those posts now {we probably should've started personal messaging eachother}])

Good news is that I've started manifesting my aspect finally (I guess I did the "berserk trigger" thing but I'm not really sure what happened )

I'm going to go start trying to use the [==>] command right away (and I think I'll go talk to my denezin some more [even though it's kind of a pain])

Thanks again it was super nice of you to type out all of those suggestions for me (and I'll try to keep you posted on events)

[horrorTerror]

Oh, it's fine. Happens a lot to players.

If you DO figure out what the Flux berserk trigger is, do tell us how it interacts with things.

In the words of Jenna, "DON'T DIE!"

...Flow myths are always so creative about their politely-end-conversation words.

Have a great session