scrib | [S] Avispa: Enter.

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[S] Avispa: Enter.

You are now AVISPA KUSBIR.

You've just confirmed your SERVER PLAYER and are preparing to ENTER THE GAME. You have absolutely no idea what you're GETTING YOURSELF INTO. Good thing you're SAFE in your HIVE!

Or are you?

Your LUSUS is nearby, you're SITTING ON A PUZZLE PILE, and everything just seems pretty okay! You don't even realize that the possibility of TERRIFYINGLY HORRIBLE WORLD-ENDING METEORS exists. With the CLIENT PROGRAM running, you contact Durian.

-- apiaryCryptonaut [AC] has signed on. --

-- apiaryCryptonaut [AC] began trolling defensiveAlchemist [DA]. --

AC: Ok4y I think th4t... I'm re4dy now, Duri4n!
AC: I'm 4ll set, I... think, to try this!
AC: This is exciting, m4ybe.
AC: I hope it turns... out to be 4... good puzzle to solve!
AC: The g4me 4nd this... entry process, m4ybe, yes.
AC: Yes, so, I'm re4dy!

You sit, happily, waiting. You're in your original hive. Your first hive. Your lusus built a HUGE BEEHIVE hanging from the branches of six very close trees and it became a home for you, for your LUSUS, and for a SWARM OF BEES. Mostly, they're easy to ignore. The PILE OF SKULLS around the base of the trees, though, is IMPOSSIBLE TO IGNORE. You, your lusus, and the swarm of bees regularly dispatch anyone who roams too close. Unfortunately you all CAN'T BE BOTHERED to clear away the skulls; not to mention that you REALLY LIKE THEM.

In good news, you've got A LOT OF ROOM to work with. The only thing laying around is YOU on your PUZZLE PILE; everything else is tucked away in your HONEYCOMB FETCH MODUS.

Yay.

[OOC: This whole post is, chronologically, before any of Avispa's other posts because this is her actually getting into the game! ]

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Your name is DURIAN AGRIPA, and you are one step closer to AVOIDING DEATH BY METEOR.

Not that the threat is very immediate or terrifying. The meteors have let up in the minefield. Or maybe they're all detonated. As long as this hive doesn't CAVE IN, you don't care about the state of the minefield. You try not to dwell on the thought of meteors hitting the top of the steppe.

The SERVER APPLICATION just finished its transfer from Avispa! With a quick double-click you begin the installation, and sit back to watch the loading screen. You guess at the meanings of the various terms on the bottom of the screen to PASS THE TIME. Hopefully you don't need to remember them all.

Establishing the server only takes a few minutes.

okay
you 5hould have a me55age on your 5creen a5king you to accept the connection with my 5erver
i think i cant do anything el5e until you click that
once that5 done we11 rea11y 6e ready

Oh, yes, I see... it, I do, m4ybe.
So um, I just... click it, th4t's it?
Ok4y let me just... do th4t then, yes!

Click.

Success. Though you don't know it, because you can't see Durian's screen. You're not Durian.

okay
that 5hould

Your screen switches from the interesting spirographs to a view of a room.

It is a very boring room.

Mostly it's boring because it is peculiarly empty. There's a troll in a puzzle pile in the center of it, and you recognize her as Avispa. There's a large bee lusus to the side. And that is it.

do it
dont you have any 6elonging5
your hive look5 creepily empty

I h4ve 4 lot... of them, yes yes!
But um, I don't... keep them out, no.
Just in c4se, m4ybe.
It's 4 little d4ngerous... to keep them out.
Plus I think you... need room, m4ybe, yes!
When I helped Hirune... there were big m4chines.
So I think we... need room for those!
So I stored everything... 4bsolutely everything, well, mostly... everything 4w4y s4fely, yes.

Curiously, you give a little wave in a general direction, wondering if Durian will see it.

>- dangerou5
?
6ut that wa5 pro6a6ly 5ound thinking
i ju5t need to experiment with the control5 fir5t

You click the Scrib window and move your cursor over the first few control settings. SELECT sounds like a good first choice. You click on it, and watch as your cursor helpfully changes to the shape of the SELECT icon to show which tool you're using.

==> Durian: Select a puzzle

You click on one of the puzzles in the pile, and move it into the air. Beneath the interface, you can see Avispa waving up somewhere off the edge of the screen. You move your cursor back to the Trollian window to respond to her, and the puzzle drops.

did that work
and where are you waving at

D4ngerous, yes, sometimes I... h4ve to run 4w4y... re4lly f4st, m4ybe, yes.
So it's good to... be re4dy, I think!

And into the air the puzzle goes, would you look at that. You can't say you've ever seen one of your puzzles airborne, especially not one of your 5x5 cubes. You watch it, fascinated, until it drops. Unsurprisingly, though surprisingly to you, it bursts into several dozen cubed pieces on the floor and sits there uselessly. Oh no. Off of your pile you go, quickly scrambling to pick up the pieces.

Oh no oh no!
I didn't know th4t... would h4ppen, oh no.
Oh no but um... wow I've never seen... the inside before, no!
This is puzzling, m4ybe!

And now you're distracted, fiddling with the pieces of the puzzle. So distracted that you set your husklaptop aside to fumble with the chunks. It's easily put back together, thankfully.

oop5

You begin to apologize for breaking her thing, but it seems that the broken puzzle has simply become a new puzzle for her to contemplate. No great loss here. At least you learned not to interrupt any SELECT actions by minimizing the window, since dropping objects in midair means they fall and break. In the wrong circumstances, a dropped item might be lost forever!

You next examine the REVISE tool and attempt to use it on the broken puzzle. It only selects the floor, not the item, so you don't bother to continue using this tool right now.

DEPLOY doesn't do anything.

The PHERNALIA REGISTRY includes three peculiar looking machines in it.

i think i found your machine5
what did you do with them with hirune

Oops. You're not looking at your husktop, you're fixing a puzzle. You aren't even aware that Durian is trying to get your attention and ask you a question! You're almost finished reconstructing the cube, though, so that's something!

avi5pa
...
avi5pa
...
did you forget a6out the meteor5
they are 5ti11 happening
...

You continue to examine the interface. Each of the machines in the PHERNALIA REGISTRY has an associated grist cost of --. That's not a number. You wonder why doesn't it just say 00?

The GRIST CACHE seems to have 20 of a blue resource within it. You hypothesize that the blue resource is grist. You have too little information to guess how valuable grist are, when none of the items have a cost yet.

Avispa is still working on her puzzle. This is taking a ridiculous amount of time. You return to the SELECT tool and attempt to select the puzzle out of her hands. She flashes red when you attempt it.

You suddenly flash red as you promptly abjure the meddlesome cursor. Did you just get clicked on? You totally did. That was a very, very odd experience. Promptly, you grab your husktop with your now-empty hands; after all, earlier the nearly-repaired cube had toppled from your fingers in your surprise. Before you can reply, though, you read what he said. You're on your feet, trying to move to where you can look outside as you respond.

I don't know wh4t... ex4ctly Hirune's m4chines did... no I only s4w... them in her hive.
But there were sever4l... so I think we... need 4ll of them?
4nd um 4lso don't... click on me 4g4in.
Th4t w4s re4lly str4nge.
4nd wh4t meteors 4r

You drop your husktop. It literally drops out of your hand and clatters on the floor. Luckily it didn't break, but that's not important to you. What's important is that the sky is full of meteors, all plummeting towards the ground. Without hesitation, you run back into your hive. Before you're even close to getting back to your puzzle pile, though, you slip on some honey, or rather you stick in it and promptly topple to the ground in a rather painful looking heap.

You are very much in pain from the speedy, abrupt fall.

You watch the puzzle drop, and worry that the red flash indicated taking damage. Did that hurt her?

No sign of that; she moves and responds without any indications of pain. She might be better at hiding it than you suspect of her, but more likely it was just an alarming sensation.

what are you doing.

You quickly switch windows to use the SELECT tool to try to catch the husktop from falling. Typing your curt question wasted enough time that you didn't get it before it hit the ground. While Avispa absconds from the sight of the sky, you trail the computer through her hive after her.

avi5pa i think your 5urvival in5tinct5 are 6roken
you put a11 your 6elonging5 away for 5afety
6ut you drop your computer and run away from it
your only communication device
when im trying to inform you of the danger5 youre facing
like that fa11 you ju5t took
why
it5 not like te11ing you a6out the meteor5 made them happen fa5ter

Ranting at someone who is crumpled on the ground in pain isn't very satisfying, especially when you weren't responsible for the fall. You zoom out and examine the path she took to get back in. It's sinking in that she has an unusually large hive. And it appears to be up in a large tree.

Maybe she has a valid reason to be panicked about the meteors; one good hit and her hive would crumble. Even a cursory hit would be dangerous, to go by Kappy's description of forest fires.

look
i11 get them 5et up and going
no6ody5 dying 6y meteor tonight

Neither of you, anyway.

You nudge the husktop within her range of sight for when she recovers from the fall. Then you return to the interface, clicking on PHERNALIA REGISTRY and the items in it. Clicking the items does nothing but indicate the nonexistent grist cost. It doesn't deposit them. DEPosit. DEPloy. Perhaps DEPLOY could do something after all?

After a moment, a CRUXTRUDER appears ten feet away.

The floating husktop behind you, the messages from Durian, and the futility of your panic were all things that never quite dawned on you. Firstly, you were in pain, but secondly you knew you had to get your puzzles and get them safe. You weren't going to die without them, and considering those meteors the notion that you'd die here, now was growing bigger in your mind. As hard as risks and dangers were for you to fathom, the finality of the falling meteors was impossible to miss.

Where had they come from, anyway? Before your mind could delve further into the conundrum, you un-stick yourself; though you cannot say the same for your hair. Stuck or not, you promptly dodge a large machine that has APPEARIFIED out of nowhere so that you can get to your puzzle pile.

Frantically, you begin adding all of your puzzles back into your HONEYCOMB FETCH MODUS.

of cour5e youre picking up your puzzle5 fir5t
that i5 the clear highe5t priority at thi5 point

You DEPLOY the TOTEM LATHE and ALCHIMETER in a convenient semicircle with the CRUXTRUDER. Whenever Avispa snaps out of it, you might learn what the function of any of these machines is.

The ALCHIMETER has an intriguing name, and you zoom in on it to examine it more closely. Nothing about it suggests the chemical-based alchemy you're familiar with. So what does the portmanteau indicate?

You look back up at the interface and read the remaining two icons. EXPLORE ATHENEUM and ALCHEMY EXCURSUS. ALCHEMY EXCURSUS has a small image of a flask with some liquid in it.

That's more like it.

The placement of two more machines is enough to catch your attention in an instant, but more eye-catching than those even is your husktop. You swear it just moved, and that was enough to surprise you into stopping. Still in your hands is one of your "Over the top" 17x17 Rubik's cubes. Absently, you set it down before checking your husktop. Durian's been messaging you.

Ok4y um, ok4y, yes... ok4y, I c4n, ok4y...
I'm ok4y, I 4m... I just, I c4n't...
No w4it, I c4n... I c4n, I know...
Just, it's, w4it, no...

You look away from the screen, away from the messages, and to the machines. Two of them are very clearly more complicated than the other two. You're going to start with the simpler one. Carefully, you set your husktop on the edge of the CRUXTRUDER.

I'm good, I 4m.
I'm going to try... this one first, yes.

Swiftly, you give the wheel on the front a sharp turn and send it spinning... spinning... Hmm. You're not sure this is right. You pause to look over the shape of the device. Several small screens, the wheel, and a lid. You've solved puzzles like these. Maybe there's something within?

I think I h4ve... to open it, m4ybe.

You stop moving the husktop around the room, now that Avispa noticed it and responded. Her hesitant responses aren't heartening, but it's better than her blind panic and puzzle sorting. You can work with this. You hope you can.

are there any 6utton5 on it
a11 i can i can make out are
>- that wheel you ju5t turned
>- the 5pirograph logo on top
>- tho5e di5play thing5 along the 5ide
>- and thi5 gap 6etween the top part and the bottom
doe5 that top lift off if you 5pin it?

A logo on the top? You climb upon the device, struggling to look atop it to confirm. Sure enough, there is a symbol atop it. You're certain it has to open somehow, so you're going to try that.

You do, in fact. You try. You try to turn it, you try to twist it, you try to do something, anything to it to get it to pop off. Surely there's some kind of trick, some kind of something you're missing here. You move to spin the wheel again and find that it gets stuck. More importantly, you notice that each time it "clunks" at the stuck end, the lid wobbles.

Putting the pieces together, you excitedly hurry back to tell Durian.

It does open, yes!
It does, but um... I don't know how.
So, m4ybe, we experiment!
M4ybe we should drop... something on it, yes.
Force from 4nother direction!
Pushing up or 4round... didn't work, so m4ybe... pushing downw4rds will work?
It c4n't hurt to... try it out, no.

Wasting no time, you open your HONEYCOMB FETCH MODUS, this thing is really useful, to pull out a pile of very, very heavy useless MACHINE PARTS which promptly topple to the floor. Unfortunately, removing the HONEYCOMB the MACHINE PARTS were contained in has caused a dozen OTHER HONEYCOMBS to TEAR AWAY and spill their contents all over. Oops.

that could work
there might 6e a mechani5m in there
give me 5omething to drop on it
im not dropping your hu5ktop were lucky it didnt 6reak the fir5t time

She started on that before you were halfway finished typing. You finish anyway, so that you can look back on this conversation and pretend like you had been in charge.

When you look up, Avispa's hive is decorated with her belongings.

what ju5t happened

You can make out a CRYSTAL SKULL, two smaller SKULLS of some other species, a BROKEN COMPUTER, more GEARS than you care to count, and a few BOOKS. There's a lot of things on the ground around her.

SELECTing the heavy MACHINE PART, you pick it up, avoid Avispa, and place it on the CRUXTRUDER. The top presses downward, then pops up with sufficient force to knock off the MACHINE PART. The entire device begins to shake and flash GREEN.

What did you do now?

Edited (narration should not be blue) 2013-01-10 05:36 (UTC)

I messed up using... my honeycomb modus, oops.

You don't worry about it for long, though, because there is suddenly a glowing green orb floating just above the machine and there's a cylinder within it. You knew there was something inside of it! Looking at the device, you're sure that the wheel was pushing that cylinder up into the lid, so there was only one thing to do!

Swiftly, you spin the wheel on the CRUXTRUDER again. It has the exact effect you would expect and, in a quick movement, the cylinder which is actually a CRUXITE DOWEL makes an arc through the air before landing beside your CRYSTAL SKULL. You take special note to add that back into your HONEYCOMB MODUS but first, you want to talk to Durian. You hop back down to your husktop...

Duri4n, look, did you... see it, did you?
It popped out, it... re4lly did 4nd it

You stop. Your claws settled against the surfaces of your husktop's keys. Your gaze isn't on the chat with Durian, but instead on the CRUXTRUDER.

[ 4:13 ]

It was counting down. It was counting down.

[ 4:10 ]

You made a floating, glowing, flashing, green spiroglobe. Well done.

Staring at that thing hurts your eyes, so you turn to watching Avispa's fiddling with the device. You note that turning the wheel at this point released the cylinder, which probably will serve some kind of purpose.

While she sits down, you SELECT the cylinder and put it back beside Avispa and the cruxtruder. There is no sense letting more things get scattered around, or worse: having Avispa put it in her modus and emptying all that stuff again.

ye5!
you correctly analyzed the lock
im making a note of how it worked for when it5 my turn to deal with thi5 5tuff

She stopped typing to stare. You zoom in as far as the interface lets you.

i5 that counting down
what i5 it counting down to?
did you 5ee any of thi5 with hirune

You can't take your eyes off of the countdown. Just like the meteors, this is death staring you in the face and you know it. It's counting down to when it kills you. What have you done? A soft clunk beside you, however, brings you back to reality. The cylinder. It came out and the timer started. Is it the puzzle?

4:03, Duri4n, 4:01 left.

You quickly step away from your husktop and grab hold of the cylinder, looking at it. What in the world was it? What exactly were you holding? It and the, what, the glowing orb? Neither of the two made sense. But this was solid, the orb wasn't. Perhaps that was something. You'd noticed an oddity with Hirune's when you looked in as a server player. You'd seen something glowing. Something floating.

It was a possibility, and if you wanted a solution you had to at least try. Grabbing hold of the nearest object, conveniently not your husktop but instead your "Over the top" 17x17 cube. You look over it, thankful that it isn't your only one, before you hurl it upwards and into the sprite.

In a flash of light, the sprite changes and takes on a new shape. Still floating, still glowing, still just there... the sprite is now a floating 17x17 cube orb. It still doesn't make sense, but something else comes to mind and you grab your husktop.

Duri4n! Duri4n Duri4n Duri4n!
Did the m4chines h4ve... n4mes, these three m4chines?
Wh4t were the n4mes?
Help, ple4se, yes, quick!

[ 3:41 ]

left until what
why didnt that idiot per5on leave detailed note5
why didnt i push you for more about what you did with hirune
dont you know a6out any of thi5

Thinking of those notes, you open memo dumpa11theinfo and refresh your memory with a brief skim of your information dump. In the other window, you can see the spiroglobe transform into some kind of convoluted puzzle. A third window pops up as Avispa trolls you again. You check the Scrib interface menu for the answer to her question.

>- cruxtruder
that5 the one you ju5t u5ed
>- totem lathe
long thin one
>- alchemeter
low flat one
avi5pa i think that you ju5t to55ed the cube into the kernel5prite
the thing youre 5uppo5ed to >- prototype -<
hopefu11y that change wa5 prototyping
and there5 a new item i can deploy for free 5o we might 6e doing the right thing5

There are simply too many insufficiently defined terms and too few instructions for you to feel certain about any chance of success in this venture. You DEPLOY the PRE-PUNCHED CARD on top of her husktop.

There's no time there's no time there's no time there's no time. Yet, you make time. You make it a point to read what Durian is telling you. This is what you need to know. You need to know so you can not die. It's counting down and you have to beat the clock.

[ 3:17 ]

As much as you want to stop it, you can't. You can't stop it, you can't end it, you can't do anything else but stare in horror as you think. There are so many pieces missing, so many things unexplained, but you were doing things and figuring things out. Things were happening.

Ok4y cruxtruder, totem l4the... 4nd 4lchemeter, yes, these.
4nd 4 kernelsprite, m4ybe.
It's 4 cube now... it's different, something h4ppened.
I guess th4t's prototyping!
But the m4chines, m4ybe.
The m4chines 4re import4nt.

As you ponder the machines, their purposes, their uses, a new thing appears. A card with holes punched into it. It settles upon your husktop and you stare for a moment before shaking your head. This isn't what you need. What you need is the first puzzle piece you were given. You have three machines. A process. Three machines... but everything came in fours. Three machines with a fourth thing.

You decide to worry about the fourth part later as you move to grab the cylinder, the cruxite dowel. In hopes that your guess is correct, because it seems to fit in one machine and not the other, you equip the TOTEM LATHE with your GREEN CRUXITE DOWEL and stare. It's not doing anything. You glance back at your husktop, the card, and the timer.

[ 2:48 ]

You're wasting time panicking. You have to act. You have to survive. You have to you have to you have to you have to. You quickly analyze the TOTEM LATHE, searching for SOMETHING you can do, something you can- a slot. Why would there be a slot-

You make a sound. The sound is as much a mix of surprise and happiness as it is of disappointment and frustration; there's not quite an adequate word to describe it, but accompanying the sound is your movement to grab that PRE-PUNCHED CARD. You're going to shove it in the slot and use the machine, and that's that. You hope you're doing the right thing, and you do take a second to glance at your chat window on your husktop. Durian's helping, after all!

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[S] Avispa: Enter.

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