A Reality of a Different Color

[x] The lone Orange Astralist

You came here to learn more about the game, so what better way to do that than talk to the highest-level player around? And you don't really like butting into conversations people are already having… so you aim towards the Orange Astralist.

Once you get within about fifty feet of him, white light coalesces over his head into some text.


That's definitely over level five - so if nothing else, he'll know about level rewards and how having two colors works. He probably won't know much about the Spiritualist abilities, but you can figure that out as you go. And he looks like a college kid, not a high schooler, so the age gap isn't too bad.

He's busy doing something on his phone, so you get all the way next to the table and stand there awkwardly for a moment without him noticing you.

"Um, hey. Mind if I join you?"

He looks up at you, glancing at the space over your head for a moment and then at Nebula before he nods. "Yeah, I was just checking… uh. Doing some inventory management. You're new?"

"Just started playing today." You sit down across from him at the picnic bench. "Half an hour ago, to be honest. So, um… do I call you Kaius?"

"Oh. Yeah, go ahead. Annabelle?"

"Works for me." You're really glad you picked a normal kind of name, now, instead of something like Strawberry Shortcake or PokeMaster. "You've been playing a while?"

"A couple days." Kaius looks up at where you're pretty sure your name and level are floating. "You want some help, I'm guessing?"

"Information," you admit. "I know half the point is figuring things out, but this game is pretty cryptic even for an ARG."

"That's true." He puts his phone down on the table and frowns. "I don't usually do… mentor stuff? But uh, I can tell you some basics and answer questions, I guess. Like that." Kaius points up at the big glowing C slowly rotating in the air above the area. "That's a beacon. You can save it and the HUD'll point you to it from anywhere else. It keeps monsters from spawning in the area around it, but it's not a safe zone, they can come in if they're chasing someone."

"So it's mostly a good spot for meeting up with people." You look over at the other group of three, then off at the rest of the park. It looks like someone else in green is fighting some... shadowy thing, out by the pond... It's good to see there's active players actually doing stuff out there, but you have information to gather before you go out exploring, yourself. "For basics, how does combat work? How hard is it to level?"

"Well, um, I'm not a Spiritualist like you, so I'm not sure? For Astralists, you get a maximum range for your abilities. If something's in range, I get an EP circle on my HUD for and I can select it, then the ability I want to use."

The only one of your abilities that involves selecting a target enemy is Attack. The rest of them don't mention a target at all, but you assume if they need one, they automatically target Nebula.

"There's a hundred XP per level," Kaius continues, "and you get more XP from monsters that have a higher relative level. Right now I get thirteen XP from level eleven monsters and only three from a level one."

You're definitely going to do the math for that later. (Or ask Kaius if he's done it.) But there's still a lot of really basic things you don't understand about the game that you should ask about first.

Choose one. Close but non-winning results will affect the conversation.

[] How do I get new Abilities?
[] Is there a partying system?
[] Should I worry about earning Chroma Coins yet?
[] What do the Colors actually do?
[] Write-in

[x] What do the Colors actually do?

With the basics of combat and levelling out of the way, your next question is clear. The mechanics of the game are cryptic at best, but for the most part sound like your typical RPG kind of things. Except for these Colors.

"What do these Colors actually do? Do they determine your stats? Your attack's element?"

"Both. Well," Kaius hedged, shifting uncomfortably in his seat, "I think. Most of the colors system is pretty deep under the surface, but I've figured out a few things. Each color has a different element and a different set of attributes that it's… good at, I guess? The elements I figured out so far are fire, air, earth, water, dark, light," he counts them off on his fingers. "And each one is stronger against and weaker to the usual opposite. Fire and water, dark and light. Violet, though…" He looks at you in curiosity. "I haven't figured it out yet."

"Great. I was hoping you could tell me that one," you say, jokingly. Mostly joking. You're not really joking at all, if you're being honest. "It's all transformation and illusion stuff so far."

"Interesting." He frowned in thought. "Anyway, the attributes are harder to pin down. Orange seems to have a lot of focus on speed and movement. Blue is mind, I think."

"You think? Didn't you pick it as a secondary?"

"You picked Violet as your primary," he mutters, visibly stung. "You're not one to talk."

"All right, fair." You shrug, not really feeling repentant even if he does have a point. "Then why did you choose blue?"

"Because it was my second choice when I was making my character. Besides, the Blue Abilities it gave me as swap options looked interesting."

"Swap?" You lean forward. "You got to swap in different abilities? Did you get any new ones yet?"

"Yeah, it gave me some options when I reached level five, one of them was swapping one of my abilities for a new one. I decided to increase my energy pool instead, since Astralist spells use color energy to do damage, but it sounded like I'd get the choice every five levels."

Hey, that using-energy part sounds familiar. Does that mean your Flare ability works like an Astralist spell?

But a bright flash of red light, coming from a distance behind Kaius, distracts you momentarily from the conversation, and draws your attention towards the Green player you saw fighting a minute ago.

They are no longer out towards the pond, you realize. They're being chased by the same black shadow monster, an orange cybernetic dog, and something that looks like it's made entirely of fire. And heading straight for the beacon.

Which means straight towards you.

"…um, Kaius, you said monsters don't spawn near a beacon but can run into the area, right?"

"Yeah? What—" He notices you staring past his shoulder and turns around to see what you're looking at. "Oh."

[] There's no way you can take on three unknown level creatures in your first fight! Flee!
- [] … to the other side of the picnic area. It puts the other four players near the beacon between you and the fight.
- [] … far away. You have no idea what the range on those things is.
- [] … under the picnic bench. Does the game care about physical obstacles? You're about to find out.

[] Stay and help Kaius and the others fight the monsters. Maybe you'll learn something.
- [] Go for the throat! Attack the strongest of the monsters!
- [] Let the big guns take the big 'uns. Attack the weakest monster.
- [] Take a support role. You and Nebula have some non-attack abilities.

(The readers are encouraged to suggest combat or flight strategies.)