Questionably Soteriological: A Puzzle/Mystery Quest with Kids, Science, and Fun!
- Thread starter causticAccolade
- Start date
- Original
- Location
- Who Knows
[X] Examine her ID CARD (CONFIRM HER IDENTITY and also see if there's any other useful info on there)
[X] Examine her WALLET (Lucy would say JACKPOT if Lucy wasn't a MORALLY OUTSTANDING MEMBER OF SOCIETY who would never STEAL things.
Also a little on the late side because my wifi access was horrible and imgur refused to upload properly, I thought this was hilarious
[X] Examine her WALLET (Lucy would say JACKPOT if Lucy wasn't a MORALLY OUTSTANDING MEMBER OF SOCIETY who would never STEAL things.
Also a little on the late side because my wifi access was horrible and imgur refused to upload properly, I thought this was hilarious
So I did this:
- Location
- Rochester, NY
Holy crap that's awesome![X] Examine her ID CARD (CONFIRM HER IDENTITY and also see if there's any other useful info on there)
[X] Examine her WALLET (Lucy would say JACKPOT if Lucy wasn't a MORALLY OUTSTANDING MEMBER OF SOCIETY who would never STEAL things.
Also a little on the late side because my wifi access was horrible and imgur refused to upload properly, I thought this was hilarious
So I did this:
[X] Examine her ID CARD (CONFIRM HER IDENTITY and also see if there's any other useful info on there)
[X] Examine her WALLET (Lucy would say JACKPOT if Lucy wasn't a MORALLY OUTSTANDING MEMBER OF SOCIETY who would never STEAL things.
Also a little on the late side because my wifi access was horrible and imgur refused to upload properly, I thought this was hilarious
So I did this:
This is amazing.
- Location
- US
- Pronouns
- He/Him
this is the coolest??? wow
elenchus
leftism is quantifiable
- Location
- Texas ;_;
- Pronouns
- She/Her
So, a question...
I noticed that we had to use the pendulum from the Clock Room as a handle in the Park Room. Did you have an alternative solution planned that we skipped by bringing it?
If so, does that mean items from previous levels can generally be used to provide shortcuts to puzzles? So, for example, could we have made coins out of the gold/silver/bronze keys?
I noticed that we had to use the pendulum from the Clock Room as a handle in the Park Room. Did you have an alternative solution planned that we skipped by bringing it?
If so, does that mean items from previous levels can generally be used to provide shortcuts to puzzles? So, for example, could we have made coins out of the gold/silver/bronze keys?
causticAccolade
dead yet dreaming
- Location
- Silent Sound, Cipher Cove, Levoile.
Long story short, no update for a while due to political events sending me into an absolutely dismal mood. Should be posting one today or early tomorrow.
> Lucy: Go through someone else's things
causticAccolade
dead yet dreaming
- Location
- Silent Sound, Cipher Cove, Levoile.
I'd like to apologize to you all if this is at all lacking in quality - I sort of forced myself to get this out to try and get my writing drive back but I am very much still deep in melancholy and constant vacillations between bitter anger and crushing despair over politics. But hey, enough of that, here's your regularly scheduled kids, fun, and science!
The ASSORTED TRINKETS presented to you by Owen are interesting, but you decide to check out her NOTEBOOK first of all. Blood has soaked through the pages, making large segments of it illegible, but you read what you can make out. They seem to be records of appointments, but only two are even slightly legible.
KALA (Luna Project)
- We discussed her paranoia and avoidant tendencies.
- She continues to mistrust me. That's fair enough.
- She hates other members of staff, Mr. Stockholm in particular. Fair enough. I don't like him either.
- She reacted well to gifts, food, and kind [illegible]. Demanded [illegible] taken seriously when she [illegible].
- Being allowed to use the relaxation room has helped her out emotionally, I think. She still [illegible] directly interacting with others.
- She's shown a marked increase in disordered thinking - believed to be one of the [illegible] effects of the serum.
- It's possible that a large spike in [illegible] due to stress might [illegible]. Perhaps we go ahead with Geneva's roulette idea?
- I seem to be the only one who [illegible] a damn, but that would be [illegible] inhumane.
- I hope she ends [illegible] alright.
- [illegible] sorry.
MARINETTE (On-Site Resident)
- Not an official meeting, but she asked to talk, and I couldn't say now.
- Worried about her father's mental state.
- Dr. Brighton certainly has been distant recently, I think - not that I'm a good friend of his. Perhaps I'll ask Klaus, if I can stand his presence for more than [illegible] minutes.
- Competely shut down the conversation at any mention of [illegible] her uncle.
- Said everything was fine with her. Wouldn't meet my eye.
- I've seen how co-ordinated she is when working [illegible] her hands. I don't really believe she'd [illegible] down the stairs.
- I'm a trained damn child psychologist, I know [illegible] when I [illegible] and if Dr. Paris tries to [illegible] to drop the subject this time, I'm [illegible] and [illegible] down her [illegible].
- We discussed her paranoia and avoidant tendencies.
- She continues to mistrust me. That's fair enough.
- She hates other members of staff, Mr. Stockholm in particular. Fair enough. I don't like him either.
- She reacted well to gifts, food, and kind [illegible]. Demanded [illegible] taken seriously when she [illegible].
- Being allowed to use the relaxation room has helped her out emotionally, I think. She still [illegible] directly interacting with others.
- She's shown a marked increase in disordered thinking - believed to be one of the [illegible] effects of the serum.
- It's possible that a large spike in [illegible] due to stress might [illegible]. Perhaps we go ahead with Geneva's roulette idea?
- I seem to be the only one who [illegible] a damn, but that would be [illegible] inhumane.
- I hope she ends [illegible] alright.
- [illegible] sorry.
MARINETTE (On-Site Resident)
- Not an official meeting, but she asked to talk, and I couldn't say now.
- Worried about her father's mental state.
- Dr. Brighton certainly has been distant recently, I think - not that I'm a good friend of his. Perhaps I'll ask Klaus, if I can stand his presence for more than [illegible] minutes.
- Competely shut down the conversation at any mention of [illegible] her uncle.
- Said everything was fine with her. Wouldn't meet my eye.
- I've seen how co-ordinated she is when working [illegible] her hands. I don't really believe she'd [illegible] down the stairs.
- I'm a trained damn child psychologist, I know [illegible] when I [illegible] and if Dr. Paris tries to [illegible] to drop the subject this time, I'm [illegible] and [illegible] down her [illegible].
There are a wide variety of OVERPRICED HUNKS OF PLASTIC - you've never seen the point of TOYS, not even when you were small. Well. Smaller than you are now. (RUBIK'S CUBES, for the record, as you're fond of INDIGNANTLY TELLING anyone who even suggests the contrary, AREN'T TOYS, they're PUZZLES for ACUMINOUS YOUTHS and NOT CHILDREN. Honest.) Along with these are a number of SOFT PLUSHES, and a rather remarkable WIND-UP TOY ROBOT. Even you have to admit, it's pretty cool.
The water is CLEAN and CRYSTAL CLEAR. At the bottom is a SMALL TREASURE CHEST, like you'd put in an AQUARIUM if you wanted to subject your fish to the HORRORS OF CAPITALISM. A TILE MOSAIC of a GEOCENTRIC SOLAR SYSTEM is at the bottom, although the EARTH has a TILE MISSING.
They all appear to be of the same landscape, but in different seasons. In the LANDSCAPE PAINTING titled SPRING, an idyllic grassy plain stretches out under blue skies. Despite it clearly being day, something is painted, twinkling, in the sky. In the one titled SUMMER, the plain is made to seem somewhat less idyllic by the addition of a large crater, a glow in various colours emanating from the bottom of it. By AUTUMN, however, the crater has been filled with water to create a BEAUTIFUL and SERENE-LOOKING LAKE, and by WINTER a large manor house has been built by the lake, with a slightly incongruously high-tech segment even extending under the surface of the lake. They're very calming, you think to yourself. The kind of thing that old people like to watch on television to the sound of Ode To Joy while a man with a soothing British accent talks over them. You can almost feel yourself yawning already.
[+2 ÉLAN!]
You put down your SHOVEL, FLASHLIGHT, CROWBAR, and GREEN MARKER in order to take a look at ANKARA'S TRINKETS. Of course, normally, rifling through the contents of someone's pockets would be STEALING, and therefore a CRIME, and therefore OPPOSED to your GRAND GOALS of JUSTICE that you pursue as a JUNIOR SLEUTH. However, when you're a JUNIOR SLEUTH and the victim of the pocket-rifling is a PERSON OF SUSPICION, it's not stealing, but CONFISCATION, which is totally within the purview of a JUNIOR SLEUTH. Plus, you're pretty sure there aren't any POLICE in this place to arrest you.
The class machination [DEDUCTION FOR DUMMIES] has been activated!
The NOTEBOOK is soaked with BLOOD, and all the pages are ICKY and STUCK TOGETHER. On the INSIDE COVER, it has a note in it:
Inside Cover said:
The MOBILE PHONE is sleek, thin, black, and modern. It seems to be new. It's password-locked, and has no signal. The time display tells you that it is 9:08 PM on JULY THE 21st. You furrow your brow with consternation. It's past your bedtime... but you have a mystery to solve! And you've stayed up past your bedtime before, in order to solve much less important mysteries than this one! This mystery is a dozen mysteries wrapped in enigmas wrapped in confusion wrapped in excessively esoteric astronomical allusions wrapped in... in... in question marks! Okay, that metaphor got away from you. But you think the point still stands.
The ID CARD bears a photograph of Dr. Ankara looking at the camera with a serious expression, as well as her full name, age, and a logo bearing the letters GSC. It gives her speciality as child psychology, as well as her date and place of birth. A bar at the top of it reads TIER 1 GSC SECURITY CLEARANCE and another bar tells you that the bearer of this card is entitled to a 30% DISCOUNT ON CAFETERIA food at ALL GSC FACILITIES. You feel like this is the sort of thing that might COME IN HANDY at some point.
Her WALLET is full of MONEY, which you guess you were kind of expecting. It also contains a DRIVER'S LICENCE, a CREDIT CARD, and a few PHOTOGRAPHS. It occurs to you that if you wanted, you could use this WALLET to store smaller objects inside - however, not having any KNOWLEDGE OR AWARENESS OF MECHANICAL ABSTRACTIONS, you don't really see the relevance of this information to anything at all. You're tempted to take a few dollars to buy CANDY with at some point, if you find a candy store. You know. For investigative purposes. But you decide against it.
You sit yourself down on the COUCH and turn on the GAMES CONSOLE. You raise a QUIZZICAL EYEBROW when you notice that the HIGH SCORE on the game currently in the console is attributed to 'KLAUS'. Although you don't want to spend TOO LONG on playing VIDEOGAMES when you have a CASE TO SOLVE, you've always had a fondness for PUZZLE GAMES, and after NOTICING ONE you let yourself get drawn quite into it. After finishing a few levels, you decide it's been long enough, but you do feel a little better. And suddenly struck with the urge to wear a tall hat.
[+10 ÉLAN!]
You steel yourself. You know that sometimes, difficult things have to be done in the name of justice! Sometimes, the things that a JUNIOR SLEUTH must do in the pursuit of answers are unspeakable, terrible, and horrifying to anyone not deeply trained in the art of dectective...ing. Detecting. Whatever. Sometimes, a sleuth must do something so terrible that they sacrifice a part of themselves to it, forever losing something of their very being for the sake of a case.
Fortunately, this is not one of those decisions. This is one of those parts of being a JUNIOR SLEUTH that is REALLY GREAT and has BASICALLY NO DOWNSIDES. With a searching eye and a detective's thoroughness, you very responsibly climb into the LARGE BED and rest your head on a SOFT PILLOW. For the sake of the case, of course. You quickly come to the conclusion that this bed is REALLY COMFY AND SOFT - a real marvel of deductive reasoning! You're tempted to prolong your investigation in order to truly leave no stone unturned, as a true JUNIOR SLEUTH would, but you suspect you might end up falling asleep and so reluctantly climb out.
[+5 ELAN!]
With your back to the entrance, there are THREE DOORS visible in this room - one, directly opposite you, is the one that the BLOOD TRAIL leads to, and the one that Dr. Ankara entered through. Of the other two, the one on the LEFT seems to lead to some sort of OFFICE, while the one on the RIGHT seems to lead to some sort of MEDICAL ROOM. You're not sure you want to open the door Ankara came in through right now.
causticAccolade
dead yet dreaming
- Location
- Silent Sound, Cipher Cove, Levoile.
Oh my God, this is incredible, and I love it. Thank you so much!Also a little on the late side because my wifi access was horrible and imgur refused to upload properly, I thought this was hilarious
So I did this:
- Location
- Rochester, NY
Welcome back! I hope things start looking up for you.
[X] Pull the SMALL TREASURE CHEST out of the POND and see if there's anything inside it.
-[X] Make OBLIGATORY PIRATE NOISES as needed.
[X] Try Ankara's birthday as the password to her phone. It's worth a shot, right? Though it would be a startlingly poor choice of security on her part.
[X] EXAMINE the OFFICE
[X] Pull the SMALL TREASURE CHEST out of the POND and see if there's anything inside it.
-[X] Make OBLIGATORY PIRATE NOISES as needed.
[X] Try Ankara's birthday as the password to her phone. It's worth a shot, right? Though it would be a startlingly poor choice of security on her part.
[X] EXAMINE the OFFICE
elenchus
leftism is quantifiable
- Location
- Texas ;_;
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Cheers!
So, confirmed that running out of ELAN does unspecified bad things, but we all knew that. Ominous references to "Geneva's roulette" as a possible solution.
Mari's undergoing physical abuse from her uncle, and we know from previous updates that Dr. Ankara has raised complaints about him to Dr. Paris to no effect. Dr. Paris, incidentally, is the staff member we know least about from the staff register.
The landscape paintings might depict the GSC facility; we passed through an underwater tunnel earlier.
[X] DFD PHOTOGRAPHS from WALLET.
[X] Confirm the ID CARD, the CREDIT CARD, and the DRIVER's LICENCE all are of her and the data on them all match up.
[X] Try to use water (ex. from the AQUARIUM) to unstick the NOTEBOOK pages.
So, confirmed that running out of ELAN does unspecified bad things, but we all knew that. Ominous references to "Geneva's roulette" as a possible solution.
Mari's undergoing physical abuse from her uncle, and we know from previous updates that Dr. Ankara has raised complaints about him to Dr. Paris to no effect. Dr. Paris, incidentally, is the staff member we know least about from the staff register.
The landscape paintings might depict the GSC facility; we passed through an underwater tunnel earlier.
[X] DFD PHOTOGRAPHS from WALLET.
[X] Confirm the ID CARD, the CREDIT CARD, and the DRIVER's LICENCE all are of her and the data on them all match up.
[X] Try to use water (ex. from the AQUARIUM) to unstick the NOTEBOOK pages.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
Gifts, food and kind words? Man, we are on a path to friendship! And now we have a name, 'Kala'.
Large spike in... adrenaline, perhaps? That's what triggers the first stage? Could be good, could be bad. This facility could be designed with this purpose in mind, and we might need supernatural abilities to get through it. Still, that bridge is open to us at all times.
Remember, folks, never trust the one whose only descriptor is 'smiley man'!
[X] Use DFD on TOY ROBOT
I don't know, somehow it seems out of place here among the plushies.
So, another meteorite with a sci-fi mansion built on top of crashing site. If that how the Institute looks from the outside? And there is a segment going under the lake... I wondered where all that water in the Dark Corridor came from.
Duh, of course it'll come in handy! It's a -30% off discount on sweets!! Oh, you mean the ID card with high security clearance. That might have its uses too, I suppose.
He is gaining points in my book with each passing update. I wonder if this toy robot isn't his...
Right. My gut tells me we need to find the missing tile. But since TurtleDucks is already checking the office...
[X] Check the MEDICAL ROOM TO THE RIGHT
I am interested in what sort of person Ankara is and what is her motivation in joining and going along with the project. Maybe there would be something hinting at it.
Edit: Oh, it's already taken. Then what about...
[X] Ask Owen if Ankara is the same woman who came in earlier. Was she already badly wounded even before she came runnung back?
The blood trail looks pretty bad as it is (there is a whole pool of it at the crossroads), so why did she go out in a hurry without visiting the Medbay, and if it was so important, why did she come back? Was she injured even further?
I am kind of tempted to think that it's Mars/Moth going berserk.
Edit2:
Interesting. It confirms Mari was out for a whole day:
That's not enough for a serum to take effect, not with what we know about it. Still, she might not be affected by the facility the way it supposed to affect kids, but we may want to not risk it.
Last edited:
EvilPorygon
Cookie Monster
- Location
- a phone
Good to see this again.
[X] Examine the plushies
[X] Wind up the toy robot
[X] Examine the plushies
[X] Wind up the toy robot
- Location
- US
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Check out the office on the left
Oh look, it's a new text adventure! Well I know what I have to do first -
[X]>xyzzy
[X]>plugh
[X]>plover
And while I'm at it,
[X]>frotz grue
Okay, serious face on.
.... Hm.
Things that I find interesting:
a) All players but Saturn have reasonably obvious correspondences with their corresponding gods. Mercury, trickster, lucky, scoundrel; Jupiter, regal, potentially re-identified with Hephestas through the medium of the thunderbolt; Gaia, stable and central; Mars, warlike; Luna, mad, often invisible, always changing, subtle. Sol makes more sense from a heliocentric viewpoint, but Apollo was hardly a slouch in battle...
Saturn, though. Chronos, god of time, plenty, creation; through his portfolio in agriculture perhaps ingenuity...? A bit of a stretch...
b) The existence of Neptune was first proposed as a solution to certain problems fitting the known orbits.
c) Why red? Why cyan? We picked green, I believe...
... I need to brush up on my Dee.
[X]>xyzzy
[X]>plugh
[X]>plover
And while I'm at it,
[X]>frotz grue
Okay, serious face on.
.... Hm.
Things that I find interesting:
a) All players but Saturn have reasonably obvious correspondences with their corresponding gods. Mercury, trickster, lucky, scoundrel; Jupiter, regal, potentially re-identified with Hephestas through the medium of the thunderbolt; Gaia, stable and central; Mars, warlike; Luna, mad, often invisible, always changing, subtle. Sol makes more sense from a heliocentric viewpoint, but Apollo was hardly a slouch in battle...
Saturn, though. Chronos, god of time, plenty, creation; through his portfolio in agriculture perhaps ingenuity...? A bit of a stretch...
b) The existence of Neptune was first proposed as a solution to certain problems fitting the known orbits.
c) Why red? Why cyan? We picked green, I believe...
... I need to brush up on my Dee.
- Pronouns
- They/Them
Hmm, is there any way we can examine the Spring painting closer for whatever is twinkling in the sky?
- Location
- St. Petersburg
That depends on how far you are willing to stretch the definition of a decent person. I mean:
What do you think she designed the maze for? Can you say 'hoisted by your own petard'?
You are right in that she is the most decent out of known Institute staff (with Klaus as close second), but that's not saying much. Or maybe it does. If I had to choose between dealing with her and, say, Mr. Stockholm...
- Location
- Spain
[X] DFD the PAINTING
elenchus
leftism is quantifiable
- Location
- Texas ;_;
- Pronouns
- She/Her
DFD applies to inventory items. You'll want to take the paintings down and put them in the inventory first.
Having remorse helps at least.
She's a fundamentally NORMAL person I think. She went along because everyone else did, but felt uneasy.
> Lucy: Make a soft, plush friend
causticAccolade
dead yet dreaming
- Location
- Silent Sound, Cipher Cove, Levoile.
Politics continues to drag my mood down right into the gutter, but one must persevere. Apology for the slow rate of updates, I hope there isn't any drop in quality as a result of my dismal mood.
You QUIETLY WHISPER 'Arr!' so as not to be heard by Owen and Mari as you stick your arm into the POND and barely manage to pull out the TREASURE CHEST. Unfortunately, the dang thing is locked!
Although trying the suspect's birthday as their password served you well in the Case of the Third-Grade Homework Cartel, you feel like Ankara might have been more careful about her security than Joey Bliggs was - and it turns out that you're right. You almost feel like the 'INCORRECT PASSWORD' screen is judging you.
It's a functional-looking place, that looks like most of the furniture was purchased at IKEA. A DESK dominates the front of the room, with a CLOCK, a SAFE, and a WATER-FILLED GLASS SPHERE resting on it, alongside some STATIONERY. In the back of the room is a FILING CABINET.
The PHOTOGRAPHS are mostly of DR. ANKARA. One features a CONSIDERABLY YOUNGER version of her smiling with a DIPLOMA in what appears to be a GRADUATION CEREMONY. Another one, a slightly older version of herself smiling with TWO OLDER PEOPLE who look like they might be HER PARENTS, and finally a photograph of herself looking much as she does now, minus the BLOOD and LABCOAT, in front of a vaguely Middle Eastern-looking city skyline. They're all VERY HIGH-QUALITY.
The DRIVER'S LICENCE gives her name as FATIMA AMJAD, but apart from that, all of the data MATCHES UP.
You try your best, but there's just too much blood! Too Much Blood wouldn't be a bad name for a rock band, you think to yourself.
It's quite clearly MECHANICAL. Winding it up causes it to WALK AROUND IN CIRCLES. It's quite firmly held together on the back by a METAL PANEL with SCREWS. You think it's pretty dumb, but on the other hand, the arms light up, and it makes a pew pew sound! Who can say no to pew pew?
It's white, clean, and clinical-looking, with the characteristic smell of disinfectant. In the back of the room, FROST is forming on the walls, and the chill making its way across suggests that it's a WALK-IN FREEZER, which would explain the LARGE BAGS OF BLOOD dangling from the ceiling. A FOLDER sits on top of a STRANGE MACHINE on the side of the room nearest the door, alongside a SMALL HOOK on the wall where the FIRST AID KIT presumably used to hang.
"Uh. Yeah. She was hurt. Bleeding all over the place. Bleeding... blood. Obviously. She was in a big hurry. Going very fast for someone with, you know, blood, on the, uh, on the wrong side of her body. That side being. The outside. Where blood is, um. Not really meant to be."
They are soft and cuddly. One of them in particular, a VERY SOFT CAT, seems especially endearing to you. You get the feeling that carrying this little guy around with you, if you chose to do so, would probably DO WONDERS for your MENTAL STATE.
You think a few FRIVOLOUSLY SILLY AND IRRELEVANT THOUGHTS, and you're not really sure why. For some reason, you feel that someone, somewhere, is laughing at you.
[ADVANCED TALLY UNLOCKED : FRIVOLOUS SILLINESS METER!]
It is a VERY FINELY CRAFTED MOSAIC, using EXQUISITE TILES of what appears to be CORAL. A rather large tile appears to be missing from the CENTRE.
.... Everyone else seems to want to keep their tiles, huh.
Kind of wish we had gone back for ours.
[X]Hug Claim VERY SOFT CAT as evidence.
[X] Open and read FOLDER
Kind of wish we had gone back for ours.
[X]
[X] Open and read FOLDER