Hey! Little bit of a different kind of poll this time; we're looking at running a sort of multipart choose your own adventure style format, with each poll describing a scenario and your votes on the possible choices determining how it plays out. This may take several weeks of voting to reach the end of the story. If you're interested, here are a few starting scenarios we cooked up; vote for your favorite with the emote listed! Once one is chosen, we'll get into more details later this week.
(Winner: 
)
)
The Factory 
Horror
Near-future - Industrial Facility
Kidnapped by mysterious figures, our protagonist wakes up in a long concrete tunnel, a small hole in the ceiling and a collection of bruises the only clues as to how they got there. Pipes line the walls and the hum of distant machinery presses heavily on the senses. Where are they, and how do they escape?
Those that Lie Sleeping :blobwizard:
Mystery / Horror
Present Day - Moderately sized city
Our protagonist has accidentally discovered signs of a strange cult operating nearby, with the apparent goal of summoning... something. Beyond a few scattered disappearances and a tattered manuscript fished out of the river, there’s little evidence this cult even exists; certainly not enough for the law to go on. However our protagonist has had a brush with magic once before and knows enough to take the threat very seriously indeed. There isn’t much time, though, as the ancient day of Candlemas - one of the best times to hold rituals - approaches.
A Dream of the Void 
Atmospheric / Cosmic Intrigue
Dream Realm
You were once a normal person with a normal life. That all changed when you fell asleep under the baleful glare of a demon star and woke into a dream more real than ever before. The ravenous ocean is calling to you, as is the burning sun and the unknowable void. Which call do you heed, if any? Is there a fourth path, a way to choose another option? What is actually happening in this dream?
The Crystalline Sun
Cosmic Atmosphere / Mystery
Space
Our protagonist has traveled in their starship to the mysterious and beautiful Crystalline Sun, a white dwarf that has cooled to the point of solidifying into crystal. This star in particular houses a secret, however, as tunnels twist through the star with no adequate explanation and the crystal still glows with a mysterious inner light, long after it should have been extinguished. What’s really going on here, at the center of all this?
Horror
Near-future - Industrial Facility
Kidnapped by mysterious figures, our protagonist wakes up in a long concrete tunnel, a small hole in the ceiling and a collection of bruises the only clues as to how they got there. Pipes line the walls and the hum of distant machinery presses heavily on the senses. Where are they, and how do they escape?
Those that Lie Sleeping :blobwizard:
Mystery / Horror
Present Day - Moderately sized city
Our protagonist has accidentally discovered signs of a strange cult operating nearby, with the apparent goal of summoning... something. Beyond a few scattered disappearances and a tattered manuscript fished out of the river, there’s little evidence this cult even exists; certainly not enough for the law to go on. However our protagonist has had a brush with magic once before and knows enough to take the threat very seriously indeed. There isn’t much time, though, as the ancient day of Candlemas - one of the best times to hold rituals - approaches.
A Dream of the Void
Atmospheric / Cosmic Intrigue
Dream Realm
You were once a normal person with a normal life. That all changed when you fell asleep under the baleful glare of a demon star and woke into a dream more real than ever before. The ravenous ocean is calling to you, as is the burning sun and the unknowable void. Which call do you heed, if any? Is there a fourth path, a way to choose another option? What is actually happening in this dream?
The Crystalline Sun
Cosmic Atmosphere / Mystery
Space
Our protagonist has traveled in their starship to the mysterious and beautiful Crystalline Sun, a white dwarf that has cooled to the point of solidifying into crystal. This star in particular houses a secret, however, as tunnels twist through the star with no adequate explanation and the crystal still glows with a mysterious inner light, long after it should have been extinguished. What’s really going on here, at the center of all this?
Alright, it looks like we're going on an adventure into the Crystalline Sun ! There are just a few details we'll need to confirm before starting the story. Please vote for each set of choices:
Should the adventure be narrated in second or third person?
- Second person
- Third person
Who is our protagonist?
- Alina, a young but capable starship pilot who feels drawn to the Sun somehow, as if something about it is calling her.
- Derek, an older industry worker whose transport ship suffered a malfunction near the Sun and now seeks some way to survive until rescue, if any is coming.
- Frederick, a daring adventurer who seeks to discover the Sun's secrets and plunder its riches (if any).
This poll will close and we should be starting the story near the beginning of next week.
(Winners: and )
! There are just a few details we'll need to confirm before starting the story. Please vote for each set of choices:
Should the adventure be narrated in second or third person?
- Second person
- Third person
Who is our protagonist?
- Alina, a young but capable starship pilot who feels drawn to the Sun somehow, as if something about it is calling her.
- Derek, an older industry worker whose transport ship suffered a malfunction near the Sun and now seeks some way to survive until rescue, if any is coming.
- Frederick, a daring adventurer who seeks to discover the Sun's secrets and plunder its riches (if any).
This poll will close and we should be starting the story near the beginning of next week.
(Winners: and )
Scene 0
Your name is Derek Flynn. You are a support technician for EloTek Industries specializing in starship shield troubleshooting, but you can handle most common problems that crop up. You are 39 years old and aiming for a promotion to get you out of support and into engineering; you’ve got some great ideas for a new line of hyper-efficient shields.
The spaceliner jumps and shudders with turbulence and you snap out of your thoughts somewhat. You gaze out the porthole and see nothing but the deep inky black of hyperspace, occasionally streaked with the purple light of a powerful gravitational anomaly shooting past at the speed of light. You are currently en route to a particularly valuable potential client - the local government of the Alpha Theta Kleps system - to sell them on a lucrative contract and help them set up your systems. If you can pull this off, you have a solid chance of finally moving up. You settle back into your seat and try to go to sleep. Even in hyperspace, the journey will be another few hours, so it’s probably best to be well rested.
Suddenly, the ship jolts with a crashing impact and you are thrown from your seat into the person sitting next to you. Passengers cry out and you quickly turn to the window to see what’s going on.
Out the porthole, a massive glowing white planet or star fills most of your field of view. It’s far, far too close, and the ship’s jump drive is making unhappy grinding noises behind you. You can hear the engines sputtering weakly, but it’s clear that gravity will win this contest. You have a few minutes to act before the ship slams into the surface. What do you do?
- Sit calmly in your seat and await instructions from the crew. You running around like a crazy person won’t help matters.
- Run to the escape pods as fast as you can and launch. There’s no time to waste!
- Get to the engine room and attempt emergency repairs. An engine is basically the same thing as a shield, right?
- Sit calmly in your seat and await instructions from the crew. You running around like a crazy person won’t help matters.
- Run to the escape pods as fast as you can and launch. There’s no time to waste!
- Get to the engine room and attempt emergency repairs. An engine is basically the same thing as a shield, right?
(Winner: )
Scene 1
You leap from your seat and wrestle your way into the aisle, which is already filling with a crush of panicked passengers. You hardly have room to move, but you doggedly shove your way through the crowd towards the rear of the vessel. The door to the engines is locked, but a quick explanation to a nearby crew member buys you full access. You shut the door behind you before any other passengers can get in and breathe out as the noise level plummets instantly.
On a ship of this size, the engines are similarly massive, twin metal behemoths standing tall over the engine bay. You recognize them as Korman Reds, but you aren’t sure what model. The jump drive lies below them, half-buried in the floor and spouting thick, rancid black smoke. It’s not fixable, at least not within the time you have.
You snag a large wrench from a discarded toolbox and approach the right-hand engine. There’s nothing obviously wrong with it from the outside, so you start undoing the bolts on the maintenance hatch to look inside. Behind you, escape pods roar as they detach and speed away into space. You start to sweat nervously as you crank the wrench, undoing bolt after bolt. Four left. Three. Two. You wonder if you’re counting bolts or escape pods.
Finally, the hatch comes off and you are greeted with the sight of the scorched-black control board for the engines. The thrusters still work, you think, it’s just the link to the ship’s control board that’s broken. Another escape pod rumbles away. If you can just connect this wire to that terminal, the engine should...
)
Scene 1
You leap from your seat and wrestle your way into the aisle, which is already filling with a crush of panicked passengers. You hardly have room to move, but you doggedly shove your way through the crowd towards the rear of the vessel. The door to the engines is locked, but a quick explanation to a nearby crew member buys you full access. You shut the door behind you before any other passengers can get in and breathe out as the noise level plummets instantly.
On a ship of this size, the engines are similarly massive, twin metal behemoths standing tall over the engine bay. You recognize them as Korman Reds, but you aren’t sure what model. The jump drive lies below them, half-buried in the floor and spouting thick, rancid black smoke. It’s not fixable, at least not within the time you have.
You snag a large wrench from a discarded toolbox and approach the right-hand engine. There’s nothing obviously wrong with it from the outside, so you start undoing the bolts on the maintenance hatch to look inside. Behind you, escape pods roar as they detach and speed away into space. You start to sweat nervously as you crank the wrench, undoing bolt after bolt. Four left. Three. Two. You wonder if you’re counting bolts or escape pods.
Finally, the hatch comes off and you are greeted with the sight of the scorched-black control board for the engines. The thrusters still work, you think, it’s just the link to the ship’s control board that’s broken. Another escape pod rumbles away. If you can just connect this wire to that terminal, the engine should...
The ship roars as you connect the wire and the thrusters all fire at full blast. You are thrown to the floor as the ship fights against the deadly embrace of gravity. Dimly, you think you hear another escape pod detach. The last one? You lost count.
Several seconds pass as you crawl along the floor towards the main compartment doors, desperate to reach either the controls or the escape pods. You wrestle the door open and risk standing on the shuddering floor, noting the lack of people or escape pods and dashing for the controls. The door to the bridge is open and the crew are gone, escaped with the rest of the passengers. You race for the helm and look out the front window as you grab the controls.
The glowing white ground is rushing up to meet you. You’ll have no chance to make it back into space, and barely enough time to aim your landing. Where do you direct the ship to crash?
- You spot a bubbling lake of molten crystal, the same substance as the ground. It might provide enough heat to stave off death from the deadly cold of space.
- There’s a tunnel mouth over there, leading down farther than you can see into the depths of this strange crystal planet.
- The tallest landmark around: a towering crystal mountain looming above the otherwise mostly uniform spherical landscape.
(Winner: ... a tie between and !)
( was chosen as the winner by a coin flip)
- You spot a bubbling lake of molten crystal, the same substance as the ground. It might provide enough heat to stave off death from the deadly cold of space.
- There’s a tunnel mouth over there, leading down farther than you can see into the depths of this strange crystal planet.
- The tallest landmark around: a towering crystal mountain looming above the otherwise mostly uniform spherical landscape.
(Winner: ... a tie between and !)
( was chosen as the winner by a coin flip)
Additional question for today: how would you like to handle this adventure going forward, server-wise? Please only vote for one option.
- This is fine. Keep it as is.
- Make a channel for discussion, but keep posting story updates here.
- Make a channel for discussion, and post story updates in there instead (and pin them).
- Make a channel for discussion and a channel for story updates.
(Winner: )
- This is fine. Keep it as is.
- Make a channel for discussion, but keep posting story updates here.
- Make a channel for discussion, and post story updates in there instead (and pin them).
- Make a channel for discussion and a channel for story updates.
(Winner: )
And now we're caught up to the current story.
A note on Challenges:
On certain choices, you may see something resembling the following text enclosed in square brackets: [A matter of chance: an <adjective> challenge.] These choices involve a matter of chance. If selected, I will roll a die to determine if the action succeeds or fails, and by what margin. This will influence the outcome of the action. Common adjectives correspond to the chances given in the table below:
10%: almost impossible (need 10)
20%: high-risk (need 9)
30%: tough (need 8)
40%: risky (need 7)
50%: chancy (need 6)
60%: modest (need 5)
70%: simple (need 4)
80%: straightforward (need 3)
90%: almost guaranteed (need 2)
Additional note: challenges (or choices in general) that have the potential to kill the character or otherwise end the story will include the following text in square brackets: [This choice has the potential to end the story.]
Scene 2
You groan and blink dizzily as you try to focus your eyes. There’s nothing but blackness above. Seconds pass as you force your body to listen and you carefully push yourself into a sitting position and look around.
You are sitting near the edge of a crystal cliff, on a small ledge protruding from the side of the towering mountain you had spotted. The spaceliner is in pieces, scattered across the mountain’s flanks and foothills. Many portions still smolder, but the vacuum of space kills the embers soon enough and you are left in still, cold, total silence.
...
It’s quite peaceful.
...
How are you not dead?
There’s no atmosphere, you think. You experimentally snap your fingers, but that just makes you more confused as the sound echoes softly, muffled but still perfectly audible. Is there an atmosphere? How could there be, on an inert crystal sphere drifting aimlessly on the rim of space? You shake your head and decide not to question it, at least for now, and try to make some progress instead. You aren’t badly injured from the crash - just a few scrapes and bruises - and the gravity on this planet seems less than you’re used to. You can easily jump half your height in the air and land lightly. You’ll be much more mobile in this environment.
So. What now? You gaze up into space but see nothing except distant stars in every direction. The escape pods are long gone, and you doubt whatever rescue team shows up will care enough to look for you. You’re going to have to find some way to send out a distress signal or some way to get off the planet yourself.
You think you can trace a climbable - though treacherous - path up towards the mountain’s summit, where a slight variation in the color of the everpresent glow catches your attention. It looks almost more blue than the white of the rest of the crystal. You also spot a slightly red glow emanating from what may be a cave, quite out of the way of the path and across some tricky-looking jumps but likely still reachable with some risk and extra time.
Down below, you can see an old trail towards the foothills, forking in two directions: one towards the tunnel you had spotted from the air and the other winding off around the base of the mountain, perhaps towards the molten lake. A subtle tremor pulses through the ground like a heartbeat and you shiver, uneasy. You feel cold and exposed, and the muffled silence is getting to you. You should get moving.
- Head for the summit. [A matter of chance: a straightforward challenge.]
- Check out that cave first. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Descend and head for the tunnel.
- Descend and head for the lake.
(Winner: - Success by margin of 3)
- Head for the summit. [A matter of chance: a straightforward challenge.]
- Check out that cave first. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Descend and head for the tunnel.
- Descend and head for the lake.
(Winner: - Success by margin of 3)
12
15
3
7
Scene 3
The red light in the cave intrigues you. What could be causing it? The vague paths visible across the mountain suggests this planet may have once been an inhabited world, but how? And why? Is the crystal valuable? Experimentally, you reach out and place your hand on the mountain’s flank. Cold, smooth, hard. Warmer than ice, but not by much. You shiver. Better get moving.
The path up to the cave is surprisingly less difficult than you had expected. Sure, the path is steep and there are gaps in the trail, but the ground has been hewed into a textured surface for grip and the lower gravity makes it simple to leap over the pits that could send you tumbling thousands of feet down. The only tricky part involves a section where the path has crumbled and an overhang blocks your jump. You can see the mouth of the cave just ahead, so you make a carefully calculated sideways leap and slide just under the ceiling, just barely avoiding hitting it and losing your height.
The cave is shallow but rather wide. You step inside and immediately feel warmer - you’re not sure if there was wind that you are now protected from or if it’s just the contents of the cave giving off heat. On further inspection, you think it’s probably the latter. Just inside the cave’s mouth is a chunk of scrap from the starliner. To your eye, it looks like a section of ablative plating from the hull. Ceramic, and still glowing with heat from the descent. You gratefully warm your hands over the chunk of hull as you inspect the rest of the cave.
Tucked against the left wall is a dark wooden table. Ancient, from the look and feel of the grain, but not ready to collapse just yet. Lying on top of the table are a large, heavy pickaxe made of a dark grey metal, a few scraps of paper, and an old, dented canteen.
As you look around, trying to determine why these items were left here, you notice a portion of the back wall is indented and chips of crystal are scattered along the floor. Clearly someone had been digging here. You peer closer at the wall and notice a vague suggestion of shape, deep in the wall. It’s hard to tell through the omnipresent glow, but it might be... a heart? You blink and it’s gone. Odd.
Before deciding what to do next, you take a look at the scraps of paper on the table. There are three and they don’t appear to fit together nicely. The first scrap appears to be the middle right portion of a page and contains part of a diagram depicting what you recognize as the cave you are in currently. The back wall is marked with a Γ symbol and the word “DIG,” translated from some unknown language by your universal translator. The second scrap appears to be the upper-left corner of a page and contains five symbols: ∀ ∞ ∃ η ε. You’re not sure what to make of that and apparently your translator isn’t either. The third scrap appears to be the bottom portion of a page and reads:
“While awake, my soul is a fortress.
Only in dreams am I vulnerable.”
What’s the plan?
- Grab the pick and excavate! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Stop. Be quiet. Listen. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the summit. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the lake. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
- Rest for a while. Enjoy the warmth. Think, ponder, consider. [This option will take additional in-story time, but Derek may come up with new ideas.]
(Winner: - Success by margin of 5)
(Secondary winner: )
- Grab the pick and excavate! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Stop. Be quiet. Listen. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the summit. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the lake. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
- Rest for a while. Enjoy the warmth. Think, ponder, consider. [This option will take additional in-story time, but Derek may come up with new ideas.]
(Winner: - Success by margin of 5)
(Secondary winner: )
7
17
7
3
11
Scene 4
As you’re standing in the cave trying to determine what to do, you take a moment to quiet your breathing and listen. Softly, softly. You know you had heard it before.
...
Th-thump.
You knew it! Distantly, and muffled by the thin atmosphere, you feel more than hear a distant sound, akin to a giant’s heartbeat. You close your eyes and focus, straining to extend your senses just that little bit further.
...
Th-thump.
Somewhere deep below, hidden in the core of this planet, its massive heart beats. You’re sure of it. You know this with as much certainty as you now know the meaning of the partial poem lying on the table. With your mind’s eye, you can trace a vein, pulsing ever so faintly, up from the core all the way to this cave. It cuts off just behind the pickaxe-damaged wall.
...
Th-thump.
As you open your eyes, with the heart’s pounding still echoing in your head, you are immediately startled to notice something you hadn’t seen before. A blue glow, pulsing with the heartbeat and hidden mere feet behind the already-present indent. You know it would be folly to dig with the pickaxe, as you would only uncover a twisted reflection of the core’s pure essence.
...
Th-thump.
You lean against the wall of the cave, near the still-glowing ceramic. The crystal is cold against your back and you wish you had a coat. Still, the hypnotic rhythm of the heart combined with your inability to sleep on the spaceliner goes a long way towards lulling you into the embrace of sleep.
...
Th-thump.
You awaken some time later, shivering with cold and dizzy, with a halo of golden-blue light lingering in your vision. Clutched tightly in your right hand is a fist-sized blue crystal heart, cool and smooth and glittering with an inner light.
What now? (Vote for one item in each category)
- Break it.
- Keep it.
- Leave it.
- Take everything useful and head to the summit. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the lake. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the tunnel. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
(Winner: )
(Secondary winner: - Success by margin of 5 )
- Break it.
- Keep it.
- Leave it.
- Take everything useful and head to the summit. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the lake. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
- Take everything useful and head to the tunnel. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
(Winner: )
(Secondary winner: - Success by margin of 5 )
5
19
2
18
4
3
Scene 5
After some consideration, you pocket the heart. It feels warm and occasionally quivers, a quiet echo of the throbbing beat of the planet itself. You can can still hear the core’s massive pulses if you listen closely, but they’re no longer nearly as overwhelming. You shiver and clasp the heart in your pocket, warming your hand ever so slightly. You need to get to shelter, and soon. But first, you want to get an overview of the surrounding landscape. You’ll survive an extra few minutes in the cold.
The climb back out of the cave is easy now that you’ve done it once before. It helps that it’s slightly downhill, at least until you rejoin the summit path and strike out upwards. The climb isn’t hard in the slightly lower gravity, and before too long you’re nearing the top. The mysterious blue light shines from above, hidden from view just behind the final incline. You make it after another minute of effort , dropping to a knee and catching your breath on the top of the world.
The mountain’s summit is at least somewhat flat, the pointed spire tip either broken off or smoothed away by millennia of wear. The view from the top is incredible, crystal plains stretching away in all directions, softly glowing the color of Terran moonlight and occasionally forming delicate spires and arches. You can see for miles in every direction, but nowhere do you spot anything significantly deviant from the norm. Molten lakes, tunnel mouths, and lesser hills dot the terrain with no sense of order - there’s no obvious landmark that sticks out as a destination. You do your best to note down the salient features of the landscape and duck back down out of the wind, just below the peak.
As you look around the mountain top, you note there aren’t many standout characteristics of this area either. You poke around a bit, looking for the blue glow you had seen from below, but it’s omnipresent and you can’t find the source. Just as you’re considering giving up, however, you accidentally nudge a loose crystal and overturn it, revealing a strong blue glow cleverly hidden in a hollow in the ground. You nudge a few more crystal rocks out of the way and uncover the source of the glow.
... it’s a radio? The blue light is emanating from the “status” light. You pick up the walkie-talkie and examine it. There’s a channel dial, with five channels and “off” as options - it’s currently switched to “1.” There’s an unlabeled toggle switch that, if depressed, switches the status light to green. You presume that’s the broadcast function. There are also a few less standard buttons: “overwrite,” “evoke,” and “reverse.” You play with the buttons for a bit and manage to discern that “overwrite” is a push button that changes the status light to red while it’s depressed (but only while the broadcast toggle is enabled), “evoke” is a toggle that changes the light to orange, and “reverse” is a toggle that only has an effect while “evoke” is depressed, changing the light’s hue to yellow.
You clutch the radio, confused. None of the channels seem to be broadcasting anything audible, and you received no response when speaking into the microphone about your situation. Maybe there’s just no one around to hear you.
Use an item on the microphone while holding “overwrite?” (multiple may be picked, up to 5 in total. Only those with at least 10 votes will be chosen)
- your voice.
- your singing voice. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- the heart.
- a crystal rock.
- the pickaxe.
- the canteen.
- the scraps of paper.
Where to next?
- The lake.
- The tunnel.
(Winners: - success! , , , and )
- your voice.
- your singing voice. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- the heart.
- a crystal rock.
- the pickaxe.
- the canteen.
- the scraps of paper.
Where to next?
- The lake.
- The tunnel.
(Winners: - success! , , , and )
5
18
17
5
4
2
10
14
10
Scene 6
You curl up behind a slight outcropping and resolve to figure out this radio before you head down to the molten lake to warm up. The “overwrite” function seems the most promising, so you hold the button down and consider what to say. Eventually you settle on one of your favorite songs, an old battle tune from the ancient days of athletics back on Earth. You cough several times to clear your throat, not wanting to risk the possibly stagnant water in the canteen, and give a convincing rendition. Your voice echoes over the mountain and disperses into the winds. The radio grows warm as you sing.
Once you complete the final crescendo, you release the overwrite switch and consider the “evoke” button. Does it do what you think it will? There’s only one way to find out. You press it down and the radio hums fiercely, vibrating in your grasp. You feel invigorated, full of strength and ready to tear down a wall should you need to. As you listen, you swear you can hear the song in your mind.
The radio’s status light flickers and you note another light you hadn’t seen before. A long bar on the side of the radio is lit up orange but is depleting quickly. It’s clearly some sort of charge meter. Quickly, you toggle the “reverse” switch before the bar runs out. The radio’s tone changes instantly and your muscles feel weak and fatigued. You fumble for the button again and flip the reverse switch off, enjoying the last few seconds of power before the bar depletes and the feeling fades.
... This thing is going to be useful.
Filled with curiosity, you refill channel 1 with another rendition of Sweet Victory and switch to channel 2. You hold the quietly beating crystal heart right next to the radio’s microphone and start the overwrite, ending after about ten seconds. You toggle the evoke function and the orange bar drains in the blink of an eye. You feel a vague sense of peace, but nothing more. You may need something louder.
You try filling channel 2 again, this time by rubbing together some of the scraps of paper from the table. When you try to evoke the channel, however, no bar lights up and the radio remains silent. You think you have a decent understanding of the radio now and prepare to move on.
...
The route down the mountain is somewhat treacherous, but you take it slow and avoid any major risks. The air gets thicker and warmer as you descend, though it’s still cold and hard to breathe. After perhaps an hour of strenuous hiking, you reach the fork in the path at the base of the mountain. To your right lies the tunnel and to your left the lake. Now shivering almost uncontrollably, you hurry along the left path.
You arrive on the shore of the lake, the gently bubbling molten crystal stretching out for perhaps a mile ahead of you. A faint shimmering haze rises into the air and suffuses you with warmth. You step a little bit closer and glance around, grateful to finally be driving the chill out of your bones.
The lake lies in the midst of a depression in the ground, almost like a crater. Maybe it once was, the remnants of some long-forgotten asteroid. Now, however, the rim of the depression creates a natural wall around a section of crystal beach before the water. You wander some distance along the shore, searching for anything interesting, before coming across the crumbled remains of what looks like an old concrete pier or dock. There are no boats in sight and the dock is clearly too unsafe to stand on. You gaze out into the center of the lake through the mist, using the dock as a reference, and think you might spy a small island before the mist shifts and you lose sight of it.
What now?
- Search around for any boats or other clues. [A matter of chance: a tough challenge.]
- Fill channel 2 with sounds from the lake. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Wander around the entire lake in search of other items. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Leave and head for the tunnel.
- Throw the heart in the lake. [A matter of chance: an almost impossible challenge.]
[Additional note: you may now react with 
through 
in order to evoke any of the currently filled channels on the radio in the current scene. Derek will decide how he uses the channel, but you may post your suggestions in #story_discussion. 
through 
are used for reverse-evoking channels 1-5. Refilling channels will continue to be a normal, context-sensitive choice.]
(Winners: (Failure) and (Success). will be used in conjunction if needed.)
- Search around for any boats or other clues. [A matter of chance: a tough challenge.]
- Fill channel 2 with sounds from the lake. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Wander around the entire lake in search of other items. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Leave and head for the tunnel.
- Throw the heart in the lake. [A matter of chance: an almost impossible challenge.]
[Additional note: you may now react with through in order to evoke any of the currently filled channels on the radio in the current scene. Derek will decide how he uses the channel, but you may post your suggestions in #story_discussion. through are used for reverse-evoking channels 1-5. Refilling channels will continue to be a normal, context-sensitive choice.]
(Winners: (Failure) and (Success). will be used in conjunction if needed.)
11
11
9
1
8
6
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
Scene 7
You step out to the very edge of the lake, your shoes inches from the gently bubbling liquid. You set the radio to overwrite and hold it as far out over the lake as you can without losing your balance, to better capture the sound. The slow glopping sound of the molten crystal continues for nearly a minute before the radio clicks and the overwrite status light switches off. You rebalance and step away from the lake, now uncomfortably warm. Channel 2 has now been filled with sounds from the lake.
Now that you’ve got that all straightened out, you decide to investigate the general vicinity to see if you can find any boats or other clues related to the dock. There’s not really a lot of places anything large could be hiding, so you’re able to quickly eliminate the dock and ground nearby from your search. Poking around the wall, however, you spot a thin crack. You hold the radio up to it and shade your eyes from the everpresent dull glow. The light emitted from the status light is blue, difficult to pick out against the crystal, but you can clearly see at least several feet back into the wall. Interesting.
You glance around somewhat nervously, then grab the pickaxe and strike the crack. Fragments of crystal fly from the wall and your arm is jarred by the impact. You step back to examine the damage, then grab the radio again. You flick the channel to “1” and begin evoking the essence within. A rush of strength fills you as the radio hums and you fling yourself at the wall with wild abandon. Shards of crystal rain down from the wall as you demolish it with single-minded fury. At some point the radio quiets and you let your arms fall. The wall wasn’t very thick; it appears to have been only an inch or so acting as a facade to a long concrete tunnel. You step inside, holding the radio high to get a sense of the scale. The tunnel is perhaps seven feet tall, square in shape, and continues well past the reach of any light you have. The floor has a slight slant downwards. You step forwards maybe ten feet, just out of the light from the entrance, but don’t see any change in the radius of your light.
Something drops to the floor behind you.
You spin around but in the weak light of the radio and the crystal outside, you can’t get a good look at whatever it is. It’s light-colored, much like the crystal, perhaps a few feet wide, maybe a foot tall, and moving very fast towards you. Its claws skitter on the crystal in a very discomforting manner. You only have a few seconds to react. What do you do?
- Fight the thing! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Run away into the tunnel! [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Try and get past it, back to the lake! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge]
- Show it the heart.
(Winner: )
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will go away after a few more updates.]
- Fight the thing! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Run away into the tunnel! [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Try and get past it, back to the lake! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge]
- Show it the heart.
(Winner: )
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will go away after a few more updates.]
7
1
4
17
3
3
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
Scene 8
You stumble backwards, fumbling in your pockets for the crystal heart. Maybe it will have some sort of power over whatever this creature is. It skitters towards you and has nearly closed the distance before you finally get the heart out of your pocket and thrust it at the thing.
The skittering noises stop and you look down, the creature now more visible in the glittering glow of the heart. It appears to be a large crab or spider, its main body a disk perhaps two feet in diameter and shelled with glittering crystal. It has eight thin jointed legs, segmented and armored with crystal plating. It has four beady black eyes hidden in folds of its carapace and a set of serrated mandibles just below. You gulp and step back again despite yourself. The creature follows, its eyes trained on the heart, which is now pulsing faster in fluttery little beats.
The creature stretches up towards the heart, its mandibles seeking the brilliant blue crystal. You need to figure out what you’re going to do here, if anything.
- Whatever it is, just let it happen.
- Beat the thing’s head in while it’s distracted! [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Run away into the tunnel! [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Try and get past it, back to the lake! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will go away after a few more updates.]
(Winner: )
- Whatever it is, just let it happen.
- Beat the thing’s head in while it’s distracted! [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Run away into the tunnel! [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Try and get past it, back to the lake! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will go away after a few more updates.]
(Winner: )
8
5
5
9
1
1
Scene 9
The heart squirms in your fist, faster and faster as the creature reaches up for it, and at the last second you lose your nerve. You yank the heart back and leap over the stunned creature, dashing back towards the lake. A second later, you hear it skittering again, hot on your heels.
You burst out into the open and break left, unsure of exactly what your plan is. The lake is probably your best bet, or the pickaxe. You fumble with your items, drawing dangerously close to the shore, and make a quick U-turn to face the creature. It’s nearer than you thought and moving too fast to stop. You drop prone in a split-second decision and kick the creature on the underside of its shell as it overshoots and crawls over you. It sails several feet through the air to land with a dull splattering thud in the lake. You hear a loud sizzle, like meat on a grill, then several loud cracks leading to a return to the slow glopping bubbles of the lake. Slowly, you turn and watch the remnants of the creature sink below the surface, emitting a billowing white smoke from the vents in its shell.
The heart still pounds fiercely, though it is slowing down. You waste little time in bringing out the radio and starting an overwrite on channel 3, holding the button until the heart has slowed back to its previous slow, peaceful pulsing. You’re not entirely sure what you’ve just captured, but it’s certain to be more intense than whatever you got out of it last time.
You get up after a few more minutes and glance around, then down at yourself, feeling an increasing pain in your torso. You can spot several lightly bleeding wounds in your chest, each about the size of a dime and presumably where the creature’s sharp crystal-plated legs impacted you before you threw it into the lake. They’re somewhat painful but unlikely to be fatal, you think. There’s not much you can do about them at the moment, anyway. Regardless, you can probably explore that tunnel more safely now. If only you had a light.
- Head back into the tunnel and explore farther.
- Wander around the entire lake in search of other items. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Climb back up the mountain to the cave and try to rest [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Leave and head for the tunnel to the south.
(Winner: )
[You have sustained one wound. Too many wounds can be fatal, and significant damage can count as more than one. You can wait until it heals naturally or find some sort of medicine.]
[Write-in choices are now available! Let me know your thoughts in #story_discussion if there’s anything you’d like to choose that I haven’t thought of! I have the final say on what gets added or not, but a choice is more likely to be added if other people agree on it and if it would be productive and useful in the story.]
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will go away after two more updates.]
- Head back into the tunnel and explore farther.
- Wander around the entire lake in search of other items. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Climb back up the mountain to the cave and try to rest [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Leave and head for the tunnel to the south.
(Winner: )
[You have sustained one wound. Too many wounds can be fatal, and significant damage can count as more than one. You can wait until it heals naturally or find some sort of medicine.]
[Write-in choices are now available! Let me know your thoughts in #story_discussion if there’s anything you’d like to choose that I haven’t thought of! I have the final say on what gets added or not, but a choice is more likely to be added if other people agree on it and if it would be productive and useful in the story.]
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will go away after two more updates.]
14
6
3
3
1
1
1
1
Scene 10
You take several minutes to calm down and refill channel 1 on the radio with another rendition of Sweet Victory, then decide you’ve got to figure out what’s going on with this tunnel. It’s the only real structure you’ve seen on this planet so far; it’s got to have some reason for being here. With only the radio and heart for light, you’re going to have a lot of trouble seeing where you’re going, but ideally there was only the one crab so it won’t be too dangerous.
You almost believe yourself and head back into the tunnel, moving slowly to avoid bumping into an unseen wall.
A quarter-hour passes as you fumble your way down the tunnel, unable to see more than a few feet in any direction. You’re starting to get nervous. There’s a deep throbbing beat echoing in your bones as you descend, similar to the pulse you heard in the mountain cave. It tugs at your mind, drawing you closer. The miniature heart in your pocket beats faster, though always synchronized.
A half-hour passes and the beats, though nearly 20 seconds apart, are becoming far more powerful. You can feel your own heart fighting against them, struggling to keep its rhythm. Your mind wanders as the beats sound, drifting away from your task and plight to focus on the planet, the mystery, the hearts. You aren’t sure if it’s wise to spend much more time underground, but you’re not sure what part of you is thinking that. Either way, you’ve found something interesting.
The tunnel has finally broadened out into a larger room, about 20 paces across in a mostly circular shape. Four tunnels are spaced equidistantly around the room, including the one you came from. The remaining three tunnels all slant downwards at a much steeper slope and have a set of rail tracks going down the middle. You follow each set of tracks down several feet and see no difference between them.
In the center of the room, the tracks converge in a three-way junction, allowing any track to connect to any other. Sitting on the tracks in the center of the junction is a steel minecart looking to be in the early stages of disrepair. It’s rusted and squeaks when you move it, but it still seems to be sturdy enough to avoid falling apart for a few more years. You glance at the minecart, then the tracks. Do you dare?
- Take the minecart down the left-hand track.
- Take the minecart down the right-hand track.
- Take the minecart down the middle track.
- Head back up to the lake.
- Investigate the minecart further. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Investigate the tracks further. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
(Winners: , )
- Take the minecart down the left-hand track.
- Take the minecart down the right-hand track.
- Take the minecart down the middle track.
- Head back up to the lake.
- Investigate the minecart further. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
- Investigate the tracks further. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
(Winners: , )
1
3
4
1
14
8
1
1
1
1
1
1
Scene 11
You investigate the minecart a little further, poking around its wheels and connection points, moving it along the tracks to see where it rattles, and scrutinizing the most rusted parts. You still aren’t entirely convinced it’s safe, but you have at least found a nearly-hidden lever that applies the brakes when tugged. You certainly would have kicked yourself if you had missed it.
To complete your circuit of the room, you take a closer look at the four tunnel mouths, trying to find some scrap of information that will allow you to determine where they lead. After several careful minutes of running your hands along the wall and intense staring, you make out four extremely faded carvings in the wall, one by each tunnel mouth. With significant effort, you are able to just barely make out two of the carvings: the one on your own tunnel and the one on the left-hand tunnel. The one leading up to the lake is unhelpfully labeled “LAKE.” The left-hand tunnel is labeled “MINES.” The remaining two are simply too faded to make out in the poor light. If you had better lighting you could probably see them.
So, now what?
- Take the minecart down the left-hand track. (or 
- walk.)
- Take the minecart down the right-hand track. (or 
- walk.)
- Take the minecart down the middle track. (or 
- walk.)
- Head back up to the lake.
[Taking the minecart on any track is a matter of chance: a simple challenge]
(Winner: )
- Take the minecart down the left-hand track. (or - walk.)
- Take the minecart down the right-hand track. (or - walk.)
- Take the minecart down the middle track. (or - walk.)
- Head back up to the lake.
[Taking the minecart on any track is a matter of chance: a simple challenge]
(Winner: )
14
3
4
1
6
4
1
2
1
1
1
1
1
Scene 12
Hesitantly, but faintly excited for the ride, you push the minecart to the top of the slope leading down the left-hand tunnel. Who knows how long the tunnel will be? You’d rather get this done in a few minutes rather than a few hours. You’re starting to get thirsty and you don’t really trust the stagnant water in your canteen, so the faster the better. You’ve got brakes, right? It’ll be fine.
You’re still nervous as you climb into the cart and stare into the inky blackness of the tunnel. You hold position for nearly half a minute, focusing on the slow, peaceful beats of the heart in your pocket, before finally reaching out and pushing yourself down the slope.
You grasp the brake lever, ready to pull at the slightest sense of danger, as you hurtle down the tracks, picking up speed much faster than you would have thought possible in the lower gravity. Wind buffets your face so you duck down into the cart, peering over the top and shielding your eyes with a hand as the gale gets stronger. You think, off in the distance, you might see... light? A second later and you’re sure of it. Just around a bend in the tracks you spot the trademark pale blue light of the planet’s crystal. This seems like as good a time to pull the brakes as any, what with the corner coming up, so you heave on the lever with all your strength.
The cart’s wheels screech and protest as speed bleeds into the air, dissipating as waste heat. You’re still going incredibly fast, and the corner throws you to one side of the cart as you continue to fly down the tracks. You’re now in a wider tunnel of crystal, the concrete having ended in a solid arch you didn’t have time to inspect. The slope of the tracks actually seems to be increasing as you go, and you spot several side-branches leading off into unknown tunnels. You’re still slowing, but the screams from the wheels are getting more stringent and piercing. You’re debating whether or not to ease off on the brakes to let the wheels cool down when something snaps in the mechanism and the cart lurches forward again, accelerating rapidly.
... oh shi-
You’ve got to make a split second decision. What’s your plan?
- Stick with the cart! Bailing out would be fatal at this speed! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.] (Per a suggestion from @ Chair_57, this choice will also attempt to record the sound of the tracks into channel 4.)
- Bail! Sticking with the cart would be fatal at this speed! [A matter of chance: a tough challenge.]
- Attempt repair on the brakes while hurtling down the tracks! [A matter of chance: an almost impossible challenge.]
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will not display again after this choice.]
(Winner: . Channel 1 will be evoked if needed.)
- Stick with the cart! Bailing out would be fatal at this speed! [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.] (Per a suggestion from @ Chair_57, this choice will also attempt to record the sound of the tracks into channel 4.)
- Bail! Sticking with the cart would be fatal at this speed! [A matter of chance: a tough challenge.]
- Attempt repair on the brakes while hurtling down the tracks! [A matter of chance: an almost impossible challenge.]
[Remember, you can react with through to evoke any currently-filled radio channels, or use through for reverse-evoking. This reminder will not display again after this choice.]
(Winner: . Channel 1 will be evoked if needed.)
16
4
8
1
1
1
1
1
8
Scene 13
You hunker down and grab on tight. Jumping now would just strand you, gravely injured, in unfamiliar miles of crystalline tunnels. But that’s not to say you can’t make the best of the situation. You grab the radio, twist the dial, and start an override. The hum of the device is completely inaudible over the cacophonous rushing of wind, screeching of wheels, and clacking of tracks. A minute passes and the radio quietly shuts itself off, the din saved to channel four.
You grip the cart tightly as you continue to hurtle down the tracks, watching the crystal tunnels fly past. Before long, however, you notice an unsettling trend. The radiance of the walls is growing fainter, fading as you descend. As the cart rockets downwards, the light fades from bright and welcoming to dim and distressing. The glow continues to fade as you descend and you’re starting to worry you may be left stranded in the dark.
Finally the light fades completely and you are left hopelessly alone, shooting through the caverns at ludicrous speeds and completely blind to whatever may be around the next corner. You listen intently and resolve to evoke the radio’s strength and try to hold on whenever you hear the slightest change that may indicate a wall or break in the track.
...
Now! You flick the switch and the radio hums to life. You feel stronger, but much less so than the previous time you had used it. At the same time, the cart starts to rattle dangerously, its every joint and rivet feeling looser than an instant prior. Something cracks in the front and you scream as you are pitched out of the cart, launched headlong into the uncaring darkness.
- Tuck and roll! Stick the landing. [A matter of chance: a risky challenge.]
- Arms out straight! Dive like you’re going into a pool. [A matter of chance: a tough challenge.]
[To recall: channel 2 holds sounds from the molten lake, channel 3 sounds from the fast-beating crystal heart, and channel 4 sounds from the rushing wind and clattering cart of your recent journey.]
(Winner: . Channel four will be reverse-evoked if needed.)
18
2
1
2
3
1
1
12
Scene 14
You fumble for the radio as you soar through the air, cringing as you expect to slam into a wall at any moment. You twist the dial and press the buttons by touch, enabling the reverse option and evoking out of channel four, the noise from the tracks you had just recorded.
You feel yourself slowing, the rushing of air becoming confused and turbulent around your body. The radio howls with the gale you had placed into it, growing hot in your hands. You hear the cart rush past you, crashing along the tracks in a chaotic tumble down the slope as it breaks apart. You bring the radio around so you can see the orange bar again, wondering why you haven’t hit the ground yet. It’s draining fast, but at least half the bar remains. You tuck yourself into a ball, intending to roll with your momentum instead of crashing when you do finally hit the ground.
Finally, you touch down. You’re moving so slowly at the moment of impact you hardly even need to roll, instead falling sideways and collapsing onto the now-level ground. The radio is painfully hot now and you let it drop from your hand as the last of the gale is exhausted and it starts to cool. You breathe out, shakily, then close your eyes. It makes no difference in this darkness.
... now what?
Given the duration of the minecart ride and the significant slope of the track, you doubt you’ll be able to make it all the way back up in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe there’s another way out down here, or something useful. Before too much longer, you’re going to need water as well. At least it’s not as cold down here in the bowels of the planet.
... It’s very quiet down here. You can no longer hear the massive pounding beats of the planet’s heart. Every sound you make seems magnified in this dead air, as if you’re breaking millennia of total silence. You wonder what the sign had meant by “mines.” Were they the tunnels you had already passed, or are they still ahead? What were they mining? The planet’s crystal doesn’t seem to be very rare or particularly useful.
Reluctantly, you pick up the radio and stand up. You’re just trying to distract yourself, touching on random thoughts and sensations but never long enough to consider them fully. You hold the radio in one hand and the heart in the other, utilizing their meager light to inspect the space around you.
You’re standing in a relatively small antechamber, the steep tracks leading up into darkness behind you and the wreck of the cart crumpled against the wall in front of you. Three low doorways lead into additional tunnels, one on the right and two on the left. The tunnels are carved smoothly from the darkened crystal, with none of the rough edges you had seen above in the mountain path. You inspect the carvings by each doorway and find them much less faded than above. The doorway to the right reads “SUPPLY.” The two doorways to the left are labeled “SHAFT A” and “SHAFT B.” All three tunnels continue on several feet, then terminate at a sealed bulkhead door.
- Investigate SUPPLY.
- Investigate SHAFT A.
- Investigate SHAFT B.
- Try to get something useful out of the wrecked cart. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Head back up the tracks.
(Winners: and )
- Investigate SUPPLY.
- Investigate SHAFT A.
- Investigate SHAFT B.
- Try to get something useful out of the wrecked cart. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Head back up the tracks.
(Winners: and )
17
1
1
20
1
1
2
2
2
Scene 15
You walk over to the shattered minecart and crouch down next to it, experimentally shifting scraps of metal to see if there’s anything of use remaining. Unfortunately, the mechanisms have all shattered beyond any hope of repair, weakened by age and broken apart by the crash down the slope. You take a few of the least-rusted scraps of sheet metal, though, just in case.
Now, that bulkhead labeled SUPPLY. You head over to the door and heave on the opening wheel. It groans, resisting your efforts, but it eventually gives and spins open. The door is heavy and releases a hiss of air as it creaks open, breaking the seal. You cough and stumble back as a wave of rancid, stale air streams out, burning your nose and throat even from the brief exposure. The cloud of gas glitters in the weak lights you possess, allowing you to watch as it slowly expands and begins to drift slowly upwards, pooling on the roof of the cavern and trickling up the minecart track. You allow it ample time to flow out of your way, then head back to SUPPLY to take another look.
The air still stinks and stings your eyes. You’ll have to be quick. You spy an ancient, dust-covered lightswitch by the door and flick it up, only to be disappointed when no lights turn on. You suppose that would have been too much to ask. Anyway, you dart around the room to see what’s inside, squinting your eyes nearly shut and holding your breath, uncomfortably aware that you’re kicking up more of the glittering dust with every movement. Once you’ve done a quick once-over, you exit back into the main room to consider your next move, out of range of the stinging gas.
The supply room was larger than you had expected and primarily consisted of rows of lockers, cabinets, and shelves lining the walls and freestanding in the middle of the room. You couldn’t tell what was in the lockers, and many of the items on the shelves were destroyed by age or the gas. Cans of food were ruptured and leaking a putrid yellow liquid, waterskins were punctured or long dry, and batteries were corroded and bulging. The glass-fronted cabinets, however, were a different story. You spotted several old headlamp mining helmets, though you would guess the batteries would be long dead; various pickaxes, drills, tongs, and scoops; a wooden case labeled “MAP”; a thin notebook; and dozens of crystal samples either carved or broken into various shapes.
However, these items were far from the most interesting objects in the room. Lying propped up against the walls were several crumbling skeletons of an alien race. You didn’t have much time to investigate during your quick circuit, but they appeared roughly humanoid, but with odd elongated and somewhat flattened skulls, as well as being significantly shorter and stockier than a normal human. Most were lying against the wall with hands folded on laps, seemingly peaceful. A handful were stretched out against the cabinets, limbs askew.
You know you’ll have to be fast to avoid injury by the gas and dust from the floor. What do you investigate, if anything?
- Try to open some of the lockers.
- Grab a helmet.
- Get some additional mining tools.
- Take the map.
- Snag the notebook.
- Acquire some of the crystals.
- Investigate the skeletons more closely.
[These choices, together, have the potential to end the story.]
- Nevermind, don’t touch anything. Close it up.
[For every item investigated, a 10% failure chance will be added to the overall roll. Failing the roll by less than 20% will result in one wound, 20-40% means two, and so on. The chance of success starts at 80%, a straightforward challenge, for investigating one item. Only items with at least 8 votes will be investigated.]
(Winners: , , , for a success chance of 50%, a chancy challenge.)
5
8
4
19
15
4
2
1
1
1
2
2
Scene 16
You take a deep breath and hold it, then squint your eyes shut and dart back into the room. To start with, you dash over to the cabinet housing the mining helmets and jiggle the handle, forcing it open after a few seconds of effort. You’re really sick of not being able to see anything. You snag a helmet, noting it feels heavy and protective rather than light and cheap, slap it on your head, and keep moving. Up next, that wooden case labeled “MAP,” as well as the unassuming notebook lying next to it. If you’re going to be poking around down here for much longer, it’ll be a great idea to know where you are and where you’re going. Similarly, the notebook may have some information about the planet, the mines, or the aliens. Somewhere in the back of your mind, a half-forgotten fragment of thought surfaces for a moment, reminding you of the crash, your plight, your need to escape.
It’s gone an instant later.
The cabinets for the map and notebook are similarly cooperative and you dash out of the room coughing and rubbing your eyes, but not seriously injured. You slam the bulkhead shut to contain the gas (and, though you wouldn’t admit it to anyone, the skeletons), then sit down against the wall with heart and radio lit, ready to examine your loot.
First, the helmet. You quickly locate the toggle switch for the headlamp and flick it, nervously excited. With an unsettlingly sharp click, the lamp fails to light. You sigh. Of course the batteries would be dead; they’ve been sitting in this supply room for long enough for those dead aliens to decay into skeletons. Still grumpy, you unclasp the map case and hold your meager light sources close to examine it.
The map seems to be printed on a pliable, off-green sheet of material that doesn’t appear to have decayed at all. You give it a quick tug and it holds firm. Thankfully. You quickly locate your own location and move out from there. The map is labeled in the top right corner as “THE SILENCE” and appears to be of the immediate locale, not extending far up the minecart track behind you. The supply room is labeled as such, and the room you’re currently in is labeled “LOBBY.” Following the tunnel for SHAFT A, you note a confused mess of tunnels connecting with the main one in an area circled and discouragingly marked with a depiction of one of the alien skulls. Past that area, the tunnel broadens into a much larger room with a circle in the center labeled “SHAFT A - TO CORE.” A stylized heart, strongly resembling the one you hold in your hand, is appended at the end of the word “core.”
You return to the lobby and trace SHAFT B. It broadens much sooner than SHAFT A, and into a much larger space. Your translator is having trouble with the words labeling this area, but a helpful picture of a series of mushrooms is provided to ease your confusion. Past the presumed mushroom grove, a circle of similar size to SHAFT A is unsurprisingly labeled as SHAFT B. Its annotation reads “SHAFT B - TO JUNGLE.” Appended to the end of the word “jungle” is an image that you’re having trouble deciphering. It’s somewhat round, with a protrusion from the top. Maybe some sort of fruit? It could just as easily be a stylized bomb, though.
Finally, the notebook. You crack it open to the first page and read the inner cover. Thankfully, whoever wrote this, unlike whoever annotated the map, understood how to use capital letters and the concept of not using them 100% of the time. The inner cover reads:
“Journal 1
- Property of [some symbols the translator can’t decipher.]
Hane Mining Corporation, a subsidiary of Lockheed-Bolte Inc.”
Interesting. You haven’t heard of Hane Corp, but everyone knows Lockheed-Bolte. L-B is a galaxy-wide weapons manufacturing corporation, working closely with your employer, Elo-Tek, to help ensure shielding and weapons technology can benefit from each others’ advances. If L-B invents a weapon that can pierce E-T shields, they help to design a better shield. If E-T designs a shield that can withstand L-B weapons, they help design a better weapon. You’d be more impressed in the cooperation if you didn’t know that rapid improvements in either field lead to increased buying in both. Still, the fact that L-B is, or at least was, involved here raises some serious questions. Presumably they were searching for something to use for weapons here, but what? Additionally, why would they just abandon an outpost here, and why with all the skeletons?
You pause to clear your head. Perhaps the journal holds some answers.
- Read.
- Enter SHAFT A.
- Enter SHAFT B.
- Head back up the tracks.
- Investigate the radio. [Supply ideas to investigate in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
- Read.
- Enter SHAFT A.
- Enter SHAFT B.
- Head back up the tracks.
- Investigate the radio. [Supply ideas to investigate in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
16
3
4
1
3
1
1
1
1
Scene 17
You turn the the first page and begin reading. It’s hard to make out the handwritten alien symbols in the dim light, but you make do.
“Entry 1. 26105678.
Arrived on this strange planet yesterday. Everything is made of crystal. The higher-ups tell us it used to be a star, but I have a hard time believing that. Stars aren’t solid.
They took us down into these rudimentary mines in carts, passing through a lush forest in some upper caves beforehand. We stored our belongings there, in the wooden hut we were told would be our home for the next four weeks. These caves are dark and silent, unlike those above ringing with life and foliage. Sometimes I swear I hear something pounding in the depths.
We dug for the rest of the day, excavating in a carefully planned direction and carting the crystal back up to the surface for processing. It got much colder in the upper caves than the lower, except for in the forest. The surface is frigid except by the lake near the landing zone.
I hope these four weeks pass quickly.
Entry 2. 03115678.
It’s been almost a week and we’ve made progress. Today we broke into a warren of twisting tunnels, most about as wide as my head. No one seems to be quite sure what they are, but there’s a lot less crystal to get out of the way now, so I hope they keep it up.
The pounding is getting louder. I swear we’re digging right toward it. I don’t know what the company wants with it, but I’m sure that’s their goal. I don’t need to know. I just need my pay and to get out of here.
Here’s to another productive week.
Entry 3. 04115678.
[A word that translates as Lord, God, Power, Light, or something similar]. Today was bad. Very very bad. Those tunnels, we found out what they’re for. Little spider things, sized between a normal spider and one of those big crabs we saw in the upper caves. The big ones are bad enough, darting at you and sticking you with their fangs. A few minutes later and you’re paralyzed. Then they’ll stand over their prey and fight off anyone who comes near with acid spit and the claws on their legs.
But what’s worse are the little ones. Once a big one has paralyzed some poor victim, they’ll dart out of the tunnels, hundreds at a time, and rip them apart. First the eyes, always the eyes. Then anything else that sticks out. Fingers, toes, hands, feet, limbs, head. If a part is too big to eat, they’ll bite it off and a big one will drag it back into their tunnels. [The same word as above]. And all so silent. They make no noise, not at all.
The company men sealed off the tunnel with a portable shield while they decide what to do. Half my team is gone. Several more were shipped off planet to grow new eyes if they’re lucky or be dumped on the streets if they’re poor. I can hear the beats even louder now, even in the forest.
[The same word again].
Entry 4. 07115678.
They brought in a hazmat team from off planet. I didn’t see what happened. They have us working on the second shaft.
Entry 5. 08115678.
The higher ups declared it’s safe now and sent us back in. They had put up metal barriers to seal off all the visible tunnels and blasted a route past the end of the area. We’re back to digging towards the pulsing. I think the others can hear it too.
Entry 6. 14115678.
We broke through to a new area today. Something is wrong with gravity here, but no one seems to care. We broke into a large natural cavern and, when grading the floor to smooth it out, we broke through the ground. There’s a huge, massive, enormous pit beneath us. Down below, a black orb that I can only assume is the planet’s core slowly rotates. Occasional cracks in its surface shine blue light similar to the color of the crystal near the surface.
When we reported our findings to the company men, they ordered us back to the second shaft again. I know the beats are coming from that core. I need to go there.
Entry 7. 18115678.
Only a week left on my contract. They brought in some machinery and set up an elevator. I heard the original plan was to use a-grav lifts, but as I mentioned, something is wrong with gravity there. I hear they might send us down to clear something out. I hope so.
Entry 8. 19115678.
They sent us down there. We entered through one of those cracks and it turns out that blue light was only around the entrance. The rest of the tunnels are dark. The pounding beat is incredibly loud. It demands I approach, or flee. Cower or strike. I can’t tell. It is of [A word that translates as Beyond, Void, Heaven, Hell, Infinity, or something similar].
They had us clearing the tunnels that were already there, sweeping up loose crystals and bones and sending them back up in the elevator. Something else is strange, though. I found a weird red crystal heart that didn’t match any of the other stones around here. I kept it and sent the normal load up the lift for the company men. I feel dizzy now. When I look at the heart I can hear the air, all buzzing and vibrating. It’s very disorienting.
Entry 9. 21115678.
Some of my team went missing yesterday, apparently. I’m not sure when or where. I still have that heart. It feels hungry. I feel hungry.
Entry 10. 22115678.
We found the end. It’s a gigantic stone door with five indentations the size of my fist. Three were already filled with red light. I regret my actions.
Entry 11. 23115678.
The door is open, I know it. If they would let me out of this prison, if they would just see why I did what I did, they would pay. It’s all “trial for murder” this and “quintuple homicide” that. They don’t understand. If they had seen that heart, truly seen it, they would know. They would have done the same thing. Those men had no lives, no families. No one will mourn them.
Entry 12. 24115678.
The door is closed. I don’t understand. All five symbols are filled with light. What else is needed? I can hear them behind me, coughing and dying. Good. Now for the rest. The Core beats just beyond the door. I don’t know if I am to embrace it or destroy it. The heart roars in my mind.
Final Entry. 25115678.
As I lie here dying, I know I have made mistakes. The door will open once I pass, I’m sure of it. I release the heart and with my death I will cleanse it. The next person to chance across it will see and they will have a choice. Unlike me.
I can’t explain the choice. It will be obvious once past the door. I hope the company returns and seals this planet forever, though I know barriers have a way of undoing themselves. The Core will not rest until its heart has been returned to it, one way or another. It’s just the method of return that will make all the difference.”
You look up from your perusal. The blue crystal heart glitters innocently. You shiver, uncomfortable. Deep below, for the first time since you descended this far, you hear a heartbeat roll through the dead air of the Silence.
- Enter SHAFT A.
- Enter SHAFT B.
- Head back up the tracks.
- Investigate the radio. [Supply ideas to investigate in #story_discussion.]
- Investigate the heart. [Supply ideas to investigate in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
- Enter SHAFT A.
- Enter SHAFT B.
- Head back up the tracks.
- Investigate the radio. [Supply ideas to investigate in #story_discussion.]
- Investigate the heart. [Supply ideas to investigate in #story_discussion.]
(Winner: )
6
14
4
4
6
Scene 18
You pack up your items and crank open the door to SHAFT B, then slowly head down the tunnel, your footsteps and nervous breathing the only sounds in the world. Several minutes pass as you walk. While the noiselessness of The Silence has somewhat divorced your consciousness from your body, enough of a link remains that you can again feel your neglected needs. Thirst, hunger, exhaustion. You glance at the canteen. Maybe you can last a little bit longer.
After perhaps ten minutes of walking (though it’s hard to tell down here), the tunnel broadens out quite suddenly and you emerge into a much larger space. The area is dimly lit by twinkling pinpoint lights in the roof as well as faint glows cast by the thousands of mushrooms dotting the area. You crouch and study the ground. It’s no longer hard crystal, but rather rich, dark dirt. The sound of trickling water reaches your ears and you glance around, quickly noticing the mushroom grove appears to be a peninsula. All around on three sides, the ground slopes away into quietly moving water.
You are careful not to touch the mushrooms themselves, as you have no idea whether they’re poisonous, acidic, or otherwise dangerous... Hang on. Acidic? And you’ve got metal from the minecart. Metal-acid batteries aren’t the most efficient type, especially not when cobbled together from mushrooms and ancient scrap metal, but you may be able to get one working if you can find a fungus with the correct type. You consider the idea but decide to finish looking around before you consider it further.
The centerpiece of the area is of course the shattered remains of an elevator car, buried midway into the dirt in the approximate center of the area. Enterprising mushrooms have sprouted inside the car. The thick metal rope the car must have run along is coiled aimlessly nearby, ending in a clear cut. This wasn’t mechanical failure; it was sabatoge. Looking up, you can’t see the other end of the cable or the shaft up to the jungle through the darkness around the roof, though you can make out a roughly circular area without the twinkling lights that attests its presence even if you can’t see it. You uneasily think back to the journal. What happened down here?
What’s your next move?
- Attempt to gather acid mushrooms; craft a battery for the headlamp. Be careful not to get any on yourself. [A matter of chance: a risky challenge.]
- Investigate the water.
- Attempt to gather useful materials from the elevator. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Leave the area; go to SHAFT A.
- Leave the area; return to the surface.
(Winner: (plus and ))
- Attempt to gather acid mushrooms; craft a battery for the headlamp. Be careful not to get any on yourself. [A matter of chance: a risky challenge.]
- Investigate the water.
- Attempt to gather useful materials from the elevator. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Leave the area; go to SHAFT A.
- Leave the area; return to the surface.
(Winner: (plus and ))
12
13
12
2
2
Scene 19
You carefully walk to the water’s edge, delicately avoiding the mushrooms in your path. The water is dark and quiet. You can’t see into it beyond the shore, and you don’t dare to step in. Still, it looks clear, and with the slow trickle, you are assured it’s not completely stagnant. You hesitate a moment, then empty the canteen onto the ground nearby, spilling the brackish liquid inside to the mushrooms. Refilling it with water from the lake, you stand again, cup your hand in the lake, and tentatively bring the tiniest sip to your mouth. It tastes cool and earthy, with a strong metallic undertone. You decide to give it a few minutes at least before trying another drink.
The mushrooms, then. You pass by the elevator again, delaying your investigation in the hope that you will shortly have a functional battery for the headlamp, and start to forage around in the grove. The vast array of fungi is quite alien to you, and you’re not sure which ones might contain the right kind of acid. Eventually, however, you locate a promising candidate and sit down to perform the surgery. A delicate incision, squeezing it with just the right amount of pressu- ack! You fumble the mushroom and spray your lap with acid. You sharply inhale and grimace, the pain in your legs mounting as it soaks through your pants. It’s only been a second or two; how do you want to handle this?
- Jump in the lake; dilute with water.
- Off with the pants, scrub with dirt.
- Just leave it; it’ll wear off soon.
- Press the heart to your legs.
(Winner: )
- Jump in the lake; dilute with water.
- Off with the pants, scrub with dirt.
- Just leave it; it’ll wear off soon.
- Press the heart to your legs.
(Winner: )
16
11
2
4
2
2
2
2
Scene 20
You dash towards the lake and splash in, the cooling water quickly diluting the acid and reducing the pain. Several minutes pass as you wade around, allowing your legs to recover and your pants to wash clean. You emerge from the lake with still-painful but not dangerous acid burns on your legs and get back to work, more carefully this time. Form a container of the metal, fold it just so, leave a slight gap for the electrolytes, carefully pour in a trickle of acid, and so on. After nearly a half-hour of careful tinkering with the casing and exact mixture of acid, you seal the newly crafted battery and gingerly slot it into your headlamp, then flick the switch.
With a loud click, the lamp flickers to life, illuminating a wide swath of the cave. You breathe a sigh of relief that it actually worked and quickly look around, immediately conscious that the light won’t last forever. The cave walls gently slope down to meet the water, leaving no breaks for further tunnels that you can spot. The shaft in the ceiling leads up perhaps a hundred feet before terminating. You think you can spot the remains of a winch and a dangling length of steel cable.
Inside the elevator itself, you can now apply your light to scrutinize the interior more closely. You spy a badly crushed human-looking skeleton splayed out across the bottom of the car, buried under hundreds of fungal growths. The figure’s synthweave clothing is still intact, even after years of decay, and you nervously recognize the insignia of Lockheed-Bolte on the lapel. This person must have been a supervisor from the corporation. There may be useful supplies in its pockets or underneath the body, but do you dare move it? Something about the silent air and the sparkling fungal spores drifting in the light of your headlamp makes you reluctant to even go near this skeleton, let alone touch it.
- Search the skeleton for items. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Leave it.
After you’re done with the skeleton, what next?
- You’re not convinced there’s nothing in the water. Go for a swim. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Leave the area; go to SHAFT A.
- Leave the area; return to the surface.
(Winners: and )
12
10
3
2
3
Scene 21
Nervously, you turn the skeleton over and immediately spot a large teal pistol protected from the rocks and fungus by the skeleton’s synthweave shirt. You pick it up and flick it on, noting the charge readout and status display. This is a Lockheed-Bolte G4 plasma pistol with three shots remaining in the magazine. You search the rest of the body for more ammunition and find two more magazines, but both had been broken apart by the fall, the ionized gas long since dissipated into the environment. You back up and clutch the pistol tightly. This thing is dangerous. The plasma series of non-ship-based weaponry is generally limited to shotguns, throwers, and similar area weapons due to the propensity for the gas to expand shortly after firing. Pistols such as these come in two types: magnetically contained, where the barrel tries to hold the blast together as much as possible and you get a fairly accurate, incredibly devastating shot; or uncontained, where the blast has an extremely wide spread but fairly short range. There’s no way to tell from the weapon itself unless you happened to know the G4 off the top of your head.
You tuck the pistol away after turning it off and consider your next move. The water calls to you somehow. Where is it coming from? Where does it go? It can’t be constrained to just this room. Cautiously, you wade into the water again, casting your light along the lake bed, searching for the inlet or outlet you know has to be there.
You search around for nearly fifteen minutes, but there’s either nothing to find or you’re just not seeing it. You clamber back out of the lake, dripping unhappily onto the dirt, and gather up a few extra mushrooms and metal scraps from the elevator in case you need to make another battery later. Now what?
- Return to SHAFT A.
- Return the the surface.
- Test fire the plasma pistol.
[In addition to using through for evoking from the radio, you may now react with at any time to shoot something. Do be careful with it.]
(Winner: )
11
5
5
Scene 22
You leave the mushroom grove behind and head back through the twisting SHAFT B tunnel back to the main room. You seal the bulkhead to SHAFT B and give yourself a few moments to breathe before reluctantly cranking open the door to SHAFT A. Air hisses as the seal breaks and you stumble back, awaiting more of the stinging dust from the storage room. Thankfully, none emerges and you proceed into the tunnel. You leave the door open, just in case you need to make a quick exit.
You proceed in nervous silence for nearly ten minutes. The beats of the planet’s core grow louder as you continue, slowly beginning to worm their way into your mind. You find yourself blanking out every time the beat pounds, thinking distantly of dark orbs, glowing doors, and an impossibly bright light shining at the center of all this. Still, you maintain enough control to notice and pull up short when you spot hundreds of smaller, twisting tunnels through the crystal around the main tunnel. Just ahead, you presume, is the circled area marked with a skull on the map. The area with the completely silent and unnervingly deadly spiders from the journal. Your hand unconsciously strays to your gun. How do you want to handle this?
- Go fast. Get through this place before anything comes out. [A matter of chance: a tough challenge.]
- Go slow. Be quiet. Keep watch for any disturbances. [A matter of chance: a risky challenge.]
- Turn back. Return to the surface. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
(Winner: )
- Go fast. Get through this place before anything comes out. [A matter of chance: a tough challenge.]
- Go slow. Be quiet. Keep watch for any disturbances. [A matter of chance: a risky challenge.]
- Turn back. Return to the surface. [A matter of chance: an almost guaranteed challenge.]
(Winner: )
5
14
2
1
Scene 23
You slow your pace, attempt to quiet your breathing. The lamp shines and reflects off the chiseled crystal walls, bouncing fragments of light in unexpected directions. You constantly spot little flashes in your peripheral vision, but every time you turn, there’s nothing there. The heart beats deep below. Your own heart is faster, but nearly synchronized. The tunnels look like eyes.
After minutes of nerve-wracking tip-toeing, you spot the end of the tunnel-riddled section. You can feel your relief physically, though you also tense up even more, aware this would be the perfect moment for the universe to play a cruel cosmic joke. Twenty more paces, nineteen, eighteen. Movement in the tunnels. Twelve, eleven. It’s just the lamp again, keep moving. Seven, six. What’s that wriggling just over there? Three, two. OH F-
You sprint the last few steps, dashing past the enormous spindly arthropod slowly unfolding its limbs from the tiny side-passage. Its limbs and body are pale white, bleached to albinism from long years spent in the total darkness of The Silence. You spot a gleaming clawtip as you dart past it into the darkness ahead. Based on the map, you’re probably around 2/3 of the way to the cavern housing SHAFT A. You glance behind you and see the thing skittering silently along the ceiling, a blur of claws and legs. The heart beats loudly in your mind. What’s your plan?
- Shoot it. QUICK! [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- SPRINT! Get away as fast as possible. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Embrace. Meld. [This choice has the potential to end the story.]
(Winner: )
- Shoot it. QUICK! [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- SPRINT! Get away as fast as possible. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
- Embrace. Meld. [This choice has the potential to end the story.]
(Winner: )
14
6
4
1
2
1
1
Scene 24
You grasp the gun tightly, aim as best you can while sprinting away from the spider, and squeeze the trigger. A tightly focused burst of plasma blasts from the gun with a fiery whoosh, the jet engine-like sound fading into the whine of the onboard cooling fans struggling to prevent overheating. The spider falls from the roof and crashes to the tunnel floor, charred black by the gas and limbs curled in.
You take a single breath, toggle the radio - confirming you captured the gunshot in channel 1 - and sprint away towards the exit. You had already seen another spider starting to unfold itself farther down the tunnel.
A minute passes as you frantically pump your legs, looking back over your shoulder every few seconds to confirm none of the noiseless spiders have made it close. They’re all hanging back, skittering along the walls just beyond the range of your light, seemingly cautious of your weapon. You just hope there’s a door on the other end of this tunnel.
Finally, blessedly, and terrifyingly, the opposite end of the tunnel comes into view. There’s a matching bulkhead installed and you push your body to its limits, desperate to reach the door before the spiders arrive. The problem, however, is the door itself. It’s closed. If you can get on the other side and close the bulkhead, you’ll be free of the spiders. However, as it stands right now, the door is a dead end. What’s your plan to escape alive?
- Take out some spiders to make them back off, then open the door. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Focus on the door, fire on the spiders if necessary. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
(Winner: )
- Take out some spiders to make them back off, then open the door. [A matter of chance: a modest challenge.]
- Focus on the door, fire on the spiders if necessary. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
(Winner: )
3
14
4
1
1
1
1
1
Scene 25
You grasp the bulkhead’s wheel with both hands and heave, slowly making progress turning it against the years of rust and disuse. You crane your neck, keeping watch over your shoulder and sweeping the headlamp’s beam around the tunnel to illuminate the dozens of gigantic spiders slowly creeping towards you. The gun’s fans slow to a stop. You pull harder and something gives in the door. The wheel rotates much faster now and you shove your weight against the door as the handle clanks to a stop.
The door slowly grinds open and you dart through, then start pushing it closed. You’ve moved it about an inch before a smaller spider you missed in the chaos and shadows slips through the top of the gap and drops onto your neck. You shout and twist around, desperately hitting it with the gun, trying to knock it off. While you’re distracted, another spider squeezes through the door, then another. By the time you’ve gotten the first one off, feeling the fiery tingle as the poison spreads through the puncture wounds in your neck, you’re surrounded. You drop to one knee, already feeling the paralysis set in. The circle of spiders tightens.
You hold the radio in one hand and the gun in the other. There’s no way you can reach any other items in this state. You’ve got one action left. Make it count.
- Fire at the spiders. [This choice has the potential to end the story.]
- Don’t use the gun. Use only the radio. [Specify your choice of channel by reacting with a number. This choice has the potential to end the story.]
(Winners: , )
- Fire at the spiders. [This choice has the potential to end the story.]
- Don’t use the gun. Use only the radio. [Specify your choice of channel by reacting with a number. This choice has the potential to end the story.]
(Winners: , )
3
18
2
2
1
2
1
16
Scene 26
You turn the radio’s dial with one finger, toggle the reverse switch, then shakily press down the evoke button as hard as you can.
The radio hums to life, emitting a soothing, yet vaguely haunting melody. Faintly, you think you can hear another tone behind the melody, a harsh and blaring beat screeching with fear and helplessness. You head droops and it’s gone, replaced with the first melody. You sigh, calm and peaceful, then open your eyes and look up.
The spiders have fled and you watch the last few of them frantically squeeze through the bulkhead door, their claws scrabbling against the stone as they fight for purchase. You calmly stand, bracing your wobbling legs, and stumble to the door. You fall against it more than push it, but it does the job and you collapse to the ground next to a closed, latched door. The radio hums to a stop and your composure flees. You lie on the ground, unable to move, feeling nothing but the burning pain coursing through your body. You pray for the release of unconsciousness or, after several minutes, even death, but nothing comes.
You lie awake in agony for what feels like hours before finally the sensation starts to fade. You risk twitching a finger and are beyond relieved to feel a slight pressure as it moves. Your headlamp flickers and goes out. You’re feeling overwhelmingly tired. Do you fight to stay awake or let sleep claim you?
- Sleep. Let the dreams flow where they may.
- Fight for consciousness. Don’t fade away. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
(Winner: )
- Sleep. Let the dreams flow where they may.
- Fight for consciousness. Don’t fade away. [A matter of chance: a simple challenge.]
(Winner: )
6
19
Scene 27
You strain against the pressure of sleep and manage to keep it at bay, at least for now. Several minutes pass as you slowly regain control of your body and risk standing, feeling unpleasant tingles in your extremities. You take several minutes to massage your fingers back into feeling by carefully crafting a battery with the remaining mushrooms and metal. You slot it into the headlamp, flick it on, and inspect your surroundings.
You’re standing in a large, arching dome of a cavern. The area is circular and seems unnatural, the walls formed of hundreds of hexagonal panels rather than coarse and semi-random. In the dead center of the room is a perfectly circular shaft dug straight downwards. There are no other features in the room. All sounds are muted and hushed except one, now that you’re listening for it. The core of the planet beats strongly here and you find yourself called to the shaft. You peer down, noting the old winching mechanism and steel cables attached to the side, and shine your light into eternity.
Far below, perhaps miles down, a massive black orb rotates. Occasional blue cracks in its surface shine light out into the space surrounding it and you can see the shadows of hideously enormous crystal spires criss-crossing the empty space between the core and the outer level. The light throbs in rhythm with the heartbeat. Your heart, the crystal heart, and the heart of the world all beat in sync now. All dancing to the same eldritch tune no being can hear. This is the end of your journey, you’re sure of it. The metal rope looks sagging and dangerously frayed, but that doesn’t matter. The heart of the world would never let you fail now, not at this point.
The radio crackles. A voice breaks through on the frequency you had assumed to be dead. “Hello? Anyone there?” it asks. “This is the ESS Caroline orbiting 500 km above the surface of this uncharted crystal planetoid. We’ve picked up the life pods from the starliner crash, but if there are any other survivors on the planet itself, make yourself known and we’ll see if we can come in for a landing. According to the flight crew, there are still... 12 souls left unaccounted for. Again, let us know if any survivors are on the planet.”
You stare at the radio in disbelief, the heart’s beat momentarily quieted in your mind. You’re so close to the core now. Do you respond? Do you dare leave this place? You stand on the precipice and hesitate. What do you do?
- Respond. Say you’ll meet the ship on the surface.
- Jump. You’re so close. You have to proceed.
- Descend. Use the old machinery. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
[This is a branch point. Choosing any option here will permanently lock out at least one possible ending to the story. Make your choice wisely.]
(Winners: and )
- Respond. Say you’ll meet the ship on the surface.
- Jump. You’re so close. You have to proceed.
- Descend. Use the old machinery. [A matter of chance: a chancy challenge.]
[This is a branch point. Choosing any option here will permanently lock out at least one possible ending to the story. Make your choice wisely.]
(Winners: and )
15
2
15
Scene 28
You bring the radio to your mouth and form a response, your voice rusty from disuse. “ESS Caroline, I am a survivor from the crash. I’m in the caves under the surface and I...” You hesitate, glancing back at the heavy bulkhead door keeping the spiders out. “I’m not sure I can get back out. I can keep looking. Can you stay in orbit while I look?”
The response is delayed and you almost thumb the transmit button again before it comes through. “Aaaalright, survivor in the caves, we read you and can stay in orbit another eight hours or so before we’re going to have to divert. We’re already well out of our way and only have so many supplies on board. If you can get us an approximate location we can try and set down near where you are.”
You provide the geographic details you had noticed when climbing the mountain earlier. The pilot says they’ll keep an eye out and try to put down around that location. The transmission ends. You have a lifeline, at least for the next few hours. If you can get back to the surface. The heart beats firmly, insistently. You grasp the metal rope firmly in both hands, kick the winch out of lock, and zip downwards into the depths.
The journey takes several minutes as the rope unspools above you. Crystal spires slink past in the darkness, linking various locations on the crust while the core spins freely beneath you. Gravity starts to shift and you feel yourself growing lighter, yet paradoxically heavier, as if you’re being magnetically drawn to the core. The blue lights grow brighter as you approach, starting to pulse and flicker with the same beat as the rest of the world.
You land without noticing it and blindly stumble into the third closest tunnel without really knowing why. It’s the one you were supposed to take. You’re sure of it. The walls are soft blue, smooth and bright. You hardly need the lamp and instinctively turn it off. Quiet music trickles into your mind, its tempo matching the overwhelmingly powerful beat. You blink. There’s a door in front of you. The area is brilliantly illuminated with the light from the walls, not dark as you dimly remember the journal stating. The door stands tall, five indentations flooded with glowing blue light. One remains, dead center. There’s a passage off to your left. You understand now. It all makes sense.
The choice ahead will be final.
- Place the heart into the door. Enter the Core. Meld. Become reborn anew.
- Place the heart into the door. Exit by the tunnel. Return to the surface. Part with the Core and allow it to separate from you.
- Keep the heart. Exit via the tunnel. Return to the surface. Disobey the Core. Claim the power that is yours.
- Throw the heart to the ground. Destroy it. Leave no trace. Eliminate this infestation.
[This is the end of the story. You may only choose one option, and all options will lead to an epilogue, then the story’s ending. Make your choice wisely.]
(Winner: ... it's a tie? Between and )
( was chosen as the winner by a coin flip )
- Place the heart into the door. Enter the Core. Meld. Become reborn anew.
- Place the heart into the door. Exit by the tunnel. Return to the surface. Part with the Core and allow it to separate from you.
- Keep the heart. Exit via the tunnel. Return to the surface. Disobey the Core. Claim the power that is yours.
- Throw the heart to the ground. Destroy it. Leave no trace. Eliminate this infestation.
[This is the end of the story. You may only choose one option, and all options will lead to an epilogue, then the story’s ending. Make your choice wisely.]
(Winner: ... it's a tie? Between and )
( was chosen as the winner by a coin flip )
14
2
4
13
1
2
Final Scene
You stand in front of the door, hesitating. Lines of thin blue light start to trickle from the empty slot to the crystal heart you now hold in your hands and the door slowly starts to ease open. You stay put, your mind whirling rapidly between options, as the music grows louder and the heartbeat from the core drowns out all other noise.
The door is open now. Through it, you see a simple staircase formed of outlines of white light floating amongst the starry void of space. You trace it up to its conclusion. The Core floats in nothingness. It draws the heart you hold. It insists you step inside, climb the staircase, join with it. End your current existence and move to the next. It promises power and enlightenment beyond your wildest dreams.
...
You turn away.
The Core bellows as you drop the heart, draw your gun and fire twice. Fragments of boiling crystal spray in all directions, some slicing into your flesh, but you don’t care. You grasp the radio and, driven by some unconscious understanding, reverse-evoke the channel filled with the gunshot from earlier. The chamber shakes as a rush of plasma vaporizes crystal and rock alike. You stand in the center, unharmed.
A moment passes as the music fades and the heartbeat slows. A long, low groan echoes through the planet. You dash for the passage to the left, your mind and body shaking free of the Core’s influence. You can feel your own heart speeding up as you run, starting to beat out of sync with the Core. The passage twists and turns, winding up through hundreds of feet of glowing blue crystal slowly beginning to dim. You emerge onto the surface of the core and glance around, then sprint forwards and leap towards a particular crystal spire, taking full advantage of the low gravity.
You jump from spire to spire up towards the surface as the blue light of the core dims and goes out. A distant roar can be heard, then a close one. You risk a look back as you fly through the air and see that the core is imploding. Sections of crystal are buckling under the pressure and falling into the center, where a brilliant white light is emerging. You hit the next spire and leap again, flying up into a vertical shaft. After a sharp turn and bend, you can see daylight at the top. Gravity continues to weaken and you kick from wall to wall, hurtling upwards at increasingly ludicrous speed.
You shelter the radio from the rushing wind and transmit your status to the Caroline. The pilot comes on the radio and confirms what you had already suspected: the planet is collapsing. He says there’s no way they’re going to land at this point, but they are in atmosphere and near the mountain you had mentioned. You let them know you’ll be with them in a few minutes.
Blindingly white light has entered the shaft from below and its radiance on your back is burning. You quickly toggle the radio and reverse-evoke the sounds from the molten lake, feeling an immediate cooldown while the air around you ripples with heat. The light pushes against you with explosive force, propelling you faster and faster until finally, you shoot out of the tunnel and several hundred feet into the air.
You twist in midair and recognize your location, pinpointing the mountain and the molten lake not far away. You’ve just shot out of the same tunnel mouth you had spotted when you first crashed onto the planet. The Caroline is there, a mid-size cargoliner hovering only a half-mile to your left over the lake. You fumble with the radio, but they transmit first. “Survivor, we see you and are en route to your position. This will be a no-landing pickup, so get ready to jump in quickly.”
You send an affirmative, reach the apex of your flight, and slowly begin to fall back down. The Caroline turns and jets forwards, its hull buffeted by the bursts of white light firing from the ground in all directions. You land hard but pick yourself up and leap for the ship’s open cargo bay as it approaches. You grasp someone’s hand and everything goes white.
...
Epilogue
Several days later, you watch a report on the incident on the news. They’re using footage from an interview you gave, though you don’t remember doing so. Everything feels so disconnected now. You have a hard time focusing and often find yourself jerking awake after minutes or hours dreaming of floating in the wide-open expanse of the starry void of space, peaceful and serene. You’re not sure if you made the right choice and you don’t think you’ll ever be sure.
Scientists are reporting the planet was likely a dead white dwarf, crystallized by long eons spent drifting through space. You don’t buy that. Where would the air have come from? The heat? The heart? Lockheed-Bolte refused to comment and anything tying their company to the planet died with the planet itself. At some point during your escape you lost the journal, though you still remember what it said. It’s burned into your memory at this point, along with everything else from those few hours you spent on the planet.
The Crystalline Sun, they’re calling it. The planet is still there, after a fashion. Instead of an enormous ball of crystal, it collapsed into a strange sort of afterimage, a faint glow of white light only visible after a long exposure. No one knows just what to make of it, what’s emitting the light, or what it might do in the future. From a certain angle, it looks exactly like a heart.
It doesn’t blame you.
<3
Conclusion
Hey, thanks for playing! I hope you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it! I’m sorry Derek didn’t get to ascend to become Lord of All Crabs, but really that was only a minor part of this story. Maybe next time.
So, what’s next?
To start with, if you have any questions or suggestions, or if you just want to discuss the story, feel free to do so! I’ll be answering questions about the process of writing this and the deeper meaning behind it in this channel now that it’s been concluded. I’ll try to keep spoilers in spoiler tags, but I’m not perfect and there really shouldn’t be any spoilers for a concluded story anyway.
After that, we’ll be archiving the current #story-updates channel and creating a new one! I’ll be taking a week-long break during which we’ll post a set of new starting prompts for the next story. If you have a submission you’d like to nominate for a starting prompt, feel free to post it in this channel. Prompts with at least five votes worth of support will be added to this list of options. Once we’ve got all the submissions in (a period of a few days, probably), we’ll put up the next set of starting prompt options and the next story will begin anew after that break I mentioned.
Thanks a lot for your support and engagement and I hope you stick around for the next one!
~Shaun / @Mrblah
17
The End