onlinedragonsgame | Test Drive Meme #0

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Legend has it that the god Henir endured Ragnarok, and afterwards created a place where there is no limitation of time and space. Here, she is able to see the rise and fall of the world. Should you reach this place, by Henir's force, you are bound to face the enemies you have met in the past and those you are destined to meet in the future.

Henir's Time And Space

You awake into darkness, surrounded by impossible geometry and an unnerving thrum that fills the cold air. Strange shapes move in the distance, drifting between labyrinthine paths that bend and twist into an endless, senseless maze. Gravity seems to be merely a suggestion, and you'll quickly find that any surface is fine for walking on—sideways, upsidedown, it doesn't matter as long as you're not thinking too hard about it. In a world of raw chaos, the only rule that matters is your willingness to press on. Just don't step too carelessly—one wrong move, and you could end up spinning down (up?) into an endless abyss, lost forever in time and space.

The air is cold, and the longer you stay here the more it feels like that chill will never leave... this isn't a place where mortals should be. Regardless of how you arrived in this place, you'd best make your way back out soon.

... but you're not alone in this alien world. There are others here like yourself, and it never hurts to have a few allies in a strange place like this.

There are also a number of strange... objects? Creatures? Monsters? Whatever you want to call them, they're not terribly friendly and "speak" only in terrifying, unnatural screeches. They seem territorial, which is a problem in a world where space itself follows no logical sense. At least they seem to lose interest once a target it out of their sights(?), and they can be killed(??) if you hit them enough times with something sharp or heavy... if you can't defend yourself, it's better to just keep your distance. There's a lot of sharp edges on those weird things, they seem to be fully aware of that fact.

Somewhere off in the distance you can hear a whale-like cry, followed by a giant shadow that flies past too quickly to see... that one, you probably shouldn't try to fight.

Walking In Circles, Squares And Triangles

No matter which way you go, you never seem to make any progress in finding a way out... and eventually, even the senseless scenery starts to look familiar again. You're not going to get anywhere just by looking around.

But it's on this second pass through that you finally stumble upon something new. Seated comfortably in the middle of the path is a strange man in an iron mask, bound in rusted chains. He is holding... a very dainty tea cup, which appears to be completely empty. He looks up as you approach, waving in a friendly manner.

Mysterious Masked Man

Ah, there you are! I was starting to wonder if you'd died already. Come, come, take a seat. You must be tired from all that running around!

You're an adventurer, aren't you? Yes? No? Ah, well, it's never too late to start! Don't worry about the details. Hmm, let me try a different question... you want to leave this place, don't you? Henir's Time and Space isn't exactly friendly to ones like yourself. Besides, it's starting to get a little... crowded, one might say. I think it'd be beneficial to all of us if you and your little friends went somewhere else, don't you agree?

Kukuku, that's more like it. Why don't we make a deal? You do something for me, and I'll see to it that you can escape this place in one piece. That's fair, don't you think?

Hmm? Who am I? Oh, no one important! Not anymore, that is. You can call me Glave. Come find me again when you're ready. I'll gladly put you to work.

Introduce yourself to the locals!

"You see those shape-like creatures over there? They're not the best for conversation, but you could say they're the natives of this world. The long ones are called Chaos Triangle, and the ones that spin in place are Chaos Circle and Chaos Square. Why don't you start by introducing yourself? Of course, they respond best to acts of extreme violence, so you'd best go in prepared. When you're done playing, bring me back the core of each one and I'll give you something good."
• Defeat Chaos Triangle, Chaos Circle and Chaos Square.
• They're not the toughest of enemies to fight... but they can still smack you pretty hard, they have sharp edges, and they don't like strangers. You can't reason with them and they don't seem to understand speech. Also, the Triangles skitter. It's kind of creepy.
• After striking the final blow, the Chaos creatures will collapse into their polygonal components and leave behind their core (a sphere, cube, or pyramid). Bring back one of each to Glave to complete this quest.

I didn't lose my marbles, but...

"You're not much of a fighter, are you? Or maybe you're just pretending so you can get the easier job... kukuku, who am I to judge? Very well, not everything requires brute force to accomplish. Let's see... well, I did happen to drop something earlier. A pair of blue cubes, about an inch across each side. I think it was somewhere... oh, maybe over there? I'm busy at the moment, so how about you find them for me?"
• Find Glave's two missing cubes.
• His directions are awful to the point of being useless, and they blend in with all the other glowing blue surfaces around here. This might actually be impossible, but try your best.
• Was this a trick to make you go away while he bothered someone else? ... maybe! But hey, it wouldn't hurt to try, right? There's tons of blue cubes just floating around, so maybe you can just find a pair that's almost the same...

To submit quest results, please leave a comment here.

Lamp Oil? Rope? Bombs?

Glave's offer is tempting, if suspicious, but he's not the only one who seems familiar with this place. Somewhere deeper in the endless maze is another such person, standing at the centre of a wide platform bereft of monsters or chaos-creatures... a rest area, if you will. The woman smiles, checking something off on the long scroll in her hands.

Mysterious Woman

Welcome! I'm Helen. We sell necessities for travellers... oh, I'm sorry. Normally I only sell items for ED, but these are trying times. It's alright, let me see what you have and we'll work something out.

Leaving this place? I'm afraid that's outside of my control. I'm just a simple travelling merchant. You'd be better off trying to convince someone like Glave. He can be a bit troublesome, but he's not so bad once you get to know him.

Who would say no to free samples?

"Since you're helping Glave, why don't you take a couple of my potions? It's bad for business if my customers get hurt. If you give one of them to someone else, I'll consider that a favour to myself. Let me know how it goes, and I'll see what I can do to make Glave see reason."
• Find a traveller in need and give them a healing potion! It tastes like Tylenol, but it sure does work.
• Or just lie. Drink both of them yourself! What's the worst that could happen?
• Show Helen that everyone is working hard to escape and she'll knock some sense into Glave.

You can't go to Elrios without a bit of whaling.

"Actually... there is something else you could help me with. I run a fishing business on the side, you see, and I've heard tales of a great Leviathan that roams this space. I've always wondered if other fish might've ended up here as well. I'll let you have this rod, and if you find anything that looks like a fish, let me know."
• Go fishing... in space!!
• There is no water here, it only kind of looks stupid.
• If you keep at it for long enough, you might actually fish something up... or maybe you'll just hook one of the Chaos creatures. Try not to get killed!
• What is that whale sound, anyway? Maybe you can bait it out...?

To submit quest results, please leave a comment here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Jakob doesn’t reply, the blow having momentarily knocked him out. As the cube shudders he’s floating off to the side, his entire body limp and at the mercy of the void as Add gloats at him.

It might have been better if they both went their separate ways.

But unfortunately, Jakob comes to a moment later, hipping out a hand to grab at a loose chain as he frantically searches the void for Add.

His small moment of relief is undercut by the sinking feeling that something especially awful is about to happen.

“Add! Get away from there at once!”

The shout startles him to attention, looking around like he's expecting some horrible monster to be right behind him... of course, there's nothing there. Just this big cube with three chains holding it in place. Totally normal void stuff. Add sighs, shoulders relaxing.

"Away from what? This thing?" And because he's a fate-tempting idiot, he gives the chain a good shake. "It's probably just one of Glave's—"

which is immediately followed by a muffled, inhuman roar, another shudder, and that chain suddenly flinging itself out of place at high speeds—along with Add.

“Add!”

Without hesitation he immediately yanks at his own end of the chain to swing around to Add’s side, letting go of it at the last second so that the momentum launches him straight into the void toward Add. At the same time he summons yet another borderline behind him, to shield them from whatever’s going to burst out of the cube even as he’s turning his back on it to stretch a hand toward Add—

Another roar rips through the empty air, and Jakob can feel reality starting to warp and bend behind him even through the borderline. The cube sways against its chains, an angry-something thrashing within... but the remaining two chains hold—for now, at least. The cube shrinks away into the distance, its roars falling silent even as the ripples continue to shake the void around them.

Add, on the other hand, in spinning off in the opposite direction, still holding a piece of the broken chain in one hand and the cookies in the other. He's more dazed than harmed, and it's not until Jakob is almost upon him that he notices he's still being followed. He stares back, bewildered, at the outstretched hand.

Why is everyone so persistent? He just can't understand it. All he wants is to be left alone.

The gesture isn't returned, but if he reaches just a little harder he could grab one of the stupid long chains on the back of Add's coat...

and he should do it soon, because that rippling continues to grow in intensity. Their momentum starts to tilt—towards a distant, glowing crack, cubes and shapes crumbling into it and vanishing.

Jakob stretches his arm out as far as he can, but it’s still not enough, his fingers just grasping shy of the chain…

Damn it. Is this really the end? Unable to retrieve Add and save him from whatever’s emerging behind him? Jakob doesn’t even have time to look at the damn cube, though he can feel the waves of its uncanny force rippling through the void, and he really doesn’t want to linger and find out what could be the cause of all that.

With a click of his tongue, he slips out a dagger from underneath his coat-sleeve, and uses it to finally hook into a chain link so he can grab it and get that much closer to Add—

Test Drive Meme #0

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looks at the calendar, roundabout starts playing--

<==To be continued=