Joat

Ah. Anyway, I do not have a specific teleport destination in mind, so I shall let the GM decide which location is best, plot-wise, for Silka to appear. EDIT: Oh! I nearly forgot to mention a very important detail. Unless this detail is overridden by the GM (I am perfectly fine with it if it is), the MLP dimension is unaware of the existence of the Interdimensional Protection Agency. As such, the IPA would likely make her destination a place where nobody will see her teleport in.

I do hope you meant that with less hostility than it sounded like, F-22brony. I can try a less experimental character people think I should play it safer, though.

Dimensional travel plot. A perfect place for me to use an Interdimensional Protection Agency member. Here’s hoping that she only takes one slot instead of six. I shall use Silka. This would make the first time with this character. As such, this one is a bit more experimental than the unnamed fox was.

The fox looks at Song. Yes, it’s definitely good for him to rest up while he can, for tomorrow (presumably that day), the big adventure will begin. The fox himself, though, is not tired yet, probably because he was not involved in the work. He looks around, wondering how he can prepare himself. How can he prepare himself. He cannot use weapons, can he? He knows no magic, either. So, what can he do? Sure, he can be moral support, but ‘official moral support guy’ is… Well, it does not justify him being there. Especially since the others would have to protect him. No, he has to be able to do something. But what? Think, think… He must think about his talents… Well, he is intelligent. Certainly far more than a normal fox. That makes him theoretically good with magic, but much magic involves chanting, something he cannot do, and one evening is not enough time to learn magic. Well, he is also agile. He has evaded unfriendly forces before. That could help him. Maybe he could distract and hinder enemies. Not directly attack, just try to get them to stop attacking his friends. Still not a very glamorous option, though, and something that is attacking would probably only need to get one shot to take him out. It’s certainly dangerous. But what else can he do? What better option is there? Nobody ever said being chosen was easy… Perhaps if he wanders around town, something might happen. An idea might strike. An opportunity might present itself. Something, anything. Hoping for, well, something, the fox heads into town again. Or, he starts to. But then… *OOC: Unlike normal, the forums did not notify me of the new responses.* The fox stops heading toward town after having taken only three steps toward it. He looks up at Moon, hoping but not expecting that she may somehow present an option.

The fox waits outside, out of view of any windows. Being in sight may not help matters.

The fox tilts his head. Did Song just read his mind? No, of course he didn’t. But no doubt, they are now thinking of the same problem. Unfortunately, there may not be any way for the fox to help with this.

The fox nods and follows Song. His mind briefly turns to the problem of Song’s mother possibly disapproving of the fox being there, but if Song is going away on a journey… Well, the objection was against the fox staying at the house, not against Song spending time with him at all. Though whether Song’s mother would allow him to leave on such a dangerous journey is another matter, of course.

The fox looks around, confused. When did a third pony join? Right now, the group seems to be two ponies, two pegasi, and the fox. Does he have a third pony in mind to join the group?

Yipe! Everybody’s looking at him, they think he may not be feeling alright… Thinking quickly, the fox abruptly straightens his stance, trying to look mighty and proud. In his mind, the pose is accompanied by triumphant fanfare and dramatic wind. The effect is actually similar to a kitten trying to impersonate a lion, in a way. His appearance fits more into ‘cute’ than ‘mighty’.

*OOC: Yipe, quite a lot of responses. Hither we go…* So, that really is all there is to the story. Huh. The fox is curious as to how long the water has been at the higher level. He has a chilling thought that perhaps he traveled not through space, but through time. He pushes that thought out of his mind for the moment. Huh? She can’t be thinking of trying to reverse such powerful magic, can she? The fox wonders, at this time, how powerful these ponies and pegasi really are. Maybe they really might have a chance? Chosen by destiny… This is it! He is certain now that it was by no coincidence that he appeared here at this time! It is by no mere fluke that the elders knew of his coming! There is no doubt in his mind that he was chosen! Maybe it was by no coincidence that he met these people, either. Maybe Song, Fireworks, Snowglobe, and Moon were all chosen, too! But how could he fight anything? He has never fought in his life and he has no magic. But that is how many heroes start out, right? The kid is plucked off the farm by some mentor type and, before he knows it, he’s fighting evils he never dreamed he could survive against for a second. That’s often how these stories are structured, right? This and the blushing near him before… Does Moon have feelings for Song? The fox disbands the thought for now. He has not enough evidence to go on and, well, it is none of his business anyway. The fox looks at the ground. Yeah, that’s not a good introduction in any epic tale, is it?

The fox slowly approaches Moon. Yeah, she does seem nice so far, booming entrance and declaration aside. Come to think of it, how did Moon know he was here? And ‘has been… sighted’? Are there scouts? This is a bit confusing, but surely he will be able to piece it all together in time, right? *OOC: Edit due to, well, figuring out the obvious explanation. I know that OOC and IC knowledge do not have to line up, but I figure let’s not make the GM become paranoid and try to fix plot holes that are not actually present. I made this edit not far before bed, so sowwy if something ends up not making sense.* Then, the fox pieces it together. Oh right, people probably saw him on the way here and word no doubt spread from there. Or maybe the word spread starting directly from the elders and sorta came back full circle when Moon tried to tell the elders, not knowing they already know.

The fox slowly comes out from under the table, looking up at the pegasus apparently named Moon. He would have thought his heart had just popped, if he could not clearly feel it beating. Nice pegasus or not, that was really scary! On the bright side, now he has confirmation that these are, indeed, pegasi. A lot different from how he thought pegasi would look, though.

The fox tilts his head in confusion. Alicorn? What’s an alicorn? And… that story is rather short. Are there more details, or is that really all that is left of GYAAAH!!!!! The fox quickly dives under the nearest table, frightened by the loud words coming from the pegasus? that seemed to come out of nowhere! Okay, to be fair, he was not looking in the direction of the doorway, but still.

It is a good sign that the elders can be greeted by normal means, rather than having to be given a bow and a special formal greeting. They do seem quite friendly. The fox slowly approaches the elders, hoping they might have some insight as to why he is here or perhaps describe this place to him. Or explain about the sea having apparently risen. Or all three.

The fox now considers it officially confirmed that foxes are quite rare here. Foxes are known of, but it seems not known about very widely. The is cautiously eager to meet the elders. After all, he really wants to know a lot of stuff like how they knew he was here, what all they know or don’t know about foxes, if they know why he’s here, and the like. These elders must be good, people, too, otherwise Fireworks wouldn’t risk taking him to them, right? The fox’s mind does a bit of a double-take as he realizes he nearly missed an important detail. When the sea was lower? So, the sea rose? It must have done so a fairly long time ago, if Song does not recall it from memory.

What will the RP itself be like? Will it be light-hearted, more dark and edgy, or mayhaps somewhere between those two? How much fighting will there be in comparison to the role-playing itself? EDIT: Alright, my chosen character is Starshift. The reason I chose the backstory I did was so that I would have justification for her not knowing things that I, as a player, do not know (I really need to get to watching the rest of MLP). Also, it gives access to an unusual mix of abilities.

Victory! Snowglobe is really energetic, isn’t she? The fox is smiling, but a bit cautious in his optimism. After all, this is a strange place with strange beings. What more is in store for him in this place?

In a way, it depends on the root of the mediocrity. Scorn should only be given when the mediocrity is due to a lack of effort. However, if someone honestly gives it their all and simply fails, then at the very least, they should not be punished for it. There are no doubt exceptions to that, of course, as there is with every general rule, but it is nonetheless worth keeping that yardstick on hand/hoof, because a mediocre product is not entirely mediocre if there is excellent effort behind it. Of course, this is not to say that things should be judged on effort alone. After all, that could create resentment and create people more talented at pretending to work hard, rather than making people genuinely want to improve. While the scorn should be reserved for those who do not try and a small amount of praise given to those who honestly try and simply fail, there should be some sort of reward for genuinely doing well, to incentivise progress in the chosen craft. So, praise and other types of reward should be given on a sliding scale, a small amount of it perhaps given as an appetizer to those willing to try, in order to encourage them to excel.

Here is hoping this is not in the wrong place. Yeah, it has to do with my adventures playing games, so it should count for this section, but it is a fair bit unlike other threads I have noticed here, so somewhat worrying. Anyway… The Chronicles of the Kitty Mask This is a continuation, in a way, of an old thread in the old Dragonica forums. The name, in fact, comes from those days, when I would always have the Focus buff aspect, which manifested itself as a kitty mask (I could hide the kitty mask if desired, which most people did, but I did not). After that, I have occasionally taken note of some of the more silly things that happen to me in games (though there was a large gap before I decided to do that). Anyway, because this is a continuation and contains the old stuff, I shall point out that the first three entries were written for Dragonica players and may contain some confusing terminology et cetera when read by those unfamiliar with the game. Sowwy. Also, the old intro below is still valid. Old Intro (from old Dragonica forums) This is a bit of a chronicle of the amusing things that happen to me in the game. Because of my social and talkative nature, I tend to have some amusing experiences. Because some of these experiences may be embarrassing to some people, I will replace the names of those whose permission I do not have to include their real in-game names. Dragonica [3/8/09]: The Government Is To Blame I was on channel one, in the Vyvern server (not that I inhabit any other server). I had recently leveled up to 34, but unfortunately, I had already done all of the quests that I could. There were two quests still left in my quest log, one blue and one red, both of them mocking me, silently yet agonizingly. They were quests for a mission map that I could not access, and for which I could find nobody to escort me. So, I would have to farm EXP. Rather than do it normally, I decided to instead do what I usually do when such a thing happens: look around for people to help. In this case, that would mean going to the sanctuary areas and the Caverns of Doom to see if anyone needed assistance (or “***istance”, as the chat filter converts it to) with the missions there. Either I’m kind and generous, or I’m looking for an ego boost (I hope for the former, but I would not be surprised at the latter), but either way, people tend not to mind the help. I believe I was in the Caverns of Doom when the world chatting started up. One person said something to the effect of “I’m looking for a guild and a GF”. My first thought, upon seeing that, was that it would end up being a pandora’s box of sorts: After all, many people are probably desperately looking for guild members, so there would be a flood of offers. For a moment, I myself was tempted to offer membership, but I figured that it would only add to the flood, and besides, it is not wise to invite someone who you have not even spoken to yet. Though in retrospect, maybe it is that pickiness that is the explanation for the guild-of-one that is Zephyrai. Anyway, yeah, it turned out to be a pandora’s box alright, but it was not I who opened it, and it was not opened how I would expect it. For you see, that first comment spawned other comments, saying “I want a GF” “No, the last poster sux, I want a GF lol”. I knew at that point that none of those posters, with the possible exception of the first one, really wanted an in-game girlfriend or a guild. They just wanted to spam. As I traveled to Skypie Sanctuary (I think it was Skypie - I always get them mixed up), the commentary began to devolve. I do not know how to allude to the contents of the commentary without breaking the rules myself. Suffice to say that the commentary defied rules 1b and 1d. At this point, I must clarify something. I know that, because they violated the rules, I should probably report them. I shall not. The reason for this is not because I have anything against snitching, it is not because I am trying to protect them, and it is most definitely not because I approve of their actions, because I most certainly do not. The reason is because it was after 9:00PM, and after roughly 9:00PM my mind is… not functioning at full capacity. Some people get mean when they get sleepy. Me, I just get stupid. This explains why I did not think to get a screenshot of the chat or write down who said what. That, combined with my terrible memory pretty much means that I cannot remember much as far as names go and I cannot remember who said what. In the future, I’ll try to remember to take notes of this stuff. Anyway, as this was going on, I went to the Skypie Sanctuary mission map warp and, seeing nobody there, headed to the Elysian Sanctuary. When I got to the Elysian Sanctuary map, I commented in all chat on how immature people in world chat were being. It just so happened that, though I had not noticed, one of the people involved in the conversation was standing right next to me. Like I said, it was after 9:00, so I was not at my most attentive. I realized the fact, though, after the person, we shall call them X, pointed it out to me. X then said that I should not be complaining about it. After all, it was not against the rules to be immature. I pointed out that being vulgar is against the rules. Now, I should point out that I am paraphrasing things loosely. Because I do not have the chat log or a good memory, I can’t really remember exactly how things went, but I can give the rough idea. At first, when X pointed out their proximity to me, I was a bit embarassed (wouldn’t you be, if the person you were speaking ill of turned out to be right next to you?), but X did not give me much time to be embarassed. A conversation ensued. If any of you listen to Henry Rollins, you might recall his conversation with a burgler (if you haven’t heard of Henry Rollins, he was once in a band but now does stand-up - his humor is a bit adult, so be warned). If you remember that, then let us just say that this conversation was my equivalent. X’s first defense was that X was unable to control the actions of others. However, I noted that X was involved in the rule-breaking conversation as well, though I could not remember if X him/herself was part of the rule-breaking part (bad memory, past 9PM, remember). Without missing a beat, X pointed out that there was plenty of rule-breaking in government as well. This was my first tip-off that X was one of those people. Yeah, you know the type. The type who refuses to feel guilty for anything, instead placing the blame on completely irrelevent things, or trying to point out people that are as bad as them, or pretty much anything besides accepting responsibility responsibly. I feel sorry for them, really. I’m not trying to be condescending, but it really does sadden me to know that there is pretty much no hope for them to change their behavior, because they tend to be so stubborn. Of course, my first mental response was that the government had absolutely nothing to do with the game or the conversation. Essentially, X was saying that, because there was rule-breaking in government, there was no reason why X should follow the rules in Dragonica. X stated also that I should worry about corruption in government before rule-breaking in Dragonica. What? Again, Dragonica and the government have nothing to do with each-other. X and the government have nothing to do with each-other. This conversation and the government had nothing to do with each-other - or at least, they should not have had anything to do with each-other, but now, they were quite horrifyingly attached. Seeing that there was nothing to be gained in trying to point out the feebleness of the government argument, for doing so would be like trying to break down a brick wall with a pair of tweezers (I like that word - “tweezers” - It is just an inherently humorous word). Instead, maybe I could appeal to that greed. So, I pointed out the obvious - that breaking the rules could lead to punishment. X said that the staff could not do anything because there is corruption in the government, so the staff cannot blame X for being corrupt as well. X said that the staff could do nothing because the staff would not be able to make convincing arguments. I pointed out that the staff does not need X’s permission to take disciplinary acction. It was then that X said the most humorous line of the conversation. X said that the staff would have to listen to him/her, because if they banned X for a reason that X did not approve of, (s)he would take legal action. On another note, I wish I had paid attention to the gender of X, for using multigender terms is rather annoying. Anyway, I immediately pointed out that there was nothing illegal about refusing to provide free services to someone who broke the TOS that X agreed upon when installing the software that is not legally required to be provided to begin with. THQ, like many other services, is allowed to refuse service to anyone, even someone such as the president. Of course, X took that out of context and said that there would be no way that the president would be banned (which is true, really - I’m pretty sure Obama is well-behaved enough to not require disciplinary action). The conversation ended right around there, though not before someone else (let us call her Y), who had during the conversation been leading enemies to the mission map portal for no apparent reason, decided to insult me for trying to defend the rules (naturally, she used curse words). Of course, I did not respond in kind, as Y would likely have liked me to do. Soon after, a person joined up with me to do what I had come there to do to begin with. We shall call him Z. Z wanted to hunt for equipment there. Since I had no personal goal myself, I went along with that idea, and we went to F4. After that, we both logged off, though not before adding each-other to our friends list. He had to log off for… actually, I dont think he specified why, but he did warn me in advance, so no surprises. I know why I logged off, though. I had to type out this story. I just quite simply had to. Dragonica [3/12/09]: Twice the Farrell, Double the Daxin It was a dark and stormy night… or at least, it would have been, had the staff implimented my ideas of times of day and weather into the game yet. No, they had not (though considering that, to my knowledge, there has been no patch since I suggested that, it is quite unsurprising). Unfortunately, “it was a bright and sunny day” carries significantly less emotional weight. Though the point was actually quite moot, because I started my day in the Caverns of Doom, and the day where it is raining in there is the day that I eat my own helm. Though, considering that it looks like a flower, it actually might not be all that bad with dressing. But the thorns… Okay, I’ll eat Jamie’s beret instead. There. Anyway, I quickly found that there was nobody at the Caverns of Doom. At all. That was quite unusual. So, I went to Skypie Sanctuary. There was but one person, who did not seem to need any help. So, I proceeded to the Elysian Sanctuary, to be greeted only by Jules (I think that was his name) and the jewel merchant. Determining that the two of them probably did not need help with any quests, I decided that I should next check Steven's Port for someone who might need my assistance. I met a knight by the name of HopeX. My offer for “***istance” led not to a quest to once again vanquish Alvida and her minions, but instead to conversation. It was here that HopeX told me of the most incredible fact that I have ever heard. I remind him of someone he knows. The very possibility that I could remind someone of someone else is absurd and, honestly, quite frightening. The world seems hardly capable of handling even one of me. I would think that, were there more, the world’s leaders would be holding all sorts of international conferences over it or somesuch. The very thought of two of me was unthinkable. Well, actually, it wasn’t, because if it were unthinkable then it could not become a thought in the first place. The non-literalists will understand my meaning, though. Anyway, it seemed that the more I spoke (even when I said “Hethieth Nova Siavo”), the more certain HopeX seemed to become. We both agreed quite readily that it was a frightening prospect. As we made that agreement, HopeX told me that, just at that moment, someone had left his guild. I myself never had that experience, of course, because nobody ever joined my guild to begin with. Anyway, next, HopeX asked me if I was from Canada. I responded that I was from my own little world. Determining that information to probably be quite unhelpful, I amended that I was from the USA. This reaffirmed to HopeX that I was, indeed, not the same person that he knew from Canada. Indeed, there are two of me. Next, HopeX asked me a riddle: “All is One and One is All. What is All and what is One?” Of course, with my joking literalism, my first three guesses were “quantities”, “adjectives”, and “words”. Then, I gave the answer that, if all is one, there can be only one of it in the world. I got an orz emote out of that one. He then told me the answer: All is the world, and the One is me. Wow, he must think I am really egotistical. He is correct, of course, but still. Next, he asked me if I had a spare ring. I told him no, but to look for a girl named “Rosie”, who had a ring around her (bad pun, I know, but I oft deal in those). He then told me that he had to go back to Port of the Winds. He departed, leaving me hoping audibly that he did not take my words literally. This comment gained a chuckle from a nearby hunter by the name of SwiftFlame (as opposed to smouldering, I suppose - another bad pun from this provider of plentiful puns). Immediately after the chuckle, he asked me if I would assist with Farrell, which I agreed to. I whispered to HopeX that I would be doing so. He said “I’m okay, you go ahead.” Swift asked me if we needed four people. I said it was not required. In fact, I had soloed it. And so, the two of us were on our way. Along the way, I proposed that we stop, so that we could take the more convenient path of just using warp scrolls to get to town. However, after a couple of failed trade attempts due to monster attacks (and the fact that you apparently cannot split stacks while you have the trade window open, which is quite absurd), we decided to disband the notion of using scrolls, concluding that such a convenience was just too darned inconvenient. At any rate, we finally reached the portal to Bearded Whale Coast, but before we could go, I was interrupted by a whisper from HopeX, asking where I was. I restated what I had told him earlier. He asked me where Farrell was. I told him that it was in town, and that he could meet us at the docks if he desired to join us. And join us he did. We went to the entrance to the sewers, equipped our gasmasks, then HopeX said that he could get someone to assist us. And retrieve a member he did. SwiftFlame was level 24, HopeX was level 23, so it was quite a surprise when a level 34 (same as my level) assassin joined the party. We now had a full party: A mage (me), an archer (SwiftFlame), a warrior (HopeX), and a thief (Sacarios), which was a sharp contrast to the two other times I did it alone, as I commented audibly on. SwiftFlame speculated that I was able to solo it because I was really beastly. I asked for clarification on what that meant, whether he meant strong or was just making a joke about the kitty mask (meaning, the Focus buff). He meant the former. It makes sense, really. After all, a domestic feline is not much of a “beast”, is it? And so, we entered as I decided to put on music to fit the mood - an orchestrated version of the music from Revenge of Meta Knight (yeah, it sounds silly, I know, but still). The first thing I noticed was how fast we mowed through the enemies. The second thing I noticed was how quick we were to get seperated. I was not too worried, because we were still clearing enemies for each-other and we were all quite competent. Still, for a support class, especially me with my emphasis on being a healer (like said in my intro post, I only have one offensive skill in my quickbar and I never use Diffusion Cannon because I dislike losing my mobility while attacking), it was quite torturous to see life bars going down and me having no blasted clue of the locations of specific allies in this blasted maze with no minimap allowed. Even so, despite the seperation, the lot of us mowed right through the enemies and even the minibosses. And as for Dr. Farrell… Well, I believe the term that tvtropes.org has for it is “Curb Stomp Battle”. His life bar went down faster than… Well, I do not have a good analogy for this one, but suffice to say it took very little time to succeed. And so, we left the instance victorious, trading the spoils as needed. it was then that HopeX asked the key question: “Now what?”. I had no answer - After all, I was just trying to help where I can. SwiftFlame suggested Alvida. I noted that it would be a shame for us to disband, for we were like well-oiled machinery. Except without the cold, metal exterior, the oiled part, the cogs and sprockets, and the loud whirring noises. Okay, so maybe we were nothing like a well-oiled machine. Still, we made a good team. Then, Sacarios gave the suggestion to attack Farrell again. No kill like overkill, right? To that, SwiftFlame and HopeX gave their approval, while I gave my verbal shrug. Sacarios restocked his supplies and we were ready to go, when I asked a question. The question was whether I was allowed to use their real names on this thread. Their answer was yes, of course. I also asked their gender, so I would know which pronoun to use. All male, like I. And then we entered. Immediately, I took damage and realized that, because of my Focus buff, I had forgotten to put my gas mask on. It was a simple and easy to fix mistake, but nonetheless indicative of the events to come, for that well-oiled machine would be reduced to a pile of bolts by the time we were done. SwiftFlame, upon hearing of my silly mistake, told me of the Show Helm option. I told him that I already know of that, and just liked the kitty mask. For one thing, I like cute things and the kitty mask is cute. For another, it makes me stand out more amidst the people who generally do not have the mask visible. And third, it ensures that none of the random monsters I defeat call for reinforcements. After all, who would admit to their superiors that they got beat up by some guy in a kitty mask? Things were going fine and oily until a monkey wrench fell into the machinery and we began to rust. That is to say, Sacarios was somehow killed. Resisting the urge to ask how a level 34 assassin in a party of four who recently restocked on potions managed to get killed (lag, maybe? Or possibly the fact that the party healer was not close enough to do his job might also have something to do with it, so I am not without blame I suppose). Anyway, at that same time, I was contacted by someone on my friends list. All this while fighting a miniboss. So, I was carrying on two conversations while in the middle of fast-paced combat. What a combination. And to add to that, two of the party members were in my friends list as well, while the friend who had contacted me was not on the friends list of the two members of my party who were also in my friends list, so naturally, Friend chat was a it awkward. Sacarios re-entered Farrell’s domain and the little running man that indicated that Sacarios was in another area went away, which led us to believe that Sacarios would soon be re-united with us. Just as it looked like the part that was Sacarios was being repaired, the part that was SwiftFlame broke off the machine entirely. That is, he disconnected. Now, we were short a member, who could not rejoin us while we were still in the instance. Worse still, it turned out that although Sacarios was in the domain of Farrell, he was still technically in a different instance. We finally decided to retreat. Once I got out, HopeX inquired as to how to leave. Before I could respond, he died. Well, at least he got out. We regrouped outside to clean off the butter stains from the toast that landed butter-side down. Fortunately, after that, we had a bunch of spare keys, so much that we did not even need to get them again in our next run. So our next rush through Farrell’s lair was exactly that - a rush. I only stopped to make sure that other members were keeping up, so I could heal them. We successfully defeated Farrell for the second time that day and we left the lair, a job well done. After that, we traded once more. I amended the later statement of “We make a good team” to include “when we are actually in the same place”, an important detail. Sacarios was added to my friends list, so now all of us would be able to keep in touch and onoce again reunite. Sacarios told us that he was buying weapon enchant powder. Little did Sacarios know that I pretty much never sell to those who I deem to be nice people - I only give. And so, to his great surprise, Sacarios recieved three weapon enchant powders. SwiftFlame had to log off. I as well, for I had a feeling that I would be called off the computer soon. Not to mention, I needed to type this story. Dragonica [Date unrecorded]: Chaos: The Chaotic Version Part I Many times, I have heard people using their megaphones to ask for assistance with “CSS”. I remember that the “C” stands for “Chaos”, but I have forgotten what the other two letters stand for. All I know is that, to me, it will always be “Cascading Style Sheets”. Anyway, finally came the day when curiosity overwhelmed me and I went over to Elga’s Spirit. Every bit of genre savviness in me pretty much screamed “Bad idea, so turn back now if you have any shred of intelligence at all”. After all, isn’t Elga supposed to be the villain of this story? Yet, defying common sense, onward I went. I would like to say that it was courage and valor that drove me to do it, but it was actually simple curiosity. It brings to mind the phrase “curiosity killed the cat”… or priest in a cat mask, close enough. One day, I am going to regret having typed that, I just know it. <The rest was untyped. I apparently got distracted or… something. I do not recall why I did not finish it.> Streets of Rage Remake [4/4/11] Snippet Suddenly, I found myself facing off against a minor enemy who would jump away from me whenever I came within attacking distance. It was at this point that I realized that this particular enemy had noticed the number near the top of the screen slowly counting down and deduced that I would lose a life if that number reached zero before I killed her. And kangaroos may be great fighters, sure, but playing as one did not exactly improve my attack range. If they figure out how to use cheat codes, I'm screwed... RIFT [7/24/11]: ZOMG Guardians at the Gate The day started just like any other. It started with me on my computer, fully realizing that it was midnight and that I should probably head to bed, but too engrossed in my flitting back and forth between activities like an attention deficit pinball. As for my in-game day, it began by checking on the status in the guild. In theory, this meant checking the item log and currency log in the guild bank and checking the log in the guild pane. In practice, this meant dusting away the cobwebs and listening to the cricket orchestra for a while. Well, okay, I did a bit of questing first, but anyway... I returned to Meridian, the defiant capital city, and managed various tasks, including the aforementioned. During this time, I noticed that there was a new quest available from a nearby NPC to test out a teleporter to go across the map. The teleport was a success and I was sent to Timberveil in Moonshade Highlands. The location is a piece of information that is useful to, considering the traffic of the site and how many people of that number likely play Rift, approximately 0.172 of you in the audience. Anyway, upon arriving, I noticed two things. One, that some of my quest turn-in spots were conveniently located here; and two, that there was a machine nearby with five panels, each with a differently-colored button-type semi-sphere thing that made me wonder if I was, in fact, standing in the new Power Rangers HQ. I know that sounds like a stretch when I write it, but it seriously did look like it was supposed to be power morphing apparatus, if admittedly uncharacteristically low-key. Upon returning by teleportation back to Meridian, I recieved an urgent message in Yell chat that there were guardians at the gate to the city. I had my PvP flag turned off, so I was safe, so I decided to go and watch the spectacle. Not much of one, all told. It turned out that Aterju, one of the guardians in question, was the one who shouted the warning. It seems that this person and his friends were looking for a fight. Unfortunately for them, looking for a fight with the NPCs tended to end rather predictably. However, the person did seem rather eager to fight the human players on our side, even acting like a chicken for it. Insert predictable joke if a bunch of pyromancers decended upon him. Aterju was nothing if not patient. And I was nothing but patient for observing him, perching myself on high terrain for an aerial view and healing myself when I found myself getting an unintentional extreme close-up. It was at about this moment that I noticed the glowy crop circle in the sky and found myself musing that finding shapes in the clouds was not as fun when the game highlights them for you. Eventually, a big battle did ensue (and by big, I mean kinda small, but oh well) between the guardians and the defiants near Meridian, which I went to watch after making another ungraceful landing onto the stone road below. The match was close. There was much blood, cake, death, and frosting. Oh wait, I am thinking of Fat Princess. Sillyful I. That was the last match I saw Aterju having that night. I did feel a bit sorry for the guy. He wanted PvP, but his guild wanted PvE and he was outvoted, so he now has to ask for volunteers to fight him, pretty much. I might have even challenged him myself if I were level 50 like he and he were alone. He would still win, of course, because he was used to PvP and probably had remarkable gear, but at least I would not be quite so dismantled into subatomic particles in the process. In the aftermath, a conversation started. He found my jokes amusing, which is up there with finding the ocean to be a bit dry, but oh well. Canned Everything [Fusion Fall]: 8/26/11 It happened, he finally snapped, they say. He played one too many games with female characters wearing three square inches of clothing and is now seeking to play games made for little children, they say. Well, they can be quiet, for I was daft for a long, long time now, as you would have realized were you paying attention to me rather than the curves of the characters in your “strong female character” video games. No, the real reason that I am trying this game is that, well, I actually liked cartoons at one point. Or rather, a line along the graph of time. Said line has yet to end, so I continue to enjoy cartoons, even as my TV watching in general has dwindled to nearly nothing. So, I decided to revisit those cartoons in what is most certainly not an early mid-life crisis move by signing up for Fusion Fall. This is actually a during-the-action report this time, hence the present tense. Of course, before I start playing, I must create an account on their website, a task that I have been putting off until tomorrow since, oh, 1999 or so (that is a serious estimate). I actually read through the ToS, Privacy Policy, and EULA before starting. Well, okay, I actually just skimmed them, but even doing that puts me ahead of about 99% (point nine repeating*) of the others who sign up for this game. So, armed with those scraps of knowledge, I forge ahead. Next up, canned names and canned avatars. First, I go for the avatar, mainly because it is the tougher choice, in the same way that most people view choosing a president. In my case, I rather dislike using avatars with premade characters. Except for a few icons for their shows and the like, the avatars are entirely characters from the shows. Choosing the lesser of 326 evils, I go with the avatar of Dexter, figuring that it might at least be appropriate. Then comes the name. Basically, you could choose three parts for the name, each from a seperate list. Ruining my appropriateness streak, I choose the name “Peculiar Pierre Penguin”. While one could argue that this is the sign that having to choose a canned avatar of a premade character ruined what little sanity I had going when I came in, I would not argue with that at all. I would, however, point out the shiny “RANDOM NAME” button and infer from that the fact that my name is about average for screen names on the site. In any case, I descend down that slope of madness with a smile as I click the even shinier “CONTINUE” button. “That name has already been taken.” They created a canned name system and had the gall to enforce uniqueness!? Hour 20, I am losing my will to live. Exaggeration, of course, but seriously. Canned name combinations! Whole bunch of players! REQUIRED TO HAVE UNIQUE NAMES! “Uncommon Pierre Kangaroo” took hold. So, I guess that makes me “Uncommon Pierre Kangaroo Mad Scientist The Negative Forty-Second”, or something. Oh, and I got a badge for signing up. “You put in the disc! Achievement unlocked!” I finally enter the game. It turns out that one of my three guesses was correct, in that the game runs in Unity. My other two guesses were Java and Flash (in a distant third). Or, it does not run. Hold on, I need to go restart my browser. Updating… Done! Once again, after that, it gets to the loading screen and freezes. Really nice-looking loading screen, mind, but not exactly what I came for. Alright, next, trying a different browser. It is working in Chrome. Not sure why, but something went right, so I shan’t question it. In a fit of deja vu, the character creation screen has you choosing canned names. But at least the character creation itself, though somewhat limited, is not so canned. Actually, the names are also significantly less canned. So, I choose my in-game name, Flash Databird. Next, I choose my skin (slightly darker than the default), the gender (male), the hairstyle (rock star, silver), face style (thick brow), and eye color (yellow, which I am pretty sure would be a sign of illness outside of a game, but this is not reality, nor is it Sparta). After choosing to continue, I find myself watching a cutscene that concisely states the plot. Look it up if you are curious. Afterwards, I am brought to a “NEW NANOS” screen. I am sure I will figure out the details later. I think. I hope. Please? * To ruin the joke by explaining it, 99.99999... repeating endlessly actually equals 100. You see, 99.9... equals 99&9/9 equals 100. Confused yet? Dragonica [12/17/11]: Welcome Home, Stranger in a Strange Mask My, I have been gone from Dragonica for a while. This entry is kinda half joke, half sincere, because I do feel a tad silly for my reason for having gone so long. Or, well, mayhaps I do not. You see, the reason I left is because I thought the game had gone commercial. Well, besides the whole cash shop thing, where THQIce, er, I mean, IAHGames charges real money for costume pieces, game-boosting items (Please watch the Microtransactions Extra Credits episode, IAHGames), and ways to make your beloved pets not die a slow and painful death of starvation (guilt-based gaming much, guys?). I had seen something that indicated that the game had gone to an actual pay-to-play system. Except, I recently found out, it kinda didnt. But I found things that said it did. But nothing indicated that it actually did. But it clearly did. Except it didn’t. Kinda like Schrödinger’s cat, except with dragons, which I suppose is one way to spice up a science lecture. Unfortunately, my old character was destroyed, but it turned out not to be as unfortunate as I thought, so the first part of this sentence lied to you. After all, now I get to experience the changes to low-level content. I created Daxin Mk.II and headed into the fray. The fray has snowmen. Or, snow…things. Cats and, er, marshmallows, I guess. I think they’re supposed to be the stump enemies, but I prefer to think of them as marshmallow-men because it is funnier that way. Also, being in possession of a marshmallow as large as I am is the definition of pure bliss. Slowly but surely (more quickly than I remember the last time going, though), I began to regain my power, in an ongoing quest to look like a fairy princess of the kitty kingdom. The title I have does not help my case, either. However, while my power is growing stronger, I still have many things to save my money for. I need more money so that I can buy a guild for nobody to want to join. Then, at a later level, a house for nobody to really care enough to visit. Pity me. PostScript Edit: Due to the server merge, I had to change my character’s name. Thus, I decided, what better time to create a last name for my beloved character. Thus, I am now known as DaxinFelis, because spaces are forbidden in the realm where thar be dragons. No points for guessing why I chose “Felis” as a last name.

Once upon a time, green was my favorite color, because green was the favorite color of my best friend and, back then, I apparently had a crippling fear of independent thought. Since then, however, my favorite color has become blue, partially perhaps due to its association with technology. That may be also why silver is also fairly appealing for I, though blue still wins the contest.

Alright, hither they be. Here is hoping I recall all of them. Yes, some of them are debatable in their relevence (such as the game modding languages and scripting languge), but I shall list them here for completeness. Or ego-boosting. Either way. Client-Side HTML (Extensively. My first, starting when CSS was much less widely-used and I did not really know how to make W3C-standard code - It took me a while to learn to code for browsers other than IE) XHTML (Extensively. Learned much later, but only debatably should be listed separately) XML (Moderately) CSS (Extensively. If you count this as a programming language by even the loosest stretch of the term) Javascript (Extensively. My first after basic HTML, starting with my tinkering with variables on existing programs) Server-Side SQL (Moderately) PHP (Moderately) Programming Java (Extensively-ish. Still a lot to uncover) C (Moderately) C++ (Moderately) C# (Moderately) Visual Basic .NET (Extensively) I also worked a bit in pre-.NET ActionScript (Extensively-ish) I got a cliffnotes version of assembly, but have yet to use or really dig into it. I have edited Lua a number of times, though never fully learned it Game Modding Languages WML (Lightly. Wesnoth Markup Language, for Battle for Wesnoth) Decorate (Extensively. ZDoom) ACS (Moderately. Also ZDoom) SpiderMonkey (Moderately. Technically does not count for this category, but since I only used it in Sphere, I still think of it as a modding language for some reason)

The fox smiles, content that things are looking up for his safety here, as well as with the attention itself. However, the whole elders thing still hangs in his mind as an unnerving unsolved mystery. When he thinks on it, the prophecy idea is beginning to sound more plausible to him. After all, shimmering lakes acting as portals to a strange place with strange equine-looking creatures is, to his knowledge, not an everyday occurrence. Perhaps he was, indeed, destined to be brought here. But why? *OOC: So you know in advance, I do not actually have a prophecy in mind for the fox. Unless the GM decides to MAKE such a prophecy, the IC speculation is indeed false.*

*OOC: Sorry for the delayed response.* The fox observes the conversation, intrigued yet a bit confused. Are foxes rare here? By Snowglobe’s words, they must be. An apparently, some elders around here know he is here. How? Do they have scouts? Crystal balls? Or perhaps there was some prophecy? As a quick way of ensuring nobody else accuses him of stealing the fish, he quickly picks up the fish skeleton and carries it to the nearest relatively hidden spot (in a bush, behind a rock, or some similar place). Even if someone finds it there, they are not likely to automatically blame him now, right? The fox thinks for a moment more on the possibility of leaving on his own, but then is hit by memories of the last time he wandered a town on his own and how lucky he is to be unharmed and uncaptured after such an ordeal. No, it is best if he is with someone. One person would likely get in trouble for caring for him, but the other two… The fox walks toward Snowglobe, looking up at her cutely. *OOC: Also, sorry for the several edits. I wish this forum board had a “recent posts” feature on the post creation screen.