This is a story, and a two-player improvisational game: I will be alternating posts with Pryftan. I am writing a journal about an Age I've found; and one of the things I've found are pages of an older journal, *in* the Age. So I am writing the "present" journal, and Pryftan is writing the "past" journal.

We have not planned anything in advance. :) The story should last two weeks -- I think -- with each of us posting once a day. Of course, we've never done this before, so who knows.

Each entry will end with a few notes about "elements in play". These are simply things that we've put into the story, which will have to be answered, discovered, or tied up by the end. We're also keeping track of how many elements each of us can introduce or change; those are the "black and white stones" in the notes. For the complete rules, see my web site: http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/rj/essay-more-forum-games.html

_________________
Andrew Plotkin (KI#00188183)
Uru Newcomer's Guide and Answer Sheet
-- http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/newfaq.html

I wonder if anyone will find this.

Come to think of it, that's what the last guy must have thought. And I did; but it may not do either of us any good.

The linking book I found was bound in battered, crumbling leather -- crushed and half-torn in the wreckage of one of the more decrepit city neighborhoods. But the runes on the pages were clear, and the linking panel was unfaded. Dark and impossible to make out, but not damaged of itself.

I took the leap.

The world returned to me in dimness, and I blinked until my eyes adjusted. What I discovered was an enormous space, barely lit. A cavern, I thought at first; but the floor is flat, and the room is circular, as nearly as I can tell. It must be a hundred yards across or more. I'm in the center. The illumination comes from around the edge.

The place is a mess of dusty conduits and hoses. They pop up from below, and then sprawl across the floor in no particular order or arrangement before diving back down. The smaller ones are the thickness of my arm; the largest are barrel-width or larger. Some are metal, some are rubber, some are cloth -- or are wrapped in cloth, anyway.

I can detect no sign of life or movement in any of the hoses --

-- Okay, that was more movement than I wanted to know about. Not the conduits, though. It was the floor shaking; a sustained tremor of nearly a minute. Unnerving. Dust sifted down from above in long sheets. I guess that's where it all came from.

Carefully placed at the link-in point was a sheet of old paper. I'll take a look at it, and then head towards the room's wall and see what there is to find.

(ELEMENTS IN PLAY: hoses, occasional tremors. PRESENT STONES: 8 white, 1 black.)

_________________
Andrew Plotkin (KI#00188183)
Uru Newcomer's Guide and Answer Sheet
-- http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/newfaq.html

It's been a very long time since I've seen the goggled, square men appear here to compare my perfect workmanship to their scruffy schematics. They wasted their time. A schematic can never show what I have wrought.

I am going, soon. But I want you to see. You are doubtless one of those men; perhaps you gave up on your pet project and your Igor and your metal Frankenstein. Was I too creative? Is she too organic for you? You never even glanced at me; I was far below your vision and your pride. And yet I did things you never dreamed possible..

I will lead you down. Could it be that you hold your head so high because you fear what is below? Nevertheless, I will lead you before I have gone.

Part of me doubts - for just a moment. Maybe nobody will ever find this. I cannot think that way. It passes.

Follow me to the edge, and climb.

(ELEMENTS IN PLAY: hoses, occasional tremors, D'ni project, fate of the writer. PRESENT STONES: 8 white, 1 black.)

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.rilvoohee vehrehnehm vokan pam mahnshootahv rub voohee taygahnehm mahtahntahv

[ Pryftan Wing ]
KI #: 7107443

Guild of Writers

It took almost half an hour to work my way to the rim; the conduits are everywhere, in loops and snarls. I have to step carefully, or even climb over them. I nearly sprained my ankle once, and I don't want to think what would happen to me then.

The chamber is a dome. The rim/wall/roof is the same material as the floor -- a hard rubber, rough, perhaps a coating on something harder. The floor is featureless, but the dome wall is slightly ridged, as if the entire structure had been built as a stack of rings.

(Perhaps the ridging is what keeps this place quiet. You'd think a dome the width of a football field would echo like thunder, but it's just... quiet. The space inhales sound. Even the earthquake was more felt than heard. There have been another couple of ground quivers, by the way -- brief ones, but unmistakable.)

Lights are set into the floor at the edge, a few feet apart, all around the rim. They shine upward, illuminating the lower part of the dome. They're actually quite bright; I can't look directly into one. But the space is so high, and the walls so dark, that the light just evaporates as it rises.

None of the hoses reach the wall. That leaves a broad clear lane around the dome, which I jogged around, leaving a coin to mark my starting spot. I found just three things:

Two immense metal gates, set into the dome wall, opposite each other. Each gate is a solid slab of icy steel. I pounded on them, and they're too thick to even sound hollow. I can feel a crack down the center -- they probably slide or swing open, but I can't find any opening mechanism or controls.

And another stack of pages, left near one of the gates.

(ELEMENTS IN PLAY: hoses, occasional tremors, D'ni project, fate of the writer, metal gates. PRESENT STONES: 7 white, 1 black.)

_________________
Andrew Plotkin (KI#00188183)
Uru Newcomer's Guide and Answer Sheet
-- http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/newfaq.html

Hi all

I just wanted to say I am a beginner in myst, and I'm really fascinated by the game, and especially by the conversation you guys are having. You have put this game in an entire new perspective for me, and I greatly appreciate that. I bought this book, which I thought would be helpful for me on my journey to further learn and study this marvelous game. What's your take on that? Did you read it? Do you prefer learning alone, or in forums?

Best,
Jason

I don't understand what an old strategy guide has to do with forum role-playing games.

You should avoid those Prima guides, anyhow. They're a complete ripoff. (edit-add:) If you want background information or hints about Uru, start at http://guildofgreeters.com/ and work outwards.

_________________
Andrew Plotkin (KI#00188183)
Uru Newcomer's Guide and Answer Sheet
-- http://eblong.com/zarf/uru/newfaq.html

Welcome to Uru, Jason. When I started with Uru, I used that Prima guide too and I actually liked it a lot (I still like it) and it made me understand the backstory a whole lot better. So I'd recommend it.

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URU blog | Archives of the Restoration