Gordon (Sponge)

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

"Hmmm..." Alice seemed dubious of his responses and gave him a raised brow when he made the execution reference.

"It's completely painless, you won't feel a thing," she said as she sat back and flicked a switch. True to her word, Gordon did not notice any great change come over him. The machined buzzed a bit, but otherwise, nothing was seriously out of the ordinary.

"So I know this may be a bit awkward for you, but I'd like to ask you to think back on your experience this morning and follow along from the beginning to the end as best you can in your mind. Just tell me the various emotions that you went through as you progressed through the game. Bear in mind, nothing you tell me will leave this office, it's expressly for the purposes of this test."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Giving a soft laugh, he nodded.
"Yeah no prob! Ask away! I love giving feedback on things like movie and games. So at the beginning? First I was amazed at the scenery, then was baffled by how incredible the enemy AI was, and then completely blown away by how detailed the NPC's were."
He paused, thinking a bit.
"I'll admit, when it came to the woman I was... very shy and surprised that such a thing was possible in this game. And then during the chase in the forest? Scared the hell out of me. But that's good! I love horror games, and it's been forever since I've had a good scare. The only time I ever felt truly uncomfortable was during a trippy dream sequence, where apparently my character had chosen a path that resulted in all of his friends being enslaved. But of course, being part of a character development for discovering a new character and their motives, the scene was necessary. Very well done!"

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

The nurse nodded along with what he said. "Our AI department is full of brilliant people, Max - who is your adviser by the way - is the smartest of them all. I don't know how they did it, but the AI in this game certainly has a good grip on plot."

The machine beside her beeps twice, signaling that it has finished its work. A printer nearby begins to churn out some paper with graph readouts on it.

"What you've experienced is similar to what other testers have played through. I hope the shock of some of the game's content wasn't too contentious for you. Still, for some male testers, the first beta tests were quite different, I assure you." She seemed to say this last statement with a measure of sourness and disapproval.

"Okay, your readout is done. Would you like to know your results?"

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

He could note the tone in her voice that stated aggravation or disdain for something, but he wasn't going to ask her what. Most likely something private perhaps.
"Sure! Lets see if I'm certifiably insane or not!"

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

"Oh I'm certain you're not insane," she said as she pulled the papers in front of her and studied them for a second. "Well, you have a heightened level of anxiety, as well as moderate increase in arousal - though far below the levels we've experienced in other testers, I might add. Has the game been stressful for you?"

She looked up with a mild look of concern in her eyes, waited for his reply, and then continued.

"You're not at any dangerous levels, so there's nothing concerning at the moment. The anxiety should hopefully plateau off, and the arousal levels, depending on the course your AI program is taking you, might rise a bit before it fall back into normal trends. Either that or you may find it settle back down immediately. This shouldn't affect you outside of the game environment. All in all, you're cleared to resume play whenever you want." She gave him a tight professional smile.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

All this was amusing him, they were worried about his arousal increase, but seem saddened that it was less compared to others? And of course his anxiety had increased, the game had really messed with his head! But he liked that!
"Stressful? Hell yeah it's been stressful! But that's how you know the game is working! You can't have a game be too easy, and all the games I enjoy like horror games and stuff always make you stressful and on edge. Course, I prefer fear to be the source of stress rather then irritation. But all games have something that irritate people." Pausing, he thought about her... other concern?
"As for arousal increase um.... I don't see how that's important in any way. Is it supposed to be making me a horny lust monkey or something?" He gives a soft laugh, shaking his head. "Well, I would love to immediately return to the game!

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

The nurse shakes her head. "Certainly not! We're trying to prevent excessive states of arousal after gameplay. I only remarked upon it because your experience seemed to differ in that respect from the average tester's increase. Don't worry about it though, you appear fine and are handling it well. You can return to your game at once."

Gordon, eager to return to his game, leaves the nurse with a polite goodbye and heads back to his testing chamber. The machine is still there, waiting for him to take his seat. As he does, the door closes, and the selection screen boots up, sensing his entry into the chamber. He has a few options now.

New Game
Load Game
Settings
Quick Fight (New!)
Exit

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

He chuckled at the options he was given. Quick game? After all he's been through? Hell no, he wanted to continue his game.

(continue)

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Gordon woke at a prodding in his arm.

"Morning sleepy," came Deana's voice as she prodded him again. He saw her through blurred eyes, she was dressed in similar clothes to yesterday, but more brown in color, and she had on a coat that looked to be a patchwork of animal furs. It made sense as he realized that the morning air was still very chilled.

"Jasamine let you sleep. She's resting outside now. Come on, we don't have much for breakfast, just dried meats and herbal tea, but it's better than nothing."

Gordon rose to get out of bed, but then noticed that his clothes had been taken off. Looking askance at Deana only resulted in her putting up her hands in a gesture of innocence. "Jasamine must have decided to wash them. Here's my brother's old winter coat. It's big and it's warm, you should be fine. I'll see if he has other clothes you can borrow."

She moved off and returned a bit later with a pair of leather trousers and a brown leather vest, as well as some warm, rabbit fur lined moccasins that felt really good to slip his feet into.

When he finally got downstairs, he found a plate of dried meats and two steaming mugs placed at the kitchen table. No sooner had he sat down, there was a knock at the door. Deana motioned for him to remain seated while she went to see who it was. Moments later, she returned to the room with Alicia in tow.

The pink haired, golden eyed girl seemed shaken. She sat down on the opposite side of the table next to Gordon.

"There were Lycans last night. They came to Lauralie's cottage. Claw marks were all over the outside of the house. They must have been testing the wards. We're okay though." She added, and looked up at Gordon cautiously.

"Tea?" Deana offered the young girl, who nodded thankfully and rubbed her hands together beneath the table edge. She was still just dressed in her light robes.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Gordon suddenly remembered where he was, a gentle prodding at his side waking him up.

"Hm? Morning.." He groaned tiredly, he was never much of a morning person.

Glancing about, he stretched and smiled at Deana softly. As he began to sit up, he noticed there was a cool breeze. Glancing down at himself revealed he was currently naked. He let out a gasp of surprise, covering himself and looking at Deana in suspicion. Why she would, he had no clue, but still. Though her reaction and response made sense as well. Jasmine was never concerned about decency, being 'all natural' and stuff.

Taking the clothes from Deana, he rose from bed with a soft groan and began to head downstairs. The smell of food rushed into his nostrils, and suddenly he realized he was in fact quite hungry. He eagerly rushed over to the food, ready to dig in, but then a knock at the door came. Muttering in frustration, he didn't want to be rude and eat in front of company, but damn was he hungry! But when it was revealed who was at the door, his hunger quickly turned into concern. He listened intently to their words, as Lycans had apparently tried to attack them. Immediately standing up from his chair, he rushed to Alicia's side, giving her a tight hug.

"Are you ok?" Well that was a silly question, considering that Lauralie just said they were, but he wanted to hear it from Alica.
How could I have been so stupid! I should of stayed with her! Of course they would attack the people who were most vulnerable, even if I was the target, if I was with people that could fight, the next target would be somebody who couldn't fend them off! Stupid stupid stupid!!

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

((Lauralie is not present. Alicia is the only guest. It was her who spoke.))

"Yes, I'm fine," she said, returning his hug with a tight embrace of her own. She seemed happy then, as they stood there in each others' arms. Deana meanwhile clunked down another mug of tea for Alicia.

"How did your watch go last night?" Alicia asked Gordon.

"It was quiet for us, very cold, but quiet. We decided to give Gordon the night off to rest."

Alicia smiled at this and put her hand in Gordon's. "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

How did.. no, he didn't want to worry her.
"I slept ok..." That wasn't at all true. He was still worried, but he had to remember it was all a dream that the priest emulated for him to understand the world she was living in. It wasn't real.....



(not sure what else to add XD)

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Alicia smiled prettily. "Then I'm thankful for that at least."

The three of them nibbled at their breakfast and drank the hot tea which warmed them up.

"Lauralie gathered everyone in the village yesterday after you left. Some of the women reside down the road out on the small hold farms, but we sent runners to them and they're staying in the inn now. We plan on having a meeting with you - so that they can all see you and more importantly, you can get an idea of everyone in the village."

Alicia sipped daintily from the hot mug. "Lauralie is concerned about finding the source of the dark magic in the village. She's convinced that last night's lycan attack was a test of the wards. Now that you've arrived, someone's intent upon silencing her."

Deana kept silent as she listened and ate. Occasionally she glanced at Gordon, but then would inevitably turn her gaze elsewhere.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

He nods, listening and approving of this meeting. "Good.. because I while I may not know who the source is... I know somebody that DOES know." Breathing out deeply, he was prepared for an assault of questions about how he knew such a thing. And honestly, how would he respond? Would they even believe him?

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

He expected an assault of questions, but the reaction he got was far more subdued. Both Deana and Alicia looked at him, perhaps expecting him to explain more on his own. When he did not immediately continue, Deana prodded by saying: "Who do you know?"

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Giving a heavy sigh, he started to explain himself....

"Last night, I had a dream. Well more of a nightmare really, and all of you were in it....

He then proceeded to tell them.. what he saw.

"When I woke up into this dream, I was currently in bed, and Alicia walked in the room, greeting me like we've known each other for a very very long time. She called me "honey" and "sweety". And I when I looked closer, I noticed she was pregnant. She told me that it was from our.. first encounter." His cheeks grew rosy red, but continued with his story."So the dream so far is pretty good right? Well I ask Alicia what happened to the dark power, and then this is where everything went downhill. She told me I had given into it. Of course, I didn't believe such a thing and asked to see the rest of my friends, Deana and Jasmine, and I discovered that Deana was pregnant as well, and both of them were wearing some sort of restraining collars, like slaves or something. Of course by now I was panicked and could only ask questions. "Why the hell would I choose this? Why don't I remember?" So after a long time of explanations and talking, apparently the dark power had given me the choice to either give in which would spare the lives of all the people I cared about, or just kill us all together. And I had chosen the earlier." Taking a sip from his cup, he lets out a depressed sigh. It did sound like something he would do, that's what troubled him the most.
"So then anyway, I venture up to this castle that's like covered in a blizzard of sleet and snow, and inside I meet a woman that looked like a dark elf of some kind. She told me that this was all a dream. And at that point I wanted to kill her for putting me through such a nightmare. But.. then it got more complicated. She said she was being controlled by the dark power as well. That every since she was created, she's been forced to do all these evil things. Her will is controlled, and she's in a way, trapped inside her own body. Like she's always seeing through the windows of her eyes and watching her body do all these terrible things. She want's to be freed, but the only way too communicate to me was through a dream, because if we met in real life, she'd try to kill us. Course, she doesn't want to kill us, but the power controlling her forces her to do such. The horrible dream was to portray what it felt like for her. Choices had been made that she wasn't made aware of, like I had skipped a couple years and fast forwarded to the time of enslaving the people. It's the same for her, she went to sleep, or was created into a situation that tells her that she did all these horrible things without remembering choosing to do so."

Hopefully that gave them enough info.
"So in conclusion, things just got more complicated. We got a damsel in distress who's being forced to kill us, and we STILL don't know for certain who the dark energy source is."

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

The two girls listened to his story, both of them raising their eyebrows when he mentioned the pregnancies. Deana opened her mouth to say something, and then thought better of it, waiting until he was done with the entire story.

"You're certain it couldn't have been just a normal nightmare? There's no reason to believe that any of it is necessarily the truth, you know. If it was just a nightmare, then there's nothing to it, and even if it was someone's contrivance to mess with your head, you can't assume that ANY of it was truthful or intended to do you a service." Deana said.

Alicia kept her eyes down, brooding on some of her own inner thoughts. Gordon noticed her hand going down to feel at her flat belly for a moment, before she seemed to get a hold of herself and go back to her meal.

"So my advice," continued Deana, "Is to not worry about it too much. Concentrate on the here and now. We're going to have the whole village gathered today. That's a good start for your investigation. Also, I've been thinking, that with everyone gathered at the inn... it might be a good time to search other people's houses? We might find some interesting evidence on one of the farms. Things that might prove foul play."

Alicia stole a glance at Deana and then turned to Gordon. "It's not a bad idea, but if we don't even know what the darkness truly is, then how are we going to know what to look for. I don't want this to turn into a witch hunt."

Deana tilted her head, "But Alicia... it already is. Unless our method is changed and we're going back to my tactics." The huntress grinned. "I'm still open to an all out charge. Better than sitting around waiting to die... or for Gordon over here to enslave and impregnate me." She giggled and winked at the mage.

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

They weren't taking him seriously. Then again, what sane person would? Dreams aren't exactly the most reliable things to go base fact off of. But he knew that this was something that was not a dream.

"I'm 100 percent certain this was not really a dream. It was a spell. Dreams occasionally last, and the person who had the dream can only remember bits and moments of their dream while forgetting the rest. I remember everything. I felt the bitter cold of the snow, I could feel the hate in Deana's eyes as she saw me approach. Everything was vivid, in detail and feeling. I don't have any gaps in my memory of this occasion. I know it sounds far fetched, but you have to believe me in this." He was pretty sure they would remain skeptical, but wanted to make his point.

"As for dealing with the situation, going all out battle would just bring death to many. I agree we do need to take action, but we can't risk exposing ourselves to the enemy more then we already have." In a way, he couldn't wait for this. On the other hand, was scared to death.

"We are going to need to go in and infiltrate. These guys are too powerful to take head on. We need to catch them by surprise, or at least get within their defenses before they know we are in position to attack."
However, there was a problem. He wasn't a tactician, how would they even go through with this? Suppose in a way, he'd be going Lord of the Rings. A small group headed to a place of evil to destroy the power within it's own domain.

To sum it all up, he glanced to Deana. "That's not funny, and I'm not going to let enslavement happen. Ok?"

 

[BlueSlime]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Deana and Alicia were both indeed surprised at how adamant Gordon was about his dream that was not a dream. Deana even looked perplexed when he mentioned her having hate in her eyes for him, then she looked away, considering and eventually half-nodding to herself.

Gordon could see her working it out in her mind: yes, she would hate to be really enslaved.

Alicia spoke up, "But how can we infiltrate them when we are already infiltrated? How can you go amongst them when every man seen by the darkness and its minions is attacked and captured?"

Deana no longer smiled, seemingly abashed by Gordon's serious tone. She nodded at Alicia's question. "She's right, and even normal human girls are taken advantage of... we're outnumbered by a terrible host... being toyed with like a cat plays with an injured mouse."

 

[Sponge]

Re: Gordon (Sponge)

Giving a heavy sigh, he acknowledges Alicia's point. "That's the problem. As much as I want to save everybody, I don't think I'll be able to. While our group goes to venture towards the tower, the town is totally vulnerable."

He had only one idea. But he didn't like it. Not one bit. But it seemed like the only way to get close to the enemy without risking the safety of the village.

"All right guys. If anybody has any other ideas than this, please speak up, because this is all I got..." Taking a deep breath, he hoped they wouldn't consider him a traitor of some sorts.

"I believe.. for now we have to surrender. As Alicia said, we are outnumbered, and totally surrounded. If we tried to venture out, we'd be slaughtered."
He paused, but only for a brief moment to speak the next step. Determination thundered in his voice, his seemingly depressed confession to his previous words vanishing.
"But during this process, we need to be captured and taken prisoner. Sadly, it's the only sure fire way to get inside the tower without risk of dying. But once inside, we need to escape, infiltrate and tear the whole damn place down!! And then... we need to free the dark priest from her own prison. No doubt about it, we'll be hurt, abused, and probably humiliated once we surrender, they can take our weapons and our clothes away, but I still have my spells."
Finishing, he again paused and made it clear that this was only a desperate attempt. "But again, if you have any other ideas, PLEASE tell me. I don't want to do this, as it only puts you guys in harm. And most likely... rape."