>>39909661
Wednesday morning. Half past seven. Your alarm goes off.

You wake up, the alarm shrieking in your ears, and slam your hand down on the snooze button. This shuts it up, at which point you sit up, rub your eyes and trudge into the shower. As per usual, it takes you the best part of five minutes to get the shower to stop either blasting you with freezing cold water or scalding you with boiling hot water, by which time you are thoroughly awake, and swearing softly under your breath.

Once your shower is done, you dress.

>Put on something casual. T-shirt and jeans.
>Something a little smarter. Button-down shirt and trousers.
>Something a little girlier. You've got a skirt somewhere round here...

>>39909687
>>Something a little girlier. You've got a skirt somewhere round here...
Nopan.

>>39910017
Writing.

>>39910065
You decide to put something feminine on. You dig through your draws, finding a fairly short skirt, and a pink t-shirt. That should do. Just as you've got the t-shirt on, though, the alarm goes off again. Stupid of you to forget to actually turn the damn thing off.

You head downstairs. Your mother, a nurse at the local hospital, has already left the house. As usual, though, she's left a note:
"Hey, hun. I've got a long shift today, so don't be surprised if I'm not back in time for tea.
-Mum"

Well, you suppose that'll give you time to do stuff this evening. First, though, what's for breakfast?

>Toast with honey.
>Cereal.
>Some sort of fry-up.

>>39910075
>toast with honey

>>39910084
Writing.

File: Lyles-Golden-Syrup-006[1].jpg (37 KB, 460x276)

37 KB JPG

>>39910144
You grab a couple of slices of bread from the bread bin and stick them in the toaster, then go looking for honey. You're in the mood for something sweet this morning. Unfortunately, you can't find any honey, but you do find some golden syrup. You figure that's close enough, right? All your searching takes long enough that by the time you've settled on using golden syrup instead of honey, the toast is done. You put the toast on a plate and grab a knife and a spoon from the draw, dollop some golden syrup on the toast and spread it, then munch your way through the two slices.

You then work out what you've got today. Maths, free period, Physics, free period, Sports. Great. You dig out the relevant books and kit, stick it in your bag and head out.

>Go through the middle of town. There's usually something interesting going on there, and with luck you might miss the first couple of minutes of Maths.
>Take the direct line, past the river. It's quieter and gets you there quicker.
>Go the long way, past the local shops. You might stop off and buy something while you're there...

>>39910176
>>Go the long way, past the local shops. You might stop off and buy something while you're there...

>>39910182
Writing.

>>39910230
Ugh, another day at school. Time to head out, you guess.

You decide to take the long route, heading past the local shops. There's a newsagent which sells newspapers, sandwiches, milk, that sort of stuff. There's also a shop which sells curios and trinkets. It sells some pretty weird stuff, you're pretty sure you saw a ouija board in there once. Finally, there's a goldsmith. An actual, honest-to-goodness, old-fashioned goldsmith. They sometimes sell some interesting stuff, although right now, there's nothing that catches your eye.

>Head into the newsagent, you forgot to pack lunch.
>Head into the curio shop, there might be something in there.
>Check out the goldsmith, on the off chance that there's something inside that you might be interested in.
>Just carry on walking.

>>39910271
>Head into the curio shop, there might be something in there.

>>39910281
Writing.

>>39910354
You decide that, what with the wealth of weird stuff it stocks, the curio shop might have something relating to the strangeness that went on last Saturday.

You walk into the shop. It's pretty gloomy in there - the windows have posters up on them, and about half the lights don't actually work. The guy working the counter looks like he should be in some sort of heavy metal band. He's wearing a tag from a supermarket which proclaims his name to be "joe", complete with lack of capitalisation. He looks up briefly from some sort of magazine, raises a clearly unimpressed eyebrow, and goes back to reading.

You take a look around the shelves. The ouija board you saw that one time isn't here now, but there's a bunch of other stuff instead. Some sort of vaguely Arabic headgear catches your eye, as do a sort of dagger-looking object and some sort of candlestick. If you want to buy something, though, you'd better do it quickly, and, checking the amount of money you've got on you, you find you'll only have enough to buy one, if you don't want to go hungry at lunch today.

>Buy the headgear.
>Buy the dagger-looking thing.
>Buy the candlestick.
>Leave without buying anything.

>>39910415
>>Leave without buying anything.

>>39910415
Ask the clerck about the candlestick

>>39910453
>>39910483
Writing.

>>39910498
You pick the candlestick up and head over to the counter.

"Oh, you are buying something," "joe" says.

"Actually, I was interested in knowing a bit more about this candlestick," you say, "it looks pretty old."

"Oh. You aren't buying anything," "joe" says. "Well, I suppose I can indulge you. It's supposed to be Aramaic or something in origin. Apparently, the inscriptions are a charm to make candles put in it last longer. I think it's a load of bunk, but whatever. You going to buy it or are you going to put it back and leave, so that someone else can make the shop untidy by their mere presence." He's pretty rude, this guy.

>Buy the candlestick.
>Put it back and leave.

>>39910519
>Put it back and leave.

>>39910519
>Put it back and leave.
"Load of bunk" right? Guess I'll take his word for it.

>>39910531
>>39910587
I'm going to tell you now that there will be absolutely no penalty for buying any of these items, and that there may be bonuses later.

If you want to change your mind as a result, feel free. I'll give you ten to think it over.

>>39910634
Maybe if we knew more about each item. Ask?

>>39910634
Well, if you insist. Go for the dagger thingie instead. Might just be the thing to satisfy Allie's inner sadist I suppose.

>>39910659
>>39910684
Writing.

>>39910722
You leave the candlestick on the counter and grab the dagger. "So... what's this, then?" you ask.

"joe" glances at it. "Uh, the boss said that the guy he bought it off claimed it was some sort of replica. Something about an Arabian prince building a gold mine out in the desert somewhere. Beats me. I just sell the things."

>Buy the candlestick.
>Buy the dagger.
>Leave without buying anything.

>>39910737
>Buy the dagger.

>>39910737
>Buy the dagger.

Oh yeah. We're about to head for school right now. Obviously, I doubt it would ever be allowed within the school premises, unless Allie capable of smuggling something in.
Can it be kept here for a while at least until school's over?

>>39910801
In all honesty, the school's pretty lax with their upper class. If they have free periods, they're allowed to leave the premises, as long as they do show up to their classes. There aren't any sort of bag-checks, unless the staff have reason to suspect. Allie might not be an entirely model student, but she's never actually assaulted anyone or done anything like that. At least, not that they know of. As long as you don't show it to anyone likely to scream their head off about it, you should be good.

>>39910762
>>39910763
You point to the dagger. "I'd like this, please."

"joe" looks at you, slightly puzzled. "Huh. Wouldn't have thought a nice girl like you would want something like this. Oh well." He wraps it for you and you put it in your bag, pay him and leave.

You have to hurry to get into school on time, but you just about manage it, although you've missed registration. You sneak into the back of the Maths class just as it's starting.

A couple of tables near the back have free seats. Where are you going to sit?

>Next to Thomas. He's the A-grades guy. Head boy, in the football team, you name it, if it's an achievement related to schoolwork, he's probably got it.
>Next to Sally. She's something of a tomboy. She doesn't get particularly good grades, but she's a damn good sportswoman.
>Next to Marc. He's French, you think, but nobody really knows much about him apart from that he's foreign.
>Next to James. Why anyone would do this except out of necessity, though, you don't know. Everyone knows one weird kid, and he's this school's.

>>39910916
>Next to Thomas. He's the A-grades guy. Head boy, in the football team, you name it, if it's an achievement related to schoolwork, he's probably got it.
You got me wondering about Victoria from the last thread. Alpha bitch might be close to the school achiever and sports jock by association.

Could be a chance to drop some subtle questions.

>>39910955
Supporting

>>39910960
>>39910955
Writing.

>>39910998
You take the seat next to Thomas. As usual, he's got all his stuff out already, and what he's not using right now is laid out pretty exactly. He looks up when you sit down, nods and looks back at his work again. The teacher's talking about some sort of statistics stuff - the binomial theorem or something. You look at the board, but you're not sure if you can remember how to do the questions.

>Nudge Thomas, ask for some help.
>Try and work through it on your own.
>Write-in.

>>39911027
>Nudge Thomas, ask for some help.
>Write-in.
Pass a note to Thomas later asking him to meet somewhere to talk.
No, it's not a confession, even though it might look like that. Just want to ask something about Victoria.
The fact that he won't be expecting a sudden swerve like that and might make him feel uncomfortable would probably garner some kicks from Allie.

>>39911074
Writing.

>>39911153
You scribble a note on a scrap of paper, asking to meet Thomas near the bike racks after the lesson. Just to make him uncomfortable, you scrawl a heart or two on the note, then you nudge him and mutter that you want a bit of help. He looks at you, shrugs, and walks you through the steps of the first question. You get the hang of it after he walks you through the second question as well, then you have little problems with the rest of the lesson. Just as the bell goes, you slip him the note, then pack up and leave before he has a chance to ask about it.

>Beginner Mathematics gained! This skill may be applicable to more situations than just arithmetic and quadratics, however...

You have a free period now.

>Head to the bike racks to meet Thomas.
>Head to the library.
>See if you can have a chat with someone else in the class. (Who?)
>Write-in.

>>39911211
>Head to the bike racks to meet Thomas.

>>39911211
>Head to the bike racks to meet Thomas.

Listen to the chatter in class. Maybe someone is gossiping about something?

>>39911326
Yeah, this. There might be some rumors going around about disappearances or something.

>>39911298
>>39911326
Writing.

>>39911351
You keep an ear open as you head out of the building and towards the bike racks. People don't seem to be focusing on anything in particular, although one name catches your ear. Someone's talking about Stephen Karloff.

>Try to eavesdrop.
>Just walk up and ask about it.
>Ignore it for now and carry on towards the bike racks.
>Write-in.

>>39911387
>Try to eavesdrop.
If there's not much info forthcoming.

>Write-in
Try to put a name to the face of the person talking about Karloff, then try to talk to that person later.

>>39911411
Writing.

>>39911411
>>39911387
How much time till we have to meet with Thomas?. If we have some time I say we ask this guy about Karloff

>>39911526
You pretend to have forgotten something, and dig through your bag, then "find" the missing item and turn around again. This subterfuge puts you pretty closely behind the person talking about Karloff - it's James. What the hell? He's talking to someone you don't recognise, about his uncle. His uncle Stephen Karloff. Something about him going missing recently and it being in the paper. Whoever he's talking to looks pretty uncomfortable, and you can't blame them - James is a known weirdo. You make a mental note to attempt to put your disgust aside for long enough to talk to James later, and head over to the bike racks. Thomas is already there, looking rather furtive and blushing furiously.

"So, uh, you wanted to talk to me about something?" he asks.

>"Yeah, have you heard anything about Victoria?"
>Wind him up a bit more.
>Write-in.

>>39911580
Very tempted to take that second vote, but he might be able to help out in the future so.

>"Yeah, have you heard anything about Victoria?"

>>39911615
Maybe asking about a missing person before we know if someone knows she's missing might be a bit suspicious. It would be better if we can come up with some kind of excuse.

>>39911641
I will say that she hasn't been in school for Monday and Tuesday. Sorry, I should be making this stuff clearer. My bad.

>>39911669
Then Im up for being upfront.

>>39911615
>>39911681
Writing.

>>39911700
He's so flustered it's hard not to smile, but you somehow manage to keep a straight face and ask "Have you heard anything about Victoria?"

He does a double take, then frowns. "No, and frankly, I'd rather keep it that way. The bitch hates my guts and she's made it abundantly clear to me that that's the case."

Intriguing. You think for a moment, but can't work it out, so you ask "So why exactly does she hate your guts?"

Thomas falters for a moment. "I'd... I'd rather not say. If that's alright."

>Press the matter.
>Leave it and change the subject. (What to?)
>Thank him for the info and leave.
>Write-in.

>>39911757
Maybe be a bit more honest. We could use some help from someone. Tell him about what we thought we saw. Try to act scared maybe. Play the victim and have him escort us to her house to check things out?.

>>39911789
Also >Press the matter.

>>39911757
>Thomas falters for a moment.
Looks like an opening to me.

>Press the matter.
>Write-in.
Apologize for going through those hoops to get this chance to talk with him, if it'll ease Thomas and make him talk.

>>39911803
Fuck I forgot the man told us about not saying anything. Scratch everything but press the matter

>>39911856
>"Firstly, interacting with anyone outside the show is a no-no. We wouldn't want to spoil the integrity and verisimilitude of the show, now, would we? Don't worry about telling the unwashed masses from the stars, it'll all be obvious."

There might be a hint on who's part of the show or not based on that last line.

>>39911789
>>39911803
>>39911846
>>39911856
>>39911916
Just to get confirmation.

No talking about what happened on Saturday, but pressing on his reluctance to talk about why Victoria hates him?

>>39911952
Yup. Im not sure Thomas is a "star". Maybe we'll find out about it when he tells us about his situation with Victoria.

>>39911952
Yep.

Oh! His reluctance to talk might be a sign that he is part of the show, and is very much aware of the rules. Still, yeah... try to hold the info close for now until we can find a safe way to uncover who's part of the masquerade without breaking the rules.

>>39911987
>>39911992
Writing.

>>39912048
You ponder his reluctance, then say, "Actually... I wouldn't mind knowing."

Thomas sighs. "I knew it... Great." He seems to be in a pretty gloomy mood now. "My home situation's... pretty bad, and Victoria knows it. She thinks I'm trying to prove something by doing well, and she thinks it's her I'm trying to prove it to. She's not entirely wrong, but I couldn't care less about the bitch. Everyone hates her and she just can't see it."

Huh. "I wouldn't have thought your home life was that bad. It's not like you show up to school with bruises every day or anything like that."

"Yeah, I know. There's a reason for that. There's also a reason I took up taekwondo," he says. "I had to pay for the lessons out of my own money, too. The old man wouldn't hear of it. Claimed that all that 'Asian crap' is useless in a real fight. Then he tried to hit me after a few lessons. He made a dent in the wall."

>"Wow."
>React with scepticism.
>Apologise for making him think about stuff that he'd really rather not.
>Write-in.

>>39912148
Try and convince him to go with us to dig some "dirt" on Victoria. We could find out what's going on and have some backup?. It could also give us some hints about him being in the show.

>>39912148
>Apologise for making him think about stuff that he'd really rather not.

Getting an impression that he's closer to part of the masses instead of a star at this point. James might provide a better lead here.
But still, if Thomas stumbles on any other info about Victoria, just have him let Allie know about it.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>39912208
>>39912254
So, one for getting him to with you and dig some dirt on Victoria up, one for just getting him to tell Allie about any sort of info he happens to stumble across.

Rollan and writan.

>>39912309
"Yikes. Sorry to hear that. Sorry to bring it up, for that matter..." you say.

"Yeah, well, the past is the past. I just try to avoid thinking about it, that's all. I will say this - he hasn't laid a finger on me since," Thomas raises a rather serious eyebrow.

"So... to change the subject... You're not wrong that everyone hates Victoria, but I can't help but feel a little worried about her. She hasn't been in for the past couple of days, and that's not really like her," you say.

"I do know what you mean," Thomas reluctantly admits.

"So, I was wondering, I'd kinda like to find out what's up with her. I'm sure we can find out where she lives and maybe pay a visit," you say.

"...ehhhnngg," Thomas manages. "Do we have to? I'd really rather not."

"I was kinda planning on going anyway. I'm mostly fishing for backup in case things go wrong," you say.

Thomas sighs. "...Okay, alright, yeah, I'll do it. I will just make my reluctance clear now, for the record, as it were, though."

"Excellent. Thanks!" you say, and turn to leave.

"Hey, uh... the note," Thomas says. "Were the, uh..." He's starting to blush.

>Let him stew.
>'fess up.
>Write-in.

>>39912309
Im off to class. If the wifi in campus is working I'll check the thread from my phone.

>>39912398
>'fess up.
>Write-in.
"Hey, it got me the chance to talk and get to know you, didn't it?"

The unreal YA genre's femprotag vibes is strong in this one.
I'm really sorry if this is the direction this quest inadvertently took.

>>39912486
>The unreal YA genre's femprotag vibes is strong in this one.
Pardon?

Also, writing.

>>39912532
"What, the hearts?" you say, "Nah, I was just fuckin' with ya."

Thomas looks vaguely relieved, for some reason. "Well, that's... uh... um... There's nothing I can say here that won't result in my digging myself a hole so deep I'll need a ladder to get out of it, so I'll shut up."

"Hey, it gave me the chance to talk to you and get to know you a bit, right?" you say.

"Yeah..." Thomas appears to be trying to avoid eye contact, for some reason.

You turn to leave, then remember that you do actually need to set up a meeting if you're going to do the whole "gathering information" thing. "Meet you here after school, yeah?" you say.

"Yeah, okay," Thomas says.

You've got about half of this free period left, and then break's next, so you have a chance to get something done.

>Head to the library.
>Try and track James down, the creepy fucker.
>Find someone else. (Who?)
>Write-in.

>>39912532
It's starting to feel like Allie might be fitting into the mold of a Young Adult fiction female protagonist more and more.
Couldn't put my finger on which specific qualities those are though.

But at the moment, she's pretty much keeping the fact that Victoria's dead from Thomas and being rather unreal in how she's coping with it in the presence of another person.

>>39912607
>Try and track James down, the creepy fucker.
Keeping my fingers crossed that Allie will at least have something in common with him to make conversations with him less of a chore.
Gaming perhaps? Allie's a beginner gamer.

Looks like it might just be me voting OP. You fine with that?

>>39912705
I'll cope if it comes to that.

>>39912705
Writing.

Also:
>>39912705
Regarding "beginner" gamer:

Skills and stats come in ranks. "Beginner" is the lowest skill rank. For some skills, you can't use them if you don't have the skill (fencing happens to be a good example), but for others, having the skill gives you a bonus to situations where that skill applies (mathematics is a good example - you find me someone above the age of about 7 who can't eventually work out what 7 times 326 is and I'll call them a liar).

>>39912819
You decide to see if you can find James. Oh god.

It's surprisingly difficult to find him; he seems to have an uncanny knack for not being found. That or he's actively avoiding you, but then again, the fucker has so few friends that you'd think he'd be glad of some human company.

When you actually do manage to track him down, he's lurking out behind the sports hall. He's currently working on some large sheets of paper that are stuck to the wall. It looks like he's drawing something.

>Watch him a bit to see what he's drawing.
>Announce your presence.
>Write-in.

>>39912875
>Announce your presence.
>Write-in.
Get straight to the point with what he knows about Karloff.
Making him squirm is just an added bonus.

>>39912819
Ah, I'm not invoking crunch yet. It's just a bit of wishful thinking to use gaming as a way for the characters to relate with one another easier.

>>39912875
>Watch him a bit to see what he's drawing.
probs something weird we can use as blackmail

Rolled 1 (1d2)

>>39912929
>>39913050
Rolling and writing.

Also, captcha seems to have a burrito fetish at the moment.

>>39913062
"Hey, James. I heard you talking about 'Uncle Karloff' earlier. I ran into his name online. He made a post a couple of days ago on some sort of forum. What's up with that, then?" you say.

"Oh! I didn't realise there was anyone there," James says, nervously, trying to cover the paper up. He's not awfully successful - it appears to be some sort of magic circle.

"Yeah, well, there's someone here. She just asked you a question. It's generally considered polite to answer questions," you say, putting the pressure on a little.

James squirms nervously. "He's... look, we don't know where he is, alright? He went for a walk the other day and he never came back. He'd been acting weirdly and talking about some pretty strange stuff - yeah, I know what everyone says about me, and yeah, I don't find much strange, but this stuff was nuts by my standards - but he'd been getting better and then he just up and disappeared. Hell, we've been looking all over the place. We reported him as missing, hoping the police could help, but so far there's been nothing."

>Press the issue. (How?)
>Change the subject. (To what?)
>Write-in.

>>39913171

>Press the issue. (How?)
Did he ever mention weird television shows?

>>39913171
>Press the issue. (How?)
>If only because it appears to be a splash page for a site which, when you click on into it, appears to be dedicated to some sort of ARG
"What's this 'ARG' that he's involved with? What's the last place he was at before he disappeared?"

>Write-in.
"Any other instances of people disappearing you might be aware of?"

>>39913202
>>39913228
Writing.

>>39913371
"Right. So, before he went out, did he talk about anything out of the ordinary? Like, for instance, television?" you ask.

"...television?" James asks. "Why would you suddenly mention television like that?" He's now looking at you suspiciously.

"Look, I just chose it as an example," you say. "I didn't mean to make you all paranoid or something."

"Okay. It's just that... Wait. I'm... Look, I'd really, really like to not have to talk about TV right now, okay?" He appears hesitant and rather reticent.

>Really push him on this one. Something's fishy about this.
>Let it slide, carry on with the ARG question. For reference, I'm assuming that Allie's more of a computer gamer than a tabletop gamer. "ARG" is short for "Alternate Reality Game", basically a more immersive and larger type of RPG.
>Drop some reference to Saturday being connected with TV, see if that gets him to crack.
>Write-in.

>>39913456
>Really push him on this one. Something's fishy about this.

>>39913588
Writing.

>>39913643
"So what's up with television that you're not talking about it, huh?" you say.

He opens and closes his mouth a few times before saying "Look, I'd... I'm... There's... I'm not allowed to talk about it. Not unless you know what's going on. I think my uncle's disappearance might have something to do with it, and that scares me. Really, it does. It scares the shit out of me, because if he's disappeared and it's got something to do with what happened last Saturday-"

"Wait. Last Saturday? A commercial break?" you say. This is too strange. James, the resident weirdo, also got that mad guy on TV?

"So you do know what's going on. Thank God. Look, I think we might be in more trouble than you realise. Whose eyes was it he tore out for you?" James asks.

"...Victoria's. I think he killed her, too," you mutter. Good grief, the blood... It's still so vivid.

"Huh, you got Victoria too... Look, that forum? The people on there, they're related to this. Not in the way you might think, though. They aren't the villains, they're the victims. It's a kind of... support network. They hide it by talking about it as though it's some sort of role-playing game, but it's real. They're involved. And you said my uncle posted on there? Crap. What did he say?"

>Fob him off, say you can't remember.
>Answer as well as you can. (Average Intelligence, 3 rolls, TN 10, 1 success.)

Rolled 2, 4, 6, 2 - 4 = 10 (4d6 - 4)

>>39913762
>Answer as well as you can. (Average Intelligence, 3 rolls, TN 10, 1 success.)

>>39913808
Yeah, that'll do you.

>>39913808
Writing.

>>39913979
You wrack your brains. "If I remember correctly... he wrote something about 'hearing the piper' and 'seeing black water'. I couldn't make head or tail of it."

"Uh... Hmm... Yeah, I'm not sure about it, myself. Either way, though, I'm really, really not keen on this. Anyway, you're expecting something to happen this Saturday, right? Have you noticed any strings of coincidences or anything? Sometimes that stuff can actually be really helpful," James says.

"Not really, no. I bought something at a little curio shop on my way in, though. Here." You dig the dagger out of your bag and pass it to him.

"Huh. I don't get it. Best not show this to anyone else, though, you know what'll happen if you go waving it around," he says.

"Yeah, I know. Gawd. No need to warn me," you say.

>Anything else to say?
>Leave, the bell's gone for break and it must be getting pretty close to the end.

>>39909661
Hey Caretaker, I know what you're up too (I figured it out with the government site), will it still be fun if I know everything? As in, will you do your own stuff on top of that? I usually don't like quests, but you piqued my interest and I really wanna get into yours.

>>39914128
>(I figured it out with the government site)
What?

I'm throwing my own stuff on top of it (assuming you're correct. If you aren't you'll probably find out later). Otherwise, I hope I'm good enough to keep it fun.

>>39914087
>Leave, the bell's gone for break and it must be getting pretty close to the end.

>>39914087
>>Leave, the bell's gone for break and it must be getting pretty close to the end.

>>39914087
>Have you noticed any strings of coincidences or anything?
IC? Probably not so noticeable.

From a quest player perspective? You were using a lot of gold motifs, Caretaker.

>Leave, the bell's gone for break and it must be getting pretty close to the end.

>>39914168
I like your style tho, I'll be hanging around for the thread. Still reading the old posts.

-a Deconstructionist

File: Uh... Captcha, this is weird.png (404 KB, 402x599)

404 KB PNG

>>39914262
>>39914250
>>39914208
Have I reached the heady heights of three players?

Good heavens.

Writing.

Also, I'm disturbed by captcha now. Specifically, the middle picture I got. I'm pretty sure that that is not steak. I'm also pretty sure that's part of a human leg.

>>39914358
Just as you open your mouth to speak, the bell goes.

"Crap!" exclaims James. "I need to run, I've got to be in Chemistry." He really does, the labs are on the other side of the school grounds. He takes off, not even bothering to take the paper down. Just as well for him that there's no rain forecast for today.
You saunter over to the main building, where the classroom for your Physics lessons are. You get there just as the teacher does, and walk in with the rest of the class. The teacher spots one people in particular and calls to him. "Ah, Sam, glad you could take time out of your busy schedule to join us."

Sam smirks. He's... is he wobbling a bit? "Yeah, I've got things I gotta do, miss, but hey, psychics is cool, right?" He stumbles past you and grabs a seat on the far side of the classroom. Dear lord, he smells foul. Alcohol and something... musty.

>Sit next to Sam. For some inexplicable reason.
>Sally's in this class too. Sit next to her.
>Sit next to Marc, the foreign guy.
>Sit next to someone else.

>>39914304
Yeah, alright, fine. Don't spoil it for other people, though.

>>39914498
>Sally

>>39914498
>Sally's in this class too. Sit next to her.

>>39914498
Sally

>>39914517
Sorry, I won't.

>>39914498
>Sam, for some inexplicable reason.

>>39914535
>>39914547
>>39914560
Writing.

>>39914517
>>39914642
A different player here. This is kind of talk is making me antsy on what the reveal might be, but I won't press on the matter just yet.

>>39914703
You decide to sit next to Sally. She turns to you and says "Hey, Allie, how's things?"

"Meh," you reply.

"Same old, same old, huh? Ah, well, time for Physics," says Sally. "Hey, you know we've got sport later, right? You fancy popping down to the swimming pool?"

>"Nah, I'm good."
>"Sure, why not?"
>"I'll think about it."

>>39914713
He knows where I've taken a lot of inspiration for the quest from. In all honesty, it's nothing to worry about.

>>39914736
>"Sure, why not?"

>>39914736
>"Sure, why no—"
>remember Karloff 'seeing black water'
>"On second thought. Nah, I'm good."

>>39914736
>Sure, why not?

>>39914736

>"Sure, why not?"

>>39914768
>>39914797
>>39914803
>>39914829
Writing.

>>39914797
lol swimming pools aren't black water
they have like chlorine and stuff to prevent that
you silly

>>39914957
"Yeah, sure, why not? I'll need to go home and grab my swimming kit first, I was originally planning on doing something in the gym or something," you say.

"Hey, cool. I'll meet you there at the start of last period," she says, then both of you get down to work.

The lesson is about pendulums and circular motion. It's surprisingly interesting stuff. About halfway through the lesson, Sally nudges you. "Hey, uh... I'm not entirely sure about this bit in the question."

>Take a look.
>She can do her own work, you've got other stuff to think about.
>Write-in.

>>39915053
>Take a look.
Dunno how much help Allie could provide here though.

>>39915002
>you silly
>on a setting with a murdering magic TV show
>Iain'tgottaexplainshit.jpg

>>39915053
>>Take a look.

>>39915136
>>39915182
Writing.

>>39915261
"Yeah, okay." You take a look at Sally's work.

...oh dear. She's completely screwed her calculations up. You explain what she needs to do, and work the question through with her. She seems much happier with it once you've helped her.

However, by the time you've worked through the question with her, the teacher's jumped ahead, so you're now behind. You scramble to catch up.

>Make me some rolls, people! (Average Intellect and Beginner Mathematics, 4 rolls, TN 10, 2 successes.)
>This is an example of a complex task. Allie needs to complete a number of actions to succeed in the task, each of which is important to the end goal. This is why she needs multiple successes. However, because she's got the Mathematics skill, this feeds into the task at hand, allowing her some more chances to actually get the damn thing done.

Rolled 5, 6, 5, 2 - 4 = 14 (4d6 - 4)

>>39915367

>>39915367
I'm new at questing, can someone explain to me how to roll dices, I don't get the sticky.

>>39915418
For this quest, type in the options field "dice+4d6+-4" without the quotations.

Rolled 5, 1, 3, 4 - 4 = 9 (4d6 - 4)

>>39915367
shit, can't you just post the problems and let us solve them?

Rolled 3, 5, 6, 4 - 4 = 14 (4d6 - 4)

>>39915367
Keepin' it rolling til we get another success.

>>39915466
Thanks!

Rolled 2, 3, 4, 1 - 4 = 6 (4d6 - 4)

>>39915670
Shit, I am autism.

File: 1405668207705.jpg (82 KB, 1280x720)

82 KB JPG

>>39915400
>>39915610
So is this a pass OP?

>>39915708
Yep. Writing.

>>39915823
Thankfully, the teacher hasn't gone too far ahead and has left enough on the board for you to piece the parts together. You rush through the work, managing to make decent notes, and, once the lesson's done, you feel like you actually learned quite a lot.

>Beginner Mechanical Engineering gained!

The bell goes and everyone files out. You've got another free period now, then there's lunch, then the last period of the day is Sport.

>Head back home now.
>Chat with someone. (Who? Sam, Sally, Marc, someone else?)
>Head to the library.
>Try and find someone. (Who?)
>Write-in.

>>39915885
>Head to the library.
Now we investigate.

>>39915885
>Head back home now.
Investigating is for nerds. Let's chill with friends.

>>39915823
Ah, wait. Sorry. Lemme explain.

You're rolling to get under the target number. The two 14s could have jeopardized that, but you also rolled a 6 and a 9, both under the TN, meaning that you passed the task.

>>39915885
>Head back home now.
Woah, essentially two periods worth of free time? And the school is lax enough to allow students to roam outside?
I say make the most of it. Grab the change of clothes for Sport and pool later too.

>>39915966
Ah, so it was a roll under system. I was trying to figure the reason for the failure in thread one.

I do wonder why you don't use a d20 instead, since it looks to be functionally the same. Is it a more even spread without being too swingy?
Or maybe you'd like to see a zero rolled by chance in the future?

>>39915885
Head back home

Gotta get the swimming stuff

>>39916074
>Is it a more even spread without being too swingy?
>Or maybe you'd like to see a zero rolled by chance in the future?
Yes and yes.
Also, I'm borrowing the rolling mechanic from the source material. So yeah.

>>39915955
>>39916074
>>39916079
Writing.

>>39916112
You decide to head back home and grab your swimming stuff. You take the short route this time.

The walk by the river's pretty decent. There's a long strip of woodland that runs alongside it, and you occasionally see some pretty rare birds there. Nice and peaceful.

You get back home without incident, which takes you about quarter of an hour. There's more than enough time to dig out the swimming kit before heading back, and you could probably have lunch and still get back before the ostensible start of the lunch break.

>Just dig out the swimming kit, you'll eat at school.
>Make lunch too. Nothing too complicated, though. A sandwich or something. (What?)
>Do an actual cooked meal for yourself. (What?)
>Write-in.

>>39916191
Let's make ourselves a sandwich and check the forum one more time.

>>39916236
seconded.

>>39916191
>Make lunch too. Nothing too complicated, though. A sandwich or something. (What?)
Eh, a chicken sandwich will do I guess.

>Write-in.
Check the forum Karloff frequented. There might be an increase in the buzz of activity.

>>39916236
>>39916268
>>39916274
Writing. I'm expecting a Skype call in about 10 minutes, so there may be something of a hiatus before the next update.

>>39916371
You dig your swimming kit out (a sensible one-piece swimming costume. Leave the bikinis for people who want to loo good, rather than actually swim) and fix yourself a chicken sandwich, with some lettuce. Not particularly fancy, but it's decent enough. You also boot the computer up, munching on the sandwich to pass the time, and try to find that forum you found on Saturday.

You can't quite remember the URL, but you do remember what you put in to get there: "muted television talking", complete with quote marks. The third result down, and bam. You're back in.

You use the forum's search feature for Karloff's post and... there's nothing. It's like he never even existed.

>Try looking at other bits of the forums, see if you can find a reference to him somewhere.
>Maybe it's only visible to members now? Try joining, see if that helps.
>Write-in.

>>39916491
>Maybe it's only visible to members now? Try joining, see if that helps.

>>39916491
Look him up through facebook or something like that?. At least we could put a face to the name.

>>39916491
>Write-in.
Can we try the other websites from episode 0? There were interesting stuff back there.

>>39916491
>Try looking at other bits of the forums, see if you can find a reference to him somewhere.

>>39916533
>>39916543
>>39916804
I'm back. Combining and writing.

>>39917097
You dig through various other bits of the forum, looking for a reference to Karloff anywhere. You do find a brief mention of him in a subsection labelled "Departures", which has a link to a news site. That's probably the news article James was talking about this morning. The thread only has a few posts, mostly commenting that he was a nice guy who was always willing to lend a hand to newbies. Still, this proves that the guy existed, at least. You also dig around on Facebook, but you can't find anything relating to the guy. At least, nothing on anyone named Karloff in your area. From what James was saying, he'd have to be nearby, right?

Finally, you go to the forum's sign-up page. There's a number of questions there, including some rather strange ones: "How deep have you gone?" for instance. You fill what you can of the form in, but it throws up an exception because you haven't filled some of the essential fields in.

>Look at the psychology forum and the blog from your first search.
>Head back into school. You might as well be there for the end of lunch.
>Write-in.

>>39917307
>Look at the psychology forum and the blog
Also, if others are interested, I suggest we come back here later and try to "cheat" the questionnaire in order to go and see. You know like when you clikced "I'm over 18" the first time you went on a NSFW website?

>>39917307
>Look at the psychology forum and the blog from your first search.

>>39917420
>>39917427
Writing.

>>39917307
>Look at the psychology forum and the blog from your first search.
And just make shit up for whatever we're missing

Alright, someone archives this if possible, I have to go. Thanks and good luck OP, keep up the good work!

>>39917619
You decide to take a look at the other sites you turned up when you did that first search.

The psychology forum isn't much help. Lots of jargon about chemicals and coping strategies. It looks like the thread in question is mostly talk about schizophrenia, with the hit being related to one man who thought the static on his TV when he tuned it to a dead channel was talking to him.

The blog, on the other hand, seems a lot more interesting. The person running it seems to be talking about a lot of very strange stuff - it reads like the bastard offspring of a dream diary and a Slenderblog You folks remember those, right?, but with a disclaimer at the top: "All of this stuff has happened to me. I'm not mad, the world is." Whoever's running it is claiming to be not on the run from something and more trying to avoid slipping down a smooth slope coated in oil. It's very strange.

You're just about to consider doing something else when you notice the time - it's high time you headed off to the pool, if you're going to go.

>Head to the pool.
>Eh. It can wait. Do something else. (Write-in.)

>>39917793
>>Head to the pool.

>>39917793
>>Head to the pool.

>>39917813
>>39917836
Writing.

>>39918054
You turn the computer off and head over to the pool. Thanks to the money you saved by eating at home, you should be able to pay the entry fee without any problem. It takes you about 25 minutes to get to the pool, and a rather impatient looking Sally sitting on a low wall outside. "There you are!" she says, "I've been waiting for you for at least half an hour." You wounder how she knows this, given that she never wears a watch and there's no clock in site, but she pulls her phone out of her pocket and wiggles it at you. "I tried texting you but you didn't send anything back," she says.

You check your phone and, sure enough, there's a message, reading "Wr r u? Sal."

"A little terse, wasn't it?" you ask.

"Yeah, well, I didn't know whether you were on the move already or not, and if you were I didn't want you to get distracted," she says, then heads in, calling "Come on!" to you. Sally's always been like that, though. Impatient and somewhat bored by pretty much everything around her that doesn't involve physical activity. You head in to join her, paying at the front desk and heading into the changing room.

You've learned that diving into the pool from the get-go is much, much better than easing yourself in slowly. Get it over with in one go, then you don't have to bother with the whole freezing-cold-water-at-the-midriff issue. Sally's already swum down the pool and she's halfway back by the time you're at the end and diving.

The pool's not exactly empty, but there aren't many people around. You do a couple of lengths of front crawl, then switch to breaststroke for the next couple.

>Continue swimming for a few more lengths.
>See if you can get Sally to stop and actually have a chat.
>Write-in.

>>39918291
>Continue swimming for a few more lengths.
get swole

>>39918291
>See if you can get Sally to stop and actually have a chat.

You have a new reader, QM. I just caught up with everything so far.

Also, >>39910017
did we actually go nopan or did you just ignore it?

>>39918291
>See if you can get Sally to stop and actually have a chat.

You still there, Caretaker?

Is the session over? It has been more than 12 hours.

Rolled 1, 3, 5, 1 - 4 = 6 (4d6 - 4)

Archived it just in case.

http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=surreal+television+quest