Snipexe

Grey felt a bit of Viv's excitement seep into him. "Follow me" He said, not really looking to see if they followed. Viv obviously would, she had done this several times before. As for Sierra, well he expected the curiosity would far too great to simply ignore. That was the great thing about hinting thing subtly, they not only added to one's mystique, but also allowed for the subject to build up their own expectations of the procedure. They would of course be completely blown under proportion, but that only made it even better. He led them through the clinical hallways of the EHD, to a room that was sparse, almost empty. In the middle sat a simple optometrist chair, complete with a vision acuity tester. Behind the chair was a small radio set, with headphones. "Well, come along, have a seat."

“The first is rather good, for us, though somehow I doubt you have any true understanding of pain, only a passing acquaintance. Anyone who truly knew pain is either already a denizen, or would be screaming in response to that question. The second however, well to put it bluntly, is simply a tragedy. Sierra it is, as you put it, the sugar and spice, that makes life worth living! I’ll get some interns working on some cinnamon rolls for when we are finished.” He turned back to Viv, “ You ready?” @ZincAboutIt @Shard of Thought

Yes, and as a function of such tore through the realms. Sorry, I’m not super involved on the theory side of the fandom so I wasn’t really sure if people called it that, or not. in regards to your first question, I don’t know. Like I said I knew it was likely untrue, and this is likely greatest piece of evidence disproving it. Unfortunately without any more info (*cough*like that Nalthis essay*cough*) I can’t really try to prove you wrong. The only thing I’ll say in defense is that it could be inaccessible from the cognitive realm and must be entered via the physical, but that’s with literally no evidence and is just pure speculation.

Alright, my tinfoil hat is on, so here comes some baseless ideas (feel free to shoot it to pieces): What if it's a..Cognitive Wormhole? Like a folding in Cognitive space that functions like an Oathgate? If you've seen Interstellar, then what I'm talking about is essentially the wormhole from that. have this WoB: Supporting this idea, albeit tentatively, is that fact that we know Ascension, or whatever Dalinar did during the end of OB, tore a hole between realms, connecting them. And we know the Cognitive realm is a flat plane. And we know that instantaneous travel of some sort is possible (i.e. Oathgates). So... *queue the tropey pencil through folded paper" Here's another potentially supportive Wob: So basically what if the Anomaly is a pseudo-Oathgate wormhole leading to somewhere.

Grey looked back at Sierra, "Why are you staring at me? Are you trying to convey something with your eyeballs that I'm not picking up? I'm only fluent in the eldritch gifted form of telepathy, not the reading of the anime tears in eyes. Perhaps it will be something that will improve with age, like a fine red wine, vintage Naruto: Episode 64."

"We can still always do both. It's simply a matter if the victi-sorry, Sierra here, is ready to begin her journey that, surprise twist, will be a shockingly subversive masterpiece in what critics are calling the greatest thing the Dark Alley has produced since whatever John from accounting made yesterday. As for the frequencies, someone could be using the Apocalypse teaPut and it just came to a boil. Always tends to happen during dramatic moments. May need to adjust the Metaspout" Grey said.

Grey stopped himself from responding as Vivica entered the room. He noted Bennington’s altered appearance, as Viv commented on the cookies, and Sierra’s state. Her smile seemed a tad bit wider then normal, but who was he to judge. He turned back to Sierra in response to Viv’s question, “I’m afraid so. I’ve tried getting her motivated and excited, but I’m afraid she keeps falling back on the same old excuses. I think we may have to resort to more drastic actions. Perhaps a snickerdoodle with a side of chocolate chip?” @ZincAboutIt @Shard of Thought

"You don't get hurt eh? I think your current emotional begs to differ, but that's besides the point." Grey said wryly. "You want something to desire, you want something to live for? You've been initiated into the Dark Alley, albeit not really by choice, but nonetheless, you're now an initiate member of the most powerful guild in the Alleyverse. Don't you want a little revenge on whoever gave that good ol' helping of emotional trauma? and if you've already done so, all the better! You need to stop pouting and smell the roses. You don't have to be sad about death. About murder. It happens. Whoever you killed was just as likely to die from a drunk driver, or a random abomination then they were to get brutally stabbed. You've just accelerated entropy a tad. Not even that much on the cosmic scales. And, now that it's over, you can move on, get a life. Take a class on cooking, maybe go to community college, whatever your cliched dreams are. It won't work out obviously, but it'll be something nice to hope for. As I said before, you've been given an invitation to the guild run by gods. Just accept, and take advantage of the perks. So, do you want to make a decision. Yes or No. Are you in, or do you want to hold onto false semblance of normalcy that will eventually collapse with you in an insane asylum. And, while they do tend to have good food, Asylums get rather boring after a while, so I know which I would choose. @Shard of Thought @ZincAboutIt

“How do I know? Because I see it here every day. Because there are many of us who have gone through what you have. And additionally, these aren’t just for looks.” He said, gesturing to his tentacles, then hearing Vivica’s question. “We have an existential crisis closet just this way,” he said leading her by the shoulder to the door and pointing down the hall to the door. “If someone has eaten the stock of cookies, just yell. People keep forgetting to replace them, so I have extras on hand.” He returned and resumed what he had been saying. “The fact of the matter Sierra is, there are a lot of denizens here like you. However there is one thing that makes them different, one thing that sets them apart from the rest of the broken. They have drive. They have a desire to push themselves and the borders of understanding to new limits. They have taken the shards of their broken world and forged a new one. They’ve taken the broken wings that melted in the sun and used them to construct a interstellar spaceship So now we return to you. Do you have this drive, this desire. Do you, Sierra, think you can take your foundations, those few scraps that are left, tear them to ground and build something new? Or will you clutch onto the remnants like a shipwrecked survivor clutches to the wreckage of their ship ignoring the vessel on the horizon if they were only but willing to swim?” @Shard of Thought @ZincAboutIt

Sure

Grey watched Bennington spin through the air around him before responding to Vivica. “Why you, Sierra? I think you know the answer. Vivica said she found you stabbing someone. I don’t know much about the killing, or much about you, but I can say this. It shook you to the core. I could see it in your face, as you entered, in the way you shy away form us, while hanging on our every word. Your world has begun to crumble. You’ve torn down one of the foundations and it turns out it was load bearing, and now the whole thing is coming down around you. Whether or not we are partially responsible for said demolition is besides the point, though I would suspect that it would come down anyway, with or without our help. This is fact, even if you’re denying it as I speak.” He paused, taking a sip of coffee with his tentacles, and letting his words sink in. @ZincAboutIt @Shard of Thought

The knocks echoed through the empty break room, meeting Grey’s ears. He looked up from the book he was reading, and put down his coffee. It was rare that people visited the break room of the EHD, seeing as Grey had successfully petitioned for the various amenities that filled the room to be available in nearly all of the rooms in this section of the Alleys. The question as to who the knocker was was answered when Vivica’s voice drifted through the door. “Grey? It's Viv. Checking on the coffee machine. Any updates?” Grey smiled at the question. Viv was one of the few denizens that truly appreciated the finer points of good coffee. “Ah yes, about that.” As he talked, he stood, walking up to the doorway of the break room. “You’d better see...”He opened the door, and trailed off realizing that Viv was joined by someone, and it wasn’t Bennington. He started, then added the young woman to the telepathic conversation, patting the faint outline of Bennington as he did so. “Sorry about that, I didn’t realize anyone would be here besides Viv. I’m Grey, and I assume you’re here for the coffee as well? Well you’re exceptionally lucky. The cosmic dice have rolled,” He paused for a bit a dramatic effect, “and you get to have, literally, the greatest coffee in existence.” He pointed to a rather average machine coffee machine in the corner. @ZincAboutIt @Shard of Thought

I run away from the Cornicopia, in a direction, based on the sun, appearing to be North.

Sponsors, if you send me all of your gifts, I promise to use them to make a statue to the great Cthulhu with them, and sacrifice all those who stand against his might upon its altar.

Which, considering the thread, was a lot of people.

It is not, though it is of a similar genre

Unfortunately no, it is from a short story.

Oh! Cool! The previous translation was Japanese.

I agree with basically everything Elandera said. This was a really interesting game to run, especially when there were several times that I thought both teams had an easy victory. Overall though, I gotta give a shoutout to the elims, especially Rath, seeing as you managed to pulloff a really close game. A big thanks to @Elberethfor stepping in for Ventyl! I'm going to be honest, I think this game broke just a tad with the slightly fewer number of players than average, seeing as it made things like insanity, wrath of the shades, and other RNG related mechanics have a much larger than expected impact. As Elandera said, I think if this game was to be run again, it would be best to reduce/modify some of these RNG related mechanics, making them less damaging to the village, and overall less impactful to the gamestate. Also, having a redirect as an action available to everyone maaay have been a might overpowered/unbalanced, but it definitely made things significantly more chaotic. Finally, a massive thanks to @Elandera for running this game with me. I would never have been able to do it on my own, and especially as IRL stuff ramped up significantly midway through the game (which incidentally is why the write-ups died off). So please send some upvotes her way.

This may have been answered somewhere and I just missed it, but what is the plan for the next anniversary game?

Elbereth was attacked, but survived! They are now insane! Player List This turn will end Monday, October 21 at 6 p.m. PDT.

An hour left in the cycle, get your actions in.

Or was it perhaps... the Way of Kings

Once again, I can’t name the quote, but the remake of Secret Life of Walter Mitty?