News:

Welcome to the new Sinister Design forums!

Main Menu

A War Story

Started by ArtDrake, January 13, 2012, 10:34:16 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Steelfist

BEFORE accessing the controls: Engage the command interface, and see if you can't obtain some kind of emergency authorisation to use the controls.

Ertxiem

Ert, the Dead Cow.
With 2 small Mandelbrot sets as the spots.

Steelfist

Well, you see, I'd prefer not to walk out into the corridor and be incinerated by the defences. We don't know if more defences will activate if we use the controls.

Ertxiem

(I don't really think that the skeletons were part of the ship defences. I think they're related to the reason why the cockpit was empty and the ship was crashing, but that's my theory.)
Ert, the Dead Cow.
With 2 small Mandelbrot sets as the spots.

Steelfist

I hadn't considered that, actually. It's certainly possible. But I guess we'll find out what's what in due time. And besides, there might be traps or defences quite apart from the reanimated skeletons.

ArtDrake

Hey, guys. I'm really sorry for not posting before now, but I've been overwhelmed with homework and engaging in other priorities like language learning.

You check around the door into the dining compartment, and see a series of booths on each side of the room, with large tables in the middle. There is another door at the other side of the room, this time a simple, relatively unsecurable metal door. The compartment is furnished opulently with tapestry, golden chandeliers, and fine Persian rugs. A slow jazz tune plays in the background that you didn't hear before, and you recognize it as "Summertime". There are ashtrays on all of the tables, nigh all of which are (heavily) occupied.

There are also two skeletons seated at the tables, but they appear to be unanimated at the moment, or at least do not notice you. One of them is wearing a full set of personal armor with medals for valor fastened to it, while the other is wearing an evening wear hat with fine millinery work.

Your observation complete, you proceed back to the cockpit and access the command interface. You muck about with the guidance system, and eventually you end up at the section on acting captains and the due process for obtaining command in the case of the loss of a captain. The guidance system tell you that you must be the highest-ranking capable officer aboard the ship in order to take command, have been appointed by the captain before taking his place, or otherwise prove that no other individual aboard the ship is capable of commanding the ship to the extent that you are. You must select one of these options in order to gain authorization to run the ship.

You then pull the joystick back, given that the aircraft will crash if you don't, and a similar alarm to the first one sounds. However, no one comes, and the alarm shuts off more quickly than it did before. Once more, the world shifts beneath you, and you feel the airship tilting back until you have to lean in order to stay upright. You've bought yourself the time to go through the process of becoming Acting Captain or to review security footage.

Steelfist

Hmm. Personally, I would say that due to the fact that without our intervention the airship would have crashed, we are probably the only people to be capable of piloting and in a situation of being able to pilot the airship. At best, the Captain is a prisoner or off-ship (Assuming the skeletons weren't the original residents - they probably would have been more concerned about the ship crashing if they were. Maybe they're the skeletons of the original residents). So choose that option to be made acting captain.

Assuming it works, try to find some kind of autopilot function and review security footage.

@Duckling: Have you prepared all of this in advance? Or just mapped out the basics then made it up as you went along?

Ertxiem

(Duckling: No problem. Take your time. We all have more stuff to do from time to time.
Just make sure the hero looks around with some frequency to avoid being caught off-guard.)
Ert, the Dead Cow.
With 2 small Mandelbrot sets as the spots.

ArtDrake

You choose the option of asserting your ability to pilot the airship over that of all the others on board.

** cutscene **

You sit in the pilot's seat, as you suspect that the command interface may take a while in its data processing. However, an error message pops up on the screen, insisting that you are not, in fact, the most qualified person aboard the airship to pilot it. You close out the message, and look up how to conduct searches for people aboard the ship, receiving a detailed video on how to search for passengers and crew by name and by rank. After watching it, you open the Surveillance section and conduct your search. First, you look for the most qualified person -- the Captain. You get the response: "Captain is aboard the vessel. Captain is deceased. Captain is no longer capable of piloting the airship."

Next, you search for the Lieutenant, and receive a similar, but much stranger message: "Lieutenant is aboard the vessel. Lieutenant is deceased. Lieutenant is capable of piloting the airship." You refresh the page, but you get the same result. "Lieutenant is aboard the vessel. Lieutenant is deceased. Lieutenant is capable of piloting the airship." You check the location reported for the Lieutenant on the screen, and see that the deceased Lieutenant is the kitchens, just beyond the first class dining compartment to the left. You decide that he must have died there when the skeletons arrived.

Since the computer is reporting that the Lieutenant is able to fly the airship, you start to head in the direction of the kitchens, just to be sure; any pilot with real flying experience would be better than a kid whose only flying experience comes from online flight simulators of jet fighter airplanes. Just because the result is so odd, you decide to refresh the page once more to see if the command interface made a mistake. However, when you refresh it, you see that the location of the Lieutenant is now the first class dining compartment. You hear a mighty crash and splintering of bone behind you in the next room, and you turn around in the chair to see what the noise is. You get up out of the chair, and peep around the edge of the doorway. Looking around, you see that the two tables at which the skeletons were sitting are overturned, and the skeletons are in pieces. You see no sign of the reportedly deceased Lieutenant. Addled, but somewhat relieved, you turn around back into the cockpit and see right in front of you a large creature, ten feet tall, with four long, spindly legs of ivory white. They all draw together in the middle at a quite normally-sized torso which is covered with an Royal Air Force uniform; when your gaze is done there, your eyes finally reach the head, with a disproportionate and discolored face on it. This fearsome creature stares at you for a moment, and then walks over to the chair in the middle of the cockpit and sits down in it. Two of its legs press buttons and pull levels, while with its hands the creature pulls on the joystick, righting the airship from its earlier tilt. Then, it sighs, and it starts to cry silently.

This, you surmise, is the Lieutenant.

** end cutscene **

(I'll probably put in cutscenes every once in a while when the player reaches a crucial plot point and I don't want them to have to figure out just the right way to do things through trial and error and un-subtle hints by me.

(@Steelfist: Nope, and nope. I'm just making all of this up as I go. I had no idea that there were kitchens beyond the dining compartment, or a Lieutenant who is warped in ways you'll only find out later, until I posted it just now. I mean, I kind of had the idea that there needed to be an NPC, and that he needed to be a badass non-human ('scuse the language, sorry), but that was all rather nebulous in my head.

(Oh, and in case anyone was wondering, I'm modeling the combat system somewhat off of that of Dark Souls and partially Skyrim, in that there's no such thing as a "turn", and you can win a fight no matter what you've got on or are wielding as long as you're willing to micromanage combat enough to the point where you don't get hit. In that sense, basically there's no limitation on what you can fight or do at any given time -- it's just going to be harder or less hard, depending on the quality of your equipment)

Steelfist

 . . . Huh. Right. A crying 'badass' alien.

Try to communicate with it; ask it what happened. If it doesn't understand, try to engage some kind of translation software on the command interface.

I'm not going to get it yet, but one of the dismantled skeletons in the dining area had a full suit of armor. We might want that, if its not too badly damaged.

Ertxiem

(That was a cool cut-scene! :)
I had the same idea as SteelFist, so I can only say that I hope we made a good choice.)
Ert, the Dead Cow.
With 2 small Mandelbrot sets as the spots.

ArtDrake

(Thank you for not trying to kill it and getting yourselves killed in the process. That would have been depressing to write. And thanks, Ert! Two o'clock in the morning is the font of all inspiration  :D)

You walk closer to the Lieutenant, circling around to his right side. He is somberly flipping small switches on and off, subtly guiding the ship to whatever destination he intends for it to reach. You timidly say, "Um... hello?". The Lieutenant turns his head to you, nods, and turns back to flying the airship.

bugfartboy

Ask if the Lieutenant understands what you're saying.

ArtDrake

You quietly ask, "Can you understand me? Do you speak English?". The Lieutenant continues to look out the windows in the cockpit, and sighs loudly. He then says in a deep bass, "Yes, on both counts. Men, jeg vil foretrække at taler dansk, som jeg talte som barn.

(The lieutenant speaks Danish, and you can run it through a translator if you want to know what it means, but it's not plot-essential. It might provide a bit of characterization and backstory, but that's it)

Ertxiem

Ask the Lieutenant if he needs help. And ask him to reply in English because we don't understand Danish. And ask what happened. (He may know why are all those skeletons in the ship and why those portals opened.)

[spoiler=If you're curious about the meaning]
Google translate said
"Men, jeg vil foretrække at taler dansk, som jeg talte som barn."
means
"But, I would prefer to speak Danish, which I knew as a child."

Usually we find some inaccuracies in automatic translations...
[/spoiler]
Ert, the Dead Cow.
With 2 small Mandelbrot sets as the spots.