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Underground > Creation >

Text Adventure Game Emulator #2

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04:38 / 28.11.06

Your name is Karen. You currently work as a dispatcher for the local police force. That's where you are now; at your desk. It's the end of your shift and you're packing your bag up ready to go. It's really busy. There was a break-in and shooting at the industrial park on the outskirts of the city, and the number of assaults reported has through the roof. As it is you're glad to clock off.

There's lots of bustling in the room as people try to deal with the volume. Everyone packing up looks dead and tired. Thankfully the the last of the 10pm-Graveyard shift are shuffling in to take over. The time is 9:53pm.

04:40 / 28.11.06

Robert, sitting next to you, sounds like he's dealing with a domestic in progress.

There are toilets to the West and an exit to the South.

04:42 / 28.11.06

Go South

(Resisting urge to add any flavourful lingo in there... we all know the computer won't accept that...)

04:53 / 28.11.06

You go South, waving good night to the people you get on with (Chloe, Jen - who's just started her shift, and Michael). You push through the doors into the main corridors for the station.

Ahead you see Tom, who's finishing up a conversation with your mutual head of department. He see's you and smiles.

To the North is the reception/waiting area and main entrance.
To the East is a corridor leading to further offices and the canteen.
To the South is your office, where you've just come from.

Whisky Priestess

09:31 / 28.11.06

Greet Tom

09:38 / 28.11.06

(dude, To the South is your office, where you've just come from. shurely 'North', we just went south? Maybe an edit is in order?)

12:52 / 28.11.06

[Maybe I should've put "Foward"? Moving on]

Tom is a fairly good looking guy in his early 30s with short, black hair. You're pretty sure he's been hitting on you since breaking up with his girlfriend a few weeks ago.

"Hey"

"Hey, Special K. Glad to be off?"

Whisky Priestess

15:42 / 28.11.06

Say hell yes. Ask Tom what he's up to tonight.

07:48 / 29.11.06

"Hell yes"

"Good stuff. Don't let Mike grab you", he says, gesturing to your mutual head of department, now talking to someone else about overtime, "unless you want to be in a pressgang"

"What are you up to tonight?"

"I should be getting home", he smiles, "but I could murder a pint. Fancy it?"

07:52 / 29.11.06

(Resisting urge to add any flavourful lingo in there... we all know the computer won't accept that...)

(The Computer's parser is mighty)

08:39 / 29.11.06

Say yes, that sounds like a good idea.
Secretly check your handbag for your mace and taser behind Tom´s back.

Whisky Priestess

08:49 / 29.11.06

Make mental note to ask Tom about the ritually flayed corpses that have been found on the steps of all the City's major banks in the last few weeks. Tom's helping to work that case so he ought to have some gossip.

09:22 / 29.11.06

Also, get Marmite.

10:00 / 29.11.06

Agreeing you both head off. It's dark and the cold is biting and you're glad to be wearing your parka. Away from the building you notice just how noisy it had gotten.

It starts spitting.

You don't own mace or a taser. You do have keys, though (for jabbin').

You walk along the main road exchanging gossip about the day. Nothing out of the ordinary but the number of assaults dealt with today makes you a tiny bit worried to be out.

Remembering the kitchen this morning you pop into the Spa to pick up a jar of Marmite, to Tom's amusement.

"I thought you had taste!"

He picks up a pack of Regal.

You make a mental note to get some goss on the woman with skinned hands dumped near the HSBC last week.

You reach The Fairfield. The warmth is welcoming. It's busy but not packed, a mix of indie 20-somethings coming because it's not an "old man pub" and, ironically, the older regulars. Synthesisers drift above. You notice a few people from the station sitting at the couches in the north-west corner. There's a free couch available by the wall behind you. All the tables are lit by candles.

You're standing between the door and the bar.

"What would you like?"

10:07 / 29.11.06

Say "A Tahitian Lady."

10:29 / 29.11.06

"A Tahitian Lady"

Tom nods and orders but it seems the staff haven't heard of a Tahitian Lady. They can do a Tahitian Tea "gin, vodka, rum, orange", though.

"What'll it be?"

It's getting pretty busy at the bar.

(The Computer would like to mention that you have to drive home)

13:09 / 29.11.06

Say "I'll have a pint. Of Absinthe. And the number of your local taxi firm."

14:00 / 29.11.06

"Ill have a pint of absynthe, and the number of your local taxi firm"

The man behind the bar gives you your drinks after waiting a bit, in which time the free couch you saw earlier has become occupied. There are two men identical looking men dressed in identical santa clause outfits sitting on it, arguing in loud voices.

You are now stuck standing at the bar, where it is getting more crowded. You sip your drinks for a while in silence, when Tom suddenly asks you:

"How much absynthe do you have to drink before you go blind?"

14:15 / 29.11.06

(The Computer would like to point out - to no-one in particular - that he's the one typing out what happens. You are the player!)

14:33 / 29.11.06

The game has been h4XX0r3d!

Whisky Priestess

16:02 / 29.11.06

Reply: depends if you set it on fire first.

Then go over and eavesdrop to see what the two Santas are arguing about.

Whisky Priestess

18:08 / 29.11.06

Oops! The Santas aren't canon. Ignore me.

13:30 / 30.11.06

Dance!

05:37 / 01.12.06

For a moment you daydream two santas on the couch.

"I'll have a pint of absinthe and the number for the local taxi"

Tom laughs, "steady tiger", the barman doesn't look as amused. Tom orders a white wine and lemonade (pour vous) and a double-whiskey and coke (pour him).

The music shifts.

Remember when you were young
You’d lose yourself
In the morning you know he won’t remember a thing

You start moving to Andy Burrow's drumming and lead Tom into the middle of the floor, people instinctively making room for your arms. Tom seems a bit self-conscious (no-one else is dancing) but he gets into it quickly enough. He smiles. You dance!

Whisky Priestess

13:17 / 01.12.06

Ask Tom about the flayings.

12:58 / 02.12.06

"Grisly. Helen Morgins, 35, cashier at Somerfields across town. The body is giving forensics shit fits. Apparently the hands? She'd gnawed the flesh off herself", he takes a sip of his drink, he's slowed his dancing while he thinks, "No bugs got to her til she was dumped. She was kept somewhere sealed and clean. Sterile. But you want to know the weirdest thing on a pile of weird things?

We think the C.O.D. was gunshot wound to the head"

"Think?"

"Everything else says she died before she was shot"

"Blood runs through your veins, that's where our similarity ends

Blood runs through our veins"

Outside the rain falls on and on. Ambulances and police cars scream into the night.

03:18 / 03.12.06

Ask where Helen is buried. Buy shovel.

14:15 / 03.12.06

You dance on.

"Where's she buried?"

Tom manages to laugh and grimace at the same time, which is quite a feat. He stares, not intensely, like you've just made a horribly bad joke.

You don't recall any place to buy a shovel at quarter to eleven at night.

You feel a tap on your shoulder.

"Awwwwriiiightttttt, guys!"

You turn. It's Gary, a ginger lad who works on an earlier shift and had been, up til now, sitting over in the corner. He is, quite frankly, hammered.

"Well don't you two look good together! Are you gonna come say "hi" or what?!"

22:09 / 03.12.06

(The Computer would like to point out that, yes, he does have an idea about where this is going. I might skip to the morning after - when the fun starts)

You begin to feel tired.

Do you wish to bow out and go home?

15:36 / 04.12.06

No!! Never! Request The Pipettes' "Pull Shapes"! Pull shapes!

16:22 / 04.12.06

Second wind!

You ignore Gary and go speak to the DJ. You request something by the Pipettes. The DJ is a mop headed man who's seen too many long days over a mirror.

"Hey baaaaabe, I can get that sorted for you, know what I mean? I've got a reputation. It's like I used to say, you know they're nice around me. You know they're nice about me"

"It's a rough loving follows gasping with me
So follow my lead and we'll one two three"

You turn around. Tom and Gaz are, to put it one way, "having words". Tom doesn't look happy.

16:43 / 04.12.06

After pulling one final shape, walk closer to the argument and listen surreptisiously from behind the nearest available prop.

20:33 / 04.12.06

Give Tom knife.

14:39 / 05.12.06

You pull your final shape(!) and duck behind a pillar.
Gaz shouts, "Look mate I was just havin' a laff yeah? Yeah? It was a joke!!!1"

"Whatever. Knob off"

You have no knife to give Tom. Or a mace. Or a taser. You do, however, have some keys.

And a jar of marmite.

"You're actin' like a fuckin' kid, Tom. No need to fly off the handle"

"I wouldn't if you'd dropped it after the fifth go. Me and Kaz are mates"

22:00 / 05.12.06

Tell Gaz and Tom that I'm not a piece of property to be bartered between them, and that rather than having a go at each other they should consult my feelings on the matter.

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