Lost Quest

>tradition

>>1653806
Potential

>>1653815

>tradition

You think of home. You recall that you once loved to be home, eating certain foods and being with certain people. You wonder who these people were and why they were important to you.

>>1653821

>potential

You think of things that could be beyond this white sphere. You imagine the outside world as a vast place, filled with wealth and power for those with the ability or determination to achieve it.

You are filled overall with a sense to BELONG and to LEAD. You are not sure where you belong but you're sure it exists somewhere out there, waiting for you to claim it and make it great.

A piece of the wall gives way and a blinding light shines through. At first you can barely make anything out but eventually you can see clearly. You are fascinated by what you see. Torus-headed creatures that crawl inside on many spindly legs and make their way down the side of the sphere, gazing at you from round, matte black eyes.

They make noises that sound almost like speech and rub their legs against their abdomens. You suspect they might be trying to speak to you. You try and talk back in:

>Norse
>Greek
>Coptic
>Sanskrit

>>1653824
>Greek

>>1653828

You return what you assume is a greeting with one of your own, hailing the creature in Greek.

It stares blankly at you for a moment and you begin to think communication might be a lost cause. Then the creature jerks one of it's long legs upright and inserts the clawed tip into a long cavity in its own neck. There is an uncomfortably viscous squelching noise and then the alien speaks again, this time in your own language.

"Do you - understand?"

You nod. This catches the creature off guard and it stumbles back a bit before rapidly ambulating around you. It repeats the question and you answer verbally. It seems to relax.

"We have goods words and bad words, fleshy one."

>give me the good words first
>give me the bad words first

>>1653839
>give me the bad words first

>>1653839
>give me the bad words first

>>1653855
>>1653859

You ask for the bad words first, figure it's best to get the worst over with. You feel like this reflects a certain something... a CYNICISM that guides your actions.

The alien tells you that you are, unfortunately, very far from home. You have traveled for approximately a century in a "stasis chamber" while the aliens have tested you. They've completed their tests and have no further use for you but your mind (and their busy schedules) prevent you from making the return trip. At least if you want to remain sane.

You are stranded very, very badly if what he says is correct.

>What are the good words then?
>Well, where am I then? In the ocean somewhere?'
>Who are you?

>>1653867
>What are the good words then?

>>1653867
>What are the good words then?

I apologize, I've been trying to reset my sleep schedule but I ended up passing out for about 12 hours before I came back around. I've gotten my shit back together and we can continue this if there's anyone around.

>>1653907
>>1654876

You ask what the good words were.

"Your species is a failed experiment. We created you in the hopes of harvesting a chemical from your organs. Your liver does produce the chemical but your sentience was an unexpected side effect of our designs."

Another alien speaks up.

"We do not consume sentients. So we are going to set you free."

>No, please. I want to go home.
>Where are you letting me go?
>What am I supposed to do on my own?
>Are you going to help me at all?

>>1656468
>Where are youletting me go?

>>1656480

"We're releasing you in the Heart of Worlds. Sentients of all kinds are tolerated there. You should be able to survive there."

"The Heart of the Worlds?"

The words sound promising to you but a level of uncertainty remains. You question internally whether this place is as welcoming as it sounds and summon a word from your memory.

"To what polis does this Heart belong?"

There is an odd chittering amongst the aliens. Their neck cavities give off a smell that reminds you of... body odor.

"It belongs to the Great Ones."

"The Great Ones? Who are those?"

"Elders of this Universe who have lapsed into..."

More gaseous emissions.

"Rest. They merely observe now."

Observers. Observers are thinkers. This intrigues you.

>When I am being released?
>Who are you?
>Can you tell me more about the Great Ones?
>What is coming from your necks?
>Do you think someone could get me home in the Heart? Sane?

>>1656515
>Who are you

>>1656641

"We are farmers."

"We cultivate and grow organics for trade."

"Your species... was a project that spanned eons."

"But we were poor caretakers. We did not maintain you as we should. Your sentience was a byproduct of just a few millennia of neglect."

"Most regrettable."

>So I'm... cattle?
>I refuse to believe that.
>What did you have to gain from us?
>I see. But when do I get out of here?
>Tell me more about yourselves.

>>1656669
>Tell me more about yourselves.

>>1656757

"What kind of barbarians are you?"

The aliens are perturbed by what you say, giving off scents of ozone. But you can not tell if they are irritated or humored. They answer your question directly.

"We do not have a name you can speak. From your memories... the closest analog is... Arakhne. So that is what you should refer to us as."

"On our home planet, we have domesticated all living things for useful purposes. But we could not gain everything we desired from them. So we create and modify life on other planets to create new products to trade or consume."

"We found your planet long ago, after a vast apocalypse had already occurred. From the ashes we chose life that had potential and steered it towards our purposes."

"As we have done on countless worlds."

"You're flesh merchants then. Little better than Persians."

Sweet smells fill the room.

"Your memory must be returning, you will be free soon."

"You should go to the Bureaucrats and register yourself and your species."

>Why is my memory returning?
>Who are the Bureaucrats?
>Can I have something to eat? Or drink?
>What is the Heart like?
>Can I leave now?

>>1656780
>Who are the Bureaucrats?

>>1656780
>Who are the Bureaucrats?

>>1656796

"The Bureaucrats are a caretaker race... chosen or perhaps designed by the Great Ones to manage the Heart of Worlds."

"The Heart is a great... cross-roads. Peace and order must be kept. Rights respected. The Bureaucrats ensure that."

"They are not like us. Not individuals."

"Each one contains multitudes. A hundred thousand committees who deliberate each thought of the whole."

"I see."

The Bureaucrats remind you of a certain place that you cannot fully recall.

>Why are my legs striped?
>How am I supposed to survive in the Heart of Worlds?
>Will my memory return entirely?
>You said order must be kept and rights respected. Who violates these?

>>1656809
>You said order must be kept and rights respected. Who violates these?

>>1656815

So the Bureaucrats are both make the laws and keep it. Laws exist for a reason.

"Who do the Bureaucrats enforce their laws against?"

A smell like rancid milk.

"There are untold millions of sentient species that congregate at the Heart. Of these there are always some who seek their own enrichment over the peace."

"Some do not respect the Great Ones. Others feel they deserve primacy. Many have tried to conquer the Heart - all have been defeated by the Bureaucrats."

"We tire of conversing with... what do you call yourself, sentient?"

>human
>citizen
>traveler
>lord
>write-in suggestion

>>1656824

Damn, that first sentence.

>So the Bureaucrats both make the law and keep it.

Forgive me, my head is torus shaped.

>>1656824
>citizen
Keeping in line with the fact our character is ancient Greek. The word 'human' wouldn't have existed yet.

>>1656837

"I am a Citizen."

"Very well, Citizen. The time has come for you to be released. Goodbye."

The sphere and the aliens rapidly fades away. You fall suddenly and painfully on your butt. The shock of doing so momentarily overrides your awareness of your surroundings but as you get to your feet, you find yourself on a glowing blue platform. All around you strange creatures are materializing and then walking away from it, down a long series of stairs that lead into a vast group of structures below, which vary in design and size.

The plateau-like features of your current location lead you to refer to it mentally as the Podium. It is quite elevated but no wind gusts across it. You are thankful for this, as you are still naked.

>step off the Podium and begin the journey to the Polis below
>look around at some of the creature around you, try to speak to one of the friendlier looking ones
>examine the landscape around the city and the horizon

>>1656861
>examine the landscape around the city and the horizon

>>1656893

You sweep your eyes across the landscape and see that it is flat, featureless, and uncannily purple. The horizon is perfectly flat and you can see straight to it. Small clouds are visible in the distance floating above it. There seems to be nothing beyond the city but this featureless expanse.

The sky however, is filled with flying creatures and floating objects, some of which near the city in size and variety. You wonder what or who inhabits these floating kingdoms.

Proceeding down the Podium, you find yourself mingling with the crowd of monsters. The scents and sounds are beyond imagination. At the bottom, a cast archway towers. Your striped legs tingle as you pass beneath it.

From there, the streets lead in every direction. Bright sheets of color cover many surfaces and merchants cry out in unknown languages from the street corners. You are unsure of where to go until you notice a shimmering line form beneath your feet. It seems to be leading you somewhere.

>follow the line
>try and approach the merchants
>look for someone who might be able to assist you

>>1657002
>follow the line

>>1657006

Following the line leads you on a winding route through the city, past alien statues and bizarre shimmering creatures that try to solicit you in words you cannot comprehend. Huge metal cylinders shoot through the sky above you, avoiding catastrophic collisions by mere millimeters.

You find it all to be a very harrowing experience.

Finally the line terminates in front of an enormous glass dome. The glass is transparent and within it you see a vast blue ocean, with birds flying above it. A single, human sized door seems to beckon you to enter inside.

>enter the dome
>continue to wander the city

>>1657011
>enter the dome

>>1657002
>follow the line
Follow the yellow brick road~

>>1657011
>enter the dome
>>1657020
Shit im late. Sorry.

>>1657015

You open the door and step inside the dome. The first thing you notice is that the beautiful sea has vanished. Before you is what you can only describe as an enormous throne, as large as Zeus'. The equally huge green creature that has draped six sinewy limbs across it resembles no god that you've ever heard of however. It has no head and when it speaks to you, it does so from a deep cavity in its chest covered by an undulating grate of stringy flesh.

"Welcome, Citizen, to the Heart of Worlds. We are a Bureaucrat. We see inside your mind and know what you desire. But we do not act until you do."

>What is this place?
>Tell me what you see within me.
>What do you mean, you don't act unless I act?
>Write-in

>>1657034
>we? Very well
>is it possible for me to return home? If you dont mind me asking.

>>1657034
>Tell me what you see within me.

I'll resume this later. I feel the warp overtaking me, though it is merely 3pm here. When I come back though, we will continue.

>>1657083
>>1657047

You try to speak and find that your mouth does not move. The green giant harumphs through its chest cavity. You hear a voice in your mind.

>Of course, there is no need for us to speak directly when your mind is so easily interfaced with.

>We see within you a desire to go home. It is possible but a direct voyage would likely cost you your sanity. Enough damage was done by your journey here the first time, even with the mental inhibitors used by your captors. There may be other ways but not enough is known about your species yet to make them safe. Furthermore, the expense would be great.

>Within you we see great flexibility and inventiveness. If you can persist here in the Heart, you may achieve great things. The precise nature of these things is unreadable - we are not Oracles but merely divinate from existing evidence.

>And no...

Your mind floods with a warm sense of amusement.

>We are not gods. we are merely servants of such.

You feel the Bureaucrat politely withdraw from your mind as you mull this information over.

>ask about how to survive here
>ask about the Great Ones
>ask about how it reaches into your mind
>ask about the Bureaucrats themselves
>Be satisfied and leave
>write-in

>>1658828
>ask about how to survive here
>ask about the great ones

>>1658828
>>ask about how to survive here
>>ask about the Great Ones
>>ask about the Bureaucrats themselves

>>1658932
>>1659128

Experimentally, you push your concerns to the front of your mind. As you had guessed, the Bureaucrat has no difficulty detecting them.

>The Great Ones... They predate us all and created the Heart at the center of their vast empire. The Heart makes all transportation throughout the Universe possible and for that reason it is both their tool and their great fortress. The Great Ones no longer have any use for Empire but they magnanimously allow others to use the Heart so long as they follow certain dictums.

>They have charged us Bureacrats with upholding these laws, as they uplifted us from the oceans of their homeworld. Only we can understand all of their principles, though we cannot tell you their intent for the universe. We ourselves do not know it.

>We act as buffers, mouthpieces, and stewards. We tax the mental energy of all who use the Heart to sustain ourselves, though the burden is so difussed among the many now that no single candle feels the dimmer for it.

>You think in the highest terms, Citizen but I feel your concern for yourself as well. You should feel no fear. Here, as it is throughout the universe, worth is the product of utility.

A great green limb reaches out towards you with a thousand wiggling feelers. You let it brush your forehead.

>We grant you a gift of language, so that you may negotiate. When you leave this place, I will create a guide like the one that brought you here to take you to the markets. There you will find employers of every type.

You feel as though you are running a fever and an overpowering nausea causes everything to spin.

>Go now.

You regain your footing.

>demand justice for your kidnapping by the Arakhne
>leave as the creature tells you to

>>1659186
>Leave and thank them.

>>1659194

You project your gratitude and the warm sense of amusement returns.

>The Great Ones will watch over you, I am sure.

With that, you turn around and see the exit open before you.

In the street, the world is transformed. The brightly colored sheets now flash messages at you, shouting out that you buy or consume. Some things, like the messages plastered across the flying metal tubes, you still do not understand. You can read the letters but the fundamental meaning of the words elude you

The world is now a less confusing place, if only marginally.

>Sorry for dropping out of here again, but I'll drop back in with another update sometime tonight. I'm too damn lazy to run a quest with discipline anymore.

>If you have any thoughts so far (I don't expect a lot, we're only a few posts in) please share them. I enjoy dialogue with players.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq95TdCaXSU

>>1659248
Time to go to a library. WE HAVE TO STUDY. Hopefully we were a craftsmen.

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28KB, 300x400px

>>1659268

There will definitely be opportunities for knowledge, no worries. It should be mentioned that you're also bright enough to figure out some things on the fly.

I do kind of feel like I should have forced Sanskrit on you. I know my ancient Indian history better than my Greek at this point.

I will have to hit the library and pick up some books tomorrow I guess.