Sparkstuck: Part 2
>Head up to LAB
You exit your room. You are now in the hallways of Castle Wulfenbach, your family's ancestral home. Your LAB is up the stairs at the end of this hallway. It used to be in the basement, but then you had an ACCIDENT. You don't go down there much anymore, except to check on the VERY SPECIAL PROJECT you've allocated to that room in order to hide it from your parents. They don't go down there much either, after all.
You make your way quickly past the rooms that your brothers used to inhabit and ascend the stairs.
==>
Ah, your lab! As mentioned before, you actually spend more time in here than in your actual bedroom. There's even a cot set up against the wall so you can sleep here -- though with all the glorious science possible in this room, sleeping is the last thing you want to be doing.
There are many half-finished machines and experiments in here, as well as more bookshelves (these ones hold your many designs, sketchbooks and notebooks). You really should clean up some time. But you're always so busy...
>Forget cleaning, man! Do some science!
As if you planned to do anything else. That machine your friend gave you has been sitting in your sylladex for weeks now but, being out on an adventure, you haven't had the time or tools to look at it. Until now.
You open your sylladex to retrieve it and are, predictably, accosted with another logic puzzle.
'You have two cans of motor oil. One holds five gallons, and the other holds three. Explain how, in as few steps as possible, one would go about measuring four gallons of motor oil with only the vessels given.'
>Solution.
This one is fairly simple. You wonder whether your sylladex doesn't realize how much you want to examine this machine, or if it's just running out of puzzles you haven't solved already.
First, you fill the five gallon can completely and then pour three gallons of it into the three gallon can. This three gallons you discard and replace with the two gallons left over in the five gallon can. Then, you refill the five gallon can, and pour one gallon of it into the left over space in the three-gallon can -- which is one gallon. Thus, the five gallon can now holds four gallons.
Your sylladex verifies your answer and spits out the STRANGE MACHINE.
>EXAMINE THAT MOTHERFUCKER
YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Alright. You don't really yell. But you do clear a space on the nearest work table and set the strange machine and its components down. It seems to be a rectangular box on a short stalk attached to a flared base for balance. Connected to it is another rectangle, this one thinner and covered in buttons with every letter of the alphabet and numbers from zero to nine. There also seems to be a strange circular device with two buttons, attached with another wire.
You've never seen anything like it, but you can recognize a power button when you see one, and so you push that. If you turn it on, you'll be able to find out what it does that much quicker.
>Take a step back, just in case it decides to explode
... Okay, yeah. Just in case.
>Machine: Don't explode
Amazingly, there's no explosion, just a few soft beeps and whirrs. The mirror-like front of the largest rectangle lights up, displaying a screen.
Something clicks. This is a computer, but not one like you've ever seen. This one doesn't spit out its answers on ticker tape, nor does it take up half a good-sized room. How in the world did your friend get her hands on one of these? She can't have made this all on her own...
Wait. Something just popped up on the screen.
>Check it out
You check it out.
Someone, or something, is writing you a message.
>WELL? READ IT!
trickstersTrappings [TT] began bothering tyrannicalGlory [TG] at 18:34
TT: finally!
TT: i've been waiting for you to turn this on for weeeeks!
TT: here i am giving you something amazing to play with and you don't even have the courtesy to look at it, i'm so hurt
TT: klaus
TT: oh blue fire would you respond already, the keyboard isn't that hard to figure out
TT: just press the letters
TT: why do i even botherrrrrr......
>Re... spond...?
You eye what you assume is the keyboard -- the small attached device with the letters and numbers on it. She's right, it isn't difficult to figure out, but you're still a little dubious.
Of course, the only way you're going to get her to explain any of this is by asking her.
Hesitantly, you began to type, one letter at a time.
==>
TG: what is this
TT: it's a computerrrrrr!
TT: klaus, so stupid
TG: no i mean why did you give it to me
TG: and how am i communicating with you
TT: ghhhhhh i just said! i gave it to you so you could play with it, silly, that's what friends do! yours is connected to mine through this program that we're using called bothercomrade, honestly i don't understand it, most of this was daddy's work
TG: i knew you didnt make this on your own
TT: i did some of it!!!!!!
TT: i set up the communcations account for you! and gave you that cool bothertitle!
TG: bothertitle
TT: it's the name the program recognizes you by and i thought since you're a little tyrant in training it'd be cute
TT: what do you think
TG: so your father designed this then
TT: wow
TT: shut me down
TT: R U D E
TT: but no, actually, he didn't really
>This is so weird
You're telling me.
TT: his notebooks said he found the instructions in some ruins or something
TT: daddy has terrible handwriting, i couldn't really get much out of it
TG: so he made two and this is one of them
TT: oh well no actually there's closer to eight of them, i just took the nicest-looking ones
TG: so you stole them from your father
TG: why am I not surprised
TT: well he wasn't going to do anything with them! he'd locked them in storage with a 'do not touch' sign
TT: who does that to perfectly good computers???!!!
TG: what
TT: besides, his notes said you could use them to play a game!
TG: what
TT: and i figured it would be more fun with more people
TG: WHAT
TT: oh you found your caps lock button, excellent
TT: see, you're learning fast!!
TG: HE LIKELY HAD A VERY GOOD REASON FOR NOT WANTING ANYONE TO USE THESE
TG: AND NOW AT LEAST TWO ARE ACTIVATED AND WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY DO
TT: oh my god you are no fun
TT: and it's more like four actually......
>Succumb to unfathomable blood-lust
You probably will, once you get yourself really worked up over this. Right now, you're just EXCEPTIONALLY TICKED OFF. You don't think you'll be turning the capslock button off. It gets your anger across very well.
TG: WHAT
TG: FOUR
TG: PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A JOKE
TT: why would i be joking about this? come on! your adveeeeeenture buuuuuuddy has one
TG: YOU PUT SOMETHING THIS POSSIBLY DANGEROUS INTO HIS HANDS
TG: I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU
TT: well you should
TT: check your comradebin, he's online right now
TT: he's extremelyBilious
TT: you should say hi to him actually, he's been missing you!!!!!!
>Talk to adventure buddy. Express desire to murder TT.
Are you kidding? Your adventure buddy is so head-over-heels in love with her that you can barely mention her unless you want to hear about nothing else for the next few hours.
Still, you should probably talk to him. He is your friend, after all.
You fiddle with that mouse for a few minutes and are finally able to select your comradebin and click on his bothertitle. You're learning the lingo! You feel very accomplished.
tyrannicalGlory [TG] began bothering extremelyBilious [EB] at 18:52
TG: HELLO
EB: Oh, what ho, Klaus!
EB: I wasn't expecting a mmmmessage frommmm you!
EB: Also, confound this machine, mmmmy mmmm key is stuck.
TG: THAT IS OKAY
TG: HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD YOUR COMPUTER
EB: A couple of mmmmonths, to the best of mmmmy estimmmmation.
TG: AND NOTHING BAD HAS HAPPENED
TG: NO EXPLOSIONS
TG: OR POSESSIONS
TG: OR GENERAL MAYHEM
EB: No!
EB: It's been deucedly useful actually! :)
TG: WHAT IS THAT
EB: It's a face! Turn your head to the left, old chap, you'll see it. It's smmmmiling at you!
TG: OH
TG: CHARMING
EB: So I take this to mmmmean you've talked to TT already?
EB: You'd be advised to use bothertitle initials when referring to someone, it's much quicker. You're hunt and peck typing, I can tell.
>You have no idea what that means.
TG: YES I DID TALK TO HER
TG: WERE YOU AWARE THAT THESE COMPUTERS WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE USED
EB: Yes! But where's the fun in that? Commmme on, old boy, live a little!
TG: LIVING A LITTLE COULD VERY WELL GET ME KILLED
EB: We're just going to use themmmm to play a gammmme, that can't be too terribly dangerous.
TG: REMEMBER THE LAST GAME WE PLAYED WITH HER
TG: THE GET OUT OF THE DEATHTRAP BEFORE YOU GET RIPPED TO SHREDS BY VARIOUS SAW BLADES GAME
TG: WAS THAT NOT DANGEROUS
EB: Oho, but that was just one timmmme! And it was a beautifully-constructed deathtrap, you have to admmmmit.
TG: WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER
>Back
You exit your room. You are now in the hallways of Castle Wulfenbach, your family's ancestral home. Your LAB is up the stairs at the end of this hallway. It used to be in the basement, but then you had an ACCIDENT. You don't go down there much anymore, except to check on the VERY SPECIAL PROJECT you've allocated to that room in order to hide it from your parents. They don't go down there much either, after all.
You make your way quickly past the rooms that your brothers used to inhabit and ascend the stairs.
==>
Ah, your lab! As mentioned before, you actually spend more time in here than in your actual bedroom. There's even a cot set up against the wall so you can sleep here -- though with all the glorious science possible in this room, sleeping is the last thing you want to be doing.
There are many half-finished machines and experiments in here, as well as more bookshelves (these ones hold your many designs, sketchbooks and notebooks). You really should clean up some time. But you're always so busy...
>Forget cleaning, man! Do some science!
As if you planned to do anything else. That machine your friend gave you has been sitting in your sylladex for weeks now but, being out on an adventure, you haven't had the time or tools to look at it. Until now.
You open your sylladex to retrieve it and are, predictably, accosted with another logic puzzle.
'You have two cans of motor oil. One holds five gallons, and the other holds three. Explain how, in as few steps as possible, one would go about measuring four gallons of motor oil with only the vessels given.'
>Solution.
This one is fairly simple. You wonder whether your sylladex doesn't realize how much you want to examine this machine, or if it's just running out of puzzles you haven't solved already.
First, you fill the five gallon can completely and then pour three gallons of it into the three gallon can. This three gallons you discard and replace with the two gallons left over in the five gallon can. Then, you refill the five gallon can, and pour one gallon of it into the left over space in the three-gallon can -- which is one gallon. Thus, the five gallon can now holds four gallons.
Your sylladex verifies your answer and spits out the STRANGE MACHINE.
>EXAMINE THAT MOTHERFUCKER
YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH!
Alright. You don't really yell. But you do clear a space on the nearest work table and set the strange machine and its components down. It seems to be a rectangular box on a short stalk attached to a flared base for balance. Connected to it is another rectangle, this one thinner and covered in buttons with every letter of the alphabet and numbers from zero to nine. There also seems to be a strange circular device with two buttons, attached with another wire.
You've never seen anything like it, but you can recognize a power button when you see one, and so you push that. If you turn it on, you'll be able to find out what it does that much quicker.
>Take a step back, just in case it decides to explode
... Okay, yeah. Just in case.
>Machine: Don't explode
Amazingly, there's no explosion, just a few soft beeps and whirrs. The mirror-like front of the largest rectangle lights up, displaying a screen.
Something clicks. This is a computer, but not one like you've ever seen. This one doesn't spit out its answers on ticker tape, nor does it take up half a good-sized room. How in the world did your friend get her hands on one of these? She can't have made this all on her own...
Wait. Something just popped up on the screen.
>Check it out
You check it out.
Someone, or something, is writing you a message.
>WELL? READ IT!
trickstersTrappings [TT] began bothering tyrannicalGlory [TG] at 18:34
TT: finally!
TT: i've been waiting for you to turn this on for weeeeks!
TT: here i am giving you something amazing to play with and you don't even have the courtesy to look at it, i'm so hurt
TT: klaus
TT: oh blue fire would you respond already, the keyboard isn't that hard to figure out
TT: just press the letters
TT: why do i even botherrrrrr......
>Re... spond...?
You eye what you assume is the keyboard -- the small attached device with the letters and numbers on it. She's right, it isn't difficult to figure out, but you're still a little dubious.
Of course, the only way you're going to get her to explain any of this is by asking her.
Hesitantly, you began to type, one letter at a time.
==>
TG: what is this
TT: it's a computerrrrrr!
TT: klaus, so stupid
TG: no i mean why did you give it to me
TG: and how am i communicating with you
TT: ghhhhhh i just said! i gave it to you so you could play with it, silly, that's what friends do! yours is connected to mine through this program that we're using called bothercomrade, honestly i don't understand it, most of this was daddy's work
TG: i knew you didnt make this on your own
TT: i did some of it!!!!!!
TT: i set up the communcations account for you! and gave you that cool bothertitle!
TG: bothertitle
TT: it's the name the program recognizes you by and i thought since you're a little tyrant in training it'd be cute
TT: what do you think
TG: so your father designed this then
TT: wow
TT: shut me down
TT: R U D E
TT: but no, actually, he didn't really
>This is so weird
You're telling me.
TT: his notebooks said he found the instructions in some ruins or something
TT: daddy has terrible handwriting, i couldn't really get much out of it
TG: so he made two and this is one of them
TT: oh well no actually there's closer to eight of them, i just took the nicest-looking ones
TG: so you stole them from your father
TG: why am I not surprised
TT: well he wasn't going to do anything with them! he'd locked them in storage with a 'do not touch' sign
TT: who does that to perfectly good computers???!!!
TG: what
TT: besides, his notes said you could use them to play a game!
TG: what
TT: and i figured it would be more fun with more people
TG: WHAT
TT: oh you found your caps lock button, excellent
TT: see, you're learning fast!!
TG: HE LIKELY HAD A VERY GOOD REASON FOR NOT WANTING ANYONE TO USE THESE
TG: AND NOW AT LEAST TWO ARE ACTIVATED AND WHO KNOWS WHAT THEY DO
TT: oh my god you are no fun
TT: and it's more like four actually......
>Succumb to unfathomable blood-lust
You probably will, once you get yourself really worked up over this. Right now, you're just EXCEPTIONALLY TICKED OFF. You don't think you'll be turning the capslock button off. It gets your anger across very well.
TG: WHAT
TG: FOUR
TG: PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS A JOKE
TT: why would i be joking about this? come on! your adveeeeeenture buuuuuuddy has one
TG: YOU PUT SOMETHING THIS POSSIBLY DANGEROUS INTO HIS HANDS
TG: I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU
TT: well you should
TT: check your comradebin, he's online right now
TT: he's extremelyBilious
TT: you should say hi to him actually, he's been missing you!!!!!!
>Talk to adventure buddy. Express desire to murder TT.
Are you kidding? Your adventure buddy is so head-over-heels in love with her that you can barely mention her unless you want to hear about nothing else for the next few hours.
Still, you should probably talk to him. He is your friend, after all.
You fiddle with that mouse for a few minutes and are finally able to select your comradebin and click on his bothertitle. You're learning the lingo! You feel very accomplished.
tyrannicalGlory [TG] began bothering extremelyBilious [EB] at 18:52
TG: HELLO
EB: Oh, what ho, Klaus!
EB: I wasn't expecting a mmmmessage frommmm you!
EB: Also, confound this machine, mmmmy mmmm key is stuck.
TG: THAT IS OKAY
TG: HOW LONG HAVE YOU HAD YOUR COMPUTER
EB: A couple of mmmmonths, to the best of mmmmy estimmmmation.
TG: AND NOTHING BAD HAS HAPPENED
TG: NO EXPLOSIONS
TG: OR POSESSIONS
TG: OR GENERAL MAYHEM
EB: No!
EB: It's been deucedly useful actually! :)
TG: WHAT IS THAT
EB: It's a face! Turn your head to the left, old chap, you'll see it. It's smmmmiling at you!
TG: OH
TG: CHARMING
EB: So I take this to mmmmean you've talked to TT already?
EB: You'd be advised to use bothertitle initials when referring to someone, it's much quicker. You're hunt and peck typing, I can tell.
>You have no idea what that means.
TG: YES I DID TALK TO HER
TG: WERE YOU AWARE THAT THESE COMPUTERS WERE NEVER MEANT TO BE USED
EB: Yes! But where's the fun in that? Commmme on, old boy, live a little!
TG: LIVING A LITTLE COULD VERY WELL GET ME KILLED
EB: We're just going to use themmmm to play a gammmme, that can't be too terribly dangerous.
TG: REMEMBER THE LAST GAME WE PLAYED WITH HER
TG: THE GET OUT OF THE DEATHTRAP BEFORE YOU GET RIPPED TO SHREDS BY VARIOUS SAW BLADES GAME
TG: WAS THAT NOT DANGEROUS
EB: Oho, but that was just one timmmme! And it was a beautifully-constructed deathtrap, you have to admmmmit.
TG: WHY DO I EVEN BOTHER
>Back