WARNING :
This story is partly fictional, all characters portrayed either living, dead or in limbo have been quoted truthfully where thought appropriate. All coincidences between this and the real world is purely a ploy by psychiatrists to get them to pay you large amounts of money for suffering from being schizophrenic.
The Summerfest!
_( Or how to be a real life Avatar )_
Part I
*>
The Guildmaster says, “HERE IS YOUR QUEST YOUNG Optimist – Go and report on the activities that have come to be known as the ‘Summerfest’ at Shoreham by the Sea”
The Guildmaster looks left and right and whispers, “You might find these to be useful…”
*>Inventory
Your money pouch contains … 50 pounds
You are carrying :
Several pens
A wad of paper
Some Booze
A Scrystone (Unknown use)
A Ford Fiesta Van appears from nowhere!
*>Enter Van
You climb into the Van, but not without Much effort!
*>Start Van & Drive to Birmingham & Get Achelous & Drive to Shoreham in heavy rain narrowly missing several Lorries on the way there
Your surroundings fade away…
You find yourself :
Outside Zarabeth’s house.
Now that the rain has abated slightly, you can just make out number 59 through the haze. There seems to be a long way between you and the front door!
*>xs
You can see the following exits :
Forward
*>Forward
At Zarabeth’s Front door.
You can see a door in front of you.
There is a letterbox here.
*>Use Letterbox
You ready Zarabeth’s letterbox!
*>Wait
Time passes…
*>Tap foot
You emote
CRREEAAAK!
Zarabeth the Director opens the door looking apologetic!
Zarabeth says, ” Sorry, was on the telephone! Please come in!”
*>Brief
Ok! Only showing brief descriptions!
*>In
Inside Zarabeth’s House.
*>Sit on sofa and accept coffee
You sit down, drinking coffee
*>Time
1 day and several hours to the meet
*>Engage in small talk until telephone rings
Zarabeth leaves to answer the phone.
Zarabeth arrives having just answered the phone!
Zarabeth says, ” Batman can’t make it it seems. ”
*>Sigh
You emote
*>Wait expectantly for Gloom to arrive
You wait.
Brrrring!
Zarabeth leaves to answer the door.
You hear Zarabeth scream in the distance!
Gloom arrives complete with a grin and a spelling mistake!
Zarabeth walks in… Blushing!
*>Giggle
You emote.
The Guildmaster appears in front of Gloom and says, ” HERE IS YOUR QUEST YOUNG Gloom : By using silver bangles, trap an unsuspecting terminator to a place where you might well peer! ”
You see the Guildmaster hand Gloom some silver – thingies…
The Guildmaster Fades out, only to reappear and sweep any rubbish up into a large sack!
The Guildmaster fades out again muttering, “Understaffing!”
*>Wait
You wait for approximately 2 hours, and also buy some booze!
BRRRRINNG!
Zarabeth leaves to see if its Arnie!
Zarabeth farshouts, “Its Arnie!”
Arnie arrives with bulging muscles and a worried look at Gloom!
Gloom grins evilly at Arnie!
*>Say Hi Arnie! Why are you so late?
Arnie replies, “Really unusual thing happened, I got stuck in a traffic jam on the M25…”
Arnie adds, “I came in my car, not motorcycling weather!”
The rain beats harder on the windows, wanting in!
Achelous says, “Zarabeth, when’s Vick going to arrive? I need to play on Avatar!”
Zarabeth pouts!
Zarabeth points to a plastic bag and says, “Ok, I need a volunteer!”
Everyone looks at you!
*>say Ummm….
You speak
*>emote gets up and walks over to the bag…
You emote.
Zarabeth gives you a yellow half ball shape with a tube sticking out of it!
*>Examine Bag
The bag is extremely black, this is because it is a dustbin bag.
Inside there are :
4 airbeds (deflated)
An Airbed (damaged)
*>use footpump
You ready the footpump!
You start to pump up the airbed…
*>Pant
You emote
The airbed does not seem to be blowing up here…
*>:use footpump
You use the footpump more!
*>:pant
You nearly collapse from the effort!
The airbed is now filled with air!
*>remove footpump & put stopper in airbed
You remove the stopper
You hear a loud, “Hissssssssssssssss!”
You put the stopper in the airbed
The noise stops!
Everyone applauds you!
*>Bow
You emote
*>collapse into a chair and allow someone else to finish the rest
You collapse very unfitly into the chair
You watch with fascination as 3 other airbeds are pumped up in turn by Arnie, Gloom and Achelous.
Zarabeth mentions, “Vick will be here soon, he still thinks we should have a barbecue… Oh GuildMaster?”
You all look around…
Zarabeth says, “Oh mr cuddly Guildmaster?”
You wait…
Zarabeth shouts, “Oi! GM! get here or your out of a job!”
The Guildmaster appears, surrounded by a bathrobe and drips over Zarabeth’s carpet…
The Guildmaster sighs and says, “HERE IS YOUR QUEST YOUNG Adventurers, light me a fire in a bowl, read the instructions because they’re whole…”
The Guildmaster retorts to the groans, “Well YOU come up with something better when you’ve just been yanked out of a bath!”
The Guildmaster fades out, leaving a rubber duckie and a loofah!
Zarabeth says, “Huh, I thought he was supposed to be BIG!”
BRRRIIINNNGGGG!!
Zarabeth runs out, to answer the door!
You hear the sounds of french kissing by the doorway and decide to ignore it…
Masterful Vick strides in carrying a box of goodies!
Zarabeth wafts in, weak at the knees!
Vick says, “How do you like your chicken? Normal or hot?”
A general murmur arises, of “However…”
You all go into the conservatory.
Arnie says, “My! What a big tent you’ve got there!”
Gloom winks and says, “That’s where you will be staying – With me!”
Gloom sniggers evilly!
Arnie screams loudly!
*>Examine barbecue
The barbecue is round, black and looks a little like an Olympic fire bowl.
There are a few bags of charcoal lying around.
There is a bottle of flammable liquid next to the charcoal.
Gloom opens the bag of charcoal and pours it onto the barbecue.
Vick opens the bottle and covers the charcoal in flammable liquid.
Vick hurries off to the kitchen and awaits the explosion…
*>Get match out of the box and light it.
You light the match.
*>Throw match onto charcoal and stand back
You hurry backwards.
There is a PHWOMPH! and the barbecue flares up into a huge fireball, nearly singeing your eyebrows, and goes out.
*>Say Darn! Too much fluid!
You speak.
Vick walks back in, looking at the barbecue…
Vick says, “Did anyone read the instructions on the charcoal bag?”
€Gloom replies, “No… It was used as kindling for the charcoal”
Vick reads the instructions on the bottle…
*>Examine bottle
How to light your barbecue successfully :
- Make sure its not raining
- It is useful to do this outside.
- Place 6 charcoal bricks on the barbecue and soak thoroughly in the liquid.
- Light the bricks.
- Once these bricks are lit, add more until you are getting a fair amount of heat out of them.
- Have a nice barbecue!
Vick says, “Did you follow these instructions?”
*>look at gloom
You look at Gloom along with everyone else…
Gloom says, “Well, not as such… I followed points 2 and 4 though. Does that count?”
*>Groan
You emote.
Vick says, “I’ll be darned to see this thing beat me!”
Vick starts to mess around with the barbecue…
*>Wait
Time passes…
Vick walks in, smelling of Lighter fuel and smoke.
Vick says, “Ok, ok – Let’s use the oven, I’m getting a little hungry… …And very thirsty! Anyone for a Rum and passion fruit drink?”
*>Glance
In Zarabeth’s House.
Vick is here, drinking some Rum.
Arnie is here, drinking some beer.
Optimist is here, drinking some cider.
Achelous is here drinking some lager.
Gloom is here, drinking…
Zarabeth is not here, she’s in the kitchen with a drink and the oven.
Vick goes into the kitchen.
You hear the sound of french kissing – Again!
Brrrring!
Vick shouts, “Darn! And it was just getting interesting too!”
In the hall you hear Vick say, “At last! Sigea!”
Sigea walks in, with a large ream of paper…
Sigea says, “Oh, I’ve got some terminals too!”
Vick looks worried and says, “Don’t you want a drink first? I know I do. And then something to eat perhaps?”
Zarabeth trots in and says, “Dinner.. Er supper is ready!”
*>go into the kitchen and stuff your face with chicken and accept the rum that Vick is offering you
You do it.
Time passes…
Vick says, “Ok, ok! I’ll set up the machine!”
Sigea removes the strategically placed pencil from up Vick’s nose…
Sigea and Achelous whoop for joy as the terminals start to display :
AVATAR II – The Citadel…
*>Talk to everyone about life on the game, life in general and why is Arnie trying to slide away from Gloom?
You smalltalk.
*>Time
You have been playing for 23:30:32 over 1 session.
The time now is 04:00 on Ifr 3 Luj 2991
*>Yawn
You emote.
Vick says, “Point taken Opty… Off to bed!”
Gloom looks at Arnie and says, “Oooh… Just what I’ve been waiting for!”
Arnie screams and grovels to Zarabeth, “Please don’t let him be in the same room as me, plleeaase!”
Zarabeth cuddles Arnie and says, “Aww, is likkle Arniewarmy afraid of fat Gloom? Ok, I’ll let you stay in one of the bedrooms – one of them has a lock on the door!”
Arnie kisses Zarabeth and scorches off upstairs!
Gloom bursts into tears!
*>go to bed
You go to bed.
*>Sleep
Before you fall asleep you hear the decisive, ‘Snick!’ of a door being locked, from the inside…