#shivasprite

-- audaciousArchitect [AA] began badgering phaithfulPhysician [PP] –

AA: Liz. PP: Hello, Greg. AA: I understand you’ve successfully entered the game. PP: I have. PP: Now I’m attempting to enlighten my new friends. AA: Friends? PP: The consorts of my world. They appear to be part of a pagan cult that worships us. PP: And frogs, for some reason. AA: Ah. That must be what all of these compartments contain. AA: And these creatures would be consorts. PP: Oh, what do you have? I believe Steve was being vexed by monkeys. AA: I believe these are foxes. PP: Hmmm. Then it would appear each world has its own consorts. Fascinating. AA: But likely unimportant. Have you encountered any imps and earned any grist? PP: Yes. I’m sorry, but I’ve already alchemized a few items. AA: … PP: I think Steve has as well. AA: I expected this recklessness from him, but not from you. AA: I explicitly laid out an optimal strategy. We can’t afford to squander our time and resources. PP: You don’t trust us to make good decisions. AA: Of course I do. AA: I just trust myself to make better ones. PP: …I’m beginning to understand why Steve finds you so frustrating. AA: That was a joke. PP: Sure it was. AA: Regardless, we need structure. We can do far more if we’re certain we are all working toward the same goal. PP: So you say. PP: I think you’re just afraid to give up power. PP: You’ve been head of every team you’ve joined and every projected you’ve worked on. You’re now in a situation where you can’t just take charge, and you’re terrified. PP: I could hazard guesses about the source of this need for control – I know how strict your father can be – but I think I’ll leave that up to you. AA: Are you done? AA: I have work to do. AA: Don’t do any more alchemy without consulting me first.

-- audaciousArchitect [AA] ceased badgering phaithfulPhysician [PP] --

The nerve of that girl. She’s always been meddlesome, but directly contracting your orders? You have a history of successful leadership. It only makes sense that you seize authority – for the good of everyone. You are the one best suited to keeping everyone safe and successfully winning the game.

And your relationship with your father has always been absolutely fine. He’s pushed you, yes, but only to make sure you reached your full potential. You wouldn’t be the champion of the robotics club and an Eagle Scout and a straight-A student and a SMOOTH OPERATOR if not for his guidance. You’re the pinnacle of excellence because you have the support you need to keep you focused.

Well. If she’s going to be obstinate, you’ll just let her waste her own time.

SHIVASPRITE: ERROR SHIVASPRITE: user.getServer().connection > maxTime SHIVASPRITE: user.build() cannot accept null parameters SHIVASPRITE: user.enterGate() cannot accept null parameters SHIVASPRITE: server is a key field SHIVASPRITE: server cannot be null

Your magnum opus is correct. You need to contact Tiffany again. While you could certainly continue alchemizing with the objects you have, there are certainly better uses for the grist you’ve been collecting. The devices you had a grist cost, so there must be more that you couldn’t afford before.

You do have a client player. Perhaps you’ll take a look at the Phernalia Registry from the server side.

-- audaciousArchitect [AA] began badgering siliconSwashbuckler [SS] –

AA: Steve. SS: Oh. Wonderful. SS: As if I didn’t have enough of a headache now. AA: Leave the apes alone. I’m going to look at the options available in the Phernalia Registry. AA: You’ve been able to earn a surprising amount of grist. I’m impressed. SS: Don’t patronize me, Greg. AA: I’m not. Well done, Steve. AA: You’ve even made a high-quality weapon. A fine example of resourcefulness. AA: Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to spend some of your grist. SS: What if I do mind? AA: I’m going to do it anyway. But I would prefer your consent. AA: I’m not an asshole. SS: Says you. SS: Fine. Do whatever you’re going to do. SS: I’m going to get back to throwing away anything remotely like a coconut on this whole planet.

--

You open the Phernalia Registry and begin perusing. Steve already has the Cruxtruder, the Alchemiter, the Totem Lathe, and the Punch Designix. These appear to be the core of the system – obtain Cruxite dowels, punch cards, carve totems, and create objects. Anything else, then, must be supplemental. They would augment the existing devices, or provide some other benefit tangential to the alchemy process.

There are multiple items related to punched cards. As alchemy revolves around them, they’re obviously where to start first.

You attempt to deploy the Jumper Block Extension. A ghost image snaps to the end of the Alchemiter, displaying a number of connection ports. It clips through the wall, though, so you can’t simply deploy it now. You’ll have to make space.

For the first time, you take a good look at the room you’re rearranging. It has the air of a master bedroom, likely where Steve’s mother sleeps. A momentary twinge hits you as you wonder about your own parental figure. It’s nonsense, though; you managed to enter the Medium, and your father is far better than you are. You don’t have a doubt that he found a way to safety.

As a show of respect, you don’t chuck the contents of this room out the window as you did with the spare room. Instead, you take care to move them down to the first floor. That lets you move the Alchemiter and deploy the Jumper Block Extension.

Of course, now you have empty ports. There’s something in the Registry called a Punch Card Shunt. When you drag it out, it fits perfectly on one of the extension ports. It seems, like the Punch Designix, to have a slot for a captchalog card.

--

AA: Alright, Steve. Enough fucking around. I need your help to test something. SS: Okay, okay. I’m headed back in- SS: …Why is my mom’s bed in the kitchen? AA: I needed to make room. Come up to the Alchemiter.

--

After a few moments, you see Steve on the screen.

--

SS: What’s this thing? AA: The Jumper Block Extension. Put one of your cards in the slot. SS: Which one? AA: Didn’t you not want me dictating your moves? SS: Okay, here goes.

--

He draws one of his cards from his Sylladex and slips it in.

The pedestal that scans carved dowels transforms into what appears to be a scale. You place an uncarved dowel on it, and the central platform projects symbols into the air.

A = 2πr2 + 2πhr

V = πr2h

--

AA: You used a geometry textbook, I assume. SS: Yeah. Looks like it makes the Alchemiter calculate the properties of the Cruxore cylinder. AA: Cruxite. SS: What? AA: It’s called Cruxite. SS: Oh. Whatever. AA: More importantly, the Shunt changed the functionality of the Alchemiter. SS: Yeah, it did. AA: Hmm… SS: Hey, I have an idea. AA: Yes? SS: Can we get the captcha codes for the things in the Registry? Maybe we can combine them all into one machine. AA: That’s a good idea. Is your Sylladex capable of capturing something as large as this? SS: Crap. No. AA: Nor is mine. SS: I think Liz can. Check with her. AA: …Why don’t you do that. I have other things here I need to handle. SS: Okay.