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Depth - Choose Your Own Adventure!


Rathlord

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Staring back at you in the mirror you see your face: Nel, the lowly janitor. You seem almost surprised to see yourself, your short hair bobbing as you let go of the mirror. The other women all have long hair, but you've always liked yours short. Pushing aside the pointless thoughts, you prepare for your day. You slide quickly into your jumpsuit and strap on your toolbelt. On the belt is a variety of small but useful tools: A hefty wrench for tightening or loosening the many water pressure valves that keep the Bathydome working, a small roll of duct tape, a copper pocket watch, and a foamer. Foamers are small spray cans that shoot out a sticky, adhesive gel that quickly expands into a dense and durable foam when it contacts air or water. It's used for many things, but its main use is stopping leaks from destroying the facility. You have one foam canister in your gun and no extras. You could go to the worker's commissary sometime to purchase more.

 

With that in mind, you grab the handful of Reqs  and Bits on the table. These coins are what you use to requisition items in the Bathydome. Reqs are used for bigger purchases, whilst Bits are used for smaller items and bartering. There are 8 Bits in a Req. You currently have 2 Reqs and 5 Bits. You also grab your variable bulkhead key. The key is large and appears to be made of brass. It has dull teeth sticking out of the top, bottom, and the two sides. The number of teeth on each side (maximum 4) determine what facilities you can get into. The Bathydome Supervisor has a master key that can unlock additional teeth for keys, and Facility Supervisors for each of the three workgroups can unlock additional teeth for their facilities. Your job takes you all over the Bathydome, so you have low level access to all the facilities. You have 1 military facility teeth, 3 engineering teeth, and 1 science tooth, and 3 worker teeth. You could earn more teeth by working for or gaining the trust of Supervisors.

 

With your daily work gear gathered, you almost walk out of the room before remembering: you almost left your lucky pen knife behind! And while you're there, you also grab a bottle of acidic cleaning solution you made the other day. It's really useful for dissolving tough materials, so you rarely go without it. You tuck the small vial into a soft pocket of your belt. Finally ready for the day, you spin the bulkhead wheel on your door, open it, and step out into the hallway.

 

It's certainly not your first time walking into a corridor of Solipsia, but you're still filled with wonder as lights come on around the facility. Even at this extreme depth, the world outside is beautiful and wondrous. You slowly put your hands up to the glass and peer out. Further along the corridor, the rest of the Bathydome spreads like a spider of glass and steel on the ocean floor, but before you is the sea in all its majesty. Bioluminescent jellyfish leisurely float past, hardy plants sway on the ocean floor, and if you watch for long enough you can sometimes catch glimpses of massive shadows, too far away to discern. Whatever leviathans live in the void, they haven't ever come close enough to the Bathydome to be observed directly.

 

Finally pulling yourself away, you turn to walk towards the central building and almost collide with a dark-haired young lady! You recognize her and say, "Oh! Sorry Kendra!" She keeps walking, but smiles confusedly and waves, replying, "It's okay Nel! And it's Kaila, actually." Oops! Embarrassing! You remember now that Kaila is a junior engineer. You've seen her before, but didn't realize she knew your name. As you're musing to yourself, another woman walks out of her room. You recognize her as Dr. Amanda Wilson, the science Supervisor. Your normally don't rub elbows with supervisors, but she immediately greets you and asks how you are. You tell her that you're fine, and she looks at you inquisitively for a few moments before turning to leave. She pauses for just a moment before saying, over her shoulder, "Stop by the science lab sometime and talk to me. I have something for you." You nod to her and let her go on her way.

 

Checking your pocket watch, you realize that it's later than you thought! You should be working! Luckily, as janitor you often get to work at your own pace unless someone asks you to do something specific.

 

1) What should you do this morning?

 

A) Go to the cafeteria in the Hub and get breakfast! It is the most important meal of the day, after all!

B) Go to the cafeteria and help serve breakfast! It's not usually your job, but the workers always appreciate the help!

C) Go to the Military Complex on the south side of the Bathydome. Military often handles their own janitorial work, but they might need something!

D) Stay in the Residential Complex. There's a toilet backed up in one of the rooms on the men's wing.

E) Go to the Engineering Complex on the east side of the Bathydome. There's a work order out for some damaged water pressure lines there. It requires 4-tooth engineering access, but maybe someone will let you in!

F) Go to the Engineering Complex. Kaila went there, and she seems nice! Maybe she'll be your friend if you follow her!

G) Go to the Science Complex on the north side of the Bathydrome. Dr. Wilson asked you to come by after all!

H) Something else entirely! Go where you want and do what you want! Ask questions if you need help navigating!

 

 

 


Inventory

Hefty wrench
duct tape
pocket watch
foamer
2 reqs, 8 bits
bulkhead key
pen knife
cleaning solution


 

Skills
 

 

 

 


 

 

Wow! That was longer than I expected, sorry guys. They probably won't be this long in general, but I had a lot of stuff to cover and concepts to introduce. Remember to ask questions about anything and everything. Inspect items or Question people or View surroundings. Check knowledge on a subject. Future updates should have more interesting stuff and less concepts. Stuff highlighted in bold is important information to the story or the world that you might want to take note of.

 

I also neglected to name the Bathydome in the first post. It is called Solipsia. Solipsia is the place, the Bathydome is the actual physical facility.

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Check surrounding (sort of) : Is it possible to do A while going to another wing?

 

If so :

1) A then E

 

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, but I'm getting late.  Better grab a quick meal to go and head up to engineering (it sounds serious and anything to get away from unclogging Ted's toilet again... last time I stank for two days)

Edited by MyTJ
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So we're an engineer with a hobby of chemistry, did I catch that correctly? We made the cleaning solution with the chemistry skill?

 

I agree that we should definately A get breakfast first. Hungry stomachs make mistakes. OTOH, we only have a single science tooth on our key which I'm not comfortable with. More access is always better! We should head to G the science complex afterwards.

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A) Because it just makes sense at this point.


Since we have no access to the Engineering Complex, we might as well go with the route F) on the odd chance that Kaila has higher level clearance and would let us in, instead of relying on poor luck. If not, we can always ask Kaila what she knows about damaged water pressure.

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@blindcoder your are janitor with chemistry hobby. I'll be back for the other questions over my lunch break. 

 

Edit: just kidding, barely got a break today. Will get back this afternoon. Will probably close voting tonight in about 9-10 hours from now so bug people who haven't voted on Discord :P

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What do I know about Dr Amanda Wilson and her work here? What kind of person is she?

 

The same questions for Kaila!

 

I'll save asking about relationships with other factors for another time. It'll be good to get a handle on the people and their motivations. I imagine that will play heavily in the times to come.

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Sorry for not getting into the next bit quicker here, I had some... rapid, shitty real life developments this weekend. I'll keep voting open until whatever time tomorrow I wake up (probably 8 AM CST) and/or get to updating. Cast any last minute votes and hopefully expect the update tomorrow assuming my life doesn't implode in the mean time!

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On 9/23/2016 at 2:30 PM, Ontogenesis said:

What do I know about Dr Amanda Wilson and her work here? What kind of person is she?

 

The same questions for Kaila!

 

 

About Dr. Wilson, you know very little: Supervisors are often incredibly busy and don't typically have time to interact with people like you. She strikes you as a nice person, but your interactions with her have been few. About her work, you know nothing but her job. They don't generally share specifics, but you might be able to find out more information if you ask her/someone.

 

About Kaila: She seems to be a nice person, always with a smile on her face. She gives off an air that makes it feel as if you're friends with her, even though realistically you've rarely spoken. She's always cheerful when you interact with her, although sometimes her mind wanders to her work and she loses track of conversations. Similar to Dr. Wilson, you know naught of her work, but she might tell you if you asked!

 

On 9/23/2016 at 6:39 AM, Keshash said:

Question people: where is worker's commissary?

 

The worker's commissary is in the central building of Solipsia, also known as The Hub. It houses much of the basics of society, shops, a small Library, and more.

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You hustle towards the Hub, intent to get as much done as you can with your time. The Hub is by far the largest part of Solipsia, but where you're going is easy- the first section after coming from the Residential Complex is the Cafeteria. There is a long counter with openings to the kitchens where you order your food. There's not much of a line this late, so you make it to the counter quickly. You grab your usual order- creamed kelp- and then look around for a place to sit.


While looking for a table, you spot a man a few tables down being sick into a trashcan. He looks very ill, with a wild look in his eyes. Normally you'd run over to help- or at least clean up- but today you hesitate. You've got places to be. As a few people crowd around him and offer help, you find a seat at a small table at the edge of the room. It's got a nice view of the deep, but you're quickly finished eating and get up to leave. As you walk towards the center of the Hub, you notice a few science workers (medics, most likely) and a peacekeeper helping the sick man away towards the Science Complex. You think it odd that there's a peacekeeper with them, so you try to catch up.


You move quickly through the Hub, past several stores and the Worker's Commissary. The group ahead of you gets farther ahead, almost at a run. You're really curious, but you don't want to draw attentioni to yourself so you keep to a walk. As you enter the corridor to the Science Complex, you see them at the exit at the far end. They swing the door closed behind them, and you finally break into and all-out sprint. You burst through the doors and look down the three-way corridor on the other side, but as quick as you were you seem to have missed them. Everything is quiet.


Somewhat dejected, you walk straight along the middle corridor, which leads directly to Dr. Wilson's office, and press the buzzer on the door. You wait for several minutes with no response, but just as you're about to leave the door swings open. Dr. Wilson stands on the other side, wearing her typical lab coat, although it's stained with something yellow today- not entirely unusual. She waves you in, and walks back to her desk. It's more of a lab table than a desk today, with various beakers sitting on it. You try to peak at some of the vials, but this kind of chemistry is a bit beyond your talents. Maybe if you had more time to look at it.


"Nel. What can I do for you this morning?" Dr Wilson querries.


"Oh," you reply, "you said you had something for me, so I figured I'd come right by."


Dr. Wilson smiles, "I didn't expect you this quick, but that's just fine. I heard you enjoyed chemistry, so I wanted to give you this..." She rumages around in her drawer for a moment and pulls out a small, unlabeled flask. "This is a bioluminescent enzyme. It's something we're going to be studying more soon, but I thought you might like some. Do with it whatever you wish. It will lose its potency over time, but there is a way to refuel it. I'll leave figuring out how to you- a bit of a challenge, if you will. If you solve it in less than 48 hours, I'll let you do some work in the Science Complex if you'd like. A junior scientist, so to speak, if that's something you'd be interested in."


"While you're here, I could use a small favor," she continues, "B Lab needs some of the bioluminescent compound." She pulls out another flask from her drawer, this time with a red sticker across the middle. "Could you drop that by? Normally I'd just do it, but I've got a meeting soon that I'd rather not be late to. I could probably make it if you don't have time, though."

 

1) What do you do next?

 

A) Thank Dr. Wilson and take the sample to B Lab for her!

B) Thank Dr. Wilson and tell her you'll take the sample to B Lab, but keep it instead!

C) Thank Dr. Wilson, but tell her you don't have time for a delivery (pick something else to do from below)

D) Go back to your room to try to figure out how to fuel the compound. Time is of the essence!

E) Pick another activity from your choices from the morning (write them as E: C for example, if you wanted to go to the military complex)

F-Z) Pick something else to do!

 

 


Inventory

Hefty wrench
duct tape
pocket watch
foamer
2 reqs, 8 bits
bulkhead key
pen knife
cleaning solution

Bioluminescent Vial
 

Skills

 


 

 

Hey guys! Sorry about the really long update time. As mentioned previously, I had some real life shit hit the fan so I've been dealing with that. I'll try to be more consistent in the future.

 

This update's tip: The "best" choice is often not going to be one I lay out in front of you. There is more information to have, more things to find, more content to explore if you come up with creative solutions. I will not hand you answer, and I'll always reward creative solutions.

 

Tip #2: The manner in which you make your votes will count for something. Nel will grow as a character based on your replies. If everyone votes for an option, she will be certain that's the path she wants to take. If it's a split vote, she'll have a hard time deciding. If everyone's excited about something, Nel will be excited about it. etc.

 

Tip #3: We've got pretty good numbers, but more is always better and makes for interesting discussion. Tell your friends!

 

 

Edit: Also check out this other CYOA by @TheWraithPlayer !

 

 

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4 minutes ago, MyTJ said:

How far away is B Lab?

 

Can it be chained with something else (unless there's something unexpected at B Lab)?

 

 

If you face back towards the hub, the B Lab is on the right branch of the corridor. It's not too far. And yes, you can add on something else.

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A, then F (see below) and if nothing interesting happen at any of those, then D.

 

Assuming there is a 50/50 chance B Lab is the one where the sick man and others went (3 way corridor, we went to one already), chances are that delivery of the bioluminescent compound will yield interesting (and maybe dangerous) results... following the other corridor (left one) next should not take too long.

 

Obviously I should be careful approaching both as... even as intriguing as a peacekeeper escorting a wild eyed sick man may be... caution is best (so peaking around corners and doors please!)  I'm kind of reminded of the old proverb about curiosity and a cat... yet somehow... maybe we can be curious and careful?

 

Then, if nothing too time consuming or sparking new choice follow... better get to work on activating that bioluminescent enzyme in hope to get some more teeth on our key as a junior scientist.

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A sick man with medics AND a peacekeeper? Certainly nothing we should be involved in, curiosity or not, we really don't want to catch whatever that guy had.

As for what to do, well... we could swap the red label to the flask she gave us and deliver our flask to the lab? Maybe the contents aren't really THAT identical?

 

Also, as a janitor, we could - eww, gross - go back to the cafeteria and swap the garbage bins bag to check what that dude ate? If he also had the kelp, that would be veeery bad for us.

 

So many options...

 

I vote for staying clear of the sick dude if we can, swapping the label, then A deliver it. We can examine that stuff later. 48 hours is a long time.

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First of all - examine the bioluminescent enzyme - what it is, what is it useful for, and what does it do. Since we've gotten to be quite good at chemistry, I reckon it shouldn't be difficult to make an educated guess about the substance. Not figuring out how to refuel it but just what good can it do us in the future.

I'm pretty indecisive about what to do next, so I'll leave the voting on where to head next to other participants. All I want to know at this point is what this substance does.

 

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