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CharophyceanKeybordz

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Text Adventure Playthrough #9: Slouching Towards Bedlam

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Total Posts: 1353

Joined 2017-09-18

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Remember that we can also tell James about a topic (not that I think there’s much to tell yet).

>ask james about cleve
“I must admit, I thought the whole thing a bit odd, but it is your prerogative to treat special cases as you see fit as did ... Doctor Brand.”

James taps his fingers nervously.

>ask james about brand
“He ... he took his own life. I fear the pressures of this place had gotten the better of him. He spent every waking moment here, on his patients, this place. We must be vigilant sir. So easy to get lost here.”

>ask james about patients
“I don’t feel as though I’m qualified to answer that question, sir.”

>ask james about Yeats
“I don’t feel as though I’m qualified to answer that question, sir.”

>ask james about Joan Didion
“I’m afraid I can’t help you there.”

James shudders suddenly, then looks at you sheepishly.

>

     
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>i
>show James key
>show rod

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Total Posts: 1353

Joined 2017-09-18

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>i
Carried:
  a tin cylinder labeled January twenty-second
  a tin cylinder labeled January eighth
  a flanged brass rod
  a manual
  a tin cylinder labeled March sixteenth
  a sandalwood box (open but empty)
  a small key labled 2D

James shudders suddenly, then looks at you sheepishly.

>show James key
“It’s the key to your flat, Doctor. Are you *certain* you are feeling all right?”

>show James rod
“Why it’s a Panopticon key, sir. Corridor 6 - upper level. The abandoned wing, if you remember, sir. You left strict orders about it.”

     
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>ask James about Panopticon (2x)

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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>ask James about Panopticon
“Is it acting up again, sir?  I’m sorry. We haven’t been keeping up regular maintenance, what with the budget constraints.”

James sighs.

>again
“You aren’t trying to activate it with your key to your flat again, are you sir? And you pushed the button for the cell you wanted?

>g
“Never did like that form of observation, sir. Feels a bit like spying, looking at them when they can’t look at you. Besides, it was designed with prisons in mind. This is a place of healing.”

He shakes his head as he goes back to his work.

“At least it’s meant to be.”

James stares out into space for a long moment.

>

     
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Let’s go someplace, preferably to the Panopticum. Smile
>e
or w or s

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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>e

Archives
This room is mostly empty space. The farthest wall is lined with gleaming, brass pull-file drawers and seems to go on infinitely in every direction. The entrance to the west opens onto a solid, dusty platform, which allows visitors to stand suspended above the unseen floor.

At the end of the platform lies a pedestal topped with a small, inverted onyx pyramid.

Triage obediently appears.

>x platform
The platform is surrounded on three sides by a low metal railing, the better to prevent an unfortunate drop into the vacuum below. Footprints mark and remark the dust, forming a trail from the lobby to the pedestal and back.

>x pyramid
Matte black and smooth, it is securely anchored to the pedestal at its inverted apex.

>

     
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>x pedestal
>point at pyramid

     
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>x pedestal
It is shaped like a pulpit. On its flat surface is small panel containing a dial and small glass display and delicately balanced at its top is an inverted black pyramid.

>point at pyramid
The machine analyzes the pyramid before replying…

CAT:NONLIVING.TO
OL.UTIL:ARCHIVE.
INTERFACE.PART:P
HYSICAL.FILE.RET
RIVAL.UNIT.ACTIV
ATED.UPON.INPUT.
OF.FILE.NUMBER/C
ODE.VIA.DIAL….

>

     
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>x dial
>x display

We don’t have a file number, so I guess we should explore some more.

>w (2x)

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Joined 2011-10-21

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So we faint occasionally?
Dr. Brand said in his last cylinder that he felt the faintness coming.

Leap-of-thought about this and our “error” categorization: are we Brand? Like maybe a clone or something?

Also, the hospital is called Bethlehem? Like the original mental hospital in London that spawned the “Bedlam” name??? Smile

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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The Second Coming
BY WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS

Turning and turning in the widening gyre  
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere  
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst  
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand. 
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out  
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert  
A shape with lion body and the head of a man, 
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, 
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it  
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds. 
The darkness drops again; but now I know  
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle, 
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, 
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is also a book of essays by Joan Didion.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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Well, that explains you asking about Yeats and Didion… Innocent

     

The truth can’t hurt you, it’s just like the dark: it scares you witless but in time you see things clear and stark. - Elvis Costello
Maybe this time I can be strong, but since I know who I am, I’m probably wrong. Maybe this time I can go far, but thinking about where I’ve been ain’t helping me start. - Michael Kiwanuka

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Total Posts: 1353

Joined 2017-09-18

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>x dial
The dial seems capable of being set to any number between 1 and 9 as well as the letters A through F. It currently rests at 1.

>x display
A small sheet of glass, beneath which runs a paper tape which disappears into the bowels of the mechanism. The glass is cut in such a way as to magnify the tape beneath it.

The tape is currently imprinted with:
“...RETRIEVAL COMPLETE…”

>w

Lobby
The walls and floor are a clinical white tile and marble. However, the dim lights set above this echoing space hiss and pop fitfully, giving the small maze of desks and workspaces within a tarnished, decaying look.

A set of solid gates lie opened and unlocked to the east and west. A small corridor runs northward and from the south, the bright light of day is visible through a set of glass doors.

James sits behind his desk, nervously working.

Triage trundles patiently along beside.

>w

Walkway
The slight wind whistles tunelessly against this mesh of steel, which arcs from one massive, opened gate to another. A roof curves far overhead, enclosing both the block-like building to the east and the narrow tower to the west. Far below, an intricate set of sub-buildings can be seen, enclosed within the complex’s outer wall.

Triage obediently appears.

>

     
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Joined 2013-08-26

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One of my favorite games/multimedia experiences is Ceremony of Innocence by Nick Bantock. Yeats’ poem plays a part in the story. Awesome to hear Ben Kingsley recite The Second Coming.

     

See you around, wolf. Nerissa

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