Fountellion in THE SPIRAL: Greenwise & the Nature of the Game

SUPER-LOG 7: The 'Stokermen' Are Coming For ME !

I suddenly have much more than I'm ready to handle on my plate. Prepared? No. (But isn't this always the way, eh? Despite a load of tutorial.)

The sky – already dim – now turns much darker. But it's not time for sleepy bye-byes folks. Not at all. It's some kind of... smoke coming over the line of trees which mark the start of a dense, imposing forest. The river runs through the open fields before it's swallowed by that forest, and my plan is to stick close to it and follow it.

But I begin to see... two black, smoking dots, like airborne insects, crawling into view above the tree-tops, through the air, in some broken attempt at flying. Then I start to make out long, impressive things they're carrying. And I've little doubt they're hunting for me...

So... I begin a bit of frantic jumping towards the river. Trouble is... I still suck at the focussing thing. I can't visualise in my head the correct balance of elements to trigger a decent jump. And I realise it's boggy – peat or something, weighing my feet down. I jump again, badly. I look up and see these flying burnt human things are... much... closer. I'm under pressure. Then I miss a stepping stone. I get stuck.

[And this is where we came in...]

Such a feeling of helplessness so early on in the grip of this world is not something I'm going to forget quickly. In fact, I'm going to do everything I can to make damn sure it doesn't happen again. Even if that means putting up with Greenwise for many more sessions.

But right now I'm doing everything I can to focus myself out of there, raising hands quickly, trying to concentrate. It's Luke Skywalker trapped upside down on planet Hoth all over again. Only I realise how hard it is to think when you're stuck and there's monsters homing in. Nearly impossible. But the mud is shifting slightly. I might just get free if I get more time.

But I don't have time. So I just stop for a second and stare. These Stokerguys are more than impressive. They're so blackened as though singed from an almighty furnace. Their thin forms move crookedly, impeded somewhat, by being airborne; at the mercy of the air; trying to get closer to the ground. They don't need to make low moaning noises as they're more than scary enough, with just the sound of their tatty clothes flapping in the wind, their stoker-sticks knocking against each other's in their attempt to descend and skewer me on one of the points. Now and then it sounds like they're trying to talk but have no tongues.

ENERGY = 10%
POWER = 30%

Without a shadow of a doubt they're going to get me. Take me off. Whatever it was Greenwise said. I whisper for the old mage anyway, but hold little hope of an appearance. I think about jacking-out, but inside the game they would still take me away; my absent avatar body. I find myself just hoping they'll get stuck too, or their lances, in this mud, but one of them just pulls it free like a giant pin out of a cushion.

We've said our prayers and now we wait for death...

But just then a torch burns and cuts through the evening gloom. It's moving. It comes through the air and lands close to me in a burst of sparks and light. It surprises these two Stokermen assigned to my 'collection', instantly into confusion. They back up, forced to drift upwards again as the sparks spread outwards from the torch in all directions. I stare stupidly at the tree-line of the forest, its dense safety and big trees more illuminated – quite near, but still so... far... and wish now I had tried the transforming thing before making this crossing. But I've no idea if any bugs or animals are nearby to transform into. But I do see, something... no... someone... emerging...

Is it Greenwise? No, it's someone else. Thinner and shabbier. But he jumps as soon as he's in the field, landing expertly on a stone near the river. He moves so fast to my rescue I promise myself that one day I will move as masterfully as he.

The two Stokermen are both readying for another stab, each raising their long, thin staffs steadily for some fatal poke at me – or us. But I never really get a good look at them, even in the torchlight. I'm like a rabbit I've seen, in some video online, tossed into a lion's cage. I cower down, hoping the sharp teeth will pass over me, so I can run for cover. But I can't even run, so I just squint towards the river, and the figure who is my only chance of a lifeline, thinking that at least, this is just a game.

I only realise later how the lifeline reaches me exactly. The stranger picks up a large stone and throws it with two hands nearby so he can jump closer, which he does swiftly after yelling at me: "Get ready to jump!" It's very muddy and the stone makes a large thud. He follows soon after, and landing easily on top of it he reaches out, clasps my arm firmly and starts to try and haul me out and up into the air. I summon the best kind of super-jump I can manage at the same time, with the result that, suddenly – I'm flung skywards, freed from the ground, soaring above the field, up through the middle of the floating figures, and can escape into a controlled, if rapid descent into the tree cover. I don't see how my rescuer manages to escape, although I assume it's via some impressive move, or backflip, as I hear a crackle of dust behind me. I think I also make out a terrible, guttural moan from one of the wraiths as I leave them fast below me... but after this I'm too busy crash-landing, heavily.

...But that's how I made it into the dark safety of the forest, standing up just to lean on a nearby tree for support.

I won't deny that just then I felt... pretty cool; a bit lucky, and... glad that you guys should get to see the full capture one day. It could be worthy of over a few hundred thousand hits. I find myself already trying to come up with a catchy title: 'The Rabbit is Freed', or something, would be more truthful, at this stage. But I feel some anger too, to be fair, at having been thrown into what feels like a golden cage right now, almost. Maybe I'll get some real answers from the stranger...

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STOKERMEN ATTACKS

Suddenly the sunshine is blocked and you realise shadows are beginning to fall across the land... These are the twisting, airborne figures of the Stokermen, seeking for new souls to gather from the game-scape...

Their strange black shapes fill the sky, looking horrifically out of place...

INTO THE HIGH TREE FOREST

Players can follow the river across a muddy plain into a dark forest.

This area involves some use of accurate, focussed jumping, as the mud is so boggy in places that a player can become embedded, especially if they don't select, with some care, harder areas or stepping stones to land on.

If they become stuck in the wetland, they will have to transform or jump with great strength to break free. They may summon Greenwise to advise them, if it's not yet dark. If still at an early stage they may even be taken by Stokermen. Staying close to the river, its creatures or hiding in water may also provide some escape.

Staying out in the open will never be recommended by Greenwise.

SECRET AREA: The Lake

This area is located down in the estuary, hidden by thick undergrowth or vegetation growing near to the shoreline, a little away from the beach.

A vision can be 'found' here, of the 'Knife, Burning', or else it can be shared by another player in, or around, the High Tree Forest.

If a player, heeding a whispered summons, manages to cross the lake (by executing accurate jump combinations), then this will 'activate' the vision, temporarily replacing visuals of immediate surroundings.

Fountellion visions can motivate a player from game fatigue with the main quest-path, and can provide some restoration of power, depending.

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