| Once again, the faint lights that can occasionally be found floating through the halls of Avagi coalesce around the Ingress shrines, opening the door to a new world. This time, there is no fixed connection between the portals and particular locations on the new world. Stepping through any portal will deposit the visitor anywhere on Allcoran — how random.
The world is a colorful and hospitable one that resembles Earth in a few ways — it has a bright sun, green plants, and humanoid residents. But as the travelers explore, they'll discover some oddities as they learn their way around.
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The only settlement is deceptively large for the number of locals that can be encountered on the streets, which are wide and laid out in a basic grid pattern. The level of technology is vaguely medieval — no computers or cars here! A happy tune can be heard in the distance, although the musician who must be playing it always seems to be a block or two away. The town itself is referred to as just that, with no apparent name. Notable locations include:
- The Inn: Need a break? No problem. Guests won't get their own hotel room, though; the inn has three beds next to each other upstairs, and that's it. But lack of privacy shouldn't be a concern. The moment a person gets into one of the beds, they immediately fall into a deep sleep, only to wake up feeling like no time has passed at all.
- The Market: Need a sword? There are no background checks or weapons laws here! Need something to eat? The selection isn't wide, but a single large, colorful fruit or glowing green liquid in a vial (maybe it's an energy drink?) will instantly leave one sated. Sadly, the shops only accept gemstones as payment.
- The Empty Houses: Stealing is wrong. But leaving jewels underneath common household objects is foolish. And many of the town's houses are unlocked and empty.
- The Backyard Farm: Don't bother the chickens. Mass-pecking is a terrible way to die.
The Allcorans like their routines. During their waking hours, Allcorans can generally be found in the same areas, seeing to the same tasks, or just standing around people-watching. If approached, most are happy to engage in friendly conversation with the visitors, but their areas of interest are narrow. Some will talk about the town, their own lives or hobbies, or the fact that "Tribute Day" is coming soon. If the topic is changed, they'll inevitably bring it back to what they want to talk about. But it might be possible to get them to open up more by agreeing to do them a favor (fairly exchanged for a reward, of course), which will inevitably take travelers to... |
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Immediately outside the town's boundaries is a lively, colorful landscape, where plenty of trees and other greenery can be found. As travelers venture farther, they'll discover surprisingly diverse environments, including a jungle, a waterlogged region and an area where everything is just...big. They may also find remnants of a lost society in the form of castles and dungeons littered about the land, most of which have become home to dangerous creatures.
From bears to turtles to unrecognizable creatures, the fauna can be strangely hostile. Stranger still are the ledges float in mid-air, occasionally moving, and the way that, inexplicably, people may find that they can only move forward or backward, not left or right—and sometimes they're forced to do so. Laws of physics? What are those? Those caught in a desperate situation might risk touching one of the glowing plants or animals occasionally found in the Wild. They grant great power at the cost of altering one's body to partially fuse with that of an animal.
If you've had enough and want to head back to town or to Avagi? Better hope you didn't agree to do someone a favor. Words have power on Allcoran, and many will find themselves unable to break their word and abandon the task. If a person considers abandoning their task, they will feel a strong sense of reluctance and guilt at the prospect. If they push past the feeling and attempt to walk away, they'll find the landscape itself seeming to twist itself around until they're once more facing the way they didn't want to go. Even if a volunteer should die, they'll find themselves alive and whole back at the last conversation they had, or the last area they walked into. No signs will remain of the failed attempt.
Simply put, a sidequest accepted must be a sidequest completed. Good thing the ACEs still work—try phoning a friend for help.
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The miles-wide arena is the most violent place in the world, a training ground for those who would be tributes to The Ones From Above. Dropped in parachutes from a floating platform, dozens find themselves in a space that contains guns, knives and derelict buildings, along with just enough rubble to use as cover, competitors kill each other to prove their worth—again and again and again.
The weapons are real and so are the competitors, but every body that falls disappears within one minute, only to reappear elsewhere in the arena. The same will happen to any visitor who is unfortunate enough to fall. The deaths are very real, but they will rise again without the intervention that the dead experience on Avagi. Is this endless death and life a gift or a curse?
Those lucky enough to survive will experience one particularly strange effect in the arena: although others can see them, if they look down at their bodies, they will find that from their perspective, everything but their arms have become invisible.
Each round in the arena lasts one hour. Racking up a large number of kills may be unpleasant, but it does come with compensation beyond being deemed worthy as a Tribute. The participant with the top kill count each day receives a plain chest that could contain anything from a weapon to jewels to a particularly snazzy shirt.
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- While Allcoran might lack normal laws of physics, that doesn't mean it doesn't have its own constraints—or consequences for breaking them. Visitors who move too quickly may find themselves not merely rebounding, but clipping through some of the surfaces they hit. Individuals who fly straight up may continue indefinitely without seeming to gain distance... or, find themselves trapped above invisible barriers in the air. And whatever you do, don't step too close or too sideways to your conversation partners. You may not appreciate the view (cw: game render body horror).
- Although food and drink are available, while on Allcoran, no one ever feels truly hungry or thirsty, and there are no bathrooms because no one ever, er, goes. However, food and beverages will restore energy and vitality to people who are tired or injured.
- Occasionally, upon achieving a minorly notable feat, a person will hear a thunk as an appropriately labeled trophy drops to the ground nearby. Strange rain they have here.
- Any visitor who removes enough articles of clothing will find that their naughty bits appear to be...pixelated. Must be a trick of the light.
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thisavrou_log2018-01-10 10:47 pm
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