Fandom [Homestuck] Recursive Anthology II: Hellbound Edition

[Eidolon Astronaut]

The day is the 3rd of February, 2020. This is the day four young men and women from across the globe have decided to play a game together, you're all pretty excited. This game is called SBURB, and it's public beta went live on it's website just the day prior.

One of these kids will surely do something about that.

==> Enter Name.

Elision of Ecritures Orikanyo Squad141 SpectrumCrow ​

 

[Squad141]

Your name is LARK MAGOWAN, and you have seen a ghost.

Well, you should clarify. You've seen a few ghosts in your lifetime, but that isn't really anything special. Anytime you tell someone, they either don't believe you or talk about the potential reasons. If it's the latter, you usually explain STONE TAPE THEORY, something you've found to be very true over time. This usually ends in those interested people walking away.

But ghosts, they aren't anything special. Recordings of people and places trapped in the air, not demonic entities that kill kids in the woods. No, the more interesting things you've seen and investigated, those are worth mentioning.

You are currently sitting on the SOFA within your CUZ's RV, where you and he have been living for two months at this point. To your right is your personal area, where several cases hold your equipment during actual travel. Standing, you walk over and unpack some of your things. Your Cuz will be a while, and the day is young.

You pull out your LAPTOP, your most prized possession and one of the best tools you could ever ask for. It has all of your files, all of your notes, recordings, downloads, everything you use during documentation and investigations, and some things for fun of course. Most of the best stuff is backed up on the CLOUD, though you also have a few backup USBs. Pulling the other boxes onto the small desk, you take out your FILES, your CRANK FLASHLIGHT, BLACKOUT FLASHLIGHT, and CAMPING FLASHLIGHT, your box of TRINKETS (stuff like sculptures, drawings, D&D materials, and headphones), and your box of DISCS. The last box contains but a few floppy discs, which is some of the only tech you trust to contain the games on them. You'd put them with the rest of the stuff you've gathered in that compartment in the floor, but you're worried the tech might get messed up from the RV moving around.

You look out the window, to your left, and look at the large field of wheat, a dusty gold shining from the sun. Backpedeling, you peek out of the right window past the cabinets. The wrought iron gates to LAND OF OZ amusement park.

Today's going to be interesting. You can feel it in your bones.

 

[SerbianMounted]

Your name is Wren Alvarez.

Let's do this.

You're in the midst of a very intense game of Magic the Gathering: Arena, with some online CHUMPS you would not call your friends. You only have three online chumps that you would call your FRIENDS, after all. You've been tweaking some of the specs for the most recent incarnation of your Jared Carthalion commander deck.

Oh, by the by, you fucking LOVE card games. Or well, any kind of games, really. Board games, dice games, games of chance and you've even been known to sweep the market among your neighborhood friends (though they really wouldn't call you a friend so much as a nuisance) in games of stick hockey and 'highest number'. Your sweeping '1 billion and one' tactic is only matched by your 'sweep the leg' tactic in each game (and you do mean each game respectively). You cock your head to the side, tapping your fingers on your desk frantically as you become dangerously close to losing. You briefly consider pulling the plug and feigning internet connectivity issues just so you can preserve your high win rate, but you feel disgusted with yourself for suggesting anything beside death before dishonor.

You're a lot of things, but you're not a cheater.

Well, most of the time.

You somehow manage to pull through and claim the match, effectively scoring yourself another victory for the pile! Heh, who needs luck when you can always make your own?

==> Wren: examine your room

Alright, alright, keep your damn pants on. Your room is small, easily the SMALLEST of all the bedrooms in your house due to a lack of a sorely needed upgrade your were robbed of when your mother converted all your brothers' beds into various CRAFT STUDIOS. No doubt the latest in a series of many passive aggressive DIGS she's thrown your way because she HATES you. But it's whatever, you've lived in this room for several years and have made it your own. On your bookshelf is proudly displayed several ARTIFACTS you've collected from your innumerable excursions to the everglades. It includes several STICKS you have found which you think are AWESOME, skulls you've dug up in YOUR BACKYARD which came as a shock to everyone given they weren't animal skulls, and a SHIT TON of rocks.

God you love rocks. In several transparent box containers are all your SPECIMENS you've either found or have been gifted over the years: blue calcite, zebra jasper, pyrite and your all time favorite (one gifted to you by your father): SNOWFLAKE OBSIDIAN. In your home state of FLORIDA it's kind of hard to find anything good like these given peninsulas aren't prone to GEOLOGICAL wonders unless you're into that boring oceanography stuff. But you're determined to have a collection as big as it is comprehensive, with specimens arranged in a classic CCM fashion (that's Color, Composition and Moh's Hardness).

But you have more to do than look at your FUCKING AWESOME rocks all day. You have to play a game with your friends! You've been downloading the new Sburb Beta in the background but you realize Arena has been taking up a lot of your ram. These jabronis tend to get really distracted when you aren't there to make sure they stay on track.

==> Wren: Message Jabroni

Spoiler: Pesterlog

gneissTemporality [GT] began messaging effervescentEmbrace [EE]

GT: hey loser
GT: you install the game yet or what
GT: i'm dying of old age over here

​

 

[Orikanyo]

==> Visit the farm.

Spoiler: Listening pleasure

The farm is abuzz with activity, one soul stands vigil today over it's repitoire of animals and by darn tootin you aren't gonna waste any second of sunlight this morning your a busy man gosh darn it can't just let the dang ol animals sit in stalls all day that'll cut into their living standard and you are not gonna br the hand that brings down this faithful little farm NO SIR!

The vigilant farmer stands staring out into a pasture of chickens, holding onto one under his arm. He seems to be chewing on some haygrass.

==> Enter name

You are Griff Matson, you, are a FARMER. By trade and living. Sure enough, as you might have seen already you are managing the chickens currently in their fenced off little slice of heaven. They are freshly fed and happily clucking and pecking around on the ground, save for the one in your hand right now. You lay the hen down but she sits on your foot, Bernadetta was always a sweetie... And yes you named her after one of the fire emblem characters.

Why?

Why not.

Not like you didn't have enough to name em, but your guard gander? His name was Freddy, and he was the sentinel for the coop against flying carnivores. He was quite good at his job...

==> Introduce yourself not the animals

Alright your Griff Matson, your 16 years old and you like aliens.

That good enough?

You also like stargazing an have a nearly comeplete starmap you've been working on for years. You life with your Nan and shes currently rocking and kniting up a storm on the patio. Your abit of a grumpy goose at times but endeavor to be as frank as possible and like nothing more than to be abducted by aliens.


Yes you heard that right its your dream.

No you will not elaborate.

Its a thing, now shove off and go bother somebody else you got cows to tend to.

==> Go to somebody else.​

 

[SpectrumCrow]

> Be EE

You are now EE, also known as Lulu. Your real name is Lucy Hopper, but you prefer Lulu.

> Lulu: Examine room

You stand in your bedroom, a decently sized room for living in an apartment. Small rays of sun peak through a crack in the black curtains that cover your windows, the room primarily lit by your computer screen and some RGB lights you have set up behind your bed. You are a gamer after all.

Speaking of gaming, it's one of your favorite pastimes alongside watching anime. You're something of a nerd. You even got those cat ear headphones! It’s the closest you’ll ever get to being an anime cat girl. And speaking of cats, the amount of random cat memes you printed out and stuck on the wall is more than you had originally intended to do, but here we are.

> Lulu: Check computer

Your computer let out a small ding and saw a light flash on it. Someone must have messaged you!
​

Spoiler

EE: oh shit!
EE: i forgot but ill get started on it now!
EE: i was taking care of VERY important business!!
EE: of the utmost importance.
EE: totally

You were just thinking about gaming and being a cat girl.
​

Spoiler

EE: absolutely

You start the download.​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Wren and Lulu: Install the Sburb beta.

After a quick download, you both install the SBURB BETA. You are each met with a similar screen.

SBURB version 0.0.2

© SKAIANET SYSTEMS INCORPORATED. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PUBLISHED BY BRIMLABS.

SBURB framework is running.

Establishing connection to session...

A line of grey dots appear on the screen, eight in total. The FIRST and THIRD dots change to a bright WHITE. A percentage bar appears below them, half-full.

Waiting for players [2/4] to join before starting...

Seems like you'll need two more players.​

 

[Orikanyo]

=> Be Grif

You are now Griff, you just finished cleaning up the cow pen. Part of you, deep in your gut, feels abit of finality in your chores today... But, hey, maybe something just feel exciting about today?

Maybe there was something you forgetting?

Something important?

Nah can't be Nan's birthday is months away and yours is next month. Maybe Berny's? Nah she was hatched in the winter. The rest of the chickens you don't really give too much a care about in that way. Cows? Only three, so, maybe not. Bulby the bull?

You exchqnge glances with the vapid grass chewing animal and shrug. Your certain he doesn't care about birthdays.

Maybe its something else...?

Maybe... Ah your friends. They wanted something right? Maybe you should see on you telecommunications device if their on.

=> Withdraw ancient relic.

You pull out of your pocket a god foesaken FLIP PHONE and begin observing the internets. Hmm, yes, the blips seem to be showing activity, you assume. You'd text them but talking on a flip phone in texts is akin to useing two railway spikes as chopsticks to eat rice. Your machine is in your room anyways, the animals are fine, why not go check it out?

==> head on up.

You do make your way to your room, with chores done and Nan currently driving away most wildlife with her snores you walk into your home. Its a nice place if not for the absolutly menacing amounts of Bear adornments everywhere. Everything that could feasibly be bear related was barely ever not. Bear rugs, bear statues, bear stray sock, bear mugs, bear plates and above the mantle was a real bear's head.

Hunted by your own Nan.

With her own two hands she says but you doubt your nan has the right to bear arms.

...

Heh.

Anyways.

=> Head up.

You waste little time explaining the hallway, you left your computer on for today this morning so you didn't have to wait for the beast to awaken like a cranky mule. Your unsure if the beast will allow the game to run at all, but hey, whatever.

And yea you remember what it was about today, the game thing, SBURB or something. Was it an acronym?

Who the hell knows you don't care.

Yoi press the download button when at your comp, brazenly ignoring the description of your room for the audience.

Your too busy to look at the only none beared room in the house.​

 

[Squad141]

The sunlight catches on the windowsill as you shake your head. Must have zoned out for a second. What were you doing?

The golden light of the swaying fields reminds you. You quickly check your walkie-talkie to see if Cuz is doing alright (though you doubt someone of his skill would get lost in the massive park), as you open the compartment in the floor of the RV and rustle around. Moving Cuz's crash test dummy out of the way, you dig through some old clothes, tomes about phantasmagoria and the concept of witch bottles, your DSLR set, and finally come upon your BOOK OF GAMES, a notebook you've used over the years to describe the various occult rituals from coast to coast.

You flip over to one called the MAN IN THE FIELDS. The sun is clearly still in the sky, so you can probably set this up in an hour or so to document the Man. You momentarily think back to your pressing issue with a few of these games, the fact being that so many of them are "____ Man" or something like that. Like, you understand the basic premise and how words work, but there couldn't be something more creative then simply tacking on an extra adjective? At least a few of the phenomena outside of American culture, like the Gideon Keys of Calgary or River Country have interesting titles.

After equipping your Blackout Flashlight, a homemade contraption that has a flip-lense to switch between black and normal light, you exit the RV. The late afternoon/early evening air brushes through the fields and through your hair, as you zip up your jacket and tie your shoes. You pause, and check your walkie talkie again. Looks like Cuz hasn't answered in a while. You walk around the long end of your home and peer at the gate into the park, the O slightly hanging from the rusted frame. You remember reading a creepypasta about the Land of Oz once, something about lots of fog and undead Munchkins attacking a van.

But it's a clear day, save some gentle breezes. You're sure he's alright.

As you go to grab your flashlight and shine it into the park, your hand brushes over some paper in your jacket pocket. You uncrumple it: "Game day"

Shit.

You turn off your light, and after one last glance, return to the field side of the RV before entering back in. You sit on the small swivel chair in front of the desk, and click around a few times before it turns on.

You feel a bit bad waiting this long before downloading the game, but none of your long-distance friends reminded you. That paper had to be a few days old as well, and the excitement of that abandoned airbase yesterday must have made you forget.

Ah, here we go. You click the download icon.

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Grif and Lark: Install the Sburb beta.

Like the girls before you, the two of you install the SBURB BETA. You see the same screen that your predessecors did as well.

> Everyone: Play Sburb.

The FIFTH and SEVENTH of the dots on everyone's screens light up, and the percentage bar fills.

Loading session, please wait.

> Downloading phernalia packet... DONE.
> Resetting permissions... DONE.
> Connecting to Brimlabs servers... DONE.
> Aligning time vector... DONE.

Launching game...

And then the installer closes, displays the Sburb logo, and you are each met with a four-way view of each other's enviroments in each corner. You are given the option to MOVE things, DEPLOY items, view the PHERNALIA REGISTRY, access a shared 200 unit GRIST CACHE, and peruse an currently empty ATHENEUM.

There appears to have been space for an option between MOVE and DEPLOY, but it seems you can't use it.

Seems there isn't any tutorial, and you'll just have to figure this out yourselves.​

 

[Orikanyo]

=> Be Grif

....What...?

You click a few times, like a curious animal touching a strange object dropped in their enclosure.

What in hell was this?

You boot up Pesterchum and start a group chat, the call ringing as you plop on your headset. As people would get on you start.
​

Spoiler: Dialoguelog/Pesterchum hybrid

Bb: What in tarnation is this?
Bb: You all seein' this?
Bb: Gosh darn seeing you lot, whats, whats with the amusement park?
Bb: Lu whats- Wait no, the cat pictures are pretty par fer the course. Thats.. Alot...
Bb: Wait I can be seen to!?
Bb: Don't ask about the damn bears their Nan's not mine!
Bb: Not mine!

Your demands were met with a accidental click and brush of the move tool, causing Lulu's bed to smash into the wall, you stare in silence, eyes stareing into the screen like you just saw the devil.

....

........

Spoiler: Dialoguelog

Bb:...Sorry...

Grif's room was typical, work and casual clothes strewn about, there was alien related crap everywhere and there was a massive star map thumbtacked onto the ceiling.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==> Wren: fuck around

​

Spoiler: Dialoguelog/Pesterchum hybrid

GT: i swear to christ if you any of you chuklefucks even thinks of tossing my furniture around like its the dumbass olympics it's war
GT: ....i'm....i'm gonna assume that this is just how the game works, don't know why, and don't particularly care to know how
GT: but i DO know that this doesn't seem to have any obvious goal ahead of it as of yet
GT: damn sandbox games....
GT: what the hell is this?

You begin to place some of the items from the PHERNALIA REGSITRY in your friend's HOMES. You start by putting the TOTEM LATHE and ALCHEMITTER in Grif and Lulu's rooms respectively. You have utterly no idea what any of it does, so you quickly begin to lose interest in the whole production, opting instead to fiddle with everyone's furniture for a bit. God DAMN these controls are terrible. It feels like they're running on some antiquated software.

You begin deploying more machines, no clue of how to mess with them. You try in desperation to click and drag your friends. damn.​

 

[Squad141]

Hm.

Well, in a stranger world, you'd immediately be archiving this game as one of the extranatural phenomena you regularly encounter. And while you do have your notebook on the desk by your computer, you decide that since you haven't seen your online friends in a while, you might as well enjoy this while it lasts.

From the faces of everyone else, it looks like they're having as much a fuss with the controls as you are. Luckily you were born with the gift of patience with old computer systems (you had to play Pale Luna 73 times to reach the end, after all) and manage to open the Phernalia Registry. With as much tact as you can, you place the items in out-of-the-way places in Grif's farmhouse. And to be honest, the futuristic tech look mixes with the classic farm vibe really well. It reminds you of something Earth to Echo or Super 8.

 

[SpectrumCrow]

> Be Lulu

You see the call and download notifications. Of course, you accept the call. You guess everyone is ready to play!

EE: hi!!
EE: I wonder how this game works exactly. It might have to do with webcams or something? I'm not sure!
EE: seems super complex though
EE: and grif, idk what you expected in terms of cat pictures hehe
EE: and-

Before you can finish your thought, you hear a loud thud. Looking over your shoulder, you see your bed has moved and… oh. Interesting

EE: grif!!
EE: its fine just be more careful

More thuds. Seems like someone deployed some machines in your room, and it looks like Grif has them too. As you examine everyone's surroundings and the UI, you feel something like a tapping on your shoulder. Of course, there's no one there… oh!

EE: did one of you just try to click on me!!
EE: rude, you can just ask me to do something!

Wren and Lark still need the machines, so you go ahead and make sure they have them, careful to not crush anything or block pathways. Once you're content with your work, you go to examine the machines in your place with your headset still on. Thank god for Bluetooth.

> Lulu: Examine machines

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Wren, Grif, Lucy, Lark: Inspect phernalia.

You examine your new PUNCHCARD-BASED ALCHEMY APPARATUS. Most of it seems to require components you do not yet have, with the exception of the CRUXTRUDER. You turn the valve on the side to see what happens, and the lid pops off the top easily. Two objects are expelled from the tube.

First, a dull, grey SPHERE of some crystalline material pops out and thuds onto the ground, followed by a cylindrical chunk of the same grey substance, the latter of which seems to be an infinite resource by turning the handle more. You got the INERT KERNEL and a supply of CRUXITE DOWELS.

Using the dowel in the lathe with the PRE-PUNCHED CARD from the registry in the TOTEM LATHE creates a series of CRUXITE TOTEMS, and populates the ATHENEUM with it's first object, which you create using the ALCHEMITER.

On each of your ALCHEMITERS, a pair of objects form from the same light grey crystal: A CRUXITE GRANDFATHER CLOCK that seems to be broken, jumping back to it's original position every time it ticks forward; and a CRUXITE CROWBAR, leaning against the side of the timekeeping device.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==> Wren: destroy

Well this feels pretty self explanatory. You quickly captchalogue the INERT KERNEL and it becomes a card to match into your inventory. You pickup the crowbar, looking at the clock with an expression of utter confusion. You smash the crowbar clean through the clock's face, then jamming it clean through it's glass cabinet as well.

The thought doesn't even occur to you to treat the situation any other way. You simply enjoy smashing this object for some reason.

GT: let's see where this get's us​

 

[Orikanyo]

> Be Grif


Bb: Alright what the blazes you lot puttin in mah home?
Bb: What is that a lathe? Fiddlesticks what am I suppoused to do take up wood working?
Bb: Anybody even know what this games about dang nabit!?

You complain into the open air, pausing to fiddle about with one of the machines, you press a few buttons and get very little... you come back to the computer and see someone else is already see someone's trying to break the clock.

So, uhh, well, you guess thats what you do to? Maybe?

No maybe you can so something else.

You grab the crowbar, and with the tool you try to open the glass case, gently so you don't shatter the whole thing... Damn this things stuck... Come on!

COME ON!!!

>Snap​

 

[Squad141]

Hm.

Certainly not what you were expecting.

You're currently inside the RV, despite the rest of those odd machines sitting just outside. They couldn't possibly fit inside anyway, and you're glad nobody tried to move them in here anyway. You bend down and pick up the crowbar, feeling it in your hands. You've held a crowbar before, thankfully. Your brother showed you how to use it in order to open old doors and windows without breaking anything important. You flip the strange-feeling tool in your hand and walk over to the grandfather clock that just barely sits below the roof of the vehicle home.

A pendulum barely sways within the glass cabinet, stuttering back to its other position every other second. The small hands form a small mustache, like that one movie with the talking furniture. You angle yourself correctly, and begin safely prying open the cabinet as to hopefully not damage the clockwork within.

 

[SpectrumCrow]

> Be Lucy

You do the usual entry stuff for SBURB, not that it's usual for you; the narrator just wants to keep things simple. We all know the process at this point.

Upon seeing the crowbar and clock... you're picking up what the game is putting down. You pick up the crowbar, trying to do a cool trick with it. Obviously, you fumble and almost drop it. Oops. You'll just go ahead and smash the clock now to progress. And hope no one saw your fumble.

> Lucy: Break the clock​

 

[Eidolon Astronaut]

> Wren, Grif, Lark, Lucy: Enter

Light surrounds each of your homes as the symbolic crystalline timekeeping devices meet their ends. As the light fades, you are somewhere else. The sky is pitch black, only a series of NINE STARS hang overhead, though none of them seem to move in the sky.

> Wren: Observe environment.

The world outside your window is smooth and flat, almost nothing of note as it creeps past the horizon. The surface below your house is a dark stone beneath an inch of WATER that covers the entire place. Nearby, you see some sort of HILL with a series of RINGS formed of CYAN light towering above it, the lowest one is accessible from the hill.

> Grif: Observe environment.

Outside your window, you are met with a similar scene to Wren, wide flat fields of a lighter-but-still-dark stone and a MOUND built up to reach the first of a collection of GREEN rings of light. Instead of a thin layer of water, the stone here is covered in thin white hair-like strands.

> Lark: Observe environment.

Much like those before you, the view outside is remarkably familiar. The rings above the lighter-still stone PILE nearby are a shade of ORANGE. Minute white and brown crystals scatter the nearly-empty landscape.

> Lucy: Observe environment.

It's the same. YELLOW rings above a KNOLL, flat world formed of a light stone with small veins of a shiny, oil-spill like material within.

> Wren, Grif, Lark, Lucy: ?

In the distance between your home and the HILL/MOUND/PILE/KNOLL, a gremlin-looking CREATURE has appeared. A SILVER/LEAD/TIN/GOLD IMP, respectively.​

 

[SerbianMounted]

==> Wren: Attack

You look outward and see the flat, endless horizon. Hm. This is far less exciting than whatever it was you had imagined when you felt yourself transport to some strange, far off world.

Oh look! Something to kill.

without even asking any questions you load up your strife deck with ol' reliable: Texas Holdem.

The cards are shuffled and all five streets are played for the board yet not revealed. Your hand is a Jack of Spades and a King of Hearts. The imps, is an 8 and Ace of Spades, not that you know.

The first card flips, it is revealed that it is a King of Diamonds! Betting starts, and you bet it all. The Imp is too stupid to not call your bluff, and it raises!

You reveal your hand, and the Imp dies, it's health score not higher than your own. It dawns on you briefly that that could've been much faster had you just struck him dumb with cards, but you like your way better.

==> Wren: Proceed to Hill

You slosh through the water to the hill. ​

 

[Orikanyo]

>Be Griff


Bb: Anyone else seeing this?
Bb: Seriously?
Bb: I've already used up tarnation today i'm not saying it again.
Bb: What in hell is this shit and why is everything looking like hell?

You complain on the mic, walking away from the computer and... Huh the wireless headset goes pretty far actually. Nifty. If only other tech actually worked like this...

You begin to test it, walking down stairs, finding the mic still works... Maybe whatever is happening is messing with it? Who knows, not you, your just a farmer of.... White strandy stuff now. You go outside and consider the strands for a moment, giving them a light poke as that creature comes forward.

With a grouchy side glance at the beastie you consider it for a second.

You tell it whatever it's selling you want none, until it gives a plaintiffly annoying awipe at you, you back back in time to avoid it. Fine, it wants a fight it'll get one.

Its at this point you withdraw your scythe, the Imp stares for a second and questions your choice of strife specubi, you explain that it's good to keep tools on hand and really you made a misstake one day and equiped it in there.

It comments, that, in a sense, the power of life and death truely lay in the farmer's hands and tools.

You comment, by cutting it's head off.

You wonder if you imagined that conversation, but it really doesn't matter, perhaps it qas just the authors fancy.

> Procede.​

 

[Squad141]

You are certainly in awe. You've heard of things, especially ritual games, that transport you to another world. Stuff like the Elevator Game could fit, but that's physical, and you're nowhere near a hotel. The Lightless City is another option, but the landscape changed completely, and you can see the shiny impish thing by that large pile pretty clearly.

Maybe...maybe this isn't one of those phenomena. Maybe it's a dream, or maybe it's a prank, or maybe you've suddenly become the protagonist of a children's novel in the early 1900s. either way, this tin man (thing) looks to be one of the few living things in the area. Maybe they have some answers?

You approach the figure and ask it where you are.

Orikanyo Eidolon Astronaut SerbianMounted SpectrumCrow ​