video | text, un: uruz

[uruzology]

[ The scene presented via jewelry is within one of the many rooms of the newly refurbished Oska castle. A centaur stands next to the cheerfully roaring fire, presenting a matchingly cheerful smile. ]

It looks like you’ve all lived, although that was a little close there, for some of you. Good work! I knew you could do it.

Now, as you may have noticed by Oska looking quite well around you, the last week was a false reality. Don’t take it personally, that happens to everyone here eventually. We have to make sure recruits are up to snuff. You’re a bit unique as a whole team of greenhorns, though. To be quite honest, I’ve never seen this activity done on such a large scale before. It was impressive, wasn’t it? And don’t worry, any trinkets you may have come across are quite real, and yours to keep if you want them.

So then, to business. I’m Uruz. I’m familiar with some of you already, although I’m afraid that’s one-sided in most cases — I spent a fair bit of time in there with you, but none of you saw me if I was doing my job right. ALASTAIR has asked me and my compatriots, Dagny, Crowley, and Cherenkov, to review your performance within Chantes and rate your work. It’s quite a big job, our to-do with worlds, and we want to make sure we’ve got trustworthy recruits. I’ve attached that for you, please do give it a glance.

dagny: Well, the king died. So that's... not the best. From what I hear, things are kind of chaotic there right now, what with the whole 'no government' thing and all. And a lot of you got in a ton of trouble with the law. But you did work together! Most of you, anyway. People died and the city got destroyed, but I know you all did your best, so you get points for effort. I give you an... eight. Point five. No, nine out of ten. But that's as high as I'll go, because, you know. The murder and death.

Don’t feel bad, though, there’s always room for improvement.

crowley: Your refusal to work with the goblins’ natural talents for magic was disappointing. I foresaw much potential there, and it was wasted on your muddying things up with politics. On the other paw, your dispelling of demons and other magical creatures was serviceable, if a little last-minute. 5/10.

cherenkov: I stopped paying attention after you all brought the sun back. Because that's what matters, doesn't it? You didn’t do badly for a bunch of apes, but don’t get distracted by the diplomatic nonsense next time. Ignore the cow and the knife-eared one. Spend the time improving instrumentation, not making friends. 8/10.

uruz: You did make an attempt. You got engaged and cared to deal with their issues, which, well, we'd really have an issue for concern if not. And you did very nice work on a personal level, to bring together goblins and humans. They'll not be moving in together any time soon, but they're on the right path. But really, did you have to murder the man? He'd just killed the king, to be sure, but taking a life has serious consequences, no matter whose it was. It sets you on a path it can be difficult to step off of. But overall, acceptable. 6/10.

There we go. On a final note, I’ve been asked to let you know that you’ve got some time to spend in Oska before your next assignment, which is to Nalawi. A lovely place, I’m a bit envious. Enjoy your downtime, and again, good work! I’ve very high hopes for the lot of you.

[ The network is now back up again along with Oska being restored and the weather events ended, and you can find a full description of current Oska right here. Feel free to use this post to thread on, and the NPCs may make a few appearances for direct questions. ]

Comments

text, un: huntsman

[dishearten]

people were hurt. could have died. to prove what, exactly?
you force us to work for you to gain passage home and treat us as if our lives do not matter.

( his brother was hurt in that simulation of theirs. the huntsman is not happy. he's stuck with these people and he knows that, and more and more he's starting to feel like he'd have been better off staying dead.

one cruel regime to another. he had told himself he had a chance to make a difference this time. now he's not sure. )

[crowleyology]

You apes are always so self obsessed. What would the point be in maintaining such a sophisticated simulation if we would let you die? It would be a waste of resources and time.

[dishearten]

it already was a waste of resources and time.
you left us injured and unlikely to trust you motives.

[crowleyology]

There are those among you who have healing abilities. I suggest you learn to value teamwork and speak to them instead of crying like a kitten about it. Proactivity will do you well in the future.

[dishearten]

I suggest you not casually set your workers on fire.
it doesn't inspire a sparkling work ethic.

voice, un: axercerbic

[lumberpuncture]

Oh, goodie, more bullshit.

If you don't want killing and death, maybe don't enlist a bunch of murderers and freaks.

[dagnyology]

You shouldn't be so harsh on your teammates. Whatever they were before - and they were not freaks! - they're now members of ALASTAIR, and they have the capacity to do some good!

text;

[strictdiscipline]

[she'd say thanks for the scores but that seems to have been covered scores (hah) of times by this point]

Is that the official role of you and your comrades within ALASTAIR? To judge the performance of incoming recruits?

voice | un: uruz

[uruzology]

Oh, no, not really! We're just lending a hand to a batch of newbies who don't quite know how to rate themselves yet.

[strictdiscipline]

[Out of context, this sounds more like a game of 'hot or not' rather than a Serious Talk about people nearly dying.]

Then what is your usual position in ALASTAIR, if I may ask?

[uruzology]

I'm a recruit, like yourself. One of a different team, though, of course.

[strictdiscipline]

Is that so? How long have you been here for?

voice, un: rey

[scrounging]

Hold on - 'people died and the city got destroyed'? What kind of job are you expecting us to do, exactly?

voice | un: uruz

[uruzology]

In Nalawi, or in general?

[scrounging]

In general!

[She has enough to worry about; don't go throwing in killing people on top of it.]

[uruzology]

Oh, well, that varies quite a lot! In the last world your team entered, the mission was to settle the conflict between humans and goblins, as well as return the missing sun. The rest of it was unfortunate details.

[scrounging]

[It's a good thing Rey defaulted to voice. Somewhere she's making a horrible face with too many bared teeth.]

Unfortunate details. That sounds like it's being put lightly.

video | un; sieglindesullivan

[grunehexe]

[Sieglinde has to come back to this later. Cool her head- regain the ability to think of things logically.

Try to at least get something out of this mess.]

How did you disguise the entire landscape that way? It wasn't just an illusion... things could be touched, and manipulated-

Was it a potion... something in the water to affect our senses?

[crowleyology]

My sister and I use sophisticated magitek to achieve such results. We did not manipulate you directly. Potions are not our forte.

[grunehexe]

What is "magitek"? Some mixture of magic and "technology", then?

Can it be taught or is it innate?

[cherenkology]

Correct.

Would it disappoint you if we said it was innate?

locked to uruz; audio; un: hb

[hellshaped]

So this is off-topic, but I noticed you have hooves. Who should I talk to about getting some farrier equipment?

[uruzology]

Quite right! We've plenty of that kept in the stables, suited to all sizes of hoof. I think you'll find it quite useful. If there is anything missing, just let me know.

[hellshaped]

Right. I saw that already, but it's for... personal use. I guess. [He'd rather not use the same stuff that regular old horses use....... Also this is awkward.] It's for me.

[uruzology]

Don't worry, I caught that. [ If you think she wasn't creepily watching everyone, sir, I have some bad news. ] I find the sets in the stables suit my personal needs well enough, but if you're looking for a private set, I'll certainly see what I can do.