Not a long line. You have a delivery to the medical wing. Doctor Josef Mengele ordered experimental supplies.

Then you get a delivery to the upper floor of the Tower. They ordered some self-sealing stem bolts. The Tower is still under construction. Nobody is entirely certain how tall the building really is. But from the top, you can see for miles. There is another tower at each of the four compass points to this one, and a similar flea market type encampment surrounding each.

You get a few tips. Enough to make the day worthwhile.

Then it's quitting time.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:57, Fri 11 Sept 2015.

I'm a bit freaked out when I see my delivery tag to the medical wing, but I have my face under control by my delivery.  For all I know there is a world where they have a Museum chronicling the Greatest Monster in History...Eric Ashley.

I work more with my map device, seeing if I can use it to map some of the upper areas of the tower.

OOC: Now ye've tempted me again to send you to 'Somewhither' as the next world.  Its an uber-dungeon (really, the writer writes it like that) of a world with one city and one Tower....20,000 miles tall or so.  And most everyone in the Tower is Evil, at least part time, and some full time.

OOC) I've actually thought about sending you to a world like that. Kind of a dark twist on The Prince and the Pauper. Josef Mengele was just the first famous doctor that came to mind.



It doesn't work like that. You can't map the inside of the building, what you can do though is stand at the window and map the ground outside for about 100 miles, which is the maximum range of the scanner. The other towers are about 50 miles away, and there's another tower inline behind the one you can see. It's like the points on a grid. The flea market area covers the entire 50 mile distance between the two. The ground consists of rolling hills and valleys and the occasional lake. It's mostly a scrub desert in your immediate area, but it changes into a more forest-like environment on the north side and to the south is a perpetual winter wonderland. Not frozen tundra, just winter all the time. There's plenty of versers that reside there.

If you go west, there's a massive body of water that you cannot scan the end of. It appears to be an ocean. Your map device resisters numerous boats on the water. If you pay close attention to the scanner, occasionally, something like a sea serpent head will pop up out of the water. Or maybe it's a submarine periscope.

Can I map the other tower, one of them at fifty miles away, from my tower?  That sounds like it would work...??  And yes, it would be just the outside in any case.

Yeah, you can map it. The scanner says "Structure, ungodly tall, ungodly wide."

OOC) I REALLY hope you don't want more precise measurements than that!!!!!

OOC: Heh. And my sympathies.

I take in the prescisely measured data on the device, and my eyes grow wide as I start doing back of the envelope calculations on how much volume there must be in that thing....

Yeah, I need to start mapping something less challenging.

I find one of the bubbles near my Tower, and tell my boss before I leave for work that 'hey, I'm off to such and such bubble, and I want to experiment with, well, magic.  So send someone to get me if I don't show up in a couple days, ok?"

With that minimal precaution in place, I also drop by the pastor I talked to and tell him that.  With him, I'm  less evasive..."I'm going to try to do some of the things Moses did."

And I buy some food and drink, eat a light snack, and holding my staff in hand, head into the bubble....

OOC) When the World Trade Centers came down, 110 story buildings were reduced to 5 story piles of rubble. Think about how much of that 110 story building was just empty space.




He tells you "Alice checks those every so often. C ya in a few years."

Whether he's serious is anyone's guess.



I assume you mean the pastor of Yahweh. He gives you some kind of blessing. You recognize the spirit of the blessing, if not the actual blessing.

You run into Olivia. She's actually dressed in something like a nun's habit. She tells you "Thanks fer yer help thar stranger. These fellas is awful good ta me. An I don't even haff ta take muh clothes off!!!" and she tries to kiss you on the cheek.

And when you're leaving, you again run into the Priest of Order and Chaos. He bids you a pleasant hello, and asks if you would like him to accompany you, as a teacher.



The closest bubble to the Tower is about 50 yards away from Magehammer's shoppe. Stepping through is like walking through jelly. But you're dry when you arrive.

The first thing you see is that it is the run-down, abandoned world where you first met Magehammer and Samantha. You see the frozen Bubble City off in the distance. The frozen people inside are gone. Just gone. Apparently, after you left, Magehammer and Samantha figured out how to unfreeze them. Where they are now is anyone's guess.***

And you know the Cessna airplane you were trying to rebuild is but a scant few miles away.

Except now you are truly alone here.


***OOC) Originally, I was going to have all of the people still frozen in time. But then I remembered the stipulation for being linked to Verser World was that all sentient life on the world had to be gone. So that's why it didn't link to Verser World when you were here before, and why it does now. People frozen in time are still sentient lifeforms. Magehammer and Samantha somehow freed them after you versed out.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:45, Mon 14 Sept 2015.

Two Posts

Do you have NetFlix? I'm watching a mockumentary called CSA: Confederate States of America. It's a What If the south had won the Civil War? It's presented as a documentary program about the history of the Confederate States of America. Might make an interested game world.

I let Olivia kiss me, happy that things seem to be working out for this broken soul.  After all, I reflect, He came to save sinners, not the sort who thought they did not fail.

"Perhaps another time, Ordermaster." I say.  "I have other ideas I wish to work on."

Arriving in the Bubble world, I set up a base camp.

And then I get out Pslams and a bit of Proverbs, pray for wisdom, and begin reading.  I pause frequently to try to think about what I'm reading.  After  a bit, I remember to pray for help with the text.

I talk to God about the various ways I've messed up.  Particularly the Shadow side of myself which manifested in my beating the snot out of so and so.  And I tell God that in a lot of ways, I still liked that.  I know, its not neccessarily good, but there's not point in lying to God, and I've found him a most kind listener.  I listen and hopefully learn something, and find the inner madness a bit more defused.

After cleansing my soul, I turn to the part in the Bible about Moses hitting a rock with a stick, and bringing forth water.

The text seems to make a bit more sense to you than it usually does. Perhaps God is helping you, or perhaps just rereading something familiar.



And as you do that, you feel a wave pass through you. It only lasts a moment, but you feel God speaking to your soul. "My child, all have sinned and fallen short. You are no exception. You have many great adventures ahead. Many opportunities to spread the word will present themselves. Go in peace. You are forgiven."

The message would have taken far longer to speak than the momentary brush, but it all comes to your soul loud and clear.

OOC) God actually speaks to me like this. Unless you felt it, it's indescribable.



And???

Are you wearing a watch or carrying any kind of timepiece? If not, we'll just say there's a clock in your ground scanner. Exactly 24 hours to the second after you entered this bubble world, you will see a young blonde girl of perhaps 14. She's wearing a blue dress with white trim and white stockings. Somehow you just know her name is Alice. No matter where you go, no matter what you do, she will appear not more than 20 feet away from you. She will then approach you and politely ask if any versers have arrived since you've been here. When you tell her no, she will thank you, curtsy and leave back through the bubble. She will appear like clockwork every 24 hours to the second after you entered.

In reply to JohnA1nut (msg # 141):

I'm startled, but after a bit of shock, I offer thanks, and then break out into song.  My voice is, well, not good, but I enjoy singing.  And so I belt through as much as I can remember of 'God Is So Good', and "Worship His Majesty" which really tries the vocal cords, and 'How Great Thou Art" and a Christmas carol.

I like carols.

Its different than i expected.  I've had God change me inside, releasing toxins and cleaning me out.  I've certainly never heard such a clear voice.  I may have heard him before, but not that clear.  But I remind myself to be grateful, and as my brother with the multiple Bible doctorates agreed with me, to be flexible in prayer.  One should go to God with your problems, but not with the 'this is the must do solution'.  In my limited, very limited, experience, God is often not going to fix things the way you want them fixed, if He does fix them.

I take up a staff by taking a good thick branch, and trimming it with a knife until its a decent walking stick.  I test it a few times, and then look up to Heaven.

"All right, God, let's do this."  And I take my pre-opened Bible, with the pages fluttering annoyingly in the wind, and read aloud the passage.

Then mindful of Moses getting in deep trouble because he stole God's credit....

"To the Glory of God!" I meanwhile raise my staff over my head, and bring it down hard on a large rock.

It sounds perfect if you're the only one who can hear it.



OOC) A guy gets invited to a Christmas party, and the entry fee is he has to have something that represents Christmas. So he pulls out a pair of lacy panties. The doorman asks him how those represent Christmas, and he replies "They're Carol's!!!"



OOC) God really does talk to me like that sometimes. I'll ask a question, then get a flash go through my body that explains everything without saying a word. I hope you get to experience something like that one day.



And you break off a piece of the rock. And water gushes forth. With about the same pressure of a garden hose. When you drink the water, it is beyond pure. It is perfect temperature, not too warm, not too cold. And it is so pure and refreshing. Beyond anything you've ever had before.

When you've had your fill, filled up any containers you might have, etc. The water stops. Looking at the rock, there's no hole for the water to come out. And somehow you just know that you can call forth water from this specific rock for as long as you are in this world.

I'm struck by the experience, and just spend the rest of the day wandering around, sightseeing, before making it back in plenty of time to my camp for a hopefully good meal.

that night, my prayers before food are bit more enthused, and before bedtime, i sing from what I remember of ...

'My God, How Great Thou Art"
When I sit in humble adoration,
And there proclaim, My God How Great Thou Art,
My God How Great Thou Art
Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee,
How great thou Aaaaaaart! How Greaaaaaaaat thou AAAAAAAAAART.

You're supposed to stretch those last sylables a bit, and reach for a higher note.  Its a very pretty, but quiet song.  Good for bedtime, I suppose.

So you wander around in the abandoned city. There's all kinds of stalled cars and crumbling buildings. As far as food, there's ample canned goods without labels to choose from. You might end up eating Alpo with a side of Sloppy Joe sauce. But there is edible canned food to be had.

That was something you know Samantha taught herself to do. She's able to shake a can and tell what's in it with about 75% accuracy.



Excellent hymn. A favorite of mine. It bonuses your morale considerably.

And after raiding a sporting goods store for a sleeping bag, you sack out under the stars. It strikes you that there are no stars in the main verser world. The sky is completely black.

But the next morning you wake up refreshed. Alice appears as you're eating canned pineapple and Spaghetti-Os for breakfast and asks if any other versers have come in.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:12, Sat 26 Sept 2015.

Wincing as I eat the crunchy, brown, ultra spicy something, and the red sauce with blobs in it, I eat slowly, listening to my stomach.  Evidently whatever it is is edible, but I'm not at all sure I want to know what it was, or so I say.

When I finish, I put the can lids inside the cans, and then crush the can tops in my hands, trapping the sharp lid inside.  Habit.  It may have been my mother in law who taught me that.

Still cheerful, I get the bag, and go to sleep under the stars.

"No, Alice." I say after I check.  "Should I be checking through the day?"

I get up, eat, and wash, and then go read and pray up on a hill away from the camp.  At first I have to force myself to, but it gets easier as I go.

Then I take up my staff, and wincing, because 'staff' 'Moses' 'minor miracle' leads directly to trying to turn a staff into a snake, and back again.  I follow the same procedure as before, but instead of hitting a rock, I ask that my staff become a non-poisonous snake and then I throw the staff down.

Alice is quite taken aback. Surprised, she says "Throughout the day? I check the bubbles once every year. It has been a year, has it not?"

It would seem a day in here is a year outside. I could see where that might change your mind about staying in here.



And the staff turns into a long green snake. It crawls over to you, looks up at you, and starts to wrap itself around your leg, climbing up your body. It wraps itself around your chest, slithers around your arm, and back into your hand. Then it straightens out and once again becomes a staff.

That is, assuming you don't freak out about having a snake crawl all over you.

That is a bit shocking, but I decide it doesn't matter that much.

"See you in a year, Alice." I say as I wave goodbye to her.

The snake thing is freaking me out, and I have to grit my teeth to stand still.  After a while, I remember to trust, and my fear eases back a bit.  And then the deed is done, and I'm wiping sweat from my forehead, and catching my breath.

I consider.  Moses helped part the Red Sea, but seas are a bit scarce, and besides I'm not wanting to 'get that deep' yet.  He also talked to God in person, but ....um, that was considered really scary, and even touching the mountain that God descended on would kill you.

I also have a short supply of ungrateful gripers, but....

I take some branches, and wrap them up in a bundle, and put them well away from anything.

"Ah.....Let Target X = Ungrateful Gripers. Amen."

A bit of prayer, a bit of computers...

Then I read aloud the account of Korra?? and his followers who had griped against Moses.  (not sure I got all the details right), and Moses had punished them by causing the Earth to open up and swallow them.  I'm thinking localized earthquake and chasm, but it could be a massive quicksand field.

I then bring down my staff, and say loudly 'Let the wicked and the ungrateful be punished to the glory of the Most High!'

Before she leaves, Alice tells you that any belongings you left behind in Verser World would have been placed into storage. It's surprisingly common for versers to come back to this world a second and even a third time after versing out, and their gear will be waiting for them if they do. Just go to any of the Towers and ask for the Lost and Found. Then she describes a storeroom reminiscent of the last scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Then she steps backwards and disappears through the bubble.

OOC) And let me know a post ahead of time when you're ready to go back to Verser World. I don't want my plans to derail yours. <wink>



You feel a jolt go through your body. And without saying a word, it tells you to "Trust Me".




As you're considering this, another jolt goes through your body. And somehow you just know that there's a large lake comparable to the Red Sea not more than fifty miles in the direction of your Cessna airplane.



You're probably expecting some huge earthquake. Maybe accompanied by a storm. Something dramatic. Something forceful. Your expectations are most wrong. The ground does open up and swallow the "Unbelievers." But it's quick. It's like a mouth opening and closing and eating the "Unbelievers". So quick if you blinked you would miss it. "Unbelievers" sitting there, ground opens up just wide enough to eat them, they fall in, ground closes. And it's almost silent too. Just GULP and they're gone.

And you can almost hear God laughing at your expectations.

That is useful information, and something I had not thought of.

I flicker a smile at the words.

Hmmm, that could be useful.  A major body of water...

I burst out laughing with God.

I relax the rest of the day.

And the best part is it's in the direction of your Cessna airplane. Go finish fixing up your airplane and fly it to the lake.

OOC) Since you're in a sub-universe, if you versed out from here, I could be a jerk and take away the gear you left. But you'll just verse back into the main Verser World. Won't even start a new thread.



OOC) Have you ever really heard God laugh? God has an amazing sense of humor. Either that, or it's just a psychotic hallucination.



Canned food and bottled water is abundant. Magehammer taught you how to live off the land. So, eating canned peaches and snared rabbit fills you up and gives you a nice sense of peace and fulfillment.

I consider asking for manna, but since I have food, I also remember the Israelites getting greedy, and God sending them an overabundance of birds.

I consider Samson, but that would mean not cutting my hair for well, forever.  Or a really long time.  I'd have to get a ponytail to keep it out of my eyes.

I think some more, and then I read aloud of Elijah.  Elijah the prophet had a bone to pick with Ahab and especially Jezebel.  After the altar is burnt, Elijah tells King Ahab to hurry back to the palace for that cloud the size of a still, small hand meant there was going to be rain, and I imagine a gullywasher.  And then Elijah set off running, perhaps pulling up his robes.  And he outran the king in a chariot pulled by horses.

I read this out loud, and put the Bible down.  Then I thrust down the stick, and shout 'For the Glory of God!' and take off pell mell for a target a long way off.  I'm trying to see if I can break into a forty mile per hour run for a few miles....

I may be exhausted after this as Elijah did seem burnt out after this, for a while anyways.

So you want to try to run about 40 MPH?

After completing your ritual, you rear back and begin running. And at first, you're huffing and puffing, barely getting anywhere. But then it hits you. A force from all around you takes possession of your body. Your legs start pumping like never before. You feel light on your feet, barely touching the ground at all. You wouldn't be surprised if you saw that you weren't even leaving footprints in the dirt.

And in minutes, you arrive at the airport where your Cessna airplane is still sitting in a hangar for you to repair.

And you're exhausted. Breathing heavily. You're forced to sit, and then lay down. You close your eyes, just for a minute. And when you open them, the sun has moved significantly across the sky.

But it worked, and you're here.

"Woohoo." I get up smiling.  And I remind myself to be thankful, and I am.  Although mostly, I'm just so buzzed about the kewl.

I wander about, get some food, look at the plane a bit, rest by the sea, eat some more, and still drained fall asleep by the seashore.

Tommorrow might be a good day to work on the Cessna.  Or I may just wander around and recoup my energies.  Depends on how I feel in the morning.

And it's a beautiful day. Mid 70s on the temperature, just enough clouds to give shade without being gloomy. A perfect day to work on an airplane!!!!



I see I wasn't clear. The sea is about 50 miles from here. You ran maybe 5 or 6 miles. Thinking about it, it took you maybe 10 minutes running to get here. So right around 40-50 MPH was your running speed. You feel the gods (plural) put you here to repair your airplane. The god you believe in is in that sense of gods. (Just being ambiguous for the sake of story)



Going into the airport, you realize you did not explore very much of it when you were here before. You find the hermetically sealed vending machines from before, with their goodies. Enough for a week maybe. You find snack counters with sealed cans of peanuts and other cocktail fruit. Enough for a week maybe. But then you see The Motherload. A vending machine that makes hot, fresh pizzas on the spot. All indications are that it is hermetically sealed like the others. It just needs a good cleaning and a power source and you've got all the pizza you can ask for. Enough for a week maybe.

(Doing Therapy)

I start methodically plugging away at the Cessna.  I'm tentative, but I keep on going, until I get a bit tired.  Then its a snack, and a short walk, and back to work.  Repeat until I start dropping things, which is a sign of being really tired.

The next day I take it a bit easier, and the third day I go at it a bit more enthusiastically, and so for the fourth, and for the fifth, only a half day, and so for the sixth, and a day of rest for the seventh....