Scott climbed aboard the boat as the others followed suit. There were murmurs of protest from Balagor, Pai and the Queen.

"It's time we started to trust each other." Pai demanded. They had to draw a line in the sand. Kristoff shrugged and got on the boat.

Dern held out an encouraging hand to help the Queen.

"Then let us make it happen." He said as he helped her on board the boat. Balagor watched carefully.

"Alright, time to move out." Said Scott and began to row. The others followed suit.

Before long they were further West along the narrow canal. They continued to move as the current overtook them and they no longer felt the need to paddle so much. The Queen took in her surroundings carefully.

"I'm glad you decided to stick together." Said Airlea helpfully. Balagor grinned.

"Things were getting boring anyway."

At the front of the boat, Scott admired the view with a smile. It was so peaceful out here on the misty green waters. The boat was gaining a bit of momentum as it veered up towards the North and passed under a stone bridge high above. From there it moved out East again and things slowed down considerably. Finally the boat came to a full stop and the group were left sitting and waiting.

Scott grabbed the oar and began to paddle but the boat wasn't moving very much.

"The current ended." He said.

He sat down and looked at his guitar. The air around here was getting mistier. He pulled it out and strummed a few notes.

"I never thought I'd live to captain a boat. There's no water in the underground. It's so sad." He said as he played some more.

Peter smiled.

"You're good Scott. You should play more for us."

Scott felt at peace in that moment. Kristoff had other things on his mind. His eyes were darting across the water. There were bubbles rising.

Airlea stood up and reached for her bow, remembering with a sudden clarity that she no longer had it. She nonetheless watched the bubbles moving until they vanished. A shadow darted across the water where the bubbles had been. She looked over at the others.

"There's something down he-" She began as the splash of green water filled the air. Something monstrous was arcing above the boat, high overhead. It was a long serpent like creature, covered in spiny fins up and down. It hit the water with another splash that almost capsized the boat. In its wake followed a fish-like tail that disappeared.

The shadow was still moving as the group braced themselves. Another huge splash arced over the boat, along with a cry of agony. A gigantic dark blue head dived down into the water. It had reptilian eyes. It was very swift, and it disappeared once more from view without knocking the boat over.

When it sunk back into the water, the greens turned to red. The group looked around in horror and gasped when they saw the front of the boat. Scott was gone. They glanced into the water and saw a broken guitar bobbing along the surface.




It's peaceful here. The water was very nice. Ten years without such beauty made your heart sing at the sight of it. You're glad that...that you lived to see this moment again.

Still, you feel sad. You've always felt a sadness. You're in touch with your emotions and people can label it how they want. It meant you could reach out to the beauty of the world and feel it within. You're happy that you saw things as they truly were, even in the dark moments.

Still, those emotions are beginning to fade. You probably don't need them here. That's the sad part really, because they allowed you to write the music. You reach out for your guitar but it's no longer with you. And a part of you feels like it can no longer reach at all. In your mind, you hear the beautiful music.

"I can undo all that has been done..."

Undo? You want to have another chance out there...but that would also mean undoing the beauty, wouldn't it. Was the chaos worth removing for that? Probably. Peace was good. You're glad the voice is with you in the darkness but it soon goes. It gave you a fleeting moment of hope, nonetheless.

Things are clearer now. Without the emotions all that seems to remain is the music. It's vibrant, it's beautiful. You feel as if you are the notes, floating out into the misty green air for all to hear.

You'll play out for them one more time. And unlike your body, the music will live on through eternity.

You have been killed. This is a sad event that no player wants, but it's part and parcel of the game. It may not be the end though as there are revives from death in this game.

Please ensure you still follow the game rules. You may post in your journal but do not attempt to contact any players outside of the game.

Aw! :(

Oh well, thanks so much! This was a lot of fun while it lasted!

:(

Thanks for playing. I'm glad that you enjoyed yourself.

Yeah Scott, I'm glad you had a good time.

Thank you very much for being part of the cast.

The worst is that I don't get to see anything while dead. Every time I come to the site, my heart breaks a little.

Also that people like Rhea lived over me. I'm so mad she posted like 3 words a few phases ago.

LIFE IS PAIN.

But seriously guys, thank you so much both for casting me and running the game! I'm sure it's a shitton of work but it was a really great experience! Sorry that I didn't post in my journal much at all - wasn't really sure what to say in it.

Those fuckers better be mourning me.

I'm drunk and I just remembered that I was going to tell everyone my theory on the voices. I dunno if anyone else saw (because I just saw like 2 days ago and was going to wait until Tyrese and Sophia addressed the voices before I shared my theory) but there's like a bonus prologue thing that says something about hearing voices from Pandora. So, it's likely that the voices are coming from her, and not a player.

Also, how often do you host these? I really want to play again! I even really like being role-less. Can I request to be a vanilla townie again next time? Lol.

SOMEBODY REZ ME PLEASE.

I have so many regrets. But mostly they involve me not posting in here more often. I think I did a good job in-thread. I tried to keep useless chatter to a minimum and only spoke when I really had something to say. I was checking the thread so much throughout the day. But I really didn't want to talk for the sake of talking. I find that if you don't speak too much, people pay more attention to you when you do actually decide to say something. Not sure if that's true or not, but I like to think so.

I probably should've established my character better, but I really didn't want to detract from the mission at hand. Plus, I didn't want to creepily hit on any of the girls. I probably shouldn't pretend to be a romantic straight guy if I have no idea how to pull it off. Oh well.

I really hope you guys don't think I didn't care about the game. I really did! I mean, there were a bunch of pages I missed in one of those early phases, but after that I really kept up all the time. I realize that looking at my journal it doesn't really seem like I did, which makes me sad. But I really was into the game.

Anyway, sorry for this word dump. Also sorry that this is more than I had to say while I was actually alive during the game. If you guys gave me another chance in the next season, I swear I'd be so much better about keeping this active.

I love you both, and thanks so much again for letting me play!!! God I wish I was still alive. If you ever want to chat, you can reach me at itsbrianyay on AIM!

xoxo,

brian

A few things -

1) Paul hosted the last game almost exactly a year ago. And I believe the first Lab was held a year prior to that. So roughly once a year thus far.

2) Roles are entirely randomized!

3) We never thought for a minute you didn't like/care about the game. We appreciate all the various player types that emerge in these things. The loud ones, the quiet and calculating ones. Just not the "hasn't posted a single thing for five days" types, which you were never one to do.

4) We love you too and the doors are always open to you.

5) It is possible to give up the chance of ever being revived if you would like to spectate the game with us in the Sanctuary. Of course, as I said, it means you forfeit your chance at rejoining the game and would still be held to the confidentiality agreement of not speaking to players about the game. Not a decision to make lightly, but one that is on the table.

6) The relationship/flirting stuff went from hilarious to kind of creepy. We appreciate your reservations.


I said we in every answer, but I'm speaking for myself. Not that I think Paulus would answer much differently.

Bottoms up, Scott.

I agree with all of the above. I was glad to have you on board for this.

PS: I forgive you for nearly killing me in Battle Royale way back.

SO EXCITED FOR THE ENDING. i'm rooting for tyrese, even though apparently his win con was evil? he was awesome. i'm also rooting for kristoff, boone, sophia, eleanor, and maria too i guess. i'm rooting AGAINST hobert. haaaaaate hobert.

if the finale's tomorrow night, i probably won't be able to make it, but it's not like i was relevant at all so that doesn't matter. i'll try my best to be there, though! my name on skype is itsbrianyay, too.

good luck to everyone left except hobert!

<3333

holy shit, guys. i died in april.

Wow. Can't believe how long it's run for.