Sector 2: Ready Player One

Camleen

I'm going to be my own kind of princess
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. 1-3 posts per week
  3. One post per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
Preferred Character Gender
  1. No Preferences
Genres
In no particular order: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Modern, Magical, Romance, anime, comic books, cartoons, video games..

Sector 2: Gygax, Jurassic World, Universal


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A world in Sector 2, named for Gary Gygax. He is the co-creator (along with Dave Arneson) of Dungeons&Dragons. Considered to be, by many, the the beginning of modern role-playing games. And a cornerstone of the industry. It began in 1972 with Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. It has been the basis of countless games and ideas since its inception, and was a fundamental part of setting up the OASIS and how the game was structured. It's influence can not be understated. In this part of the Sector, you will find multiple worlds encompassing the universe of Dungeon & Dragons lore. Each world will be different 'versions' of the game itself, but all of it under the same banner of Dungeons & Dragons.
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Based on the franchise of Jurassic Park, a world where dinosaurs exist in the modern era. There is a Park Hemisphere that is the amusement park, and a Site B hemisphere where Dinosaurs roam free and players can play a kind of survival game. No high tech weapons or magic! This is also considered a PvE only zone, no PvP allowed.
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This subsector of Sector 2 contains worlds based on the earlier movies of Universal Studios. It’s main feature is a world with the collected works in the ‘Universal Monsters’ franchise (spanning mainly from 1920’s to the 1950’s). But this subsector also houses smaller worlds based on specific genres that can be found within the Universal movie catalog. A highlight is the world ‘Pinstripe’, which almost seems to be ripped straight from the ‘pulp noir’ movies of the 40’s and 50’s.
Here is a list of the monsters' worlds you can find here!
Frankenstein's Monster
Bride of Frankenstein
Dracula
Wolfman
Creature from Black Lagoon
Van Helsing
The Mummy
Phantom of the Opera
Invisible Man
The Mole people
Dr. Jekyl/Mr. Hyde
 
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“Gumshue.” Petey repeats the first name offered while maintaining his intense eye contact with the incognito detective. Barb does likewise, but with a more amused look on her face than her brother. Petey opens his mouth as if to say something, but is cut off by Barb.

“Why I would loove to meet up with you at Petey's next show.” She smiles over at her brother “And I promise this time I'll catch your full set.” She looks back at Gumshue “How about....we meet up here before, and you keep me an honest woman and keep me here, no matter what?” She giggles “Sure that won't be too difficult for a smoothtalker like you, but I can't promise I won't try.”

If this were a cartoon, Petey would be redfaced and fuming at his sister. But he sighs and his face softens. “Alright, whatever Barb. Just hope the mook you're dating now won't mind.” He says in a warning/mocking tone.

“Oh, him.” Barb's eyes flutter and she shrugs “We're just going on one date. Nothing special.” She stands up and says, to Petey “Sadly the night is at a close. I'll be out in the car brother dear, best we get you home before the missus gets too lonely.” She reaches out and cups Gumshue's chin, looks down at him with a smile and sultry eyes “See you here next week Gumshue.”

Barb leaves with eyes on her all the way out the door, Petey's included. He sighs again looking at Gumshue “Sorry for my....attitude buddy. She's my sister, you understand. Lookin' like that, I worry about her all the time.” He stands up and reaches out to shake his hand “Anyway. This time next week, maybe we can be friends?” He smiles and after the shake follows the same path out.

The waitress comes back to the table and gives Gumshue a thumbs-up and a smile. “Good work! Next round next week is on me, as promised.” She tells him and resumes her rounds.

In all the conversation, Barb and Petey had been sufficiently distracted enough to forget about the photo they had exchanged earlier. It was still on the table, folded and waiting.

The picture is of a man whose defining features are a square jaw, a trimmed goatee, and an open warm smile.
 
Gumshue gave Barb a friendly smile as she made her proposition, giving her a nod as she stood up to leave. "Sounds good to me," he said, careful not to push the issue any further - particularly since his real mark was the man who was still at the table. The last thing he wanted to do was upset Petey and put him in a worse mood. A crooked smile was on his face as she cupped his chin, then walked off, waiting a moment before he turned to look to the comedian.

The detective took his hand and shook it warmly. "No hard feelings, man," he said giving Petey a smile. "Honestly, speaks well of you to worry about her, in my book. See you next week..." Roland watched Petey leave, his eyes going down to the abandoned photo. Gumshue scooped it up and looked at it for a moment, seeing if it rang any bells. It didn't, but as the waitress came by to 'congratulate' him, it triggered an idea in his mind - especially since he figured tailing Petey out to head home with his sister wasn't going to get anywhere...

Gumshue looked over the photo idly for a bit, then made sure where he was perched was in the waitress's path when she finally made her next round.

"So, don't suppose you happen to know who this guy is...?" he asked, handing the waitress the last glass of the night as he showed her the photo. "Petey didn't seem too thrilled when he saw it - but it seemed a little weird that she had a photo of him in the first place, figured someone who sees a lot of faces might have a better idea who it is than I would..." Gumshue reached into his pocket and grabbed another bill, a few credits disappearing from his account as he folded it with one hand and set it on the tray (sometimes information cost a little extra, after all). "You're probably way more likely than I am to have met this guy... I'm alright with faces, but this one isn't ringing a bell..."

Gumshue figured that this could fall either way; But if the waitress couldn't give him direction he already had, he'd have to wait a week for the next show to follow up on this particular quest... getting a jump on it now was worth a few credits - besides, that's what expenses were for when it came to jobs like this... and if he could keep in well with the waitress (even if she WAS an NPC), that could make a good source of information in the future, should it come up.
 
"Hmmm." The waitress takes the glass and leans in for a closer look at the photo. Her narrowed eyes, but she shakes her head. "Can't say I know the fella. Sorry. Maybe one of those struggling actors?" She suggests with a shrug and puts her smile back on. She walks away to tend to the other patrons.

The rest of the bar carries on as it has while Gumshue has been working his case. The stage continues to be occupied by the jazz band playing their music for the ambiance. Players mingle with each other. The brunette waitress continues her scripted route same as the others. With the departure of Barb and Petey, the club only continues to function as intended.

In his UI, Gumshue gets a notification that there has been a new posting in the Looking For Group forums.
 
Roland gave the waitress a smile, nodding as he took back the photo. "No worries, darlin'... not like you haven't done plenty already," he said, raising his glass to her before he went back to simply enjoying the atmosphere of the Chuckle Chamber as a whole. It may have had a more happy-go-lucky name than his usual choice of establishment, but it still felt like his type of place - smoky rooms, good music, decent booze, and a harkening back to a time that had an undeniable amount of style.

His reverie was interrupted by the looking for group ping. That was a little unusual... the OASIS forums had so many people in them that postings there were constant; that one had sent him an alert indicated it was likely something on Pinstripe, or something particularly special. Gumshue opened up the notification, curious as to what he was going to find inside...
 
Gumshue would open the posting and see the video from Damagi, now with another added along with tags like 'hunter, tracker, detective which would have caused him to be pinged.

The new video shows Damagi from the neck-up with Happy Jack's in the background. Specifically a view of the team as it's assembled talking among each other, some eating pizza. "Update! So the partner and I were talking, and we need someone with keen detecting and tracking skills. So ideally a hunter, or even a detective. Someone whose skillset will make them more intuitive than the AI of our robots can manage. See things we might not notice, that may just save our necks. If that sounds like you, send in an application! Only the types we're looking for right now. We got a good assortment gathered otherwise."
 
Gumshue looked at the message in his inbox, his tongue poking the inside of his cheek thoughtfully as he did. He chuckled softly as the image popped into his head. The OASIS could bring people with similar fascinations together so easily, which allowed him many, many nights on his beloved Pinstripe, reliving the glorious 1920s in all their splendor. They could also bring together the motliest of crews when you had a team that wanted to explore something, but all seemed from different walks of life.

That didn't make it any less fun, mind.

Gumshue fired up his vid recorder so that he could send in a response, then started recording.

"Hey, Gumshue here. Seems like y'all are in the market for someone who can handle an investigation of sorts. Think I might be able to help you out, if you're interested. I keep some... difficult hours sometime due to the gig in the skinworld, so if that's a deal breaker, no hard feelings on this end. But if you want a detective that can handle himself, I'd be curious to see what you all are up to. Lemme know if you're still in the market. If you are, smokes are on me! Ciao!"

Attached with the vid was the detectives Player Card - a pack of cigarettes with his player and character information in place of the surgeon general's warning, and a single large black spade on the front of the box.

WIth that, Gumshue got himself home to his office apartment, then logged out for the night. He'd already stayed up a little later than he'd planned, and there was work to do tomorrow, after all...
 
Whenever Gumshue logs back in to The OASIS there is a knock at his door and a small silhouette over the frosted glass. When he opens it, the woman from the previous night stands there in the exact attire she had worn on her previous visit. Except now she is shaking every so slightly as she enters, and that shake is also in her voice.

"Y-you didn't call last night." She says first, reminding him of the other part of their arrangement. "When you didn't, I feared..." She stops herself from speaking further and pulls her hat down to keep it over her eyes. The woman sits at his desk, takes some deep breaths before talking again.


"What were you able to find out last night?"
 
Gumshue checked his messages, not finding anything of particular note after a long shift at work in the meat world that mostly consisted of paperwork and watching one of the rookies get soundly berated by their trainer over some mistake they made, then logged into the OASIS.

The office was just as he left it - save that there was already someone in it. With locked doors, that shouldn't normally happen, and it made his instinct to be to reach for his gun. He quickly recognized his current client, however, and calmed down enough to not draw his revolver as he realized her presence was almost certainly part of the questline.

Roland's eyes narrowed just a bit as he went back and played out the previous night's conversation in his head. He never said he was going to call the next night, he was going to call 'tomorrow', and there was still more work to d--. Then it hit him.

She'd said "only tonight for now."

As soon as that bit of it replayed in his mind, Gumshue's eyes rolled and he mouthed out 'shit' silently, realizing she was absolutely right and he'd dropped the ball on that one. Still though, it was odd that she looked identical to the night previous... had she not been home at all to change? That seemed a bit odd. Regardless, he'd been the one who'd slipped up, and he shook his head before he spoke.

"You're right, ma'am. Sorry about that," he said, a rueful tone to his voice as he looked at her. "I thought to contact you once I had fully investigated, wanting to give you as complete an answer as possible, and forgot entirely that I was supposed to only worry about last night. I'm sorry. Truly."

Roland sighed as he leaned back in his chair before he continued. "I trust Petey made it home safe then? His sister mentioned something about 'getting him home to the missus' when they left the Chuckle Chamber last night." Gumshue let that little piece on the table, watching the woman for any odd behavior that could indicate otherwise before he continued. There was still something about all of this that was more than just Barb's pretty face that sat ill with him. "Best as I was able to tell, there really wasn't a whole lot unusual going on. His funny business was pretty much just that: funny. Coulda used a bit of a better choice of clothes, but to each their own."

The detective pulled out a cigarette from his pack, lighting it with a shiny flip-open lighter, then offered one to his client before he continued. "The most pertinent topic of the night seemed to be that his sister doesn't seem to be the best in pickers of gentleman callers. He doesn't seem to approve of those she spends a lot of time with. There's a waitress that says she doesn't show up consistently for his shows; she seems a little worried about him on that front, even if she was there last night, but that's about it. If there's something going on that he's doing that's unusual, it would be after he left the club with his sis; I wasn't able to follow at that point without being noticed... he'd made me by that point, at least enough to keep an eye on me if I tried to tail him... he did make it home, right?"
 
"Yes, yes he made it home fine." The woman puts her hand on her chest and appears to be calming down. At his offer for a cigarette, she waves it off but then takes a packet of cigarettes from an inner pocket and pulls out a very slim one. She lights it with a small silver lighter, has a long slow drag and exhales just as slowly. Now she seems even calmer, leaning back in the chair but keeping her eyes concealed with a tilt of her head.

"His activity at and after the Chuckle Chamber were what I was concerned about. As you saw.....he is a sweet man, but he is not terribly funny or successful." She raises a pointer finger "And yet he never has trouble paying for anything. Rent, groceries, date nights. At first he told me he worked for the postal service. He leaves the house dressed for routes most every day. But." She shakes her head. "I tried to surprise him at work for his birthday, and the Postmaster said he'd never heard of him. That is when I became suspicious, and reached out to you." She groans and rubs her temples.

"I need to know where he is getting all this money. It's a nice stable life but....I can't help but feel it's all....poisoned by what he does because he won't tell me what he does. You understand my predicament, right?"