SFORZATOQUEST 2011: Can You Really See Russia from Alaska?

BRITISHISM. LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE. GS is now at code yellow! D: And we don't have any potions!

>Forte:Attack hat
>GS:Attack hat

 

ENEMY -

Top Hat [■■■ ] 12|20

ALLY -

Sforzato [■■■■■■■■ ] 32|40
The Guardian Soul [■■■■ ] 16|36​

HTML:

COMMAND -

> ATTACK 
  > Sforzato ---> Top Hat 2
  > The Guardian Soul ---> Top Hat 2
> COMBO
> ITEM <UNUSABLE. NO INVENTORY.>
> FLEE

THE GUARDIAN SOUL >
Cane Swipe



Missed!

SFORZATO >
Eighth Beat



CRITICAL HIT!

- 12

Top Hat 2 defeated!

The Guardian Soul gained 25 XP!
[■■■■■] 25|25

The Guardian Soul is now Level 2!

Health + 4
Learned Cane Crack!
[ ] 0|40

Sforzato gained 25 XP!
[■■■■■] 25|25

Sforzato is now Level 2!

Health + 8
[ ] 0|40

ITEMS

> Canned Lazerbeam.

"A lazer in a can, for practical use."

<CANNOT PICK UP DUE TO LACK OF INVENTORY!>

xxx

---





You have just survived a SURPRISE ATTACK.

You are not even sure where it came from. You are not sure how you were able to beat the HATS effectively with your strange EIGHTH BEAT PUNCHING ATTACK. At least, you don't remember well.

Dear god are you confused. THE GUARDIAN SOUL said that you would be safe in the alleyway at least. Glancing around you, you see that this alleyway has NO POSTERS, strangely. You put your TRUST in THE GUARDIAN SOUL once again. He did save you here, somewhat.

"Good, you can fight."

"What the hell was that?!"​

"They're everywhere. Top Hats. A bit like dapper, run-down scouts. Tricky little things. They love to take pictures. The good thing, though, is that they have to scuttle back to their buildings to retrieve the data. A bit inefficient for the city, but it's the best for places that don't need too much attention like out here in the boondocks."



"Follow me."

You decide to FOLLOW HIM.

TOP HATS. You will have to remember those horrid little things. At least you feel STRANGELY INVIGORATED and BEARING MORE ENDURANCE AND VITALITY. Very strange.





Bah, it is dark. Extremely dark.

THE GUARDIAN SOUL informs you to close your eyes. You comply. He begins to lead you, very slowly, through a long hallway. You hear a soft beep.

After what is almost an ETERNITY, he pushes you down onto a rather comfy chair. What an excellent break for your hurting backside.

"Open your eyes."





"Now is your chance to ask me anything, Sforzato."



The enormous screen behind THE GUARDIAN SOUL flickers to life, revealing a rather strange symbol and some text below - in English! Thank the gods, you are not completely illiterate here.



"Welcome."

ASK? >_

 

>Sforzato?: Ask about where the hell you are and why Layton's top hats are terrorising the city!

 

ASK: Who are you, really?
Why am I here, and how did I get here in the first place?
Where the hell are my snacks?

 

>Sforzato?: Inquire what the deuce is going on and demand explanation in song form.

 

Midsummernight?

>Forte: Ask if this has anything to do with Shakespeare. Also why everything's red now.

 

Sammiches...?

 

>Sforzato: Ask Que if you can have one of those fancy top hats. (to wear) If no, try to seduce Que by taking your shirt off.

 

Sforzato?: What are we, and how did I get here?

 

My only question.

Sforzato?: What does any of this, my current predicaments and yours, have to do with Alaska? What happened to SFORZATOQUEST 2011: Can You Really See Russia from Alaska?

 

... Well played.

 

>Sforzato?: Ask if GS has something to eat around here because you'd been in Alaska for who knows how long.
>Sforzato?: Ask why the Midsummernight symbol is so modern and hip.

 

>Sforzato?: Ask why GS seems so much like Phantasmagoric from KHV and if they happen to be related in any way, shape or form.

 

>_Sforzato?: Ask all the above questions in DRAMATIC SOLILOQUY MODE.
>_Guardian Soul: Read Sforzato?'s mind to discover any other questions which he may ask but does not see the need to ask.

 

Well played...

 

Before I begin I would like to direct everyone to Cat's amazing fan art because she is absolutely amazing.

"Okay, okay, Phantasmagoric, or- or Guardian Soul, or whatever the hell you want me to call you! God, I am so confused. What in god's name is going on here? Where the hell am I? What in the world were we attacked by there?"​

​

"Well, where should I begin.

First of all, welcome to Vladivostok."

"Huh, Vladiwhowhat."​

You notice the screen behind THE GUARDIAN SOUL has changed to an image of GOOGLE MAPS.



"Vladivostok, a city in Russia, or at least what used to be Russia. It's a rather long story, I've got to say. Vladivostok's been my only home for a while. Only home for all of Midsummernight, really.

What an odd place. You probably barely knew Vladivostok when you were back in Alaska, I'd presume. Not very well known back in those times in general. Just a tiny town located on the corner of the world."




"Now look at it. Perhaps one of the largest cities left in the world."

Largest cities? What in the world was this man talking about?

"What do you mean by largest cities left in the world, exactly? And that brings myself to another question I have been meaning to ask you for a good while, 'specially considering your jabber about how I 'used to remember this city like this and that'."

"Are you really Phantasmagoric?
And, more importantly, why in the world am I here, and how in the world did I find myself in this dangerous place?"

"Yes, I am really Phantasmagoric. I am really The Guardian Soul. Neither are my proper names, though. I'm not telling you that, but go ahead and keep calling me The Guardian Soul, I'd prefer that actually.

To answer your other question, simply put.

The city grew."



"Why in the world are you here, you say? Well, we've got a big reason for you to be here. Namely, you can help us with our effort.

Let me bring you back to Vladivostok in a while, and that'll lead you into your next answer. We aren't in what you'd call Russia before then, that certainly is for sure. It's a bit different. You'll definitely see later. Notice how everything's the same, Sforz? Notice all of those posters with the strange text? Camera-quads. They all are like television screens - two way. They can see you and you can see anything projected through them. They watch you.

This city, Vladivostok, is just one of the many around the Pacific Rim and the North in general controlled by an evil tyrant calling himself the Comrade. Those Top Hats were stray scouts just looking around to pick on anything not seen by the camera-quads.

This is the home of Midsummernight, and a few of us here have lived here for quite a while before that man came to power. This is also the central base of the Comrade, and his autocratic control over the happiness of millions of people.

I hope you realize what we are getting at, here. I can't say anything blatant, lest any secret microphones pick up anything.

I thought you would be a great candidate, especially seeing as I found you waking up from that enormous coma you had. Whose quarters were you in? Mine. At least my old ones. Why else was the page set to that forum you appear to frequent? Or used to."



"Midsummernight is a family. These people are close to me.

You have become part of it, whether you like it or not, simply by learning of its existence.

But family, oh - family takes care of itself as well."



Well, that was CONFUSING. You take some time to GULP DOWN EVERYTHING before continuing with your questions.

COMA? You were in a COMA? For how long?

You personally have not read much SHAKESPEARE but you recall that MIDSUMMER NIGHT appears to directly reference a CERTAIN SHAKESPEAREAN PLAY BY SUCH A TITLE.

"Why Midsummernight? Isn't that some kind of uh, Shakespeare reference?"​

"You'll see soon enough."

"So, what is with that Midsummernight symbol anyway? What does it have to do with anything?"​

"Ah, that. That is the Midnight Star, designed by a friend of a few Midsummernight members who apparently were excellent friends with her. According to them, she passed on her name to the symbol of Midsummernight before she departed. You should ask Fire - she was good friends with her, and she'll be here in a moment."

"Is there any real reason why everything here is cast in red, blue and white?"​

"No real reason.

Midnight Star liked some artist from a long time ago named Piet Mondrian. Except we can barely recover any of his work now besides the fact that he used lines and primary colours. Don't tell her if you see her again, which I doubt, but she's a bit off in replicating Mondrian's work around here, though it's understandable, since basically everyone here except myself has not seen what it actually looks like yet. This is what happens when the graphic artist goes off to get food and people who only know what his work looks like from rough estimates start doing things. I like it though, it's very unique.

We aren't using any yellow here, though. I hope you know why, especially considering what we are up against."

You are PRETTY SURE YOU HAVE HEARD OF PIET MONDRIAN BEFORE.

Not being able to recover his work? You would think that it would be clear as day in some sort of ART MUSEUM.

Then again, this strange man has been tossing around a few ODD IMPLICATIONS.

You are growing rather SUSPICIOUS.

You are EXTREMELY STARVING, especially with these LAYERS OF EXPOSITION.

"Alright, alright, do you have any snacks at least? I haven't eaten anything for a while. You even said I was in a coma of sorts! Jegus, you still haven't told me how I got in that."​

"I'll do so in a second. First,"



You see THE GUARDIAN SOUL press a BUTTON on the table.

"Fire, we'd like you in here quickly, please. Reheat the pizza or some such.
Also, I'd like you to tell this young man we have here how we found him, exactly."

"Right. Getting in there, GS. That pizza is pretty old and kind of disgusting though. 'Least in my opinion. Cat and British ordered it. Hope he likes potato and anchovy."​

"Thanks."

Dear god.



The worst thing about VLADIVOSTOK you can think of right now is the HORRIBLE PIZZA TOPPINGS.

At least while you are OH SO HUNGRY.

ASK? >_

 

>Sforzato: Why is there a large tesseract approaching us on the map from the south and where is the nearest bathtub?

 

Sforzato?: What day is it?

 

Hmmmmm looks like you're just right above China or Mongolia....or is that area called Manchuria still? Looks like you're also pretty close to Korea as well. Well, North Korea to be more exact, I guess. Also is that "Fire" who I think it is? XD Also, why does GS have so many stress lines? Dawww.......such a stressful job telling the new guy everything and keeping him alive. XD *bows* Your pizza, sir? I tried heating it up as best I could. BWAHAHAHAHA!
Ahem.

Forte>: Ask about coma.

 

Sforzato> Ask if you can get a gosh-dang jar of apple juice, because pizza won't quench your thirst.