Gossip [coming 2024] | Update #10 on p3 | Looking for testers

[Touchdown]

PROJECT_NAME: Gossip
SOURCE_PORT_REQUIRED: PrBoom+ / Gzdoom / Eternity [complvl-9]

=====================================
MAP_001: unidentified
MAP_002: The Capricious
MAP_003: Half Hollow
MAP_004: Tarantism
MAP_005: Makeshift Extraction
MAP_006: unidentified
MAP_007: unidentified
MAP_xxx: ???

MAP_xxx: ???
=====================================

[PREMISE]
A catastrophic event has swept across the city knocking out all the communication and plunging the metropolis into chaos. As an ex-security officer you are ready to head out and help people outside but a mysterious benefactor asks you to stay put. You've been informed that the source of the disaster is most likely a secret UAC research facility hidden in a nearby forest. You've never seen any kind of installation in the wilderness but the informer sounds pretty certain. After hours of gut-wrenching screams, gunfire and the beast-like roaring you've never heard before the city falls into a deafening silence. The army backed by the UAC security forces did their best but couldn't hold off the invading forces. They served their purpose though - the enemy numbers have been severely cut down. Armed with all the uncertainty in the world you grab the handgun you've found in the briefcase provided by your benefactors and head outside.

[BACKGROUND]
7 lenghty maps for DOOM2 focused on atmosphere and exploration with some setpieces thrown in for good measure. Stock DOOM2 resources only. Made with software rendering and classic controls in mind.

Gossip takes you on a consistent journey where each map ends where the next one begins. You will visit a number of earthly locations, including urban and natural areas, wilderness and dead cities, as well as secret research facilities and of course the depths of Hell itself.

In terms of progression the mapset contains a mix of linear levels and classic exploration-based maps. But you may also stumble upon places that are entirely open-ended and truly non-linear. A healthy dish with a variety of scenarios to encounter.

The difficulty will not be extreme and I want it to be hard-fun on UV - challenging enough so that it's not boring but without pushing it too far. A veteran player should be able to play it relatively casually without save-scumming. In other words: if you play DOOM purely as a challenge to improve your ever-growing skill then I'm sad to say there's nothing for you here. Then again if you're a casual player UV might prove to be rather difficult.

 

=====================================
[PROGRESS]
The construction of the main maps 01-07 is complete. To do list includes:

 

| Construction of MAP08 (the final fight) and MAP09 ("the end" map with no gameplay).

| Gameplay rebalance/rework and the general wrap-up of existing levels. [current goal]

| The soundtrack. [current goal]

| Difficulty levels.

| All the miscellaneous stuff like title pic, etc.

=====================================

[RELEASE_DATE]
Current plan is to release it later this year (2024).

[LORE]
All sorts of story bits are scattered throughout the thread. If you're the kind of person that likes having a bit more background information there's plenty to read.

[trailer2]:

[main_theme] Toornihculat: The Luckiest
Bandcamp
Youtube

Edited April 16 by Touchdown

[Thelokk]

Ok, maybe it's just early morning or I'm just that stupid.

 

No download link?

[Nefelibeta]

Nice! Your drawing is always beautiful.

[KeaganDunn]

Excited to give this a go!

[Walter confetti]

This gets me hyped, really! Waiting for it!

[King Know-Nothing]

Okay this looks really solid. Even the little there is to see has me pretty hyped. Can't wait to give this a go around!

[thiccyosh]

Dam, look at those details!

[OverflowingMocha]

This looks promising, I'll definetly give this mapset a spin once it's completed.

[Fabricator]

Ooh, mysterious! Hahaha, looks and sounds cool, kinda gives off "Hellscape" and "Hellbound" vibes!
Keen to see more! :)

[Touchdown]

Hey folks, I'm happy to see the positive responses here. This project has been in development on and off since 2014 and up until now no one has seen anything out of it. And when you work on something this long in complete secrecy then sometimes you wonder if you're really making something that is half decent... or maybe it's actually really lackluster and you just don't see it. It feels good to finally be able to show a bit of what I've been cooking. More to come. Unless a giant meteor falls down and kills everyone.

 

On 1/27/2022 at 7:45 AM, Dunn (& Dunn) said:

Excited to give this a go!

 

On 1/27/2022 at 9:54 AM, Walter confetti said:

This gets me hyped, really! Waiting for it!

 

On 1/27/2022 at 4:45 PM, LGmaire said:

This looks promising, I'll definetly give this mapset a spin once it's completed.

 

Hopefully I won't disappoint, heh. I've got many sequences and areas that I really want to see people's reactions to.

 

On 1/27/2022 at 10:03 AM, King Know-Nothing said:

Okay this looks really solid. Even the little there is to see has me pretty hyped. Can't wait to give this a go around!

 

Thanks. I'm deliberately not showing too much yet as there's still quite a lot of time until it's finished. Gotta save some stuff for the rest of the year and somehow not spill all the secrets before the damn thing comes out.

 

13 hours ago, Fabricator said:

Ooh, mysterious! Hahaha, looks and sounds cool, kinda gives off "Hellscape" and "Hellbound" vibes!
Keen to see more! :)

 

Hell on Earth FTW!

[El Inferno]

Hyped for this :)

[Korozive]

And so we wait...

[koren]

Really looking forward to it, my friend.

[Grain of Salt]

On 1/27/2022 at 5:25 AM, Touchdown said:

Stock DOOM2 resources only. Made with software rendering and classic controls in mind.

 

\o/

[Touchdown]

 

[recovered_image_010]

 

data_recovery_in_progress...
entry_01_corrupted...
entry_02_corrupted...
entry_03_recovered
entry_04_corrupted...

 

accessing_entry_03...

 

subject: TR_sec_396
type: personal_log
date: 17.01.2179
location: Sector 19m

 

The sirens are blaring outside again. I've been living in this damn apartment for the past 4 years and yet I don't recall there ever being this much commotion before. It doesn't seem like it's going to get better any time soon. Folks are getting suspicious and who can blame them? It started with several seemingly random incidents. Some bum got butchered in an alley a while ago and people freaked out. It was on all news because the guy got cut up like a pig, splayed on the pavement as if someone wanted to make damn sure everyone noticed their handiwork. A few days later an office worker got arrested for assaulting their colleagues seemingly for no reason. Stressful working conditions, they said... But the details were pretty disturbing. Witnesses said he acted like a lunatic, blind fury in his eyes. The whole thing snowballed from there. More and more incidents occurred, no visible connection between the cases. The number of missing people skyrocketed in just a few weeks while the random acts of extremely violent crimes spread throughout the city. Some blame the government's lenient response to the stranglehold the megacorporations have over an increasing number of military industries. Some blame the followers of Mira, others blame the Pulse. There's always enough blame to go around but no concrete answers. I don't know what to believe... But I see a pattern. I just cannot tell what it means yet. I've been having this... apprehension that I just can't shake off. The cold vibration in the air. The storm is brewing and I need more time.

[Nefelibeta]

Damn those teasers, I can't wait really.

[Touchdown]

 

[recovered_image_011]

message_intercepted...
contents_pending_examination...
reason: possible encounter with Object #s08v

subject: JM_842
type: personal_log
date: 21.02.2179
location: Sector 19o

I got lost in the wilderness yesterday. I don't know how it happened. I went out for a walk after dinner as I like to do, just to unwind after a long day in the factory. I've been walking right next to the little pond past the old, rusty sewer entrance and continued uphill towards the opening. The sky was overcast and it was getting dark but at that time of the year you can see pretty well even without the flashlight. So here I was strolling through the beaten path and the occasional bushes, enjoying the rustling of the leaves, a gentle breeze and the crackling of insects... and just as I was about to enter the opening I've found myself in an unfamiliar place.

At first I thought I took a wrong turn somewhere but I didn't recognize that area at all. This is very strange. I know this place like the back of my hand. I've walked through those woods many times and I've never seen this before. I decided to go a bit further to see if I can get my bearings but that only made it worse. After a couple of minutes I started midly panicking - I just kept walking and walking, seemingly getting nowhere in the process. The weirdest thing though was that I could constantly see the city lights glistening in the distance through the branches - I couldn't have been completely off the track but still I couldn't find my way out.

Finally I ended up in a small grove and at that point I couldn't believe my eyes. The place was absolutely beautiful, like from a fairy tale: a breathtaking splatter of greens, reds and browns with the eerie light almost dancing around with dozens of glowing fireflies circling around. I didn't notice it at first but after a few moments I've finally been able to pinpoint the source of the strange light: it was a small orb laying on the grass under one of the trees. It was like a star, brighter than the Sun yet it wasn't blinding my eyes at all. I was stunned. The bluish glow was alluring and I had to see it up close. However just as took a few steps forward and reached out for it I've found myself kneeling in the opening that I've been trying to find all this time. I looked around in confusion - it was already dark but I knew where I was now so I got up and made my way towards the road.

This couldn't have been real. I must have fainted from exhaustion or something. I'm positive that there's no such grove in that wilderness. It must have been a dream.

That sounds logical. It's a reasonable explanation. And under different circumstances I wouldn't have any problems accepting that... Except there is a small object wrapped in a piece of cloth laying next to me.

[Dynamo]

These are some seriously amazing teasers, I was sure I had commented on this but I was out of town whilst the last one was posted... Really looking forward to see what else you have in store for us!

[Yumheart]

Adventure maps are not exactly my cup of tea, but these visuals are absolutely amazing, you really know how to use stock textures.
The city area in particular looks very sleek and finely crafted.

[Korozive]

On 2/23/2022 at 10:35 AM, Touchdown said:

 

[recovered_image_011]

message_intercepted...
contents_pending_examination...
reason: possible encounter with Object #s08v

subject: JM_842
type: personal_log
date: 21.02.2179
location: Sector 19o

I got lost in the wilderness yesterday. I don't know how it happened. 

 

I think after the initial release you should just go ahead and write the novel for this. I would not only read it, I would pay for it. :o)

Edited April 8, 2022 by Korozive

[azerty]

I love the trailer I can't wait to play this :)

[Touchdown]

Hi everyone. This is just a little update regarding the status of the project. As some might have noticed there's been no activity here in like half a year and the reason for this is very simple: I have done almost no work on Gossip in that time. There are many reasons for this. Some understandable and reasonable, some maybe not so much. Though I guess the main culprit is my sanity which is slowly but surely leaving me. The short version is that the development is back on track and I will continue with updates very soon. The rest of this message are just details.
________________________________________________

My original plan was to announce the project, release the trailer and then grind away on MAP06 while occasionally posting screenshots with those little bits of lore that you can see in previous posts. In February I sketched out MAP06 and started working on the opening area. Things were going well and then everything fell apart. Nothing particulary tragic has happened but a combination of a bunch of things kept delaying the work and eventually things got to the point where mapping was the last thing on my mind. Due to that I felt like there was no point posting lore+screenshot bits considering the development was pretty much on hold. I decided that I will not "come back" until I manage to work on the project for two weeks without skipping days. And here we are almost half a year later.

However I've finally gotten enough momentum and I think this is as sure as I'll ever be that I'm "back". I've made some decent progress on MAP06 and so far I'm happy with everything I made for it. As for the release, it is "when it's done" but 2023 still looks realistic, unless things get derailed again. As I mentioned - expect more or less regular updates from now on. I have a ton of screenshots and lore snippets ready to go so I'll be dropping them every once in a while.

So there you have it. I know that for people interested in the project this is probably not something you wanted to hear after all this time but what can I say. "I've got nothing to show but the show must go on. I wish I had the energy".

 

 

[recovered_image_012]

________________________________________________

 

On 4/7/2022 at 2:56 PM, Yumheart said:

Adventure maps are not exactly my cup of tea, but these visuals are absolutely amazing, you really know how to use stock textures.
The city area in particular looks very sleek and finely crafted.

 

Thanks a lot. Creating a city that actually looks like a city with stock DOOM2 textures proved to be quite a challenge. I had to improvise a lot with the shapes to make it a bit more interesting. Which was a blessing in disguise. If I used custom textures I'd be tempted to just draw a bunch of squares and put textures with windows on them which would have been a lot more boring. There are two city levels here and one of them is about as non-linear as you can possibly get. I imagine a lot of people are going to hate it for that but at least that'll make it more memorable, heh.

 

On 4/8/2022 at 2:39 AM, Korozive said:

I think after the initial release you should just go ahead and write the novel for this. I would not only read it, I would pay for it. :o)

 

Ha! I'm afraid my writing skills do not extend beyond short lore bits like those... but I'm glad someone enjoys them. :) I actually did not intend for Gossip to have a lot of story because it's a BOOM mapset so obviously it's not gonna have any "direct" storytelling in the maps. But while working on them I kept imagining what would this world be like if it was actually fully fleshed out. So I started writing some short stories for fun, without any intention of sharing them. But as I got more and more into it I felt like I could at least use them as teasers of sort for people who like having a bit of context when playing the maps. Maybe to some people this is kind of pointless but I have fun writing them and that's all that matters.

[Dynamo]

Good to have you back! And good to have the project back as well. I hope you'll be able to fight your inner demons with the same efficiency with which you create amazing-looking scenery. Best wishes!

[Touchdown]

 

[recovered_image_013]

 

data_archive_accessed...
searching... event_of_synchronicity
please_wait...

subject: OZ_347
type: news_article
date: 25.01.2179
location: Sector 19m
 

Excerpt from The Pulse Aftermath | January 25th 2179
Three months ago a mysterious phenomenon occurred in the thirty kilometer radius in and around the city, sending a wave of distress amongst the population and causing the near-panic state for a couple of hours. Jeffrey Byron from the the Northern Herald News dubbed it the "Calamity Pulse", the name that was quickly adapted as an unofficial term for the event. It turned out to be quite fitting as professor Morgan Patterson from the National Research Department explained: "The so called Calamity Pulse is assumed to have been caused by a rare glitch in the Mark III Pulse Engines used widely in interstellar shuttles. In itself the glitch goes pretty much unnoticed and results in an extremely minor energy dip during the takeoff but it's been theorized that the particle shockwave it causes might, under very specific circumstances, synergize with the vibration frequency of the Collar Sources. This can result in a large scale discharge capable of affecting both human beings and electronic systems over a short period of time however not in any meaningful way."

Professor Patterson reassures that such event is extremely unlikely to happen again and that we probably won't experience another one in our lifetimes, though the public remains skeptical due to possibility of further unforseen consequences of using the new generation of power sources. Critics of massive corporations took the Calamity Pulse event as an opportunity to voice their concernes regarding the rapid deployment of Collar Sources, calling it "a rash and irresponsible over-reaction to the ongoing exhaustion of natural energy resources."

The way in which the Pulse affected the populace varies from person to person to the point where it's difficult for researchers to determine which of those experiences are directly related to the phenomenon in the first place. The common factor in all of the cases appears to be the remarkably brief timespan which is often described as barely perceivable - some citizens weren't even certain if their experiences were real to begin with. Others however described a very vivid sensation of being pulled away from themselves although the feeling is said to have been dreamlike, as if falling asleep for a second and then immediately waking up. According to the authorities no major incidents have occurred in relation to the Pulse and aside from the understandable concerns that the citizens had immediately after the event the whole situation did not cause any significant problems. The UAC Board of Directors released a statement on the situation, assuring that despite an extensive investigation into the matter no negative effects of the glitch have been discovered. The corporation has been scrutinized in the past for its aggressive expansion into the military industries and the fields of energy production though the undeniable benefits of the Collar Source technology have won a lot of people over. The bad PR related to the Pulse has brought back a number of arguments against the enigmatic Board of Directors whose actions are often seen as overreaching. It remains to be seen if those arguments will lead to any changes in the company in the long term.

Calamity Pulse continues to raise more questions but due to its unique nature, further research proves to be very difficult as recreating the event would require providing conditions that are virtually impossible to achieve in a controlled environment.

[Touchdown]

 

[recovered_image_014]

 

Authorities have taken steps to further prevent access to the remote areas of the sewer system. According to the Security Chief Daniel Tyson, most of the tunnels will be under indefinite lockdown and maintenance teams will be required to abide by much stricter protocols in order to perform tasks in the furthest reaches of the underground compound. A growing number of incidents linked to the dangerous subterranean environment has been cited as one of the main reasons for the changes.

The sewer system is not in itself dangerous though the declining condition of the older structures lead to a number of accidents involving both the citizens and specialized workers. Last year a part of the stone bridge in one of the intersections collapsed, cutting off access to critical areas and creating a gap impossible to cross without proper equipement.

The underground parts of the city have always served as secluded hideouts for the homeless and gathering spots for teenagers as, outside of the key areas, there's no surveillance there and outer tunnels can be easily accessed from a number a points on the streets. Safe from occasional drug deals though there weren't many notable incidents and the public had little interest in the events taking place underground. It wasn't until a tragedy involving a nine year old Steven Pierce in 2178 that authorities have started paying more attention to the potentially lethal conditions in the sewers. "We can't have people just wandering around in the old, unstable parts of the tunnels. The accident rates will only go up if we don't enforce a definite lockdown on those areas", said officer Tyson.

The structural damage of the lower parts of the system has already resulted in a couple of cave-ins. Several areas are no longer accessible due to the deterioration of an aging architecture. Despite the ongoing efforts of rebuilding and modernizing the complex, the majority of the areas remain dangerous to incautious explorers.

The city sewers are notable for their labyrinthine structure with long, winding corridors and intersecting areas. Many sections have been abandoned for years and the collapsed tunnels make it difficult to access older parts of the underground system. Over the years the place has attracted the attention of urban explorers, some of which have dedicated themselves to mapping out the entirety of the complex. "It's a real goldmine, we keep finding new areas. It's like there's no end to this place" - said Trident in her recent video. She's one of such trespassers documenting their endeavours of creating a comprehensive map of the underground. "There are several interesting looking places we haven't been able to get to. Maybe one of them contains the Stash".

The Stash is a colloquial term that some people use to describe the location of the Irritant stockpile that is rumoured to be somewhere beneath the streets. A few years ago a prominent group belonging to a criminal syndicate called Coelacanths has been pinned down in the sewers by the Turmoil special forces unit. The syndicate members have raided a UAC warehouse seizing control of a cache of energy based weapons as well as several cases of the Irritant injections - a powerful military grade combat drug used for enhancing soldier's capabilities in extreme situations. The group was captured after several hours and Turmoil reclaimed the stolen weaponry however the syringes were never found. According to annonymous sources connected to Coelacanths the stockpile was dropped down one of the tunnels during the attempted escape. The syndicate members were supposed to find it later but it appears it might have been lost for good somewhere deep inside the underground labyrinth.

Edited March 17 by Touchdown

[ducon]

And the midis will be music for men?

[Touchdown]

Gossip Update #1
I had a bit of an urge to write a small update on what's been achieved this past month. The short version is that everything's going well and I'm happy with what I made for MAP06 so far. The progress is, as always, slow but steady and while I'm hitting some road blocks here and there I think generally it's going rather nicely. That's... really all that matters I guess. But if you're interested in ramblings then stay a while and listen.

First of all I'm glad to report that I'm completely back in the groove of mapping by now. Progress is being made almost every day and I'm looking forward to sharing some screenshots from the new map. That however will have to wait a bit as I don't like the idea of posting shots from a map that's far from completion.

As of right now MAP06 is roughly 15000 linedefs, ~10k were added this month alone. It's difficult to say what the final number is gonna be. So far my maps are between 33 and 65k lines and this one is gonna be big. I suspect I'm gonna be right on the max linedef limit here, much like in Map05. So that's probably around 4-5 more months at a current pace? I was hoping to start working on the final level this year but I'm not sure if that's gonna happen unless my efficiency suddenly skyrockets for some reason.

MAP06 is the first Hell level in Gossip. The representation of Hell in fiction is a topic that I've always been very passionate about. In fact I'd say I'm far more critical about Hell maps that people make than I am about any other level theme in DOOM. For some reason I am super sensitive about breaking the immersion and atmosphere in Hell environments and many of those maps are not what I'm looking for. I'm not saying that this makes those levels objectively bad - this is purely subjective. Anyway I can give you some examples of Hell maps that I really like:

E3M4: House of Pain
E3M5: Unholy Cathedral
E3M7: Limbo
MAP25: Bloodfalls
MAP27: Monster Condo
------------------------
everything in Deus Vult
Deus Vult II - MAP21: The Unholy Cathedral
Sigil - E5M5: Abaddon's Void
Sigil - E5M6: Unspeakable Persecution
Stardate 20x7 - MAP05: Sphinx Rising (not necessarily a Hell level but the atmosphere is exactly what I want out of one)

There are two main aspects of Hell that I'm trying to work with in Gossip. First of all, I want the place to feel haphazard, almost abruptly constructed. It's not a magnificent fortress made only considering how impressive it'd look on screenshots. It doesn't really strike me as a place of eternal damnation when you've got all this cool architecture to look at everyday. I may be doomed to eternity in Hell but hey, at least I've got a nice view out of my torture chamber! Nah. You should feel lost and confused, like you're in a labyrinth with no way out. While carefully designed cathedrals and castles look nice, I want my Hell maps to have the air of desperation and alienness instead. Okay, I do have some fancy architecture here and there for the sake of variety but I always aim to make it feel a bit random, unnatural. If Gossip was a standalone game with modern graphics then this is what I'd want Hell to look like:

This is a screenshot from the upcoming Scorn. I don't think this game is set in Hell but the visuals/atmosphere of the place are exactly what I'm looking for in a Hell level.

Second, I want the architecture that's there to feel oversized in an unnatural way. Big, dark corridors make me imagine some giant, unseen creatures wandering around them. It always gives me that Lovecraftian vibe, sort of like The Elder World in Quake, where the scale seems to be slightly off until you realize these places are not meant for humans but rather entities much bigger than us. While you never actually see them the sheer thought of what those enourmous creatures might be is terrifying enough.

Quake | E4M4: The Palace of Hate

By the way, just in case you're wondering: Hell in Gossip is an actual Hell. It's not a representation, it's not symbolic, it's not the main character's fever dream, it's not a medieval fantasy land with a red sky and it definitely isn't an alien dimension that just happens to look like Hell. It is THE Hell. You cannot map it out, you cannot explain it scientifically, you cannot rationalize it. It's a chaotic force of nature beyond human comprehension.

 

On 7/20/2022 at 5:42 PM, ducon said:

And the midis will be music for men?

 

Sorry, I have no idea what are you trying to say.

[ducon]

3 minutes ago, Touchdown said:

Sorry, I have no idea what are you trying to say.

[Nefelibeta]

So you're writing a novel along with this? Cool

[Touchdown]

 

[recovered_image_015]

 

attention...
UAC_Station_In_Absentia
signal_intercepted...
source_unknown...
unauthorized_transmission...
possible_intrusion... security_notified...

...
Harlan G: Calibrations in Sector G underway. Plasma Inducers operational. Ion Accelerator... online. The signal is really strong. Looking good.

---
Michael S: What about the power fluctuations? Has the engineering team been notified?

---
HG: Yes, yes. Norman is handling the energy distribution this time. I just hope we won't have to rely on the auxiliary generators. Security has been picky about the power requirements in Containment.

---
MS: That breach wasn't exactly our fault though.

---
HG: Well, I can't blame them for wanting to minimize the risk. We did push the systems to the brim.

---
MS: Fair enough. So, are we done here? We gotta run.

---
HG: Sure thing, just give me a sec... Jason's upstairs?

---
MS: Yeah and he's not happy. I think the meeting with the Administrator is inevitable.

---
HG: I knew it'd come to this. Why is nothing ever going as planned? Damn it.

---
MS: Well, you know how it is, I just wish we had a bit more time. If only Gossip wasn't so urgent...

---
HG: We could have made the deadline even without compromising the protocols. Aren't you sick of this goldrush?

---
MS: Eh, I don't know anymore. I've heard rumours that some private company... what's their name... Well, the point is they had an undercover investigation going. Don't know if they've found anything but I'd say we've cut it pretty close.

---
HG: Wait, what? I haven't heard about this. Which company was that?

---
MS: Hm, the name is just on the edge of my mind... Damn... The one with that weird trident in the logo?

---
HG: Selenic? That's not even their field. Why would they care?

---
MS: Beats me. But honestly nothing surprises me anymore. Ever since the Pulse everyone's been pulling in weird directions. Worst case scenario they're in bed with someone else. Either way that's for the Board to figure out. We've got other problems now. Like why were the dimensional fields collapsing so quickly during the last few tests? We have less and less time with each one and that's the last thing we need.

---
HG: Hm... They're definitely... Oh, hold up the door!
...

...
Station Announcement System: Attention! Doctor McCormick, please report to Central Administration.
...

...
HG: Anyway, the cycles are clearly getting shorter. Maybe the sample is deteriorating...

---
MS: Don't even say that. We're pulling the energy from three different generators just to get the preliminary readings. This can't go on forever. And if we lose that sample there's no telling when we can get a hold of another one.

---
HG: I think that at this point we have to assume the worst. We've got to get as much out of it as we can. You have to admit the data from the Synchronicity looks promising.

---
MS: That whole thing was a bloody gamble. I've never seen UAC running that level of damage control. I'd rather not even think just how much did that cost us.

---
HG: Ha! We're gonna be paying the price for that stunt for years to come! That's why we can't let that go to waste. I hope the Administrator understands that.

---
MS: ...

---
HG: What?

---
MS: Nothing. It's just that it didn't even make him flinch. I think he's willing to go way further than that.

---
HG: For sure! These are extraordinary times, my friend.

---
MS: I don't know if I share your excitement. If Gossip fails...

---
HG: Hey, no one ever said stalling the end of the world would be easy.

---
MS: I wish the line between stalling and ushering was clearer...

 

transmission_interrupted...

 

________________________________________________

 

On 8/1/2022 at 6:54 PM, Nefelibeta said:

So you're writing a novel along with this? Cool

 

Just adding a bit of context to the events that ultimately lead to you grabbing a shotgun and surviving a demonic apocalypse.