Current Events > HotLap plays Outer Wilds

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Day 13: I wake up after another traumatic death in the bowels of space with thoughts of roasted mallows and Slate's mighty thrusts racing through my mind. However, my eye is caught by something overhead and questions move in where Slate's humps should be. Did something blue just launch out of the thing that's been circling Giant's Deep? Has this been happening every day but taken me this long to notice? Am I the dumbest man alive? When I was on the Giant's Deep construction site, Nomai writing implied something had launched very recently. Did they mean like, the beginning of the day recent? But that would mean the Nomai are still alive? The questions fade away and one thought penetrates my mind as Slate would penetrate - you know what? I'm kinda over Slate pounding back walls. The thought is this - "We're going back to Giant's Deep."

I miraculously avoid the water tornadoes and actually find solid ground to land on. It seems too good to be true. I park on dry land on Giant's Deep and it only cost me 15% of my landing gear and 100% of my landing camera? Jackpot! I didn't even know I had a landing camera. That can stay broken for all I care. I stumble upon a barricaded Nomai "Statue Workshop" along with a beheaded Nomai statue on the ground. Don't worry, his whole body is gone. He can't hurt us like the Nomai statue on Timber Hearth.

Looking out at the water, I see what looks like a rocky submarine with trees cruising by. I'm tempted to chase it, but the planet's stronger gravity would just yoink me straight into the sea. Instead I'll ascend the gravity modified cliffs before me. I discover another set of Nomai ruins and read that Lami wants to watch Phlox test the "memory statues". Taget is all "no" like a dweeb. Laevi is also all "no" but in a much less dweebish way. I can see the workshop (I presume) below, but now I need to find this "more dangerous" way into it. A tornado lifts me off the ground and pummels me into the ruins overlooking the workshop, almost killing me. Okay that didn't work. We'll keep looking.

I trek on to some additional Nomai readings. Phlox is very excited for me to meet his "memory statues". I already did, mate. Shit's fucked. I die so much. He also says that if he's not in his dwelling, he's probably in his workshop. I'll probably have to go underground to get to the workshop. Gabbro is probably somewhere down there too. Too cowardly to come up to the surface and get abused by nature like the rest of us.

I head back to my ship, make some repairs and decide to head for that moving island I saw earlier. I miss. Fortunately, I once again hit dry land, much to the chagrin of 15% of my landing gear and 100% of my landing camera. Why'd I even fix those? Luckily, the island I landed on is Gabbro's camp. He's not inside the island at all. It turns out the key to finding the travelers is to bitch about how inaccessible they are. Excuse me one second, guys.

IF ONLY FUCKING FELDSPAR WOULD COME OUT OF HIS BRAMBLE SEED AND LIVE IN AGONY ON THE SURFACE LIKE THE REST OF US.

Okay, nice. That's settled. I speak to Gabbro and he reveals he's in the same time loop I am. Remember when I freaked out because I thought Chert was also stuck in the time loop, but he wasn't? I was overwhelmed by the story implications, 'member? Well it's happening again. It's happening so bad that I don't even pause the game to make these scribbles in my notebook. "That's okay," you might be thinking. "I'm sure he has time frozen when he's in conversations." No actually. You're wrong. A tornado rips through Gabbro's camp. He floats above his hammock and continues to play his horn. What a chill guy. If only I had a hammock underneath me for when the planet's aggressive gravity kicked back in and slammed me back into the ground, finishing off those nasty vitals once again.


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Day 14: Like fuck, dude. I can't believe I actually found someone else experiencing the time loop and died before he could elaborate on anything. There's no time for mallows today. I give Slate a professional nod as I rush past him. As I ascend the lift, there's one thought on repeat, "We're going back to Giant's Deep."

I land in the ocean next to a ship that looks a lot like mine. I'm assuming it's Gabbro's. His island is nowhere in sight. That boy is straight up stranded out here. I blast out of the water and land on the first thing I see - the construction site. That's okay though. The first time we came here we didn't know that a scroll was something you insert into walls, not something you just drop on anything that's purple. The previously unread scroll implies that there's a way to track what's being launched out of the orbiting station. I'm not sure who Daz is, but he called Cassava "love" in the translation, which makes him canonically British.

A tornado comes through the construction site and rips all the gravity out. I try to get back on the ground, but my suit's not working. I drift into a wall and push off, heading towards the abyss. This is usually no problem if my suit would respond to my input controls. Right as I have the thought "I've never seen the Push Off command before", I suffocate as I remember that I never actually put my suit on today.

Day 15: Life is full of cycles. Day and night. Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Me alienating my loved ones, slowly earning their trust back, then betraying it again. This time loop.

Yesterday, I broke the cycle by being so determined to get back to Giant's Deep, I didn't eat marshmallows with Slate. Since I wasn't full of mallows, the synapse to put on my spacesuit didn't fire. Well never again. I will eat at least two marshmallows every morning from now to eternity. But what started the cycle in the first place? What drove me to the mallows as soon as I woke up?

Yes, it was the complete respect and admiration I had for how much ass Slate crushes. I have to comment on Slate's fervent sexual appetite. I have to. Otherwise, how will I know to eat the mallows? And if I don't burn the mallows entirely the way I like 'em and not how my characters does, how will my character know to gag? If he doesn't gag, how will he know to put on his suit? it's all connected, it's all part of it. It must be done.

I shout "WAY TO FUCK BUTTS, MATE", slam my marshmallow directly into the flaming log, nearly vomit on fire and splinters, and let one thought take over. "We're going back to Giant's Deep."

As I'm on my descent to Giant's Deep, I notice I'm directly on course for the Orbital Probe Station. I immediately change course and land on top of the satellite. I sent my scout into the Launch Module. It looked less like something had blasted off and more like something had broke out of it. I could be (and probably am) wrong though. I went to the Probe Tracking Module. "I'll finally be able to see where this thing's headed," I think to myself as I step inside. But guess what? There is no Probe Tracking Module, it broke off. Another big whoopsie by the Nomai. What did Bells build this station?

In the Control Module, I find a projection stone like the one I found on the construction site. I learn that Mallow and Avens are super horny about using as much power as they can to launch the orbital probe, even wanting to exceed the maximum recommended energy levels. Gee, I wonder how the station broke apart. More translations tell me that the Orbital Probe Cannon won't fire, and that getting it to do so would require an amount of power too dangerous. So it's possible the Nomai never did fire the cannon, and that they're still extinct. But if they are extinct, who caused the cannon to fire? Although I thought there were translations in the construction site that said something DID fire. Oh boy. I should go back to the construction site again. I use a projection stone to see an intact Launch Module, but the tunnel is blocked off. I leave through the Probe Tracking Module and search for a way into the Launch Module from the outside. Unfortunately, the sun's timer goes ding and so do I.

Also I found out that Daz and Cassava are married. But Daz is still canonically British.


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Cant play tonight, but making sure it stays alive.

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I admire your dedication to the write ups

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pinky0926 posted...

I admire your dedication to the write ups

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Thanks, I appreciate it! These weird write-ups are definitely helping me remember the details better.

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Just one note. Hearthians are genderless. They use "they" pronouns. Your call if you want this to apply to your writing or not.

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