EVENT: Welcome to the City! (June 2023)

[citycenter]

WELCOME TO THE CITY!

TOURIST INFORMATION. Directly to the southwest of City Hall, you notice a building. It looks welcoming, with an inviting glass facade and a sign above the entryway announcing it as the "TOURIST CENTER." It's a humble building with a receptionist's desk on the back wall opposite the entrance, empty magazine shelves lining the side walls, and a few spinning brochure racks full of blank pamphlets. Anyone is welcome to peruse the tourist literature, though they won't offer much information, being primarily filled with pictures of the surrounding area—City Hall, the park, a statue garden, and the surprisingly heavily-featured cemetery. There are a few sentences sprinkled throughout about basic offerings of the city, such as apartment complexes and office buildings, as well as a few maps with the same limited scope as the larger version on the wall behind the receptionist's desk. The main feature of the tourist center is the interactive kiosk installed dead in the center, right in the middle of a few rows of uncomfortable chairs that fill the small room. It's noticeably in the way of any would-be foot traffic through the tourist center, and something about the technology seems a little more modern than the computer behind the desk or the landline phone on the wall. The kiosk is a tall silver rectangle, about average adult height, and the upper half is a screen welcoming visitors to touch it to activate the kiosk. If you were to touch it, the screen would come to life with simple dialogue inviting visitors to ask it their questions. However, residents should note that the kiosk is only programmed to assist with exploration within the available areas of the city. It may not be able to answer every question, and tampering with the kiosk may result in unreliable or inaccurate answers! The kiosks are styled after this kind of interactive directory and will display text in whatever language the player character speaks, with optional text-to-voice for characters who are not able to type. (For vocals, think of the flattest, least affected robot voiceover you've ever heard.) The kiosk is programmed to answer questions related to tourism in the city, and can be asked for food or lodging recommendations, directions to various shops and locations in the district, and basic information about the city itself. Characters are able to ask as many questions as they please, but should note that not all questions can be answered in full by the kiosk system and overloading it with questions may yield interesting results. Attempts to hack the kiosk will result in a twenty-four hour shutdown to reboot the system. During the reboot, the kiosk will not be available for further questioning or hacking attempts. Should characters pry the kiosk casing open, they will find the insides completely empty of any mechanical, electrical, or computing components. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK. It's a brand new day, a mostly-sunny June morning. The sky is blue except for a few straggling white clouds, the sun is warm, and there's a welcome party being held at City Hall. Come on down! There are quite a few activities set up in the plaza just in front of city hall, immediately to the northwest of the subway station. Although there is no one there to man it, there is a barbecue and accompanying table of foods–burgers and hot dogs that stay warm, ice pops in a bucket of ice that never melts, sides and drinks that never go stale. Towards the southwestern side of the plaza is a bouncy house shaped like a carousel ride, and no matter how many people enter at once it never seems to get full–isn't that fun? There are balloons and pinwheels decorating the picnic tables and chairs and a "WELCOME TO THE CITY!" banner hanging from the entryway of the City Hall building. No music plays in the air, but is an old boom box tucked under one of the picnic tables, and to the right of the building's entrance is a raised dais containing the instruments belonging to a string quartet–although where the quartet is themselves, one couldn't say for sure. Still, they probably won't mind if someone takes over their instruments for a little while. There is also an electric keyboard for those inclined, and although it doesn't appear to be plugged in anywhere, it will still turn on. Other knick-knacks and odds and ends offered by the organizers of the party include sidewalk chalk–partygoers may find it especially difficult to remove–bubble wands, and maybe even a few pairs of rollerskates hidden around for those who are especially interested in finding them. The welcome party will be set up by sunrise and will stay through the entire weekend. Characters are welcome to eat the food, drink whatever they want, play music (if they brought a CD or cassette tape, or know how to play a stringed instrument) or play in the bouncy house. Any food or beverage consumed or decorations removed or destroyed will reappear when no one is looking. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED. The party continues inside City Hall, with a large room just off the main hallway being dedicated to the occasion. Just like the tables and chairs outside, the tables inside City Hall are decorated with champagne glasses and balloons, and there's sparkly confetti dusted along the tablecloths and on the floor. This is where the alcoholic beverages are, bottles and glasses stored on a table toward the back wall. There is, of course, no bartender, but as long as you're of age you're probably welcome to pour yourself a drink, right? (And if you're not of age, well–who's going to know?) There's also a large open space at one end of the room, clearly meant for dancing, although just like outside there's no music playing. But just because there's no music doesn't mean you can't dance, right? And the more you drink, the more you start to feel like dancing might be pretty fun. The party will go all night, so grab a partner and put your best foot forward! Just like the party taking place outdoors, the indoor portions of the party will be set up by sunrise and will continue through the weekend. Inside is the more "adult" party, with tables for conversation and alcoholic beverages readily available. Characters are welcome to take glasses or bottles with them, but should they put them down anywhere outside, they'll be able to find their bottle or glass inside on one of the decorated tables. Characters do not need to get drunk in order to dance, but optionally may feel that drinking more makes them want to dance. JUMP TO TOP ↑ | ↓ JUMP TO COMMENTS WILDCARD. The city is by no means small, and there are plenty of things for you to see. There's no rush in exploring, so feel free to take your time looking around and peering into various nooks and crannies and alleyways—and don't worry, you're not very likely to find anything peering back. If none of the above prompts appeal, feel free to check out the Locations and Maps pages and write your own freestyle prompt using one or many of the available locations. JUMP TO TOP ↑

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Comments

[gradenine]

Damn. I mean, you shouldn't even do that in the first place 'cause there might be important documents in there, but at least now we know that we couldn't just wreck havoc while we're here.

[ roland can tell as much - there are probably cameras on the kiosks too, which explains how they can tell who's been inputting questions. eerie, but it's not something he isn't used to. ]

But you managed to get out of those cuffs, right? I mean, you're here and all.