Events Most Strange

A few days ago, as I was meandering along in the ocean above Linden waters far from land, I spotted an odd shape that didn’t quite blend in with the waters below me. Something was buried in the ocean floor. At first, I mistook it for some sort of detritus from a passing ship. Or a part of a ship itself! However, upon closer examination, I realized that it appeared to be most definitely not of Shipley origin and was, in fact, a statue of some kind, vaguely birdlike in appearance approximately 6 meters (SL) in height and carved out of some type of sandstone. Oddly enough, it had a backpack-like thingy behind it. The observation that it was a backpack was purely conjecture on my part.

I dragged the statue out of the mud utilizing my Second Life powers and removed it into my Inventory. Even then, it was quite a struggle to do so. I look back on this as an unwise move, as I should have fully documented its placement and other salient facts first.

Sodden and tired, I made my way back to the mainland and rested a while on the shore contemplating my new find and its significance.

Who had made this? And how had it come to rest on the ocean floor? In particular, how did it appear in a no-edit area of the sea? Could it be some sort of Linden accident? There was no creator tag on it before. Although since it had come into my possession it now bore my name as the ostensible “creator”.

As I sat on the beach straightening my dress, I had the strangest sensation of being observed. I swiftly checked the mini-map but there were no green dots and my Sensor necklace gave me no readings as to any other individuals in the surrounding area. However, I still had the oddest feeling of a Presence nearby. I’m afraid to say that the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end when I noticed that the statue (I’d taken it temporarily out of Inventory to examine it) had wound up behind me instead of to my right, where I had originally placed it.

With a flick of my wrist, I right clicked the object. “Ah ha!”, I thought, ”It’s been swapped for an Avatar!” But to my dismay, my intuition was wrong and this was no avatar, merely a hunk of the inanimate…(I had my doubts about its animation at this point)

Suddenly, off in the distance, there was a flash of light and a disturbance upon the seas normally tranquil waters…and then a loud boom was heard. I flew upwards, but could observe nothing more.

Hurriedly, I gathered my things, the mysterious statue and took my leave of that disquieting area.


That night I tossed and turned in my bed. I must admit that I left the statue in my Inventory, not daring to take it out while I was fast asleep.

Who know what nefarious business it might get up to? I might wake to find all my cookies had been eaten, toothpaste squeezed dry or worse…open my eyes to it sitting at the foot of my bed to greet me in the morning. No…it was better that it be left in the confines of my Inventory.

I awoke to a mixed displeasure that nothing untoward had happened in the night. I’m ashamed to admit that my life has been a bit humdrum lately and even though the previous day’s adventure had made me a little jumpy, there was an odd thrill of the impending about it all.

The statue was just where I’d placed it in Inventory and all was right with the world.

I showered and ate my usual morning breakfast. A long involved process that generally takes up the better part of two hours. This consists of:

2 slices of wheat bread (jellied)
2 coffees (drunk intermittently)
1 yogurt (strawberry is my favorite)
1 banana (mustn’t have too many or there might be difficulties of an intestinal nature)
2 glasses of orange juice
1 glass of V-8
3 eggs (yes, I know the cholesterol will kill me, but doesn’t everything eventually?)
1 apple (keeps the doctor away. I hear they scream at the sight of apples. Very unprofessional)
1 newspaper (to catch up on the daily horrors and start my morning off properly with a dose of fear-mongering. I hear it’s good for the heart!)

However, as the newspaper hit the door (that dratted newsboy/person!), I heard a crackling papery sound of something else being hit as the newspaper fell to the doorstep.

I opened my door to find the newspaper and an unmarked manila envelope below it.

The headlines read, “SKY FALLING, PEOPLE OUT TO GET YOU, ECONOMY BASED ON PEANUT EXCHANGE, HIDE IN CLOSET AND DON’T LEAVE, CELEBRITIES CAN’T FIND SWEATER THEY WANT!”. Very inspiring and useful.

Picking up the manila envelope, I looked right and then left, but the street, from what I see, was empty, with no sign of whoever (or whatever) had deposited the envelope…

I went back into the house, closed the door and pulled the curtains after placing the envelope on my writing desk.

All of this was becoming rather strange. I sat back down at my breakfast table, licked my lips and looked at the envelope from across the room as I drank the last of my orange juice.

The newspaper lay beside my plate as if beckoning to me with all its ghastly normality.

Someone was obviously playing some sort of game with me. The statue had to be an obtuse joke of one form or another. And this envelope was its follow up. Oh yes, someone was having quite a chuckle.

Quite...a…chuckle…

Ha ha…

Not able to resist anymore, I dashed over to the writing desk and examined the envelope in greater detail. I wasn’t able to discern any telltale marking of any kind and it bore no postal stamping. It was fastened with an extremely mundane gold clasp like the kind found on a million manila envelopes the world over and sealed shut with glue. It was rather bulky though and I could feel several something’s, hard and pointy, sliding about in its sleeve whenever I tilted it back and forth.

The thought went through my mind that it could be some weird terrorist device or bomb but I felt that would exaggerating my own importance to feel that I merited enough to be specifically targeted. However, my curiosity got the better of me and I reached for my Cheshire Cat letter opener and slit the envelope in one swift movement. Well, actually two movements, since the first bit always tears at the beginning and you have to try again.

I heard a BOOM, but that was just neighbors taking out their trashcans…

Haha. Excellent! But what a second rate newspaper. You should read the Messenger instead.

And then what happened?

i may just cancel my current subscription and join yours

With no small amount of trepidation, I inserted my hand and withdrew….

A sheaf of papers which appeared to be folded blueprints, a smallish piece of paper and three purple faceted crystals shaped in the form of a four-pointed star. Each was slightly warm to the touch, as if they had just been next to a fire about five seconds ago.

I carefully unfolded the blueprints on my kitchen table (after clearing away breakfast of course) and examined the piece of paper.

It said:
What has been lost, may be found.
To the ends of the earth and the apex of the sun,
The shell that was fixed may be breached and its fruits beheld
If hands holding sleight feints enough to grasp
That which may not be discerned but indeed sensed
Then Will shall be your companion
And the Land may shake its shackles
At the treachery in its bones

Beware the Glix and their Attendants, the Glixerati.

Waters rise,

The League of Skulpt


“What a load of tripe!”, I thought to myself. Any half-way decent English teacher would be removing the cap from their red pen and preparing a grammatical massacre upon this pretentious piece of nitwittery.

Why in the world couldn’t people just be straightforward for a change and say what they mean? Why all the games and bizarre riddles? League of Skulpt? What do they do? Skulpt around all day? Feeling a bit Skulptish lately, I’d say?
Maybe there was so much Skulpting to be done that perhaps they were in a “League” of their own? It was probably just an excuse to contact single women and cajole them into some odd date on the pretense of an enigmatic rendezvous.

I laughed out loud at my own witticisms but then my mind turned to the rather elaborate nature of the whole affair and the curious incident of the day before. If this was indeed a hoax or a joke it seemed a poor one since I believed my actions in response weren’t altogether abnormal. Of course, who knows what lay down the road if I continued along this vein?

Biting my lip, I perused the blueprints before me. These were better composed than the poem and appeared to lay out the design an apparatus called a Digi-Combobulator to be built and deployed in a virtual environment. Certain idiosyncratic components had to be acquired or created and these in turn needed to be assembled not only in a particular way but also at specific times and locations. Why this had to be done, it didn’t say. Only that it needed to be so. From what I could discern, its function was to somehow manifest, or in its words “combobulate”, forms or the structural guides of those forms existing within or along side a certain “plane substrate”. Whether or not this referred to these “plane substrates” as temporal, spatial or dimensional is a point I was unable to ascertain. Upon further analysis I was able to understand that results were variable and the designers themselves had inserted question marks in places. Not an altogether reassuring practice.

Even though I was capable of creating this design (like a monkey watching another monkey using a box to get a banana) I still wasn’t sure about the wisdom of building it in the first place. The entire incident was a bit disturbing and I very much wondered at the motives and the sanity of whomever was behind these machinations.

The most unsettling elements of all were the words, SPECIAL SECRET in red written across the page at random intervals and the line reading Department of Offense written at the top of the blueprints...

It's just the Good Irreverent Jack playing MindFck again on unsuspecting victims.

That statue will be your undoing. Don't mess with the Elder Gods.

-Ghoti

This is all so fascinating.... can't wait to see how it turns out!

will be eagerly following this kafkaesque adventure...

hey, wasn't there a 'gilligan's island' episode where some little 'headhunter' idol kept following gilligan around or something, appearing by his hammock in the middle of the night and such??

What happened? Was their combobulation? I must know!

So that whole top secret thing ... not so much with the following by posting it here eh?

Good story -- can't wait to see how it turns out.

well, it does say the Department of Offense, which to my knowledge doesn't exist. However, it does give one pause, in that it implies that they may take "offense"easily. lol

some pictures of the statue. I must say that, after taking them, i realized I vastly overestimated my size in SL. The statue is in fact, only about 1 meter (SL) in height...
Note the odd basket/backpack-like protrusion.

another pic. it occurs to me now, that it could bear a resembalance to a moth....hmmmm...

some images of what I've decided to call - Stellar Crystals (although they could be a type of jewel since I haven't had them properly examined yet) I'm not entirely sure what a jewel even is, technically. Make note to self- find out.

*applauds wildly*

who is this Good Irreverent Jack? Do have personal experience with him? What is he capable of?

Perhaps Gilligans stalker idol was an early predecessor of this statue?

The Elder Gods? Heaven forbid!!!

"Elder gods" makes me smile lots.

Hmmm, you say the statue could resemble a moth.... that makes me wonder if it could have any connection to the 'Moth Temple' in the north? We know so little about the history or purpose of that structure...

i've never been there but i believe it merits the journey in light of the current circumstances...

A quest for truth and knowledge!!

I thought it looked like genitals...

Oho, a fertility statue!

hmmm...david may be on to something.

I’ve always been a generally law-abiding individual and the thought of running afoul of some imperious branch of government gave me no joy, however someone obviously felt the need forward this to my person. Exactly why, was beyond me…

As I sat there, hands folded upon my lap, my cat Flibber jumped onto the table and knocked hot coffee all over the documents!

“Bad Flibber!”, I yelled. Quite aghast at the presumptuous kitty, I flailed him away from the blueprints and ran to the kitchen to grab whatever I could find to sop up the mess. Grabbing a towel, I dashed back to the papers and attempted to undo the damage. However, Flibber had accomplished his aim, which was as usual to draw my attention away from whatever drew my attention away from him and his feline needs. This time however, he’d crossed the line from merely self-centered into downright mean-spirited.

“How dare you Flibber! No milk this morning!”

In reply, he only sashayed away, quite content with his plan, which had come to perfect fruition.

I put my head in my head hands and tried to imagine what I was to do now. If the plans were real I could hardly hand them back now! Well, I suppose I could, but I couldn’t deny seeing them. The coffee stains were proof of my unseemly curiosity.

Visions of men in black coming for me with extremely large guns screwing silencers upon their barrels whilst waiting for me in nearby bushes paraded through my head.
I then briefly wondered about their childhoods. Did they need to be tucked in at night afraid of the dark? Little knowing that someday, THEY would be the evil thing laying await in the darkness… Well, perhaps not evil. It was a job after all, with quite good health benefits one would imagine as the likelihood of injury must be rather high in their line of work. Maybe if I managed to lower their insurance premiums they’d let me off with a stern warning or two… Ack, all these wondering were useless. What did I know about the insurance industry? Nothing. Although I understood it was quite ruthless in its own right…

I’d managed to dry off most of the blueprints, even though they now resembled more of a geography map at this point with blotches of brown all over them. Oddly, the crystals were still as warm as before. Definitely above room temperature.

So now what was I to do? I gathered some clothes pins and hung the blueprints in the hallway, opening the window there a few inches so the westerly breeze would air them out.
As the wind lifted the blueprints, they rose like small sails and their movement had a certain beauty and grace. A beckoning quality, if I dare say…Like the sailing of an adventurous ship.

At that moment, I made up my mind.

Fate (or some other nefarious persona) had tossed this mystery upon my more-than-metaphorical shore and I was resolved to get to the bottom of this conundrum one way or another! Let the combobulation commence!

With my mind made up, I turned around to discover that the statue had managed to make its way from my Inventory and now resided in the middle of my living room.