Arc the Forth: The Great Unending
Chapter 1: The Rivalry
Some time I mid-December, maybe a week before Christmas, Felix knocked on our door again. He was dressed in a heaver coat instead of his vest, and I could tell he was a bit frustrated. “Ash, you need to come see this.”
Felix walked down the street, took a left, and walked down to a set of train tracks. “There was always a wall here, but now look. There’s more town. Huh.”
“So?”
“It looks better than the rest of the town I, eh… run. I’ve never seen these houses in my life.”
“Well, you certainly weren’t using your eyes, then!” a strange voice said.
A young man, maybe Felix’s age, dressed in a blue-and-white suit and round glasses with dark lenses walked up. “Sebastian Worthing,” he said, introducing himself, “I run the Great Unending.”
“The Great Unending?” Felix said.
“M’yes,” Sebastian said, “give it a look. Certainly better than your Podunk little town, isn’t it?”
“Wh—My town isn’t just some “Podunk little town”! I run it and I love it! Isn’t that all that matters, Mr. Worthing?”
“Oh yes, and how could I forget your dreadful little accent. ‘Well, howdy-do! My name’s Felix! I’m a small-town gentleman but I’m not!’ Just listen to yourself, old boy.”
“Well, your voice isn’t any better,” Felix retorted.
(To be honest, Sebastian was pretty much what I envisioned the narrator of The Stanley Parable to look like. He certainly has the voice.)
“Well, I’d love to chat with you common fodder, but I have much more important things to be doing. Well, so long.”
And with that, he walked down the street again, passing by row upon row of lavish, white-trimmed homes. “Oh, whoever he is, I can’t stand him.”
“He seems really stuck-up.”
“Definitely not a friend at all.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“I’ll just have to show him up, and show him what this “Podunk little town” can do.”
And with that, Felix took off for the capitol. I headed back home, hung up my coat and hat, and got onto some Team Fortress 2.
KOTH_Trainsawlaser. Nobody knew what to expect with a name like that. Certainly it couldn’t be too bad.
“Train Rain!!” an unseen announcer called, as freight trains fell from the sky.
Mangle has been killed by train.
Richard Nixon has been killed by train.
HE has been killed by train.
Oh. Well, it was just King of the Hill, nothing too terrible. A RED Pyro steps out of their base and proceeds to make the short trip to the point, guarded intently by a laser. With the aid of a Scout, the two of them capture the point.
HE and AshLand97 have captured Trainsawlaser.
Now, if they just hold the point for five minutes, they win. That shouldn’t be too hard, though, as it seems very easy to die here.
Bill has been killed by saw.
Suddenly, a demoman carrying a sword and shield gets the drop on the point, his blade utterly beheading the Scout.
Spangles has killed HE with the Eyelander.
The demoknight begins to swing at the pyro, but is set on fire. He begins to retreat, but is shot at a few times with a shotgun. Ultimately, the flames get to him, and he falls to the ground, dead.
AshLand97 has killed Spangles with Strange Professional Killstreak Diamond Botkiller Flamethrower Mk. I
With the Demoman out of the way, the Pyro quickly begins to find some ammo. However, the Train God refuses to make this easy.
“Train Rain!”
Bill has been killed by train.
Richard Nixon has been killed by train.
IHateSand has been killed by train.
The Train Rain is sufficiently brutal, but no matter. The Pyro had taken shelter and emerges unscathed. As they collect ammo, they are ambushed by an enemy Pyro. The clash is quick, but brutal. The enemy swings a mighty-looking sledgehammer into the RED Pyro, who retaliates with a point-blank shotgun blast and follows it up with a hammer of their own.
AshLand97 has killed Mangle with Powerjack.
The Pyro, now with a canister full of propane, emerges back onto the battlefield to protect the point from invaders.
AshLand97 has killed Bill with Strange Professional Killstreak Diamond Botkiller Flamethrower Mk. I.
AshLand97 has killed Lemon with Strange professional Killstreak Diamond Botkiller Flamethrower Mk. I.
AshLand97 has killed Spangles with Strange Killstreak Shotgun.
Now 3 minutes in, the Pyro seems confident that they can win this. However, the sacrifice counter at the top of the tallest building strikes 101, and the point locks. The Train God has received enough sacrifices, and is sending down a rocket-launching train to interrupt the round. Clearly, whoever made this map has quite the imagination.
HE has been killed by Rocket.
IHateSand has been killed by Rocket.
TheMaskedMan has been killed by Rocket.
“Wait, when did Isaac join?” I asked myself.
The Pyro is quick, and uses their Powerjack’s speed boost to evade the train long enough. The train claims many more victims, before finally leaving. The point reopens, and RED’s timer begins to count down again. Meanwhile, a Soldier clad in a green WWI-style helmet and wearing a bronze badge storms out of their base. They’re new to this strange land, and are unfamiliar with the rules.
“Train Rain!!”
TheMaskedMan has been killed by train.
The Pyro gets into another scrape, this time with a lone Medic. Not having many offensive abilities on-hand, though, they are not suited for combat.
AshLand97 has killed Richard Nixon with Strange Killstreak Shotgun.
AshLand97 is on a KILLING SPREE!
AshLand97’s Strange Shotgun has reached a new rank: Wicked Nasty!
With just a few seconds left on the map, the Demoman tries once more to claim the point and turn the tides for BLU. The Pyro is nowhere near the point, and could definitely not make it in time.
Spangles has killed HE with Splendid Screen.
It seems hopeless. BLU would have to claim the point, and then RED would need to steal it back, which was fine, but it wouldn’t be the shutout the team was hoping for.
Blocking capture!
The sounds of rockets can be heard, and a Soldier clad in that familiar green hat takes to the sky.
TheMaskedMan has killed Spangles with Black Box.
RED reaches the time allotted, and the match is won.
RED has won!
TEAM MVPS:
IHateSand (13 kills)
AshLand97 ( 6 kills)
HE (4 kills)
Killstreak MVP: AshLand97 (5 streak)
As industrial and delightful as the world of Team Fortress’ picturesque gravel pits can be, sometimes it’s the strange, niche moments and lands that make the difference for everyone.
Isaac seems to be getting the hang of Team Fortress, and it shows. Meanwhile, I was still curious as to how Felix planned to take on Sebastian, and—more importantly—what he was even hiding from us in the first place. Everything pointed at the notion that he was hiding something, but we just can’t tell what. I have a feeling I once knew, but it might have been something false I once believed. I’m not sure.
The next day, Felix was out in front of the capitol writing on a clipboard. “Oh, Ash, can I ask a question?” he called from across the street.
I walked over to him. “What?”
“I want you to take a look. We could do fireworks, maybe a movie or something, to prove that this town is just as good as Sebastian’s.”
“It’s the middle of December.”
“What do you have in mind?”
“Well, go see what he’s doing over there, and show him up.”
“That’s a great idea! Come along, you can come look, too!’
“Wait, I—“
I kind of had plans for today. Nothing significant, but still. I didn’t want to spend my day looking at some other mystery town. Well, for starters, it sure was a bit different than New Infinity. The houses were mostly blue and white and it all more-or-less bordered the college. As we approached the town hall (what Felix would call the Capitol), he immediately noticed it was much larger than the one in town. He peered into the windows and began to take notes. “They have an indoor tennis court? And a pool? Well, it’s certainly nice, but nothing too special. Is there anything else here?”
“Oh, it’s more than that,” Sebastian said, walking out of the nearby door, “but telling you would spoil your plan, wouldn’t it?”
“Oh, you’ll see. Do you have a movie theater?”
“No, I don’t. I could, but—“
“Then there you go!”
And with that, Felix left with a triumphant look on his face. I returned home to play a bit of Fallout and the like. I didn’t see Felix for the rest of the day.
The next morning, sometime after 9:00, I opened the door and found that Felix had already given us a set of movie tickets. He was showing E.T. this evening. I grabbed the tickets and walked up to Felix, who was out at the corner sipping a cup of coffee. “What’s this?”
“I even invited Sebastian,” he said with a grin.
“That’s great. What’s this?”
“Well, last night I had a theater set up to prove I had something he doesn’t. He might be fancy, but he doesn’t have this.”
“Well, then. Any reason for the movie?”
“It’s a great film!”
“Alright. It’s just odd that out of all the movies out there, you picked this. It has to be over 20 years old now.”
“Well, it’s a classic, and I’m a sucker for classics, Ash. Now, if you’ll need me, I have a bit more setting up to do.”
I didn’t know how I was going to break it to Felix that Sebastian was also in the works of building a theater. I could see the framework from just down the street. I met up with Franklin and Nathan, who were both spending time just inside the coffee shop. Snow had just begun to fall outside. “So Ash, what’s up with the movie tickets?”
“Felix wants to do a movie night.”
“Is this about the new guy?”
“Sebastian?”
“Yeah, that guy.”
“He seems like a fine man,” Franklin said, “but I can’t trust him. This must be how you feel about Felix, Ash.”
I brushed off his comment and moved on. “Yeah, but Sebastian also now has a theater. I don’t know what Felix will do about that.”
“Wait, he does?”
“Yeah, he’s building it. I can see it from my house.”
“Felix will have his movie night well before Sebastian can finish.”
“Yeah, definitely.”
“Hey, Ash,” Nathan said, “you still have that upgrader?”
“Yeah, but Felix knows about it.”
“It still works, though?”
“Yeah, mostly. I would have thought he would have completely deactivated it. That’s what drives me mad about Felix.”
“Heh. Well, my car’s due for some repairs and maintenance. Thought I’d turn to you first.”
“Heh. I could give it a look, see if it can still do that.”
“Alright.”
I headed home, checked to see if any Steam winter sales were happening (the sale had just started a few hours ago, and I was having troubles getting onto the store page to check any of them out) and got onto Team Fortress 2. Once I got the chance, I wanted to check out Lethal League and One Finger Death Punch, but I could save that until a bit later if I needed to. After all, both were cheap games and their sale prices were definitely nothing of a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Felix’s tickets claimed he was holding the movie night on the 20th, but we’d have to see what he had planned.
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