Once decisions have been made, Zo climbs up into the crown of the machine. It whirls about, and for an instant, the heart of it opens, where Ruana's mummified corpse sits where it always has been, hidden away. There's a feeling like being pulled--those who are going with friends will be pulled in the same direction, but those parting ways will see the others fade away around them. There's a feeling like floating and then like falling countless miles or maybe countless years-- And then things are okay. You're where you wanted to be. The last imprint of Animus is that of an empty world being torn asunder by a crying child, before that child is finally put to sleep. And now you can go on with your lives, or start new ones.



Maybe a day passes. Maybe a week. Maybe a month. It doesn't matter how long, what matters is that you are, if even for just an instant, alone. A door appears. You can open it, if you want. You can step through it, too--to a Tower that floats in a void. It's only five rooms high, but if you want, you can build it higher with the tools on the bottommost floor. You can make it into whatever you want. And you can go wherever you want.

There's a note on a table on the highest floor--a room filled with countless doors, surrounded by every gift Zo has ever been given, even the last.

If you can see this, I did it! I managed to save a little bit of the Tower. You can do what you want with it, and this floor lets you move between worlds! It takes a little getting used to, but you can even think doors into existence. It might take some work getting each door to go where you want, but you guys can do it!

Please be happy!

Zo

And if you want, you can go.


THANK YOU FOR PLAYING.

Hello, Animus! We hope you've been interested in endgame so far. We're coming up on the end soon. However, as we're sure you all are aware, it has now taken us over two months to get to this point. We failed to plan for such a pace and we are aware that it has caused some conflict and loss of interest in the playerbase. This is absolutely not the kind of endgame we want for this wonderful playerbase.

Therefore, we are going to be projecting an endgame date of September 1st. If at all possible, we would like to have the game almost or completely wrapped up by that date. We are not going to immediately shut it down if it isn't, but we will look into expediting the process if a conclusion has not been reached by then. Please keep this in mind as you plan your further involvement! The mod team will be diligent in moving the game towards its end, and we hope to have your support in this endeavor.

Thank you!

Once everyone who can be found has been collected from their worlds, a new portal opens up--it leads to the silent machine room, glowing with nothing more than the light the various chipped retrieval units' souls give off and Zo's bright glowing eyes. As soon as the group steps through this portal, they will find that all abilities they have, barring those that were never returned to them in the Tower, have been returned to them as real abilities. The second thing they'll notice is the enormous pressure in the room, like something was trying to crush it. Aria is there, and she speaks quickly.

"The power's out--obviously. There's only enough life support left for some of the levels of the Tower, so you can't go upstairs. The elevators aren't working anyway. But listen, it's time. Those of you who can fight, you have to go with Zo and do something about Ruana. Those of you who can't or don't feel like you'll survive, we need to figure out what we're going to do. It's now or never--we have to take control of the Tower and you need to figure out what you're going to do to try and save your worlds. Really, it's okay if you don't want to fight. At this point, there's no way she'd restore any of your bodies even if there was any power that would let her do it. Remember, people who are willing to fight Ruana with Zo, and people who will brainstorm a way to end all of this, stay here with us."

Zo is waiting quietly in a far corner of the room. He looks unhappy and nervous, but he seems determined to at least try to help out. When approached by the group that's going to fight Ruana, he'll explain the plan.

"She's absorbed Jason's and--and Riki's and... Dax's powers. She has her own, too. I can shut down the powers, but you guys need to give me time and I can only do it one power set at a time. You just need to keep her busy. I don't think she's going to use Dax's ability until she doesn't have any other option, so I think that's what we're gonna do. Does that make sense? If I messed something up, tell me, but right now that's the plan, okay? And, um, while I'm doing this I won't be able to help you guys if you get hurt, so please don't get hurt. You'll really die if you do!"

Those remaining will have time to speak among themselves about what they want to do--for now, anyway. There's no telling what might happen later...

From now on all death is permanent. The log for fighting Ruana is here. The log for remaining in the machine room is here.

Those who awoke on their dead worlds have been wandering for hours by this point--if they've bothered to, anyway. There's nothing except death and silence to be found, but they do not thirst and they do not hunger and they do not die. It would always be like that; no one left on a dead world ever dies. However, five hours after they woke up, something changes. A light appears in the distance.

In the tower, five hours after having been locked up, the power fails. There's no voice announcing it, just a few loud warning alarms before everything goes black and the cells holding them in fail, letting them out into the room they've been locked into. Everyone left in the Tower is without their powers or any enhanced abilities above that of a normal human, and a quick exploration of the place they have been left will reveal the door has been welded shut and cannot be broken through. And then, behind them, a light. A rip in space. It's the only way out, though it's impossible to tell where it might lead. Still, there aren't any other options.

Those trapped on their homeworlds will meet up with those who were trapped in the Tower through these portals. They will be able to travel from dead world to dead world, linked by the connections to others they have made, for as soon as one portal closes another will open. And, every time those in the Tower find someone else, they'll feel a little more real, a little less like they've had their abilities stripped from them. Perhaps, if enough people are found, they'll be able to return ready for whatever comes next.

A mingle post for world hopping and dead world travel has been put up here. The next part of endgame will go up at 12:01AM EST on Saturday.

Those downstairs in the bowels of the Tower will know the cause, but for those remaining upstairs, there's a sudden blurring of the world around them. Edges become indistinct, colors brighten and then bleach to white. The Tower vanishes in this light, but the sudden ripple, like the whole structure was the surface of a pond, can be felt like the beat of a drum through the body of each person. Distantly, a voice can be heard: "Just wait--just wait! I'll show you."

The Tower's residents grow lightheaded and pass out. When they wake up, several hours have passed--or, for those who died, perhaps longer than that. Where they wake up, however, is different for each person. Those who would rather remain in the Tower and those who would rather die than remain forever in their current circumstances have been sent back to their dead worlds--apparently abandoned to wander alone. Those who would rather return to their own worlds to try and fix them or to simply be away from the Tower's world have remained in the Tower. They are locked in individual cells somewhere in the administrative levels of the Tower, although from inside the cells it's difficult to know where exactly. They can see and speak to each other, at least--it's more than those trapped on their silent, dead worlds have. All characters have had their powers taken from them, but for those in the cells, their items remain.

Zo, Aria, and even Ruana are nowhere to be seen, but surely they're somewhere. There's also the matter of the clock counting down in the center of the room. Five hours--and then what?

A mingle for those trapped in the cells has been put up here. The second part of this section of endgame will be put up tomorrow.

On the second of June, several characters sent replies to mysterious little poems left in their mailboxes. Enough, apparently, that the hidden floor was tracked down. Not long after that ominous message carves itself into the wall, all lights and glamour on floor 101 and the hidden floor go off.

Something is coming.

With the help of the residents, Aria and Zo make it up to the hidden floor, though Aria does not escape considerable injury. What she sustains is ultimately non-fatal, but it will take time to heal. In the second block of the Tower, retrieval units begin to swarm in high concentrations, making it dangerous to remain in the block for too long.

After Aria and Zo safely arrive at their destination, the Tower is, for the most part, eerily calm. The tense silence stretches on in this way until the morning of June first, but though the messages received in the mailboxes are ominous, they do not seem to herald any immediate disaster.

Like the calm before an approaching storm, the air grows heavy with the pressure of the countdown nearing zero...

The chase log will continue to receive NPC tags, but it will now be considered backlogged. Additionally, from now on, the game will not be operating in real-time. This means that one OOC day no longer equals one IC day; the plot will advance only once each part comes to a sufficient conclusion. Therefore, new event logs will note the IC dates on which they are taking place.

It's growing late when, on the first floor of the Tower, the elevator seems to groan and creak from somewhere below. It soon becomes obvious it's the sound of screeching metal cutting into metal, as if something were being forced upward--the sound grows louder and louder until it sits right outside the elevator doors and then stops. There's a moment's pause before the elevator doors are forced open by two hands. One pushes by force and the other with an evanescent glow.

Zo and Aria tumble out of what's clearly a broken elevator car and into the cafeteria. They'll explain their disappearance, of course--but what were they doing travelling upward in such a manner anyway?

With 2014 upon us, endgame draws closer--Animus will be closing in June. As such, here are some important dates for you guys regarding when certain things like applications will be closing for the last time.

The bestiary will close for new monsters on January 8.
Player plots will close on January 31. Plots can be scheduled for January or March, but no later than that (and not for February).
Our last application cycle will be April 1 - April 8.
The final activity check will be at the end of May.

Thank you!

Well, 2013 is coming to an end--and the endgame draws ever closer as well. This means it's time for a discussion post! Here's how this is going to work: this post will be divided up into subcategories, and you guys can discuss among yourselves and with us whatever you want about the topic in question. Tell us things you want to see, tell us things you want us to stop doing, tell us things we're doing right if you want!

Please remain civil in your discussions; we will be watching the post and will step in if things get too heated anywhere. Respect each others' opinions even if you don't agree with them. Anonymous commenting is currently enabled, but will be disabled if abused.

QUESTIONS | ENDGAME | PLOT | GAMEPLAY | ACTIVITY | MISCELLANEOUS

Hello, Animus. We come to you today with a very important announcement: Tower of Animus will be ending in approximately one year. In June of 2014 the game will have reached its end. Why are we announcing this now? To prepare you for the future, of course! Here are some important dates:

The bestiary will close for new monsters in January.
Player plots will close on January 31.
Our last application cycle will be in April.
The final activity check will be next May.

This June will mark a very plot-important happening for the Tower, and as such the plot will become faster and more involved. While there will still be downtime (July, for example), Animus is going into a stage where the tension mounts up to its final conclusion. Of special importance is how this game ends depends on you. There are several options on what can happen at this point, and now more than ever the situation is going to depend on all of you getting involved and searching out ways to interact with the plot and break through the mysteries of the Tower.

Everything will be a little more clear once June comes, of course. Stay tuned! If you have any questions, you can put them in the questions thread as usual.