It was just another ordinary day in the Shifting Expanse—the morning rotation of newly-arrived interns had just arrived for their ‘working shift’ and were hard at work. The sound of electricity can be heard crackling for miles around; a sure sign that the dragons who manned the tallest, busiest part of the Tempest Spire were cranking away at their assigned duties.
One of the newly-rotated interns had just left a fresh pot of brewed coffee, along with its matching mug on a desk that looked to be rather cobbled together from various bric-a-brac and scraps that formed a wild—if somewhat cohesive whole; nonetheless the entity sitting behind it was the most important to all the members of the Lightning Flight—the Stormcatcher. As the Bossman (as he is known to majority of the Flight) had poured himself his first cup of coffee for the day, a hissing sigh of contentment rippled through his impressive snout.
He was just about ready to raise the cup in order to take a sip when—for just a few seconds—the lights overhead flickered. Now, flickering electricity is a pretty common occurrence in the Shifting Expanse—where massive towers that stand alongside the deity’s Spire (as well as some distance below in the Lightning Farms) usually conducted and redirected electricity in order to keep the entire facility running like clockwork.
Today, however, all that order would be brought to a crashing halt as the lights in his office flickered a second time, before exploding completely and startling the deity from the ecstasy of his brewed caffeine and plunging the room into semi-darkness.
Bossman drawing made by nuttyjigs, go give 'em a round of applause!
“WHAT’S GOING ON THERE,” he boomed inquiringly in his carrying voice, before another series of muffled explosions—and then sibilant hisses of panic and outrage—echoed throughout the tallest tower of the Tempest Spire. It didn’t take too long before a rather loud fluttering of wings announced the arrival of not just one—but several of his ‘secretaries’—and the reports they’d brought along with them were not boding too well…
“We’re under attack!” a hyperactive Spiral intoned, gesticulating rather wildly before looking towards the others who’d also appeared, all sporting varying looks of states of panic, shock, or just outright fright. “Something’s assaulting our systems, and—“ the hyperactive Noodle continued before yet another series of explosions echoed out from beneath their feet, causing the dragon to begin twisting itself into knots due to the stress.
“We’ve run diagnostic checks on our operation systems, but nothing has been reported back yet,” a minuscule Fae interjected, his flat monotone speech belying the fact that he too was panicking, when a Guardian, apparently the last to arrive, lumbered in all out of breath.
“S-Stormcatcher. Sir,” the Guardian intoned, before taking a deep breath and letting out an exasperated sigh, “…we have a problem with our servers. The ones that control the distribution to several important facilities that depend on it in order to keep functioning—“
“GET TO THE POINT!” the impatient deity huffed, having slammed down his coffee mug on the contraption that served as his desk, causing all the secretaries present to wince. “I NEED DETAILED REPORTS OF THIS ANOMALY, RIGHT NOW!” he added, causing some of the other secretaries—which included a Nocturne, a Ridgeback as well as a Snapper, to cringe visibly under the quaking fright their boss’ voice was bringing down on them. “SEND ME UPDATES AS YOU FIND THEM, AND GET THE PROBLEMS FIXED TOO!” he continued to huff, before sitting himself back into his chair—and then turning to face the window that overlooked the entire Shifting Expanse.
“GET BACK TO WORK!” he roared, causing all the secretaries to flee from the room—today was going to be a long one, apparently; now that the ‘anomaly’ was in the process of being identified and eradicated…
The Shifting Expanse’s central mainframe and servers are under attack!
As of the moment, the Interns that have been stationed to keep watch over the servers that provide power to the rest of the locale are currently researching the virus’ origins and how to repel or expunge it completely; and have found out that most of, if not all of the anti-viruses that have been chucked its way were either deterred; repelled; or absolutely destroyed. Several of the older interns are saying that it might be the next coming of the Shade, having chosen to manifest in a particularly tormenting form; other officials comment that it is a strain of virus that is borderline with a certain deity’s known apocalyptic tendencies.
Some of the best minds have come together and have somehow managed to analyze the ‘specs’ of the virus that is rapidly eating away at the framework that holds the central operating systems of the Shifting Expanse together; and have arrived at a speculation—what if, what if there was another way to battle the virus? One particular intern (who wishes to remain anonymous) had hatched a plan so outrageous, it might possibly work: constructing an anti-virus composed of ‘puns’, since ‘comedy’ appears to be a parameter that the virus cannot comprehend; due to its feral, ‘simple-minded’ tendencies of search and destroy.
Which brings us to our event: the Sparktacular Punocalypse!
There are six highly important sectors within the Shifting Expanse that are under attack; and every 45 hours the ‘virus’ will change course, slowly making its way towards the core of data that holds the entire field together. If the virus isn’t contained in time, then the mainframes will be consequently destroyed—and the entire Expanse itself plunged into total, utter chaos.
In response, the Stormcatcher has issued a call to arms across the entire region of Sornieth; and a flier lands in your hands, with the following image printed on the front, and the accompanying message scrawled at the back:
This is where you come in, brave citizen of Sornieth!
Since the virus is unable to understand the concept of ‘comedy’, we now turn to the masses: hit us with your best pun centered around the daily themes! Make our esteemed board of judges’ crack up with laughter (and help construct the antivirus)! Fabulous prizes to be had for the winning puns of the day!
What are you waiting for?! Join now, and save the Shifting Expanse!
[All these eggs.] [The Microsoft Project] [Selling Thread!] [Han's Bestiary Challenge!] [Han's LDCC!] | [LF: BOOTS] [LF: Fest Currency Brewers!] FR + 15/16 |
[mochis made by damaciel on dA] |