Rose is in a tiny mausoleum with her former pet, shoes on her laptop connected to hosting John’s session of SBURB. Fire from an apocalyptic meteor shower closing in around her. Time is running out. She is contemplating updating her entry to the game on gameFaqs. Gotta admire the devotion.

Meanwhile John is being commanded by a loud voice in his head. He must go get cookies from his grandmother’s harlequin ghost sprite. He’s resisting this command really hard.

Years in the future we see a wayward vagabond in a post-apocalyptic desert. He’s in an abandoned facility, below the sands. He accidentally strikes the caps lock key on a keyboard he is using to put a voice in John’s head. This unlocks a hidden cache of human relics. Metal cylinders labelled beans and mustard. There is also a plant and a book on human etiquette. I do not think he understands what these are, but he has really hit the survivalist jackpot.

Rose meanwhile is working on those faq updates. She expresses interest in seeing a brass door-knocker and pornography collection. Those would be some knockers! ( I’m so sorry )

Her advice to players is to try and get both prototypes in before setting off the countdown. She also recommends using something sentient as a prototype. This should get a guide that can actually talk to you.

She also pontificates on the lore and how instances work. Will each player get their own Medium? Does prototyping lead to different instance outcomes? She also hatches a plan. With John’s server disk not unavailable due to the car incident. They’ll need other players to form a chain.

Four because there seems to be 4 receptacles in each of the kingdoms. But how could the game predict they’d have 4 players? Rose is apparently still working on that article suggesting we bother someone else.

And so we do. Months in the past in a snow covered building…