20088/Be Sure To Like And Subscribe!

Be Sure To Like And Subscribe!
Date of Scene:	18 February 2025
Location:	145 Central Park Penthouse
Synopsis:	Mary does a test run of Amy's beta game for her streaming audience and it goes pretty well. Make sure to click the thing that makes the dings!
Cast of Characters:	Mary Bromfield, Amy Winston

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Mary Bromfield has posed:
It's a typical Monday night in Mary's penthouse, in that she's in her studio room, streaming a game and chatting with her fans as ContraryMary. Hey, it pays a fair chunk of the bills, and her smack does bring all the boys to the yard, even those fans of hers from...

"Kansas City fans, my condolences once again on the fact that the Eagles /crushed/ you and your hopes and dreams of a threepeat. Just had to say that and get that out of the way right now before we go any further. And unlike Elsa, I will not, in fact, Let It Go." She laughed a bit at some of the responses in the chat, "Look, no, well, okay LuckyLady I think Gritty and Taylor Swift would be a much cuter couple but you said that NOT ME." She laughed and shook her head, "But hey, season's over, less sports and more games and... hmm?" Mary paused and looked at the text, her mods doing a banger job as always of filtering or banning the real pervs, though she did have the chat on subscribers-only, which helped a lot.

"Civ 7? Nah, not yet, Civ games need two DLCs before they're really baked and I don't want to torture myself or the rest of you with that, though you'd probably love hearing me scream about Caesar beating me by one turn to Oracle, right?" She laughed at the chat, "Thinking we might old school it a bit and do some classic RPG nonsense, what do you say?" With that, she started scrolling through her games to find something fitting...

Amy Winston has posed:
Amy had arrived earlier, and was at first a little resistance on her actually joining in, as she watches Mary go at it, her grins grows in amusement. She's not going to join in the trash talk about the game, but she does grin her approval, before she draws in a breath. "Okay. Here we go." the magical girl offers before she comes around to the studio side, waiting for Mary to see her. And grant her access to the stage, as it were.

But when she starts talking about RPGs, Amy's attention is grabbed, and she makes a giddy little sound. And with a wave of her hand off-screen, she transforms her clothing into her Princess wear, which is awesome cosplay for what Mary wants to do, am I right? Her hands smoothe the pleats her of gown as she waits for Mary's approval and invitation.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary grins, "Okay, so we got a special guest today, and a bit of a treat for all of you... this is Amy Winston, and her studio is designing a new RPG called Myth of Nilaa. Now, yours truly got to do a bit of a test run on it a while ago." She grins cheerfully, waving Amy onto the shotgun seat next to her, "And now, we're going to get you guys a teaser into what to expect. Go ahead and put on the headset Amy, and we can talk while I show the Contrarians what to expect." She gives Amy a sly grin, and the chat immediately /explodes/ with speculation. Half about Amy's game and half about Amy herself!

Amy Winston has posed:
With the introduction given, Amy steps onto the set, resplended in her Princess garb as she walks over, and leans over to place a light, chaste kiss on Mary's cheek. "Thank you, my lady." she trills softly, before she moves. She takes a moment to do a little spin in her garb for the stream to see and then regally lowers herself into the shotgun seat. Her royal manners are on-point tonight as she takes up the headset and places it on her head.

And with that, for a moment, she takes on her role as the guide. "Greetings, adventurers!" she offers to the stream, clutching her hands in front of her.

"And I bid you welcome to Nilaa. If you are here, then you have answered my summons for those that can shape my world. Granted with the skills of the Gemborn, which will grant you classes such as fighter, mage, thief, and others, you will travel Nilaa defeating the forces of the Dark Sorcerer that has overrun my home and tried to take it as his own. May you be a hero, a vigilante, or even one that sides with the Dark Arts, I hope to provide plenty of adventure in the world of Nilaa! Which, we will be holding our first stream with MaryContrary soon, and viewers of her stream will be given an exclusive code that will boost their character at the start with a second gem skill!"

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary grins and returns the peck, which /really/ causes the chat to go nuts with speculating, since... well, the parasocial relationships were real, and everyone was always wondering about Mary's social life.

It was almost as bad as the r/Thunderbolt board that Mary /absolutely/ avoided at all costs.

In any case, Mary grinned a bit wider, "Well said Amy, and we'll be giving out some early access codes for the game too, so stay tuned on how to get those. But for now, we're going to be giving you a bit of a brief run through the game, so I hope you're ready because this is going to be a crazy ride." She grins and pulls up the menu, letting the game take over the audio as she flashes a look to Amy, giving her a wink.

Amy Winston has posed:
It's probably wise that Mary hasn't introduced Amy to that particular subreddit.

She'd probably be banned in a day. If not hours.

"Right, and while she's going through the first steps, I'll be providing commentary and hints to help her along the way." she explains as the game screen takes up the main monitor and they're down in the smaller box of a corner.

"So as she's going through the character generation, her Gemborn power is synched and partially randomized with the choices she makes on her application as an adventurer. I'm excited to see what she gets!"

What inspired you to become an adventurer?

A) A love for nature and exploration
B) A desire for personal growth and challenge
C) Stories from books or movies
D) A need to escape everyday life

What type of terrain do you prefer to explore?

A) Mountains
B) Deserts
C) Jungles
D) Oceans

What's your typical strategy for staying safe in unfamiliar environments?

A) Stick to well-traveled paths
B) Research potential hazards in advance
C) Travel with a group for support
D) Rely on instinct and adaptability

What's the most important quality an adventurer should have?

A) Physical strength and endurance
B) Mental resilience and adaptability
C) Good teamwork skills
D) Curiosity and passion for exploration

How do you handle encounters with local wildlife?

A) Respect their space and observe from a distance
B) Avoid contact at all costs
C) Carry defensive tools (e.g., bear spray, whistles)
D) Learn about local wildlife habits before traveling

Mary Bromfield has posed:
While Amy is explaining, Mary makes her selections... actually, she does some polling with the chat, to let them decide how Mary's character would evolve for this playthrough. And it gets to be pretty interesting. In the sense that pure schizophrenic chaos is interesting.

Gotta love character builds by committee!

And now, she comes up with the name, which she polls chat members for, character by character...

And thus, "Zquibnia" is ready for the stage!

Amy Winston has posed:
And all that is left is for the Gemborne skill to be assigned to her. After the polling is done - and the name chosen by committee, the last step is the Gem.

As the character steps onto the portal, the gems open... and she is assigned...

The Onyx

"Oh goodness!" Amy exclaims as she sees the choice. "That is one of the hardest gems to work with. At the first level, it only provides you with invisible armor that is on the same level as light leather." she explains as she considers the character.

"But if you stick with it, the skills become more advanced, like lurking in shadows or the shadow strike skill."

Clearly it's an assassin's build.

And with the build, name and gem choices done, the character recieves a pack of Basic Adveturing Gear and is deposited into a cheerful little meadow looking area. There's no sign of enemies yet.

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary grins, "Oh, yes, we DID have that Assassin's Creed Shadow stream last week... time for a replay." She chuckles at a response in the chat, "Why yes, it seems all so peaceful, I'm sure it's just an Animal Crossing with Gems, nothing to really worry about here WAIT WHAT IS THAT!"

Because that's when the sky darkens and some enemies appear, dark gemstone minions that come after Mary. Though, Mary is no slouch with her controls, as she is able to dodge and strike pretty fast, sticking and moving to avoid their strikes. Which isn't hard, since these are introductory enemies after all. But she's demonstrating how the game works and showing off a little bit.

Amy Winston has posed:
It was all totally meant to be a jumpscare type thing. As the minions attack, blood red text appears on the bottom of the screen, an ominous voice speaking from afar.

"Fight all you want, Zquibnia. The Queen's folly to summon you here will only feed my power!"

The minions are small, only half the height of the hero, so Mary is able to swat around their squatty little bodies without a problem as they make small snarls as they are snuffed out.

With the battle completed, Zquibnia earns their first experience points and reaches level 1 and the Shadow Armor Lvl 1 skill is unlocked!

Off in the distance, one can make out the silhouette of a town. There is forest behind them, and mountains off to the east.

There is no marker telling them where to go. Open world much?

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary grins, "What, go towards the peril? No no, it's too perilous! We should head towards the town. Haven't you ever played an RPG before!" She chides the chat playfully, including a bit of talking like John Cleese from the Holy Grail to boot as she laughs.

So, Zquibnia starts heading towards the small town, and Mary starts narrating, "Well, yes, at least I don't have a tadpole running around in my brain. On the downside, I don't have a hunky tiefling lady to cuddle either, so I'd say it's a push."

Amy Winston has posed:
"You want me to make a pair of tiefling horns?" Amy asks in faux-innocence as she speaks up, before adding to the conversation as well.

"The city is a perfectly valid choice! But you can go to any location that you want first. The type of quests and missions that you find at each one varies by where you go. The city is well-balanced, while the forest and mountains are more challenging." she explains.

As they approach the gates, a large Sapphire soldier guards the gates. He looks down his nose at our fair Zquibnia and snorts. "Another Onyx shadow. Darkness of the world. Go back to the hole you crawled out of." he tells Zquibnia, while dialogue options appear.

Bribe?
Fight?
Seduce?
Flee?
Reason?

Mary Bromfield has posed:
Mary grins, "Well, you're not /quite/ tall enough Amy..." She laughs a bit, "Besides, Momma K only has one horn." She considers, and decides to give the chat room the choice of what Zquibnia is going to do...

And the chat decides...

Seduce!

Zquibnia smiles slightly, "That's Opal, not Onyx, thank you very much. But why the hostility? Certainly we can be much better... friends?" With that, the avatar lightly taps her fingers on the chestplate of the guard, giving him a wry grin.

Meanwhile, Mary is struggling not to laugh, and the chat is filled with LOLs and quite a bit of "Didn't know you were a bard again Mary!"

Amy Winston has posed:
"Ooooh, I see." Amy smirks a little. "So get horns for She-Hulk." Said ever so innocently.

In the meantime, as Zquibnia attempts to make her flirting attempt...

For a moment, it doesn't seem like the seduction isn't going to work. The guard grunts, even as he's tapped on the chest.

And then? "Sure, we can get a drink after you register at the Adventurer's Guild." he moves to the side to allow her to pass.

Seduction rank raised by 1!

Mary Bromfield has posed:
And so it goes, wtih Zquibnia exploring the town a bit, meeting some vendors, not having much currency yet, but giving the chat and viewers an idea of what to expect at the beginning area. Eventually, it gets to be late in the stream, and Mary grins, "Okay, Contrarians, time to call it a night, but I hope you had fun, and remember, like and subscribe, and if you're watching on YouTube the day after, don't forget to click the thing that makes the dings." She winks at the camera, "And thanks to Amy for the sneak peek at the new game. I'll be giving more info about how to get those codes and enter in for special early access in later streams, never fear. Until then, stay contrary friends." She blows a kiss to the camera, and then the feed turns off, and Mary sighs and sits back, taking off her headset, turning towards Amy.

"So, what'd you think hon?" She grins, "Personally, thought that went pretty well. Normally I do subs-only for chat, especially when it's a preview of something like this that isn't fully finished."

Amy Winston has posed:
"I really appreciate you doing it and taking a chance on me." Amy admits as she takes off her headset and sets it to the side. She glances at the subscriber count and lets out a low whistle. "Hopefully nothing happens on launch night and it goes well." So much optimism in her tone.

And now that the stream is over, a wave of her hand over her clothes and she back in the pajama pants and sweatshirt she wore over to start. Though her makeup is still spot on. Have to make herself pretty after all! "...It's going to go well." she reiterates, as if daring fate to fuck with her.

"But I know it's late... I could portal on back to my place..." a small grin. "Or just stay. Are you going to choose the seduce route as well?" she asks playfully.

And they both know how that's gonna go.