[ Time: May 2nd, 1935 ]
[ Location: Earth, India, Himalayan Mountains, Himachal Pradesh, Mayapore Village ]
[ World: Indiana Jones ]
[ Incursion type: Closed ]
[ Incursion difficulty: Low ]
[ World exploration: 0,00% ]
[ Scenario exploration: 0,00% ]
[ Main Mission: The Evil That Dwells ]
[ Main Mission description: Ever since the sacred Sankara Stone was stolen, evil has come to your village. Now, help has been sent by the gods in the form of three foreigners. Guide them to Pankot Palace so they can carry out the gods' will. ]
[ Main Mission time limit: 3 days ]
[ Warning: For the main mission to be considered complete, all 3 main storyline characters (Indiana Jones, Willie Scott, and Short Round) must reach the palace alive. ]
[ Warning: If you fail to complete the main mission within the time limit, you will be erased. ]
[ Side Missions: None ]
[ You can complete the following achievements in this world:
[ Men's Best Friend: Successfully tame an Indian Elephant. ]
[ False Prophet: Trick the Thuggee Cult into believing you are a divine messenger. ]
[ Bug Buffet: Eat every dish at the Pankot Palace banquet. ]
[ Kali's Blade: Sacrifice a captive using the Thuggee Cult's ceremonial method. ]
[ Royal Connections: Befriend the Maharaja. Reach a relationship of Respected with the young ruler of Pankot Palace. ]
[ Flirting With Disaster: Reach a relationship of Respected with Willie. ]
[ Be Still My Beating Heart: Take back your heart before Mola Ram can use it as a sacrifice. ]
[ Queen's Spy: Report on the Thuggee Cult to the British forces. You must provide verifiable evidence. ]
[ Colonial Consultant: Reach a reputation of Well-known with the British forces. ]
[ Temple Cartographer: Map 100% of the underground cave system below Pankot Palace. ]
[ Why Snakes?: Lead Indiana Jones into a trap and escape. ]
[ Ultimate Relic Hunter: Collect the 4 major treasures of the Indiana Jones universe - The Ark of the Covenant, Sankara Stones, Holy Grail, Crystal Skull. ]
[ Warning: Raise your prestige to unlock more achievements. ]
[ Welcome to the Indiana Jones universe, and good luck, tester Rumor. ]
Rumor read the introduction to the incursion with emotionless eyes. A flood of information rushed into his head, including knowledge about the region they were cureently in, as well as the best path to the palace.
He was currently taking the role of a villager of Mayapore. Using that identity, he could become a guide for Indiana Jones' group.
The main mission this time seemed very simple. Even if Rumor did nothing and just followed the plot, he could easily complete it.
Rumor had learned much this past month he spent interacting with other testers. For example, he knew that no incursion in The Mind was ever the same. Similar sometimes, but never identical.
Some had insane difficulty right from the start. Others were little more than a walk in the park - although the trade-off was that, the easier the incursion, the lesser your rewards.
Some people started incursions right in the middle of battles. Others were dropped in the middle of nowhere. Some had main missions that followed the plot closely. Others could disregard it entirely.
Rumor's first incursion could have been one such case, if he had made different choices. There had been absolutely no need to interact with storyline characters.
This time around, things would be different. His main mission was basically to become one of the guides to the famous archeologist's group. He ignored the warning about how all three main storyline characters had to reach Pankot Palace alive. That was what happened in the movie already.
Good thing Indiana Jones had been one of the movie series he watched during his month-long rest, so the entire plot of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was fresh on his memory.
Having started as one of the Indian villagers, Rumor had avoided the frenetic first scene of the movie, where the protagonist and his sidekick and romantic interest escaped Shanghai, then were forced to jump off a plane with a lifeboat for a parachute.
The next major action scene after that was when they were already in Pankot Palace, so by then Rumor's mission would already be completed.
Most testers would be ecstatic with such an easy mission. Not Rumor. The way he saw it, that meant he only had 3 days to complete as many achievements as possible before getting kicked out of the incursion.
And he couldn't even wander around and do his own thing. He had to follow the storyline characters.
But one thing Rumor had learned to do in The Mind was read between the lines. And the achievements list was telling him quite the curious - and contradicting story.
Xue Luo had told Rumor that there were, quite literally, hundreds, if not thousands of achievements that could be completed in every world. Because of that, information on which achievements had the better rewards, and how to go about completing them in an efficient manner were some of the more expensive commodities in The Mind.
But one thing the veteran tester had told Rumor for free was that the achievements The Mind displayed at the start of an incursion followed a pattern: they could all be completed, or at least progressed, on the current incursion.
In other words, joining the Thuggee Cult and befriending the British forces, both factions which should only appear after the time his mission was done, were possible. He just had to find out how.
As for the last achievement, [ Ultimate Relic Hunter ], it would require a great deal of skill, but, even more than that, a metric ton of luck. He would need to enter the Indiana Jones universe on four separate occasions.
A little fun fact Rumor had learned about incursions: they followed a linear time-line. Other than very specific cases, like Terminator or Doctor Who, which dealt with time-travel, your incursions only progressed forward chronologically.
So, right now, Rumor was in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which, despite being the second movie, actually took place in 1935, about a year before Indiana Jones and the Ark of the Covenant.
Next time he entered this world, time would have moved forward - maybe a few days, maybe years, but forward. It wouldn't put him in 1934 or 1930 or earlier still.
Which means, if he wants to have a chance to collect all 4 relics, he only had one chance to get the Sankara Stones.
Eh, he would see how it went. If he were to rank achievements according to difficulty, that was obviously a legendary one.
As for the other achievements... Rumor sneered. As always, The Mind didn't even try to hide how abhorrent of a place it was. Sacrificing someone to Kali? Trapping Indiana Jones? Clearly, The Mind had no concept of right or wrong.
Rumor was more than fine with that. At the very least, The Mind never restricted his freedom. As long as he carried out the main mission, he could do whatever the fuck he wanted. Becoming a villain or a hero, it was up to him.
Closing the system window, Rumor finally took a look around. He was in a mud hut, with little furniture other than a frayed carpet and a couple religious trinkets.
Hearing a commotion outside, he pushed aside the curtain that worked as a door, and saw the sorry sight that was the Mayapore Village and its inhabitants for the first time.
He had seen people who starved to death look healthier. The villagers' faces were sunken in, their clothes hanging loosely around their thin bodies.
Even now, prompted by the village chief to welcome the foreigners, their movements were sluggish. There was no life in their eyes.
The village itself seemed to reflect the state of those who populated it. There was no color present other than muddy brown, and an air of stillness hung over the settlement.
A town of the dead, even if they didn't know it yet. That was the impression Rumor got.
But compared to Mayapore, the tester was more interested on the new arrivals. His mud hut was a little ways up the side of a hill, so he had an unimpeded view of the three main storyline characters.
Indiana Jones was unmistakable. The familiar pants, familiar jackets, and, of course the hat and whip. A look that had changed a generation.
The other two would be harder to recognize if Rumor hadn't watched the movie not long ago.
The little orphan from Shangai who Indiana Jones had taken under his wing was wearing a ball cap and baggy clothes. His gaze darted around with the curiosity of a child. That was Short Round, or Shorty, as the archeologist called him.
And the third and final main storyline character was the romantic interest for this movie, the performer and singer who got dragged along during their daring escape from Shanghai, Willie Scott.
She was, in one word, beautiful. While she didn't have quite the same regal air as Padmé, the aristocratic features and constant pout had a charm of their own.
That was a thing Rumor had noticed since his first incursion. None of the characters looked exactly like the actors in the movies. They were, in a word, much more real.
It made sense. But it still threw him off sometimes.
Shaking his head to clear it of unnecessary thoughts, Rumor used [ Observe ] on the three main storyline characters.
[ Willie Scott ]
[ Titles: Melodic Muse ]
[ Species: Human ]
[ Strength: 6 ]
[ Dexterity: 6 ]
[ Vitality: ?? ]
[ Temperance: 12 ]
[ Spirit: ?? ]
[ Appeal: ?? ]
[ Skills: Singing lvl 10, Stardom Charm lvl 6, ???, ???... ]
[ Special Skills: Scream of Terror, Unlikely Luck, ??? ]
[ Description: A famous singer and performer in Shanghai, Willie comes across as glory-chasing and money-hungry, but it all hides a brave and kind heart. ]
...
[ Short Round ]
[ Titles: The Kid Who Saved the Day ]
[ Species: Human ]
[ Strength: 6 ]
[ Dexterity: ?? ]
[ Vitality: ?? ]
[ Temperance: ?? ]
[ Spirit: ?? ]
[ Appeal: 9 ]
[ Skills: Driving lvl 4, Acrobatics lvl 8, ???, ???... ]
[ Special Skills: Street Smarts, ???, ??? ]
[ Description: An orphan rescued by Indiana Jones after trying to steal from him, Short Round, or Shorty as he likes to be called, is a smart kid who doesn't lack guts to confront those stronger than him. ]
...
[ Indiana Jones ]
[ Titles: Archeologist Extraordinaire, The Man With the Hat, Reluctant Hero ]
[ Species: Human ]
[ Strength: ?? ]
[ Dexterity: ?? ]
[ Vitality: ?? ]
[ Temperance: ?? ]
[ Spirit: ?? ]
[ Appeal: ?? ]
[ Skills: ???, ???, ???, ???... ]
[ Special Skills: ???, ???, ??? ]
[ Description: The indisputable main character and a famous adventurer and archeologist across the globe, Indiana Jones needs no more introductions. ]
Although tempted, Rumor refrained from using the last two charges of his [ Magnifying Lense ]. For one, he wanted to save it for enemies or a more urgent need. For another, he wasn't sure he was within 20 temperance and spirit points of either Indiana Jones or Short Round.
That Indiana Jones' character sheet was basically a big censor bar didn't surprise Rumor. He was the main character, it was expected that the tester couldn't even compare to him.
Even back in the Star Wars universe, the only reason Rumor could see as much as he did of Anakin's stats was because he was a child. When the Chosen One grew up, his character sheet would probably look much the same as Indiana Jones or Qui-Gon Jinn's.
No matter. At least for now, the main storyline characters were on his side - or rather, he was on the same side as them.
Of the stats he could see, Willie's [ Stardom Charm ] and [ Scream of Terror ] caught his attention. His spirit was far too low to get more detailed information on either, but the first was pretty self-explanatory, while the second instantly reminded Rumor of Willie's constant - and annoying - screaming during the movie.
He supposed, if he was to be their guide, he would have to learn to endure it.
Eh, it couldn't be that bad. After all he had experienced, a few shrill yelps wouldn't send him running for the hills.
"Aaaaahhhhh!!!"
Or maybe he was wrong. That was a possibility too.
They hadn't even entered the village and Willie was screaming because she had stepped on a pile of cow dung.
Rumor's eye twitched as she started ranting about firing her agent and booking a spa as soon as she was back in Shanghai, and more.
This was going to be a long incursion.