That will be all in terms of items of exposition for today, as there’re a couple of other things I’d like to discuss before we wrap up.
The first matter — and this is most important so pay attention — concerns your lodgings.
Rooms have been provided for all of you at the prestigious Short Fall Hotel for the duration of this orientation series, entirely free of charge. This includes the breakfast buffet, but the bar is limited to two drinks a night. You will be escorted to the Hotel by a service droid once we conclude here, after which you are free to pass the time however you please before the next lecture.
Simply inform the front desk that you have a !shortfall-residency and the concierge drones will take it from there.
The second matter is something of a novelty devised by our marketing department, who deemed my presentation to be in need of a little extra excitement as, to use their words, ‘it’s drier than the Qalahar desert during drought season.’
My outrage at such an insult aside, I’ve decided to go along with this little farce all the same — if it keeps you engaged, then it makes my life easier.
Hidden within the notes for each lecture are clues for you to find, the answers to which will provide you with an eight digit code that unlocks a vault. After our eighth and final lecture is complete, I will allow each of you a chance to try and unlock this vault, using the code that you have procured.
Marketing haven’t told me what’s inside. No doubt it’s some kind of useless trinket you have no real use for, but they assure me that isn’t the point.
Think of this exercise as a scavenger hunt of sorts, though I assure you that real scavengers wouldn’t waste their time with such nonsense. Then again, they’re a fairly treacherous bunch, so perhaps we shouldn’t be drawing too much inspiration from their behaviour.
Allow me to clarify some details, as I can already see some of you scratching your heads in confusion.
Each clue will be hidden behind a link masquerading as regular text, though not every link will take you to the clue you’re looking for; there are decoys strewn all over the place, so you will have to work hard if you want to find every answer.
There will only be one per lecture however, so once you find it you don’t need to continue looking (you’re welcome to if you so desire, but it’s only your own time you’ll be wasting). And yes, there is one hidden somewhere in this lecture too, so make sure you find it before you leave.
As an added twist, the questions themselves won’t necessarily have anything to do with the link that conceals them (I’ve been told that this is what makes the game so compelling), so bear that in mind — you may have to go digging for answers.
Luckily, we are an Exposition Portal, so knowledge is one thing we have in abundance. Before you ask, I have checked, and every answer can be found without having to leave the Portal… except for one, for which you will have to go exploring our outlier platforms. If you use your noggin, even this part won’t be too taxing for you. You seem like a smart enough bunch.
The answers to the questions will all be numerical in nature. As an example, consider the following: ‘the number of Primordial Moons in the Zephran Lunarspace.’ The answer is five, and so the digit you’d want to record in this case would, naturally, be ‘5‘.
All of the numbers in the code will be in the same order you find the answers in, so the first answer will give you the first digit, the second answer the second digit, and so on.
I’m sure this is all very intuitive to enlightened individuals such as your good selves, but we have had some dunderheads in the past giving all kinds of bizarre answers which, for confidentiality reasons, I am unable to divulge — no matter how entertaining that would no doubt be.
Also, just to clarify, the example given above was just that: an example. It wasn’t part of the code, so don’t think you’re being smart by including it (you wouldn’t be the first if you did, which is the truly sad part).
I would advise that you write down your answer to each question somewhere you’re not liable to forget: we have enough admin to be doing without having to do yours for you as well. It’s only eight digits, I’m sure you’re up to the task.