Argonath RPG: Invasion Of The Grannies (a fun server event born from roleplay)

[JDC]

Every now and then, I'd come across the occasional disgruntled argonathian player (real Argonathians love their community), who'd claim that playing on Argo would get stressful, boring, useless, et cetera.

That the roleplay is dead and that the server follows the same boring routine each day.

That players as a whole have grown too far apart and that it is useless trying to bond with the community.

That those days from MTA:VC times and Early SA:MP where you can round up players and have a sudden, spontaneous outburst of crazy, friendly fun are things of the past.

...

Well, guess what. They're wRONg.


(NOTE: No actions were forced in this roleplay, and participants who wanted to be reverted to their state before the roleplay were granted such.)

---

Story Version:

From the last journal of a dying survivor...

 It was a sunny Sunday morning, on May 15, 2011. As usual, I was working as a desk officer in the San Fierro Police Department, and nothing was out of the ordinary. Early in the morning through, I happened to spot one of my colleagues taking a prisoner ([Rstar]EliteTerm) to jail, and two of the prisoners' relatives, visitors, or acquaintances, one of who was a an elderly woman ([RPIT]JDC_Kolta, the other being =AV=Gird3r). It was a typical process of apprehending a suspect and putting them in jail for the petty crimes they did on the street.

 Later on, however, I noticed something was amiss. A few hours after they entered the inner chambers of SFPD, I saw the SFPD Officer run outside hurriedly, babbling something about a sickness. I then happened to spot the prisoner and his two acquaintances, exiting the corridor that led to the prison chambers. That's when I noticed something was amiss; the prisoner and one of his acquaintances, looked exactly like the elderly woman, or the granny they were with. Upon beholding what I saw, I quickly picked up my DSLR camera and fired off a quick snapshot.

 On the way out, one of the grannies happened to scratch me on the neck, seemingly by accident, and exited promptly after muttering something that sounded like an apology. In the next hour, I felt a slight dizziness and loss of energy, along with some minor back pains. I thought it was merely stress acting on mem- as I have been doing a lot of duties in the past week, my day off being due tomorrow- until I heard the emergency broadcast from the nearby Zombotech Corporation and the local TV newscast that followed shortly after.

"The city is under attack! These grannies are no regular people, they infect other people who become exactly like them! Avoid them at all cost, I repeat! Avoid them at ALL- *thud in background* ...what the, OH MY SAURON! NO! NOOOO! YAAAAA- *static* "

 That's when I realized; I was infected. I looked down at the skin on my arms and hands, and noticed it had become paler with more wrinkles. As the disease was currently incurable, I knew I only had a couple of hours to live. I decided that I may as well use what remains of my life to save the lives of others, if I could not find a way to stop the Granny Infestation altogether. After some more minutes in deep thought, I quickly exited through the back door and entered by SFPD Cruiser in the basement. The rest of the building had already been deserted at this point, and I was the last one who remained.

 As I drove through the city of SF, I beheld it all. The pandemonium, the people running out of panic in the streets, the heart-wrenching cries of the victims as they were pounced on and bitten by grannies, only to rise up a few seconds later, as a granny. After wondering why these people were infected instantly and I was not, I then came to realize that I was infected with a weaker strain of the virus, which made me immune to the stronger and instant strain. However, I would still die after transforming into a granny fully, just like the others.

 For some reason, my bullets failed to stop these beasts. I had no choice but to look on helplessly while the entire city of San Fierro was overrun, with only a handful of survivors fleeing to other parts of the Argonath state and several islands. One thing I was able to observe, is that these grannies were unable to swim, fly, or pilot any seabound / airbound vehicles, although they soon learned how to drive cars. As the city was cleared in the south by the Grannies, I realized with a shock; the infestation was headed for Los Santos, the most populated city in the state. I then broke into the abandoned Argonath Express office, and broadcast the following messages to Los Santos using the remaining machines that ran on the Argonath Advertisement Broadcasting System, which seemingly was the only form of Intercity Communication that was still intact.

"[ADVERTISEMENT]: A great infestation of a Granny Virus has been detected, heading for Los Santos! Take Caution!"

 Knowing though that the citizens of Los Santos would not respond to threats on their own, I hotwired the remaining News Chopper on the roof of AE Headquarters, and used it to head to Los Santos, despite my rapidly deteriorating strength. It's a good thing they stocked the craft with plenty of energy drinks and caffeine, lest I would have become too weak to pilot it halfway through, let alone stand. When I finally arrived in Los Santos, I realized it was too late. The infestation had spread through the streets, infecting Civilians, Law Enforcement, and Criminals. Everyone was powerless to stop it.

 While the city was overrun, I managed to take pictures of the converging Grannies at Pershing Square, by hiding in an abandoned LSPD Cruiser. As I was already being transformed by the weakened strain of the Granny Virus, the grannies no longer actively pursued me as they did other citizens, who they continued to infect and convert into more of their kind.

During the meeting, I observed that the Grannies were performing some sort of weird voodoo / prayer ritual, apparently in worship to a superior entity or a leader figure for them. They referred to their god as "Gimli", who was fabled as a legendary figure among Grannies.

 At this point, most of my strength was already drained and the transformation was nearing completion, when I realized what these grannies were planning; they were going to attack Mordor Maximum Security Prison, which harbored the largest collection of survivors that fled from the Las Venturas area. I managed to sneak into one of the Grannies' transports, and watched in shock, fear, and helplessness as they killed / infected all the survivors at Mordor MSP, a few of which have managed to avoid being caught by jumping into the ocean, although I doubt they would have survived the shark-infested waters, by the grace of Sauron. One of the men who escaped, who I recognized as a Gvardia by the name of Angelo, was immune to the virus, although the Grannies tried to eat him in order to sustain their needs. The last picture I was able to take with my DSLR before it was drained of its battery below, depicts the grannies celebrating their victory over Mordor.

 Just when I thought all hope was lost for the state of San Andreas, I happened to see the grannies drop dead one by one. Although the virus was very contagious in itself, it still transformed people into extremely old Grannies, meaning they were on the verge of dying of old age anytime, which they were doing. As the last Granny dropped dead on the floor, I realized that my transformation was nearing completion, even though I was slowly losing my free will. I was dying, just like the Grannies.

 I can only hope a Citizen of Argonath finds this journal of mine, and uses its contents to warn my beloved country, so that it may be able to defend itself against this scourge should it threaten to arise once again in the future. As I write this, my vision is dimming... in a few minutes, my transformation into a Granny will be complete, and I will die of old age.

Signed,

SFPD Officer Oleg Ivanovich


Non-Story Version and tl;dr:

 After [Rstar]EliteTerm was jailed by an officer at LSPD, the three of us (me, Elite, and Gird3r) decided to start a small Granny RP inside the prison, which eventually led to us infecting other citizens as grannies. After getting some "victims" in SF, we headed for LS where we infected most of the players. Everyone involved had a lot of fun running around as Grannies, it reminded us of roleplays from old Argonath which were fun-oriented in nature, erupted spontaneously, and bonded many different players who participated. A server-wide roleplay which was born from a small one, and had many different players having fun... brought plenty of smiles and memories, nothing much to dislike.

Yes, Argonath is still a fun place to play in. You just have to find your fun, if it is in Argonath at all. It would really be nice if players bonded with the rest of the community more often, instead of the groups who they are close to. It's a lot of fun, and I definitely recommend it.

Started By:
- [R*]EliteTerm
- =AV=Gird3r
- [RPIT]JDC_Kolta

Some of the other participants: (could not remember all names, sorry)
- Jamba
- Roman_Collin
- Jimmy Bowling
- [WS]SeanC
- GhostX
- Mampoo
- Frank Pierce
- Angelo Gvardia
- MasonV Gambino
- Pawned
- Phillip Ortiz
- Xaviero Caprelli
- Buck_Tucker
- Nicky[AF]
- Alexi Yankovsky

(NOTE: No actions were forced in this roleplay, and participants who wanted to be reverted to their state before the roleplay were granted such.)


Gallery:

 

 

[SeanC]

You can't catch me

[Jamal]

Very cool.

[newton_alex]

I remember when Gibson was a rogue officer towards me+SugarD and although I had valid crime I got an unsuspection! then. Gibson went on the run and we had the Whole FBI+SAPD+SWAT looking for him...eventually we took him to Mordor where criminals could break him out and win money as an RP-Event...that was a great Server Wide RP too.... All you need to do is stick to the RP and not get bored and it will develop

[Gird3r]

Very funny and nice event. I certainly had fun helping to brew up this idea.

[Jingle]

It is indisputable that this was tremendous idea: forming such a captivating, distinct and reassuring event. It is gratifying players such as yourselves grant refreshment to all those with hesitancy on the freedom of role-play. I am convinced it was a truly pleasant experience for all of you. It's a shame I could not attend it as I was not on at the given time. Please enlighten all of us next time you do something similar.

[[SE]Dr_Pepper27]

Was fun. 

[saberman]

Should happen again