"Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday to you!
Happy birthday dear Alex!
Happy birthday to you!"
The collective office cheered as the small, store-bought cake was brought out. Alex had a slightly embarrassed grin on his face, his party hat tilted slightly to the right on his mop of shaggy brown hair. He looked like some sort of post-modern hippie, his face and beard that of someone accustomed to crashing on coaches, his suit wrinkled and tie marked with a few stains of some unknown foodstuff. No one let Alex's appearance fool them: he was one of the best young programmers they had ever seen. Some of the stuff he had done with their sales databases were, in his words, "off the hook."
James Colborom, CEO of Colborom Computer Parts Inc, patted him on the shoulder. "Happy thirtieth, man. Congratulations." James was, despite his age, one of the youngest members of the company. He commanded an impressive amount of respect from his colleague and many people believed him to be a modern-day genius in his field. Several of the rights to his parts had already been snatched up by Microsoft, among others...along with the mysterious new profits leaking in...well...it's no wonder people were calling him the next Bill Gates.
With a sly grin, James pulled out something from behind his back. "I hope everyone remembered their White Elephant Gift!" Yet another tradition...the White Elephant Gift party. Bring a crappy present in a cardboard box, he said, and we'll pass 'em around. See what you get!
This would be the last White Elephant he would give or receive.
As people passed around the presents, James looked around the office suddenly and motioned out to the hallway. "Hold on a second. You guys can start without me, I need to go make a call." He started walking, making his way towards the elevator.
Two things happened simultaneously. The first was the whirring of the fax machine. The second was a huge BANG[ that reverberated up and down the hallway, shocking everyone into silence. Where James once stood, there now stood/sat/smoked a charred, smoking body, the remains of the CEO of Colborom Computer Parts Inc. Someone screamed.
Pandemonium erupted.
The fax finally finished coming in.
YOU HAVE SURVIVED THE FIRE BUT WILL YOU SURVIVE THE COMING TRIALS?
DO NOT TRY TO LEAVE OR YOU ARE NEXT.
WE ARE HERE.
WE WANT THE ARK.
Role PMs going out. Prepare yourself. Confirm by PM. You have 72 hours until the game starts. Boxes will be sent after alignment and the game will start.
Some of you may have received deleted messages from me. These were role PMs I dicked up. Think nothing of it.
I'm also going to take this time to say that you should use the time allotted to you to read over the rules, especially the ones concerning box mechanics. A lot of it will be brand new to everyone. Also, no one has a box PM yet. I will send them out once everyone has confirmed their alignment. I will not require the confirmation of boxes.