Cohost Text Adventures

You close your eyes and plug your nose, but it's no use. The purple liquid drenches you from head to toe, giving you the distinct scent of fresh POSTS combined with a certain ineffable joie de vivre, with the faintest whiff of bug that lingers in the nose.

Great.

YOU RECEIVE: 1x Eggbug Smell

The conveyor slows to a stop, and you step off. Before you can relax, however, an error klaxon sounds and a red, spinning alarm light descends from the ceiling. You briefly wonder if the site is down. You've heard that can happen sometimes.

"TYPE MISMATCH!" yells an automated voice. "TYPE MISMATCH! REMOVE DEFICIENT MATERIAL AND RESTART CONVEYOR!"

You have no idea what a Type Mismatch is, but the middle of the night doesn't seem like the right time to be experimenting with the Posting equipment. Besides, you haven't fully explored this place yet. Then again, it's not like anyone's here to stop you...

You decide to put the Key Mold in your INVENTORY while you plot out your next move.

YOU RECEIVE: 1x Key Mold

[You have items now! To use an item in your INVENTORY, select USE ITEM and comment the item you wish you use.]

Inventory

• 1x Eggbug Smell
• 1x Key Mold

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You reach out for a chunk of cool metal as the Compressor chomps at you eagerly. It wasn't expecting a late night snack. THOMP. THOMP. THOMP.

You time your attempt as best you can, but you can tell it's moving too quickly for you to get all the way through between Thomps. You slide under the Compressor, holding the key mold above you like the world's smallest umbrella during a rain storm. The Compressor does not seem impressed with your Moves, nor intimidated by your protection.

You close your eyes and hope for the best, expecting to be reduced to text at any moment. The wheezing of the cylinder foretells your impending doom. When it slams down, the metal-on-metal contact makes a sharp ping and the Compressor stops.

Metals don't harm other metals. It's part of The Code. The Compressor reluctantly raises and allows you to pass unharmed. It sulks. It didn't realize there could be a hostage situation.

Before you can breathe easy, the conveyor splits into three. One passes under a stream of what appears to be ink. The second is a translucent purple liquid with a scent that you can only describe as "Eau d'Eggbug". The third, with horror, looks like molten metal.

Your exit runs underneath one of these three pipes. Which one is it going to be? You only have a few seconds to make your choice.

Inventory

• (empty)

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It's dark in here. And oddly silent. And oddly sterile. Obviously the Posting Floor must be kept clean, but during the day the workers bring a certain warmth and liveliness to the place that you always appreciate. Nothing brightens up a dreary Monday like a friendly smile and the smell of fresh posts, you always say.

In fact, you—

Uh oh.

Something's moving under your feet. You've spent so much time on the Posting Floor you'd swear you could walk the place blindfolded, but in the dark you've somehow stumbled onto the posting conveyor! With a threatening whirring sound, all the machinery suddenly comes to life.

You hear the THUMP. THUMP. THUMP. of the post compressor up ahead, threatening to reduce you to a few kilobytes of text and maybe an emoji or two.

Looking around quickly, you try to find something that will protect your very fragile body. You reach out and grab the only thing you think will do the trick.

Inventory

• (empty)

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[Hey everyone! The author here. Just thought I'd let you know that I spent the last few days adding forward and back links to A Bug Named Bug for easier browsing. Obviously these were implemented in Midnight at the Posting Factory, and now the previous adventure has them too!

If you were so inclined to read the old story, or catch the beginning if you joined halfway through, it's now much easier to do that: https://cohost.org/CohostTextAdventures/post/3176285-a-bug-named-bug-sta

Enjoy!]