Conversation 267: COAST ORB / roadsidethought

Dialogue that comes up as the player walks along the street. Fantasy of the other side of the pavement.

How to use this page:

This is a listing of every "entry" in a given game conversation as scraped from the game files. Entries often contain written dialogue, as well as conditional logic governing their appearance to the player. They also link to other entries, sometimes automatically and sometimes through player action. This page is best used to search for a specific word or phrase, as following the links in this format can be difficult. For an experience that better accommodates the branching structure of these conversations, see the corresponding interactive page.

Column definitions:
  • ID: a numerical index for the entry within this conversation.
  • Character: the character speaking or acting.
  • Dialogue: prose containing spoken dialogue and other description.
  • Conditions: logical checks governing this entry appearing or occurring.
  • Links: entries that might follow this one, depending on conditions and player choice. Most links are internal to this conversation, external links to other conversations are marked with the format (conversation ID, entry ID).
ID Character Dialogue Conditions Links
0 None
  • 1
1 None
  • 2
2 Shivers A drop in temperature. An easy flow of air: an empty street. Before you, a thoroughfare unjammed with lorries. No more drivers smoking on hitch steps. Just... silence.
  • 4
  • 3
3 You Let go of the moment. [Discard thought.]
4 You What did the smoke smell like?
  • 5
5 Shivers Chemically sweetened. Across the road, a forgotten bus stop; corrosion has opened a hole in its roof. An elm tree watches over the building. Its branches are dripping with rain and snow.
  • 6
6 Shivers The road is smooth and motley. Craters filled with a black asphalt. The asphalt first laid is grey already. A row of tenements are under construction in the distance.
  • 10
7 You What about the bus stop?
  • 14
8 You That is enough. [Finish thought.]
  • 18
9 You Who are the people who live across the road?
  • 12
10 None
  • 9
  • 7
  • 19
  • 11
  • 8
11 You A dead dog? Variable["coast.orb_roadside_percept"] == true
  • 17
12 Shivers A tub warm with water, white with soap. A man bathes while radio waves transmit the lottery numbers: 4, 18, 21, 4, 1... A modern washing machine rattles a drawer full of silverware.
  • 20
13 None
  • 10
14 Shivers #312D. Young girls used to come here, huddled up, hoping for more warmth than their thin coats give them. The bus took them to school. It has not run for eight years; there were not enough girls to sustain its cost.
  • 13
15 Perception (Sight) There's one bump on the road: a dead dog lies flat about two hundred paces away, right at the turn.
  • 13
16 Shivers Craters pocked the surface. Children played in them, until heavy trucks full of black pitch rolled in. The landowners have filled the craters with money. It is a vital artery of flow of trade.
  • 15
17 Shivers Tragedy came from the wheels of a fast RCM vehicle, hurrying to work. The cold washes over you. The sound of the sea has grown distant.
  • 13
18 Shivers The wind moves the aerosol. A detective stands behind the boom barrier; a breeze moves a curl of his hair.
19 You What about the road? Variable["coast.orb_roadside_bus_stop"]
  • 16
20 Suggestion His boyfriend is on his way home. He brings tins of meat and vegetables with him. Their pockets are heavier with money; but only slightly.
  • 13