CYOA - WEEK 1

[cyclists]

SEEK A WAY OUT...

Without warning, sometime on the evening of the second day of the first week, a large, black mass emerges and swallows you whole. Dragging you through a dark tunnel, you'll soon find yourself in a strangely dark room.

Thankfully, you aren't alone. There are three others with you as the dim lights cast an eerie glow on your surroundings. It's hard to really see what, precisely, is around but as you come into consciousness a radio crackles from above. A distorted voice speaks suddenly, breaking the silence.

Consider this a privilege. You are going to participate in a game…it is a game where you may emerge victorious, but a game where you will put your life on the line.

The purpose of the game is simple. Leave this place alive and with purpose. It is hidden, but there is an exit to be found…seek a way out.

You have three hours. At the end of your time, should you not succeed--

The words cut out. The radio goes silent and the light in the room disappears entirely. An alarm begins to ring out, loud and blaring and echoing through the room.

Hopefully you got a good look at the interior before the lights went out.

SEEK A WAY OUT.

The first step will be shining some light on the situation and disabling the alarm.

Best of luck to you.



In this CYOA, characters are tasked with venturing through locked rooms and solving puzzles to seek a way out of the facility they've been trapped in. They will each be faced with a variety of puzzles, clues, and traps that will help or hinder their progress. They will also be dealing with small manifestations of corruption that they will need to clear to proceed. In doing so, characters may earn items or hints toward the game's plot. Real time will pass, so all characters will be missing for a maximum of three hours…if they escape.

Proceed with caution.

Comments

[forefall]

[ The alarms really are quite the nuisance, aren't they?

Four is very stiff, as she tries to adjust to the dim lighting, afraid that any moment might set off a trap. She has no idea what a cell phone is but is suddenly very glad it exists. ]

I'm here. I would also like to take care of the alarms, but what else can we do for light?

[ She'd at least like to see how she dies, not that she wants to die at all.

How is any of this a privilege? ]

[daibanana]

[Nana absolutely knows what a cellphone is and claps her hands once, in approval, her banana bangs bobbing as she nods]

Perfect, Akane-chan! That will make this much easier.

[Though yeah, given how dim it is and how much they might have to explore, finding more lighting would be ideal. She looks left and right, then back to the other girls]

Should we look around for another light source? We might find something...

[televised]

[BLESS YOU, AKANE... North is thankful for the light source, but she would also rather detach her arm and toss it in a fire before praising a human — so. You know.]

Well, we're certainly not going to find anything if we keep standing around. [... She's already veering towards the left side of the room as she says this, steps careful just in case she failed to notice something before the lights went out.] You heard what that voice said. We have three hours to break out of this place, or else.

[specialdog]

Or else... What? Something to do with the corruption? Or do we just slowly starve to death in the dark?

[ It's very fair to not praise Akane. She heads to the right side of the room with absolutely no regard for the fact that she's just shown them she has a light source and then immediately taken it away to go do her own thing.

Good luck searching, left side. ]

Or maybe we'll be driven crazy by the alarm. [ God, she's annoyed by it. ]

[forefall]

The implication could be a bit more dire than that.

[ She watches Akane waltz off with the only light source??? aghast (not that anyone can see her face AKANE). ]

Have you considered that you aren't the only person in this room?

[ The reproach in her voice is clear, but that doesn't stop her from walking after the other girl to the right. As if she'd be left alone in darkness like this.

Bye, left side. ]

[cyclists]

[As the girls head forward and begin to split up, they'll find their fork in the road and be forced to split up.

On the left, North and Nana will find that this portion of the hall is decorated with oil lanterns hanging from the wall on their right. Eventually, they will hit a dead end. Hopefully they aren't walking too quickly or they will bump straight into a panel. In the dark, it may be hard to make out but they've found the breaker box! Congratulations!

…but there is a number pad on the box, clearly waiting for a code to be put in. So, how are they going to open it and see what's inside?

Meanwhile, on the right, Akane and Four sure are walking straight toward the source of the alarm. Thanks to the thin light from Akane's cell phone, they're in a little better position than Team Left. This side also has oil lanterns hanging on the wall, but as they approach their own dead end, they will find that the sound is loudest here. There is an alarm system mounted in front of them, red light flashing as the sound blares. There also appear to be four colored buttons at the bottom. There's a pattern here. What will they try first?]

[specialdog]

[ With no hesitation, because she fucking hates this alarm, Akane starts jabbing at those colored buttons one by one. She tries to, like, go in chronological order, if they're arranged in a way where that makes sense. ]

What about it?

[ It's her phone! Get your own phone if you're going to complain! Jeez. Actually, she doesn't really want to hear the answer that she knows will come to that question, so she tries to change the subject. ]

Have anything we could use to light those lanterns?

[forefall]

I don't have anything on me for that.

[ There was sort of no preparation for this? Hello? All she has is a fork with some kind of vegetable on it because she was in the middle of eating when this happened.

Four frowns. ]

Could you hold your... light device higher, so we can see what's around? There might be something around here for that.

[ She squints, trying to adjust to the red light of the alarm and see with it, just in case Akane decided to do whatever she wants to with her phone, like she has for the past however many minutes. ]

[cyclists]

[Well. When Akane presses the buttons one by one, she will find that they will change colors! The first button is now red, the second is yellow, the third is blue, and the fourth is green. If she presses them again the red will turn into green, the second to red, the third to yellow and the fourth to blue. These buttons will continue to change like this if she presses all of them at the same time in that order before being reset to the way that they were.

If Akane actually listens to four, they will also see that the alarm panel has a bit of wiring coiled around in a neat little bundle on the top of it, just behind the frame of the panel. It's a little bulky, but perhaps worth a second look?]

[specialdog]

Too bad.

[ At least one of them came prepared literally solely through sheer luck. Akane begrudgingly shines her light on that wiring. But she angles her phone so Four can look that over while she keeps her attention on the buttons. They can just tackle this from different angles, okay!!

Akane... Presses the first button over and over as it rotates through the colors? ]

[forefall]

[ Four is from the year 1000AD, and there are some anachronistic things in Midgard because magic and shit, but this wiring is. A little beyond her.

She does walk closer to get a better look, however. ]

Akane. Is it better to open that by pushing the buttons, or...

[ She points to the wiring. ]

Can we rip those out?

[ She doesn't know much about electricity and alarm systems. ]

[cyclists]

[As Akane presses the button, she will find that on her 3rd cycle through, the button turns white and a small cheerful chime rings. Perhaps she's on to something with that.

As for Four, she will be able to see that while some of the wiring is attached to the panel, there's a small bundle that isn't. It actually looks like she can just pick it up if she wants.]

[specialdog]

[ Akane moves on to the second button and does the same thing? ]

Feel free.

[ She says, not having realized that they're separate, and still playing with the buttons? Basically, she's just messing around, so Four has permission to do the same. ]

It's just trial and error, anyway. Unless there turns out to be a lock if you mess up too many times. Or if ripping out the wires makes something just stop working.

[ but!! shrugs!! do your dreams!!! ]

[forefall]

I don't want to break something unless it's a last resort.

[ The cheerful chime means something was probably done right? Four decides against pulling them out for now. Until Akane takes too long with the pushing buttons.

She picks up the small bundle and then starts feeling around the wall next to the panel. Is this bundle supposed to connect to something.... ]

[cyclists]

[Repeating this motion with the buttons means the second button also turns white after its third round and there's another chime! Hm.

Four will be able to pick up the bundle, and while it doesn't look like they connect to anything here, there are a bunch of connectors she can feel. She will also hear something drop on the floor near her feet as she moves the bundle. The light from Akane's phone is just enough to reveal a small skeleton key. While the room is cold, the wall, however, is warm to touch.]

[specialdog]

But maybe breaking it is the right thing to do.

[ Akane tries to shine the light down to help Four pick up that key. Maximum kindness for the day achieved. In the meantime, she's repeating this pattern with button three?? ]

[daibanana]

[...

....






Turning to North as the light from Akane's phone slowly starts to pitter out on their side]

Shall we take this path, then?

[Honestly the oil lanterns are getting her immediate attention, seeing as someone was not taught how to share in preschool.]

If we can get these started, then maybe... [Is there a way to turn on the lanterns? A knob of sorts? Or will they need a way to get the oil burning?]

[televised]

[DO YOU EVER GET THAT NORTH⮟ FEELING, AKANE...

While Nana's attention is on the lanterns, North will be drawn to the breaker box. She's pressing her hands against it, trying to get a better sense of what they're working with through touch — but with the number pad keeping it nice and shut? There's not much they can do without a light source.]

I think... I found the breaker box. But there's keypad on it, and I don't want to risk cracking it in the dark. [One wrong move and they'll be screwed, after all.] Did you see anything we could use to turn the lanterns on before it went dark?

[... That said, the benefit of having a computer for a brain is that her memory is relatively solid. North's going to feel around the vicinity to get a better feel for where she's at, right now. But from the brief moments that they had to glance at their surroundings before the lights went out, was there anything notable about the left side of the room?]

[cyclists]

[As Nana's looking at the lanterns, she will notice that there are knobs on them, but they seem to be more for decoration. They will have to get the oil burning to be able to shed a little light on their situation here. Examining the lanterns, she will also notice that some of the knobs feel a little smoother on the edges than others.

While North is looking around, she actually won't have to go too far. As she's feeling around, she will feel a papery sort of something taped underneath the breaker box itself!

Voila. You have a matchbook. However, it only has one match, just long enough to light and light maybe half of the lanterns in the entire hallway from left to right.]

[daibanana]

[Smother knobs seems to indicate they've been used before, but that might mean they don't have enough oil to burn, hmmm... And then of course there's the fact that they're decorations anyway.

She'll end up trying to examine the lanterns with smoother knobs just to "see" if there's anything to find while she calls out to North]

I didn't see anything, sorry... and we'll need matches for these before they're useful.

[televised]

[Ah. That solves one problem, at least.

North makes a small, surprised noise when she finds the matchbox underneath the breaker box. She's going to take a second or so to feel around the paperboard in order to locate the coarse surface, before she inclines her head in Nana's direction. Or, at least, the direction from which her voice is coming from??]

Seems like we won't have to worry about that. There was a matchbox under the breaker box. [Luckily.] ... There's only one match inside, however. You'll have to help me with the lanterns so we can get to as many as possible before the match burns out.

[Though, maybe they can tear the coarse surface off the matchbox, roll up the rest of the paperboard and light that up to get to a couple more lanterns? Mod meta tags, please confirm if this is possible or nah.]

[cyclists]

[It's hard to see why the knobs might be the way they are without a light, but if she examines them close enough Nana will find that her fingers will feel a slight engraving on the smoother knobs. Hm. This isn't on every lantern, but it's happening.

As for North, Kyuu, I'm sobbing, I SUPPOSE THAT'S POSSIBLE. It will get them from about half of the lanterns to about three-fourths. Time to light up, girls.]

[daibanana]

[HEAD SWIVELING in the direction of North's voice because that? That is a great find on her part. She'd give a cheer if she weren't busy making her way back over to the other, following the sound of their voice and trying not to trip into a wall]

Okay! Some of the lanterns have engravings on them, too.

[Meaning they will absolutely need those lights, so once they've brutalized the matchbox for their own purposes, she will cover her half of the lanterns, quickly lighting them.

... Though she'll make a noise of disappointment when she discovers they didn't light all of them.]

Hopefully that won't be a problem... at least we can see.

[televised]

Better this than nothing at all.

[Since SOMEONE (read: Akane) didn't learn how to share?? Now that they have semi-proper lighting, North will take a closer look at the lanterns themselves. Is there any way to detach one from the wall to use as a portable source of lighting? But also—]

Did the engravings feel like numbers to you?

[She'll start searching for the engravings, herself. As well as anything else that's out of place now that they can see again.]

[cyclists]

[Congrats on being able to see! Nana did a good find by pointing out those engravings because North is 100% on the money. They are numbers.

Also no, you're stuck with your wallmounts, goodbye. With this amount of light though, while the girls are searching they'll notice a few things.

a.) There are four numbers they can find engraved in the lantern knobs: zero, three, six, nine.
b.) There's also a weird, black wispy-like substance coming from the top of the breaker box, a little darker than the color of smoke.

Fun!]