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

[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?? ]

[forefall]

If that doesn't open after they all turn white, I'll break it. There are some... kind of spiky things back here? Do you think those do anything?

[ She has no idea what connectors are, unfortunately.... but at least Four is here to pick random stuff up like it's a video game. Will she get money for all this later, she wonders?

She grabs the key and looks to her left. Can she make out anything? ]

[cyclists]

[Akane please don't break things...yet. The third button will be just the same as before, too, which means one more button to go!

Four should probably hold onto those wires. Is she the inventory now? Guess so. To her left, she'll see a glossy sort of layer that looks a lot like glass. With the lanterns lit somewhere down the hall, she'll be able to make out a plexiglass sort of wall, the back of a display case built into said-wall. The front is on the other side of the partition separating the little hall from the rest of the room, but from the back she can see a lot of animal skeletons.

They're all rabbits. It's hard to see much detail about them though in the dim lights.]

[specialdog]

[ And... Last button! ]

That sounds like a good plan. Try a puzzle first, break it if you can't solve it. [ :) ] They probably do something, but it's not like I know what.

[forefall]

[ That honestly sounds like a solid plan to Four. To get stuff, you have to break stuff, but it's not like all her world's rules apply here.... smh

But uh. Those rabbit skeletons. They're. Something. ]

Let me know if it doesn't work. There's something kind of... weird over there. I'm going to take a closer look.

[ And maybe bump into something while she's at it in this dim light. ]

— Oh. I don't know how much it matters, but the wall was warm?

[cyclists]

[The last button! Hurrah! The alarm finally stops. Thank god. But also the panel itself pops open and swings forward. Inside behind the face of the panel, Akane will find a cassette tape. Too bad there doesn't seem to be anything to play it with? And also too bad it also seems to be emitting the same black, wispy substance.

As Four approaches the cabinet and the rabbit skeletons, she can see that the bones are a little smooth and clean...they're skeletal models, at least, instead of the real thing. The wall is still warm if either of them choose to touch it, but luckily there's nothing else in her way. She can look into the case and see multiple rabbits, and thanks to the dim light she'll find that there's something shiny tucked deep into the belly of one of the skeletons. The middle rabbit on the middle shelf.

That may be important, but perhaps that's not a puzzle to solve just yet.]

[specialdog]

[ Akane lets out a very long sigh of relief. Ohhh my god, finally. Fuck that alarm.

She pokes the cassette with her hand withdrawn into her sleeve? Then, assuming that doesn't result in anything painful, pokes it with her bare fingers. Then pockets it without saying anything. She's not trying to hide it or anything, but, like, they don't have a cassette player, soooooo we'll just save this for later and ignore?? that it's emitting black wisps??? That's fine. Everything ifs fine. ]

Um... Warm like "there's a fire on the other side" warm? [ And now that Akane is done with what she was doing, she thinks to be helpful, and turns her phone to see what Four is looking at. Aw, little rabbit skeletons. Neat. ]

[forefall]

I can finally think now.

[ The metatext says to wait on this, but Four taps on the plexiglass, testing to see if it's breakable at all. At this point, she just kind of wants to break something here. ]

It wasn't that warm. [ Probably. She could be wrong, but she doesn't care enough to double check yet. ] Should we loop around to get that shiny item or look around on this side more?

[cyclists]

[It's actually fine that she didn't wait because this probably would have happened if she waited for the front. She taps the glass, and the rabbit skeletons jump, shuffling in a line and rearranging.

The walls aren't "absolutely on fire" warm, but they're a lot warmer than they should be.

Well. Now it just looks like the black wisp is coming from Akane herself so that'll go over well whenever they meet up with the other two.]

[specialdog]

[ it's fine it's fine it's fine it's fine it's fine. Akane touches the wall to kind of gauge for herself, but even with that information??? what can she even do about it??? So, more importantly, those rabbits... ]

Think you can smash the glass?

[ you know, and let the haunted bunny skeletons loose? yeah??? ]

[forefall]

[ Four's eyes narrow when the skeletons shuffle and jump. That's annoying. If they don't stay still, how are they going to get the shiny..... ]

I—

[ She takes that second to look back at Akane, and there's enough light that she doesn't like what she sees. At all.

Not one bit.

Her heart races, and she does the first thing she can think of: she tackles Akane without another word.

The rabbits are abandoned.

This is totally fine. ]

[specialdog]

[ Akane just shrieks and gets tackled to the floor?? she's a pushover. ]

What are you doing?!

[forefall]

[ binch you're going down???

Four grabs Akane's wrists and pins them to the ground. ]

You're emanating the same kind of darkness Mary was! Why?

[ Not that she expects a straight answer but you know!! ]

[specialdog]

It's in the cassette, it's not me!

[ Akane struggles against her but she's kind of weak as shit, so it doesn't work. She wants to reach into her pocket and show four, but. ]

My front pocket!

[forefall]

[ bold of u to assume she knows what a cassette is, but Four lets go of one of her wrists to reach into Akane's pocket and takes out said cassette. As soon as she sees Akane's telling the truth, she lets go of the girl and rises to her feet. ]

My apologies, but what were you thinking? First, why didn't you mention it, but most of all, why would you put something corrupted in your pocket?

[ She's incredulous. ]

[specialdog]

Where else am I supposed to put it? We'll obviously need it, later.

[ hhhhh. Akane stands up and starts brushing herself off. Then holds her hand out for that cassette back. It was her find! ]

I didn't mention it because it's not like we can use it yet.

[forefall]

[ She eyes Akane for a long moment before she drops it into the other girl's hand. If she wants to get tackled a second time, she can go ahead and pocket it again. ]

Please put it away. By all means, look just like a little murderer.

[ She sighs and turns back to the rabbits and taps the case again. ]

We'll have to find out how to get rid of it.

[specialdog]

[ She's Bitter, but pointedly not pocketing the cassette again. She's just holding it between her fingers and the back of her phone so that it's facing out. Look, now she's perpetually holding it up! Happy??

She doesn't have a clever enough retort for Four, though. So she just huffs. ]

I want to know what's on it.