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Anime Let's play: Strangeland (Finished)

baud

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
3,992
Location
Septentrion
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
though I'm not sure I would have though of
checking the shooting range for spirits, because there wasn't a lot of clues signaling there might be one there. But since there's more than the required number of spirits to collect, it wasn't an issue
 

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
5,703
Location
California
Well, there are skulls, and the spirits are coming from the dead. But yeah, it's an easy one to skip, like the rat skin.
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
20210610170805_1.jpg


The last time we left the dispirited dude, he'd just been yanked away offscreen and murdered by the Dark Thing while trying to flash a torch in everyone's face.

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Before we proceed down the well, we have a bawks to open :happytrollboy:

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wot da zog

the thing, whatever it is, produces slimey-slittery sounds and speaks with the clown's voice

clown.png
But he opens it anyway. All the horrors of the world come pouring out. Disease and death, loss and loneliness, revulsion and regret. Fool falls to the ground, trembling with fear. Says to himself, "At least there's hope at the bottom." Then a phone rings, and the voice on the other end says, "What bottom?" Gaheeheehaw!

:greatjob:

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:neveraskedforthis:

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There is no answer.

stranger2.png
Hello?

And then, after a moment...

andhaira.png
What bottom?

and the call ends :lol:

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We have new places to explore.

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Groovy. Check out 'em roots.

stranger2.png
They must be growing down from the yew.

There's also some kind of grub here.

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I try to cut it open with the knife, but it's not sharp enough.

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Mayhap some assistance is required?

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The acid revealed something under the shell. Let's cut it open now.

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:neveraskedforthis:

this is kind of disgusting

stranger2.png
A cicada. Maybe even ready to fly.

Ready to fly eh?

...

:happytrollboy:

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In Strangeland

you can ride

CICADAS

stranger2.png
Shall we?

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now what's this here

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Intriguing.

There's a golden "knot" in the centre.

stranger2.png
There's something golden in there. It reminds me of her.

The roots are too tight for the dude to reach in, and the knife is too dull, and he's too afraid of ruining whatever's inside with the acid. So this will clearly require a different approach.

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Someone's sobbing inside one of the circus cars. Creepy!

stranger2.png
Someone's sobbing inside there, but I can't see anything.

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Use your Panasonic flashlight, my dude

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Hi!

rotta.png
Why must you shine a light on Rotta? In the darkness, I can't see or be seen. That is always better.

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who the hell is this guy even

stranger2.png
There was a golden-haired woman who threw herself down this well...

At this point the dude actually sounds annoyed to constantly recite this line.

rotta.png
Oh, yes. I've watched her body break upon the roots many times. Shame on the man who cannot keep such a lovely thing.

stranger2.png
Who are you?

rotta.png
Outside-Rotta, locked inside a cage. Husk-Rotta, Hollow-Rotta, Keen-and-Clever-Rotta. For edges and craft are all they left of me.

:edgy:

stranger2.png
All *who* left of you? Who put you here?

rotta.png
When they killed my boy Inside-Rotta, they hollowed him out and locked me in. For a boy's life and a man's freedom, I took their blood-silver and worldly wisdom, and built this cage myself with what they gave me. You of all people should know that we plan our prisons with our minds, and shape our shackles with our own hands.

stranger2.png
Who is Inside-Rotta, the one they killed?

rotta.png
No one is inside Rotta now. The boy is gone. He's been hollowed out and stuffed with money.

That sounds oddly familiar.

stranger2.png
Do you know anything about the Dark Thing? Where it came from, how I can defeat it, anything?

rotta.png
I offer only this advice: sit sobbing in the shadows, alone and empty, or else never look back and never look in. In those two ways, a haunted, hunted man can hide from such horror.

stranger2.png
I don't want to hide, I want to *destroy* it.

rotta.png
Then I can't help you. No man can.

stranger2.png
What *is* this place?

rotta.png
You rode a bug to where madness is rooted in myth amid the void... Do you think there's an atlas for such places?

Jerk.

rotta.png
I'll tell you this: a carnival is where flesh rises; the grave is where flesh sinks; and here we hang in-between.

stranger2.png
Who are "they"?

rotta.png
"They" are "we", since I've grown and shrunken into one of them. We are machine-men who take and make what we will. My cousin Eitri has gone the farthest: a mite of a man in a metal box. You know him. You've known us all. And you'll hate us helplessly.

stranger2.png
Did you mean Eight-Three?

rotta.png
He thinks his reckoning will be easier as a number.

stranger2.png
If you're Rotta, and Eight-Three is Eitri, then who's Alberich?

Rotta, Eitri and Alberich were the ones who donated the streammaid to the Mysteries of the Derp.

rotta.png
Who indeed?

stranger2.png
Are you suggesting that *I'm* Alberich?

rotta.png
Stranger, a man who asks another, "Who am I?" will never gain himself in answer. He will only lose. For I can carve from you an Alberich, but never an Adam. You cease to be in God's image the moment you cannot say, "I am who I am".

That was a pretty badass line.

stranger2.png
Is that a yes?

rotta.png
No, you fool, it's a *warning*.

stranger2.png
Rotta, did you have anything to do with that mermaid... streammaid... in the Mysteries of the Deep? I saw your name on the plaque beneath her.

rotta.png
Indeed. We machine-men found a nymph and made of her an imago. With all our skill, we cut, and cooked, and cured, leaving little of her beyond our handicraft. And when men shrink from the sight of such devastation, their dumbstruck dread pays us homage.

stranger2.png
What is the mermaid's name?

rotta.png
We took that and kept it for ourselves. It has a value, it has a price. And we give nothing away for free, least of all what we have stolen.

stranger2.png
Tell me her name!

rotta.png
When I am paid.

:keepmymoney:

stranger2.png
How can you be proud of creating something so miserable?

rotta.png
We both know the thrills of self-loathing are no less than those of self-love. And is it not agreed that misery loves company?

:D

Rotta has some really great lines.

stranger2.png
Goodbye.

rotta.png
Yes, it will be good when you're gone.

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"When I am paid," he said. Guess it's time to part with our hard-earned coin.

:takemymoney:

rotta.png
My boy was heaped with such silver when they took him. I have no need of any more.

No need of monies? Premise ridiculous!

Well, it's pretty obvious what he wants:

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The dead rat.

stranger2.png
"Inside-Rotta," stuffed with money, huh? I wonder...

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rotta.png
*sob* So little left of my boy. A loss for a loss will square our accounts. And so... I name her... Nein-eve, Nyneve...

... the sounds of the Dark Thing's approaching intensify...

rotta.png
Nineveh. Yes, Nineveh.

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shit

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rotta.png
What's happening?

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Poor sucker never knew what hit him.

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He may be gone...

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But he ain't getting away that easily :troll:

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rotta.png
Tell you to keep to the shadows, not to look backward or inward, and thus to hide from the Dark Thing? But you took my shadows, made me look back to my past, and made me see Inside-Rotta again. You killed me. And now I weep no more.

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Indeed my dude.

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Time to tell her the good news!

stranger2.png
Nineveh. Your name is... Nineveh.

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streammaid.png
*sobbing* Now, show me the blade while the pain of my name is still sharp.

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@_@

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stranger2.png
"As sharp as tragedy," huh?

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Dude's about to go on a rampage.

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♫ No more tears ♫

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stranger2.png
It's like she's... burnt out.

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Well that ain't stopping me from putting her in my pokeball :troll:

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We now have a MEGADAGGER

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Time to cut everything in sight

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wha

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Her... hair?

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Dude starts literally shaking after picking up the hair.

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We've seen this before.

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The bugs... spiders... crabs...? start climbing on the lady.

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well

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:neveraskedforthis:

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sayonara

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and the vision ends

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hopefully we wont need to get back here

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not this asshole again

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andhaira.png
Did you really think you could cut through this knot that easily? All you're doing is ravelling and unravelling the same sorry thread that's guided you through the maze of a miserable life. How many times do you need to be told? This ends at the top of the park.

The call ends.

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There is one more thing we can cut open with our MEGADAGGER now. But this will have to wait for the next time. Stay tuned for more!
 
Last edited:

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
Patron
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
2,912
Location
Ardamai
is it me, or is it getting very biblical around here?

apres moi, la deluge
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
is it me, or is it getting very biblical around here?

well things sure are about to get BIBLICAL right now

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The last time we left the discouraged dude, he just rode a bug to the edge of oblivion.

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Now that we have a sharp dagger, we can cut our way into this tent.

stranger2.png
It's big enough to squeeze through now.

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what the bloody hell :neveraskedforthis:

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Watch her sway her shapely legs! Stare into her shining eye! And touch her tender lips!

Not much of a crowd here.

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whatever it is, it's freaking disgusting

the eye in the centre keeps poking in and out

stranger2.png
I get the weird feeling that it wants me to *touch* it.

IT'S A TRAP MY DUDE

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The teratoma has six ?mouths? around the eye in the centre. Open of them widens, and the dude touches it.

stranger2.png
It seemed to like that.

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Then the same one opens, and after it another one.

Dude touches the two in sequence.

The sequence repeats... adding a third mouth.

Yep. It's fucking Simon Says :neveraskedforthis:

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I ain't got time for this shit.

stranger2.png
It gulped that meat right down.

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And now all the mouths open and start jammering in a frenzy.

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stranger2.png
Bread, please!

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Stuffing the meat into another mouth.

And now the game goes into an automatic fast-forward mode.

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with switches to Fimbul

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then to Teratoma

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and back to Fimbul

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until finally

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I'd really rather not anymore :neveraskedforthis:

grab that eye and let's get the hell outta here, my dude

stranger2.png
Umm... lend me your "eye"?

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This looks like something Fimbul would appreciate.

stranger2.png
You might want this.

fimbul1.png
Do I? We shall see, eh?

Indeed.

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A somewhat Tormentian sequence this.

fimbul2.png
*Sigh* It's good to see through another's eye, though the world is still as it was. Thank you for that gift.

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stranger2.png
So, uh, how's the eye?

fimbul2.png
It serves well enough, and the world looks a bit less dark than it was before.

stranger2.png
Do you know how to kindle a spirit lamp?

fimbul2.png
I suppose you'd need spirits and a fire, huh?

stranger2.png
Could you be a little more specific about how to kindle it?

fimbul2.png
I once read, "A brand from a brand is kindled and burned, and fire from fire begotten." For fire, you should seek Eight-Three. For spirits... this place is full of them.

stranger2.png
What did you mean "this place is full of spirits"?

fimbul2.png
You know what I meant. There's a... shadow the dead leave behind. Words that echo in your ears, phantoms that linger behind your eyes, and a weight of pain, heaped up on your back. Even your voice has that stoop to it, stranger. A man can carry the dead, but their place is on the pyre. Do you understand? Once you have a flame, it will draw spirits from the dead, as though they were moths.

This is nothing we don't know already, but I wanted to put this dialogue here anyway. It's a really great bit.

stranger2.png
Goodbye.

fimbul2.png
"Love becomes loathing if long one sits by the hearth in another's home."

:thumbsup:

Well, back to business.

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Since Fimbul can now see...

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*whack*

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My wing!

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UH-OH

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I *see* you.

That's good!

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splat

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rip fimbul

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the raven swoops in, grabs the eye

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and flies off

stranger2.png
What *did* he see in the end?

It is a mystery.

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Fortunately he managed to write down the "wing" before getting derezzed.

stranger2.png
His last testament.

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But not his last word!

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fimbul3.png
No, no, no... Don't you *see*? At last I was truly in the dark. A world without words, or memories, or visions, with nothing but the sound of doves' wings. Please... won't you let me... go back...

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nope

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:salute:

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The yew burns out from the inside!

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what a shame

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not this again

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andhaira.png
The woman, the head, the rat, the freak, the scribe. Death follows you like a shadow, doesn't it?

Call ends.

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Let's inspect this golden hair.

stranger2.png
It feels like real hair, but it's made of gold.

Gold?

GAWLD!

gold is a metal btw

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and you know what that means

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eight.png
For the last time, I bid you stand aside.

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noice

eight.png
Behold the Wings, fit for one who would soar and glide, my last, best work.

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rip Eight-Three.

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Not this time, my dude.

stranger2.png
It didn't work.

Still,

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stranger2.png
Beautiful golden wings.

We now have everything we need. If you remember Murmur's last words, we needed fire, and golden wings, and a valkyrie to take us up.

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The fire and the valkyrie are somewhat linked.

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The wisps circling the torch keep falling into the lamps.

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Until finally the engine goes brrrrrr!

stranger2.png
It worked. Here we go again.

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Time to end this evil that marshals before us.

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Unfortunately the sounds of the Dark Thing intensify as the dude rides away, and the Masquettes seem p. concerned about this as well. Guess that's the last we've seen of them :hero:

they were useless anyway :rpgcodex:

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weeeeeeeee

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That's as far as it'll go.

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stranger2.png
It's like the eye of a storm.

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DEW IT!

stranger2.png
Hmmm. I'll need a little more elevation.

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fabulous

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and here...

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we...

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... go... ?

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:what:

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stranger2.png
Ahhh!

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IT'S THE GIANT ENEMY CRAB!

It holds the dude tight in its yuge claw.

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Fortunately he has the Dark Crab Repellent Batspray

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It's super-effective!

stranger2.png
Ha! :smug:

The dude notes that the crab is now using the burnt claw as a shield to protect its no less yuge maw.

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Mayhap we can blind it?

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PERISH BEFORE THE LIGHT OF THE LORD!

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THAT'S IT

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NOW'S YOUR CHANCE MY DUDE



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:yeah:

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Unfortunately the dying crab starts yelling like mad, and the dude doesn't take this lightly.

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H-HEY WAIT A MINUTE, DON'T TAKE AWAY MY STUFF

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the crab keeps vomiting its guts out while the dude is literally shaking

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aaaaand it's too much for him

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rip dude

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until finally the crab starts disintegrating

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and everything is all right in the world again

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the curtain falls

but will it rise again?
 

CappenVarra

phase-based phantasmist
Patron
Joined
Mar 14, 2011
Messages
2,912
Location
Ardamai
uh oh

a six-legged (hexapod?) six-mouthed vagina dentata
feed it raw meat so it gives you an eye that can be passed among blind hags
dont disturb kerghan's dream world without words
a sentient furnace spends its last breath to make you literal golden wings
and then a zerg overlord gets zapped

in a word: dense bushes you're crawling through there, dude - and it doesnt help that the gods seem to have shat upon them from a very great height
 

baud

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
3,992
Location
Septentrion
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
H-HEY WAIT A MINUTE, DON'T TAKE AWAY MY STUFF

:argh:

I was somewhat disappointed when the game emptied my inventory, I mean it's MY STUFF, I worked for it. But at least it made the inventory wheel usable again and remove a bunch of useless items
 

Maxie

Guest
I believe the pokemon mechanics which follow evil dark guy killing off everyone add an undue comedic element to the deaths
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
20210620131548_1.jpg


The last time we left the downhearted dude, he'd just laid down his life to defeat the giant enemy crab.

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Fortunately it takes a lot more than that to kill the dude for reals!

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Uh, "Deadland"?

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Oi, where's me 'ead?

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:neveraskedforthis:

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gatehead.png
Fine. "Don't worry, it's all in your..."

gatehead.png
"Sometimes you fall behind, sometimes you get..."

gatehead.png
"Wow, you're really in over your..."

gatehead.png
*Sigh* You know, the thing is, it's never clear till the end whether something's a comedy, or a tragedy. If the reverend doctor only brings the good word, Juliet wakes up in Romeo's arms. And if he doesn't? "Never was a story of more woe..."

The headless dude examines the big head.

headless.png
<Way too big to be mine.>

Talking to it is also pointless.

headless.png
<He's the one with the mouth, unfortunately.>

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Sum posters and handbills, just like last time. But this time they say different things.

headless.png
<It's an ad for "Balm of Gilead™." There's a photo of a mysteriously beautiful woman, with the caption, "Is there? Find out today at the Shooting Gallery!">

and the handbill

headless.png
<"I warned you about the rides, didn't I?">

:M

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The dude walks through the big dude-head. The way it opens its mouth wider as he does is pretty disgusting.

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this doesn't look very familiar

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egohead.png
Over here!

weird

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Creepy!

>Help

egohead.png
You've gotta get me out of here! We need to get back to her! We were so close! And then the Dark Thing did... whatever it did... and ever since, I've just been... stuck. Seriously, just smash the glass and help!

>Situation

egohead.png
I don't know how this happened. It feels like I've been in here a long time. But I can't remember how I *got* here. Was it... *you* who put me here?

the headless dude shrugs :lol:

egohead.png
No, I can't believe that. Listen, we need to reconnect. This situation... this *separation*, it isn't good for either of us. "Mens sana in corpore sano" and all that.

Sorry, I don't speak German.

>This place

egohead.png
Don't look at me. I'm stuck in a box. You need to walk around, see where we are. And figure out how to get back to where we *should* be.

>Health

egohead.png
Are you... are you all right?

Headless dude shrugs again :thumbsup:

egohead.png
Just take care of yourself. Ourself. *My*self. It's time for you to get to work.

inDEED

and we'll start by jumping into the central pit :troll:

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headless.png
<It can't get any worse.>

egohead.png
Wait! Don't leave me here!

Bah :rpgcodex:

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There's also a ?Raven? here.

headless.png
<It's a raven with a shrunken version of my head.>

Obviously, can't talk to it. Or use the payphone. We go west.

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grim

headless.png
<And I thought he looked bad when his fire went out.>

talking is also out obv

headless.png
<Pretty sure Eight-Three is dead. Also pretty sure I can't talk.>

>west

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a bit more familiar, if a little washed out

there's also the telescope but...

headless.png
<Hard to use it without a head.>

hard to do anything without a head it seems

let's keep going we-

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:hmmm:

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this ain't Maxie anymore

20210625202338_1.jpg


headless.png
<He looks like he wants to eat me.>

>use feral dude

headless.png
<I can't talk to him, let alone reason with him.>

let's gtfo

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our continued explorations reveal a passage east of the central room

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very... ponderous

headless.png
<Totally empty.>

There's a leaflet on the left, much like back when this lead to the mysteries of the derp.

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:neveraskedforthis:

headless.png
<Gee, thanks. I hadn't noticed it was missing.>

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There's a "limb" at the end of the cliff. Also, you can see here that the dude's movement through this "Deadland" is all blurred.

headless.png
<It's like a cross between a croquet mallet, a shillelagh, and a nightmare.>

Good! Sounds just like the kind of thing we should take!

It breaks away with no trouble.

Returning to the central room...

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We are assailed by a jump scare!

20210625202621_1.jpg


Not entirely sure what the purpose of this is, or what it even is to begin with, but it has nice glowing eyes.

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And once the jump scare is out, it's time to free the slaves.

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*whack*

egohead.png
Hey! Careful!

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hello

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ew

that was somewhat tormentian

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stranger3.png
What... are you?

egoraven.png
A man dreaming he's a bird. Or am I a bird dreaming he's a man? Either way, I'm just a fragment of your imagination.



stranger3.png
Don't you mean a "figment" of my imagination?

egoraven.png
Partly.

stranger3.png
What happened to this place?

egoraven.png
Life has killed the dream you dreamed. But don't worry. Everything *else* is dead here too. That's why they call it Deadland!

DEAAAAAADLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND

be on the lookout for zombie gunslingers

stranger3.png
I was flying to a woman, and then a crab grabbed me... and somehow, when it was all over, I wound up here. How can I get back to her.

egoraven.png
I heard a joke once. I think the punchline is "Carrion."

asshole

stranger3.png
Can't you help me get back to her?

Fabulously optimistic dude still expecting help from anyone out here.

egoraven.png
I can't even help you get back to *you*.

stranger3.png
Deadland? Am I...?

egoraven.png
A headless man walks in a world of ghosts, and he wonders, "Am I a dead man dreaming he's alive? Or a live man dreaming he's dead?"

stranger3.png
Goodbye.

egoraven.png
Fare far, if that's your fate.

I don't like your attitude, sonny.

moving on...

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stranger3.png
Eight-Three?

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ah, ze shiny eyes in the dark

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eitri.png
Why have you called me?

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stranger3.png
You said your name was Eitri, but in another place, I think I knew you as Eight-Three.

eitri.png
Eitri died, so that Eight-Three might live. So there he was, and here I am.

stranger3.png
So you two are the same person?

eitri.png
How many lives, how many selves have you scattered across this place and the other one? You should know by now that every man contains a multitude, and life is a process of elimination.

stranger3.png
So "Eitri" was eliminated?

eitri.png
In time, a man's name becomes the sum of his shames. It turns poisonous. It shrinks him and sickens him, until he thinks the whole *world* is made of poison.

goddamn

eitri.png
And then he thinks: "Better to come of age again, to be a number, the sum of primes, highly cototient." Yes. There's safety in numbers. And so poisonous Eitri is left behind, and industrious Eight-Three soldiers on.

the way the guy pronounces "cototient" makes my ears bleed

stranger3.png
You were one of the ones who... who did whatever it was you did to Nineveh, aren't you?

eitri.png
And you're one of the ones who blames the doctor for the sickness he couldn't stop. So here in your head you're painted me a poisoner, and a freak, and a dwarf, and a number. So... which of us makes monsters?

stranger3.png
What the hell do you mean, "I make monsters"?

the sleep of reason, my dude

eitri.png
I am but a walking shadow. This is *your* game to play.

subtle

eitri.png
You picked the pieces, laid the board, and made the rules.

stranger3.png
What did you mean when you said "here in my head"?

eitri.png
You walked through your mouth to get here. Where else did you think we were?

stranger3.png
I thought we were in "Deadland".

eitri.png
Where could the land of the dead be, other than our memories?

stranger3.png
In another place, you... or Eight-Three... made things for me. Can you do that for me here?

eitri.png
With what? I have nothing but my own burning shame. And even here, no work is done without an order.

stranger3.png
Goodbye.

eitri.png
A funny phrase, you know. Once, it meant "God be with you." Does that really seem a fitting farewell in this pit?

i like this fellow's cheer and optimism

20210625203014_1.jpg


moving on

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stranger3.png
There's some kind of building where the crab was. And a bunch of mirrors.

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Intriguing.

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Time to engage in diplomacy!

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stranger3.png
Are you me?

feral.png
*growl*

stranger3.png
Look, I can see that you're a person, for God's sake, act like it!

:lol:

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diplomacy check failed

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you don't say

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the ol' faithful

stranger3.png
They *were* helpful last time.

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stranger3.png
Hello?

gatehead.png
I hate talking to myself.

:M

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And so we are back. Where will our explorations of this dead land take us next? Find out soon!
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
20210625202645_1.jpg


The last time we left the demoralised dude, he'd just realised one head is better than none.

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Time to jump, my dude! :troll:

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ah ffs

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not this asshole again

andhaira.png
Sadly, we're stuck together, like a canker in a rose. Et in Purgatorio, Ego. Trust me, my lot's much worse than yours. To be stuck at your stumbling pace, sharing in your shame, unable to abide or abort, to forgive or forget. Familiarity, my fool, doth breed contempt.

The call ends.

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Can I finally jump to my death now?!

stranger3.png
Here goes nothing.

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weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

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dude keeps falling down the abyss when he sees a faint glow up ahead

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it gets closer...

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and closer...

the hell is that even?

I try to evade it to see what happens but it just puts the dude one step back in the falling sequence.

20210703163939_1.jpg


andhaira.png
What bottom?

(you have no idea how fitting the andhaira picture is for this spiteful inner dude)

The dude attempts to land on the light. There's a fade to black.

20210703163947_1.jpg


stranger3.png
You?!

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ldBDcK.png


Now, listen:

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Oh you've gotta be kidding me :lol:

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cicada.png
an "imago" is an insect in its final, mature state; typically winged.

20210703164011_1.jpg


There is something very cool about this sequence. Very weirdo but very fantastic.

cicada.png
an "imago" is an idealized mental image of another person, wielding great power of the psyche. Power to *unify* the fragmented body, Lacan writes.

20210703164025_1.jpg


cicada.png
The word means "image", or "echo", or "phantom".

stranger3.png
What are you talking about?

cicada.png
Whichever it was that you sought in the pit... the last stage of growth, the idealized person of another, or a ghost in the dark... I advise you to look *up*, not down, in your search. You can fall to your end, but not to a proper ending.

stranger3.png
Wait! What does it all mean?

cicada.png
Brother, we cicadas crawl through the dark earth for six thousand days, just to fly for a few brief weeks of light, and love. You ask me what it means? I tell you, do not waste your wings! And do not spurn the manna you are given!

20210703164104_2.jpg


20210703164106_1.jpg


well, thanks for vomiting all over my shoes before leaving, asshole :neveraskedforthis:

20210703164108_1.jpg


stranger3.png
The cicada spat up some kind of gooey pulp.

Obviously we can't pick it up with our bare hands.

20210703164116_1.jpg


Let us press on.

20210703164126_1.jpg


stranger3.png
That tent looks more like some kind of swollen growth.

The one in the distance that is.

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What's this here.

20210703164142_1.jpg


stranger3.png
There's something back there behind the webs.

Alas, they are "too thick and strong" for the dude to break them apart.

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You know what they say - pick any direction but definitely go left.

20210703164203_1.jpg


uh

stranger3.png
Human skulls in another kind of shooting gallery, except without any gun. I can't reach the skulls and there's no gun to shoot them with.

20210703164218_1.jpg


Fortunately we brought our own ammunition.

Dude throws a rock, and...

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wot da zog

20210703164225_1.jpg


20210703164226_1.jpg


The skulls talk one after another.

They have some runes on their foreheads that shift as the dude throws rocks at them.

skulls1.png
Some visitor... gently rapping... tapping... nothing more.

20210703164249_1.jpg


As the runes move under the rocks, we can form a connection to the vein of energy on the left. Obviously we're supposed to connect the left conduit with the right side.

20210703164300_1.jpg


and voila

skulls2.png
In this head... by Horror haunted... where you tremble... shamed and daunted... there is something... you have wanted.

skulls2.png
One thing only... nothing more... waiting here... within a bottle... the promise of... surcease of sorrow... a vacant past... and no tomorrow.

20210703164329_1.jpg


20210703164332_1.jpg


But thou must!

stranger3.png
Yyyyyyyyyes?

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A drawer slides open on the right side of the stand.

20210703164342_1.jpg


stranger3.png
There's a bottle labeled "Balm of Gilead™".

Grab it, my dude!

stranger3.png
It's empty!

20210703164353_1.jpg


skulls2.png
Thought you, in this place of danger... to find some friendly face... or welcome manger... some *escape* within a drawer?

20210703164408_1.jpg


skulls2.png
There is no Balm... no calm... no Aidenn.

skulls2.png
Gilead is gone... and so's your maiden... So keep this pain... inside your cranium... and bear its burden... evermore.

now that was just rude

at least we got the empty bottle out of it

20210703164446_1.jpg


Onward!

20210703164449_1.jpg


A familiar scene. A dude-raven even takes flight off the ?bowel? to the left of the scribe as we enter.

20210703164451_1.jpg


egoscribe.png
Or is it just the wind?

Taffin' ridiculous!

20210703164458_1.jpg


stranger3.png
It's another raven that looks like me. Hello? It seems to be ignoring me.

The dude-raven keeps saying things, much like the one in the Carnival did, and the scribe notes it all down. This time, though, it's not an assortment of random words but a sentence. I gave up listening to it eventually because it's just a message the likes of "lololo jokes on u for waiting for this to get to the end" and I can't be bothered with that :rpgcodex:

There's a scary ?snek? on the tree.

stranger3.png
I think I preferred the noose.

20210703164533_1.jpg


:troll:

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20210703164539_1.jpg


oops

20210703164544_1.jpg


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ahem

Hello, ?me?, meet the real me.

20210703164734_1.jpg


stranger3.png
You look just like me!

egoscribe.png
Two men can look the same, and yet see very differently.

stranger3.png
No, really, are you me?

egoscribe.png
A stranger asks a blind man, "Who am I?" But how can he possibly expect an answer?

The dude did not heed the warning of Rotta.

egoscribe.png
Wait. Tell me your name!

stranger3.png
Uh...

egoscribe.png
Yes?

stranger3.png
I don't know.

egoscribe.png
You see?

stranger3.png
See what?

egoscribe.png
That you are begging the question.

Why is everyone here such a smartass :neveraskedforthis:

stranger3.png
Well, what's *your* name?

egoscribe.png
"The dead know nothing, they have no further reward, and even their name is forgotten."

stranger3.png
It's not just you. Everywhere I look here, I see... us.

egoscribe.png
"Ego of egos! All is ego!"

stranger3.png
You really don't know your name?

egoscribe.png
Well, I remember the name "Gershom." But whether it's mine, or yours, or *both* of ours, I can't quite say. What I can tell you is, "a good name is better than a fine perfume."

stranger3.png
Listen... I was trying to get to a woman... and this thing, this *Dark* Thing... it became a crab... and I think I killed it... but somehow it sent me here... (wherever *here* is...) and I need to get back to her somehow. That much I know

:lol:

and that's just what happened, your honour!

egoscribe.png
"The dead, who have already died, are happier than the living, who are still alive."

stranger3.png
But... isn't death different here?

egoscribe.png
You ask, but I can't possibly answer. "For in the realm of the dead, there is neither knowledge nor wisdom."

stranger3.png
Even if you can't tell me about death, at least tell me how to get *back* to her.

egoscribe.png
"There is a time to search, and a time to give up."

stranger3.png
What if I'm not ready to give up?

egoscribe.png
"Pity anyone who falls, and has no one to help them."

stranger3.png
I don't want your pity! I want a way back to her! :x

egoscribe.png
"The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises." Even a fool knows that if he wants to go back the way he came, he just needs to retrace his steps.

stranger3.png
Why are you just sitting here, letting that snek-thing drip venom on you?

egoscribe.png
When I could see, I saw a tree with a snek, and thought it the Tree of Knowledge. So I sat and hoped to learn. Now, I'm blind, and have nowhere else to go.

stranger3.png
Is there anything I can do to help with the snek?

egoscribe.png
Once, I think, there was a Woman, who caught the snek's venom in a bowl as it fell, and spared me some suffering. Now I wonder if she was just a dream, or whether she became the tree, or was the tree all along.

stranger3.png
*Have* you learned anything, sitting here?

egoscribe.png
Yes. I learned that "in much wisdom, there is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow."

stranger3.png
What happened to your eyes? Did you feed them to that snek thing?

egoscribe.png
No. I looked the wrong way for wisdom, and the bitter poison I saw left me blind. But, in time, I learned that while "the wise have eyes in their heads, and the fool walks in darkness, the same fate overtakes them both."

stranger3.png
So what *is* the fate of blind fools and wise men?

egoscribe.png
"Chasing after the wind."

stranger3.png
I've got a feeling I'm going to need a work order.

prescient dude

egoscribe.png
Peeking ahead? Or have you guessed that "what has been done will be done again"? Well... if a fool wants to break free of a glass house, he only needs to throw a stone.

stranger3.png
Do you have any meat? Or bread?

egoscribe.png
No. "The fool folds his hands together and eats his own flesh."

stranger3.png
There used to be a tree here, and an old man. What happened?

yes, because there's no tree and old man here anymore

egoscribe.png
"The wheel is broken at the well, and days have lengthened like a shadow."

stranger3.png
No, really, where are we? And what happened to the carnival?

I applaud the dude for still thinking that someone is actually going to help him and provide some real answers.

egoscribe.png
"Do not say, 'why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions."

stranger3.png
What are those quotes you keep spouting?

egoscribe.png
The assembled wisdom of worthless toil.

stranger3.png
Why can't you just speak for yourself?

egoscribe.png
Because "fools multiply words," while a man worn by wisdom knows "there is nothing new under the sun."

stranger3.png
Goodbye.

egoscribe.png
"Remember the days of darkness, for there will be many."

yeah thanks

20210703165116_1.jpg


And the moment you've all been waiting for!

stranger3.png
Good for the goose, good for the... whatever that is.

20210703165124_1.jpg


20210703165128_1.jpg


egoscribe.png
"Tooth"? Hmm.

20210703165136_1.jpg


stranger3.png
I wonder how many of these I'll collect before this is over with.

The work never ends!

20210703165148_1.jpg


20210703165152_1.jpg


egoscribe.png
You can't fool me into writing vulgarity.

:lol:

20210703165200_1.jpg


20210703165204_1.jpg


egoscribe.png
"Finger", eh?

20210703165212_1.jpg


Yeah, obviously the G is borked.

stranger3.png
It's illegible.

egoscribe.png
Let the "G" be miswritten, alas, allele, alleluia!

You might think that we should use the empty bottle to get some of the snek's venom. And you would be right! But it is not yet the right time.

20210703165250_1.jpg


Because we need the bugvomit first.

20210703165302_1.jpg


So we can drop it here.

20210703165304_1.jpg


stranger3.png
Can you work with that?

eitri.png
Oh, yes. Only black bile defies my craft. *This* is what's left from intellect gnawing at the roots of wisdom. From it would come something... incisive. You need only bring me a tool, and give your order.

20210703165326_1.jpg


Here, hold this.

stranger3.png
Will this do?

20210703165329_2.jpg


20210703165332_1.jpg




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thx lah

eitri.png
There is Tooth, fit for one who would bite deeply.

Now we can return for the poison.

20210703165411_1.jpg


not this again

20210703165413_1.jpg


20210703165416_1.jpg


andhaira.png
But has it ever helped you? Were you ever able to cut loose from misery? To strike a blow against your demons? Never. Dull, dull, dull.

the call ends

20210703165454_1.jpg


We can take care of this web now along the way too.

20210703165457_1.jpg


stranger3.png
It looks a little like me. Or maybe I should say, it looks like a little me. A *lot* like a little me.

1465187.1.jpg


The niche is full of these. Damn.

20210703165520_1.jpg


:troll:

stranger3.png
I'll just give him a little poke.

20210703165525_1.jpg


SQUEAL LIKE A PIG

20210703165547_1.jpg


But now for the task at hand.

20210703165553_1.jpg


20210703165609_1.jpg


A moment later, and the bottle's full. The poison keeps overflowing on the dude-scribe below again. Too bad.

Might as well take the bottle again with us then :troll:

20210703165619_1.jpg


Piss off already!

20210703165622_1.jpg


20210703165624_1.jpg


andhaira.png
A poor martyr caught in the coils of circumstance? It should be *her* beneath the snek. Succumbing to the drip, drip, drip of a death you cannot stop. "Nein-Eve" indeed. But you'd rather paint yourself a victim to blunt the pain of failure. The truth is sharper than a serpent's tooth, isn't it?

the call ends

20210703165701_1.jpg


if you may remember the words of wisdom (and our very own prior experience), the "fool eats his own flesh"

20210703165707_1.jpg


and so...

stranger3.png
Here we go again...

For another bloodbath!

20210703165845_1.jpg


20210703165847_1.jpg


20210703165848_1.jpg


20210703165853_1.jpg


Poof! There goes the feral dude.

stranger3.png
He definitely didn't look happy.

20210703165905_1.jpg


A booth and a sign.

stranger3.png
There's a note stuck inside: "The world is a masquerade. Faces, costumes, voices - all pretend. We all wish to appear as we are not, we deceive ourselves, and in the end, we do not even recognize ourselves."

All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits, and their entrances, and one dong in his time plays many parts.

20210703165923_1.jpg


stranger3.png
The sign reads: "The sleep of reason produces monsters."

Oi, I already referenced that in the previous update.

20210703165940_1.jpg


With the way finally clear, we can continue our explorations of this dead land. But this will have to wait for the next time.

Also, by my calculashuns, we should be roughly 3 updates away from the end.
 

baud

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
3,992
Location
Septentrion
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
stranger3.png
The sign reads: "The sleep of reason produces monsters."

Oi, I already referenced that in the previous update.

I missed the reference last time, so apparently it bears repeating
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
I missed the reference last time, so apparently it bears repeating

I mentioned it when Eitri accused the dude of making monsters.

20210703164538_1.jpg


The last time we left the disturbed dude, he had just stepped on snek and quickly regretted it.

20210707185354_1.jpg


Let us proceed.

20210707185400_1.jpg


wot da zog

20210707185401_1.jpg


20210707185404_1.jpg


:hmmm:

stranger3.png
They look like me.

you don't say

20210707185529_1.jpg


stranger3.png
Who are you?

trio2.png
"Just think of us as fragments."

trio1.png
Masqueraders.

trio3.png
Fakes.

stranger3.png
"Masqueraders"? You don't even *have* masks.

trio1.png
If your friend the cicada were here, do you know what he'd say?

trio3.png
"Mask", from the Latin "masca"...

Cicada the classical philologist, now I've seen everything.

trio2.png
"A cover for the face,"

trio1.png
"a specter,"

trio3.png
"a nightmare."

trio1.png
And we all have nightmares here, don't we?

trio3.png
"Onkos" was the Greek word. It meant the mask worn by an actor in a tragedy.

trio2.png
It also meant "a weight,"

trio1.png
Or "a burden,"

trio3.png
the mass of misery that hangs on the head of one who suffers.

trio1.png
And we all have burdens here, don't we?

stranger3.png
Can you... take off the mask? Set down the burden? Wake up from the nightmare?

trio1.png
That's what you've been doing.

trio3.png
"Your mind is a matryoshka."

trio2.png
But be careful...

trio1.png
what's underneath could be worse.

stranger3.png
Worse?

trio3.png
Sure, we put on masks for a reason, don't we?

trio1.png
Maybe, under all those layers of overcoats, there's only a dead rat.

trio2.png
And what if there's *nothing* beneath?

stranger3.png
Where are we? The carnival? My head?

trio3.png
Why not both?.png

trio1.png
"A Coney Island of the Mind."

stranger3.png
Can you help me find her? The Woman. I know you know who she is.

dude being optimistic as always

trio1.png
Sure thing.

... !

trio2.png
Walk up the tracks.

trio3.png
Do it yourself.

trio1.png
That's the whole problem!

trio3.png
It's not a pilgrim's progress when you hitch a ride.

NO MORE FREE RIDES

trio2.png
But you've still gotta get past us.

sigh

stranger3.png
Get past you?

trio1.png
Sure thing.

trio3.png
Just need to look us in the face.

trio2.png
And say please.

stranger3.png
Please?

trio1.png
Sure thing. Just tell me this: Do you remember what you called me? "The man you were"?

20210707185711_1.jpg


stranger3.png
I called you an hero.

trio1.png
Why?

stranger3.png
Because... we were already condemned. We just didn't realize it yet.

trio2.png
And how about me? "The man before you"? What did you call *me*? Do you remember?

20210707185728_1.jpg


stranger3.png
I called you a
dumbfuck.gif


trio2.png
Why?

stranger3.png
Because we should have found a way to help her.

trio3.png
Well then, now it's my turn. "The you who is to come." What'd you say *I* was? Remember?

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stranger3.png
I called you an incel.

trio3.png
You gonna tell me why?

stranger3.png
You really need to ask? Because she's *gone*.

trio1.png
Well, that's that. Except that you'll have to look at yourself again up there, only it'll be worse.

stranger3.png
Up where?

trio1.png
You'll see.

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the fake dudes start vanishing

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one

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by one

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until the path is clear

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the "breathing" text keeps floating from left to right while the dude is wheezing

time to turn this mush into muscles!

20210707185825_1.jpg


whoa

stranger3.png
*Whew* Hopefully that hike won't repeat itself. I think I'd rather hit the tree again.

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a forcefield appears in the passage

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... and then another one on top of it

the dude examines the eye above the door

stranger3.png
I'm sick of being watched.

and the floating mirrors

stranger3.png
I'm sick of looking at myself, too.

dammit dude calm down

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I said calm down dammit

stranger3.png
I wish I could tear it out :x

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your throwing skill has increased

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splat

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one of the forcefields vanishes

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time to continue the senseless acts of destruction

hmmm, where have i heard of this before

ah yes

1tVWwh.jpg


good ol' doctor tokaj

20210707190007_1.jpg


stranger3.png
It's not like my luck can get any worse.

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mirror status: busted

stranger3.png
Only two rocks left. Just enough for what needs to be done.

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WAAAAAAAAAAGH

stranger3.png
Here we go again! :happytrollboy:

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stranger3.png
Well, last one.

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stranger3.png
In we go!

Indeed!

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There is no time to be lost.

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Wut

The eye above the mirror greets the dude as he enters.

eye.png
Please write your name to continue.

stranger3.png
Another eye. Hello?

there is no response

stranger3.png
Well, I guess it's an eye, not an ear.

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stranger3.png
Just an ordinary mirror.

Speaking of which, the game has pretty good mirror effects. They keep reflecting the dude and his movements on every step.

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The answer is clear

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u wot :rpgcodex:

Let's try once more.

stranger3.png
Hey! It's blank again!

magic register

Obviously there are various things you can put here that generate various responses, including "Stranger", "Ego", "Gershom", "Alberich" or "Fimbul Fambi". None of them work tho. You can also do this...

20210707190156_1.jpg


:troll:

stranger3.png
Ha. Ha. Very funny.

Indeed!

Still, obviously the answer to this puzzle is,

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stranger3.png
That's it, isn't it? "Your name." Ha!

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The eye closes and the mirror... uh... purplifies?

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@_@

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@______@

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dude's soul gets sucked into the mirror of doom

roll credits

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well ok maybe not

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The portal closes behind the dude.

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thinking.png


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There's this big pool here.

stranger3.png
Just smelling it makes my head spin. It's out of reach.

Also some mirrors.

20210707191446_1.jpg


Hello. Whaddup?

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Hm!

Let's try interrogating the eye above the mirror.

stranger3.png
It seems to follow me. Hello? I know you can talk! Just say something!

...

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asshole :rpgcodex:

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Let's continue explorung

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The pool level rises as the dude enters this scene. Curious!

20210707191534_1.jpg


More mirrors, and they seem special.

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Not special enough I suppose.

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Let's circle the pool some more...

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Yeah, leaving the rooms through the right entrance makes the pool rise.

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A few laps around (BEST LAP! FINAL LAP!), and it's now within reach.

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stranger3.png
Whew. Strong stuff.

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bottoms up, my dude

stranger3.png
Well, it worked for Alice.

20210707191647_1.jpg


glug glug glug

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dude tosses the bottle into the pool

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and starts trippin' balls

stranger3.png
My head feels strange.

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Better take a look at it then.

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headless.png
<Not again! Where is it?>

You have an uncanny propensity for losing your head, my dude.

The mirror with the missing shards remains the same.

20210707191737_1.jpg


But how about this?

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:hmmm:

stranger3.png
What the hell? It's a raven's head on my body. A nice change actually.

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The only thing we can do is click this "shard" here. It actually flashes with a big purple glow every now and again to make itself known, just in case you're a game journo.

20210707191808_1.jpg


It speaks!

raven3.png
All right. Ever heard of the mirror-mark test? Eggheads use it to see if an animal really *knows* itself. You put the thing in front of a mirror, and you put a *mark* on its forehead.

THE MARK OF THE BEAST

raven3.png
Then you see -- does it understand the animal in the mirror is its own reflection? Or does it just get mad and lash out? Everything from God to corvids have passed it. And yet here you are.

20210707191832_1.jpg


Here's what I think about your blablabla, asshole.

20210707191837_1.jpg


raven3.png
Well then, let me give you another mark to work with. Ravens mate for life. Actually, most of us birds are monogamous. Which means that thing you humans find so romantic... you're not spotting *yourselves* in swans and turtle-doves. You're admiring the *avian* in humanity. It's the closest you'll ever get to flying, really.

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raven3.png
Only a fool thinks he needs a broken mirror to reflect a broken man.

Touche.

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The raven stops speaking, the mirror cracks and a bunch of shards fall on the ground.

stranger3.png
A little broken glass never hurt anybody, right?

Famous last words.

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How about the next mirror?

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stranger3.png
Now I've got a rat's head on my body.

At least it ain't a rat's ass.

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You know the drill.

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rat.png
otar, rota. Mystic, sacred, mythic, profane. And so the Wheel turns on and on.

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rat.png
But from our teachers we learn... pareidolia. Our vision warps until we see nothing but distorted versions of ourselves, in every stone and socket.

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rat.png
etched in every inch, he's left with no choice but blindness.

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The mirror cracks too. Some shards drop at the dude's feet and he picks them up. But there's also one twitching at the edge of the pool.

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*plop* it falls into the wasser

stranger3.png
Too slow. Always too slow.

good job retard

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well, is the grand prize behind the third gate?

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guess not

stranger3.png
It's the Black Dog! Only without its eyes.



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poke it on the gob

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Well, he didn't have a lot to say.

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We pick up the shards and leave the room, this time the left way. Perhaps the pool will drain if going right raised it.

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indeed

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...a few laps later...

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Presto.

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Down we go.

20210707192233_1.jpg


Really, that is the funny thing to comment on here?

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AND NOT THE YUGE FOOKIN EYE?

stranger3.png
A cyclopean eye with a mirror shard stuck in it.

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Dude picks up the shard, and that's all we can do here.

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We should have all the resources necessary to finish this mirror.

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Jigsaw puzzle ahoy.

try not to cut yourself on the shards and bleed to death my dude

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You gotta put the right shards onto the slots, then rotate them to make them fit.



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There's a pretty neat effect here when you put the shards over the holes, and parts of the dude's reflection actually appear in the shards.

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very relaxing activity

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woohoo

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not ba-

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oh goddammit he's trippin balls again

stranger4.png
What is *that*?

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@_@

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huh

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fookin death ray

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only one thing to do

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stranger4.png
"The man who stands at a strange threshold should be cautious before he crosses it."

:thumbsup:

stranger4.png
But what else am I going to do?

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whoa

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the left mirror shatters

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when the right does the same, the dude steps through the portal

20210707192625_1.jpg


and the way shatters behind him

20210707192631_1.jpg


no going back now
 
Last edited:

MRY

Wormwood Studios
Developer
Joined
Aug 15, 2012
Messages
5,703
Location
California
The only we can do is click this "shard" here. It actually flashes with a big purple glow every now and again to make itself known, just in case you're a game journo.
:negative:

That is why we added it, from when we sent review copies out. What a world.
 

Darth Roxor

Royal Dongsmith
Staff Member
Joined
May 29, 2008
Messages
1,878,406
Location
Djibouti
20210707192621_1.jpg


The last time we left the disgruntled dude, he'd just crossed THE STRANGE THRESHOLD.

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Whoa!

stranger4.png
I... I did it! I made it back!

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And now they will all finally live happily ever after.

stranger4.png
I have to get her out of there.

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uh-oh

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ring ring ring ring ring ring ring

stranger4.png
No...

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ding dong ding dong ding dong ding

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dude bends over and starts vomiting his guts out

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and from his pile of shadowy vomit...

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rises the shadow-dude!

andhaira.png
Like I told you, you always drop the ball at the end.

20210711170601_1.jpg


dude is reasonably upset

i'd be upset too if i had banana phone looped in my head

andhaira.png
Don't bother. I'm already inside your head. You know that. I've *always* been watching. Watching you squander and ruin every single good thing in your life. Did you think you could win? Idiot. Take a good look at the setting you made for our little escapade. In your heart, you knew this was a carnival game. You knew *life* was a carnival game. Rigged from start to finish.

the house always wins

andhaira.png
It was never a matter of winning. Just a question of how much you would lose before you realized it was time to quit.

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the world starts dissolving like in the good ol' days of chapter 1

andhaira.png
Ready to quit yet?

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shadow-dude skewers the dude with shadow spikes

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they are very effective

prepare to watch the dude die many times!

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the dude respawns in a bleak version of the chapter 1 world

20210711170710_1.jpg


this could be useful

stranger4.png
The golden wings! I can't reach them!

... and that's the only thing to do here. We can only run around the screen like a retard, before...

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20210711170737_1.jpg


the shadow-dude comes a-knockin'

20210711170739_1.jpg


andhaira.png
Aren't you sick of running? Your whole life... Running from that dark *thing* always just behind you, like a black dog, hungry, angry, relentless. And you fed it, didn't you? Let it grow big enough to swallow the sun, didn't you? And now? Now there's nowhere left to run.

20210711170802_1.jpg


splat

20210711170805_1.jpg


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dude respawns at the standard rez place

20210711170818_1.jpg


ah, my weapon of choice in this game

stranger4.png
They're too heavy to lift.

U WOT

dude looks at the blank sign

stranger4.png
I guess... I'm nowhere.

20210711170846_1.jpg


And then admires the gap where the path used to be.

stranger4.png
I've fallen enough.

20210711170858_1.jpg


after bumbling around long enough, shadow-dude comes with another visit

20210711170901_1.jpg


andhaira.png
You can never escape them. Unless... you go into utter darkness. But you failed even at that.

20210711170915_1.jpg


splat

20210711170926_1.jpg


In case you didn't get it yet, this is basically the LeChuck endgame sequence from Monkey Island all over again. You land in a room, do whatever the hell you do, and after some time the shadow pirate LeChuck comes to kill you, after which you land in another room, rinse and repeat. I've never been a fan of the LeChuck sequences, and it's just as bleh here as it was there.

20210711170930_1.jpg


Still, at least there's something we can do here.

20210711170934_1.jpg


pick up the lightning krawz

20210711170938_1.jpg


and mercifully, shadow-dude deep strikes in immediately to push us forward

20210711170942_1.jpg


andhaira.png
Let alone to win. You really thought you could *save* her from that dark crab that had her in its clutches. After all, a man is meant to be the hero of his own adventure. But not you. *You* are just a husk... a rat.

oi, wots with the casual rat racism

20210711170957_1.jpg


the dude is turned into shishkebab before i can get an answer

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how's it hangin'

20210711171012_1.jpg


stranger4.png
The noose is tied around my neck.

Then untie it dammit!

stranger4.png
You can't just untie a noose!

the krawz are no good either since they don't have a cutting edge

stranger4.png
As good a tree to die on as any.

the dude remarks before the inevitable happens

20210711171041_1.jpg


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andhaira.png
Death is never a tragedy. Death is where a tragedy *ends*.

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/fin

20210711171100_1.jpg


well, maybe not

stranger4.png
They're all dead.

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no time for despair my dude, we have things to pick up

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hello

andhaira.png
And now you're left with nothing but masks and metaphors, excuses and equivocations, and a Woman always just out of reach.

20210711171125_1.jpg


rip

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dude inspects the gap

stranger4.png
Now there's nothing below.

and the tracks

stranger4.png
There are the tracks leading to the cage. Leading to *her*. It's too far to jump.

20210711171151_1.jpg


the dagger is by far the most important item we can find in this sequence

20210711171154_1.jpg


because it allows the dude to commit sudoku to fast forward

20210711171156_1.jpg


before he can tear his guts out, the shadow-dude appears

20210711171200_1.jpg


andhaira.png
but only when the rules say *he* can't die? You're worse than a pawn. A sacrifice can't save your queen. And even if you reach the end of the board, she's not coming back. And it's all your fault.

20210711171218_1.jpg


splat

20210711171231_1.jpg


still nothing to do here

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fast forward

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guess the shadow-dude's run out of material

20210711171315_1.jpg


fast forward...

20210711171324_1.jpg


now thats just offensive

20210711171329_1.jpg


splat

20210711171412_1.jpg


there we go

20210711171414_1.jpg


the dude cuts the noose and then casually removes it from his neck

so much for "you can't untie a noose" :rpgcodex:

20210711171424_1.jpg


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still nothing we can do here, but

20210711171445_1.jpg


[Lore+Crafting] a noose with a hook can give you a grapple!

stranger4.png
This is starting to feel like...

20210711171455_1.jpg


andhaira.png
But not quite. Now you're going to think I'm telling you about jamais vu for the first time... no matter how often we've already had this conversation. It's when you've heard something before. Been somewhere before. Met someone before. And yet... it feels completely unfamiliar. If a man writes "death" a thousand times, he starts to wonder, "Is that even a word?" But it is. Oh, how it is.

20210711171523_1.jpg


splat

20210711171538_1.jpg


time to lasso those wings my dude

20210711171547_1.jpg


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presto

stranger4.png
Now we're getting somewhere.

20210711171603_1.jpg


andhaira.png
You're on a journey to nowhere, and you're wearing yourself to nothing.

20210711171611_1.jpg


20210711171635_1.jpg


It is time.

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The world starts dissolving again as the dude puts on the wings.

20210711171644_1.jpg


Hurry up, goddammit!

20210711171646_1.jpg


FLY, YOU FOOL

20210711171648_1.jpg


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dodged a bullet there

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an orb of light - presumably the dude - flies upwards

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an orb of shadow - presumably the shadow-dude - soon follows

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as has been said

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this ends at the top of the park!

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sup, baldie

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shiny golden hair appears on the woman's head

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IT'S THE INCOMING NUCLEAR SHOCKWAVE

20210711171739_1.jpg


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well

stranger4.png
I did it. I made it. But the Dark Thing... it's right behind me.

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a shadow falls upon the dude

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holy freaking shit, is this son of a bitch ugly

actually, let me post a version with some gamma correction, because the shadow-dude is really worth showing in all his macabre glory

shadow2.png


goddamn

20210711171759_1.jpg


shadow.png
These symbols are evasions. Crows, crabs, clowns... This grab-bag of myths, and masks, and make-believe... It's *all* an evasion. She's dead. Do you understand? You can't talk your way out of that, you can't cut your way out of that, you can't *imagine* your way out of that.

20210711171828_1.jpg


shadow.png
This... this figment... this fragment... save her all you want. Or don't. It doesn't matter.

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shadow.png
You *already* failed. You didn't save her. You can't. She's dead.

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those are some hard truths

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goddamn

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IT'S ALL A LIES

stranger4.png
He's lying!

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woman2.png
But what a mirror can show is a dim reflection at best. Our lives, our selves... They're more than just facts. They're *truths*. And all those symbols let us see the world's truths through the eyes of another, as a lover's eyes show us our own bright selves. You saw me, and I have never stopped seeing you, my love.

stranger4.png
But *are* you dead?

woman2.png
Yes. Dead, not gone. I'm *here*, aren't I?

A lot of the dialogues here at the end run in parallel with lots of other ones from throughout the game. The woman's line above, for example, is an echo of Murmur's at the very start of the game when the dude sees her jump into the well.

~*RETROLUXIA*~

20210525210258_1.jpg


stranger1.png
She's gone...

murmur1.png
Not *gone*, querent. Merely dead.

~*/RETROLUXIA*~

but back to the finale

20210711172016_1.jpg


stranger4.png
And that... shadow of me? *He's* here too.

woman2.png
If there's a shadow in your mind, it's because there's a light in your mind to cast it.

20210711172032_1.jpg


woman2.png
But it was always inside you. I saw it. The whole world is full of lights, shining in the darkness, like the sky is full of stars

20210711172046_1.jpg


woman2.png
You thought I caught you as you fell through darkness,

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woman2.png
We caught each other.

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woman2.png
out there... our light is still shining.

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an orb of light appears in the dude's pocket

woman2.png
And now, once more, you need to spread your wings, and fly toward that light.

i ain't gonna lie, this entire sequence is very... emotional

i cry evry tim

20210711172130_1.jpg


stranger4.png
Fly? But I can barely stand. And I wrecked the wings when I crashed.

woman2.png
You have what you need my love.

shadow.png
He has nothing.

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shadow.png
Beyond this gloom in which you're hiding, there's just reality, as hard and sharp as a knife. Out *there* is what you're running from. Your black dog. Your Dark Thing. Your *shadow*.

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20210711172215_1.jpg


woman2.png
Look it in the eyes.

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also a nice parallel to the picture when he puts on the golden wings

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the woman helps the dude stand up

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and so he reviews his options

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This is our current inventory. The dagger:

stranger4.png
An ugly steel dagger.

And the orb:

stranger4.png
Warm and bright.

Other things to consider are:

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the edge of the platform

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the shadow-dude

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the woman

and, of course, the dude himself, for targeting him with items.

There are a number of ways we can end this. I will show them all in the next update, but the Codex must choose the canon ending for the discombobulated dude. What shall it be?
 

Maximilian

Guest
Canonically, he should attack the dark dude with a knife, as self-abusive as he is in real life. Let's see some *consequences* to his choices, alright.
 

baud

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Dec 11, 2016
Messages
3,992
Location
Septentrion
RPG Wokedex Strap Yourselves In Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I helped put crap in Monomyth
stranger3.png
The sign reads: "The sleep of reason produces monsters."

Oi, I already referenced that in the previous update.

I missed the reference last time, so apparently it bears repeating
Think it's an Ernesto Goya Painting. Could be wrong.
I missed the reference last time, so apparently it bears repeating

I mentioned it when Eitri accused the dude of making monsters.
yeah, I didn't understood the first time it was the name of a painting
 

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