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[LP CYOA] Spiral
- Thread starter treave
- Start date
Elfberserker
Liturgist
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2013
- Messages
- 1,540
B
Nyarmith
Educated
B
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
Thunder crashes overhead as you descend into the main lobby. The flickering lights have finally gone out, plunging the entire hospital into a gloom briefly lit up only by flashes of lightning from the outside. You get the feeling that it is too late to turn back now. Your hands are shaking; you clasp them together tightly, forcing yourself to move forward.
The lobby is just ahead.
Track: rain
As you reach the large hall, it is illuminated for an instant by a particularly close lightning strike. A loud, resounding crack deafens you temporarily. Then, a maddening laughter drifts through the hall, giving you pause: a light, girlish laughter full of unrestrained glee. The bruise on your ankle pulses, trying to remind you painfully of its existence. You ignore it; your attention has been drawn entirely to the scene before you.
In front of you lies a terrible sight.
A massacre seems to have taken place here: bodies are sprawled all over the couches and the floor, their blood painting the walls. Some of them seem… familiar, from their outlines, but you cannot be certain. At least you do not think Mitsuki or Amanozaki are amongst the dead.
What happened here?
The second flash of lightning reveals their presence.
You had not seen them there before, but now you do: there are people in the lobby, staring at you. Their forms flicker with static, as if they are not fully here… just like the man in the bathroom. Many of them are garbed in casual wear or outfits you would not find out of place in a hospital – doctors, nurses, patients – but there are also those dressed in clothing dating back to an older time. A tingle of fear runs down your spine as you cast an eye over the spilled guts and broken necks; most of them bear the marks of their violent deaths – there can be no doubt about it. These people are also dead, though perhaps in a different manner from the unmoving bodies, you observe, before proceeding to your next thought, which is, I need to get out of here!
You turn around, coming face to face with a familiar spectre.
The man in the bathroom.
His bloated face twists silently into an ugly rictus.
You are trapped.
There is no way out for you here, no daring escape. You back away, narrowly avoiding his sluggish, fat-laden arms. They close in silently, accompanied by the mad laughter that now seems to be mocking your helpnessness and the rumbling of the thunder.
“Shinoseki!”
A cloud of white powder scatters into the air, engulfing some of the spirits. Some of it gets onto your lips, and you wince at the taste. Salt? The affected spirits moan in dismay as they fade away. You see Amanozaki running towards you. Without hesitation, she grabs your hand and hauls you away, urging you to run. “They’re gonna recover soon! Stop dawdling around and getcha feet moving!”
“Y-yes!”
Amanozaki leads you towards the cafeteria and into a small office attached to it, leaping over a length of string tied about twenty centimetres above the ground. When you pass the string, you feel strangely better – the ache in your ankle seems to fade slightly. Amanozaki slams the door shut as soon as the both of you are in. Inside, there are some candles lighting the room. You realize that the string is part of a larger structure – it has been tied to small sticks at four corners to create a square that covers most of the room. Within the square, strange and complicated patterns have been drawn in a chalk circle. This is…
“A barrier. It actually works,” laughs Amanozaki lightly as she sinks to the floor, exhausted. “There we go. I’m the great psychic of the century, eh? Something in my darned notes that actually works on these ghosts… haha.” You sit down opposite her, taking care not to inadvertently smudge any of the patterns. Amanozaki ruffles around in her bag before bringing out a small cloth package. She unwraps it – you see something that looks like dried leaves, which she rolls into a small, thin cylinder. Putting it to her mouth, she lights up. “Aw man, what in the blazes is going on here?” complains Amanozaki rudely as she exhales the smoke. “If I ever get the chance to meet those gods from a higher dimension, I’m gonna punch them out even if it kills me, I swear. What a bunch of assholes… Ah, wait. Sorry, you don’t mind the smoke, do you?”
You shake your head, slightly taken aback at her finally breaking character for good. Perhaps the façade is too taxing to put up any longer. “Gods?” you ask.
“Yeah, I told you about them before, right? When… when we first met.” Amanozaki sighs. “How else are we going to explain all these dead spirits walking about if not for divine intervention? It’s not natural, I tell you.”
Nothing about this hospital is natural in the first place, though you would not quickly jump to alien gods as an explanation. Still, you suppose Amanozaki is a real believer in what she says, fake persona or no. You look around the small room – without a doubt, the two of you are alone in here. Where is Mitsuki? You turn to Amanozaki, who is rocking on her haunches. “I-“
Before you ask your question, Amanozaki interrupts you. “I know what you’re gonna ask. Where’s the girl, right?” She frowns, an apologetic look of guilt crossing her face. “I’m… sorry. She was taken. There was this guy. Taketatsu, I think his name was. Called himself the CEO of some place. We… right, I should start by talking about what happened after we split, right? Ain’t going to help you much if I’m jumping around, I reckon.” Taking a deep breath, she shakes her head hard and composes herself again.
“Alright,” Amanozaki nods. “You managed to help us out by distracting that powerful ghost. That was… kinda cool, I suppose. After a while we left the locker room and tried to search for you, but there was no sign of you in the entire building. Couldn’t find any of the annoying high school students either. We did manage to find out how to unlock the way back to the main building, so we came back here, and that’s when things went bad. Those stiffs you saw in the hall… they were already like that when I returned with Mitsuki-chan. Then, Mitsuki-chan was struck by her illness and froze up like a damn board. After that I lugged her with me until I met up with that man, Taketatsu. He grabbed her from me, screaming something about using her as a gift. I… I couldn’t help, I guess.” She points to her shoulder, where you notice a bandage soaked in blood wrapped around her upper arm. “I have no idea how, but that crazy fucker managed to get his hand on a gun. A gun! He was gonna finish me off, but then something distracted him and he ran off with Mitsuki-chan while I was bleeding out on the floor.”
“A-are you all right?” you ask concernedly. Amanozaki seems to be rather blasé about getting shot. “Your arm…”
“Oh, this?” she snorts. “My pops used to get in worse, and when he came home my mom would teach me how to treat his wounds. He’s the sort that couldn’t exactly walk right up to a hospital, if ya know what I mean. I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me. Anyway… yeah.” Her expression turns apologetic and shamed. “So there I was, being useless and all and about to get blasted through my noggin, when that laughter started. Yeah, you’re hearing it too, right?”
You nod. The laughter is still there, maddening and mocking. “Who… who do you think is laughing?”
“The Witch, probably. There’s always an evil witch in this sorta story... it's, like, a cliche, y'know,” scowls Amanozaki fiercely. “Well, that bitch will get what’s coming to her, if I have anything to say about this. Anyway, that guy, Taketatsu, he was distracted by the laughter. He just picked up the girl and ran like his ass was on fire. And then I got into a lot of trouble when the spirits began roaming the halls and figured out what worked and what didn’t – bleeding pain, I tell you – and then… here I am.” She sighs wearily. “Alive. Haven’t seen any of the others since then, though. Except for you, I mean.” She removes her spectacles and rubs the lenses with her dress. Underneath her thick glasses, her features are… surprisingly pleasant to the eye. “We have to think about what to do next, right?” she asks.
***
23:10
You glance at the make-shift bandage Amanozaki has tied around her bullet wound.
A. You are concerned about whether she has actually treated her arm properly. You convince Amanozaki to let you take a look at it.
B. She should be fine. There is no need for you to get nosy about things – the bandage itself looks to be properly tied on, at least.
***
She is right, you should probably discuss what to do next, but there is something you are curious about.
A. “Did you talk much with Mitsuki-chan?” You ask if she knows anything more about Mitsuki since they spent some time together in your absence. Perhaps this information may be of use.
B. “About Uehara-san…” You ask about Uehara, and the talisman that caused her to act so suspiciously. Perhaps it may have something to do with this situation?
C. “Amanozaki-san, I was wondering…” You ask about her background; just how did she come to work as a psychic and adopt that persona? Since she was drawn here, there might be some details relevant to this predicament.
D. “Have you heard of this Taketatsu-san before?” You ask if she knows anything about Taketatsu, the person who kidnapped Mitsuki.
E. "Nevermind, let's talk about what to do next." You decide to keep your questions to yourself; there will be time to ask them later, you suppose. Best to focus on getting things done.
The lobby is just ahead.
Track: rain
As you reach the large hall, it is illuminated for an instant by a particularly close lightning strike. A loud, resounding crack deafens you temporarily. Then, a maddening laughter drifts through the hall, giving you pause: a light, girlish laughter full of unrestrained glee. The bruise on your ankle pulses, trying to remind you painfully of its existence. You ignore it; your attention has been drawn entirely to the scene before you.
In front of you lies a terrible sight.
A massacre seems to have taken place here: bodies are sprawled all over the couches and the floor, their blood painting the walls. Some of them seem… familiar, from their outlines, but you cannot be certain. At least you do not think Mitsuki or Amanozaki are amongst the dead.
What happened here?
The second flash of lightning reveals their presence.
You had not seen them there before, but now you do: there are people in the lobby, staring at you. Their forms flicker with static, as if they are not fully here… just like the man in the bathroom. Many of them are garbed in casual wear or outfits you would not find out of place in a hospital – doctors, nurses, patients – but there are also those dressed in clothing dating back to an older time. A tingle of fear runs down your spine as you cast an eye over the spilled guts and broken necks; most of them bear the marks of their violent deaths – there can be no doubt about it. These people are also dead, though perhaps in a different manner from the unmoving bodies, you observe, before proceeding to your next thought, which is, I need to get out of here!
You turn around, coming face to face with a familiar spectre.
The man in the bathroom.
His bloated face twists silently into an ugly rictus.
You are trapped.
There is no way out for you here, no daring escape. You back away, narrowly avoiding his sluggish, fat-laden arms. They close in silently, accompanied by the mad laughter that now seems to be mocking your helpnessness and the rumbling of the thunder.
“Shinoseki!”
A cloud of white powder scatters into the air, engulfing some of the spirits. Some of it gets onto your lips, and you wince at the taste. Salt? The affected spirits moan in dismay as they fade away. You see Amanozaki running towards you. Without hesitation, she grabs your hand and hauls you away, urging you to run. “They’re gonna recover soon! Stop dawdling around and getcha feet moving!”
“Y-yes!”
Amanozaki leads you towards the cafeteria and into a small office attached to it, leaping over a length of string tied about twenty centimetres above the ground. When you pass the string, you feel strangely better – the ache in your ankle seems to fade slightly. Amanozaki slams the door shut as soon as the both of you are in. Inside, there are some candles lighting the room. You realize that the string is part of a larger structure – it has been tied to small sticks at four corners to create a square that covers most of the room. Within the square, strange and complicated patterns have been drawn in a chalk circle. This is…
“A barrier. It actually works,” laughs Amanozaki lightly as she sinks to the floor, exhausted. “There we go. I’m the great psychic of the century, eh? Something in my darned notes that actually works on these ghosts… haha.” You sit down opposite her, taking care not to inadvertently smudge any of the patterns. Amanozaki ruffles around in her bag before bringing out a small cloth package. She unwraps it – you see something that looks like dried leaves, which she rolls into a small, thin cylinder. Putting it to her mouth, she lights up. “Aw man, what in the blazes is going on here?” complains Amanozaki rudely as she exhales the smoke. “If I ever get the chance to meet those gods from a higher dimension, I’m gonna punch them out even if it kills me, I swear. What a bunch of assholes… Ah, wait. Sorry, you don’t mind the smoke, do you?”
You shake your head, slightly taken aback at her finally breaking character for good. Perhaps the façade is too taxing to put up any longer. “Gods?” you ask.
“Yeah, I told you about them before, right? When… when we first met.” Amanozaki sighs. “How else are we going to explain all these dead spirits walking about if not for divine intervention? It’s not natural, I tell you.”
Nothing about this hospital is natural in the first place, though you would not quickly jump to alien gods as an explanation. Still, you suppose Amanozaki is a real believer in what she says, fake persona or no. You look around the small room – without a doubt, the two of you are alone in here. Where is Mitsuki? You turn to Amanozaki, who is rocking on her haunches. “I-“
Before you ask your question, Amanozaki interrupts you. “I know what you’re gonna ask. Where’s the girl, right?” She frowns, an apologetic look of guilt crossing her face. “I’m… sorry. She was taken. There was this guy. Taketatsu, I think his name was. Called himself the CEO of some place. We… right, I should start by talking about what happened after we split, right? Ain’t going to help you much if I’m jumping around, I reckon.” Taking a deep breath, she shakes her head hard and composes herself again.
“Alright,” Amanozaki nods. “You managed to help us out by distracting that powerful ghost. That was… kinda cool, I suppose. After a while we left the locker room and tried to search for you, but there was no sign of you in the entire building. Couldn’t find any of the annoying high school students either. We did manage to find out how to unlock the way back to the main building, so we came back here, and that’s when things went bad. Those stiffs you saw in the hall… they were already like that when I returned with Mitsuki-chan. Then, Mitsuki-chan was struck by her illness and froze up like a damn board. After that I lugged her with me until I met up with that man, Taketatsu. He grabbed her from me, screaming something about using her as a gift. I… I couldn’t help, I guess.” She points to her shoulder, where you notice a bandage soaked in blood wrapped around her upper arm. “I have no idea how, but that crazy fucker managed to get his hand on a gun. A gun! He was gonna finish me off, but then something distracted him and he ran off with Mitsuki-chan while I was bleeding out on the floor.”
“A-are you all right?” you ask concernedly. Amanozaki seems to be rather blasé about getting shot. “Your arm…”
“Oh, this?” she snorts. “My pops used to get in worse, and when he came home my mom would teach me how to treat his wounds. He’s the sort that couldn’t exactly walk right up to a hospital, if ya know what I mean. I’ll be fine, don’t you worry about me. Anyway… yeah.” Her expression turns apologetic and shamed. “So there I was, being useless and all and about to get blasted through my noggin, when that laughter started. Yeah, you’re hearing it too, right?”
You nod. The laughter is still there, maddening and mocking. “Who… who do you think is laughing?”
“The Witch, probably. There’s always an evil witch in this sorta story... it's, like, a cliche, y'know,” scowls Amanozaki fiercely. “Well, that bitch will get what’s coming to her, if I have anything to say about this. Anyway, that guy, Taketatsu, he was distracted by the laughter. He just picked up the girl and ran like his ass was on fire. And then I got into a lot of trouble when the spirits began roaming the halls and figured out what worked and what didn’t – bleeding pain, I tell you – and then… here I am.” She sighs wearily. “Alive. Haven’t seen any of the others since then, though. Except for you, I mean.” She removes her spectacles and rubs the lenses with her dress. Underneath her thick glasses, her features are… surprisingly pleasant to the eye. “We have to think about what to do next, right?” she asks.
***
23:10
You glance at the make-shift bandage Amanozaki has tied around her bullet wound.
A. You are concerned about whether she has actually treated her arm properly. You convince Amanozaki to let you take a look at it.
B. She should be fine. There is no need for you to get nosy about things – the bandage itself looks to be properly tied on, at least.
***
She is right, you should probably discuss what to do next, but there is something you are curious about.
A. “Did you talk much with Mitsuki-chan?” You ask if she knows anything more about Mitsuki since they spent some time together in your absence. Perhaps this information may be of use.
B. “About Uehara-san…” You ask about Uehara, and the talisman that caused her to act so suspiciously. Perhaps it may have something to do with this situation?
C. “Amanozaki-san, I was wondering…” You ask about her background; just how did she come to work as a psychic and adopt that persona? Since she was drawn here, there might be some details relevant to this predicament.
D. “Have you heard of this Taketatsu-san before?” You ask if she knows anything about Taketatsu, the person who kidnapped Mitsuki.
E. "Nevermind, let's talk about what to do next." You decide to keep your questions to yourself; there will be time to ask them later, you suppose. Best to focus on getting things done.
AB>AC keeping in mind that we've had a fascination with Uehara the whole time. Uehara has been downright antagonistic towards Amanozaki, who now turns out to be able to somewhat combat these ghosts. Uehara behaved suspiciously, to say the least, when she took that charm from us.
Uehara knows more than she should. In our first attempt, Amanozaki was the first to be offed. Not now. Maybe that's because we've been looking out for her?
Uehara I don't trust. At all. I don't think she's the witch, but. Well.
Uehara knows more than she should. In our first attempt, Amanozaki was the first to be offed. Not now. Maybe that's because we've been looking out for her?
Uehara I don't trust. At all. I don't think she's the witch, but. Well.
Elfberserker
Liturgist
- Joined
- Oct 25, 2013
- Messages
- 1,540
AC>AB
I have a feeling that this is good chance to get clues why Uehara is so hostile towards amanozaki even thought she hold her talismans in high value and I don't think it just because they have sentimental value.
Finding out about Amanozaki past might provide new clues how in the hell did this ghost thing started. Did her mentor or whatever had hand in this hospital when our grandad dad was running the place? If so we might get clues about root of this whole thing.
I have a feeling that this is good chance to get clues why Uehara is so hostile towards amanozaki even thought she hold her talismans in high value and I don't think it just because they have sentimental value.
Finding out about Amanozaki past might provide new clues how in the hell did this ghost thing started. Did her mentor or whatever had hand in this hospital when our grandad dad was running the place? If so we might get clues about root of this whole thing.
Nevill
Arcane
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2009
- Messages
- 11,211
Uh, wat?
Uehara behaves antagonistically towards anything supernatural. There may be several causes for that, and the fact that her relative's (?) spirit is haunting the hospital and, apparently, has been killing people in droves might have something to do with that. If anything, I suspect her to be lured to this place, just like Amanozaki was, possibly with a promise of setting things right, finding the truth about her family, or something like that. If history repeating itself is one of the themes of this CYOA like it was in the two before it, then Uehara looks more like a victim caught in the machinations of others, similarly to the girl buried under the pool.
Yeah, I suppose one should have absolutely no clue about one's own family, just like us. If anyone does, they are immediately suspicious.
Of course she knows more than she lets on. So does Mori. So does Maeda. So does Amanozaki. Hell, it is true for at least two thirds of the people trapped here.
I am a bit torn about AB and AC, though. My rule is to worry about the living, first and foremost, though it would be a lie to say that I am not interested in finding out more about Uehara.
AC, then.
Rex Feral
Prophet
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2013
- Messages
- 1,300
We're really not getting anywhere. The best leads get us nothing but a few scraps, and all this knowledge is useless to us since we forget it with each new iteration.
So Taketatsu proves to be time after time a bad guy who viciously murders people to escape de hospital. So what? We don't even remember his name in the next night/iteration.
Amanozaki is the real deal when coming to facing murderous ghosts. A pity we won't remember this after we die.
Mori being a badass, knowing about Shinohara family? Nope.
All the things we discover are useless since we don't remember them the next night and we can't put that knowledge to good use.
So Taketatsu proves to be time after time a bad guy who viciously murders people to escape de hospital. So what? We don't even remember his name in the next night/iteration.
Amanozaki is the real deal when coming to facing murderous ghosts. A pity we won't remember this after we die.
Mori being a badass, knowing about Shinohara family? Nope.
All the things we discover are useless since we don't remember them the next night and we can't put that knowledge to good use.
a cut of domestic sheep prime
Guest
I have a feeling we really screwed up in giving her the talisman, but I think there is also something about Mitsuki that makes her special. AB>AA>AC
- Joined
- Jul 6, 2008
- Messages
- 11,370
Frustrating, isn't it?
If it is starting to feel Maybe if you continue interacting with the same people in subsequent nights, you'll begin to find ways to meta-game the knowledge you already have.
Or maybe just try not to die for once and see how that works out.
Last edited:
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2012
- Messages
- 29,878
Trying not to die is pretty hard.Or maybe just try not to die for once and see how that works out.
Mortality's a bitch and all that.
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