It's over. There was another death last night.
Ellie died.
There wasn't a meeting so much as a trial.
Ian: Alright. So, there are just four of us left. nathaniel, Isaac, Emily and I. We're all still agreed that Emily is The Dying Man?
Nathaniel nodded.
Emily: This is insane. I told you to stay in the same room. If you had no one would have died.
Nathaniel: We did.
Emily: You... Wait what?
Ian: Emily. You're really more of an idiot than I thought.
Emily: I don't understand.
Nathaniel: exactly.
Ian: Tell me Emily. What does The Dying Man do?
Emily: He's a body jumper with a simple touch he can pass from one body to another, everyone knows that.
Nathaniel: Does The Dying Man always die when it switches hosts?
Emily: Well no... Some shards of The Dying Man have been known to possess multiple bodies at once.
Ian: And? You're a smart girl... Figure it out.
Emily: Y... You're both The Dying Man?
Nathaniel: Yes, well done.
Emily: You cheated! You said you only infected one person at the beginning.
Ian: That is true. I infected Ian at the very beginning. Killed Michael the first night and then began infecting everyone every night since.
Nathaniel: First Nathaniel.
Isaac: Then Isaac. I kept him quiet though because he hadn't spoken up until then and figured him suddenly talking would be suspicious.
Ian: I had also infected Heather early on, but the Puppet killed that one.
Emily: Why kill Ellie then? Why not just infect her? Hell why not infect Nina and Tanya instead of killing them.
Isaac: Well, infecting the Puppet would have been useless. I'd have to fight The Wooden Girl's control and that would easily give me away. I wanted to keep what I was doing hidden until the very end. I had also made myself a few rules. Only infect one person a night and I can infect or kill, but not both. Also in the event my first infected is killed I would kill off the rest to make it fair. As for why I killed Ellie instead of Infecting her...
Nathaniel: I did that just to mess with you.
Emily: You're sick.
Ian: I'm a monster what can I say. Now then the game is over. You lose.
I was infected then. Tried to fight. Obviously I failed. You can't really fight something like that. This game wasn't quite what I was hoping it to be, but I have learned from my mistakes. I will start a new game in the future and this time it will be much better. More well thought out rules and hmm... I guess I promise not to cheat next time and inform them of all the rules in the first place. It's no fun winning a game like this. Yes, next time will be better.
I hope you are all looking forward to it.
The Dying Man
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Saturday, November 5, 2016
Day 5
We're still here... No one died last night. Ian is awake. I think I'm going to die.
When the curfew ended we all stood at the entrance and waited, but nothing happened. Ian had woken up in the night and was there in the morning when we all gathered.
There wasn't any announcement and the rocks didn't seem willing to budge. As our hope slowly drained the others began looking at me and then at Ian as Ian cleared his throat.
Ian: Well, I am willing to admit I was wrong.
Nathaniel: What?
Ian: Obviously The Dying Man is still among us.
Emily: It would seem so.
Ian: And obviously it's Emily.
Emily: Wait, no! I'm not The Dying Man.
Ellie: We already talked about this. You or Isaac are the most likely choices and of the two of you, you are definitely the most likely.
Ian: Agreed. There's quite a lot of evidence.
Emily: What? Because I chose to be the narrator?
Ian: Well there is that, but there's more than that.
Emily: What else?
Ian: Would you go get your computer for us?
Emily: I... Alright.
I left to grab the computer and gave it to Ian.
He opened it up and pulled up the blog. He read through for a bit then stopped and showed us the comments from The Dying Man.
Ian: You knew all along that The Dying Man was still around.
Emily: What?
Ian: The Dying Man's comments imply that it was still alive after the first night. Are you going to claim you didn't realize that?
Emily: I didn't really think of it no... I was a bit more focused on the idea of some random person out there getting to dictate our deaths!
Ian: There doesn't seem to be much more point in arguing. It seems fairly obvious to me. We'll have to kill her.
Emily: Wait. wait! I'm not The Dying Man! I swear! I... It's Ian. How could he have known what was on my computer if he's not! Nobody, but me has access to a computer!
Ellie: Which would make it much easier for The Dying Man to comment on the blog...
Emily: Ellie, shut up! Look, There is obviously another body of The Dying Man out there commenting so the comments don't prove anything, but there's no way he could have seen the blog!
Ian: I didn't. I asked to see the computer to see the posts. I figured you might have incriminated yourself and you did.
Nathaniel: Okay... Everybody calm down. While it is fairly obvious that Emily is probably The Dying Man there's still the possibility that this is all a mistake. As risky as it is we should probably take another day.
Ellie: So, she can kill another of us?!
Ian: No... Nathaniel has a point. It would be risky to get this wrong at this point. If we kill Emily and she's not The Dying Man then tonight The Dying Man will kill another and It's obvious who that other is. Do either of you want to face a day where it might just be Nathaniel, Ellie and Isaac. How would you decide then?
Ellie: But... She'll kill you?
Ian: Probably. I am ready to die to confirm her guilt.
Emily: This is ridiculous I'm not going to kill anyone! Wait... Who has Nina's Gun?
Nathaniel: I do. Everyone was so busy with Ian I snatched it up.
Emily: Alright then. It's between me and Ian right?
Ellie: It's between you and no one.
Emily: Ellie I swear to god... Anyway. It would be silly for me to kill Ian cause you'd all kill me without hesitation tomorrow, despite what Ian said. So, I suggest. Me and Ian stay in our rooms. Meanwhile Nathaniel, Isaac and Ellie can all group in a room together. You'll be safe there.
Ian: Yes... Nina and I thought the same... It didn't work out how we wanted it to.
Emily: Oh right... I didn't even think of that. That story about you and Nin-
The curfew alarm went off.
I'm convinced Ian is The Dying Man now, but he has them all believing him. What can I do?
He must have killed Tanya and Nina then cut off his own arm to make it look good. He's The Dying Man what does he care about losing a limb. A human body is just a suit to him.
I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow, but at least if they take my advice it's likely no one will die tonight. Ian wouldn't kill me would he? I mean... They'd probably turn on him then... It would be harder for him to convince them to turn on the others right?
I think so?
This might have been a huge mistake.
When the curfew ended we all stood at the entrance and waited, but nothing happened. Ian had woken up in the night and was there in the morning when we all gathered.
There wasn't any announcement and the rocks didn't seem willing to budge. As our hope slowly drained the others began looking at me and then at Ian as Ian cleared his throat.
Ian: Well, I am willing to admit I was wrong.
Nathaniel: What?
Ian: Obviously The Dying Man is still among us.
Emily: It would seem so.
Ian: And obviously it's Emily.
Emily: Wait, no! I'm not The Dying Man.
Ellie: We already talked about this. You or Isaac are the most likely choices and of the two of you, you are definitely the most likely.
Ian: Agreed. There's quite a lot of evidence.
Emily: What? Because I chose to be the narrator?
Ian: Well there is that, but there's more than that.
Emily: What else?
Ian: Would you go get your computer for us?
Emily: I... Alright.
I left to grab the computer and gave it to Ian.
He opened it up and pulled up the blog. He read through for a bit then stopped and showed us the comments from The Dying Man.
Ian: You knew all along that The Dying Man was still around.
Emily: What?
Ian: The Dying Man's comments imply that it was still alive after the first night. Are you going to claim you didn't realize that?
Emily: I didn't really think of it no... I was a bit more focused on the idea of some random person out there getting to dictate our deaths!
Ian: There doesn't seem to be much more point in arguing. It seems fairly obvious to me. We'll have to kill her.
Emily: Wait. wait! I'm not The Dying Man! I swear! I... It's Ian. How could he have known what was on my computer if he's not! Nobody, but me has access to a computer!
Ellie: Which would make it much easier for The Dying Man to comment on the blog...
Emily: Ellie, shut up! Look, There is obviously another body of The Dying Man out there commenting so the comments don't prove anything, but there's no way he could have seen the blog!
Ian: I didn't. I asked to see the computer to see the posts. I figured you might have incriminated yourself and you did.
Nathaniel: Okay... Everybody calm down. While it is fairly obvious that Emily is probably The Dying Man there's still the possibility that this is all a mistake. As risky as it is we should probably take another day.
Ellie: So, she can kill another of us?!
Ian: No... Nathaniel has a point. It would be risky to get this wrong at this point. If we kill Emily and she's not The Dying Man then tonight The Dying Man will kill another and It's obvious who that other is. Do either of you want to face a day where it might just be Nathaniel, Ellie and Isaac. How would you decide then?
Ellie: But... She'll kill you?
Ian: Probably. I am ready to die to confirm her guilt.
Emily: This is ridiculous I'm not going to kill anyone! Wait... Who has Nina's Gun?
Nathaniel: I do. Everyone was so busy with Ian I snatched it up.
Emily: Alright then. It's between me and Ian right?
Ellie: It's between you and no one.
Emily: Ellie I swear to god... Anyway. It would be silly for me to kill Ian cause you'd all kill me without hesitation tomorrow, despite what Ian said. So, I suggest. Me and Ian stay in our rooms. Meanwhile Nathaniel, Isaac and Ellie can all group in a room together. You'll be safe there.
Ian: Yes... Nina and I thought the same... It didn't work out how we wanted it to.
Emily: Oh right... I didn't even think of that. That story about you and Nin-
The curfew alarm went off.
I'm convinced Ian is The Dying Man now, but he has them all believing him. What can I do?
He must have killed Tanya and Nina then cut off his own arm to make it look good. He's The Dying Man what does he care about losing a limb. A human body is just a suit to him.
I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow, but at least if they take my advice it's likely no one will die tonight. Ian wouldn't kill me would he? I mean... They'd probably turn on him then... It would be harder for him to convince them to turn on the others right?
I think so?
This might have been a huge mistake.
Friday, November 4, 2016
Day 4
Two more deaths tonight, but seemingly it's a good thing.
I can't believe I just wrote that line.
Nina and Tanya are dead. Also Ian is missing his arm and we might have won?
Apparently Nina and Ian's talk yesterday was a plan. They had decided that they could trust each other and that Ian would sneak into Nina's room during the night so they could both wait for the killer who was probably going to come after Nina. Apparently it almost worked. Ian told us what happened.
Tanya was the puppet. She came into the room to attack Nina and Ian tried to stop her. She cut off his arm with strings and then strangled Nina. Ian managed to recover enough to kill Tanya by slitting her throat while she was strangling Nina. Unfortunately even after that the strings couldn't be removed until after it was too late. We found Ian the next morning in the central chamber unconscious having apparently bandaged his stump arm using medical equipment that was in some of the crates. He's still unconscious. There was a light meeting afterwards.
Emily, or I guess as it's been revealed now, me: It's a terrible thing about Nina's death and I hope Ian makes it, but this is a good thing right. Potentially the last killer is dead now? We won?
Ellie: It's possible. It feels logical that we might have to wait until this day is over before the game actually ends though.
Nathaniel: We might still be dealing with The Dying Man though. Hopefully we'll know by tonight.
Me: Any idea who The Dying Man might be if he is still among us?
There was no response as Ellie and Nathaniel merely exchanged a glance.
Me: You can't be serious? You think it's me?
Ellie: My guess would be you or Isaac...
Nathaniel: Yeah.
Me: Why?
Ellie shrugged.
Nathaniel: Yeah sorry I don't know. I don't really get a bad vibe from Ellie and Ian has been the most helpful out of all of us. I mean I'd say it was Isaac, but I don't see The Dying Man doing that. What fun would it be not being part of the action? He'd want to be someone who wouldn't draw the attention of the other killers, but would still be able to be part of things.
Ellie: Someone like you. The Narrator. Capable of making sure the story gets out exactly the way he wants it to and as The Narrator much like you said the other Killers wouldn't likely target you.
Emily: But one of The killers did target me. Martin tried to kill me remember?
Nathaniel: Yes... But you seemed to piss him off pretty intentionally. Maybe you expected Nina would cover it and then you could look less suspicious.
Emily: You thought that was me being smart? Quite the opposite. I thought I'd gotten myself killed. If I'd thought about it I wouldn't have said anything.
Ellie: It's pointless to argue about it. For all we know right now The Dying Man is dead and we'll all be free tomorrow. Let's not think about what might be. Let's just hope for tomorrow.
Nathaniel: Yeah. Chances are we're all good here. I mean there hasn't been a Dying Man kill since the first night. Why would he be holding back?
That was it for the conversation. Always nice to know that the people you considered your allies are considering the possibility of having to kill you.
Oh and though we already know both of them here are the notes.
"Dear Tanya,
Or I suppose I should call you Puppet. Your name isn't really important anymore. Your just a body for her to use. Honestly, you probably won't even read this. Even if you wanted to. She wouldn't let you. How does it feel. Everytime your arms move against your will. Everytime you take a life. If you could speak? If you still had control of your mouth and vocal cords. Would you have anything to say or would we all just hear that endless scream that echoes inside your head.
The Dying Man"
"Dear Nina,
You know nothing about me. So, I guess it doesn't mean anything to you when I tell you that despite what people might think I do have feelings and I do almost feel regret about bringing you into this. You had such a nice life ahead of you. A loving family. Children. Sure, in your line of work death is a constant fear, but at least if you died that way they'd know what happened to you. You don't have a chance of surviving this and no one will ever know how you died. Your family will probably search for you forever. Such a shame.
The Dying Man"
So, that wasn't depressing. I know it's probably a bad idea, but if we get out of here tomorrow, maybe... I'll see if I can find her family. Though I have no clue what I'll tell them.
I was thinking about it and I realized someone might ask about the bodies. Obviously we can't just leave them or the stink would become unbearable. The Dying Man planned ahead on that one. There's a large pit that from the sound of it leads down to some kind of underground river. We toss the bodies down there. The though that we might survive jumping down there and that there might be a way out has crossed my mind, but it's incredibly unlikely.
Anyway hopefully I will not be your narrator tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be free.
I can't believe I just wrote that line.
Nina and Tanya are dead. Also Ian is missing his arm and we might have won?
Apparently Nina and Ian's talk yesterday was a plan. They had decided that they could trust each other and that Ian would sneak into Nina's room during the night so they could both wait for the killer who was probably going to come after Nina. Apparently it almost worked. Ian told us what happened.
Tanya was the puppet. She came into the room to attack Nina and Ian tried to stop her. She cut off his arm with strings and then strangled Nina. Ian managed to recover enough to kill Tanya by slitting her throat while she was strangling Nina. Unfortunately even after that the strings couldn't be removed until after it was too late. We found Ian the next morning in the central chamber unconscious having apparently bandaged his stump arm using medical equipment that was in some of the crates. He's still unconscious. There was a light meeting afterwards.
Emily, or I guess as it's been revealed now, me: It's a terrible thing about Nina's death and I hope Ian makes it, but this is a good thing right. Potentially the last killer is dead now? We won?
Ellie: It's possible. It feels logical that we might have to wait until this day is over before the game actually ends though.
Nathaniel: We might still be dealing with The Dying Man though. Hopefully we'll know by tonight.
Me: Any idea who The Dying Man might be if he is still among us?
There was no response as Ellie and Nathaniel merely exchanged a glance.
Me: You can't be serious? You think it's me?
Ellie: My guess would be you or Isaac...
Nathaniel: Yeah.
Me: Why?
Ellie shrugged.
Nathaniel: Yeah sorry I don't know. I don't really get a bad vibe from Ellie and Ian has been the most helpful out of all of us. I mean I'd say it was Isaac, but I don't see The Dying Man doing that. What fun would it be not being part of the action? He'd want to be someone who wouldn't draw the attention of the other killers, but would still be able to be part of things.
Ellie: Someone like you. The Narrator. Capable of making sure the story gets out exactly the way he wants it to and as The Narrator much like you said the other Killers wouldn't likely target you.
Emily: But one of The killers did target me. Martin tried to kill me remember?
Nathaniel: Yes... But you seemed to piss him off pretty intentionally. Maybe you expected Nina would cover it and then you could look less suspicious.
Emily: You thought that was me being smart? Quite the opposite. I thought I'd gotten myself killed. If I'd thought about it I wouldn't have said anything.
Ellie: It's pointless to argue about it. For all we know right now The Dying Man is dead and we'll all be free tomorrow. Let's not think about what might be. Let's just hope for tomorrow.
Nathaniel: Yeah. Chances are we're all good here. I mean there hasn't been a Dying Man kill since the first night. Why would he be holding back?
That was it for the conversation. Always nice to know that the people you considered your allies are considering the possibility of having to kill you.
Oh and though we already know both of them here are the notes.
"Dear Tanya,
Or I suppose I should call you Puppet. Your name isn't really important anymore. Your just a body for her to use. Honestly, you probably won't even read this. Even if you wanted to. She wouldn't let you. How does it feel. Everytime your arms move against your will. Everytime you take a life. If you could speak? If you still had control of your mouth and vocal cords. Would you have anything to say or would we all just hear that endless scream that echoes inside your head.
The Dying Man"
"Dear Nina,
You know nothing about me. So, I guess it doesn't mean anything to you when I tell you that despite what people might think I do have feelings and I do almost feel regret about bringing you into this. You had such a nice life ahead of you. A loving family. Children. Sure, in your line of work death is a constant fear, but at least if you died that way they'd know what happened to you. You don't have a chance of surviving this and no one will ever know how you died. Your family will probably search for you forever. Such a shame.
The Dying Man"
So, that wasn't depressing. I know it's probably a bad idea, but if we get out of here tomorrow, maybe... I'll see if I can find her family. Though I have no clue what I'll tell them.
I was thinking about it and I realized someone might ask about the bodies. Obviously we can't just leave them or the stink would become unbearable. The Dying Man planned ahead on that one. There's a large pit that from the sound of it leads down to some kind of underground river. We toss the bodies down there. The though that we might survive jumping down there and that there might be a way out has crossed my mind, but it's incredibly unlikely.
Anyway hopefully I will not be your narrator tomorrow. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be free.
Thursday, November 3, 2016
Day 3
Still alive, but um... The same can't be said for everyone else of course.
Two deaths this time only.
One was... Well... Let me tell you what happened.
I was having trouble sleeping, which is not abnormal, but this time it's because I kept hearing noises right outside my room. I stayed up keeping my flashlight and weapon ready and then I heard some louder sounds outside and then gunfire. I rushed outside and so did a few others. Nina was standing outside my room. Martin was on the ground with a wicked looking knife lying beside him. He had a bullet hole in his head. Nina was holstering her gun, but unfortunately not fast enough and I wasn't the only one who spotted it. So, now we all know Nina is the cop and she murdered Martin. The other Death was Heather Korwin. Again strangled to death. The Dying Man doesn't seem to have killed anyone this time so maybe Ian was right.
The notes are as follows:
"Dear Martin,
I watched your career with great interest. Your murders have such ferocity. It's a shame the cops are closing in on you though. Even if you make it out of here alive they'll execute you in the end. Your last kill was sloppy. You let that little girl cut you. So, how about it. One last hurrah. I've provided you with a bunch of victims and even a cop. Kill them all and go out fighting or die trying.
The Dying Man"
and
"Dear Heather,
Who needs intelligence when you're pretty, right? It's too bad other people don't see it like that. They insulted you and denigrated you for your stupidity and accused you of so many things. It's not your fault you're an idiot or that you were blessed with such an attractive figure. It's only right to use what you have to make up for your disadvantages. I bet you were almost happy to not have to deal with other people when you were forced to run away, but The Fears don't care what you look like and you weren't smart enough to survive on your own. So, you came to me. Honestly, I kind of wish I'd picked you. With me at the helm you finally could have had a brain to go with your body, ah well too late to mourn my decisions now
The Dying Man"
So, Martin was the murderer. After yesterday it wasn't really a huge surprise. Apparently no one else thought it was a surprise either. The meeting went as follows:
Ian: Well, Nina we're both alive. Too bad you had to reveal yourself.
Nina: It's not a huge deal. We've killed one of the killers and if you're theory is correct then someone killed one of the others, so there might only be one left and much like last night we know who's a likely target now.
Me: Sorry... What does that mean?
Nina: Well after yesterday it was fairly obvious who Martin would go after.
Me: Why would he go after me and not you or Ian?
Nina: Because he already expected the other killer or killers to go after us. Hell for all we know the other one did. They might have gone to my room found me missing cause I was waiting outside yours and decided to kill the next closest person. Heather's room was right next to mine after all.
Ian: Yeah he expected to be able to probably kill the three of us in one night. We were just a bit smarter than him... Or at least Nina was.
Me: Did you purposely use me as bait?
Nina: Of course not. You made him target you all by yourself we just took advantage of the opportunity.
Me: ... I guess that's fair.
Ian: Also I suppose I should explain to Nina about The Fears. Actually Nina. Can I talk to you in private.
He turned to the rest of us.
Ian: We'll stay in view.
Nina: Alright. We'll be right back.
The two walked off a short distance and had a whispered conversation.
Nathaniel: So... One of us is the last killer?
Emily: It would seem so.
Ellie: Any ideas?
Nathaniel: Well... Our friend, Tanya, here doesn't ever really seem to be paying attention to anything... She never speaks up or even really reacts to what's happening around her. I don't know how much you two know about Puppets, but they are commonly pretty lax when not actually forced to act.
Ellie: It's possible... I mean she doesn't even seem to have a reaction to your accusation just now.
Emily: Yeah, but Isaac hasn't really spoken up about anything either.
Nathaniel: True, but he at least seems to pay attention on occasion.
Ellie: He might just have something... Er you know wrong with him.
Emily: So, might she...
Nathaniel: Fair enough. It would be just like The Dying Man to make things harder by adding a Puppet and someone easily mistaken for a puppet into the mix, just to screw with us or maybe even two.
Ellie: Who knows, maybe this will just solve itself tonight.
Emily: Yeah. I have to admit. I know it might end up being necessary, but the idea of just brutally killing someone because we think they might be a threat doesn't sit well with me.
Nathaniel: Yeah... I'm not really a fan of killing either. I mean we've all had to kill in self defense before, but this is...
He stopped and waved a hand idly.
Ellie: Wrong?
Nathaniel: Yes, exactly.
Nothing else of interest happened after that. We mostly just talked about The Fears and dealing with servants and when Nina and Ian returned the curfew went off.
See you all tomorrow.
Two deaths this time only.
One was... Well... Let me tell you what happened.
I was having trouble sleeping, which is not abnormal, but this time it's because I kept hearing noises right outside my room. I stayed up keeping my flashlight and weapon ready and then I heard some louder sounds outside and then gunfire. I rushed outside and so did a few others. Nina was standing outside my room. Martin was on the ground with a wicked looking knife lying beside him. He had a bullet hole in his head. Nina was holstering her gun, but unfortunately not fast enough and I wasn't the only one who spotted it. So, now we all know Nina is the cop and she murdered Martin. The other Death was Heather Korwin. Again strangled to death. The Dying Man doesn't seem to have killed anyone this time so maybe Ian was right.
The notes are as follows:
"Dear Martin,
I watched your career with great interest. Your murders have such ferocity. It's a shame the cops are closing in on you though. Even if you make it out of here alive they'll execute you in the end. Your last kill was sloppy. You let that little girl cut you. So, how about it. One last hurrah. I've provided you with a bunch of victims and even a cop. Kill them all and go out fighting or die trying.
The Dying Man"
and
"Dear Heather,
Who needs intelligence when you're pretty, right? It's too bad other people don't see it like that. They insulted you and denigrated you for your stupidity and accused you of so many things. It's not your fault you're an idiot or that you were blessed with such an attractive figure. It's only right to use what you have to make up for your disadvantages. I bet you were almost happy to not have to deal with other people when you were forced to run away, but The Fears don't care what you look like and you weren't smart enough to survive on your own. So, you came to me. Honestly, I kind of wish I'd picked you. With me at the helm you finally could have had a brain to go with your body, ah well too late to mourn my decisions now
The Dying Man"
So, Martin was the murderer. After yesterday it wasn't really a huge surprise. Apparently no one else thought it was a surprise either. The meeting went as follows:
Ian: Well, Nina we're both alive. Too bad you had to reveal yourself.
Nina: It's not a huge deal. We've killed one of the killers and if you're theory is correct then someone killed one of the others, so there might only be one left and much like last night we know who's a likely target now.
Me: Sorry... What does that mean?
Nina: Well after yesterday it was fairly obvious who Martin would go after.
Me: Why would he go after me and not you or Ian?
Nina: Because he already expected the other killer or killers to go after us. Hell for all we know the other one did. They might have gone to my room found me missing cause I was waiting outside yours and decided to kill the next closest person. Heather's room was right next to mine after all.
Ian: Yeah he expected to be able to probably kill the three of us in one night. We were just a bit smarter than him... Or at least Nina was.
Me: Did you purposely use me as bait?
Nina: Of course not. You made him target you all by yourself we just took advantage of the opportunity.
Me: ... I guess that's fair.
Ian: Also I suppose I should explain to Nina about The Fears. Actually Nina. Can I talk to you in private.
He turned to the rest of us.
Ian: We'll stay in view.
Nina: Alright. We'll be right back.
The two walked off a short distance and had a whispered conversation.
Nathaniel: So... One of us is the last killer?
Emily: It would seem so.
Ellie: Any ideas?
Nathaniel: Well... Our friend, Tanya, here doesn't ever really seem to be paying attention to anything... She never speaks up or even really reacts to what's happening around her. I don't know how much you two know about Puppets, but they are commonly pretty lax when not actually forced to act.
Ellie: It's possible... I mean she doesn't even seem to have a reaction to your accusation just now.
Emily: Yeah, but Isaac hasn't really spoken up about anything either.
Nathaniel: True, but he at least seems to pay attention on occasion.
Ellie: He might just have something... Er you know wrong with him.
Emily: So, might she...
Nathaniel: Fair enough. It would be just like The Dying Man to make things harder by adding a Puppet and someone easily mistaken for a puppet into the mix, just to screw with us or maybe even two.
Ellie: Who knows, maybe this will just solve itself tonight.
Emily: Yeah. I have to admit. I know it might end up being necessary, but the idea of just brutally killing someone because we think they might be a threat doesn't sit well with me.
Nathaniel: Yeah... I'm not really a fan of killing either. I mean we've all had to kill in self defense before, but this is...
He stopped and waved a hand idly.
Ellie: Wrong?
Nathaniel: Yes, exactly.
Nothing else of interest happened after that. We mostly just talked about The Fears and dealing with servants and when Nina and Ian returned the curfew went off.
See you all tomorrow.
Day 2
The next morning we found that Three people had been killed during the night in their rooms. Christopher Lance was murdered. Apparently strangled. Marian Hopper was also killed. Cut open from throat to belly. Michael Corsack was also killed. The Dying Man was nice enough to declare his kill. Michael had "The Dying Man" burned into his skin with a lighter. One would think that it would be easy to find out who has a lighter, but basically any Runner would have a lighter or matches as either one could be amazingly useful in desperate situations.
We all gathered together for breakfast and talked about what happened and come up with ideas.
Nina: Part of me was hoping this was all some kind of sick joke, but I guess I can't claim that anymore.
Emily: This is crazy. There are only 9 of us now. Assuming none of those who died were killers than even if they just kill one person each per night, we'll all be dead long before a month is up.
Ian: Then we'll just have to make sure to find the killers before hand.
There was a small pause and then...
Nathaniel: Incidentally... Did... Any of the rest of you find anything special in your rooms?
Everyone, but Isaac, Tanya and Emily nodded.
Ian: It was a note in my case what about all of you?
Nina: I also had a note. It was personal.
Ian: Same. I'm gonna assume that everyone got a note.
Emily: Wait. If it's a personal note than couldn't we just have everyone show off their note. I bet that would reveal who everyone is.
Nina: Well... That is probably true, but my note specified if anyone saw my note before I was dead everyone would die.
Martin: Yeah mine said the same.
Ian: Mine too.
Ellie: Wait. Only until you were dead?
Nathaniel: Oh!
There was a shared look around the table.
Heather: What? What's going on?
Ian: We can probably check the notes of the dead.
Nina: We should all go together to the dead people's rooms and check the notes.
Ian: Yes, we need to stay together.
Emily: Well why didn't Isaac, Tanya or I get one?
Nathaniel: Maybe you just didn't find it?
Emily: That is true I was busy last night and didn't think to really explore my room.
Nina: Search tonight.
Emily: I will.
Ian: Tanya and Isaac you search as well. These might end up being very important.
After we finished eating we went to find the notes.Christopher's was hidden under his pillow. Each room had a bed and a small box for storing items.
Christopher's Note read as follows:
Dear Christopher,
When you left your family they searched for you. They searched for years before they gave up. Your wife turned to alcohol and then the church. Your daughter missed her father. Her life got worse and worse. She turned to drugs. She died about a year ago. That's when your wife turned to the church. I suppose knowing this now. Your death in this game might be a blessing. Therefore... I'm rooting for you.
The Dying Man.
P.S. If anyone sees this note before you die. Everyone dies. Be sure to keep it safe. (Every note seems to say this)
Marian's Note was a bit different.
Dear Marian,
You're right. It was your fault. They took you in from the street. They fed you and let you sleep and how did you repay them? You brought The Rake to them. He killed them because of you. He killed them to punish you. Just like your family was killed. Always because of you. You know that being in the company of others gets them killed and yet you came here anyway? You came here and this is your punishment. You deserve your death. It will be just.
The Dying Man
(And of course the same message)
Lastly Michael. The one The Dying Man killed. His note seemed almost like a threat.
Dear Michael,
Do you remember when I came for you last? Have you missed me? I bet you were surprised to see me. You spurned me once and this is my revenge, but don't think this is all about you. You're just a bonus.
The Dying Man
and the same message.
Later we had another conversation.
Nina: Alright so. It would appear that these notes contain personal information and seem to imply that the victims so far were what you-
She paused and then seemingly corrected herself on something.
Nina: Well they were innocents.
Ian: I'm not entirely sure about that. The last note at least kind of puts the murder into new light. It was immediately assumed they were killed and branded by The Dying Man, but having read it perhaps not. Perhaps The Dying Man possessed him as vengeance and someone found out. Perhaps they branded him like that to try and inform us?
Nina: That... That is possible I suppose. The Dying Man is one of our killers so if he is dead this might be a good thing, but I have trouble believing we could be so, lucky. As well it is still worrisome that someone took it upon themselves to kill The Dying Man instead of telling us or why they wouldn't tell us now.
Ian: I suppose. Still I choose to believe that The Dying Man is at least for now dead.
Martin: At least for now?
Ian: Well we can't expect that The Dying Man put himself in any real danger here. This was probably just one of many of this shard which is just one of many of The Dying Man in general.
Martin: Oh yes of course.
Emily: So, what do we do now?
Nina: I don't know.
Ian: There's got to be a way to figure things out. The good news is we have a record of everything that's happening. Whether it was intentional or not the addition of a narrator will probably be very helpful.
Me: Well thanks, though I feel like it's probably not a good idea to emphasize my importance...
Ian: No worries. It's not like killing you would actually make the narrator less useful, it would just be some else doing it.
Me: Yeah... Though I'm fairly attached to being alive so I'd rather not be made a target.
Nina: You worry too much.
Me: I think I'm worrying exactly the right amount...
Martin: Look, you don't have to worry about anything. We all know you're not a threat to anyone. It's fairly obvious who's likely to die next.
Nina: What do you mean?
Martin: Isn't it obvious? You and Ian. You've been taking charge from the beginning. If you're not killers yourselves than any intelligent killer is going to realize that killing you will plunge the rest of us into anarchy. People are sheep and if you get rid of the shepherds what will they do?
Ian: Well aren't you nice.
Emily: You know Martin. This is the second time you've suggested something that was detrimental to our survival. The last time you did it was Marian who called you out on it.
Martin: You trying to suggest something?
Nina: It's not an absurd suggestion. You tried to out the cop last time and this time you seem to be trying to guide the killers...
Martin: You think I'm a killer then? What are you going to do about it?
At which point he drew out a knife and stabbed it into the table and glared at everyone.
There was a tense atmosphere and then... the curfew announcement came.
Martin grabbed his knife from the table and walked off and the rest of us headed back to our rooms.
I think I might be in danger this time...
Oh also apparently The Dying Man is happy with me. He made a comment on my previous post. Aren't you lucky you get to choose which of us he murders if you can figure out who I am.
Also... I found my note hidden under my bed. I can't tell you what it says of course.
Hopefully I'll still be your narrator tomorrow...
We found
We all gathered together for breakfast and talked about what happened and come up with ideas.
Nina: Part of me was hoping this was all some kind of sick joke, but I guess I can't claim that anymore.
Emily: This is crazy. There are only 9 of us now. Assuming none of those who died were killers than even if they just kill one person each per night, we'll all be dead long before a month is up.
Ian: Then we'll just have to make sure to find the killers before hand.
There was a small pause and then...
Nathaniel: Incidentally... Did... Any of the rest of you find anything special in your rooms?
Everyone, but Isaac, Tanya and Emily nodded.
Ian: It was a note in my case what about all of you?
Nina: I also had a note. It was personal.
Ian: Same. I'm gonna assume that everyone got a note.
Emily: Wait. If it's a personal note than couldn't we just have everyone show off their note. I bet that would reveal who everyone is.
Nina: Well... That is probably true, but my note specified if anyone saw my note before I was dead everyone would die.
Martin: Yeah mine said the same.
Ian: Mine too.
Ellie: Wait. Only until you were dead?
Nathaniel: Oh!
There was a shared look around the table.
Heather: What? What's going on?
Ian: We can probably check the notes of the dead.
Nina: We should all go together to the dead people's rooms and check the notes.
Ian: Yes, we need to stay together.
Emily: Well why didn't Isaac, Tanya or I get one?
Nathaniel: Maybe you just didn't find it?
Emily: That is true I was busy last night and didn't think to really explore my room.
Nina: Search tonight.
Emily: I will.
Ian: Tanya and Isaac you search as well. These might end up being very important.
After we finished eating we went to find the notes.Christopher's was hidden under his pillow. Each room had a bed and a small box for storing items.
Christopher's Note read as follows:
Dear Christopher,
When you left your family they searched for you. They searched for years before they gave up. Your wife turned to alcohol and then the church. Your daughter missed her father. Her life got worse and worse. She turned to drugs. She died about a year ago. That's when your wife turned to the church. I suppose knowing this now. Your death in this game might be a blessing. Therefore... I'm rooting for you.
The Dying Man.
P.S. If anyone sees this note before you die. Everyone dies. Be sure to keep it safe. (Every note seems to say this)
Marian's Note was a bit different.
Dear Marian,
You're right. It was your fault. They took you in from the street. They fed you and let you sleep and how did you repay them? You brought The Rake to them. He killed them because of you. He killed them to punish you. Just like your family was killed. Always because of you. You know that being in the company of others gets them killed and yet you came here anyway? You came here and this is your punishment. You deserve your death. It will be just.
The Dying Man
(And of course the same message)
Lastly Michael. The one The Dying Man killed. His note seemed almost like a threat.
Dear Michael,
Do you remember when I came for you last? Have you missed me? I bet you were surprised to see me. You spurned me once and this is my revenge, but don't think this is all about you. You're just a bonus.
The Dying Man
and the same message.
Later we had another conversation.
Nina: Alright so. It would appear that these notes contain personal information and seem to imply that the victims so far were what you-
She paused and then seemingly corrected herself on something.
Nina: Well they were innocents.
Ian: I'm not entirely sure about that. The last note at least kind of puts the murder into new light. It was immediately assumed they were killed and branded by The Dying Man, but having read it perhaps not. Perhaps The Dying Man possessed him as vengeance and someone found out. Perhaps they branded him like that to try and inform us?
Nina: That... That is possible I suppose. The Dying Man is one of our killers so if he is dead this might be a good thing, but I have trouble believing we could be so, lucky. As well it is still worrisome that someone took it upon themselves to kill The Dying Man instead of telling us or why they wouldn't tell us now.
Ian: I suppose. Still I choose to believe that The Dying Man is at least for now dead.
Martin: At least for now?
Ian: Well we can't expect that The Dying Man put himself in any real danger here. This was probably just one of many of this shard which is just one of many of The Dying Man in general.
Martin: Oh yes of course.
Emily: So, what do we do now?
Nina: I don't know.
Ian: There's got to be a way to figure things out. The good news is we have a record of everything that's happening. Whether it was intentional or not the addition of a narrator will probably be very helpful.
Me: Well thanks, though I feel like it's probably not a good idea to emphasize my importance...
Ian: No worries. It's not like killing you would actually make the narrator less useful, it would just be some else doing it.
Me: Yeah... Though I'm fairly attached to being alive so I'd rather not be made a target.
Nina: You worry too much.
Me: I think I'm worrying exactly the right amount...
Martin: Look, you don't have to worry about anything. We all know you're not a threat to anyone. It's fairly obvious who's likely to die next.
Nina: What do you mean?
Martin: Isn't it obvious? You and Ian. You've been taking charge from the beginning. If you're not killers yourselves than any intelligent killer is going to realize that killing you will plunge the rest of us into anarchy. People are sheep and if you get rid of the shepherds what will they do?
Ian: Well aren't you nice.
Emily: You know Martin. This is the second time you've suggested something that was detrimental to our survival. The last time you did it was Marian who called you out on it.
Martin: You trying to suggest something?
Nina: It's not an absurd suggestion. You tried to out the cop last time and this time you seem to be trying to guide the killers...
Martin: You think I'm a killer then? What are you going to do about it?
At which point he drew out a knife and stabbed it into the table and glared at everyone.
There was a tense atmosphere and then... the curfew announcement came.
Martin grabbed his knife from the table and walked off and the rest of us headed back to our rooms.
I think I might be in danger this time...
Oh also apparently The Dying Man is happy with me. He made a comment on my previous post. Aren't you lucky you get to choose which of us he murders if you can figure out who I am.
Also... I found my note hidden under my bed. I can't tell you what it says of course.
Hopefully I'll still be your narrator tomorrow...
We found
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Day 1
He said someone would have to keep a record. He wants to be sure that the story of what happened won't die with us. He wants people to know what he's doing. Given the nature of "the game" I happily volunteered to take the role of narrator.
As such my first job will be to explain what happened.
You might stumble upon this not knowing anything about it and as much as I hate to bring you into this, if you are to read our story you should understand what's going on.
There are monsters. Quite a lot of them in fact. Seems like there's more popping up every few years. It's not actually surprising really. As fear spreads it's only natural that new things to be afraid of might be born in the climate of terror and of course as more sources of fear are born the larger number of fears causes the fear to spread further and faster and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that will probably not end until there's no one left to be afraid. Again it's not surprising. It's just horribly depressing and frightening.
Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent... I am still... somewhat adjusting to the current scenario which I will explain as soon as I get the rest of these explanations out.
So, yes there are monsters. They are collectively referred to as The Fears by most people who know of them and they represent or are the source of everything we fear. Some of them having existed since the first thinking creature stood alone in the dark and wondered if there was something standing beside him he couldn't see. At the moment at least in our story there are only two of any real importance. The creatures known as The Wooden Girl and The Dying Man. I... Can't say I'm superbly knowledgeable about these two. I know the first controls humans like puppets with, usually, invisible strings and the other is a body jumper who can transfer from body to body with a touch. Possessing people and using them to it's own ends before jumping again usually leaving them dead in the process.
I am what is called a Runner. Someone who garnered the attention of one of these creatures and decided, instead of fighting or giving in, to just run away and hope that it won't catch them. Being a runner is not fun. It's all the downsides of being homeless, with the added extra of having a supernatural hit put out on you.
As a result the standard runner is an isolationist. Distrustful and sometimes quick to violence. Many of them had families they either saw killed or who they had to leave behind in a hurry when they decided to run away.
Myself included. I had a mother, a father and a younger and older brother. The last I saw of them they were all still alive.
Sorry, went off topic a bit there again. What I meant to say is that is what The Standard Runner would be, except such a life is not feasible. A runner who stays alone and refuses help from others, doesn't last long. Most runners don't last long, but I mean even for a runner they don't. This is because there is a specific one of The Fears who preys exclusively on those who isolate themselves.
So, for a runner there's no way to know who you can trust, but eschewing all social interaction with others will get you killed. It's an endless game of paranoia and hopeless gambles.
Now then I can explain what's going on here. Sorry that took so long.
A bunch of other runners and I took a gamble and lost. There's a community among runners... At least in a sense. Runners will leave signs and messages for others who might follow in their footsteps and some are even fairly well known. One such well known and respected member of the community started spreading around a message.
"Survival through Unity" not a new idea, by any stretch of the imagination. It was the simple time tested idea that we are stronger together. Even with hundreds of us we couldn't fight off one of The Fears, but we could at least perhaps better watch each others backs. It had been done before to varying levels of success and so a few of us went for it. The man's name was Randall Kriegan. He wasn't a legendary figure among runners or anything. He wasn't Proxiehunter for instance, but in our sort of locale he was well enough known.
He gave us coded messages leading us to a meeting ground. It was in a cave. Now, you might be thinking, this already sounds like a bad idea, but honestly, not so much. I mean it wasn't a great idea, but assuming he could be trusted a cave was about as safe as anywhere else and was less likely to be found unintentionally by our enemies.
We arrived there was about 12 of us. He shook each of our hands and told us that this was a temporary base, but just in case things went wrong he had managed to gather supplies. A large amount of non-perishable food, Safe bottled water, back up weaponry (As a runner we pretty much all had our own weapons anyway. You never know when you might have to stab someone to stop them from stabbing you) and various flashlights, lanterns and candles to light the place in case we end up having to stay for a while.
He gave us some time to meet and greet and explore the place and then went and stood at the entrance to the cave to give his speech. The speech he gave, however, was nothing like we expected. I'll try my best to transcribe it from memory.
"Hello, all of you who know me know me as Randall Kriegan. However, that is not my name. It was once, but not anymore. Most of you will still know my new name. They call me The Dying Man." At this point he drew a gun and kept it pointed at us to make sure no one tried anything, "I have touched all of you and infected one of you. Alongside that, one of you is a servant in disguise, A puppet in fact, another of you is a murderer and lastly there is an undercover police officer who is currently getting much more than they bargained for when they decided to follow an anonymous tip about a strange gathering in a cave. I brought all of you here to play a game. It's a simple game, those familiar with it might already recognize the set-up. You will all be trapped down here for a month. There is food and water enough to survive for a month. To The puppet the nurderer and myself . Good luck killing everyone without being found. To everyone else good luck finding and killing them before they kill you. The murderer and cop are completely unaware of the fears so that should be fun. Lastly I'll need someone to record everything that happens. One of you will narrate these events. If they die someone else will take their place. Otherwise you will all die. Let the game begin," he said and then triggered a cave in that crushed him and sealed the entire cave. No way in and no way out. With three people who want to kill us and possibly a jumpy confused cop.
There are as I said 12 of us.
Here is the full list in alphabetical order.
Christopher Lance
Ellie Vasteren
Emily Senegal
Heather Korwin
Ian Cornwall
Isaac Duvall
Marian Hopper.
Martin Kilpatrick
Michael Corsack
Nathaniel Timbarris
Nina Douglas
Tanya Maple
One of these is a murderer, one of these is a puppet, one is the dying man and one is a cop who got themselves involved in an unfortunate situation.
After the announcement there was a small meeting. I will transcribe everything that was said and by who said it.
Emily: Alright, so this is a pretty bad situation we're in, but it's not hopeless. Well assuming The Dying Man wasn't lying anyway.
Martin: How is this not hopeless. There are three people here who want to kill us.
Ian: But they're not working together. We are. Everyone here either came with the intent of violence or was a runner that means we all have weapons on us. Most runners carry knives or small easily concealed weapons. A servant or murderer trying to stay hidden will probably have a concealed weapon as well.
Nina: The Police Officer might have a gun concealed.
Ian: Yeah, the cop probably has a gun. So, we have three people working individually to try and kill 11 other people with weapons as well. One of whom has a gun. So, they're not likely to reveal themselves if they have a choice. They're going to try and be subtle about it. Kill us when they can without getting caught.
Michael: Perhaps we can try and figure this out. We know that most of us are runners. So if we each talk about what fear we were running from that might help?
Nathaniel: The Dying Man and Puppet will be able to lie, but we'd know who the cop and murderer are since they don't know anything about the Fears.
Nina: No. While it would let us know who the cop and murderer are it also let's the Puppet and Murderer know who the cop is. Which is a bad idea. They'll be guaranteed to try and kill the cop and if they do they'll get the cop's gun and then we're all in trouble. It's better that we try and find a way to out the killers without outing the cop unless it's absolutely necessary.
Marian: Who cares. The Dying Man undoubtedly already knows who everyone is.
Emily: Yeah, but he'll undoubtedly play by the rules he set. He wouldn't want to ruin the game.
Martin: Well whatsisname said we all have concealed weapons. Why don't we all show our weapons. That way we might learn something.
Nina: Yeah and expose the cop.
Marian: Yeah. What are you an idiot? We just talked about how we don't want to expose the cop.
Martin: Geez sorry I was just making a suggestion.
An announcement then arrived though none of us could locate any speakers...
"Hey guys it's Dying Man Randall. I'm still dead, but this is a prerecorded message. The end of the first day is coming. Now you may have noticed despite the cave being sealed you are all still able to breathe. That is because there is a very complex system that is pumping air through the cave. In the event that you break the rules I set. That system will be turned off and you will all die. So, I hope one of you agreed to be my little narrator," (I informed the others that I would do it) "Aside from that here's another rule. Curfew. At curfew you must all go to sleep. I showed you each your rooms when you first arrived. Go to your rooms. You don't have to actually go to sleep, but you must go to your room. Curfew starts now and will be announced on time each day from now on. There will also be an announcement when the curfew is over. Also, assuming there is a narrator you will find a laptop in the crate marked other necessary supplies. Now then off to your rooms. I look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings," the announcement ended and I grabbed the laptop and we all headed to our rooms.
We all had flashlights, but nevertheless the cave was very dark. It would not be difficult to sneak between rooms during the night. I'm writing this now facing the entrance to my room. I don't think I'll be able to sleep. The laptop has internet access... Might just watch funny videos all night and hope no one comes to kill me.
I think I'll be fine though. Taking the narrator position was a bit of a stroke of genius. I'm hoping they'll leave me alive cause no one else wants to potentially end up being the narrator and they know if I die and no one takes my place we all die.
Even if that's wrong I can at least assume The Dying Man won't kill me. Hopefully.
I... Pray I'll be able to talk to you all again tomorrow.
As such my first job will be to explain what happened.
You might stumble upon this not knowing anything about it and as much as I hate to bring you into this, if you are to read our story you should understand what's going on.
There are monsters. Quite a lot of them in fact. Seems like there's more popping up every few years. It's not actually surprising really. As fear spreads it's only natural that new things to be afraid of might be born in the climate of terror and of course as more sources of fear are born the larger number of fears causes the fear to spread further and faster and it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle that will probably not end until there's no one left to be afraid. Again it's not surprising. It's just horribly depressing and frightening.
Sorry, I went off on a bit of a tangent... I am still... somewhat adjusting to the current scenario which I will explain as soon as I get the rest of these explanations out.
So, yes there are monsters. They are collectively referred to as The Fears by most people who know of them and they represent or are the source of everything we fear. Some of them having existed since the first thinking creature stood alone in the dark and wondered if there was something standing beside him he couldn't see. At the moment at least in our story there are only two of any real importance. The creatures known as The Wooden Girl and The Dying Man. I... Can't say I'm superbly knowledgeable about these two. I know the first controls humans like puppets with, usually, invisible strings and the other is a body jumper who can transfer from body to body with a touch. Possessing people and using them to it's own ends before jumping again usually leaving them dead in the process.
I am what is called a Runner. Someone who garnered the attention of one of these creatures and decided, instead of fighting or giving in, to just run away and hope that it won't catch them. Being a runner is not fun. It's all the downsides of being homeless, with the added extra of having a supernatural hit put out on you.
As a result the standard runner is an isolationist. Distrustful and sometimes quick to violence. Many of them had families they either saw killed or who they had to leave behind in a hurry when they decided to run away.
Myself included. I had a mother, a father and a younger and older brother. The last I saw of them they were all still alive.
Sorry, went off topic a bit there again. What I meant to say is that is what The Standard Runner would be, except such a life is not feasible. A runner who stays alone and refuses help from others, doesn't last long. Most runners don't last long, but I mean even for a runner they don't. This is because there is a specific one of The Fears who preys exclusively on those who isolate themselves.
So, for a runner there's no way to know who you can trust, but eschewing all social interaction with others will get you killed. It's an endless game of paranoia and hopeless gambles.
Now then I can explain what's going on here. Sorry that took so long.
A bunch of other runners and I took a gamble and lost. There's a community among runners... At least in a sense. Runners will leave signs and messages for others who might follow in their footsteps and some are even fairly well known. One such well known and respected member of the community started spreading around a message.
"Survival through Unity" not a new idea, by any stretch of the imagination. It was the simple time tested idea that we are stronger together. Even with hundreds of us we couldn't fight off one of The Fears, but we could at least perhaps better watch each others backs. It had been done before to varying levels of success and so a few of us went for it. The man's name was Randall Kriegan. He wasn't a legendary figure among runners or anything. He wasn't Proxiehunter for instance, but in our sort of locale he was well enough known.
He gave us coded messages leading us to a meeting ground. It was in a cave. Now, you might be thinking, this already sounds like a bad idea, but honestly, not so much. I mean it wasn't a great idea, but assuming he could be trusted a cave was about as safe as anywhere else and was less likely to be found unintentionally by our enemies.
We arrived there was about 12 of us. He shook each of our hands and told us that this was a temporary base, but just in case things went wrong he had managed to gather supplies. A large amount of non-perishable food, Safe bottled water, back up weaponry (As a runner we pretty much all had our own weapons anyway. You never know when you might have to stab someone to stop them from stabbing you) and various flashlights, lanterns and candles to light the place in case we end up having to stay for a while.
He gave us some time to meet and greet and explore the place and then went and stood at the entrance to the cave to give his speech. The speech he gave, however, was nothing like we expected. I'll try my best to transcribe it from memory.
"Hello, all of you who know me know me as Randall Kriegan. However, that is not my name. It was once, but not anymore. Most of you will still know my new name. They call me The Dying Man." At this point he drew a gun and kept it pointed at us to make sure no one tried anything, "I have touched all of you and infected one of you. Alongside that, one of you is a servant in disguise, A puppet in fact, another of you is a murderer and lastly there is an undercover police officer who is currently getting much more than they bargained for when they decided to follow an anonymous tip about a strange gathering in a cave. I brought all of you here to play a game. It's a simple game, those familiar with it might already recognize the set-up. You will all be trapped down here for a month. There is food and water enough to survive for a month. To The puppet the nurderer and myself . Good luck killing everyone without being found. To everyone else good luck finding and killing them before they kill you. The murderer and cop are completely unaware of the fears so that should be fun. Lastly I'll need someone to record everything that happens. One of you will narrate these events. If they die someone else will take their place. Otherwise you will all die. Let the game begin," he said and then triggered a cave in that crushed him and sealed the entire cave. No way in and no way out. With three people who want to kill us and possibly a jumpy confused cop.
There are as I said 12 of us.
Here is the full list in alphabetical order.
Christopher Lance
Ellie Vasteren
Emily Senegal
Heather Korwin
Ian Cornwall
Isaac Duvall
Marian Hopper.
Martin Kilpatrick
Michael Corsack
Nathaniel Timbarris
Nina Douglas
Tanya Maple
One of these is a murderer, one of these is a puppet, one is the dying man and one is a cop who got themselves involved in an unfortunate situation.
After the announcement there was a small meeting. I will transcribe everything that was said and by who said it.
Emily: Alright, so this is a pretty bad situation we're in, but it's not hopeless. Well assuming The Dying Man wasn't lying anyway.
Martin: How is this not hopeless. There are three people here who want to kill us.
Ian: But they're not working together. We are. Everyone here either came with the intent of violence or was a runner that means we all have weapons on us. Most runners carry knives or small easily concealed weapons. A servant or murderer trying to stay hidden will probably have a concealed weapon as well.
Nina: The Police Officer might have a gun concealed.
Ian: Yeah, the cop probably has a gun. So, we have three people working individually to try and kill 11 other people with weapons as well. One of whom has a gun. So, they're not likely to reveal themselves if they have a choice. They're going to try and be subtle about it. Kill us when they can without getting caught.
Michael: Perhaps we can try and figure this out. We know that most of us are runners. So if we each talk about what fear we were running from that might help?
Nathaniel: The Dying Man and Puppet will be able to lie, but we'd know who the cop and murderer are since they don't know anything about the Fears.
Nina: No. While it would let us know who the cop and murderer are it also let's the Puppet and Murderer know who the cop is. Which is a bad idea. They'll be guaranteed to try and kill the cop and if they do they'll get the cop's gun and then we're all in trouble. It's better that we try and find a way to out the killers without outing the cop unless it's absolutely necessary.
Marian: Who cares. The Dying Man undoubtedly already knows who everyone is.
Emily: Yeah, but he'll undoubtedly play by the rules he set. He wouldn't want to ruin the game.
Martin: Well whatsisname said we all have concealed weapons. Why don't we all show our weapons. That way we might learn something.
Nina: Yeah and expose the cop.
Marian: Yeah. What are you an idiot? We just talked about how we don't want to expose the cop.
Martin: Geez sorry I was just making a suggestion.
An announcement then arrived though none of us could locate any speakers...
"Hey guys it's Dying Man Randall. I'm still dead, but this is a prerecorded message. The end of the first day is coming. Now you may have noticed despite the cave being sealed you are all still able to breathe. That is because there is a very complex system that is pumping air through the cave. In the event that you break the rules I set. That system will be turned off and you will all die. So, I hope one of you agreed to be my little narrator," (I informed the others that I would do it) "Aside from that here's another rule. Curfew. At curfew you must all go to sleep. I showed you each your rooms when you first arrived. Go to your rooms. You don't have to actually go to sleep, but you must go to your room. Curfew starts now and will be announced on time each day from now on. There will also be an announcement when the curfew is over. Also, assuming there is a narrator you will find a laptop in the crate marked other necessary supplies. Now then off to your rooms. I look forward to seeing what tomorrow brings," the announcement ended and I grabbed the laptop and we all headed to our rooms.
We all had flashlights, but nevertheless the cave was very dark. It would not be difficult to sneak between rooms during the night. I'm writing this now facing the entrance to my room. I don't think I'll be able to sleep. The laptop has internet access... Might just watch funny videos all night and hope no one comes to kill me.
I think I'll be fine though. Taking the narrator position was a bit of a stroke of genius. I'm hoping they'll leave me alive cause no one else wants to potentially end up being the narrator and they know if I die and no one takes my place we all die.
Even if that's wrong I can at least assume The Dying Man won't kill me. Hopefully.
I... Pray I'll be able to talk to you all again tomorrow.
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