RATATOSKR

[soulping]

Enjoy some appropriate music while you wait ♥

Your runner is Cassandra (sociologize), please ping them if you have any questions!

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[soulping]

[As soon as you enter the game, you find yourself in a vast, seemingly endless forest. The wind blows cold and harsh, whistling through the trees, and you can barely see what’s in front of you. The only light in the area comes from the moon shining down upon you, mostly blocked by the thick branches twisting together overhead. In the distance, it's almost as if you can see and here flashes of movement, moments of sound (a wolf howling, the sound of crying, or even that of screams). Try as you might, you can't tell where any of these sounds come from... Perhaps it would be best to explore and find out. Stranger yet, you feel as if you must explore...

From here, you can go either left or right. The two paths are indistinguishable from each other.]

[skypsalms]

[ Well she's not the bravest of the rats and is going to be kind of...standing around and looking at things anxiously. ]

... I really don't like it here.

[3g]

[ The 'must explore' feeling is weirdly familiar. Like he's had places to go and things to know before. ]

Creepy trees, chilling atmosphere, bigass moon. What's not to like?

[skypsalms]

W, well I suppose the moon is kind of nice.

[ Taking a looks see about the different paths. ]

Not much to say between the two, huh?

[secretofthefox]

[He's still mute (and has no paper this time, l-lol), but he can, at least, put a hand on her shoulder and try to convey that it'll be okay.]

[skypsalms]

[ Gale'll appreciate it! She'll give him a smile for the comfort. ]

[secretofthefox]

[...well. On the one hand it's not unexpected that powers are off.

But when he's digging into his pocket and not finding his scraps of paper... yeah that's going to be fun when he's still got time on his week of muteness.]

[skypsalms]

[ It'S OKAY SOL. CHURCH AND GALE WILL DO LOTS OF TALKING FOR YOU. ]

[secretofthefox]

[Doesn't change the difficulty in sharing his own opinions, but that's. appreciated.]

[soulping]

[heading right, you find that the path narrows, as though the trees are slowly beginning to close in on you. It makes it difficult to walk as a group, and soon you have to go one by one, or else a branch may smack you in the face.

As you proceed, however, you begin to feel a prickle on the back of your neck, as though something's watching your group as they walk along. The temperature begins to drop, the further you get, until you can see your breath misting out in front of you - but just barely.

And then you see it, up ahead and just to the side of the path - a light, moving slowly through the trees, almost hovering there. It seems to tempt you to follow it, to leave the path and go with it between the low-hanging branches.

You can either follow the tempting light, or remain on the path]

[skypsalms]

[ NOPE NOPE NOPE SHE DOESN'T LIKE THIS AT ALL... BUT!! She's going to be brave and try to keep her nerves under control to the best of her abilities. ]

[secretofthefox]

[He'll try and keep hold of your hand while walking, even if/when forced into single file. And when he notices you're nervous he'll gently squeeze it so that you know you're not alone, at least.

Even if he's not exactly happy either.]

[skypsalms]

[ She'll really appreciate the squeeze and give one back herself. As long as they have each other, she'll be able to make it out okay.

Something about strength in numbers, right? She'll be do her best to stand tall. ]

[3g]

[ HE WANTS TO FOLLOW IT.

BUT LOGIC. ]

Leaving the path is probably bad. But sometimes these games are so fucking weird that the light might be like, a god damn unicorn or something.

[skypsalms]

I, isn't it in horror movies that the light is also some sort of trap or set up for even worse things to come?

[ HORROR MOVIE TROPE TIME... who dies first? ]

[soulping]

[Soon, you come to a large building. There isn’t much to be found on the outskirts of the place, but should you follow the urge to enter the space, you’ll find what once might have been a lobby of some kind. A layer of dust covers a plain tile floor, and there’s a receptionist’s desk near the entrance - of course, there’s nobody to be found behind it any longer.

What’s more notable than the look of the place, however, is the sound. As soon as you enter, a speaker high above crackles to life, and a feminine voice begins speaking.]

The doctor will see you now. The doctor will s̛͙̻̜͉͌̇̓͊̽͡ͅȩ̷̯̯̼̤̘̺̫̠ͤ̆̍̔͗͜ę̺̘̪̬͊̐͌ ̘͎̥͖ͭ̎͌̈́͋̌̐͛́y̶̸̡̘̮̪͉͔̥̑̑̃ö̶̴̺͇̮̥͖̩̆u̡̧̟͓̯̮ͤͧ̈́ͦ̽̈̆͘ ̘̥͕̙̍͒̾̓͛̌ͭ͑ͩ͢͞n̶̦̪̞ͫ̾̂o͖ͮ̂̒͒ͤ͗ͪ̉͞w͇̩̜͎̹̩̹̅̇̔.̰̤̳͖͔̫̣̭̟̓̃͊̿ͬ͞͡ ̨̠͙̺̖̹̠ͤͧ͋Ť̨̢̟͉̟͔͐̑̌hͨ̄̒̀̏ͥ̌҉̡͓͉e̛͔̯̰̖̭͚͚ͤ̈͆ͧ̀ ̢̤̖̥̮̮̮̞̊͒̀d̦ͥ̋́ͥ̽̃o͈̠̼̤̩̭ͯ̊̾̃̔ͩ͊̀c͙̠̲̞̭̤͒̇ͦͨ́͡t̘̣̬̙ͪ̈ó̸̠̟̳̭̪̖́̓̾̓̓̽̀ͅṙ̸̷͑͂ͣ̂ͩͭ̎҉̦̞̦͚̞̖ ͈̭͔̤̲̺̻̼͒ͥ͌̇͘w̷̸͎͈̥̞̺͗̊ͭ̆͛ì̻̬͙̜̜̝͍̳͗̌̋̽̓̉l͇̪̝̱̤̳̲͓̹ͥl̴͓͙͙̪̻̳̟͈͇̈̊̕ ̶̨̼̘̜̯̟̫̟̳̋͂s̴̪͍̺̄̿̇͛͂̓̚͟é͈͉̠̙̭ͭė̸̛̯̼̮͖͖̰̠̩̈ ̘̮̙̻̭͓̟͈̒ͭ̊̆ͯ̑̕͘y̸͍̜͍̼̫̣͚ͫͮ͑ͣ̏͟ͅo͎͍͎͑ͧͩ͛u̺̦ͮ͗̽ͪ̑͌̄͑-̜͖̬̼̲̯͕͚̍̓̀͢-͔͇͍̳̳̩̙̗̍

[The voice comes to a halt with a long, chilling scream, interrupted by an unhinged laugh - and then the sounds stop altogether, fading to an eerie silence.

There are two doors, one to the left and one to the right.]

[3g]

[ Well, fuck. ]

Jesus, couldn't be that easy.

[ On the ground, he (very messily) writes IF THIS ISN'T SCRATCHED OUT BY THE TIME YOU GET HERE, DON'T GO LEFT.

And then he goes left. ]

[soulping]

[you go left]

[soulping]

[You enter the hallway. It's even filthier than the lobby. The windows are broken and poorly boarded up. Above the doorway, the words "PSYCH WARD" are written in what looks to be blood. Through the door, you can hear screams and sobs; it sounds like a great number or people are crying out for help.

Will you go to them, or will you look around beforehand?]

[3g]

[ This isn't easy. He wants to ignore them, and knows he should.

And unless they're idiots, waiting for the rest of his team shouldn't work.

"I'll leave the maze!" he said, "It'll be great!" he said.

He's an asshole, but he's not the biggest asshole. He'll go to them eventually, but for now he takes a look around. ]

Yeah, yeah, just hold on a second. [ It's a bad idea, it's a bad idea. He knows better. ] Dunno what I can do for you all, though.

[ He idly floats around the room for a few minutes, checking out everything. ]

[soulping]

[there's nothing to be found but debris and old hospital equipment]

[soulping]

[As soon as you enter this room, it's obvious where the sounds were coming from. There are rows upon rows of beds, each with a patient strapped firmly down; what's more, most of those patients is screaming and thrashing around under the restraints. The ones that aren't screaming are sobbing and moaning.

The perceptive will notice that each patient looks severely underweight. When one of them sees you, they start crying out to you to help them, to let them go. Once one of them starts, the rest begin to beg and plead as well.

What will you do?]

[3g]

Ah, shit.

[ It's a psych ward, but he knows this isn't how you treat people—not anyone. Ever. Still, he's cautious—can he even remove the restraints with tiny arms? ]

Okay, uh, stop screaming. I'll help you, just—just let me look around for a minute.

[ Time to take a look around the screamy room. ]

[skypsalms]

[ OUT OF NOWHERE—here's someone who has been missing(??) for a while who is suddenly over by the thrashing patients trying to calm them down by telling them soothing or what she sees as soothing words. ] CHURCH!! [ Taking a breather to run to him. ] I'm so glad you're here! I... I don't know what to do. Th, they keep yelling a, and crying a, and... [ She Is Extremely Distressed. ]

[soulping]

[there are a lot of screamy people, strapped to beds, begging you to let them go.

There's a med kit tucked in a corner, but beyond that, nothing else worth noting]