Fandom 100 MONO ga ~ ta ~ ri

[Venchi1986]

OsvaldSalt: Need to make a chalk circle all around my home.

Normally Leo wouldn't believe something like was required for a game but he did just see a paintbrush and inkwell appear out of nowhere. For once he didn't envy Osvald for his house but he did wonder how Gyro managed to encircle his boat not to mention Sara and her entire Apartment Complex. He grabbed the paintbrush and inkwell and not wanting to walk any more than he had too went outside through his window.

As he drew the required circle around not just his house but the yard as well he realized the fence meant that he couldn't draw it perfectly and hoped that wouldn't be an issue.
It didn't take him long until he was done but he hoped that the fact it was a bit lopsided on o one side didn't ruin things. Using the same window he left through he went back into his room to check up on his computer.

 

[Squad141]

As you finish the majority of what can barely be described as a circle, a loud beep is heard from within your home, and a voice boosts across your yard and towards you;​

INSTRUCTIONS COMPLETE.

WAITING FOR OTHER PLAYERS...

TIP: HAVE ALL NECESSARY EQUIPMENT CAPTCHALOGUED AND/OR EQUIPPED. MAKE SURE ALL LOVED ONES ARE IN SAFE AND STABLE LOCATIONS. IT IS ADVISORY TO MOVE INDOORS.

The ink seems to glow for a second, probably as a means of confirming you had connected the shape, and returned to normal ink.
Venchi1986 ​

 

[Venchi1986]

Leo didn't know what was mean by safe and stable locations but Rhea and Sam were bot in their homes and his parents were no doubt on the way home from their jobs given the time. That left equipment. He had his Kusarigama on him but no idea what else he might need. Of course he grabbed his sketchbook, he would never go anywhere without it but other than that he had no idea. With that in mind he decided to just wander his house a bit and grab whatever he saw that could be useful.

This would be a lot easier if Leo knew what would happen but he decided to act on the assumption his house would be either teleported somewhere, or be filled with with all kind of new objects like the paintbrush. He started in the garage where he picked up some rope.

Squad141

 

[GrieveWriter]

PLEASE USE PROVIDED MATERIALS TO DRAW A CIRCLE AROUND PLAYING AREA.

Well.... shit....

Sara wasn't sure where the hell the spray can had come from, as she sure as hell never indulges in graffiti, but that wasn't the issue here. Her apartment complex was right on the Poverty line of Mumbai, meaning that young crippled girls usually weren't safe going unarmed. But Sara was fully aware of this, and wouldn't let threat of getting jumped in an alley =stand in the way of her and the increasingly tempting mysteries MONO offered. Gyro could say up and down how legit things were, but the sudden materialization of he spray can had reaffirmed that this wasn't just some indie game.

As if she needed more proof of that.

Sara went ahead and yanked her keytar out of the door, thanking the Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin for inspiring her own gains. Applying the Keytar to her Strife Specibus, she was suddenly far more confident in her ability to fend off assailants. She'd destroyed more Keytars than most would even see in their lifetimes, and had grown extremely competent at chopping the hell out of stuff. Even the most thuggish blade-wielding lunatic would be no match against her METAL-STYLE CHOP TECHNIQUE. Now armed and ready to get this marking business done with, Sara Captchalogued one of her laptops, her wallet, and wheeled over to one side of the room to bid farewell to her pretty okay snake pet, Bob.

Bob wasn't in much of a talking mood it seemed, content to just lay in the sun of her window and be lounge.

God... if only he could've been a tiger...

But Pet regrets were not for now, and soon Sara left her room and made her way to the front door of the Bellum Apartment. She realized that her Older Brother hadn't cleared up the glass on the floor left by that fallen lamp, but that could be taken care of later. Not far from the apartment door was an old elevator that she had to use, luckily none of her neighbors were up and about. Unimpeded, she took the elevator down to the first floor, with the sounds of movement outside prompting her to ready her keytar before exiting the rear of the complex.

In this part of town, oversight was rare, so marking the perimeter of the apartment would be fine as long as she didn't get held up by anyone. Unfortunately for her, upon making it to the front of the building, she was interrupted by a familiar sight: A lanky man in a uniform beside a delivery truck looking over bunch of packages. Upon noticing her spray painting a line around the building, the approached. This was the poor sap who often had to run deliveries to her apartment complex, and thus had interacted with Sara a number of times.

He gave her the expected spiel about being careful with spray paint, as it could be dangerous to her young lungs if improperly inhaled. It only took a small amount of poking fun at how frail his own constitution looked for him to back down on the topic, but then he seemed to recognize that what she was doing might count as something of a crime. Of course, his attempts to bring this up with her resulted in mocking, as a stringy man-child such as himself should focus more on funding an exercise routine and dealing with those pathetic things he called limbs rather than potential delinquency.

After sending him moping back to his truck, Sara resumed her spraying. However, she didn't get far before being distracted by something.

Across the street, she could see that one of the most epic animals on the plant had managed to tear his way through the wooden fence that acted as his enclosure. Hailing from the bad part of town with a bad attitude to match, Brutus was an absolute Unit of a Dog that pretty much owned the entire area around his owner's house. Anything passing by was a threat, and the fence had born the damage of holding him back for months. It only seemed reasonable that he'd have been able to break through eventually, but to think it had to be today of all days. Luckily for her, Brutus still had his chain on that kept him secure to his post, but the broken fence had allowed him to drag a garbage can into his yard, which he was now savagely mauling.

Sara: Yeah, Brutus! You teach that asshole garbage bin where it stands on the pecking order!!!

She couldn't help it, encouraging his metal displays of unrepentant violence was second nature. Unfortunately, Brutus took notice of her, and immediately forewent the garbage can and slammed against the fence again as he barked harshly at her. Suddenly the ambient sounds of the city were replaced with his ferocious barking, making Sara sigh in delight as she resumed spraying the area around the building.

Soon it was complete, and with her task done she was eager to get back inside and see what her efforts had wrought. However, almost a split second after she finished she heard the sound of something loud smashing in the distance. She briefly wondered what it could be, until she swore she could hear the violent barking of Brutus growing louder. Sara glanced behind herself for only a split second before releasing a number of highly controversial expletives upon seeing that Brutus had actually managed to uproot the iron pole his chain had led to. Leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, the hound tore the garbage behind his enclosure and barreled towards her. It was here that Sara once again thanked the great Wrestlers of the world, as her arms began burning the rubber of her chair faster than she could say Holy Goddamn Shit, He be Loose.

Practically crashing through the rear door of her apartment complex, Sara reached back and pulled the door closed mere seconds before Brutus crashed into it like a raging bull. Yet even as he snarled and roared for what could only be her complete eradication, Sara couldn't help but feel fondness for the bloodthirsty mutt, the level of Metal he'd just achieved in her eyes reaching new heights.

Making her way back up to her Apartment, Sara finally rolled her way back into her apartment. Unable to resist the urge to knock back a can of Gut-Runner Energy, the Adrenaline of being pursued by her Canine Neighbor wearing off far too fast for her liking. As she rooted around in the fridge and shoved aside her Badass Brother's bags of suspicious material, she finally procured a can, figuring she'd check in with the crew first.

PumpingHeart: Went and did the thing
PumpingHeart: Brutus broke out and nearly mauled the absolute hell out of me.
PumpingHeart: Couldn't be more proud of him if I tried
PumpingHeart: #theygrowupsofast

 

[Squad141]

A loud noise, similar to a beep, emanates from the monitor currently running MONO, and a new series of instructions appear.​

INSTRUCTIONS COMPLETE.

WAITING FOR OTHER PLAYERS...

TIP: HAVE ALL NECESSARY EQUIPMENT CAPTCHALOGUED AND/OR EQUIPPED. MAKE SURE ALL LOVED ONES ARE IN SAFE AND STABLE LOCATIONS. IT IS ADVISORY TO MOVE INDOORS.

As the text finishes writing itself on your screen, you hear a concerned barking noise from outdoors. While you may have experienced all the chasing you'd like, you get curious and leave your room to look out the window. It appears like Brutus is cowering, something you've never seen him do. He appears to be looping around the actions of barking at the area where you sprayed the circle, cowering, then clawing at the door, attempting to get in. You wonder why...?
GrieveWriter ​

 

[Orikanyo]

Finally...

the certain young man who had been speeding himself up to get the encircling done finally managed to finish the damn thing. For extra measure, he went down from the bars of the main gate and drew the circle upon the ground, just to be certain if the chalk on the bars of the gate didn't work. His arm ached from holding it out so much in the drawing, but thankfully, he had enough chalk to actually complete the thing.

He paused for a few seconds, examining his work, then remembering the fact it poofed into smoke the last time he didn't do it right. So he figured he should head back to the computer.

OsvaldSalt: Done, tiring as it may be, as master of the grounds I wont be defeated by something so simple.
OsvaldSalt: Hope you all are having an easier time of it.
OsvaldSalt: And not to be a bother, but perhaps mentioning your,
OsvaldSalt: Exceedingly wanted familial member
OsvaldSalt: Is home,
OsvaldSalt: Is a bad idea?

He gave his counsel as he rose up the stairs of his foyer... Suddenly... he got a song stuck in his head... Bonnie Tyler, holding out for a hero. Where did it come from? he didn't know, but sure, why not

...You got a feeling.. an odd feeling... you'll give some time for an enigmatic narrator to give some spooky narrative.

 

[Squad141]

ALL INSTRUCTIONS COMPLETE.

BEGINNING ENTRANCE EXAM...

While the three dots appear over and over again, Gyro appears to pipe up on Uboa-chan.​

Hydraroll404: So
Hydraroll404: Were none of you going to tell me that this game can materialize objects?
Hydraroll404: You were talking about some tasks earlier but I thought it was just like
Hydraroll404: a mini-game or something.
Hydraroll404: I just got done pulling a fishing line around the exterior of the boat because I thought my dad was just getting me to do my chores
Hydraroll404: Are we not going to discuss this? Like why

He was suddenly cut off by each of your computers beeping once more with a different message.​

BEGINNING ENTRANCE EXAM.

EXAM TITLE: 百物語 / THE CANDLE GAME.

INSTRUCTIONS: THE SPIRITS HAVE NOW AWAKENED, AND WILL BEGIN TO CONSUME THE PLAYING AREA FROM THE GROUND UP. BEFORE THE PLAYING AREA IS CONSUMED, PLEASE BLOW OUT THE MITAMA CANDLE LOCATED IN THE PLAYING AREA.

TIP: MITAMA CANDLES ARE UNIQUE, BUT THEY SHARE THE CHARACTERISTIC OF WANTING TO FLY. HOWEVER, THE SUMMONING CIRCLE WILL TRAP THEM WITHIN THE PLAYING AREA, THUS, SEARCHING HIGHER LEVELS MAY BE MOST EFFICIENT.

At each of your homes, the circle, be it black, or white, or messy, begins to glow a slow but dense purple. After a sudden burst, a small ripple of color flies into the air, giving you a glimpse of the invisible dome that has been transposed over your home.

Your screen updates, removing text altogether, and instead showing three empty circles in the form of a triangle. Clicking on the screen appears to do nothing.

You begin to hear a low drone from outside.
Orikanyo GamerKitty205 GrieveWriter Venchi1986 ​

 

[Orikanyo]

OsvaldSalt: Sorry, in truth I had expected everyone to be doing this.
OsvaldSalt: And, well, I was take away on a wave of curiosity.
OsvaldSalt: back to my room, lets see if I succeeded.

Entering your room you begin to feel... Ill at ease... Hmmm... The hairs on the back of your neck are standing, yes.. Danger is abound.. but from what. Your eyes scan the screen of the computer and read what is shown to you.

Mitama candle...

Huh, guess we will be japanese all the way in.

Mitama, honorable soul. Ties to the ichirei Shikon shinto belief theory, but this... Floating candle with it's name, well, who knows in truth...

...Wait...

Spirits will begin to consume the play area from the ground up...?

His eyes turn to the window, peeling back the curtain to witness the... Barrier... that had been set up outside. this was not his defense mechanism, nor did he know of anything that could produce such a thing.

This... Was disconcerting.

But what was worse now is the screen has turned into an array of symbols...

OsvaldSalt: I do believe the saying is.
OsvaldSalt: We are not in Kansas anymore.
OsvaldSalt: Be right back, I must go hunt a candle.

Already, you are at a severe disadvantage, your play ground is, admittedly in any sense, massive. And you have to find a candle before death encroaches upon you and, what you can imagine, eats you. Why are you so very on the go with this way of thinking? Well, this is hardly the first time you have been put head first into danger. And you had been preparing in your downtime for this eventuallity ever since you... Actually, ever.

It's only been a matter of time really, idle hands are the devil's play things.

You are suprised it wasn't some ancient evil curse from one of your artifacts that started hunting you. But you were certain to have enough protections in place to prevent such instances. Somethings just seem too evil to allow it to go unmaintained. given the fact this particular event was Japanese oriented... You fear for the worse in regards to the handful of old Japanese blades in the vault... Not to mention the other culturally significant pieces... You worry about the suits of armor... Those.. Well.. You'll have to mind...

OsvaldSalt: I wish you all well, I may have caused my own downfall.
OsvaldSalt: I shall check back in regular intervals.
OsvaldSalt: Untill then, going dark.

Swiping up to hide the chatting interface you begin activating a handful of things you have access to. First, you utilize share screen to get the computer's display on your phone for ease of access henceforth. This will aid against the long travel time back to the machine. Next, you rummage in a nearby closet and take out... Night vision goggles. you place them on your head. You next connect to the camera control center, you activate it's motion sensor and infrared.

This will notify you on locational disturbances via notification, if its in your home or outside, you will know.

Next, initiate controlled lockdown. Lights go dark save emergency lights and all windows become steel shuttered. You put on your goggles, and head out into the darkness of the halls...

Time to hunt..

 

[Venchi1986]

Not knowing what else to get right now Dan returned to his room where Gyro wrote something that surprised him.

Hydraroll404: So
Hydraroll404: Were none of you going to tell me that this game can materialize objects?

​

PoisonBullet: "I don't know about the others but I figured you had already marked your play area when you tried the code out."

He wanted to say more but the game automatically started something called Entrance Exam and while spirits eating his house sounded ridiculous MONO had proven weird enough that Leo was willing to accept it as the truth.


PoisonBullet: "Yeah good luck guys, Sara and Osvalt in particular."
PoisonBullet: "Sounds like you two willl really need it."


Given that he lived in an one floor house he figured he didn't worry about the height the candle could appear at, as long as he kept an eye on the ceiling. After quickly his own room was candle free he checked out the rest of the building including the garage.

It was only he had done so that he remembered his yard was part of his play area, as he rushed outside he hoped the candle wasn't floating somewhere out of reach and luckily it turned out to be sitting on the roof.

Leo's issue now was that he had to get to the roof before the spirits either finished eating everything inside the circle or worse himself.

 

[GamerKitty205]

xXPhoenix_FlareXx: idk, the rest of the game was pretty weird
xXPhoenix_FlareXx: so magical items wouldn't be too much of a stretch!
xXPhoenix_FlareXx: ...
xXPhoenix_FlareXx: I take that back, i have no idea why I didn't mention it earlier lol

You look back at the game. Oh, an entrance exam. You love exams. Okay, okay, this was a video game and not a school assignment so it would probably be pretty fun. Or at the very least more entertaining than standardized tests. You have to catch a flying candle. Suddenly you regret including your yard in the playing area. You really hope it's not above your roof or something.

The highest place in your house would probably be the attic. Well, some of the roof is higher, but going on the roof isn't exactly.... safe. And even if the candle isn't in the attic, the attic window is probably the easiest way to get onto the roof. A ladder is probably safer, but you don't think wasting time is a great idea. You really don't want to know what the game means when it says that the spirits "will begin to consume the playing area." You pull down the attic ladder and climb up it.

 

[Squad141]

The darkness seems to come alive, even with the glow of the goggles on your face. From outside, groans that echo through the dreams of children begin to pipe up, as the ground slowly rumbles. A faint purple glow can be seen beneath a few of the reinforced shutters.

Suddenly, something bright swiftly zips past you, entering from one side of the hall, up a staircase, and into another. The only thing that caught your eye was a quick flash of red, and what appeared to be writing on the incredibly swift object. Now knowing you have located your objective, you-

The sound of grinding stone stops you dead in your tracks. Turning around slowly, it appears that another incident will obstruct your path.

The ARCHANGEL MICHAEL stands solemnly behind you, spear in hand, and with a vibrant purple color appearing to flow from within the cracks in the statue.
Orikanyo
- - - - - - - - - -
The ink circle begins to vibrantly pulse, and before you know it, gaseous forms begin to take shape from the light that the circle was emitting. Soon, hands began to form, and as you panic to find a way to get higher, before a loud thwack is emitted from above.

The candle, glowing a faint pink, was lobbed a small folding ladder from atop the roof, and seems to be... laughing? Or giggling at the least, judging by its almost coy movements, and subtle shake up and down, running behind taller parts of the roof and back, like it's playfully taunting you.
Venchi1986
- - - - - - - - - - - -
As you venture up into the attic, the ambient noises from outside begin to slowly grow, with the glow covering most of the incredibly dusty and incredibly tiny attic window. Peering around, lots of old junk is present, much of which used to belong to either you as a child, or your sister when she was about your age.

The sudden appearance of your shadow prompts you to turn to your right, only to find a small lit candle with the kanji '奇魂' written top to bottom, emitting a pale blue flame. It floats there, purposefully, and barely moves when it notices you've seen it.
GamerKitty205 ​

 

[Orikanyo]

Yours eyes stare down the angellic guardian that now glowers down upon you from across the way, you begin to consider the somewhat dramatic irony of this being going after the master of the household it resides in. or perhaps, it seeks to bring judgement upon you. At this point, given all the evidence, you imagine a more japanese afterlife is on the way.

Should you be skewered by it's spear...

Thanks mum, really did so very well arming the eventual demise of your son.

Well, no time for long winded monologues.

it was time...!



...!!!!!



To run the fuck away!

With as little wiffle waffling as you can manage to begin to lad scamper straight the fuck outta there. You've watched, played and invested in enough horror games to know what happens when that thing catches you. And You, are in no way shape or form ready to fight a living statue.

Not to mention you don't have a weapon, you strife specibus deck is in your room in your desk. You didn't think you'd need to fight this early! or.. ever, in regards to the game! A peaceful time of playing a new game with others! No living statues brought forth by the depths of whatever japanese spirit seemed to like the damn statue in your foyer!

You follow the path the light took, anything was better than dealing with a marble archangel!

 

[Venchi1986]

The hands appearing all over freaked Leo out of course but at this point they didn't really surprise him. Not wanting to get caught and having no ladder he ran around the house, avoiding the house and looking for a way to get up. It wasn't easy and he got caught several times but he managed to free himself by either kicking or attacking the hands with his Kusarigama. Eventually he found a way up to the roof. Ignoring the cuts and bruises on his legs he carefully began climbing the ivy covered lattice really hoping it was strong enough to support him.

 

[GamerKitty205]

You look at the blue candle calmly floating in front of you. Well that's... nice? Underwhelming? Probably a bit of both. You're glad you don't have to claim onto the roof or try to catch a candle flying above your yard, but you expected something a bit more challenging. Like chasing the candle around the room, or having to dig through years of boxes and memories to find it. Nope, it's just sitting in the air behind you. It's almost too easy.

Well, you weren't about to stare at a horse present (that's the expression, right?) You reach out your hand to grab the candle and blow it out.

 

[GrieveWriter]

PumpingHeart: Aw what's a matter Gyro? Never had random crap randomly teleport in out of nowhere before?
PumpingHeart: Clearly Mama Sara's been way too lax with you boy!
PumpingHeart: Hol up, something's making a racket outside

After downing an entire can of Gut-Runner and daring her future self to blame anyone but her, Sara had finally made her way back to her room to get back to business. But before she could check whatever dumb rituals the game wanted her to do next the sound of something smashing outside led her to roll to a nearby window and yank it open. Glancing down, it didn't take her long for the smashing and wails to bring her attention to Brutus. He was calling for aid, howling at the door with a fear that Sara had believed to be impossible for him.

It was perplexing to the young Metal Head, Brutus had been one of the most metal things in a thirty mile radius ever since her family moved in. Sometimes, she wondered if she could risk tossing some cool shades onto his snout, since he clearly earned such a right. His destruction of the bounds which kept him stuck in his yard had only added to his metal appeal, and yet she could feel his cool factor draining away with every wail he released. What the hell had happened to him? Had becoming free from his enclosure shattered his sense of power? Was his captivity truly the basis for his bloodthirsty nature? The shock of freedom reducing him to that of a common stray?

Or maybe it had something to do with the ominous purple glow coming from the lines that Sara had just finished drawing, or the fact that it appeared that an invisible field of some kind had been transposed around the entire structure.

Either way, no excuse for letting your cool factor slip.

While she probably could've easily aided Brutus in his efforts to flee into the building, Sara wasn't in the business of helping cowards. He'd have to win back her respect first if he wanted any help from this cripple, and that would be the end of such thoughts.

Sara was about to return to her computer to complain about her lost respect for her favorite lethal pupper, surely at least Ossie would be able to relate to the sudden realization of someone you once respected revealing their inner cowardice. But before she could pull away from the window, she noticed something else odd beyond the confines of her building, something besides the glowing purple circle and the ominous transparent dome.

There was a shaking candle casually floating through the air outside her window, the massive flame it was producing was a completely metal black color that would probably be hell on the ozone if it wasn't trapped in here with you. Compared to the downfall of Brutus, this was clearly the new most metal thing close to her home, and Sara was quick to appreciate how cool a black floating candle was. It also came to mind that candle of that size probably shouldn't be able to produce a flame about the size of her head, but Sara knew that that which represented the Cool Factor of Metal couldn't be restrained by such silly notions of logic.

Besides it was probably more of the game's weird bullshit anyway, and Sara had learned not to get too deep into questioning it halfway through analyzing the code.

It was even shaking with intensity, as if an invisible hand was trembling as it held it.

Sara grinned as she turned back to her computer, wondering exactly how Gyro would react to hearing something like this. But upon returning to her computer, she found that her online pals were already talking about candles.

What?

And it seemed as if they were all search for them.

What?x2

Quickly turning back to the computer she'd set the game up on, Sara zeroed in on the cause to her friends' change in topic.

THE SPIRITS HAVE NOW AWAKENED, AND WILL BEGIN TO CONSUME THE PLAYING AREA FROM THE GROUND UP. BEFORE THE PLAYING AREA IS CONSUMED, PLEASE BLOW OUT THE MITAMA CANDLE LOCATED IN THE PLAYING AREA

WHATx3

Sara's head whipped towards her window again, beyond which the candle was still shakily floating. It whipped back to the computer screen again.

BEFORE THE PLAYING AREA IS CONSUMED, PLEASE BLOW OUT THE MITAMA CANDLE LOCATED IN THE PLAYING AREA

Then back to the candle floating outside approximately a yard and a half away from her window, then back to her computer.

BLOW OUT THE MITAMA CANDLE

Then back to the candle floating approximately eleven stories above any solid ground.

PumpingHeart: OH SHHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITTTTTTTTTTTT

Sara sat on the edge of her window and attempted to reached the janky candle with her keytar, but it was no use. Alas, her preferred smashing instrument was not long enough to reach the candle. She would require something longer to have a chance at catching the damn thing. It would be a battle between metal girl and metal candle, one that she would win in spite of just how cool that damn candle looked. With Brutus now out of the picture, there was only one who could become the dominant representation of Metal in this apartment complex.

Speaking of Brutus, Sara hadn't heard him wailing for a while. While she was at the window, she glanced down to see that the pupper wasn't by the locked door anymore. In fact, what had once been a locked door was now torn off its hinges and lying on the ground behind the building covered in teeth and claw marks. Fine, she'd give Brutus back some credit for his violent vandalization of her apartment building, but it would take more than a little wanton destruction to win her respect back.

Seeing that she was on some kind of arbitrary time limit, Sara figured that the fastest way to get that candle would be to go through her Older Brother's closet full of LONG AND OMINOUS TOOLS. Surely something in there would have the range needed to reach that damn candle without killing her. She'd be sure to inform her online pals, of course.

PumpingHeart: Candle Outside window, gonna have to borrow somethin from my Hyper Lethal SUPER CRIMINAL BROTHER to reach it.
PumpingHeart: Also, pretty sure Brutus just broke into my building, was pretty sappy over somethin a sec ago.
PumpingHeart: Anyway, TTYLXOX

 

[Squad141]

As you ascend, you begin to notice more and more shadows appearing from doorways as you dash forwards. Stopping, you realize that the angry red candle has cornered itself, and is now flipping out, moving erratically and angrily, obviously. Turning, you come to the realization that the figures you were seeing were not in fact an illusion, but your maids and butlers, as well as other hired staff, all of their eyes alight with purple energy, led by the marble angel, which majestically stands before you. With the candle so close, yet so far, you have no idea what to...

...

You didn't realize it before, but you're standing right next to your bedroom. In fact, it's the only doorframe not being bombarded by an angry worker or walking statue. However, a small light glows faintly from behind the crack at the bottom, though you are unsure whether that's from your window or the room itself.

You'll have to make a choice, it seems.
Orikanyo
- - - - - - - - - -
The hands reach for you as you get loose of their grasp, but as you climb the ivy for your house, the sound of flames giggling in the wind intensifies, as does the ominous moan of the deceased below you. Suddenly, you feel a tug, and looking down, notice the hands have evolved into torsos with ghoulish faces, that have drug themselves over to you. They have begun to scale the wall next to you, but even worse, seem to be clawing at the door to your house.

Just as you get worried for you family, the ivy you are holding onto becomes a dark violet, and begins to move. Below you, one of the ghosts has somehow put their hands inside the ivy, and is not causing it to animate. Phantasmal thorns grow as the pink light from above begins to fade, appearing to go further away on the roof from you.
Venchi1986
- - - - - - - - - - - -
As you reach for the candle, you feel like you reach and reach, yet cannot grasp it. Leaning forward, you figure out why. Looking down at your feet, your body is reversing itself, sliding backwards as you move forwards, some kind of anomaly keeping you from reaching your goal. You jump, and it does nothing, you jog, and you just get pushed back faster. After a while, you tire yourself out, and stop for a second to catch your breath.

You don't stop moving backwards.

Peering over your shoulder, you can now make out another light source behind you.

Purple embodiments of childhood hopes and dreams, photographs and old art, animated, stand behind you intimidatingly, as a large hole sits open in the middle of all of them. And from the light you have so far, it doesn't look like your attic wall is on the other side. In fact, it seems like nothing exists behind the purple mass of objects that blocks your progress.
GamerKitty205
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
You open the closet, hoping for anything long and grabby, and begin to dig through the strange paraphernelia...

Looks like you're gonna be here for a while, or at least you thought, until you hear a noise behind you, and-

The candle has now burned its way through the window, but instead of it being alone, a black entity holds it. For some reason, you can't see its face, but it isn't like it doesn't have one. It's like you can't decide what its face looks like. After you back up, ready to through as many synthetic instruments as you can at it, it grows slightly taller and kneels down where it stands, the groaning nearly drowning it out as the black leap off the candle and the figure holding the item.

It's your brother. He looks at you. He is smiling. A bag of money sits on his back, which he seems to be proud of. In fact, taking into account the stance and expression, it looks as if he's almost... giving you the candle? He doesn't seem poised to attack, and is making a gentle gesture.
GrieveWriter ​

 

[Venchi1986]

As if it wasn't bad enough that the ghostly hands had become seemingly much more powerful torso's it seemed they had the ability to corrupt the environment as well, Leo wondered if that was what the game meant with consume or if he should take that more literal. Either way since they were somehow scaling the walls he knew he had to hurry yo the candle since he didn't know what would happen if the candle ended up corrupted somehow.

When the ivy changed color to a worrisome purple part of Leo wanted to look for another way up to the roof but that meant wasting time. He started climbing faster hoping to at least reach the roof before the ivy did whatever it's ghostly master wanted it to do.

Meanwhile all the noise and pink light had drawn the attention of a certain six year old neighbor girl who having gotten curious decided to go see what going on at the Eady's house.

Squad141

 

[Orikanyo]

A choice?

Not truely, who in hell knows what these... Spirits will do, if you get caught. In truth you really would rather not seeing that in the slightest.

God knows, and really you doubt god or the devil have anything to do with this, perhaps Hades let the gates open?

Or Izanami got free, unleashing the dead along side her?

Well, either way, best you not tary, lots of living you have yet to... Live. Yes.

Whipping around you quickly open, then shut your room door. You then fiddle with the locks, and then the door bar.

Best chance really.

You wheel around and look for that light, removeing the goggles for a time.

 

[GamerKitty205]

And there it is! You knew it was too easy! Well... now you just have to not get consumed by void behind you.

If trying to walk towards the candle is making you travel away from it, then you just need to walk away from the candle! Right?

You try to walk backwards, hoping it doesn't bring you closer to the void.

Or the purple.... the purple... You're just going to call them memories. There's so many things there, old drawings you made, picture of family events and outings and things you did as a kid that you would rather regret. if teh void wasn't in the middle of them, you probably would've walked right towards them just so you could dwell in the memories for a while.

 

[Squad141]

While a little girl peered from the almost-too-high window of her kitchen, what she was seeing was quite odd, but nothing out of the ordinary. She'd imagined thousands of scenarios where her friends, family, and even neighbor would get abducted by aliens, or turn into werewolves, or get eaten by zombies. But they were always exceptionally silly, with no real thread of serious-ness or true creativity.

This was something different, she imagined, something that she'd never thought of before, and hope she wouldn't stop daydreaming until it got really juicy.

Meanwhile, while Leo had chosen the faster, quicker route, his path was not made unimpeded. Vines slashed at his legs, his arms, and even his face, though they were not always able to get close to him due to his surpassingly thematic harvest-like tool.
Venchi1986
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Luckily, you chose correctly. The light was coming from behind the shutter that had fallen over your bedroom window, but looked to have completely enveloped the frame beyond. Lucky you sealed the house then, since the ghosts seemed to be acting more parasitic fungi than spirits of the passed.

Otherwise, your room seems to be as you left it. Furniture in its rightful place, a few messy areas but nothing unrespecting of an egregiously rich teenager as yourself.

A slow but growing banging noise from behind you urges you to action, any action at all, since you had unwillingly trapped yourself behind a flimsy barricade, and away from the objective.

What could you possibly do in this wacky scenario?
Orikanyo
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Backing up, you feel a sense of victory as you notice the calming blue flame follows you, slowly treading closer as you get farther back. Seeing your chance, you lunge forward and-

Shoot.

Looks like you've just doomed yourself more. The trap, or whatever the ghosts seemed to have formed, isn't all-encompassing. You still can't make any progress forward, including the distance from the purple frame-portal-thingy, which is now pulsing with a disgustingly sour energy. Walking back only makes the candle taunt you, and once again, walking gets you nowhere.
GamerKitty205 ​

 

[Orikanyo]

Oh jeez Osvald how are yea gonna get outta this one?

Well Shaggy, theres only one thing to do when trapped in a corner like a well dressed and particularly affluent rat.

You engage fight or flight mode.

Flight had failed you early it seems.

As such, you are stuck solely with fight. Now you are no paranormal... Combatant? But you imagine there's a few ways to fight ghosts. Though to figure you may as well eye the computer why you are here, for answers, if anything..

Plus your last resort is currently snug underneath the desk.

It's brutish as they come... But... Well...

No reason not to pull out the stops when pushed right?
​

OsvaldSalt: It appears I am locked in my room.
OsvaldSalt: In a sense that I locked myself in AND the fact spirits seem intent on killing me once they get inside.
OsvaldSalt: The spirits possessed the marble statue of the archangel michael, with his righteous spear and all.
OsvaldSalt: And perhaps the spirits of old workers of the household have come from death as well.
OsvaldSalt: Suffice to say, the blood spilled on the grounds over the centuries... May be my downfall.
OsvaldSalt: If I do not speak to you all again.
OsvaldSalt: if my heart runs still, thrust through upon the stone blade of a archangel's spear.
OsvaldSalt: You all have been acceptable friends.
OsvaldSalt: Now excuse me, I need to get my weapon.

You reach underneath the table, eye facing the doorway.

Its only a matter of time..
​

 

[Venchi1986]

While Leo was glad his kusarigama were effective against the cines, the fact the had to use at least one hand to hold onto the lattice meant that plenty of of the vines managed to leave nasty scratches on him.. At least it didn't seem to try and tie him up which would probably succeed in slowing him down more, that and the fact his house was only one storey helped him reach the roof before too long. Instead of rushing straight towards the candle he took the time to look for any signs of danger of the roof, not wanting to be blindsided and pushed off.

Phoebe meanwhile was smart enough to realize her neighbors were under attack by something strange, but being six didn't realize it might actually be dangerous. Wanting to help she grabbed her toy wand and ran out the door not even telling her parents where she was going.

Squad141

 

[GrieveWriter]

Let's see... long pokie thing, suspicious net and broken handcuffs, a dog-catcher's pole leash?

Taking hold of the pole-leash, Sara cooed in awe before testing it. Unfortunately, the leash portion tears as easy as butter, and dangled from the pole uselessly. It seemed as though the poor tool had been gnawed on far too much. Tossing it aside, Sara angled herself towards the tools again, flexing her fingers as she prepared to get to business.

But what's that? A suspicious noise from behind?

Sara spun around with her keytar at the ready, it was probably just Brutus coming up to get revenge on her for locking him out. That would be pretty metal, and might've actually earned him some points in reclaiming his lost throne. But no, turning around Sara found a fairly familiar looking floating candle making its way towards her. That was strange, it looked exactly like the one that she'd spotted outside a second ago. There was no way that it was the same one, because she'd closed the.

Glancing past the candle, she could see a suspiciously candle-shaped hole in the window.

Hmmm, looks as though it wasn't willing to wait for her.

The unseen figure holding the candle began to take form, the dark figure approaching yet still unrecognizable to the naked eye. Narrowing her gaze, Sara readied her keytar. If it wanted a gnarly ass-whooping in exchange for letting her blow it out, then she'd give it the ass-whooping of a literal lifetime. Oh yeah, if the candle ghost, spirit, techno demon whatever it was thought it could just its way into her home territory and start raising a kerfuffle without getting stomped, she'd show it exactly why she had her Wheelchair made of the heaviest materials she could-

Sara: Bro?

Yes, the sinister unseen figure that had been holding the candle suddenly became her brother. Sara did a double take, rubbing at her eyes as her brother hefted a bag of money over his shoulder and offered her the candle. If Sara's eyebrow could detach itself from her face, she had no doubt that it would've flung itself straight through the ceiling.

Her Big Brother smiled as he offered her the candle, but didn't say anything as he waited for her to make a move. And while she was usually ecstatic to be able to nab his attention so soon after he returned from a big score, Sara found herself hesitating. Whether it was the odd way he was just silently waiting for her or the fact that he hadn't demanded to know whether it was her or her sister who was responsible for the damaged door.

Which was totally her gremlin sister's fault and she wouldn't be hearing anything to the contrary.

Was this another product of the game? Was her bro feeling alright? It wasn't like him to leave one of his massive bags of ill gotten gains outside of a vault for this long. And there was the fact that his first instinct upon finding a floating candle was apparently to show it off to her without demanding an explanation.

Surely something was amiss, but she couldn't focus on that. There were notifications from her laptop that her pals were chatting. Keeping the sentry-like visage of her brother in the corner of her eye, Sara managed to access her laptop in order to check for any updates from her online pals. Well, seems as though Ozzie managed to lock himself in his room, so that was a thing. But more importantly he mentioned something about a statue getting possessed by spirits.

The mere mention of it had her glance to her big bro again, it would be pretty awful if he ended up getting possessed. He was already an elite mastermind criminal, so going beyond that on the danger scale would be pretty overwhelming.

Then again, he was just handing her the candle.

PumpingHeart: Geez, Ossie you were doin so good talkin bout the possessed badasss statues n stuff
PumpingHeart: But then ya hit us with that fancy final farewell thing
PumpingHeart: Gotta show yo sturdiness boy! Talk about how much statue ass you're bout to slay. Send them crumbling to the ground under the might of yo nonexistent abs!
PumpingHeart: Anyway, my possibly possessed bro just got my candle for me, if I don't respond I've probably been baited into somethin
PumpingHeart: TTYLXOX

With that said and done, Sara proceeded to try blowing out the candle with little hesitation.

 

[GamerKitty205]

You glare at the candle. It just calmly glows, like it's mocking you. Oh well, okay. So walking forward doesn't work, neither does walking backwards. Which means you have two options, probably. There's always more options, but these are the only two logical ones. Just stand there, and hope the trick is to just not move. Or... you could try to jump into the hole. Provided you can find a way to get past the ghosts.

Waiting seems kinda boring. You always hated things in games that required just sitting and waiting in real time. It's not engaging or really interesting! But it is a good trick, most people don't stand still in video games, they just pace and spam click until something happens. However, jumping into the void doesn't sound like a good idea. Mostly because that's never a good thing to do, not in real life, not in a game. Plus once you're in the void you aren't sure if you can just... get out of it. So you sit and wait.

 

[Squad141]

The ghosts, now noticing that a new entity had entered the Playing Area, began to slowly drip back down the overhand and flora, towards the young girl who was wielding what could only be described as a glorified stick before her body.

In that moment, you were able to reach the roof, though weren't able to stand completely still, due to the slant. The pink glow shifted from behind slant to slant, almost seeming to tease you with it's enticing shine.
Venchi1986
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Your lungs, of course, were not nearly enough to blow from such a long distance, especially when there was such a strong breeze from outside warping around your brother(?). You still aren't sure quite the story that's being portrayed, but it can't be all bad, right? You roll forward, and as you do, he shifts forward as well, his calm, collected smile unwavering, his black smoky eyes and black smoky skin slightly wavering in the afternoon glow from outside.

You lean forward, like a young kid on their birthday, eager to eat some delicious birthday cake, and blow out the candle.

Black smoke begins to fill the apartment, then your eyes, then your mind.
GrieveWriter
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You sit on the floor, and fold your hands.

Time passes. The rumbling grows deeper, but the position your in calms you, almost making you feel as if you are meditating. You briefly close your eyes, and you feel as if you've fallen asleep while you're awake. It's a state of peace you haven't felt in quite a long time, since before your sister left. When you had no stress, when your energy wasn't quite so high, when you could enjoy the way things were when they were...

You open your eyes, and look at the blue candle in your lap.

You pick it up, and blow it out.

Light blue smoke fills the attic, then your eyes, and finally, your mind.
GamerKitty205
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On all five of your computers, one of the three empty black circles blinks to life. First, half of it is filled with what seems to be a light blue comma, before the other half is filled with a deep dark color, creating a yin-yang of clashing colors, like a pastel puppy in a hot topic.

For the computers of the Smoked Players, all they would see if they were aware, is the line: AWAITING EXAM RESULTS...
Orikanyo GamerKitty205 GrieveWriter Venchi1986 ​