animus_network | [Video] Crash Course in Tower Horror

[The video feed flicks on to a visibly unnerved Gilbert, eyes wide and breathing heavily.]

M-man, I just wanted to figure out how to work this network thing, and what's the first thing I see? There's this girl in front of the monitor and she looks really banged up... then suddenly BAM! Something pulls her back and she's hanging from the ceiling! And I mean hanging in the executed sense, not just dangling there! Then this other girl shows up and is talking all freaky about playing a game and- and-

WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST WATCH?! No, it was an execution. That's what I watched. [It's not like he hasn't seen those before, but this was just... something else. He'd never seen kids kill each other like that, even with all the killing he's seen over the centuries.]

God damn. This place is messed up. And there's no way out, is there? Or some of you would have taken it already, right? Dammit!

[He looks from side to side, as if someone might be watching.] Y'know what? I'm going to do something weird. If you think you're in danger, let me know and I'll protect you. I've got a sword, after all.

[Suddenly, shuffling footsteps can be heard from offscreen...] Wait... oh god, there's something here! Shit! [An Imp as described in the bestiary appears from the side just as Gilbert turns the feed off...]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[The beast is knocked away, but it goes for Gilbert one more time. Gilbert slashes at it with his sword, wounding it further and sending it skittering off.] Looks like we got one that went rogue!

[It's then that Enoch's blinding new form gets to him...] What's with the light show? Can you dim that at all? It hurts a bit.

*Enoch shakes his head.* I don't have any control over it... This is the price of failure in that game of theirs.

*If Gilbert figures out that he can see him better from the corner of his eye, he might notice the lack of loops over his shoulders attaching his wings to his back.*

G-geez... so much for the social convention of making eye contact. [He turns his head away, holding his hand over his eyes to block out some of the light.] So, you died, too? [He's really not sure how to react to that.]

*A nod, though Gilbert may only catch it out of the corner of his eye.*

You have too, now? It's hard to become accustomed to...I wonder if it's possible at all.

Oh, no, not me! I haven't died yet. And I'd kind of like to keep it that way, thanks. [A nervous gulp.] I meant... you're one of the ones that died and got warped. Those kids I saw... they're probably gonna get warped, too...

Most should...

*Dying meant being at Jason's mercy, for whatever cause, after all...even if so far he hasn't done anything untoward to the dead...unless he's the one doing all of this. But his month is past...*

Mine seems to be...minor. I hope those children are given the same mercy. Our hosts have enough to answer for already.

*He wasn't quite sure why he said that last part. It just seemed natural.*

I hope their changes are minimal, too! It seems like the girl who killed them must have gotten her head screwed up by her costume really bad. And I definitely agree with you. It sounds like the people running this place have a lot to answer for. A lot.

If only we could reach them...even if we could, they could kill us in an instant.

They probably could... but I refuse to believe that we're powerless to do anything against them. Any impact is better than none at all.

Our only means of speaking with them are when they speak to us over the network and through forms in a box on the first level...

Other than that, we know they must watch the network, and they have eyes in our rooms.

Huh. So technically it's easy to communicate with them, since they see everything? But I doubt they'd respond to anything. These guys are tough customers.

Precisely, but we don't know when they're looking, either. They're...only present when they want to be.

If they're only present when they want to be, then where else do they go? We oughtta figure out when they're not watching so we can plan... stuff.

It might be best to only plan where they can't watch. Again, I know they can see the network, and they have eyes in the living quarters. Meetings could be arranged over the network, but I wouldn't submit information you don't know they would expect you to know.

"Where," huh... and, of course, finding a "where" is gonna be really hard. I don't really have any plans yet, though. If there were a way out, I bet you guys would have already used it or you'd be making plans to use it.

Exactly...

*The "eyes" in the rooms were obviously in the ceiling so maybe the places outside the tower that didn't have them...?*

[Video] Crash Course in Tower Horror

[action]

[action] Sorry, I keep forgetting to link that.

.

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject