(Again, in the off chance that someone will read this, please understand that this story was originally written in the company of my companions. As such, there are things scattered around that probably make no sense to you as I wrote out my segments. I'll clean them up later.)
Chapter One: Welcome to the World of Guertena; START
You fall... You don't know for how long. You are hardly aware of anything other then the feel of water rushing around you. You just simply fall...
And fall...
And fall...
There is a sound... A brief click, gone so fast you wonder if you actually heard it, or it was another figment of your imagination.
A flash of light.
You are standing on a staircase leading downward, a solid wall behind you. With no other place to go, you descend the lengthy staircase. It ends in a long hallway, the walls a deep, dark blue. The hallway itself splits into two directions, one two your right, and another to your left. Their is nothing indicating which way you should go, so you take your best guess and march off.
(Minor Choice)
(A) Right
(B) Left
By popular vote, we are heading left. Which... I guess would technically be right, if you were Ib, and not the player. Because those stairs descend from the top of the screen downwards, the directions would be inverse from her point of view... But we'll be heading left screen-wise just to comply with Tom's wishes and drag this out as long as humanly possible. XD
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Seeing as to how both hallways look identical, you walk off to your right (Our left, technically) to test your luck.
The first thing that appears readily apparent to you is the color around you. A deep blue, like the sky just before dawn after a summer night, though not nearly as pleasant feeling. The odd part about it though, was although you could see moderately well, there appeared to be no source of light to be found. No lamps, no candles, nothing electrically powered. As if this bizarre place was giving off it's own light.
The hall remained blank, until you reached it's end. In contrast to the rest of the azure color of the area, a single bright green door rests in the wall. You try the handle, only for it to click in locked protest. You give a dissatisfied grunt, before walking away. With nothing else on this end of the hall, you try the other direction.
On the way back though, something catches you eye. A painting that you didn't notice before. Decent, it was called. It showed a figure descending a staircase. Simple enough. It took you another moment though, before you realized that this is where the staircase had been when you had come down.
Now you were really trapped.
No, there has to be some way out. Some other people here that you could find. There was no way you could be stuck here, alone...
Right?
You continue down that hall, your steps a bit quicker then before. Light blue paint dots the floor, getting more and more plentiful as you continue. You don't pay it any mind, until you realize it spells something.
C O M E
You freeze for a second. As you look around, you find the same word etched on every surface around you. You can practically feel some force beckoning you forward.
And so, for whatever reason, you keep marching. Eventually, you come to the end of the hallway.
Again, a door rests at the end, though this one is an off grey in color. Curiously, a small desk lies next to it, atop of which lay a single vase. What resides in the vase, however, draws you attention more then anything else. In contrast to the color of the rest of the area, a bright red rose rest quietly. You feel oddly drawn to it, and as no one is likely going to be here to care, you pluck the rose out of the vase to keep for yourself.
The rose feels oddly warm in your hands, giving you an almost comforting feel. So, with flower in hand, you march through the grey door, feeling slightly safer.
A single painting rests in this room, but otherwise is small and undecorated. Something small lies on the floor, and upon further inspection, reveals it to be a green key, which would most likely unlock the door you had first checked. Before walking off you inspect the picture that hangs on the wall. It depicts a woman, eyes closed, apparently asleep. The plaque beneath it, however, contains a message rather then a title.
As the rose wilts, so to will your life rot away.
(Introduction to the life-meter concept: In Ib, your rose represents you life meter. Each time you take damage, the rose loses some petals, until you and your rose both fade away. Normally, in the game, you would be able to refill your life with vases of water throughout the game. For the sake of the story, I have removed this feature, and am instead giving you 5 hits [the normal max HP] to make it through the whole game. Certain decisions that you make from here on out may affect your rose's health. Let's see how you people manage. =3 )
You turn back, satisfied with your finds, and head back towards the green door. As soon as you leave the small room, you are surprised to find all the blue paint telling you to come has disappeared.
This place was starting to get seriously unnerving.
You continue down the hall, only to be knocked off your feet by the same loud stamping sound from back in the gallery. When you stand up, much to your own shock, a single word etched in red paint covers the entire floor.
T H I E F
You shake off the shock, breaking into a run. Before very long, you reach the other end off the hall. Sure enough, the green key fit's into the keyhole, unlocking the equally colored door. You step forward, unsure of what you have yet to face.
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Ok, that wraps up that section. No choices this time. Though, I wouldn't mind knowing what everyone thinks so far.
Whooo-eee! I don't think I have ever written so much for a single story for so long while having ALMOST NO DIALOUGE! *Cheers*~
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The green door shuts behind you, and you almost have to shield your eyes against the stark color change. Much like how the last room was almost entirely blue, the room had all it's surfaces decorated in a vibrant green.
There is little to do or see, save for another fork in the path. Not much else, and you begin to wonder if all there is to this place are surreal scares and pointless wanderings. Before walking away, a small black speck approaches you. Upon further inspection, the speck is revealed to be an ant, one that appears to be looking directly up at you. It's kind of a little off putting how intently the miniscule creature seems to be staring at you.
Either way, your decision lies before you.
Minor Choice
(A) Go Left
(B) Go forward
(C) Or you could try talking to the ant?
You kneel down before the tiny creature, feeling a slight amount of relief that you are not the only creature here in this strange world. You had always liked animals, especially the small kind. You even had an ant farm once, a couple of years ago, before you had to get rid of it when your family moved deeper into the city.
"Hello, little ant. How are you?" You say sweetly, even though the action is much akin to talking to yourself. The ant cocks it's head again, an oddly human gesture...
"I am just fine, little lady. I trust the day finds you well?" The ant replied, his voices bubbly yet sophisticated.
...
0_o
"What, is there something on my face?" The ant continued, sounding confused at your reaction. "No, no, I understand. It's not every day you meet an ant such as I, with such refinement and class."
Something in your head just isn't clicking, as you stare, dumbfounded, at what is, for all intents and purposes, a live, talking ant. (That was a lot of commas. XD)
"Well, say something, lass. Or are you going to just sit there and stare like a lame duck?"
You, of course, can not come up with a response to such a creature, only managing to take a somewhat shocked step backwards.
Everything you had seen before, from the flickering lights, to the writing on the walls, could be attributed to the stressed mind of an overly imaginative mind of a young girl. But this? This broke every law of biological reason.
That, or you really were losing your mind. You don't know if the former or latter is worse.
"Very well, miss. If you are so intent on playing the mime, could I bother you for a favor? Somewhere in this part of the gallery lies a painting of my likeness. I would very much like to see it again, but alas, I can not reach it. Would you help a gentleman such as I?"
You nod quickly, before running off.
A one-sided conversation indeed.
(A) Right
(B) Forward
I was planning on having a few minor choices spread around here, but I really wanted to write a longer segment. So I did some work arounds to make it a wee bit more smooth for the time being.
Also, I had meant to get this out their much, much earlier, but I got caught up in a mix of Doctor Who and Doctor Whooves. And now... Well, as a revision to when this was originally typed. it has been waaaaay to long. I'm still kinda caught up in a mess of things, and when I actually manage to get free time, writing barely manages to squeeze in there.
And now it's really late. (Again) But at this point, I'm desperate enough to get this finished that I don't care anymore.
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You run off, away from the ant. In relation to everything else you have seen up to this point, it should really have been one of the lesser things to get scared of.
Still you run down the nearest hall, paying no mind to the sign on the wall.
Sure enough, you pay for your haste, as a shadowy hand burst from the wall, eliciting a brief scream from you. You jump back as it takes a swipe at you.
Your sudden step backwards causes you to drop your rose, which hit's the ground with a leafy thump. Your hand immediately goes to your head, as a quick pain shoots through it. Nothing to bad, but the headache persists. When you finally look up, you notice the hand that had jumped at you was scratching at the wall, making a vain attempt to grab the fallen rose, but finding it's reach to short.
It took a minute to make the connection, but you remember the message beneath the painting when you got your rose...
This hand was after your life, after a thing as fragile and delicate as a rose.
You pick up the ruby flower, clutching the rose to your chest as you continue walking down the hall. Several more hands leap out from the walls, though they don't scare you much. Like the first, each hand finds itself to short to reach you, and you move unimpeded away.
At the end of the hall lies that painting the ant spoke of, as well as another door. Figuring it was a least worth a shot first, you try the door, and are quite unsurprised to find it locked.
Without another thought, you pull the ant painting off the wall, and begin your walk back. The painting isn't even much worth inspecting. Just a simple black figure resembling the aforementioned creature. It looked like something that even you could have drawn.
Still, the ant had asked to see it, and with the door locked, you didn't have much else to do.
After managing your way back through the hall of grabby limbs, you find the ant still sitting there. You half expected him to be wearing a top hat and sipping some tea, but he wasn't. He was just sitting there, much like a dog would, waiting for you.
"Ah, splendid!" The ant shouts as you approach him. "You have retrieved my glorious visage! Tell me, young girl, how does my likeness strike you? A masterpiece, yes?"
The ant keeps prattling on, ignoring you completely, though talking like you were still there as he stared with rapt attention at the painting you had leaned up against the wall. You shrug off the weirdness of the whole encounter, making your way down the path that you had opted not to take previously.
This path was decorated with a number of paintings, each portraying some kind of yellow shape. Each painting seemed to expand on the previous, adding more and more to it. And they were named aptly. Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4.
It ended in a door, much like the other, save for the fact that this one actually gave way when you tried to open it. On the other side lies a narrow hallway, a hole torn deep into the floor. You gaze down into the void, unsurprised to find that it seems to go on forever. Between this side of the floor and the other, lay a single, precariously placed plank of wood that looked like it would barely be able to support you.
Still, there is nowhere else to go, so you cross, one rickety step after another. Much to your own surprise, you make it to the other end without anything unfortunate happening.
You come across another door on the end, moving through it just as easily as the last. Immediately on the other side, there is a painting to match the previous set. Closure, it was called, and though still a shapeless yellow mass, it seemed more complete then the rest.
Lying on the ground right next to it lies a green key, and if the previous colored room was any indication, this would unlock the door into the next area. Other then the key and the painting, stood one of the statues from The Death of the Individual sculptures.
Without another thought, you pick up the key and turn to leave. You had barely taken a single step, when something made a sound behind you. You turn, and nothing is there, though the unnerving headless statue seems a bit... closer.
You take another step, keeping your eyes on the sculpture. Sure enough, the statue takes another step closer to you in response.
A surge of panic surges down your spine, and you turn to run. You don't turn back, but you can hear the harsh clacks of the statues feet behind you. As soon as you rush through the nearest door, you stop for a moment at the gap on the other side. As the statue bursts through the door behind you, you decide to take your chances with the rickety board, moving as fast over it as you dare.
The statue still gives chase, though it's heavy weight causes the aged wood to creek and give way. You barely make it to solid ground as the platform vanishes beneath you. You waste no time in heading out of the room, shutting the door behind you just as the loud crash of plaster echoes behind you.
You dare not look back, instead pressing forward. You pass by the ant, who is still ranting as if you were there, and through the passage of dark hands, until you make it to the locked door. The key you gathered fits into the lock perfectly, disappearing a moment later as a small click is heard. With a deep breath, you pass into the next room.
The walls here are a soft brown, and would be reasonably safe feeling in comparison if not for the pair of large cat eyes staring down at you. To your left and right are another pair of paths, each looking the same the other.
...Where to go now?
Left seems to have served you well so far, so that is the direction you head off into.
You emerge into another room, it's walls a soft brown like the last. Nine pillars dot the sides, each with a red cloth draped over it. The ninth pillar, however, seemed very out of place, its existence alone making the room oddly asymmetrical. Unlike the other pillars, it lacked a red curtain, instead, a crudely drawn stickman sat there. You look at the stickman cautiously, as if it would jump at you like the Death of the Individual statue from before. It doesn't move under your gaze, so you turn away to keep exploring.
The moment you do, a loud splotch sounds behind you, nearly causing you to let out a yelp in surprise. After taking a quick glance behind you to ensure nothing is about to swallow you whole, you take a deep breath to regain your ladylike composure.
Reproaching the pillar reveals a splatter of yellow paint. Upon closer inspection, as small message can be read.
"Play hide-and-seek?"
A light skittering sounds next to you, and you nearly jump again. You look up, only to find the stickman no longer there. The same noise echoes from behind you, and you turn to see all the red curtains waving gently as if a breeze had just blown through.
Looks like you have no other choice. You'll have to play it's game...
Pick a pillar and try your luck. Were could stickman be hiding? :3
This part is completely randomly generated ingame, so let's see if you have better luck then me here. I have never actually made it through this puzzle without taking damage. Let's see if you people can fair better?
Pick a pillar. (I already have the correct answer and booby-trapped numbers in mind)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Ha. Very intuitive, Tom. Color me impressed. Indeed, I booby-trapped #7. And I'm rather disappointed in Daniel. "Lucky number 7" Is one of the most well known superstitions of the modern age. You would be hard pressed to find someone who didn't know about it, and in fact, you are the first person that I had ever encountered as such. So... we're going with pillar #2...
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You approach the first pillar to your left, which you guess would make it the second pillar. Pulling aside the curtain adorning it reveals a painting of a single musical note. From the top of the frame drips red paint, and it looks like someone took their hand and drug it across the middle, leaving a slash of red over the note. It's slightly unnerving, but not a whole lot else. You pull the curtain closed again, and take note of something...
The telltale ring of metal rings was absent when you drew the curtain. You try to pay it no mind, as you turn to walk off. Something else is off though, and you immediately take note of it as well. Your footsteps, one of the only sounds that you have been hearing recently, was silent. As a test, you clap your hands together, and again, silence. You repress the urge to scream, as it dawns upon you that there would be no point in it.
All the sound in the room has vanished.
There isn't much else you can do to help that fact, so you run off to find the stickman.
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Pillar?
Ok then. Popular vote demands pillar six. Let's do it!~
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You walk quickly to another pillar, each step you take sounding with an earsplitting amount of nothing. Coming to a stop at one of the pillars closer to the back, you tear away it's curtain without a second thought.
...
Bound in Thorns
This... This couldn't be real... It was you. But a painting like that couldn't possibly exist here. It was impossible.
With a frantic hurriedness, you replace the curtain, blocking the disturbing painting from view. After taking a few long breaths to steady yourself, you walk away, only to find a small scrawl of yellow at your feet.
"I'm waiting. Come find me.~"
You can't wait to leave this room...
--Pillar; 1,3,4,5,7,8?--
Come on, people. This is the last puzzle of this chapter. I really want to move on to the actual cool stuff that happens in the game, but you all seem bent on making this a long a trip as humanly possible!
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You run back closer to the room's entrance, stopping there a moment to catch your breath. This place was really starting to mess with your head. If you didn't find a way out soon, it is anyone's guess what could happen...
Approaching the pillar that was closest to where to stickman originally was, you pull aside it's curtain. Behind it is a painting of the night sky. It's a nice piece, far more so then the previous. You have to squint a bit to see the glinting stars in the painting's background, as it seems almost like an actual night. The stars glitter back warmly, making you smile a bit.
You leave the pillar alone, turning back to the room. You feel significantly calmer...
With a low drone that made the ground rumble under your feet, it grows darker in the room, almost to the point where you can barely see your hand in front of your face.
You can hear your loud intakes of startled breath, and take a moment to thank the return of the sound. As you turn back to the pillar, you find that the moon had vanished from the painting, leaving only a cluster of stars.
There was still no indication of where these rooms got their light from, but now there was barely any of it...
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Pillar; 3,4,5,7,8?
Ok... There are two pillars that hurt you, one of which has already been technically ruled out, one correct pillar, and five pillars that just do creepy things. And yet... Somehow... You are managing to pick none of the interesting ones. I'm beginning to question how this is going, because it's getting ridiculous. Seriously, there is like, one more neutral pillar left. COME ON PEOPLE!
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You wander through the dark room, until you make it to a pillar that you are pretty sure you hadn't been to before. In retrospect, you kind of wish you hadn't covered the pillars back up when you left them, because now your not entirely sure which pillars you have or haven't been to anymore. Either way, you pull aside another curtain to reveal...
Nothing.
You squint a bit, thinking it may be a trick of the darkness. But upon further inspection, you find that there is indeed absolutely nothing on this pillar. You shrug it off, and continue looking.
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Pillar; 3, 4, 5, 7? Come on, people.
If ya say so... Pillar 3
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You wander not far through the dark, until you come to yet another pillar that your pretty sure hasn't been checked yet. Pulling it's curtain aside reveals a painting of what appears to be fang of some kind. It seems simple enough, and after a moment of nothing happening, you decide to just walk off.
You barely take on step, before tripping on... something. You hit the ground with a hard thud. A sharp pain shoots down your whole body, but it's gone a moment later.
Shrugging it off, you move to pick up your rose, which had flown from your grasp when you fell down. As soon as you pick it up, even in the darkness, you see several petals fall...
(Hits remaining: 4)
Been awhile sense I've written anything substantial... Again. I hope nobody is disappointed in me. ;_;
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There are only a few pillars left that you can pick, so you have to be getting close, right?
Upon reaching another pillar, which by your count would be the fourth, you reach up to pull away it's curtain.
Before you can though, you hear something behind you. You quickly turn around to see, much to your surprise, the stickman. At first, you think it to be a trick of the faded lights, but as he continues to walk on, you come to the realization that he is, in fact, walking away. What made the sight even more ridiculous looking then a two-dimensional figure walking around, was the fact that it had a looney-toons style hobo bag slung over his shoulder. Had you been in any other situation, one may have found the sight humorous...
"Um... Mister stickman?" You half-whisper after a long moment of staring in disbelief. "Weren't we playing a game?"
The stickman freeze in place, spinning around on his heel, if in fact he had one to spin on at all. The miniscule figure stared at you, with the most menacing glare you could possibly expect from someone without any discernible facial features. It was... disconcerting.
"Were do you think I'm going!?" It cried out in the most terrifyingly cute voice ever. "I wanted to play a game! And all you did was pitter around and screw things up! If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were picking everything wrong on purpose!"
You stare in shock at the little creatures outburst, but that doesn't stop it's tirade. "Do you know the odds of getting every single pillar wrong? No, didn't think so! It's 1 and 64! And that order? 1 in 512! And do you know the odds of the writer getting nearly everything wrong twice, and then you doing the same? One in TWELVE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT!!"
You just stared wide eyed at the stickman, who gave a huff before turning around a continuing his march. You didn't entirely gather what he just said, but you obviously did something wrong. After the shock had worn off, you finally noticed that the light in the room had returned to normal. Or what passed for normal in this place.
"And take this with you!" The stickman yelled back, throwing a small object in your direction, before disappearing into the distance again.
Whatever it was exactly that he threw at you, it looked vaguely like a fish and was carved from wood. Seeing that there was no harm in it, you take the odd carving with you.
As you return to the juncture that first lead you into the pillar room, you are caught a bit off guard at first by the giant cat face carved into the wall. It had neither moved nor changed sense you were last here, but it was still off putting, especially given that you weren't exactly used to the strange things around this place.
You proceed into the other path, and are immediately met with a big mess of boxes and half covered paintings and sculptures.
Something in your head clicks. This place... One of the guests at the exhibition earlier mentioned that there were far to many of Guertena's works to show in the main part of the building. Could this be the storage area for all the other pieces? It didn't explain all the odd happenings, but it would give reason to the massive amount of artwork here.
It's hungry.
Huh? You look around for the source of the voice, but end of seeing nothing. Of course, you don't know what exactly you were looking for. For all intents and purposes, there were no other people here. It may have just been another ant of something...
Kitty is hungry...
Kitty? Hungry? What did that mean? You shake off the chill going down your spine, and hurry out of the room. There was nothing overly interesting in that room anyways, other then the giant alabaster heads staring at you...
As you come back into the juncture, you come to rest against the wall with a sigh. There was nowhere else to go, having explored everywhere you can find. It looks like you were stuck again.
You fumble with the wooden fish, simply to keep your mind occupied.
Kitty is hungry...
Hm... Cat's like fish, right? Figuring you might as well try, you walk up to the colossal feline statue at the back of the room. Holding up the carving to it's mouth, you find a tiny slot there shaped just like the fish carving. You place it there, and a small click echoes through the room, followed by a cat's meow...
A small passage opens at the base of the structure, and you crawl through, steeling yourself for whatever may lie beyond it...
Chapter One Complete~
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