- Location
- Washington
Alright folks, I'll be closing voting today! Voting will be closed at about 8 PM Pacific time. So for anyone who has yet to vote and still wants to, be sure to do it within this time frame. :3
Nyctohylophobia (Perma-death Quest)
Chapter 14: What's that sound coming from the window?
- Location
- Washington
You've checked out the first floor of the house, may as well check out the second floor while you are at it.
You head up the stairs after Sierra, and once you're at the top you spot Sierra who was looking at a framed painting on the wall. Sierra looked at the painting with an expression that was both disturbed and morbidly curious. Having heard your foots steps she turns to look in your direction, waving to you before looking at the painting again. Curious you approach to look at the painting... and you can see why Sierra looked disturbed. The painting was of a woman in deep sleep with her arms thrown below her, in a room filled with white light, with some demonic entity crouched on her chest and a horse peering in from behind a curtain. It was pretty creepy, but you've felt like you've seen this one somewhere before. Lucas would probably know...
"Pretty creepy, right?" Sierra said looking to you from the corners of her eyes. "There's more."
"More?"
Sierra nodded, took a step back and pointed to the rest of the room. You got a good look of the room, and much like the rest of the house, the layout was much like the abandoned one, but with all the doors and none of the creepy graffiti. No, instead of creepy graffiti there was creepy artwork hanging on the walls! Discounting the one you just looked at, there were about four other paintings on the walls.
The second painting you and Sierra looked at was water color painting of a man being eaten by horses, with some other people strewn on the ground behind the man and the horses, and hidden somewhat was another man sitting on a ledge watching it all. From the appearance of things, you guessed the picture may or may not have been based on some sort of Greek or Roman legend. It was either that or the original artist was some sick bastard who wanted to make a painting of a man being eaten by horses.
The third painting was of a naked man... thing eating a child. The head and right arm have already been consumed and the man appears to be in the process of eating the left. Actually, you seen this one before! You saw it in an art textbook back in high school, and Lucas even told you the name of it. It was called "Saturn Devouring His Son," based on the old Greek legend of the Titan Cronus, who, fearing that he would be overthrown by one of his children, ate each of his children. Great dad, that Cronus...
The fourth painting was of... another naked man eating a baby. ...You were starting to notice a pattern here.
And the fifth and, thankfully, final painting was... Actually you don't even know what the fuck you were looking at. The best description you could come up with was someone used a melting, decaying human head for a gazebo. Seriously, this looks like the result of a madman's fever dream, WHO PAINTS THIS STUFF?!
"Ugh... I think I'm going to be sick..." You mutter as you look away from the painting.
"No wonder the old guy gets no visitors. He really should consult an interior decorator..." Sierra said as she turned to you, placing a hand on you back. "Try not to puke all over the place. I don't think the old man will be too happy if we ruined his... "paintings"."
You gave a bitter laugh. "Lucas is missing out."
"Heh. Yeah." Sierra laughed. "Had he known these would be up here, he'd have a field day."
"Lucas and this old man would be the best of friends." You shake your head as you laugh. "God, I hope Lucas doesn't decide to decorate his house with paintings like this..."
"If he does he can kiss his sex life goodbye!" Sierra chuckled again before slouching a bit. She cleared her throat and spoke in a deeper tone, "Hey babe! Sit right here next to this picture of a guy eating a baby while I'll go make us some dinner! Its a picture about eating, so it fits!"
You stare at her a good few seconds before breaking down into a fit of laughter.
"That...! That was a terrible impression of Lucas!" You laugh.
"But not inaccurate." Sierra shrugged before joining you in laughing.
Once the laughter subsided Sierra walked over to the nearest door and opened it, revealing the bathroom.
"First try." Sierra remarked, pumping her fist.
You rolled your eyes. "Really proud of yourself, huh?"
"Shut up. I'm tired." Sierra sighed as she walked into the bathroom.
You followed in after her, looking around the bathroom. It was rather rustic looking, like much of the house was, but there were still a few things that off set the rustic look. The floors and walls were wooden, against left wall was an old oak bathroom vanity with a oddly pristine marble sink and a mirror above it and a fur bathmat on the ground in front of it, and to the right wall was a single chair and a wall towel rack. The bathtub was located on the far wall in front of the windows, it was a clawfoot bathtub with a cross-handle deck-mounted faucet and hand shower.
"Done looking around in here?" Sierra asked as she turned to you.
You nod.
"Good, now get the hell out." She said, her flannel shirt slips off her shoulders and falls to the ground. "A little privacy while I take a bath would be nice, you know."
"Ah, right." You smile sheepish as you turn away. You walk out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind yourself, and soon you hear a click as the door locks.
Now with that settled you've got about five more rooms to check out before your exploration is compete. You walked over to the door to the room that was to the right of the bathroom and try to open it, but all you succeed in doing was rattling the door knob as the door wouldn't budge.
"Locked..." You muttered aloud. "Must be the old guy's room. Probably asleep, I shouldn't bother him."
Forgetting that door for the time being you decide to try the door that was directly across from the bathroom. Fortunately the door was open and you entered just fine. The room was pretty bare all things considered, just having a bed, a desk, a chair for the desk, and a pair of curtains in front of the window that were drawn shut. The bed looked pretty comfy, being a plush full sized bed covered in a fur blanket, which you suspected was real fur, with fluffy pillows in fur pillow cases. Looking at the bed you could hear the siren call of sleep calling to you, your body begging you to lie on this bed and fall into blissful slumber.
But you resist that temptation and push onward.
You check out the desk next and appearance-wise it wasn't anything special. But on the desk were three statuettes which were acting as bookends for a small collection of books, about eight books in total. You inspected the small statues, analyzing them and boy did they not tone down the creep factor of this damn house. On the left end was a blue statuette of a Sorcerer, fallen to their knees, staff broken at their feet, and gripping their head, their face contort into a screaming visage like they were driven mad by an unseen force. In the middle of the book collection was a red statuette of a Warrior, kneeling with their sword plunged into the ground in respect to an unseen victor. And finally on the right end was a green statuette of a Scholar, who was kneeling on the ground gripping their stomach as if they were ravaged by an unseen foe.
You tear your eyes away from the statuettes and instead focus on the books themselves, maybe there is something light hearted?
Paradise Lost
The Divine Comedy
The King in Yellow
The Compete Stories & Poems of Edgar Allan Poe
The Great God Pan
The Monk: A Romance
Frankenstein
Moby Dick
Well... That is... an interesting set of books. To be honest, really only knew the last two books and some of Edgar Allen Poe. The other books you either didn't know or... no, no, you've never heard of the others. If you wanted to you could read one of them, but you don't exactly want to read an hours worth of pages of the narrator explaining whale blubber, and you're really not in the mood for anything scary. The Monk book you are curious about. Why would the old man have a romance novel?
"This guy has weird taste..." You remark. "Heh. Lucas would definitely get along well with him."
Done with this room you decide to leave and head over to the next room over. The next looked almost completely identical to the last room you were in, only missing the books and the statuettes on the desk. You furrowed your brow. That's odd. Why would anyone set up a room the exact same way, just missing one thing? Questions for later. You leave the room and go to the next, and it was another bedroom setup just like the last one. This was... quite weird. But maybe the old man was just eccentric. So you move on to the final room, and once more it was another bedroom with the same looking bed, the same looking desk and chair.
You were about to leave when a sound caught your ear. The sound of fabric fluttering in the breeze. You look towards the window and see the curtains being blown towards you, the window wide open. Immediately your heart felt like it drop from your chest like a ton of bricks.
The window was open.
How long has it been open?
You rush over to the window, raising your hands to slam it shut.
But then you heard it.
The Whistling.
Slowly your eyes drift to the outside, but the pitch black darkness prevents you from seeing anything. But you know what's out there. You know it knows you're by the window. You know it can see you. It was counting on you to approach the window. Whether or not it opened the window or if the old man accidentally left it open, it knew one of its prey would spot it and try to close it.
The whistling continued. You try to force yourself to shut the window, but that tune... That horrible... awful... beautiful tune...
It... It calls to you.
Inviting you.
Asking you to-
"NO!" You scream, smacking your palm against the side of your skull. "Get out of my head!"
But the whistling continues despite your protest. But now it seemed... changed. It sounded the same, but the effect it had on you was different than what it just was. It wasn't forcing its way into your mind, to tempt you to go to its source. No instead it was asking permission. Gently poking your mind to get you to let it back in willingly. To submit to all the pleasures it has to offer you.
"No..." You say through gritted teeth, hands on the window. "I-I refuse..."
But it still kept at it, poking at your mind. Bringing up the memories and the feelings it brought you before. How good you felt when you listened to it, to when you whistled along.
"But it was all an illusion..." You reminded yourself. "Lies... A trap... Danielle saved me..."
"But did she save you?"
You shake your head, trying to physically shake that horrible thought away. Danielle is your friend! She saved you from that... that...
"Unbridled pleasure..."
"No, no, no, no, no..." You muttered as you beat the side of your head with your palm. "Get a hold of yourself, Medea..."
But the assault on your mind by the whistling did not stop. It was like an old lover at your doorstep, begging for you to come back to it. It was starting to affect your whole body. Your knees trembled, your arms shook in their convictions, you breathing was starting to become labored, your face turning red as the whistling started poking at the pleasure center of your brain, sending waves of pleasure to roll over you.
Give in.
"Stop it..."Give in.
You look to the window, your vision starting to waver.Give in.
"Please... somebody... Stop this..."Give in.
But nobody will come save you this time. You are all on your own.Fear not.
[ ] Give in.[ ] Resist.
-[ ] Fear not.
SPECIAL UPDATE CHALLENGE
Feeling like having a little fun with this update, so I'm issuing a challenge to my players! In this update I some particular things such as description and books. This was no accident! I have reasons for these things! So as a fun little mini-game if anyone can complete this challenge in their first post I will give you all a special reward!
To win this challenge the following must be done:
- Correctly guess the names of the paintings (Minus "Saturn Devouring His Son").
- Correctly guess the artists of the paintings (Minus "Saturn Devouring His Son").
- Correctly guess the reference of the statuettes.
- Correctly guess the reason I chose those particular books.
- An honest answer to any one story question. No bullshit half-truths or anything, just straight up giving you the Intel you request, spoilers and all.
- Reveal which choices will lead to death in one future update.
- A free re-roll for any dice rolls (multiple dice rolls can be chosen) in one future update.
- Find an item in the basement that will help you survive. (Note: Item will simply not exist if this is not taken).
- A Non-Canon Hope Corgi Ending
-TheLordofAwesome
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LucidProp
Pocky Eating MafiaDoka
Invisitext Option.
[X] Give in.
Because the Drama of MCs giving in is something I just can't resist.
1.) The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli.
2.) Diomedes Devoured by Horses by Gustave Moreau.
4.) ?
5.) ?
That's all I can contribute for now. Got limited time.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
1) The Nightmare
2) Diomedes Devoured by Horses
3) Already identified, the artist is Francisco Goya
4) Could be just another rendition of Saturn Eating His Son - this time by Rubens or, less famously, Giulia Lama.
5) Deterioration of Mind over Matter
I'll let others decide on the statuettes and the books. I've not read half of them.
Oh, and Medea, you should read that romance novel. Have a nice dream!
[X] Resist
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- Location
- Who Knows
Personally I might not understand the Moby Dick one, but what I know of it basically only comes from the internet.
...Where the reader described it as essentially a Giant No Homo while Captain Ahab tenderly thought about his male crewmate with vocab such as "wedded" etc. and also the White Whale. Like, genuinely thinking about Europa (the lady who fucked the bull and gave birth to the Minotaur) upon first seeing it after like 100 chapters. Also he massages whale sperm with the crew and it's A Moment.
...Where the reader described it as essentially a Giant No Homo while Captain Ahab tenderly thought about his male crewmate with vocab such as "wedded" etc. and also the White Whale. Like, genuinely thinking about Europa (the lady who fucked the bull and gave birth to the Minotaur) upon first seeing it after like 100 chapters. Also he massages whale sperm with the crew and it's A Moment.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
This might be of use.
- Location
- Washington
That's an interesting interpretation of the text. :lol
- Location
- Who Knows
No need to post links, really, I'm aware that there are probably themes and stuff that can be related to the horror show we have~
It was mostly a joke too
Though, again, the interpretation was not mine. Source.
- Location
- Washington
I'm curious if you all will be able figure it out.
I like to image the person behind this had a huge conspiracy cork board where he was trying to figure everything out.
- Location
- .
[X] Resist
-[X] Fear not.
All will be well.
Yes, that is my new head cannon, that a fluffy hope corgi is trying to help us and no one can convince me otherwise.
- Location
- Washington
Praise Hope Corgi![X] Resist
-[X] Fear not.
All will be well.
Yes, that is my new head cannon, that a fluffy hope corgi is trying to help us and no one can convince me otherwise.
- Location
- Voidbetweenstars
[X] Resist
-[X] Fear not.
-[X] Fear not.
- Location
- Washington
You know, after all this talk of Hope Corgi I have decided to add a fifth reward to the update challenge: A (Non-Canon) Hope Corgi ending.
lavanderjasmine
Master of decoration
- Location
- R'lyeh
[X] Resist
-[X] Fear not.
-[X] Fear not.
- Location
- Canadia
[X] Resist
-[X] Fear not.
No more whistling. I've learned my lesson.
-[X] Fear not.
No more whistling. I've learned my lesson.
- Location
- .
All of the books and paintings question God on some level and touch in some deep set fear of the unknown.
I bet that is why you picked the books.
Assuming this is correct, we need the statues.
I bet that is why you picked the books.
Assuming this is correct, we need the statues.
- Location
- Washington
Actually, that is about right.
In regards to the statues I can give you guys a hint if you'd like.
Higure
Witch of Faith
- Location
- The Golden Land
Re: Statues - They appear to depict the reactions of "heroes" of various sorts to an Eldritch or Divine being.
The sorcerer has attempted to match it in kind, and been broken by the mind and/or spirit of something far beyond him.
The warrior has attempted to slay it, and failed utterly.
The scholar has attempted to explain it, and has discovered it to be beyond their comprehension: Their understanding of reality has been shattered.
You could also view it as a soul/body/mind thing: The Sorcerer's Soul outmatched, the Warrior's Body insufficient, the Scholar's mind too limited. The being they oppose has surpassed all aspects of humanity.
The sorcerer has attempted to match it in kind, and been broken by the mind and/or spirit of something far beyond him.
The warrior has attempted to slay it, and failed utterly.
The scholar has attempted to explain it, and has discovered it to be beyond their comprehension: Their understanding of reality has been shattered.
You could also view it as a soul/body/mind thing: The Sorcerer's Soul outmatched, the Warrior's Body insufficient, the Scholar's mind too limited. The being they oppose has surpassed all aspects of humanity.
- Location
- Washington
Without making it too easy:
"I stood there wondering, fearing, doubting."
Well, you got the symbolism of why I included them. So kudos to you!
But you still need to figure out the reference. ;D
Higure
Witch of Faith
- Location
- The Golden Land
The Raven? Somehow that seems wrong, considering the natures of the statues, but that's definitely a line from it.