GRAVEYARD

[cluedin]

THE GRAVEYARD

No two deaths are ever quite the same. Some might remember the exact moment their lives were cut short; others might only see a blinding flash of light; the particularly unlucky ones might not recall any details whatsoever.

No matter how it ended up happening, though, all of you here will always have one thing in common: one second you're dead; the next, you wake up to find yourself in a dark room. Before you can even start to try and get your bearings, a shadowy figure appears in the doorway of your room, face lit from the bottom up by a faint, almost ethereal glow. It stands still for a few seconds before murmuring,

"Oooooh... I see dead people."

... The voice is followed by a snicker as a gloved hand flicks the light switch on, revealing the mysterious entity to be Pumpkin, the fox-eared groundskeeper. Lowering the game console that had illuminated her face, she continues, "That one never gets old. Anyway, hey, sup, you're dead, that sucks, the house is probably gonna eat you as soon as this round is over. Wanna see what everyone else is up to on the other side?"

As you take in everything the gardener has told you, you suddenly realize as you look around... though you don't see anything, why does it feel like this place is already crowded?

---

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Comments

[sadiskick]

I don't think there's anything that can be better about this. Do a certain number of people need to die?

[ ... ]

If you're still here, does that mean there's no way to escape?

[cluedin]

There's still time to make this better if everyone who's left over there can figure out how to fix things. We're only here because the Players in our game ran out of time. There weren't any of us left to try and win. [Is she explaining it in a way she knows how? Yes.]

[sadiskick]

What does it take to win?

[ She's hyper focused now. ]

[cluedin]

In order to save you guys, you have to find a way to stop the house from consuming you. And in order to stop that, you have to find a way to stop the things that are making people die, period. We don't know how to do it but...a lot of us think it's possible. Some other groups got really close before they lost in the end.

[sadiskick]

There needs to be a way to stop people from transforming into monsters.

[ That's the simplest way, isn't it? ]

And whoever is broadcasting those announcements on Monday.

[cluedin]

Right. Those are things being caused to egg you guys on and give the house what it wants. We never really found out how the announcements work, and your round's been weird so far. I don't think ours had the physical effects like no sleeping or stuff like that.

[sadiskick]

[ She's thinking. ]

If it's about what the house wants, then it's not too far off to assume the effects are from the house either. [ She knows it's not a surefire guess, but it's logical enough. ] The house consumes and absorbs, but is it sentient?

[cluedin]

Right! That's what we figured out way too late, but we couldn't figure out how. But it's the only thing that makes any sense given the way it absorb us.

So how do you stop something that shouldn't have sentience?

[sadiskick]

The how.

[ There's a power source or something like it. That's the only way that makes sense for Meltryllis. If she's wrong, then... well, she'd like to find out she's wrong sooner rather than later. ]

It has to stem from somewhere, doesn't it? Everything that feels or thinks, it has to come from somewhere. You destroy its heart, its brain, or the whole thing.

[ If it can't be pinpointed, nuke it. ]

[cluedin]

Destroying the whole house might hurt the people in it. But finding the source and destroying that might keep everyone safe. Everyone on the other side of things has more time than we ever did. Your group was bigger than ours. It means a longer chance.

But! The house has a way of interfering with everything, especially if it doesn't want its secrets shared.

[sadiskick]

I've seen.

[ And experienced in her own way. ]

Do you think that's something I can find on this side? Or do I have to direct those still alive to find it?