A stag leaps through the rose bushes of a dark forest, legs bleeding from the jagged thorns. Thin trees, with slender branches covered with scant leaves to cover its pale bark, tower over it. It's fleeing from something.
[[From what?]]You can't make it out, but you can feel it. The tenacity of it. Be it a wolf, or a human; be it for survival or pride, it won't stop for pain or death.
Eyes bound to the stag, you watch it fly across the forest.
[[Gone]]
For now.[[Wake up]]
[[Sleep]]Eyes fluttering, you wake. You feel impossibly heavy.
[[Look around]]It's comfortable.
Your thoughts get heavier. It gets tiring to complete them. The mind sinking into the chilled, soft mud — the insects and dirt covering your eyes and filling your throat, choking you. But you are too tired to fight back against the inviting soil. Slowly, your mind drifts into the [[void]].Nothingness stretches forever, for eternity, unto the void.
[[Reject this farce. ->intro]]The sight was overwhelming, at first. The city, if one could call it that, was a sea of triangular office buildings, hexagonal mansions, heptadecagonal skyscrapers, and normal, everyday brutalist architecture. All of it meshed together in an incoherent mess. It was as if all existence had converged on this one point. Above all the buildings was a clocktower, decidedly English in origin. The terrifyingly normalality of it clashed against its peers. Down from the clocktower was the main road, where the chaos resided. Inbetween the buildings were alleyways, tucked away from sight.
In the sky was both the sun and moon, covering the entire horizon. You can't feel the sun's heat. It feels claustrophobic.
In front of you notice a fountain. Protruding from the middle was a koi fish, spitting a water stream split 4 ways into the basin. It's strange, but you can't hear the splashing water.
Next to the fountain, there is a manhole cover.
(if: $key > 0) [It was sealed off by the rat on your way out.]
[[Inspect the fountain]]
[[Go into the alleys]]
[[Head towards the clocktower]]
(if: $key < 1)[[Into the sewers]]The winding alleyways twist like yarn, layering upon eachother in inscrutable ways. It shifts like a mirage, you could swear entryways were dissappearing and reappearing in different ways. The trees, growing in the main alley, infested every crack in the ground and hole in the walls. Their leaves, mid way from swaying down to the ground, were frozen in the air. In one of the trees, you notice a hole, just large enough for you to crawl in.
[[Go in the hole]]
[[Continue through the alleys]]
[[Leave ->Look around]] (Description of the streets, buildings should be mismatching in theme)
[[Open the doors into the clocktower]]After taking off the manhole cover, you climb down the ladder into the sewers. The sewers were dirty like you would expect, but there was no smell. The waters weren't frozen like the fountain's was, but neither was it moving swiftly. Cupping your hands in the water, you find that it had the viscosity of honey. You didn't dare taste it to see if it was.
You notice a poster written in a child's handwriting reading, "Offer cheese for passage."
(if: $cheese > 0) [[Take out the cheese]]
[[Head back ->Look around]]
[[Try and wade through]]The inside was a relief from the chaos outside. It was a down to earth, honest and modest clocktower. The floors were of wooden planks, and the walls were a solid gray concrete. To the left, stairs made of planks nailed onto the wall lead into a basement. To the right, the an identical staircase lead up to the machinery of the clocktower.
[[Down to the basement]]
[[Look around this floor]]
[[Up the spiraling staircase]]
[[Leave->Look around]]
The sound of water being splashed comes barreling down the sewer. As it comes closer, you can make out the shape of a large rat, hooded in a blue hoodie with the words "TMNR" and a group of 4 rats upon it. Without a word, it takes the cheese as it slows down and beckons you to get on the boat.
Silently, the boat makes it through the thick waters like it was normal to do so. After 10 minutes by your estimate, the rat comes to a stop. It points towards a small hole in the wall on the right.
[[Exit the boat]]
(set: $cheese to 0)You squint your eyes and stare into the hole, noticing a small glint of metal in it. You attempt to squeeze your arm through to no avail. Noticing a tap on your thighs you turn around. The rat jumps onto you suddenly and leaps off your body to stick his pink, strangely humanoid hand into the hole and obtains the key. He hands it to you and beckons you back onto the boat. He takes you back.
[[Leave the sewers ->Look around]]
(set: $key to 1)Diving in, you immediately notice that your limbs and torso were immobilized. Moving of your own free will was nigh impossible. Slowly, the river pushed you along until its flow forced you to sink under. It was sweet, like honey. Unable to open your eyes, with the honey filling your lungs, you drown unable to scream. Your consciousness fades into the [[void->void1]].
Nothingness stretching forever, for eternity, unto the void.
[[Reject this farce. ->Into the sewers]] After squeezing through the hole, you brush your shirt off of the dust. When you stop, you see a cat grinning at you. Making it out was a pain, trying to make out the cat's appearance was like looking at an object through an out of focus camera. You couldn't quite figure out what type of cat it was, but it was definitely domestic. It licks its paws and points to a sign on the wall.
SHOP OPEN
EACH ITEM WILL COST YOU A FAVOR
3 ITEMS = BIG FAVOR
WARNING: FAVORS ARE METAPHYSICALLY BOUND AND MUST BE FULFILLED
You look at the wares.
[[Buy the cheese]]
[[Buy the rusty gear]]
[[Buy the collar]]
[[Leave ->Go into the alleys]] You immediately head through the first alleyway you come across and begin walking. Continuing down this path, you can't help but feel that you have gone nowhere.
[[Continue]]You point to the cheese, the cat brings it over to you in its mouth.
You pocket the [[item ->Go in the hole]]
(set: $cheese to 1)You point to the rusty gear, the cat brings it over to you in its mouth. It wipes down its tongue after.
You pocket the [[item ->Go in the hole]]
(set: $gear to 1)You point to the collar, the cat brings it over to you in its mouth.
You pocket the [[item ->Go in the hole]]
(set: $collar to 1)You quickly adjust to the darkness in the basement, and you can faintly make out the sillhouettes of the mounds of cardboard boxes. After looking around, you can make out a generator in the back left of the room.
(if: $generator < 1) [[Inspect the Generator]]
[[Leave->Open the doors into the clocktower]] Water leaks from the wooden boards above. The place is damp and wirings cover the stone walls. The owner had a severe lack of cable management.
[[Up the spiraling staircase]]
[[Down to the basement]]
[[Leave->Look around]] The stairway spiraled around the perimeter of the tower. It takes you a while to get to the top.
[[Open the door]]
[[Head back down ->Open the doors into the clocktower]] Ok so basically the entire story is that the main character is stuck in some sort of strange dimension. Whether this is his own psyche or some strange world is totally up to the reader. The city is stopped in time. He fixes the clocktower using the items from the sewers and the cat. By doing this, he lets time run again. However, time is running too fast from his relative point of view and he is thrown into the end of the universe. Queue dream sequence. If the character bought the book, he would know how to escape. Otherwise, he is dead unless the player somehow makes it through to the end of the sequence. The cat will ask the MC for the favor at that point, and that favor is for him to wake up. Well actually, I hope the ending isn't that lame but it's something to that effect. The game is done. The clocktower machinery was a tapestry of gears, with a huge shaft connecting it to the clock face outside. After closer inspection, there is a missing gear.
To your left is a large lever that is connected to the clock. There is a keyhole on the floor next to the lever.
(if: $gearin > 0) + (if: $generator > 0) [[Pull the lever]]
(if: $gearin > 0) + (if: $generator < 1)[[Pull the lever-> failure]]
(if: $gearin < 1) + (if: $generator < 1)[[Pull the lever-> failure]]
(if: $gearin < 1) + (if: $generator > 0)[[Pull the lever-> failure]]
(if: $gear > 0) [[Slot the missing gear piece]]
(if: $gearin > 0) + (if: $generator > 0) + (if: $collar > 0) [[Pull the lever->pog]]
[[Leave ->Open the doors into the clocktower]] You shove in the rusty gear in with all your might. After the struggle, it fits in.
[[It's done->Open the door]]
(set: $gearin to 1)The parts of the generator appear to be mostly intact. The shaft and armature, though a bit rusty, appear to be usable. There is an key needed to turn on the generator.
(if: $key > 0) [[Unlock the generator]]
(if: $unlock > 0) [[Turn it on]]The lights don't work, but the quaint, reassuring whirring of the generator lets you know its functional.
(set: $generator to 1)
(set: $key to 0)
[[Good->Down to the basement]] After walking for some time, you begin to feel thirsty. Up ahead, you finally find the first fork in the road.
[[Go left]]
[[Go right]]Going down this path has done you no good. After heading down this alley, you begin to lose track of time. The bumps on your mouth become painfully apparent to you as your thirst becomes greater. Your vision begins to black out.
[[Collapse]]
[[Refuse]]Going down this path has done you no good. Heading down this alley, you begin to lose track of time. The bumps on your mouth become painfully apparent to you as your thirst becomes greater. Your vision begins to black out.
[[Collapse]]
[[Refuse]]The needs of a human overtake you, and the cold, stone floor is the last thing you feel before you fade into the [[void -> void2]]You refuse. Leaning your weight on the walls, you take limping step by limping step. Soon, it isn't a choice anymore, and your head slams into the cold, stone floor. The dull pain of the impact is the last thing you feel before you fade into the [[void -> void2]]Nothingness stretching forever, for eternity, unto the void.
[[Reject this farce. ->Go into the alleys]] At first, you might've suspected a laminar flow, but it's clear now that the water isn't moving. It was frozen in place, but was not ice.
[[Stop inspecting->Look around]]The lever won't budge.
[[Give up ->Open the door]]You grab the handle of the lever with both hands and pull with all your might. As you finish pulling it, the sounds of cogs turning come from your right. You look, and the first tick of a tock rings out as the machine works. Something's wrong though, the clock is in a blur of motion. Before you can think, the bell rings and your head explodes in [[pain ->intro]].
(set: $gear to 0)
(set: $generator to 0)
(set: $gearin to 0)
(set: $unlock to 0)It fits right into the keyhole. You turn it and the clicking sound rings out. How convenient how the key the rat gave you fit into this one. How [[lucky->Inspect the Generator]].
(set: $unlock to 1)You grab the handle of the lever with both hands and pull with all your might. As you finish pulling it, the sounds of cogs turning come from your right. You look, and the first tick of a tock rings out as the machine works. Something's wrong though, the clock is running counterclockwise. Before you can think, the bell rings and your head explodes in pain. Your consciousness fades into the [[void ->pog2]]. The nothingness stretched forever, for eternity, unto the void. But in that nothingness was an existence. Infinitely minute compared to the paradoxically infinite void, but infinitely more valid. If anything existed to observe it, they would call it a collar. From this one existence, it laid proof that something once existed.
Infinite time [[passes]].Within infinite time, anything with the possibility of happening will happen. The cat collar, impossibly existing at the end of time, was a miracle. Because of the existence of the impossible something in the void, the universe exploded into existence.
↶↷A stag leaps through the rose bushes of a dark forest, legs bleeding from the jagged thorns. Thin trees, with slender branches covered with scant leaves to cover its pale bark, tower over it. It's fleeing from something.
From what?