Skeleton Game

You find yourself standing in front of a grave. Looking down, you see that your hands are nothing but bone. In fact, your entire body is nothing but bone. You're a skeleton now, I guess. [[Think about how I got here->Amnesia]] [[Look at the tombstone->Tombstone]]

The tombstone reads "Here Lies Mason Jay, 1997-2021. Death By Meatball" As you read the engraved text, your skeletal mouth begins to water as you remember the taste of the meatball that lodged itself into your eosophagus. The meatball may have killed you, but damn was it delicious. You feel as if there was something you needed to do, but you can't quite remember. [[Go back into the grave ->Cant sleep]] [[Leave the Cemetery -> Cemetery Entrance]]

You try to remember what happened to you, or why you are here. Everything is hazy, however, and you can't remember a single thing that happened to you before you woke up. [[Look at the tombstone->Tombstone]]

You crawl back into your grave and try to go to sleep. You try to shut your eyes, but as you are a skeleton, you do not have eyelids to shut. Also, you can't shake the nagging feeling that you have something you must do before you rest. [[Leave the Cemetary -> Cemetery Entrance]]

You arrive at the entrance to the cemetery. There is a large metal gate, and a road just beyond it. The road stretches off in both directions, and you cannot see where it goes. Maybe if you walk along the road, you will find out what you need to do. [[Start walking->The City]]

You walk along the road for a few hours, until eventually a city begins to rise in the distance. Soon, you walk past a flickering streetlight. You remember this streetlight. More importantly, you remember a time when you walked past this streetlight, with 6 dogs strolling in front of you, tugging on their leashes. A smile forms on your face, despite the fact that you have no facial muscles, or lips. [[Continue along the sidewalk -> Sidewalk]]

As you continue along the sidewalk, you see a fire hydrant to your left. Another memory appears. This time, in your mind you see another group of dogs, crowding around the hydrant to pee on it. [[Pee on the hydrant -> Silly Skeleton!]] [[Continue walking ->Sidewalk 2]]

Silly Skeleton, you don't have a bladder! [[Continue walking ->Sidewalk 2]]

You continue walking, and now feel as if you should have sort of leash in your hand. Soon, you arrive in front of a building with a large neon sign. "Doggy Day Care!" This is where you worked. This is where you were meant to be. Just one last chance to pet all these puppies... [[Go inside -> LOCKED D:]]

Drats! The door is locked! Looking around, there seem to be no open windows either! [[Open a Window -> Windows 10]] [[Unlock the door -> No key]] [[Pick the lock -> No Lockpicks]]

You try to unlock the door, but quickly realize that you have no key. [["But, I do have a key" -> No, you don't]]

You reach inside your ribcage for your lockpicking set, but it seems as though it never existed in the first place :( [[Use my bones to pick the lock->Finger Picking]] [[Convince the lock to open->Bone to pick]]

No, you don't [["Yes, I do." -> Skeleton Key]]

I do have a key... A [[Skeleton Key! ->Picked! 3]]

You find yourself in the lobby of the daycare, despite the fact that you really should //not// have been able to get inside. Inside the lobby, you see shelves lined with dog treats and toys. Maybe the dogs would like it if you brought some? (t8n:"instant")+(link:"Take some treats")[(set: $treats to true)] (t8n:"instant")+(link:"Take some toys")[(set: $toys to true)] [[Enter the kennel -> Kennel]]

You stick your fingers into the lock and spin. The lock... doesn't turn. What the hell were you thinking? [["My fingers are stuck now" -> Consequences]]

"Hey man, I'm just trying to pet some puppies. Can you let me through?" [[...->Stubborn]]

Well, you should have thought of that before you stuck your fingers in the lock. [["I want a better narrator"->Picky]]

"Listen, I'm just doing the best I can to make ends meet and get canvas points so I can feed my family" You suddenly feel strangely guilty for being so [[picky -> Picked! 1]] about your narrator.

Click! The lock pops ope- "motherfucker, that doesn't mean you can just pick the lock" [[Open the door anyways-> Inside]]

... "..." ... "dude c'mon" [[...->Stubborn 2]]

"Let me in man, or I'm gonna be really frustrated" ... "Boy am I gonna have a [[bone to pick->Picked! 2]] with you >:("

Suddenly, the lock pops open. Clearly, it was threatened by your menacing skeleton aura. [[Go inside-> Inside]]

You look down at your left rib, which looks suspiciously like a key. Upon inserting it into the door, the lock clicks open! [[Go Inside-> Inside]]

As you enter the kennel, all the dogs look up. It's been a long night for them without any friendly workers to play with. They begin panting happily as they realize that there's someone new to play with! [[Pet some dogs! ->heaven?]]

You walk up to the dogs, and begin scratching them between the ears. "Truly, this is where I was meant to be.." Your blissful consciousness begins to [[fade...->danger?]]

Suddenly, however, your peace is interrupted. The playful look on the dogs' eyes has been replaced by something.. hungrier. It's been also been a long night without treats or chew toys. And as a skeleton? Well, you're made of nothing but bones. (if:$treats is true)[[[Give them the treats!->Treats]]] (if:$toys is true)[[[Give them the toys!->Toys]]] [[Run!->Can't Run]]

You pull the treats out from your ribcage and toss them to the dogs! They quickly wolf down all the treats, and then look back towards you. Clearly, they've gone too long without a chew toy... (if:$toys is true)[[[Give them the toys!->Satisfied]]] (else:)[[[Run!->Can't Run]]]

You toss out a few of the toys you stached in your ribcage! Around half the dogs jump towards them, but the other half continue eyeing your bones.. (if:$treats is true)[[[Give them the treats!->Satisfied]]] (else:)[[[Run!->Can't Run]]]

Realizing you have nothing left to defend yourself with, you begin to run. "I haven't pet you all enough yet!" Given that you don't have any muscles, however (it's a miracle you could even walk), the dogs quickly catch up to you. Once they've surrounded you, they begin pulling [[bones from your body->Not So Bad?]]

With the dogs' stomachs and jaws satisfied, they visibly placate. They walk up to you again, one by one, with ears ready to be scritched. It sure is a good thing you had those treats and toys. One can only imagine what would have happened to you otherwise.. You sit down, and let the dogs surround you, as you struggle to pet all of them at once. Slowly, your consciousness fades whilst surrounded by a ball of fluff and warmth... Fin

You flinch, but it seems that it doesn't hurt at all, having your limbs ripped away from your torso, and having your torso slowly being dissasembled. One by one, the bones are removed from your skeletal body, as each of the dogs hunkers down with a new snack to chew on. You watch from your skull, and realize that being torn limb from limb wasn't all that bad! Look at how happy the dogs are! As your consciousness begins to fade, you think "I made them happy one last time.." Fin

You look at all the windows, but most of them don't seem like the kind to open. A few have hinges, but they cannot be opened from the outside. [[Break a Window -> Moral Skeleton]] [[Reach inside to open a window -> 4th Wall 1]]

You consider it, but feel bad about breaking a window. You may be a skeleton, but you're not a criminal. [[Break in anyway, the puppies are waiting for you -> Morals pt 2]]

You can't reach inside to open the window. The windows are closed, skeleton. [[If I can't open the window, how will I finish the game? -> 4th Wall 2]]

After some careful deliberation, and a lot of thinking about puppies, you realize that breaking in just isn't a skeleton thing to do. [[There must be some other way..->Vertabrea]]

You may not be able to break in, but you sure can [[Verte-brake in->fuckin garbo puns]]

You throw your spine at the window, and it shatters into pieces. You do realize that you still broke the window.. right? [[No, I didn't. I Verte-broke it. I'm going inside. -> Inside]]

Y-you're breaking the 4th wall.. you're not supposed to be able to do that... [[But I can. -> 4th Wall 3]]

And if I can get past the 4th wall, how's a window going to stop me? [[Open the window -> Passage NAme Clever!]]

The narrator, now powerless to stop you, watches in horror as you reach through the window and push it open. The narrator begins to shake, as he realizes the very real consequences this could have on his career. [[Step through the open window -> Inside]]