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Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
But if B for some reason wins, I vote that we call ourself "Adahn"
Alright. But if A wins, I want the others to call us Kid. :cool:
 

Akkudakku

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
1,125
DONT TRUST THE SKULL!

Vote B. Adahn we came here looking for our diary and a man named Pharod.

Our guy will be thanking in his heart he played classic western rpg's and it gave him this great belivible story!

Also go to a bathroom and check our back for any insightful tatoos.
 
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treave

Arcane
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11,370
Codex 2012
A - 7
B - 12

I'll update in... hm, twelve hours or so.
 
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treave

Arcane
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11,370
Codex 2012
I have been thinking about this for some time and...

A. Do we go full weeaboo and use honorifics as a guide to relationships between the characters because this is JAPAN. :desu:

B. Or not.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I am all for the authentic Japanese Horror experience.

A.

I mean, we have blood type as a character stat. You can't pretend we didn't go maximum weaboo already.
 
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Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Well, that doesn't actually have any influence on the personalities as far as I'm concerned.
So what is this data for? I don't suppose we are going to have blood transfusions on a constant basis here for it to become relevant... probably? Maybe? :?

It is there because the characters believe it to be important, isn't it?

What I wanted to say is if we are going to follow Japanese beliefs, superstitions and cultural quirks that closely, it would make sense to immerse ourselves all the way.
 
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treave

Arcane
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Codex 2012
It is there because the characters believe it to be important, isn't it?

In part, yes, which doesn't necessarily make it true from a higher perspective.

Well, I'll have the next update up in the new style and we'll see how much -sans you guys can stomach and if a revert is cried for. :lol:

Stylistic preference vote will continue until the update after the next is due.
 

ScubaV

Prophet
Joined
Feb 20, 2011
Messages
1,022
I have no idea what the various honorifics mean and I'm too lazy to look it up. It's all Greek weaboo to me. Do whatever floats your boat.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
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Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
“I’m… uh…”

Shinohara Seiji.

The name flashes through your mind. You almost blurt it out.

“Shino…seki…” Gulping, you force out the words carefully, almost giving up under their questioning stares. “Shinoseki. Yes… that’s my name.”

“Is that your first name?” Maeda addresses you with a haughty glare. “What an impolite introduction!”

“S-sorry, it’s my family name,” you mumble, bowing to the superior presence of someone with the unmistakable air of wealth and privilege. “My first name is… uh… Ada… Adachi.”

Tokigawa nods patiently. “Shinoseki Adachi-san? Can you tell us how you got here? To be honest I think we should share as much information as possible.” He glances briefly at the others that have been less than forthcoming. “There may be a clue as to how to escape if we combine our knowledge.”

“Sorry,” you apologize again, adjusting your spectacles. “I-I just came into the hospital… just like the rest of you… and that was it. I don’t know anything else.”

“Huh. You seem to be very nervous… Shinoseki.” The grizzled man in a trenchcoat – Mori Akio – roots you to the spot with a stare. “Is there anything you’re not telling us?”

“I…” You fumble over your words, trying to muster up a plausible denial. “…of course not.”

“Really?” His glare becomes even more piercing, and you find yourself unable to look away.

“Mori-san, you are stepping way out of line. Just lay off him… I’m sure he has nothing to hide.” To your surprise, Uehara stands up for you. Even when facing down Mori, who stands at least two heads taller, the schoolgirl does not flinch. Scowling at the larger man, she says, “I think Adachi-san is just nervous. Who wouldn’t be, in this situation?”

“You certainly don’t seem to be, little lady.” A small smirk appears under Mori’s beard. “No matter. I was not singling him out on purpose. I’m certain that everyone here has their own secrets to hide anyway.”

“Now now, let’s all get along now, shall we?” Sawada claps his hands cheerfully, trying to defuse the situation. “We are all in this together. What’s important is finding a way out, right?”

“Right,” says Tokigawa – he seems glad for the opportunity to move on. “Now that we know each other a bit better, it will be easier for us to talk. First, we should all share what we know of this place.”

“We can’t get out,” volunteers Sakimura. “None of the windows budge, and probably none of the main doors either?”

“The main entrance is the same, yes,” murmurs Tokigawa, looking at the up-ended gurney. “We tried that just before you came, Sakimura-kun. It wouldn’t open, so I attempted to break the glass with the gurney. As you can see for yourself, it didn’t work.”

“I was at the highest floor of this building. There’s a door at the top of this building that leads to the rooftop, but it appears to be locked.” Mori speaks calmly, relating his findings. You can’t help but get the feeling that he is looking at you every once in a while.

“That’s no surprise. Everywhere else is the same,” sighs Sakimura.

“No, this is different. The door moved when I tried to shake it. It is just locked. If we had the key, or if we smashed it open…”

“That could work,” Tokigawa muses, rubbing his chin. “Getting down from the roof would be another matter, however.”

“Well, couldn’t we jump across to the physiotherapy building?” asks Okuyama.

“That’s… a bit risky, Midori,” he replies with a frown.

“It’s doable for us. Oh, but maybe Maeda-san or Mitsuki-chan wouldn’t be able to make it.”

Maeda’s glare is cold enough that even you shiver. “What do you mean?”

“That dress of yours… you’d tear it if you tried,” says Okuyama innocently. “It’s an expensive one, isn’t it?”

“You-“

“Nami-san, please,” pleads Taketatsu as he puts one hand on her shoulder. “Calm down.”

To your surprise, Maeda does not blow up. Taking a deep breath, she blinks and nods. “Right. Okuyama-san, to be honest, this dress is nothing to me. If I had to strip to escape this place, I would do it without a second thought!”

“R-right,” stammers the trainee nurse, taken aback by Maeda’s candour. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything offensive by that.”

“Well, not all of us would need to make it,” Tokigawa says, adopting a conciliatory tone. “Just some, so that we can see if there’s a way to get help there. Still, I think it might be a little too risky. We could just try the connecting hallway on level four first, to see if the doors there are also locked.”

“Are there no other ways to get to the other buildings?” asks Kayano evenly, before adding a qualifier. “I don’t know much about hospitals, of course.”

“There’s more than one way. There are the service corridors in the basement that connect the entire complex… they might be a better bet,” Tokigawa nods. “Those are down in sublevel two. That reminds me… Midori, do we have any pen and paper? There are floor plans on every level, but it might be better to know this before hand.”

Okuyama rummages around in her bag before finding a nice, large blank sheet of paper and a pencil. “Here you go, Kou.”

“Thanks.” Pressing the black lead against the white paper, he goes, “Let’s see…” and begins sketching. “We are here, on the ground floor, in the main lobby. The reception area is just over here, and a short corridor connects us to the main staircase and the lifts. Both go all the way up and down to the highest and lowest levels of the building. Beyond the lift lobby lie the hospital’s cafeteria and shop, as well as a hall that leads to the gardens in the central courtyard, which is shared by all of the buildings in the Ikei complex. If I remember correctly, the second floor has a couple of large wards, the main operating theatres, and the outpatient clinics. In this building, the third floor and above all consist mainly of standard and VIP patient wards. There is a hallway that connects to the physiotherapy building on the fourth floor, and one that goes to the specialists on the fifth floor. In the basement, a big part of the first sublevel consists of the kitchens, which also connect to the cafeteria above it. The laundry and shower facilities can also be found there. The second sublevel is where we will find the security center, maintenance rooms and service corridors.”

Tokigawa’s hand is steady, and soon enough he produces a serviceable map that tells you easily where you are. As he finishes up, he says, “From here we cannot get directly to the research and imaging building or the specialist wards. The gardens would be the quickest way, but we’d have to see if the doors can be opened.”

“There must be a way out in the other buildings,” says Sakimura optimistically.

You spot something strange in the labeling of the map: Tokigawa has started at the 1st floor for the main lobby and worked his way up to 6th at the top… but when you came down, you could swear that this floor was designated as G. Just as you are wondering if you should speak up about this, someone does it for you.

“Wait, Tokigawa. You’ve marked this wrongly.” Maeda walks up to him and bends over, peering at the map while unknowingly affording you a full view down the front of her dress. You feel your cheeks turning red hot and you look away immediately, attempting to keep the thought of her smooth, pale flesh suppressed as deeply as you can. Tapping the paper with one exquisitely manicured fingernail, she says, “The first floor should be labeled G. That’s what I saw when I came down.”

“That can’t be,” frowns Tokigawa. “The floors start from one.”

“You can take a look if you wish,” shrugs Maeda, “but I know what I saw. This building’s levels are numbered after the European style.”

“The floor immediately before the rooftop was marked with a six,” says Mori without prompting. “This should mean that there are actually seven levels in this building right now. I did not count the floors when I descended, however… so we might still be mistaken.”

Tokigawa starts spinning the pencil around his hand in puzzlement. “Even so, that… can’t be. There are only six floors in the main building.”

“Honestly? This place is just weird, Kou,” Okuyama says, shaking her head. “It looks like the Ikei Hospital that we know, but it doesn’t exactly feel the same. Electricity and water are still running, but all of the electronics plugged in are behaving crazily. It might not be something as simple as us being trapped in here...”

“There’s also that creepy article we found,” says Sakimura excitedly.

“Article?” Tokigawa’s frown deepens – it seems that he does not relish the idea of the problem becoming more and more complex.

“Yeah, show him, Shinoseki,” urges the boy.

“A-ah, yes.” You nervously pull out the newspaper clipping he gave to you.

“It just appeared before me like magic,” Sakimura claims. “Very spooky!”

“Hey, can I have a look at that?” Sakaki, who had been sitting back all this while without participating, leaps to his feet and moves towards you. Surprised, you drop the yellowed scrap. The author catches it and holds it up to the light. Peering at it, he exclaims softly, “I thought this looked familiar!” He opens up the satchel slung by his side and rummages within for a few seconds, before coming up with a well-used notebook: the pages are dog-eared, and fattened with material added and glued to them. The others gather closer, their curiosity piqued by his sudden burst of activity.

Setting the book down on a coffee table, he flips it open quickly until he gets to the page he is looking for, and he places the piece of paper on it… next to an identical scrap. “It’s the same. No doubt about it.” You understand what he is saying – everything on those two pieces are the same, from the text, to the picture, down to the way it has been carefully cut as well as the pattern of yellowing on the paper. On the page besides the newspaper clipping, you spot something else familiar; a page torn off from a magazine. The title reads:

Urban Legends #12

Instinctively, you touch the folded piece of paper still in your pocket. It is still there, and yet it is there, in Sakaki’s book. You rub your spectacles apprehensively.

Everyone falls silent, trying to comprehend what this all means. The air is filled with nervous pressure. Someone will attempt a logical explanation soon, and all of this will go away. At least, that is what you hope for.

“Kukukukukukukuku…” A low, menacing cackle fills the lobby. Turning, you see Amanozaki Touko, the fortune teller, standing on the other end of the table. Compared to her earlier reticence, she seems to be filled with some unearthly confidence now. There is a small crystal skull in her hand, which she is pointing directly at you. “Don’t all of you see? This is a sign…”

“A sign? Of what?” growls Maeda rather tetchily, her patience apparently wearing thin.

“Did you think we were all trapped here by coincidence, by some act of man? No! This is a supernatural occurrence!” she shouts, waving the crystal skull about. “The Age of Aquarius is at its zenith and with it the gates have opened! With that opening, the intellect of higher beings from a higher dimension have spotted us, insignificant ants pottering about our polluted planet, and taken an interest… this is a test. A curse that is both judgment and punishment. Here, in this hospital, the souls of the dead have been trapped, unable to reach the underworld… cursed to remain engulfed by their hatred forever. Under the guidance of the higher beings, they plot to use this curse to invade our world… pulling us in is just the tip of the iceberg! My psychic powers have told me this! Kukukukukukuku!”

You are not sure if her rant makes any sense to you, and it seems that the others do not know what to make of it either – all there is, is stunned silence.

The silence is broken by a girl’s snickering. Maeda? No, it’s Uehara. You are slightly surprised… you would have thought it to be the former, but Maeda is merely frowning in exasperation. Uehara’s snickering balloons into full blown laughter as she clutches her belly. In between laughs, she asks, “Higher beings? Spirits of the dead? What is this nonsense?”

“You…” Amanozaki scowls. “You are an unbeliever, aren’t you?”

“Oh… this is too rich,” giggles Uehara, trying to get her mirth under control. “Amanozaki-san, I’ll be straight with you.” Somehow, her usually warm smile feels just a bit colder. “You’re a fraud. There is no such thing as psychics and ghosts.”

“Ku!” shrieks Amanozaki, her thick glasses almost slipping off. “How do you know that? How can you explain the predicament we are in then? Tell me!”

“Oh, that? I’m sure there are plenty of sensible explanations for this.” Uehara’s tone is lightly mocking. “Just because something cannot be explained at the moment doesn’t mean that I’m going to instantly believe all this spiritual nonsense that you peddle. Your words are not helping us anyway, so I would appreciate it if you didn’t go on about things you actually know nothing of. I’ll repeat this, Amanozaki-san. You are a fraud.”

“Y-y-y-you… you bi… bii… bit...” The self-proclaimed seer gasps, apparently too angry for words. She raises the crystal skull high into the air, her arm trembling in rage. “I’ll… I’ll curse you!”

“Uehara!” Sakimura tries to convince his schoolmate to stop, but she is not having any of it. It looks like Uehara's stubbornness is in full swing.

“Do it if you can,” she grins. “I’m sure nothing will happen to me.”

Everyone else seems surprised into inaction by this sudden outburst between the two girls. You feel a tugging on your sleeve – Mitsuki is looking at you, holding onto your arm. “Shinoseki-san…” she pleads quietly. You hold back a sudden urge to rip your arm away from her grasp, although your nervousness simply manifests itself by having you adjust your glasses yet again. It seems like she wants you to stop the fight, one way or another.

***

00:45

A. You gather up enough courage to speak up. You might not be the loudest or most eloquent person here, but you cannot stand by and let the situation go unchecked.

1. “Uh… Uehara-san is right. Please don’t make things harder for us than it needs to be…” You side with Uehara. You think she is right; nothing good will come of letting Amanozaki spout her beliefs unchecked. It will only make everyone more nervous than they need to be.

2. “I-I think Amanozaki-san makes sense. Uehara-san… please don’t be mean to her…” You side with Amanozaki. What she says might be true. You do not know for sure, but it is at least an explanation where no one else has been able to offer any. Uehara should calm down and back off.

3. “Maybe… maybe the both of you should take it easy?” You try to get both sides to take a step back. All this bickering does no one any good. Uehara might be right. Amanozaki might be right. You don’t know for sure, so staying in the middle is surely the best bet.


B. You keep quiet. This is really none of your business, is it? One of the others will definitely speak up anyway and help keep the peace: Tokigawa, Sawada, Kayano, or even Mori should be more than ready to step in if things get out of hand - you have no doubt they will do it very soon. You don't need to get involved at all.
 
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Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
ITZ PERFECTO!

-san I am totally fine with, but this 'Kukukukukukuku' stuff is cracking me up for some reason. How long 'til we start vocalizing not only cackling, but giggling, crying and screaming? :lol:

“My first name is… uh… Ada… Adachi.”
Almost! :negative:

I am torn between supporting Shizuka, because this is what I would naturally do (and also because we have already decided to ignore the supernatural side for the moment), and continuing to maintain a non-presence, since that is what I want the character to become.

I guess I'll indulge myself a little. A1.

It wouln not have been horror if we weren't utterly oblivious to what is happening around us.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
-san I am totally fine with, but this 'Kukukukukukuku' stuff is cracking me up for some reason. How long 'til we start vocalizing not only cackling, but giggling, crying and screaming? :lol:

A boy in the Academy's uniform stands between me and the exit. He has a thin, pinched face and light brown hair neatly parted down the middle. One of his hands is shoved in his pocket, while the other rests familiarly around Keiko's side, uncomfortably near her chest.

“Looks like personally breaking you over the weekend was worth my time, you nosy bitch. It was such a stroke of luck that you are in the same class as him. Uhihihihihi.” He grins, and then breaks into a creepy laugh. Keiko is looking at the ground, silent. “So, what's the matter? Aren't you going to ask me who I am?”

Since last year, it seems.:M
 

asxetos

Augur
Joined
Feb 11, 2009
Messages
820
Location
Greece
A3. We can man up for a second and settle this. There is no way to prove or disprove the theory anyway.
 

Rex Feral

Prophet
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
1,300
Well, that lie went like fuck. Where I was expecting at least some smoothness and self assuredness, we were truly lame.

Oh well, A3>A1. Let's at least try to act cool.
 

ERYFKRAD

Barbarian
Patron
Joined
Sep 25, 2012
Messages
28,240
Strap Yourselves In Serpent in the Staglands Shadorwun: Hong Kong Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag. Pathfinder: Wrath I'm very into cock and ball torture I helped put crap in Monomyth
A3. Let's make it worse.
 

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