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treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Yeah, sorry, got a new graphics card that could actually run Wasteland 2 and Divinity Original Sin prettily and decided to actually play some RPGs. :lol:

My bad. I'll lock in the votes at CD and update in about 12 hours or so, and we'll be back to regular updates after that after I get it all out of my system.
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
You have a key, but no idea as to which door it will open.

“Are we going to have to walk around sticking it into every hole until we find the right one?” Uehara seems a bit disgruntled; hands on her hips, she looks around the darkened room impatiently.

Oh, please talk about sticking things into holes a bit more. “N-no…” You shake your head. “We can probably narrow it down a bit… I mean… this key clearly doesn’t work with the door to this room, right? It won’t even fit… so it’s not a key meant for any of the normal doors we come across.”

“I foresee that the key will open something different,” intones Amanozaki as she basically repeats what you just said.

“Er… yes… that’s right,” you reply. “This building is too big to go around searching blindly. So we’ll need to find something like… a map or floor plan of this place. Then we can… I think… hopefully… identify the possible locations where the key might be used and visit each of them in turn.”

“Oh, but what if it opens something that isn’t a door?” asks Mitsuki.

“T-That might be possible…” You look downwards and mutter. “If it was a locker… there should be many of those here…” Turning away, you begin to pace around the room, deep in thought. There is a crunch underfoot – you have trod on something. It’s a collection of pages, bound together. Bending down curiously, you pick it up.

This location, the physiotherapy building, appears to be more twisted than the main building. While searching this place, I have found three similar, but possibly contradicting notes left behind by those before me. They all speak of a key, though each note points to different locations.

Perhaps they are all true.

Perhaps they are all false.

Regardless, I have made a copy of my findings here, as usual. Unfortunately, I am yet to obtain the key, but as each note has a single place in common…

The back of my neck is prickling even as I write this down, but though I can still retrace my steps and leave, somehow I feel that the only way is forward. To retreat now would be to shame my reputation as an occult journalist.

- Hidekata Matsui

You examine the pages underneath. There is more – it seems to be the notes that this Hidekata person has copied.

Someone gave me the key to the elevator room near the roof and told me to take care of it at all times.

I have no idea why, but since he is a rather important person, I’ll have to do as he says.

I wonder if I need to go as far as to put it on a string around my neck when I go for my daily swim.

I told him that I would wait for him at the pool.

He promised he would come.

I have hidden a gift for him in the gymnasium locker room.

When he comes, I’ll give him this key to unlock it.

He’ll be so happy!

The service tunnels… the lights haven’t been working properly down there recently, and there have been a couple of blackouts.

I should call maintenance to check on it soon. Perhaps it is rats gnawing at the wires.

In the meantime, I’ll lock up the gate in the pool maintenance room that leads to the tunnels.

Some naughty kids from the specialist paediatric wards got in there recently and I got chewed out over it. It’d be worse if they were caught down there should the lights go out again.

“What did you find, Shinoseki-san?”

“Oh… just this…” Turning around, you show them the papers.

“This is… Hidekata Matsui!” To your surprise, Amanozaki exclaims his name out loud. “The famous journalist who writes for all them big name occult magazines!”

“I… I see,” you mumble, slightly taken aback by her enthusiasm as she slips back into her Kansai accent.

“Well, he stopped writing for some reason some time back. I haven’t seen any articles from him in a while. I think word on the street was that he was looking for this big, big scoop of a lifetime… guess it didn’t really pan out, huh?” explains Amanozaki further. “Wait… big scoop… d’you think it means…”

The only thing you can be certain of is that he was probably here at some time. Whether he managed to escape or not is not something you can deduce from this copy of his findings.

Still… it has provided you some leads to go on.

Perhaps they are all true.

Perhaps they are all false.


You won’t know until you investigate it for yourself.

***

01:55

A. You go upstairs and check if the key works with the elevator room.

B. You head towards the gymnasium’s locker room and test out the key there.

C. You go to the pool maintenance room and see if this key will unlock the gate.
 
Last edited:

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Journalist's Notes #5

***

This location, the physiotherapy building, appears to be more twisted than the main building. While searching this place, I have found three similar, but possibly contradicting notes left behind by those before me. They all speak of a key, though each note points to different locations.

Perhaps they are all true.

Perhaps they are all false.

Regardless, I have made a copy of my findings here, as usual. Unfortunately, I am yet to obtain the key, but as each note has a single place in common…

The back of my neck is prickling even as I write this down, but though I can still retrace my steps and leave, somehow I feel that the only way is forward. To retreat now would be to shame my reputation as an occult journalist.

- Hidekata Matsui

***

Attached neatly to the journalist's writing are copies of the notes that he found.

Note 1:
Someone gave me the key to the elevator room near the roof and told me to take care of it at all times.

I have no idea why, but since he is a rather important person, I’ll have to do as he says.

I wonder if I need to go as far as to put it on a string around my neck when I go for my daily swim.

Note 2:
I told him that I would wait for him at the pool.

He promised he would come.

I have hidden a gift for him in the gymnasium locker room.

When he comes, I’ll give him this key to unlock it.

He’ll be so happy!

Note 3:
The service tunnels… the lights haven’t been working properly down there recently, and there have been a couple of blackouts.

I should call maintenance to check on it soon. Perhaps we have rats gnawing on the wires.

In the meantime, I’ll lock up the gate in the pool maintenance room that leads to the tunnels.

Some naughty kids from the specialist paediatric wards got in there recently and I got chewed out over it. It’d be worse if they were caught down there should the lights go out again.
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
Well, I am not going back to the pool. :lol:

B it is.

Clearly, all locations are false, and this is actually the key to "the most important thing in the world".
KEY.jpg
 
Last edited:

Rex Feral

Prophet
Joined
Jan 29, 2013
Messages
1,300
B, just the get the update earlier.

Really these are blind choices, it's not like we could ascertain which notes are true and which not.
 

TOME

Cuckmaster General
Joined
May 25, 2012
Messages
1,820
I have a feeling that the gymnasium lockers are closest to us, after the pool maintenance room of course. But since we are avoiding the pool, B.

I wonder if this Hidekata Matsui is here right now. Didn't one of the guys we met previous nights have a book filled with newspaper clippings related to this hospital?
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
I have a feeling that the gymnasium lockers are closest to us, after the pool maintenance room of course.
The roof is not far, either, since we seem to be on the upper floor.

I wonder if this Hidekata Matsui is here right now. Didn't one of the guys we met previous nights have a book filled with newspaper clippings related to this hospital?
He is quite possibly here, and he is probably dead.

How likely it would be that anyone who managed to get out of the hospital would get back here out of free will, rather than necessity?

It would not surprise me if this place attracts occultists from all over Japan, seeing how Amanozaki is here. Perhaps Sakaki Okitsu (the folklord) is one of them.
 

Elfberserker

Liturgist
Joined
Oct 25, 2013
Messages
1,540
It seems that building lets us to have a item for getting the key. Someone smarter than me probably can guess more accurately what we could possible find in each option, but here is my guess.

A option:
- Notes and I think they will be informative and important.
- Keycards?
- patient information and thoughts from past people in this house?

B Option:
- Some sort of physical item, perhaps it's real good luck charm?
- something that make boys happy, perhaps first issue of hidden ponographic magazines?

C option:
- bodyparts of murdered there?
- Pentagrams to hold ghosts?
- Monsters and Ghosts?
- Secret science lairs or other mysterious hideouts?
- Secret notes? Mysterious keycards or plain keys?
Edit: - Our pasts?
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
A: death by falling down the elevator shaft.
B: death by ???
C: death by monsters in the basement

I choose MYSTARY again. And porn magazines. Gotta find all 108 of them eventually.
 

oscar

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
8,036
Location
NZ
B, seems the safest and perhaps we'll get a memory unlock for physical strength
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
Really these are blind choices, it's not like we could ascertain which notes are true and which not.

Ascertaining the 'truth' isn't really the point here. How each note is written is probably more important than where they lead you to.
 

oscar

Arcane
Joined
Aug 30, 2008
Messages
8,036
Location
NZ
They all seem to be about duty: a) guarding the key b) honouring a promise c) stopping the kids getting in
 

Nevill

Arcane
Joined
Jun 6, 2009
Messages
11,211
Shadorwun: Hong Kong
They all seem to be about duty:
The first one seems to be written by an employee. He knows enough to recognize 'an important person', and he is obliged to do as the person says. He also mentions his daily swim, which might or might not indicate that he works in this building. The important person in question might or might not be the late paedo-director. My speculation is that this may lead us to one of the crime scenes. Then again, they all might.

The second one is written by someone young and excited, and probably a girl by the looks of it. She writes in very short sentences, which might indicate an immaturity of the mind. She might be a nurse, but my gut tells me she is one of the kid patients from the paediatric ward in the neighbouring building (?). That might tie her with the director in the first note and the kids in the third one.

The third note appears to be written by some kind of ward administrator. I can't say anything about it, though my first impression is that of an old geezer complaining about 'kids these days'. But really, it could have been written by anybody.

Somehow, I think that this is the building where it all started (and probably ended, too), so no matter what we choose, we are bound to uncover some sort of evidence.
 

Akkudakku

Arbiter
Joined
Mar 17, 2014
Messages
1,125
A for the sole reason the key-bearer liked to swim and we found the key in the pool.

Also for maximum memories of our crazy family!
 

treave

Arcane
Patron
Joined
Jul 6, 2008
Messages
11,370
Codex 2012
“Wow, there must be at least a hundred lockers in here!” says Mitsuki, her eyes wide in surprise. To her credit, she is not speaking from the sense of awe obtained through a child’s narrow perspective: the room is undeniably large. A hundred lockers is an understatement, at that. From the looks of it, there are hundreds. The gloomy hall is – as usual – lit up by the emergency lights. Visibility is poor and you can barely see what is in front of you… but if you had to hazard a guess, it would be more lockers and benches. That seems to be all you can find in here. The lockers are set up in rows of ten, standing proudly in the middle of the room.

Tentatively putting a hand on one of the tall, metal lockers, you twist the handle and attempt to open the door. No such luck. A noisy rattling aside, the door remains steadfast; it is locked. “All of these lockers have been sealed by the forces of the dark,” comments Amanozaki from the row right behind yours.

“These ones are locked too. Let’s try and see if the key fits?” asks Uehara, standing at another row further back.

There’s nothing else but to give it a go. Tweaking your spectacles, you take out the key from your pocket and test it on the locker in front of you. It slides into the keyhole with no issues. That’s good. Then, you try turning it. The key does not budge.

Uehara laughs lightly. “Of course. We wouldn’t be so lucky as to get it right on the first try, right?”

You hear Mitsuki make a small exclamation of surprise. “What is this? Shinoseki-san, there’s something stuffed here.”

Turning around, you see her pointing at the gap between two lockers, where a corner of some paper is peeking out. “Hold on, I’ll… I’ll get it,” you call out as you walk over, wincing as you accidentally place too much pressure on your injured ankle; the dark bruise does not seem to be getting any better. You reach out carefully and pinch the corner between your fingers. The paper refuses to come out gently, as if snagged on something. It takes you a couple of careful tugs to finally shake it loose.

It is another of Hidetaka’s notes.

I came across yet another mysterious note in this room, though the key is yet to appear before me.

In this, as with the others, there is that recurring motif of the village of one thousand and six hundred, a witch, and death. I wonder what it all means?

I will copy it down, as always.

-Hidetaka Matsui

In a forest, in an empty village, the man came across the girl.

The girl was digging graves, and in the open ones already dug, she had placed within their earthen embrace coffins, one thousand and six hundred in all.

The man asked, who lay in there?

The girl replied, my fellow villagers.

The man asked, do you need my help to bury them?

The girl replied, they are not here for burial, but for a ritual of resurrection.

The man asked, in spirit?

The girl replied, in flesh.

The man assisted the girl in her arduous task. Circles upon concentric circles of graves were dug, one by one, until all of the coffins had a place in the earth, with the girl and the man at the center of it all.

Then, the girl started to sing a song.

The girl went to the first coffin, and opened it, revealing the corpse within.

The girl went to the second coffin, and opened it, revealing the corpse within.

The girl went to the third coffin and opened it, revealing the corpse within.

The man watched as she repeated it again, and again, spiralling outwards until all one thousand and six hundred coffins were open, and she returned to where she began.

Without a moment of rest or pause in her singing, the girl visited the coffins a second time.

The girl passed over the first coffin.

The girl went to the second coffin, and closed it, hiding the corpse within.

The girl passed over the third coffin.

The girl went to the fourth coffin, and closed it, hiding the corpse within.

And the walk ended, and she started for a third time.

The girl passed over the first and second coffins.

The girl went to the third coffin, and closed it, hiding the corpse within.

The girl passed over the fourth and fifth coffins.

The girl went to the sixth coffin, and opened it, revealing the corpse within.

She repeated the song and the walk, over and over, without rest or stop as the sun rose and sank in the sky, until she had performed it one thousand and six hundred times, once for each of the deceased.

The man watched it all.

At the end of the one thousand and six hundredth repetition, only a handful of coffins remained open.

And from those coffins, those who were once dead returned to the witch.

Something is scribbled in the margins, as an afterthought:

Number of open coffins… perhaps?

The handwriting, however, looks to be different from Hidetaka’s straight, blocky script… although that could be due to the hastiness with which the sentence was written.

“That ritual…” Amanozaki murmurs under her breath, “the details have a certain familiarity to them, but I am afraid the knowledge is buried deep within the vault of my mind temple at the moment. I shall have to meditate on this.”

“I don’t think it’s anything important to worry your vacant head over,” snaps Uehara, hostile as always towards the psychic. “It’s just a story. It might also be a puzzle, like the note said, so we can solve it without resorting to any nonsensensical occult knowledge.”

“Kukuku… who knows what manner of ill fate will befall you if the proper precautions are not taken? The words of the dead should be read with more care. You should watch out. People like you are always the first to fall victim to the spirits’ hunger,” Amanozaki hisses ominously. It seems that the note has motivated her theatricality to greater heights, as she gestures wildly with all the flamboyance of a street performer.

“A-Anyway,” interrupts Mitsuki quickly and awkwardly, “what do we do about the key? It fits, right? So does that mean the key can open the lockers here?”

“Probably.” Uehara nods, looking around dispiritedly. “There’s so many of them. I suppose we could try each of them one by one. It is not like we are rushed for time.”

***

02:09

A. You test out the key on each locker until you find the correct one. This is a surefire way of getting what you want open, if the key does work here.

B. You attempt the puzzle – it might lead you to the correct locker more quickly, although if you are unable to solve it, or come to a wrong answer, you would just have wasted time.

C. The sheer number of lockers is just too daunting for you. You consider searching for clues elsewhere first – perhaps the other locations mentioned in Hidetaka’s notes may have something to help you.
1. You head to the elevator room.
2. You head to the pool maintenance room.
 

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