When I got to the end of the recording, I started it back over again on a hunch. As I had hoped, we immediately went Off-Screen when the second playthrough began. The audience wouldn't need to hear it again and we had been On-Screen for some time. I needed to process everything we had just learned.
“How are we suppose...
2023-06-24 14:54:15 +0000 UTC View PostKimberly screamed.
“Oh my god!” Anna yelled.
I stared at the corpse, looking for some trace of what might have done it. It was the work of something very strong, that much was certain. It didn’t really help narrow down my top three theories very much, though out of ghosts, demons, and psychic phenomena, the ...
2023-06-22 03:07:14 +0000 UTC View Post[Sorry for the delay. My computer died. I had to go find my old Gen 1 Chromebook to post this.]
Ten minutes after First Blood ended, Anna slowly tiptoed out of her living space and into view of the cameras. While her bedroom was not in view of the cameras, the communal space and door that separated her from the maze of ...
2023-06-20 23:35:25 +0000 UTC View PostAs soon as my shift ended, I fell into bed. I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I was just exhausted.
My brain hurt like I'd been doing math problems all night. By all rights I should have been up, terrified of what was to come, afraid that First Blood might happen while I was asleep. Despite this, I slept sound...
2023-06-17 01:02:42 +0000 UTC View PostThe next day, I watched as the day shift people came back and started their routines all over again. I was tired in a way that I hadn’t been in a long time, and yet, I felt like I couldn’t sleep. I was the wrong kind of wired. I was afraid to miss anything.
The day began with breakfast for the patients. I don’t kn...
2023-06-16 00:55:42 +0000 UTC View PostThere is a vote currently on Discord to choose Riley's new aspect. If you haven't seen it yet, go check it out! While most votes will be Patreon exclusives, this vote was for the whole Carousel community. Aspects affect which tropes are awarded and also pro...
2023-06-15 04:32:40 +0000 UTC View PostIt was noon. I wondered if the five days we were going to spend there were full days or if time would start speeding up once some important scenes were out of the way.
My question was slowly answered. Very slowly.
It was eight hours before my first night shift started. I decided to go find the mess hall.
I g...
2023-06-14 23:36:06 +0000 UTC View PostOur stats at the start of the storyline were as follows:
Riley: Plot Armor: 21/2 Mettle: 2 Moxie: 7 Hustle: 4 Savvy: 7 Grit: 1
Antoine: Plot Armor: 17 Mettle: 4 Moxie: 3 Hustle: 5 Savvy: 1 Grit: 4
Anna: Plot Armor: 19 Mettle: 4 Moxie: 4 Hustle: 3 ... 2023-06-10 18:12:59 +0000 UTC View Post
It was another day before we finally went to the diner we had been hearing about since we arrived. Mostly, we heard about it in the context of someone asking where Arthur was and everyone answering that he was at the diner.
It wasn’t a long walk to get there by Carousel standards. It was on the western edge of town. I...
2023-06-08 07:44:24 +0000 UTC View PostAs night fell, my friends and I found ourselves on the back deck watching the sun go down. We didn't talk about much. We had had a busy day and there were veterans around steering the conversation.
Antoine was the quietest. It was hard to see him like that. Ever since we got there, Antoine had made it his own mission to...
2023-06-06 00:17:40 +0000 UTC View PostAll in all, there were seven teams at the library. Of course, my friends and I hardly counted.
The other teams had been put together strategically for the better part and they could adapt seamlessly to different storylines. Players tend to plateau at around 40 Plot Armor. Most of the Lodge existed around that range. Tho...
2023-06-02 19:18:13 +0000 UTC View PostBy the next morning, much of the Lodge had developed a fascination with the concept of Secret Lore tickets. They wanted to get lore tickets of their own.
Not the whole Lodge, of course.
“Those things are a waste of time,” Arthur warned us, as he and the other high-level players prepped for their own mission. ...
2023-05-30 05:56:14 +0000 UTC View PostAs Patrons, you have a say in choosing the players' next adventure. Pick your favorite from those listed below. The winner will be the next storyline.
Poll closes tomorrow when the next chapter drops.
2023-05-29 01:38:24 +0000 UTC View PostWe made it back to Dyer’s Lodge before sundown.
Antoine was still visibly withdrawn and distant. His eyes were red and watery. It was enough that when we walked back into the Lodge, people noticed. Dyer’s Lodge was never the happiest place on earth, but most people breathed a sigh of relief when they walked through ...
2023-05-27 03:32:18 +0000 UTC View PostI had never seen Antoine like this. Even when he had stab wounds and broken ribs, he stood tall and pretended it didn’t bother him.
At that moment, he was completely vulnerable.
It took a while to get the story out of him. He didn’t remember some of it. Maybe it was because he was in the forest for so long. Ma...
2023-05-25 06:01:03 +0000 UTC View PostEven though the horse ran even, graceful strides, every hoofbeat sent a jolt of pain up my leg from my shattered toes. An onlooker might have thought I had ridden a horse all my life as I guided the creature through the trees and over obstacles. Of course, that couldn’t be further from the truth. The NPC horse knew the way....
2023-05-23 05:05:22 +0000 UTC View PostAll of the short stories within this storyline had gone by quickly, but this one even more so because I wasn’t even in the main plot. Anna, Kimberly, and Camden had taken care of that. Dina and I had been in small snippets of screen time.
That was about to change.
I could hear the sounds of travelers in the nigh...
2023-05-23 05:04:46 +0000 UTC View Post“They’re just…” a man yelled from atop one of the viewing platforms. I couldn’t see his face, but I could hear the confusion in his voice. “They’re just women.”
“What is that you say?” Theodore called out.
“There are no monsters,” the lookout said. “There are women wandering about. Maiden...
2023-05-20 01:56:34 +0000 UTC View Post“I don’t know why he helps those settlers. Every chance we get to let them either die off or abandon their settlement, he saves them. He gives them our food, our supplies,” Douglas said.
We were alone at a trailhead leading into the western wood. I was apprehensive about entering. If I understood the geography cor...
2023-05-16 09:23:23 +0000 UTC View PostSuddenly, we were back around the campfire. At least we had all made it out this time.
“What was making the animals act so weird,” Jake asked. “Why would they attack like that?”
Why would they attack? Had he not been paying attention?
“No one knows,” Akers answered. “Some say it was the ghos...
The storyline was nearly over, yet we hadn't reached The End yet. There was something further to get done.
We raced back to the mine entrance where Nicholas' SUV was parked. When we arrived, we saw that the workers had left.
Off-Screen.
So we were back to that.
Hesper was sitting in his wheelchair at t...
2023-05-11 05:55:45 +0000 UTC View PostWe began moving away from the light of the wishing well. There was something deep inside me that truly did not want to leave the light. The darkness ahead of us was surely safer than the darkness behind us but it was still darkness.
Nicholas kept looking behind us as we walked, his eyes appeared to be focused on the gli...
2023-05-09 04:59:35 +0000 UTC View PostAs I dropped into the crack in the wall, I immediately found myself sliding down a steep incline. The rock was slick and wet. My feet scrambled against the stone, seeking to stop my fall or at least slow my descent, but years of erosion had rendered the surface smooth.
I reached out my hands as I fell, clawing for even ...
2023-05-08 04:11:06 +0000 UTC View PostThe older Mr. Hesper was a tight-lipped and introspective man. When he saw his son coming, he nodded in greeting. He sat in his wheelchair like he was a king on his throne. His guards slowly pushed him down the steep incline to the mine opening.
Nicholas went for something that might have been a hug, but it wasn't recip...
2023-05-06 05:19:17 +0000 UTC View Post“No time like the present,” Nicholas said loudly to all of those nearby. His voice cracked. I don't know if it was because of the strange screaming sound or because he was just nervous. “The investors will be here tomorrow. We've got to get things ready.”
The workers began running around trying to bring loads of...
2023-05-04 19:05:54 +0000 UTC View PostI circled back around to the backside cabin. I took a long path. There was no sign of anyone, player or Straggler. The cabin lights were off and the windows were shuttered. Old Man Akers was probably inside waiting out the horror that was going on in his backyard.
I heard voices on the other side of the cabin.
I s...
2023-05-02 20:09:49 +0000 UTC View PostWe weren't a mile down the trail before we ran into the lawyers. It’s not that they had been taking their sweet time, no, they were walking back toward the cabin.
Antoine and Camden gave us a flash of acknowledgment when they saw us. They were quick to drop it though. They couldn’t be sure if we were really their fr...
2023-04-30 20:21:14 +0000 UTC View Post“What is happening?” Kimberly asked. “Why does the red wallpaper say that I’m a monster?”
She started to back away from us.
“It says that we all are,” Anna said. She looked at me. “Do you know what's going on?”
I looked from Anna to Tony to Kimberly. “Yeah. It messes with our minds so tha...
2023-04-29 21:06:32 +0000 UTC View PostAs we started walking toward the teens hiding in the bush, I leaned in toward the group and said, “Just from that title I can tell you that this is probably a horror anthology.”
Even More Stories from the Campfire: Fatal Folktales had all the generic hallmarks that you would come to expect from a movie that...
2023-04-28 04:59:47 +0000 UTC View PostI needed somewhere to think. We were too close to town square. There were omens all over and many of them moved around. It was too dangerous to stay. I had to guide the group across town in the direction of the storyline we were headed to as I searched for a place where I could stop and examine the tickets.
Eventually,...
