9th Dec 2019, 4:48 PM
Equip potato and go to bed
Alright.
If you're going to do this, you're going to do it right.
Assuming the worst, you'll be thrown back into a horrible prison that's trying to kill you. Last time, your glasses and your clothes came with you--even though you weren't wearing them when you went to sleep. That suggests things can come with you.
Ideally, preparation would mean bringing a bag--full of pens, paper, chalk, rope, duct tape, and anything else you'd bring on a fantasy spelunking adventure. A weapon would be nice, as well, so you're not reliant on whatever the dungeon gives you.
Unfortunately,
you don't own any of those things.
...And probably can't afford them.
You're not even sure there's a store open at this hour.
What you do have are potatoes.
They're not... exactly helpful, but they could form the basis for an experiment.
You head to your kitchen and sort through your potatoes. You find the smallest two potatoes you can, barely managing to shove one into your (admittedly pretty shallow) pocket.
You return to your room, and put the other potato in the empty box that has become your de facto dirty clothes hamper. If your clothes can be transported from there, then the second potato should, too. Right?
You brush your teeth and get ready for bed.
In a last ditch effort to try and soften, alter, or even outright avoid the horrible murder dungeon you spend some time watching internet videos of rabbits flopping around and munching on food. You get a little distracted, following the rabbit videos to turtles, also slowly going to town on various vegetables, before eventually ending on videos of cute caterpillars eating leaves (and, appropriately, a sweet potato).
It's almost 11:00 pm when you finally go to bed.
You wake up in your bed
but not in your room.
It is real familiar looking, though.
In fact, it looks like the same god damn place as last time. A dirty prison cell with a broken ceiling, filthy and almost viscous water pouring in rapidly.
You check under your pillow for the book that was there in your previous dream; it has returned, labeled INSIDE on the front cover, with every page only reading the number 79 over and over again. You check the bookshelf--these books are the same, as well, which means the puzzle itself shouldn't have changed. You still remember the code to the door, the same door, with the same lock: 91-60-14-44-79.
You check your pockets, noting that--again--you didn't go to sleep with these clothes on, or your glasses, but here they are.
Your ID card, housekey, money, and one potato are in your pockets.
You see no sign of the second potato you left in the box.
You head to the door of your cell and begin putting in the code, planning to make your exit while the water is still only at your ankles--but about halfway through cycling the numbers, you notice something has changed.
Through the bars, you can see someone else waiting on the other side of the door... just, standing idly in the hall, staring off into space.
Well.
It may be wrong to say that they're someone else.
You're not entirely sure what you're looking at here.
Anti-Plaire? Nega Plaire? ...RePlaire?
. . .
That's not true. You've played enough video games to be 90% sure exactly what this is. Some games have a mechanic where, when the player dies, all of their previous items and resources stay with the corpse. When the player respawns, they have to collect their things from wherever they died.
This later evolved into a different game mechanic--one where the player's own ghost or shadow would rise up wherever they died and attempt to kill them again. In theory, it incentivizes exploration--if one area kills you, it encourages you to try going somewhere else. In practice, it mostly just punishes the player for dying.
You glance to the left.
The torch you took last time is back in its place on the wall, which means Bizzaro Plaire doesn't have it. ...So it's not the former mechanic. This thing's almost definitely going to try and murder you.
You may be able to sneak by her toward the left if you want to head downstairs (or just go pick that shield back up).
Maybe.
You didn't get to hear how loud your cell door is last time, due to all the rushing water. Sneaking could be a gamble.
On the other hand: if you plan to head for the surface, the path there runs straight past the other you. You could loop all the way back around the other side of this floor to avoid her, but that's hoping the rest of this hellhole isn't worse.
If you're going to do this, you're going to do it right.
Assuming the worst, you'll be thrown back into a horrible prison that's trying to kill you. Last time, your glasses and your clothes came with you--even though you weren't wearing them when you went to sleep. That suggests things can come with you.
Ideally, preparation would mean bringing a bag--full of pens, paper, chalk, rope, duct tape, and anything else you'd bring on a fantasy spelunking adventure. A weapon would be nice, as well, so you're not reliant on whatever the dungeon gives you.
Unfortunately,
you don't own any of those things.
...And probably can't afford them.
You're not even sure there's a store open at this hour.
What you do have are potatoes.
They're not... exactly helpful, but they could form the basis for an experiment.
You head to your kitchen and sort through your potatoes. You find the smallest two potatoes you can, barely managing to shove one into your (admittedly pretty shallow) pocket.
You return to your room, and put the other potato in the empty box that has become your de facto dirty clothes hamper. If your clothes can be transported from there, then the second potato should, too. Right?
You brush your teeth and get ready for bed.
In a last ditch effort to try and soften, alter, or even outright avoid the horrible murder dungeon you spend some time watching internet videos of rabbits flopping around and munching on food. You get a little distracted, following the rabbit videos to turtles, also slowly going to town on various vegetables, before eventually ending on videos of cute caterpillars eating leaves (and, appropriately, a sweet potato).
It's almost 11:00 pm when you finally go to bed.
You wake up in your bed
but not in your room.
It is real familiar looking, though.
In fact, it looks like the same god damn place as last time. A dirty prison cell with a broken ceiling, filthy and almost viscous water pouring in rapidly.
You check under your pillow for the book that was there in your previous dream; it has returned, labeled INSIDE on the front cover, with every page only reading the number 79 over and over again. You check the bookshelf--these books are the same, as well, which means the puzzle itself shouldn't have changed. You still remember the code to the door, the same door, with the same lock: 91-60-14-44-79.
You check your pockets, noting that--again--you didn't go to sleep with these clothes on, or your glasses, but here they are.
Your ID card, housekey, money, and one potato are in your pockets.
You see no sign of the second potato you left in the box.
You head to the door of your cell and begin putting in the code, planning to make your exit while the water is still only at your ankles--but about halfway through cycling the numbers, you notice something has changed.
Through the bars, you can see someone else waiting on the other side of the door... just, standing idly in the hall, staring off into space.
Well.
It may be wrong to say that they're someone else.
You're not entirely sure what you're looking at here.
Anti-Plaire? Nega Plaire? ...RePlaire?
. . .
That's not true. You've played enough video games to be 90% sure exactly what this is. Some games have a mechanic where, when the player dies, all of their previous items and resources stay with the corpse. When the player respawns, they have to collect their things from wherever they died.
This later evolved into a different game mechanic--one where the player's own ghost or shadow would rise up wherever they died and attempt to kill them again. In theory, it incentivizes exploration--if one area kills you, it encourages you to try going somewhere else. In practice, it mostly just punishes the player for dying.
You glance to the left.
The torch you took last time is back in its place on the wall, which means Bizzaro Plaire doesn't have it. ...So it's not the former mechanic. This thing's almost definitely going to try and murder you.
You may be able to sneak by her toward the left if you want to head downstairs (or just go pick that shield back up).
Maybe.
You didn't get to hear how loud your cell door is last time, due to all the rushing water. Sneaking could be a gamble.
On the other hand: if you plan to head for the surface, the path there runs straight past the other you. You could loop all the way back around the other side of this floor to avoid her, but that's hoping the rest of this hellhole isn't worse.
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© 2019 - 2019 Matthew V Morgan
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I sleep with one eye on my royal flush
Template by Ypsilenna | Hosted on ComicFury
I sleep with one eye on my royal flush
Maybe ghostPlaire can't open the door out of the hallway after we've closed it behind us...?
1 Take off the shirt/sweater thing, it looks like it's made of wool or cotton and so very flammable, which will be important later.
2 Pull bedsheet off of bed. Remove pillowcase and stash in jeans for future use as a bag.
3 Input code, open door and hide behind it. Hope nega us walks in.
4 Throw bedsheet on nega us from behind door and run. Grab torch and shield on the way.
5. Run, or fight if nega us catches up or didn't come through the door. If it's still wearing the bedsheet bonus points for fire damage.
This is Hollow Knight right now.
On that mechanic the 'soul' was much less powerful than the Knight and only took a couple solid hits to defeat.
Try to see how NegaPlair is equipped before proceeding.
Especially if the clones aggro to noises.
With a large boon of luck, the tendon-bone thingy will fight off the clone... but Plaire would have to successfully sneak out of there to spy on their interaction.