(align:"=><=")+(box:"X=")[At your request,
(live: 3s)[ [[''The Ivy Puzzle'']] ] ]
(live:12s)[(css: "font-size: 70%")[//(Click on bolded words to continue)//]]
{
(track: 'Ambience', 'loop', true)
(track: 'Ambience', 'playwhenpossible')
(track: 'Ambience', 'volume', 0.2)
}The air feels thicker with the [[puzzle box]] in the room.
Outside, it's a warm night.The box is simple wood, chaotically engraved with a jagged (text-colour:#008200)[(text-style:"fidget")[ivy]] pattern, which wraps horribly around the surface.
The [[corners]] seem loose, and a hidden [[sliding panel]] looks like it would give in the direction of the (text-colour:#008200)[(text-style:"fidget")[ivy]]. Something feels [[weighted]] on one end.
(track: 'Underwater', 'stop')
You don't want to (transition-arrive: "flicker")+(transition-time: 1.5s)[[put it down]].Each corner turns counterclockwise in your fingers. The box CLICKS, and two [[cards]] spring out from the sides.
You try to take both, but the cards are connected with a string through the center of the puzzle box. Each has an image stenciled on both sides.(Set: $Inspected to false)The panel moves three inches across the wood. Underneath are two human eyes. A thin needle tumbles out of a groove below the eyes, freed by the sliding panel.
The Eyes look around the room anxiously, then at you.
(live: 6s)[
[[INSPECT THE EYES CLOSER]]
[["BLINK TWICE IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME."]] ]You shift the internal weight, feeling it ''[slide.]''
(mouseover-replace: "slide.")[slide.
As it does, gravity turns counterclockwise. You tumble across the floor, hitting the back wall. The table, unsecured, collides with your stomach.
(live: 5s)[Then the fridge.]
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(live: 9s)[
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ]] ]
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[[Take the left card.]]
---
A figure with long arms and legs, and a neck with a line poking out of it. Staring at it has a calming effect, but this feels darkly intentional.
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[[Take the right card.]]
---
A perfect square, though its angles seem to change. Its sides are a reddish green, and the letters A, I, D, and E are pressed into the card as if with a fingernail.
|==|A (text-style:"blink")[knock] at the front door.
[[Run.]]
[[Open the door.]]You pull at the card, but something is holding onto the string. You tug again, and a hand comes out of the opening.
A Man unfolds from the puzzle box, [shivering].
(mouseover-replace: "shivering")[(text-style:"shudder")[shivering]]
(live: 4s)[ [["WHO ARE YOU?"]] ]
(live: 4.5s)[ [["HOW DO I SOLVE THE BOX?"]] ]
(live: 5s)[ [[GRAB THE LETTER OPENER]] ](text-rotate-z:4)[You turn.
[The air slices your neck like a corkscrew.]]
(mouseover-replace: "The air slices your neck like a corkscrew.")[(text-style:"strike")[The air slices your neck like a corkscrew.]]
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ]No one is there.
At the end of the driveway, silhouetted faintly by lime-tinted moonlight, you catch a glimpse of a dark shape hovering over the trash bin. ''(text-colour:white)[ [An enormous, buzzing fly]].''
(mouseover-replace: "An enormous, buzzing fly.")[No, just some trash bags.]
The [[puzzle box]] is playing tricks on you.A synapse misfires in your brain. The fingers of your left hand refuse to open. You cannot [[put the box down]].
(align:"==>")+(box:"X=")[=
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ]You try to pry the box away with an instrument. All you can find to slip between the wood and your palm is the letter opener, still lying next to the package. As you slide the blade underneath, you feel cold steel and a shiver of blood.
The wood is webbed into your skin.
[[Cut.]]
(mouseover-replace: "Cut.")[(text-style:"shudder")[(text-colour:#c71919)[Cut.]]]
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ]You (text-style:"sway")[saw] at the tangle of wood and flesh nested in your palm, ignoring the awful sound. After three minutes, the puzzle box finally rolls from your bloody hand onto the kitchen table. It sits still, but the (text-colour:#008200)[(text-style:"fidget")[ivy]] seems to move when you're not looking.
Carefully, wrapping your hand in gauze, you seal the box back into the package it arrived in, and leave it by the mailbox with a note:
(force-input-box:"====XXXX====",1,"RETURN to SENDER")
(align:"==>")+(box:"X=")[=
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ]
{
(track: 'CutSFX', 'seek', 17)
(track: 'CutSFX', 'play')
(track: 'CutSFX', 'volume', 10.0)
}//"L'homme qui est sorti de votre casse-tete? Je ne m'en souviens pas. Est-ce que nous sommes a Lyon?"//
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[["I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOU."]]
[["C'est Queens. Ça veut dire quoi, ce bordel? Qui m'a envoyé ce coulis?"]]The Man speaks in garbled English.
(text-style:"italic")["No."] He points at the [puzzle box]. (text-style:"italic")["People. Trap."]
(mouseover-replace: "puzzle box")[(text-style:"blur")[puzzle box]]
Suddenly the wood slats curl up, flower-like, at the top of the box. The Man stares in horror.
(track: 'Underwater', 'stop')
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[[LOOK INSIDE]]
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[[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]
|==|
(mouseover-replace: "LOOK INSIDE")[(text-style:"blink")[LOOK INSIDE]]
(mouseover-replace: "RIP OUT YOUR EYES")[(text-colour:red)[(text-rotate-z:7)[(text-style:"blur")[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]]]The Man holds up his hands as you point the narrow blade defensively.
Suddenly the wood slats curl up, flower-like, at the top of the puzzle box. The Man stares in horror.
(track: 'Underwater', 'stop')
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[[LOOK INSIDE]]
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[[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]
|==|
(mouseover-replace: "LOOK INSIDE")[(text-style:"blink")[LOOK INSIDE]]
(mouseover-replace: "RIP OUT YOUR EYES")[(text-colour:red)[(text-rotate-z:7)[(text-style:"blur")[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]]](text-colour:#cdcdcd)[You look inside, and find yourself suddenly falling past the walls of the ](live: 2.5s)[(text-colour:#8b8b8b)[puzzle box, folding into a pattern of (text-colour:#008200)[(text-style:"fidget")[ivy]] and steepening lines, sliding on] ](live: 5s)[(text-colour:#6a6a6a)[black waterfalls through the cosmic Mud.]]
(live: 7s)[(text-colour:#424242)[There are no stars here, and as you press your forehead against the grain ]](live: 9s)[(text-colour:#202020)[of the rushing wood, your mind melts away] (text-colour:#0c0c0c)[like sand.] ]
{
(track: 'Underwater', 'play')
(track: 'Underwater', 'loop', true)
(track: 'Underwater', 'volume', 20.0)
}
(align:"==>")+(box:"X=")[=
(live: 13s)[
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ] ]Your fingers find traction in your skull. You (text-style:"fidget")[pull], hitting the table head-on as your feet drag you toward the open box. You hear the Man's voice collapse back into his throat as he's pulled inside, and the slats close. The paramedics arrive in time to save you from shock.
The puzzle box is taken away. But whenever dark thoughts worm through the wrinkles in your brain, (text-colour:#4d0404)[you can feel the scars there.]
(align:"==>")+(box:"X=")[=
(live: 14s)[
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ] ]The Man shakes his head in despair.
Suddenly the wood slats curl up, flower-like, at the top of the puzzle box. The Man stares in horror.
(track: 'Underwater', 'stop')
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[[LOOK INSIDE]]
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[[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]
|==|
(mouseover-replace: "LOOK INSIDE")[(text-style:"blink")[LOOK INSIDE]]
(mouseover-replace: "RIP OUT YOUR EYES")[(text-colour:red)[(text-rotate-z:7)[(text-style:"blur")[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]]]The Man starts to respond, when suddenly the wood slats curl up, flower-like, at the top of the puzzle box. The Man stares in horror.
(track: 'Underwater', 'stop')
=|=
[[LOOK INSIDE]]
=|=
[[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]
|==|
(mouseover-replace: "LOOK INSIDE")[(text-style:"blink")[LOOK INSIDE]]
(mouseover-replace: "RIP OUT YOUR EYES")[(text-colour:red)[(text-rotate-z:7)[(text-style:"blur")[RIP OUT YOUR EYES]]]](Set: $Inspected to true)You lean down and match their gaze. Where the left pupil should be, you see a wood indentation the size of the needle tip, half an inch back.
(transition-arrive: "shudder")+(transition-time: 2.0s)[[INSERT THE NEEDLE]]
[["BLINK TWICE IF YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME."]]The Eyes look frightened.
BLINK.
BLINK.
[["ARE YOU IN PAIN?"]]
[["ARE YOU A PERSON?"]]The Eyes flit around helplessly as the point approaches. You miss the pupil of the left eye as the needle pierces through the white, causing it to (text-style:"rumble")[spasm]. The puzzle box falls from your hand onto the table, locking up.
(live: 5s)[You never touch it again.]
(live: 7s)[
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ] ]The Eyes remain open.
[["CAN I HELP YOU?]]
[["DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING?"]]
[["DID YOU SOLVE THE PUZZLE BOX?"]]BLINK.
BLINK.
[["CAN I HELP YOU?]]
[["DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING?"]]
[["DID YOU SOLVE THE PUZZLE BOX?"]]The Eyes widen and look around the room, then resettle.
(If: $Inspected is true)[](Else:)[You notice where the left pupil should be there's a wood indentation that sinks into the eye. It's the size of the needle tip, set half an inch back.]
[["TRY NOT TO MOVE. I'M INSERTING THE NEEDLE."]]
(transition-arrive: "flicker")+(transition-time: 1.5s)[[YOU CAN'T DO THIS->put it down]]The Eyes remain open.
(If: $Inspected is true)[](Else:)[You notice where the left pupil should be there's a wood indentation that sinks into the eye. It's the size of the needle tip, set half an inch back.]
[["TRY NOT TO MOVE. I'M INSERTING THE NEEDLE."]]
(transition-arrive: "flicker")+(transition-time: 1.5s)[[YOU CAN'T DO THIS->put it down]]BLINK.
BLINK.
(If: $Inspected is true)[](Else:)[You notice where the left pupil should be there's a wood indentation that sinks into the eye. It's the size of the needle tip, set half an inch back.]
[["TRY NOT TO MOVE. I'M INSERTING THE NEEDLE."]]
(transition-arrive: "flicker")+(transition-time: 1.5s)[[YOU CAN'T DO THIS->put it down]]<tw-hook style="animation: 1s steps(1, end) 0s 3 alternate none running fade-in-out;">The Eyes blink rapidly as the needle approaches, then settle in a still, nervous stare. The needle sinks in. The puzzle box CLICKS.
Two thin purple cards spring halfway out from adjacent slots in the lid of the box, adorned with ''[fine writing.]''</tw-hook>
(mouseover-replace: "fine writing.")[fine writing.
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[[TAKE THE FIRST CARD]]
---
(text-style:"outline")[REWARD:] DIAMONDS
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[[TAKE THE SECOND CARD]]
---
(text-style:"outline")[REWARD:] OIL
|==|
<tw-hook style="animation: 10s steps(1, end) 0s 1 alternate none running fade-in-out;">(transition-arrive: "flicker")+(transition-time: 1.5s)[[TAKE NEITHER. GET OUT.->put it down]]</tw-hook>
]The card comes out with a tug. A string is attached to one end going through the slot, and when you pull it, something heavy bumps up against the bottom of the lid. It comes off easily.
You find in your hand an [uncut diamond] the size of a baseball.
(mouseover-replace: "uncut diamond")[(text-style:"smear")[uncut diamond]]
The puzzle box drops from your other hand onto the table. (live: 9s)[You didn't realize how tightly you were holding it.]
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(live: 12s)[
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ] ]The card comes up with a tug. You turn it over, finding a set of coordinates. With the help of [an aquaintance], you track the coordinates to an isolated five-mile stretch of land in Ohio.
There, the ground glistens uselessly with oil, as if dropped from the sky.
(live: 6s)[By now it's well dried up.]
(mouseover-replace: "an aquaintance")[your dad]
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(live: 8s)[
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---
(text-colour:white)[ [[Outside, it's a warm night.->puzzle box]] ] ]showControls: falseAmbience: ./Assets/Ambience.mp3
Underwater: ./Assets/Underwater.mp3
CutSFX: ./Assets/CutSFX.mp3