W̧E̷E̡̕K ͡3̴

[strangerpeople]

W̛E̷͞E̶̵K͏͘͠ 3̸̡

[You got a phone call that morning. It wasn't the realtor for the vineyard, like you had thought. Instead, it was a scientist.

She offered you something you hadn't ever expected: hope.

"I think I've pinpointed where this blight has come from, and how it became so virulent. You were among the first whose crop was infected-I wish to speak to you personally about it."

You meet in a car, and drive to an isolated road. She will not take any chance to speak publicly about it-not yet. She doesn't want to release the information until she is certain. But she felt honor-bound to explain to you, given your own importance in her research. You hadn't known she had sampled your dead and dying grapes, but she did.

"This blight..." She opens a folder, showing you the photos. "Started with a gopher, several years ago. I know, it sounds insane. This disease should only affect certain animal species. But one day, it jumped into vines...the original gopher died a long time ago. But not before it had eaten an entire cluster of grapes in one swallow. It ended up scratching itself on the trellis of the grapevine as it choked to death. Its blood, its body decayed, and helped to water and fertilize that strain of grapes the next year or so, and...well, the seeds from those buds that resulted were sent out to every farm in the area. Then, to every farm in the country, different regions..."

That sounded insane. This woman's theory sounded utterly bonkers. But you can't dismiss it out of hand-you have no better answer.

Before you can say anything more, the woman's phone rings. She answers, and you see her face turn white. You don't have to guess why.

Before, the theoretical gopher had infected the grapes with the blight.

Now, the blight had claimed its first human victim.


-


[The morning hurts. It hurts to know that, even dead, there was that final, terrible moment for the Embarrassing and the Nagging. It must hurt more to know that this will continue, and that there is something out there that is invested in ensuring each and every last one of the Strangers are, if not dead, than broken.

And then, there is IT. IT is the enemy, it seems. But...what is IT? Is IT the one truly responsible? How?

As you try to think on it, you remember your truths, and suddenly, you realize, another has changed:




[That you would. Can you? You know that, whatever your answer, you must find a way to the truth. The alternative is too horrible to even contemplate-if it is even possible to be comprehended. After all-if what you saw is what happens to the dead and condemned, what will become of the living at the hands of the terrible, unknown IT who is your jailer?

Hope that you do not have to find out. Hope there is an answer in the new floor that has opened up in the Building. Otherwise...otherwise you really are doomed.


There are 13 strangers in this place.]

Comments

[relieable]

It's a lot, isn't it?

[touchsensors]

I don't know how you're all finding all these things-lun.

[relieable]

Just by lookin' around, mostly. I got curious about the theater and started putting in tapes that weren't labelled. And then I found this whole story about... all these "games."

[touchsensors]

Oyo?

[Curiosity once again overrules feelings of inadequacy.]

[relieable]

It was... a lot to take in. And I don't remember everything. But I've been taking what I do know and trying to piece it in with what everyone's saying here.

I think the way things started was some elf wanted to... undo reality. The elf had a title, too... I think it was The Sapiarch, if that rings any bells.

[touchsensors]

What's an elf-lun?

[relieable]

[ahahahah]

W-well, I think they differ from universe to universe! To me, elves are like... little fairy-type people with pointy ears.

[touchsensors]

Fairy type-lun?

[Lala makes a "this big" gesture indicating something about a foot tall. Her mental image is definitely way off.]

[relieable]

[not like a pokémon]

L-like I said, they can vary from universe to universe. Sometimes, they're small. But, in certain books, elves can be taller.

[touchsensors]

So they're like big fairies-lun.

[And now she's basically picturing a theme park mascot. Save her. Save me.]

[necroyalty]

...do we need to establish what an elf is.

Alright. Show of hands. Who doesn't know?

[poorlovefool]

[Eric is just groaning at the question and not raising a hand. At least he knows one good elf who isn't an elf nazi.]

[touchsensors]

[...hand up.]

[necroyalty]

...long lived and long-eared race of people with tenuous and extremely debatable ties to fey, basically.

Any other questions?

[katzenpfote]

Show them to me later. I can memorize them.

[relieable]

[turns to give Caleb a thumbs up]

You've got it, boss! I have them all stashed away in a stack. in the Betamax Storage room.

[katzenpfote]

I will take a look. How long is each tape, roughly?

[relieable]

Not long. Each tape is one Act, so maybe ten minutes?

[could be more or less, but that's what it feels like]

The last one... cuts off, though.

[katzenpfote]

... What point does it cut off at?

[otherworldlyking]

[ He'll yawn... ]

Someone bothered to go through the trouble to put them all together into a story?

[relieable]

[wake up, pay attention, parent up]

I guess so. I dunno if it was done for us, or... for someone else.

[otherworldlyking]

[ Indeed for once he had a bit of interest in the topic at a meeting. ]

Wonder who'd be interested in watching such a thing—then again, maybe the Hosts' Leader might fit.

[ Either way, he doubted he'd have enjoyed sitting through it himself. It'd be a pain and such a bother. ]

[relieable]

...Yeah, whoever they are, they seem sadistic enough that they might wanna relive everything.

[otherworldlyking]

...Not really my idea of a good time.

[relieable]

Mine, neither!

[he shakes his head]

Though, I'm hoping watching all those videos will at least help me out later. Help all of us.