Ashgate Chat Thread.

I figure I would make this so people have a place to talk outside of the thread when I am away & asleep.

Please do use this to talk about the scenario, your theories on what is going on, or some feedback if you have any.

 

Cant we use glasshards as weapon?

 

Nawww, thick glass like that shatters hardcore. It's not like smashing a window.

 

Sorry for not participating until now, I didn't notice it had started o-o

Btw I made a compilation of all the things we've done as told by the host.
Hopefully it can help people remember what and where we've been
I'll keep this updated, as we move along:

Show Spoiler Hide Spoiler

--------------------------------------------

BEGINNING

--------------------------------------------

You awaken in a small, dimly lit room. As you sit up, the first thing you notice is the

throbbing pain in your head. Taking a look at your surroundings, the room is mostly bare -

the wooden desk and chair a stark contrast against the cold, metallic room. As you lift

yourself from the bed you were lying on, you notice a door on the opposite wall.

You move over towards the door, waiting for it to open. You're confused by your own

expectation, and wonder how you would get it open. Upon examining closer - you see a card

reader on the right side of the door.

You decide to examine the card reader. It's rectangular in size, and black. It seems to be

somewhat translucent, as you can see circuitry and LED lights under the surface. As you

probe the card-reader, you can tell that it is completely smooth and has no indentations.

Your hopes in finding any buttons has been dashed.

After examining the door, you decide to take another look around the room. The room is

unchanged, but as you look upon your bed, you see a pool of blood that has formed on the

sheets.

You were pretty sure this was where you were lying when you woke up.
For a moment, you feel strange. Instinctively you know it is your blood, and find it

somewhat surreal to be staring down at it like this. Your head throbs more intensely for a

moment, as if to try and remind you of something.

You pat yourself down, and flex your appendages out. Nothing seems out of the ordinary,

but your head really hurts. You take a hint, and raise a palm to the back of your head. It

feels wet, and now your hand is covered in blood.

You try to remove the bed sheet from the mattress, but it seems firmly affixed. You're

concerned that your injury has left you with little strength, or someone has played some

kind of cruel trick on you.

You hoped to see something - anything - under the bed, but all you are met with is a thin

layer of dust. Wasn't there someone who was supposed to keep stuff like this clean?

You get up off your knees, and dust your hands off on your shirt. Upon looking down, you

seem to be wearing a pair of dark green overalls - though they are now ruined by the smear

of blood you've put on them. You remember that the only place you haven't had a look at is

the desk, and walk over to examine it. It's definitely strange - why would it be wooden

instead of metal like everything else? To your knowledge, no-one uses wood for something

like this any more, unless they're incredibly rich.

You slump down in the chair and look at the desk in front of you. It's practically an

antique. On either side, it has three draws - six drawers total. Near the top, there is a

larger draw that appeared to be locked - but whoever was in here before you must have

smashed it open. You open the drawer and take a look inside. There is a roll of bandage.

You take it.

You take the bandage in hand and apply it around your head. After securing it, you should

have enough left for a couple more wounds, if needed.

There is nothing new in the room at this time.

You search for an airduct, but the only one you find is only wide enough to fit your head.

You open each of the drawers one by one. There are odd ends and trinkets here and there,

as well as some paperwork and documents you're not really familiar with. One some of them,

the letterhead reads "Ashgate". You wonder for a moment if that is the place you are stuck

in now. As you rummage through each drawer, you find your salvation.

--------------------------------------------

OUTSIDE THE ROOM

--------------------------------------------

Finally, a way out of this room. You walk over to the door, and position yourself behind

the keycard reader. You touch the card to the device, and it beeps. The light above the

door turns green, and the door opens smoothly.

The first thing you notice is music off in the distance (Glenn Miller - Moonlight

Serenade) . You close your eyes and smile, for some reason you know this is one of your

favourites. After your moment of bliss, you peak your head around the corner to see if

there is anyone outside. A light flickers and whirrs in the distance. There is no-one to

be seen. Ahead of you stretches a corridor that turns off to the right. It seems your room

would be the only destination on the agenda if someone were to come down here - you see no

more doors or openings on either side of the corridor.

Eh, what's the worst that could happen? Your shrugged to yourself and pressed on down the

corridor. As you reach the end and turn to your right...

Your vision turns scarlet. You gasp a little, and involuntarily take a step back. In front

of you was a beautiful splatter of blood on the left wall, which trailed delicately off

into a corridor that led off to the right. You admire the handy work for a moment, the

wall splatter leaving the image of a bloody butterfly in your mind. Your move closer, and

you notice there is writing on the wall.


The blood is wet, and still fresh. You rub it between your fingers as you read the

message.

"He never rests, he never sleeps. If you're in its sight, don't make a peep. Though try as

you might, to escape his wrath - when The Caretaker closes in on you, it will be a

bloodbath."

Suddenly, you feel a presence behind you. It slips a hand into one of your pockets, and

takes out one of your personal belongings. You curse yourself for not checking your own

pockets sooner



--------------------------------------------

RESURRECTION - 1.0

--------------------------------------------

You attempt to hit whoever is behind you, but they just laugh at you. From the laugh you

can tell it's a women.
As you try to cling onto consciousness, you see glimpses of the scenery around you. You

seem to be back inside your room, but it seems different. As you slip in and out of

unconsciousness, you notices the walls are the wrong colour, and the door is in the wrong

place. You wonder for a moment if this isn't just some kind of dream before falling back

into a deep sleep.

You awaken with a start. Sat upright, and gasping for air - you check your body. You seem

to be in one piece, and the bandage is still firmly on your head. Your check your pockets

- The bandages are still there, but the photo and the keycard is gone. As you turn and

place your feet on the floor, you feel something underneath your heel.

Inventory: Bandages x2

You look downwards and lift your foot. Underneath your heel was the keycard you lost. Go

figure.


It's not like you can just stay here forever. You go back over to the locked door, and tap

the keycard again. The door opens smoothly, and the corridor is empty once again.

You decide to walk over to the desk. The drawers are still open from the last time you

went through them, but you figure it couldn't hurt to check them once more. You lay the

contents of each drawer out onto the desk. There is nothing of use here.

You check your pockets. The photo is still gone, and there doesn't seem to be anything

else in there but lint.


You cautiously walk down the corridor. As you previously suspected, there didn't seem to

be anything else in this corridor other then your room behind you. As you look at the left

wall, you feel as if you're forgetting something important about this corridor. You

dismiss the feeling, and proceed to the end. As you look at the butterfly blood splatter,

there is no-one to be seen.

You didn't pay it much mind before, but someone was definitely killed here. The blood

splatter was from someone being pinned against the wall - their arms and legs spread like

delicate butterfly wings. The trail definitely led to the body, or where the body was

disposed of. As you mull over what could possibly pull off such a feat of strength, you

feel the presence creep up behind you again. It searches your pockets like before, and

lets out a whimper of disappointment. It has to be that women again. Remembering your

violent death just moments earlier, you freeze in place. The women notices your reaction,

and lets out an annoyed growl.

"What, you think I'm going to hurt you?"

You are at a loss of words. You are certain that this was the culprit of your previous,

vicious death. Comes to think of it, there were no signs of your previous death at all.

Weird. You rack your brain, wondering what exactly you've done differently, but nothing

really comes to mind. You decide for now, not to make any sudden movements.

You speak for the first time. Your voice is smooth, and deep. You asked the women about

the beautiful spectacle in front of them.

"Ehhh...?" She whined, taken aback. "That was The Caretaker, not me!" the women closes in

on you, and wraps her arms around your belly. You can feel her breasts pressed up against

your back, and the involuntary twang from below. You ignore it, and look down and see a

pair of light grey arms, with dark stained claws at the end. "Don't you know about The

Caretaker? He's the one who keeps all of us in line. You admire his work too, don't you!?

Though, we should steer clear of him..." she purred.

You raise your eyebrows. We? You couldn't stop yourself from letting out a little chuckle

over her assumption. Though, if this .. "Caretaker" really was as dangerous as she says,

it would probably be best to stick together.

You tug at her arms, but you remain in her death grip. You ask her if you know each other

and then try to get her to go back to your room.

"Why would I? Until the incident just a few hours ago, I was locked up as well..." she

answered, stroking your stomach a little. "What room are you even talking about? The way

you came is a dead end. I went down there earlier, and there isn't a thing there. This

place is a maze."

The more she talked, the more you realised she was probably younger then you gave her

credit for. Her voice was light and playful, but had a slight air of maturity to it. You

figure this... thing was in her early twenties.

The girl buried her head in your back and inhaled deeply. "Oooh, you smell good." she

remarked. "I like that." You repeated your first question, this time sternly. The girl

audibly pouted.

"You don't know what Ashgate is? It's here to keep everyone outside safe from us! Or...

the other way around? M'not sure....."

You then asked her about the music, and she out a joyful laugh. "Isn't it wonderful?! They

sound proof all the rooms, I haven't head anything like this since I was a child."

You frown, eyebrows furrowed. She doesn't seem to know anything of use. You then remember

what happened earlier, and ask her about the photo.

"Photo? There wasn't anything like that in your pockets. I don't have anything on me

either."

You sigh loudly. Maybe you should try asking her about herself instead?

Mmmhhh, strawberries.

"Umbra."

Looking down at her grey arms once more, you wonder if you should ask her what is wrong

with her.

"Oh this?" she said, wriggling her fingers a bit. "This is just how I am now. I'm not as

dangerous as the rest of the stuff trapped in here, though. I think I heard one of the

white-coats say that I was... cursed as a child?"

You wondered for a moment what kind of curse could turn what appeared to once be a sweet

girl - into this.

"Geez, don't you know any of the rules?! I can't tell you about my own curse, you know.

Maybe you should take a hint from the way I'm holding you."

The difference suddenly dawns on you. Last time you did this, you turned around to punch

Umbra. You figured that her curse is most likely related to people looking directly at

her. You let out a sigh of relief, and tell her that you got the message.

"Oh. Okay. Good." she says, a little disappointed. She slowly releases her grip, and takes

a step backwards. You feel a pang of disappointment too - and wonder how long it's been

since someone held you so close.


--------------------------------------------

UMBRA

--------------------------------------------

With Umbra behind you, you decide to take a step forward. You pass the blood splatter,

finding yourself following the trail. The trail goes into a dark corridor on your right,

but in front of you you can see that the space opens up into a much larger room.

The only noise that you seem to hear is the music off in the distance. You reach out with

your senses to try and find someone other then yourself of Umbra in the corridor, but all

is silent. You panic for a moment as you wonder why you can't hear her. You nearly turn to

check, but stop yourself.

"Oh." Umbra said, watching from behind you. "I won't have any footsteps."

You raise your eyebrows and nod yourself. It now makes sense that all you hit was air when

you tried to kick her before. You tell her to make sure she doesn't disappear on you.

You decide to leave the dark corridor alone for now. You walk into the open space, your

eyes strained at the brighter level of light. Looking around you, you see waiting area of

sorts. On the far end you can see the remains of a smashed table, mangled, twisted and

deformed. Cushioned chairs lined the wall opposite you, divided sparsely with fake potted

plants and side tables that had different stacks of magazines on them. On the same wall

was a set of two elevators on either side of the room. Directly to your left was a raised

desk - a receptionist area, perhaps? And there two sets of double doors at the end of the

room.

"Hmm? No... I came from the other direction."

You decide to take a step into the room. It seems safe enough, so you decide to take a

look at the cushioned seats on the far wall. You find large clumps of dust and lint until

you reach the last chair. You smiled as you felt something smooth and circular underneath

the cushion, and quickly pocketed it.

You searched each stack of magazines on each table. While you did this, you asked Umbra

about who else she had met.

"Met? Don't you mean avoided?" she snarks back at you. "I may be what I am, but I'm not

looking to get myself killed." she ran a finger down my spine. "You seem harmless enough,

though. I'm sure I could handle things if you.... turn on me." she said, giggling at her

own joke.

There was nothing of real use amongst the magazines. There was only the usual stuff -

celeb gossip, news, diet fads and all sorts of other nonsense. The one thing that was

interesting about each and every one was someone had gone to great lengths to redact the

dates on each magazine. Where any dates could have been, there was a black mark erasing it

instead.


You wondered for a moment if you could find out the location of Ashford. Unfortunately,

even the bar-codes and prices where blacked out. To your knowledge, every single magazine

was in English, so you figured you at least had to be in an English speaking country.

Probably.

You turned, looking around for a desk. You swore you saw one as you came in here. You

remembered that it had to be behind you - where Umbra was standing. You slowly took a few

steps backward, and asked Umbra about the food.

"Huh? What do you mean? You're one of us right? I don't have to eat any more. Maybe it's

different for each Unknown? I'm in the corridor now, by the way."



--------------------------------------------

NEW PLACE

--------------------------------------------


You turned slowly, apprehensive about trusting Umbra so much. Indeed, she appeared to have

left the room and was ... floating? In the corridor? You shake your head in disbelief. You

walked around behind the desk to see if there was anything of use. There was a small

personal computer, some stationary and a bunch of papers. The computer wouldn't power on,

as hard as you tried. You smack the monitor, venting your frustration.

"Eh...? Did you hit your.. oh right. We Unknown are basically... the Unknown. That's what

the humans call us, at least. They don't really understand us or know what we are, so they

hunt us down from the outside world and imprison us in here. They watch and they

experiment."

The papers you looked through seemed to indicate that you were on one of the residential

floors. This floor was a space for staff to stay and live in while they worked. The person

who worked at this desk was apparently here as a timekeeper. If people were expected to

come and go from here so often, it must mean that the dark corridor from earlier lead into

the staff dormitories.

You chuckle at the thought of someone imprisoning you. You're not exactly sure why this is

- it was more of an automatic reaction then anything else. You wonder how the humans

managed to imprison the Unknown's - if they were all so powerful? You cross the room and

inspect the mangled table in the center. It's made out of the same metallic material

everything else seemed to be. There was no doubt it was - used to be - sturdy. Whoever

trashed this table was inhumanly strong. Around the table were the remains of a shattered

vase - various flowers were strewn around the floor in a puddle of water. They were tiger

lilies, which just so happened to be another favorite of yours. Bending down, you pick up

one of the blooms.

Inventory: Bandage x2, LVL1 Keycard, Pocket Lint, Spare Change, Tiger Lily Bloom.

You call Umbra back, dangling the Tiger Lily Bloom over your shoulder. "Ohhhhh~" said

said, clearly in awe. "This is super pretty. I've not seen a flower like this before. Can

I keep it?"

You wave your hand as a sign of consent, and sigh.

Ahh, at least the bloom made the cute little horror happy. She has good taste, at the very

least. Smirking to yourself, you walk over to the nearest elevator (#2) and try your

keycard on the reader. No response. You try it on the other elevator (#1) with no result.

You turn towards the doors at the end of the room. One of them is slightly ajar (#2), and

the other is firmly closed. To confirm, you try tapping your keycard at the closed door,

but to no avail.

"Maybe the black thingy isn't working?" Umbra chimed in from behind you.

You motion Umbra over to the other door, asking for her help. "I'm not THAT strong, you

know...?" her frame invading your peripheral vision for a moment before quickly turning

away. Umbra giggled a little. "C'mon, I thought you figured out the rules?" You turn your

glance back towards the door, Umbra's hands wriggling about in the corner of your eye. You

decide to give the door a little encouragement - but instead of gently sliding the door to

the side, the door gave in to your unknown strength.

"Oh myyy~" Umbra teases from behind you.

You try the second door - this time with as little strength as you could manage. You scoff

to yourself, practically caressing the door upon. At least now there was a way through.

Check out..? Mhhh, not unless you include that handsome face of yours~" Umbra answers

unabashedly. She wraps her arms around your waist once more, and smothers her face in your

back. You're taken by surprise for a moment by the sudden physical affection, but see no

reason to stop her. "Just remember what I said, okay! We have to stay clear of The

Caretaker. I'll follow you wherever you go."

You wonder if it's wise to be regarded as handsome by such a cute little horror. Taken

about by your own thoughts, you realize the girl has already grown on you in the short

amount of time you've been together. Still, it's not like you can take her word for it -

you can't turn around to look at her, so it's safe to say she hasn't seen your face yet.

Or does this mean she was spying on you earlier? Maybe she's buttering you up?

The Caretaker was also a worry. But - if it was another Unknown - it might be safe to

assume that it has rules, just like Umbra did. You think back on the rhyme you saw

scrawled in blood earlier. It would be best to continue cautiously. You peered through

into the next room.


--------------------------------------------

CRITICAL MOMENT 2.0

--------------------------------------------


You decide that it might be best to take a look at the dorms before pressing on in this

direction. You briefly look around the room to look for anything you could use to defend

yourself - but turn up nothing. Facing the dark corridor once more, an overwhelming sense

of dread falls over you. You feel like it would be unwise to continue down this hallway

without finding some kind of light source.

Umbra giggled, "Oh, how forward of you!"

As you grasped the bandages in your hand, you thought back to the desk back in your room.

The wooden desk should be easy to break with your brute strength - providing wood for a

torch of some kind. You told Umbra your plan. "You really think that's going to work....?"

she commented. You shrug in response. It was worth a try.

Admiring the handy work of The Caretaker on the way, you press onward to your destination.

As you turn the corner and look down to the end of the hallway, you notice something is

very, very wrong.

"See, look. I told you." Umbra scolded you.

You run to the end of the corridor, and are met with nothing. A blank space. Where there

used to be a door, there was smooth, cold, metallic surfacing instead. You pounded against

the wall, looking for some kind of secret button or indent. There was none. You sigh in

resignation. It would probably be best to examine the previous room that you had left

unexplored instead.

--------------------------------------------

KITCHEN

--------------------------------------------

It was a much larger room then you were expecting. You looked into the open-doored room on

your left - it looked like a kitchen. As you proceeded into the open space ahead of you,

you realised that this was a cafeteria of some sort. Tables and chairs were arranged

randomly around the room, and on the right wall was some vending machines. On the far side

of the wall, was another set of double doors.

There wasn't much left. There was a bar of chocolate, and a bag of potato chips.

From behind you, Umbra audibly pouts. You debate the ethical and moral implications of such an act. You shrug and tap your knuckles against it, and the glass shatters ever so slightly. Yikes.

After sliding your arms out of your overall sleeves, you lifted your shirt up and over your head, and used it to wrap your hand before smashing the rest of the glass. You ask Umbra if she would like any chocolate.

"Hmmmm, I'm not sure if I can eat that stuff, but I'll try."

You grabbed the chocolate, throwing it behind you. You didn't hear it hit the floor - so Umbra must have caught it already. You fish out the potato chips before backing up and grabbing a chair from behind you. You open the bag and the dig into your meal. It isn't long until you realize something is wrong. It felt like dirt and ash in your mouth. You spat out the chips with disgust. You could hear the same from Umbra as well. Maybe they were expired?

"Ugghh, human food is the worst."

Glass proof? I dunno. There's a lot of stuff that works on Unknown's, but also a bunch of stuff that doesn't. And it's all different for each one."

You frown, and shake out your shirt. Most of the glass shards went flying off, but there was no guarantee that there wasn't any smaller one still embedded in the fabric. You tossed it onto a nearby table, and tied your overall sleeves around your waist. You'd have to find a new shirt somewhere. You ask Umbra about the food.

"Well, I don't really eat, remember? Human food isn't very good for me. It tastes like dirt. I don't know about others though."

You nod in response, and confirmed that's what you tasted as well.

"You sure look human, but I'm really not sure what you are."

You walk towards to double doors, and tap your keycard against the reader. It remains locked.

You pound the door with your fist. It's not budging, and you don't seem to be making any kind of dent. You figure the only reason you broke through the door earlier was because you put stress on an unexpected part of the door.

"Yeaaaah, they're not normally that easy to break." Umbra adds. "They're designed to keep us inside, after all."

You take out your keycard, your intention being to use it on the 'hinges' of the door. Since it was a sliding door, you tried it anyway - thinking that there had to be some kind of mechanism inside of the wall that might force the door open. No dice. You'd just have to find a way to get the power to the card reader on later.

"I've been locked in in here since I was young, so... I don't really know much more then what I've watched the white-coats do. Maybe we could find something elsewhere?" (Umbra)

There wasn't much else left to do. You suddenly remember that you haven't checked out the kitchen yet, and turn around carefully to do so. Once you confirm that Umbra was indeed out of your sight, you walk across the cafeteria and over to the kitchen.

The kitchen was in disarray. It looked like whoever was cooking in here stopped halfway through and walked off. Nothing really looked that appetizing however - and you where wary of trying anything after what had just happened. You scanned the rest of the kitchen - there were dishes piled up to your left, empty trays to your right - and on the counter-top opposite to you, there was a flashlight. You pick it up, and twist the head - it still works. As you turn to leave, you see Umbra dive behind cover in the corner of your eye. You find yourself smiling fondly.

"Let's go, let's go~!" she cheered on from under the counter. "I'll be right behind you."

--------------------------------------------

THE DARK CORRIFOR

--------------------------------------------


As you approach the dark corridor, the same sense of overwhelming dread comes over you again. Now with the flashlight in your possession you stop and take a moment to turn it on. As you direct the beam down the corridor, you hear a faint scurrying.

As you continue to step forward, the scurrying continues. You figure that as long as you have the flashlight on, you should be safe. As you come to the end of the passage, you see another set of doors - this time with glass panes. You sneak a peak through and see that it blocks the way to a set of stairs leading down. To your left, is a corridor with a light at the end of it.

 

That's fine, I'll.. be better about notifying people about it with the second one!

 

@Aerysaurus do we take turns writing commands or what? What if two people write different commands?

 

You can put in a command at any time. If they conflict or I've already addressed the command, I'll simply ignore it.

Most of the time I will use all the commands in some way or another - combining them and playing them out.

 

Oh that's nice

 

Also, if there is anything you don't understand about the game, I can explain as long as it doesn't get into spoiler territory. Stuff about your surroundings I can give pictures references for or go into more detail about as it's probably stuff Umbra & the Main Character already know so it's not important for me to go over in game.

 

I've enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would, but I do think it'd be more user friendly with say a group of 2-3 characters people control, with them choosing which they get a timeshare in.

 

That really depends on you guys. I think things are going well at the moment, considering.. you all seem to be online/contributing at different times so it hasn't actually been hard to handle from my perspective.

 

Aye it has been, though possibly due to the lower amount of users playing. If it got more popular it could be harder to run with just one protag, or easier. We'll have to see I guess.

 

Oh! it just came to me. If there are any choices that you make in the game that you think "Hmmm, I wonder what would have happened if I chose the opposite?" - I can probably answer most of them!

The most recent being - If you did turn the lights on in the gardens, The Creeping Darkness would have smashed the cameras there out of spite, and ran off.

 

Oooh!!! What if we hadn't of gotten into the room thingy and that dude thingy was chasing us and had instead run

 

Running, lots of running. I was going to lead the pair into the cafeteria, only to dodge the guy by hiding in the kitchen. They both think it's safe to leave - but as they do, Umbra accidentally knocks over a pot as they leave, and they start getting chased again. It ends with the character running towards his room, totally forgetting that he can't get in any more. You're incapacitated, and can only watch as the attacker pins Umbra down and..... I'll leave that to your imagination. It wasn't going to be pretty.

After you lose consciousness, you wake up with your head in Umbra's lap, back in Room 106.