For End Master's Manifest Destiny Contest.

"Welcome to the experiment. A man is dead, and you have to find his killer. There will be a list of rules in your room once this briefing is over, but all you really need to know is this: There are five of you, but only one can solve the mystery. You will be given five days. Each night, one of you will die - no more, no less.

Ready? Even if you're not, it doesn't matter. You're in my world now."
 

This is also a War on Intfiction contribution.

Note: Aside from a few references to Dreamtruder characters/ events, this storygame is a standalone.

It is my first time writing a mystery storygame on this site, so I would appreciate if you could leave feedback on whether this mystery was too easy/ difficult to solve. If you find yourself stuck, don't hesitate to message me directly. That being said, do not feel discouraged if you are bewildered at first; as you progress further in the game, the clues and secrets would make everything clearer. Eventually, the secrets you find would allow you to make sense of most clues except a few, and these would point to the killer.

Make use of the notebook, which would keep track of the information you gained from the interviews and the secrets you may find out. Also, check the item descriptions of all the objects since some of these would have to be 'used' in order to access some clues.

Once you've solved the mystery, there are 3 possible endings you could get. Only one of these actually results in returning back to the 'real world'. If you're looking for this 'true ending', it requires you to play through the last of the five days rather than just skipping to the end and guessing the answer.

Good luck surviving the Halloween experiment!

Beneath the seas, hidden from the Ones Above, our society goes about our normal, routinely lives. I cannot help but feel bored with all that is going on, until I find the letter. A letter that sends me on a journey to deliver a magical item to the group of people that have been villainized over the years, the letter that challenges everything I thought I knew. But which side is on the side of good? How can I break out of the only world I have ever known? Should I join the heroic villains or the villanous hero? I have finally gotten the adventure I always needed, but not exactly the one I wanted.

Note: This game was created for Camelon's break contest. During the part where a specialist is assigned to the breakers, there are three different paths (Lawbreaker, Breaker of People and Breaker and Enterer). Due to time constraints, for those who would like to know, Breaker of People is the longest path, followed by Lawbreaker and Breaker and Enterer, but aside from the epilogues, it all leads to the same chapter 5. As before, feel free to comment or message me if you encounter any issues or problems that I should fix.

"The delicate balance between the dream world and the real world is disrupted. You intruded and messed up the dream of an innocent. By talking about this with an Unknowing, the possibility of the dreamstage being unveiled is now greater than ever. The Jury has made a decision - we have no choice but to send you to The Jungle..."

Life was hard, balancing work and relaxation. Then the nightmares came, and all I ever wanted was to be free of them. Yet, I never accounted for this - finding out the truth about the dream world, exploring the vast plane of the imagination...only to be whisked away to the longest nightmare ever. 

Think a jungle's bad? Try a fictional jungle, where literally anything can happen, and the most creative minds have conspired to give you a hard time.

Note: This game was created for Mizal's 'Welcome to the Jungle' contest. There are several epilogues, and while the main one is the normal Dreamtruder path, others include Dream director, Dreamcaster, Dreamediator, and Dreamhero. Fancy a challenge? Try completing the Jungle challenge without picking up any dreampowers - it's possible, but requires a bit of thinking and planning ahead. Also, for some items, click the 'use' button as a link would not be provided (if this is the case, it would be specified in the object description)

Since this would be my first published storygame, I am still relatively new to this. Feel free to message me or spam the comments if you encounter any issues, have any suggestions for improvement, or just have something you want to say.

Enjoy!

A quest doomed from the start. A man with an unwavering yet unusual moral compass. A daughter in the darkest depths of the night sky.

It isn't truly over until all hope is lost.

'Good and evil, heroes and villains… they are all fantasies created by the world. There are only two types of people: the people you care about, and the people you don’t.'

Arnold Cyzila's best life may have been long since over, but he would do anything to save his daughter from the clutches of her confinement. Even stealing an airplane, killing the innocent, and entering a dangerous world where death is almost guaranteed. 

[Warning: There are some mentions of murder, deaths and several dark themes, so if those things make you uncomfortable, perhaps it is better not to read this story.]

Note: I initially did not plan on joining this contest, yet I'm glad I did since it has motivated me to publish a new storygame. It is related to Dreamtruder in a way… well, you’ll see. While this story may not be as long as my previous two, it was interesting to write a shorter project. 

Just like all my other storygames, commenting and rating this story are both highly welcomed and appreciated. Also, as I have used quite a lot of variables in several fight scenes, let me know if you ever encounter a page where there are no visible links. 

Lastly, there are a few different epilogues but the 'main' one would be an epilogue which mirrors the start of the story (you'll know it when you see it). There are three possible ways to reach that. Even though I may consider it to be the true ending, it is not a typical happy ending.

If you don't like letters, extremely short stories or cliched moral lessons, don't read this. I found it when I was browsing through the old storygames I had created a long time ago. If I'm not mistaken, this was made for Mizal's Tiny 'Topias jam although I never really thought it was good enough to add to the thread. I don't think I'll publish this, but it's completed if anyone happens to browse my profile and wants to read it.

On a dark and chilly night, you visit the Skeleton to ask for hints in order to solve the mystery of 'A Hunted and Haunted Halloween'.

 

If you find yourself stuck while trying to complete A Hunted and Haunted Halloween, this is the guide for you! Since it is a walkthrough, there are bound to be spoilers, so I recommend reading the storygame before referring to this.

Do let me know if you find any inconsistencies between the storygame and this walkthrough. As this would remain unpublished, I should be able to fix errors rather quickly.

That's all from me. Enjoy!

Since your post was written 3 hours ago, does that mean the other 3 contestants dropped out of the duels?

LOCKED.

(It's probably best to clarify with End Master, but I think there isn't a word limit since I usually submit 100k word storygames for contests lol).

Locked lol. Not sure if you were parodying the previous person or actually intended to join, but either way, you're in!

Here are some tips that may help:
 

1. The effort rule
   The greater the amount of effort you put in remembering/ recording information, the more likely you are to actually remember it. That's why Daji's method of writing down notes probably helps. Sometimes, reading out your notes and quizzing yourself helps too.
    
2. Mnemonics
   When trying to remember several different pieces of information, compile them and form a sentence/ word/ story with each one. For example, if you need to remember that culture is comprised of behaviours, values and artifacts, remember bva - or blue vultures attack - which will remind you of the three items in the list.
    
3. Creating stories
   I'm really bad at remembering Mandarin characters, so I usually come up with stories for each character before my spelling tests. If there's a small apostrophe-like dash on top of a horizontal line, I'll start by telling myself, "There's a raindrop on the roof of the house."
    
4. Association
   Associate each new piece of information with something you can effortlessly recall. For instance, needing to remember a specific word, think of a similar word in English (or whatever your first language is) and connect the punjabi word to it.
    
5. Know what kind of learner you are
   Finding out if you learn best through visuals, audio, reading/ writing or experience may help in the future, since you'll be able to learn information more effectively.

All the best with your exam! Good luck :)

No worries, there are quite a lot of requests and time is limited, after all. Enjoy your non-writing break!

Congratulations on winning NaNo, Morgan! That's a lot of words to write in one month.

If possible, could you digitalize the main character of my upcoming storygame? I'm not much of an artist but I did a rough sketch (link here). The necklace could be blood-red, each boot would have a skull, and I'd like the colour theme to be based on a black, dark grey, and red palette. Of course, do feel free to use your artistic interpretation, and change things as you see fit. The picture is more for ideas than anything else. 

Edit: The character is only faceless because I'm not good at drawing facial features lol. And as for credit, I don't think it's necessary.

I feel really dumb right now since all this time, I thought kys was some alternate spelling of cys, which didn't make any sense but I didn't know what else it could stand for.

If you suspect it's Thara, you could do this. Alternatively, this may work if you want to narrow it down to End Master's daughters.

Not sure how I missed this, but it's amazing, MHD!

These made me laugh. I made a meme too!

Edit: I linked it since trying to add the photo here probably ruined this thread lol