Caen's Lair

back

Mess shrugs and gets up, picking up a flashlight from the table on its way out. "Out into the dark night!" Caen yells after it, which makes it shut the door behind itself extra loudly.

Tump pauses the tv and everyone occupies themselves on their phones or with something laying around the room, waiting for Mess to return.

Return it does not, but you do hear a loud thud, and then hurried shuffling. You look at each other, weirded out, but not yet concerned. You begin to grow concerned only when another 2 minutes pass agonizingly slowly, with no sign of Mess.

back

"We should probably make sure it's okay," says Tump, and Red and Caen follow him into the hallway without protest. He shouts for it, but the voice that answers is not Mess': it’s Sylvi's.

"Here!" She sounds distressed. Everyone leans over the landing's banister to look down into the dorm's kitchen.

On the kitchen tile of the ground floor, there lies Mess, sprawled out in an odd position and obviously unconscious - or worse. Next to it, Cin, shaking.

"It fell." she shouts up at you, and in unison all of you look down at the banister you're leaning against, a bit uneasy.

You rush down the stairs and crowd around, and finally Cin divulges: "it isn't breathing".

back

As a small trickle of blood snakes its way through the gaps between the tiles, you turn to Sylvi. She explains she was barely in the door when she heard the same thump sound you all did. You look around, and at Mess again, who is definitely not in the kind of position you would expect someone who jumped down intentionally to be.

"Do you think someone pushed it?" says Red hesitantly. Tump argues that it very well may have tripped, but judging by everyone's expressions, no one buys that.

"If we're not alone," Caen says, "they're probably still here. Why push a random teenager from a gallery and not stay for the party?"

Tump and Red frown.

Will you

back

You agree that if the hypothetical killer is still in the building, this will be your only chance to catch a glimpse of them, so your arm yourselves with the heavy flashlights you still have in the dorm room and set out.

Red swings at something creeping up on them in the darkness, and narrowly avoids hitting Cin in the face with the flashlight.

"Woah-ha-ha, just me!", she says, quietly - they're all very afraid of making too much noise. Red lowers their weapon. Then, abruptly Cin jumps to run a knife through their throat. The first strike doesn't go deep enough to kill them, but it's enough to distract them enough to let her land a second, more accurate one as their eyes go wide in horror. She catches them as they topple to the ground, trying not to make too much noise.

Did you hear that?

  yes    
  no    

back

On the floor below, Tump looks up at the ceiling. What was that? This is a horror movie scenario, but life isn't a horror movie, so he decides to investigate.

As he enters the corridor, he spots something person sized on the floor, and his heart sinks.

back

"Exactly why we should call someone, and quick.", Red says, getting up. On the way upstairs you discuss whether to call the police or just an ambulance.

Will you

  call the police    
  call an ambulance    

back

You phone the police, and they ask why you didn't call an ambulance. The operator subtly doubts your sanity when you explain you feel like this was no accident. They send someone anyway, but you can infer you're pretty far down on the priorities list. Mess can't get any deader than it already is, but it feels surreal to just have to sit there, with your friend's body cooling downstairs.

Will you

back

"Okay, and now what?" asks Tump. Caen suggests they search the building while they wait, and Cin agrees, though Red looks a bit skeptical.

Will you

  search in pairs    
  search together    

back

A bit tense now, you sit and wait. There are no more sounds from downstairs, and you listen for its footsteps on the stairs to no avail.

Will you

  keep waiting    
  all go down to check    

back

As you wait, one by one, you put away what you were busying yourself with in favour of just… listening. As to what happened, you're at a loss.

Will you

back

"We should probably make sure it's okay.", says Tump, and Red and Caen follow him into the hallway without protest. They arrive in the kitchen to find Mess sprawled out on the floor beneath the gallery, unmoving, a small but growing pool of blood gathering around its head like a grotesque halo.

"Did it fall?" whispers Red urgently. Something about the moment compels you all to not speak too loudly.

"Most plausible explanation," replies Caen, watching Tump try to find a pulse. After a moment he looks up and shakes his head.

"I'm... going to call an ambulance," says Red, fidgeting. You watch them go, gazes lingering on the banister above them.

"Do you think it tripped or something?"

back

You decide to have a look around the ground floor and outside. There's nothing out of place except for the front door being left open.

Will you

  meet back up with Red    
  investigate further    

back

You creep around the building and through the bushes, looking for, well, anything in the dark. There is nothing but your own fear and a half-hidden messenger bag, which not the weirdest thing to find on school grounds.

Outside, that is. The sight that greets them back in the dorm room is a gruesome one: Red has been posed on a chair in the middle of the room, slumping over it like a rag doll, their throat cut open.

For a second you stand in the door way, watching a rivulet of blood travel down one of the chair legs, and then, from the other end of the building, there is a scream.

Will you

  follow the sound of the scream    
  run    

ENDING 1

to the beginning
back

4/5 survive, the killer is caught

Wordlessly, Caen jumps up to fetch a phone from upstairs, and you call for help. The paramedics confirm Cin's initial assessment, and after they leave, you're all a tad numb. No one feels like doing anything fun anymore, so you just go to bed with the door locked and your flashlights next to you, and while it doesn't necessarily feel like it, you survive the night.

ENDING 2

to the beginning
back

1/5 survive, the murderer gets away

"If it helps, you're not last," comes Cin's voice behind him as he's crouched over Red's body. He turns around so quickly he loses his balance, and it's what does him in.
She shoves the knife into his throat with so much force that she can feel it meet the resistance of his spine in the back.

He does gurgle loud enough to alert Caen, but she, too, doesn't suspect Cin and is easily disposed of.

ENDING 3

to the beginning
back

Ending _ 2/5 survive, the killer is caught

He takes a deep breath and decides he isn't a damn fool. Their dorm room is right down the hall, and while he doesn't outright run, it's a damn close thing.

He locks the door, pushes the side table in front of it, and then calls the police. The operator is a bit alarmed at hearing how they reacted to a death in their midst, but at least the rather dire situation ensures he doesn't have to wait too long, stewing in his own panic.

ENDING 4

to the beginning
back

1/5 survive, the killer isn't caught

Caen is peering into a room that wasn't locked when she hears footsteps behind her. She turns, spooked, but it's just Cin. Cin who is holding a kitchen knife.

Tump is the hardest, because by now he must have caught onto the fact that something is up: he is walking around at double the pace he set off at, hastily shining his flashlight into corners. He is probably alarmed at not having encountered anyone else in the last minutes, so she picks a spot and waits.

He sees her as he approaches, of course, but he doesn't see what she's carrying behind her back.

ENDING 5

to the beginning
back

1/5 survive, the murderer gets away

You decide to split up: Tump and Red will take the upstairs, Caen and Sylvi the downstairs, and after you've done a quick sweep of the building you'll meet back in the kitchen and decide how to cover the campus.

It goes well, which is to say it goes poorly: you don't find a damn thing. At every corner you expect someone to jump out at you, or maybe ram a knife into your back, but nothing happens.

Tump and Red are walking along the side of the math building, when behind them they hear Cin scream. They hurry back to where the groups parted and retrace the other two's steps, but to little success. After only about two minutes of frantic searching, Tump whips around at a rustling sound behind him to find that Red, too, has disappeared.

When the police do arrive a short amount of time later, they find no trace of anyone but Mess. In the morning the place is searched, and three more bodies are recovered. It's a PR nightmare for the department.

ENDING 6

to the beginning
back

4/5 survive, the killer gets away

Together, you walk through the entire dorm in tense silence. Except for the corpse on the kitchen floor, there isn't a single thing amiss in the entire building. It's unsettling as all hell.

Later the police remark on how shaken you all look considering barely anything happened, but they're not the ones who waited in an empty building for half an hour, with your friend dead and no idea who did it.

And worse, you never do find out who did it.

ENDING 7

to the beginning
back

4/5 survive, the murderer gets away

You sit together quietly, the door locked and not speaking, until the police arrive. They do a sweep of the house, call you crazy, and leave with Mess' body and the promise to return to question you.

ENDING 8

to the beginning
back

1/5 survive, the killer escapes

You decide you're being paranoid, and just call an ambulance. No one much feels like returning to your sleep over plans, but you're also all too far from home to leave this far into the evening.

Those who have contacts that will answer at this hour step out to call them, and the rest of you sit cooped up in the room, pissing away the time on your phones, trying not to think about the phrase 'sitting ducks'.

It's really very easy to pick you off one by one without anyone suspecting anything. Only two hours later, a distressed Cin calls the police to tell them about how something terrible must have happened to all of her friends.

ENDING 9

to the beginning
back

4/5 survive, the killer escapes

You let another five minutes pass, before you seem to collectively come to the decision that something must be done. Grabbing your phones and flashlights, you set out to investigate.

As it turns out, you don't have to go far for answers: you discover Mess, unmoving, laying on the bottom floor under the banister of the gallery when you shine your lights down into the kitchen. While you're checking it for a pulse (hopeful despite the pool of blood gathering around its head), you hear the front door open.

You're on high alert immediately, but it's just Cin. Cin, who explains that she could make it after all before she realizes you're all just wordlessly staring at her.

You call for help and wait in the lobby for the authorities to arrive, and then you just. Go upstairs to sleep.

ENDING 10

to the beginning
back

4/5 survive, the killer gets away

You exchange a meaningful look and wait for Red to return, at which point you convince them to stay in the (locked room) until the ambulance arrives, and then for the rest of the night. The second is a harder sell, but you manage.

Red looks at you oddly when the death is not ruled accidental.

ENDING 11

to the beginning
back

4/5 survive, the murderer gets away

Leaving your dead friend's side, you return to the room where Red is pacing, talking to an operator on the phone. You lock the door and push something against it, and Red looks at you aghast - when you explain about the open door their face turns ashen, and they quietly explain to the operator that they will have to hang up to call the police now.

ENDING 12

to the beginning
back

3/5 survive, the killer is caught

"That was Cin," says Caen, breathless. She wasn't even supposed to be there today, so why is she here?

You hurry down the hallway, jumpy, your hearts going at the rate of a small rodent's.

It is this hyperawareness that saves you: when Cin comes at you with a knife from a shadowed corner, you both spot the movement immediately. There is only one conclusion to be drawn here, and it isn't pleasant, but together you have the upper hand. She scratches you up something awful, but you manage to disarm her.

ENDING 13

to the beginning
back

3/5 survive, the killer is caught

Fight or flight kicks in at the sound, and flight wins out. You bound down the stairs and out through the lobby, and you don't stop running until you're at least 4 streets down and can barely breathe anymore. With no jackets, phones, or flashlights, you collapse against the pole of a streetlight and wait to have enough oxygen flow to your brains again to think of what to do now.