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Time for some fun with corpses [closed to foreverafter]
[Smoke, blood, dust and time. Fire and Sugar.
The Batter remembered those things. That was about all he remembered, beyond suddenly being in possession of a killer headache. Someone or something had knocked him unconscious. That was all the purifier could think of. He just needed to wake up and he'd be back in Zone 3.
Counting to three, the Batter slowly opened his eyes and sat up. Almost immediately the whole 'back in Zone 3' thought jumped out of the window of thoughts. He was no longer in Enoch's playpen of fate but what appeared to be a dilapidated classroom. Holes dotted the ground, the wood having rotten and broke under the weight of age, and destroyed desks made for children were still in their rows. There were windows but all the Batter could see out of them was nothing but darkness.
The phrase "we're not in kansas anymore" never applied more to things then they did now.
That said, the Batter does not panic and instead makes a mental note of what he could see. He was still armed with his bat but his Add-Ons were gone. If they were still in this place, he did not know. He also pokes his head out long enough to find a sign above the door to inform him he was in classroom 1-A. There was also a notice on the wall beside said door but he hasn't read it yet.
Standing in front of the chalkboard, the Batter takes a deep breath. Okay, let's start. Goal: find an exit.
Let's begin.]
The Batter remembered those things. That was about all he remembered, beyond suddenly being in possession of a killer headache. Someone or something had knocked him unconscious. That was all the purifier could think of. He just needed to wake up and he'd be back in Zone 3.
Counting to three, the Batter slowly opened his eyes and sat up. Almost immediately the whole 'back in Zone 3' thought jumped out of the window of thoughts. He was no longer in Enoch's playpen of fate but what appeared to be a dilapidated classroom. Holes dotted the ground, the wood having rotten and broke under the weight of age, and destroyed desks made for children were still in their rows. There were windows but all the Batter could see out of them was nothing but darkness.
The phrase "we're not in kansas anymore" never applied more to things then they did now.
That said, the Batter does not panic and instead makes a mental note of what he could see. He was still armed with his bat but his Add-Ons were gone. If they were still in this place, he did not know. He also pokes his head out long enough to find a sign above the door to inform him he was in classroom 1-A. There was also a notice on the wall beside said door but he hasn't read it yet.
Standing in front of the chalkboard, the Batter takes a deep breath. Okay, let's start. Goal: find an exit.
Let's begin.]
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She has a collection and she's angry at the idea of losing it.
When he goes to the entrance hall, littered with kindergarten shoes, a talking doll is there. If he pulls the string, mysteriously, the voice doesn't stop until it's done. ]
ɦɛʟʟօ... ɦɛʟʟօ... ɦɛʟʟօ...
ｙｏｕ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｓａｖｅ ｔｈｅ ｓｐｉｒｉｔｓ ｈｅｒｅ?
ｔｈｅｒｅ ａｒｅ ｔｏｏ ｍａｎｙ ｔｏ ｃｏｕｎｔ, ａｎｄ ｅｖｅｎ ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｄｉｄ
ｈｅａｖｅｎｌｙ ｈｏｓｔ ｗｏｕｌｄ ｈｏｌｄ ｔｈｅｍ ｂｙ ｔｈｅｉｒ ａｎｋｌｅｓ
ａｎｄ ｄｒａｇ ｔｈｅｍ ｂａｃｋ ｄｏｗｎ.
ｉ'ｍ ｓｏｒｒｙ ｔｏ ｓａｙ ｙｏｕ ｃａｍｅ ｈｅｒｅ ｔｏ ｄｉｅ.
ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｋｎｏｗ ｈｏｗ ｙｏｕ ｇｏｔ ｉｎ ｗｉｔｈｏｕｔ ｔｈｅ ｃｈａｒｍ.
ｂｕｔ ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ'ｔ ｌｅａｖｅ ｗｉｔｈｏｕｔ ｔｗｏ ｐａｒｔｉｃｐａｎｔｓ.
ｔｈｉｎｋ ａｂｏｕｔ ｗｈｏ ｙｏｕｒ ｒｅａｌ ｅｎｅｍｙ ｉｓ.
ｉｔ'ｓ ｖｅｒｙ ｉｍｐｏｒｔａｎｔ ｔｏ ｅｓｃａｐｅ ａ ｆａｔｅ ｗｏｒｓｅ ｔｈａｎ ｄｅａｔｈ.
ｉｆ ｙｏｕ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｂｏｔｈｅｒ ｗｉｔｈ ｔｈｏｓｅ ｔｈｉｎｇｓ...
ｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅ
ｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅｈｅ--
[ this will continue until the doll is smashed. ]
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This place was old, no doubt and practically dripping in impure sludge. There were old corpses in various states of decay scattered about and their injuries varied just as much as their ages did. Although he didn't spend time looking at them to get their name tags he did look closely at two or three.
A large hammer was the cause. And if this would normally prompt a spirit to appear it has yet to do so. Certain ghosts girls may reasonably assume why the red spirits are staying far away from the man but even the blue ones that normally extended an olive branch to new arrivals had yet to appear.
It's almost as if they were afraid of whatever this man brought in with him, even if he was a chance at salvation.
The entrance hall had been the most obvious of places to check. It was also probably obvious to assume the front door was locked - and it was - but it couldn't hurt to try. Casting a keen eye over the area after trying the door, the Batter takes in the scattered shoes fit for small children until he finally rests upon the doll.
And that was quite a message. He stares at the doll for a moment before simply tossing it over his shoulder. Sorry, but that's not enough to scare him or cause him to smash the doll out of reflex. Instead it just changes his objective: find someone else and see if they know how to exit.
He moves on after this. Try again.]
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It's not Sachiko's responsibility to help him, when he walked in with guns blazing straight into her territory. He is at the whims of the walls now, and if he is not fearful or disgusted...
Well. Eventually he'll be immersed in something.
A blue spirit hovers before him outside of the entrance. ]
ｉ ｊｕｓｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｄｉｅ... ｉ ｄｉｅｄ ｓｏ ｐａｉｎｆｕｌｌｙ...
ｔｈｅｙ ｔｏｒｅ ｍｅ ｔｏ ｓｈｒｅｄｓ ｗｈｉｌｅ ｉ ｗａｓ ａｌｉｖｅ...
ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｃａｒｅ ａｂｏｕｔ ｈｅａｖｅｎ ｏｒ ｈｅｌｌ ａｎｙｍｏｒｅ... ｉ ｄｏｎ'ｔ ｗａｎｔ ｔｏ ｅｘｉｓｔ.
[ It doesn't do anything but surrender. Now might be the right time for strike one-- if the building doesn't shake and the spirit doesn't gasp and disappear. ]
ｈｇｇｇｇｋ!
[ in and out like a light, it's the same spot he was standing in, but... different. ]
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The whole building starts to shake. Fortunately for the Batter he wasn't exactly a terrified teenager or younger so he didn't panic at the prospect of an earthquake. Instead he quickly does his best to keep his balance and an eye out for anything that might fall on him. A minute, two minutes, an hour...
...probably not. But it feels like it. Earthquakes weren't exactly common in a world built around a child's imagination. But once it's over the Batter straightens up and looks around.
Physically it appears to be the same spot he had been standing in. Nothing seemed to be out of place from where he was, but there was a sense of difference, that something had changed even if he couldn't put his finger on it.
The Batter decides to head back to classroom 1-A to see if there were any differences in that room. Since he's actually been there rather then the rest of the building he'd be able to notice any changes faster rather then just wandering around.
If anything happens between now and when he reaches the classroom, so be it.]
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Only one dark candle lights the room, with a few rotting bodies surrounding the desks. One of them is just-- splatter. Like they were slammed against the unbreakable window and were blown apart at the impact. The desk says one thing, carved with a knife:
"The nature of the game has changed.
I'm not invulnerable anymore by necessity.
Is his urge to purify so strong that he broke
the game? That's not surprising.
I'm dead whether I meet him or not.
I wonder... if my body would even surprise him?
I'm probably good bait.
Ha ha ha."
Other than that, the chalkboard has a drawing of what looks like the outside of the school building, complete with the principal at the top where he's stuck in his continuous jumping. The chalk even moves with him as he splatters and re-materializes at the top.
"147.
AMBITIOUS."
Well, if something was scrawled on this plane, then he must remain here, right? ]
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The first thing the Batter is going to do is try and take the candle. Extra light never hurt but if it was stuck to the floor he's not going to be too put out by it. Next is...
Well. The Batter knows who exactly the writer was based on the comments written down. There was only one person who spoke that way and that was Zacharie. He does remember doing something with the man but his memories were muddled on what exactly went down.
Although "Broke the game." doesn't install confidence that it was anything good. That and the 'bait' comment.
Moving away from the desk, the Batter checks each of the bodies to make sure none of them were actually Zacharie. Naturally he can't tell anything about who was slammed into the window and turned into paste (unless there's an id of sort nearby) so it's very possible that it could be him. That doll said the way out required two people to work so it would be for the best to reunite as soon as possible to try and get out, but pinning every single hope onto the merchant's survival would not end well.
If there was nothing else that could be done....well, he was here.
He'll check out the drawing once the corpses have been checked, provided there's nothing there that catches the Batter's immediate attention. Depending on what he learns from both he'll make a decision.]
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Merchant's Note 1/5
If anything, she's expecting him to get on with the wholesale ghost slaughter. She wants to see if he can really, truly do it, really destroy a soul in her own domain, because there's no way out of it. Perhaps in time he would realize this wasn't a purification, but a decimation.
The hallways have no light, so taking the candle is a good idea.
... But it's no fun if she doesn't lead him somewhere, right? It doesn't have to be a hint.
The only other thing moving in the chalk drawing is the water of the pool. ]
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Sachiko will probably notice quickly the Batter isn't going to go out of his way to get his murder on, meaning she'll have to get creative at some point to see that play out. Meanwhile he'll check out the new drawing and make that his destination for now. Sadly he doesn't have anything to write with and doesn't exactly want to mess with the moving chalk, so leaving a note behind isn't going to happen unless he stumbles upon a pen at some point.
Well, time to move on. The Batter is very alert so anything trying to sneak up on him will have to be very, very quite.
That said, there's a chance he might get lost too. He's never been to a school before and one this big was going to take a little while to make a mental map of. All he has memorized right now is the directions from classroom 1-A to the entrance hall.
So fingers crossed he makes it...?]
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Her soul is screaming-- it hasn't realized it died yet.
Swing, Batter, Batter? ]
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Strangely enough - maybe - there's no sense of sorrow or any such emotion coming from the Batter. Just a blank acceptance of the facts. The girl had either tripped, run into or otherwise gotten tangled in the wires and perished. It was likely that even if he had gotten inside she would not have been saved.
So there was only one thing left to do. He approaches the screaming soul and raises his bat.]
Purification in Progress.
[Sachiko better act fast if this soul is a keeper. Otherwise the Batter is going to obliterate it.]
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Furiously, she might add, but she has to have a measure of his power before she does anything about him.
ONE OF HERS goes free, into oblivion but out of her grasp nonetheless. She tells every single one of her lackies via telepathy to find his way out and kill him on sight. She wants to make sure if this priest is playing this game with her, she will make them pay regardless of whether she wins or loses.
The door to the pool is banging against the outside wall from the wind. The girl is absolutely no problem whatsoever to defeat.
Continue? ]
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However, given the fact that there's a bunch of razor-sharp wires here, he will be careful on his way to the door. The girl's blood and gore gave the Batter a general guideline but he wasn't about to fall into a false sense of security because of that. So whatever Sachiko has waiting for him outside will have to be patient because the Batter is damn well going to take his time.
Funnily enough, the Batter will give the pool a strange look because while he has seen water in the form of rain before, he hasn't seen water in large bodies. Knowing he can't swim, he's going to keep as much of a wide berth away from the pool as possible. Otherwise he's content to look around until something happens.
If not then he'll leave.]
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The crashing of the waves makes it impossible to tell if someone is thrashing in there. It's rather disgusting, isn't it? Because you CAN see beached corpses of students within the water, telltale by their uniforms, but no visible Zacharie.
A sign near the pool that would usually say 'don't run near the pool' or something says, simply.
"DROWN."
Who was that directed to again? ]
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Maybe both.
The sign is quickly read and the Batter looks back at the pool. There was no sign of someone in distress but the murkiness of the water and the corpses made it hard to tell anything. Theoretically he could drain it but having zero idea of what a pool is, the Batter wouldn't know the first place to start on that.
There was the option of diving in but again he can't swim and isn't stupid enough to try. He could stick his bat in the water near the edge but that invited the loss of his weapon and that wouldn't end well either.
Thinking for a moment, the Batter decides to search for something he could toss into the water and see if that would provoke a reaction from anything.]
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There's a lifesaver nearby. Give it a go, Y/N?
There's a room on the other side of the pool with the door shut, give it a go, Y/N? ]
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So the door it is and this time he'll give it a pretty good yank when trying to open it. Locked or not, creepy school?]
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So he'll twisted it. Given that it's rusty as hell, it'll take him a bit. Now time to head back outside and see what's changed.
Ten bucks says it involves corpses.]
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The mask was a ruse cruise. You're welcome to get it, you're welcome not to.
The warning sign now says I TOLD YOU TO DROWN ]
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The Batter doesn't bother grabbing the mask and the sign goes totally ignored. It's going to take a little more then changing the message on a warning sign to freak him out.
Seeing as there's apparently nothing left and not exactly in the business of collecting student tags, the Batter will leave the area. Unless anything has changed in the locker room he'll head out of there too, being just as careful getting out as he was getting into the pool area.
So check off one place Zacharie or a way out could be. He's not at all frustrated by a lack of progress but a clue or two would be nice. Either way, the Batter will once again head back to classroom 1-A. If something has changed there it would be good to check.
If not, something could always happen along the way.]
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Check it out? ]
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But rather hanging out in the middle of the hallway to listen to it, the Batter will head all the way back to classroom 1-A before hitting the play button.
Let's see what you've got.]
1/2
It seems there are three planes of existence to this building. A friendly ghost told me that. I suppose it's good to pass on the information before you kill them before they get the chance. We might be on separate planes. Watch for the earthquakes.
I found two recorders and a bag of blank tapes. You keep this one. I'll leave tapes where I have to leave messages. Don't do anything to kill either of us, Because
Because-
Because-
Because-
With that out of the way, I think you should solve more puzzles than you should purify here. We got here through a mismatch of code... an emulation? No, a hack, I think, and --"
[ Silence. ]
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A door is rumbling on the right side of this room. It sounds like it comes from upstairs. Investigate? ]
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"So maybe murdering all the ghosts was a stupid idea."No it's not. He'll keep the tape recorder like it's suggested and keep in mind Zacharie's advice. However he still remembers that 'bait' comment from awhile ago and the fact that while it was written like something the merchant would say, the Batter had no conformation that it was actually him that wrote it. The tape, on the other hand, had his voice.
But still, one or the other or both could be leading the purifier right into a trap.
Not like he didn't have a choice. The rumbling sounds and the Batter heads in that direction, pocketing the recorder. What's next?]
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But no, the rattling is coming from a room called the Nurse's Office. If you put your hand on it, it feels... woven together? Like a bunch of little threads keeping it tight. Force your way in? ]
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The entrails are very old that one might think who or whatever had done such a thing was long gone, but he wasn't about to fall into a trap because of it. Gripping his bat tightly, the Batter turns to the door. It feels strange under his hand but whatever threads these were, they weren't like the wires in the pool locker room.
So yeah, he'll force it open. Knock knock.]
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Inside, a candle is burning and a page is scrawling with writing sounds. Whatever the girl was so scared of was gone. Even the bonds on the wall are gone. There is clearly a spirit in here.
"--Hgghk! How dare you! That's disgusting, get away from me!"
A force pushes back at him, an all-black spirit who's left tendrils of hair on his clothes, and now wrapping the door.
"I'll make you pay for this...!"
Yoshie does not tell one man apart from the other, it seems. However, she is a spirit, so solve the puzzle with force or don't. ]
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Although the darkness obscures the spirit's form, the voice suggest a female and an adult. The disgust and rage in her voice is almost physical like the force pushing him back. It stings in the way needles do, although the spirit may find touching the Batter not exactly a pleasant experience either.
But Yoshie is probably not too worried about that right now.
He remembers Zacharie's words and so stays his hand for the moment, backing up a good ways. There's a candle burning and he can hear something writing in a book, although he can't get at it right now.]
What do you want?
[He can read emotions in people's voices but the Batter wasn't a mind reader. Give him a clearer picture here.]
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Something has happened to the girl who ran down the hall. ]
I KNOW WHAT YOU DID TO MY LITTLE GIRL.
BURN IN HELL.
[ Panels of fire start to fall down from the flooring here, trying to make it so he can't escape and couldn't if he tried. She is full of righteous anger, and it doesn't seem there is a visible way to appease her, especially if that girl couldn't. ]
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Zacharie had said to try solving the puzzles rather then purifying but that doesn't seem like the case here. There are only two choices here: fight or flee. And if the Batter doesn't make one now, he's dead.
There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it.
The Batter was not one to take the path of the coward but this was like Enoch. Turning sharply the Batter tires to run for the door as fast as he can, which is reasonably fast. He'll also do his best to avoid the fire but one or two hits won't slow him down that much - he has healing skills that can take care of that.
If he tanks too much, it's still the end of the road. So hopefully he's fast enough to get through...!]
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There's no sound coming from where the girl had ran up. In fact, in the dim light of the candle, one can look ahead to see...
All of her bag's contents have spilled out. A nametag reads Masuko Yamada, and curiously, of course... she has yet another tape on her. This one is labeled #2 in bright sharpie, and how she got it is a mystery. No it isn't, Zacharie was leaving these lying around.
There's a sound of static from the Custodian's room with light underneath the door, but if he tries to open it, it'll stay affixed as if it's a prop. ]
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The Batter moves on until he runs across the girl's corpse. He's not in the business of examining corpses but - at least from what he can see - it looks like someone struck the girl's head with something heavy. Either from the force of the blow or just simply tripping before whatever happened took place, the contents of her purse are all over the place. A few things the Batter doesn't recognize, due to the differences between worlds but he sure as heck recognizes that tape.
Zacharie was leaving them around, but he had to wonder that if the merchant had been in the office, did he encounter that ghosts? Or did something else happen to him?
Well whatever. Leaning against the wall so hopefully nothing could sneak up on him, the Batter swaps the old tape out for the new. Let's see what Zacharie's got to say before checking out the Custodian's room.]
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But the world around you doesn't want you to survive at all... everyone I've met turned into a corpse sooner or later
.
I just got hit with another earthquake... who knows which plane I'm on now, but the layout of the building will change.
Some spirits here have a physical form, and I was warned not to look them in the eyes...
Even with my mask, I made sure not to. They're only... children, however.
And the more one notices you, the more the rest do."
[click]
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So far Zacharie was right. No one the Batter had run across had lived or stayed alive long enough to speak to. To be fair most were not like him, used to seeing these sights and were simply human. The thought is not formed from a position of arrogance, however, but simply how it was. The Batter was not human and had seen sights that were close to these.
Created them.
So it didn't really provoke a reaction from him. Of course it helped to be nearly emotionless too. But anyway...there were other points. He had experienced an earthquake however long ago and that seemed to signal a change in something. Perhaps a change in whatever plane they were on? So in a way it could just boil down to the Batter and Zacharie getting lucking and winding up in the same place at the same time.
And then there's...children. Ghost children. The idea of purifying a child's soul was no different then an adult's but it was Zacharie's final comment that stuck out more to the Batter then anything else.
"And the more one notices you, the more the rest do."
Was that referring to the children only or all of the spirits here? Well, there's only one way to find out.
Putting the recorder back into his pocket, the Batter will go check out the Custodian's room. It's affixed in place like doors that are just walls tend to do, so he'll turn around and head in a different direction, avoiding the nurse's office.]
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If the Batter is to wander from here, reading newspapers and scraps or not caring about them entirely, more spirits will be forced out of hiding. These spirits don't even enter a battle screen, they just need to be graced by that bat to disappear and scream into the ether as all their thoughts, memories, dreams-- disappear into nothing along with their pain.
Sachiko is throwing softballs at him to see what he'll do.
The typical standard-- four children killed, one spared, a middle aged adult who was the son of a principal-- is on most of the notice boards and isn't hard to piece together.
Down the hall, something appears, nearly makes eye contact...
And fades away.
Another Earthquake sets in. ]
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The information could prove useful so he does read it and it's pretty obvious what happened. The end result was the school's closer, but what exactly caused it to turn into a nightmare zone was probably a different case.
Planes. He probably wasn't even in his world anymore.
The Batter catches sight of the girl - a much younger girl by the looks of things - for the briefest of seconds before the school once again is rocked by an earthquake. Keeping an eye out for anything that'll drop on his head, the Batter waits it out as best as he can.
Once it's over he will look up and down the hall to see if anything in his immediate vicinity has changed.]
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Why is that hallway longer? Even worse, there's a boy spirit sitting on one of the planks, watching towards the entrance. Don't look him in the eye! ]
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The Batter can feel something unsettling radiating from the ghost, almost as if he wasn't meant to be looked at. So, keeping his eyes to the ground, the Batter will wait a moment before moving on, just to see if the ghost does anything.]
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Or, you can play ring-around-the-rosie with this ghost, up to you. ]
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So he'll just run until the ghosts gives up, even if it means moving to a different floor entirely. Hopefully it's enough to get the child off his tail for a little while.]
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[ I was not built for survival horror, ha ha ha.
These things are like homing devices. They know when and where you are, and you constantly have to shift walking around to avoid them.
They don't go into the second building, though, for whatever reason. I found that place during one of the earthquakes. As terrifying as it still was, there were far less hauntings there.
I want to find it again. If I hop the fence this time, maybe I'll get out of here...
Or be stuck in a recursive loop, haha.
Even now, that sounds better.
[ His camera catches a glimpse of blue, then cuts out. ]
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The thing that stands out the most here is the mention of a second building. The Batter had not spotted an entrance to said place before but he hadn't been looking. That and Zacharie said he found it 'during one of the earthquakes'. Did that mean it was only open during the earthquakes or after one?
And a fence that might be able to be hopped. That 'stuck in a recursive loop' comment is not helpful, however. And clearly Zacharie was running out of time, by his comments and the blue flash before the feed cut out.
If he was referring to the ghosts homing in on them, that was fine in the Batter's case. Depending on how they saw the purifier he probably wasn't hard to miss anyway.
Okay, new objective: find the second building. Zacharie said it was still terrifying but it seemed like that was where he was intending to go. So off we go.]
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And on entering, it is indeed more quiet than the other building. It's not soothing, but it is in comparison-- if such a thing makes sense. ]
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The second building is disconcerting in a way the Batter can't put his finger on - it's probably the silence - but that doesn't matter. There are two exits from the entrance that he can see, one to the west and one to the east.
He'll start with the east one.]