Gargoyle [UPDATE 24/10]

[Godbot]

Damn, thought there'd be an update.

Read the table of contents to determine what pages were removed.

This is a really good idea. Try it.

[Wojjan]

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whoosh isn't around at the time of writing but we got this update done. I'll be posting instead. Thanks for bearing with us!

>See what the pages on the floor say.

No dice, they're completely unreadable. You could've guessed by the excess blood that's practically everywhere, but it never hurts to check. You'll have to look somewhere else...

> Looks like the torn pages are trailing into that back room.

Nothing over there either. Just a bookshelf, which in a bookstore isn't all that surprising. You're gonna get somewhere.

Eventually.

Protasgonist: tug at those bandages on your face, must be uncomfortable.

...

No thanks.


But you could do with another ciggy.

==>

You have a vague feeling you're forgetting something.


...Probably nothing important.

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The pages overlap what does that mean? :O

[Coyote]

You're forgetting this is a setup for you, that's why you got to vamoose.

[Godbot]

> Yeah, you should probably go to "Liberty to the west," which I guess is a street. If the diagonal dotted line has any significance, I guess Liberty would be one of the two diagonal streets just north of you.

[Naesr Tazam]

> That tracing paper! You spotted it earlier, nearly forgot and left it behind! Snatch it up now. Overlay the transparent sheet of directions on top of that map of New Chicago. Orient the tracing paper so that the arrow lies directly over Mort and Lyer's and points to the west. The X marks your destination!

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Fantastic adventure, btw.

[Not The Author]

I doubt you'll arrive in time, Mum. This murderer guy leaving behind these clues don't seem the type to hang around at a crime scene, despite the urgency with which he's egging you on. Hell, this seems less like a set up and more like a trap, though I hafta wonder if the trap's for you...

[Miraculous]

> That tracing paper! You spotted it earlier, nearly forgot and left it behind! Snatch it up now. Overlay the transparent sheet of directions on top of that map of New Chicago. Orient the tracing paper so that the arrow lies directly over Mort and Lyer's and points to the west. The X marks your destination!

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Fantastic adventure, btw.

Seconded.

Also, the art style and detective story.

[Godbot]

I doubt you'll arrive in time, Mum. This murderer guy leaving behind these clues don't seem the type to hang around at a crime scene, despite the urgency with which he's egging you on. Hell, this seems less like a set up and more like a trap, though I hafta wonder if the trap's for you...

The alternative is that he's the Riddler, and he's giving you clues on how to stop him beforehand. So I'd take a guess and say you're probably right.

[Wheeeeeeatthins]

If the suspected gang is the gargoyles, and they're a cult based off the myth of the gargoyle, perhaps go visit some churches (abandoned or not) if you run out of leads. Maybe you'll come across some rituals, maybe you'll come across some Romanus-like priest who knows a little something about them.

Couldn't hurt if you don't have anything else to go on.

[Wojjan]

You're forgetting this is a setup for you, that's why you got to vamoose.

You would, and you should, but where to? The note in your office unceremoniously tossed in there with the corpse, and the set of elaborate directions, it all dictates some kind of pattern. A certain road to follow. Until you find that, you can't leave. The cops will be here any second and there's no turning back then.

> Yeah, you should probably go to "Liberty to the west," which I guess is a street. If the diagonal dotted line has any significance, I guess Liberty would be one of the two diagonal streets just north of you.

It makes sense. That line, it's there for some reason, but there's no street nearby that's called Liberty or anything related. You're still missing something.

Where did you even put that paper?

==>

...So that's it.

> That tracing paper! You spotted it earlier, nearly forgot and left it behind! Snatch it up now. Overlay the transparent sheet of directions on top of that map of New Chicago. Orient the tracing paper so that the arrow lies directly over Mort and Lyer's and points to the west. The X marks your destination!

That's it!



And that's your destination. Marchessie.

==>

You vamoose, as instructed, and not a moment too soon. The distant winds already carry a siren's wailing, and the comfort of the dark night allows your silent escape. They're on your tail though. Your search will have to be swift.



Liberty.

What a sick sense of humour.

[Godbot]

What did he mean, on Liberty?

Is there someplace where you can get a better look at, say, the roof?

[Pinary]

> Reminisce about history of Marchessie Prison and any experiences with it you may have had.

[Miraculous]

> Find a way in, starting with the gate.

[Ruki]

-> Examine the premise before entering. Is there another way in? Or does it look like somebody else broke in outside of the main enterance? It wouldn't do good to walk right into a trap.

[Wojjan]

> Find a way in, starting with the gate.

As to be expected from a prison, the front gate is locked shut. A minute-odd of pushing and pulling later you're still standing outside.

There's not even a keyhole on it, and the gap between the two doors firmly holds them shut at the bottom with an electric lock. You try pressing the buzzer, but even after about five minutes no one has answered. You don't have a good feeling about this.

Unless you can find another entry point, or a way to disable the lock, no way you will be opening this gate.

-> Examine the premise before entering.

...It's almost perplexing how much luck you're having tonight.

To the left of the gate you see a hole, sratches clawed into the wall, almost as if the hole could have just as well bored through the wall entirely. Cautiously, you decide to examine it further.



It leads down, which isn't all that surprising for a hole.

> Reminisce about history of Marchessie Prison and any experiences with it you may have had.

For a second, you consider the irony of the situation. You yourself had never had to try and spoon a way out of Marchessie, unlike many others. Most of them by your deeds, too. As a truly hard-boiled vigilante you'd have tracked the scum, you'd deliver a neat package of evidence and smut at the police's doorstep, and a day at most later you would already be testifying against the criminal, indefinitely in custody, in the makeshift courtroom they'd install for a while. The convicts despised your bandage-covered face. You were never really sure if it was because of your sleuthing or just because you were you. Not a lot of other people ever got a chance to react to you, so there was hardly a precedent.
You figure it's for the best.

Any other visit to Marchessie would have been triumphant. But now, instead of parading through the gates that almost automatically swung open for you, you find yourself crawling through a shoddy tunnel, unsure whether it was meant to lead people in or out.

The lack of any stepping stones made it quite the ordeal, but after some minutes of reminiscence you find yourself at the bottom of the pit.



You are in a narrow space between a floor and a ceiling, and apparently it should qualify for a room. The walls consist mostly of excavated dirt, barely sticking together due to a single layer of plaster smeared across it. From the bottom you can still see remains of the amateuristic job peeking through. Only the north wall with the heavy door is much cleaner. The wooden boards on the floor are old and brittle, but don't serve any purpose other than keeping your shoes tidy. To your left, a breaker switch. To your right, some crates.

Wherever you are, you think you're inside Marchessie now.

What do you do?

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Hey everyone, we're back! And with some good news, too!

First of all, Gargoyle has been nominated for Best Hidden Gem, which is AWESOME news! Big shout-outs first of all to whoosh! for keeping this thing going with a lot of her dedication, but don't forget all of you! Thanks to you, the story can keep spinning with your suggestions, and thanks again for nominating us! It's your vote that mattered so WOOOO GO YOU! I'm trying to work with as many suggestions as we're getting here to push the story onwards, and I love seeing the interest so far! Also I would continue this spoiler with a long-winded speech on how whoosh! is absolutely the best ever but it would be far too unhinged to follow and there aren't enough synonyms for 'awesome' to keep things fluent. I am having an incredible amount of fun telling a story in this way with the help of such great and talented people so I'll just finish off this gabbing with a solid

Thank you! All of you!

[SonicLover]

>Breaker the breaker

[Mirdini]

> Examine crates! Particularly their contents.

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Super-awesome adventure whoosh/wojj

[Niall]

Peer through the slotted window on the door and examine the crates. Best to get yourself acquainted with your surroundings a little better.

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Love it! I'll definitely be reading along from now on.

[MrGuy]

Flick switch repeatedly and impudently, then suplex crates.

[Not The Author]

Don't flick the switch just yet. Save it for when the door inevitably doesn't work and you're outta other options. Always always always exhaust all possible possibilities before doing something rash like shutting off a switch you don't know the purpose of.

Of course, since really all you can do right now is rifle through some crates, I guess you'll be getting to that switch soon enough. >_>

Hm. Could the crates have been stacked against that wall in particular in an attempt to hide something? There could just as easily have been crates where you now stand, since your entryway probably isn't supposed to exist.

[Godbot]

> Explode a wizard

> Failing that, check what's on the other side of that glass slit in the door. If you can't see in, try turning the lights off. Not sure if that's what the switch is for, though - it goes through the wall to the next room. It might be safer to just unscrew the lightbulb. You're wearing gloves, you won't get burned.

[Miraculous]

> Check to see if the doors is actually locked first. Assumptions are what get investigators killed.

[Godbot]

> Check to see if the doors is actually locked first. Assumptions are what get investigators killed.

Smart thinking, except that door opens with a keycard. There's no handle.

[ProfessorLizzard]

>Examine the crates. Do they emit suspicious aromas?

[Miraculous]

> Check to see if the doors is actually locked first. Assumptions are what get investigators killed.

Smart thinking, except that door opens with a keycard. There's no handle.

Whoops.