Splat

After ignoring the first 10 letters from old locals in the town you used to call home, you begin to wonder what all the fuss is about. Why now? Why so many? Stamps cost money. Especially for people who cursed your name the day you left, the day you left the badge and rode out as sheriff for the last time. Something has to be wrong, but what? Do you... [[Move]] [[Stay]]

You grab your horse from the stable, pack some food, currency, whatever you may need. The desert doesn't care how prepared you are, but you try regardless. Whatever is going on, it ain't good. [[Continue-->Go]]

You fold the last letter shut, tossing it into the wind to flow with the tumbleweeds. If something is wrong they can figure it out themselves, Darcy is the Sheriff now. I guess we will never know. The end! Ending: Lazy bones

The old trail is rocky and unkept, no one ever felt a need to leave the town when you were around, guess that remains true. You see footprints that mysteriously dissapear into the sagebrush of the desert, no trail in sight showing where they went. A bag lies where the prints left. [[Look]] [[Ignore it]]

You get off your horse, ultimately letting your curiosity get the best of you. The bag is heavy, as if someone had a long trip ahead of them. You dump the contents, as they spill into the sand your face grows pale. A badge. Darcy's badge, your former deputy turned sheriff once you left. These must be his prints, where did he go? Did the wind simply brush them away in the sand? It is 110 degrees, August, ARIZONA, cross that off the list quickly. What was Darcy doing out here? Was he trying to get you after ignoring all the letters? Is the town in trouble? Thoughts raced through your brain as you tried to connect the dots of this seemingly impossible occurence. One thing is for sure, something had went down. [[continue--> Ride to town]]

You keep trudging on. It's the Wild West after all. People go missing everyday, keep moving or you will be next. [[Continue--> Ride to town]]

As you get closer to town, going down trails you used to ride everyday, more things seem out of place. The signs into down are run down and dingy, Tom the sign cleaner must be slacking. There is no music, no laughter. Just silence. Strangest of all, there's blue? Something slick and wet is smeared across the sandy trail... [[Examine]]

Against your better judgement you decide to get a closer look at the goo. The substance bubbles, as if it is boiling in the Arizona heat. It doesn't evaporate, doesn't dry. It just stays there, at a glance it appears as though it's breathing. No, no, that can't be. You swear you hear it whisper you name. [[Touch it]] [[Keep on moving]]

Your boot barely brushes it. The goo leaps, sticking like glue to your boots. It bites through them like acid, eating through the leather, flesh, and bone. Your skin blisters, peeling as the good climbs with obscene strength. The little bit you touched spreading like cancer throughout your body. There is no time to scream before your vision goes black. The end! Ending: Keep your hands to yourself

While enticing, you force your body away. If the goo is as appetizing to you as it was the townspeople, the trouble you originally thought they were in has tripled. [[continue-->Enter town]]

"CACAW CACAW" Crows shriek above as you enter the town you once protected. The town is a corpse. Tumbleweeds rolling through doors that people used to bustle through. That same blue slime coats windows, walls, porches, everything in sight. It gets harder to avoid the slime as you make your way to the town saloon. If there are people out here, this is where they would be. Something in you is begging you to just turn away and go home, nothing good is going to be in that saloon... [[Enter the saloon]] [[Head home]]

You turn around and enter into a brisk speedwalk, the people of town will figure out their problems on their own. Just as you reach your horse you are met with two figures stepping into your path. Bill and his wife Tori, shoemakers. "Well howdy there sheriff, or should we say traitor..." Bill speaks first, flat. Bill and Tori laugh but it comes out wrong, mehanical. "Well, you see, I came because of the letters y'all sent. Didn't see anyone so I figure y'all were in a meeting of some sort, getting your affairs in order. Everything alright?" Your eyebrows furrow at the pair's strange behavior. "Sorry to worry you there, but there has been some trouble around here..." Tori speaks next, her expression resembles someone trying very hard to copy a picture. "If you just come along with us we can show you..." Tori reaches her hand out, coated in blue. [[Grab her hand]] [[Refuse]]

You crash through the doors of the old saloon. Everyone in town resides inside like it is a usual day in town. However, there is no noise, music, nor dancing, everyone is sitting in silence with that same blank expression Tori and Bill had. The blue goo has enveloped this place as well. When you take a step on the creaky floors, heads turn. The people you swore to protect are looking at you with unfocused eyes. "Howdy..." Everyone in the saloon says in unison. Your hand hovers near your holster by instinct, something is very wrong... [[Draw your gun]] [[Address the townspeople]]

You don't want to be rude. You grab her hand despite the goo. Just as quickly as it started, the blue goo transfers from her hand to yours. It traps you in a state of agony, your skin bubbles and boils off. Tori and Bill watch, blank-eyed. They don't blink. The end! Ending: Room for a third?

"That's alright Tori, I am just going to head back to the Saloon" You quickly abandon your plan of leaving, worried what they would do if you did leave. You do not give Tori and Bill the opportunity to talk back to you before rushing towards the saloon. [[Enter the saloon]]

The sound of your revolver leaving your holster might as well be a gunshot in itself. The goo reacts violently. It climbs out of people's eyes, ears, noses, mouths, even from under their fingernails. [[Fire a warning shot]] [[SHOOT!]]

You clear your throat. "Howdy everyone, came to check on y'all because of those letters!" No one blinks, the goo pulses as though it is breathing. [[Ask about Darcy]]

"So... y'all seen Darcy?" No one answer. "He was the one sending me most of these notes, said something about y'all acting strange. Haven't gotten a letter from him in a minute, is he alright?" They all lift their heads like dogs hearing a distant whistle. One man you recognize as old Mr. Gerald stands as if it hurts. "He stayed... to fix what you left." "Where is Darcy." You are done being friendly, something is wrong and you do not know what. "He's everywhere... You left him the badge and he saved us." Mr. Gerald points to the goo that surrounds the saloon. [[Get out of there!]]

The bullet cracks through the ceiling. Rather than intimidate, the goo rages. It floods toward you, burning your boots within seconds. As it climbs up your body, burning through your skin, the last thing you see is the townspeople smiling back at you. The end! Ending: Fake out

You fire wildy. Bodies explode, goo sprays the walls. The people fall but the goo doesn't. It hunts. [[Get out of there!]]

You don't wait for the goo to act first, you turn and bolt. Your boots slap against the wood floor as blue sludge slashes toward you. It slithers over chairs, crawls up walls as you slip away. The townspeople that remain turn their heads unnaturally to watch you flee. Their smiles haunt you, stretching wide. The Arizona sun blinds you as you crash through the saloon doors much like how you entered. The street is worse now. Goo pours through the windows, drips from rooftops, bubbles up from the ground. It cuts you off from your horse, pooling between you and escaping. To your left is the old sheriff's office, your office. The door hangs off its hinges, still standing but unkept. Darcy must have disappeared a while ago. Straight ahead is your horse, maybe you could avoid the goo and grab your horse. Do you... [[Run towards your horse]] [[Duck into the sheriff's office]]

You don't hesitate. You sprint, skirting the edge of the blue mass as it reacts to your movements, rippling like disturbed water. Heat scorches your lungs but your boots don't stop. The goo lunges. It snaps at your heel, burning through the leather as you leap. Your horse screams as you finally haul yourself up onto the saddle. The goo recoils, not retreating, just watching. You kick, the horse bolts, tearing through the remains of the town. When you dare to look back, the buildings are still standing but swallowed in the mass. You escaped, but the whereabouts of Darcy are still unknown. The end! End of act one: Barely out (Good) [[Act 2]]

You dive inside and slam the door behind you, the rotted wood splinters under your panicked steps. Your past clings to every surface, the smell of disty filling your nose. The desk sits still where it was left, the wall where your badge once hung holds Darcy's. The goo arrives before you have time to dwell on the past. It seeps through the cracks in the floorboards, slow and deliberate. It knows you have nowhere else to go. It coats the legs of your desk, climbs the cabinets, swallows posters and half-forgotten reports. A stack of unopened letters all adressed to you catches your eye. Darcy's handwriting, shakier than you remember. In the unfinished letter lying there all you see is, "We tried to hold it back." The blue mass reaches your boots with no rush in it's endeavor, it welcomes. Heat flares your skin as it gets higher, pulling you into the stillness seen in town. The same question floods your mind in your final moments, Where did Darcy go? The end! End of act one: Back in town (bad) Try again [[go

You're out. Questions have been left unanswered, in fact, you've probably left with more than you started with. All you know is that goo has SOMETHING to do with it. That goo made the townspeople mindless masses, that goo TOOK Darcy! [[Prelude]]

"Well howdy there Darcy, great day today, right?" A townsperson speaks to the man sitting in the sheriff's chair. "As good as it is going to get, still got work to do today." The sheriff, Darcy, speaks as if a heavy cloud is over his head. "You okay there, sheriff? You're acting a little off today." Everyone in town has noticed the difference in Darcy's behavior, nobody has ever asked till now. "I just can't stop thinking about stuff that's been happening around here. From the weird lights flashing at night in the sky, the remenants of strange blue sludge, I am at a loss here. I can't help but wonder what my old boss would do." Darcy paces the floor of the office, thoughts racing through his mind. "Oh, right, they still not answering your letter?" The townsperson is just standing there now, not everyday you see the town sheriff panicking infront of you. "No, obviously not, completely disconnected from the town as soon as he left" Darcy scoffs, remembering the day his boss left him with nothing but a badge. "I don't know sheriff, why don't you just go find him? Can't be that far away." At this point the townsperson just wants to get out of that office. " "Well I'll be damned, of course! Why didn't I think of that? MWAH, thanks again pal!" Darcy skidaddles out of his office leaving the townsperson with nothing but a wet cheek and confusion. [[Off to find the sheriff]]

Darcy didn't pack much. Revolver, badge, canteen, and letters he never bothered to send. "If he won't come back to this town, I'll have to drag him back myself" Darcy mutters as he mounts his horse. The desert is dead quiet, sun beating down on the back of his neck as it starts to set. About three miles out, the horse starts acting strange, snorting, refusing to move. That's when Darcy sees it. Light. A pale blue light spilling across the sand. There is no source for this light in sight. Darcy dismounts his horse slowly. "What in god's name.." The air hums, low at first but it kicks up. The sand beneath his boots begin to vibrate, his horse bolts. "HEY!" Darcy spins. The light snaps down on him, no time to draw. The revolver falls from his hand. His boots leave the ground. His badge glows white upon his chest. The last thing he sees is his own footprints left on the sand. His bag hits the ground. Silence returns to the desert. [[Present day]]

The silence of the desert is comforting. No chanting, synchronized voices, or blue goo hunting you. Just the flatness of the desert and your thoughts. The desert stretches endlessly every which way. You don't know where you're going. You just know it is not back there. Your hands shake remembering Darcy, the saloon, the way the goo watched you leave. Why is this happening? You're broken from this trance at the sound of something moving. You turn sharply but nothing is there, just heat, just desert, just your imagination. Right? Night is falling, decisions need to be made. [[Make camp]] [[Move through the night]]

You pull the reins. This should be far enough. You slide off the saddle, boots still holding the heat from the day. You still refuse to look back at the town. You gather brush, strike a match, the flame is fragile in the vast desert. Your revolver stays in your lap as you lay against a rock. The desert has always been loud at night. Insects, coyotes, normal sounds, comforting sounds. You close your eyes for a moment. CRUNCH Your eyes snap open, catching something beyond the light. It doesn't charge, it circles. You stand carefully. "Show yourself" Silence returns. A shape appears, too tall to be a man, too smooth for a coyote. The fire flickers blue before returning to orange. Nothing is there. Nothing happens. Sleep overcomes your body. [[Morning]]

You can't afford to stop. If you stop, you think. If you think, you remember. Your horse resists at first, exhausted, but you push forward. The desert grows colder, the sun bleeds behind the dunes. Stars spill like bullet holes across the sky. You risk one glance back. The town is gone. Hours pass. Your thoughts grow strange. Blue comes form the corner of your eyes. You blink, it dissapears. You laugh, dry and humorless. "Get a grip". Your horse jerks sideways, distracting your thoughts as you regain control. Ahead, far off in the distance there's a blue light. Not lightning. Not fireworks. Blue. Light. It flickers once, dissapears. You didn't imagine that. Your horse refuses to move forward, trembling beneath you. Just then a low hum rolls through the ground. Soft enough you almost think it's wind. The sand around you vibrates. Do you [[Dismount and investigate]] [[Go the other direction]]

You slide off of your horse carefully, boots sinking into the sand that feels warm yet wrong. The hum deepens the moment your weight hits the ground. It settles into your chest, steady and patient. The blue light flickers again, closer now, then vanishes. Each step feels counted as you move forward. Ahead, the desert floor is smooth, glassed over in a wide circle. It is as if the land was pressed by something heavy. At the center lies something half buried. A bag. Weathered, untouched in a place that should have swallowed it whole by now. Your chest tightens, the same bag from when you started this nightmare. Just like before, the footprints are there with no struggle in sight, only a bag left behind. Your vision swims as the hum gets louder. For a moment, just a moment, you see the town as it was. People standing still, horror etched on their face. They watch as something freezes above. Blue light moves like thought rather than matter. A man floats down from the structure. You can't make out his face. The feeling still hits you all the same. Authority. Burden. Regret. The hum spikes are you are thrown backwards. The desert snaps back into place, leaving you gasping. The circle is gone, the sand appears like the rest of the land. That bag sits as it always was. Your horse trembles as it watches you from a distance. Whatever happened, this is where it started and it isn't finished with you yet. [[Get back on your horse]]

You are in no place to ignore your instinct. You pull the reins to force your horse the other way. The ground hums beneath you, subtle at first but then impossible to ignore. The sand shifts inhumanly. That's when you feel it. Not behind you. Not ahead of you. Around you. The desert presses in, it's been watching you since you left the town. Your thoughts blur, flashes of blue cut the corners of your vision. You squeeze your eyes shut. You open them only when you feel the shaking of your horse. You are no longer planted on the ground. Nothing can be seen except the pale blue light as you are lifted into the abyss. The end! Ending: You can't just leave

The fire is ash. Your horse is staring at something in the sand. You follow it's gaze towards footprints. A perfect circle around your camp. They aren't animal tracks. They aren't boot prints. They're oval shaped, perfectly spaced. It is as if someone stood upright and walked the perimeter all night. They stop abruptly teen foot away. There is no trail marks. Just, gone. Your throat goes dry. Do you [[Investigate]] [[Go the other direction]]

Curiosity moves you forward till you stumble across a familiar scene. The same rocks, tumbleweeds, your footprints in the sand. What becomes the most familiar part is the bag, the same one you found when making your way to town. Back when you didn't know the horrors that were taking place in your home. Despite your better judgement, you go to the bag and kneel. Immediately, your vision swims as the hum gets louder. For a moment, just a moment, you see the town as it was. People standing still, horror etched on their face. They watch as something freezes above. Blue light moves like thought rather than matter. A man floats down from the structure. You can't make out his face. The feeling still hits you all the same. Authority. Burden. Regret. The hum spikes are you are thrown backwards. The desert snaps back into place, leaving you gasping. The circle is gone, the sand appears like the rest of the land. That bag sits as it always was. Your horse trembles as it watches you from a distance. Whatever happened, this is where it started and it isn't finished with you yet. [[Get back on your horse]]

You have no time to waste, you climb rush towards your horse and hop on. As you pull the reins to move once again, you feel the desert watching you. The bag, the footprints, the humming, it all stays behind you now but you can't help but wonder what is infront of you. Your thoughts drift, trying to make sense of anything you have witnessed the past few days. You scan the horizon, a shape shifts in the heat distant and deliberate. Something waits. [[Move further into the desert]]

The desert stretches endlessly as you feel the feeling of uneasiness, waiting for the next thing to happen. Ahead, a ridge rises sharply where you saw the figure. Shadows open among the dunes. Something glints over yonder. Are you just hallucinating? Who can tell anymore... As you watch the ridge, another flicker of blue light occurs dances across the newly formed shadows. [[Climb the ridge to investigate]] [[Skirt around and keep moving]]

You urge your horse up the slope, sand sliding every step. Suddenly, the sand shifts violently. Your horse gives way on a patch, dragging it sideways. You attempt to hold on but the slope collapses into a hidden hollow filled with bubbling blue goo. The light flares, a sticky burn climbs your boots, faster than you can fight back. There is no time to scream. The end! Ending: Burned by the blue

You trust your instinct and move around. The air is hot as you and your horse hug the edge between the ridge and safety. Ahead, a collapsed structure comes into view, weathered wood, half buried in sand. It's clear this was once habitated by others but has been long abandoned. Foot prints, fresh ones, lead inside. Who else could be here? There is no way anyone out here has not come across the supernatural occurences. Maybe... it's one of them. [[Investigate the structure]] [[Move past]]

You step inside despite your better judgement. What an absolute wreck, you're lucky if the floor doesn't collapse with a single step. Just as you're looking in disgust at mold, something natural for once, you see a body that lays against a wall. Ripped clothes, boots melted into the floor, and worse; blue goo that seeps out of where their eye sockets and mouth. You cannot tell if this happened weeks or minutes ago. [[Search the body]] [[Get out]]

You don't have time to play around, you keep trucking, avoiding having even a thread touch that ridge. Not once do you look back at the ridge, not your job not your prob. You don't stop moving until you find a canyon. You've spent all your life wandering this desert and you have never ran into this canyon. Tectonic plates? Who knows at this point, it could be flying pigs for all you know. As long as there's no blue goo. Your thoughts are met with disapointment as you view a structure smack dab in the middle, not a building, a structure. It pulses blue light like a heartbeat. Your horse refuses to go further. [[Hide and observe]] [[Get off and approach the structure]]

You kneel and reach out towards the corpse's shirt pocket. They jerk awake and start vomiting the blue liquid onto you before you can pull away. It rushes up your arm, blistering the skin instantly, heat screams through your nerves. Atleast you don't die alone. The end! Ending: Curiosity killed the cat

You don't have time to play around, you back out slowly and step into the vast desert once again. The structure creaks behind as you refuse to look back while you mount the horse. You don't stop moving until you find a canyon. You've spent all your life wandering this desert and you have never ran into this canyon. Tectonic plates? Who knows at this point, it could be flying pigs for all you know. As long as there's no blue goo. Your thoughts are met with disapointment as you view a structure smack dab in the middle, not a building, a structure. It pulses blue light like a heartbeat. Your horse refuses to go further. [[Hide and observe]] [[Get off and approach the structure]]

You stay with your horse behind a boulder, the feeling that something is about to happen never leaving your thoughts. The structure opens. Blue light pours out like fog. It clears to reveal a figure. It's him. It's Darcy. His body is wrong, elongated. The only reason he's upright is because a blue mass holds him, threading through his body like veins. His eyes glow faintly, unfocused yet aware. The blue responds to him, it moves where he moves. The town never collapsed, it followed. You understand it now, it's all coming together. Darcy may not be the creator of this, but he was changed. Changed into something that is in control of this. A voice that's his but not at the same time rolls through the canyon. "We needed order, it needed my badge, it was the only way" You see it then, the structure is not a nest but rather an anchor. It seems as though the blue spreads from here, not from Darcy. If that anchor breaks, everything tied to it should die. Including Darcy. [[SHOOT NOW!]] [[Wait and learn]]

You dismount, ignoring whatever warning your horse tries to give you. What does a horse know that I don't? The ground vibrates as you step forward. Uh oh, that's never a good sign. You begin to rethink all the decisions that led you up to this point as blue erupts from the sand. It wraps around your legs, dragging you to the structure before you can change your mind. The light intensifies. You never reach the structure. The end! Ending: You dug your grave, lay in it

You fire. The bullet strikes, bullseye. Screams come from the structure. Blue explodes in every which way, uncontrolled and feral. It tears through the canyon, you, everything. Darcy is still, atleast one of your predictions was right. You didn't stop it. The blue goo has been released. The end! Ending: Slow your roll

You hold your fire. Darcy stumbles, crutching his chest. "I tried to hold it back," He gasps. "But it needs a sheriff, someone tied to the land. You're lucky you left." Your stomach drops. Everything you just thought was wrong. If Darcy dies, it spreads freely. If Darcy lives, it keeps growing. There's only one way. The anchor must be moved. It needs to be taken away from the town, the desert, anywhere that won't cause it to spread. Darcy looks straight at you. "Finish what I started. You were always the better sheriff." The structure glows brighter. The desert trembles. End of Act 2 Truth revealed