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"That closet in the apartment hallway? That's part of YOUR unit! Don't forget that. It's a part of your lease. Feel free to use it as storage, you get two separate keys. The guy in unit 7 across from you is a bit of an asshole, he always complains when tenants want to use that closet and shuffle around and make noise- but it's your right to use it. Just don't forget to take your stuff out of there if you decide to move somewhere else."

"Guy across picky about the neighbors huh? Guess he must have owned that unit for a long time..."

"Oh no, he's my tenant too. Just don't let him push you around!"

"..."

Ever since you've moved into this apartment, you've thought that little closet was a little weird. It's supposed to be part of your apartment, but was "cut off" because of poor planning for the building's elevator. So it's a separate room. In a way, you're glad it's not actually in your apartment. It kinda gives you the creeps for a very specific reason.

You've decided to use your day off to go to the city's record hall and get the public access blueprints for your building. No matter how much you tried to find this information online, they simply refused to give it to you. You wonder how many terrorist watch lists you ended up one searching for your address and building blueprints and ventilation diagrams- things like that. Normally, you wouldn't bother this much over weird stuff you can't explain, but this time? You just have to be sure.

Outside the city hall is an old fashioned hot dog stand. You're famished- this is perfect!

"Let me get a dog."

"Alright, dude! What do you want on it?"

>Relish
>Ketchup & Mustard
>Chili Dog
>Just plain

>>5946866
>>Relish
>>Ketchup & Mustard
>>Chili Dog

Go big or go home

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>>5946866
>Chili Dog

>>5946866
>>Chili Dog

>>5946866
Those options are weak. Where is my canned corn and hay fries? I want canned corn and hay fries.

getting some real curse carrier vibes...

mustard only

>>5946866
>>Chili Dog

Good Chaos?

>>5946866
>Chili Dog

>>5946866
>>Chili Dog
The thinking man's choice.

>>5947014
>+1
Exactly...

>>5946866
>Just plain

>>5947085
Ahh, looks like the resident quest sabotage Anon is back to ruin this thread too.

>>5946866
>Just plain

Would take Ketchup if I could do that without the Mustard, but...

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”Alright.... Let me get a chilli dog.”

”Good choice dude. You want cheese?”

”Sure.”

”How about onions?”

”Alright, add those.”

”Hmm. I didn't peg you as an onions guy, my dude.”

”Well, I've been trying new things recently. Lord knows.”

You enjoy your chili dog as a little snack before you enter the library. Washing your hands and sanitizing, you make sure to thank the receptionist for helping you find these documents. You're allowed to make copies, but the originals stay here. That's fine by you- because one look was all you really needed to confirm your suspicions.

”...What the fuck...”

Looking over the blueprints, exactly as you expected, you find no mention or illustration of the tunnel.

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Within the detached storage space that is part of your unit, but only able to be accessed from the apartment hallway, is a tunnel. It's slightly elevated off the ground and slightly narrower then the storage room, which is literal more then a glorified walk-in closet. The tunnel is just wide enough for one person to walk comfortably. The tunnel stretches on into blackness, and you can't even see the end of it. You did not expect to see it there- it wasn't even covered up or taped off or anything, like the previous occupant who moved out just a month before you never saw it or even cared. Or maybe just never used the storage space.

Beyond a few boxes and old hangers, the secondary closet was dusty and bare. You were just checking it out because it was part of your new lease agreement. It wasn't exactly something you expected to see. Holding your phone flashlight up to the hole, you couldn't see the other end- the light couldn't penetrate the darkness. You weren't sure how long it was. You considered it being shorter and just being painted very dark black, which could be deceptive, but sticking your arm in and a tape measure you borrowed from your work, you kept unfolding the tape until it was over 6 feet long and drooped to the ground, still not touching a back wall or anything.

The tunnel was very quiet, not possessing any unusual odors of termite damage or sewer drains or anything else you could think of- not that it could be an opening into the earth, as this is on the third floor of your building. Nobody mentioned this. Your landlord didn't, the previous tenant didn't, no cryptic notes, no nothing. Nobody in the building seemed to mention it even offhanded, despite how weird it was.

You even went to the outside of your apartment building and looked at your floor from outside. If the tunnel was there, even to its meager length, you think you'd be able to see it sticking out. You even thought it could be possible the tunnel is deceptively sloped so it actually goes down instead of straight- but that wouldn't explain Unit 7.

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The tunnel directly bisects the unit opposite yours in the complex. The storage room is adjacent and shares a wall with Unit 7. Based on its arrangement and the blueprints, it makes no logical sense how that tunnel could exist there. You thought maybe it's possible that Unit 7 is a dummy apartment, not really there, and this tunnel is some secret building thing- but even that wouldn't work, because it's far too long to fit in the guy's living room, much less extend beyond it. Besides, you know Unit 7's occupant. You've seen him enter and leave his apartment. Someone is living in there, tunnel be damned.

Therefore, after weighing all the options and considering your own delusions and mental state- only one outcome can be determined. You have somehow stumbled upon a Non-Euclidean space.

You've been thinking about it a lot recently. Firstly, how strange is it that you of all people managed to find something like this- a wormhole or bigger-inside-than-outside environment, actually being real and existing on earth. How has nobody else found one yet? How is this a unique event, if it is even possible at all? That strikes you with a few questions and doubts. Could there be more of these and they're just kept quiet and hushed up? Would a government agency come and silence you if you went public with this?

Being the first person to encounter something this strange, this unique- it gives you a special position. This is a truly new thing, something absolutely unique and curious. This is like space exploration. You are incredibly eager to see what this is like, to probe and figure out what this “hole” is. You could be the first person on Earth to have encountered something like this.

On the one hand, you really hate to be this capitalistic and petty, but you really don't have that much going on in your life. You work at dead end job at a hardware store, minimum wage, not much opportunity for advancement. You don't have too many talents or skills or connections either. Your life isn't anything special, just average and boring. Being the first person to discover something like this could set you up in a very special way- but it something you have to consider. Maybe in a simpler situation you could just sell this property off to some eccentric billionaire or researchers for kajillion dollars and be done with it- but you're just a tenant so it isn't that simple. Besides, you don't really know if just washing your hands of this strangeness is a real solution. Don't you want to see what's going on?

What should you do?

>Contact your local university & scientific community
>Open a social media account and start documenting your discoveries
>See what's inside without telling anyone
>Tell your landlord

>>5947807
>Open a social media account and start documenting your discoveries

>>5947807
>Check out House of Leaves from the library, discover that Will Navidson is LITERALLY US
>Open a social media account and start documenting your discoveries
then

>Contact your local university & scientific community
once we have enough proof.

>>5947807
>Double check your lease agreement and talk to a lawyer.

>>5947822
+1

>>5947822
>>5947807
+1

>>5947807
>Tell your landlord

He might know something of the place of the history of it. And if he investigates down the passage and goes missing? We find our accommodation has just gone rent-ree!

>>5947822
+1

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You decide to start documenting your discoveries with the mysterious tunnel- starting with recording and broadcasting your fines. Will also be a nice safety feature, just in case you end up getting disappeared by the government or something else unexplainable happens.

You start by filming the hole itself, and briefly speaking over finding it and how unexplainable it is. To your pleasant surprise, the video takes and isn't distorted or magically corrupted by the tunnel- you had a feeling it wouldn't show up, like it was some psycho construction that couldn't be objectively proven in any way. Then, you throw a plastic ball down the tunnel to see what happened- the first time you've put something deeper then your arm and the tape measure inside and film. Quietly, the ball bounces away into the dark, and then disappears. You weren't sure what else you expected. In a way, you're glad it didn't come back, because it would be way freakier if it did.

However, even looking at your first video of the tunnel now, you can already see the main issue. The lack of believable context of the tunnel and the surrounding building. If you truly wanted to expose this was a non-euclidean space, you'd really best be able to expose the other side of it. As in- the way the tunnel seems to not enter Unit 7, despite it being right there. Perhaps a video showing the other side of the wall of the storage closet, and then walking in the same take back to the storage room, which will show how freaky it is. Until then, your video, while a bit interesting showing this long pitch-black tunnel in the middle of a small carpeted room, it isn't very conclusive evidence.

However, you don't lease Unit 7, don't have a key, and have never met its owner directly. Asking to just be able to enter his home at will may be a bit much, but perhaps if you explained yourself he'd be willing to help you out?

>Be honest with Unit 7's occupant over the situation
>Lie to Unit 7's occupant and ask to see the other side of the wall for water damage
>Try to become friends with Unit 7's occupant first
>Go on without him

>>5948660
>Be honest with Unit 7's occupant over the situation
>Show them our video

>>5948660
>Try to become friends with Unit 7's occupant first

>>5948660
>>Be honest with Unit 7's occupant over the situation

You wanna see some shit, my dude?

>>5948660
>>Be honest with Unit 7's occupant over the situation

>>5948660
House of Leaves, the Quest? Count me in.

>Go on without him

>>5948660
>>Be honest with Unit 7's occupant over the situation

>>5948660
>>Try to become friends with Unit 7's occupant first

>>5948660
>Be honest with Unit 7's occupant over the situation

Took a short break for family stuff- bad to have a family near the start of a Quest I know. We will be resuming later today, hopefully in around 12 hours or so.

>>5949819
Thank you for keeping us informed!

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You decide you should, above all else, be honest with Room 7's occupant. After all, if the weird reality tunnel is going directly through his living space, you never know what further exploration or messing with it could end up causing- if it means teleporting directly into his living room when you enter the tunnel or just needing more solid evidence of the thing's existence, it'd be best to be honest. Still, you want to butter him up a bit, and you've never been formally introduced. You bake some muffins and bring them over to be a good neighbor.

You knock on Room 7's door and after what feels like an unusually long time, eventually they answer. The wheelchair-bound Unit 7 occupant finally appears. An older man, retired, and a veteran with some disability is the occupant. He looks up at you with a cross look- even getting to the front door is a challenge, so you really hope this is fruitful and he doesn't write this off as a prank...

You explain the situation as honestly and openly as you can, stating that your storage room in the hall, which he knows about given its strangeness, has a seemingly impossible hole that leads to nothing- overlapping over his own unit's space. You ask him for permission to mess around with the hole, as well as permission to film the inside of his unit for the purposes of proof. Without explaining it in more detail- the thought of one long continuous shot of the tunnel, leading to Unit 7, and showing how it simply is not there on the other side of the wall seems very convincing and is likely the most striking piece of evidence you can make at the current time. Skeptical at first, you also show him the video of the hole which, even if it could be fake, is still weird and interesting enough to get his attention. He seems intrigued at first, but quickly brings you back down to reality.

"Alright, but I want half."
"...Uhh. Half of what?"
"The money! I know what the TikTok stuff is work for the younger generation. You won't pull the wool over my eyes on this one. So whatever money you make, you have to give me half of it. If you're going to do all kinds of filming and construction and all this other stuff to prove this- I know you're going to be making a lot of money."
"I mean, I just need to film the inside of your place for a little bit, it's not a huge deal... I'll certainly pay you for any inconvenience caused."
"Oh no Sonny, you aren't going to trick me. We'll get this in writing."

Something about his attitude and greed towards this rubs you the wrong way, especially asking for so much of something that isn't even off the ground yet. Who said you were going to make any money off of it? Yeah, if you DID make some money that would be cool but... why is this guy being such a greedy, profit driven Boomer about it? It annoys you. Almost like he doesn't care about this discovery, and only about what he can get out of it...

>Agree
>Refuse

>>5950216
>Refuse.
Always trust your gut.

>>5950216
>>Refuse

How exactly will we explore this place if he tells us to fuck off, again?

>>5950230
We just exclude his apartment from our documentation. What does it lose us?

>>5950216
>Agree
We don't have a lot of options, and if we really get rich, who cares if he also gets rich? Is he the greedy boomer here... Or is it US?

>>5950216
>Agree

I mean, half the donations of a single video isn't really much anyway.

>>5950216
>Refuse

>>5950216
>Agree

Voting tied, update will be delayed. If no tie breaker is reached by 24 hours after the last update, a random roll will decide.

>>5950253
One of our best ways to prove this hole is wack.

>>5950216
>Agree
We weren’t doing this for the money anyways. Who cares if he gets half of the 0 money we get from this?

>>5950216
>Agree
That's fair enough. This is my first time posting in this quest, exciting stuff.

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"Alright, fine, a deal is a deal."
"Good man! Let me write up our little contract, hehehe. Can't have you getting anything for free now. This will be legally binding, so don't try to skimp out on my cut."
"Uh huh...."

It's not so much the money that bothers you, after all, you don't really expect to make any money off of this weirdness anyway. It's just the principle of the matter. It's like, instead of just doing something nice for someone and helping you out with their weird project, he just assumes you're in it for some kind of profit, or even if you aren't, he wants money out of it. It's the obsession with himself, greed, which bothers you. You suppose you could argue you yourself are being the greedy one here, fretting over half of some potential money in the future, but it's just the immediate reaction being one of self interest that rubs you the wrong way.

You sign his stupid contract he writes up on a piece of line paper. You don't see how this kind of thing could be super legally binding as per a lawyer would see it, but you suppose if it makes your neighbor happy either way, it's fine.

"Alright, you can do your filming and stuff- but keep it before 5 PM so I can get to bed!"

You decide to keep things simple. Your first video, besides the ball one, shows the tunnel in your storage room, and then you take the phone's camera in one continuous shot from there to Unit 7, showing the impossibility of the hole. Just as you suspected, once you actually went inside Unit 7 yourself, you can see it is a small apartment, just like yours, but it would be bisected exactly by that tunnel; a spatial impossibility. The video is very convincing, given its taken in one take and shows the spatial arrangement of the place. Finally, you upload this video along with the ball one to your otherwise inactive-for-decades youtube channel.

The reaction to the video is surprisingly quick and positive. You actually gained quite a large amount of views in a few days- most of the comments seem to believe your video was fake, but were moreso impressed with how well you faked the effect. Many made comments to the effect of not being able to see the jump cut, or some theorizing this is a new ARG and being intrigued by it. The reaction is still positive- though you soon learn you've actually gained tens of thousands of views on other platforms, namely mobile focused ones like Tiktok and Instagram, things you are not familiar with. You decide to start opening up accounts and using this in tandem with your youtube account to keep better control over your own videos and feedback.

Most of the comments you received seemed to be either praising the special effects or theorizing on the hole as well. The one message that jumps out at you the most, written in poor English and with an incomprehensible username made up of random letters and numbers, default profile picture, is one of the few replies that has no attached theory or comments. It isn't trying to be funny to fish for upvotes or isn't from some small creator- It's just a single line replied to your very first video that stuck with you. It was clearly written for your eyes only, a direct plea from the viewer to the video-maker.

don't go in

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Now it's time to further your explorations.

After the first few videos and outer prodding at the tunnel, proving its both spatially impossible and very, very unusual; you now are stuck with a new dilemma. How should you explore it further?

Thus far, you've thrown a ball inside, shined lights within, stuck down a measuring tape for depth, and made a few measurements for its dimensions. You applied sticky tape with measurement markings along the side of the tunnel and kept it lit with lamps in the otherwise very dark storage room, no ceiling fan or built in lighting being present in the room, but otherwise still no nothing else about the tunnel.

On your next day off from work you go to the storage room, staring at the inexplicable architecture. It's as void and inscrutable as ever. You decide you need to come up with a plan to explore the tunnel further to figure out where it leads, if anywhere, or what could be inside it, since otherwise you're just staring at the tunnel with nothing coming in or out.

You decide to check out your videos comments and actually gain a great number of suggestions. Some of them are clearly ridiculous or way out of your budget range; taking a fleet of drones and having them fly over each other with laser scanners and stopping every 10 feet along the tunnel- like you could afford that! But there are some good suggestions too. Whatever you decide- you figure you're still just trying to sate your curiosity about this strong hole. What should you do?

>Buy as many lights as you can afford and shine them down the hole as bright as you can
>Get a drone or RC car with a camera and send it down the tunnel
>Borrow surveying tools from work and inspect the tunnel carefully
>Go inside the tunnel yourself

>>5951085
>>Get a drone or RC car with a camera and send it down the tunnel

>>5951085

>Get a drone or RC car with a camera and send it down the tunnel.

RC car will be cheaper.

>>5951085
>>Get a drone or RC car with a camera and send it down the tunnel

>>5951085
>>Go inside the tunnel yourself

>>5951085
>Get a drone or RC car with a camera and send it down the tunnel

>>5951085
>>Get a drone or RC car with a camera and send it down the tunnel

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The ominous tunnel looms. You decide the best way to explore it further is to go inside- but a bit too unknown and dangerous to go in by yourself right now. Instead, you will send in your own little rover- like you're exploring another planet.

Over the next few days, you purchase a simple RC car with a build in camera that can feed its video directly to your phone with an App. This is more useful then setting up an entire computer station, and much more helpful then running a cable down the tunnel- if you even had one that went that far. Not that you know how far it goes. You take the car for a test drive in your apartment's parking lot to make sure it works and you can record it, and soon enough on your next day off you set up in the storage closet, ready to send the car inside.

Using the remote, you guide the car straight down the tunnel. It's wide enough that the small car can easily turn around, but it's still best to try and keep it centered for navigation purposes. You aren't exactly sure how you can get lost in a straight tunnel like that, but this makes it easier.

"Alright guys..." you say to the RC car as it ventures into the darkness. "...Here we go."

You inch the car forward, just in case something like a bump in the floor or a sudden drop would mess up the car and flip it over. You don't really have a way to retrieve it if that happens, so you need to be careful. Going through the darkness slowly, the car has gone roughly 30 feet in. You can see its bright light from the outside of the tunnel still. You keep going and going- the car's light getting dimmer to you as its swallowed by the tunnel. It keeps going.

Soon enough, you reach about the RC car's maximum range. You can't see its light in the tunnel anymore. On the camera feed, you see something very strange. The bright light still shows the tunnel clearly, but up ahead along the path is something strange. It almost appears as the walls of the tunnel and the floor are just... gone. Like there is a big opening into nothing at the end of the tunnel here. You're extremely curious, but you'll risk losing your rover if you go any further. But you can't stop here...

You really want to gauge how far away this is. You think you should yell down to the tunnel to see how it sounds- maybe it will get picked up by the camera microphone, or maybe not. What should you yell down?

>Yell "HELLO?"
>Engagement "WOAH GUYS YOU SEEING THIS???"
>Stay quiet just in case

>>5951852
>Stay quiet just in case
No need to wake any potential "Neighbors".

Can I just say that streaming this is fucking stupid? When you find some magic shite like this, you don't share it online. For all you know it'll free some ancient fuckin' curse.

>>5951869
Why and how? Anything really nefarious usually needs a blood sacrifice or death to occur to get the proverbial "magic" flowing, going by old world rules, and the brief attention of a couple thousand people doesnt really compare to that same amount doing a ritual like I just described, despite what ever "American Gods" might have you believe.

What you really have to watch out for are Memetic threats, where you essentially can't stop thinking about a particular piece of information, or on the other side of the line, Anti-Memetics, essentially self-keeping secrets, where you could potentially forget about a lot of important info the longer your exposed to it.

>>5951874
Anon, I can assure you, that if you meet some ancientdemon from the age of Solomon, he will NOT need a human sacrifice.

>>5951852
>>Engagement "WOAH GUYS YOU SEEING THIS???"
REMEMBER TO LIKE, COMMENT, AND SUBSCRIBE!!!

>>5951852
>Stay quiet just in case

>>5951874
>>5951879
I'd say
>>>/x/
but this quest is the perfect place for you to be. Welcome aboard.

>>5951852
>Engagement "WOAH GUYS YOU SEEING THIS???"

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>>5951852
Might also want to go back and visit the disagreeable military veteran neighbour,
>>5950216
see if he has any TACTICAL OPERATOR MILITARY GEAR to borrow just in case we need to re-enact that tunnel scene from Sicario

Sicario (2015) Tunnel Firefight
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xnMy9cbnYwc

Maybe the military veteran neighbour has some NIGHTVISION GOGGLES or can teach some tunnel warfare CQB gunfight tricks.

Alternatively, see if we have any friends who are familiar with Urbex

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_exploration

or if not, browse and research some urbex websites and blogs that provide tips on navigating abandoned urban tunnels or sewers etc

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>>5951869
>>5951874
>>5951879
>>5951954
(hopefully this non-Euclidean passage is the opening to AN INTERDIMENSIONAL VAGINA clearly a paranormal alien Fallopian tube)

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>>5951852
>>5952101
>>5952102
Another really weird thing to try, but bear with me: there is that apocryphal Egyptian (?) tale of how before modern medicine, some ancient physician / apothecary was trying to locate a good site for a hospital or something. So the method he devised (before they possessed any understanding of germs or bacteria or microorganisms) was to visit the local butcher, procure slabs of meat and then hang these slabs of meat across the entire city on hooks. The ancient physician then observed the meat and the speed of decay over several days; after a week or so, he visited all the locations and chose the site where the meat from the butcher had not gone rotten or decomposed the least / attracted the least flies etc as the best site for the hospital.

So in a similar manner investigating this strange interdimensional reality defying tunnel, maybe try and find some food or something easily perishable like milk, yoghurt etc and leave it in a dish inside the tunnel space. If the food decomposes it means there are microorganisms bacteria etc surviving in the space, it proves that it must be biologically survivable to at least some basic forms of life etc as opposed to an inert or hostile alien environment

>it is like putting out an enticing food offering to tempt out any demonic entities within, yay

>>5951852
>Engagement "WOAH GUYS YOU SEEING THIS???"

Got to be properly obnoxious if we're doing it for the views!

>>5951852
>>Engagement "WOAH GUYS YOU SEEING THIS???"
You know a quest is great when souv and the schizoposters are here

>>5951852
>>Stay quiet just in case

Getting a feeling WE are the blood sacrifice, why else would the land lord even rent this tunnel closet out, but to FEED it?

>>5952111
>>5952141
it is imperative also to:
-hire a graphic / sound designer to create custom screen filling annoying pop-up loud Twitch new subscriber follower alert sound effects that occlude the entire screen

-affix two GoPro cameras to either side of the head in order to provide multiple alternate angle reaction face shots for ancillary follow-up analysis / commentary videos

-incessantly plead / beg / bombard / nag / harass / remind the audience as to available merchandise or amzn affiliate programme, click this link in order to receive special discount etc or other corporate sponsorships

-promote irrelevant low quality pay to win mobile games / language learning apps / sleep mattresses / dubious nutrition gamer fuel supplements etc

-always shout, never stop shouting, always be shouting screaming laughing squealing crying, otherwise the algorithm might stop hearing you and ignore and downrank you

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Also, just re-reading the intro, it appears the QM described that attempts to retrieve the blueprints or floorplan etc of the building already failed / led to a dead-end.

But how about instead
>researching the architect of the building
ie roughly when was it built, what architecture style (is it like an old neoclassical Flatiron type building, that revival style Bradbury building from Blade Runner, the Long Lines Brutalist skyscraper and NSA data collection TITANPOINTE site that inspired the CONTROL videogame or just generic modernist Bauhaus type new apartments?) Maybe it can give a clue as to the purpose

>ask about previous occupants (has no-one noticed the tunnel before?)
could either ask neighbours or try and browse / search local news for any odd happenings

>>5951852
>>Stay quiet just in case

Does it need to be a tie every time?

>>5952492
Stay quiet.

>>5952492
Why not roll some dice?
It's a cheap move, sure, but it's not like we can flip a coin here to break the tie anyway

>>5952492
That's what was decided upon in the BananasGames Discord. Cisgenders not allowed.

>>5952696
Well >>5952651 broke the tie, though when I first read the vote I totally read it as an admonishment of the QM, lol.

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You drive your little RC car forward- and decide to stay quiet. While testing how far in the tunnel it's really gone, you're sure it could hear you with a loud enough yell- but it's better to stay quiet. To be honest? The tunnel still scares you, and you've never made any noise or slept in the same room or done anything to attract "attention" from the tunnel- or maybe if something is in it. While the idea of making the video more engaging and exciting comes to mind- you'd like to be a bit more scientific. Besides, what if you accidentally shout over a noise in the tunnel? It's been quiet so far, but what if there is a noise deeper inside? Something quiet, like distant machines... or breathing.

The RC car approaches the area inside the tunnel that doesn't appear to have a floor, or walls, like the hallway just ends. You drive it forward at the absolute limit of its controller range, knowing full well there is no way to get the car back without going into the tunnel yourself, simply out of curiosity. As it pushes forward into the void, you find the absolute darkness absorbed by the camera to be off putting. The darkness is so thick that there are no walls or ceiling or anything to be illuminated by its light even at full blast- indicating that the car has entered a true void. Even moreso, you don't hear or see it falling or moving quickly- if it had fallen into a great pit, you feel that the clacking of plastic would have shown that, even without a visual benchmark to show its movement. But as it goes on, you watch the video feed closely. This is where things get interesting...

For about a minute, the RC car floats through this void. You expectantly watch the tunnel, almost as though you are expecting a reaction, before suddenly and without warning, the video cuts and shows a ceiling, floor, and walls again- like the RC car is right back in the tunnel. And looking very closely at the camera feed, you see a very small light at the end of the tunnel. Wow!

Your little rover is somehow still within range- but only barely. It takes a few tries to get it to move, but once you hold down the forward peddle it starts to go. Slowly, it inches down the hallway towards the light- perfectly centered you might add. Is it about to end up on the other side?

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...The RC car and its camera rolls out of the tunnel, being returned to you.

What just happened?

You suppose it makes sense that it was going backwards- back towards your end of the tunnel. After all, the signal strength got stronger, it should have been obvious but... how?

The RC car entered the "end" of the tunnel, a void where nothing seemed to exist, and then was put back into the tunnel exactly perfectly 100% facing towards your end. If it had even been off a few degrees, you wouldn't have seen the light or been able to drive it back. It was almost intelligently rotated 180 degrees to point back where it came from. And how did it end up back in the tunnel? The void it entered seemed to have nothing in it- and it didn't seem to fall down from a height or anything- almost like it was just floating in zero gravity. Then, suddenly, placed back towards you. Almost like the tunnel is intelligently returning the probe.

You feel your heart start to pick up at the thought of that. It didn't just fling the RC car back out or destroy it or make it lost in some offshoot of the tunnel- it rotated it exactly 180 degrees and you drove it back out. What could this possibly mean? You pick up your little RC car and get ready to go post your findings. This is your most intriguing discovery yet. But what should you label the video about- something clickbaity? What do you think you found?

>WORMHOLE found in my SECRET TUNNEL
>THE VOID (RESULTS WILL SHOCK YOU)
>Something is inside the tunnel
>Tunnel REJECTED my attempt to explore it!

>>5953370
>Something is inside the tunnel
Have I already said that i hate this streaming video element?

>>5953370
>Tunnel REJECTED my attempt to explore it!

>>5953377
No. You're a 1-post ID. You've said nothing until now.

>>5953370
>Tunnel REJECTED my attempt to explore it!

>>5953370
>Tunnel REJECTED my attempt to explore it!

So you're tellin me we're in a room with some sinister magic tunnel and we're not strapped? No gun? Not even a little 22lr Beretta Bobcat 21a because we are dainty? Oh NO.

>>5953370
>Something is inside the tunnel

>>5953370
>>THE VOID (RESULTS WILL SHOCK YOU)

>>5953370
>Tunnel REJECTED my attempt to explore it!

>>5953370
Something is inside the tunnel

>>5953400
At least we didn't use the tunnel as our own private shooting range.

Rolled 1 (1d2)

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Oh Rodney... you stupid dumbass idiot asshole- idiot asshole!

You forgot to save the last rover video! Because of your relative inexperience, you got it working and streaming to your phone, but somehow lost and didn't capture the video feed. You made a big mistake, and lost your coolest and most conclusive proof of the tunnel's strangeness yet due to your own error. You certainly won't make that mistake again, but in the meantime, it's a big blow to your confidence and a setback to your growing channel.

Of course, considering the tunnel is literally just next door, you decide to chart another expedition. This time a little faster, after all you know what you're looking for. Unfortunately, as you drive the rover towards the end of the hallway again, no void awaits you, just a blank wall this time. Shutting down your efforts once more.

Dammit.

You can, of course, simply tell your experiences and keep them in mind for the future, but without proof of the strange void and how the tunnel returned your rover to you- your youtube video will be little more then hearsay. It's disheartening, but you can't give up yet.

You wonder- how much should you lie? Your video is all about how the tunnel seems to reject your attempts to explore it- but losing the footage really sucks and makes you seem incompetent. Maybe you could say that the video files were corrupted by the tunnel- a convenient out, and further expanding its reach in your growing narrative. At the very least it would make the tunnel seem more scary and cool then just some weird architecture. But then again, lying will really hurt your credibility if you really want to prove something later. How should you proceed in talking about the tunnel online from now on?

>Lie and exaggerate about the tunnel
>Be totally honest about your experiences

>>5954190
>Be totally honest about your experiences
Hey we got some darn good video evidence of the tunnel strangeness- and *oops the MC forgot to save*. Ok.

>>5954190
>Be totally honest about your experiences
In fact, don't even mention the void yet, just point out the physical impossibility and mention you think there's more to it and plan to do more experiments to figure out how it fits in your building, and think there's more to it. Right now, most people think this is an ARG, so that will hint at a slow boil and more to come, without making us appear to be a fraud or boring. Later, when we expose the REAL supernatural anomaly or whatever, we'll already have a captive audience.

>>5954190
>>5954211
I like this approach.
>Be totally honest about your experiences

>>5954190
>>Lie and exaggerate about the tunnel
WHOA you guys, you're not going to believe what happens when you call the VOID at 3:00am!

>>5954211
+1

>>5954190
>>Be totally honest about your experiences

I'm a little tired. Sorry about the delays, we'll get back to it soon. This update seemed to get less responses then the previous- is it because of the setback, or perhaps it's simply less interesting then the exploration of the mysterious tunnel?

>>5955036
I mean, I voted in both, but probably a combination. It kind of sucks balls to get penalized for doing literally nothing (on the player end), and this vote seems less important the stuff with the tunnel.

>>5954190
>>Be totally honest about your experiences

>>5955036
Sometimes anons are too lazy to vote is the choice is unanimous

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You decide to be totally honest about your experiences- which means the unfortunate loss of footage means you don't have much to show about it.

You make your next video, a more simple vlog-style post about the architecture of your building, and the resultant impossible tunnel within. It gets significantly less views, and most people seem to find it boring. You want to make another about the deepest parts of the tunnel; but the massive wall that now exists at the deepest end would just lead to a really unsatisfying ending. It's clear that's not what is really going on here.

...You're going to have to go inside the tunnel.

If a tunnel is changing based on your attempts to explore it, at least as far as you understand so far, then trying to go in with an RC car or a drone or another method of exploration isn't going to do anything. If your intent matters, then the next logical step in seeing what lays within involves human exploration- for the first time.

You know it might be dangerous. What would that void be like if you entered it? It seemed to spit out the RC car just fine- but there's no guarantee that environment is safe for a human. It couldn't be boiling hot or freezing cold- your RC car made it out fine, but you never know what the mysterious tunnel could bring.

But if you're going inside the tunnel, what should you bring?
>Weapon
>Power tools
>Camping gear
>Environment suit

>>5956206
>Power tools
>Environment suit

File: SCAV RAID.png (2.15 MB, 1342x1080)

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>>5956206
>You make your next video
>It gets significantly less views
NOOOOOOOOOOOO

this is unbearable, I have the remedy:

NEW SIGHTING OF KATE MIDDLETON DEEP INSIDE MYSTERIOUS TUNNEL

>>5956206
>Power tools
>Environment suit

File: 80s hairstyle.jpg (1006 KB, 1200x1591)

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>Rodney KING?
I am trying to imagine what the protagonist looks like. Since the QM explicitly emphasised that we are not Rodney King the black guy (no relation etc >>5946861 ), the only other American persona I can summon who possesses a similar hairstyle to the QM hyperrealistic figurative line drawing depictions, as well as maintaining strict adherence to the BLUE / PINK pastel colour palette >>5948660
is this pic related man wearing the cool iconic Carrera 5512 shades.

(This song is so good, yay)

MIAMI VICE OST 1989 Jan Hammer, "PAYBACK"
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gMX8lOjAR5o

>>5956206
>Power tools
>Environment suit
>Strong flashlight, plus matches and candles
>Buy a really long cable and attach one end to our waist and the other end to something in the apartment

>>5956206
>>Power tools
>>Environment suit

>>5956294
>>5956327
Oh, hi Souvarine.

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>>5956206
>>5956231
>>5956294
>>5956304
>>5956331
>>5956478
>>5956525
>weapon (???)
>environmental suit ??
EQUIP FULL LOADOUT STALKER METRO 2033 ESCAPE FROM TARKOV GAS MASK FETISH GEAR (finally, at last, finally...)

Clearly the only acceptable weapon for exploring the anomaly / dark zone is this ak equipped with a BIG BLACK night scope, the NSPUM it is so long and tubular with a good heft and girth and also ribbed eye lens pieces for extended magnification viewing pleasure.

Look I made a custom tactical one with extra lasers and tilt grip, it is very practical, very grippable

>>5956206
>ominous comment tells you not to go into the mystery tunnel
>"I know, I'll go into the mystery tunnel"
This guy is stupid.

Anyway, I'd get an environmental suit...and a cross.

>>5956206
>Power tools
>Camping gear

>>5956206
>Drugs

Don't HoLe sober.

File: Dante's Inferno Stylish-M(...).gif (5.62 MB, 654x368)

5.62 MB GIF

>>5956690
>CARRY CRUCIFIX into demonic HELL REALM (hope it is the Lust one)
oohh I remember wall-climbing a mountain cliff of breasts in this game, tee hee hee

>>5956206
>Power tools
>Environment suit
>Cross

Update later today, in like ~12 hours.

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You've decided to gear up with an environmental protection suit, something you can get from your work used in work like insulation or fungus infestations, which people at your work all collectively call the "Breaking Bad suit". It's not quite a spacesuit fitting for science, but it's a lot better then just going in with plain clothes, especially with a particle mask to filter out anything nasty just in case. You also bring along a selection of power tools with you, all borrowed from your work once again, which may be helpful if the inside of the tunnel is in any way similar to the inside of the rest of the building it spawned from.

You're now ready. You don the suit and bring along plenty of cameras, an extra bottle of water, and prepare for your first expedition.

"Well, youtube, it's time to see what lies within this place inside my place. The secret tunnel..."

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You walk down the dark tunnel. For the first few steps, the atmosphere feels the same as the inside of your storage room; a dry and carpeted quiet place. But as you get deeper the feeling changes, to making you feel more isolated and alone. The sounds of the outside world are muffled away, no cars or neighbors, or even the sound of the utilities and pipes in the walls. As you are engulfed in the darkness, you feel your way along the walls, seeking the end point of the tunnel.

You do finally reach it. Putting your hand on it, you can feel the soft-stick of the drywall. It's the same as any wall in your storage room would be, or the same as any apartment. It's when you turn your head to see the familiar light of the storage room in the far distance that gives you pause. It's not there. You shine your light and see another wall, directly behind you.

Wait.

You turn; there is no tunnel now. You are in a small room, little more then a closet. Four walls surround you. In a bit of confusion, you take your hand off the far wall, looking to each for identifying marks. You're boxed in now. The sense of claustrophobia starts to set in. Somehow, a fourth wall sprung up behind you, or the world has changed in some way you couldn't hear or feel or even notice until you were already trapped. You've lost track of which wall you came from, if it even would be the same way the tunnel spit you out into this prison.

Don't panic. What should you do?

>Speak to the tunnel
>Use the power tools and cut your way out
>Be quiet and wait

>>5958259
>>Be quiet and wait
Maybe if we pretend we don't exist it will let us go.

>>5958268
+1

>>5958259
>Be quiet and wait
Hope and pray. Really regretting not bringing that crucifix now.

File: Is It Possible To Complet(...).gif (1.76 MB, 654x368)

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>>5958255
>>5958259
speak to the tunnel:
>Kate Middleton, is that you? Are you hiding in here, somewhere? I hope this alien confinement tunnel anomaly is not irradiated, it would be terrible if it gave you cancer
>>5956294

Then the old dungeoneering trick, try pouring a small amount of WATER from our additional SPARE WATER BOTTLE
>>5958255
along the floor, see if there are any seams / cracks, or incline / gradient within the chamber / passage (ie if the water dribbles towards a certain direction) see gif related of the Klein bottle
>>5952102

then follow direction of fluid flow, deeper into nightmare topology alien dimension

File: odd or even intersection (...).jpg (1.03 MB, 1920x2279)

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>>5952102
>>5958441
Probably should have brought some chalk to trace out a vector field of this topological spatial horror, maybe a differential geometry textbook on self-intersecting manifolds. It is ok we can always improvise some markings with HUmAN BLOoD MUAhahahHAHahargh

Actually that youtube video contained some useful information about geometry, how do you tell if you are situated within the INSIDE PLACE or OUTSIDE? Take two points, and draw a line between them; then count the intersections (number of times the cutting line crosses a surface) - if it is ODD, you are INSIDE; if EVEN, you are OUTSIDE. This seems trivial for simple geometries (imagine two dots, one inside a circle, one outside, a straight line joining them would cross just once ie ODD so inside etc, but it can be useful for more visually complex geometries). This odd/even rule might become useful if cutting through more complex geometries such as the Klein bottle, which I believe technically possesses no volume and no inner / outer surface (3d version of Moebius strip)

(from this video on geometry)
Is It Possible To Completely Fill a Klein Bottle?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9Bqg-6nzkzw

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>>5958255
>>5958259
also I really appreciated and enjoyed this cool respirator / gas mask illustration BananasQM. Sadly the BLUE / PINK Miami Vice
>>5956327
>>5948660
aesthetic colour scheme has been abandoned, hopefully we should scavenge around and see if we can discover any human remains, a stray jawbone or some such decoration in order to transform ourselves into Immortan Joe, yay

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>>5952102
>>5958441
>>5958446
From the QM illustration here
>>5958259
it appears the topological spatial horror chamber has corners, nooks and shadows etc

So I remember this old formula the Euler-Poincare Characteristic

F + V - E = 2, ie
Faces + Vertices - Edges = 2

this is a topological invariant for Euclidean space. Eg for a cube
6 faces + 8 vertices - 12 edges = 2
for a tetrahedron
4 faces + 4 vertices - 6 edges = 2
for a dodecahedron
12 faces + 20 vertices - 30 edges = 2
etc.

Nonconvex space can possess negative Euler characteristics. Klein bottle, Moebius strip apparently exhibit Euler Characteristic = 0

So maybe to discern the geometric property of this dark nightmare horror dimension chamber,

>count the walls (faces), corners (vertices) seams / lines (edges) of the chamber
>compute Euler Characteristic with formula F + V - E
>if 2 the space is Euclidean
>if 0 might be the self intersecting Klein Bottle structure with no inside or outside

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euler_characteristic

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>>5956294
>>5958441
(also Kate Middleton looks like this now after emerging from hiding in the dark tunnel)

>>5958259
>>Speak to the tunnel

>>5958519
O-ok Souverine.

>>5958524
Souv, maybe chill a bit on the vampire banker elixir, you're starting to scare the other players.

>>5958259
>Be quiet and wait
Stand still stay silent.

>>5958259
>>Be quiet and wait

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Deep inside the enclosed space, the way back totally closed off to you, you stay quiet. Feeling trapped, you think it best not to draw any attention. You listen closely, for any sign of something- anything- nearby. Is something listening to you, or watching from some dark, impossible corner? Is there something just behind the drywall? Are you just one wall away from the tunnel, and back to the storage closet, or are you really in outer space or some other dimension, entirely unreachable?

The feeling of being indoors and yet not able to hear any appliances through the walls, no noise of neighbors, even settling pipes or floorboards is starting to get to you. You crumple to the floor after enough pressure, the urge to call out getting to you- but being surprised. The thoughts of what has happened to you now have moved past rising panic, and into hopeless despair.

What if you're in some kind of existential nightmare now? The unreal space that simply requires something to observe it for it to exist? The double slit experiment. Now trapped like its one and only captive audience, simply a vampire on your ability to acknowledge that its even real?

After enough time, you think you fall asleep.

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With a start, you realize that there is now an extension down one end of the tunnel, and a light at the end. In a panic at the sudden call of freedom, you run towards it, and find yourself right back in your storage room again. Back to the real world. You kiss the carpet before worriedly turning back to the tunnel's darkness, seeing if your tormentor is standing in its darkness- but no. Instead, you see something new. At the end of the tunnel now is a light; a new chamber has opened, or been created, beckoning you to enter it again.

The act of entering the tunnel and being trapped within scared you greatly. You had a very strong sense that the tunnel could have trapped you there forever if it wanted to. Whatever force or unreal thing that the tunnel is, it has the power to change itself directly with or without your perception; able to box you in. Now, it hints at a new room. You are too scared to go in again now- but as you uneasily return to your apartment, you check your phone and see that only four hours have passed since you first entered the tunnel.

Are you missing time? Or in your panic did you simply forget to keep track?

The entire time you were trapped in the tunnel, you were recording. This may be the biggest scoop you have yet- and the most unreal experience the tunnel has revealed yet. But at the same time, you don't quite know what this means. Is the tunnel messing with you? Or are you revealing more the truth of what is going on?

>Post the video online
>Stop uploading this stuff to the internet

>>5960102
Does the tunnel want us to stop uploading? Or does it want us to keep going?

>>5960109
This is not a question by the way, I'm just wondering.

>>5960102
>Post the video online
The tunnel can't censor THE TRUTH!

>>5960109
This is definitely different than House of Leaves because it revealed the shape changing immediately. Seems like Inside Space wants to communicate somehow, hence rejecting the drone. Friendly? Doubtful. But this is a horror game, so we have to take the bait for a while.

>>5960102
>Post the video online

>>5960102
>Stop uploading this stuff to the internet

Not quite enough time to update today, I'll try to get one out in about ~12 hours from now.

In the meantime, you can treat this as the mid-thread check in. Anything you'd like to see improved? I wonder if the mystery aspect was too slow going at first, besides the very slow update schedule. I also think this thread has below my standard of writing, not sure why, may be because of the rushed updates.

>>5960848
It's fine, i guess.

In all honesty, i just think the concept isn't all that "catchy". It's interesting to find out about the hole, sure, but it's not something 'bombastic' like 'you are the leader of an entire sci-fi civilization' or 'you are a party of adventurers seeking a magic crown' or 'you are kickass, but in globohomo city'

>>5960848
It's fine, but I've read House of Leaves before, and I have yet to see how this premise substantially distinguishes itself.

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You decide to post the video of your experience online... no going back now.

You had that thought that, just in case the government was watching you, or something did happen to you from the hole, leaving a nice paper trail on your activities online would be a good safety mechanism to help prevent you from just being another missing person's case. But just in case that spreading this information around was going to cause you to get too much of this bad attention, or with the possibility of the hole being a memetic threat, you have also stepped off of filming or spreading around the tunnel too much up until this point. But now? With the most overtly supernatural thing you've ever personally seen or experienced that has happened to you, you decide to upload it for all to see. You put it out on your small channel and click send, before double checking to make sure that both your door and the storage room door are shut and locked before drifting off to an uneasy sleep.

When you wake up, the video sits at a hundred thousands views. You can see it bursting out of the new and trending tab. Hundreds of comments pour in. Wow! This is your first real success. You wouldn't exactly call it viral- but the shakey cam footage of you suddenly going from the end of a dark tunnel into being trapped in a small room, your panicked movements and searching for an escape, all of it is very convincing. At least- for those who still think this is a game. On top of this, the comments seem to be giving praise for the special effects and acting, most people saying they can't even see the jump cut where the second wall slid in behind you, and many other praising your "acting" at being scared but not crying or freaking out unrealistically. Not realizing of course the only reason you were doing that was because you were even more scared at making noise...

You won't lie- the appeal of seeing your video and experience get so much attention is a huge boost to your ego and very enjoyable. But one of the top comments of the video irks you for a very big reason.

"Big bag of power tools, and just leaves them on the floor. Oof. That's a horror movie protagonist for you!"

Whoever it is got a lot of upvotes on that comment, but they're also right. Fuck. You forgot the damn power tools- they're still in the tunnel. You didn't bring them back with you when you ran out of the hole when you woke up and saw the light. That bag had at least a thousand dollars of equipment in it, now stuck down in that mysterious tunnel in God knows where. It would be reason enough to curse, but those weren't even your tools. Those were tools you borrowed from your work- the hardware store! Shit! As an employee you can rent the tools for free- as long as you bring them back you get a refund on the deposit, but that's only if you bring them back, and you only get a week before you'll have to pay a fee for a late return- or fully pay for the tools if you never return them, not to mention getting fired...

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You were doing your tunnel exploration on the weekend, naturally. On the following Monday, your shift starts again and you return to the store. You have been trying to come up with excuses to your store manage, but about an hour into your shift a strange woman stops you.

"Oh, hello there. You must be Rod?"
"Yes! Is there anything I can help you with? Maybe finding a tool or part, or ordering one if we don't have it?"
"Oh no- I was looking for you. You're the tunnel guy, right? Sorry to bother you at work like this, but your coworker told me that was you."

Wow, you didn't expect anyone to recognize you in real life from that silly video. It's grown a bit since you posted it, but you still haven't reached a million views.

"Oh, uhh, yeah. Heh. I hope you, uhh, liked it?"
"Like it? Oh no, I LOVE IT! It's just my kind of thing. I love podcasts like your videos, about unsolved mysteries, serial killers, creepypasta, modern magic, they're all so cool! It's like, totally my thing."

You relax a bit, thinking this probably isn't a government agent or a building contractor ready to sue your ass into oblivion for building a permit (and reality) defying tunnel in your storage room. She seems peppy enough, despite her wearing all black and seeming like she put on a lot of makeup and effort into your appearance today. You feel a flush thinking she was doing this just for you, but you don't think the chunky girl is that interested in you, buddy, she's just a fan. Don't make this weird.

"...So like, you're going to let me see it, right?"
"Oh! Oh."
"Oh jeez... Sorry, I hope that wasn't too forward. I just like... really wanted to see it myself."
"-Wait, you think it's real?"
"What do you mean? It is real. Isn't it?"

>Yes
>No

>>5961180
Wait, is the question 'Is it real' or 'Can i see it'?

If the question is 'Is it Real'
>Yes
If it's 'Can i See it'
>No(t yet)

This girl looks cute and all but we don't know what might happen if we invite someone else. Also it's our house.

>>5961180
Dinner and a movie before I show hole

>>5961180
>>Yes

>>5961191
+1

>>5961180
>Yes

>>5961239
Make this quip.

>>5961180
But
>Yes

>>5961180
>Yes

>>5961239
+1

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"Dinner and a movie before I show hole."

The girl blinks, and then chortles, before busting out into a laugh from sheer surprise. You smile back, she seemed to like it. You had to be a little careful being at work and all, but you're glad she has a sense of humor. She's one of those "quirky" girls. But you instantly feel that shes hanging onto it a little too long, trying to make you feel good or like a funny guy, trying to show that she likes you; after all, you still have something she wants. It's not something that offends you deeply or shows that she's fake, but it is something to look out for. She's manipulating you in the same way everyone does when they have something they want.

"Oh- Heh! I did not expect that. Well, me and my friends like to go around town and investigate local mysteries and stuff, I figure you're probably into that sort of thing too. Care to join us, say, this Friday?"
"Oh, sure."
"Let me give you my phone number..."

The mysterious girl, who you later learn is named Sam, has ended up getting you involved in her local team of paranormal investigators- or so it seems. The group is decent mix of men and women, most a little younger then you, collage kids. They invite you to meet up in a well known campsite not too far out of town. They mentioned something about a local legend, but once you get there, you get a much different vibe.

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Whatever "local legend' they were talking about seems a little bogus. Mostly in that this was an excuse to hang out and drink in the woods. You still took a beer from the cooler but, they rest of the group is ignoring you. I mean, you maybe shouldn't expect to be more then a wallflower for your first visit but you're feeling a bit excluded.

You wonder, are they stringing you along for this as a checklist before they get access to your you know what?

Before you know it, you're the center of attention. Sam and her friends suddenly acknowledge your existence when the topic of the tunnel comes up, crowding around you and asking a barrage of questions. It seems none of them take the tunnel as piece of video fakery, or even an ARG, they all seem to think it's real. Or at least, real enough to really want to know more.

"-What's in the tunnel dude? What's up with it? Is it like a hole to another dimension?"
"It's gotta be a mouth of some eldritch being or something."
"Then how would Rodney get spit back out? Come on now... It's something else."
"I bet there's some shit in there like STALKER bro. Anomalies and unexplained stuff. Have you taken anything back from the tunnel yet? OH- did you take a gieger counter? I bet extra dimensional spaces give off a crap load of radiation!"

It's funny, you're finally getting a ton of attention for your videos but you don't really know what to do with it. Moreso, you're feeling a bit awkward that you're only being given the time of day by this group of exciting young friends because of your special "hole". But at the same time, maybe you're just being overly sensitive. After all, they don't know you yet or for anything else. Secondly, even if you feel a bit awkward, you realize it's still going to be 100% safer and easier to explore the hole further with interested people to help you along... especially if you still need to get your power tools back.

They're nothing like your neighbor, not interested in money or stringing you along and then dropping you- after all, it's your storage closet.

>Oblige them and spitball theories
>Take charge and try to lead the group for further tunnel exploration
>Excuse yourself from the party and don't contact them again

>>5962772
Hmmm...one one hand, they're normies - but on the other, quirky shortstack

>>5962772
>Oblige them and spitball theories
This will be good for our boy. He seems pretty isolated.

Well, assuming nobody screws it all up.

>>5962772
>Oblige them and spitball theories
what's new scooby doo

>>5962772
>Oblige them and spitball theories

>>5962772
>Oblige them and spitball theories

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You decide to oblige them- and talk about your theories. You always thought the tunnel was something a bit like a wormhole or opening into an alternate reality; its ability to change based on observation being a side effect or even caused by manipulations to your own perception based on perceiving an "impossible" phenomena. You don't think it has a mind or is a distinct being, though the others seem to question it.

One thing leads to another and, after a bit of encouragement and your own lack of socialization, you end up hesitantly agreeing to explore it with them. All in the span of a few hours. You can't say you weren't at least a little manipulated, but at the same time, you're giddy too. Not going in alone this time means you might actually have a chance to clear your head and see something very special. But even so, you're nervous after your last encounter. It's strange how the others seem so giddy to go inside despite knowing how to trapped you there. Guess because you got free somehow through now power on your own, that means they assume the same. But there's no guarantee of that...

Standing outside the tunnel the next day, you now have a few comrades in tow. The lack of preparation is reflected by the lack of protective equipment- though you realize that you probably didn't need the full body suit and respirator from last time, as your eyes and skin was uncovered anyway. If it truly was like the vacuum of space in there, you would have died already. So it's probably similar to the inside of your apartment building- stuffy, climate controlled, breathable but with a bit of dust...

"I am SO excited!" Sam says, clutching a flashlight. "This is going to be even better then exploring that abandoned asylum. No ghosts, but a few homeless people..."
"Hold on a second. We should come up with a bit of a plan."
"Rod, chill man. We've gone into all kinds of scary abandoned places before. I'm still all boosted up by my tetanus shots. What's the problem?"

Sam shoots him a look, less for him to show you more respect and more to say 'don't blow our only chance to get into this tunnel'.

"Look, this tunnel... changed a few times. It's not static. We need a plan in case we get separated or lost so we can find our way back."
"Trail of breadcrumbs? Sorry- I'll be serious. What should we do?"

>Tie a long rope to each other
>Leave tags/marks on the walls to guide your way back
>Use a daisy-chain method of exploration
>Other? (Write-In)

>>5964429
>>Tie a long rope to each other
>>Leave tags/marks on the walls to guide your way back

>>5964429
>Tie a long rope to each other
>Leave tags/marks on the walls to guide your way back

>>5964432
>>5964465
This aint gonna work blud, the very walls changed.

I think we should try to have them stay while we go ahead alone first, see what happened from the outsidem

>>5964429
>Use a daisy-chain method of exploration

So far the tunnel hasn't changed while we were looking it at it. If everyone keeps an eye on one another we might be able to stop it from trapping us.

>>5964841
I'm also fine with this

>>5964429
>Tie a long rope to each other
Rope is a key part of any adventurer's toolkit.

>>5964429
>Use a daisy-chain method of exploration

>>5964429
>Use a daisy-chain method of exploration
>Have one person stay outside

>>5964429
>>Tie a long rope to each other

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You decide to explore the tunnel now with the help of the others using methods that minimize the chance of you getting lost. The idea of using tags and waypoints comes to you, but with how the walls shift... it may not be the most useful.

You tie a rope to each person. Along with you is Sam and her friend Neil, a quiet bloke with a penchant for the outdoors. These two were the only ones willing to actually go into the tunnel with you. Even so, you volunteer to go first. You aren't afraid of being trapped by the tunnel again- if anything having other people with you dulls the blow. Might as well take head and make the other two less scared.

Going deeper into the tunnel, you devise a plan to keep all of you within eyeshot and earshot at all times, mapping at your steps and procedures as needed. Mostly, you just hope the rope holds you all together. As long as you don't have to make a hasty retreat...

Deeper within the tunnel, past the darkness, there is light now. As you enter it, you realize there is now an unusual space here. It's like a set of rooms or hallways, connected together. The walls are the same as your unit, the same beige wall tint, the same cheap, thin carpet, even the same "boob shaped" light fixture overhead, just like in the older and communal parts of your building. This entire place cannot possibly exist, and didn't exist just last time you went down the tunnel, yet feels exactly like it was built here. Up ahead, the tunnel finally opens up into this unknown open space, with a blind corner getting closer.

Feeling no apprehension, you approach, but suddenly feel a tug on the rope. Sam, behind you, is stopped. She looks nervous. Almost exactly at that second, you feel it too- a sense of something bad about to happen. Almost like an infection traveling up the rope like an electrical shock. Neil is also stopped, hands near his waist, looking nervous as well.

Just a second ago, this quiet corner meant nothing to you, but now out of nowhere- you get a very strong sense of something really bad about to happen. Something is right around this corner now, a malevolent presence that creeps you right out. It's about to strike, almost daring you to peek around. The three of you together are almost feeding off each others nerves, suddenly feeling almost teeth-chattering at the prospect of looking around.

"...Rod... don't...!"

>Look around the corner
>Retreat slowly

>>5966506
>Retreat slowly

>>5966506
>Retreat slowly
Could it be a test from the "tunnel"? Or just some weird beast? Well, nevertheless, it's no use trying to forth. These two are paralyzed. They'll screw us over if we have to run.

>>5966506
>Look around the corner
Probably just infrasound, or group hysteria. Anyway, if we stop without even PEEKING, this is as far as we'll ever go!

>>5966506
Check to see if we have a route of escape.
If the way back is clear,
>Look
If we are already lost, huddle up

>>5966506
>>Look around the corner

Gotta see it.

>>5966506
>Look around the corner

>>5966506
>>Look around the corner

>>5966506
>>Look around the corner

>Look around the corner

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You descend into the Inside Place closer to the corner, the blind corner, that the other two are terrified of. They grab the rope tightly, almost as if ready to pull you back.

Just a peek...

You approach the corner and feel a ringing in your ears, almost as if warning you away. You can't leave now though. You came all this way, you even have people with you. This is the farthest you've ever gone into the tunnel, and you have friends with you. You aren't going to leave this early. You are scared, but you just have to see. Just a peek...

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SKRREEEEE!

"AHHHH!"

As if your worst nightmare come true, something pops out from around the corner at the last possible second before you could see it- almost as if trying to scare you. It's a horrible creature. With sunken eyes and a distended mouth, it's a mess of bandages. It's a twisted humanoid form, with black decaying hair draped down its face.

"ROD! RUN!!!"

You're frozen for a second, the medical nightmare begins to lurch around the corner, its twisted body lopping unnaturally. It's literally something out of a horror movie, a mutated creature lurking in the darkness of the tunnel. It carries a big metal pipe, ready to kill you.

Finally, you feel the hard pull of the rope and follow it to the ground. Then, the shots ring out.

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On the floor, you cover your ears as the resounding BANG BANG of a gun fills the air. It's so extremely loud. You know it has to be Neil, the man, who came along with you. You had no idea he brought a gun! He must have been ready to use it. In this enclosed space, the gun is sure to cause damage to your hearing. You look up at the last second to see the monster swaying from the bullet holes now in its twisted body, bleeding, and in a few seconds before it can advance further, it crumples.

"Holy- FUCK!"
"Rod- Rod are you okay?! Did it touch you?"
"...Yeah, I'm fine. No, I think I'm safe."
"Let's get out of here. Please. I want to leave..."

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You sit up in the aftermath of the encounter, getting up to inspect the creature just a little closer. You're careful not to touch it.

It's a humanoid mutant creature, for sure. It fills you with a strange sense of familiarity. Questions being to race in your mind. Why was it in the tunnel? Why did it attack, or how did it survive here? It makes less and less sense the more you think of it. Why is it covered in bandages?

You should be thankful you're alive, of course, and you are. But still, you find it a bit odd. The tunnel had never done something like this before- a living creature? A violent attack? It seemed weird. Why is it so humanoid? It's twisted up, but it's certainly a human mutant creature thing. Why would this be in the tunnel? You know the tunnel exists in another dimension almost, nobody lives in it. You'd always thought anything native living in the tunnel would be like... alien. Not like this.

"...I KNEW something was there... I KNEW it!"
"...Is this a person?"
"Fuck no. That thing is a monster. Let's leave it."
"We should collect a sample."
"Are you fucking crazy? Let's GO."

>Take a sample of bandages & pictures
>Leave the creature be
>Make sure its dead first

>>5968365
>Leave the creature be
We backrooms now. Let's gittoutta here.

>>5968365
>Leave the creature be
GTFO, need to regroup.

>>5968365
>Leave the creature be.

>>5968365
>>Take a sample of bandages & pictures

>>5968365
Leave the creature be.

I bet it came in peace and we jumped the gun.

>>5968365
>Take a sample of bandages & pictures
Take the pipe, not bandages. less risk of contamination, and gnarly demon weapon to boot.

I had an update planned for today but I figured it'd be important enough for the "big Friday night' update. I'll post in about 12 hours from now. Sorry for the delay.

>>5968365
>Check the creatures' hat

Let's make sure that's not Neil's hat the creature's wearing. We don't want him getting lost in these corridors, getting warped and being spit out as the creature just to get shot by his earlier self.

>>5970266
Oh shit, good thinking! +1 to this.

>>5968365
I'm >>5968385

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After being attacked by the mysterious and scary monster from the tunnel itself, you feel it's time to leave. You agree with Neil, though you don't want to leave totally empty handed.

You decide to take the monster's pipe- a rusted weapon that hopefully won't carry any pathogens it could be infected with. But you're careful, making sure to wrap up the shaft so you don't touch it directly. It's time to leave back to the storage room...

As you go, you notice something off about Sam. The small woman is staring off into space, totally silent. She's not joking or seeming excited like she was before investigating the strange tunnel. Even when she was its impossible geometry, she still was peppy. Now, she's staring off into space. She looks a bit shellshocked. You heard that when people experience traumatic events, the trauma is much worse if they don't have a chance to process it and work it out. She seemed so excited before, and now it looks like her worldview is crumbling. If she spent her whole life looking for the weird, supernatural, the dangerous- and then she finally found it and it wasn't what she was looking for... you could see how that would upset her.

"...I knew it was there..."

Plus, she almost seems to be blaming herself for the attack. You think that's a bit strange, it's not like it's her fault it came around the corner to attack you...

What should you do?
>Try to reassure her and ask her to come back
>Ask her what's wrong
>Use this chance to scare her away permanently

>>5970620
>Ask her what's wrong
I want to keep her around. This woman is literally at standing paizuri height, and by fucking damn we're going to get it.

>>5970620
>Ask her what's wrong

>>5970620
>Ask her what's wrong

>>5970620
>Try to reassure her and ask her to come back
Debrief AFTER we reach safety.

>>5970968
We can walk and talk at the same time, right?

>>5970996
Best not to get distracted or potentially vent despair while in THE INSIDE PLACE

>>5970620
>>Ask her what's wrong

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Sam seems a bit upset- a bit more then normal. She's quiet, and her normally peppy self seems pretty hurt. You know you had a close encounter there, but she seems a little more shaken up then you'd think somebody would in her situation. Once you carefully make it back from the tunnel and return to your apartment, the tunnel locked away for now, you ask her what's up.

"Oh, sorry Rod. It's just... It's dumb. Don't worry about it."
"Please tell me. This is really important. Get it off your chest, no matter what it is. I won't make fun of you. I'm at least partially responsible for inviting you in before knowing something like that could happen in that secret tunnel. Please tell me."

Sam looks at you with a soft look, her barriers coming down for a moment as she confesses.

"Look... promise you won't make fun, right?"
"I won't."

She sighs.

"Okay... It's just, when we were walking into the tunnel, I was so excited about going into a place like that. We've gone to haunted places before, spooky standing structures in the woods, things like that- but nothing that just can't be there like your tunnel. I was so excited. But as we went up to that corner, I just had a vision in my mind's eye. It was my imagination. I was thinking of creepypasta online, /x/ posts, things like that- and my mind just filled in the scariest thing I could imagine. A twisted up human figure just hiding around that corner, getting excited waiting for you to reveal it so it could pop out and scare you. And then... Well once I thought of that, I actually felt like it was there. Like I had somehow brought it to where it was, or I was seeing around the corner in my imagination. I was so scared. I tugged the rope for you to stop, and then it got even worse; and somehow I KNEW it was there. I made that creature up, Rod. Some of the details I didn't but a weird eyeless ghoul with a skeleton face and bandages and a big lead pipe... that was what I imagined. And then it was REAL and it almost killed you."

You find what she's saying hard to believe. It's not just that she made it up, but that what she imagined became real. Was she given a vision, or was it more like her nightmare became real?

"...I'm sorry Rod, but I don't want to go back there. Me and my friends have been looking for something like this, something far out and real. But that was a little too real for me."
"...I understand."

You're a little disappointed, but you suppose since you didn't try very hard to get her to come back, you might be on your own. Now the question is... what next?

>>5971560
Check the pipe, clean it, take photos
Manifest treasure room

>>5971567
This. +1. Do a post.
Manifest a friendly guide, first, though?

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On top of your close encounter, you also have the footage.

While not the best quality, the body cams and extra recording equipment you brought along was in use during the encounter with the strange monster. You did capture that moment. Looking back over the footage, you see it as being very convincing looking- either really good CGI or a very good mask and suit somebody could wear. It's quite strange seeing something that was this real for you, and yet something that could be sent online as entertainment. You also already know that this event, the monster, would easily be a huge hit on your youtube channel. This is the biggest thing that has happened in your tunnel exploration- it's really exciting to press that button and upload it.

...But there's more to this here now. Things have gotten more complicated.

Looking back behind you in your room, your trophy from the event, the lead pipe that the monster held, is propped against the wall. It's very real, even now. But what Sam was saying, the whole thing, it was like surreal. If Sam's imagination created the monster, and the tunnel somehow made it real, then how is a part of it physically here with you in the real world? Isn't that concerning? When you were there, you seemed to feel her fear too, somehow piggybacking off each other or amplifying each other up. It was a bit like peer pressure or the mob mentality, but making something unnatural and scary into something you can physically touch...

It seems to be able to make things related to thoughts, or maybe fears, could spreading more awareness of it having a disastrous effect? It doesn't seem like any of your youtube videos have changed the tunnel at all yet, it remains uncharted and mysterious, it's just now the first time its shown any danger to its nature. Well, besides trapping you within it- but now you realize the only reason that may have happened was because you imagined it that way. You were afraid of being trapped in the darkness, and imagined yourself in the dark tunnels searching for a way out that very first time you entered. Could that have made it so?

What's going on with this tunnel?
>Your Theory (Write-In)

Should you upload the video?
>Upload the video, it's harmless
>Don't upload the video, close the channel

>>5971560
I mean, can we at least keep contact with her? Would be nice to have someone we can confide a secret to if we discover something, even if she never goes back in the hole.

>>5971580
Also, it IS worth noting she's at standing paizuri height. Kek

>>5971577
>Theory: it's some form of psychic anomaly influenced by perception of those within the tunnel
>Upload the video, it's harmless
It isn't like it dramatically transformed the first time we posted it. It was only when people WENT INSIDE that it changed. Just don't let anyone else in yet.

>>5971567
>>5971575
>>5971580
These posts are all valid, btw, just wasn't finished with the full prompt yet.

>>5971577
>Your Theory (Write-In)
Psycho-mimetic doom tunnel. We should start a cult to dominate it's pliant reality, and sacrifice the cult's enemies to keep it appeased.
>Upload the video, it's harmless
Hopefully it harms someone, psychically. We want to cultivate fear and respect. Maybe try and summon a giant fire breathing spider. That can fly.

>>5971588
I +1 keeping contact with Sam, then, and trying to manifest something positive.

>>5971577
>The contents of the tunnel are formed from the perceptions of those who know about it, this those inside having the most "pull" on the collective egregore.

>Do not upload the video. It will "sour" people's perception of the tunnel's contents.

>>5971577
Other people already gave better theories
+1 to maintaining contact and
>Don't upload the video

>>5971983
+1
maybe it's a good thing we didn't read house of leaves

Working on the next update, expect it in about ~12 hours. Thanks for sticking with it.

>>5972901
It's a pretty interesting premise.

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Well, Samantha may not be very interested in continuing her exploration into "the weird", but at least you've got her number still. You hope she's doing okay. Her normally outgoing personality has been replaced with something much more reserved after the encounter. You don't know why it hasn't affected you the same way. You almost seem to be getting used to the tunnel's weirdness...

In the end, you decide not to upload the video of the creature attack. While you're 100% sure it would be a big hit on the 'tube, you also know it could be dangerous. Given what you know about the tunnel now- but you don't delete it or your channel. You'll just leave it for now until you now more. You intentionally didn't "spoil the story" or reveal your theories on the tunnel yet, and if it seems to manifest thoughts then it's probably a good thing that you haven't been exposing it to more people. People more twisted then you sharing their ideas. Who knows if they can even effect it. But everybody thinking monsters are in there might be too much...

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It's Sunday night and you have work tomorrow. Back to the hardware store, empty handed. You already know that you'll be fired tomorrow if you don't bring back those power tools.

Against your better judgement, and taking a risk to see if your theories on the tunnel hold true, you decide to visit the tunnel. Despite your last dangerous encounter, you don't even bring a weapon. You have a hunch now. Things aren't going to shake out the same way.

At the entrance to the tunnel, you speak aloud.

"Can I have my tools back, please?"

You listen closely, but response is silence. You don't think that was going to do it anyway, but worth a try. You instead close your eyes before the dark and instead of wishing, visualize. You want to find your tools back. The idea of your treasure and unknowable mysteries fill your mind, but you push those aside. Then, you walk into the darkness. Eyes still closed, one hand on the wall, you don't think about anything but finding your tools right there, waiting for you, straight down in the dangerous tunnel. The abyss around you is only as dangerous as you make it. Or at least, so you hope.

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You open your eyes, and right there in the middle of a carpeted floor in some unfurnished empty place inside this tunnel, are your power tools. An entire bag. Oh, and your ball is on there too. That's nice.

What do you say? What do you do? Should you say thank you or... is it bait? No no- don't think about that.

You grab the tools and then turn on a dime, and just start walking out. No distractions. No diversions. Nothing fancy. Zero thoughts. Just walk. Don't even think anything. Your back is to the darkness now, and you can see the storage room ahead. Nothing came out to scare you, nothing attacked you, you weren't trapped again. You made the tunnel give you what you wanted with your thoughts, and it manifested them.

Did you figure it out? Is this how the tunnel works? You feel elated. Does the thing really grant wishes like this? Is it a mirror to your mind or-

You suddenly feel it. Like you're being watched, or followed. The childhood fear of the dark creeping in as you walk down the dark hallway, the entire inside place and its pipe-carrying monsters energy right behind you. You know it isn't the tunnel doing it either. It's you. Your sudden fear, uncontrollable and imperfect. The thought that your thoughts are making something scary appear behind you it only making them more real even faster. Like a feedback loop of realization.

Your mind flashes through creepypasta images you've seen on the internet, scary faces, ghosts from movies- they jump out at you from your memories. The creepy feeling of having your back to the tunnel is making you feel this way, and you like a dumb monkey animal are imagining it. Your own fear response is reflecting into the real world. Something is behind you now- but you're almost there. What do you do?

>Banish all thoughts
>Imagine being saved by something
>Run
>Turn and face it

>>5973448
>Imagine being saved by something

>>5973448
>Banish all thoughts
Inspect power tools, continue walking

>>5973448
>Banish all thoughts
Or, alternatively, start thinking of the lyrics to a really catchy song, like, i don't know, viva la vida.

>>5973448
>>Banish all thoughts
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning, I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own

>>5973448
>Turn and face it
Only catch is to think really hard about one specific Spongebob episode.
AHHHHH A GROCERY LIST!!

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>>5973448
>know that you'll be fired tomorrow (...)
>The childhood fear of the dark creeping in ...
Let go of the imaginary fear, relinquish the artificial and contrived anxiety of unemployment; embrace the endless abundance of the ungoverned imagination instead. The World Outside is a Lie. The Darkness Inside will provide for everything

>Turn away from the exit, never leave the tunnel. Live in the Darkness forever

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>>5974196
The pipe is an interesting symbol: it is simultaneously a conduit that projects phallic masculinity, conveying control, connection and regulation of flow and turmoil, yet also retains attributes of inner hollowness and the receptivity of the feminine.

The bandages of the tunnel denizen suggest some form of injured psyche, or wounded sense of grievance. Upon being confronted with this unspoken psychological plight, the first inclination of the protagonist companion / author surrogate is to react with violence (gunshot) indicating perceived threat response / defensive reticence to process the aforementioned psychological grievance or trauma.

The interior span of the Inside Place appears far more coherent and psychologically stable than the anxieties manufactured respectively by the workplace, the perils and insecurities of rented accommodation, social interaction, or the algorithmically intermediated contests of esteem, status and capriciousness furnished by internet audiences through social media or online vidro platforms

The Pipe itself is actually the passage of the Inside Place, carrying the Pipe is the means of traversing and controlling its own interior geometry. Ceci n'est pas une pipe

>>5973448
>Imagine being saved by something
Most interesting and promising option, and easier than truly thinking of nothing.

>>5973448
>>Banish all thoughts

>>5973448
>Imagine being saved by something

>>5974196
>>5974225
Interesting theorycrafting... I wonder how much of this is accurate and, if accurate, how much is intentional?

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You realize the only way out of this is to stop it at the source; the panic, the fear, all of it is creating what you're fearing. You are the source of the danger while within the tunnel- it can only react to what stimulus you give it.

You look dead ahead and clear your mind. The sudden fear fades as you regain control. At first, you think there is nothing behind you, you imagine blackness, but then realize that isn't good on its own either, and instead, just stare at the storage room ahead and think... nothing. No thoughts at all. No reaction or future plans or hopes and anticipations. Just pure motion. Left right left. And then, you're out of it.

Back in the storage room, with tools in hand, you've successfully made it back from the tunnel in one piece. Perhaps the first excursion with the others showed that going with more then one person is more dangerous- everyones thoughts and fears can manifest and piggyback off each other to amplify the sensation. By yourself? It merely goes off what you give it. You feel more confident in what the tunnel is, though now its new possibilities start to jump out at you...

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Over the next few days, you exist almost in a fugue state. Not at your reaction to the tunnel's weirdness, but the thoughts of what it means.

Can the tunnel make anything?
Why is it here?
Why did I find it?
Is it special to me?
Is it infinite inside?
What can I do with this?

You've been neglecting anything but eating, sleeping, and going to work for your next few shifts- only clocking in the basic hours just for your basic expenses. There is a new chapter to your life about to unfold- though you don't know what it is just yet.

But while at work the next day, you receive a visit from a familiar face. You didn't recognize her at first without her makeup and her outfit- it's Samantha again, this time looking much more "normal" in her clothes. She's wearing a hat, clearly still shaken from her first encounter.

"Rod... You haven't gone back to the tunnel, have you?"
"..."

It seems she sees right thru you.

"Please Rod. I have a bad feeling... you aren't going to go crazy and become obsessed with it, are you?"
"What do you mean?"
"You need to leave that thing alone before it consumes you. Maybe... I just thought maybe this is where all the unexplained missing people cases come from. Tunnels opening up and luring them in by creating whatever they imagine-"
"Shh!"

Violently, you shush her. It's not that she's insulting the tunnel that offends you, it's that anything she says could put thoughts into your head- lingering things that color your perception about the tunnel. Or is she just trying to scare you away to take it away from you?

"Rod... I'm worried. Promise me you won't go back in."

You don't want to blow her off, but at the same time... what are you supposed to say? It's too enticing. You have to know the truth of the mystery now. You could just lie, but would that weigh too heavily on your conscious?

>Promise
>Don't

>>5974799
Huh, well good question. We can't exactly just stop, that would kinda...end the quest. At the same time, I do like Sam, so lying to her would feel bad.

>>5974799
>>Don't

Actually, you know what, we're on page 8 already. I'm fine with stopping here. Let's have a happy ending to this kind of story for once. By which I mean one where we don't go insane.

Also short-stack.
>Promise

>>5974799
>Don't
"If it's not for you, fine. But it's my responsibility now, it's part of my apartment, part of my life. Why do you care about what happens to me anyway? you wouldn't know me if not for the tunnel. I think it is generous, in a way."

>>5974799
Just to clarify, the read of the setup post suggests that we're going back into the tunnel regardless, so this is merely a question of if we lie to Samantha or not?

>Don't

Can't make a promise if we don't intend to keep it, but can we ask her to 'watch our back', so to speak? Keep a lookout from the outside when we make our explorations, even if she never goes in again herself?

>>5975084
You will be given the option to go back into/not go into the tunnel regardless of if you promise her you won't or not.

>>5975084
(For the record, if we can make the promise and mean it, then I'd be for making the promise; but I don't think that's an option here?)

>>5974799
>>Don't

>>5975087
So...is that a promise vote?

>>5974799
>Don't

>>5974811
>stopping here
If you'd like to stop reading here, that's fine, but I see no reason to stop a fun, interesting quest like this at an anticlimactic point, EVEN for a big titty goth GF.
And shit, she's not even a goth anymore

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"...No."

Samantha, looking sad, searches your eyes for an answer.

"Please... don't."
"No, Sam. It's my responsbility, my apartment. Why do you care anyway? Are you just jealous that I found something weird and wild that's real before you- and then you found out you can't hack it?"

She looks a little hurt, but at the same time, you don't like her manipulations. Spreading her fear on you, trying to control you... what does she know? This tunnel is yours. It's yours to explore and figure out what to do with- not hers. You won't promise her anything!

Samantha looks down.

"Goodbye, Rodney..."
"Bye."

You finish your shift at work today in a haze, time just seems to race by until the last few minutes, there is a great feeling of finality. This may very well be your last day of work here- depending on what happens next. The plan forms in your mind- something you can't bring with you. You don't want to poison the tunnel- it's time to make your final choice.

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You stand in front of the dark tunnel in your storage room, the second door marked with a number eight. It stands quietly, a mysterious light hinting to an inner chamber, even though you know it's false, or at least, it's not there unless you want it to be there.

It's time to decide what to do with the tunnel; once and for all.
>Imagine a perfect paradise and enter
>Exploit the tunnel's ability to make yourself rich and famous
>Look closer and find out what the tunnel really is
>Other (Write-In)

>>5976367
>Imagine a perfect paradise and enter
I mean... Can we? Will it work?

>>5976370
We will probably become some sort of cursed tunneldweller and go mad, yes. It's pretty obvious this tunnel is not something we should have messed with, but oh well, people want to go for that ending anyways.

>>5976367
>Look closer and find out what the tunnel really is

>>5976367
>>Exploit the tunnel's ability to make yourself rich and famous

>>5976367
>Exploit the tunnel's ability to make yourself rich and famous
A paradise would leave us at the mercy of our own feeble subconscious, learning what it is may well cause us to no longer be able to use it. Making gold bullion though, is simple and profitable. Maybe we could experiment with generating sci-fi tech?

>>5976367
>>Look closer and find out what the tunnel really is
You guys won't believe what I found in the tulpa tunnel at 2:00am!

>>5976367
>>Finally go where you always wanted to go: Femboy Hooters.

>>5976449
Will back this as our version of paradise, secretly.

>>5976367
>>Imagine a perfect paradise and enter

>>5976367
>Exploit the tunnel's ability to make yourself rich and famous

Tied between Paradise and Exploit. The winner will be determined randomly if the tie is not broken. I wasn't going to drag this vote out for 2 days again but I guess we're used to it by now.

>>5977072
Huh? Oh yeah, I didn't vote. I'm >>5976378. Let's go with...Exploit. it's boring, but at least it's not a generic "protsgonist goes mad and locks himself in the illusion"

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You approach the tunnel. There, your mind swarms with possibilities. Anything can be inside the tunnel- but the comfort of reality is something that can't be undersold. The tunnel created a monster from a feedback loop- and it trapped you inside it once. You can't live in that inside place. If you do, your worst thoughts and nightmares will become real. But that doesn't mean you can't exploit it. In your mind, you iron out what you think are the most reasonable and stable, logical things that tunnel could give you. Things that could even be explained.

Wealth... knowledge... scientific discoveries. You won't let it go unused! You found the tunnel, and now it's time to enrich yourself with it. The youtube channel was just baby steps. You have the whole world at your fingertips now! You close your eyes and think...

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When you next open your eyes, you see a trail of minecart tracks have been etched along the floor out of the tunnel, all the way to the storage room. You hear the squeaking of the wheels- and a cart full of gold approaches you.

Gold! Gold! It's real gold!

Greedily grabbing the treasure, you realize that this isn't such some illusion, but really real! For real real! And you found it first! Greedily, you make sure to hide and keep all of this for yourself. Though that doesn't mean the rest of humanity has to go deprived...

Over the next few weeks, you visit the tunnel everyday. There, you make a list of demands and desires, and the tunnel provides. Like an endless, inexhaustible mineshaft, it provides you with whatever you want and imagine.

At first, the gold bullion, gemstones, diamonds- generic riches. You hoard these up, selling some to local pawnshops before upping your ambition. You already quit your job a few days ago. Investing the capital made from these, you quickly grow a stock and bank account to six figures, more money then you'd ever thought you'd have in your life, and then go from there. You realize the tax man might be a problem, but you aren't too concerned with it- after all, what's the tax rate on magical wish-granting holes? You do have to keep your newfound source of wealth a secret, lest your landlord evict you and use this for himself...

Soon after, you move beyond basic treasures and stretch what the tunnel can give you. You create extremely rare or nonexistent forms of bacteria, ones that eat cancerous cells and plastics, and make contacts in the world of science to sell these off, though you first have to buy up a few biotech companies to hide your tracks. Then, you work with software engineers to create devices from the tunnel, things with higher density transistors then thought possible before, or pre-loaded with even smarter general purpose AI that advance the field by several years. While the tunnel provides almost anything you could want, it isn't necessarily repeatable by modern science and industry, so most of what you create is simply used as research or a baseline; with the originals becoming extremely rare and coveted collector's items. The tunnel groans when you visit it now, settling into routine like a crag in the earth.

You already own a few houses in the city- and a really nice one along the river. You only come back to Unit #8 to exploit it some more. Though it's yield seems to drop off, taking longer to produce more gold bullion, more riches, more unknown organisms...