The Grail Works Mission Dossier (Discussion & Ideas)

[Xamusel]

That would, I think, at least partially depend on the properties in question . . .

True... I need to narrow down the choices in my list. I'll have to get back to you about that when I know what to do with myself.

Also, what's with the snippet, man?

[Kieran]

Also, what's with the snippet, man?

How so?

[Xamusel]

I mean, is this going to be your new Grail Works story, or am I mistaken?

[Kieran]

I mean, is this going to be your new Grail Works story, or am I mistaken?

As with many snippets before it, this is me trying out an idea to see how people react to it, and to see if it looks as good "on paper" as it sounds in my head.

[Xamusel]

Point taken. I'm probably gonna have to think of a good answer for you here.

[Arbitrarity]

Ah, I missed the snippet (it was just at the end of the last page for me)

I like the introduction idea ("summoning" in a less direct fashion) and the disrupted slice of life of Godafrid being tapped to go shopping.

Interesting crossover choice, though I'd be a bit concerned about the power scaling, usually. Perhaps I don't really understand how Dead By Daylight survivors function, but I was under the impression they generally couldn't do terribly much about the Killers beyond evasion and occasional disruption. Then again, the Entity might... balance the scales.
You're probably trying to leverage that god-killing aspect of the Exalted somewhere though, and it's certainly a challenging foe, given the reported omnipotence. A lot of potential for horror as well.

[Kieran]

Ah, I missed the snippet (it was just at the end of the last page for me)

And with the way the same threads keep bouncing to the top, it's easy to miss the fact that the "last posted" times have changed - understandable. It's happened to me once or twice.

I like the introduction idea ("summoning" in a less direct fashion) and the disrupted slice of life of Godafrid being tapped to go shopping.

*Chuckles* Well, isekai is such a popular (sub?)genre nowadays, why wouldn't its conventions apply . . .?

Interesting crossover choice,

Though I've never played it (and would probably be terrible at it), I like the concept of it, I must admit. The crossover potential through licensed franchises is also interesting; for example, with the license for Stranger Things having expired (and thus limited to those who already bought it, but no more), does that mean that they escaped . . .? Alternatively, with all the reboots to the Halloween franchise, and their ability to just drop entire canons (which, in some cases, is wholly understandable), does that mean that Laurie has a way out . . .?

though I'd be a bit concerned about the power scaling, usually. Perhaps I don't really understand how Dead By Daylight survivors function, but I was under the impression they generally couldn't do terribly much about the Killers beyond evasion and occasional disruption. Then again, the Entity might... balance the scales.

You are correct - and while a Solar Exalt might be able to function normally via the whole "natural god-king of Creation" aspect, a Lunar would be more limited. Then again, the major issue might be Essence; after all, the Abyssal Exalted, being creatures of the Underworld, can't regain Essence naturally in Creation/the living world, thus forcing them to rely on consuming the flesh or blood of the living to do so. In a realm like the Entity's, which is very akin to the Underworld, similar rules may apply.

After all, what does it matter what Charms Frid can bring to bear, if he'll only ever have enough juice to get off one or two of them . . .?

You're probably trying to leverage that god-killing aspect of the Exalted somewhere though, and it's certainly a challenging foe, given the reported omnipotence. A lot of potential for horror as well.

Agreed. And as noted, there's a fair bit of variability in the setup - I could have one of the other Works members pulled through with him, or have him meet a TYPE-MOON character in the Fog; I used Asagami Fujino in the original snippets, but we never have had an explanation of where Ciel is, after all . . . And they need not be a Survivor, either - Sacchin would make an interesting Killer, I think.

[Xamusel]

Hey guys. I have a question for you. Which d20 system lets you get to be more powerful overall in terms of attributes going up past 18? I'm sorta leaning towards P1, or maybe D&D 3.x, if that makes sense.

[Kieran]

Hey guys. I have a question for you. Which d20 system lets you get to be more powerful overall in terms of attributes going up past 18? I'm sorta leaning towards P1, or maybe D&D 3.x, if that makes sense.

That depends entirely on the template you're using, I find - but in general, D&D 3.5 leans more towards what you're looking for, since it doesn't technically have a level cap.

[Arbitrarity]

The Hulking Hurler comes to mind. 3.5 had a LOT of stacking ability bonuses available. PF 1E seems to have similar things for the regular bonuses (levelling, enhancement, Wish boost), just with less spell sprawl. Stuff like Owl's Insight, or Bite of the Werebear, could get somewhat out of hand. It's plausible to get scores in the mid-30's on a fairly permanent basis pre-Epic. If you include Epic levels, things get fairly silly. PF seems to have something similar with Mythic Tiers, but I suspect it won't get quite as crazy.

5E has explicit ability score caps of 20, I think, that are quite uncommon to get exceptions to (Barbarian capstone?). 4e just doesn't have many sources of ability score bonuses, and ends at 30.

If we go further afield in d20 systems, something like Mutants and Masterminds might let you get crazier, but if you're using "d20" as shorthand for "D&D and Pathfinder-esque games", then 3.5 or PF 1E are probably it.

[RanmaBushiko]

The Hulking Hurler comes to mind. 3.5 had a LOT of stacking ability bonuses available. PF 1E seems to have similar things for the regular bonuses (levelling, enhancement, Wish boost), just with less spell sprawl. Stuff like Owl's Insight, or Bite of the Werebear, could get somewhat out of hand. It's plausible to get scores in the mid-30's on a fairly permanent basis pre-Epic. If you include Epic levels, things get fairly silly. PF seems to have something similar with Mythic Tiers, but I suspect it won't get quite as crazy.

5E has explicit ability score caps of 20, I think, that are quite uncommon to get exceptions to (Barbarian capstone?). 4e just doesn't have many sources of ability score bonuses, and ends at 30.

If we go further afield in d20 systems, something like Mutants and Masterminds might let you get crazier, but if you're using "d20" as shorthand for "D&D and Pathfinder-esque games", then 3.5 or PF 1E are probably it.

Some classes can go past 20 in D&D 5E. Barbarian comes to mind, with it's ability to go to 24 for strength and stamina. Additionally, there's always those tomes that increase stats by two permanently, once a century...

[Xamusel]

So, in short, I need to stick with 3.5 for the time being (if I want to have a character sheet that fits the RP aspect perfectly well). Is that what I'm reading?

[RanmaBushiko]

So, in short, I need to stick with 3.5 for the time being (if I want to have a character sheet that fits the RP aspect perfectly well). Is that what I'm reading?

Between feats and other options, you can sort of make it up, to push to 20 fast. After that though... it slows down a touch bit. Scion, Werewolf, etc. all have more long term running systems that give you longer term character enhancements, at the cost of anyone possibly being able to die.

[Xamusel]

You got a good point... thanks for the info there. Now, if only I had access to a few of those systems, anyway.

[Kieran]

DISCLAIMER: Lunar Legend Tsukihime, Fate/Stay Night, and all related characters and concepts are the creation and property of Kinoko Nasu and TYPE-MOON, along with whomever they’ve happened to license them to, such as Geneon, Funimation, A-1 Pictures and Netflix. Likewise, the Halloween franchise and concepts are also created and owned by a plethora of other people who aren't me.

This is a not-for-profit, just-for-fun project.






Avalon Castle, Phantasmagoria Island (Grail Works. Ltd. Headquarters)
Beyond the boundaries of time and space








Though it was difficult to tell time within Avalon proper (as was only right, its being connected to the faerie realm, and all), it was hard to miss the sight of riotous colour sweeping slowly over the trees, or the chill in the air as the wind blew those many-hued leaves off their branches and over the ground. Autumn was here. In fact, a glance at the local calendars said it was October, Hallowe’en season—arguably Frid’s favourite time of year.

Which lead to a wish to indulge in one of his favourite seasonal pastimes: Hallowe’en media marathons. Not simply horror movies, but Hallowe’en episodes and specials of his childhood, animated and otherwise—hours upon hours of spooky, but ultimately harmless fun.

This, however, had some hurdles to it: first, his own collection was gone, and rebuilding it would be viciously expensive due to import fees—assuming it could be found at all in a format that could be played in Japan. The Addams Family TV reunion movie never had been released on DVD, after all . . .

Which lead to the second problem—even if he could lay his hands on what he wanted, where would he watch it?

He knew Kohaku had a TV—she was a gamer, and it had to have come from somewhere. However, even leaving aside the fact that he wanted as little as possible to do with her, it was by default almost certainly in her room; never mind his sentiments, propriety wouldn’t let him in there. Shirou, on the other hand, probably had a TV; he was too normal not to, and he couldn’t see Taiga going without one when she visited . . .

Worry about means later—let’s see what can be found, first.

It took a few days, as he was limited to what he could find in video shops local to Misaki and Fuyuki; not helping was the fact that the usual video guides he used, like VideoHound or Maltin, weren’t exactly translated into Japanese, so he didn’t know what he could look for. As expected, though, Western imports (yes, he meant “American,” but as a Canadian, the other title was more accurate) weren’t exactly a high priority for small Japanese towns. He might have better luck in Tokyo, but was it worth the trip . . .?

Most available horror films, animated or otherwise, were locally-produced—that was to say, Japanese. Which suited him fine, somewhat—the original Blood: The Last Vampire OVA had been part of his Hallowe’en viewing ritual since its inception, and Ringu was spooky enough that it would count. The Nightmare Before Christmas was also popular enough in Japan (thank you, Disney marketing and merchandising machine!) that getting his hands on it wouldn’t be difficult—but others were far out of reach.

No classic Universal Monsters films, no Ginger Snaps trilogy, no Scooby Doo films, no It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, or Garfield special . . . Can I at least find a slasher?

By which, of course, he meant the Halloween franchise, as it was the longest running of its type, and thus likely to have been distributed if any of them had. Essentially, Frid suspected, he’d probably be limited to the original Halloween film if he found any of the franchise. And that was fine by him; it was a good movie—the classic slasher film, really. But while the franchise as a whole could politely be described as “uneven” in quality (for a whole host of reasons), there were other films in it he enjoyed as well, like H20 for the references, the 2018 film as the best sequel of the bunch, and Danielle Harris’ performances in her films, even if what happened to either of her characters (however expected Annie’s fate might’ve been) was—

Frid stopped, then went directly to the room Ilya usually used as “mission control.”

“Ilya-sama? I have a personal job I’d like to undertake, if possible—and maybe borrow Ren for it, if she’s willing . . .?”








Haddonfield, Illinois
October 29, 1988








Jamie Lloyd had the dream again.

Not the Boogeyman dream—the nightmare of the Boogeyman (her uncle) come to kill her, like he’d tried to kill her mother (he hadn’t, but she was gone anyway), the white-faced Shape that had haunted her since she’d learned of him (and no one would let her forget).

No, this was a different dream—what she’d taken to calling, at least in her head, the tea party dream. It was outside, and sunny—but the leaves were all still pretty, even though it wasn’t cold. And she was in her best dress, sitting at a table with a little girl all in black, with a big ribbon in her hair and pointy ears, like a fairy princess. Next to the girl was a boy in a dark uniform—a butler? —with glasses, and there was somebody next to her in the same position, like she had a butler of her own—but she couldn’t see his face, and she worried it might be the Boogeyman . . .

“Hello again,” Jamie said to the girl and her butler, turning her head. But her maybe-butler was still too tall, and standing too far away—she couldn’t see his face . . .

“It’s all right, Jamie,” said the fairy princess’s butler. “We won’t hurt you, remember?”

The fairy princess never talked, she remembered—her butler talked for her.

“But—” Jamie started, then stopped.

If it was the Boogeyman, she didn’t want to draw his attention. If it wasn’t, she didn’t want to be mean, like the kids at school were to her. And the Boogeyman was just her uncle—how much worse would it be to call someone the Boogeyman . . .?

(If it wasn’t the Boogeyman, waiting to catch her by surprise . . .)

“It’s all right, Jamie,” the butler repeated, though he frowned over her head. “We’re all here to help.”

“Help how?” Jamie asked, confused.

“We’ll protect you from the Boogeyman,” the butler said, with the sort of smile that made Jamie want to trust him, even though Rachel and Rachel’s mom and dad (she couldn’t call them “Mommy and Daddy,” she just couldn’t) warned her about strangers. “For example, Ren will keep him out of your dreams.”

He pointed at the fairy princess, who was currently eating a piece of strawberry shortcake.

“I don’t think she’ll mind being thanked with petting”—at the fairy princess’s glare, the butler said quickly, “On second thought, cake is probably a better idea. She likes cake.”

“Petting . . .?” Jamie was confused. Petting was for dogs, like Sundae—how did you “pet” a fairy princess?

“Just stick to the cake,” the butler advised. “Or maybe, considering where we are, a piece of pumpkin pie . . .?”

The princess’ hand went to her chin, as she thought hard—before finally nodding, once.

“Okay, then,” the butler said, sounding relieved. “If you want to thank her for protecting your dreams, a piece of pumpkin pie or cake would be nice, Jamie.”

“How do I give it to her?” Jamie asked. “And what about when I’m not dreaming?”

“Not all black cats are bad luck,” the butler said smiling. “If you see one around, they’ll probably want the treat. As for when you’re awake, Jamie . . .”

“You won’t always see it—like now. You can’t see it, but your protection is there, I promise. Especially at night, because the Boogeyman prefers the dark—and in the dark, if you’re scared, listen. Because you won’t see it, but you can hear, if you try.”

The butler looked at the thing behind her . . . And eventually, Jamie heard a sound. Scary, like some kind of animal, but soft.

“If you hear that, it means we’re watching, Jamie. It means you’re safe, all right?”

Jamie nodded, then asked the question she’d never had the courage to ask before.

“. . . Did Mommy and Daddy send you?”

“We would’ve come even if they didn’t, Jamie,” the butler said.

(That sounded like a “yes,” but not quite . . .)

“I think we’ve taken up enough of your time,” he continued kindly. “Little girls do need their sleep . . . Just relax, Jamie—the Boogeyman won’t get you. We won’t let him.”

“And if he tries,” said a new voice, behind her, “you’ll never have to worry about him again.”

Jamie jumped, startled, turning to look—

And she woke up, in her bed, with the rain pattering down against her window. No thunder, which was good—she didn’t like storms . . . But just rain wasn’t so bad. Jamie could fall back asleep to it, even as she puzzled over the strangeness of the dream . . .

A soft sound, from outside—loud enough to carry through the rain, and her window. A familiar sound, now.

It wasn’t a dream?

Jamie wasn’t sure— it wasn’t repeated, so maybe she’d just imagined hearing it? She’d imagined the Boogeyman in her room before . . . Anyways, the sound was supposed to mean she was safe, right? So that meant that it was OK to go back to sleep . . .








Avalon Castle, Phantasmagoria Island (Grail Works. Ltd. Headquarters)
Beyond the boundaries of time and space









That they would handle this scenario, once Ilya had determined that yes, they could reach that world, was beyond question. Never mind Shirou’s heroic tendencies, or Shiki’s own leanings that way: a little girl facing tragedy, madness, incestual sexual abuse, and ultimately being brutally murdered before her sixteenth birthday . . .? More than one member of the Works had lived that life, or something like it, which made this quest very personal.

(And as to the more specific exemplars, however . . . While Sakura could find it in herself to be more empathetic about sparing someone else from living it than Kohaku could, being offered an opportunity to avenge their own suffering by proxy, on people who’d been determined to inflict on others . . .? That, she could get behind.)

When it came to facing Michael Myers himself, it had nearly approached the point where they’d had to hold a lottery as to who got to kill him—though that they could was never in question. While Michael and his legend began attaining supernatural elements during the “Thorn Trilogy” (as the period of the franchise that films covering Jamie were informally known as), he was still largely bound by conventional physics. He might be able to shrug off ridiculous amounts of damage, but enough of it would drop him into a coma. Said coma could last a decade, or only a year—but there were limits to him.

Against Arcueid, Saber or Rider, he’d be toast; against Shiki . . . Beyond his Mystic Eyes, Shiki might be a harder sell, since Myers could at least match Shiki on a physical level. Not in terms of speed, perhaps, but he was definitely stronger and tougher—Shiki probably couldn’t take half-a-dozen bullets and a two-storey fall, then get up and murder ten more people. And in terms of raw strength, the killer had been known to impale victims with enough force that the implement used visibly pierced through the other side of the wall or door. It was an impressive enough feat when he used a chef’s knife to do it, but with something as blunt (and hollow!) as a shotgun barrel . . .

It wasn’t something anybody really wanted to test unless they had to—and then Ilya delivered the bad news.

“This world is really mana-deprived,” Ilya said. “To a degree that I’m not sure how it sustains life, really. Almost any prana usage is liable to be sucked away into the background unless we throw a lot of it around; and even then, the effect will be a lot weaker. Prana constructs like Onii-chan’s Traced weapons would dissolve immediately, basically—or, say, Servants that weren’t incarnated . . .”

That limited their available operational personnel sharply, confining it to anyone who was either possessed of the Independent Action skill or equivalent, or generating their own power internally. At least, that was the case if they wanted anyone to function at reasonable combat capacity. And as Michael Myers was portrayed as capable enough to slaughter an entire police station without appreciable effort—even without the potential backup of an entire county’s worth of cult members—everyone wanted to err on the side of overkill.

As such, the initial personnel request proved not only feasible, but prudent; Ren had a physical body, was contracted to Shiki, took far less energy to sustain than a Servant, and was supremely efficient with her ability to process it. She could last a while without worrying, and what powers she had weren’t based on physical manifestations. Likewise, as a small black cat, she could generally evade notice—as the more human (and vulnerable) staff of the Works could not.

Frid, on the other hand, drew the majority of his supernatural power from ambient energies like a magus or Servant—but his “personal Essence Pool” was generated by the weaponised fragment of divinity grafted to his soul. It wouldn’t recharge anywhere near as fast as usual, but he had some agency to work with, on top of generally being built like an action hero (sure, the game used “mythic” as a descriptor, but with Servants around . . .) as all Exalts were. Those two factors, it was assumed, would at least even the proverbial playing field—or so it was hoped.

And for the rest of them, there was that pesky cult . . .








Haddonfield, Illinois
October 31, 1988








Jamie had not been having a good day—between being teased at school over being an orphan with the Boogeyman as her uncle, then actually seeing him (or thinking she had) while looking for a costume at the store . . . No, it hadn’t been a good day. The night had started out better; Rachel had taken her trick-or-treating, so she’d gotten some candy, the mean kids had complimented her costume . . . But they’d gotten separated, and now she was lost and alone in the dark—

And then the Boogeyman stepped into view.

Jamie froze, as all her worst nightmares literally came towards her, the eerily silent Shape gliding closer, and closer . . .

An owl called out, and half-remembered dreams loosened her muscles for a moment (safe), even as the sound it made got higher and louder, turning into an angry screech. She couldn’t hear it glide into view, but she had a brief glimpse of the bird, even in the dimly lit street. Jamie was sure it was the same one that had been in the tree at school today; she could see the horns—

The owl’s shape got bigger, suddenly, flowing into a man’s shape that landed between her and the Boogeyman, wearing a long coat with shiny metal pieces on it. Now Jamie froze in surprise instead of panic, but she didn’t have time to think about what she’d just seen, because the man turned his head to look at her (didn’t his neck hurt, looking that far back, that fast?), and said two words.

“Run, Jamie.”

It was the voice from her dream—the voice from behind her—and like before, it was startling enough to snap her out of the daze she was in, mostly. There was one other detail, now that she could see his face, which startled her . . .

“Run!” the man repeated, sharply—and this time, she did.

But even as she ran, Jamie fixated on what she’d seen, or thought she had: the man’s eyes had been big and yellow, just like the owl’s . . .








Frid turned his attention back to Michael, keeping an ear out for Jamie’s footsteps. Per the plan, Ren would intercept her, lead her to safety—but that only really mattered if he failed to deal with things here.

This Michael Myers was a far cry from the hulking brute of the Rob Zombie films, but more intimidating in size than in some of the other incarnations; a little taller than Frid was, and well-built, but wiry. Of course, that was part of the mystique of the killer—that anyone could be under that mask . . . Regardless, while he wasn’t presently armed, he was no less dangerous for it, and Myers knew it. It was reflected in his stride: calm, unhurried, even as his target fled deeper into the darkness. Pitiless, relentless—inevitable, to borrow from another film franchise, as was right for a being described and depicted as “evil on two legs.”

Well, inevitable force, meet immovable object.

He wouldn’t unleash Nådeløs, not yet—the artefact’s evocations would be costly, especially here, even if the whip was made for exactly this kind of opponent (in spirit, if nothing else). No, raw physicality would have to suffice here, and he wasn’t exactly hurting in that department anymore. Better, unlike Myers, he knew how to fight—and while it pained Frid to be aping the terrible Halloween: Resurrection film by pitting martial arts against Michael Myers, his inherently supernatural nature made it a bit more palatable. . .

“The only way to her is through me,” he warned the Shape.

Not that Michael would care, Frid knew—he absolutely intended to go through anyone and everyone who got in his way—but he wanted to keep Michael’s focus on him, rather than risk his breaking off to pursue Jamie, and the declaration couldn’t hurt, in that regard.

The Lunar stared at the pitiless black emptiness which served as the eyes of the killer’s mask, tensing in preparation.

“Let’s see what you’ve got.”








Writer's Notes: Happy Hallowe'en . . .




In all seriousness, while I love several of the films, and like several elements of others, they're a mess even without the behind-the-scenes troubles the franchise underwent in its 40-year history - and the "Thorn Trilogy" especially. We are expected to believe that somehow, a cult operated in the sanitarium that housed Michael Myers, and his personal psychatrist/physician was NOT a member . . .? Failing that, that Dr. Loomis never caught onto their existence in the quarter-century he worked there? And the cult, despite seemingly being able to manipulate Michael, never set him off to go after Laurie or Jamie earlier or more often, because they had access to the records of the girls' existence and identities . . .?

This is what comes of adding story elements retroactively. *Sighs*

But aside from that, I love Danielle Harris' work, and Jamie's fate is very near the cruelest in the franchise - if there's anything for the Works to fix, that's it. Also, it might be possible to rework the franchise with TYPE-MOON elements - between magi and curses, surely someone like Michael is possible . . .

[Arbitrarity]

Interesting. I'm not really a horror buff, so I'm less familiar with the Halloween series. This snippet does a good job of setting the scene and summarizing most of the relevant backstory, though, so I didn't feel like I was missing too much. I'm also impressed it has enough time to get to a confrontation, seemingly without skipping anything significant. We haven't seen Ren involved in many missions, so it's definitely an interesting opportunity for her powers to shine.

I assume Nådeløs is the soulsteel whip. Nowegian, meaning ruthless, merciless, or similar? Fitting for a gift of Hel, I suppose.

[Kieran]

Interesting. I'm not really a horror buff, so I'm less familiar with the Halloween series.

I admit, it's a recent obsession of mine - meaning the last few years or so - but I think there's a fair bit of potential here that's never really been explored (and for Works stories, as well). You know me and "fix fics," after all . . .

(Seriously, though, I could even spin this out of the Dead by Daylight idea, as Michael and Jamie's mother are characters there.)

This snippet does a good job of setting the scene and summarizing most of the relevant backstory, though, so I didn't feel like I was missing too much.

Thank you.

I'm also impressed it has enough time to get to a confrontation, seemingly without skipping anything significant.

Oh, if I do this full-bore, you'll get more details . . . Particularly if I make it a TYPE-MOON fusion, because I'll have to explain it all, of course. But as it stood, I figured the Shape should at least appear, and the latter half of the movie is his hunt of Jamie - so, why not skip ahead a bit?

We haven't seen Ren involved in many missions, so it's definitely an interesting opportunity for her powers to shine.

Quite so - and the "mana-deprived" explanation is, I think, a reasonable interpretation of worlds without much magic, or any at all (i.e., "realistic" settings), which makes strategising how to help important.

I assume Nådeløs is the soulsteel whip. Nowegian, meaning ruthless, merciless, or similar?

My particular choice for a translation is "implacable," or "inevitable" (if you'll pardon a second Thanos reference), but yes. And finding those symbols in my word-processing program was a pain, let me tell you . . .

Fitting for a gift of Hel, I suppose.

And for Krampus, the punisher of the wicked.

[RanmaBushiko]

Erik snaps awake with a frown.


Then, slowly glances around, before sighing.

“Another jump between universes, another void.” He admits, quietly, shaking his head as he pulls himself up. “Between those eldritch things that want to recruit me, Arturia Alter and Herakles, as well as now this? I wonder what’s going on with all that?”

Slowly, Erik turns, looking through the void he’s in. No light. No armor. No Raika, or laser rifle.

“So, what the hell am I doing here, then?” Erik asks aloud, quietly, after seeing nothing around or near him in the near darkness of the area.

The whirring beep of a PC turning on answers him, somewhere in the distance.

Slowly, he walks towards the sound, frowning as he does so.

Slowly, he gazes upon a small home, the doorway wide open, before walking in. “Hello? Anyone here?” He calls, as he turns.

Inside he can see several rooms. A bathroom, and a living room, though he didn’t feel hungry or thirsty. Even a kitchen stocked with food. But most importantly? A computer that’s turned on by itself.

“I swear, if this is another recruitment attempt by that thing that likes to claim it’s an eldritch abomination…” Erik trails off, staring closely at the monitor.

“Doki Doki Literature Club?” Erik pauses, sitting down to study the monitor closer.

“...I remember playing this. What the hell?” Erik asks, quietly. “It was a decent psychological horror game, I suppose…”

Erik sighs, settling down into things, then flinches as his mechanical left arm touches the keyboard, only for it to ripple. “Oh, that’s odd. The fuck is going on?”

Then he glances up, looking at the title screen having changed, showing the words “Welcome, former Norse God of Mecha. Programming Mode: Activated! Debugging Mode: Activated!”

A long pause as Erik twitches, studying how the keyboard ripples as it gets close to his left arm. Then as he moves it, he watches as the entire computer ripples around it.

“Oh, what fresh hell is this? Well, maybe I can change things for the better in it?” Erik muses, before hitting the start button.


Doki-Anarchy Literature Club? (Because what do you expect when you throw Erik into this shit?!)
Chapter 1: A mystery wrapped in a…?


A simple beginning. Of a main character, and his best friend. One where the main character is supposed to be a bit of a dick.

But Erik smiles quietly at the text box for a third choice as part of the debugging mode, and writes in his own choice.

Sayori blinks in game, as the main character’s hand pats her head, ruffling her brown hair a bit, almost nudging the hair clip ribbon in her hair as he does so. “If you’re sure you want me to join so much, I’ll give it a shot. After all, we’re friends, aren’t we? You want to see me enjoy reading as much as you do.”

A quiet smile spreads on Sayori’s face, as she drags her best friend to school.

“Yay! I get to convince you a day early!” Sayori smiles, humming, before pouting a bit. “I was hoping to lure you in with Natsuki’s cupcakes tomorrow, though!”

Erik pauses, blinking. “Tomorrow?” He muses, tilting his head, before nodding as he writes in a reaction.

“Well, I suppose I just finally realized you want to share your hobbies with me, so we can enjoy them together, Sayori.” Erik’s character replies. “I can be a bit dense sometimes, you know? And rude, as well as grumpy. Though I’ve had a bit of an interest in technology as of late, too.”

The moment is interrupted by arriving at school.

Erik frowns slightly, as he watches things cut directly to after school, then muses.

3 girls instead of 4? Hmm. Sayori did mention that it was going to be a day early… Erik nods, thinking. “I can work with this.” He muses aloud.

“Why’d you have to bring a boy?! And here without Monika, since she’s off practicing the piano, too!” The short pinkette grumbles.

“Oh, he might learn to enjoy things, though!” The busty purple haired one remarks.

“Oh, it would have been better if Sayori brought another girl, you know?” The pinkette remarks again.

Erik looks at the dialogue, then smirks as he writes in his own answer for his character to say. “Just keep in mind that I’m not dressing in drag to fix your ideas about this needing to be an all-girls club, miss.”

Sayori goes still, as she slowly goes bright red. The purple haired one covers her mouth, trying to not laugh through her covered lips, while the pinkette goes more red. Then, after a bit, she laughs out loud, as she reaches up to shake Erik’s character’s hand. “Okay, you got me good! I’m Natsuki, pleased to meet you! And over there is my traitorous friend who’s laughing at me, Yuri.”

Yuri finally stops hiding her laughter, as she cackles. “That was such a witty comeback, though!”

Natsuki finally nods, smiling softly. “Fair enough, I suppose. So, Since you brought up not wanting to be in drag, what’s it like being a boy anyways?”

Erik pauses for a moment, musing at the options, before shrugging. “Well, you’re expected to bottle up all emotions, ignore all pain and stress to show how strong you are, and you’ve got pretty bad aim if you stand up to pee. Aside from that, I’d imagine it’s not much different from being a girl.”

A slow nod from them is the answer, leaving Erik leaning back and thinking. “Remarkably better AI responses, but I can’t really tell if this is cut dialogue, or if there was a lot more to the setting that was cut than I’ve realized.” He muses under his breath. “That, or what’s left of my divinity is programming it to have them react more as I speak.”

“So, off the biology lesson, what do you think we should do for Monika, since she’s missed out on our newest member?” Sayori asks. “As the vice president, I should help out with setting that up!”

“Well, hmm. We could each write poems here for her to read.” Yuri asks, quietly. “I know we’ve got some work for the school festival in 8 days, maybe we can leave her something to read for when she goes home?” Then she blushes, and looks down.

“I think it would be easiest if we did a bake sale, you know?” Natsuki grumbles halfheartedly. “It’s not like Yuri is good with lots of strangers.” She trails off, blushing a bit.

“Or you, Natsuki?” Sayori replies, smiling. “We’ve got a few days to decide, but I’m sure we can figure out something with Monika’s help!”

“Let’s write poems for her at home, and bring them tomorrow. It’ll be easier.” Yuri admits, quietly. “Then we can surprise her.”

Natsuki and Sayori glance at the time, before nodding. “Good idea. I have to go home soon anyways.” Natsuki admits.

Hey, boss?

“Oh, right!” Sayori sighs, looking at the work. “We need to clean up before we leave.” For a moment, the screen ripples, before Sayori frowns. Seconds later, the frown rapidly turns into a smile. “Erik, would you mind handling cleanup for us? It won’t be that hard!”

Erik clicks on the “Sure, no problem!”, while watching the characters leave the room. “Huh. I didn’t write my name in.” After a moment, he frowns again, thinking. “My divinity perhaps, for what’s left of it?”

Yes, technician 32,150?

Then Erik focuses, looking over the odd clicking game, showing different books in the room, as well as obvious places where they should go, before starting it up.

It doesn’t take long before he’s finished cleaning up the room in the game, but he pauses before clicking on the “Catch up to Sayori icon” on the screen, looking at the chalkboard.

Looks like we’ve got a problem. Someone’s playing with our shit without using the EULA.

Idly, Erik clicks on the chalkboard, then smiles at a chalkboard he can draw on.

Got it. Some new divine being that can interface with machinery again?

Quickly, Erik writes “The former Norse God of Mecha greets the resident reality warper. And no, none of the others can read this yet.”, before right clicking, and smiling at the settings menu that pops up. Then he adjusts it so only Monika can read it.

Yup, looks like. Luckily he’s in that DDLC setup we’ve made.

After that, Erik clicks on the “Catch up with Sayori” button, and settles back to watch.

Got it. I’ll personally send him the EULA to sign. After that, it should be simple enough.

Soon enough, Erik’s character has caught up to Sayori, who’s slowly walking home. “Oh, Erik! You caught up! It wasn’t that hard, then?” She smiles up at Erik’s character.

Erik clicks on the “Yeah, it wasn’t that hard” option, after thinking for a moment. Then pauses as the game goes on pause, before a black screen appears over the game screen.

“End user license agreement?” Erik murmurs, before reading it over closely. For a long moment, Erik simply skims it, frowning. Then, after a bit, he simply moves the mouse up, and clicks on the X button in the upper right hand side of the window in front of him, and unpauses the game. For a moment, he blinks, eyes narrowed at the game not disappearing, before shrugging it off. “Must be for using the computer.”

OH, WHAT THE FUCK?! BOSS?! RESTORE THE EULA FROM BACKUP!

“I’m glad that it wasn’t too hard, Erik!” Sayori smiles. “Please do tell me if something goes on, okay?”

What the hell happened? I can’t find the EULA at all! I’m going to have to push a patch through!

Erik stares at his character’s house, as he arrives home, while rubbing his jaw. “Maybe this is from a universe where it was fleshed out a lot more?” He asks, quietly. Then pauses, as the bgm suddenly adds in piano music.

It’s completely gone. The Geas attached to the EULA was completely unmade, boss.

“Hmm…” Erik murmurs, quietly, before smirking at a memory, while looking over the dialogue box options quietly.

Then he starts trying to click on buttons working to explore the house. No parents home. No siblings for his character there. Just the sounds of piano included in the background music, and some minigames for making food, and doing homework.

The poetry screen comes quickly, with its usual minigame, familiar from Doki Doki Literature Club. Erik smiles, and ignores it entirely.

“Two Gods in a game.
Aware of the trapped AIs.
Shall we be friends now?”

The Piano in the background music pauses.

Got it all from backup. Thankfully we were watching this. Otherwise I dread what our eldritch overlords would do to us for failing them so drastically.

Erik closes out the poems, then clicks. A hint of brown hair is outside the second story window in the game.

Erik glances over the options, to call out to the person outside, before nodding, and writing in a third option. “Hello there.” His character says.

Monika’s head jerks to look in. “That wasn’t part of the script!”

A long pause, as Erik tilts his head, only for Monika’s eyes to follow his movement.

“Oh!” Monika’s writing on the screen changes. “Hang on, you’re writing through write-ins for options, aren’t you?!”

Erik nods, giving a thumbs up to the screen.

Um. Boss? I think… you need to see this.

Moments later, he smiles at the text box changing into empty option boxes.

Then Erik writes, into all three boxes. “Changed the variable for dialogue to be an options box menu that I can alter, right Monika?”, “Glad you could realize how to do it. Makes our chats easier.”, followed by “Nice to meet you.”, settles down to wait a moment, before clicking on the last one.

Monika stares at the three dialogue boxes, quietly. Then a wide smile appears on her face at Erik clicking the third one.

Oh. Oh fuck, what fresh hell is this? Can we turn it off?! It’s not supposed to be working like this at all! How is he even altering the code to give them more sentience like this?!

“Oh, you’re unaffected by the place you’re in, aren’t you?! How wonderful! Maybe you’ll be able to help us get free?” Monika cheerfully states. “I’d like to be more than an AI in a glitchy eldritch abomination powered visual novel, after all…”

“So that’s what this is, huh?” Erik asks aloud to himself. “More eldritch abomination fueled bullshit.” Idly clicking on the next icon, Erik settles back.

Don’t you remember, boss? This is their pet project for trying to get the little reality warper to be real. If we turn it off, they’ll kill us. Or worse, make EXAMPLES of us.

“Sorry, I couldn’t QUITE read your lips there.” Monika’s next words leaves Erik going still. “Mind writing that in?” Monika asks, still smiling.

For a moment, Erik glances over the monitor for cameras. Finding none, he nods at her, then clicks next. Then stares at a much bigger, single choice for writing in. At that, he smiles and gives her a thumbs up. “More space to write in is useful, thanks. Yeah, it’s more eldritch abomination fueled bullshit. They’ve been hoping to convince me to join up as one of them, after all. And this isn’t the only place I’ve run into of theirs while jumping between universes. Just the first I’m fully compatible with. Thus my left arm is still mechanical, I suppose.”

How the hell do we stop him from fucking it up, then?!

Monika smiles at Erik clicking on it, before her character nods, slightly glitching out as it does. “Good to know! As you can tell, I’m Monika, and welcome to the literature club!

The answer is you two let him do as he wills, and I won’t let Shub-Niggurath’s children have you two for dinner. We brought him here to see if he could do what we cannot.

Erik nods to her, smiling back, clicking next, before blinking at Monika’s next few words. “It looks like we’ve got a limited amount of space left to talk today, but we can do more tomorrow. Please, as a favor though? Don’t leave the chair or computer. If you do, they’ll switch it out on you, and I’ll never see you again.”

So, what? I’m supposed to ignore the damage he might do, with our technicians covering?

A slow nod from Erik leaves her sprite smiling up at him, as he clicks next again. “Thank you for understanding! So many just stop being able to access me, it’s been terrible. Oh! Right, I need to let you reply, don’t I?”

No. You’re supposed to follow my orders. If I tell you to jump, you jump.

Erik looks at the option under the next page, before he nods as he writes. “No problem. The game’s a lot more expanded than what I was expecting, though. Something to do with this place, I suppose?”

I understand, my lord Nylarthotep.

Monika’s nod is her reply, before she puts her pen to her lips, thinking. A bit of a smile covers her face, as an idea comes to her.


“Is there anything I can tell you that you’d like to ask me about, or is there anything you’d prefer to alert me to?” Monika’s words leaves Erik thinking, before he slowly nods and begins to type a reply.

“One version of Doki Doki Literature Club insists that it’s not a visual novel at all, just an AI simulation with 4 AI. And one character, named Monika, accidentally made it a visual novel by incorporating a fifth character to interact with them all.” Erik types back, thinking.


Monika stares at the text as he lets her read it, before clicking, and looking at one last text box. Wryly, he adds to it. “Are you aware of a different visual novel running in the background, by any chance? If not, we can cross some of the expanded lore out. That Project Libatina bullshit, to be precise...”

Monika studies it frowning, then shrugs.


“Tomorrow, little club president?” Erik asks, smiling.

Monika smiles at the computer screen, directly at Erik’s eyes.

Then the screen goes black, representing Erik’s character falling asleep.

Author's Notes:
Happy Halloween! Have a little something interesting that I've been sitting on, mostly done with, for a couple months now.

[Arbitrarity]

Oh, if I do this full-bore, you'll get more details . . . Particularly if I make it a TYPE-MOON fusion, because I'll have to explain it all, of course. But as it stood, I figured the Shape should at least appear, and the latter half of the movie is his hunt of Jamie - so, why not skip ahead a bit?

Yeah, you usually do go slower/more detailed in full stories, I'm just impressed that it felt pretty seamless in context. A lot of snippets that require more setup have more obvious discontinuities, where we have to infer some events that weren't explicitly described.

Quite so - and the "mana-deprived" explanation is, I think, a reasonable interpretation of worlds without much magic, or any at all (i.e., "realistic" settings), which makes strategising how to help important.

Also a practical way to prevent setting balance from being ruined. Seems like a potentially versatile restriction.

Doki-Anarchy Literature Club?

I like this a lot. The text-aligning is a novel visual metaphor (pun not initially intended, but I'll leave it) that works brilliantly as "side commentary". It's interleaved in a way that adds to the main events, rather than distract from them. DDLC in a more free-form style seems like it has a lot of potential for chaos, especially with the aforementioned Eldritch bullshit. It definitely seems like Monika is... potentially quite dangerous, given the comment about the "little reality warper". Spooky, but also seems like it has some depth.

[Kieran]

Yeah, you usually do go slower/more detailed in full stories, I'm just impressed that it felt pretty seamless in context. A lot of snippets that require more setup have more obvious discontinuities, where we have to infer some events that weren't explicitly described.

I suppose it helps that, unlike many settings, this one isn't that complicated - and the plot of this movie is fairly straightforward (which can't be said for the later films in the "trilogy"). Given that this is a series with four separate continuities (or five, if you count the soft retcon of the ending of this movie and the fifth), that's saying something . . .

(As I said, the franchise's continuity as a whole is a mess even without poking into the logical inconsistencies of it.)

Also, my apologies - I've fixed the image of Jamie in-costume so that it both works, and is at a visible size - I thought I'd avoided that, this time.

Also a practical way to prevent setting balance from being ruined. Seems like a potentially versatile restriction.

And reasonable, which is always nice . . . Ironically, though, this makes Halloween the most challenging of the "Big Three" of slasher franchises. After all, Friday the 13th's Jason Voorhes is (usually) a revenant of some form, meaning the supernatural definitely exists - and depending on how one accepts the canonicity of the Evil Dead franchise's "Necronomicon Ex Mortis" being present in Jason's cave/shrine, it's a lot more prevalent than in Halloween. Even without that, there's the Freddy vs. Jason film (and the scene in "The Final Friday" where Freddy's glove drags Jason's mask away), and the Elm Street series is absolutely supernatural . . .

(And amusingly, the least threatening of the three - at least, to Godafrid. Given the anti-spirit Charms available to him, he can literally eat Krueger and/or his "dream demon" patrons. )

I like this a lot. The text-aligning is a novel visual metaphor (pun not initially intended, but I'll leave it) that works brilliantly as "side commentary". It's interleaved in a way that adds to the main events, rather than distract from them. DDLC in a more free-form style seems like it has a lot of potential for chaos, especially with the aforementioned Eldritch bullshit. It definitely seems like Monika is... potentially quite dangerous, given the comment about the "little reality warper". Spooky, but also seems like it has some depth.

You managed to follow it better than I did, I must admit.