Dead End in APRA: Anomalous Parks & Recreation Areas | World Anvil

Dead End

Thanks to all of your efforts, Cul De Sacula and the Cult De Sac were sabotaged by recovered personnel through the power of friendship! Just kidding, as he was unaware of current events, Cul De Sacula caught COVID— which apparently nullifies magic— including the ritual. To be safe, we've added a few roads at the ends of various cul de sacs to break their connect the dot puzzle. Don't worry, so long as most of you exclusively eat at Agnew Sr.s for the next 3 months we won't go under!
  Unfortunately, we were unable to locate Cul De Sacula's castle, or apprehend him, the clever son of a gun made it look like any other suburban cookie cutter home...or it was never a castle to begin with. Vampires have to live in castles, though right? So it's definitely clever magic at play. Anyway, take the day off, you earned it— and we can't afford to pay you this week.
— Bin Folks, Administrator

 

ATTACHMENT: VICTORYSCREECH.mp3


 
It's not a dead end. It's a loop.
— ???

 

0

days without incident.


Comments

Author's Notes

Happy Halloween! This was a lot of fun to do! I had a video planned to go with today but unfortunately didn't have the time. (It was just going to be a cheesy, badly edited "we're winner" video with a glitch and that end quote, anyway.) I'd love to try doing another ARG in the future, and do it much more proper— I was testing the waters with this and purposefully kept to simpler ideas. The one-week restriction didn't help either haha. I've really been wanting to do an ARG for a long time now so this was my first foray into that!   Future stuff would be longer, much more puzzley, and wouldn't rely on a specific timeframe. (Ok, future non-Halloween stuff— I definitely want to keep doing fun stuff for Halloween!). Lots of things could work better that way. For example, I should have used the google form responses for something here (a character quoting them directly or changing the story to fit) but didn't have the time to move off my plans too much.   Similarly I understand if this ending feels too abrupt, I think this could have really done with 3-5 more days of buildup. I was really pleasantly surprised by the response to the hidden article puzzle earlier, too! I definitely want to do more things like that for future ARGs! Will those be on WA? Or will I do more classic-style horror unfiction? Both probably.   Anyway, stay tuned for an "epilogue" within a week or so— I planned that to be out today originally too but was too pressed for time to write that. Going to be a full Cul De Sacula article that summarizes this event in the event logs section.


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Oct 31, 2020 17:51 by Morgan Biscup

This was a lot of fun, Timepool!   Really excited about seeing something like this again.

Lead Author of Vazdimet.
Necromancy is a Wholesome Science.
Oct 31, 2020 17:57 by Morgan Biscup

I just listened to the APRA theme - that's perfect!

Lead Author of Vazdimet.
Necromancy is a Wholesome Science.
Oct 31, 2020 18:17 by Grace Gittel Lewis

Thank you! It may be a little while but it'll happen for sure. And yeah, Elias did a wonderful job on the theme!

Oct 31, 2020 18:22 by Dani

Excellent! Had a lot of fun with your first toe-dip into the ARG realm; looking forward to the next one (and the epilogue article!)


You are doing a great job! Keep creating; I believe in you!
Luridity: Where love is love and life is lived. Contains NSFW content.
Now with serialized fiction on Ream!!
Oct 31, 2020 18:32 by Grace Gittel Lewis

Thank you! Hopefully it'll deliver!

Oct 31, 2020 18:50 by Dr Emily Vair-Turnbull

This was so much fun, Timepool! :D Congrats on pulling it off! <3

Emy x   Etrea | Vazdimet
Oct 31, 2020 18:54 by Grace Gittel Lewis

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks!

Nov 3, 2020 08:49 by Wendy Vlemings (Rynn19)

This was fun. Looking forward to see your next ARG! I myself am trying to work on a sort of interactive horror mystery. I'm not sure if I'll succeed, but you certainly inspired me to keep working on it!

Author of Ealdwyll, a fantasy world full of mystery.
Nov 3, 2020 17:59 by Grace Gittel Lewis

Oh thank you! I hope it works well— and I'll have to see it when you put it out!

Nov 3, 2020 09:28 by R. Dylon Elder

I have waited so long for an ARG, and the fact that its in APRA just makes the wait worth it. Well done good sir. Sorry im late to the pary. I don't like waiting XD I actually think the buildup and resolution was quite nice, and that's after doing it all at once. Having to wait. oof. Perfection. lots of good laughs, that fricken password threw me for a loop... ahem... and the quality of the work is stellar as always. Well done. Cant wait to see what else you have in store.

Nov 3, 2020 18:01 by Grace Gittel Lewis

I'm honestly surprised that there haven't been many others on WA. (I won't say there have been none, because there are so many worlds— but I've never seen anyone do an ARG here yet!)   Thank you! Glad it jived well, and that the pacing still worked out with a binge. I'm surprised the password puzzle stumped folk as long as it did haha, I was honestly worried I made it too easy!

Nov 3, 2020 19:01 Private by R. Dylon Elder

I knowwww I've seen riddles, hidden passwords and hidden messages, and even new world allows for interaction with the narrator character, but I've never seen a true plotted ARG. It's inspiring to be sure. I've several ideas spring up. Perhaps you've started a trend? That's exciting as hell.     I'll make this private I don't ruin it but I think twitter's interface helped ramp up the difficulty. Not only is it backwards, due to dates but there is a lot going on when you look at the twitter page. I only noticed cause the numbers line up rather suspiciously. It was very well done.   Oooof just excellent work man.

Nov 3, 2020 19:37 Private by Grace Gittel Lewis

Thanks! At the very least I want to do more in the future!

Dec 3, 2020 06:11 by Joel Stainer

ok this was cool COVID-19...cool

Dec 3, 2020 06:17 by Grace Gittel Lewis

The one thing it did right

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