The TiffTastic Voyage (a darkwalker escape attempt, still in progress)

[TiffTastic]

I woke up in a broken home, with the stars above, and hell behind, and no memory of how I got there. I looked around and groaned, thinking I musta really tied one on or something, but I saw no wine bottles and holy sweet Jesus it is cold! Why am I only wearing a tshirt and jeans and sneakers? And when did all this snow get into my house? Wait. My house has a roof. And complete, intact walls. This place, it has none of that. 
 

Having concluded that I had no clue how I got there, and that “there” certainly sucks ferociously, I stood up. I looked out the wall hole, seeing a roadway. Ok, I bet this is that house in pleasant valley that looks like Godzilla stepped on the middle of it. Where’s my car? And god it’s soooo cold! Yeah, does look like pleasant valley at least. 
 

I started out into the night, walking quickly and confidently down the road. However, seconds later a thought struck me...it’s coming....it can feel me here...come to take my soul...come for the hunt, satisfy the hunger and hate....

 

I shuddered as the thoughts continued, seemingly of their own. A series of protective glyphs. A single column of green fire, reassuring in its ethereal oddity. A half glimpsed horror from afar, towering, hulking, skeletal yet strangely stout, animalistic, yet filled with fierce intelligence and utter malevolence.

 

I broke into a run, panicking as I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was real. I saw up ahead the little town of Carter’s Crossing, saw the absence of lights. Also some buildings had burnt down. I ran to the door of the first and banged on it, shouting that it was Tiff from Perseverance Mills and that I must have been in an accident. And that I was freezing. And then when I got no response I kicked the door open.

 

”I’ll be damned if I freeze into a Tiffsickle”, I thought as I quickly ransacked the house, getting food, more clothes, the best find being a mariners pea coat. “Thank God”, I thought, finishing my looting spree with a box of handgun ammo and some boots. I went across the bridge and tried the corner store, breaking in and absconding with more food, some spray paint, flares, and kindling. Now that I had light, I repeated the process in the church, and netted mukluks, possibly more precious than all the gold on earth. Oh, and a handgun. And coffee. I immediately lit a fire and brewed it up, also eating some food while I waited. Somehow I knew the terror was still far, and I fell into a long and dreamless sleep. 
 

I awoke to the feeling that the air had changed. Evil now lurked in pleasant valley. I got up fast, collected “my” stuff, and went out the door without looking back. On the door I spray painted a lure, to delay the horror, which I now knew was called the darkwalker. What it was, I knew not, only that it was ancient, and weapons could not hurt it. I went down the road further, fast this time, crossing the first bridge. I could hear thundering steps in the distance.  Hideous growls and roars as well. At one point, I think it knocked over some trees. Then I somehow knew it was at the lure.

 

I saw a green light in the distance, across a field. I started out across, into a wicked headwind. For a long time, the light stayed distant, but eventually grew near. I saw that it was a fire, and next to it when I got there was coffee, a note which I could not make sense of, referencing a pale river. There was a rifle, more ammo, and a mackinaw jacket. I snugged that on, and then, knowing the horror was still preoccupied by my lure, I slept again. Many hours passed. I awoke, the fire was out. Panic hit me. I got up and began running.

 

i passed a barn. Quickly I sprayed another lure glyph on it, and resumed running. After some time I slowed down, and took stock of my location. I needed to get out of the valley. Why? Because since apparently magic stuff was happening, I knew that poison fog would fill the valley soon. And I did not want to choke to death. That is not how this girl dies. So, I ran to the hills, near the cave by the hunter’s blind. To the passage to the carter hydro dam. Cause maybe there would be something there. Anything useful would be nice. Secretly, I was hoping for a flamethrower though. Cause might as well try, even though I knew it would fail. 
 

I gained the hills easily enough, but had to spend several long minutes looking for the cave. And once I got in there, I realized I had no light source save some matches. Fumbling with them I started, moving 10 feet or so with each match. I wasn’t sure if I was getting turned around. Jesus it was so dark. And the demon would come. Hiding was no protection. It wouldn’t even pause. Sweating now, panic in my veins reigned as my trembling fingers got burned by match after match. I fell several times, once around 10-12 feet. That last fall, only some snow had cushioned the fall and saved me from disaster. I put my hand on a branch and used it to stand up. A branch! I could burn that! Light my way!

 

wasting no time I soaked it in accelerant and fired it up. Quickly I raced through the cave, only pausing to scoop up a flare I found on the ground and some sticks. I ran into the winding river with hope in my heart as I felt the darkwalker’s presence recede. 
 

to be continued....

[ManicManiac]

Well done, strong start...
I'm looking forward to seeing how the horrors that wait for your unfold

Edited October 31, 2020 by ManicManiac

[TiffTastic]

Halfway up the winding river chasm, in a narrow nook I left another lure. Hopefully this would buy me time, time I would use to get through the dam, time so that I might navigate the dark without feeling the icy embrace of the demon. I climbed out of the chasm a short time later and took a narrow path up to the dam buildings proper. I stopped at the entrance by a dead deer, lit a quick fire, and made several torches. I also took a nap, cause who doesn’t need wonderful, wonderful sleep. And also, cause somehow I knew that it wouldn’t make much progress while I slept.

 

I awoke and wasting no time, quickly ate and drank, and hopped through the window down to the floor. A vista of treasure awaited, but I knew my time was short. I grabbed only what I could see that was useful, a flare, ammo, and I did spend a minute looking clothes from lockers. Cause I was sick of this freezing crap. But only a minute, and I stashed my loot, not stopping to put it on yet.

 

Eerie sounds filled the dam, and each clunk and thud made my heart beat faster. I passed strange shapes in the dark, a few feet outside my little cone of light. I knew in my mind it was machinery, but my heart rebelled, seeing evil with every unformed object. Still I pressed on, resolving to get through the hell dam. Finally I reached a long stairwell. I rapidly ascended, to find a macabre scene on the landing at the top. A corpse sat against the wall, with two broken arrows in his hands. Two more were impaled in the door. I couldn’t make sense of it. Why? Was he trying to stab something with the arrows? What else lurked in here?

 

Awaiting the ghost of Fluffy, the legendary wolf of the dam, to leap out at me, I opened the door....

 

To a concrete corridor, uninspiring in its banality, and absolutely wonderful in its vacancy. I continued forward, threading through rooms of machines, then another long corridor, and finally the anterooms of the upper dam. A quick search netted more ammo, for whatever that was worth. I then felt the darkness come, and knew my eldritch pursuer was close. I bolted from the dam, and ran straight into a pack of wolves! I ripped the handgun free of my belt, attempted to aim, but only let a wild round fly into the unending night before the snarling visage of the Wolf was upon me. Over and over I clubbed him with the gun, his teeth locked into my forearm in a death’s rictus. Finally I felt something in the wolf’s forehead give, and it staggered off weakly yipping in pain. 
 

Blood poured from my arm. Remembering my days as a paramedic, I quickly grabbed a bandage and bound the ragged wound tightly. I poured disinfectant on it as well, maybe I’d have trouble later but it would prevent sepsis now. I retrieved my handgun and started down the river again. I opened fire at several shapes in the dark, startling a herd of deer, but missing them. Just as well, only thought they were wolves....

 

Twice I saw actual wolves, but each time I saw them first as I was downwind, and I took potshots at them. I missed both times, but each caused them to flee. I came to the tracks, and ahead I saw a glimpse of green fire. I sprinted to it, took the loot, a rifle and some clothes and food, before discarding it all. Nothing I needed, and it’d just slow me down. Then I slept, hoping to restore some energy after the wolf attack.

 

When I awoke, I heard it coming. Still not close, but not far either. No time to waste, I gathered my kit and resumed my March. Before I left, I took the note by the fire, more lovecraftian musings which, while still seemingly exotic, were beginning to make sense...

Once again, thoughts unsought appeared in my mind’s eye, and I knew I was being chased by the wendigo, the evil spirit of the wilderness and the horror in empty places. Shudders and chills coursed through me with this knowledge, as the gravity of my trouble began to set in.

I skipped the camp office, but left a lure on it, to buy some time. I was going to try for mountain town, old Milton, as if there was humanity left anywhere it would most likely be there, and maybe the demon of solitude would shun it...

 

to be continued...

[ManicManiac]

A harrowing scrape, and a wonderful escape...

March onward, weary survivor... good luck.

[TiffTastic]

I stumbled down the railroad tracks after leaving the camp office, the place that had been my favorite local diversion in happier times offering only dark loneliness and sorrow. I resolved to get to Milton, hoping to find humanity. I knew that I’d have to traverse a cave system to do this. The last one had been horrible, and nearabouts drove me mad. This time I had light however....

 

I peeled off the train tracks to my right, and quickly navigated the dark woods, hills and folds rushing up and down. Branches whipping against my jacket, my face, my neck, stinging and burning, like the lashes of an angry god, seemingly invisible yet all to painfully real. Barks sounded nearby, this time I wasted no time and just fired in the general direction of the bark. Yipping and a fleeing wolf was my reward, and a few hundred feet further brought me to the cave entrance. I chugged some coffee, took some deep breaths, grabbed a torch, and went inside.

 

Darkness blacker than the horror night awaited, and the torch did little to dispel it. But I only needed a little, just a few rays of light to carve a path through the Stygian black. Unlike my last cave traverse, this one went smoothly, and I was soon rushing towards a jagged oval of dark green sky.

 

The meadow below Milton was peaceful seeming. The darkwalker was quite far behind, and I found a warm but shallow cave nearby. I quickly built a fire, using the accelerant I found near the corpse at the mouth of the cave to make it easy. His hatchet I took as well. Then I slept for many hours. I awoke knowing I’d chosen correctly, as the wendigo was still far. I knew some mountain climbing awaited me, so I left a lure in the cave, just in case.

 

i travelled a short distance to the rope, and started up after drinking an energy drink. As I climbed, terror began to creep into my mind. What if it came upon me here? What if I felt a mighty swipe against my calves, tearing me from the rope and sending me plunging to my death? These thoughts spurred me on, and I practically vaulted the last 30 feet up. I had made it. Now all that stood before me was a walk. 
 

Not wasting time, I power walked through the once pretty campground on the bluff,  ignoring the buried and shattered picnic tables. I started down the road to the orca station, planning to try to summon help there. A cacophony of barks erupted though, reminding me that not only was I potential demon chow, but apparently tiffburgers were also found highly desirable by the local  wolf population. Once again I opened fire from the hip, two shots sending two wolves scrambling and a third dropping where it stood. I’d gotten lucky. I took no time admiring my handiwork however, and ran to the orca. 
 

to be continued....

[TiffTastic]

Locked up tight and dark as the abyss is what I found at my goal. Instead of salvation, a thin wind whispering dark suggestions was my only reward. I didn’t bother going in, and the cars in front of it didn’t work, just like everything else. So I proceeded into Milton proper. 
 

Now Milton was never a lively town, but it’s immediate descriptor right now was “tomblike”. Some houses were boarded up, others burned. Others had unlocked doors. I shot at a couple wolves, scaring them off. No replies to my noise were evident, mute and dead Milton was, and I was beginning to suspect I might be the only one here. With a heavy mind, I lay back in one of the cars and slept deeply.

 

Once again I awoke with a start, only to ease back when I sensed the demon was still quite far. Apparently my decoys were strong, and my progress quick. I ate and drank quickly, and placed a glyph down an alley quickly. I sprinted out of town, to the south, where paradise meadows was, and seconds prior I’d glimpsed a green spark. Weapon in hand, I reached the bridge, and could see the green flame in the distance. I was glad it was not in town, the atmosphere of the dead hamlet was oppressive with menace and despair. 
 

A couple more shots to frighten the wolves and I was there. Some food greeted me, and there was a sweater in a chest. There was another strange note, which referenced sunrise on a distant moon, or the lack thereof. But as I read it, I received much more. The previous notes had somehow given me knowledge beyond what was possible. This one made me see....

 

I saw the great beast, or at least it’s shadow, striding across the landscape at significant speed. I saw it’s claw flash into existence as it sheared a pine tree with a casual swipe. I saw it proceed THROUGH the tree as it fell, and was struck by the inimical hate radiating off of it. Then I noticed the chain. It was as ill defined and ethereal as the beast itself, but as my vision zoomed in I realized I could see faces in the chain. Faces of people I knew. Faces of other great bear residents. The owner of the Orca. The trucker that brought its wares. Old mother. The ranger from mystery lake. The lighthouse keeper. Many, many more. I screamed in horror. All at once, the vision stopped. A crash in the distance rang out. It had found me! I hurriedly spray painted a glyph to stall it and rushed to the creek.

 

I sprinted down, to get to the rope to the basin. Maybe I could stall it in the muskeg. Maybe there was a radio transmitter in the railroad encampment past the muskeg. I had no illusions that this was likely, but short Hope was better than no hope, and besides, screw that thing. I’d be damned if I was going to wind up as a trapped soul in its chain. Or at least I’d make its ass work for me. Cause I’m like that. I’d spit in its face while it killed me, just cause.

 

A near encounter with a wolf sent me scrambling for my revolver, which I cleared and fired just in time to hit it in the head a split second before it would have mauled me. Hearing the demon roar in the distance, I did not even watch the feral beast i’d just shot hit the ground, instead rushing to the rope, and immediately rappelling down. I took the second rope even faster, shedding unneeded items along the way. Then I scrambled down into the basin proper and took off towards the Muskeg. I’d ride Hat Creek all the way down. First however I stopped at the hermit’s house as I was in bad need of rest. A fire and 4 hours is what I got. On waking, I put a lure and wasted no time, as I felt the demon getting close.

I started running toward gat creek when a dark form rushed out of the fog and slammed into me. Pain wracked my ankle as I registered a wolf had latched on to it! I grabbed my hatchet and struck it repeatedly, to no avail, until I realized I was using the flat side of the head! I reversed my grip, and one neck blow later, shoved the dying wolf off. It hadn’t penetrated my mukluks, and I wrapped it and swallowed a handful of some pain pills I’d found in a car. 
 

It was then I realized that the air had turned to poison! My chest burning, I stood up and literally SPRINTED down the head of hat creek, sliding into the muskeg at breakneck speed. But I made it. The sweet cold air of the muskeg filled my lungs. Ok, maybe it wasn’t sweet, but it was cold for sure. But I digress. 
 

Ok, this one, I could see the pillar of flame from afar. By the tracks it was, and down into the muskeg I went. I ran fast, knowing that skidding over weak ice quickly was better than hesitation here. I left a glyph in a corner to slow my stalker up. I had my weapon out as I ran, for the famously abundant wildlife of the Muskeg, but besides one wayward moose, which voiced its displeasure but did not offer pursuit, I was untrammeled. I reached the fire. Warmth embraced me.

 

This fire had a bearskin bedroll and a flare, as well as food. And a note. A note that spoke of madness. A note that made me see again....

 

I got the sense I was looking very far back, that the scenes I saw were from long ago. I saw a lush forest, and people with archaic weapons get hunted down one after another in the dark. Each one’s death was fast, but the hideous and drawn out screams gave me no illusion that it was horribly painful. I saw a young man panicked, looking over his shoulder, hurriedly carving a glyph into a tree with a knife, as well as a single word.

 

Croatoan.

 

I knew then I was learning the answer to one of the western world’s great unsolved mysteries. But the scenes sped up. And the times changed. A band of Vikings picked apart on a rocky coastline. MesoAmericans torn apart in the shadow of a great temple. A boat at sea, it’s crew vanishing one at a time, it’s last soul devoured against the M on the back, the first letter of the vessel’s name. Others now too fast to count. I saw Greek columns, thatched roofs, castles, and a giant red pyramid in the background, but the ending was the same. 
 

Always. The ending was always the same. Death. And the chain. I sank into sleep with grim foreboding, and awoke with dread unabated. But still I rose, and after placing a glyph I walked the tracks to the broken railroad. God help me.

 

to be continued....

 

 

[TiffTastic]

The broken railroad began uneventfully. It did not remain so. But I was able to journey all the way to the cutoff for the railroad workers, without incident. There I saw the green flame, on top of the bluff overlooking the rail yard. I fired twice to scatter the wolf pack in the yard and quickly gained the summit of the bluff.

 

This fire had a ton of ammo at it, along with an energy drink and coffee. Also bandages and disinfectant, and a flare. Not for the first time, I wondered who had left these things. There was no way it was a fellow survivor, at least not a normal human. Why? Last I checked, and I checked a lot, cause fire is warm and I am not, still burned orange and yellow. At least MY fires. So yeah, fire is not supposed to be green. Even the damn embers were green. 
 

Oh, and there was a note. Knowing what was coming, I picked it up and read it. Something about stars, the usual esoteric psychobabble. But there was something more. I blinked and I was standing in a field, watching a warrior in chainmail swing a broadsword at the creature, the blade passing clean through the beast without resistance. I watched as the warrior was somehow lifted up off the ground and something that looked like tiny sparks left the upper part of his body as he let loose a terrifying wail of anguish. The body fell to the ground, and I knew that the thing had just devoured his soul. 
 

there were more scenes. Guns, knives, swords, all useless. The montage was followed by a view of the earth, a complex series of lines crisscrossing it. I saw a flash where many intersected and realized that their point of contact was great bear. I saw then that afterwards the lines shifted again, this time landing on a place near the tip of South America. Statistics flooded my head now, dates and number of missing from throughout history. Some were familiar, like Roanoke, the Mary Celeste, the Dyatlov Pass Incident, Machu Pichu. Sometimes long periods of time separated them, sometimes there were two or 3 in a year. 
 

This thing did not need us. It wanted us. It didn’t feed on souls, it glutted on them far beyond any point of satiety. As the vision faded, horrible thoughts ran through my head. What chance could I possibly have against this? I needed more info. I needed to find another fire. 
 

But first I slept. Woke up knowing the darkwalker was still far, but in the direction I needed to go. I placed a lure by the fire, and headed back out. As I grew close to the section of the track where the landslide was, I felt it’s presence grow close. It felt like it was smothering my soul, pulling me into hell. I screamed incoherent madness as the thing created the pile of rocks. It’s rate never slowed. I could only see it by its footsteps and a shimmer in the air, but I could tell it was about 5-10 times the size of a bear. Green malevolence poured out from it in sickening waves. Revulsion and terror gripped me and I began screaming defiance at it, as it continued towards me.

 

It didn’t even see me. It cared not that I was screaming at the top of my lungs. It passed twenty meters away and kept walking, in the direction I’d placed the lure. I ran quickly to the top of the landslide and jumped down the other side. I quaffed an energy drink and bolted down the tracks. The fires seemed to be separated by many miles, one in each geographical region. So the next closest likely place would be bleak inlet, but I did not want to go there. I had seldom journeyed there and did not know the terrain. The other option was to follow the tracks to the coastal highway. This would be a long way but it would be through very familiar territory.

 

It was getting colder. I snugged what was left of my now ragged winter clothes tighter and kept jogging. I entered the muskeg and had journeyed about a quarter of the way when a terrible sound shocked me into a sprint. A bear! And oh god it was so close. I could hear it thundering after me. I spun around, my reserves flagging, to see it galloping at me like a hate train. I fired three times, hitting it with all three shots, but it mattered not. I felt agony as it’s claws pierced my skin, and it began tearing into me. My vision dimmed, held for a second, then faded to black.

 

Less than a minute later I awoke to the sensation of what was undoubtedly an arterial bleed in my forearm. Jesus, I was almost dead. I grabbed my gun and scrambled away from the bear, who was walking away nonchalantly. I ran a short distance, then wrapped a tourniquet around the horrible wound. I dumped disinfectant on it, screaming as it hissed and foamed. I could barely see. My heart was firing with triphammer speed, and I knew that I was a hairs breath away from the long sleep. I ran down the tracks. I ran and I ran. I stopped leaking blood at least, but possibly I was going to freeze to death. If I couldn’t reach that stalled train, I was a dead woman.

 

Good thing I’m determined.

 

I made it. I started a fire, and examined quickly the train. An emergency stim, an energy drink, bandages. Someone was looking out for Tiff. I sensed my lure was still active, so with no time wasted I unrolled my bedroll and slept for 12 hours.

 

I woke up with a crushing Adrenalin hangover but after eating and drinking my fill I felt quite a bit better. It was time to go. Marveling that I was still alive, I proceeded down the track, leaving a glyph. I was going to do this. I could make it.

 

And make it I did. I blurred through mystery lake, and raven falls as well. Even the trestle passed quickly, and I stumbled through the tunnel and out to the coast. I pretty much fell down the last hills to the water’s edge, and picked up a pack of wolves in pursuit in the process. I lit a marine flare and ran out onto the ice. I sprinted flat out this time, towards the green flame I sought. I used the emergency stim, redoubled my efforts, lost the wolf pack miraculously.

 

I ran to the fire and grabbed the note, praying for any salvation. It referenced the thing being from the stars but not, standard crap, but that’s not why I wanted it. This time the vision was brief. It showed the Earth in orbit around a blackened, dead sun, I saw the oceans of the earth freeze, and the cities, even those of the equator, eventually become snowbound. Nowhere had power,  and I was utterly alone. Well, not alone, but....

 

There was no escape. There was no hope of salvation. The game was rigged. I wasn’t even in the same reality as before. This universe had different rules. Rules I couldn’t hope to master in time.

 

This is the way it ends. More fires wouldn’t help. I started to cry, thinking about dreams unfulfilled, and hopes shattered. Then I realized I hadn’t list everything. That there was worse in store. And I’ll be damned if there wasn’t something I could do about it.

 

Smiling I stepped into the fire, dripping with accelerant.

 

It hurt a lot, but I could take it. Because the creature’s screams of rage and frustration were sweet music, and it would never reach me in time.

 

I burned, but in doing so I denied the darkwalker what it sought, and freed my soul.

 

Sometimes we win by losing, sometimes we escape

 

Tiff🦋

[TiffTastic]

Thank you manic, I hope it was entertaining. It was fun to write, and this us the first one of these stories that I’ve written since I arrived on this forum...

[ManicManiac]

It took me awhile catch up on reading your chronicle from yesterday.

This was really well done, @TiffTastic.
Yours was certainly a harrowing adventure, and I'm glad you shared it with the community. 

One of the things that has kept me so engaged with this game over the years is that: in the Survival Sandbox (and this goes for the challenges and events as well) we each create our own stories every time we play... just by interacting with the "world" through sheer gameplay and the choices we make along the way.

Again... well done.

Edited November 3, 2020 by ManicManiac

[TiffTastic]

I appreciate your reading it🦋I kinda do a little amateur writing on an odd occasion but this was my first attempt at anything horror. And I love the story creation aspect, I will probably try to do this again sometime. Not with the darkwalker tho, fun as it was, this in my mind is the canon story for it in my world...

[Sherri]

Wow, this was great!! Thanks Tiff. Very entertaining.

[TiffTastic]

Any time and thank you for reading it Sherri💜