#Minos escape rooms

[b-rainlet]

Not to make a post about a horror movie that was never really popular on here, but I am pretty sure that Danny was killed because they were about to cheat

[pain-is-too-tired]

G/t pjo thoughts so bad on brain-

So anyway more about Borrower au.

Kronos and Minos work together. Both being in charge of the complex.

Kronos managed to convince Luke that it was "totally safe" for him and the other borrowers to live there after he was caught by Kronos. And Luke falls for it.

Both Kronos and Minos kidnap borrowers, Minos doing experiments and Kronos just seeing them no more then entertainment.

Chris is one of the first of Luke's group to get captured, left at the hands of Minos. The experiments leave him a shaken mess.

Nico is also captured at one point, but not for as long. Minos oddly enough doesn't do as much harsh experiments on him as he does with Chris. And he manages to escape a lot sooner.

Tensions rise with the others when people start going missing, and they become a lot more cautious when going outside their base.

The complex has multiple families of course, most involving college kids given how close it is to the campus.

Lee,Michael, Will and Kayla live in one apartment, with Austin visiting often but living with his mom nearby.

Lee's a music teacher who is heavily involved with programs helping kids in rough situations.

Michael's a freshman in college, going into Nursing.

Will is a Sophmore in highschool and Kayla and Austin in 8th grade

Luke gets caught by Lee one day why trying to take some cloth scraps left from one of Lee's projects for the programs he's involved in. He panics when Lee returns to his room after a shower and falls immediately into the pile of cloth scraps and gets tangled up instead.

Lee managed to get him untangled and is unfazed by Luke's whole tough guy act when he picks him up.

Jake gets caught by Michael one night when trying to get some food for his siblings why Charles is sick. Michael walks into the kitchen to get more water as he's pulling an all nighter why studying and just stops and stares when he sees Jake in the counter. Before just going, "fuck it, I'm too tired for this" and walking past Jake to get the water before heading back to his room without a word.

Meanwhile, Jake feels like he just saw his life flashed before his eyes.

Next time they run into eachother, Jake ended up getting badly hurt why scavenging around in the complex's main lobby(fell off something or got stepped on or whatever). Michael finds him and ends up healing him. When Jake wakes up he's frantic but Michael manages to calm him down.

Leo getting caught by Jason and Piper why taking bits and pieces of stuff to work with for his projects and Jason is immediately attached to the little guy. Leo has no idea what to do, he was going in expecting the human to hurt him if he was caught, but Jason's just absolutely amazed meeting Leo. And also very touchy. Piper teases the two of them and helps Leo find certain stuff when he needs it. Both their dads are rich, though they're not crazy about being given money by them they don't mind giving stuff to Leo as they have safety net to get more.

Jason lives with his cousin Percy, Piper lives with her sister Drew. Their older sister,Silena, lives across the hall with her girlfriend.

Charles had gotten caught by Silena and Clarisse why he was searching for Chris after he first went missing.

Clarisse had found Chris first after he just hardly somehow escaped Minos. He was hardly responsive. When they realized how bad he was and they were in over their head they went to Michael for help as a last resort to heal him.

Charles was nervous but relieved when he saw how careful Michael was with tending to Chris.

Michael of course was absolutely furious when he quickly figured out lot of Chris' injuries were inflicted by man. But he tried not get to worked up around Chris in fear of freaking him out.

[bonesandthebees]

Hey! Trying to get better at writing and honestly I thought World Forgetting was great! You dont have to answer this but what were some of the things you thought didn't work structurally?

aw thank you I'm so glad you enjoyed!

(first, this is not me asking for anyone to send me a ton of reassurance or fishing for compliments. these are just problems I have with my story from a writer's POV. don't worry about me, I know there's a lot of good stuff in the story. I just try to analyze my own writing objectively when I can to try and improve my skills)

now it's kind of hard to put all of my thoughts about my issues with WF into words, but I'm going to try so prepare for a lot of rambling under the cut

I think the most glaring structural issue is pretty much the entirety of the third act. it feels very rushed for everything that gets introduced in such a short span of time (for the record, when I refer to the third act I mostly mean all the plot events that follow after ch 12, when wilbur brings tommy to las nevadas and he nearly escapes only to choose to willingly stay)

everything past this just feels very... messy to me. we get introduced to the rest of the syndicate—Minos (Sam), Rhadamanthus (Puffy), and Aeacus (Ponk) and also get confirmation that Lethe and Styx are Ranboo and Tubbo respectively. then the only time Sam, Puffy, and Ponk feel even somewhat plot relevant again is when Hannah shows up at the sbi house and the syndicate has a whole meeting discussing wtf to do now. after that those three sort of just... disappear.

I was so caught up in trying to finish the story at the time that I didn't really care too much about it, but in retrospect that's always bothered me. why did I introduce Sam, Puffy, and Ponk in such a cool dramatic way if I was barely going to use them? Ponk at least has a function for being present in the story—they are the Syndicate's healer, which is undeniable proof to Tommy that the Syndicate didn't kidnap him for his healing abilities because they already had a healer. I mean, of course it's obvious why I threw them all in, it's a fanfic and sometimes you want to include every character you can even if they're not really serving much of a purpose. which is totally fine and there's nothing wrong with that, but for my longer stories that's not a crutch I personally like to fall back on. if I introduce characters in a way that makes them feel like they'll be important, I want to pull through on that.

at the same time, there's not really a place for those three in the finale. I needed to limit the amount of heroes and villains involved in the big final roof battle because if not I'd drive myself insane trying to write that many characters in a single scene at once. if I really wanted to fix that, the easiest and probably best way to be killing my darlings a bit. cut puffy out entirely (sorry puffy), mention that Sam is Minos solely because his tech manipulation power is necessary for tommy to get kidnapped in the first place but specify he's mostly retired, and probably mention Ponk in a similar position as not really being part of the syndicate but acting as their healer anyway.

also, I was in a tricky spot where I feel like there should've been more at least a bit more downtime between the syndicate meeting -> tommy confessing to wilbur he actually does have his memories -> hannah showing up and telling them about dream's plan -> tommy letting himself get taken by punz so he can confront dream. it feels very rushed to me, but at the same time the fic was already so long and there wasn't a need to drag it out even more, so that's why it's tricky for me to parse.

oh, and there are still issues before ch 12. one of my biggest weak points in world forgetting is how much time we spend with tommy just being trapped in the house/in his room. of course it makes sense, he's kidnapped. but it makes the story feel very stagnant that we don't get to see virtually anywhere else for such a huge chunk of the story as tommy works out his memories. tbh a lack of location variation is a weak spot in a lot of my fics. world forgetting isn't the worst example though. that award would probably go to stars, as much as I love the story I can recognize that it's pretty dumb that they virtually never leave phil's palace for the entire fic. but that's a ramble for another day. basically, even though there was a lot of emotional development going on for that chunk of WF, there's basically no real plot development. so that bothers me too.

also, while I really like the first act of world forgetting when tommy is still with dream and think it's the most solid, I do think it drags on for a few too many chapters. probably could've cut it down a bit.

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

god i wish the escape room movies had more of an audience becuase i NEED to talk about danny kahn like like LIKE

spoilers below obviously

this kid is the youngest player (I don't think it's specified but he's at oldest early 20's) and he lost his ENTIRE FAMILY to carbon monoxide poisoning either very recently or REALLY YOUNG (I can't remember if we know) and is also he is so fucking good at escape rooms like really good at escape rooms

and then he has the only death that's pretty much exclusively unavoidable regardless of how clever you are

like you can make the argument it wouldn't have happened if ben hadn't been a dick but also there were clearly explosives in the ice and a fast current and regardless it's clear minos wanted to kill him; it wasn't about luck it wasn't about being smarter it wasn't about making mistakes he just dies because they explode the ice he's standing under

and it almost makes you wonder if minos had underestimated him? like they hadn't realized quite how good he'd be, and wanted it to come down to luck more than it came down to skill or maybe they HADN'T underestimated him but his death had just been a preplanned and especially cruel way of setting the stakes for the other players

like idk where im going with this and it's not expanded upon at all in the movie because he dies first and obviously from like an Art perspective he's clearly just the peppy, vaguely likable scapegoat character who dies first so the audience invested in the stakes but also I WANT TO TALK ABOUT HIM I WANT FANFIC ABOUT HIM I WANT TO THINK ABOUT DANNY KAHN FROM THE ESCAPE ROOM MOVIES-

[geee-three]

who wants loredrops/outline for my shizumafu actor au thats not about shizuku or mafuyu in the slightest (it is shuffle units. yes it is lovin beats and yes they live together

chapter one: the you i recall

shiho pov (wednesday)

minoshiho hanging out, chatting

mino playing project diva, shiho mostly watching (just being comfy in each others presence)

shiho remembers ichi

regrets being so preoccupied w/ someone who just went offline during the few times shizuku was home

winces at the mental mention of shizuku

between perfect grades, perfect looks on stage and camera, and a perfect personality, shiho's rough aggression and fading passion fell flat

not the best sister to have for your mental health

however hsihos also a shitty sister in return

rememebrs she hasnt called shizuku in months

decides to try and call her that evening

two hours later

mino attempting to help hona cook. failing.

shiho escapes the smoke and remembers to call shizukus private number (reminded by terrible cooking)

voicemail

fuck. try again

leave a voicemail this time. hey sis im sorry we havent caught up recently id like to talk if you have the time via text is ok too i just want to make sure youre ok yknow after you looked after me for so long and like i know were not as close as we couldve been and im sorry for that yeah? ok cool uh text me whenever i'll make it work around your schedule

fuck she rambled and got choked up

mizuki enter. heard all of it. you ok bud

no but its whatever because minori is burning down the kitchen

mizuki suggests heading out for the evening. shiho would like that but is expecting mizuki to suggest shopping (painful when you hate mirrors bc all you see is a flawed half baked version of your sister)

mizuki suggests live house instead. happens that its one of the ones they perform at sometimes. wink

ok alright lessgo??

chapter two (the regret i hold so dear)

shiho pov (wednesday)

standout performance.

shiho does NOT WANT them to see her

vbs performence.

shiho does NOT WANT saki to see her. mizuki wants to catch up with an and because they also perform here sometimes noone questions it when mizuki drags shiho into the performers area

mizuki and an chat, an and shiho exchange a few words

saki and shiho eye each other warily and keep their distance

unforch for everyone iori wants to get involved

tono twins agenda. iori gets into an argument w/ akito about arata. saki steps in and yells at iori for like. three minutes.

shiho very quickly and visibly remembers how hot saki is and proceeds to ignore that.

iori sulks off and spots shiho just standing next to mizuki w/ nothing to do

proceeds to pick a fight bc shiho wouldnt join standout

shiho Cannot Do This today and pretty much just takes it until saki comes along and points out mio is RIGHT THERE BABES chill out

shiho thanks saki and saki returns it with a "this doesnt mean i like you i still hate your guts"

why wtf did i do i thought we just drifted apart

do you not remember what happend to ichika. its like at least a third your fault.

WHAT HAPPENED TO ICHIKA??

ooooooo did you not know. fuck. uh bye toya save me (vbs drag an and haruka away from their gossip sesh w/ mizook)

they get back and minokoha are like yall went to a vbs live w/o us?? traitors?? but shiho shoves past them

shiho texts saki like tenma what happened tell me rn or i'll ask hoshino ans sakis like yeah babes u might have problems w/ that

they call saki cries shiho comes very close to it

they agree to keep it from honami which is kinda hard bc lvb practically live in the same house with three rooms and paper thin walls (they do all visit their parents still for like two or three weeks like yall they aint graduated) (theres more deets about this but its in a google doc somewhere)

chatper 3 (dead in the water)

kohane pov (thursday)

kohane figures something Is Up with shiho and goes to look for her

overly detailled description of The House (honakoha room, mizumino room, shiho room, kitchen, one bathroom one bathroom + shower) (shiho gets a solo room bc shes there pretty much full time. mizukis also there a lot and minoris not so they share)

shiho is Not In The House

kohane texts the gc all panicked and no-ones seen her

she runs around all nearby livehouses and cafes looking for shiho (it is raining though and also like 2pm)

finds shiho fucking drenched, phone dead, sitting in a bus stop. she looks like she hasnt felt an emotion in weeks

she sees kohane and looks like shes about to cry

they sit in the bus stop for a long while and talk about a lot of stuff and shiho doesnt mention shizuku but kohane knows, somehow, and

and when they'd sat for long enough and the bus never came, kohane took her hand - rough and calloused, nails cracked and chipped, made for punching walls and tearing apart people and smashing hearts like glass - in hers - smooth like silk, soft and warm, nails delicately painted in two colours, a light pink and a crimson, alternaiting, made for taking photographs and scrapbooking and writing calligraphy, hands that had vollenteered to join something so fleeting and passionate and violent at its core that it might break everyone involved just like it did before, apparently - and she realised she was staring, just as shiho was. this tiny flame between them, that they'd ignored long enough. in all honesty, shiho was the reason she ever got involved in this. [insert recalling ans first performance here and how fuckn. scared she was.] she sighed. "c'mon, babes. lets get you home."

"wait is mizukis slang rubbing off on you. fuck no no no." cue laughing

kohane, tiny hampter she is, drags back this big ass sopping wet wolf and forces said wolf to shower and eat a proper meal. showering not pictured because this is kohane pov and kohane much as she is gay is not a creep

chapter four (could we rest on common ground)

shiho pov (sunday)

mizuki drags shiho out of the house (where she has been moping pm since thursday) to a party. not her style but wtv

mizukis only going bc of an, shiho learns.

however an dragged out akito because she didnt know if mizuki was going or not.

mizuan frolick off to go get drunk (theyre both just about 18 dwdw this is set in early november) leaving akito and shiho behind

they stand there awkwardly holding red solo cups for a minute. ok well shiho has a can of beer but akito has a red solo cup.

wait why. hes still 17. shiho simply does not bring up the fact she is also 17.

they begin to gossip. shihos never met arata and wants to know about iori's "dumb gay twin", in iori's words. (ignore that iori is also gay and dumb). akito only talks about arata in the sense that he is a massive fucking bastard

by this point he decides actually yeah i need a drink

he briefly mentions that souma gave toya sampling lessons (see: walk on and on) and he has to be at least partially greatful to arata for introducing the two bc yknow while toya is amazing (quick gay tangent. shiho turns into homophobic dog meme.) he wouldnt be as confident to become the groups offical composer if souma hadnt helped

then he asks how shiho knows iori anyway and shiho explains she works as a stand-in bassist at live houses pretty frequently (which akito didnt know bc he mostly frequents voice only live houses rather than those w/ live music) and got to know iori's band pretty well, though not as much mio bc she was standing in for mio. this became more frequent and shiho finds out that mio just up and quit the band because her and iori were going through a rough patch, and iori invited (read: demanded) shiho join, which she refused

akito asks how she knows saki and if theyre on speaking terms yet (he wants to collab he thinks this emo bassist is cool (read: he made a friend) (this is rare)) and shiho thinks they are? they met in middle school right before saki was in hospital but they drifted apart as soon as she got out because the friend that was holding them together (dont say commited suicide girlirpops. brain-mizuki stfu) ditched them. (thats not better girl. brain-mizuki stfu)

they talk about music (akito infodumps about radder) and decide yeah that collab would be cool. (ignore the fact that kohane and minori will faint on the spot.)

the two talk for a while longer, eventually conversations turn to akito complaining about his sister (ena we know her we love her). shiho tells him to be greatful that his sister is around and returns his calls. akito responds that is sounds like they have diffrent types of dysfunctional siblings, which gets a giggle out of her. (when was the last time she laughed, properly?)

mizuan turn up, shitfaced and covered in hickeys. akishiho grimace at each other and take their respective lesbian. b4 they leave, shiho just about works up the courage to grab akitos number under the guise of that potential collab (made a friend) and on the way back mumbles something about if you (mizuki) throw up in my bed again i am ditching you on the street.

chapter 5: normalicy is changing, for the both of us.

shizuku pov

finally finds time to call shiho back

uh uh uh write this later (havent planned very thouroughly but there are Vibes)

they talk about like. futile things. to distract themselves from just how broken their relationship is.

chapter six: trust me, baby, you'll do fine

mizuki pov

i have no clue what happens here but chapter two was supposed to be mizook pov but i changed it to shiho and we need a mizook pov

note: must be at night. like 11pm maybe?

they are In the Kitchen. shiho is making depression ramen at 11pm

everyone is "asleep" (phone time in bed) and mizuki goes to get water (talk to shiho somewhat privately)

mizuki calls out shiho on avoiding honami and asks her why shiho is edging around the topic and mizuki decides not to push it because she can read people unlike everyone else in this fucking house

oh and shiho refuses to talk about shizuku

on that platonic mizushiho agenda folks

mizushiho hug scene. btw.

end it off with a "wait theres some people id like you to meet" (jumpscare the readers w/ discord next week)

chapter seven: don't think too hard about it

shiho pov (sorta)

got added to a nightcord server by mizuki (who thought it would cheer her up)

kanade (k), ena (not clickbait!!), mizuki (qt pie), airi (professional h8ter) <- spelling intentional on my part but not airis, mafuyu (anonymous), minori (riririn), honami (k's bbg) <- set by mizuki and she doesnt have the heart to change it, shiho (bunny) <- name changed by mizuki and she cant switch it back bc no admin

chatfic style

chill chapter. no sads.

mafuyu primerially responds via a single multisyllabaic word

ena and airi flirt in general and mizuki tells them theyre too single to be in a server with TWO yuris

chapter eight: connections like a web of lies

mino pov

shiho is texting akito (bc they friends now :D)

minori is a spying bitch and leans over her shoulder only to discover that shiho is texting her cousion

wtf shiho??

the explaination "we were chaperoning lesbians at a party together" makes even less sense

she messages akito like "hey dude are you friends with an emo bassist with light blue hair" and hes like "yeah the one in your band" and shes like "were you chaperoning lesbians together??" and hes like "thats one way of putting it i have a photo one sec" and minoris like "SINCE WHEN IS YOUR HAIR NEON ORANGE???" and hes like "since i dyed it like. four years ago. yknow to look more like the rest of the family" and she is shellshocked then it hits her "wiat youre shinonome from vbs" and hes like "were you not going to shows to support me" and shes like "no im there to simp after kiritani haruka the same as i have been since i was like. five." and hes like "oh yeah i forgot youre a chronic lesbian"

shiho is fucking wheezing this is the funniest shit shes seen all week

(note: ena is ginger in this and shiho has light blue hair not grey. cool? cool.)

chapter nine: we'll be alright as long as we keep on trying

shiho pov

shiho and shizuku meet up in person

they talk about when they were kids, and how everythings changed

shizuku laments how she has to be here in disguise and wishes she could just be more open with everyone

shiho asks after mafuyu eventually and shizuku starts rambling like a lovesick victorain

"so the rumors are true then" "i dont go on twitter for a reason shii"

shiho mentions the way the bills are split (i.e. she pays a third of everything and hasnt told anyone) and how she hates decieving people. "and when they move in properly, because they probably will, im gonna have to tell them all and theyll be upset with me for lying."

shizuku doesnt have an anwser for her but tells her she will never have to worry about the amount as long as shes alive.

when shiho gets home shizukus wired her more than enough to make six months of rent

chapter ten: ghost girl dancing on the rooftop with me

august 10th. saki pov.

texts shiho pretty much outta the blue.

"hey, tomorrow is her birthday. she'd be turning 18. i've been celebrating it for her, would you like to join me?"

they go to the gravesite with gifts for her. saki brings a phenny plushie and champange (it is her 18th birthday after all) and shiho brings a (recent) miku album and a geranium boquet (https://static.miraheze.org/projectsekaiwiki/b/b3/4koma_60_en.jpg)

they do a toast to what couldve been and pour three glasses. bittersweet yknow.

they play the miku album (they figure she hasnt heard it yet)

there isnt any flowers or a wreath from her parents. they came at night, too, so they had the whole day. saki figures they just pushed her to the back of their minds and forgot. "just like they did when she was alive".

they almost have a gay moment but saki stops it and tells shiho that "not here, not today."

chapter eleven: revealed in an instant

shiho works hard to cover her tracks but life360 works harder

honami pov

making food at 2am. (everytime she adds an ingredient, the voice in her head says something like "im going to hell" "im a glutton" "ill be wider than i am tall b4 long" even though shes literally making egg fried rice)

shiho comes back from graveyard. its like 2am. honami is cutting spring onions for the egg fried rice.

she wouldnt meet her gaze, keeping her back facing the door. "why are you back so late?" "i- i cant tell you." "why not?" "i promised." "promised who?" "i cant tell you that either. i wish i could, hona, but-" honami sighed, setting down her knife, and sprinking thinly sliced spring onions over the two bowls of egg friend rice. it'd always been her go-to comfort food. "sit down, shiho. we need to talk."

and they talk. honami pokes about why shihos been avoiding her and it takes very little poking for shiho to come clean about it all (saki and ichika)

honami stared down at her bowl. she'd barely touched it. "go to bed, shiho." "are you sure? you look like you could use some company." "yeah. yeah, i'm sure." shiho squeezed her shoulder as she walked past, and honami waited until she heard the lights click off before practically sprinting to the sink, gripping it like a life support, staring at her reflection in the muddy water. (the sink, of course, was soaking a cast-iron pan that minori had managed to set on fire.)

well, this was her reflection. a girl who barely squeezed by as "chubby" and couldn't do anything right and who's grades plummeted the moment she tried to do anything else with her life who barely fucking graduated and is currently trying to keep it together and make ends meet with her failing band and her part-time job and her girlfriend (yet another thing wrong about her) that she didn't deserve and is now a murderer.

she wished she couldve been born right, or maybe just not been born at all, but she was here now and she had to stay positive. just until their big break.

i havent planned the rest of it yet but. teehee :3

[ants-personal]

escape room three where zoey and ben have been able to take the time to kinda move on believing they had shut down minos there hasnt been any games zoey has looked so they both slowly try to live together after everything they both dont want to leave the other alone zoey goes back to her classes and ben tries to hold down a job

meanwhile this entire time Claire has just been testing out games much more privately taking place in remote parts of various countries its enough to keep clients happy promising a bigger better game than ever before only problem is they want zoey back at this point shes like the gladiator of games they want to push her as far as they can

So Claire tries to save zoey she contacts her has a meeting explains it in a way that she hasnt been making rooms and games because she wants to but its bigger than they both thought and to take minos down for good she needs zoey to join her as an assistant of sorts so that way they cant put her in the game

Meanwhile Claire has also set it up so the poor ben is going to forced to take the place of zoey in the game being used as pawn to force to make zoey want to help abd futher her cement her trust in claire believing she can save ben again so we have two storylines zoey and claire and zoey eventually finding out she has been betrayed and used and maybe finally taking down minos and claire

and then you have ben forced into another game this time without zoey he doesnt believe in himself enough to think he can survive this time and maybe he doesn't or maybe he just loses limb trying desperately to be smart and clever like zoey and actually beat the game with more than one survivor

[the-knightmare]

Did anybody ask for fic based on Escape Room (2019) and its sequel movie? Maybe not, but I have new characters to play with and want to share. Enjoy a snippet from something in progress.

Collapsing next to Ben, Zoey tried to fight the poisoned air in her lungs. She felt herself slipping away, all the panic she tried to muster faded into a frustrating nothingness.

Just as everything went black, Zoey jolted awake. Her chest heaved as she tried to reorient herself in the new room. Except it was her room, in her apartment, not a Minos trap.

“Zoey?” A sleep-heavy voice asked, “you alright?”

A warm hand pressed against her back, grounding her in the assurance that this was not some Minos trick. Zoey stayed quiet for a moment, focusing on the comforting warmth at her back before turning to face Ben.

“Just a bad dream.”

[chaotic-minds-think-alike]

Random ramble post since I’m working on things you’ll see eventually but I feel like just rambling how the bosses went for me in ultrakill. (<- because friends had drastically different experiences apparently)

Swordsmachine - I can’t remember which encounter but it was in the demo and I did so horribly iirc; I think I thought I had more room than I did and got caught on walls where I was cornered and shredded. Swordsmachine in the main game however was a bit easier because I knew what I was getting into and honestly I think they helped me develop strategies for the Gabriel fights later on.

Cerberus Duo - I think I died at least 2 times to these guys for the same reasons as above: got cornered thinking I had more room. They were fun though but as normal enemies I hate them for their knockback dash attack.

(Demo ends here, read more for what picks up after, spoilers)

Hideous Mass - The start of almost rage quitting. It was the ground slam that’d destroy me every time for multiple restarts, I don’t remember how many. I still love this thing as a creature but as a boss… horrible in my first encounter, even worse later on… experimenting in sandbox though made me learn some cool things about how you can use its armor against it by strategically placing your shots, though I only used the revolver for this.

V2 (first encounter) - Sighs so loudly. I can’t remember how many restarts it was but it was a lot, less than Gabriel first encounter though. I almost quit for this fight I think because I was getting too stressed. I didn’t know what I was doing and tried to stick with my favorite, the revolver, but eventually out of anger I tried to stay as close as possible with the shotgun mainly for heals and less about damage. Defeating them actually excited me so that was fun !! Side note: currently I’ve beaten this encounter in less than a minute BUT I had no style so no P rank for me

The Corpse of King Minos - I DIED SO MUCH. At this point it feels unfair to compare all the fights because they all have something that tests you. Part of the reason I died so much at this point is parrying is so hard for me… I feel if I at least tried to learn it then I wouldn’t have been put in the blender like I was here. Both before you meet him and after, I died a lot for similar reasons mentioned above. During the 2nd phase of the fight Id die due to being chipped away just enough to get crushed like a bug. I almost rage quit for this one too, not knowing how to heal and hating having learned you have to get as close as possible to his hands to do so.

Gabriel (first encounter) - Where the fun begins!! I restarted 37 times. I was really looking forward to this fight due to my friend telling me about him before I even got into the game. It was so nightmarish but I was too insane to just give up like that. So many times I flew off the arena, slid onto the middle and got caught in the air, too slow switching weapons, so many reasons I got severely punished for. I don’t remember how the final fight of 37 restarts played out but god I was so full of adrenaline after that. Little did I know that it’d get much worse in the second encounter. Side note: currently I’ve beaten this encounter in 2 mins 13 seconds but I didn’t have enough style so no P rank..

Sisyphean Insurrectionist - At this point, understandably, I got very angry with how badly I was beaten up. The shockwave attacks I hate so much and that’s what got me so many times. I don’t have much to say because this fight bored me as much as I’d rather not say that.

V2 (second encounter) - If I remember correctly… I think I had less restarts for when I had the first encounter. Still, I had my ass handed to me. I stuck with the same strategy as before, we kinda just danced together with shotguns in our faces. I really liked the scene when they try to escape and we pursue them. I will say that at the end when we land and they crash, I was in denial about them being gone for good and kinda just.. stood there for a moment. It felt wrong almost to continue without them.

Ferryman - Another fight with plenty of restarts up there somewhere. As cool as I think they are, this thing kicked my ass so hard I almost rage quit, again. Even when I had plenty of room, my flaw was my slow reaction timing. I could handle myself for the most part in phase 1 but phase 2 is where it got even worse. The small arena, the knockback the idol gives you, the range of it’s attacks… absolutely horrid. It was always the idol that got me stuck and cornered and turned to scrap in an instant. I relied so heavily on my railcannon here for healing and it was difficult to be patient when I had to be responsive and aware of such a small area. Overall, I enjoyed it somewhat, I like the Ferryman’s character and seeing it’s ship was quite a moment. (And the hologram room… I just had to sit there and watch)

Leviathan - They were actually pretty easy and I think I restarted less than 5 times. If it isn’t obvious, the attack that got me was it’s lunge for a short bit, otherwise then it was the tail. I really like Leviathan’s design but I feel as if the encounter was sort of just thrown in there.

Gabriel (second encounter) - I am totally normal about this guy. My first time encountering him in the story I defeated him with only 2 restarts in 6 minutes. Jesus christ. This fight was really, really fun and easy to me which still shocks me my friends thought the opposite. I was also really looking forward to this fight both because of what my friend told me and I wanted to go down the youtube rabbithole but didn't want to spoil myself. I was totally normal through this fight (and after). That was a lie because I had so, so much energy from it I had to draw the scene of him playing the organ and I had to make it pretty. Side note: currently I've beaten this encounter in 2 mins 12 seconds, a second apart from the 1st encounter, again no style because I suck ass and getting these P ranks will be the worst thing of my life

[actaestfabula23]

Definitely need a part three of Escape Room because ZOEY AND BEN HAVE TO GET TOGETHER because OBVIOUSLY THEY HAVE FEELINGS FOR EACH OTHER! Definitely need part three where they take Minos down and they need to kiss too... anyways, they’ve got chemistry

[espers-for-peace]

Starter for @dawnight

Minos groaned as he slumped down against a wall. A room full of Shadow Decree grunts all around him, but a few of them had been able to slash his side up. On top of that it sounded like someone else had shown up if the radio chater, and foot steps, he heard was an indication. The Union must have been staking the place out, and than when Shadow Decree goons began to show up en mass than that must have given them enough cause to follow suit. The minotaur wasn't exactly subtle. They'd probably be able to follow the path of destruction he left. Doors busted, slashed open, and bodies all over the place. He did his best not to kill any of them, but many had blown up. Nothing he could do about that.

Than he saw a figure walk in. "If you're with the Decree than go ahead and kill me. Been a pain in your ass for a long time." A laugh would escape him, but it turned into a coughing fit. He might have a broken rib or two as well. "But...if you're with the Union than you're late to the party." He didn't care for credit. If the Union wanted credit for this raid he'd happily hand it over. Hell, he'd let everyone think that it was the Union hit the Decree so hard.

[awakened-dreamers-blog]

Ultrakill Layer 7 thoughts (spoilers obvi)

7-1 /// The Garden of Forking Paths: Great level. Super creepy and off putting, even with having watched the trailers for the level. The first time the mannequins activated for real scared me so bad that my soul fully left my body. The Minotaur showing up the first time also scared the crap out of me. Overall, the level captured the whole "labyrinth" vibe really, really well and the leadup to the Minotaur part of the level was great. Speaking of the boss, its visual design was really great and worked with the lore to make a surprisingly tragic story. The fight itself was a bit finnicky with the trams, but surprisingly easy once I got the hang of it, and the second phase was even easier (a bit too easy, imo).

7-2 /// Light Up the Night: I have mixed feelings about this level. The sound design and visual feel of the level are great, and some of the segments were really cool, particularly the clocktower and the library-looking part. I wasn't a fan of the fact that you could just go anywhere in the level at any time, that felt weird to me. I would have appreciated something akin to the sand in the Greed layer; as it is now, just being able to walk on relatively flat ground feels kinda boring. I have... thoughts on the Guttertanks, but those aren't about the level itself. The ambush when you return to the train station with the bomb was really well done imo. Probably my favorite section of the level was the library section, since the room design allowed for a lot of shenanigans with the sharpshooter pistol and the electric rail, so that wasn't as annoying as the first Guttertank fight.

7-3 /// No Sound, No Memory: Absolutely stellar level. The atmosphere throughout the entire level is excellently moody and eerie, and the lack of jumpscares (except for one) really contribute to the sorrow that pervades the level. The first three blood trees were fun fights I love the gardeny design of the first section. The friendly fire chaos of the last room was a ton of fun the first couple times, although there was a lot of stuttering. I do wish that any kills throughout the room contributed to the blood for the tree, since I died multiple times to the stupid blood puppets. That was really anticlimactic and kinda ruined the mood. Otherwise, a really good level.

7-4 /// ...Like Antennas to Heaven: An interesting boss battle, to say the least. The reveal of the Earthmover at the very beginning was *amazing* and I'm always a sucker for "climbing up a gigantic boss" sequence. The defense system was a fun stationary boss but it was pretty easy. The boss itself was really easy too, once I realized that I was just shooting towards the middle of a circle. Personally, I would have preferred slower moving lasers, more health, and an additional obstacle to fight/dodge. My main critique of the level is that it doesn't feel like a layer climax, at all. The hardest fights of the level were, by far, the ones against the Guttertanks and other normal enemies and not the intense, 1v1 duel that I like so much about the other boss fights. The Metroid Prime-esque countdown escape was really, really cool, though. I just wish the sequence was less about fighting random enemies and more about tough platforming. Also, I know that the golden arm is obviously the eponymous "Godfist" but I'm still not a fan of not getting an arm at the end of the first layer of an act.

Lore: Love how Hakita captured the feeling of a self-perpetuating cycle in the Final War. Reading about the individual stages of escalation was really, really interesting and marched the visual design of each enemy well. Can't wait to see which six-lettered King built the Minotaur for Minos (more than likely the next prime soul).

Mannequins: A fun and surprisingly challenging mix of Filth and Strays with an extra layer of horror. Incredible visual design and animation. I do wish they were a bit less bullet spongey because it doesn't really fit their aesthetic as is, but adding a few extra enemies to compensate.

Guttermen: Great visual design and lore. They're not too hard to deal with on their own, and I'm glad to have another use of the Knuckleblaster (Hakita, please, PLEASE let us map seperate buttons for each arm). When they have a hunch of other fodder around them, they make interesting counterparts to Mindflayers as high-priority targets.

Guttertanks: Ooooh boy. I really like some of the things about them, but I have a lot of issues as well. Having an enemy that forces players to either stay far away or risk a well timed dash to get some blood is an interesting shakeup, but I do think the punch should at least be parryable. As is, the punch feels way too fast to react to, way too high-damage to recover from, and knocks you back like a million miles. For enemies that are supposed to be long-ranged artillery type things, their ranged attacks are surprisingly easy to deal with (especially with the freezeframe rocket launcher) but their melee attacks are way more of a threat and they have way too much health. I would prefer it if they had either significantly less health (or some kind of massive vulnerability, akin to the streetcleaners) or if their melee attack was nerfed and their ranged attacks buffed slightly.

Other thoughts: The new puzzles with the golden orbs is interesting, but I would like if the Whiplash had slightly more of an autoaim. Thank Gabriel that the voids on the puzzle sections don't damage you. Also, my computer isn't the best, but I was having a ton of performance issues during the third and fourth levels. Nothing too crazy or fatal, just some annoying lag and stuttering.

Overall, Violence was a really great layer, one of my favorites. I do think it needs some minor changes and tuning, but I'm excited for the psecret level and the new alternate gun, plus everything else yet to come from Hakita.

[quirrel]

STARHUNTERS INFO POST

I wanted to talk more in depth about my OCs of the Fake DLC idea I had for Hollow Knight but I think it would take a long time if I went one by one on different posts so I'm trying to summarize as much info of them as I can here (their Google doc is even bigger HAKDHSK)

I talked about them on this post post! Check it out for more context about my sillies

The info is under the cut, otherwise this would be a very long post VAKDBSJ

Veni:

- Oldest of the team

- Uses any pronouns

- Went through a lot of of Events™, one of them included The Grimm Troupe ritual when their kingdom fell

- Old but will kick ur ass

- They are one of The Nightbringer's Favorites, a title that doesn't make really happy nowadays, mostly endures it for the sake of their team

- Loves Arts and crafts

- Is a terrible cook

Cymo:

- Also old as balls

- He/him

- Used to live in the ocean till the day the fish he was friends with died

- Cranky old man, but he cares about his teammates a lot

- Loves painting :)

Dusa:

- Also old but not as old as Veni or Cymo

- She/they

- Doesn't remember her past before meeting Veni and joining the team

- Is very dry when she speaks and sometimes can't read the mood in a room

- She's very intuitive when it comes to Soul and stuff like that

Minos:

- A *lot* younger than the previous 3, but was the fourth to join them (after a really long time of them travelling alone)

- He/they

- Medic of the group, he's actually a physical therapist but due to the team getting stupid sick or injured most of the time he had to learn a bunch of different things to keep them alive

- Dusa helps him

- His species (Treehopper) are usually very small but his mamma was a big beetle, that's why he looks like that

Tigo:

- Around Minos' age

- They/them

- Used to be more of a beastly bug before they found a corpse of a mask maker and stole one of their masks, gained Focus

- Still very much silly and dangerous

- They lost their wings after they miscalculated something on one of their hunts, was very close to dying untill Veni found them

Vris:

- A tad younger than Tigo

- He/him

- Used to be part of a mercenary group till they kicked him out for a false acussation, captured by Laki's team till both of them got out and rescued by Veni's group

- Makes terrible first impressions on other people, but he's actually a genuine sweet guy

Laki:

- Around Vris' age

- She/him

- Also used to be a part of a mercenary group, though hers used to be enemies with Vris', wanted to leave the group after a long time and Vris' kidnapping was her last straw

- Used to be part of a royal family as well, though he was the child of a duke with a lower position, the material of her whip is similar to the pale ore

- She/her

Tari:

- As old as Cymo

- Lived in Hallownest up to its fall, escaped with the other stags but separated when she noticed her brother (Old Stag) wasn't there

- All of them travelled very far so she got lost when she tried to return back to Hallownest

- Found Ruk as a baby one day when she was wandering, then later met Veni and stayed with them

Ruk:

- Baby.... he's a little teen guy

- He/him

- Pretty much was raised by the whole group

- His family was killed before Tari found him, being the only survivor of what happened

Ignis:

- Young adult, a tad younger than Laki and Vris

- She/her

- Joined Veni and their team because she wanted to meet other places outside her tribe

- Has nicknames for everyone

- Is Hachi's girlfriend :3

Hachi:

- A tad older than Ignis

- She/her

- Blind from birth, but uses pretty much all of her other senses to move around and also fight

- Can be very strict at times, but she's very kind and cares about her teammates

- Is Ignis' girlfriend :3

Kram:

- Liddol guy, also a teen (around Ruk's age)

- He/him

- Scared of a lot of things, but tries his best

- Vris teaches him how to fight (totally not his father figure)

Sheepi:

- Youngest of the adults

- She/they

- She's a blacksmith! A genuine weapons geek

- Can use the leaves growing on her back as a food source

- Can move faster in water than in land

---

And that's pretty much it :3 if you're reading this thanks a lot! If anyone got questions feel free to ask stuff

[superpositvecloudshipper]

Zoey and Ben from escape room not something that happend but I'm to obssed and yes I know zoey has black hair but I couldn't be bothered to go back and change it 😁 this is a scene I think could happen in the third movie which is coming out next year where any survivers from the games will have to fight minos or his men also I'm not saying that both Ben and or zoey live i just did them as they are my favourite characters

[dollarstoreartsupplies]

saw ur post about Danny from escape room and omg agreed I need more people to talk about him with he's so underrated

NO LIKE ACTUALLY THOUGH!!!!

I genuinely love him, he's so harmless and genuinely excited to be there, it's like textbook-first-death-you-care-about-to-get-you-invested, but I think it would be fascinating to see how the story would progress if he had lived longer. He doesn't get much of a chance to realize this isn't just a super fucking good escape room and I'd love to see how he'd react to another person's death, or the more morally-questionable puzzles.

Would he step up to the plate in a Zoe sort of way? I feel like theres even a possibility he'd cling to the concept of it just being a normal escape room for WAY longer than he should as a way to cope with all the fucked up shit happening.

Because if you think about it even his personal tragedy/survival event (while also being SO FUCKING SAD OHHH MY GOD??? how old was he??? was he a kid??? when did this happen?? if someone remembers if it's says how long ago HIS ENTIRE FAMILY DIED let me know) is incredibly passive.

He definitely saw his family post-death but unlike a plane crash or a mine cave or any of the other tragedies in he has never actually seen anyone else in the process of dying, and I think that would be SO interesting to explore.

Like is that why he likes escape rooms so much? Because it's a way to solve 'impossible' puzzles and clever-your-way out of problems in a way he never got a chance to because he was probably asleep when it happened?

(I also wish we got a slightly closer look at how Ben feels about his death. Because it's really no one but Minos' fault but if the blame had to be pointed to another player it's on him. And he's already got a complex about that shit. Danny is a significantly more sympathetic/guilt complex kind of murder than Jason.)

He's just SO interesting as a character, especially because his death is the only non-preventable one. Theres no way to out-think being dragged under ice in a freezing current. I know the whole game is about luck but it's entirely unfair in a way that I can't even imagine would be particularly entertaining for the people watching at home and I WANNA KNOW WHY! Was he always going to die first? Did they underestimate how good at escape rooms he was? Was it a shock value death to keep all the rich viewers who bet on the safest-winner invested? Was it just because he brought a phone when he wasn't supposed to?

Like (second movie spoilers) but especially with the Amanda reveal in the second movie I'm shocked more people aren't talking about the possibility that he's not actually dead at all!

Because why would Minos kill him? If they want to force people to make escape rooms for them wouldn't Danny be their first choice? He's smart, he loves escape rooms, it would be perfect!

The only real explanation is just that it has to do with personalities and who would be most likely to actually go along with them, but we don't know nearly enough about Danny to think that he wouldn't.

Like?? He kind of seems like the easiest of the first movies cast to manipulate in this situation!! He's the youngest, he's naive, and I don't think he's got the kind of Zoe-backbone that would rather die then spend his time building escape rooms which is what he's passionate about.

If I'm being entirely honest I am not going to believe anyone is dead unless we see the body.

Like, in the first movie who are the only two we don't see the actual body of?

Amanda and Danny.

Amanda is clearly a good person to have on your evil-escape-room-murder-game team as it's shown in the sequel, and like I said DANNY KAHN IS LITERALLY THE PERFECT PERSON TO HAVE ON YOUR TEAM. WHY WOULDN'T THEY KEEP HIM IN THEIR BACK POCKET?

((It also makes sense with the sequel, where we don't see a lot of the bodies. The ONLY person's body we actually see is Theo; Nathan falls into the sand, so does Ben, and we know how that worked out. We kind of hear Brianna and Rachel but we don't SEE them. And the might mean nothing, but if you think about it- it tracks, in a tournament of champions, best of the best, you'd want to hold on to as many as you can.))

I'm veryyyy interested to see if this comes up in the next one, I honestly do not think it will, but I definitely think it's a plot line that could be INCREDIBLY interesting to go down.

[tvtalk247]

Did you guys know there’s two different versions of the Escape Room sequel? I watched it at the theater back in 2021. But today, I was all excited and wanted to show a friend the franchise so I played the first movie and the sequel. The version I played to my friend was drastically different than what I saw in the theaters.

Like this one had a backstory of the puzzle maker and his family. The daughter was the one that really was designing the rooms. And Ben last room was in a sauna. The one I watched his last room filled up with water and he almost drowned. Amanda from the first movie didn’t come back in this version. And the movie ended happily after. The one I watched Minos planned everything to the very end. The police was fake and finally tricked her on the plane. The movie ended with them finally doing the plane escape room on her.

Like how can this movie have such different endings floating around out there!?!

I had to go to YouTube to play the clips from the version I remembered. It made me feel like I was making it up 😂😂

[wonderingduke]

Is it true that you've been to the Observer's tower? Is that how you attained some magical artifacts as well as some magic abilities?

Also how did you familiarize yourself with technology of the 21st Century? I mean you're born in the 1300s but your clothing is from my time.

"I know of the Observer's tower and have sought it out in the past but it's heavily protected by magic beyond my power even after centuries of honing it. I have not found the places they are imprisoned much less how to free them. I have only found notes and abandoned places with evidence of them but I fear that perhaps the entity has gotten ride of all of them at this point. I've attained magic artifacts both outside the fog and in it. Me and my uncle went on a expedition and after months of searching and going from place to place we discovered the three pieces of a key that lead us to a labyrinth under Minos. Where we found a secret room detailing a magic stone that spoke of a dark cult that seeks to destroy the world with knowledge it's not ready for. I called the stone Lapis Paradisus and after my uncles death I started searching for it. I didn't manage to find it in time as I was imprisoned and using runes combination and what I theorized to be on the stone I tried to travel between dimensions to escape to the perfect world. Instead I came here to this twisted dimension of suffering. Things from all timelines and dimension end up in the fog and my number one pursuit is knowledge so anything I found I tried to learn from it. Books end up here all the time filled with everything from ancient knowledge to secret family recipes. I will admit I tend to steal clothes and try and mimic fashion I see in pictures from books I believe they're called magazines ? Not all of my outfits have been this good I will admit. I had cheetah print leg warmers at one point we don't talk about that outfit. "