AWKWARD ZOMBIE

Hey! There may or may not be enough activity to make this worth continuing, I don't know. But this is something that I actually set out the foundation for last summer, and just kind of never made up the post to start the darn thing.
There are a lot of images in this one, and that's just kind of to kick it off. It won't always be this image heavy. However, to make up for it, there will be soundtrack pieces for major areas, and possibly specific events. Some of the pieces are really small things intended to be a background loop (like this first one), while some are more developed compositions. They will pretty much all be cello/piano as of right now, as that is quick combination to compose for, while leaving me with some texture options.

General rules before we start: This is not an open adventure, rather, it has set options. The number of immediate options will vary by situation, but this is to make it so that I can lay out several possible tracks ahead of time. However, many times (not all of the time), there will be a final answer bracket labelled "[Think outside the box]", for if there's an idea you really want to try, but I haven't thought to list it as an immediate option.
This will be a fairly serious story if it has enough interest to continue. There's room for humor, but don't be a jackass about suggestions.
Also, I will give as little information outside of the narration as possible, unless you specifically ask for more information through the character's observations. (there will be an exception to this if I just fuck up and forget to give you a piece of crucial information, though)


PART ONE: WORLD OF THE DYING GODS

PROLOGUE: WASTES OF ETERNAL STONE





In the world of the gods, This One is a denizen of the Wastes of Eternal Stone.
If all was right, that is what "This One" would say.
But in this world of the dying gods, you know that you aren't supposed to be here, don't you? You don't have time to be here. You have to find something.



It's something very important that was lost, and you will take it back. Whatever it is, wherever it is.

This pillar is beginning to look like an appealing place to hit your head and let out some of the frustration at not remembering. Grind the gods-damned thing to dust with your ashen skull. But you don't have time for that. Besides,




Those who guard the Wastes of Eternal Stone, the Tritouns, would likely just tell you that you're supposed to break the stone with your hammer, not your face.
Speaking of which...




It looks like none of them are watching you.



>Run
>Continue penance

>flet ge yask haha i am so comedy

I vote run! Make a break for it! YOU HAVE TO BE FREE
Also that music is very nice!

So we just vote on the options provided? In that case, I vote to run. Hitting stone with a hammer doesn't sound quite as exciting.

Flee.

Continue penance

You have not yet paid for your crimes

Continue penance

You must atone

[usually, I'll go with the majority of answers, but in this case, I'll list both, due to cyclical nature of the options. Most of the choices won't lead to just one path, don't worry.]

With an internal dissonance that threatens to crumble your skin, you resign yourself to the idea that it would be fruitless to run. You feel like you don't belong here, but you have to. Octatem: the god of Justice and Balance, the Overseer of Judgement and Father of the Tritouns would not have put you here if you did not deserve to be here.
Right?
Besides, even if you did try to run in this thin, ashen frame, you wouldn't get far before the Tritouns caught up with you and put you right back here.
Right?


So you continue to break down pillar after pillar, stone after stone, ruin after ruin for days, centuries, maybe even millennia--who knows the passage of time in this forsaken desert? Eons of long dead suns' worth of heat radiate up at you from the sand, despite the eternal twilight beckoning the heat back into the night.
"...dead suns?" your mind wanders as you work. How can a sun die, you wonder? What would even make you think of that?
A Tritoun raps you on the back and roars at you to get back to work before passing along to the next nameless individual who looks just like you.
Hm, that's what you get for letting your mind wander, I suppose.


So you continue. But the dissonance from before, it threatens to undo every part of you. You have to find it.




You have to run.
But first, this needs to be taken care of:


You are bound specifically to prevent running. Go figure. Alright, how will you get out?

>Pull to try and break the chain
>Search for some tool to break the chain
>Wait for a solution to present itself
>[Think outside the box]

Those chains look pretty strong and you don't have time to wait. Find yourself a tool.

Don't you have the hammer to break the chain?
>find a tool

>search for some tool to break the chain

Use your sledgehammer

You must be discrete

Have a look at what the chain is attached to

You cannot be certain, due to the tangling slack of all the chains, and the mirage smearing your vision, but it looks like it might be connected to the nearest guard tower, about fifteen minutes of walking away.
Does this change your options?


[is work time now. Full update when I get home.]

So, how about that hammer?

Maybe hammers are good on chains?

Well, you'll have to think of something that can cut or crush chains. But all you have right now is--



That'll do.
You check to make sure none of the Tritouns are still watching, and then you set the chain against the stone that you're breaking. Time to see if this hammer is good for anything besides pointless labor. You swing the hammer as hard as you possibly can, but the chain doesn't--




WHAT IS THAT DAMNABLE NOISE?
Something in the chain started ringing as soon as you hit it, and now it won't stop.

Oh no. Now you have another problem.
The nearest Tritoun is taking heavy strides toward you. You can't run yet. Or if you tried, you would almost certainly be tripped by the chain far too soon. The Tritoun leans forward, and a voice like ripping metal roars, "RETURN TO PENANCE."



You know, its axe might just be able to cut through the chain. But the Tritoun doesn't wait for you to finish your idea. Instead, it roars again for your failure to follow orders, and brings the axe down toward your head. You manage to stumble to the side just in time, and you hear a clang as the Tritoun's axe bites into the stone, and your chain.

Your feet are now freed. What will you do to get to the Important Thing?

>Run!
>Fight anything that gets in your way!
>[Think outside the box]

Time to GTFO. Make a run for it.