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ONE: IM MEMORIAM
Today, you've woken up to something more than a little concerning. The Admin's familiar Obituary posting has graced the Network--

We mourn the loss of those who have died in the time between the last announcement and this one:

But what follows isn't a set of names of people that you know have recently passed. No, they're all names of people you thought were perfectly fine. In fact, you just talked to them. But most concerning of all is that you can find your name among the list of the dearly departed, as well, and you know for a fact that you haven't died anytime recently--or at all. So is this a glitch, or a sign that maybe you should watch your back?

TWO: THE UNLUCKIEST DAY
You don't wake up feeling as if today is any day different from any of the others...but that all changes very quickly when something unfortunate happens. Maybe you pull your tablet out of your bag to find that the screen appears shattered like a mirror. Maybe the dark outline of a black cat pads along the bottom of your inbox. Maybe cement-like cracks appear along your keypad as you try to type, warning you not to step on them. Or maybe still, the shadow of the slope of a ladder looms ominously over your screen. Whatever it is, the end result is the same: suddenly, you're experiencing terrible bouts of back luck.

It could come in many forms. Maybe you're tripping over your feet more than usual. Maybe you opened your bag after traveling to find a hole had ripped through the bottom and your lost some useful inventory. Maybe your rations have gone bad. Maybe you even injure yourself. Regardless of how it manifests, the status effect lasts until the rest of the day. Maybe you can turn to the network and see if others are experiencing the same or similar problems--or maybe someone has an idea on how to reverse it.

THREE: TIPTOES.EXE IS HERE
Sometime today you find an SD card that downloaded an app to your tablet. It's titled HIDEANDSEEK and has the picture of a doll as its icon. When you open it, it seems like it's a game to play against a digital opponent: a doll. The game appears to have two stages. In the first stage, the doll hides, and you need to travel around the house (is it just you, or does the layout of this house seem to always be the house you're in when you open it?) to find the doll. In the second stage, you need to hide yourself from the doll, and listen for its movements so it can't catch you.

If it does catch you, it will be holding a knife. The screen goes red and the game crashes for the rest of the night. Somewhere on your body, a gash appears. It's nothing fatal, but maybe you should talk to someone about this on the Network.

FOUR: RABBIT FEET
It's been a long day of traveling, and you and your companion are glad to be reaching your final destination for the night. Someone's even built a rabbit out of snow outside of the door to make the place more inviting. Only...as you get closer, you realize that the tall, white figure is much too detailed to be anything made of snow. The slender figure has a body that could almost be human if not for the way that the limbs attach to the torso at odd angles, and the rabbit face has dark, hollow slits for eyes. It carries a small basket in delicate fingers. It waits for you. It waits for you to get closer, closer. It waits for you to try to get inside.

FIVE: WHAT WE DO WITH THE SHADOWS
You and your companion decided that, for whatever reason, this house was worth investigating. It took something unorthodox—like moving all the furniture to one place, illuminating certain segments of the room, reciting a message, or maybe something else—but by doing it, it seems you've invited another guest. It's a shadowy figure with no face and no discernible limbs, and it goes wherever you go, lingering behind you just so that you can only ever see it out of your peripheral vision. Your companion can see it well enough, though, and sometimes it follows them instead. It doesn't seem to be hostile, but can you know that for sure? Either way, lockdown has already fallen, and you're stuck with it through the night.

SIX: A TENT-ATIVE FRIENDSHIP
Everything has locked down for the night, and it looks like you're trapped outside. This almost certainly means death, but maybe you don't have to take it lying down. You walk for a while, and--what's that? Through the snow, the light of your tablet faintly illuminates the shape of a tent. It seems someone else is stuck out here, too, but they've been luckier in their searches than you.

Time to go see if they'll take pity on you for the night. You probably don't have much longer otherwise...

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ONE: OF MOLD AND MEN
You've made an unfortunate choice, it seems. As the doors lock down for the next behind you, there's no taking it back: you're stuck in a moldy house. This seems exceptionally unhealthy, and maybe you don't know how to take the best precautions for your health or maybe you just want some company while you work, but it seems like turning to the Network is as good a choice as any, here. If nothing else, maybe someone can offer you some words of encouragement! It's not like sleeping in mold is going to kill you, right? Right? Yeah, better play it safe and get some second opinions on the best way to spend your night. It's going to be a long one.

TWO: NOTHING FEATURED, NOTHING GAINED
It's time to send the Network a strongly worded or strongly concerned letter. To Whom it May Concern: why are all the items gone? If you have your timing right, you're pretty sure that the building you've chosen should be brimming with brand new supplies to add to your personal inventory. And yet, when you arrive, you find that it appears to have been completely ransacked. Beyond that, an uneasy air of emptiness fills the entire space. Either someone's been greedy, or something else is going on here. Hopefully, someone else has their own findings they can bring to light. Brace yourselves--the trade market is about to get much more competitive.

THREE: ITSY BITSY
For the most part, it's a normal night for you and your traveling companion. As you're settling down to sleep, however, you notice something out of your corner: a lonely spider spinning a web. At first you think it might be one of the robotic spiders that the Admin sends out to complete certain tasks, but the more you watch it the more you realize...it's a real, live spider. Considering that you've never seen another living creature appear naturally within Norfinbury, this might be a good reason to wake your companion up--if only to confirm that you aren't just seeing things.

FOUR: AN OFFER TO REFUSE
Traveling alone through the radiation zone is bad enough as it is, but what's worse: arriving at the only location to stock boxes to keep your food safe and discovering that there's only one left. And what's more, the one that's left is already being picked up by someone else ho happened to get here before you. You have a couple options here, of course. Compromise, bribery, or something more blatantly antagonistic. Hey, maybe you really will be able to work something out! Ultimately, though, neither of you is going to want to be eating irradiated snacks, so there's a bit more at stake here than missing out on a new piece of reading material.

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ONE: STAY HYDRATED
The shocking lack of vegetation and general isolation will probably make this feel much more special than it honestly is, but when you wake up one morning, you discover that a new app has appeared on your tablet! It's called WATERME and when you open it, the app prompts you to give a name to a cute little flower seed hopping up and down on your screen. Once you've named your seed, it asks you to drink some water. Generally, it seems like the kind of app that helps people remember to keep hydrated! How sweet! Whenever you drink some water, the seed seems happy. It eventually grows into a little bud!

Except, when you don't drink any water, your seed seems upset with you, and asks you why you want to hurt it? Why do you want it to die? Aren't you friends? Don't you care? You start to feel thirsty--too thirsty, more thirsty than you've ever felt before. So, maybe you should drink some water and help your seed out! Maybe you could talk around about the phenomenon...or maybe you just want to brag about how your seed is cuter than all the other seeds.

TWO: FLOWEY POWEY
After a period of time, your tablet freezes. One of two things happen. If you refused to water your seed, it disappears along with the app. If you did water your seed when it asked, it blooms suddenly into a big, beautiful flower! Be proud of your flower child, they've grown so big and strong. Except, its happy smile transforms into a malicious grin, and thorny vines spring out across your screen like a vice. Your tablet unfreezes, but the vines squirm and move things around, stealing bits and pieces of your text as you write and moving and hiding your applications mischievously.

This could just be an adolescent phase, but maybe you should try and find someone with Malwarebytes.

THREE: STAY AWAY FROM THE BIG YELLOW ONES
You and your traveling companion have stumbled into the building that has an attached greenhouse filled with poisonous plants. Even on a good day, it's good to be cautious of where you place your fingers...but today you get the distinct feeling that something in the greenhouse is off. In fact, what's going on with that pod-shaped flower hanging around in a far, dark corner? It's pretty large for a potted plant.

When it opens up to reveal rows of sharp, jagged teeth lined along rough, flesh-like yellow petals, you realize that it isn't a flower at all. You've locked yourself in with an anomaly. The plant creature falls down onto four leafy legs and propels itself forward on vines--better act quick!

FOUR: NEXT STOP, ABERCROMBIE
You could have died in a number of ways--and, in fact, maybe you don't even recall dying at all. Still, you must have died, because as you wake up you aren’t where you were before. You’re in a bodybag in the columbarium morgue...and strangely, you have a distinct memory of someone placing a bouquet upon your chest, weighing you down as if each flower were as solid as a stone. There’s no visual to accompany this memory, as if your body was already dead when you felt it happen. It would be easier to brush it off as a fluke...except now all you can smell is rotting flowers--so strongly that they could be all around you. Of course, when you unzip yourself, there’s nothing there that seems to be the source of the smell.

Fortunately, it seems like there’s someone else there with you, in the part of the building outside of the morgue. Maybe they can help you, and figure out what happened. It would be nice to know, at least, if the smell is just in your head.

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ONE: SOOTHING AMBIANCE
Today in your searches you found a SD card full of ambient noise, primarily in the form of rain sounds. It's actually incredibly peaceful, a great find for those extra-stressful days. However...when you actually relax and listen to it in full, you start to hear what you're sure are subliminal messages peppered in between the sound of droplets and pouring water. Or maybe you really are just that stressed. It's not like you'd ever follow up on anything the messages suggest, like locking yourself outside or sawing through one of your limbs, but you really would feel a bit better if you could be sure if this is in your head or not. Luckily, the music downloaded itself from your SD card to a file on your tablet, so it'll be easy enough to send someone on the Network a copy and get their opinion on the matter.

TWO: AND NOW, FOR THE WEATHER
At first, you were sure that finding WEATHER_FORECAST.EXE was going to be an incredibly useless addition to your tablet's apps. True to your suspicions, the first several days you checked it showed nothing but blizzards. Hey, at least the readings were accurate! Checking it again, however, and you'll be surprised to find that the forecast has changed. It's now boasting fair, sunny weather. You look out the window and it looks like the cloud and snow has all cleared. What are you waiting for? Strip off those unnecessary extra layers and spread the word!

Of course, anyone you talk to will probably be quick to call you on your error. As far as everyone else can see, the weather is the same cold misery that it's always been. Hopefully, someone can stop you before you get yourself frostbite.

THREE: ROOM FOR ONE MORE?
In a rather delightful turn of events, you and your traveling companion have found a house with a working bathtub! The hot water is only good for one use each night, so you'll probably want to stick around a few days to get the most out of it. It looks like it's your turn tonight, so you settle in for a nice relaxing dip...when you feel your head being pushed forcefully underneath the surface.

The feeling of being held there only lasts for a moment, not enough to cause any damage, but enough that when you come up for air, you're not left particularly happy. And who could have done it other than your traveling companion? You never saw or heard them come in, but it couldn't have been no one, could it? This might be a good time to have some words with them about their idea of a tasteful prank.


FOUR: SINK OR SWIM
In a less fortunate turn of events, the house that you and your traveling companion have gotten stuck in for the night is completely waterlogged. Leaks are springing everywhere and most of the items you find are coated in mold...but, well, it was this or freezing to death outside. Time are tough. You might not be very comfortable, but maybe the two of you can make it work with a bit of creativity...or selflessness. The top of the coffee table in the living room seems dry enough to set up on. If nothing else is certain, it's going to be a very long night.

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ONE: AT THE END OF EVERY RAINBOW
What a lucky day! You’ve found an SD card! While it doesn’t have any secret messages from a time long past, it does have something that you can kill some time with. When you plug the card into your tablet, you discover it contains a game: an old-school side-scroller where you play as a pixelated leprechaun searching for his pot of gold. It's not until you stop playing that things start to get odd. Maybe you're trying to sleep or maybe you're just keeping an eye on the network, but you swear you hear someone moving around the house. It sounds like someone's searching for something--and sometimes you swear you see someone dart past your periphery--but you can't find anyone. And the longer you search, the more you get the sense that someone is playing a trick on you. Did you imagine the laughter that you just heard?

TWO: SOMETHING GREEN (WITH ENVY)
You wake up one morning to find yourself feeling mysteriously discontent. Surely, you’re already unhappy at the state of your position in Norfinbury, but this is different. A nagging, pestering knowledge in the back of your mind that something is missing. Something physical. You look through your things, and everything seems in order, but the feeling persists. It isn’t until you spot it on the network that you understand: you need something green.

It doesn’t matter what it is, who has it, or where you can find it, but you need it and you need it now. You aren’t agitated and aren’t feeling unlike yourself, which is odd, but it bothers you in whatever way that’s most natural for you to be bothered. You’re insistent that you need to have that green object in your possession, and you’re more than willing (if not happy) to trade any goods or services or threats that you deem necessary to get it before the day is done.

THREE: CRACK OPEN A COLD ONE
It’s a good start to the night when you and your traveling companion stumble across a rare find: two unopened, frothy beers. There’s one for each of you, unless one of you decides to take them both, so there’s plenty of time to kick back and take it easy while you wait for lockdown to lift. As you savor your alcohol, though, you’ll start to notice something odd. You can’t feel any sort of hint that the liquid is having an impact on your sobriety. Your mind is clear and sharp--you aren’t even tired. Maybe you take it for a fluke or maybe you figure your tolerance is better than you remember...but then you try to stand up, and despite your mental clarity, your legs buckle beneath you, unsteady as a newborn’s. The world tumbles, dips, and spins.

Or maybe you’re even less lucky, and you skip straight to the feelings that come after an all-night bender, instead. A few sips and your head is throbbing, your eyes stinging, your stomach churning. Pick your poison, but either way, you’re in for a long, long night.

FOUR: A CHANGE OF FORTUNE
In searching through the house for the night with your traveling companion, you uncover a pressed and laminated four-leaf clover. How lucky! At least, you get the distinct idea that it’s going to bring you some kind of luck and, to that end, you don't want your companion to touch it. In fact, it would be better for the both of you if they didn’t even look at it. They could stand to let you have some time to yourself, anyway. If they knew how lucky this thing was, they’d take it, wouldn’t they? And why would they stop there? They could take your other things, too. Maybe you’d be better off sneaking away from them as soon as the opportunity strikes you. After all, as long as you have this do you even really need to be traveling with anyone else to begin with?

Or maybe you’re the one on the outside looking in--and watching your traveling companion becoming secretive and on-edge is starting to concern you. You’re wondering if that “good luck charm” is more unlucky than anything else. Maybe there’s still a way you can convince them to give it up. You don’t want it, but you’re worried about what’ll happen if they keep holding onto it.

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ONE: IT GAZES BACK
Aside from perhaps a lingering feeling of unease, it’s been a quiet day. Maybe the quiet is why you feel so suspicious. Still, with nothing to stop you, it’s not a tall order to get some sleep. After all, you probably need it. It’s the staying asleep part that proves to be the trickiest...because more than once, you wake up from the light of your tablet. Not only is it turning itself on...it’s turning itself on and recording. It’s strange...but stranger still is that when you play back the videos you find the angle of the camera move until it falls on your sleeping body--no matter where you had your tablet placed or where you found it when you woke up.

Maybe it’ll feel a bit more comforting to try and sleep again if you find out you’re not the only one experiencing this problem.

TWO: SURVEY SAYS
At first it seems mostly like a stroke of bad luck when your tablet glitches and goes dead. After a few seconds of getting nothing but a blue screen, a loading icon appears in the center, and it appears you’re back up. Only, everything is empty. Just like when you first woke up here however many days ago, you find that it won’t let you rest until you insert a username. It may seem like a good time to change the one you had set for yourself before, if it isn’t something that you’ve been particularly happy with, but that’s when things start to get odd:

That username doesn’t belong to you.

The error message continues to come up until you put in your existing username, at which point the tablet welcomes you back, and asks you for a moment of your time to answer a few questions to improve your continued experience. “No” isn’t an option. And the questions, though they start off simple enough, quickly become stranger and stranger.

Tell me what action has caused you the most shame in life, it asks. Or maybe, I like the taste of your skin, which isn’t even a question at all. It seems to be a different experience for every user, which you’ll discover if you talk to others about it who report similar findings once the survey caps out at twenty questions and thanks you for the enlightening dialogue.

Your tablet is back to the way it was before it crashed, as if nothing has changed.

THREE: I AM IT AND IT IS ME
A room full of mirrors is not exactly your ideal place to stay, but there’s not much escaping it once lockdown hits. Other than the obvious, after all, there’s nothing too inherently creepy about your own reflection. At least, there’s nothing creepy about your reflection so long as it acts like a reflection. At some point, when your traveling companion is turned away from a mirror, you’ll notice a second pair of eyes on you--because their reflection didn’t turn when your companion did. It stares, too. Stares, and smiles knowingly, like the two of you are sharing a secret.

Alert your companion to what you see and they’ll turn to find nothing that appears more than an ordinary reflection. But the hairs stand up on the back of your neck because now, all of a sudden, you can’t be too sure what your reflection is doing when your focus is elsewhere, either.

FOUR: PREPARE FOR ASSIMILATION
The first thing you notice when you wake up is that, if you weren’t already, you’re huddled very close to your traveling companion. The second and possibly more pressing thing you notice following this discovery is that the two of you are so close together because you’ve been confined in a room the size of a small closet with no discernible entry or exit point. What it does have are a lot of dangerous looking parts. And it’s warm--but warm is quickly turning into searing, unbearable heat. Nothing moves or changes at first, but once the both of you are awake the walls around you begin to spin. Slowly at first, at a languid crawl, but gradually faster.

You aren’t told so much as somehow know that this is the assimilation room, and it’s your task to escape, one way or another. The question is...how, exactly? Or is this all just some kind of test?