(set: $plantkiller to 0)
(set: $has_security_key to false)
(set: $william_dead to false)
(set: $has_armoury_key to false)
(set: $has_revolver to false)
(set: $monster_dead to false)
(set: $has_study_key to false)
(set: $has_prison_key to false)
(set: $exp_monster_dead to false)
(set: $ashley_state to "waiting")
(set: $key_storage to false)
(set: $key_surgery to false)
(set: $key_treadwell to false)
(set: $root_keys to 0)
You awake, covered in rubble and... ropes? You push yourself up, turning around to face the roof. You can see where you fell from.
"A long way down..." you mutter to yourself before turning back around.
[[You stand up from the wreckage around you.|Intro1]]Standing up you slowly realize you're not covered in ropes...
[[Observe the leathery strands on yourself | Intro2]]Vines?! As you pull the strands off you see they're vines covering you, they feel tight against your body.
Your eyes adjust to the darkness and now you can see it... Vines everywhere, covering the walls and roof with flower bulbs glowing a sickly purple hue.
[[Rip the vines off and step forward | Intro3]]gathering your thoughts and checking your equipment, you take a deep breath and grab your radio.
You raise it to your lips before pressing your thumb into the side and clearing your throat.
"Pillbottle coming in, I've landed inside the facility... Moving forward with the operation."
[[Waiting... Until a voice crackles out from the other end | Intro4]]"Good work agent, we've got your signal but its strength is subpar at best. You'll be going in mostly blind from here. Remember to bring back as much data and samples as possible; our newest readings show a great excess of biomatter" A raspy old man responds.
"Acknowledged, There's plenty of material to work with." You chatter back as your eyes scan the slightly shifting vines covering the walls.
[[Hang up the call and move through the hallway ahead | Hallway Tutorial]]Darkness consumes the hallway ahead, standing at the threshold of the doorway you narrow your brow staring into the deep black.
[[Stare deeper | Darkness Scare1]]
[[Ignore the impulse and press on | Hallway Tutorial2]]As you look deeper and longer into the black you feel your back of your eyes start to burn... and yet something else in you compels you to look even closer.
[[Push it down... Ignore the impulse | Hallway Tutorial2]]
[[Stare deeper. | Darkness Scare2]]
As you walk into the darkness you spot it, a mass in the center of the hallway shifting back and forth quietly... not quite able to make it out you finally remember your equipment.
Reaching down you grasp the flashlight on your chest flicking it on
[[Look at the mass | CreatureScare]]Even deeper into the dark, as if the transition from your inner eyesocket to the world in front of you blurs it becomes harder and harder to separate where you end and the darkness infront of you begins.
As this burning in your eyes grows suddenly you see something glimmer.
Like a white spot floating in space.
[[Step towards the shimmer and reach out for it | Death1]]
As your hands reach out in front of you, grasping the faint glimmer you feel an odd warmth now cupped in your hands.
Pulling on it only brings an equal resistance until before you can react something pulls you in.
Without a change in darkness everything is now warm and wet, your breath becomes shallow as the oxygen around you fades.
[[Eaten by a plant... Restart |Intro1]]Growths, spewing slime. It reaches out and you barely manage to dodge its grasp.
Backing off you finally get a good look at it, a large bulbous flower head with a human eye resting at the center of its petals. It watches you closely as you move about the room.
[[Look around the hallway | HallwayBlocked]]
(if: $plantkiller >= 1)[
[[Spray the plant->ClearedHallway]]
]Standing in the hallway there's not much to see. The vines cover most of the walls and roof all leading up to the monster waiting at the end.
to the left theres a small room that the plant hasn't grown inside yet. might be worth checking out.
[[Head towards the plant | CreatureScare]]
[[Check out the side room | SideRoom]]
The room is dusty, seemingly untouched for a while. It looks like a small janitorial closet.
You spot a crumpled up note in the corner of the room.
On a small shelf above him rests a vial reading "Weed Killer", sitting next to a crumpled logbook.
[[Read the crumpled logbook | ReadGuardLog]]
(link: "Take the Weed Killer")[
(set: $plantkiller to $plantkiller + 1)
]
[[Leave the room -> HallwayBlocked]]The plant decays in front of you and melts away leaving the hallway clear and accessible.
(set: $plantkiller to $plantkiller - 1)
[[Move forward->MainHub]]The hallway opens up into a large, sterile reception area. Tube computers sit frozen on desks, buried under scattered documents. It feels like a tomb, except for the thick, pulsing vines snaking across the walls.
To your left is the Information Hub. To your right, the Security Booth. Straight ahead, large double doors lead to the Experimentation Room.
(if: $has_security_key is false)[The Security Booth is currently magnetically locked.]
(if: $has_security_key is true)[[[Enter the Security Office |Security]]]
[[Look through the Information Hub |InformationHub]]
[[Check the Staff Breakroom | StaffBreakroom]]
[[Head straight into the Experimentation Room |ExperimentationRoom]](if: $william_dead is false)[
The heavy glass door to the Security booth is shattered.
Inside, slumped against a bank of dead monitors, is a lanky, sweating man in a ruined suit. He's clutching a leather briefcase and bleeding heavily from a massive wound in his side. He coughs, blood staining his chin.
[[Approach the man |GuyConversation]]
[[Leave him and return to the hub |MainHub]]
]
(if: $william_dead is true)[
The security booth is dead quiet. William's body rests exactly where you left him, slumped against the shattered monitors. The heavy silence of the room makes the squelching vines outside sound even louder.
[[Return to the Main Hub |MainHub]]
]The Information Hub is a mess of overturned filing cabinets and scattered memos.
Digging through the drawers, you find a plastic ID badge with high-level access.
(set: $has_security_key to true)
*(You obtained the Security Keycard)*
A doorway at the back of this room leads into a darker area.
[[Proceed to the Waiting Lobby |WaitingLobby]]
[[Return to the Main Hub |MainHub]]The lobby is completely dark. A large, featureless concrete wall sits at the back of the room, looking slightly out of place.
Upon closer inspection, there is a heavy, rusted keyhole hidden behind a loose panel.
(if: $has_prison_key is true)[[[Unlock the false wall | PrisonDescent]]]
(else:)[You need a specific key to open this.]
[[Return to the Information Hub |InformationHub]](if: $exp_monster_dead is false)[
You push through the double doors. The sterile white tiles give way to dirt-caked floors and shattered medical equipment.
Suddenly, a massive mass of growths and spewing slime blocks the far doors leading to the Greenhouse. It thrashes wildly, preventing any way forward!
(if: $plantkiller > 0)[
[[Spray the monster with the Weed Killer | ExpMonster Defeated]]
]
(if: $plantkiller == 0)[
You have nothing to fight it with! It lashes out, nearly taking your head off.
[[Flee back to the Main Hub |MainHub]]
]
]
(if: $exp_monster_dead is true)[
You step into the Experimentation Room. The sterile white tiles are caked in dirt and scattered with shattered medical equipment.
A massive puddle of foul-smelling, melted sludge sits in front of the far doors, marking exactly where the mutated plant died.
[[Enter the Greenhouse Main Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]]
[[Return to the Main Hub |MainHub]]
]You step into what looks like an old 1970s botanical conservatory buried underground. The fake sunlight panels above are shattered, with thick, muscular plant life tearing through the ceiling.
To your left is the Storage room. To your right is the Armoury. Straight ahead is the Biotics Study.
(if: $has_study_key is true)[[[Enter the Greenhouse Study |GreenhouseStudy]]]
(else:)[The Greenhouse Study door is heavily locked, but through the reinforced glass, you can see a softly glowing sanitary pod inside.]
[[Explore Greenhouse Storage |GreenhouseStorage]]
(if: $has_armoury_key is true)[[[Enter the Armoury |Armoury]]]
(else:)[The Armoury door is locked tight. It needs a key.]
[[Return to the Experimentation Room |ExperimentationRoom]]You unlock the door and step inside Dr. Treadwell's office. The walls are completely covered in manic, overlapping scrawls.
In the center of the room sits the heavy sanitary decontamination chamber.
(if: $ashley_state is "escaped")[
The heavy glass door hangs wide open. The pod is completely empty now that Ashley has made it to the surface.
[[Search the manic notes | StudyNotes]]
[[Return to the Greenhouse Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]]
]
(else-if: $ashley_state is "abandoned")[
The heavy glass door is sealed shut from the inside. The pod is fogged up, but you can faintly see Ashley sitting with her back to the glass, ignoring you completely.
[[Search the manic notes | StudyNotes]]
[[Return to the Greenhouse Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]]
]
(else:)[
The glass is fogged up, and you hear frantic tapping coming from inside.
[[Search the manic notes first | StudyNotes]]
[[Open the glowing pod | AshleyPod]]
][[Climb Down->LadderRow1]]Dark
[[Climb Down->LadderRow2]]Darker
[[Climb Down->LadderRow3]]Yet Darker...
[[Climb Down->LadderRow4]]
Darkness consumes the last of the ladder you could make out, now slowly feeling your way down.
[[Climb Down->LadderRow5]]
And yet... Darker still.
[[Climb Down->LadderRoomBottom]]Your boots finally hit solid ground with a wet, sickening crunch.
The air down here is freezing. It smells like ancient earth, copper, and profound decay. You sweep your flashlight around, but the darkness is so thick the beam barely pierces it. The pristine white tiles of the R&D sector are completely gone, replaced by crumbling, brutalist concrete and rusted iron.
You draw your weapon. The squelching of the vines is louder down here—it sounds less like a plant growing, and more like a massive, slow heartbeat echoing through the dark.
[[Step forward into the dark | PrisonMainHub]]
You step over the glass. The man's eyes dart to you.
"You... you hear them too, don't you? The numbers." He forces a wet, rattling laugh. "Thought I was crazy. Left my job... followed the broadcast all the way down here."
[["Who are you?" |GuyConversation2]]"William. Or D-Fens, they called me that." He winces, pressing a bloody hand to his side.
"I slipped right past the blockades. They ignore guys like me. I thought... I thought it was meant for something important... I was."
[["What happened here, William?" |GuyConversation3]]"The plant... it's a broadcast." He taps his temple with a shaking finger. "Aid Fast didn't know what they found. They woke it up. Take my case. The notes... the town cover-ups. It's all in there."
He weakly shoves the leather briefcase toward you.
[[Take the briefcase and comfort him |GuyConversation4]]You take the case. Inside is another vial of weed killer and manic, scribbled notes detailing local kidnappings.
William slumps back against the monitors, his breathing slowing to a stop. His eyes gloss over. The dead silence of the room returns, broken only by the squelching of the vines outside.
(set: $william_dead to true)
(set: $plantkiller to $plantkiller + 1)
*(You obtained more WeedKiller)*
[[Return to the Main Hub |MainHub]]Sacks of fertilizer and chemical drums are piled high. The entire room is consumed by a sickly purple glow.
Nailed to the wall with a surgical scalpel is a bloody piece of notebook paper.
[[Read the bloody note | ReadDayOfBloom]]
(if: $has_armoury_key is false)[
Digging through a rusted toolbox, you find a heavy brass key attached to a faded lanyard.
(set: $has_armoury_key to true)
*(You obtained the Armoury Key)*
]
[[Return to the Greenhouse Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]](if: $monster_dead is false)[
You unlock the heavy steel door. Inside, the weapon racks have been completely stripped, save for one item resting on a crate: a high-caliber Revolver.
(set: $has_revolver to true)
As your hand closes around the grip, the ceiling vines violently burst open! A horrific mutated staff member drops down, blocking the exit. Its limbs are stretched entirely out of proportion, and it lunges at you!
[[Shoot the monster! | ArmouryFight]]
]
(else:)[
The Armoury is quiet, the dead monster bleeding out on the cold floor.
[[Return to the Greenhouse Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]]
](set: $monster_dead to true)
(set: $has_study_key to true)
You raise the Revolver and fan the hammer, blasting the creature point-blank. It collapses into a heap of twitching leaves and blood.
Kicking the biomass aside, you spot a bloody ID badge and a silver key mixed in with the monster's remains. A torn note nearby reveals a researcher was eaten whole by this thing while trying to hide.
*(You obtained the Study Key)*
[[Return to the Greenhouse Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]]You skim the papers on the desk. They track Treadwell's shift from scientific excitement to disturbing personification of the flora. His final note simply reads: *THEY SPEAK. WE ARE THE SOIL.*
The tapping from the pod grows more frantic.
[[Open the glowing pod | AshleyPod]]You unlatch the heavy door. The woman inside doesn't step out, she scrambles backward like a cornered animal, kicking frantically at the glass.
"Stay back! Don't touch me! I'm not infected!"
She stops, chest heaving, staring wildly at your tactical gear. "You... you're human." She practically falls out of the pod, her frayed lab coat clinging to her shivering frame. "I'm Ashley. Ashley Grace. I've been in there for... I don't even know."
She looks out the window at the overgrown ruins and a bitter, angry laugh escapes her. "You're with Safe-Stay, aren't you? You corporate vultures. You don't care about us. You just want the samples."
[["What happened down here, Ashley?" | AshleyDialog2]](set: $has_prison_key to true)
(set: $ashley_state to "abandoned")
You violently shove her hands off your jacket and step back. Survival comes first. She is too loud, too unstable, and will get you both killed.
Her eyes widen in absolute horror. "You... you monster!" she shrieks, her survival instinct taking over as she scrambles back into the decontamination pod. Just before the heavy door seals shut, she hurls a heavy iron key through the gap, striking you in the chest.
"I don't know what's down there, but I hope it buries you!"
*(You obtained the Prison Key)*
[[Return to the Greenhouse Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]]You insert the heavy iron key and turn. The concrete wall groans, slowly sliding open on hidden tracks.
A wave of cold, foul-smelling air hits you instantly. Inside is a rusted metal ladder plunging straight down into absolute pitch-black darkness.
[[Climb down the ladder |LadderRoomTop]](set: $plantkiller to $plantkiller - 1)
(set: $exp_monster_dead to true)
You pull out the Weed Killer and spray the thrashing vines. The plant shrieks—an awful, human-like sound—before rapidly decaying and melting into a puddle of foul-smelling sludge.
The path is clear.
[[Enter the Greenhouse Main Hub |GreenhouseMainHub]]A coffee pot sits shattered on the floor next to a faded poster: "Aid Fast Corp: Engineering Your Better Tomorrow."
Sitting perfectly upright at one of the tables is... a person?
You step closer, the beam of your flashlight catching the figure, and your stomach drops. It isn't a corporate employee. It is a grotesque monument. Thick, wet vines are coiled tightly together, mimicking the exact musculature of a human body. A heavy canvas straitjacket—deeply stained and torn—hangs over shoulders made of shifting bark and roots. Several thick leather restraint straps have been snapped clean off from the inside out.
The "face" has no features—only clusters of sickly, glowing purple buds blooming outward from where the skull used to be.
A discarded company newsletter sits on the table near its root-like hands.
[[Read the Newsletter | ReadNewsletter]]
[[Back away and return to the Main Hub |MainHub]]"A Message from CEO Silas Sterling:
Team, we are in the final stretch. Our government partners are expecting results on the new chemical 'Riot Suppressant' by the end of the quarter. I know the hours have been long, and the quotas have been high, but greatness requires sacrifice. Remember, we aren't just making medicine; we are securing society. Work hard, stay focused, and ignore the rumors."
He sounds like a man obsessed with work ethic.
[[Put the newsletter down | StaffBreakroom]]The handwriting is barely legible, written in a panicked scrawl:
"It's the Day of Bloom. God help us. Treadwell was right, this is all Sterling's fault. The subjects... they all stopped. They just laid down and the vines burst out of them. It happened in seconds. The plants are in the vents. The air is thick. I can feel it in my lungs."
[[Step away from the note |GreenhouseStorage]]The handwriting is messy and rushed:
"October 14th. The smell from the sub-levels is getting worse. Management keeps telling us it's just the fertilizer for the Biotics division, but I know what rotting meat smells like. And the 'volunteer' subjects they brought in from the local Haitian towns? Half of them don't even blink anymore. They just stare. I'm requesting a transfer."
[[Put the logbook down | SideRoom]]Her anger shatters instantly, replaced by a frantic, breathless panic. "Treadwell lost his mind! We were just sequencing cells, I swear! I didn't know about the sub-levels! I didn't know they were feeding people to it!"
She grabs the collar of your jacket, her knuckles white, eyes wide and manic. "Look at me! My cat is waiting for me at home. My parents think I'm dead! You have to get me out! If you leave me here, I'll die in this dark hole, and it will be YOUR fault!"
She is erratic, desperate, and loud. Escorting her is going to be incredibly dangerous.
[[Pull away. "You're on your own. I can't risk it." | AshleyLeave]]
[["Keep your mouth shut and stay behind me. Let's move." | EscapeStart]](set: $has_prison_key to true)
You nod, keeping your gun raised. "Follow my footsteps."
You burst out of the Study and back into the Greenhouse Main Hub. But the facility is reacting to her erratic, panicked breathing. The purple bioluminescence flares blindingly bright. Thick, muscular vines begin dropping from the shattered ceiling, blocking paths and violently shifting the layout.
You need to get her back to the R&D wing immediately. You have three doors in front of you. Which way did you come from?
[[Sprint for the Armoury door | DeathArmoury]]
[[Dive into Greenhouse Storage | DeathStorage]]
[[Run for the Experimentation Room double doors | EscapeNode2]]You grab Ashley's arm and kick open the Armoury door. It's a dead end.
The corpse of the mutated guard you killed earlier is gone... reabsorbed into the floor. Before you can turn around, the heavy steel door slams shut behind you, deadbolting itself. Ashley screams as spiked roots burst through the floor grates, wrapping rapidly around her legs. You raise your revolver, but a thick, thorny vine whips around your throat from the ceiling, snapping your neck before you can even pull the trigger.
You are fertilizer.
[[Restart the Escape | EscapeStart]]You drag Ashley into the Storage room. The sickly purple glow here is overwhelming. You trip over the scattered chemical drums in your rush.
The fertilizer sacks piled in the corner burst open. You realize too late they aren't full of dirt, they are massive, dormant seed pods. Ashley's panicked screaming disturbs them. The pods violently detonate, filling the tiny room with a dense cloud of neurotoxic spores. Your lungs burn, your vision fades to black, and the last thing you feel is the roots taking hold in your stomach.
[[Restart the Escape | EscapeStart]]You sprint through the double doors into the Experimentation Room. The massive puddle of melted sludge from the monster you killed earlier is burning through the floor tiles.
The walls are buckling as the giant roots in the walls constrict. The main double doors leading back to the Main Hub are partially blocked by falling concrete, but a large ventilation shaft has collapsed onto the floor nearby, offering a tunnel.
"Hurry!" Ashley screams, shoving you forward.
[[Crawl into the collapsed ventilation shaft | DeathVent]]
[[Shoulder-tackle through the blocked double doors | EscapeFinale]]You think the vent will bypass the collapsing hallway. You shove Ashley in first and crawl in right behind her.
Halfway through the dark, claustrophobic tunnel, the metal begins to groan. You hear Ashley stop crawling. Then, a wet *crunch*, followed by a horrific, gurgling scream that abruptly cuts off. You try to backpedal out of the shaft, but a massive root system outside crushes the ductwork flat like a tin can, crushing you instantly inside.
[[Restart the Escape | EscapeStart]]You ignore the vent and throw your entire body weight against the blocked double doors. The concrete crumbles, and you burst through into the Main Hub.
You drag Ashley through the Information Hub and into the dark Waiting Lobby. Reaching the surface breach you originally fell through, you cup your hands, boosting her up until she grabs the ledge and pulls herself to safety.
She lies on the surface above, gasping for air, tears streaming down her face. "Thank you... thank you." She reaches into her pocket and drops a heavy iron key down to you. "I found this before I hid. I don't know what's down in the sub-levels, but Treadwell was obsessed with it. Good luck."
*(You obtained the Prison Key)*
(set: $ashley_state to "escaped")
[[Approach the false wall |WaitingLobby]]You push through a rusted out security gate and step into a massive, cavernous bunker. The squelching of the vines is entirely absent here. There is only a dead, freezing silence.
The room splits into three distinct directions.
To your left, a heavy iron sign reads: "Mass Storage."
To your right, the sign reads: "Experimentation."
Straight ahead is a massive, reinforced blast door leading to the Root Chamber.
You approach the blast door. It is locked down by a heavy industrial mechanism requiring three separate override keys to open.
Keys inserted: $root_keys / 3.
(if: $root_keys is 3)[
The heavy locks disengage with a deafening *CLANG*. The blast doors are ready to open.
[[Open the Root Chamber doors | RootChamberEnter]]
]
(else:)[
You need to find the remaining keys in the wings.
]
[[Head left into Mass Storage | PrisonStorage]]
[[Head right into the Experimentation Hall | PrisonExperimentation]]You step into Mass Storage. Your flashlight sweeps over rows of rusted, heavy-gauge cages. They are brutally small, stacked practically on top of each other.
The architecture here is entirely utilitarian, built with a disturbing, mechanical efficiency. The concrete floor is built on a steep slant and crisscrossed with deep trenches carved directly into the stone. Every trench is heavily stained a dark, flaking brown, and they all slope downward, converging on a massive iron drainage grate in the dead center of the room.
Inside the cages, there are no latrines or bunks, only thick, undisturbed layers of filth. It was designed to be hosed down.
[[Examine the scratchings on the cell walls | StorageNotes]]
(if: $key_storage is false)[
[[Investigate the central drainage grate | StorageKey]]
]
[[Return to the Prison Hub | PrisonMainHub]]The heavy door swings shut behind you, its hinges squealing a sharp echo against the flat, plastic-lined walls.
You sweep your flashlight down the long room. At first glance, the equipment looks like a row of heavy dentist chairs. Then, you notice the thick leather limb straps. Deep, frantic scratches gouge the steel beneath where the patients' wrists and ankles would sit.
A harsh, sterile stench of rubbing alcohol coats the back of your throat, failing to entirely mask the smell of dried copper. Industrial metal shelving lines the walls, packed with massive glass vials of cloudy liquid. The labels don't carry names, only clinical, typewritten codes like "Test Sample 27-B".
Looming at the far end of the hall, casting a long shadow over the surgical floor, is a raised glass office. Dr. Treadwell's private observation deck.
[[Read the clipboards left on the surgical tables | SurgeryNotes]]
(if: $key_surgery is false)[
[[Search the surgical trays | SurgeryKey]]
]
[[Walk up to Treadwell's Observation Deck | TreadwellOffice]]
[[Return to the Prison Hub | PrisonMainHub]]The heavy blast doors groan, breaking a seal that hasn't been opened since the Day of Bloom. You step into a cavernous, subterranean hollow.
In the dead center, resting on a terrifyingly massive mound of displaced earth and human bone, is a single, pristine flower. It is entirely different from the sickly purple flora infecting the facility. It glows with a brilliant, pulsing sapphire-blue light. The air here doesn't smell like copper or rot; it smells overwhelmingly sweet, like pure vanilla and ozone.
The vines surrounding the flower are massive, as thick as old-world serpents that could swallow cows whole. They shiver and recoil slightly as you step forward.
Before you can raise your weapon, your radio crackles to life.
"Leaven," your employer's voice cuts through the static. "We have your telemetry. You're at the root. Do not engage. You have the data. Leave the specimen intact and extract immediately."
[[ "Copy that. Heading out." | EndingCompanyMan ]]
[[ "No. You don't understand what this thing is doing. We have to kill it." | RadioArgue ]]You shine your light inside one of the cramped cells. The concrete walls are covered in desperate, frantic scratchings, written in Haitian Creole by the kidnapped locals.
Some are tally marks. Others are warnings. You translate a few phrases in your head:
*“Yo pa bay dlo. Nou se vyann.”* (They give no water. We are meat.)
*“Medikaman an vòlè nanm nan.”* (The medicine steals the soul.)
But as you look closer at the more recent scratches, the tone shifts from human despair to a terrifying, mythological reverence:
*“Li anba tè a. Bondye ki gen rasin. Li grangou.”* (Under the earth. The god with roots, is hungry.)
[[Step away from the cells | PrisonStorage]](set: $key_storage to true)
(set: $root_keys to $root_keys + 1)
You walk down the slanted floor toward the massive drainage grate. Caught in the rusted iron bars, tangled in a mess of dried, dark sludge, is a heavy brass override key.
You pull it free, wiping the grime off on your pants.
*(You obtained Override Key 1)*
[[Step away from the grate | PrisonStorage]]You pick up a blood-stained clipboard.
*“Specimen 402-B: Expiration reached at 0400 hours. Biomass yield was suboptimal. The neuro-suppressant caused immediate cardiac failure before the root system could anchor to the spine. Adjusting chemical wash for the next batch. Recommend increasing caloric intake for the testing group to ensure stronger host bodies.”*
[[Put the clipboard down | PrisonExperimentation]](set: $key_surgery to true)
(set: $root_keys to $root_keys + 1)
Amongst the bone saws, bone spreaders, and heavy syringes on a steel tray, you find a pristine override key.
*(You obtained Override Key 2)*
[[Step away from the tray | PrisonExperimentation]]You climb the grated metal stairs into the glass-enclosed observation deck.
The massive, soundproofed windows offer a perfectly unobstructed, panoramic view of the surgical assembly line below. Unlike the chaotic, blood-stained halls of the rest of the facility, this office is obsessively immaculate. There is no dirt. No vines. Not a single file out of place. The air up here is stale, smelling faintly of pipe tobacco and cold coffee.
Centered precisely on the pristine mahogany desk is a single leather-bound journal, resting exactly parallel to a heavy iron override key. Sitting next to them is a heavy, pressurized industrial canister labeled "Defoliant / Weed Killer."
[[Read the leather-bound journal | TreadwellTruth]]
(if: $key_treadwell is false)[
(link: "Take the Override Key and the Weed Killer")[
(set: $key_treadwell to true)
(set: $root_keys to $root_keys + 1)
(set: $plantkiller to $plantkiller + 1)
*(You obtained Override Key 3 and the Defoliant)*
[[Step away from the desk | TreadwellOffice]]
]
]
[[Go back down to the surgical floor | PrisonExperimentation]]You open the journal to the final entry. It is written with calm, terrifying clarity.
*"Sterling thinks we are engineering a weapon. He is a fool. You cannot engineer a god; you can only feed it. The flower extract never would lobotomize the subjects to make them obedient workers. It simply hollowed out the meat to make room for the roots. We accidentally discovered a dormant, ancient intelligence resting in the Haitian soil, and we spent months directly injecting it into human nervous systems. This is it... an awakening. I am going down to the Root Chamber. I need to see it bloom."*
[[Close the journal | TreadwellOffice]]**ENDING 1: THE COMPANY MAN**
You look at the glowing sapphire petals, then down at the purple veins spreading up your arm. Survival wins.
You turn your back on the Root Chamber, leaving the dormant god in the dark. You make the long, quiet trek back to the surface. The Safe-Stay Labs extraction chopper is waiting in the jungle clearing. You hand over William's briefcase and Treadwell's journal without a word.
A medic steps forward and drives a cold, heavy syringe into your neck. The burning in your veins immediately stops. You lean back against the metal wall of the chopper as it lifts off, watching the Haitian canopy shrink below you. You survived the contract. You got your happy ending.
But as you look at the corporate executives eagerly flipping through Treadwell's notes, you sit with the future you've helped shape.A dry, condescending laugh echoes over the radio.
"Morality? From a mercenary? Look at your own veins, Leaven. You've been infected since you took your first breath in that lobby. It's a ticking clock, and you are running out of time."
You pull back your sleeve. Thick, dark purple veins are spiderwebbing up your forearm. Your blood runs cold.
"Bring us the data and leave the root intact, and we have a cure waiting for you at the extraction point," the voice continues. "Play the hero, and you become fertilizer like the rest of them. Your call."
[[ Yield. Leave the plant and live. | EndingCompanyMan ]]
[[ Pour the Weed Killer. Kill the plant, but stay and die. | EndingScorchedEarth ]]
[[ Pour the Weed Killer and run. Try to leak the truth before you die. | EndingWhistleblower ]]**ENDING 2: SCORCHED EARTH**
You uncap the pressurized canister of Weed Killer. You aren't leaving this in the hands of another corporation.
You step up to the mound of bone and drench the sapphire flower in poison. Instantly, the massive, snake-like vines begin to thrash, and the cavern echoes with the deafening, psychic screams of a hundred assimilated staff members.
A root the size of a tree trunk sweeps your legs, shattering your ribs and pinning you to the dirt. You don't even try to fight back. You lie in the dark, coughing up blood, watching the brilliant sapphire light violently flicker, fade, and turn to a rotting brown. The hive mind goes entirely silent. The plant is dead.
The purple veins on your arm begin to recede, but the crushing weight on your chest is fatal. You close your eyes in the freezing dark, taking Aid Fast's nightmare to the grave with you.**ENDING 3: THE WHISTLEBLOWER**
You drench the sapphire flower in poison. As the cavern erupts into psychic screams and thrashing, giant vines, you don't stay to watch it die. You run.
You sprint blindly back through the facility, dodging collapsing concrete and dying roots. You breach the surface, gasping for the humid night air. You hear the heavy rotors of the Safe-Stay extraction chopper waiting at the rendezvous point, but you don't go to them.
Clutching William's briefcase and Treadwell's journal to your chest, you disappear into the dense Haitian jungle. The purple veins are crawling up your neck now. Your vision is blurring. You don't have much time left before the plant takes your mind. But you have enough time to reach a radio tower.
Safe-Stay Labs won't get their weapon. The US Government won't get their cover-up. The infection will take you, but Aid Fast's sins will be broadcast to the entire world.