The Paranormal Skeptics Of Hope's Peak

Miyu Inaba here! The Ultimate Paranormal Skeptic! Currently affiliated with Vignette of Extinction. Status: ALIVE

[dondon-patapon]

DonDonPataPon Pinned Post!

Hey here's my chance to pin a post showing off the games I've made!

Our Lighthouse

In my dreams, I often find myself back here.

My first game, made for O2A2 2024 - Only One of Any Asset! A short story about finding a refuge from the storm of life, will you look to the past or to the future?

Put It On My Tab!

My first longer-form project, experimental (on my part) and contemplative!

You wake up in an unfamiliar diner, head pounding, with no memory of how you got here. Across from you is a stranger who seems to have taken an interest in your situation. All while being pressured to order by a persistent waiter...

Can you remember how you got here, before it's too late to go back?

Unfinished Portrait

You're an artist, alone in a dusty old studio. It's late, and you're tired. But you can't sleep just yet. You need to finish this last portrait, before it's too late.

A short game (~2k words, linear, one ending) written over the holidays to help me process some news I got over the holidays amongst all the other chaos.

Remember this longing; it's a part of you that can never be discarded.

The Mark of Merope

Tell me, Stranger. What do you see in my eyes?

Come closer, and let me tell you a tale. Of lost Merope, who hides her shame from her sisters. Of the doom she witnessed. And of the fate that awaits should you meet her gaze...

This is a love story, and a cautionary tale.

Inspired by Robert Chambers' The King in Yellow

Made for the O2A2 VN Jam 2025, a micro Visual Novel jam with strict asset limitations and a 1000 word limit.

A Sanctuary For You

Night has fallen, and you have work to do.

A mirror narrative to Our Lighthouse, tying both into the Aphelion series, about lost souls wandering through a far-off corner of the universe, looking for refuge-

You are a lighthouse keeper, and you must keep the light shining through the night. To that end you must look after the light, the building itself, and yourself. The safety of all who pass through this area relies on you, after all…

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BONUS LINKS!

My itch.io page!

My Youtube!

My BluSky!

[projectiapetus]

Prompt: First Interview

Want to share what you wrote for your Application Prompt? Reblog with your interview and we'll reblog it back!

During their first interview, the HR representative excuses themselves from the office for an emergency and leaves your character to their own devices. They sit in an uncomfortable wooden chair in front of a clean metal-and-glass table. One folder laid open in the center of the desk shows their own application and cover letter. Aside from that, there are three stacks of folders: The largest stack which seems to be the queue, a hefty stack of hot-pink sticky-noted rejections, and a thin stack of what must be approvals. Muffled yelling can be heard from across the hall as the HR rep apologizes, and it seems like it will be a while. Left to their own devices for minutes-turned-potentially-to-hours… what do they do?

[paranormal-skeptics]

It was going well, all things considered. Casual pleasantries, measured replies. No real nerves to speak of here. Makoto was confident in her experience, after all. There was no turning back.

She’d come all this way to Canada, all for this opportunity. All for a group that clearly valued research and understanding above any other application. A position she could believe in and advocate for, as she made clear to the representative interviewing her. She was going to be a small fish in a big pond here. But it would be worth it.

The mood was good, that sort of cordial rapport built and maintained over time-

But when the rep excused herself, Makoto was once again left alone with her thoughts. In a stuffy room to boot.

The first ten minutes were spent trying to count the stacks of paper. Pink sticky notes breaking up the stack of papers, but also threw a wrench in her counting plan - she got to fifty, decided she’d lost her count, and started over. By the time she reached the sticky note she’d deemed the halfway point of the stack she’d reached eighty somehow. With a huff, she gave up and looked around the room.

Did this room feel smaller? The air was growing stuffy, weighing heavier on her. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes.

Okay, she can hear the faint hum of the HVAC in the ceiling, blowing cool air into the room. She tried to visualize the air flowing. Rustling through paper, no - rustling through tall grass. The sun’s shining, warm on her skin. She could lie down here and doze off-

The bickering from the hallway brought her out of her daydream, leaving her with a gnawing pit in her stomach, looking around the room. What on earth was happening out there? Ugh, was this room always so damn small? There’s people out there. There’s a hallway. There’s an exit. The exit leads to the outdoors. There’s a way out. Just breathe. You can brush past them if you need-

You’re safe.

No, no, Makoto. You can’t just bail now. If you bailed now, you’d never forgive yourself.

Just close your eyes, steady your breathing… and try again.

Your name is Makoto Inaba. You’re thirty years old. You’re a psychologist. You’re a phantasm researcher. You’ve achieved recordable results you can point to as a reference. You deserve to be here. You need to be here.

You need to be here.

You need to do this.

“Why am I doing this?” Makoto muttered, hunching forward and rubbing her temple. “Why the fuck am I here…”

But you know the answer to that. You need to understand.

“I could be camped out in a fucking cabin right about now. Just off in the woods somewhere. Why am I here…”

You know the answer to that.

“I couldn’t just stay away, could I?” She sighed, pushing herself to her feet. “This is the only place I can go if I wanna understand any of this.”

She rubbed her knee, walking over to the far wall away from the desk.

“I can’t just look away from this.”

[vignetteofextinction]

Flour Games | Miyu | Trial 3-1

Miyu wasn’t satisfied.

She’d found the way of their group through a few unexpected twists and turns trying to find their way in this investigation, but more importantly, it felt like there was plenty that she was missing. So she may as well start with the obvious.

“I should say before anything… About 11am I was poking around the kitchen a bit. I stepped out, and nearly bumped right into Ai-chan…” She rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. “We talked briefly, and they left. When I went back in, I saw a mess of flour on the floor…”

She looked up a moment.

“Um, and when we went back in to look in the kitchen, we noticed that a bag was missing. I didn’t think much of it at the time, but it had to be that someone was waiting for me to leave to take a sack of flour. They had to have taken it to the music room, since there was some flour spilled on the dance floor, and, well…” She rubbed her forehead. “That’s where it ended up.”

A cough to hide the awkwardness.

“At any rate, I guess what I’m saying is that Ai-chan didn’t set up that flour trap. Someone else did. And maybe what happened in the flour was a set-up trap too…”

[vignetteofextinction]

Oh. That's Unfortunate | Miyu | RE: Disarming, Motive

Stop.

Stop.

Stop.

Stop.

Please stop.

You can’t.

Please don’t.

Oh god please don’t.

Miyu could only watch, mouthing those words. Mouth dry, unable to speak. Unable to run away. Frozen in place.

And then it happened. All she’d remember is blood, so much blood. Her eyes widened, her face paled, and she screamed.

“N-NOOOOOOOOO!”

Her legs gave out, and she crumpled to the ground. She tried to stand up, but there wasn’t any power in her legs, what for trembling so hard. She hugged her owh shoulders tightly, fighting back quiet sobs…

[vignetteofextinction]

Whiffed | Miyu | Trial 1-2 | RE: Jack

Well that kinda stopped Miyu in her tracks. It took a moment to register, but when it did, it kinda floored her.

“The what now?”

“………………”

It makes far more sense than her theory, but she’s not willing to admit it. That would also require admitting to her oversight. She’ll do that later, and probably just to her investigation partner. Sorry, Verm. She’s just going to sit back and see what the others have to say for now.

[vignetteofextinction]

Flip It Around | Miyu | Trial 1-1 | RE: Verm, Matthew

Well, this was quite the change of scenery. Miyu kinda fell into a stunned silence, trying to adjust to the rather drastic change of scenery here. Being yoinked out of your current existence into some new isolated ring was quite startling, you know? But as people hesitantly started recalling, her mind slowly started whirring back to life.

Vermillion’s comments in particular snapped her out of her funk. She felt her cheeks flush hot and quickly flashed her a thumbs-up in return! Go team! Yeah, that pretty much covered it. But before she could elaborate, the conversation moved forward further and further.

Something in particular that was said piqued her interest. Could a wish bring someone back to life? It would certainly be an easy way out of this situation, maybe. But-

Something else that was said piqued her interest.

“I think you have that backwards, Matthew…”

“I mean, I think if the, uh, killer, uh… took that sheet and spirited themselves away to do a killing… And got blood on their ghostly self, well. They probably wanted to dispose of it at the traning grounds, yeah?”

“I don’t think anyone would want to risk being seen with a bloody bed sheet going back to the inn, so that would make more sense, yeah?”

“As for the circle of dolls, well…” She trailed off into silence, still thinking.

[vignetteofextinction]

Head Dread Redemption

Kill each other? This had to be a joke, right? Then again, after everything else you’d seen up to this point, was this really the most unbelievable thing to happen?

“Now, my brothers and I don’t have any intention of letting you go.” It was the oldest head, Iusticia, who spoke now. “But of course, we realize the idea of murdering your peers may be… unpalatable to some of you. So of course, there will be incentives to those daring enough to take the plunge. What kind of incentives, you might ask?”

Guto piped up. “Fuck around and find out!” 

The other two heads guffawed cruelly. The hydra stared down at you; any menace that had been mitigated from the earlier amicable conversation had mostly returned by now, as it was clear the beast had nothing but your worst intentions at heart.

Travieso spoke up once more, flicking his head to straighten his glasses. “Of course, we don’t just want you to kill each other, no-no! A murder isn’t a murder if you don’t get away with it. After you kill someone, you’ll have some time to investigate, before we return you to the castle to conduct a trial, not unlike that impromptu meeting you had over the host. If you’re the killer, you’d better hope you get away with it, or karma might just leave you like your helpless victim.”

More trials like that one? That hardly sounded pleasant. So far? It really didn’t sound like there was much of a reason to murder. The hydras had to realize that, yet did nothing to particularly encourage your bloodlust. It was their first day on the job, cut them some slack.

Travieso grinned. “Speaking of that trial, considering the new change in management, we think it’s time to lay down some new ground rules. You’ll find those in your pamphlets, which you’ll find are a bit different from what you remember. And don’t think we’ll be as lenient as the old master. Our enforcers will see to it that you don’t step out of line.” 

Opening them, you see that the hydra’s words are indeed true: rather than the museum, the pamphlet now seems to display a map of the grove you’re in… as well as a new set of rules. 

“With that, I’d say our work here is done, wouldn’t you agree brothers?” “Indeed.” “Yeah bro.” Some vigorous nodding from all three heads. “Well then, happy hunting, heroes. I imagine we’ll be seeing each other a lot from now on.” And with that, he turned and walked back under the arch, vanishing back into Lotan Castle. 

Chapter 1 - The Winds of Change - Start!

[vignetteofextinction]

Genuine Distress

There was a lot to take in. The hydras, at least, seemed to understand this, and were being patient while everyone came to terms with themselves. The head identified as the most baby, Guto, was whistling idly to himself. Was this the beast that did in Calvin? Judging by the fact the middle head now wore his glasses, it seemed likely

“You’re no doubt still shaken by what you have witnessed. That’s cool! That’s. Cool. Not a problem.” He sounded excited. “You’re inside the painting. Pretty nifty, huh? Thought you’d get bored in that stuffy old castle, so we wanted to give you some more room. Bet you’ll feel right at home, here, ueeheehee. Of course, you can go back… for now, this archway and the painting on the other side are portals, but I think you’ll find the castle’s circle remains closed, and time as you know it has ceased to be.”  

“Ah, right. Killing your host like that was unfortunately necessary; he was a threat to our plans, and if we hadn’t gotten the drop on him, he would’ve destroyed us in an instant.”

“Of course, we also wanted to give you a taste of what’s to come.” It’s mouth spread into a malicious-seeming grin, before the elder brother Iusticia moved its head forward, shoving Travieso out of the way to take center stage.

“Actually, blood doesn’t taste that good. You are still young, brother, and your tastes are not yet as refined as mine. Anyway, continue.” His head retreated, and Travieso gave him a dirty look before moving back to his place, flipping his head to adjust his crooked glasses.

“Thank you… for clarifying, brother. Anyway. My head, my head, and me have been summoned by our master for a very important mission. You see? They’re not too happy with you guys. So they sent us here to organize a little game for you.” The three heads all started snickering in unison.

“We…” 

    “Want…”

        “You…”

“”“To kill each other!”“”

You looked to your classmates nervously, as the serpents’ laughter rang out over the field. It appeared that Cal’s death had only been the beginning.

[vignetteofextinction]

Surprising Development

You awaken to the refreshing feel of cool grass on your cheek, a gentle breeze brushing by as your senses return to you. Rather than the hard floor of the castle, you and your classmates have found yourself outside, Lotan Castle nowhere in sight; you have no recognition of this place. In the distance, you can see what appears to be a settlement… a walled town, within the shadow of a towering windmill, its blades rotating slowly.

As you gather your bearings, you see yourselves standing by a massive archway of pristine marble. Within the arch, however, flickers a familiar image: that of Lotan Castle’s painting hall. The image begins to flicker and bend, as the heads of the hydra emerge from the image in unison, the rest of the beast following. Once the tip of its tail had passed through, the portal shut behind it, allowing you to see a forest on the other side of the marble arch. They stopped before you, and wordlessly, the left and right heads moved forward, scanning the group for something… before pulling back.

“I counted eight of them, brother.” The green-eyed head announced.

“Hm? That’s preposterous. I counted nine of them, if you saw eight, there’d be one more than expected.” The violet-eyed head retorted.

“Hey, I know what I saw, brother.” 

The two heads started bickering with each other, each shouting over the other and insisting they were right. This proceeded for a time, while the middle head, the one wearing Calvin’s glasses, which you almost thought you saw an eye twitch behind, spoke up. 

“Iusticia, Guto, there’s no need to fight. You both counted the same student twice, there is no need to argue. We have guests, do we not?” The two outer heads seemed to fall in line, both with a reluctant “sorry,” as the middle head spoke once more.

“To my left is my dear baby brother Guto, and to my right my respectable elder brother Iusticia.” The head on the right and left (from your perspective), nodded respectively. “As for me, I am Travieso, and I apologize for my brutish display in the castle. I simply had to ensure you all entered the portrait, as intended.”

The hydra was talking to you. The hydra that, up until this morning, was made of stone. Alright.

[vignetteofextinction]

Painted Into a Corner

GrimmZB wasn’t quite sure what happened; she thought she felt someone bump into her just as the head began to move for her. That, or she tripped over something. Her stupid bathrobe, probably. Either way, she fell backwards, shouting as the jaws snapped shut right in front of her. 

She should’ve collided with the wall, or the painting, but when she expected something behind her to support her fall… there was simply nothing. She felt herself rolling backwards over a barrier, and… 

As you turned to look behind you, where GrimmZB once stood… there was an empty space. The painting however, behind you, now had a pair of legs sticking out of it, kicking wildly, creating ripples in the surface of the canvas, as though it were made of water. And in an instant, she was gone, her legs sucked into the painting like the rest of her. 

The hydra stared down at you expectantly; it seemed to have stopped its assault for now. Its right head even nodded its head towards the painting, as if gesturing to it. With nowhere else to run, whether you did it by choice or required more coercion on the snake’s part, you put your hand up to the painting… and felt yourself go through it. 

At first, there was nothing. But as your senses returned, you began to feel a slight breeze.

[vignetteofextinction]

Wacky Benny Hill Chase Theme

For what feels like an eternity, there’s silence.

The more level-headed among you perhaps were still likely racking their brains, thinking of some plausible explanation. Could it be an animatronic? Perhaps Calvin in a costume? Did either of those make you feel particularly safer, facing down the beast? 

The silence was broken with a deafening roar as the three heads all faced the sky in unison. It spread its wings, blocking the door to the antechamber completely. With frightening speed, the rightmost head lunged forward, forcing those near it back towards the painting room, lest they end up like their dear host in front of them. The heads moved in unison, snapping forward, gradually forcing you back towards the door of the painting room, until you had no choice but to run. 

The painting room is more open, but you don’t have much time; the hydra is already on you, its two side heads forming a pincer around you as it advances. And before you know it, you find yourselves with your backs to a wall…

Your backs to a painting. One of those large ones, covering a massive part of the wall. A peaceful town, with a massive windmill at its center. Tranquil fields surrounding it, and most importantly, no giant hydras.

Oh, if only you were there right now.

There’s little warning before one of the heads makes a lunge, and time seems to slow. No one sees the strike, but everyone hears GrimmZB’s shout, before it is abruptly cut off. 

[vignetteofextinction]

The Farmers and the Vipers

A head. That of a serpent, except far larger, with horns and curved, pointed fangs bared at the room. Yellow eyes peer in, behind a familiar pair of glasses - was that where they’d gone?

Two more heads, identical to the first, round the corner as well, scanning the room, making sure none escape their gaze. It lumbers in, its massive body now blocking off one of the exits. It does not move, it does not speak. For a moment, it stood still in the entrance, like a statue.

And then it leapt forward.

Its now-shattered marble depiction really didn’t do the hydra justice. It was far bigger, lacking in the refined elegance of the statue, but making up for it in brutality. 

And despite his skill as an artist, Hartmann’s sculpture failed to capture an ounce of the ferocity burning in the beast’s eyes right now.

[vignetteofextinction]

Something Wicked This Way Comes

The meeting had, by now, taken a turn for the bizarre: every proposed answer only brought with it more questions. The most likely suspect had an alibi, but even that was shaky, hinging on whether one believed the time of death or not. How would someone be able to move the statues? A contraption of some sort, but who would be able to operate it? What was the murder weapon? Was Calvin even dead? Some among the group still seemed convinced this was all some prank, unwilling, or perhaps unable, to believe the truth of their own eyes. The doors, the sun, Cal’s odd obsession with the paintings. Someone here was lying. But who?

Thump.

The sound of something heavy moving cuts any remaining discussion short as everyone began glancing around, trying to determine the source of the sound. It seemed to have come from the hallway in front of the statue room, the antechamber, as far as you could tell, but everyone’s in here; no one’s left since the start of the meeting. With everyone present and accounted for, then what’s on the other side of that wall?

Thump.

As everyone stares, the sun shines in through the painting room. Could there be actual magic at play here, like Kouri suggested? That was… preposterous. There had to be some explanation, some trick set up to make them lose track of time and think there was something supernatural afoot.

Thump.

The lights in the room go out. And then, winding around the corner…

[vignetteofextinction]

Anyone? Ok Well I'll Just Be Over Here I Guess | Miyu | Trial 0-3 | RE: GrimmZB, Matthew et. al.

Yowie wowie! Everyone sure had a lot to say! And with her contributions aside, Miyu found herself kinda slipping to the back of the circle, figuratively and literally. She found herself overshadowed by the various glowing personalities in the room - Wow, that was a weird feeling, huh. Gonna take some getting used to. But she was alright slipping out of this circle. Since it was, you know, surrounding a dead body.

But at the point Grimmy started talking again, she slipped out of the circle, starting towards the first of the statues she could find. She knelt down, staring down at the floor, examining it closely. Trying to listen with one ear, just in case things changed too quickly. Cal couldn’t have crawled - that logic makes sense. That wasn’t realy a question. Jack was tall, blonde, and evil? Tall, blonde, and pretty certainly, the evil part remained to be seen. Someone ransacked the office? Well that made sense.

After a bit, Miyu stood up, wrapped her arms around the waist of a statue, planted her feet, and tried to pull it loose. She struggled for a bit, grunting under her breath. Trying to budge it. If Kouri could, then surely she was a capable substitute to test that hypothesis, right?

One word that met her ears caused her to lose her focus, tumbling backwards onto the floor. Oops, that kinda made a bit of noise. She stood up slowly and dusted herself off.

“E-Ehehe, whoops. My bad.” She giggled awkwardly, rubbing the back of her head. “Well, I couldn’t move one of these, no matter how hard I pushed or pulled. So unless there’s a trick to it I’m not seeing, then I don’t see how Rosie-chan there moved any of these.”

She shifted, looking over the group.

“Plus, there’s no scuff marks at all on the floor here. So… I really don’t think anyone here physically moved these things.” She shrugged. The thought was concerning, and yet… intriguing.

[vignetteofextinction]

Guys? Anyone? Um, Ok Then | Miyu | Trial 0-2 | RE: Matthew, Kouri, Jack, Aiko, et. al.

Miyu looked around from person to person as the conversation moved on aroudn her, just a touch befuddled. There was a lot to piece together and some people were focusing on specific areas of this mystery, and they didn’t all line up with the area she herself was focused on. So it took her a little bit to find a good point to interject.

“Mhm, mhm. Mask-kun has it right, I think. Even if it was just some silly optical illusion, it’d be weird for that instruction to be written in the key cards and just… not mean anything, right? The narration sounds like a magic trick too, so… It’d be kinda lame if he followed the card and just… nothing happened. It… would be a bit weird, if the magifying glass itself was hidden in a statue. In fact I didn’t even think he was solving anything at first, but… if he was, then wouldn’t that mean he didn’t write those cue cards?”

A weird, diverging theory, but the more she worked it out, the more it started to make sense to her?

Time for Chapter 2: Kouri Boogaloo. What to make of this? This was the girl they were trying to find, but couldn’t. Strange. So she ran into Grimmy too, huh?

“Um… Rosey-san, if you don’t mind me asking… did you hear anything loud and messy aside from the microwave exploding?”

That was it, really.

Oh wait, there’s more. She just kinda stared blankly at Jack for a few moments. At this point it was clear she was just having a laugh, but then again… She had a point about those fangs. Kinda? No, it still didn’t make sense.

“I mean… his… death, it really wasn’t instant, I wouldn’t think… considering the, uh, trail of blood and all.”

She’s trying to talk about it, but it feels very real and the thought of a dead body in front of her still turns her stomach the more she thinks about it. Quick, focus on something else.

“I could see someone… busting up that statue to get hold of one of those fangs. But… I don’t know, this still feels like we’re missing something here, you know?”

[vignetteofextinction]

Um, Um Guys? Is Anyone Gonna Mention The Bo- | Miyu | Trial 0-1 | RE: Seri, Toshi, Jackie-Chan

A meeting of the minds, if you will. It was time to meet up once again to discuss what they’d found out about this mystery. But… did they really have to do it right around his dead body? She hadn’t spoken to Cal much, but… he was dead, right? The very sight of him chilled her to the bone. But at the very least, there was a mystery to solve, and Miyu could focus on that instead of, well, Cal. What do we have, here? Well most of it she remembered enough of from their time exploring and investigating. GrimmZB’s kitchen nightmare. Cal’s office. And of course, the statue room and the other bloody mess. A few things caught her attention, though.

“Um… This is a really dumb idea, and feel free to laugh at me for it, but… The only other thing I can think happened to cover the noise of the statue breaking is… Grimmie, your little microwave mishap.” She furrowed her brow.

“Of course that would mean that the statue was broken before Cal-san, um…” She trailed off. “Not to mention, I have no answer for what could have even broke the thing. An explosive?” Weird flex but ok, moving on. Seri had mentioned the cards, and Jackie-chan had mentioned their contents, which was particularly the source of the mystery in Miyu’s head.

“Oh! Right, those index cards… There was a cue on them, ‘stop, reveal hidden magnifying glass, center on meadow’, I believe? We couldn’t find anything of the sort. I wonder if this hidden magnifying glass was built into his glasses or something…” Not very helpful, just theorizing about mysteries to take her mind off of the dead body right in the middle of the room?? Yeah. Just breathe.

[vignetteofextinction]

CLASS TRIAL - NOW IN SESSION!