The Things He Ate by
Courtney Mejía-Murphy
and Nate Oldrin
Instruments: Deck of Cards
Game Description
Deep in the woods in an abandoned town no longer on any map, you find yourself looking through the destruction and rubble for any clues as to what might have happened. Photos no longer show people, every instance of the town name has been erased, and the only remnants of any one who lived are the diary pages left from an ‘Amber’ and a ‘Carne.’
Game Content Warnings
These are content warnings that are from the game prompts and are present in all playthroughs.Playthrough Content Warnings
These are content warnings specific to this playthrough only.
Word Count: 2,258 Played: Nov 5, 2023
You find another page of the journal, describing the mountains and Amber’s frustration.
Bening: +3 Frustration
You find another page of the journal, describing a night Carne went missing
+3 Mystery Points
Journal: Describing practicing smiling and a lust for the taste of human blood. (Possibly from Carne??)
+3 Mystery Points
Journal: Carne’s eyes changed color and everyone in town seems to pretend it didn’t happen. Or maybe no one else but Amber can tell?
+5 Mystery Points
Journal: A list of Carne’s previous likes, and his new likes. He’s obsessed with raw meat and practicing smiling.
+5 Mystery Points
Recording: Possibly Carne? Talking about humans as ants and how they like the ants and they love Amber(?)
+2 Mystery Points +3 Frustration Points
Diary,
This whole town is littered with journal entries from what I can assume to be both Amber and Carne. I don’t want to go too far down the Speculation Road just yet but here’s what I know so far:
I think it’s safe to say something happened to Carne up in those mountains, but whether it changed him or took him over or something else I can’t say. I’ll just have to keep digging into this mystery.
Though it’s strange these pages are all over the place, like some sort of adventure video game. It’s almost like they want me to find them. Like maybe this IS a game or something. I’ve known web series to do stuff like this before, but I’m not familiar with anyone operating in the area, especially since this town isn’t on any map. That's a whole lot of work to find an abandoned town, dress it up, and do this.
I’ll have to keep looking.
-OneidaMP: 18
FP: 6
You find a grave of bones, mostly animal, but some look a little too human.
+5 Mystery Points
Journal: Amber(?) says she likes to eat ‘his’ heart now. Language seems to be simplified?
+5 Mystery Points
A bird with amber eyes makes you feel sleepy and steals some of the papers.
-5 Mystery Points +5 Frustration Points
Reception drops when you approach the buildings, but comes back upon exiting town.
+3 Frustration +1 Mystery
Journal: Amber is in love with Carne
Benign +3 Frustration Points
Diary,
I’m glad and frustrated that I was able to write all of this down on paper, but I’m thinking that I’ll need to upload it on a blog at the end of each day, which will be hard since I don’t get any signal in town. I’ll have to wait until I’m back at the camper before uploading anything.
I know that it will ruin the surprise but.. Fuck! A goddamn bird came and stole half the documents that I collected so far! I’ll have to start taking pictures on my phone when I find things so I’ll have a record of everything.
But on the other hand, I found out some other interesting things. That bird… it had some yellow eyes, but not like the ones I’ve seen birds have before, like what Amber was describing. It had a hypnotic stare that made me dissociate and fall asleep. I’ll have to be careful around here.
Carne might not have been the only thing that was affected by the mountains.
But most interesting was that I found a pit, like a grave of some sorts. It was filled with odd animal bones, not uncommon I suppose since this town seems to be a hunter-trapper industry, but… Some of them looked a little too human. I’m not the best with anatomy, but I know that a human skull looks vastly different from a wolf or a beaver, and there aren’t any other primates around here to confuse it with.
I’ll call the cops when I’m done with my investigation. They won’t believe any of what I said anyway, so there’s no real harm in just… waiting a day or two to finish poking around before letting them know. As long as I don’t … touch them. It should be fine.
-Oneida
MP: 24
FP: 17
Journal: Amber talking about loving the ‘new’ Carne.
Bening. +3 Frustration Points
You find a box of costume jewelry with a false bottom, with nothing in it.
Bening. +3 Frustration Points
There is a mysterious, oppressive fog. You cannot find anything else and you stay home for the day. Do not draw any more cards and shuffle this one into the deck.
+5 Frustration Points
Diary,
Nothing. Absolutely nothing today. Found one little journal talking about how Amber loved the new Carne! And?!? And!?! Is the dick that good? Sorry. I just can’t see anything in this fog.
It feels gross and soupy and like it’s in every crevice of my body. I want to take a shower but I don’t really trust the water in this town and I only brought enough for a sponge bath if it’s an emergency.
-Oneida
MP: 24
FP: 28
There is a mysterious, oppressive fog. You cannot find anything else and you stay home for the day. Do not draw any more cards and shuffle this one into the deck.
+5 Frustration Points
(A/N: I promised I shuffled!)
Diary,
The fog is still here. I spent the entire time thinking and going over what I know.
That’s it for the day.
-Oneida
MP: 24
FP: 33
THE LODGE
A/N: you are told to draw 2 cards, and the game is very clear about not reading any of these unless prompted, so if you are planning on playing this game DO NOT READ AHEAD
Card1: Ace of Clubs: Open File: JEALOUS.png
Journal: Amber has discovered Carne has been eating travelers, and wishes for him to eat her.
+7 Mystery Points
Card2: Joker: -5 Frustration Points
You find old maps in the post office, but the town is missing, and pamphlets are missing important details
+3 Mystery Points +1 Frustration Point
You go back to the gas station but the clerk seems to think nothing is wrong with the town, and it’s ‘so boring no one can remember the name.’
+3 Frustration Points
Journal: From Carne, describing eating something ‘dangerous’ at an old temple.
+1 Frustration Point +3 Mystery Points
In the library the town name has been scratched out. In the book all the photos are empty of people. You can see buildings, trails, pets, but no people at all.
+1 Frustration Point +3 Mystery Points
Diary,
What. A. Day. I’ll start at the beginning.
First, I noticed I was somewhat low on supplies, so I headed out over to the previous town to get some food. While I was there I chatted up the gas station attendant and asked about the town. They acted like nothing was wrong with it, and that it was just such a boring place that’s why no one remembers the name. He didn’t think it was strange at all! Shouldn’t there be at least SOMEONE from that town residing in this one? People move towns all the time! But nothing… I told him that there was no one living there and it was abandoned, and he thought I was exaggerating! I didn’t bother to press on since it wasn’t really worth my time, but it did get me thinking if people were still sending letters and newspapers etc to the town.
I decided to go to the post office next and look at the information there. The backdoor was locked, but.. Um well it’s not locked anymore, and there might have been some damage but who can say how that happened! Inside there were lots of old maps, and pamphlets and other touristy information about the local area, but the town was completely missing from everything. It's like this place wants to be forgotten. Or someone wants it to be forgotten. I thought it was just too small to be on any maps, but there’s something more going on.
I went to the library next, since all small towns love recording their history (even if nothing really important happens.) I did find a book on the history, but something had been to it. Half the pages were ripped out and there was ink smeared on all the names and sometimes it was as if it was just …not printed right. Not only that but, all the people are missing from photos.
I looked in some other history books and it seems like the rest of them have people, like the presidents and stuff, but anyone from the town itself is just.. Gone. Their pets are in the photos, which is odd since I think the mountain thing can take over animals.
But that wasn’t the only thing. When I was looking at the photos I saw an old hunting lodge in the photos I didn’t know about. I had to take the camper up there since it was too far to walk.
It was abandoned like everything else, but I felt ill just being near it. It didn’t want me there and I did get sick when I tried to enter the first time. But I was able to make it inside. It looked like a normal lodge inside, but still and abandoned. No one had been there for some time as there was dust on everything and so silent. The silence was what scared me the most.
I couldn't stay long since it was still making me ill, but I managed to find two journal entries. One from Amber and one from Carne. I think I can confirm that some of the entries I thought were Amber’s were from him instead. He's the one who practices smiling at least.
Amber’s was… God, poor girl. She wrote about wanting to be consumed by him. He had eaten travelers and she didn’t know why he wouldn't eat her since, as she put it, he only eats things he loves.
Carne’s entry talked about an old chapel way up in the mountains, with a feast of food, all dangerous but tempting, and how hungry he was. He said that once he had consumed it he had gone “home.”
I don’t know what any of this means. I’m scared.
-Oneida
MP: 40
FP: 34
Journal: Someone telling themselves everything is fine. By ???
Bening. +3 Frustration Points
Lots of broken dishes with no seaming reason
Bening. +3 Frustration Points
An old sketchpad left at a gas station. Everything is gone, but you can see indents of people’s faces that were drawn
Bening. +5 Frustration Points +3 mystery Points
Impossibly precise animal carvings made of bone.
Bening. +3 Frustration Points
All the names of the students have been erased at the school.
Benign. +3 Frustration Points
A journal entry, from Carne(?) saying they don’t want to scare ‘him.’ Not sure who ‘him’ is? Maybe Carne?
Bening +3 Frustration Points
Entire Hand of Benign Cards, Game Over
Diary,
This is just too much. I’ve been thinking about it over and over in my head, and I can’t stop coming back to the conclusion that it’s some web series that I’m an unwilling participant in. I mean.. An old temple with weird food? Common.
There are plenty of old abandoned towns across the country for various reasons. This just happens to be one of them. I mean we all know about Centralia, right? How many other little towns got swallowed by some reason or another and we just don’t know about them?
I’ll take for granted that this was a lot of effort to put in for whoever did this, but, without a way to know then what’s the point? There are plenty of failed ARGs across the internet as well, and I’m starting to think this is just one of them.
There isn’t enough substance to keep me going, and as interesting as erotic cannibalism is, this doesn’t go deep enough to be satisfying. I’ve got bills to pay and staying here and playing around in some rich bastard’s attempt to go viral just isn't’ worth it.
So long...Town. I’ll be seeing ya.
-Oneida