Template:StorySummary

Below is a shortened summary of the story of Johnisdead. For a more in-depth recap of the story, select the "Story" tab above.

Prologue - Ben Drowned

Johnisdead builds off of the story of Ben Drowned - an ARG created by Alex Hall in 2010. Many characters and concepts from Ben Drowned are pivotal in Johnisdead. The following section contains a brief summary of the Ben Drowned ARG:

The Haunted Cartridge

In 2010, a college student named Alex Hall was given an old, tattered copy of the game "The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask" by a strange Old Man. Alex quickly discovered that this game was haunted by an entity calling itself BEN. BEN would follow Alex around the game world by manifesting as the "Elegy Statue" - an uncanny effigy of the player character Link. Alex recorded these hauntings and uploaded them to his YouTube channel Jadusable.

Alex's mental state began deteriorating. He began having nightmares about strange, masked cultists. One day, Alex and his friend Tyler attempted to visit the Old Man to get some answers. Unfortunately, the Old Man was nowhere to be found and his house was abandoned. However, Alex managed to discover that the game cartridge once belonged to a child named Ben who tragically drowned. When Alex returned to his college dorm, it was revealed that BEN had entered his computer by travelling through the wires of his recording equipment. The two conversed over Cleverbot. Through these conversations, Alex deduced that the entity calling itself BEN was not the drowned child - it was simply a malicious entity who stole the child's name out of cruelty.

Days later, a compilation of Alex's notes titled "TheTruth.rtf" were uploaded to the internet. It soon became apparent, though, that these notes had been tampered with by BEN itself. The players came to the horrifying realization that they had inadvertently helped spread BEN to every corner of the internet by downloading these notes, meaning BEN was now free to spread his malicious influence across the world.

The Moon Children

Not long after the upload of "TheTruth.rtf", the players were led to a new website - "Youshouldnthavedonethat.net". This website was the home of the Moon Children - a cult that worshipped a moon goddess named Luna. The Moon Children were led by a figure simply known as The Father. As players explored the site, other strange entities made themselves known: A deceased Moon Child named Kelbris, an authoritative figure known as Mr. D, and an entity wearing a gas mask calling itself Drowned.

The front page of Youshouldnthavedonethat.net was a blog of sorts where various high ranking Moon Children posted announcements. These Moon Children moderators were as follows: Matt Hubris "Ifrit", Chris "Nekko", Spencer L. "Duskworld23", and Kevin F. "Insidiae". Chris was the youngest of the moderators. Several posts of his detailed his excitement for his upcoming Ascension - a ritual suicide practiced by the Moon Children. Ascension was believed to spiritually transcend the participants, granting them immense power. However, in reality, all ascension seemingly did was trap the souls of the participants in electronic devices.

The players began speaking to Matt through email. Matt revealed that Ben was a former Moon Child who had a botched ascension. This explains how his spirit seemingly got trapped within the Majora's Mask cartridge. Matt also revealed that a Moon Child named Alex had recently gone missing, implying that perhaps Alex Hall "Jadusable" himself was somehow connected to the cult. Matt's emails became stranger and more concerning over time. He reported that an unknown assailant had begun relentlessly knocking on his door.

Further exploration of the site revealed a locked page titled "The Truth", as well as a countdown. As the countdown was about to reach zero, the missing Moon Child Alex emerged on the YouTube channel TheLinkMissing, where he uploaded gameplay of "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" showing Link playing the Song of Time on his Ocarina. Just like the song's effect in Majora's Mask, time reset to three days prior - the same announcements were posted to the front page of Youshouldnthavedonethat.net, the site underwent the same changes, and it seemed as though the players were saved from the impending countdown. However, Matt was now missing. Despite resetting the clock, the players were unable to save him, and it was soon revealed that it was actually the deceased Moon Child Kelbris who was responsible for his disappearance.

Alex had given the players a powerful tool, however - they could now upload gameplay footage of Majora's Mask to effect the world just as he had. These video submissions would mainly effect the the main character, who was often referred to as the players' "Link". The players' current Link was Alex. Unfortunately, some poorly timed submission quickly got Alex killed. Another ally named Rosa, Matt's sister who briefly spoke to the players through his email, also went missing after some poor player choices.

Ryukaki and Within Hubris

A final message from Matt was discovered on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net warning the players about BEN's manipulative tendencies. This message also contained a warning to one player in particular - "KAYD HENDRICKS YOU ARE IN DANGER". Kayd Hendricks, or as he was known online, Ryukaki, was a player who was given the login information to the password protected "The Truth" page from before. Ryukaki began uploading footage of strange hauntings around his home, as it appeared as though he, too, was now being targeted by BEN and Kelbris. Through these videos, the headquarters of the Moon Children was revealed - a location known simply as "The Orchard". In Ryukaki's final upload, he gave the players the login information for "The Truth". Unfortunately, this login information was incomplete and players were still unable to access the page.

Shortly after this, a new website was revealed to the players - Within Hubris. Within Hubris was a message board for the players to use in the upcoming third arc of the ARG. These boards held some secrets, however. Canon accounts for many characters were discovered in the member list - even seemingly unimportant characters such as Alex's friend Tyler. A locked board was also discovered named "Wayward Horizon". This board was guarded by Kelbris himself and housed the ascended souls of Chris and Spencer. Unfortunately, before the third arc of Ben Drowned could truly begin, the ARG was placed on hiatus. Over time, activity on Within Hubris dwindled. The entire message board was later deleted in 2012.

Arc 1 - YSHDT Arc

In Ben Drowned, a college student named Alex came across a haunted Majora's Mask cartridge that contained a malicious spirit named BEN. This led the players down a rabbit hole where they discovered a cult called the Moon Children who worship a moon deity named Luna. Despite their best efforts, the players were unable to save the Moon Children from malicious entities such as Kelbris and Mr. D. With Ben Drowned on hiatus, players are left to their own devices...

YSHDT.com

Shortly after the deletion of Within Hubris, players created their own board to replace it. This incarnation of Within Hubris, dubbed Newbris by the players, served the community for many years to come. Unfortunately, Ben Drowned's hiatus continued. However, in 2015, a new ARG began.

In 2015, a new user joined Newbris - TheLaw. TheLaw showed the players a strange website he discoverd - YSHDT.com. This site contained messages from a high school student named Doug who seems to have joined a cult and now regrets his decision. Through further exploration of this site, the players discovered another website - a blog named "Letschasethemouse". This blog was owned by Doug himself and the players were able to speak to him through the comment section of his blog posts. It was quickly revealed that the Doug the players were speaking to was actually a past version of Doug from 2009. This version of Doug had only just recently joined the cult and still seemed to regard them as friends. Despite their efforts, the players were unable to persuade Doug to leave the cult.

Other players attempted to join Doug's cult in order to learn more info. Only one player was accepted - Jacob. Doug referred Jacob to Mason - a fellow cultist and friend of Doug's who handles new recruits. Jacob spoke to Mason through email, where he was asked to preform strange rites in order to gain admittance into the cult. Back on Letschasethemouse, Doug revealed the headquarters of the cult - an old Fishery in Florida. This seemed to imply that the cult Doug is a part of isn't actually the Moon Children, as their headquarters was The Orchard.

Back on Newbris, a new user joined the forums - /Patrem\. Patrem means "Father" in Latin, and this user often spoke in an authoritative manner. He also seemed to possess great knowledge of the cult. This all seemed to imply that Patrem was the leader of the cult himself. It was soon revealed that Patrem was no longer human - he was now a timeless, ascended being trapped within the body of another cultist named Vincent. However, Vincent was completely unaware of Patrem's presence, as it was only when he fell asleep that Patrem took control.

Meanwhile, the players had come together form a group to solve this new ARG called the Internet Detectives. The Internet Detectives mainly conversed over Skype. One night, Drowned returned for the first time since Youshouldnthavedonethat.net and joined the Internet Detectives Skype group. Despite his name, Drowned acted nothing like the malicious entity known as BEN. Instead, Drowned cowered before Patrem and begged the players for help. This added further credence to the idea that BEN is not the drowned child named Ben - BEN is simply a malevolent spirit that stole his name. Based on his mannerisms, it seemed more likely the Drowned was the spirit of the actual drowned child named Ben.

Based off some hints discovered on YSHDT.com, the players deemed it necessary to steal Doug's school notes. To do this, they submitted a video of Link wearing the Postman's Hat item in Majora's Mask and checking a mailbox. This resulted in a new entity introducing themselves to the players - a friendly deliveryman spirit named Helper. Helper delivered Doug's mail to the players, revealing that they had inadvertently stolen his mail. Doug later confirmed this in a blog post on Letschasethemouse where he complained that a special "religious package" of his had gone missing.

Mason and The Gray Man

One day, Doug made a blog post that contained a single message - "Help". For some reason, Doug had been kidnapped by the cult. Amid Doug's disappearance, Mason gained control of Doug's blog and began chatting with the players. Mason still regarded Doug as his friend and was confused as to why the cult would suddenly act out against him. He began working alongside the players in an attempt to save Doug. As Mason headed towards the fishery, the players asked Helper to assist him.

As Mason snuck around the fishery's perimeters, the players suggested he toss a rock to distract the guards. Unfortunately, this rock ended up hitting Helper instead, killing him. The guards then noticed Mason. Mason managed to recover Helper's Hat before fleeing the premises. Helper's Hat seemed to hold special properties. Whoever possessed the hat gained control over Helper's various accounts, including a YouTube channel titled "M". On his way home, Mason encountered a strange individual simply known as The Gray Man. The Gray Man seemed interested in Helper's Hat and offered to trade Mason an Eight of Clubs playing card for it. Mason accepted the trade, giving The Gray Man the hat.

With Helper's Hat in The Gray Man's possession, strange videos of someone approaching a cell phone tower in a park began uploading to the M YouTube channel. This seemed to imply that The Gray Man was doing something involving this cell phone tower, though the players had no idea what it meant at the time. Meanwhile, in the Internet Detectives Skype, Helper suddenly returned. Helper is a special entity that seemed to persist beyond conventional death. Unfortunately, now that he was no longer in possession of his hat, his powers were hindered greatly. He asked the players to recover his hat for him, meaning they would have to get it back from The Gray Man.

Later, Mason decided to take another trip to the fishery to try and save Doug. On his way there, Mason encountered Rosa, who gave him and the players a brief warning for events to come. Mason continued his journey to the fishery, however. Later that night, Mason made a panicked post on revealing that the cult let him see Doug, but Doug was "different" now. Shortly after this, Doug resumed control of Letschasethemouse, acting as though nothing was wrong. The players now had to choose who to believe in - Doug or Mason.

Doug vs. Mason

The players were given a choice on who would be their new Link - Doug or Mason. The players ultimately chose Doug, believing that they would have more opportunities to stop him using their Ocarina powers should he turn out to be malicious. Unfortunately for the players, however, something unexpected happened - Mason became trapped in a storm drain. With their Ocarina powers only affecting Doug, their only choice was to explore YSHDT.com for clues. YSHDT.com now contained images of the storm drain. Strangely, a blinking device could be seen resting next to the storm drain.

Back in the Internet Detectives Skype group, Mason suddenly began speaking to the players. However, things seemed off. This Mason spoke as if he were using an old DOS computer. He also claimed that he was speaking to the players from the year 2015 instead of 2009 as he was before. Mason claimed that he didn't time travel, but rather that he survived. Before the players were able to learn more, however, they accidentally severed all contact with Mason by entering the DOS command ".root".

Back on YSHDT.com, the players discovered what appeared to be blueprints for some sort of bomb device. The player ARGdov posted these bomb plans on Letschasethemouse. This caused Doug to go insane, repeatedly asking "WHERE DID YOU GET THAT" and ceasing all communication with the players.

With communication halted with both Doug and Mason, the GM of the YSHDT Arc, who had previously been going under the moniker "The Man", approached the players and revealed that the arc was now over. He revealed himself to be the fellow player Dawn of a New Day and stated that while his arc has now come to a close, another arc would soon begin heralded by a new team of GM's.