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.

Jadusable face to face with the Elegy Statue.

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

Kelbris's horrifying portrayal on YSHDT.

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.

Alex submitting the "Song of Time" to reset YSHDT.

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.

The Within Hubris forums.

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 has 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 Doug's cult. 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 - 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". 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 group, 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. Despite this, Mason continued towards the fishery. 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. Something was off, however. 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.

Arc 2 - Johnisdead Arc

In the previous arc, players were introduced to Doug and Mason - two high school students who had recently joined a mysterious cult led by an entity named Patrem. Patrem was a timeless, ascended being trapped within the body of a cultist named Vincent. Doug was kidnapped by the cult, resulting in Mason defecting and siding with the players. Unfortunately, the players were unable to save either Doug or Mason, and the arc came to a close. Meanwhile, the mystery behind the cult, Patrem, and Drowned continues...

John is Dead

Back in the Internet Detectives Skype group, Drowned began speaking to the players. He informed them that three of their fellow players were now gone. The players were then linked to a new website - Johnisdead.com. This took players by surprised - John was the name of one of their fellow players during the previous arc. The players' conversation was cut short, as Patrem joined the Skype group in pursuit of Drowned. While Drowned managed to escape, Patrem left the players with a cryptic warning - a powerful cultist named Regiminis is coming.

Shortly after this, a new user joined the forums - SKM. SKM was a rogue hacker who had been working against the cult for many years. He revealed to the players that the cult that Doug and Mason joined - the cult that Patrem is in control of isn't the Moon Children - it's actually a completely separate cult called the Lunar Children. Originally, the Lunar Children and the Moon Children were one in the same. However, at some point, a schism divided them into the two separate entities they are now.

SKM catches the players up to speed on what exactly is happening. The three players who are now gone are John, Jacob, and Tyler. John is dead, and has been since November 11th, 2011 - a night the Lunar Children refer to as Undecim Nocte. Jacob is currently missing - SKM doesn't know what happened to him, only that he went missing at some point before 2011. Tyler is currently fine, but the Lunar Children appear to be targeting him for some reason. Also, due to Patrem's influence, Tyler's memory of the players and the ARG has been erased. SKm explains that Johnisdead.com and YSHDT.com are experiments by the Lunar Children. The sites are like Wayward Horizon - the house the spirits of ascended cultists, but on a much larger scale.

During this conversation, SKM formally introduces the players to Drowned. He explains that while he doesn't fully understand him, Drowned is his faithful ally - an ascended spirit who helps SKM move files and alter websites. Before SKM can explain more about the Lunar Children's history, he is confronted by Regiminis, who seems to be in pursuit of Drowned. Before they flee, SKM and Drowned link the players to Tyler's new YouTube channel where they will soon be able to contact him - Silentdork.

Silentdork

Several days later, Tyler began uploading videos to Silentdork. These videos were old recordings of his friends - John, Jacob, and a new character named Kevin. The Moon Child Insidiae from Jadusable's ARG was also named Kevin. At this point in the story, it was unknown whether or not these two characters were meant to be the same. The players were able to make contact with Tyler through the YouTube comment section. Here, they managed to convince him to join their Skype group./p>

The next day, Tyler began chatting with the players over Skype. Just as SKM said, he had no recollection of them or the events of the first arc. These conversations were fairly casual. Tyler revealed that he had a girlfriend named Carla who lived in Australia. Tyler would often mention a prized crescent moon necklace that Carla gave him many years prior. He also revealed that he indeed lived in Florida - the same location as the Lunar Children. The players began asking about Tyler's friends. He explained that he was all alone now, unfortunately. He explained that John's death was the result of a house fire in 2011. As for Kevin, Tyler described him as somewhat "cagey", revealing that Kevin was a member of some "obscure religion", further implying that he is the Moon Child Insidiae. Tyler also claimed that he believes Kevin is responsible for stealing the necklace Carla gave him, as it disappeared after Kevin appeared to take special interest in it. Kevin's current whereabouts were unknown, however, claiming that he disappeared sometime around John's death. As for Jacob, the last time Tyler spoke to him was in 2009.

As time went on, strange things began happening to Tyler. He began witnessing strange things around town, such as shadowy figures warping around and flyers detailing various moon goddesses. This culminated in a Lunar Child named Daniel stalking Tyler outside of his home and leaving a strange "Beacon" device in his yard. Fearing for his safety, the players attempted to warn Tyler about the Lunar Children, telling him everything that had happened so far. Unfortunately, due to Patrem's manipulation, none of the players' images and files they were using as proof would appear for Tyler. Believing that the players were simply pulling a cruel prank on him, Tyler severed contact with them and left the Internet Detectives Skype group.

Lunar Children

Meanwhile, players discovered the Lunar Children's website - Lunarchildren.com. The front page of this site was structured like a blog. Here, three high ranking Lunar Children would occasionally post announcements - Ezekiel Thoth - a newcomer from a rich family, LiquidSaint - SKM undercover pretending to be a Lunar Child, and MattR - a cultist wearing a skull mask. Matt was also the name of one of the high ranking Moon Children, Ifrit. Players were unsure whether these two characters were one in the same, however.

The rest of Lunarchildren.com contained a variety of pages detailing various Lunar Children beliefs and terminology. The Lunar Children, much like the Moon Children, worship a moon goddess named Luna and they are led by a figure known as The Father. The Father in this case is Patrem, who is currently trapped within Vincent, so the Lunar Children often refer to him as Father Vincent. The Lunar Children practice ascension just as the Moon Children did. However, the Lunar Children have many different classifications of ascended beings.

The lowest ascended being is a Devium - a spirit with little to no control that is trapped in an eternal state of torment. Deviums often manifest as strange images and sounds, such as the ones found on Johnisdead.com. The next level of ascension is a Eulogy. Eulogies are a moderate amount of control, and can even manifest physically on occasion. It's possible that Drowned could be classified as a Eulogy, or something similar. A Finitor is an incredibly powerful ascended being who has control over time itself to some extent. Finitors are incredibly rare - the Lunar Children only know of two in existence. Since he can manipulate time, Patrem is considered a Finitor. The final and most powerful ascended being are the Transcended. There are only four transcended beings in existence. They are known as the Four Giants. The transcended are said to retain their physical bodies upon ascension and they seem to have other unique properties as well.

When someone is ascended, their spirit enters into the Parallelos - a dimension beyond the physical world we are familiar with. The Lunar Children believe there are many different layers to the Parallelos, such as a "shadow realm" of our physical world that can be used for teleportation called the Sub-Parallelos, a location where non-ascended spirits are housed upon death known as the Parallelos of the Dead, a realm where ascended spirits freely dwell called the Parallelos of the Ascended, and Luna's personal Parallelos simply called Luna's Realm. The Lunar Children believe that a race of ancient, faceless servants known as the Absque Facie exist alongside Luna in her realm to help carry out her will.

Some important information pertaining to specific figures within the Lunar Children mythos is also revealed through these pages. Regiminis is already known as a high-ranking ascended Lunar Child. While not much is revealed about it, it is said that the date of his ascension was Undecim Nocte 2011 - the same day John died. An malicious entity known as the Tenebris Link is listed. Tenebris is said to be a trickster and a troublemaker who uses other entities as vessels of sorts. Another figure called the Deuro is also listed - an ascended spirit that the Lunar Children are forbidden from speaking about. Considering that "Deuro" is Latin for "BURNED", it's likely that the Deuro is actually John since he died in a house fire. Not much is revealed about these two figures other than that Tenebris was using a Eulogy as a vessel up until Undecim Nocte 2011, when he lost control of it and then took the Deuro as a vessel instead.

More information regarding these two was divulged by SKM, who managed to set up a chat room on Johnisdead.com titled Safehaven where he could freely speak to the players. SKM shared his history with the Lunar Children. He explained that his brother Max was once an avid user on the original Within Hubris forums back in 2011. Unfortunately, Max was lured to a nearby park by Patrem, resulting in his disappearance. Since then, SKM has been attempting to uncover Max's location and take the cult down.

On Undecim Nocte, 2011, SKM was investigating some Lunar Children-related sites when his computer suddenly exploded. When he came to, SKM discovered that Drowned was now on his computer. Drowned offered to help SKM by giving him coordinates to the fishery so he could continue his investigations. Drowned claimed that SKM somehow allowed him to "escape". This coupled with Drowned's username and mannerisms all seems to imply that Drowned is indeed Ben and that on Undecim Nocte he was able to escape his captor - BEN. This means that BEN is actually Tenebris. Shortly after this, it was also confirmed that Tenebris is indeed currently using John as a vessel, as a distorted video of John was found on Johnisdead.com titled TL.webm - TL, or "Tenebris Link". So, to summarize, on November 11th, 2011, Regiminis's ascension took place. During this ascension, Ben broke free of Tenebris's control and hid in SKM's computer. Searching for a new vessel to use, Tenebris found John, who had just recently died as a result of a house fire.

Discoveries

Johnisdead.com underwent some interesting developments. Players were linked to a Virtual Reality web browser named JanusVR. This program allowed users to explore supported webpages as 3d environments. One page on Johnisdead.com contained a 3d world for players to explore - Fakeworld, a dark, glitchy landscape containing disturbing images. In addition to this, a large number of Redirect Pages were added to the site - pages the players would be taken to if they attempted to access a page that did not exist. These psychedelic pages would later become a staple in Johnisdead. Further exploration of the site led players to their first "hole". A "hole" is a large directory that players must work through one page at a time, solving puzzles and finding hidden secrets to progress. This hole contained visages of the transcended - the Four Giants. The first giant was portrayed as a disturbing face with static eyes. The second giant was shown to be a pig-like creature. The third giant appeared to be a fish of sorts. The fourth giant was Kelbris himself. All of these portrayals were tinted green.

Further exploration of Johnisdead.com led players to a link to a new YouTube channel - Vincent Adams. As expected, this channel belonged to Father Vincent - Patrem's unknowing host. Here, players found several videos containing music tracks created by Vincent. He seemed to be partaking in some sort of sleep deprivation experiment in an attempt to spur on more creativity in his music. Another YouTube channel was discovered no long after Vincent's - "lostmemory423". This channel actually belonged to Drowned, as "lostmemory423" was an alias they would occasionally use. This channel contained videos showing what appeared to be SKM journeying to the fishery after being given its coordinates by Drowned in 2011.

Several days later, Patrem began speaking with Tenebris on Newbris. As expected, Tenebris was using John's old Within Hubris account, since he was now using John as a vessel. Through this conversation it is revealed that Tenebris is offering to give John's spirit to Regiminis if he can capture Ben for him. This explains why Regiminis and Patrem have been so eager to capture Drowned in the past - they are attempting to recover John's soul. Shortly after this, Tenebris revealed that he had stolen the players' Ocarina powers and gave them to the Lunar Children. This was shown in a video where MattR was seen submitting the song "Bolero of Fire" on what appeared to be a message board of sorts. The next day, Tyler uploaded a video to Silentdork showing a fire that broke out at his workplace. This happened again a few days later when the Lunar Children submitted the song "Song of Storms", resulting in a sudden torrential downpour of rain around Tyler's location. The Lunar Children were now on the attack and they have the players' most powerful weapon at their disposal.

Later on, another video was uploaded to Silentdork. On his way home from work, Tyler decided to take a shortcut home through the woods. Here, he stumbled across the fishery. As he explored the fishery grounds, a green figure could be seen watching Tyler from afar. The next day, players discovered that the "Safehaven" chat room had returned. However, instead of SKM waiting for the players, it was Rosa. Rosa informed the players that after they spoke to her through Matt's email in 2010, she was confronted by Kelbris, just like her brother before her. She claims that she was not killed, however - instead, she was thrust into a chaotic realm within the Parallelos.

Rosa claims that the Lunar Children wish to capture Tyler so that they may sacrifice him in a ritual on Undecim Nocte 2015 to summon Luna. She stresses that the players must recover their Ocarina powers. She explains that the Ocarina powers are actually an extension of Luna herself that are managed by Tenebris, which explains how he was able to take them from the players and give them to the Lunar Children. Tenebris, Rosa explains, was "imprinted upon" by the Majora's Mask cartridge he was trapped within alongside Ben. This explains why Tenebris often speaks through and abides by rules set out by the game Majora's Mask. Finally, Rosa revealed the identity of one of the four giants - Doug. This meant that when Doug was captured and "changed" by the cult in the previous arc, he was actually transcended into one of the four giants.

The next day, Tyler decided to return to the fishery. Here, he was confronted by Doug, who was now a smiling green-colored entity due to his ascension. The following week, Tyler was hounded by constant knocking sounds on the walls of his house. He also began receiving strange calls from John's old phone number containing distorted voices and noises. Tyler was eventually urged to visit Kevin's abandoned home by a page on Johnisdead.com. Angered and fed up with the cult's recent provocations, Tyler decided to go to Kevin's house to confront them. Here, Tyler was captured by the Lunar Children and taken to their current headquarters - a large building in Ohio known as The Spire.

A new video was uploaded to lostmemory423 showing SKM exploring the fishery - presumably after carrying out some mission for the Lunar Children to gain their trust and infiltrate their ranks. Here, SKM is shown being gifted a briefcase for successfully carrying out his mission. The beginning of November rolled around. Tyler was in the Lunar Children's possession and they had no Ocarina powers to save him with. One day, Drowned contacted the players over Skype. He helped the players gain access to the Lunar Children forums while also revealing his true identity - he wasn't simply Ben, as the players had expected - instead, he is a fusion of two spirits merged together: Ben, and SKM's deceased brother Max.

Arc 3 - The Truth Arc

In the previous arc, players were introduced to their new main character - Tyler, a young man living in rural Florida. Tyler is being targeted by the same cult Doug and Mason were a part of, which is revealed to not actually be the Moon Children, but an off-shoot cult called the Lunar Children. Tyler is living alone after his friend John died in 2011. Tyler's other friends, Kevin and Jacob, have been missing for a long time as well. Through continued investigations of new websites belonging to the cult, Johnisdead.com and Lunarchildren.com, players discovered that the Lunar Children wish to sacrifice Tyler in a ritual taking place on Undecim Nocte 2015 - November 11th.

Powerful figures stand in the players' path - Patrem, a powerful ascended being named Regiminis, and Matt, who seems to have joined the Lunar Children after the Moon Children's disappearance in 2010. Not only that, but the players' Ocarina powers have been stolen by BEN, whose real name is revealed to be Tenebris. Worse still, the players have been introduced to four powerful figures within Lunar Children lore - the Four Giants. The identities of two of the giants have been revealed to them - Kelbris and Doug - their former comrade from the previous arc. The players are not alone, however. A rogue hacker named SKM, the fused souls of Ben and SKM's brother Max named Drowned, and Rosa are backing the players.

The players have just gained access to the Lunar Children forums in the hopes of saving a kidnapped Tyler. Here, more truths will be uncovered about this mysterious cult and their muddled history.

Undecim Nocte 2015

On the Lunar Children forums, players found posts from a variety of new characters. The most interesting of these characters was an elderly member named Jarilo and his son Hunter. Jarilo claimed that he was once a member of the Moon Children before later joining the Lunar Children sometime around 2003. He also revealed that his brother was the Old Man who gave Alex the Haunted Majora's Mask Cartridge in 2010. Jarilo goes on to explain more of the cult's history. He claims that Matt was the one who killed Kelbris back in 2002 as a part of some sort of initiation into the Moon Children. However, this resulted in Kelbris ascending - something Matt didn't expect. Jarilo also reveals that the leader of the Moon Children - their Father, was Mr. D - the mysterious figure mentioned only in passing back on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net.

Another user on the forums was Hina - a young girl who had recently taken a trip to the fishery in Florida. While there, she found Tyler's crescent moon necklace. Interestingly, Jarilo claimed that a former member of the Lunar Children named Lunaris Draco once owned a similar necklace, perhaps implying that Tyler's girlfriend Carla was once connected to the cult. As soon as Hina posted this on the forums, she was hounded by moderators ordering her to return the necklace to wherever he found it. These moderators were also Elder Children - high ranking officials within the Lunar Children. The Elder Children were as follows - Matt, LiquidSaint, Ezekiel Thoth, Jinn, and Kuu. However, it seemed as though Jarilo's son Hunter was also being offered a position as an Elder Child should he carry out some sort of mission.

Further exploration of Lunarchildren.com led players to a new term - Finitor. Finitor is yet another teir of ascension. Finitors are powerful entities that have a great deal of freedom through their power - so much so that they can even time travel to some extent. Another term was also discovered - Harbingers. This is simply what the Lunar Children refer to the players and their allies as. The Parallelos is also explained in more detail. The site now lists the various layers of the Parallelos according to Lunar Children lore. The physical realm we all exist in is called the Overworld. There is also the Parallelos of the Dead, where non-ascended spirits go upon death, whereas ascended spirits travel to the Parallelos of the Ascended. It is also said that Luna has her own realm in the Parallelos simply called Luna's Realm. Strange realms of darkness are also said to exist - Sub-Parallelos. These Parallelos are described as "shadows" of the Overworld, and those who are devout in Lunar Children teachings can use them to teleport across the Overworld at will - similar to what Tenebris and Daniel were seen doing in the previous arc.

As the players searched through the forums, they discovered more odd user accounts. Players discovered an account belonging to Helper, though it had been unused. An account belonging to the Moon Child Spencer was discovered where it was claimed that he was "the third". An account belonging to Alex was also found containing text hinting that he was "the second". An account for Vincent was also found. Other interesting yet largely unimportant Lunar Children found on the forums were SheepDog, an online web-artist, Eddie, a deranged killer who takes orders from the Elder Children, Harry, who claims to often sing songs inspired by Luna, Igaluk123, who seems to live at the Spire, Losna, whose account seems to be occasionally used by ascended spirits, and Tsukuyomi, who is wishing to read the Libro Lunarus - a holy book belonging to the cult.

Now that the players were in the same location their Ocarina powers were housed - the Lunar Children forums - they decided to test their abilities. The song New Wave Bossa Nova was submitted, which successfully summoned Jarilo to the forums. Around this time, the rest of the posts on the forums were deleted, leaving only a single board where the players could use their Ocarina powers and speak to Jarilo. Despite being a Lunar Child, Jarilo is openly friendly towards the players and is willing to give them some information regarding his past with the Moon Children.

While Jarilo is reiterating what he had already revealed in earlier posts on the forums, he would occasionally make odd observations about his home. Jarilo noticed that his house was unnaturally dark and that all of the clocks seemed to be broken. The players discovered that Hunter had killed his father Jarilo as a part of his initiation into becoming an Elder Child. Through a combination of the Song of Soaring and the Stone Mask, the players were able to use their Ocarina powers to free Tyler from the Lunar Children's possession, saving him from his terrible fate on Undecim Nocte 2011.

Regiminis

The Lunar Children were in a panic. Several announcements from Thoth detailed his frustration with Tyler's disappearance just before the Undecim Nocte 2015 ritual could take place. Also in this post, it was implied that Hunter was in-charge of keeping tabs on Tyler's necklace, yet it somehow ended up back in Tyler's possession. While the Lunar Children's plans for Tyler's necklace were unknown, it seemed to be fairly important. A few days later, Tyler boarded a plane and began travelling to Australia to visit Carla. Meanwhile, the players made contact with Helper and asked him to deliver a camera to Tyler and take his necklace away from him.

A few weeks later, Tyler contacted the players over Skype for the first time in months. Carla had locked him in her house. It appeared as though Carla was indeed a former Lunar Child who had become paranoid over the years. Tyler began asking the players for help. Before he could finish, however, his messages appared to be interrupted by another entity - Regiminis.

Meanwhile, back on the lostmemory423 YouTube channel, a new video was uploaded - IMG_1426. This video detailed SKM's mission he had to carry out in order to gain the Lunar Children's trust back in 2011 - SKM was to travel to the Moon Children's former headquarters, The Orchard, and record whatever "masks" had been left behind in a locked building. Shortly after this video's upload, Drowned join the Internet Detectives Discord server and began chatting with the players.

Drowned informed the players that both he and SKM had been captured by Regiminis and would soon be given to Tenebris in exchange for John. Drowned explains that the reason Regiminis wants John so badly is because John had inadvertently become his "Conduit". A "Conduit" is someone who is killed as a result of someone else's ascension. This implies that John's house burning down on Undecim Nocte 2011 was a result of Regiminis's ascension, making John Regiminis's conduit. Drowned claims that the Lunar Children believe that if an ascended being is paired with their original conduit, they will gain even more power.

Drowned shares a video with the players revealing what SKM discovered inside the briefcase given to him in 2011 for completing his initiation mission for the Lunar Children - a gas mask. However, Drowned strangely seems to have conflicting memories regarding this event. Another video is shown where SKM opens the briefcase to find not only a gas mask, but also a copy of the Libro Lunarus covered in notes warning him not to open it. Drowned claims that this never happened and that someone has messed with the timeline.

Through a series of submissions, the players managed to save SKM from Regiminis's grasp. It seemed as though SKM was going to be used as Tenebris's new body. Drowned begins revealing more information to the players. He states that Regiminis was the one placed in charge of Johnisdead.com by governing over the many souls housed there. This explains the website's name - "John is Dead" is a snide taunt directed at Tyler over the murder of his friend. Near the end of this conversation, Drowned revealed Regiminis's true identity - Tyler's friend who disappeared back in 2011, Kevin.

Drowned then shares another video with the players on lostmemory423 showing SKM exploring the locked building found in The Orchard. While there, SKM found a note from some former Moon Children that revealed a bit more information about their past. The note appears to be a part of a conversation between the Moon Children in The Orchard and a location in New York. The note claims that Matt went insane and began killing other Moon Children in an attempt to transcend them into the Four Giants. It's implied that Matt successfully transcended Alex into the second giant and Spencer into the third giant, explaining their accounts found on the Lunar Children forums. This note also reveals that Alex stole a copy of the Libro Lunarus from the Lunar Children and brought it to the Moon Children, and that Insidiae was supposedly a spy for the Lunar Children. Insidiae was a moderation on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net whose real name was Kevin. It is likely that this is the same Kevin who would later become Regiminis.

Unfortunately, the players were unable to save Drowned from Regiminis. Regiminis gave Drowned to Tenebris in exchange for John, completing the deal. A few days later, a new video was uploaded to Silentdork - Regiminis. This video contained a taunting message from Regiminis directed at Tyler and the players. The identity of the four giants is confirmed as being Doug, Alex, Spencer, and Kelbris. However, Kelbris's real name is revealed to be Hank.

Later on, another video was uploaded to Silentdork - 5646. This video contained footage of what appeared to be Tyler walking along a strange, green boardwalk. While Tyler proceeded down the path, John began speaking to him, warning him about Kevin and Tenebris. As Tyler reaches the end of the boardwalk, he comes across a briefcase. He opens the briefcase, revealing a camera - presumably the same camera players asked Helper to give him back on the forums.

Back on Lunarchildren.com, a new page was discovered containing a photo of Ben and Kelbris. Here, it is revealed that Kelbris is actually Patrem, meaning that Hank, Kelbris, and Patrem were all the same person. On top of this, it is revealed that Hank was actually Ben's father. It's implied that Ben's mother - Hank's wife is dead. This photo was supposedly taken on Ben's birthday in 2002, as it's implied that Hank has just gifted him a copy of Majora's Mask - the same one Ben's soul would become trapped in later on. About a month later, Lunarchildren.com updated with several new posts dating back to April, 2016. These posts revealed that the Lunar Children were given a second chance to capture Tyler and sacrifice him to summon Luna on April 23rd, 2016. However, they were ultimately unsuccessful, resulting in some sort of cataclysm occurring at the Spire that wiped out most of the Lunar Children from existence.

The Moon Children

Shortly after the near-complete destruction of the Lunar Children, Youshouldnthavedonethat.net was discovered to be online once again. The site appeared nearly identical to how it did back in 2010. The site now once again operated on a three day cycle as it had back in 2010, meaning players would have to submit the Song of Time to reset the cycle before midnight of the third night. The front page of Youshouldnthavedonethat.net now contained a video titled again.wmv - a taunting call-out to various old player groups from 2010 that participated in Jadusable's ARG.

The front page of Youshouldnthavedonethat.net also contained several new announcement posts from moderators. In a post from Chris, it's revealed that an elusive page of various Moon Children testimonials has recently been lost. Chris also mentions some sort of big party that's going to be held at Matt's house at the end of the three-day cycle on Sunday. It's implied that, during this party, Matt began killing the other Moon Children, transcending Alex and Spencer in the process.

Players began discovering Moon Children chatlogs hidden in files on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net. One chatlog between two Moon Children named David and Rem revealed that Matt was actually Ben's adoptive brother, meaning Matt killed his step-father, Hank, to join the Moon Children in 2002. The players also discovered Spencer's email address, where they were able to briefly speak to him. By submitting the Zora's Mask, the players were able to temporarily allow Spencer to speak normally. This seemed to imply that the Four Giants aren't actually in control of themselves - Doug, Alex, Spencer, and Kelbris are actually simply being used as vessels for the four giants. During this time, Spencer described Tenebris as a "parasite" of sorts, using souls and bodies as he sees fit. Spencer also reveals that Sunday - the day of Matt's party - is the day Kelbris will confront him. Rather than killing Matt, Spencer revealed that Kelbris "changed" him, likely causing him to go insane and begin killing the others.

Players soon discovered another chatlog. In this conversation, Rem and a Moon Child named Danielle discussed Kelbris's actions on Sunday. Rem claims that he witnessed Kelbris confront Rosa after "changing" Matt, causing her to disappear - something Rosa mentioned back in the previous arc. This conversation is interrupted by an entity - likely Tenebris himself - claiming that Kelbris was nothing more than a useful puppet used to spread "wisdom", implying that Tenebris used Kelbris to "change" Matt so he would transcend Alex and Spencer into the two remaining giants.

The first cycle came to a close and the website reset, now displaying a generic log-in screen. Here, players were able to speak to various entities that were housed within Tenebris. This entity describes Tyler as "Link, It, Redeemer, Destroyer", and claims that it only wishes for freedom - the end. Tenebris eventually regains control of this entity, cutting the conversation short. Over time, it is revealed that Mr. D, the leader of the Moon Children, is actually an amalgamation of Tenebris and various souls he has consumed. Continued conversation seemed to imply that Tyler was also somehow a part of Mr. D, leading players to believe that he was being used as a physical body for him.

The second cycle came to a close, giving way to the third. Here, players were able to recovering the aforementioned testimonials page, where two interesting names were revealed - Jeremy Jarvis and Hank Hubbard. Jeremy is actually Jarilo - the friendly elderly Lunar Child players met on the Lunar Children forums. Hank Hubbard is the same Hank who would later become known as Kelbris and leave the Moon Children to form the Lunar Children. Hank's testimonial was written in 1990 - the same year Ben was born.

Later on, the site underwent some heavy distortions, resulting in strange messages appearing on the front page. Here, two messages from the same person - presumably Tyler - were posted. One message seemed to be discussing how Alex wishes to share a room with Tyler, but Tyler is currently too involved in some sort of internet game to bother. Another message seemed to be Tyler asking Kevin if they could hang out before Tyler heads off to college, where he is already sharing a room with Alex. This seems to imply that multiple timelines are somehow involved.

Eventually, players are able to make contact with Jeremy and speak to him directly once again. Here, its revealed that Jeremy is speaking to the players from the present - not from 2010 like most of the others on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net. Jeremy reveals that "Mr. D" stands for Mr. Drowned, and that the name was meant to be representative of his future possession of Ben. Jeremy also reveals more of the history involving Kelbris and the Moon Children. Hank's wife Diana died giving birth to Ben in 1990. Eight years later in 1998, Hank didn't die as the Moon Children claimed he did - instead, he began to claim that Luna was speaking to him directly, telling him about the concept of ascension. The Moon Children saw this as blasphemy, resulting in Hank leaving the cult and forming the Lunar Children. Four years later, he was killed by his adopted, neglected son Matt, resulting in Hank ascending into both Kelbris and Patrem - proving his theories about ascension.

Before Jeremy departs, the informs the players that they need to enter the locked page on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net - the page that has been locked since 2010, The Truth. It's said that whatever is inside this page is very powerful and will give the players a chance to "turn off" Tenebris. Players later found another chatlog on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net between Rem, Kevin, and someone named Seth, who Kevin refers to as "Mase". Here, it's revealed that Rem is actually Ryukaki, meaning Ryukaki was actually involved with the Moon Children himself. Here, Ryukaki calls Kevin and Seth out on suspicious behavior, warning them that others suspect they may be traitors. In a separate chatlog between Seth and Kevin, it is confirmed that Seth is a fellow Lunar Child working alongside Kevin to infiltrate the Moon Children. Here, Seth reveals that the Lunar Children have successfully "changed" Matt, but he fears the awakening of the Four Giants. In response, Kevin strangely claims that the story of the Four Giants is a lie.

Time became more and more unstable on Youshouldnthavedonethat.net. This became evident in several chatlogs where Alex seemed to be suffering from experiencing multiple timelines at once. Back on Skype, Jeremy enacted some sort of ritual called the Circle of Three, in which three players were chosen to communicate with him. These players were Spanosa, Velvet, and Greth. Here, Jeremy reveals that he is currently somewhere within the Parallelos, implying that he was ascended upon death. Jeremy also reveals that, since the players' Ocarina powers are derived from Tenebris, the more they use them, the stronger Tenebris grows.

Jeremy informs the players that Kevin is currently attempting to break into "The Truth" and is forcing Youshouldnthavedonethat.net and the various spirits within to experience countless cycles in order to do so. He claims, however, that these spirits are beginning to rebel against Kevin, and that he will not be able to obtain his goal. The players are eventually able to re-enter Youshouldnthavedonethat.net during one final cycle. Here, the players encounter many different versions of Ryukaki from various, unknown timelines. Ryukaki passes on the log-in information for "The Truth" as he meant to back on 2010 during Jadusable's ARG. As the players enter "The Truth", they are met with a poll where they are able to vote to "Kill" Tenebris or not. They vote yes, resulting in the four giants slowly disappearing from Youshouldnthavedonethat.net one by one. As Klebris departs, he expresses regret for what he did to Ben and how he treated Matt.

Arc 4 - Astral Arc

In the previous arc, the players successfully saved Tyler from being sacrificed in Undecim Nocte 2015. Through exploration of the Lunar Children forums and the returning Moon Children website Youshouldnthavedonethat.net, the history of the two cults was slowly unvieled. The identities of the Four Giants were revealed - Doug, Alex, Spencer, and Hank. Hank is a former Moon Child and Ben's father. Before Ben was born, Hank and his wife Diana adopted Matt. However, when Ben was born in 1990, Diana sadly passed away. In 1998, Hank became known as Kelbris. Due to his heretical ramblings, Hank was removed from the Moon Children. He would later form the Lunar Children. Four years later in 2002, Hank was killed by Matt, resulting in Hank ascending into both the giant Kelbris and the malevolent spirit Patrem.

In 2010, Matt and the Moon Children held a party. On the same day as the party, Kelbris confronted Matt, "changing" him somehow and filling him with Lunar Children knowledge. This resulted in Matt killing the other Moon Children, transcending Alex and Spencer into the second and third giants respectively. Players also met Jeremy, a former friend of Hank's who is the brother of the Old Man who gave Alex the haunted Majora's Mask cartridge.