The Chzo Mythos

[Milkyway64]

Welcome one and all to the first in what hopefully turns out to be a long running series on SFO. Daily or bi daily (tentative) I shall pen up an article on SOMETHING gaming related. Could be a top ten, could be a reveiw, could be a promotion, something. (With any luck and if the content proves good enough, I hope to even get a dedicated subforum or site section to host these) In the case of this starting one, I wish to talk about a series I love that nobody really seems to know.

The more learned of you can guess it is the Chzo Mythos.

Also known as the John Defoe Quadrilogy, the Chzo Mythos is a series of freeware adventure games, mostly of the point and click variety (the only exception is Trilby's Notes.) They were created mainly by a man who calls himself Yahtzee, whom you may know from this particular webseries. Yes, it's THAT guy. The austrailian asshole who has a paid job centered around pissing off gamers and talking entirely too fast is responsible for one of the greatest stories I have ever seen and likely will ever see.

I am about to spoil the SHIT out of this entire series. Thusly, it's only fair I warn you and point you to the games. They are, in order of release, 5 Days a Stranger, 7 Days a Skeptic, Trilby's Notes, and finally 6 Days a Sacrifice. However, for those interested, I really suggest starting with Notes, and playing the others in order otherwise. Reason for this is 5 days is pretty unpolished and very flawed, and a lot of it gets retconned. It's easiest to just look at it as a 'flashback' episode.

I'd like to reiterate that this series is absolutely amazing and if you opt to read my shitty summary/interpretation over playing the games yourself, you are a fool and likely a waste of resources. You owe it to yourself to get the experience in full, preferably in a dark, quiet setting where you can really sink in and immerse yourself. So why am I going to spoil this?

No reason, really. It just blows my mind THAT much that I have to vent, and acheive a side objective of maybe clarifying some of the more confusing points that would otherwise need a second playthrough to understand. Now then. To spoilers!

Usually I would include pictures with cute captions but not only would that require me to play through the games again just to get them, but I want to give the dorks still with me the incentive to PLAY THE GODDAMN GAMES. So our story begins with Trilby, gentleman theif and master catburglar, arriving at the Defoe Manor to plunder valuables as the residents had died. He finds himself supernaturally trapped inside with 4 others who broke in for their own reasons, be it crime scene investigation, to a fellow robber- er, 'treasure hunter' looking for loot. Trilby and indeed everyone start having terrible nightmares of a man in a welding mask and leather apron slashing everyone up with a machete, and someone ends up dead, killed by a bladed weapon. It's not long into the investigation before another ends up dead, and by then Trilby knows the truth; the house is haunted by the ghost of a century-dead retarded youth named John Defoe, who was beaten to death in the basement by his drunken and grief-driven father. "John" is the name given to him being he was nameless, as since a very young age he was locked inside the basement and only given enough provisions to live.

As it turns out, John was beaten to death with a wooden idol. John's father, Sir Roderick Defoe, was a bit of an explorer before his retirement with his wife, who died giving birth to John. Anyone who touches this idol becomes a temporary vessel for John, who murders whoever he sees thinking they are his father. Trilby and the remaining two survivors defeat the wraith by consulting some books on the occult, and accidentlly end up burning the mansion down. They escape outside to the police, well, excpt for Trilby. He left alone to continue his life as a catburglar.

And so ends 5 Days a Stranger. As I alluded to above, it's not very good, it has some clever ideas and decent climax scenes, but it's boring, unpolished, slow, and really shows as a first work. This is why I suggested playing Notes first. For the sake of simplicity, I'm covering that one next, as it sets up the main plot.

Trilby's Notes opens with Trilby's arrest. However, all is not lost for him, he is given a second chance by receiving an offer to work with the Special Talent Project, through his encounter with John Defoe. The idol survived the mansion fire, and is currently with a man going by Professor Abed who is currently staying in Clanbrowyn Hotel . After working out negotiations to buy the idol under a fake alias, all seems well for Trilby. Until...

http://www.mobygames...face-allows.gif

(fuck you I said I wouldn't do this but I changed my mind. >=( ...Even though they seem to not like being hotlinked.)

This...

http://www.mobygames...-quite-able.gif

Turns to this.

Yes, that's a charred skeleton, the titular character's name written in blood, and what appears to be Slenderman standing there, just all of a sudden. It flashes back, and Trilby is understandably shaken. He excuses himself from the room and the hotel melts back into its hellish, dark self.

Now it's interesting to note that the figure in the above image is not Slenderman. Actually, this game predates Slenderman. This 'Tall Man' is likely the inspiration for ol Slendy, given that they are very similar in appearance. Just an interesting bit of trivia.

The rest of the game is spent figuring out what is up with this alternate hotel and tracking down the idol. On the way, Trilby experiences flashback scenes tracing the history of the idol, coing back years, decades, centuries, and millenia. Long story short, throughout history, on July 28th, the Tall Man has wreaked death on everyone involved with the wood that the idol came from. Before it was an idol, it was a shipping box aboard a slave vessel. Before that, it was part of a harpischord. Before that, an inn. And before that, a tree. Now, what makes this tree special?

Way back in the B.C's, a celtic druid named Cabadath tried to summon a pain elemental to fight a war that would destroy his people. The demon was named Chzo, and the summoning went wrong; Chzo was much too powerful to control and it dragged Cabadath through to the world of Majick. Chzo feeds on pain however, and has no need for meat. It tortured Cabadath for centuries, and placed his soul into a tree that grew out of the place where the summoning went wrong, on Clanbrowyn Island. And this is why the hotel has a dark other, it's the one place on earth with a weak link between the two realms, as Cabadath's soul is in our Realm of Technology, and his body is in the Realm of Majick. Well, most of the time. Eventually, Cabadath became the Tall Man, as Chzo's loyal servant and Prince. The Prince is to murder everyone who disturbs the wood of his soul.

Also on the way, Trilby has been finding excerpts from a religious book detailing the flashbacks he has seen, in reverse order. These are from the Book of the Prince, a religious book belonging to the Order of Blessed Agonies. It talks about the victims, and that they 'know the name of the King.' This seems to be synonomous with death, but if you remember, Chzo has no need for death. Is Chzo the king, or not? I'll get to that.

These excerpts have been placed by Agent Lenkmann, Trilby's partner from the STP. Lenkmann... isn't exactly on your side. As it turns out, he, Trilby, and Abed's assistant Siobahn Omalley are the only survivors, and as Trilby finds the stump of the holy tree under the hotel, Lenkmann arrives and reveals he's with the Order of Blessed Agonies. He explains there was a great prophecy to be fulfilled Trilby was in, and it involved destroying all of John Defoe. His body, his bones, were incinerated in the mansion, but the idol, which due to its powerful magical nature, houses John's soul as well as the Tall Man now. It was supposed to be destroyed, but wasn't. Trilby refuses to destroy the idol now knowing that doing so would help some pain god this cult worships, and Lenkmann stabs Trilby.

When he comes to, Lenkmann is doing a ritual to summon the tall man to sacrifice Trilby (known in the order as The Guide) to him,and appease Chzo for the ruining of the prophecy. The ritual involves the three Blessed Agonies, of the body, mind, and soul. This part of the game... is clever, in a word. There's nothing you can do. Trilby is terribly wounded, you can't walk, you can't even move while laying on the stump, all you can do is talk. So the solution is to negotiate, right? Wrong. You have to foil the ritual from complete helplessness. You do this by trying to move. A lot. You strain poor Trilby to absolutely no effect about 10 times until more and more bad things happen, such as Trilby feeling something pop behind his vision and clouding up, and his breath become blood-wettened gurgles. Then, when the Tall Man finally manifests into the realm of technology, you have to die. As in, command Trilby to die on his own.

Trilby is dead, and Tall Man murders Lenkmann in a rage. Fate brings Trilby back, however, as he speaks to a godlike figure as his brain shuts down. Trilby is wounded, and given a second chance at life against his will, as he still has a role to play.

Trilby is takes the idol, and spends the remained of his life trying to figure out what to do with it. And there ends the game. So, now we know the John Defoe wraith was part of something much, much bigger. There's a religion based around these events, and John Defoe's soul is one with Tall Man's. For some reason, John Defoe needs to be completely destroyed, and this is the way it has been from the beginning. The idol was destined to be made.

So why does the Tall Man kill everyone involved with the wood, and why just on July 28th? Can't you just SMELL the foreshadowing I'm pointing out, here?

There's reasoning for all of this, and it's heavily tied to the moral of the story. Moving on to 7 Days a Skeptic.

This is the second game in the series in release order, but best played as number 3. This game also has a reputation as being the "Metal Gear Solid 2" of the series, being that it confuses and pisses off a lot of players. I'm going to keep this one brief as nothing really 'important' happens.

This time we are in the future, the late twenty first century. We see a crew of 7 on a space ship in deep space. The protagonist is Jonathan Somerset rather than Trilby, who is long dead by now. The crew pulls aboard a box, thinking it may be first alien contact. From there, the ship loses power, and a machete is found wedged in the elevator. People die one by one, and it's revealed the box is a coffin carrying John Defoe's remains. But wait, his body burned, right?! Yes, it did, the coffin contain 5 items. A welding mask, a machete, a leather apron, a wooden idol, and note from Trilby, explaining the evil contained inside the items. He says that to rid humanity of it forever, he convinced NASA to jetson the items into space, where they'd hopefully never be found again. It's the mansion all over again, trapped, possesion, murder; and the ship's medic has snapped secretly and is set on making John a body, stitched together from the best parts of the deceased crew. Some intense and emotional scenes later comes the climax, the final battle with John Defoe. Jonathan is the only survivor, and knowing the idol is the real John Defoe, not the frankenstein's creation of a man he just killed, he tosses it into the ship's exhaust. Help finally arrives and they recognize Jonathan as an imposter. He is actually Malcom Somerset, Jonathan Somerset's son, whom murdered his father and took on his identity to go to space. He is arrested, and the murder of the rest of the crew is placed on him to boot.

As said, not much important happens or is revealed, but as a standalone game it is great. But now, we know the idol has been destroyed, as prophesized. And wih that, the conclusion to the series is set. Enter Six Days a Sacrifice.

After all this history and exposition, the climax has arrived. This time, we're in the exact middle date between 5 Days A Stranger and 7 Days A Skeptic, about 170 years between both. This time we play as Theodore Decabe, an accountant and office inspector. He is expecting the main head quarters for Optimology, a new religion sweeping the globe, as they borrowed a lot of money and built a gigantic add on to their facility. On his way in, he meets a monk in a red robe, who is in a hurry to leave. Theodore stops him and insists the inspection is important, which gets him thrown down an elevator shaft and breaks most of his body.

I'm also going to skimp out on details for this one too and focus on the important parts. When Theodore awakes, he's under the care of a doctor who is being very closely watched by... Trilby. Only now Trilby is an asshole. He's abrasive, and apparently working for the Order of Blessed Agonies, which Optimology is a front for. Tall man comes in and murders him, however. With Trilby gone, the doctor, Samantha Harty, and Theodore move to get guns and take the disciple in charge hostage to negotiate freedom, but Trilby is back suddenly and foils the plan. There are three prisoners in the complex, traitorous Samantha, Theodore, and a paparazi woman named Janine.

Throughout the game, we learn a bit about where we are. This used to be where Defoe Manor stood, which has been found to house John's Mind. The very land is tainted with the evil. The Trilbies we've been seeing get killed by the Tall Man twice now are clones. The reason for this, is John Defoe is afraid of Trilby, Trilby keeps him in pinned inside The Hub just by being present. As the trilbies die, John's influence grows more and more, eventually taking Janine as a vessel, whom Tall Man kills. Tall Man also is after Theodore, but he's been unable to get him thanks to a supernatural man in a red, tattered robe; the god figure Trilby spoke with at the end of Notes known as The Caretaker.

Before talking about the final moments of the game, I want to go over a few things. Throughout the game, Theodore has been physically maimed, slowly driven mad by nightmares and terror, and lost his budding love interest. He's been tormented in three very specific ways. Secondly, Tall Man. He is an immortal being capable of killing anyone he wants to in a flash, so why is it he is unable to kill a specific few? He's been haunting Trilby and now Theodore unsuccessfully, why? Also, why only on July 28th and why would he kill people involved with the prophecy as foretold? Tall Man's motivations are... odd, to say the least.

So, end of the game. It's time to venture into The Hub, and put John to rest once and for all. A ghostly copy of the mansion, manifested from John's memories, is traveled through with a group of Triblies, whom Tall Man kills one by one with a neck snap, which by the way contrasts with all the other brutal ways he has killed victims in the past. Theodore finds and dons John's mask, apron, and machete, to get into the basement. Things... happen, and Theodore finds a lump in the basement with tall man kneeling over it, who flees immediately. It turns out to be an atom bomb, and Theodore tries to defuse it. But... it has already BEEN defused!

...Meanwhile the last Trilby is talked into burning the memory mansion by the caretaker, setting the bomb off and eradicating the building, land, and everyone even close.

Here is why.

All the events in the games, the prophecy, everything was set in motion to Chzo to bridge the realms. John Defoe was that bridge, by fusing with Tall Man in the idol, John became a being of both realms, and his complete destruction would weaken the barrier between worlds. Chzo is a god, timeless, and the destruction of John's body, and soul created ripples through time, affecting the present. The destruction of John's mind on that day would open the bridge, and allow Chzo his link that he wanted. However, the cult, and indeed everyone were wrong about Chzo's motivation. He didn't cross to our world to rule and bring judgement. He couldn't survive here, anyway. No, what Chzo wanted was to take something from our realm. A new Prince, as Cabadath was always arrogant.

Cabadate, AKA Tall Man, or The Prince, has been working against Chzo this entire time. He's tried desperately to derail prophecy, to desperately kill important figures to carry Chzo's will, anything he could to stop Chzo replacing him with a new Prince. He could only do this on certain days, when Chzo couldn't look into our world, hence why all his actions occur on July 28th. This is also why in the climax here, Tall man was killing the trilbies painlessly, to fly under Chzo's radar and avoid his wrath. But ultimately, it was meaningless, Chzo knew everything. He's timeless. In the end, Chzo wins.

Lastly, The Caretaker. He is also timeless, being Malcom Somerset from the future. He is a prisoner of fate, making sure this time loop stays stable over and over again, sending his 'future' younger self to his destiny through giving him a holy blade to commit suicide with.

The moral of the story, and what makes it so good in my opinion, is that you cannot stop fate. Fighting to change what was meant to be is a fruitless effort, and despite all this time fighting to defy Chzo, a god, of his will on Trilby's part, Tall Man's part, even the cult worshipping Chzo, they couldn't stop it. But hey, for humanity as a whole, it turned out okay. Life... moved on, and Chzo went back taking Theodore as his new prince, after his conditioning through the three blessed agonies.

And it is by far the greatest, most airtight, flawless story I have ever witnessed. It does so many things right, and the journey is just magical. The ending, moral, twists; all of it is perfect. And hey, if you still haven't played the games and decided to just read my watered down version instead, go back up and play them anyway. There's so much I haven't talked about, and the presentation at the very least could enhance your understanding of the story if you are interested in the idea behind the games. And I know, I know, this thread wasn't very funny despite my initial vision to be a comedy writer with this series, I just wanted to share this. I wanted to show the world something I really loved.

That's out of my system. I'll see you guys next time, in another game, another thread.

[Redeemer]

Good read from what I can see - I've skimmed over it and will read properly once I've tackled my uni work for the day.

Might I suggest that you make one topic for your reviews, maybe make it a series. Writing something daily or bi-daily, then making a thread for each one, is verging on spam.

Otherwise, I look forward to your next installment.

[DoctorAllosaurus]

I forgot about these games, I'll have to play through them again one of these days. Notes was my favorite of the bunch.