A Whole New Medium – The Gladdening Chamber

It’s certainly been a while since my last post, but the creative endeavors truly never end.

I’m proud to say a project has come to fruition, however, in the form of this fabulous video game available for free on itch.io! No thanks to me, really, I just helped out a bit, but I was thrilled to be a part of the story-writing team. Anyways, the game is essentially a mystery that must be solved, and it plays out similarly to how an ARG tends to develop in online communities.

Fair warning, the game is a little difficult, so we’ve encouraged people to play as groups to try to use the power of collective brainstorming in order to prevail! Odds are good that one individual would really struggle to sniff out all the clues, so bring your friends and put your thinking caps on.

You can find the game on the itch.io website, with a link provided below.

https://duckenheimer.itch.io/thegladdeningchamber

It is available for free, with a name your price option if you feel inclined to support the developers. Be sure to check it out, it’s fun, frustrating, and also rewarding to solve, so those who appreciate a challenge, look no further. Oh, and if you do have any trouble, there is a subreddit devoted to community help.

https://www.reddit.com/r/TheGladdeningChamber

Hopefully everyone had a great Halloween, keep hanging in there!

Official trailer for the game! Be sure to check it out if you’re a mystery or ARG fan.
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Anodyne

Paradox
A simpleton
Awaken from your slumber

A brazen ox
The callous din
Now death has called your number

What a time
And place so fair
I’d wish for nothing greater

Sweetest rhyme
No more to bare
Be wary, says the satyr

Can I take
The ruthless shame
Life no longer fills me

Endless lake
So filled with blame
These roots rot the whole tree

Saturnine
Of endless shine
Take me one and all

With anodyne
Send me a sign
Sink back and let it fall

Here I am
But here I go
The soul will never mend

Oh darling lamb
What you don’t know
Will break you in the end

Prayer to the Night

‘Nary a whisper shook me that night
For it was the silence that held me so tight
And told me my name, in its humble way
But I should forget it the very next day
Such is the world, and so does it say
Will I remember, when light gives away?
I shouldn’t think so, for memory does sleep
Perhaps it’s too ghastly and buried too deep
Or perhaps it will find me one day when it may
Let me be gone before then, or so do I pray

Song for Persephone

Seasons come and go, like the wind
On high
Maybe this time you can stay here
If you will
Nothing is ever assured, I fear, but the
Changing seasons
The world will turn and all my love
Will follow
In revolutions

The sun once set far below the earth
Out of sight
And there it met the moon and thought
What a delight
Is the sun any different, no matter where
It may be
Will the moon still find it as they turn
Somewhere out
In the galaxy

So stay here, alas, my sweetest love
Dear Persephone
No matter how the spring may call
Never leave
Your mother says that I’m no good
That may be
But I’ll love you no matter the seasons
So please stay
Dear Persephone

Song of the Hearth

We won’t take the long way ’round
The mountain high, singing in the sky
I’ll dance and shake my cares away
And plow right through with all the grace
Of a rhino on the savanna

So look above, and look below
Don’t worry what it is you know
The snow is piling up outside
So take a shovel, leave your pride
Get outside, start shoveling

The fire’s got me on the mend
If only it could lend me a friend
A single spark would do me good
But I think the fire will sit
And keep on muttering

Now I find the day is at an end
My wishes haven’t been fulfilled
But it’s okay, I’ll sleep for now
And wake up in the morning loud
Wishing, always wishing

Song of Patient Waiting

What does it take, my dear?
For your fear to melt away
I’m waiting for the break of day
And now you’ve gone and left me

Why do you cry, my dear?
Eyes wet with tears, you fade
And everything that we’ve made
Is slowly lost to bad memories

I wrote you a song, my dear
Hope is mere days from now
I’ve told myself, because I’m down
Ever since you left your honeybee

So listen close to me, my dear
I’ll sing you this soft poetry
And hope that you’ll return to me
By the end of the lonely night

I wish I only knew, my dear
Why you’ve up and gone away
And filled my heart with dismay
While winter eats my frozen soul

So listen close to me, my dear
I’ll sing you this soft poetry
And hope that you’ll return to me
By the end of this lonely season

Song of Mirrors

A nightmare, indeed
Skies that bleed scarlet
Tell stories so heartless lest
The night stars best know
Where we all go in the end
No need to pretend

So come what may
If these demons delay me
I’ll fight with deadly ardor
None will see the door peering
In darkness yet leering within
To gaze on my sin

Reflect it all back
No longer just black thoughts
Fine threads each caught together
And scattered to the aether winds
The voice does not rescind life
It ends all strife

Song of Fire

Eager to anticipate
Each fickle breath to raze
Hunger I can’t satiate
The wind is on the wane
Let me loose to create
Don’t send me torrid rain
Red fire can never wait
For fuel to set ablaze

The wind is blowing now
Unleash the power true
The heat will speak of how
The air is just a tool
So spread and never bow
Fire is not a fool
With this, our eternal vow
We’ll burn the world anew