Louse

Louse (subtitled "a trip through rot") is an ongoing text adventure game, and acts as half of part 1.5 of ECKVA. Viewers are able to interact with it through Twitter polls on the SHawkins1926 account. Uploads of the playthrough are also being created for the ECKVA YouTube channel, and there is a planned playable version to be released through the website. Reaching certain objectives in the game result in pages being released for the ARKlistener book, which is the other half of part 1.5.

History
Louse was originally developed by Galloway Games to be released on all major operating systems, although it is unknown if it was ever publicly released. Shortly before its planned release, an advertisement called TV SPOT C was presumably sent to television stations to promote the game. When ARKlistener was hacked, Louse was downloaded onto it, with the game being shown through the secondary display of the Twitter.

Plot
Note: Louse is still going so this page will be continuously updated as it progresses.

The game begins with an unnamed character in the house of the Old Friend. We are told that today is the beginning of Rot, and that it is time to leave. Players choose to thank the Old Friend and go, leaving the house. As we do so, we feel the Blot awaken in our left eye. It asks us why we seek Rot, and we answer by saying we wish to end it. Our body begins to hurt as the Blot calls us naïve and oblivious, saying that we will only have suffering as it retreats back into our eye.

Following this, the Old Friend opens the door to let us out of the house. The opening of Rot is on the ground outside, very close to the house, and we choose to enter Rot. As we do, we turn back to see that the Old Friend's house is being taken by Rot, with the Old Friend left inside of it. As we step into rot, we sink downwards into its thickening mass and see the Face of Rot. It states that a new pilgrim is here, and that it has a gift for all that arrive to its wonderful body. We choose to accept the gift, which results in a temporary game break as the game outputs the first pages of the ARKlistener book. Pages of the book are periodically released after this. After it returns to the game, the gift of Rot melts into our hand as the Face of Rot reveals that it heard us say we wish to end Rot. It then says that this is impossible as something begins to pull us down. We choose to let ourselves sink down; in doing so, the Blot awakens, admonishing us for failing so quickly, while taking control of us to end the rotted Old Friend, who is the one pulling us down. The Blot branches out of our eye to decapitate it, and we slide through the walls of Rot into a large cavern.

The Blot retreats back into our eye as we hear the decapitated head of the Old Friend whispering. Upon stepping closer to listen more closely, we hear him say that we carry the rot, and that we should give into its consumption. The head then liquefies as we see the red mass of Rot form in our right eye. We choose to speak to it, asking why it is here; it smiles, and says that it is endless, while the ground above is being taken to be turned into its skin. The Blot then appears, telling us to let it remove Rot; Rot, however, asks us to let it remove the Blot. We give in to the Blot, and it branches around our arm and rips out the eye with Rot in it. After choosing to take the eye with us, small tentacles reach through the sides and latch onto our hand, attaching it to the back of our right hand.

In the distance, a dark silhouette can be seen walking towards us. We attempt to hide from it; however, the Eye of Rot says that it wants us to meet its friends, and squeals to draw its attention. The rotted figure comes into view, wearing a mask made of stone. We somehow already know its name: The Love of Rot. We choose to talk to it, and it tells us that it wants us to embrace Rot, as resistance is what causes the pain. It follows up by asking us to let it help us start our new life today. We choose to tell the truth when we accept its proposition, resulting in our vision becoming unfocused, and begin to fade. Before we completely black out, the Blot appears to tell us that it sees our past, and knows we do not want this failure.

After a brief loading screen, the game returns to a flashback with us at the base of the mountain. We are traveling to the Old Friend on the last day before Rot begins. We reach the peak of the mountain, where we see the Old Friend in front of a fire; he is not as we remember him, with the bitter wind of the mountain having taken a bitter toll. He is glad to see us, saying that the voice of Rot told him that it would break through the surface tomorrow. He continues to explain that he cannot nullify Rot on his own, and that it will not break through until the next morning, so we have time to rest. He also offers us the affliction of the Blot, saying that the Blot hates everything below the surface. We accept the Blot, and it branches out of the Old Friend's eye and enters ours. The Old Friend then warns us to not let its hatred drain our soul.

Before we go to the house to rest, the Old Friend lets us know that he will likely be taken when Rot begins tomorrow, and says that he will not stop us from nullifying him. We convince him to instead leave the mountain that night to escape Rot; however, the Blot then intervenes in the flashback, telling us that no matter what we wished would happen, we cannot go back. We are instead forced to say nothing in response to his offer. After a long silence, the Old Friend says that Rot is speaking to him, and leaves. We lie down in the house and fall asleep; however, after some time has passed, we stir because of movement. After choosing to awaken, we see the half-rotted Old Friend in front of us in a nightmare sequence, who informs us that we are nothing but a single louse crawling through the filth of the surface, but that soon we will see what's truly important. We blink and see the room empty once more, before the Blot enters it. It informs us that we regret what happened, but that this is not an excuse for giving up. We choose to get up and join the Blot, and end up falling through a void. It tells us that it is almost impossible for someone like us to end Rot, but that we are the last chance, and that we should not let the disgusting growth take us.

Following this, our eyes snap open, with us re-awakening on the floor of Rot. The Love of Rot is standing above us, informing us that the healing process has begun. We choose to nullify it as we stand up, leaving it confused. Pulling out a vial of blue liquid, we throw it at the Love, hitting just above its mask. Its smile fades as it realizes we lied, and tells us that it protects those it loves from those it hates, like us. However, before it can continue talking, it freezes in place; its mask falls to the ground and shatters as it quickly crumbles to dust. Among the remains is a sharp shard of the Love's mask, which we choose to take.

After picking up the shard, we realize we can use it to stab the eye out of our hand; however, the Eye realizes our intention, and falls off before we are able to hit it, leaving us to instead stab our hand. It then gathers more mass and builds itself a much larger body as it talks, saying that we will not stop its endless spread. It says that it was originally concerned that we were not like the other pilgrims, but no longer holds any fear after we barely killed the Love, while informing us that another is growing. We then throw a vial at it to nullify it; before it disintegrates, however, it tells us that it saw how many we have, and knows that we will not have enough. It then turns to dust, leaving only our eye.

We choose to step on it to remove any further risk; however, before we do, we see a figure in the darkness, who asks if they can have it. The figure has a faint glow coming from their left eye. When we ask them who they are, they approach and say that they do not have a true name, but were called Turmoil by Rot before it stopped communicating with them; it then asks us if we're lost. The Blot takes a moment to remind us that all of rot needs to be ended. We choose to tell them the truth, that we are here to end Rot, and they grow quiet before saying that we are not like the others, and that it can help us if we give it the eye. The Blot warns us against doing so, but we choose to do so anyways, giving it to Turmoil. When we do, a bright light fills the room.

The light fades after a moment, with Turmoil apologizing for it, saying that they aren't used to having a new eye. They then turn around to illuminate two branching paths: the one on the left leads down to the Bones of Rot and the Heart of Rot, while the one on the right leads up to the Face and the Brain of Rot. After choosing to go up to the Face and Brain of Rot, the Blot appears in our vision, warning us to immediately end Turmoil once they are no longer useful.

As we travel up, Turmoil asks us what our name is. We choose to answer with our true name; however, when we do so, the game glitches, with the only option for players to select being [null]. Selecting [null] results in the Blot filling our eye as the game breaks, jumping between different alternate paths. The first is what would've happened if we didn't enter Rot; it shows us cowering in the Old Friend's house after he was taken, with our left eye falling out of our head to run away as we're taken by Rot, giving us a game over. The second is from us approaching the mountain in the past, further back than the Blot's flashback, revealing that the land around the mountain is entirely grey, with all the vegetation being dead. The third is what would've happened if we immediately nullified Turmoil; it shows us immediately crushing them, with the Blot commending us for our decisiveness, saying that it finally understands that we are the one to end Rot.

The game then takes a moment to resolve the internal error before continuing, with Turmoil thanking us for letting them know that our name is Null. The Blot, now calmer than before, tells us to be careful about what we say to Turmoil, as Rot will use everything against us. Soon after, we enter a large, cavernous room, with Turmoil saying that they don't see anything; however, we hear humming behind us. We choose to look behind us and see the Sound of Rot at the edge's of Turmoil's light, who's the source of the humming. We get Turmoil's attention, who turns to face the Sound; they immediately grow still, and whisper to us to slowly move backwards. After doing so, the Sound lunges at Turmoil, wrapping itself around Turmoil as the Face of Rot descends and talks to us.

It tells us that we found one of its wonderful children in Turmoil, and is glad we returned them. Turmoil shouts at us to do what we came to do, but uses our name in the process; the Face takes interest. The Blot then claims that we were betrayed, and that we should end them all. Instead, however, we choose to nullify only the Face. It expresses disbelief at our actions as it tells us that it is endless; however, we ignore it, and throw a vial directly into its mouth. It begins to shake violently as it starts to become nullified, shouting that nothing will stop its endless spread, and that it will give us suffering. It then grabs us.

After doing so, it turns us around to see that Turmoil has been partially absorbed by the Sound; the Face shouts that Turmoil belongs to it. The Blot then tells us that the vial needs more time to end the Face, and that it will intervene. We choose to give control it; it nods, and tells us that we may save Turmoil. It then leaves our eye, wrapping around the Face in order to constrain it as the vial spread. Looking at both, we see that Turmoil is almost completely absorbed; however, the vial is beginning to eat away at the Blot too. Having to choose between the two, we choose to save Turmoil, using the shard to stab the Sound through its mask, while feeling immense fury course through us. It screeches as it gets stabbed, letting go of Turmoil as its mask crumbles, revealing a gaping maw underneath. We choose to go help Turmoil instead of finishing the Sound off, and rip the remaining tendrils off of it; they are scarred, but otherwise okay. The Sound takes this moment to disappear. Meanwhile, something crashes in the darkness nearby.

We turn to the noise to see that the Face is dead, having collapsed to the ground; however, the Blot is almost entirely dissolved and on top of it, not moving. We choose to investigate, and see that it is still alive; upon seeing this, we let it slowly crawl back into our eye. It tells us to end Rot before moving to the back of our eye.

Turning to the remains of the Sound's mask, we think that it looks like the other pilgrim's masks, and have another flashback, which spans multiple periods in time. We first see us carving a mitestone mask that looks very similar to the Sound's; we are making it for the Old Friend, who is leaving tomorrow. When the Old Friend sees it, he smiles and says that we have done wonderfully, and is happy that our first mitestone mask is going with him on his journey. We then jump forward to us with the bodies of three dead pilgrims around us; we're catching our breath as a fury still rages within us, and we think that we can never go back. It then jumps forward once more to us approaching the mountain; the world is fading to grey, with us thinking that it's been 10 years since the Old Friend went through here. We think that he wasn't taken, and that we were supposed to be the only one that knew.

We then fade back to reality and grab a shard of the Sound's mask. Turmoil tells us that the Brain is in the next room, asking if we need to rest; we decide to keep going, and decide to give a shard to them. As we approach the Brain, Turmoil says that they have never seen it before. After walking through the opening to the tunnel to the Brain, it seals behind us, as the Brain asks us to continue, saying that it wishes to speak to both of us. When we reach it, it tells us that it knows we have the means of ending it, but asks that we resist attacking it for the time being, as it wishes to speak to us. We choose to listen.

It says that it knows we came a long way to be there, and reveals that it knows we killed those that accompanied us to the mountain. We flinch, but remain silent as it says it doesn't matter whether we're guilty or remorseless, as it knows the Old Friend didn't tell us to do so; in fact, it knows what the Old Friend was telling us. It then reminds us that we can end it whenever we choose to, but looks to Turmoil as it says that there will be consequences if we do so. We choose to nullify it. Upon seeing our plan, it expresses disappointment, saying that regret will soon follow. After throwing a vial at it, it smiles, and asks how many bad decisions we can survive. It then looks to Turmoil, saying that they will end.

Once the Brain dissolves, Rot begins to grow uncontrollably, causing the room to grow smaller. Turmoil says that they didn't know that Rot would do this after the Brain died, and apologizes. We attempt to stab our way free of the encroaching Rot, but it grabs us; however, before we're fully taken, Turmoil enters the shell of the Brain, causing a bright, white light to fill the room. We are left floating in an endless white void.

A giant eye appears in front of us as Turmoil speaks, saying that they have slowed the spread of Rot. However, the Brain's influence still surrounds it, so it asks us to hurry to the Heart. We ask where we are, and Turmoil answers that this is where a vast network of connections were made to the rest of Rot; the connections were erased when we nullified the Brain, but we let it rebuild any connections that may help us. The light then subsides as we see ourselves back in the room with Turmoil, who has replaced the Brain; they say that they will stay there to keep the Rot's spread under control.

The Blot then appears in our eye, having recovered only mildly from nearly dying. It says that the Brain spoke to Turmoil in a way that only it and Turmoil could understand before it died, but that it was unable to hear what it said. We ask Turmoil what it said, and it says that the Brain told it that its true name is The Seed of Rot, but that it rejects this name, instead choosing to be Turmoil. As we leave, the Blot says that something else was said to them; however, when we turn around to ask, we see that the way back to the Brain is sealed shut.

We have another flashback from when we were traveling to Rot with the other three pilgrims. Pilgrim Crine wakes us up to ask us why we have two vials in our pack, when it's their most closely guarded resource; we lie and say it must've been a mistake, which does not convince Crine or the others as they advance. In an act of desperation, we throw the mask we were wearing at Crine, killing him; we then take one of the shards and murder the other two pilgrims as an overwhelming fury overtakes us, with us only faintly hearing their screams. Looking down at the broken mask, we note that we no longer feel its tranquil effect, and question whether we ever did, or if it was in our mind; we then look at the shard in our hand, and note that we never felt this fury before today, and drop the shard. We then look at the bodies of the dead pilgrims.

We then flinch back to reality, and continue to walk through the tunnels of Rot, but grow exhausted. The Blot tells us to take a moment to rest, which we do. As we do, we hear a faint, pained humming coming from further down the tunnel. Continuing further, we see the Sound of Rot on the ground; choosing to sneak past it, we see that it appears mostly deflated, and manage to avoid detection. We then end up back back at the intersection that lead us to the Face and Brain, with it being noticeably darker.

Characters

 * Null
 * Old Friend
 * Blot
 * Rot
 * The Face of Rot
 * The Eye of Rot
 * The Love of Rot
 * Turmoil
 * The Sound of Rot
 * Pilgrims
 * The Brain of Rot
 * The Bones of Rot
 * The Heart of Rot

Theories
It is currently assumed that Louse is representative of several things in the ECKVA universe, rather than being a direct representation. If this is the case, then several parallels can be drawn from different parts of it; for example, the Blot shares a name and placement in the human body with its ECKVA counterpart. Rot is likely representative of the Ark, a shared realm for Marble Hornets, Clear Lakes 44, and ECKVA. There are also several references to the webseries, such as the Love asking us to let it help us start our new life today, which is the slogan of Preaxin, and the half-rotted Old Friend saying that we will see what's truly important, which is a common phrase used by The Broadcaster.